Hoops Tonight - Nikola Jokic & Nuggets chasing NBA Finals + new NBA draft rules?

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eight line. In Tennessee visit www one dot one eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to hoops tonight, presented by Fanduel here at the volume. Happy Monday everybody. I hope all of you guys had a great weekend and that's your weeks are off to a good start. We're gonna be continuing with our power rankings today with number eight, the Denver Nuggets. We're also going to spend a couple of minutes at the beginning

talking about that. Sham Sharani a report today about the NBA and the players association potentially changing the draft age from nineteen to eighteen in the next CBA negotiations, which is obviously super important on a bunch of different levels. You guys know the drill. Before we get started, subscribe to the volumes Youtube Channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on twitter at underscore Jason Lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.

And last but not least, and for whatever reason you guys can't get over to youtube to finish the video, you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. Really quickly, before we get started, I am super excited to tell you guys about our new partner here at hoops tonight, a g one by Athletic Greens. This is a foundational nutritional drink that has completely changed my life. I've been taking it every day for about

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to pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. I'm really excited for you guys to check that out and I want you guys to tell me about your experiences with it in the comments, and I also have my d m s open as well. It's just done a lot for me, so I'm really curious to see if it helps any of you guys out as well. Alright, on that note, let's dive into the NBA draft reports. So sources say, according to Shams, that the NBA and the NBA Players Association are in serious talks on new items

for potential collective bargaining agreement. That includes the draft age eligibility going from nineteen to eighteen the return of high school to the NBA. So, first of all, this just makes sense. NBA teams want earlier access to talent. Why wouldn't they? What is the N C double a ever done for them? You know? And do they want lower, what they considered to be lower level coaches developing their players? Probably not like they want to have. They want more

control over player development. They want to get their hands on these players younger, just like they do in Europe. Right. And then on the players side of things, most of the players to make it to the N B a rightfully feel like there's exploitation taking place in the N C double a. So both parties here, the NBA and the NBA Players Association, are going to be in favor of this sort of thing. So this change was inevitably

going to come. One of the foundational parts of this from the player's perspective is the problem with paying players in college. And I've always been a huge believer that players deserve to be paid. I've always just acknowledged that it's super complicated, like, in my opinion, only the top tier players actually deserve to be paid. Like if you talk about it in terms of generating revenue, right, like think of it like this, like Zion Williamson at Duke.

You guys would probably. If you if I told you that Zion Williamson was going to your l a fitness tomorrow and you could go watch him do a workout for fifteen dollars, you probably, a lot of you probably pay up to go see that sort of thing. But let's pretend me is a role player at Duke who comes off the bench and shoots threes and plays defense. Like, if you heard I was going to be at l a fitness, how many of you guys are going out

of your way to come watch me play? Right? Like, it's not like all of the duke players are generating a ton of revenue and deserve to be paid. It's kind of the top tier guys and then the arrangement for the lower level players, like getting your school paid for, your room and board paid for, that kind of thing. That's actually a pretty nice arrangement. Like I I felt like I got a good deal in college getting all

of my my school paid for. That said, there's clear exploitation taking place at the top, but every time this sort of this conversation comes up, the actual solution is extremely difficult to come up with, and so the idea of just taking those players entirely out of the college system to me just makes a ton of sense. I really like the N I l rules, the name, image likeness rules, and I like the way that that's confronted

the problem. But there are still a lot of issues with it and, to be honest with you, any solution that's been proposed is gonna come with issues, and so removing them from that equation entirely and putting them in the professional system I think that just makes the most sense Um, not to mention for those players, the NBA is just gonna do a much better job of player development.

It's actually better for them in their professional development. They'll get better medical care, they'll get better coaching, they're they're gonna be within their actual daily schedules. It'll be structured in a way that's built around them being basketball players

rather than them being student athletes. It's actually better or for a Zion Williamson type to go up through a professional system than it is for him to go through Duke even though, yes, it's entertaining and there obviously is gonna be a loss, like college hoops losing top end talent. That's gonna hurt the TV networks a little bit right.

That's gonna hurt a lot of those things, but I would venture that some of that is going to be canceled out by improved continuity, players staying for four years, like the fan bases being more emotionally invested in rosters because the players stick around. So I think some of

that gets canceled out there. But at the end of the day, what was happening currently, or I should say before N I l, where these guys were going to college and playing for a year, getting paid under the table, Getting Lesser Basketball Education and lesser basketball training before they inevitably go onto the NBA. None of that ever made any sense and I'm glad we're finally moving past that entirely.

