Hoops Tonight - Top 25 NBA Players: Ja Morant's unlimited ceiling, Maxey emerges, Lillard rebound?

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the volume. If all of you guys are having a great week. We are continuing our player ranking series today with three more guys right before we get into our top twenty. We have twenty three, twenty two and twenty one today. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and Oight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTC. You guys don't miss youw announcements.

Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, don't forget it's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front and the last but not LEAs, keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments. Argue if you disagree with any of the specific rankings, provide a basketball case for why you disagree, and we're going to get to some of those arguments in mail bags as soon as I get back from vacation, which will be at the beginning of

next week. On that note, let's talk some basketball. So number twenty three for me one of the weird guys. There are a few weird guys in my top twenty five.

A couple of guys that are in front of this point that you guys can probably guess to have some injury issues, right Guys like Kawhi Leonard, Guys like Jimmy Butler where it's really difficult to weigh what their superstar upside is with their inability to kind of like be available for their basketball team when they need them, which has been a consistent issue for both over the course of their careers, more so for Kawhi, but kind of similar for both.

to go with one point four stocks. His shooting splits forty seven point one percent from the field, twenty seven point five percent from three to eighty one point three percent from the line, and fifty one point two percent effective field goal percentage and fifty seven percent in true shooting percentage, so in a very short period of time

was profoundly impactful. As a matter of fact, when when Jamrant rejoined the team this year, they had lost five games in a row leading into that game, John came back and the immediately won four games in a row, so his winning impact was immediately felt. In total, they went six and three in the nine games the Jamrant played. They were twenty one and fifty two when he didn't play this year. Net rating is another way to look at it on a per minute basis. How good were

the Grizzlies at outscoring their opponents. They were plus three point one net with John Moran on the floor, so they outscored opponents by three point one points per one hundred possessions when Job was on the floor, they were outscored by seven point nine points per one hundred possessions when Ja Morant was off the floor, So literally an eleven point swing on a per one hundred possession basis.

Adding JOA Morant to this team, they went from being a really bad team without him to being a pretty good team with him. And so that's a strong indicator of just how impactful he was. In the small sample size that he played last year, some play type data from Synergy. He got zero point nine to six points per possession in pick and roll including passes. That's average, but obviously a small sample size. One point zero four points per ISO including passes. That's very good, that's in

the seventieth percentile, but also small sample. Did not shoot the basketball well. He had zero point eight three points per jump shot, zero point eight to two on catch and shoots, zero point eighty four on off the dribble jump shot. So I'll be it a small sample size.

Not a great shooting season for him. He's actually been trending down year over year as a jump shooter, which we're gonna get two more in a little bit, but he was zero point nine to one points per jump shot twenty twenty two, zero point nine zero in twenty twenty three, and then zero point eighty three last year, albeit in that small sample size. So obviously that's his largest area for improvement, which we're gonna get to in a little bit more detail here in a minute. But

he was also thirteen out of twenty on floaters. That's sixty five percent. That's awesome. I'll be it in a small sample last year, and he's fifty six percent at the rim, which is not great for a freaky athletic guard like him, but he gets there so often that he'll like kind of take a lot of higher difficulty shots at the rim that a lot of guards don't. So I still look at that as pretty impressive considering

the volume. Not really too worried about any of that data, considering he just didn't have much of a runway to like kind of get into game shape and really kind

of find his rhythm. So the data itself is essentially meaningless, but we go over that for every single player on this list, so I did want to go over it with Job, but again, as you guys saw, with those numbers, that I released that I went over in terms of his on court impact strictly speaking on the scoreboard, there is true superstar upside with John Morant, which is something you don't get from a lot of the guys in this tier that we've been talking about right Like a

guy that we're gonna hit later on in this list today is Tyrese Maxey. I have Tyrese Maxey higher than John Morant right now simply because he's been far more available and dependable to his team. However, like I don't think Tyrese Maxey can reach the absurd ceiling that a guy like John Moran can reach in terms of his ability to beat people off the dribble and consistently get into the lane. A great example of this was the

