Hoops Tonight - Olympics Reaction: LeBron is the GOAT, Steph takes over, Team USA in DANGER in 2028? | Hoops Tonight

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Slash Baseball All right, Wellcoon to HOOPSIDAI. You're at the volume. Hope all of you guys are having a great day. I've got a dozen Team USA basketball questions for us to go through, mailbag questions for us to hit today. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore.

Jason lts you guys, don't miss any show announcements, don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast und Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the remainder of the summer. Last little programming note before we start the show. I am recording this on Saturday the tenth, when I go out of town tomorrow morning and I'm

gone until the eighteenth. We're going up to the Pacific Northwest to kind of get away from the heat a little bit and relax, which I'm very much looking forward to. I do have new content coming out while I'm kinda've recorded three I've recorded the first three videos in our player ranking series, so those will all be releasing while

I'm out of town next week. Don't forget that. In those videos, I want you guys to comment if you disagree about a ranking and provided basketball case for why you disagree, preferably as in as short a format as possible. Because what I'm gonna do is on the fourth player Rankings video when I get back in town, I'm gonna actually add a segment at the end where we can had a debate. I'm gonna read your guys's mail bag

responses where you guys tell me why you disagree. We get into the basketball, we'll have like a little debate segment at the tail end of those shows, So make sure you guys get that in there. But yeah, quick trip out of town. When I get back, we'll finish the player ranking series and then we'll be heading into the season. Had a little bit of a funny slash

sad story in Vegas. I don't ever book a flight that is an afternoon flight on the same night that you have concert tickets, because I had on Thursday a five and a half hour delay getting out of Tucson, which caused me to have to fire sale my Dead and Company tickets from a dingy bar in the Tucson airport, which was a huge bubber. As you can imagine, I

wasn't in a great mood, but a valuable lesson. Like we monsoon season here in Tucson, we just get these like crazy storms that come through in the afternoon, and I played with fire and ended up losing some money on it is what it is. But thankfully the very next day I had tickets again and so my wife and I had a really nice day yesterday. It was actually my birthday. We had a really nice day in Vegas and celebrated and then went to go see Dead

and Company that night. So thankfully I had two nights worth of tickets and just was unbelievable. John Mayer played the whole show without his left index finger, and like you could barely tell the difference. And he's obviously my favorite musician, but I also think he's the best guitar

player to ever play. And it was just a really cool experience to get to see him in a situation where like a primary physical like digit that he needs to play was out of commission, and yet he still provided like the same type of experience that you've grown accustomed to getting when you go see him in Debt and Company. And concert was really really cool. It was a great birthday. It was a great celebration. But very excited to get out of the heat for a little bit.

But yeah, valuable lesson learned. If you live in an area where they have where they have storms that come through the rainy season, don't don't don't be an idiot like Jason and by concert tickets, the same night as your flight, or you could end up very upset in a two on international airport bar. Anyway, let's get into

that mail bag first question. Is it fair to say, when we look back on the final years of Curry and Lebron that we will strongly question what in the world these front offices are doing for Golden State in Los Angeles. My hope is that you guys have already kind of seen that Golden State started trying to run this two timelines thing all the way back in twenty twenty two, and they've never gotten any sort of championship

level contribution out of any of the young players. And in the meantime, Steph Curry and Draymond Grain have both aged a certain amount, Klay Thompson has aged a substantial amount, and now their title window is precariously close to being closed.

