Hoops Tonight - Nuggets SHOCK Warriors on Nikola Jokic buzzer beater, Steve Kerr on the hot seat?

nine hundred, Jason Tatum plus eighteen hundred. Download the Draftking Sports Book AP now and use code hoops. New customers can get one hundred and fifty instantly in bonus bets for betting just five dollars on basketball only on DraftKings Sportsbook with code hoops. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York, call eight seven seven to eight hope and why, or text hope

and why to four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Twenty one plus age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty

eight hours after issuance. See dkang dot com slash basketball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to tonight here at the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having an incredible week. We have a jam packed show for you today. The Denver Nuggets come back from eighteen down to beat the Warriors last night on a heave from Nikola Jokics. We're gonna break that down from the perspective of both teams.

Then we had a report this morning that Jonathan Kaminga is very frustrated with Steve Kerr. We're gonna talk about what that means for the Warriors. Then we're gonna do a deep dive on the New Orleans Pelicans. After getting their ass kicked by the Lakers in the n Season Tournament, they're playing really good basketball ever since then. So we're gonna break them down for a little bit. Then we have our latest edition of the MVP Ranking, something we

haven't done in a couple of weeks. And then, last but not least, we have eight mail bag questions for the end of the show as well. You guys are the Joe four we get started. Subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel. It mean a lot to me if you guys wuld take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feeds wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight follow me

on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss any show announcements or the film threads that I do. I'm gonna be talking about the late game run from the Nuggets and the Warriors, but we're not gonna go possession by possession through it. I did that this morning, every single possession of the comeback on both ends of the floor in detailed breakdown. You can find that on

my Twitter feed at underscore Jason LT. And then don't forget to keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments that we can keep hitting them throughout the week, and the last but not least have you guys ever had a really frustrating ticket experience. I actually had one this summer. I was trying to go to a to a Debt in Company concert in Phoenix and it was just an absolute nightmare. Well, I want to talk to you guys more about Game Time. I think they're the

best ticketing app out there right now. They have a couple of specific features that I really like. They have all in pricing, you know upfront what you're getting yourself into from a cost standpoint, but they also have really good pictures of what you're seeing from every single seat. So it's an extremely transparent process that gives you an excellent experience buying tickets to live sporting events, concerts, and comedy shows, things along those lines, right, And like, look,

we like talking about basketball here on the show. Basketball is a great TV product, but nothing beats being there in person. I'm gonna try to get up to a Sun's game soon for those of you guys here in Arizona. I think the Suns are about to go on a little bit of a run here too, now that everybody's getting healthy. Get out to his Son's Get on the Game Time app. Use my code. You can use code Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. So take

the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Take advantage of that super transparent process. Download the game Time app, create an account and use code Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms apply again, Create an account and redeem code hoops. That's Hops for twenty dollars off. Download Game Time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed.

All right, let's talk some basketball. So you know, one of the things we've talked about this season is I've never really been concerned about Denver no matter what happens. You know, they haven't had the most impressive regular season so far to this point. I think after last night there's still like nine and eleven against teams that are five hundred or better. That's it. I've never been worried because I think they're the best half court team in

the league in my opinion. What does that mean when the game slows down, when when the transition opportunities are

few and far between. It's which team can execute in a slow down half court in and so I made a thread this morning of every single play that took place from when the Warriors were up eighteen with six and a half minutes left or so to Nikole Jokic's game winner, And in that thread there's a really detailed breakdown of the specifics of what I'm about to talk about, but the short version is, on one end of the floor, the Nuggets knew exactly what they wanted to do on offense,

and then on the other end of the floor, the Warriors had no idea what they wanted to do. They started by trying to post up Andrew Wiggins on Jamal Murray and Nikole Jokicic was just completely ignoring Kavan Looney camping in the lane, making it so that Wiggins could not make an aggressive move, and then off the ball.

The Nuggets were doing what a lot of teams have done to the Warriors since the Lakers kind of demonstrated it in the playoffs last year, and that's top locking the off ball actions, meaning on this particular play that I'm referencing, and I have a video clip of it in the thread, Wiggins has the ball in the post, Jokic is helping in the paint, Jamal Murray is guarding Andrew Wiggins, and Cavan Loney goes over to set a screen for either Brandon Pazemski or Stephen Curry to come

flying off of that action towards the basketball to try to get open. Cacp's on one side of the screen and Aaron Gordon's on the other side, and they're both just denying the screen. They're like, if you run this way, you're just gonna run right into me. And Andrew Wiggins or excuse me, AKCP and Aaron Gordon were prepared to switch. They had it all set up so that KCP would take the first guy off the screen, and it just shut down the action, and they didn't know what to do, right.

They tried ball screens, but Denver was just chasing Steph over the top with Contavious Calbo Pope and Jokics was just doing his best to trap as best as he could with how fast Steph is, right, but they just ignored Andrew Wiggins on the weak side, and they covered Looney with that low man and nothing was open, and they tried to make the fast and Wiggins once Steph made a really nice cross court pass. But Wiggins is shooting thirty one percent on catching shoot threes this year,

not a very good shot. Right. Then Steve Kerr tries a lineup change. He brings in Chris Paul, he brings in Dario, Sorry, she brings in Trace Jackson Davis start ducking under every single Chris Paul ballscreen so Chris Paul can't get into the paint. That shuts down that action. They put Aaron Gordon on Dario Sarich so they'd switched the Sarge pick and roll. That put them in a situation where Steph couldn't get downhill on that action, right.

