Hoops Tonight - Top 25 NBA Players: Jalen Brunson REVIVED Knicks, Donovan Mitchell a LEGIT No. 1

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void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkang dot co slash ft ball. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Oh, all of you guys are having a great week so far. We are continuing our player rankings today with number seventeen and number sixteen. You guys know the drip before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You

don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss showing bounce Man. Don't forget about a podcast feed where if you get your podcast in our Hoops Tonight, don't forget And it's helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front and then keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the

remainder of the summer. Again at the tail end of today's show, now that I'm back from vacation and we've had our player rankings videos out on the feed for a while, I took a bunch of mail bag questions from the first three videos where you guys argued against my rankings, and we're gonna go back and forth a little bit. That's gonna be the format throughout the rest of this list. It's gonna be a couple of players

and then mail bag kind of argument style. At the tail end of the show, I had a couple of people talking about how it's kind of weird how we only have two or three players in each videos. In each video, to be honest, it's just about filling time in the summer. There's no rush here. It's August twentieth. We've got like another month and a half before we even get training camp opening up, or a little less than a month and a half, and so we've got

some time to kill. And so we're gonna spend a good chunk of that at the tail end of September going through some of our season previews. But in the meantime, we got some time to kill over the next couple of weeks. So I'd rather talk about something that I find really interesting, which is player ranking, instead of going into something else that I don't find is interesting. And I'd rather just get more in depth with it and have more arguments with you guys, have it more interactive

and things along those lines. So we're gonna be kind of just taking a few players a day and then we'll argue about it at the end, and then we'll move on until we get to the end of the list. Today we start the beginning of a new tier. Now, if you guys, remember I, as I did my kind of like intro in the first video, I view everybody on this list in four tiers. The top tier is like your top tier superstars. These guys are guys that I project to be perennial MVP candidates moving forward. Okay,

then there's the second tier or second tier superstars. These are guys who can look like the top tier superstars on any given night, but each of them have an issue maintaining of that level of play. Whether it's because of age, or it's because of health, or maybe it's just something having to do with their mentality. Regardless of what it is, that group of guys they can look

like MVP candidate type of players. You know, maybe half the year, maybe a third of the year or whatever it is, but they just struggle to remain at that level the way the guys at the very top do. The third tier is what we're starting today, and we're gonna get more into that in a second. These are players that can be the best player on a championship

team but need an overwhelming amount of support. And then the last tier, which is all the players we did leading into today, ending with that bam at a bio

in Victor women Yama video the other day. These are guys that aren't good enough to be the best player on championship teams yet, either because they're too specialized like Bam as a defensive specialist, or guys like Dame and Kyrie as kind of like small guards that struggle to impact the game as athletes, or they're too young, like a guy like Victor wen Minyama especially, but or Tyre's Halliburton I think kind of fits that bill a little

bit as well, Tyres Maxy as well. Those guys all have shots to move especially of the young players have shots to move up the list in the long run, especially Victor. I think Victor could be a top ten player even sooner. I have a lot of people that have criticized how low I have him on the list. We're gonna get more into that in the mail bag. I don't want to do it right now. But again, like that last tier of guys, those are all guys that are not capable of being the best player on

a champion championship team. This next phase of the list, these are guys who I do view that can be the best player on a championship team. They just need an overwhelming amount of support. So, without any further ado, let's get into it with number seventeen. Donovan Mitchell last season played fifty five games. He also missed two playoff games, so availability was definitely a little bit of an issue.

Last year for Donovan, he averaged twenty six point six points per game, five point one rebounds per game, and six point one assists per game as one of the best passing season of his career, which we're gonna get more into here in a little bit. He also averaged two point three stocks per game. This was Donnie Mitchell's best defensive season of his career. He really found a way to impact winning without having to be kind of

on the ball right. Now, he did have some on ball reps and he was very very aggressive on the ball. He got a lot of steels. This was a guy that kind of weaponized his athleticism in a very aggressive

sense on the ball. But where he really found a defensive role for Cleveland was off the ball, and one of his best traits is his athleticism, right, and so what he found that kind of worked for him was his ability to dig down into the lane, meaning like if he's guarding a guy on the left wing and someone's driving on the right wing, he will sink down to the nail and swipe down at the basketball. But he also has this speed and the ability to stop on a dime and change direction to close out to

shooters from there. And so he actually had a really useful role in the Cleveland defense as an off ball defender is the guy he would dig down into the lane and then recover out to shooters. Now, obviously he could get a little over aggressive sometimes, especially on the ball, and he makes he made some mistakes, but I thought this was a big step forward for him on the

defensive end of the floor. Last year in Cleveland. He was one of only three players in the league last year Donovan Mitchell to average at least twenty five points per game and at least one point five steals per game. I thought that was a surprise. The first two guys you won't be surprised to Shae Gilders, Alexander and Deer and Fox. But the third guy to make that list was Donovan Mitchell. So shout out to don for the