And that was a move that they probably should have looked to make years ago, and they would be in a situation now where like had they looked to make those more aggressive moves in that twenty twenty two campaign, they might have had a larger margin for victory in the Celtics series. They might have had a better chance to repeat in twenty twenty three, just in general, the entire aura around the team might have been more, It

might have been more positive. Not to mention the fact that Jonathan Kaminga at that point in time had multiple years left on his rookie contract. Now it's like, you trade for Jonathan Kminga, you have to maxim And we saw a report the other day that he's looking for over two hundred million dollars, And so that's the type of you know, we're actually now on the other side of this where it's barely even a two timelines plan anymore. They don't really have a lot of options and where

they can go. And I won't get into it right now in the mail back because I could just you know, bitch and moan for an hour. But the stuff that the Lakers have done over the course of the last half decade is it's been a miserable waste of what Lebron, James and Anthony Davis bring to the table. And so, like,

I hope everyone already kind of knows that. But I think that's Curry and Lebron being the two obvious best players on this team USA, I think are a strong indicator of just the top end talent that they still present to bow with Golden State and the Lakers, and I'm hoping that that drives some amount of aggression from those two front offices, quite frankly, because I want to

see them play in other big games. I really hope that today against France is not the last time I get to watch Steph Curry and Lebron James playing a big basketball game. Wouldn't that be a huge bummer? And like they're both right now. I mean, I think the Lakers, if they stay really healthy, could potentially be in that you know, four or five six range, but they could be a playing team. I think the Warriors team is like like right around that same area, if not a

certain playing team. So like that that both of those rosters are not good enough to win a championship right now, and that's just a real bummer, and I'm hoping that they can address that before the deadline. Next question, is it possible that this is the last time the United States dominates in the Olympics. With the talent level of the world rising and many of our greatest players being most likely to retire, how do we fare moving forward?

What's the potential team? First of all. I mean, we didn't dominate this year, and that is a reminder of

just how close these teams are. The reality is is like TM USA is still a sizable margin better than everyone else, but any single game sample size, there's variants, and that gap is closed to the point where now it's like, you know, USA plays a bad defensive half, Serbia shoots it really well, and suddenly it's like neck and neck and anything can happen, right, And so I think the days of the Team USA dominating are over just simply because of the fact that single elimination the

gap is too small. Now there's enough variance that there's gonna be a close game in there. I mean, hal France was within three with three minutes left before Team USA pulled away. As for twenty twenty eight, I am concerned, though mainly just because the young guys weren't really able to flex their muscles on this stage the way the

old guys are and like have been. And Steve kerk gave these guys plenty at burn like I've seen so much talk, like like Steve Kerrz made this Olympics about Steph Lebron and kd or that the old guys are just like getting all the shine. It's like no, no, they're taking the damn shine, like they're yeah, you're right. Like Tatum got some DMPs here in the Olympics. You know what else though he was subbed in in line shifts for all the exhibitions and he wasn't playing very well.

Like all of these guys got extended burn, extended opportunities to show how they fit, and certain guys played well, certain guys didn't. You know who are the three guys who played the best that deserved to float to the top were Kadie, Stephan Lebron. They earned the burn that

they got, they earned the opportunities that they got. It's their consistent impact, winning in ways that extend beyond even shot making, that are that allowed them to be on the floor as consistently as they had and they made shots, and so again, like I think, I think the concerning part is that when we got into these high stakes basketball environments, we just didn't get a lot of consistent

contributions from some of the younger guys. Now, the potential team it really just depends on like the health of some key guys, like if Anthony Davis at age thirty four is like healthy and ready to go. That'd be big because the front line is where I get concerned, Like it's the losing of a big, strong forward like Lebron James could be detrimental for a team that has a lot of thin guys on the horizon, a lot

of guards on the horizon. Right, if Anthony Davis can come back and play, and you can have something like Jason Tatum, Anthony Davis, bam Adebio, Jalen Brown, that's still a pretty formidable front court. But like, is John Morant gonna be on this team? That would be interesting, right, Like is Devin Booker still gonna be on this team or is he gonna be too old? At that point, we'll see Anthony Edwards. Is he competing for the best

player in the world at that point? The main thing is is will Team USA have the physicality to hang against these bigger European teams And a lot of these American players are not as physically imposing and the older group is starting to phase out, and so that's the main piece. I think a lot of key guys like Jason Tatum suddenly becomes vitally important. I've seen all this talk about logo. Is Tatum gonna boycott the Olympics because he didn't play? I love God, I hope not. They're