I was talking to my producer Ryan, who's, like I always say, the Unsung hero of the show uh, and he was talking and about how, uh that Adam silver, if it were up to him, would probably want to go to the the academy structure that you see in Europe where, from younger ages, players are around professional basketball environments early and often, and I agree. I think that that ideally, would be what Adam silver wants, and maybe one day that ends up being the case. I don't know.

If they end up doing something like that with g league ignite or if they find some other way, but I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing the best fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old prospects in the NBA one day undergoing training at some sort of NBA facility and doing online schooling or something along those lines like. I think that's a direction we're heading in and honestly it makes sense

to me and I'm behind that concept Um. So obviously the big the big ancillary topic, the fun story about this has to do with Lebron James and the fact that he can become a free agent in four and now Bronnie James, instead of being draft eligible in five, he'd be draft L in so obviously they could become free agents, effectively free agent and draft right around the same exact time. So the question there becomes will Lebron James UH play with brawny? Will an NBA team draft

brawny to get Lebron James? and to me the answer to that question is entirely up to Lebron and how good he is at basketball. At that point during this season, Lebron is gonna turn thirty eight years old. During that particular season, the one in question, Lebron would turn forty

years old. Now I believe that Lebron will still be around the twenty or better player in the twenty best player in the NBA at that point because of his ability to play with strength, which does not fade in age, and his basketball I q and the way he's improved as a shooter and his incredible ability to pass the basketball.

So really it just comes down to health. Like if Lebron is still healthy, meaning he avoids the catastrophic injury, by that age, yeah, you absolute literally could see a team draft brawny because Lebron is straight up said he

would be willing to take a discount. And then it becomes like hey, if I have like the eighteenth pick in the first round and if I draft Brawny, I'm gonna get the Twentie best player in the League who would absolutely fit in along alongside other stars because of all the little things he does on a basketball court.

I think it makes sense, and so I if Lebron avoids catastrophic injury, I think you could see a team draft brawny as a potential player to pull a Lebron in now, as far as brawny goes, the question is, is he an NBA player? And no question he has a long way to go, but we have seen flashes over the course of this summer of a player that does have NBA potential. He's a great athlete. He's been under size. Right now he's only six FT three, but he has a great feel for the game. His skill

is uh is progressing at a rapid rate. He does have that potential, but he has to hold up his end of the bargain. But I let's say he's a, you know, mid second round type of talent. You could see a team draft him in the late first round or mid first round if they don't see a pick that they really like and they see the prospect of getting Lebron at a veteran minimum as part of the process. So this, this whole story is interesting on a bunch

of different levels. It will foundationally change college hoops, maybe less and maybe it won't be as good for the networks in terms of money, because obviously they won't be able to pull the eyeballs that they could with the top tier talent that comes through. The comes through you

know Uh like this Zion Williamson's of the world. But I do think in terms of the overall health of the sport, it will be good having that continuity, having it kind of fall back to a more traditional model, in the players there being there for the long run rather than having an eye to the future. The players they're being true student athletes that are actually trying to educate themselves as opposed to just using it as a stopping point before they get to the NBA. So I

think college hoops foundation LEA will change. The NBA will be better because they will get earlier accent access to top talent and better training for those players. And then obviously the doors open now for Lebron with his free agency, in to play with his son. Lots of interesting stuff on that front. All right, let us dive into number eight, the Denver Nuggets. So last year they were sixth in

offense and defense. They finished forty eight and thirty four, which is extremely impressive given the roster they had at their disposal, and then they lost in the first round to the warriors, a series they were completely overmatched in talent. Wise. Um, this offseason they traded will Barton and Monty Morris for contavious Collbell Pope and Ish Smith a really interesting trade

on a on a bunch of different levels. This is an example of a fit trade because when you're looking at a guy like will barton versus a guy like contavious callboll pope, really how good they are has so much to do with their situation. Like I think that will Barton is a considerably better on ball player than K C P, but I think K C P is

a considerable a considerably better off ball player. I think he's a more reliable spot up shooter and I think he's better at attacking closeouts because of how gifted he is slashing to the rim. Also, KCP is a much better transition player, running the lanes and finishing at the rim in transition. So I like him with Yokich as a fit thing there. Without Jamal Murray, they desperately needed will Barton to help create shots on a possession by

possession basis. But with Jamal Murray coming back and with the rise of bones highland as a really interesting young guard who shows flashes of potential as a really good two way scoring guard. Like obviously with a lot a long way to go, they don't need the on ball creation from will Barton as much, and so k CP kind of fits a unique need there that I really, really like. And as someone who covered KCP with the Lakers, and I promise you, Nuggets Fans, you will love having

that guy on your team. He is a flat out winning, a starter level NBA Two guard that you will count on on a nightly basis to do the things that your team needs needs in order to win basketball games. Um, I do like Monty Morris more than Ish Smith. Not that is Smith isn't capable. Uh, he's obviously a journeyman backup point guard himself. But if, if that's the price that needed to be paid to get KCP, which I do think is a better fit with this particular roster.

