Hoops Tonight - Top 10 NBA Duos: Warriors or Celtics #1? Steph Curry or Jayson Tatum bigger star?

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dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight, presented by Vanduel here at the volume Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are having a great

week so far. Little change of plans tonight. So originally we were gonna do an instant reaction video to Grizzlies Pelicans before we got to the rest of the show, but then Desmond Bain was ruled out, Zion Williamson was ruled out, And now that particular game doesn't quite take on the same field that it had earlier today, so we're gonna skip that and just go to the rest of the show, We're gonna do a deep dive into

the Boston Celtics and their recent success. After beating the Thunder yesterday, they've won seven in a row and now they have the best record in the league. Then yesterday there was this kind of this debate running around as to whether or not Tatum and Brown are the best duo in the NBA, which obviously got me thinking. So I've got a list of the top ten duos in the NBA for you guys today. After that, I finally got to spend a good amount of time this morning

doing a deep dive into shake guil Just Alexander. With him being buried in Oklahoma City, haven't gotten to spend much time watching him, but he's been unquestionably one of the top ten players in the NBA to start the season. So I did watch almost two hours of footage on him this morning and just about every basket he's made over the course of the season, and I cannot believe how good he is. So we're gonna spend some time talking about him, and then at the end, we're gonna

talk to some Golden State Warriors. Has got back on track? Would they win against San Antonio Spurs last night. Their bench got going, Jordan Pool got back on track. And then I want to talk a little bit about Clay Thompson because there was a report that came about came out about him and some of the frustrations with his shooting, which I'm gonna come out in his defense a little bit. And then Grizzlies fans. I promise we are going to

get to the Grizzlies eventually soon. Desmond Baine is experiencing a leap and a lot of it has to do with his ability to create his own shot, which is something I was specifically critical of about him in previous seasons. We will get to that eventually. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels.

You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt S. You guys don't miss any show announcements as well as footage breakdowns and things along those lines. And the last but not least, for whatever reason, you miss one of these shows and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, you can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops Tonight all right, let's talk some basketball. So Boston Celtics

seven wins in a row. You know, I had a couple of people complaining in my mentions on Twitter that I haven't talked about them that much to start this season, and you know, it's funny, because they were basically all

we talked about at the end of last year. Because if those of you guys who've been following the show, I was super high on the Celtics the entire last half of last season, and going into that playoff run, basically up until the finals, I picked them to win um and so they're a team that I've talked about a ton, and so it was kind of nice to kind of get away from the Celtics and talk about some other teams to start the season. But we can't skip over them anymore. They have the best record in

the league. They are five and two against five hundred or better teams, which is best in the league by a mile. They are first in offense by a mile four points per one hundred possessions, ahead of the Nuggets, who I predicted would be number one in offense. However, they are twenty one in defense and that's not getting any better. They are seventeen and defense during the seven

game win streak. But I have a theory there. So you know, rim protection in particular is far more valuable in the regular season because the prospect of sitting in a defensive stance and containing ball handlers is extremely taxing physically.

It takes a lot more effort, right, versus a funneling scheme where you have a big man that's lingering around the basket, say like Robert Williams, when he's lingering around the basket and guys are funneling to them, which is, you know, a scheme that a lot of teams use over the course of a two games to try to just work their way and eat innings. During the regular season,

that's just a lot less taxing to do. It's more focus and understanding your rotations and just making sure you funnel in the right directions and things along those lines, and then the big man it can linger around the basket because there's not really the game planning that you see in playoff series that require you to be better on the perimeter. Right. So Robert Williams's injury specifically was going to ask the Boston Celtics to defend in a

different way. Now, They've always had that look, even in the playoffs last year they had their Robert Williams look, and then they had their Al Horford at the five look when they would bring Derk Derek White into the game. Right, I liked their Al Horford at the five lineups better. We've been over that extensively. The gist of it is is I think Robert Williams and what he does is uh, you know, It's like the vertical spacing is good, but vertical spacing is never the same as five out spacing.

