Hoops Tonight - Reaction to Doc Rivers' 0-2 start with Bucks, LeBron’s last days as a Laker?

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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 dkg dot com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody hop ball. If you guys are having an incredible week. Well, we were gonna go live tonight after Lakers Celtics, but then Lebron James and Anthony Davis

decided they're not going to play. We're definitely not gonna go live after that game. What we're gonna do instead? I tweeted out asking for mail bag questions, and we got like fifty of them in an hour. I can't get to all fifty, but we're gonna hit a few dozen mail bag questions and then off the top. I

actually watched Bucks Blazers last night. In Dame's return to Portland ended up being a super interesting game, kind of a defensive slug fest down the stretch, and then the Bucks maker run late and they end up taking the lead briefly before Anferny Simons makes a ridiculous shot, and then we had a little bit of a confusing sequence on the Doc Rivers front at the end of the game. So I want to kind of dive into that game for a few minutes, and then we'll get into the mailbag.

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And remember it's really helpful for us. If you do listen to the podcast feed, if you leave a rating and a review, then don't forget about our Twitter feed out Underscore Jason lt where we put film breakdowns as well as show announcements and then last not leaves keep dropping mail bag questions YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So one of the interesting things down the stretch of Bucks.

Blazers was leaning into switching both teams down the stretch, leaning a lot into switching the Bucks readily switching their smaller guards onto Jeremy Grant into screens. And then on the other end of the floor, one of the things that the Blazers were doing, they played this young wing named Timani Kamara on Damian Lillard. He was doing a really good job just with his length and athleticism kind

of containing there. And then what they would do is anytime they'd set a screen with Brook Lopez or Janna Santana Kumpo, you'd just see Deandreon or Jeremy Grant just switch on to Dame and a lot of those sequences and so turned into a lot of one on one basketball down the stretch, and it was like Jeremy Grant making, you know, tough shots over the top Anthroonty Simon's the game winner that he had that left right Euro into

the floater was ridiculous. And then on the other end of the floor, Dame kind of picking on those switches, had a really explosive dunk driving by Deane and that was kind of encouraging. Like, again, I really do think a lot of dames struggles, some of them come down to him and just his ability to make shots and how he's been struggling on that front. But a good chunk of it is, I think rhythm and just kind of figuring out where his opportunities are to attack with

that particular group. But it was kind of an interesting Portland team because Portland kind of gets written off as one of the bad teams around the league, but they have a lot of talent, Like deandreton can go into the post and he can get over to that left shoulder and he can make that hook shot over the top.

of firepower and they can cause problems for teams. Jeremy Grant is a good basketball player and like his shot making and especially from three, has been kind of a revelation over the course of this last segment of his career. These are all really good basket and they are a tough matchup, especially in Portland. And you know, Milwaukee had a really ugly stretch there in the middle of the fourth quarter. Damian Lillard was just throwing the ball away

all over the place. Again, I want to give some credit to Mony Kamara for just a job he did applying ball pressure and forcing me into a lot of those turnovers. Giannis ran somebody over and had a turnover. It was missing free throws. It was just ugly as the Bucks went down by double digits, but they made some plays late. Portland was deliberately ignoring Brook Lopez and helped defense situations which ended up becoming a theme at the very end of the game, which we'll get to

in a few minutes. But Brooke hit a couple of big threes. Dame had that driving dunk against DeAndre Eighton to make it in a one point game, and all of a sudden it was a close basketball game. Then we get our final sequence, so it was one fifteen to one twelve. Dame comes off the ball screen, gets DeAndre Ayton on the switch, beats him off the dribble, rises up, throws it down again, very encouraging play just for where Dame is at physically. Then they get a stop.

They run a ball screen with Jeremy Grant on aim Ferny Simons a switch and Anthony Simons sets a ball, gets a ball screen from Jeremy Grant, Malik Beasley switches on to Jeremy Grant. They go to make the post entry into Jeremy Grant and Malik Beasley does a really nice like kind of three quarter front, gets around and knocks the ball away and forces a steal. So then on the ensuing play on the sideline out of bounds, the Bucks run a wide pin down into a dribble handoff,

which is also known as a zoom zoom action. Right, So imagine a Dame starting in the corner right, and imagine Chris Middleton inbounding the ball to Giannis and as right after eanbounds, he runs down and sets a pin down four Dame so that his defender is already navigating a screen before he gets into the dribble handoff. Dame comes off the dribble handoff, gets a little bit of airspace,

rises up for three and misses after the miss. Portland gets the defensive rebound, but Jannison Malik Beasley applies some backcourt ball pressure onto Anfonty Simons and they force a steal. Next thing you know, Dame is throwing the ball up to Yannis at the basket for a dunk. All of a sudden, Portland's up by one. So from there, Portland goes down the floor and they run a cleared iso just basically a one to four flat for Anferny Simons

against Malik Beasley. He makes a nice dribble move going to his left, a nasty left right euro step into that floater or Anferonty Simons is one of the best floaters in the game. Really athletic play too, really impressive footwork, makes a tough shot. So it's one sixteen, one fifteen. So the Bucks go down the floor and they run

the exact same zoom action. But Doc Rivers makes a little bit of a tweak instead of having Chris Middleton as the guy who sets the pin down and Yannis with the dribble handoff, instead he has Yannis set the pin down and he has Brook Lopez run the dribble handoff. Here's where that's interesting knowing before that what we saw from that middle to late portion of the fourth quarter,

Portland was completely unconcerned with Brooke Lopez taking threes. Now he did burn them, he made a couple, but in that fourth quarter stretch, but we knew that Portland's game plan was to ignore brook Lopez, right. So what's interesting about that is the first time they ran the zoom action, it was Chris and Giannis and Brooke was on the weak side, and so as a result, Dame when he came off of the ball screen, had a little bit

of space, didn't have a double team coming right. When you run a ball screen, which a dribble handoff is effectively a ball screen, When you run a screen for the ball handler where the screener is a guy, the defense is not worried about shooting, you are inviting a double team. And so basically what ended up happening is Doc Rivers made a double team far easier for Portland

to execute. Dame comes off the dribble handoff and Brooke, basically Malcolm Brogden just completely ignores brook Lopez in double team's Dame, they throw the ball back to brook Lopez, he pump fakes actually gets a pretty solid look, but he misses it. They have to foul. Portland goes down, they make two free throws. Then it was the second

confusing decision from Doc Rivers. He has Damian Lillard inbound down three two Janis, and I think there was like what five seconds left or so, and of course Portland immediately fouls Giannis. Now again, one of the things I saw going around on Twitter last night that is a pet action for Milwaukee at the end of a game.