I also think he's a bit better defensively than will Barton, then this is a net positive for denver. I don't see it as any other way than that. They also signed Bruce Brown, who's a good two way role player. The one thing that's gonna be interesting with Bruce Brown is they did use him a ton as a screener in Brooklyn and he operated a lot out of the

short role. Um, I'm really curious to see how that works out with Denver because they use Yokich as a role man more than anybody else in the league, basically except for Joe l embiid so from that standpoint I just don't like. I don't see where I like. Bruce Brown is gonna be more of a spot up role, and it's not that he's bad in spot up situations, but he was used there a lot less often than he was in Brooklyn. So I think that'll be an interesting kind of fit thing there that they got to

figure out. But the the other direction that my brain goes there with the signing of deandre Jordan, which we'll get to in a second, they don't really have a backup center. If they decided to stop using deandre Jordan, which I think they will at some point, I wouldn't be surprised if they go small for stretches and go with Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown in the front line and then start using Bruce Brown as a screener in that specific role. So obviously they signed deandre Jordan's he's

he's a good locker room guy. That's the story I keep hearing, because I keep asking, like why do people keep signing this guy and he legitimately is terrible as a basketball player right now. Like he uh, he's a drop coverage big that is disengaged on the vast majority of possessions, that very rarely moves his feet, he trods up and down the floor in transition, he doesn't have nearly the vertical spacing capability that he had when he was younger and and just in general will hurt your

basketball team when he's on the floor. But I keep asking how does he keep getting deals, and what I keep hearing is that he's just an incredible locker room guy. So maybe that's what it is. But then I look at the depth chart and they don't really have a big after your kich and so I would imagine to start the year you'll actually see him in that demarcus

cousins role where he's the backup big. But my guess is at some point early on, maybe in the first ten games or so, Mike Malone will realize that he's not really playable anymore at this point in his career and then he'll probably opt to go small instead. They also drafted Christian Braun and Peyton Watson. These are two good draft bets on wings that I think could potentially be guys that fill that Jeff Green type of role in the future, but I doubt they play much this

particular season, depending on how injuries go, obviously. And then the big news here for Denver is the return of Michael Porter Jr and the return of Jamal Murray. So in Nicola Yoki, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr played a hundred and seventeen minutes together over five games and they were plus forty six and those hundred

seventeen minutes, which is unbelievably good. So really small sample size, but when we did see this group of four core players together, they were a dominant basketball team and that's really, really exciting for Denver fans. We're gonna dive into a bunch of different ways that I expect that to manifest this year. Their depth chart right now at the guard position, Jamal Murray, K CP Ish Smith and bones highland. On the wing, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green,

the two draft picks, Braun and Watson, and will see Zignagi. I. He's playing like a wing in the NBA but he played big when he was at Arizona. Uh He might end up playing some small ball center to as an option if they did opt to go away from deandre Jordan's but I he could shoot the ship out of the basketball. So I really like him as a player. It's just a question of how they end up using him, but they did use him more as a wing in

the past. And then big Nicola Yoki and deandre Jordan's all right, let's move on to the offensive side of the basketball. We're gonna do offense, defense, best case scenario, worst case scenario, and then biggest x factor a player. I am very, very excited to dive into a little bit. So we're gonna start with transition, with the nuggets. I know I usually start with the half court stuff first and then we get to transition, but the way that Denver attacks and transition, I think is super unique and

it's my favorite part of their offensive attacks. I wanted to start with that there. First of all, they are a top ten transition efficiency team two years in a row now, and last year, according to cleaning the glass, even with the limited talent that they had, they were the second best team in the league pushing in transition off of live ball rebounds at one point to eight points per possession. Now there are three concepts here that