In my opinion, I've said that time and time again on the show. It's just way harder to make defensive rotations in five out spacing and then in general on the defensive And I thought Robert Williams also gambled quite a bit and got out of position, and them using him as a roamer actually hurt their defense in a lot of specific cases. And most importantly, they still defended really well without Robert Williams on the floor last year.

Now in this regular season, without Robert Williams, their defense hasn't been the same, but it's been because of that perimeter defense that I'm talking about. You're now asking that lineup, you know, with Al Horford at the five, you're asking those groups to sit in a stance and contain at a higher level than they're used to doing during the

regular season, and they just simply haven't done that. But I'm encouraged because you're still seeing these pockets of really good defense when the Celtics lock in, and they still look every bit as stifling as they did last year. And you've seen that a lot over the course, just in the last week. So last night against the Thunder, for instance, Jalen Brown really struggling to guard Shay Guild

just Alexander. In general, everything looks sloppy. They're killing you with pick and top with poku, and it doesn't look good. You're down. You know. The Thunder pretty much controlled that game through through three quarters and some change. But then from the eight minute mark to the one minute mark of the fourth quarter, Boston sat in a damn defensive stance. Jalen Brown did a much better job on Shade Guil just Alexander. Tatum gotta stop on Shade Gil just Alexander

as well. They forced to turn over on the door down a drive they blocked Josh Kiddy at the rim. They sat in the stance, and they played much better defense, and they allowed just eight points over seven minutes from the eight minute mark to the one minute mark. Now, Boston's offense wasn't light in the world on fire during that span. They only scored sixteen points themselves, but their

defense gave them a chance to win that game. And then it was tied at one fifteen and Marcus Smart hit that tough, contested three on the left wing, and then Derek White hit a nasty movement three coming up from the left wing and turning and squaring up in mid al mid air to knock down the three. And then Marcus Smart hit a driving layup on s g

A to ice the game, and the game's over. So again, like when I'm looking at, especially teams that have had a lot of deep playoff runs who might succumb to some regular season malaise, I'm curious to see what their switch looks like. What does it look like when they really turn it on? And as far as I can tell, Boston is still able to flip that switch and strangled

teams when they need to. You guys might remember, I think it was just over a week ago and um uh when they played the Memphis Grizzlies, similar type of deal. Game tied at ninety with eight minutes left. We covered this game if you guys remember there was uh. It was tied at ninety, was just about eight minutes left, and they held the Grizzlies scoreless five possessions in a row. They forced Desmond Baying into a tough step back, they forced John Moran into a tough step back, they couldn't score.

Then on the other end of the floor, Boston scored ten points and the game was over. So they flipped the switch and they were able to get the win. Earlier this weekend when they played the Nuggets, same deal. They're only up eight seven with three minutes left in the third, and over the course of the next seven minutes they allowed just eight point they score twenty three.

Suddenly you're up sixteen in the game is over. So there's clear examples for Boston of them being able to flip the switch, because during the regular season without Rob Williams, you're asking them to contain on the perimeter, which is just really taxing emotionally, physically, and mentally. Right, So they're they're not. They're not dialed in enough on that end of the floor. You know, a possession and in possession

out over the course of the season. But they're still demonstrating that when they lock in, they can do that. And Robert Williams will come back, and when he does that should bolster their regular season defense. They should take over at that point. And here's another thing too, with how good their offense has been. Again, I predict that the Nuggets would be the best offense in the league. Nope, their second, and the Celtics are four points better per

one possessions. I talked about how the Clippers were the best driving, kicked team in the league and the Celtics were like the team that wanted to be the Clippers. No, that that's not the case anymore. The Celtics are the best driving, kicked team in the league. They're the best offense in the league, and it's not close. Their combination of ball handling and shooting now has made them incredibly difficult to guard. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown have both

taken leaps and and you know, here's the deal. I'm still picking Milwaukee out of the East, but we are set up for what should be an all time great Eastern Conference Finals. I can't wait. And yes, i'd picked Milwaukee, but Boston absolutely has a chance to win that series. So over the course the last couple of days, as the Celtics have gotten back on track, there's been this debate that's been thrown out. You know, are Jayson Tatum

and Jalen Brown the best duo in the NBA? Now, I was inclined to agree, but I wanted to dig into it a little bit and just make sure that my head was in the right place. So I did, and I put together a list of the top ten duos in the NBA. So what I'm gonna do, for time's sake, for the top five, I'm gonna dive into some numbers. I'm just gonna list sixth through ten, and then I have an honorable mentioned list as well. So I agree Number one, I have Jayson Tatum and Jylen Brown. There,