What they'll do is they'll have Dame inbound Giannis. Janis will just basically hand it right back off to Dame so that he can get ahead of Steam and a little bit of a ball screen type of thing in the backcourt to get going. They ran that exact same action against the Sacramento Kings when Dame hit his game winner, but there was a big difference. They were only down

by two in that game against Sacramento. So the idea of fouling gets more convoluted, right, because, yeah, you might like Jiannis is a poor free throw shooter, but you're not just gonna gift wrap him a chance to go to the line and tie the game. Right but down by three. Where most teams are making a decision over whether or not they want to play defense or they want to foul, you are now making that decision for them,

and so Portland immediately fouls. Be honest, he goes down and misses both free throws, and the game is over now for the record, because there's gonna be there. I saw it on Twitter last night, a lot of people going after Doc. That's not why they lost the game. You didn't lose the game because of those decisions at

the end. But even with that weird kind of layout for the zoom action, brook Lopez still got a pretty damn good look and he missed it and he had just made two, So I feel like that's kind of playing the results, so to speak. If brook Lopez makes that, you call him a genius. Right again, I would say, whenever you got a guy that's going to be double teamed off of I don't want him in a ball screen. I'd rather have him off the ball. So it's just a little bit easier to manage. But they still got

a decent look. That's how it turned out right on the base on that of bounds. Again, don't like the configuration, but it was a one point game after the infony Simons floater, I look back to, like, how about Dame throwing the ball all over the court in the middle of the fourth quarter when he just was struggling with Portland's ball pressure. Just in general, some of the ways that Milwaukee's offense bogged down in the middle of that

fourth quarter. So to me, in a forty eight minute game, it's really silly to pretend like that's the reason why they've lost.

The group did not believe in him, and so I thought Doc would be able to come in, pull out some belief from that group and clean up the margins, get them better at the point of attack, defensively, get them better and help and recover situations defensively, and specifically get them better in transition defense. Sprinting back, getting matched up, and communicating things along the lines.

very small. This is something I talk about all the time. Like, if you really look back at these specific series in the way some of these games have gone over the course of over the course of the playoffs in recent years, you can point to singular points where things swin, right, Like you look at like the Phoenix series, Phoenix tied that series, the Phoenix Denver series, Phoenix tied that series at two, and in game two they kind of had a lead there for a while and it kind of

slipped away late. Denver earned that win. But like you could see, it's like, Okay, if game two goes differently, what if Phoenix takes a bigger lead, maybe they have a better chance.

significant mistakes. And so between that end of gameplay, between some of the offensive layout stuff that I've pointed out, between that weird switch against Denver we talked about, they were switching and then scram switching against Denver down the stretch, and they had it configured nicely so that Giannis would end up on Jamal Murray and Brook Lopez would end up on Nikola Jokic, but down the stretch randomly, when they got it to a one possession game, Doc switched

it up and put Brooke on Jamal in the switch and he got cooked, and you're like, why why why did you switch that up? Right, So, like again, it's not a major concern, it's just something to keep an eye on because like the margin, Milwaukee's not gonna sweep Boston. Milwaukee's not gonna sweep some of the you know, Miami or something like that. It's going to be tight contested series, and you like those kinds of mistakes can swing games and can swing series. So it's just something worth keeping

an eye on in the short term. One last thing I wanted to get to on the Bucks as well. It was not a good defensive game overall for Milwaukee and Portland, but in the fourth quarter they were really good. They held them to an offensive rating below ninety a bunch of key stops specifically, once again, I thought Malik Beasley and Damian Lillard really turned up their defensive engagement down the stretch of that game. And for the record, it's been a theme this season, as you can see

in the numbers for Milwaukee in their clutch defense. But there are some encouraging notes coming out of the early doc rivers situation in Milwaukee where you're seeing just better defensive engagement at least in specific spots, and that could go a long way for this team and what their playoff potential is. So again, in a loss, still some encouraging stuff coming out of Milwaukee. All right, guys, let's

get into our mailbag. First question, do you think being a seven slash eight seed is the best case scenario for a team like Golden State matching up with Minnesota or Oklahoma City with little playoff experience seems better than playing Denver or LA. So specifically in the Western Conference, I don't think playoff seating matters as much. There's no doubt that you want to have home court because that

really can make a difference in a playoff series. But there's some truth to the fact that like a play in team, like let's say that once again the seven eight ends up being Golden State LA. Okay, the Lakers and Warriors again, and let's say it ends up being a Golden State against Oklahoma City and it ends up being a Lakers against Minnesota. If you're in Golden State or LA's position there, you'd prefer to go against a younger,

less experienced team. So there's no doubt that, like, yeah, you'd like your chances against a Minnesota or in Oklahoma City more than you'd like your chances against the Clippers or Nuggets. Right, So there's some truth to the fact that the seven or eight seed kind of has worked out there, But the reality is is that can all

move around before the end of the season. It could be Denver in LA at one two and then could be Oklahoma City, Minnesota by the time we get to the end of this thing, so a lot of that's still up in the air. However, I do tend to

think different from the Eastern Conference. In the Eastern Conference, all of those top four seeds are gonna be favored over those bottom four at least at least the one, two three are gonna be significant favorites, and so like in the Eastern Conference, getting up there is a big deal because you don't get a first round by but you get a heavily favored type of first round series that can be significant. In the Western Conference, they're just

are eight really good teams. So in probably more than that,

there's probably like ten really good teams. So the truth of the matter is in the Western Conference, I think it's far more realistic for a team to be able to like kind of not care about seeding and just kind of take it when they get to the postseason, just because your chances of beating on Oklahoma City if you're a Lakers is about the same as it is if you're gonna beat a Pelicans, or if you're gonna beat a Clippers or any of these other teams like

all of these teams in the Western Conference are good. There is no like, oh, if I get to this seed, I have an easy matchup, Like that's just not the case. Same goes for the top seeds. Like if you're the one or the two, you're probably gonna be facing a Lakers in the first round. You're probably gonna be facing a Suns or a Warriors in the first round. So like, I don't really necessarily think seeding matters all that much in the Western Conference. Next question, thoughts on the Celtics

trading for Sidik Bay before the trade deadline. Not a terrible idea that this is a team that probably could use an additional wing. Also, that backup center position, I'm not as concerned about there. Like, but between you know, like between Luke Cornett and the nimas, Quita has been kind of providing pretty solid play in basically as a one shift guy, like playing one shift a half for them in the last week and a half or so.