I want to quickly touch on. First of all, defensive rebounding. Everyone knows Nicola Yokich is an outstanding defensive rebounder. Him Securing that rebound is step one of the break. Step two is Nikola Yoki's ability to make reads with the basketball without having to give the ball to a guard. So many teams in the League there big man gets a rebound and they have to look around and wait for one of the guards to cut back to the basketball,

which slows down the break. There are bigs that are capable of bringing the ball at the floor or are capable of making outlet passes, but nobody that does it at the level that Nikola Yokich does. Even Kevin Love in his prime he couldn't dribble the basketball the way that Nikola Yokich can. He's like a combination of Kevin love as an outlet passer mixed with the open floor game him that you see from the big point forwards that we have in this league. So obviously step one

is securing the rebound. You can't start the break without securing the rebound. Step. Two, though, is players running the the wings and Yoki's ability to throw outlet passes, and he's got a huge arsenal of him overhead passes, slingshot passes, baseball passes, everything under the Sun. He hits his players in stride running up the floor and because he doesn't have to give the ball to a guard first, it makes it tougher for the defense to actually get back

in time to stop those actions. And then when he doesn't see those actions, he'll bring the ball up with pace, and it's honestly kind of funny because Yoki is a player that I don't view as overly fast and, for obvious reasons, I don't think Yokich would say he's fast either, and we'll talk about some of the downsides of that

a little bit later. But it is kind of impressive the type of pace that that Yokis will bring the ball up the floor with and the way that it can collapse a defense around him and open things up for shooters and people filling in behind him. I really like K C P as an addition on this front, because when he was with the Lakers, I always talk about K C P as an outstanding one leg jumper and great one legged jumpers that can take long strides. They can extend out and finish at the RIM faster

than people can get to them. That's what makes him so gifted attacking closeouts and it's what makes him so dangerous in transition. He's just galloping down the floor and he can extend out in front. It's just really difficult to meet him at the Rim and block him. So

adding him as a legitimate transition threat. Aaron Gordon is an outstanding transition transition threat, throwing the ball at the floor and then Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray trailing the play and getting advantage situations as Yokis brings the ball up the floor with the pace and shovels the ball back to them again. One Point to eight points per possession pushing off of live ball rebounds last year, which was second best in the entire league according to

cleaning the glass. That's my favorite part of of what Nicola Yokis does in my favorite part of Denver's offense. There was a game last year Um sixers fans cling to this game as the evidence that embiad was better, but it was a game where the Denver Nuggets went into Philly and beat the sixers and in that game there were a bunch of highlight players at the beginning where Nicola Yo kids was struggling guarding and beat in single coverage and startling to score on him on the

other end. And you can make a highlight reel of that game of just shot attempts from both players and

you think, oh, and beads better. But there was a stretch in the early second half of that game we really started in the second quarter and it kind of carried over the entire middle portion of the game where Yokis was trans like, like utterly obliterating Philly in transition, just starting the break with live ball rebounds, you know, pushing the ball at the floor of the live dribble or making outlet passes to players as they run, as

they were run out. In that particular game, bones highland got going with transition opportunities from Yokich and then at the end of the game, riding that confidence, he made back to back at least two, maybe three, huge three pointers.

That ended up being the daggers that close that game for nuggets win and it's it's one of the many examples of how judging how good a basketball player is goes so much deeper than their individual skill set offensively in terms of ball handling and shooting or isolation possessions

or highlight reels or anything along those lines. There are so many different ways to impact winning and the best players in the world are are the players that fill in gaps in their game with all of those little details, like something like being able to initiate offense in transition as a ball handler. It's one of the many reasons why I think Yokich is a better player than embiid right now. When we get into the half court, it's a ton of Nicola Yok as a screener and a

dribble and off guy out of the high post. They structured in a bunch of different ways. You'll see them do some stuff in horns, you'll see them do some stuff in pistol, but the general structure there is Yokich out of the high post handing the ball to players and screening for them. Um Yokich the only other player they'll use as a screener and I am interested to see how Bruce Brown factors into that, because they used

him as a lot as a screener in Brooklyn. But Aaron Gordon, with the way their lineup is structured, is pretty consistently drawing bigger and slower defenders and so, um I watched of this morning. I watched an entire game from two thousand twenty one back. It was bizarre watching it. It It was back when there were no fans at

the arenas. But it was a game when Murray, Yokich, Porter and Gordon were all available and they just beat the crap out of the L A clippers and it was a really, really interesting basketball game to go back and rewatch because it's been so long since we've seen that core group of four guys together. But they were

dominant when they were together. But in that particular game the they were using Aaron Gordon a lot as a screener to get, you know, Marcus Morris switched on to Jamal Murray or things get slower footed players to get switched on Jamal Murray. So they will use some screening with Aaron Gordon and my guess is they'll do so with Bruce Brown as well. But foundationally this is a Nickela Yokich as a screener offense. No team used their roleman in pick and roll more then Nikola Yokich did

a lot of times. We're talking about pick and roll possessions in the vast majority of them, and in the ball the handler coming off the screen and shooting or coming off the screen and taking a floater, or coming off the screen going all the way to the rim

or kicking it out to the perimeter. The actual rolemn itself doesn't get used nearly as often as you would think, and Yokich is the most used role man in the league this year, this past season, and that is where you put Yokich in position where he's putting a defense in rotation and making read so if you hit Yokis with a pocket pass in the middle of the lane, he's effectively going downhill without a defender on him, which

is automatically going to collapse the defense. That just puts Yokis into position where he can spray the ball out to everybody and with his ability as a pastor, and we're gonna get into this a little bit in the post later, because Yokis is one of the best post players in the league. But the combination of Yokis passing out of the Post and Yoki's passing out of the short role has actually generated ridiculously high quality spot up opportunities for his teammates. So think of it like this.