And then with Tray Jackson Davis they could do the same thing that they were doing with Looney, which is just having bracket with KCP and Nicole Jokic and just show help on the roll. As a matter of fact, there was one time that they got a good shot down the entire stretch of this game. What they did is they ran a Sarage ball screen to get Gordon switched on to Steph. Then they brought Tray Jackson Davis

and Nicole Jokic into the action. Then when they bracketed, Steph hit Tray Jackson Davis and now Denver's two biggest players are out at the three point line and Tray Jackson Davis got a left handed layup at the basket. That was an easy shot because Denver smaller players were on the back line. That was the one good shot they got in the entire six and a half minute stretch. What was crazy is they had three additional possessions after that play where Trey Jackson Davis got the layup, and

they never went back to that same sequence. The screen to get Gordon onto Steph, and then the ball screen involving nikolea Jokic's guy. Steph tried attacking KCP and ISO. That didn't work. He kind of got downhill, but KCP defended it well and he missed a scoop shot off the glass. They got one high percentage shot total in six and a half minutes with one of the very best offensive players of all time and certainly the best

offensive player of his era on the floor. It was just a great example of some of the personnel limitations that the Warriors have on the table, which we'll talk about more here in just a minute, but credit to Denver's defense. First of all, Kntavious, Callbo, Pope and Aaron Gordon had three or four ISO stops on Steph Curry during that stretch, the rest of the guys executed their

scheme to perfection. I talked about the top locking of the shooters to shut down some of their split cut stuff, the ducking under ball screens like Contavious Cobwell Pope versus me on Chris Paul. That was actually Jamal Murray doing that tagging and rotating on the weak side. Even Jamal Murray, who is a lesser defensive player, had some big contributions down the stretch. On the defensive. Glass had two massive

contested rebounds over that stretch. But the main reason, as much as I do want to credit Denver, and I'm not trying to undercut that in any sense, but you saw a lot of the personnel shortcomings with Golden State on full display, right like whether it was Loony and Wiggins or is Tray Jackson Davis and Chris Paul, no matter what Chris Paul, no matter what Golden State went with down the stretch, they had two non scoring threats on the floor, and that just made it so that

Denver could throw the kitchen sink at Steph without reprisal. And it's a big it's the biggest latest example of why Golden State desperately needs another high level offensive player to put in those final groupings. I also disagree with the lineup Steve kurruzed down the stretch, but we'll get

to that here in a few minutes. On the other end, Denver just continually spammed their pet actions and got great shots on every single possession, steady dose of two man game with Yokichen Murray, and they like it would be like the first time they ran it. During the run, Jokics just gets a sweet little hook shot that he makes all the time. Right, second time, Looney gets a little more physical with him, he smokes that little hook shot, but Aaron Gordon gets an offensive rebound. That's a key

little storyline here down the stretch. Is like even when they did get a stop on the Murray Yokic post up, or excuse me, the Murray yokicch two man game, Aaron Gordon would just be there to clean it up on the back end because he had Klay Thompson on him and it's just too much of a physical disadvantage there. Right, they ran a bunch of double drags set down the stretch. Now, remember double Dragons really said two ball screens, typically one guy rolls and one guy pops to the three point line.

On the first one, like Steph, Curry went like he was gonna hedge way on the outside, so Jamal split after the first screen and got Downhill made a kickout past to Peyton Watson, who knocked down a quarter three. By the way, shout out Peyton Watson, who's been getting a lot of opportunities at the end of games because he's a really good defensive player and he's knocking down shots. He's actually shooting thirty eight percent on corner threes this year.

And then they ran another double drag set where Steph didn't hedge this time, he actually switched out onto Jamal Murray and they ended up getting the ball to Yokitic on the roll, who ended up hitting Aaron Gordon for a lob dunk. They just managed to get good shots every single time down the floor. Even if they did rotate out of the action that Denver was running, they could just throw the ball to Yokitch in the post. On the key possession late in the game, the one

that tied the game. Chris Paul actually shut down the two man game with a really smart stunt in rotation to take away the corner three from Peyton Watson, and they just threw the ball into Koleyokitchen the post, who just calmly worked for an easy shot in the lane to score over Dario Sarage. So it was like the actions were getting great shots. Even when they stopped the actions, they just go to Yokich in the post. Even if Jokic missed the shot in the post, Aaron Gordon was

there to clean up the mess. Really, the one shot during that stretch where you're like, eh, that was lucky or not, you know, not necessarily great offense was there was a strong side help play from Klay Thompson where Aaron Gordon knocked down a corner three, and Aaron Gordon's shooting like twenty six percent on corner threes this year,

so you could say that was somewhat lucky. But outside of that, it was just a boatload of high quality shots for Denver and then one high quality shot for Golden State, which was the Tray Jackson Davis slip of the ball screen, which they never went back to the rest of the game. And even then, chances are even if they just did it a second time, Denver probably

makes some sort of adjustment. Simply put, they probably just have Aaron Gordon run a variation of a drop instead of switching, and then they don't end up with Aaron Gordon on Steph right. So like, it just was a complete personnel in mismatch on both ends of the floor, not just the physicality, not just the rebound and rebounding and what they're capable of doing in terms of defensive rotations,

but also an offensive personnel. You know, there was a play where Yokich is going to work on Kevon Looney and Brandon Piziemski just can't help because it's Michael Porter that's on the strong side and he just can't help because he's leaving too good of a shooter open. There was even a play where Michael Porter Junior missed a wide open wing three. It was just a complete in

total personnel mismatch, and on the Denver front. This remains the main reason why I think Denver is comfortably the championship favorite to this point, even more so than I've been saying earlier. I've been saying I think Denver is clearly and discernibly better. Now I think they're starting to be a little bit of a gap. They are by far the best half court execution team, and it's like

legitimately on both ends of the floor. Now, yeah, they can generate quality shots every time down, but they are a really good defensive team this year. First of all, they have two outstanding individual defenders, and Aaron Gordon and Contavious Cabbopope talked earlier about how they like. I think they got at least three ISO stops on Steph Curry. CACP got one, and then Aaron Gordon got two. But