Like I tend to think too, when you go out looking for backup centers, they're all kind of flawed in their own ways, and so I don't really view them as really transformative types of players. The thing that would make a guy like Sidik Bay tough to trade for. Is he's coming up on a new deal this summer, so like he's gonna have to negotiate a new deal.

And my guess is a player like him is going to be looking for something around the mid level exception, so like in that you know, ten to fifteen million dollars a year range. And I'm just not sure that's necessarily something the Celtics can afford with everything else that they have to pay for. So it's not that Sadikbe wouldn't be good for the Celtics. I actually think that's a good a good fit as a backup wing. It's just it's not necessarily the best move for them in

terms of their salary cap situation moving forward. Next question, what separates a good defensive team from a bad defensive team other than on court effort? In other words, can a bad defensive team be a mid or good defensive team just by playing harder? So this has been one of my like long standing basketball beliefs, and I actually thought Denver last year was a really good example of this.

But when it comes to the defensive end of the floor, personnel is a good chunk of it, having the athleticism, having all those archetypes that I talked about, like a center that has the flexibility to defend in multiple coverages, a big foward that can help as like a low man, a defensive rebounder, rotation guy, like that perimeter oriented three that can guard like bigger perimeter players, but navigate screens well. Like the shorter, stockier wing that plays the two that

can really defend at the point of attack. Right, Like, those are all important elements of a defense, but above and beyond that to you when it comes to actually getting stops, just being in the right spot. And so that comes back to like, are you sprinting back and transition defense, getting matched up and forcing them to play in the half court? Are your guys at the point of attack doing their job chasing over the top and

applying back pressure. Is your screen defender doing his job in the coverage of splitting the difference between the role man and the ball handler. Are your off ball players doing a nice job splitting the difference between digging down and disrupting those driving lanes while also being in a

position to rotate. When you're rotating, are you funneling in the right direction, Like most defensive schemes, with exception of specific players that have a strong hand, are going to ask you to funnel towards the baseline, fine link towards the baseline. After you've done your job, are you rotating? Are you getting to the next open guy in the chain? Are people communicating? Is everyone rotating like Winshield wipers or is one guy rotating? And is their delay that's leading

to an opening? Right, Like, there's all these elements to it that if those don't take place, it doesn't really matter what your personnel is. And you know, we talk about a team like the the Nuggets last year. Those guys did their jobs, they fulfilled their element in the

game plan. And so again I will always take a really good offensive team that defends in that like five to ten range in defensive rating, meaning like they're just really sharp on the details, but obviously they can't get stops, like the best defensive teams in the league, Like those are the teams that I think translate best to the playoffs. Of great example. Another great example of that would be like the Golden State Warriors teams from like twenty fifteen.

In twenty fourteen, they defended extremely well while having some limited defensive personnel on the floor. The twenty sixteen calves like they were not a team that had incredible defensive personnel with Kevin Love at center and with j R. Smith on the floor in Kyrie Irving, but they just defended well within their roles and did their jobs and they were I think they finished that regular season as

number ten in defensive rating. It was the one time in that four year span that they were top ten in defensive rating, And it just goes to show you that it was the same group of personnel that they had most of those years, but they were just more locked in on the details and so they were able to defend well enough to get to the Larry O'Brien Trophy. So again, I think that a bad defensive team is usually a combination of both. It's usually a weak personnel

and weak execution. But I think you can have average personnel an excellent execution and be a good defense and have your offensive skill pull you over the top to win the title. Next question, do you see Lebron asking out if they don't fire Darvin ham and or make a run this season? A couple of things I think that it's on the table that if this season ends in extremely ugly fashion, that Lebron opts out and looks to sign somewhere else this summer to try to have

a better chance to contend for a title. The biggest thing working against that happening would be the simple fact that he's gonna be in his twenty second season and his kids are in LA, and so there's going to be moments where he's gonna sit down and he's gonna be like, man, this organization is a shit show. I could get out and I could go play for them and have a chance to win the title.

think he just stays in LA. But I do think it's on the table, especially if things get really bad for the Lakers this year.

belief issues. That said, like, their deadline strategies are different as well, because the Lakers are willing to give up D'Angelo Russell, They're willing to give up a first round

pick to improve, they're willing to put guys in. For the Warriors, it's tough because their best trade asset is Jonathan Kaminga, and he is on a star trajectory and so they probably won't move him, and so for the Warriors, it's looking more like a move on the margins, and so like it's one of those things where I think both of them are kind of destined for that play in tournament. I think that's like almost a certainty at this point. All you have to do is take a

peek at the standings. But I think they both want to do it. I just think they're different. Like the Warriors to me, have good basketball character. They play hard all the time. They just have some limitations. The Lakers to me, have lots of talent, but they have really bad basketball character. And that's what makes them very different from each other. That's why I say the Warriors actually

run me a lot of last year's Lakers. Last year's Lakers in December and January, they were fighting, they were trying to get back into a position where they could do something. Then the trade deadline gave them the talent they needed to make a move. That's why I look at that as kind of a corollary for Golden State. Bring in some more talent at the deadline. These guys really do believe. These guys really do play hard. That's

where you could have a run post deadline. Next question, is Jalen Green worth moving on from if you can get an all Star caliber player like Levigne.