The Lakers had terrible spot up talent last year compared to the rest of the League. Is One of the big reasons why they struggled. We talked about this at length. They had weak role players. They were the second worst team in the league in points per possession out of spot up opportunities, just because they struggle to actually capitalize on that. Well, Denver is in a similar situation. there.

Old players last year were underqualified compared to some of the other guys around the league, because of the loss of Jamal Murray, because of the loss of Michael Porter Jr, who would be eating up a lot of those spot up possessions. Well, last year the nuggets were fourth in spot up efficiency at one point zero eight points per possession. That's the type of advantage creation that Nicola Yokich gives

your team. He will he will make it so that even under qualified players, even players that struggle with shooting or attacking closeouts and making reads, he will put them in such an advantageous position that they will produce better than many of the other players in the league. This is an offense that is structured around nickel Yoki's ability to generate advantages for his teammates, either coming off of those dribble handoffs or in or ball screens or in

spot up situations. Also, they're one of the best cutting teams in the league. They were fourth and cutting volume, as well as sixth and cutting efficiency. That's just Nicola Yogi is relentless ability to hit cutters, which motivates cutting. One of the hard things for players off ball is if they don't feel like they're gonna get the ball, they're not gonna be willing to do things like, you know, screen away or or relocate or cut back door if

they don't think they're going to get the basketball. The nuggets are incentivized to cut and to cut frequently, because Nicola Yogis will will will relentlessly hit them when they cut. It keeps their offense in motion. It's a huge part of why they were so successful. Again, we're talking about a team here that last year was literally sixth in offense despite having the level of offensive talent that they had, and it's once again just a testament to what Nikola

Yogis can do with the basketball. So post ups obviously are a huge part of their offense. They were second in volume behind the Philadelphia Seventy sixers. They dumped the ball down to Joel and be just an absurd amount of time. He posted up a hundred and fifty more times than Yokis did last year. Um, but KOL Yokich was number one in post up efficiency last year. This is like looking at the skill sets. You Think, Oh, like Joel embid. Look at how talented he is hitting

the step back jump shots. Look at his ability to draw foul's. A NICKELA Yoki Post up generates twelve additional points per one hunter possessions than an embid post up does. And that's before we get into what he can do passing the basketball, which is to a whole other level

than what Joel embid can do. Now, I think Joel embiads a better defensive player than Yokis, buy some small amount, but they're in my opinion, is a pretty decent chasm between the two of them as offensive players, and that's a big reason why I am so high on what Nickel Yokis can do relative to what Joel embid can do.

One of the things they do really uh, in a really interesting way to set up Yokis for success in post ups is they don't just do the lazy thing, which is have him fight for position and dump the ball to him on the block. They run a lot of yoke it's post ups off of cross screens. This is one of the things that was impressing uh impressing me a lot on film this morning. A Lot. They won't just dump the ball into they will, but they

don't just do that every time down the floor. They'll have him run some sort of action that has him catching and turning and facing at ten feet with the defender closing out at him, so he can shoot some catch and shoot ten footers, which he makes at a high percentage, so that he can turn and do a power dribble with space between so we can get his momentum going so that he can gain more position moving towards the basket, or he can get deeper seals closer

to the rim and just turn and finished right away. The way they structure their offense to get yogis advantageous post ups is a huge part of why he's so efficient down there. They had a set against the clippers that I was watching this morning out of horns where he was on the right elbow for facing the basket. He's on the right elbow and there's a post entry

to him at the elbow. There he turns and does a dribble handoff to whoever's coming out of the corner and after that dribble handoff, the guy in the opposite the corner and the guy in the opposite elbow run and set a double cross screen, literally a double cross screen for Yokis to run over to a post up on the left block he ends up catching so wide open that he just turns and shoots a completely unguarded

ten footer. What is so smart about that concept, not just that super complicated play that I'm not super complicated, but more complicated play that I just mentioned, but even less complicated versions like cross screens and things along those lines, is big men really struggled to navigate screens. Most of the best screen navigating basketball players in the world are short and stocky and strong, because they're difficult to put