best defensive season of his career. His shooting splits. He shot forty six point two percent from the field, thirty six point eight percent from three, eighty six point five percent from the line. That amounted to fifty four point five percent in effective field goal percentage. That's just field goal percentage weighted for threes, and then fifty nine point five percent true shooting, which includes free throws as well, which is really really good. So a nice efficient scoring

season for Donovan Mitchell. Some shooting stats from Synergy. His jump shot he got one point zero six points per shot. He was especially effective off the catch. He got at one point one four points per shot off the catch in jump shooting situations one point one seven points per shot when guarded one point zero nine when he's open. I found this interesting. Guys that like really elevate on their shot, they actually tend to shoot a little bit

better when they're contested. And the main reason why is they elevate really high on those kinds of shots. A lot of times those kinds of players, when they find themselves open, try to kind of relax a little bit and don't jump as high, and that actually can end

up affecting their ability to knock down shots. And I always think that's funny when you see guys like Donovan, like really athletic shooters who are actually a little bit more efficient off when they're when they're getting contested versus when they're wide open. He was excellent off the dribble.

He got one point zero three points per shot. That's forty percent overall and field goal percentage and fifty two percent when you weait it for three, So really good pull up shooting shot a really good forty seven point four percent on long twos outside of seventeen feet and then forty seven percent on short pull up twos inside

of seventeen feet. So dal I me ar fifty percent on those pull up mid range jump shots that became a really useful shot for him here In the last couple of seasons, he had a decent floater shot, just forty two percent on them, took about two per game. Obviously not as good as some of his peers around the league, but that's a decent enough. But he was excellent going to the rim. For a guard his size, he shot sixty one percent at the rim, including sixty

percent on layups. Usually small guards they're in the mid to low fifties when you get into that layup range, just because they're shooting over trees all the time. But he was super efficient and high volume. He got three point four restricted area makes per game. Among players in the league that are below six ' five, only Tyrese Maxi and John Morant, who only played in nine games,

had more restricted area makes per game than Donovan. Mitchell series one of the best guys at getting to the rim, and like, honestly the main thing that stood out to me. I went back and watched a bunch of his drives in when I was watching film on him yesterday, and like,

his footwork going to the basket is just absurd. His ability to quick euro right to left or left to right it this left to right euro on Devin Booker that set Devin Booker flying into the stanchion and complaining at the refs, and as Donovan's just making an easy right handed layup on the right side of the rim, and it was just an absurd move considering how fast he was going downhill to then plant that left foot and almost like kind of cut his speed and get

back to the right as Devin Booker was overreacting to that left side and went flying. It's just an unbelievable display of athleticism and footwork. He's got that wade pullover dribble. I watched him do it to Austin Reeves where he just pulled the ball right over his head and then kind of slid over to the left side and put it in off the glass. He's got those spin moves,

he's got those hop steps. He's just got really good footwork, which, again, as I talk about all the time on the show, like when you have athleticism, that's one thing, but footwork is how you functionally get your athleticism to benefit you on the basketball court. I talk about this with my young players all the time, and I'm really emphasizing it now because we're in our early phase of the season,

so there's a lot of new players. And like, if you have an opening to the right or an opening to the left for a pull up jump shot, meaning like there's a little bit of space there that you can get to, but you're only comfortable taking a jump shot off of the dribble with right left footwork, then you're only going to be able to get to that spot going left. And if you see it right and you have to chop your feet or you have to hop into it, that little lack of efficiency is going

to allow a good defender to recover to you. And like that's the thing, Like Donovan's a great athlete, but he's got all of the functional footwork that actually allows him to weaponize that athleticism. There are a lot of freaky athletic small guards in the league that aren't even close to sixty percent on layups. And again, it's not

about like making super tough shots over contests. There are guys like that in the league, guys like Kyrie, guys like Steph Right that are just really like shot makers when they get to the rim. But for the most part, it's about getting open layups. And how do you get open layups by actually making moves in that short range to shed defenders and to create space so that you can just put the ball easily in off the off the backboard. Let's get into some play type data, so

pick and roll. He was in the eightieth percentile last year. He got one point zero three points per possession including passes. Didn't quite make our high volume list, he was at just eight hundred and eighty five possessions. But he had really good chemistry, specifically with Jared Allen. They ran a lot of action on the left side of the floor. They saw a lot of ice coverage, which is again where you see that guard defender deny the use of

the screen and force you back towards the sideline. But Donovan had a really nice kind of like chemistry with Jared Allen where he would just quickly rescreen and actually screen Donovan towards the sideline, and he got a lot of these easy pull up threes along that left wing just because of that screen chemistry that he had with

Jared Allen. And that specifically is the kind of thing that you need when you're gonna beat these kinds of coverages, right like Hey, we come up the left side, we know we're gonna see an ice We're gonna see an ice coverage there. I need you either to make yourself available to or I need you to screen me on that kind of sideline side. And you saw a lot of both of that. You saw the screens for those

pull up jump shots. Like I talked about, a lot of times the big in those ice coverages on defense would come up higher and so Jared wouldn't even bother to set a screen. He would just kind of slip into that like fifteen foot area when he'd catched there. If the lowman wasn't there, he'd just ripped through and dunk it. And if he was, he would just shoot that little pop shot or that little short jump shot. And Jared Allen was their most effective role man last year.