then everybody else just does their job. And now they even have the ability to go to Peyton Watson, who shot the ball well enough to close games for them, and just bring another outstanding athlete onto the court. So at this point, put it simply, I've seen enough to say that if Denver is healthy, I'd be genuinely surprised if they didn't win the title this year. I think they're just a better version of the team that ran

through everyone last year. Only an injury to a starter would crack the door enough, in my opinion, for someone else to get through. So shout out to Denver. You know, I was literally thinking this as I was watching the game last night. I only watched the very end of it live. I watched the rest of it this morning, but I was actually watching Game of Thrones with my wife or going through a rewatch just for fun, and I checked the score in the game, and I'm like,

holy shit, the Nuggets are coming back. So I pulled my phone out at one twenty seven five and I watched that final bucket against Sarch in the post, and then the Steph turnover, and then the the Jokic game winner. By the way, the Yokic game winner was just completely absurd. The dude it it's unbelievable with this guy is doing. He's missed five shots in the last four games. It's insane. He's comfortably he's got a stranglehold on the best player

in the world title right now. But I was thinking as I was watching to get the end of that game on my phone, I'm like, every once in a while in the NBA, a special team comes around, like a truly special team. And you know, the last one felt like the Warriors. I think there have been really good teams since then. I'm not trying to undercut that, but like a truly special team where you just know that they're going to be a level above everybody for

a little while. And that's what Denver feels like to me. It feels like they're the next in that long line of truly special teams. If it was like the Spurs in the Heat in the early two thousands, and it was the Warriors in the late two thousands, and you know, like I think, I think we're flowing into now. This is the Denver era. They are the truly special team

of this era on the Golden State front. So we get this report come out from Shamserania this morning basically Jonathan Kaminga just saying that he's completely lost trust in Steve Kerr and his ability to help him reach his potential. And basically what happens is Kamina ends up sitting the majority of the end of the game when he was supposed to come back in late Kerr. Kerr's excuse was basically like Andrew Wiggins was playing well and Kaminga was sitting too long, so I didn't want to go back

to him. But that doesn't really make sense considering with like three minutes left, he made a line shift of of of Chris Paul and tray S, Jackson Davis, and Dario Sarich. So, like, I don't really necessarily agree with that reasoning. But here's the thing. Jonathan Kaminga handling that stuff in the press not a not a good look, and it's not the first time he's done it this year,

but he does have a point. Kerr was literally throwing stuff at the wall at the end of that game, and like, Kaminga just has to be one of the things he throws at the wall there, especially against a team as big as Denver that's killing you and helping recover situations and on the offensive glass. Now, I personally would have gone with Stephen Clay with Wiggins and Kaminga and then Dario sariz Maybe if Moody was in the rotation, but Moody's out of the rotation, maybe you can go

with Moody in place of Wiggins there. But like I would have gone with those guys, I think it would have just given you a much better chance of hanging defensively. You were already having all sorts of offensive limitations. Now Steve Kerr is on the record and he talked about this last night. He doesn't think the two of those guys fit well together. He said, it doesn't look good on tape, and it doesn't look good in the numbers, and there are some numbers that backed it up there. There.

Here's my concern though, Like he's right, they are a little bit redundant, and they do need a perfect trio of players around them to be like, really really good. But that doesn't mean anything when the lineups he's throwing out there are also redundant and also lacking in key areas. It's not like he had a clearly defined lineup that

made perfect sense that didn't include Kaminga. He was throwing shit at the wall, and Kaminga wasn't among the pile of shit he was throwing at the wall, if that makes sense, right, And now those are really aggressive words, but I'm trying to make a point. The bottom line is, in my opinion, if you're gonna be bad, you need to be bad with Kaminga on the floor, Like, because in terms of upside, he has some of the highest

upside on the team. He was playing great that game, having success attacking Jamal Murray in the post, Like, I don't understand how that wasn't one of the options that he went to down the stretch of the game. So, even though I disagree with handling that sort of thing in the press, Jonathan Kaminga has a point, but like it really to me, shines the light on the bigger issue here. It's time. It's time for Golden State to pick a direction and go already. Is Steve Kurr a

bad coach? No, I genuinely believe he's one of the best coaches in the league for a good veteran team that has an opportunity to win the title. He's very, very good with the tactical adjustments in playoff series, and he can manage the ebb and flow of that playoff path right. But it's clear that philosophically he hates playing young players that aren't excellent in the dirty work areas

right or at least in terms of their reputation. Like, I think it's interesting that he continually trusts Trey Jackson Davis, and Brandon Pazamski but not Moses Moody and Jonathan Kaminga. And it's because these guys have the like the higher end potential. I think Patzemski's a really good two way player, but those two guys have like the really high end potential on offense. But like the thing too is like

they can defend on the perimeters too. He's mainly concerned about their decision making process, and kirk Get's so paranoid about guys making bad decisions that he gets these guys really short leashes. But like he doesn't have to worry about Tray Jackson Davis making a bad decisions because he's screening and rolling to the rim, but I would argue

that he made it. Like here's the thing though, Like Tray Jackson Davis made a key defensive mistake at the end of the game overhelping on a Jokic roll that gave up Aaron Gordon dunk. And even though that's not throwing a bad pass or taking a bad shot, it is still a decision making mistake that led to two points for the other team. So I don't even necessary by that as a reason. But I'm just trying to say, like I think Kerr's philosophy here is, these guys are

loose cannons. I can't trust them to do their job these so I'm gonna go with the veterans and I'm gonna go with the young players that he trusts to do their job. And so it's clear that as long as Kerr is at the helm of this thing, Kaminga is not gonna get consistent opportunity. Moody's not gonna get consistent opportunity unless there's some sort of directive from on high that he's willing to listen to. And maybe that'll happen here down the stretch. I mean, that's what they

need to happen, at least until the deadline. But here's the reality. You need to do one of two things. You either need to fire Steve Kerr, rebuild around the young players, and move on to a new era. Because Steve Kerr is not the right coach for a young rebuilding team. He's not good with young players, right, but he's the perfect coach for a soft rebuild around Steph

Clay and Draymond. Not to mention Stephan Clay in particular, probably mutiny if you fired Steve or if they were still on the roster, right, So do one or the other. Make up your mind. It's the middle ground which is getting you into trouble constantly over the last couple of years.