a body on. But when you're when you're like in that clippers game, when you're asking zoobots to run through a double staggered screen. He's gonna get caught on him. He just is how much times he spent practicing running through double staggered screens? How like, in most levels of youth basketball you're playing with two bigs and their cross screening for each other and they'll just they'll just switch right or they won't have a second player down there

to do cross screens with. They just don't have to navigate a ton of screening actions, chasing, locking and trailing, and so I think that's really smart that Denver does that and I think it's a big part of why Yokis has been as efficient as he's been in put in post up situations. The bottom line is everything that I just mentioned there has to do with efficiency. In a season where they struggled with offensive talent off ball, you're now plugging Jamal Murray into that mix and he's outstanding.

I'M NOT gonna get any further into him yet because I want to spend a lot of time on him later in the show. Michael Porter Jr, one of the best spot up three point shooters that we have in the league right now. contavious called but pope, I talked about his fit as a transition player. You know, the one thing with him is will Barton generated a lot of chemistry with Nicola Yokich in those ball screen and drimal handoff situations. It'll be interesting to see if K

C P can replicate any of that. But it not, it might matter with the development of bones highland and with Jamal Murray's return and with him being in a primarily spot up role, and he's gonna get outstanding spot up opportunities that he's going to capitalize on. I think that this team has a a very good chance to

be the best offense in basketball this year. As a matter of fact, I would predict that if they stayed largely healthy, if all of four of their stars average sixty five games played, that they would finish the season as the number one offense in the league this year. Moving on to the defensive end of the floor, so they're very traditional, in line with the rest of the League. They run drop covers with Yo kitchen. They switched just

about everything else. Big Shock. You've heard that from the vast majority of the teams that we've dealt with this year. We need to spend some time on Yokachen drop coverage, though, because it's kind of like a conflicting uh narrative, because he's actually a very good drop coverage big in terms of his ability to keep the roller in front of him and defend ball handler driving at him and defend

shots around the rim. But the reality is is that that's only one type of offense that kind of plays into that, and that's the ball handler being willing to drive into the teeth of the defense rather than being aggressive as a pull up shooter or being aggressive in the mid range and so like. It's kind of like it's kind of like a given a take because keeping him around the rim and drop coverage, he's more impactful there defending shots at the rim. Having him close to

the rim helps him get defensive rebounds. Like if he's chasing everybody in switches or coming way high out of the drop up to the level of the screen, he's not gonna get as many defensive rebounds. If he doesn't get as many defensive rebounds, he can't start the break. So in a lot of cases it's just a trade off.

Denver is willing to give pull up jump shots or to struggle a little bit in five out driving kick situations, on understanding that they benefit in transition with what Yokis can do grabbing rebounds and starting the break and what

he can do protecting the rim. So he's not as limited as a traditional drop coverage big right, but he's also not nearly as gifted defensively as the true versatile defensive back line guys that can switch or cover in space better or come high out of the screen and still contain and all of those different things, like even in that warrior series when Yoki was coming high out of the drop up to the level of the screen

Stephi was just going right around him. And so that's always going to be an issue for Denver how they can utilize yokis defensively without overly compromising their defense, but also not overly compromising their transition attack, which depends on Yoki being around the rim. So it's a very complicated topic. Denver fans with rose colored glasses will view that in a very positive light. You know, I'm not a OAKTS detractor. I try to be very fair about him. I view

it in the middle. He's something better than a traditional drop coverage big but something less than a versatile defensive big man that can do more like a Bam at a bio, for instance. Um Moving on to the kind of the other aspects of defense, Mike Malone is a good basketball coach and he's very good on the margins. He's top ten defending the three point line, which is

just smart. I'm always quick to look there because the smartest basketball teams in the League are chasing teams off the three point line because that's where they like to go for large portions of their offense. In terms of the math, it's just a very efficient way to attack. If you can't lock down the rim like you need to either be able to completely shut down the rim or guard the three point line really well. If you don't do both, I don't believe in what you can

do defensively. The Milwaukee Bucks completely shut down the rim, so I'm a little bit more at peace with what they do giving up shots at the three point line. The Denver Nuggets defend the rim terribly like well, we'll talk out in a minute. They were twenty five points in the pain allowed last year, but they guard the three point line well and so that's kind of a foundational piece for their defense. That they can lean on, at least in a playoff setting. Um, I really like

uh Oh. And then, lastly, on the Mike Malone in the margins bit, they're the best defensive rebounding team in all of basketball. In terms of defensive rebounding possessions. No team secures more of the opponent's misses than Denver does, which is just it's that's really smart on two fronts. So you're you're limiting the number of shot opportunities that the opponent gets and you're limiting their efficiency by taking