I reaging fifty seven, fourteen rebounds, and seven assists. Both are over fifty percent true shooting, so they're both scoring at an incredibly high rate and an incredibly efficient rate. They're two of the best perimeter defenders in the league. I think Jayson Tatum is clearly a top five player right now. Look like I have a lot of predictions. It's part of the job. I'm wrong sometimes, and you guys always let me know when I'm wrong. I'm gonna

be wrong. Sometimes I'm gonna be right sometimes. One of the things I was right about was when I put Tatum at six. I put Tatum at six because I said his playoff run was real and if it was anybody else, you guys would be acknowledging it. And everyone called me insane. And Jayson Tatum has been a top five player this year. That's been one of the things that I've been right about. And then Jalen Brown is

firmly a top fifteen player in this league. So top five and top fifteen, two of the best perimeter defenders in basketball. Fourteen and seven. Yeah, I think Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown are the best duo in the league. Number two Johannas Antenna Coompo and Drew Holiday fifty one points, eighteen rebounds, thirteen assists. Both will make all defense teams. Although I think Janice is pretty clearly the best defensive

player in the world right now. He's the best player in the world right now, but Drew somewhere around thirty. But you can't, you know, we can't overlook the team's success Janice and Drew. You know, without Chris Middleton last year, damn near beat that Celtics team. Okay, and then this year they have been right up at the top of the league without Chris Middleton, without Pat Connaughton. Those dudes just know how to win basketball games. They play both

ends of the floor. Janice is the best player in the world. I have them as the second best duo in the league, all right, number three, Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins fifty points, twelve rebounds, nine assists, both overt true shooting. Steph Curry is at a career high sixty nine point two percent true shooting. He's the best that he's ever been. Steph is a good defensive player. Andrew wigginses is in the converse station for the best perimeter

defender alive. I have Steph as the second best player in the world right now. Andrew Wiggins is somewhere in that thirty five to forty range. Once again, we got to acknowledge the winning that they've done over the course of the last couple of years. I have them at number three, number four, Joel em Beat and James Harden combining for fifty four points, seventeen rebounds, and fourteen assists, both over fifty true shooting, and Beat is having the

best perimeter shooting season of his career. Don't look at the three point numbers. He is lighting the world on fire from mid range this year. He's somewhere around the sixth or seventh best player in the league. And then James Harden, Like, I know he's hurt right now, but he definitely looked more spry before the injury. Not quite two thousand nineteen, James Harden, but he looked more spry. He's somewhere around the twenty best player in the league.

As a duo, they aren't as good defensively as they should be. But with as good as joe El em Beat has been this year, and with James Harden firmly being right around the twentieth best player in the league, I have them as the fourth best duo in the league. All right, number five, And again I need you like we gotta look past the roster here and look at the players. I have Lebron, James and Anthony Davis. They're averaging fort twenty rebounds and tennisis both are top four

in the league and restricted area makes per game. For the record, They're gonna because of how terrible the Lakers are. There's gonna be a ton of pushback here, but we have to look past that. They are playing with far and away the worst supporting cast in the league. It's not close. Every other due on this list has significantly more help flanking them than Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Too.