Pelicans game last year. If you guys remember this is where Joh hit the game winner, but before that, well, including that, I should say, three consecutive times down the stretch of that game, and two of them were in straight iso. One was in ball screen, but against Herb Jones, who is one of the very best perimeter defenders in this league, certainly in that top tier, he just went right around him for a little scoop shot a little

floating jump shot in the lane. He went rejected a ball screen with him and just left him in the dust and got all the way to the rim for a layup, and then for the game winner, spun off of him on a dribble drive and hit like a little left handed scoop shot in the lane. Herb Jones just couldn't do anything with him, and that that really is the main differentiator. Like, I think there's a difference between like an outstanding physical gift and then like a

truly transcendent like unicorn physical gift. And like John Morant has that his mobility and his ability to and it extends further than just the straight line speed because like, for instance, like a guy like Tyrese Maxi has really good straight line speed, but he doesn't have the ability to really pop up off the ground on the move in that short range area of the way that John Muran can like because Jabo beat you off the dribble and get into that close RG and he can, like

while moving full speed, whether it's through a euro step or like a jump stop or a spin move, he'll quickly stop himself and then pop directly up into the air and just shoot like a floater. And then he's got these like wide scoop shots where he can come way out to the side to get around you, and he can do it with either hand. Obviously we know he can put guys in the rim as well. He just has this like really like transcendently great set of

physical attributes that gives him that real superstar superstar upside. So, for example, on this list, I talked about how I'm splitting everything into four tiers. Right, I've got my top tier superstars, who are perennial MVP candidates. I've got my second tier superstars, who are guys who don't bring it every single night the way the guys are the top team top tier can, but on any given night, can

bring true MVP level impact. Then there's a third tier, which is a group of guys that are below that tier. These are the quote unquote worst players in the league that are still good enough to be the best player on a championship team. And then I have my fourth tier, which are guys that are not quite good enough to be the best player on a championship team. And for me, that cut off is number eighteen on this list. So

from eighteen to twenty five. There's a bunch of guys that I don't think are capable of being the best player on a championship at least not the championship team, at least not the very best player. They could be the second best player, but probably not the very best. John Moran is the one guy I have in this in this range that I do think has that potential. And again, the only reason he's down this far is

his availability, and it's been a real issue. In the last one hundred and eight games that the Memphis Grizzlies have played in the NBA that really counted regular season in playoff games, John ran has been available for just twenty two of them, so obviously that's a major issue, and it's been It hasn't just been the behavior issues. It's also been some health issues. So we can't in our right minds put John Morant like way up near the top of the league based purely on the hypothetical

of what he can be. He has to demonstrate to us that he can be the leader of his team by taking care of his body, being a little bit more, you know, kind of picky and choosy about when he kind of throws his body on the line around the basket, and obviously the off court stuff getting that under control.

If he can do those three things, especially with his upside, and especially with how good this Grizzlies team is, because I think this Grizzlies team is going to be a dominant regular season team next year, and so like I would argue that out of anybody on this list, John Morant has the best potential to move way way up the list as soon as next year. That's how much

of a believer I am in John Moran. I think he very clearly has superstar upside, and honestly, like the one thing that's missing for him again, and we hinted at this earlier, the one specific thing with John Morant that is keeping him in a vacuum from reaching that like superstar level is the jump shot piece. So, like Jaws and outstanding two level score, nobody can keep him

in front one on one. It's a team to try to block him off from the paint, which obviously opens up opportunities for him as a passer, and he's a very good passer, and when he gets past that guy off the dribble, he's shown the ability to score. He can get to the rim and finish. Like we talked about, he can dunk on you. He can get way outside with the left scoop. He can get way outside with

the right scoop. He's really good at absorbing contact, so like he'll jump into you with that shoulder, bring the ball down and like hang in the air and wait for the big to drop and then he'll come back up and like go with the scoop and finish. But the big exciting part is that second level of scoring, which is not like aggressive mid range pull up shooting. It's that short range. It's the floaters and everything in that like five to seven foot from the basket area.

Or he's consistently been very good. He again sixty five percent last year. I'll be in on only twenty attempts, but he was forty seven percent in twenty twenty three and forty seven percent in twenty twenty two. That's been a consistent deadly move for John Morant. Just get down. He'll beat you off the dribble. As you're taking those big, long recovery steps. He just pops up off the ground at like right around five feet from the basket. He can go to a scoop there, he can go to

a floater there. It's just really really difficult to guard him there. That said, right now, because of the inconsistency with the jump shot, you can still get away with ducking under picks against him. You can still get away with packing the paint, asking your primary point of attack defender to try to duck under picks and meet him on the other side. And he just hasn't been able to consistently make people pay by knocking down that jump

shot over the top. He's had stretches where he's been really good, like to start the twenty twenty three year. That was back when he was having the suspensions, and then they lost in the first round series against Lakers. In that twenty twenty three year, in his first twenty one game, so a quarter of the season, he shot thirty eight percent from three on five attempts per game. He just hasn't been able to actually put it together

for entire seasons. And as I mentioned earlier, he's trending down zero point nine to one points per jumper twenty twenty two, zero point nine zero in twenty twenty three, zero point eighty three in that small sample size last year but the upside there is he's had a ton of time to be in the gym as he's been unavailable to play, to work on it. So I'm really curious just to see how that jump shot looks next year.