So like trade Jonathan Kaminga, trade Moses Moody trade draft compensation, bring back a Siakam or a Markinen or Jeremy Grant and run at it again with Stephen Klay and Draymond and those guys, and Andrew Wiggins and Steve Kerr is the perfect guy for that group. You'll never have a Jonathan kaminga report to the press again after that. But if you don't believe in that, then yeah, fire Steve Kerr and go this way. There's been so much talk about Steve Kerr being a bad coach. He's not a

bad coach. He's coaching a bad team right now, that's what's happening. And they're a bad team in large part because one of their most important players has been suspended. There's one of their other most important players, and Andrew Wiggins is just playing really bad basketball by his standards and what he's used to right, And there's a philosophical schism taking place between the young and their development and

what's best for the team in the short term. And like I would argue, playing the young players is actually also better for the team in the short term until the trades are made. But Steve Kerr feels differently, and so in this in between stretch before they trade the young guys and up until the stretch where or from now up until the stretch where they get something back

of the trade deadline. That gap there, Steve Kerr is the bad coach for this group, not because he is a bad coach, He's just not the right coach for this specific personnel dynamic, and that's what you're seeing manifesting there. But like at the end of the day, and maybe they do have to wait till the deadline, because that's the best way to drive the price up, right, because people just get a little bit more desperate when we

get to February. Right. But if that's the case, you either need a directive from on high like I said that said, hey stop it with the cominga shit, get him out there on the floor, right, or Warriors fans need to be prepared for a really ugly stretch here up until the deadline, which is not the end of the world, because once again, once you get to the deadline that we've seen, just like with the Lakers last year, you can make a run, get up to that seventh

seed and try to make some noise in the playoffs. And you know, if Golden State gets to that point and they have an OKC or they have a Minnesota in the first round, Like Golden State's gonna go into that series thinking they can win, especially if they bring back a high caliber player at the deadline. Right, So, like not all is lost, but they need to make

a decision. And before that decision, it's either gonna look really bad or there needs to be some sort of flexing of muscles in the front office or the ownership group to try to get Steve Curtis start playing these young guys. All right, let's move on to the New Orleans Pelicans. So I was watching Pell's Wolves this morning, and it was a really interesting game because of close early, but then the Pelicans just completely dominated in the second quarter.

Ce J McCollum and Brandon Ingram are both absolutely cooking and pick and roll right now, So those guys were going off. They were defending extremely well. They had Anthony Edwards frustration and complaining at the refs. Karl Anthony Towns was taking one leg fadeaways. The Minnesota's got some personnel shortcomings too when it comes to off ball shooting, which has been a big problem in their half court offense.

But they ended up running away with the win. As a matter of fact, the Pelicans held the Wolves under twenty five points or twenty five points or fewer in each of the first three quarters as they ran away. It's actually one of the more impressive wins of the season when you figure it was on the road in Minnesota. So I figured it was time to check on the Pels because since getting their ass kicked in the n Season Tournament game against the Lakers, they are nine and

three and have avenge that loss to the Lakers. They are sixth in offense, second in defense, second in net rating, and second in rebounding percentage. And I want to start on the defensive end of the four and it really just comes down to them being excellent in three key phases. They're excellent at the point of attack, They're excellent in

backside rotation, and they're excellent on the defensive glass. And when I say backside rotation, that's help, that's defensive rebounding, that's rotat when the ball, when the defense is compromised and you're kind of in like a kind of a chaos situation. They have athletes and they communicate really well. Brandon Ingram in particular, has been so so good as a help side defender this year. I think he's having

one of his better defensive seasons of his career. But specifically, what's interesting to me about it is Jonas Valonchiunis is not a very good defensive player, and it kind of reminds me of Denver in the sense that like what they have bracketed around him with the point of attack in their backside rotations kind of makes the whole thing work, especially when you factor in that they're cleaning up the glass. And again it comes down to some of that backside

athleticism too. You know, when we look at Denver, guys like Michael Porter Junior and Peyton Watson in addition to Aaron Gordon as a low man go a long way towards making that whole thing work. And there's just always so much length and athleticism on the floor for the Pelicans, and I think it's the primary driving force between behind their defensive foundation on the offensive end of the floor.

Over this twelve game span, CJ. McCollums, I Williamson and Brandon Ingram all averaging over twenty points per game very efficiently. Zion's up over sixty percent from the field. Thanks to those three guys in particular, the Pelicans have been the sixth most productive isolation attack in the league. In the league, brandon Ingram in particular, it's getting one point one four

points per isolation possession including passes. There are twenty six players in the league that have attempted at least one hundred. Brandon Ingram's at number six right now. Still love his combination of over the top shot making and he's always been one of the better playmakers at his position. Group. I talked in the game breakdown a little bit about their pick and roll attack in the second quarter, and both CJ and brandon Ingram have been excellent pick and

role players all sees. Brandon Ingram's at one point zero five points per possession, Saja McCollums at one point zero three. It's the most common play type in the NBA, so pretty much anything over one is good. There are sixty seven players in the league to run at least one hundred. Brandon Ingram and CJ are twenty fourth and twenty seventh, respectively. Trey Murphy is shooting four from three on six attempts