gonna need him like Jason Tatum. Here's the thing. Jayson Tatum won a good fit on this team because he couldn't shoot zho for sixteen on jump shots in all the exhibitions combined with the actual Olympic tournament games. As a result of that, he kind of had to function more as a big and Bam and Ad are better at being bigs than Jason Tatum is at being a big. When Jason Tatum has his jump shot and he's like actually a normal functioning perimeter player, he becomes a very

useful player. And I do believe that this Tatum stretch is just a glitch. I think it's just a random, extended slump that he's in. I do think he's going to fix it, and I think that he's gonna be fine in the long run. And if he is in twenty twenty eight, he suddenly becomes a vitally important player.

But I thought, I really thought it was just a simple decision from Kerr from the standpoint of, like, this guy can't shoot right now, I'm better off going with Bam and Ad, and I really think that's all it was. I think if Tatum had shot the ball better, I think he would have gotten a considerable larger opportunity to play in the actual rotation. But he's going to be vitally important. Jalen Brown becomes vitally important because he's one

of the more physically imposing wings. And really it's gonna be about decision making, like the way that Steph and Lebron and KD were able to out execute teams in the half court at the end of games, whether it was spamming a Lebron' Steph two man game against France, or it's you know, the give and take that Lebron Stephan KD demonstrated at the end of the game against Serbia, timely transition attacks, good off ball action for Steph, like

trusting KD in key situations. As long as the Anthony Edwards, Tatum, Jah Morant trio can kind of like figure that out, then they should be fine. But I would say it's hard to tell too, because what are the other FEEDBA teams gonna look like? Is Joki still playing at that point? Is Rudy Gobert is still playing at that but there's

so many different angles that make that complicated. That Germany team could be really really good at that point when Franz is in the heart of his prime, right, like Victor women Yama could be a world beater at that point. There's so many different variables at play, So it's too early for me to like project what's gonna happen in twenty twenty eight, but like I do think that the Team USA team that we field in twenty twenty eight will be substantially more vulnerable than this year's was. I

think that goes without saying. Next question, what can Team USA do in the future to get consistency and allow for guys to have chemistry before FEBA play. I'm worried about twenty twenty eight. So it's just impossible because of the various commitments that these guys have. These guys are all their own business in and of themselves, and so it's hard to get them to play in the three off years. Right, there are a couple of different things you could try doing a camp that might be something

worth looking into. I think they actually do something like that already, But the main thing is and the reason why I pulled this question. I actually think the answer is pretty simple. The Team USA decision makers have to be very very particular about who they bring from now on. It was the stars that dragged it home for Team USA this year. It was Steph KD and Lebron, right, But you don't have that type of star power in

twenty twenty eight. So I do think at that point it becomes vitally important to have star role players involved. I'd be extremely picky about lineup construction and be willing to bring guys that aren't necessarily big names, but that are like professional role players, guys that make their living doing the dirty work. Because when it comes to that chemistry piece, and we're gonna talk about this a little bit more with Lebron and Steph here in a minute,

because I had a specific question about it. But there is a like a earned chemistry or like a that's like the continuity piece. But then there's also like a natural organic chemistry that can happen between basketball players. And so when you don't have the continuity from year over year consistency, then you have to have that natural and

organic chemistry. So you need to get you need to have it streamlined to where you have some stars who like playing without the basketball, you have guys that specialize in playing roles, you have a clear higher so guys aren't fighting over the basketball. You have to try to craft a situation in a basketball situation. And we'll kind of take a closer look at that when we get to twenty twenty eight, because that'll be a much more fun roster to try to put together in the summer

leading up to it. But I think they're just gonna have to do way more picky about who they include on that team and try to make sure they bake in as much natural chemistry as possible. What are your expectations for Anthony Davis coming into the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five NBA regular season Top ten Player, Defensive Player of the Year MVP. So I have super high expectations for Anthony Davis. I will just warn you guys right now. I have him super high in my

player rankings, and I am just a huge believe. I think he's been playing at a borderline MVP level basically this entire calendar year. I thought he played Jokic to a standstill in the first round series, which is not hard.