Not hard to figure out. Evan Mobley obviously still struggling in that regard, but the chemistry between Jared Allen and Donovan Mitchell is real. And that's now because of the contract extensions for both guys going to be a staple of Cleveland Cavalier basketball for a long time. In ISO situations, Donovan Mitchell was the in the seventy fourth percentile. He got one hundred and seventy four points one hundred and

seventy four possessions. You guys can go ahead and do the math there for what that is on a points per possession basis. I talked about his downhill moves earlier in those ISO situations, just getting into the defender body and then using those like kind of footwork elements to shed that defender so that he can get into the basket. His pull up jumper also just incredibly deadly. As we talked about, I think Donovan Mitchell has the best step back jump shot going to his left for a small

guard in the league in terms of getting separation. Obviously, a guy like Steph Curry's a better shooter, but in terms of the actual footwork and getting separation, Donovan has this hard pound dribble through the legs to the right where he like pounds it through the legs while gathering it back to the left, So he's basically whipping it and grabbing it and pulling it back to the left, and he covers so much ground and he gets such a wide base he goes straight up and down at

the end that it's actually turned into a really reliable ISO type of shot for him. It's a piece of footwork that I think a lot of athletic guards need to have. It's just a basic I look at it as like a jab step with a live dribble. So you imagine you got a lot, you've got a triple threat, and the defender's kind of playing a little bit off of you, and you want to kind of establish your rhythm and get a little more separation, you'll throw a

hard jab and then you'll go up right. Well, in a live dribble situation, that's where that move comes into the picture. Right, you're dribbling in that high hesitation and you pound between your legs and pull back. It basically functions as a jab step even though you have a live dribble, and Donovan makes really nice use of that

in ISO situations, which made him an effective isoscore last year. Again, he didn't make any of our high volume lists, but he was very effective in both pick and roll and ISO situations. It was the best playmaking season of Donovan

Mitchell's career. Not only did he average a career high six point one assist per game, but this was also the first time in Donovan's entire career that he had an assist to turnover ratio over too, meaning for the first time he had at least two assists for every turnover. That's a big step forward for him, and a big one that I noticed is those long steps at the rim that I talked about, those euros and those spins

and those pullover dribbles and stuff like that. It allowed him to slow himself down at the rim, which in many cases brought over the low man more aggressively. And he just got really good at making that kickout pass to the weak side corner when you would get into the rim. And then the second piece of it is just that role chemistry with Jared Allen, which we talked about earlier. He had an excellent playoff run. He was flat out explosive. He went off for fifty in a

game against Orlando. He had a hyper efficient twenty nine point game on the road in Boston to actually win that game in game two of that second round series. He averaged thirty points per game overall in the playoff run on fifty eight percent for shooting. It was just a casual reminder that Donovan's still one of the most explosive guards in the league within that playoff context, where his athleticism is more of a factor areas of opportunity,

he's still a volatile decision maker. His assist numbers cratered in the postseason. He was down to four point seven points per game. He still has a tendency to try to solve problems in the game by hijacking things and looking to score, especially early in the clock, like when things start to hit the fan. That's when it'll start to take a couple like early clock pull up jump shots, and you know, you get a couple of misses there,

they can really kind of demoralize the team. And so he's just not as good as a game manager as some of his peers at the top of the league. But that doesn't take away from the fact that he's as explosive as he is. That's just his main area of opportunity, and he is getting a little better each year.

And so here's the thing, Like I think Donovan's primed to make some real noise in his prime, as if we had into this phase where he's in his late twenties early thirties, if he can stay healthy and maintain a good chunk of his athleticism. I think he can build that part of his game out and even go up a level from where he's at right now.