to kind of like increase the competence in the room. Now, I will say that like it is a mediocre basketball team, which is what we predicted before the season, But there's one giant exciting part in all of that, and that's that Jabari Smith Junior and Alpern Shangun are just really freaking good. So like Jabari Smith and Alpern Shangun are really freaking good. So like you can have like you've already got like a decent foundation there. Now the question is do you bail on Jalen Green to go bring

back another player? And yeah, if you can get a really good player, like if you can get a legitimate star, sure, but I don't think you trade Jabari Smith or excuse me, Jalen Green for a flawed star someone like Zach Lavine. Not only that, Jalen Green's playing a little bit better and to Jalen Green's credit. When you go and you bring in a Dylan Brooks and you go and bring in a Fred van Vliet, you make the situation in Houston more complicated with ball handling, and for a young guard,

that changes his role fundamentally. Now, I would argue it's better than what he was doing before, where you're Houstin's just deliberately being bad. And in that sequence, you know, Jalen Green has the ball a lot, but he's just learning how to be bad. Like that's not good either, but like it is a little bit different for me. He's learning how to share the basketball more in a

team with a lot more ball handling. And my thing is, like it kind of like what I've said in a lot of cases, Jalen Green's potential upside in the long run with him just kind of figuring things out and getting better is probably higher than what you can get back for a trade. So be happy with the fact that Jabari Smith and Alprin Shangun are so damn good. Give Jalen Green some time to find out what he can be as an NBA player.

nearly as much impact as the star. Best example is the Lakers like Darvin Ham. Like I've said this Pore and we're gonna talk about it more in a little bit, but to me, like Darvin Ham's main role on this team is just getting the rotation right, Like I'm not like Lebron will figure out the offensive adjustments. Lebron and Anthony Davis together will figure out the defensive adjustments. In terms of the way they need to organize themselves on the floor. And even when they first hired Darvin Haam,

I didn't view him as like a tactician. I was like, this is the classic former player coach type, archetype that can look eye to eye with these guys and get them to play hard, just like Ema Udoka did for the Celtics. The problem is is Darvinham is not motivating these guys, and so when you combine that with his rotation decisions which have been so confusing, it has been

downright damaging. Belief plays a huge role over the course of the regular season, which is why I've said the regular season has a bigger coaching impact than the postseason. If Eric spolschra was the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, you can bet your ass that there's going to be more down the roster belief in the day to day product, which will get them to play harder, more consistently. The rotation will be right, and schematically they will be assisted

from the sideline. That would absolutely make them a better team. I think this Laker roster would probably win between forty five and fifty games if Eric Spolser was the coach. I still think they'd have some issues with Lebron kind of coasting from time to time. I still think they'd have some issues with some of the roster organization. Before the deadline, like we all knew the Lakers were going to be a deadline a team that was active at the deadline, but like, because all of that, because all

that hasn't happened. You've gotten really poor effort, you've had misalignment of the rotation, you haven't had schematic support from the sideline. As a result, they've underachieved. And you know, Tyler's kind of an interesting example because let's not forget Tyleru agreed to terms to become the Lakers coach before Frank Vogel got hired. But what happened was is Genie

Buss disrespected him. Tyleru was a championship coach, wanted to be paid like a championship coach, and Genie Bus said, I'm not going to pay you like a championship coach, which was downright disrespectful. And there's a real case to be made that it was one of the bigger turning points of the lebron ad era that instead of Tylu getting what he deserved and where he'd still be the coach the Lakers and they would they would have just better support from the sideline over the course of the

eighty two and said they don't have that. And so it's an interesting thing to kind of look back at. Next question, what's your biggest pet peeves sports narrative for me? And this is from the questioner. For me, it's when teams have constant success get disregarded with quote they haven't won anything, end quote, simply because they don't win a title. Think these recent Celtics teams, Michigan Football for the Natty

or Harden's Rockets. So with your specific pet peeve, I do think there's some truth to that, where like it can be kind of like no fun to act like winning the title is all that matters. But that's exactly what makes champions so special. And that's why you know, Logan are head of content here at the volume calls me a loyalist to the banner. That's why I look so much at the championship. That's why I told Jokic fans like, once he gets it done, I'll defend him

to the bitter end. Like to me, it is so incredibly hard to do. That goes to show you with these Celtics teams, for instance, how they've consistently come up short, like it is difficult to do, and so when it is done, we need to apply the appropriate respect to it. My pet peeves, I've got two of them that I'll throw you, or three of them that I'll throw you guys one old heads thinking the game used to be better. That always blows my mind, like basketball players are just

better now than they used to be, big shock. That's why I say, when it comes to ranking guys all the time, you have to rank them relative to their era and not against each other, because basketball players are just better now. Second One, catch all metrics. I just think it is a fundamental misunderstanding in the way the game of basketball works, and so trying to quantify a player's impact into one number, I think is just a

fool's errand. And I always think it's funny when I see people kind of put a catch all metrics in player comparisons as like the end all be all, when that just simply is not the case.

game of basketball as a slot machine. I think we've all lost the plot and so those are just three of my bigger pet peeves as of right now covering the game. Next question, can you do a deep dive on the Celtics. What should they do at the trade

deadline to shore up their bench? Why doesn't Tatum go to the rim Layton games, Why do they sit Jalen Brown in the corner lade, What would they look like with Smart instead of Drew, etc. So we're not going to do a full deep dive obviously, just because we've got so many mail back questions to get to. But a couple of things, like we talked about the trade deadline earlier, like I'm sure they will be looking for

a bench wing. I'm sure they will be looking for a backup big But I think with the Celtics in general, I just don't think they'll put any sort of real asset on the table for something like that. Not to mention, they don't really have a ton to offer, and at this point they have their core five down, which is key. This is something I talk about all the time on

the show. If you have your core five, if you know who your five guys are, that you're going down with any sort of upgrade below that point probably should not involve significant assets spending, just simply because there's a diminishing return with those guys as everyone's rotation minutes go up when you get to the postseason. Why doesn't Tatum go to the rim Layton games. I think he's just a young basketball players still learning how to impact winning