There are players starting games for the Lakers, multiple players that have started games for the Lakers that would not even make rotations for other players on this list. Rob Plink and Genie Buss have absolutely destroyed the roster around Lebron James and Anthony Davis. That is why the team is struggling as much as they have been. However, I used to consider or Lebron James top five Anthony Davis top five as well. In Anthony Davis has declined and

l Lebron James has declined as well. I think both of them have still firmly been in that fifteen to eleven range, and they're Look, here's the thing is, we're looking at this list. The only other due on this list that I can firmly say both players are top fifteen players in the league is Tatum and Brown. So you can slander the Lakers all you want. Hell, I do too. I do it half of the week here, right. But and and we can acknowledge that Lebron James and

Anthony Davis are having down years. They absolutely are, But there's still an incredibly imposing duo. And I would imagine that Lebron James is going to pick his game up over the course of this season. And Anthony Davis just played his best game probably in the last two seasons. So we can slander the Lakers, but we can't look past the fact that Lebron James and Anthony Davis two top fifteen players in the league. They are the fifth best duo in the league. They just play with the

worst roster in basketball. Right now, all right, I'm gonna rip through the the back five pretty quick here. So number six, I have Zion and Brandon Ingram. Number seven, I have John Rand and Desmond Bain. Number eight, I have Nicola Yokich and Jamal Murray. Number nine, Luca don Chich and Spencer Dinwoodie and number ten Trey Young and Dijonta Murray the groups that missed the cut for me, Katie and Kyrie because Kyrie can't stay by Kevin Durant

side long enough to even be considered a duo. Same goes for Kawai and Paul George Is Kauai just can't stay on the court. I had Trey Young and de gent Day Murray narrowly missing the cut, Damian Lillard and Anfreny Simmons. Oh, you could even go with Jeremy Grant there, depending on how much you value the defensive end of the floor. And then Donovan Mitchell and Darius Scarland. So if I was going to fifteen, those would be the

next five that I would do. All right, Before we move on to the Warriors, I wanted to talk about Sail just Alexander for a little bit. I I literally can't believe how good this kid is, Like I said, just by virtue of like it's the nature of this job, Like if I'm covering the top teams in the league, and with how much footage I have to watch, how much film I have to watch, how much research I have to do into the numbers, and and especially when

we get into the postseason. In the workload there, I can't I can't spend a ton of time watching the Orlando Magic or watching these teams that are at the bottom of the league. And so over the course of the last couple of years, I've you know, occasionally caught in ast us say, Gils Alexander game. I've I've watched him, you know, a few dozen times over the course of

the last few seasons, but I haven't really dived. I haven't taken the chance he had to really dive into Shay the way that I do with the other top players in the league. And so I did this morning, and I watched about two hours of film on him. I watched almost every single basket that he's made this season, and I literally can't believe how good he is. I I like, I sent out a poll just too, because I was like, man, this kid is one of the

ten best basketball players alive. And so I sent out a poll to Twitter just to get a feel for the way that everyone else was thinking. And I was like, is she Gil just Alexander a top ten player in the NBA? And over eight percent of you agreed with me. He's only twenty four years old, so he's Jason tatums age, which, by the way, that's insane that Jayson Tatum is only

twenty four years old. He's six ft six with a six eleven wingspan, um he's only a hundred pounds, but he plays strong and and there's there's a huge difference between playing strength and actual strength. It's it's the the willingness to be physically aggressive, regardless of what your physical tools are. Obviously ideally you want both if you're gonna play bullyball right like a Lebron James type of guy. But even if you're not overly strong, you can play

strong and that will make up for a lot. Kevin Durant is one of my favorite examples of this. He's skinny, but physical defenders don't have a ton of success on him because he plays physical back even though he is skinny. And Shay kind of falls into that class as well.

So there's a play in the middle of the third quarter last night against against the Celtics where s g A had Jalen Brown and the ISO on the left wing and Jalen sitting in his stance and Shay drives left and Jalen cuts him off and catches him on the chest like squares him up, and Shay just bumps him off and then hits the gas again, and Jalen retreats and catches off and catches back and cuts him off again in the chest, and Shades pushes through him and gets all the way to the basket, makes a

right handed lay up on the left side of the rim, and I'm watching that and I'm like, Jalen Brown is significantly bigger and stronger than Shay, and Shay bullied him, and it's because he was playing with physicality, understanding angles, understanding the way that the officiating works, and knowing that he was able to punch those gaps even at only a pounds. That's really impressive to me. This year, he's averaging thirty two points, four rebounds, and six assists on