per game during this twelve game stretch. Then I want to shout Jonas Valencnis because, like, obviously we've talked to him about some about his defensive limitations, but he's having an awesome offensive season. He's been one of the best post up players in the league one point one to three points per possession including passes, sixth out of twenty three players to attempt at least one hundred post ups to this point. And then he's become a super important

part of the Pells pick and roll attack. He's got a really good you know, uh, pick and poppet and pocket pass chemistry with Brandon Ingram. As a matter of fact, Jonas Valanciunas is converting rollman possessions at one point three to eight points per possession, which is outstanding. That is second in the NBA among players to attempt at least seventy five. There's twenty players that qualify, and he ranks second. And then the last guy I wanted to shout out

was Jose Alvarado. Elverado, excuse me, just such a useful role player off the ball in particular, is an absolute menace at the point of attack. Two point three stem bills per thirty six minutes so far this season. He's really aggressive up underneath players. He's got a low center of gravity, slides his feet well, beats players to spots. He disrupts the basketball still getting people with that sneak attack. But he's also a very good offensive player off the ball.

He converts spot up possessions at one point zero nine points per possession and is shooting sixty two percent in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers. And you could see it on the scoreboard. The Pelicans are thirteen points per one hundred possessions better with him on the floor versus off, which is the second best mark on the team behind Trey Murphy. So shout out to the New Orleans Pelicans. Let's see if they can keep up this level of play over the rest of the season.

Now let's move on to our MVP rankings. So we have a couple of guys dropping off this week, specifically Steph Curry and Jalen Brunson. Between the two of those guys, they have lost eight games since our last edition of power rank or Play of MVP rankings, so they're dropping off the list for now number ten. And remember my MVP rankings, Like if I was an MVP voter, i'd feel different. I just want to use my MVP rankings as a means with which to basically just say who's

been the best regular season player this year. That is the main purpose of my MVP rankings, and for what it's worth, that's the way a lot of voters see it too. So we'll see if it ends up panting out at the end of the year. But I just wanted to I know we've done him a few times, but I wanted to just give that quick little brief

for briefing. Number ten, Darren Fox is scoring an efficiency have taken a little dip since our last rankings, and the Kings have dropped some games, so he drops to ten, and he had a nightmare game against the Orlando Magic the other night, although he did hit a couple of big shots in double overtime. But he's been one of the best volume pull up shooters in the league this year, which I wanted to shout out really quick. He's getting

one point one points per pull up jump shot. There are twenty three players in the league that have attempted at least two hundred, and he ranks third only Tyre Saliburton. And Trey Young have been better. So an excellent pull up shooting season for dearon Fox and just a huge deal when you factor in the fact that he's already one of the best downhill athletes in the league in already a great mid range score as an excellent floater,

great rim finisher, and great passer. Number nine Anthony Edwards's averaging thirty four points, four rebounds, and five assists since our last MVP rankings on forty percent from three by the way, best player on the best team in the Western Conference, even if it is largely on the strength of the team's defense. I do want to shout him out though, because he's been one of the best pick

and roll ball handlers in the league this year. He's getting one point one points per pick and roll including passes, sixth out of forty eight players to run at least two hundred and fifty. He's got really good chemistry with

Rudy Gobert on the role this year. Number eight Jason Tatum, even though I get annoyed with his offensive approach and even though he's not as efficient as some of his peers around the league, the Celtics are four and one since our last rankings, and Tatum is averaging twenty eight points, eight rebounds, and six assists, so he'll hold on to the eighth spot for now. Number seven, another one of

the new guys on our list Kawhi Leonard. Most folks don't know this, but Kawhi is having the most efficient scoring season of his career. He's over sixty three percent true shooting for the first time ever. He's getting one point two to two points per ISO, which is outrageous. Only his teammate James Harden and Tyrese Haliburton have been more efficient on volume. I think it's like a minimum

hundred possessions if I remember correctly. He's also making forty eight percent of his catch and shoot jump shots, getting one one point three to four points per shot. The Clippers are fifteen points per one hundred possessions better with Kawhi on the floor versus off, and the Clippers are now up to fourth in the Western Conference and riding another four game winning streak, so he could climb much higher on this list if he stays healthy throughout the

rest of the season. Number six Giannis and Tennekumpo Jannis is still an absolute wrecking ball, even if Victor weman Yama. That play where he blocked him at the room last night was one of the craziest basketball plays I've ever seen, and Victor just keeps doing stuff like that, right, But despite that since our last rankings, thirty two points, thirteen rebounds, seven assists on sixty three percent field goals and thirty

six percent from three since our last rankings. He had two huge threes against the Spurs last night in crunch time. But the Bucks have dropped three games in the last two weeks, including back to back out classings at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, so Giannis is going to

drop to sixth for now. Number five Luka doncic Our leading score since our last rankings thirty eight points per game to go with eight rebounds and ten assists per game, fifty percent from the field and forty one percent from three. He's also led the MAVs to a four and two record in that span, so he moves up to five

this week. Number four Tyres Halliburton. Five straight wins, all against good teams, including back to back wins against the Bucks, who you know, have some issues at the point of attack, as we've broken down on this show. He resoundingly outplayed Damian Lizard in both games. I'm telling you this is a theme I've seen around the league this year too.

These young guys are really starting to outplay some of the veterans around the league, and it's getting to that point where it might be a changing of the guard of sorts. In that five game stretch, twenty seven points, five rebounds and fifteen assists per game, fifty one percent from the field, thirty nine percent from three, eighty eight percent from the foul line, in one point four turnovers

a game to go with fifteen assists. As a matter of fact, in terms of pure value, in terms of who is doing the most with the least, I actually would put Tyrese Haliburton at number one, but it's team success that's keeping him down to number four for now. But I don't think anybody's done more with less this year than Tyrese Haliburton. Nikoley Okic has only missed five shots over his last four games. Hit the nasty game

winner over at Kavan Loony last night. He's a different candidate than some of the other guys on this list because he's not very aggressive as a scorer this season with the team healthy. Hasn't attempted twenty shots in a game a single time over the last seven games, but he's still dominating and the Nuggets are rolling. He's up to number three. Number two shake Gilgess Alexander the only guy to beat Jokic in the last month or so, and he did it twice, including with the game winner.

