Hoops Tonight - Victor Wembanyama bounces back, Why Thunder should trade for Damian Lillard

I'm gonna make the case for why a team should consider going after Dame despite the situation with the Miami Heat, and I have a specific team in mind that I think would become a top tier contender overnight as a result. And then, last, but not least, I have some thoughts on Joel Embiid's comments surrounding James Harden and his trade requests. You guys know the drip 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 so you don't miss any show announcements. And for whatever reason, you guys, miss one of these shows and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight, and last but not least, before we get started.

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intragode hoops that's Hops for twenty dollars off. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download the game time app last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Big Shock, the amazing prospect who already had a successful professional career in France, wasn't a bust based on one bad summer league game that involved a whole lot of pickup style basketball and not a whole lot of opportunity to show what Victor

was good at. So finishes with twenty seven points, twelve rebounds, three blocks, probably would have had a chance to win that game if some of his teammates had it looked him off after he'd hit that late three point shot. Was really really impressive on both ends of the floor,

especially as that game progressed. And what I wanted to take a second to talk about today is the difference between a player's floor and a player's ceiling, and why it's important early in a career to give a player an opportunity to demonstrate what he's great at while he's working on the things that he's not particularly great at.

We talked about this was Shade and Sharp yesterday. If you guys remember, Shade and Sharp has this unbelievable superpower, and it's the fact that he's one of the most athletic two guards to ever set foot on an NBA floor, and so it's important with the way that he's utilized on a basketball team that he gets to showcase that

particular gift. And so everything turned around for him in that game when he started attacking the rim with his strength, size, and athleticism and elevating over the top of defenders in jump shooting situations, Big shock. He got to use his superpower, and good things immediately started happening. Your floor is the weapons that you bring to the fight. Your ceiling is about your weaknesses, and if you can round out those weaknesses and fix those things, that's when you become the

best version of yourself as a basketball player. Let's take Lebron James for example. This is the last great prospect that was at the same level of someone like Victor Webbin Yama, an all time great NBA prospect. When he was coming into the league. He had a lot of weaknesses too, but he had these strengths. He had these unbelievable tools. He had this ridiculous physical frame for a wing. He was an incredible downhill threat, especially in transition. No

one could keep him away from the rim. And then he was a super gifted playmaker. He just naturally saw the floor better than everyone else, and so in Cleveland, when he was in the open floor, you got to see all of those things. When he was attacking the rim, you got to see all of those things and watch him spray out to shooters and make things happen within the Cavs offense. But he wasn't a great defensive player

right away. Even though he had great defensive tools and the versatility to potentially guard multiple positions in the future, he wasn't a very good shooter, and that was a limitation for him. Didn't really have a low post game, so he had to polish those things to reach his eventual ceiling. When we talked about Lebron James as a prospect in his capability of getting to the conversations with Michael Jordan, it wasn't because of what he was when

he was eighteen. It was because of what we thought he could become through hard work and effort over the course of the following half decade. That's the same thing with Victor Wembinyama. Victor Wenbnyama is not Kevin Garnett yet. Victor wen Minyama. He's has catered, he's kind of shaped his game around the Kevin Durant mold. He's not Kevin Durant yet. That's gonna take years of hard work and dedication and experience in learning how to score against NBA defenses.

He's not there yet. So if you're expecting to see Kevin Durant in Summer League, that's a you problem, not a Victor problem. Your expectations are off. Victor has ridiculous weapons that he brings to the table right now. He has the best combination of height, length, and coordination in the history of the league. We've had really tall players come out, none of them that can move the way that Victor moves. He's already a top tier defensive player. He's got really good hands and can catch a finish

around the rim. He's got a respectable jump shot. Didn't shoot particularly well overall last year, but he shot forty percent on uncontested catch and shoots last year. That's a reliable If he's standing still and has time to load up into his form, that shit's going in and shot. And he got a three on the left wing at the end of this game today that he knocked down, so he's already good at that. And then he's got a decent turnaround jump shot over both shoulders, particularly his