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along with just two point four turnovers. As a matter of fact, Jalen Brunson was one of only seven players in the NBA to average at least twenty five points at least six assists in fewer than three turnovers, So in a kind of like a kind of exclusive company in terms of hyper efficient, high volume shot creators shooting splits, he shot forty seven point nine percent from the field, forty point one percent from three to eighty four point

seven percent from the line. That amounted to fifty four point three percent in effective field goal percentage waited for threes and fifty nine point two percent true shooting. When you add foul shooting into that, he averaged a career high six point five free throw attempts per game. Really a master of that low gathered using pump faced guys at a position just adding to his efficiency in his

overall scoring volume by getting to the line. That was the sixteenth most free throw attempts per game in the entire NBA. Last year, shooting numbers perc Entergy one point zero nine points per jump shot. He was at one point three four points per catch and shoot jump shot,

which is insane. He shot forty five percent overall and field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots that amounted to sixty seven percent in effective field goal percentage when you weigh it for threes, that was in the ninety fourth percentile, So he's one of the best catch and shoot guys in the league. Last year, he also got one point zero two points per pull up jump shot that was forty three percent in field goal percentage

fifty one percent when you weigh it for threes. And then he was the best floater shooter in the entire NBA. Last year he shot fifty five percent on floaters fifty five percent. Remember we've just talked about Donovan Mitchell at forty two percent. And he also had three hundred and fifteen attempts, which is the only player in the league to attempt over three hundred. So he's got the best

floater in the game. And it's not particularly close. And when you look at the other guys that were in the top five for volume, and these guys were all below three hundred attempts. But these are the other top five guys in the top five, Tyas Jones, Trey Young, CJ. McCollum, Tyre Smaxi. Not a single one of them got over one point zero four points per floater. Brunson was at

one point one point eight. That's a substantial gap. He's just the best at it, or at least he was last season, and then fifty five percent at the RAM. That's solid for a small guard. It's kind of where you expect. It's not very good, not very bad either. He had three point seven attempts per game, which is also in the restricted area, which is also solid for a small guard who doesn't have a lot of speed

or quickness. Playtype data from Synergy ran fifteen hundred and fourteen pick and rolls including passes, that was the most in the entire NBA. He got sixteen hundred and seven points out of them. That amounts to one point zero six points per possession. This was in the eightieth percentile for efficiency. He made a high volume list, obviously, as the highest volume pick and roll player in the league.

Out of the fifteen players to run at least one thousand ball screens including passes, Jalen Brunsond ranked seventh in the entire NBA. Not a great ISO year for him, though he ran four hundred and twenty two ISOs and got just three hundred and seventy seven points including passes, that amounted to zero point eighty nine points per possession.

He personally shot just thirty nine percent in those situations, and inner high volume list he ranked twenty fourth out of the twenty four players to run at least two

hundred and fifty ISOs. He was the worst high volume ISO player in the league last year, but I view this as mostly a blip in just kind of an unusual circumstance because last year, the year before last, I should say, he got one point one zero points per ISO including passes, which ranked fifth out of the twenty five players to run at least two hundred fifty So he was one of the best high volume MISO players in the league last year, and then in this year's

playoff run he was at one point zero four points per io including passes, which is a really good number. So in all likelihood, the ISO numbers last year were just kind of a blip. I think a big part of it too, was Julius Randall being out for basically half the season, and so he just had a lot of rescue possessions were ready to throw shit up at the end of the shot clock, and I think that probably hurt his efficiency in that regard to a certain extent.

The playoff run for Jalen Brunson was super impressive, yet he averaged thirty two point four points per game, seven point five assists to just two point seven turnovers. That amounted to a respectable fifty four percent in true shooting percentage, which was great considering the circumstances, like I talked about earlier, especially with the injuries later in the playoff run and then obviously not having Julius Randall as a substantial secondary

shot creator. The Philly series in particular was insane to me. When you watch those first two games, the Sixers were throwing the kitchen sink at him. He had a steady diet of like six ' eight six ' nine athletic wings that were chasing him over the top of screans and applying back pressure, pressuring him on his way up the floor, trying to funnel him into Joel Embiid, who in a deep drop coverage can still be effective as

a defensive player. They were digging down in the lane off of other players when he would drive it was about as tough of a defensive look as you'll see for a single shot creator, and he averaged thirty six points and nine assists in that series, and that was after a rough couple of games. If you take out the first two games, he averaged forty two to ten forty two points and ten assists in the last four games of the series on fifty nine percent tru shooting.

It was a very, very impressive display of half court shot creation from Jalen Brunson. And the Knicks just fell apart with injuries. I strongly believe that they would have made the conference finals. I think they would have beat Indian five had they stayed healthy, But once Ojiananobi went down in Game two, it was just basically over at that point. His weaknesses Jalen Bronson doesn't really have the ability to impact the game as an athlete in any capacity,

which obviously hurts his overall two way impact. But to his credit, he does his job on defense and he holds well enough on an island in ISO, mainly because he's strong that he's not really a weak point either. In addition to that, he's made himself one of the best half court surgeons in the game. As we've discussed at length at this point, he's a deadly drop coverage beater. He can hit pull up threes when you duck under picks. He can hit pull up twos when you chase over

the top. He's the best floater shooter in the league. He's proven his ability to be a high level playmaker. I think he's the best small guard in the league after Steph Curry, and I think he's demonstrated that to a great extent. The guys that I have above him, I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of people that are They feel like I have Brunson too low. And again, these guys are all in the same tier to me,

so we're kind of splitting hairs. But the guys that I have above him are all bigger, better athletes, and that goes a long way towards your ability to impact winning. But I don't see much of a gap between him and really anybody in this tier. This tier is all very bunched up in that regard. But I think in terms of just looking at the small guards in the league, guys below like six ' five, I think that he's the best small guard in the league. After Steph Curry.