That's that's the best player in the world. In my opinion, That Anthony Davis went punch for punch, blow for blow with and arguably outplayed in the first round series like that was, That's how good I think Anthony Day is capable of playing so top ten player, yes, defensive Player of the Year. Media is never going to give it to him because they don't like the Lakers MVP. I don't think that's something that he has a real chance to get, but I'd love to see Anthony Davis get

a top five MVP finish. That would be something that I think would be a strong indicator of just him putting seventy plus games in at the level that he's been in at twenty twenty four. I think that's something that he can do. And if he does, if AD plays seventy to seventy five games and plays the way he did in this calendar year, the Lakers will be a top four seed and they will be a team that's good enough to put Anthony Davis in MVP contention.

I don't think he can win MVP, but I do think he can get a top five finish, and I do think that's something that's on the table for him. Next question, what does this Olympic Finals performance mean for Steph Curry in top ten all time conversation? Also, why do you think Steph and Lebron have such a great understanding of each other on the floor when they've always been rivals for much of their careers. So that last

part I want to hit that first. The reason why Lebron and Steph so naturally played together, It's two things, in my opinion. The first piece I talked about extensively in the instant reaction to the gold medal game. It's all about the fact that Lebron and Steph both do very different things. So when you deploy Lebron and you deploy Steph, they accomplish different goals, which then piece together to make even easier roles for all of your teammates. Right,

So that piece of it is the first part. They're just very complimentary in their skill sets. The second piece of it is that organic and natural chemistry that I was talking about. One of the things I've noticed when I play with people that I haven't played with before, when they are smart basketball players, it's easy. When they're guys who don't know how to play. It's hard even if I have a long time to play with them.

A huge portion of it is that natural chemistry. Lebron and Steph are two of the smartest basketball players of this era, so of course they figured out how to do it immediately. That type of chemistry is the type of chemistry Temosa needs to hunt down in order to increase their margin for error. In twenty twenty eight, what do you ranked Tatum in the NBA after this Olympic run? Guess you'll have to watch the player rankings videos which are going to come out starting next week.

But right now, you can put all that intel to the test by bringing those patterns directly into a mock draft and make your mock draft feel like the real thing. Check out fantasypros dot com slash volume today to get an edge over your league mates right now and forever.

love it up there. So Gushan Yabuselli, I think, is a guy that absolutely can play in the NBA. The big thing I think about with him is like every backup center that you see in the NBA kind of looks vaguely like Gershaon Yabuseli, where it's like, yeah, if you have him defending in a drop coverage, he's gonna struggle, like he's gonna bring a ton of defensive limitations. But the dude just plays super damn hard and has a lot of positive impact in the in just his motor

and his size and his strength and his athleticism. So I look at him as like two potential things, like do I think he could play backup center for a really athletic bench group.

can put your center behind him or something along those lines. Like, I think he just brings a lot of really valuable basketball skill, especially in big games, and so I think he could be a guy that could play Wanyan Gabriel is a guy from Sausu Dan who, by the way, has played in the NBA, who like is just the opposite version of Ghorshaan Yabuseli's the Goorshaan yabusel is more

of the offensive minded backup big. But I look at the that Whenyan Gabriel is the exact same thing as more the defensive minded kind of guy, and like, he just brings a ton of energy on the glass and runs the floor in transition. He's another guy that, like, I've seen him play next to Anthony Davis at the four, and there's a lot of layered athleticism benefit there. Mary Al Shayak shot the ball extremely well. There's always an appetite for shooting in the NBA. I think there are

a bunch of guys like that. The reality is, though, and this is something that I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot of people say things like, oh, how did Team USA barely win the goal when they have all this NBA talent? Blah blah blah. The gap between NBA players and the lower level pros is smaller than ever. It just is the entire basketball world is getting better. The gap, the gap between all levels is shrinking as just we as we just get better at playing basketball.