away the high value shots. That's a way to squeeze out of out of Lesser Defensive Talent, a middle of the pack defense, and that's what they ended up being fifteenth in the League. Um, cantavious caldwell pope is a legitimate perimeter defensive threat. He's gonna struggle against your bigger wings. Like I know he can't guard Kawhi Leonard in isolation situations. I know he can't guard Lebron James and isolation situations, but that's what you have Aaron Gordon for. He's air

for that. KCP is a player that you can throw out of Paul George who can do a decent job or against many of the scoring guards that we have in this league. I like him as an option there. And then Aaron Gordon is Your Textbook Perimeter, rim pressuring wing defender like that can guard the Kauais and the lebrons and the Jason Tatums of the world. So they have two good matchups that they can throw at those

specific guys, which I really like. Um, the big swing factors for their defense this year is gonna be Jamal Murray Michael Porter Jr. Jamal Murray was solid, I thought solid on tape in the season season. I thought he held up okay in the playoffs. Certainly not a great defensive player. Michael Porter Jr was trending in the right direction before his injury, but he was still pretty average to below average. And then this back thing. It's a question of whether or not he lost any mobility as

part of that. I saw a video of him working out a couple of months ago. Didn't look overly quick, but he's still in the middle of his rehabit a point. So I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but those two you if you're gonna have Murray Porter Jr and Yokich on the floor. You you're gonna need some kind of defensive leap or some sort of, you know, uh progression to competency from either Murray or porter to really become the type of defense they would need to

win an NBA championship. Um, Nikola yokis foot speed. This is something that I spent a lot of time talking about in our player rankings. But you know, there's just a proven method to a technically Yokich on the defensive

end of the floor. Push the ball in transition because he's gonna struggle to keep up in a foot race, and then put put pull up shooters in pick and roll situations to pull him out of his drop and then put him in space out situations, five out driving kick situations where he has to cover in space and make rotations that make him cover a ton of ground. If you do that, he will struggle. That's just a fact. I think. I would hope that Nicola Yoki fans would

be willing to acknowledge that as as well. The nuggets were nineteen defending off of live ball live ball rebounds last year. That's not good for a team with legitimate championship aspirations. And they're bringing in slower footed players into the rotation compared to some of the athletes they had playing minutes last year. Teams know that you can attack Denver by pushing the brake and by spacing them, spacing

them out. It's just a fact Um. That's why, despite the fact that Yokich was actually a solid rim defender, that they were twenty five in paint points allowed. It's not about what Yokich can do when he's standing around the rim and people drive at him. It's about what Yokich can do when teams find a way to pull him away from the Rim and the way that that

opens up things at the room for the opponent. My guess is that they'll finish somewhere around fifteenth and defense again, if I had to guess, but they're gonna be one of, if not the best offense in the league. So if we're talking about a number one offense and a number fifteen defense, that's a team that's firmly in that top ten in terms of net rating and their ability to beat teams on the scoreboard. The question is, can they get enough stops, especially in pivotal moments, and we're gonna

we're simply gonna have to find out. Um, the one little interesting wrinkle there that I think uh nuggets fans could get excited about is, you know, I haven't made my picks yet this year, but H and we'll do so right before the regular season starts. But have gun to my head right now. I would bet that Milwaukee has a very good chance to come out of the east. I'd say, you know, kind of fifty fifty between them

in Boston. If I had to guess right now, and I haven't put a ton of thought into it, that means you're gonna have to go through you Honice, potentially to win a title, and there were some really interesting footage from Eurobasket of Nicola Yokich and his ability to guard Janice, giving ground knowing he's not gonna beat you over the top, consistently sliding his feet, taking contact to the chest and protecting the rim. He did a really

nice job on Jannice. That's an exciting potential thing as a matchup in an NBA finals series between the Bucks and the nuggets, should it come to that. So best case scenario. Obviously, it starts with health. Michael Porter Jr in his back how quickly are they gonna get Murray up to speed? Is His body gonna hold up over the course of the season? All of those things. But if they stay healthy, I think this is the number

one offense in basketball. I think Nikola Yoki is one of the best offensive engines in basketball and he has a bunch of role players that are are specifically equipped with basketball skill sets that play well off of what Nikola Yok can do with the ball. It's really gonna come down to can Mike Malone, Jamal Murray, Nikola Yokich and Michael Porter Jr in particular, obviously the strategic help,

and then the players themselves. Can they figure out how to get enough stops to beat a Boston to beat a golden state, to beat in L A clippers or