Why is he above Donovan Mitchell. I think Jalen's a better game manager and decision maker than Donovan Mitchell. That's the main differentiator. He's far less susceptible to like those five or six possession stretches that Donovan can have where he just takes a bunch of bad shots and kind of loses sight of the bigger picture. And that, to me,

especially in the playoff context, is super valuable. Jalen Brunson has stamped himself as a legitimate number one on a championship team this year by demonstrating that he can generate enough offense to win a playoff series without a legitimate co star. Again, I believe they would have made the conference finals had they stayed healthy. But at the same time, the Knicks are aware that he needs a lot of

support and he will have that this year. The addition of Michale Bridges and Julius Randall coming back from injury, either as a player or as a trade piece, and also factoring the resigning of Ogananobi, that gives Brunson a bunch of high level two way players that allow him to focus on what he does best, which is just

being that half court surgeon. So again, he's incredibly good at one specific thing, and if you can point him and shoot him that way and account for everything else with your role players, you give yourself a good chance. And I'm really curious to see how that experiment works this season. Etho, all right, let's get to the mail bag. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight looks like nine questions. We'll see maybe miscounting there, so

we'll see. Jason, I have to disagree with you for not putting Drew Holliday on the in contention list. Dude is one of the few guys with multiple championships on different rosters. Arguably the best perimeter defender in the league, played more on a stacked USA team than almost anyone else in the contention list, contributes heavily to winning man deserves his flowers. He should get on the possible top twenty five lists. I totally agree. It was just an

accidental oversight on my part. He's better than a lot of the guys that made my preliminary forty five lists, so again, it was just an accident. That kind of thing happens when you do what I do for a living stuff just slips through the cracks and I make mistakes. Kyrie was fifty to forty ninety playing next to the most ball dominant player and is a much better defender than Fox, as we just saw in the playoffs. What

real argument does Fox have over Kyrie? Well, for starters, I disagree that Kyrie is a better defender than Fox. Fox I thought he demonstrated, especially at that in that Warriors series, that he has pretty considerable defensive upside, and also with DeMar Derozen in the mix now is like a high volume shock creator that can kind of take some of those duties away from him. Now Fox will have an opportunity to devote more resources in that direction.

I expect Dearon Fox to have the best defensive season of his career this year. So again, I think Kyrie is a good and useful defensive player. But I think to Deer and Fox, especially within the context of what Kyrie has is like playing alongside a secondary star where he can focus his energy there. I think Fox is a more capable and a more impactful defensive player. I also think Fox is clearly a better basketball player overall,

especially as a primary shot creator. He's way more athletic, his much better size for the position, he applies substantially more rim pressure, which is one of the most valuable things you can do offensively. I don't have to get into it right now, but just getting to the rim and occupying defenders and getting shots up on the glass is so valuable to an offense, both for generating open

threes and offensive rebound opportunities. But one last thing. He's also proven to be a much more durable and reliable guy to lead his team over the eighty two game stretch as well as four potential playoff rounds. So I think Fox is a better basketball player. That said, to your point, there is a real case that Kyrie is a better number two alongside another star because of his ability to play off the ball and because of his ability to rescue possessions as a tough shot maker. And

that's a fair point. I have a male bad question that I didn't put in today's show because it's more relevant tomorrow. But I have a mail back question for our next show that's regarding Devin Booker and Jalen Brown that gets into this concept, and it's a legitimate counterpoint, and I totally agree. But for the record, we're splitting hairs here and I have Fox at twenty four and Kyrie at twenty five, so I obviously don't see much of a difference overall between those two guys. I just

think I think darreon Fox in a vacuum. If you were drafting to start a again, there's thirty NBA teams, there's thirty NBA teams, And if we were doing an open draft and you had the twenty fourth pick, you're picking to be the best player on your team. So like Daron Fox is who you're taking in that spot over a guy like Kyrie Irving. But that point about Kyrie being a better number two is fair, and that's a big part of why Kyrie is as high on this list as he is. But at the same time,

I gave the slight nod to Fox. But again we're talking about a very very tiny margin here, Guys, I just don't understand how you can think Lebron can get through a full playoff at this point as a top five player. He looked fantastic in the Olympics, but that was not as much of a grinder as the conference finals and finals. Even in in the Olympics, he was losing steam by the end of the gold medal game. Once again not a slight he is thirty nine. It

is incredible how well he played. Lebron got away with some cruise control in twenty twenty three and really wasn't top five until Lebron wasn't top five Lebron until he realized the Nuggets were not going to let him rest. Without Davis, there was no way he even gets to

the most competitive sweep in NBA history. I think you were greatly underestimating how much of a buzz saw the NBA playoffs are, especially after an NBA season, and for the Lakers a play in you see a bunch of young players run up and not realize what they are getting into. I think there are two LEPs, the physical which is the second and third round, and mental buzzsaw in the finals itself. I think ant ran into the first one last year and Luca ran into the second one.