I think if he could, he doesn't need to be Damian Lillard in his prime, you know, one point one points per jump shot, but he does need to be down in that like one at like over one point per shot, like you want to see him in that one point zero two one point zero three type of range.

That's where I think he has true superstar upside, and that'll help because if you were to list his areas for improvement, obviously we're gonna talk about defense, which we will in a minute, but one of the big pieces of it is he's not a good off ball offensive player at this point. He made just two field goals on cuts in nine games last year, and he's just a fifty fourth percentile spot up guy. Doesn't convert spot

up possessions at a high rate. Adding in the jump shot will make it substantially easier for him to do that. I'm not as worried about guards and cut situations, but there are a lot of possession were just because of floor balance, especially when they play with three guards, or he's going to be working more out of the corner and in the baseline. We actually saw that one of his big plays in the Pelicans game, he was in

a spot up situation. He started in the dunker spot and kind of flared out to the right corner before he drove right past Herb Jones for the layup. Like he's in a situation where he could actually unleash more cutting as well. But the main thing for me is the jump shot. If you can figure out the jump shot piece, that's where he's going to enter into that special tier. He's never been a good defensive player. There's

obviously a ton of room for improvement there. But again, when you're talking about really small guards, it's not really you're not really looking for a great defensive player. You're looking for doesn't break the defense. That's what you're looking for, just a bare minimum. Do your job, like make it so that you're not a glaring weak point, which I do think is something that John Morant is capable of getting to in the long run. I'm a big fan

of John Moran. I think his potential is through the roof. He just needs to keep his eye on the prize. I mean that in terms of what he is as a leader. Again, like your number one responsibility to your basketball team as the best player, So make sure you're available to play in every game at least whenever it's possible you're gonna There are certain injury things that are outside of your control. But like that's the thing, Like a little bit more picky about throwing your body into

traffic and high risk situations with low reward. Like if it's a mid February Tuesday night game on the road in you know, Oklahoma City, maybe like be a little bit more picky about when you throw yourself into traffic. Now if it's chips are down and it's April and you're in a first round series and it's you know, three to two in a game five, Yeah, totally different type of situation. You need to put everything on the line.

But like a little more picky with his body, a little bit better a lot better leadership, as we hopefully he's learned over the course of the last couple of years. I think those are the two things that will put him available on the court. And as long as John Morant is available on the court. He contributes to winning

like a second tier superstar. And if he can do that on a team that already has Desmond Band, that already has Marcus Smart, that already has Jaron Jackson, that already has Vince Williams, and already Zachie, he's going to be really interesting at Gigi Jackson in this group. Santel Dama had an interesting Olympics. There is an insane amount of talent on this team. I think this is a team that could be a top two seed in the

Western Conference next year. As a matter of fact, like just top top of my head, not even really putting a ton of thought in it. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw like a Oklahoma City Memphis one two in the regular season this year. And that's the type of potential that this team has. And I think John Urranan has a chance to really reassert himself on the NBA stage this season. I have him at number twenty three.

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vacuum list. So if you're looking for a breakdown of my rules, the specific kind of like metrics internally that I'm using to make these decisions for the list, go back to our previous video, the one that is the twenty five and twenty four the intro to that I went in excruciating detail about how I'm actually ranking the player. So if you're looking for kind of a breakdown of that, you can find that a little bit further back on

our feet. So Damian Lillard last year seventy three games played, twenty four point three points per game, four point four rebounds per game, seven assists per game, one point two stocks per game, shooting splits just forty two point four percent from the field thirty five point four percent from three ninety two percent from the line. That amounts to fifty one percent in effective field goal percentage in fifty

nine percent in true shooting. So that fifty nine percent number is still pretty solid given the poor actual field goal shooting. So really it comes down to this, and I'm sure you guys noticed this as you watched the Bucks last year. Dame's ability to grift his way to the vowl line and then consistently make free throws when he gets there has helped to counter his poor shooting in the large sample size and allowed him to be to maintain efficiency in his scoring, even though it doesn't