sixty true shooting. They've won six games out of thirteen games that he's played in, which is pretty damn solid when you look at the rest of that roster. And I'm excited about the Thunder in the future, but right now they still don't have that much talent. They beat the Clippers twice, they beat the MAVs they beat the Raptors. They're just a solid basketball team. These are not This is not you know, guy putting up good numbers on

a bad team, the Thunder when they're on your schedule. Now, other NBA coaches are like, oh no, Like my locker room thinks this is the Thunder and they don't realize that this is a good basketball team coming to town. If you don't bring your a game against the Thunder, you lose flat out. Because Shay is a top ten player, you know, Mark Dagenald of I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Is is has got these guys playing beautiful basketball on both ends of the floor. They're like, you, you you

have to be prepared to play the Thunder. You're going to lose. So looking into his skill set a little bit there, there are some stats with s g A that defy that defy any conventional basketball wisdom. Here's the first one. He gets to the rim at an insane rate for a hundred and ninety five pound guard. These are the league leaders in restricted area makes. Jana Santena Coompo's number one, Zion Williamson is number two, Anthony Davis

is number three, Lebron James is number four. That's why they're still one of the best duos in the league despite having that terrible roster. Luca don Hitch is at number five and Shakil just Alexander is number six in the league and restricted area makes per game, He's making five point two shots in the restricted area at seventy And remember, for a guard, I'm looking at like six as an efficient right there, He's above Joel Embiid in

restricted area makes. He's above jommer Rant in restricted area makes. He's above Nickela Yokich in restricted area makes. What do I say is the most valuable skill on the offensive end in the NBA this year pull up jump shooting. You guys know how much I value that. He's forte on ten pull up jumpers per game. That top tier. That's not I'm good. That's not I'm great. That's I am among the very best pull up jump shooters in the league. He's also shooting forty six percent on catch

and shoot threes and then passing the basketball. Six assists is perfectly fine and acceptable for a score at the volume that he's scoring. He does not have an offensive weakness right now. And this is where it gets crazy. This is the second great stat. How many players in the league do you think average at least one point five steals and one point five blocks. It's one. It's Shay,

That's it. Nobody else. Like, how ridiculous is that he's the only guy in the league who's blocking one and a half shots and getting one and a half steels as a hundred and nine pound guard like every again, between that in the rim finishing, it just completely defies any conventional basketball wisdom. He has unquestionably be one of the ten best players in the league to start the season. I messed up bad by leaving him off of my Power of My Player rankings last week. Will not make

that mistake again. He's going to be on next week's list. And the Thunder have themselves one hell of a franchise cornerstone. You know what impresses me the most was Shay When I was watching the footage today, There's he's got all the stuff that you look for in a lead guard right Like, he's got good size and good length, um a great pull up jump shot, great catch and shoot jump shot. He's got a great floater, he's got a

great handle. But so many of the players that you see that fit that mold only play one way, especially as freak athletes, which she is also a very gifted athlete, most of them are just downhill. Everything's a hundred miles an hour. Shay has old man game already. He's extremely shifty, lots of starts and stops. He plays slow sometimes, but then he can hit the jets and play fast like you're you're watching him like it's almost like like you know how I was talking about Carris Laverte and how

he kind of plays that old man game. Shay can do that, but then he can also hit the Jets with his first step, and that's what makes it such a deadly combo because like you'll see him methodically work his way to a basket, but then it'll be like crunch time against the Boston Celtics and he'll just hit the Jets going left and just toast by Jalen Brown, one of the best perimeter defenders in the basketball in the in the league, and make a left handed layup

and one against al Horford. So like he can hit the Jets, he can play slow, he can shift gears the the way that that specifically helps him so much is it's about being unpredictable. You know, almost none of Shay gil just Alexander's baskets look the same. Every one of them kind of has a different flare to it. Even is pull up jump shots to a certain extent, the footwork is a little different. His quickness of his release. Sometimes he rushes the release, sometimes he's slow with the release.

What that means is he's always available to make a count and that makes him extremely difficult to defend. Luca is very good with this as well, where it's kind of like he's entirely planning his approach based on what the defense is doing instead of based on what he feels like doing, and that constantly keeps you off balance.