to beat a Milwaukee Bucks? I don't know, we'll see, but if Nicola Yokich plays the way that we know he's capable of, and he's been a dominant playoff player basically in every series, outside of maybe his matchup with Anthony Davis, where he struggled a little bit, if he plays to that level and they get enough stops, this team is absolutely capable of winning an NBA championship, and and and and again. Like in my player rankings, I had nickel Yogi at seven, and yeah, it's because I

prefer perimeter players. I prefer Luca Don Chech and what he can do from the perimeter. I prefer Lebron James, I prefer Kevin Durant, I prefer step curry, Janisontenna Combos, on and so forth. But that does not mean that he can't be number one this year. He is absolutely capable of that, especially if he makes some improvements on the defensive end of the floor and if he plays like the number one player in the year. This team

is talented enough to win a championship. It's absolutely within reach. That's why I consider them the last of the puncher's chance contenders. Their puncher's chance is Yokich. If he plays to that level, they can beat anybody. Worst case scenario, obviously, health becomes an issue. Their offense, I think, will be great,

no matter what I mean Yokich. Had Him at six of all the guys missing last year, but their defense won't be able to get stops and and pivotal moments if they don't figure out some things on that end. Without health, they won't be able to score in the half court against the best defenses. In that case there are playing team or first round exit at that point.

So the part of this show that I was most excited for because this is a player that I don't think has gotten nearly as much credit as he deserves in general, even when he was healthy, and I think he's poised for a big season, provided that his knee holds up. And that is Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray is one of my favorite players in the league. He's the definition of the modern do everything scoring guard. So, first of all, he's an outstanding pull up jump shooter. He

shot forty one percent on pull up jumpers. On pull up jumpers, he shot forty five percent on pull up jumpers in playoffs, including forty percent from three. He's one of the most reliable pull up jump shooters in the game of basketball. He is an expert at making the shots that most defenses are designed to give up. Most defenses are designed to give up difficult pull up jump shots, and that's what he makes as his bread and butter. That's what makes him a super interesting player. He's also

extremely well rounded. He shot fifty in the paint, non restricted area. So like think of that as like short floaters and push shots in the lane on three attempts per game. This was in the year that he got hurt. He was in the mid range on five attempts per game. That's very good, and this is a crazy part. He also got to the Rim three times per game and shot seventy two percent when he got there, which is

like ridiculous for a guard. That's what I considered to be good for a big, strong athletic for words that are typically finishing above the rim. Jamal Murray is just incredibly proficient at every spot on the floor. It's amazing to me that he's not more well regarded as a star guard in this league the way that he deserves. I don't know if it's because his big playoff run took place in the bubble and everyone just dismisses the bubble, which is outrageous. I mean literally, it is the it

is the UH, the like perfect basketball environment. Everyone's in the same gym, there's not fan distractions, it's just ft of Hardwood, ten basketball players and Valarry O'Brien at steak. That is basketball at its purest form. No one's going to strip clubs, no one's partying, no one's anything, it's just basketball. I don't see how succeeding in that environment is some sort of like, uh, like some sort of red flag or some sort of detriment to your reputation.

He should have been elevated for what he did in the bubble. This is a crazy part he's I've always thought of this in terms of the eye test and when I saw watching him, but when I was diving into the numbers this morning, it's crazy. This dude is a flat out assassin and he has a great feel for big moments in clutch situations. He shot fifty one percent from the field, from three and didn't miss a free throw and he scored at a rate of thirty

one points for thirty six minutes. In the playoffs he scored at a rate of thirty six points per thirty six minutes on fifty six percent from the field, seventy three percent from three and didn't miss a free throw. That's ridiculous. If any other scoring guard in the League

did that, we'd be calling them a superstar. Now he's not the defensive player that he needs to be to get to that point, and some of this is him being in Yoki's shadow, but Jamal Murray checks a lot of boxes of superstar guard and I think he deserves a little bit more recognition on that part. He is a flat out star. The question is, can he get back to what he was a c l tears are weird. Sometimes they take two years to come back. He did take a long time in his recovery this time, so

he should be okay. But if Jamal Murray is that guy, with how good Yokich has become over the was the last two years, with what Aaron Gordon can do guarding the other team's best player, running the floor and transition and attacking closeouts, and with what my what Michael Porter Jr can do when he's healthy, they suddenly become one of the most talented players in the league. But it's just it's an x factor because we don't know whether or not it will take more time than that for

Jamal Murray to get up to speed. But he's one of my favorite players and I hope he has a huge season this year to remind everybody what he's capable of. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. We'll be doing number seven tomorrow, number six on Wednesday, number five on Thursday and then we'll head into the final four next week. I will see you guys tomorrow. The Volume