at the highest level. I think that he's made a decision, a conscious decision to lean on his pull up jump shot to kind of carry him in a lot of cases. And I think it'll just take more losing for him to learn that lesson properly, but hopefully he learns it sooner than later. Why do they sit Jalen Brown in the corner late? It's really simple. It's a decision making

kind of a configuration. They viewed Derek White and Jason Tatum as their best decision makers, and so when they run two man game at the end of games, Jason Tatum and Derek White are usually involved. From there, you know, Jalen Brown has to space the floor somewhere, and so whether it's in the corner on the wing, it doesn't

really matter. He's out of the action, if that makes sense. Lastly, what would they look like and smart with Smart instead of Drew, etc. I think with Marcus Smart there obviously was a lot of continuity there that goes without saying right, but you needed Marcus Smart to get Chris hops perzingis. Drew Holiday impacts winning, especially in the postseason, in his own way with his physicality. I have a feeling that Drew Holliday is going to have a lot of big

moments when we get to the postseason this year. We have more Celtics questions coming later on in the show. Do you think Sga is better than Tatum? Even though Sga doesn't have the playoff resume, he has won truly elite skill set with his mid range and has been a consistent thirty plus point per game score. Wele Tatum's issues always have always been inconsistency in his pull up

jump shot being unreliable. So I tend to think that the playoffs are an adjustment for every player, and Shay has not yet played a playoff series where he was

the number one option. The reason why I say that is like, there's extensive film study not just on your history, but also within the series to find out which matchups you struggle against, which struggle coverages, you struggle against, which off ball configurations you struggle against, and with that, teams are going to find a way to make you feel uncomfortable one way or another. That's why most stars are

inconsistent in the postseason. It's just really difficult to be a good playoff player, and so even though Tatum has his limitations, he's just a lot more experienced there. So whether or not SGA can become a better playoff player than Tatum remains to be seen. But I would take Tatum in the short term because I do think SGA has some lumps that he's gonna have to get through before he can really break through. That said, I do think SGA projects to be an outstanding playoff player simply

because of that diversity of his shot creation. The one thing that kind of that worries me a little bit with him is he's very thin, and so I do wonder in just really really physical playoff environments of his efficiency will tank, but we can't find out until we actually watch him play. Next question, there seems to be a role in the NBA since the end of the n season tournament and waiting for the All Star break.

Do you think the NBA should add something else to keep fans engaged, or is reducing the number of games the only way to increase the value of games. So I've noticed this loll as well. It's actually funny. So today is my two year anniversary since I started with the volume, and we were looking through my wife and I actually were looking through some numbers, just zooming out for the entire two years, and it's just been really

cool to see the growth. And so I just want to take a second to thank you guys for supporting the show, because it just is mind blowing to me to see the support that we've had over the course of the two years. But as we've looked at the two years, it's interesting that there's been a consistent dip in our numbers each year in that like end of December January stretch, and then once we get to February, we get the trade the deadline, things kind of pick

up right where they left off. It's happening a little bit this year, and it's happened it happened last year at this time, and so there is some truth to the fact that, like you've played, every team's played over forty games, right, every team has over forty games left. Basically, if you factor in the postseason, we are like firmly

in the middle of this grind. We're seeing young teams like the Utah Jazz and the Cleveland Cavaliers have a lot of success, which is something that happens when you get into January when some of the veteran teams start to lose steam. We're seeing a lot of teams, like a lot of the veteran teams have little drop offs in their play as they struggle a little bit with just kind of malaise in the middle of the season. And that's what happens when you play eighty two games.

I've put myself out there and said this several times. I think they should shorten the season to sixty six games. Keep the same length of the season, but do sixty six games instead of eighty two, because that twenty percent reduction would get rid of back to backs, make it so that no team plays more than three times a week, which means you have a guaranteed two days off in a row at some point every single week. It would just make it so much easier for your stars to

be available. And so even though there'd be a twenty percent decrease in the total volume of games. I think in the long run, there would be a twenty percent increase in revenue driven from each game, simply because the product would be better, more urgency, better star participation. Like, once again, we have a nationally televised game today where

stars are sitting out. It's a consistent problem in the NBA. So, like, you mean to tell me that if the stars didn't play in all these games or there wouldn't just be more TV revenue. Of course there would be. And so I look, that's what my personal belief system is. But we both know that we all know that that's never going to change, all right, Next question, do you think the rest have an attitude problem in the NBA? I don't mean like they're bad people, but they have a

short fuse. I think there's a consistency problem. Each ref has a different standard, and that to me is a problem because players can't adjust. So a couple of things. I think there are two significant problems with the NBA officiating. One, not enough refs that actually have a basketball background, who actually understand what basketball games are like. I think that's the primary driving force behind the fact that we have so many non basketball plays that get rewarded with free throws.

The rest don't know any better. They're so by the book that they can't realize when something that's not really a basketball play is taking places in front of them.

It's just I think anytime you give authority to people, you're gonna have issues with certain personality types that struggle to handle authority. And yeah, there's no doubt that there are officials out there that think the show is about them, But I don't know how you really deal with that. I don't know if that's something you can coach out of them. I don't know if that's something that you can evaluate out of them. I don't know if that's

something you can find out during the hiring process. But that would be the other piece of it is trying to find out a way to just have referees understand their role in NBA games, which is not anything to do with them. It's everything to do with the basketball game. Next question, if you were the Lakers coach from the start of the season, what would you do for them to win more games in the regular season. So, first

of all, we talked a lot about Darvinham. I want to be clear some of this is on the players, especially after the nca Tournament. This was a big fear of mine that I was actually text logan or head of content. Here's a huge Lakers fan, and him and I were talking about this the night they won the Ncason Tournament. We were like, like, this team has some potential to really let go of the rope here because it's a sense of accomplishment for a group that struggled

with regular season motivation. And they promptly turned around and like lost to the MAVs, a game they had no business losing. They went and lost to that that Spurs team that hadn't won in like a month or whatever before, like like it. They just immediately tanked after that. So I want to I want to make sure that the players get some of the blame here, because they certainly have not played to their own capability on the floor.