Here's a crazy set of Shay stats for you. One point one points per pick and roll including passes, one point two points per ISO including passes, one point three to one points per post up including passes, so he's basically getting almost one point two points per any self created possession in the half court. He's become one of the top five shot creators in the league. I'm very, very excited to watch him play meaningful playoff basketball this

year last, but at least number one. Joel Embiid. He's only played in two games since our last rankings, but he's averaging thirty one to thirteen and ten assists. Yes, ten assists per game. You heard that correctly over his last two games, averaging five turnovers game over that span. But we can't deny anymore that Joel Embiid is taking a leap as a passer, and that's a very, very encouraging thing for him as a postseason player. I want to credit Nick Nurse two for simplifying some of his

reads this year. He has the best combination of total MVP case, which is like two way impact, insane counting stats, team success, and specific value to his team's success on this list. So he's at number one for the time being.

All right, let's move on to our mail bag. First question, do you think that Tatum will continue to hunt difficult pull up threes late in games or against favorable matchups and playoffs when it's so clear that driving and kicking and hoping for the ball to come back to your hands for high percentage shot is a better option. I don't know if I'm just very accustomed to your show in your words, but man, it has become so obvious when he's taking these contested, difficult shots that don't go

in anyways. In other words, if it's so obvious to us on TV, why hasn't Boston adjusted that part out of his game yet or where we see it adjusted come playoffs? So I think the reality is is Jason Tatum is probably trusting his work here, and like he probably just has a great amount of belief in that pull up jump shot. That doesn't mean it's a good shot, but that I think is his reasoning behind taking it.

I do think the coaching staff could be a little bit more, you know, deliberate about trying to talk him out of taking those shots. But at the end of the day, too, Like it's a fine line between that and taking away a player's confidence. You want him to be confident taking those shots, and like he has made him in the playoffs at times, like we saw him make them in Game seven against the Philadelphia seventy six ers, right, that was a big part of his late game comeback there.

But we do have a really large sample size of him being largely inefficient with that shot. And the reality is, in my opinion, he's young still, and eventually it will click for him as he learns to truly value every single possession at a higher level than he does now. I just think it's a matter of time. Most of these guys don't figure this kind of stuff out until

they're late twenties, early thirties. Right, That's why all the great superstars, you know, don't win until they're twenty six, twenty seven years old, right, So, like, I just think it's only a matter of time. He just needs to figure out, you know, what the best way to attack every individual possession is for him. Next question, do you have any interest or capacity within the framework of the show to mix in some WNBA coverage and or analysis.

It could fit in nicely as some NBA off season opportunities for your for content that wouldn't need to replace your NBA off season coverage and opportunities for ust and relaxation for you, but maybe some coverage that would give you the chance to address interesting observations about the basketball

and personnel in that league. There's certainly other shows out there that are exclusively covering the WNBA, but I'd certainly be interested in hearing your perspective on WNBA basketball and have some fun hearing you talk shop about some of my favorite players and teams in that league. Thanks for all you do and keep up the great work. So here's the thing. I it's not just the WNBA. There's a lot of sports out there that I don't watch as much as i'd like. Like, I'm a huge NFL fan,

and I you know, I went into this season. I ended up paying for the All twenty two package because I wanted to kind of learn more about the schematics of football, just because I've always been a fan of the game. And then the season starts and I'm so busy with my job, I just falls on the wayside. I barely use that package, so I might as well have ripped up seventy dollars. And I haven't followed the NFL very closely. I'm a big college football fan. I'm

a big college basketball fan. Huge u of a basketball fan. We have a really good team this year. I've only watched like four or five of the games, and it's just because, like this job is so demanding from the standpoint of like think about all the things on this show that we still kind of need to hit, like Trey Young hooping his ass off. Would like to talk about it at some point, right, Like the Calves, despite being without Evan Mobley and Darius Garland, have been kind

of feisty. They're worth talking about. Like there I could go on and on there. There are so many NBA topics. I'd love to do a rookie rankings at some point, right, and like talk about Victor Webbin Yama and Scoot Henderson and the Thompson Twins. I'd love to do all that stuff, but the reality is is like it's it's so difficult to find time for all of these things that if I have an extra hour, like I'm gonna be like this morning, I'll be like, you know what, I need

to hit the Pelicans. They're hooping. I need to get to the Pelicans. And so I crammed in time today to watch Pelicans Wolves and to do a deep dive into the numbers, and like, if I have time, I direct it towards the NBA. And so even though I'm a huge basketball fan who loves loves watching women's basketball specifically, I had a great time watching the women's tournament last year.