right shoulder. So he's got some tools already. And so as long as his game is catered around those particular things, he's gonna look great. But yeah, if you toss the ball to him on the wing like they did in the first game and ask him to mix dudes up off the dribble, ask him to be Kevin Durant, obviously he's not going to be successful in that setting. Today, he played to his strengths. He took the vast majority of his shots within fifteen feet of the rim. He

was attacking the offensive glass. He had four offensive rebounds, got to the foul line a ton because guess what, and when he catches and tries to finish within ten feet of the rim, people who try to block him aren't gonna get the ball, They're gonna get his arm. And so he got to the foul line a ton.

And then I thought, you saw a really interesting sequence from Victor Wmenyama at the end of this game that demonstrated an immediate ceiling for him and an immediate level of impact that's going to help the Spurs win games this season. They go down the floor, they set a ball screen with Victor. He gets a switch. Ball handler dribbles over to the right wing. Victor relocates to the

dunker spot on the left side. The ball handlers kind of dribble in there, waiting for Victor to make himself available. He hard flashes to the middle of the floor, calls for the ball with two hands, catches hits. The guy turns over his right shoulder knocks down a little short jump shot. That's a legitimate skill that he's gonna be able to do right away in the NBA, and that is going to beat switching schemes. You can't switch Victor.

You can't switch a small guard onto Victor, because he's just going to flash high post and turn and shoot a little jumper over his right shoulder, and he's gonna make it all the time. That's a weapon that he can use right now. Very next possession, ball is being dribbled up along the left wing. Someone attacks along the baseline. Victor relocates to the left wing. Why because the rim protector for Portland is containing the ball at the rim, which is going to be what a lot of centers

do this year. They're going to be a lot of possessions where different players for San Antonio are trying to make things happen, and the rim protector is occupied and Victor is going to be open. He relocates to that left wing, takes his time, rises up, and knocks down to catch and shoot three. He's great at that right now, and so in this particular game, they funneled him into the things that he was great at. He got to

demonstrate those things. He was great on the glass, he protected the rim, he got three blocks, had a huge clutch block there by the right block, beat a mismatch in the post on a pick and roll switch, popping to the three point line and knocking down shots, catching close to the basket and getting to the foul line or finishing closer to the rim. He showed some of the high level stuff. You saw the crazy crossover jumper

he had in the first half. He's going to do some of that, but that's not his strength right now. That's the ceiling we need to when we're evaluating prospects. We need to differentiate between those two things. Their floor is what they're great at right now. Their ceiling is about their weakness, and if you're evaluating a player based on their weaknesses at that point, you're just going to be disappointed. They're kids, They're eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old.

It's going to take time for them to develop those things. I did want to talk about Javary Smith Junior for a second, because I think he's been one of the most interesting and probably the most impressive prospect that I've seen in this particular tournament, and even counting the guys that I saw last week. Really fun gaming against the Pistons. James Wiseman hits like a little left handed hook over the top, just starts talking all kinds of shit, and

Jabari just absolutely barbecues him all over the floor. You guys saw himIt that step back three and he turns around and he's like, he can't hold me, you know that kind of thing. Obviously, that's fun, just as a basketball fantasy. Guys competing like that finishes with thirty eight, seven and six hits an array of pull up jump shot, just pull up jump shot after pull up jump shot

from all these different spots on the floor. It really blows me away because I was here last year, and you know, there was a lot of talk over whether or not Jabari Smith was going to be the number one overall And one of the big reasons why he slipped is he was so uncomfortable putting the ball on the floor. He was so uncomfortable looking to score unless he was catching and shooting from you know, above the

break on the three point line. When he was in college, he was one of the most uncomfortable lottery picks when it came to trying to score the basketball that I can remember seeing. And for him to come back this year and to look like the most comfortable player on the floor, I don't think people realize how much hard work that takes. When it comes to your jump shot in your handle, progress is incremental. You shoot thousands of