But Darvin Ham has made two critical mistakes this year, in my opinion, One his over belief in Torrian prints Regardless of what the configurations of the starting lineup have

looked like. When Torrian Prince has been healthy, he has started, and like he's the one guy that hasn't been held to the standard of like Anthony Davis and Lebron obviously have that leeway, but outside of that, Torrian Prince is the only other guy in the roster where it's like, no matter how you play, you just you're gonna get

your thirty minutes. You're gonna start. And it's confusing to me because Toryan Prince has already started more games this year than he did in the previous three years combined.

Torrian Prince has always been a off the bench kind of mid minutes type of guy, going against bench players, and Darvin Hamm has just miscast him, and that misreid on the roster has led to the Lakers playing a starting lineup with Torriyan Prince at the three, Austin Dilo, Torrian Lebron ad It's one of only twenty two lineups this year that have play at least two hundred minutes.

It's the second worst in the group. Not easy to do with how well Lebron, James and Anthony Davis have played, huge, huge, huge indictment on Darvin ham and his rotation decisions, and then secondly over tinkering with the rotation mixed in with all of this, he's been trying all kinds of shit and as a result, there's been no consistency for young players in their minutes, and young players really really struggle to play well consistently when they don't know when their

minutes are coming from, when they don't like they have a spot locked down in the rotation, and so over tinkering and an over belief in Torrian prints I think are the major things that disrupted this season and for the records.

has been the rise of Jalen Johnson. You don't know how good he's gonna be yet, but you know he's going to be really good. Specifically, the exciting stuff has been the on ball creation. He's at one point one points per possession in pick and roll including passes, He's had thirteen points on thirteen ISOs. He's getting one point twenty five points per post up this season. He's been good in spot up situations, knocking down threes in attacking

closeouts one point one points for spot up possession. So he's got real potential there. That's a big silver lining. It's a little bit of a redundancy with DeAndre Hunt and that's gonna be something they'll have to figure out. So the question is when you zoom out, if we agree that this core is broken and this particular structure of the team is not working, and you want to keep Tray and you want to keep Jalen Johnson, you kind of have to go down the roster because.

position as Jalen Johnson. What are you gonna do with that? Are you going to are you gonna consider moving DeAndre Hunter? Like how does he fit into your to your plans? He's twenty six years old, He kind of more or less is what he is in the NBA at this point, but he plays that big forward position, right who can kind of help on as a Lowman. I don't really look at him as a three very much.

That to me is super counterproductive to a rebuild. And so we'll see what they end up deciding to do at this deadline, but I wouldn't be surprised if they moved several of their role players between this deadline and this offseason. Next question, how do you think the KD Warriors would be doing up to now if they stayed

together post twenty nineteen finals loss. Is there a world where you could see them losing down the line to a Denver or another team that rows up, or do you think they would be on the verge of winning five straight. So it's tough because the twenty twenty.

one and twenty twenty two seasons were wide open. I mean, the Warriors actually won one of those titles, So like, I think the Warriors win both of those relatively easily if KD stays so like certainly two additional ones, maybe three,

although that twenty twenty season would have been tough. Twenty twenty three, when Denver comes up, that's where like Denver, I think is a truly special team of Golden Stak's ilk and Golden State has experienced some decline since then, So starting twenty twenty three is I think where it would have faded out, but I would have been let's just put it this way, like they got one more without KD. If KD stays, they get at least one

additional one and then maybe one more after that. Next question, given the strength and ten across the league, should the Lakers realistically have a discussion about trading Lebron and Ad to fully start a rebuild? So I don't think they should trade Ad. I think that that's a guy that they should look to build around. But like, yeah, if they're not interested in contending anymore, trading Lebron is an option.

I just think there's a negative connotation that comes with being the team that traded Lebron James, and I think Lebron personally would like to retire in Los Angeles, and so that's gonna be the delicate balance as like, how do you weigh, you know, Lebron's desire to stay in LA with your long term goals of a rebuild. That said, there is some encouraging stuff. Everybody on the roster beyond Lebron and Ad is in their twenties, so they have

a lot of young players. There are guys that are still on the rise, like Austin Reeze is going to get better, you know, ruy hat Chimura is going to get better. Like, they have some potential there. I think that always the Lakers are going to be a potential free agent destination. And so my thing is like, I wouldn't trade Lebron because I don't think you're going to get anything back that makes you a contender, and there's a lot of negative connotations there unless Lebron specifically asks

you to trade him. And it's very possible that he turns around and leaves this offseason anyway. But I've seen a lot of talk about Lebron getting traded and the Lakers, you know, looking to fully start a rebuild. But I think it's more likely than not that the Lakers look to go all in, either at this deadline or over the summer, using all three draft picks. Next question, in

your opinion, what is Cam Whitmore's ceiling. First of all, he's shooting the ball insanely well, especially off the catch, and I think he's one of those, like truly transcendently great athletes. He's also an excellent defensive rebounder for his position, so he's got all of the potential in the world, but his on ball stuff has been really inconsistent. He struggles to see the floor, has more turnovers than assists

this season. So like, if you can take steps on the defensive end and then with his on ball reps, I think that's where his real potential is. But like, man like, can't be upset about getting a player like that later in the first round the way that they did. Next question, who should start at the three for the Grizzlies, Vince or Smart? So I was looking at Vinceilliams this morning,

and like, really, it's this simple to me. The digging that I've done behind the scenes says that the Grizzlies really would like to run it back with Marcus Smart next season. And you know, Vince is an interesting young player, but I don't view him as some sort of transcendently great option. So I think you keep starting Marcus Smart at the three because next year you're probably gonna go job Bane Smart to start the year, and so it's

more just a matter of continuity at that point. Next question, do you think the Kauhi comp Do you like the Kauhi comp for what Kuminga's ceiling can be? Not particularly First of all, Kamina is a much higher center of gravity and is much much faster. Kawhi is more of like a methodical power player, and so I don't really see much similarity between them. Kawhi is also just a lot sharper in terms of some of his skill set stuff.

NBA is now officially like the basement for Kaminga. I just would be I would be shocked if he wasn't like as good as like a Jalen Brown is in this NBA, who's pretty resoundingly, you know, kind of revered as around you know, eighteen nineteen twentieth best player in the NBA. So yeah, I think I don't think Kaminga is Kawhi, but I do think that he can be that level of player. Next question a little bit of a Celtics mail bag to make up for the show.