Lebron obviously knows, hence the cruise control twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. He knew the Nuggets would crush him if he didn't try. I would add having this playoff experience to rankings because I think it is important for players to learn this as well as additional durability. Think about the players who didn't make it through the playoff grinder. Even Jordan had to learn about this. Ant is better for experience and possibly Luca. I suppose it

is a plus that Lebron knows this. I also think he helped I also think this helped Curry in twenty twenty two a lot. There's definitely something to a superstar getting to the finals and experiencing the pacing. So here's the thing. There are a lot of people that I've seen. There was a Celtics buddy of mine named Mike who who told me that he thought that the twenty twenty Lakers benefited from the gap, the break from the COVID shutdown, because it gave them a chance to rest so that

they could get through the playoff run. Here's the thing. Lebron is still yet to miss a single playoff game in his entire career, So the idea that he can't hold up for a two months playoff run is completely theoretical. It's based on like he's old, maybe he won't do it, but we've never actually seen him not be able to do it. In twenty twenty three, he got hurt and he played on it, and he still averaged twenty five, ten and seven on fifty eight percentury shooting, and he

got stronger as the playoffs went on. In the Nugget series, he average twenty eight, ten and ten and shot fifty two percent from the field. So, like, here's the thing. He definitely conserves energy in the regular season. And by the way, that's why he won't be top five on this list, even though I think i'd pick him top five for a playoff series that starts tomorrow, right. That has to be factored in because, as you mentioned, the

Lakers sometimes have to play in the play in. A big part of why the Lakers have had to play in the play in has been Lebron has to conserve a certain amount of energy because he's old in the eighty two. But when we get to the four rounds, I understand skepticism he's gonna be forty blah blah blah blah. But he's never missed a playoff game. So like, whatever idea you might have about whether or not he can't hold up that, it's just not it's just theoretical. At

this point. It's not actually based on anything that's actually happened. But again, I don't have Lebron in my top five. I have I'll give you guys, like a little tiny teaser. I still have Tatum above Lebron in the eighty two game context, even though I think Lebron is a substained better like two week basketball player. Okay, so like, let's I am factoring that in. I just think that within the playoff context, I think it's unfair to Lebron to be like, oh, but maybe he won't be available when

all these ever been has been available. Right mail back. Question about your criteria for these rankings, Number one, Your number one criterion is half court offensive creation. Doesn't that reward helio centric players like Doncic and Marie who rack up substantial counting stats but whose team offense is easier to stop than five out offense if you prefer five out as the more resilient offensive approach, shouldn't half court criteria making be playmaking both on and off the ball,

like Curry and Tatum. I'd rather a star get involved in the screening and cutting than simply the counting stats. For the record, I agree with you in your overall basketball philosophy that heliocentric basketball is not as overall effective as like five out play with each other team based basketball. That said, like Luka, Doncic is so so so so so so so so so much better than Jason Tatum as half court shot creator that even if I disagree about the play style, it just still is a gap

that we have to account for. And so like again, like when I talk about half court offensive creation, I'm extending that to five out as well. And that is why Steph you know, I still consider it to be in the superstar tier, even though he's declined a certain amount over the course of the tail end of last season. Like, I still believe that that shot creation value of him running around off of screens and the gravity and all of that is still so profoundly impactful. I also think

Curry is going to shoot better this year. We'll see. But like I want to be clear, like I'm not favoring heliocentric players. I'm just saying that among all the different things that I value, that elite half court offensive creation is still the thing that I think is most valuable in the league. Second part of your question, I also think that leaving out defense, which you do discuss when actually ranking and rebounding as explicit criteria as a

major mistake. I want my start to greatly impact all parts of the game. Like Ad and Giannis, I'm not leaving out defense. Just because I have half court shot creation as more valuable than defense doesn't mean I don't value defense. It's still in there. It's still part of the equation for me. It's I mean, I had beam At a Bio in my top twenty, right Like, I'm not discounting that. I'm just saying that I think that the half court high end offensive creation is the most

valuable piece that any single player can bring to the team. Hey, Jason, can you explain why Dame is higher than Fox. I'm just curious of the thought process in basketball reasoning. Thanks and keep up the good work. I think Dame is just a much better shot maker, which I think is super valuable in the playoffs when things get tight. So, for example, in Dame's last two playoff runs, He's attempted thirteen to threes per game and made forty four percent