I thought Caitlin Clark was one of the most entertaining, you know, television phenomena that I've seen in the last couple of years, and what she did in the tournament last year, I'd love to do that. It's just when I have extra time, I devote it towards the NBA because I just want to keep doing a better job of this, And like, I don't think there's a version of it where I could cover other things and still

do this as well. It would it would have to be part of some larger shift to just covering all sports in a lesser capacity. And right now, I, first of all, I'm not even sure I ever want to do that. I love the NBA. It's it's it's like, you know, the second most important thing in the world to me, to my family and friends. Right so, like I for me, right now, like I just don't see

it in the cards. That's not to say never, but for right now, I just don't see a universe where I start covering the WNBA, just simply from the standpoint of how much time I have. Next question, you move the Thunder into your contender tier. Are there any moves that could make their pool of assets that moves them into your Denver Boston tier right now? And if so, would you make that move and wait and see what

happens this playoffs before changing anything. They're young, but rookie contracts will end and they might not be able to retain all the key guys. So again I've said this before on the show, but an upgrade at that four spot is what would move them into the contender tier for me, I agree from the standpoint of, like they're

not being urgency. I don't think they win the title this year anyway, just simply from the standpoint of, like you need experience, Like I always talk about battle scars, like you need to be scarred by losing in the playoffs so many times that you suddenly break through. There's nobody that gets to cheat that process. The Warriors lost in twenty thirteen and lost in twenty fourteen, right, like you you suffer on the way to that point. It's

a it's a very important part of that process. The Nuggets lost to the Lakers in the twenty twenty bubble, right then they lost in twenty twenty one, and they lost in twenty twenty two when they were injured. It's like it's all part of that process, and you get so terrified of losing that you start to make these crazy extra efforts. I remember in the two thousand and

twelve NBA Finals that was a big storyline. Like Shane Battier is like making these crazy efforts for extra rebounds because he's been in the league for a decade and he just wants to win so bad, right, And it's like as good it's not to say that there's there

the young players aren't competitive. It's just it's hard. It's hard to explain other than to just say there is another level to this, and as good as the Thunder have been, the other level is winning in April, main in June, and that is not something that teams pick up overnight. It takes time, and so from that standpoint, you wait to make that all in move for the right player now. If the right player is available at this deadline, get them now, because the more time you

have to build that chemistry, the better. Might as well build that playoff scar tissue this season, right, But if the right guys not available this deadline, you can be patient. Because I don't see this year ending in a championship for the Thunder. I have to include them just by virtue of their overall talent and my list of contenders, but I would be shocked if they won the title

just based on everything we've learned from NBA history. Next question, and this is less of a question just to comment. I got like four Celtics fans saying this in the comments. Definitely a worthy game to talk about, But just to be clear that seven for seven on Celtics videos immediately following a loss. Let's try to match that amount with videos after they win, if that's not too much to ask. Lots of Celtics fans said this, to be clear, I pick the show, the kind of the layout of the show,

which games I'm gonna cover in advance. So like when I covered the Celtics, I planned on covering them before the game. If they I haven't looked back to see I don't. I don't agree with that stat because I literally covered the Celtics beating the Lakers on Christmas Day, so that's it's at least some amount of inaccurate. That said, like, like,

I have no vendetta against the Celtics. I would pick them to win a playoff series against everybody in the league except for Denver, and I'd give them a chance to beat Denver. We've talked. One of the reasons why we don't talk as much about them on this show as some of the other teams is they have a very clear style that they play and it doesn't change. They're not a team in turmoil. They're not a team

trying to figure out how they want to play. They're not a team that has major rotation concerns, and so they're not a team that has as much like debate surrounding them other than can they get the job done? Is them capable enough of being that guy? Which I think is something we've covered in detail on this show.

But the reality is is like I've picked them in a lot of big, high leverage games, and they've lost a lot of those big high leverage games, which has a lot to do with some of my concerns surrounding the Celtics and what their potential is in the big picture.

But here's the thing. I'm gonna keep picking Celtics games based on major matchups throughout the season that we're gonna cover and if the Celtics win, that we're gonna cover them as if they want right, So like it's it's not any sort of of you know, cherry picking Celtics losses. This is predetermined stuff here for the layout of the show. Next question, the Warriors have experienced lackluster performance from Klay Thompson,

Cavan Luoniy and Andrew Wiggins. Seems unusual for this group of historically consistent players to be struggling at the same time, it seems like their issues are more than on the court. What is the likelihood that the chemistry and the buy in from their core is broken. And if this continues, the Steve Kurr's job in jeopardy. So I'm not gonna talk about Steve Ker's job because we talked about that in the Warriors segment earlier today. But here's the thing

to talk about each of those individual players. Klay Thompson's just getting a little bit older, that's all that is. Kevon Looney is a big part of it is scheme. I think, as the overall offensive talent on the floor is dipped, having Kevon Looney out there has become a bigger problem than back when Andrew Wiggins was playing really

well and back when Klay Thompson was playing really well. Right, So, as the offensive talent is dipped, Kevon Looney's offensive shortcomings have kind of risen to the table, and that was a big issue down the stretch last night. Andrew Wiggins, your guess is as good as mine. Man. I don't know what happened to him. He's just not the same guy. And I wish I could give you some sort of explanation, but I don't know what to say. The dude, he's not shooting well, he's not defending as well, he's not

making decisions as well. He's just not the same player. And that is a really unfortunate circumstance for the Warriors because it's changed the you know, the trajectory of that team over the course of the last couple of years. Next question, Please tell us what shoes you wear while hooping. Would love to know what your favorites have been throughout the years, what you're currently wearing, and how your play style effect youra preference. Thanks for putting out such great content.

We don't deserve it. Well. I disagree with that last part, although I do sincerely appreciate the support and the kind words. Basketball shoes. When I was younger, I played in Kobe's a lot played in Hyperfuses. When I was in college that was my go to I wore Hyperfuse lows my second year in college. That was one of my favorite shoes that I played in, but a lot of Kobe's after that. Post Kobe, it's been like I basically try

to find whatever a new shoe is performance space. To me, I shouldn't say performance space that fits my foot in the way that I play best. And It's funny. When I was younger, I used to care so much about what the shoes looked like, and I'd find a pair that looked sick and I'd buy them right But like now I could care less. All I care about is like does it feel good in my foot? And does

it feel good to hoop in? And so the last two that I've been because what I'll do is like I'll find a pair of shoes that I really like, and then I'll just buy as many of them as I can and just ride it out until that shoe doesn't exist anymore. So the previous shoe to the one, because right now I'm wearing the Unescus, very similar to Kobe's. I'm on my second pair of them. One of the things for me is I like a lighter, low top shoe,

kind of like a Kobe. But the problem is I weigh two hundred and thirty pounds, and so I wear through them super fast because I play like a guard. I play out on the perimeter, and so they just break down really fast. So I do go through shoes relatively quickly, unfortunately, But I like having that lighter shoe because I like to be quicker on my feet. But the Unescus had been my go to shoe as of late.