What's your impression on Jalen Brown? What has your impression of Jalen Brown been this season his ranking slash performance improved slash diminished from the offseason to your to this point in your opinion, what's his potential with the team and how close is he to it. So, first of all, the self creation numbers are way up, which is typical for a young player as he continues to learn how to play at the highest level, particularly in pick and roll in ISO, his efficiency is way way way up

from last year. But it's concerning when you look at some of these bigger games We've talked about the Celtics recently. They've won all these, but their last three losses have all been against teams that are my top four contenders. When they lost to the Clippers, Jalen Brown three for thirteen eight points. When they lost to Denver Jalen Brown six for nineteen thirteen points, lost to Milwaukee five for

fourteen ten points. For those counting, that's what thirty three forty six, so forty six shots leading to thirty one points in their three biggest games in the last month. So I think it's hard not to be at least a little bit discouraged by that. Like it's not about what Jalen Brown can do against Billy or against anybody else. It's about what he can do against the biggest names

in the sport on the biggest stages. Next question, I hear you talk about you believe once Tatum matures that he will be able to be a reliable shot maker and a go to player in the clutch. But as a Celtics fan, I've seen no signs pointing to that. Tatum has also been a rhythm player, and he did just almost and he just almost never seems to rise

in the clutch. So here's the thing. I still tend to think Tatum's on the younger side of this, and there's just enough encouraging stuff over the years to not be done. Between some of his big playoff games and that twenty twenty two playoff run before he got to the finals, between like even last year at the end of that Heat series, like he was really good up

until when he turned his ankle in Game seven. In games like five and six, he was really starting to figure out some of the methodical playoff half court kind of surgery stuff. And so again I understand that it can be discouraging, but I think most of that comes from the fact that he's already been in the league for a long time, but he is relatively young, so I just think it's way too soon to be off

of the Tatum train. Next question, if the Suns won fifteen in a row, would you mention them in a show or wait until they lose a game to talk about how terrible they are? This one was actually funny to me because I literally just ignored a couple of their losses in a row, and then we reacted to their death lineup like what literally the week before last. So it's actually just not true. But this is a consistent theme I get from a bunch, especially Celtics fans.

They are on this all the time. Like, here's the deal. I don't specifically target games, teams, wins or losses. I just don't. I don't know what else to tell you. I wake up in the morning and I, uh, well, first of all, we play the schedule in advance, but I wake up in the morning and I cover the games we scheduled to record or to cover, and I will schedule specific games that are marquee matchups, and so like, yeah, it's like with Celtics fans, you didn't think I was

gonna cover the Clippers game. You didn't think I was gonna cover the Nuggets game. You didn't think I was gonna cover the Bucks game. Like those are games we marked like a month in advance.

So like, for instance, when the Suns had that wild comeback with Kevin Duran at center, which is something they hadn't done all season, we changed our schedule to get the Suns on the show because it was time to talk about something new and interesting that took place with that team. So like, for the record, I get this from every single team. I have Laker fans that don't like the way I cover the team. I have Warriors fans I don't like the way I cover the team.

Like this is part of just kind of the job. Like there's just people that don't like the way I cover the game, and it is what it is. But like I promise you guys, that I'm not targeting any specific thing. Like it's so funny with the Celtics, they've been They've been on the top of my power rankings most of the season. They've been my second best championship contender all season. I moved them up this year. They started at three behind Milwaukee, and I moved them up

to number two over Milwaukee. Like I'm not anti Celtics, anti Suns, anti any of that stuff. Like I'm a big Lakers fan, and I do not think they're a contender unless they can rip off a stretch where they look great, Like my belief in them as a contender is solely based on Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reeves and their capability of making a trade. Like I don't really overreact to any sort of like regular season outcomings, just kind of the way that the show lays is

laid out. But I have a lot of fans that get discouraged about how and when I talk about their teams. But I promise it's not anything that's happening on purpose. It's just kind of the way things shake out. Next question, what is Donovan Mitchell ceiling if he continues to improve as a good point of attack, close out and playmaking defender. Love your show always, thanks for the sport. I thought this has been Donovan's best defensive season as a pro.

He's at the point of attack, he can get a little over aggressive and have some issues there, but especially in help and recover situations, he's been amazing because it's just so fast that he can really dig down and then get out to shooters and chase them off the line and make defensive plays as a help defender. But even above and beyond that, his defensive playmaking has been huge as you mentioned, like his ability to jump passing lanes and read things before they happen using his basketball

i Q to his advantage has been super helpful. That end, his playmaking on offense I think are the two biggest swing factors for his potential. But I view him as like in that like I think he's in that like fifteen to twenty range pretty like consistently. As like his upside, like, I don't necessarily think he can ever crack into like the superstar tier, but I think he can be in that tier right below those guys if he stays committed to the defensive end and he continues to make strides

as a playmaker. Next question, Kamina is getting real minutes and already looks like a top twenty five to thirty player in the league. What's to say he can't be a top fifteen player by next year? And then do you think he can improve enough by the time the playoffs roll around to make the Warriors or championship contender. So I think he has top fifteen potential. I do

think we're a couple of years away from that. I think that this kind of thing does take time, and you got to remember how good the top of the league is. Like if you looked at I can't remember exactly who I had in my fifteen to eleven last year, but it was like Jamal Murray, Anthony Edwards, I want to say, it was like Damian Lillard.

into that list. I just think we're probably a few years away from that. And then as far as whether or not he can improve enough by the time the playoffs roll around to make the championship the Warriors a championship contender, that one hundred percent comes down to the deadline and what they can get back do I think Jonathan Kminga is gonna be a deeply impactful playoff player right away. No, because he has weaknesses and the playoffs expose weaknesses. They will double team him in the post.

He's getting a ton of single coverage in the post. They will double team in the post and test his floor vision and his ability to handle ball pressure. And then in addition to that, he's been shooting the ball really well lately, but teams are going to dare him to shoot in the postseason, which will test his confidence and his trust in his shot, so he might play well.