of them. That's insane. He's at thirty three points per game on sixty two percentury of shooting in his last ten playoff games. So here's the thing. I do think Dearon Fox is a better regular season player right now because he's a better athlete, he plies a lot more rim pressure, he's a better defensive players, just more impactful

over the eighty two. That said, that playoff part of it is part of it for me, and I just think Dame is a better half court shot creator in the playoffs, kind of similar to what we were just talking talking about. So that gave him the edge for me. But it's also worth mentioning that I have all these guys in the same tier, so like, it's not like I think Dame's here and Fox is here there, They're right next to each other. I'm just giving the nod

to Dame. The tiers for me are designed to actually signify a difference in the levels, if that makes sense. Over analyzing on John Rant, In my opinion, Lillard and Maxie are not just better than him just because their shooting numbers are better. Wait, okay, hold on, Lillard and MAXI are not better than him just because they're shooting

numbers are better. My list, they are multiple tiers below jaw led backs back fifty plus win teams when he last really played, and stats can't measure the difference his mere presence on the court provides, given his insane speed and athleticism. And he's a better defender than both Lillard and Maxi before the toy but before twenty before the twenty two to twenty three season, he was horrible, But in that season his d was fine. We saw Maxi

without himbid he wasn't that amazing or winning games. And Dame is getting older and was wildly inconsistent last year. A couple of things. I actually do think Tyros Maxi is better defender than Jaw. I do think Jaw's a better defender than Day though I agree that Jaw is a better basketball player when he's available than those guys. I've said this on the show before, But like, I think Jaw has like top ten potential when he's available.

The thing is, he has missed eighty six of the grizzlies last one hundred and eight games, and that wasn't just the suspension either, Like there are health issues there, So like that's the main thing that has him this far back on the list. I'm a huge believer in what John Muran is capable of. He just needs to prove that he can actually be available to his team before he can be regarded that high on the list. There's actual, like can't he stay healthy concerns with Jaw

that extend beyond even the suspension stuff. Thoughts on Maxi's upside. I know you mentioned Jos's potential was higher, but I'm curious how close that is. Like you said, he's a great leader, a workaholic, and one of the best off the cat shooters we've seen. If that off the dribble develops while he's playing with someone like Embid, I can see his playmaking improving as well, even if he's mid

at defense. At his peak, a player averaging twenty seven to twenty eight with four rebounds and seven assists on like sixty one percent shooting is MVP level stuff. The main gap between Jaw and Maxi in my opinion. In my opinion is the ability to stop on a dime in the vertical pot. That makes Jaw much more dynamic as a score in these short range which makes him much harder to guard in my opinion. But I do think Tyres Maxy has superstar upside. He's just got further

to go. I think he has to become a substantially better passer than he is, and then that pull up jumper efficiency like we talked about earlier, So like, if you can improve dramatically in those two areas, I think he can enter into that tier. But Jaw is just Jaw's not as dependent on the jump shot because he's just so dynamic with his ability to change direction, with his ability to get downhill and then suddenly at five feet just pop up off the ground and shoot a

floater like right there. Like He's just he's so dynamic in that short range as a scorer, it just makes him borderline impossible to guard. I take issue with the methodology used here in which durability plays a factor into how we rank players. If we are ranking players based on basketball talent alone in a vacuum, then durability should be a part of the equation. Injuries can happen to anyone at any time. A better measure of how good

players are in a vacuum should assume health. That way, we can compare the on court impact and the play of these players and rank them accordingly. Ranking a player lower due to availability is disingenuous to the idea of ranking them in a vacuum, I disagree. The main thing is we can't just we can't just assume. You said earlier, you mentioned injuries can happen to anyone at any time.

That's true, But I think we all have to admit that certain players are more susceptible to injuries than others. That's just a fact that we can see in the availability of some of these guys. Also the entire premise of the list. What I mean by in a vacuum. In a vacuum means from October first through to the mid June through to mid June, all thirty franchises drafting all four hundred and fifty players. Who are you taking?

So if a guy is like, really good for the two months but has injury issues over the eighty two, that has to be factored in. It just does. It's in a vacuum within the context of a full season from training camp all the way through to the end of the NBA Finals, And so that to me is why availability has the factor. So I'm not actually listening to mailback question here because there was just a bunch of these, But I had a bunch of people talk about how I had Wemby too low and specifically why

I have Bam over him for this particular season. For the record, I think Victor wimen Yama is very capable of being the best player of the league in the league sooner than later. I'm a huge believer in Wemby. I'm a huge fan of Wemby. However, you guys know how I feel about young basketball players, particularly when it comes to making mistakes. I actually think you could argue an overall winning impact over the eighty two games Wemby

absolutely should be higher that. I agree with you. I think he's going to be in just a complete wrecking ball for this eighty two games. However, when you get into the playoffs, there are so many close games. There are so many games that are decided by a handful of possessions. So much of it comes down to execution, and young players in particular have problem preventing mistakes and

replicating what works. They're a little bit more volatile, right. Bam, for instance, is not gonna be nearly as impactful as Wemby over the eighty two but for a playoff series, he just has so much experience. He has NBA Finals experience, he's played in I don't even know, like a dozen playoff series. He's just been in so many of those environments and you can count on him, for the most part, to not make mistakes and to just do his job.