But before that, I went through five pairs of Lebron nineteen lows, which is crazy because I never was a Lebron guy. I think his shoes are generally too heavy and and kind of uncomfortable and attraction's not great. Never been a huge fan of Lebron basketball shoes. But the Lebron nineteen lows were really, really nice, and I really liked those, and I went through five sets of them. So like, I'll probably end up riding out the Yenescus for the next year or so, and then I'll be

on to the next one. But I the Unescu's kind of follow this Kobe trend, and so I kind of have a feeling that that's going to be my go to basketball shoot for a little while. And I know I've said this on to the show before, but I can't even begin to describe how much better it's been just being back out on the court because that injury

saga was just an absolute nightmare. I'm slow as shit, I'm still it's still going to take a couple of months for me to get to the point where I can play at the level I was playing before, but it just feels good to be back out there. I just don't get having the Lakers as a top five contender when they clearly need the trade and not have Minnesota in there, who are not currently a theoretical team. You have spoken often about theoretical basketball, or that simply

you've spoken how theoretical basketball is. Simply that theoretical Lakers aren't even guaranteed to be a top tier container with a contender with a good trade. They're certainly not top five at the moment and totally and got totally owned by the Wolves the other night. So here's the thing. The Laker thing is up for debate, so is the Wolves thing. Like they're like up for debate topics, and

then they're not up for debate topics. Like if you tried to sit here and tell me that you didn't think Denver was a championship contender, I'd be like, yeah, you're just wrong about that. Like I don't know what to tell you, right, but this stuff is up for debate. And here's the reality. When I say theoretical basketball to me, the Wolves are the theoretical team because I haven't seen them make a long playoff run. I watched them last year. We not good enough to beat Denver, right, But like,

I haven't seen them against multiple matchups. I haven't seen them have to make multiple defensive adjustments or offensive adjustments against multiple opponents. You have to win four series to get through. I have personally watched Lebron James and Anthony Davis win six playoff series. I just watched them last year beat the two seed Memphis Grizzlies, beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors, and then lose to the mentional

champion Denver Nuggets. That's not theoretical. They have issues within the regular season that they need to address. They are not a theoretical basketball team. I know exactly what they look like in the postseason. That to me, is exactly why I have the Wolves below them. You should know this. I've been working on adding things to the show to have more reverence for the regular season. That's kind of

like what my power rankings are. It's kind of like what my MVP rankings are, right, Like, I want to do a better job of acknowledging the regular season accomplishments within the eighty two. But I am like it takes a lot to move me in a regular season, Like it just takes a lot, because I value postseason basketball

is almost like a different sport. It's not really a different sport, but it's like such a higher level of basketball in terms of intensity and physicality and adjustments, and it like an experience suddenly comes to the table, and superstar talent it comes to the table and all these different things. And like the problem with the Wolves is like I know Anthony Edwards is gonna be really freaking

good one day, but like I don't know when. And their half court offense sucks is a huge issue against the Pelicans when they got their ass kicked the other night. Like they have all these big red flags and they don't have a playoff foundation that gives me margin for error with them. Notice I haven't taken the Warriors off of my championship contenders why because I know what Steph Clay and Draymond can do in a playoff series when they have two other really good players on the floor

with them. And if they go out and they make a trade and they bring back a Pascal Siakam or a lower e Marken in they're gonna be really damn good again, and I know Steph Curry is one of the best playoff players in the league. I to put it simply, Steph's a way better playoff player than Anthony Edwards in my opinion right now. So that to me makes even Steph and the Warriors somewhat less theoretical than Minnesota. I have Minnesota higher than Golden State right now because

Golden State has major peronnel issues. I actually think the Lakers, who have personnel issues, have significantly better personnel than the Golden State Warriors. They've underachieved in a lot of ways. We've talked about their coaching situation. I think the Lakers are actually pretty close, and that's why I still have them at fourth in my championship rankings. I don't view them as theoretical because I've seen Lebron James and Anthony Davis and what they can do in a playoff series.

More importantly, Lebron and Ad look better than they did last year. So to clarify, theoretical basketball to me is more referring to the playoffs, not the regular season. Like you're correct, the Minnesota simer rules have been a much

better regular season team than the Lakers. But that, to me is not the same as what I saw in the postseason last year, when I just I think Lebron James and Anthony Davis are just a significantly more impactful playoff duo than Anthony Edwards and Carl Towns, or Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, or however you want to look at It doesn't mean the Wolves can't win. I just view them as more of a long shot as a result. Last question, did you forg yet about the Clippers as

contenders or do you think they aren't contenders. Here's the thing with the Clippers. I'm really concerned about their front line size and a lot of the shot selection stuff, the James Harden playoffs stuff. So for me, I'm not saying I won't put them on there. As a matter of fact, I expect that I probably will at some point this season. I just want to see a couple

more high leverage games. I want to see them in, like a major nationally televised, like on the road in Oklahoma City against the thunder which I wanted to see the other day but Kawhi was out. But like, I just want to see them get a couple of really big, high leverage wins before I add them to the contender lists at that point, because there's a lot theoretical with the Clippers as well, and fortunately as it pertains to their frontline. All right, guys, that is all I have

for today. Is always, I sincerely appreciate your support. I hope you guys have a good weekend, and we will be back on Monday. The volume