It espect it will make him a very good playoff player when he gets to that point, because defenses will continue to throw new wrinkles at him like the like he he kind of doesn't have a weakness right now. It's it's wild. He's he's one of the ten best players in the world. I can't I can't believe it.

I can't believe how good Shay Gildas Alexander is. And I'm really excited because I'm gonna be watching him a lot more now, especially since the thunder are probably you know, when chet Holmegren comes back, they're gonna have like that, you know, because they were really hurting Boston last night with that picking Pop with Um with Alexei Polkashevski, and they're just gonna be this like really interesting team that has shooting bigs and consistently plays five out and and

has ton of length and athleticism on the perimeter because they kind of sneaky have a bunch of wings as well, and lou Dort's one of the best perimeter defenders in basketball as well. Like they're they're super interesting team. They just need that one more piece and maybe Chet ends up being that guy for them, and who knows, maybe they'll end up shutting down s g A at some point this year and they'll end up moving up in the draft lottery and getting you know, another good player

this year. They have a ton of draft picks, so they've always got that like, let's flip two or three salaries and five picks for you know, some disgruntled stars somewhere in the league and then you could see somewhere where you're looking at, you know, Shay Gils just Alexander lu Dort you know, chet home Grin, you know, and and one other legitimate NBA All Star. You know, when

you're in great shape. So man like, the Thunder have been really just you know, uh like hanging out around the bottom of the league ever since the Russell Westbrook trade, and uh that you could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now there's like a really exciting future there alright. So the Warriors get back on track. They beat the hell out of the Spurs. Jordan's pool

got back out track. If you on track. If you remember our last show, I was talking about how him in particular has really been struggling in his last six games, and it's a big part of why the Warriors bench has been struggling. Well what do what do I always say to do when you're in a slump, Find easy shots, build your rhythm with easy shots instead of trying to pound your head through the wall like, oh, I'm in

the slump, I can't believe it. Let me keep taking these step back threes, you know where it's gonna make you get further into your head because even on your best day, a difficult three might go in thirty five percent of the time, which means you're twice as likely to miss it as you are to make it right. Well, he attacked the rim for his first two shot attempts. He got a driving layup on the right side of the rim and then a reverse lay up on the left side of the rim. Got his confidence in rhythm.

Then the three point shots started following. Next thing, you know, he has thirty six points on an assortment of shots. You're driving layups, transition layups, pull up threes, movement threes, transition three's got to the foul line. Just an all around scoring performance from Jordan pool Hot take guys, the Warriors are better when Jordan Poole is playing well. Um. But the exciting part is the bench played really well. The Jonathan Cominga, Moses Moody and Anthony Lamb trio played

really well. They were all moving without the basketball and hunting for each other. They had a really good chemistry working last night. Uh, they combined for tenness is and ten made threes. I want to zoom in on Anthony Lamb for a minute, so you know, it's interesting because I would argue that he's been their best bench wing to start this year because Moody's had a rough defensive season. Jonathan Cominge is all over the place. And it's interesting

because he's undrafted. He's an undrafted player from was bounced around the league, playing the G League a little bit, got some you know, brief stance in Houston and in San Antonio. But he started getting minutes about halfway through this season when Steve Kerr was really grasping at straws to get something going from the bench. And I don't think it's a coincidence why he's succeeded. He's six ft six, he's almost two hundred and thirty pounds, so he can

guard up in position SI. He competes like crazy on the defensive and in fact, he has the best defensive rating on the team among rotation players. The Warriors are allowing just a hundred and eight point four points per one Hunter possession in his minutes, which is best on the team. Him and Dante DiVincenzo are right there at that level. And then he can make shots. He's shooting fift on threes this year. And then this is an important part. He makes all the right reads in the

Warriors system. He just does He doesn't force things. He understands how to work in those four on threes, make the extra passes, attack close outs well. This season he has ten assists to just five turnovers so far. They, like I've said so many times, they need a couple of guys to rise up to the role of dependable playoff bench wing. It might be a trade, it might be the buyout market, or it might be Moses Moody

and Anthony Lamb. Obviously, we need to see a lot more good basketball from them from them for the Warriors to trust them in those situations. But you're starting to see some progress there. Anthony Lamb looks like a that they might be able to use. Obviously, with their luxury tax situation, I'm sure they'd prefer to not have to go out and sign more bodies or bring in a larger salary. So hey, that would be perfect if if Anthony Labon Moses Moody kind of developed into those guys.