And so, like, I think that there are a lot of guys that played in that tournament that are eighty ninety percent of what an NBA player is and they're just not quite good enough to be part of that that four hundred and fifty players, right Like that to me is what makes it so like I always talk about on this show like I have a certain responsibility to be critical because that's just authentic, Like I can't only compliment people without being critical or vice versa. At

that point, I'm just a propagandist, right. But I always feel a little bit uncomfortable when I'm criticizing NBA players because they've accomplished something that is something that every basketball player dreams of accomplishing, Like every one of you guys who played in high school played in college, like there was always at least a small part of you that was like, man, it would have been really cool if something went differently and I made it to the NBA, right,

Like we all have that aspiration, and yet only four hundred and fifty people get to do it. And so when you get to put that jersey on and you check into an NBA game and you actually get to play, it is such a remarkable accomplishment. And I think that seeing how many really truly great players are not playing in the NBA is just another reminder of that. It's

something I've been aware for a long time. Obviously. I I am friends with and work out with a ton of people who play overseas and guys who play at the high major college level, like that's the amount of talent that exists in the basketball world is incomprehensible, and it's it's just a reminder of what makes the NBA so special, and that's why we're and that's why we love watching the games, and that's why I love talking about it on the show. People always say peak over

longevity for Lebron and MJ. When they explain peak, it always goes back to Jordan winning six rings. In terms of level of play, twenty eighteen, Lebron reached the highest command of the game. Ever, does that not make his individual peak higher? Lebron is the goat? So a couple things. First of all, I agree that twenty eighteen Lebron is the best basketball player that I've ever watched in any individual moment in time. The main near reason why for that too is I just tend to think that players

are always getting better. So I think there will be a version of Victor wemb Minyama that we see in you know, potentially in twenty thirty or something like that, or maybe some other player in the future where we're gonna look back and be like, this is the best basketball player that has ever taken the floor in an NBA game. I don't think Lebron is like some random peak in player history and then we're gonna dip back down and Lebron will always be the goat. Like I

think we're allways is getting better. Twenty eighteen, Lebron was one of the best athletes in the league. Remember that was the year that he had that dunk on Nurkic. Like he was still like at his peak. Athletically, he was the best passer in the league. He was a deadly jumpshooter, had incredible footwork in the mid post. He

had just ridiculous scoring moves. And that you have eight forty point games in the playoffs, a dominant defensive player, dominant rebound That was the best basketball player that I've ever seen. The reason why I had MJ as my goat before then, I should say before this particular show, is you can't judge a player based on what the

future holes. That doesn't make any sense, Like it doesn't make sense to judge Lebron up against thirty years from now that what the technology will look like in terms of health and in body management and a surgery for injuries and all the different things in the future, just the way the game is played will just be better at playing basketball in the future. Right, Like, it doesn't make sense to judge that MJ was so ahead of

his time. He was so ahead of the curve, that he was so dominant that no player was even considered in the same tier as him, and they won six titles in eight tries. So like, I still think that that's the most dominant stretch that we will ever see from an NBA player. I don't think we'll see I think the league is too deep now. I think the teams are too good. I don't think we'll see a

player truly separate himself. And maybe that'll happen. And it's very possible that when the dust settles on the NBA, if it ever settles, that MJ will still be considered the most dominant player. Right But that dominance for me for a long time superseded any of the Lebron longevity stuff.

But here we are in twenty twenty four and Grant Hill was able to call thirty nine year old Lebron James and ask him to bring it in the summertime, and not just bring it, but to play a massive role, and Lebron came in and crushed that massive role in one MVP of the tournament at age thirty nine, damn near about to turn forty. It's insane to me that the same player that was drafted over twenty one years ago, that as soon as two thousand and six he was

taking that Detroit Pistons team. Mind you, the same Pistons team that won the title in four and came close to doing it again at five. He took them to seven. One year later, you beat them and went to the finals. Then seventeen years after that, Grant Hill was able to call on him to lead a basketball team, and he did on the biggest stage in world hoops. I can't

argue that anymore. If you were starting a franchise tomorrow and you could pick any basketball player in the history of the game from their rookie year to lead your team, you take Lebron ten times out of ten, and at that point that just makes him the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. The longevity is extended too far. The reliably great basketball that he consistently brings every time there's a big game, it's still going. It's still going,