I'm not trying to say it's off the table, but like I would be really, really surprised if a player of his age just walked into the postseason and elevated the Warriors as a secondary star into championship contention. I think it's gonna come down to what they can get back at the deadline. All right, we have three more questions and then we're out of here for the night. If the Nuggets don't win the finals, excluding injury, what do you think would be the primary reason for it.

I think it all comes down to Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic shot making. Nikola Jokic's jump shot has been down a level from where it was last year. I know Nuggets fans have been like, his field goal percentage is so good. No, no, no, a Nikola Jokic jump shot is worth like fifteen percent less than it was worth last year. That's just a fact. That's what the numbers say. That's just what has happened when he's taken jump shots. So like, I'm not I think Jokic is

the best player in the world. I would be surprised if the Nuggets didn't win the championship. This is not a criticism of the Nuggets. This is just a statement of a fact. When Nikol Yokich has taken a jump shot this year, it has been worth fifteen percent less. That is what the results say been. Now, whether or not that becomes an issue, we will see. I think there's been a lot of other upside with the Nuggets. I think they've defended better as a regular season team.

I think in general, everybody, all the other four role players on the team are a little bit better, a little bit sharper. I think the Nuggets are a better version of last year's team. But if they were to lose, I think it would be Jamal Murray, Nicole Yoak. It's missing a bunch of jump shots. I think that would be how they would lose. And you said excluding injury for the record. Last two questions, Hey, Jason, where do you get some of these advanced, really helpful and cool

statistics you use in your takes? Is there a website? Some of them are very specific, and I was wondering if there's a place online where you can input a certain stat that you use and it just gives it. So I think that for free stuff, NBA dot COM's website is really useful. You can actually get some play

type data in there. Two shot dashboard is really useful. Like, go to the NBA dot com website and just kind of go through all the drop down menus and just look at all the stats and just see what is there. There's a lot that you can get to for free. Now, my higher end stuff, I use a website called Synergy, and they're an analytics platform in a film sorting platform, actually the same platform I used to use when I

played basketball in college. For scouting. I would like they'd be like, hey, Jason, you're guarding this player tomorrow night. I'd go on Synergy and I'd watch every single one of his clips and I'd see a breakdown. Okay, he drives left seventy seven percent of the time, he drives right twenty three percent of the time. When he goes left, he spins back to his right, you know, fifty six

percent of the time or whatever. And it like would help me build a scouting report for my defensive assignment and like, so I have some familiarity with the platform, but it's a very very expensive platform, and I'm very very lucky to have access to it. And so again, like for a basketball fan, I think the most useful website actually is the NBA dot com website. They have a ton of data on there that you can get for free. You just have to familiarize yourself with it

and learn how to use it. Last question, I'm a guitarist and I can't help but notice your prs and strap behind you in your videos. Your favorite player band and what kind of music do you play? And are you in one? So I am not in a band. Guitar is just a hobby of mine. My favorite guitar player is John Mayer. My favorite band is Dead in Company. Also shout out Dead in Company. I went to their final show in San Francisco last year, and now they're doing a like a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

They're gonna do like fourteen shows there, which I'm super excited about because, like, first of all, Vegas is relatively close to me, so I'll be able to get up and see one, but I'll get fourteen more shows where Dead in Company is really interesting because they are a they're a jam band, so every version of their song

is different. So like if you like Scarlett Bigonia's, every time you hear Scarlett Pigonia's, it's like a different version of Scarlet Pigoonia's because the all of the instrumental over it is different than the last time you've heard. And so when I get fourteen more shows and there are all three hour sets, like, I'm just getting a ton more grateful Dead music in my life, which I'm very, very excited about. We'll definitely try to get up there for one of those shows at this sphere. I did

just buy a new guitar. This is my third PRS. This is a This is a PRS silver sky maple neck. This is one that I've really wanted for a really long time. I have a Mexican Strata Caster. It's the one hanging right behind me, and it's a nice guitar, but it's got kind of like this like nitrosalulose coating on the fretboard that I don't particularly like. And then any of the non American made guitars kind of have some like some quality stuff that's not quite up to par,

like this one. In particular, the frets are not really sanded down very well on the fretboard, so like when I play for a while, that one actually really hurts my hand. I've had this one for about a month now, and I absolutely love it. This is my favorite guitar that I've ever had. It's super versatile because it's got a three pickup setup, so you can actually get to five different pickup combinations. Any of you guys who've played a triple single coil will know what I'm talking about.

The Mabel fretboard is a little treble heavy, so I'm always rolling the tone knobs down on this one, But of like that as an upside because it's it's a flexibility thing because then when I want the trouble, I can just roll the tone knobs up. The fretboard on this one is a seven inch radius, so it's more curved than others. You can kind of see it if I like point it towards the camera. But this is

this one has been really fun. I've really enjoyed this one, and it's one I've wanted for a really long time because it's actually the John Mayer signature guitar from Paul Reids Smith and it's their one triple single coil that they make. But that's my third PRS guitar that I have.

They're my favorite brand. They have like to me, the best combination of like looks and like playability, and you know, they don't have some of the history that Gibson and Fender have, but I just I just think they're really great guitars, So that's why I play them. I have plans when I'm older. I want to be one of those weirdos who like plays when I'm in my fifties

with some cover band. I have plans to do that in the long run, but I am not good enough yet, and so I have to My plan is is basically, like I lean into basketball pretty heavy. I still practice guitar when I have time, and I'll play like I'll play like an hour and a sit down and I'll do that like three or four times a week. And that's obviously just not enough to get really good at it.

But I've been doing it for like ten fifteen years, so like I have become a decent player for fun, but like I'm not good enough to play on a stage. But my game plan is is like when my body fails me and I can no longer pour my heart and soul into the game of basketball as a player, That's when I'll shift all my energy in terms of practicing, into the guitar side of things. Just because I love it. It's like skiing, guitar and basketball. Those are like my

three favorite things to do in terms of hobbies. And when basketball's gone, there will just be more time for the other stuff. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. We're gonna be back with the nerd SESSH guys tomorrow. As always, I appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you that The volume