seem like that when you're watching the games. Some playtype data. Dam ran thirteen hundred and eighty picking rolls last year, so he makes our high volume pick and roll list. Remember that's everybody who ran over one thousand generated fifteen hundred and nineteen points, so that's one point one zero points per pick and roll including passes that ranked sixth out of fifteen players to run at least one thousand

last year. So to Dame's credit, despite not being able to shoot as well, he it is kind of interesting because he shot better in pull up shooting situations than he did in catch and shoot situations, so like he was kind of better when the ball was in his hands than when he was playing without it, and that manifested in that pick and roll data. But that's that's impressive numbers like that. For the perceived decline of Dame, he was still a very efficient shot creator last year.

ISO is where he kind of fell off of a cliff, which makes sense because as a small guard ages and he struggles to get separation, you need to screen more. So it makes a little bit of sense. Right, He ran three hundred and twenty ISOs but generated just three hundred and two points including passes that zero point nine to four points per possession on our high volume list.

That's also makes our high volume ISO list. Out of the twenty four players to run at least two hundred and fifty ISOs last year, Dame ranked twenty first, so obviously a substantial drop off on that side of things. Really good in spot up situations, one point one to

nine points per possession, that's excellent shooting stats. Dame dropped all the way after making his jump shots at a rate of one point zero nine points per shot in Portland his last year in twenty twenty three, dropped all the way down to one point zero zero points per jump shot last year. That was the main issue between what we saw from Dame and Milwaukee versus what we saw from Dame in Portland. Just couldn't knock down those

difficult jump shots. That's his superpower, right, and he just couldn't knock him down with the same level of consistency that he did in Portland. A basic stat to break this down. In his last year in Portland, out of the sixty one players to take at least five hundred jumpers,

he ranked nineteen. This year, out of the fifty six players to take at least five hundred jumpers, he ranked forty fifth, So he went from an upper third to a quality jump shooter to a lower third quality jump shooter among the high, high volume guys in the league, So that's a pretty substantial jump shot the specifics, he was zero point nine to seven points per catch and shoot jumper, mostly about separation. He was actually pretty good when he was unguarded one point zero eight points per shot.

Not good enough for dame, but pretty solid. He was zero point nine points per ketch and shot jumper when he was guarded one point zero one points per poll up jumper. So he's still pretty good in pull up situations. As I mentioned earlier, is most comfortable with the ball in his hands. He experienced a decline on floaters as well.

He went from thirty eight percent excuse me, from forty five percent his last year in Portland, down to thirty eight percent with Milwaukee this year, and then down to fifty four percent at the rim, which is typical for a smaller guard. But he was much better previously in Portland his last year sixty two percent at the rim. We also saw a decline in volume in Portland. Is last year he attempted five point six shots in the

restricted area per game. That's down to four point three for the Bucks last year, right, So pretty substantial declines across the board for Dame as a jump shooter, as a floater shooter, as a frequency and efficiency guy at the rim. So the question is, this is the big question with Dame as it pertains to the future of the Bucks. How much of Dame's decline last year was a result of joining a new situation with very different spacing where he was a secondary star, where his usage

rate took a hit. He went down from about thirty three percent usage rate to about twenty eight percent. That's five percent decline. So how much of Dame's decline was associated with those factors versus the fact that he's a small guard who's now thirty four years old and you expect a certain decline in your mid thirties. I mean, Steph is a much player, much better player than Dame, and we've seen him start to show signs of decline,

albeit a little bit later on. Right. My guess is it's a little bit of both, which is an encouraging things thing for Bucks fans, right cause, like if a good portion of dame struggles had to do with figuring out how to play in a completely different situation. Then we should actually see a little bit of an improvement this year as he gets more comfortable with his new supporting cast and his new co star a full training

camp with Doc Rivers. We talked a lot last year about some of the specifics in terms of pick and roll geometry, the way they were using Yanis, the like spotting up Yannis while running Dame Brook Lopez ball screens, like having Giannis roll into the middle of the floor, which is not a strong suit of his when he was more effective on a cleared side. We went over all that stuff last year. There's just a lot of area fornity, opportunity for improvement for the Bucks within their

offense to make things easier for Dame. The main issue for Dame, though, extending beyond any of those offensive things, is Dame is just an abysmal defender. We were wondering if his transition to Milwaukee as a secondary star would allow him to kind of devote more of his resources in that direction. It did not. He was atrocious and it was one of the major issues that plagued the Bucks all season. That when we talked about the Bucks having a lack of perimeter speed and a lack of

guys who compete at the point of attack. Dame was one of the culprits there. Teams would pretty consistently just and we saw Indiana do a ton of this. They would just run action to get Dame switched on to Tyree Saliburton or another team just run action to get Dame switched onto their primary ball handler. Then you run him through a ball screen. Because the book is out, everyone knows Dame just dies on ball screens. He literally does.