I can't argue it anymore. Is MJ the most dominant basketball player compared to his peers in his era? Yes, I don't think. As I mentioned earlier, I don't actually think that's even a situation we could recreate without depth, with how much depth of talent there is in the league. But the greatest basketball player to ever play the game, the guy that you would pick every single time to start a franchise with from day one, is Lebron James.

And you know, if this ends up being the cherryot on top of his career, and I hope it's not. I hope he gets to play in more big games. But if he gets to put a cherry on, if this is the cherry on top of his career, it's a pretty damn good one. Age thirty nine, most stacked Olympic field ever, over sixty NBA players playing for other teams,

and he was MVP of the team. I will also say, just even as a fan, I've rooted for Lebron through a lot of games, a lot of wins, and this was top three or four for me in terms of Lebron moments. Like I just I loved watching him play with this team. It was so much fun for me. Who should have won MVP Lebron or Curry? So I talked a little bit about this yesterday. I thought Lebron had the best case to win MVP, but I also

thought Steph Curry had a case to win MVP. Lebron impacted winning more than any other player on TSA during the Olympics. Curry hit most of the big shots towards the end. Those are the two cases. You don't win the tournament without either of them. You need them. So like, I don't really care. I thought Lebron deserved it, but if Curry had gotten it, I would have thought that was completely acceptable. Warriors fans who think Curry should have

won it, they're not wrong necessarily. That said, I know Lebron and Steph don't care. All they care about is winning. That is why Curry allowed or asked Kevin Durant to join him in Golden State. That is why Lebron is the kind of guy who, like, in a big moment, will let Kyrie take the big shot or let Steph Curry go when he has it going. It's a big it's a big part of ego. In order to win,

you have to let go of that. What if Lebron had tried to co opt possessions away from Steph at the end of the game when he was on his heater, that would have been bad for the team. But he doesn't care. He just wants to win, right. Curry could have earned more in the court of public opinion if he ranted it back against Lebron in twenty seventeen without Kevin Durant, but he didn't care. He just wanted to win. That's what has allowed those guys to win eight of

the last thirteen NBA championships. So like, yeah, Lebron should have won in my opinion. Curry also had a really good case. I said yesterday, I let the kids argue about it on Twitter. That's an argument for other people.

I'm not really interested in it. Do you think Lebron should try to be the full time point guard on the Lakers again like twenty twenty, Yes, but it requires a certain level of offensive talent In order for Lebron to operate the way he did for Team USA, you need to have high level players flying off of screens, and so that's where it gets tricky. Like if adding Dalton connect to the situation as a movement shooter can help if Dlo's willing to work more off the ball.

I think there's a lot of benefit that can come from that, but it requires high level offensive players. Again, I'm not really worried about the Lakers on the offensive end at all. They just don't really have a player that can play both ends of the floor other than Lebron and eighty. That's the main issue. Would you've had an issue with Jokic winning Olympic MVP, Yes, for the same reason I went added an issue if Lebron won

MVP the twenty fifteen finals. Like, I think it's okay for us to talk about how great Jokic was, and I do think he's the best player in the world still and I thought he was the best player in this tournament. But MVP goes winner and Timosa one. I don't think Lebron should have won MVP in twenty fifteen.

I think step should have so like, yeah, I'm a huge Jokic fan, but yeah, like I think giving him the MVP would have Again, winning has to mean something, and it's a prerequisite in my opinion when it comes to MVP. All Right, guys, that is all I have for today, very much looking forward to a little bit of a break. I hope you guys enjoy the beginning of the player ranking series. I'm excited to argue about it with you guys when I get home. I'll see you guys.