Last note on the on the Warriors, Clay Thompson, there was a report that came out, and who knows um had the legitimacy of this one. I personally doubt it, but that there was some frustrated, some frustration building in the Warrior's locker room over Clay Thompson's shot selection and that he's been trying to shoot his way out of his slump. I personally don't believe the report. It just it just doesn't seem like something that the Warrior's locker

room would complain about. I don't think Dre would complain about it. I don't think Steph would complain about it. I don't think Jordan Pool would complain about I don't think any of the coaches would. It just doesn't It's just just something stinks about that I'm not I'm not really sure, and honestly, I just don't think that there's any chance that they end up changing his role, like bring him off the bench or using him less. First

of all, it's not as bad as it looks. He's shooting thirty on catch and shoot threes this year, which, yeah, is that below where you expect Lay Thompson to be sure, but that's also zero point nine three points per possession. That's the advantage of the three point shot. They're just worth more points. So everyone's freaking out about Klay Thompson's shooting and he's still getting you almost a point per possession when he rises up into a shot, and this

is the most important part. Teams are still guarding Clay Thompson as though he's Klay Thompson. That is arguably more valuable than the actual shot going in because of the things that it opens up for the Warriors on the interior. He's also shooting when he's wide open this year, when the defenders at least six ft away, that's just an anomaly. Those shots are gonna go in. Eventually. We saw a similar thing last year was Steph. Steph was having a

rough shooting year. Weirdly enough, it was the wide open shots that weren't going in and it ended up not mattering because he figured it out in time for the playoffs. And most importantly, Clay Thompson is one of the best

perimeter defenders in the league. Him figuring out how to guard Jalen Brown and contain his dribble drive over the second half of the NBA Finals turned that series around because Wiggins was doing such a good job on Jayson Tatum that the Celtics offense went to ship and then they couldn't score and the Warriors ran away, winning three games in a row. If he's guarded the way that he's guarded, and he is guarding the way that he's guarding. Then if he hits even thirty of his catch and

shoot threes, he's an immensely valuable NBA playoff player. He's not the problem. I'm not worried about him at all. He's also coming off these two massive injuries, so yeah, he wasn't quite in the best shape coming into this season because he's a little bit paranoid about working too hard over the summer because of what happened to him

when he tore his achilles. I get it. I just, I'm just I could not possibly be any less worried about Clay Thompson and and in general with the Warriors, they still have so many cards to play here, Like, yes, it's great that Anthony Lamb is developing. Yes, it's great that, you know, Moses Moody might be one of those guys and they might need to make a trade, they might

need to sign a buyout guy. But they still have so many other moves in their deck, Like when push comes to shove, they're gonna play Clay Thompson forty two minutes, Steph Curry forty two minutes, Draymond Gray and forty two minutes, and then suddenly the bench becomes less important. You know, Andrew Wiggins could play forty six minutes. You know, uh, they could dust Andre Guadala off to play little bench shifts here and there. I'm just I I just remain

completely unconcerned, Like, yeah, like they're struggling this year. We need to account for that when we're doing things like power rankings and talking about you know, potentially them up against the best teams in the league, right like the Bucks and Celtics, who have both looked so good. But it just these are small problems. And I still when we're looking at the rest of the Western Conference, there's a bunch of issues there. The Nuggets are struggling against

the good teams. The Clippers can't score, right, Like, there's just there at the end of this, when this is all said and done, I would be stunned if the Warriors didn't win the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference is way more up in the air. There's still so much you know, kind of like intrigue there. I just you're the safe bet in the West is to stick with the Warriors, all right, guys. That is all I have

for tonight. Remember, we're going double live tomorrow. We're doing a cover in the early game on AMP and then we're going live after. I believe it's Warrior Sons tomorrow night on YouTube after the final buzzer. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys support and I will see you next time. The volume