He'll just run into the screen and he'll literally quit on the play, and so like that, then you get your guard going downhill and he's basically functioning into two on one against your screen defender. Right. So like it's one of those things where like that specifically just has to get improved if the Bucks are going to compete for a championship. And again, you don't need him to be a world you need him to not be abysmal. We were talking about this with John Moran. It's a

bare minimum of just don't break our defense. If you can do that, then we give ourselves a chance to win. So this all leads to the first substantial drop on this list for Damian Lillard. In his career. His superpower, the ability to make to take and make difficult jump shots at a high rate, took a substantial hit. His ability to get to the rim and finish in both frequency and efficiency has taken a hit. And he's one

of the worst defensive guards in the league. So he's gone from being a top tier guard to being in that second tier of guards, which is obviously going to drop him out of the top twenty for this year. I do think, given those factors we discussed earlier, that he has the potential to vault back into the top twenty at least one more time in his career. This is the year if he's going to try to do that, I'll be really curious to see if he can get

it done. The encouraging sign if you're a Bucks fan is in that playoff series against the Pacers, Dame averaged thirty one points per game on sixty four percent true shooting. Obviously some weird circumstances, there was no Yannis, the Dame was banged up, a totally different role with different usage and different spacing without Giannis out there. But it's not a stat just to disregard putting up thirty one points

on sixty four. True shooting is not something to just thumb your nose at, so that top endability is still in there. It's just a question of whether or not Dane can tap into it one more time in his career. Last guy for Today, number twenty one, Tyres Maxi, one of my favorite players in the league. Last year seventy games. Played twenty five point nine points per game, three point seven rebounds per game, six point two assists per game, with just one point seven turnovers. And this is a

crazy stat for Tyres Maxy. Tyres was one of only six players in the league last year to average at least six assists per game with fewer than two turnovers. Quick trivia for you guys, who do you think are the other five players in the league again more than six assists, fewer than two turnovers, Fred van Vliet, Dennis Schroeder, Tyas Jones, Trey Jones, and Chris Paul And again the main factor here that's a differentiator there is just limiting mistakes.

And the crazy part is none of those other guys averaged over eighteen points per game. So Tyres Maxey was the only player in the NBA last year to average at least twenty points per game, at least six assists, and fewer than two turnovers, and he everge over twenty five points per game, So Tyre's in terms of like efficiency as a lead guard. In efficiency again, we think of it as shooting percentages or true shooting percentage, right,

but like a huge part of that is turnovers, limiting mistakes. Turnovers. Turnovers lead to a not just a change in possession, but they usually lead to a higher efficiency possession for the opposing team as they work against your broken defense because of a turnover.

pick and roll. He made a high volume list at twelve hundred and twenty seven possessions but generated just twelve hundred and sixty five points, So that's just one point zero three points per possession that ranked tenth out of the fifteen teen guys to log at least one thousand possessions. He also made our high volume ISO list with two hundred and seventy four possessions that amounted to two hundred and forty five points. That's just zero point eighty nine

points per possession including passes. That ranked twenty third out of twenty four players to log at least two hundred and fifty possessions. So ty Rese was relatively inefficient compared to his other high volume peers in static shot creation. The question is why, and the answer is pretty simple. He really struggled to make off the dribble jump shots. And before I go any further into that, let's get into the shooting percentages from last year, so the actual

shooting data. So Tyree's got one point zero three points per jump shot overall last year, which is average, but there's a massive differential between him off the catch versus off the dribble. He got one point three points per catch and shoot jump shot. That's outstanding. One point five to three points per unguarded catch and shoot jumper that's absurd. So he's like deadly in catch and shoot situations. He also is good off the move, like Tyrese is a

legitimate movement shooter. He can come flying off of the screen, going both directions quickly, plant, get straight up and down, and knock down a jump shot. He is deadly off the catch. He just has not been able to connect that touch with his ability to knock those shots down off the dribble. He got just zero point nine points per pull up jump shot last year. That is the main thing preventing him from being a more efficient pick