shots a week and you get a little better. So what this tells me is that Jabari's been in the gym and he's been working his ass off. And when you couple that with his physical tools. He's six foot ten, he has a seven to one wing span. Look at all that muscle he put on. He was bullying Jad and Ivy to get to spots all over the floor today. But he's demonstrating that he has the work ethic to

go with it. I went back to look, as you guys know, I didn't cover Houston super closely last year because we primarily focus on the top half of the league. But he actually hit forty five percent an effective field goal percentage on his pull up jump shots last year. On volume, he shot one hundred and ninety five of them and he made forty five percent effective field goal percentage.

That's what makes him a super interesting top tier prospect because with Paulo, it's all about you're worried about the defensive end. With chet it's like it's he's a big man. How much is he going to be able to be an offensive initiator? Is he going to be able to stay healthy? Jabari Smith has that elite two way wing potential and that particular archetype is one of the most impactful archetypes that we have in the league. So shout out to Jabari Smith Junior. I was really impressed with him.

I think I don't think people realize how hard he had to work to make that type of improvement in just twelve months. All right. I wanted to move to this Dame Damian Lillar's situation. I talked about this a little bit with Live yesterday, and it's become a hot topic guys of late because of this idea of players signing a long term extension. Right, they signed a five year deal worth two hundred something mill and then one or two years into it they ask for a trade.

We've seen a lot of this recently, Right, We've just seen it with Dame, we saw it with Kevin Durant. That this is not exactly the most uncommon situation in the world. And these are big names. These are top ten, top fifteen players in the league that are making these types of moves, And it is a complicated situation. As I always say, you have to put your family first when you're making decisions, as especially as a primary breadwinner in your family, like these guys are. You have to

put that first. So let's say you come to free agency and you're with your team, and you like your team, and you're committed to your team, but like, five years

is a long time. I guarantee you all these dudes, if you really ask them when they're going through these negotiations, like are you sure you want to be here in five years, They'll all say no. Like maybe the rare examples like Steph Curry and Golden State, right, like, there are gonna be guys that are remarkably loyal to their French but hey, big shot, Golden State's one of the most competent franchises in the NBA. But you have to take the money. If you really ask these dudes, they'll say, eh,

I'm committed, but one to two years from now. Who knows they're not going to sign a two year deal their bodies. All it takes is one awkward landing, and now that money's gone, you've got to protect yourself. You've got to take the deal. But there's an ugly side of it. And the ugly side of it in particular

is that I only want to go there now. We have a show that we're doing later tonight with mister Colin Coward, and well, I want to pick his brain on this, particularly because he's just been around sports for so long, he's seen so many of these dynamics. But it is an ugly look. It's not good when you've got agents leaking that he's calling other teams and telling them he'll be unhappy if he goes there. It doesn't

help it all It doesn't help at all. If you've got the agent saying he's not going to report to training camp, that's a bad look. But at the end of the day, it is just posturing. Do you guys remember the Why Leonard situation, All the same things were said, He's not going to show up to camp, doesn't want to go anywhere. But La, you're making a mistake if you trade for this guy. But if you are a competent NBA organization and you bring him in, you have

the opportunity to win him over. Kawhi Leonard played some of the best bat arguably the very best basketball of his career in a Toronto Raptors jersey because they put their they put themselves out there. Now, did they lose him in free agency, Yes, but the Damian Lillard situation in particular has a lot of years left on the deal and Kawhi Leonard was very devoted while he was

in Toronto. So what I would like to see is I would like to see a team get into the sweepstakes here and allow them the opportunity to prove to Dame that they're a worthwhile destination and a team that can help him reach his ultimate basketball seiling. So I have a specific team in mind, and that team is the Oklahoma City Thunder. This team is already one of my favorite teams in the league. Somebody that I very