And so again, long term, Wenby's obviously way better than BAM. Short term, in the regular season, Wemby's obviously way better than Bam. But when I'm factoring in, like what it's gonna be like in a knockdown, drag out, physical seven game series in May, I just give Bam the slightest edge because he's less mistake prone at this point. Wenby still has a tendency to take a few bad shots.

There were some times in Foebo where he'd take a kind of like a contested early clock three, you know, or over penetrate and get into traffic and turn the basketball over. Those sorts of things. Over the eighty two. He can easily make up for it in the massive sample size by being the wrecking ball that is Wemby. But when you get into nut crunching time, that's where it's like that mistake can be catastrophic, right, And so again, just within the context of the goal of getting to

mid June. For just this season, I barely give Baym an edge, but I think Wemby's gonna get I think there's a good chance Wenby gets some playoff experience this year. I think there's a chance he gets into that play in picture, and who knows whins a couple of games, he could get a seven game series. I just think Wemby needs some experience. And by the way, guys, I'm

pretty consistent with this. You guys know, guys that are below the age of twenty two, they're not gonna be very high on my lists because that's just the way that I see the game. I think young players struggle to replicate what works, then they struggle to avoid making mistakes. But don't take that as Wemby criticism. That's how I feel about every young player. And I'm as big a Wenby fan as you'll find out there. Hey, Jason, just a bit of my two cents about Bam spot on

the list. Difference between Bam and AD is that he doesn't have Lebron, James, Austin Reeves and d Low getting him those easy buckets at the rim all game. He hasn't had a high level playmaker since d Wade was in the backcourt throwing him lobs. First of all, I disagree. I think Jimmy Butler is a high level playmaker. Also, AD is just a much much higher level offensive player than Bam. Guys like BAM is incapable of doing what Ad did to Jokic in the first round this year.

AD was going at Jokic repeatedly and cooking his ass one on one forced Mike Malone to make a change and take Jokic off of him. That's how good Ad is as a one on one ISO slash post up player. Bam has two thirty point games in the playoffs in his entire career. AD has twenty three. So like, they just aren't on the same tier as basketball players that I don't see as much as I love Bam, Eighty's just flat out better than him, and so like, I

don't think it's about playmaking. Again, he plays with Jimmy Butler, who is one of the better playmaking wings in the league. So I just don't see that as enough of an excuse. Great breakdown on Fox, But there's no way Halle is better than him. If we're going to believe in players when they are extremely healthy, Fox averaged thirty points a game before he's prayed his ankle. Holly is a terrible point of attack defender. Fox is arguably one of the best.

Fox averaged two steals per game From the point of attack. Fox is a closer, and Holly fades during big time moments. Holly can't be higher than off two and a half months of great basketball and completely disregarding the rest of the season. We're not disregarding the rest of the season. Halliburton is one of the best offensive engines in all of basketball, even when he's hampered. When he's healthy and playing on a good hamstring, he's arguably the third best

overall offensive engine behind that Jokich Luka tier like. That's how good he is. He was the very best high volume pick and role player in the entire league last year when he was healthy, the Pacers at an offensive rating of one to twenty four. He is incredible at consistently getting the defense in rotation, which makes everything easier for everybody on the court. Halliburton is the guy that

you can't just look at the box score. He is an offensive engine who complete consistently gets the defense and rotation. It's similar to the Caitlin Clark thing. Like Caitland, Clark's offensive impact cannot be quantified just by points and assists numbers. Like Tyre's, Halliburton is one of the best offensive engines in all of basketball. Tyre's Darren Fox, to me, is one of the best guards in the league, but I don't think he kind of falls into that top tier

offensive engine list like Tyre's Halliburton does. He's got a lot of issues, which is why Halliburton and Fox are still close despite that gap. However, I do think that Holly and what he brings as an offensive engine gives him the edge there. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. We'll be right back tomorrow with another two players kind of a Actually, I think this one's

actually gonna come out on Thursday. A really interesting debate between two players that are kind of different archetypes, playing in very different roles but bring very different things to the table. But I kind of view them right next to each other and you could debate either way. I'm excited to get into that with you, guys. I'll see you tomorrow. Also, last thing, I did do a video on two Suns podcast talking about the news that The

Acolyte was canceled after season one. So me and Luke talked for like thirty five minutes yesterday, just kind of getting into all the details of what that means for Star Wars again. You can find that wherever you find your podcasts under two Sons or on YouTube under two Sons Podcasts. I always appreciate when you guys support over there as well. All right, thanks guys, thanks for rocking with me and the support. I will see you guys.