and roll and ISO shot creator. If he can put those together, that's where he could take a leap as a half court shot creator, and I think he's probably going to do that this upcoming season. I thought the playoff run was another strong indicator of that. By the way, catch and shoot went up a level in the postseason in the Knick series one point four points per catch and shoot jumper. That's absurd. But his pull up shooting

was also really good. He got up to one point zero five points per pull up jump shot, which is a really good number. That's pretty close to where Dame was in Portland in twenty twenty three when he had that excellent season. I think he was at one point

zero nine. So in that playoff series, Tyree's hit a level as a pull up shooter that we've been kind of waiting to see from him, and so to me, especially when you factor that in with the fact that he obviously has the touch because he can make him off the catch, I do think he will eventually be a very good pull up shooter and we'll see those pick and roll at ISO numbers go up a level.

Tyres will probably make the high volume lists again next year. Obviously, Paul George coming into the equation makes things complicated, but he ran I mean, he ran over twelve hundred pick and rolls last year, so even if he sacrificed some of them to Paul George, I think he could get into that list again. And I expect him to move up in efficiency and like we I mean, he was hitting him in big spots too, Like that shot he hit in Game five to extend the series against the Knicks.

That was a tough off the dribble jump shot that was like damn near thirty five feet from the basket. That really is the main point of optimism for Tyrese's potential moving forward. His playoff run was super impressive. We're gonna get more into that just min now. I want to get to the rest of the shooting data. On floaters, he shot forty three percent on almost three attempts per game. That's pretty solid. And he's fifty eight percent at the rim,

which is pretty solid for a smaller speed guard. His playoff stats his first playoff run as the primary perimeter initiator. Again, James Harden was getting that primary defender last year. Now he's or two years ago. He's getting that primary perimeter defensive player. And he looked awesome. Thirty points per game, five rebounds, and seven assists on sixty percent true shooting, thirty five and seven on sixty percent tru shooting is a really impressive first go around in a playoff series

in that type of role. He also made a bunch of big shots. He took fifteen shots in the clutch and made eight of them. He was three for five from three in the clutch. As we know, he straight up stole Game five from the Knicks, had nine points in the final ninety two seconds of regulation, including a bomb three to send it to ot. Then he had five more points in overtime. Finished that game with forty six points. Really really impressive game from Tyrese Maxi. He

has a real playoff superpower. He's got insane downhill speed mixed with deadly jump shooting. That is a proven combination that you can rely on in the world of basketball. Start to demonstrate this, Tyres Maxey in the regular season last year attempted five point six restricted area attempts per game. In the playoffs, that ramped all the way up to

nine point five. I talked about this a little bit in the John Morant piece, but like it's one thing to conserve your energy in the regular season, especially for health reasons, but the guys with real superpowers in the playoffs can lean more on that when they get into the to the higher leverage situations where those physical gifts

can really carry you. And while Tyris Maxey doesn't have the vertical pot that Jah does, which I think is a little bit of a separator for those two, he does have the speed and like that to me is a strong indicator that you're you could damn near double your rim attempt to volume in the playoffs. That tells me you have real superpower. Here's a crazy stat Tyres Masey made three more shots in the restricted area in six playoff games, then Tyre's Halliburton did in fifteen playoff games.

I goes to show you how good he is at getting and finishing, getting to the rim and finishing their obvious series. For improvement, we talked about his pull up shooting just again. If he can improve the pull up shooting, connecting that touch that he has on his release to being able to do it off the dribble, that will improve him as a shot creator in the half court. But even then, I felt like the playoff series felt like a step forward in that direction. And then once again, defensively,

it's different with Tyrese. Tyree is not like Dame. It's not like he's not trying. Like Tyrese really competes on the defensive end of the forward It's not an effort thing. But he just needs to work on that possession by possession focus to limit mistakes, and I thought he took a step forward in that direction last year, although there's still is some room for improvement. Tyres is one of my favorite current NBA players. He's an absolute gym rat, workaholic.

By all indications, He's an excellent leader and an excellent locker room guy, his game compliments Joel embiid really well, and now you've supplemented that by adding Paul George to this situation. I think we're gonna get an excellent season out of Tyre's Maxi this coming season, and I have him at number twenty one in our player rankings. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. We will be back later this week with twenty nineteen and eighteen. I will see you guys then.