much look forward to covering next year. I think Shay Gills as alexand he is a top fifteen player in the league. I have said this before, but I think he's the North American player that has the best opportunity to compete with guys like Jokic and Luka Doncic and Jannison Tenna Kumpo over the course of the coming decade. I think he's incredible. Lou Dort is one of the

very best defensive players in the league. Josh Giddy is a super interesting high pick and roll shot creator with this combination of size and the ability to pass the basketball. Chet Holmgren was unbelievable yesterday. Alexei Polkoshewsky one of the better young stretch big prospects in the league. They have talent on top of talent on top of talent. We don't even talk about Jaalen Williams, who was incredible when he played in Summer League last week and has the

potential to be Jalen Brown with better playmaking. They are already that talented. But as you know, what ends up happening is you end up having to pay guys, and more often than not, what you would determined to be your window ends up being shorter than you think because you got to extend this guy, you gotta extend that guy. And then there's the cap ramifications, and then there's the luxury tax apron, and there's all these different things that can derail you in those situations. And so I'm a

big believer in taking risks and going after it. Adrian wor Jonowski reported yesterday that the Oklahoma City Thunder have thirty five draft picks between now and seven years from now, including fifteen first round draft picks. They can get into these sweepstakes without having to give up a young prospect. We did some work this morning and put together a trade. Essentially, the deal would be the Davas Berton's contract, Victor Oladipo, Rudy Gay and David Nwaba in some number of first

round draft picks for Damian Lillard. In that situation, this would be the lineup. You'd have Dame at point guard, Shay At shooting guard, Lou Dort one of the best perimeter defenders in the league at the three, Jalen william is one of the best young forward prospects in the league at the four, and Chet Holmgren one of the best young rim protector, skilled A centers that we've had as a prospect in years. Off the bench, they would have Josh Getty, Trey Mann who was really impressive yesterday,

Kenrich Williams, a Lexipokeewski, and Jaylynn Williams. That is already overnight one of the very one of the most talented rosters in the league, with a veteran presence and dame to top tier shot creators. A dude, you can throw at the other team's best player in lou Dort, legitimate spacing, tons of shooting all over the roster, tons of depth, and you can do that without having to give up a young player and still have I don't know, eight or nine first round draft picks left in the next

seven years. Again, like Sam Presci's done an incredible job putting together this roster, and he's done an incredible job hoarding assets. But the ultimate goal is to win an NBA championship, and you're right there. It's time to push the Chips in so again, I don't think they're going to do it, but they're my favorite candidate for a team to get involved in the Dame Miami Heat sweepsticks because a super interesting young team, one of my favorite

players in the league in Shay. That combination of young ceiling but with that veteran presence that can push you over the top in a league that is winnable right now, with a ton of parody, with no team that has an outrageous talent advantage. I would like to see the

Thunder go after him. Think that'd be a ton of fun. So, last, but not least, Joel Embiid, asked about the James Harden situation, says quote, I want him to come back, obviously, so we can accomplish what we want, which is a championship. Hopefully his mindset can be changed. This is a really interesting situation to me because the problem with the James Harden contract is there's no version of this story where

you trade him and you get positive value back. Your team will become a worst basketball team as soon as you pull the trigger on a James Harden trade. Now, think back to what we saw in the Eastern Conference, playoffs last year? How close was Philly really? Philly feels like they're on a tier below the top tier championship contenders. Right, you're Joel Embiid, You're in your mid twenties, you're one of the top five to six players in the world.

You want to compete for championships. Going backwards is not an option, And so I don't blame him, And I'm really curious to see the way this plays out, because if they can't convince James Harden to come back, the Sixers are a lesser team than they were last year. Why would Joel Embiid want to stick around for something like that. It's something that It's something that I'd like

to keep my eye on. Again. I know we hate the idea of the star players requesting trades and the fan bases hate it and it feels like it's fantasy basketball. But at the end of the day, you're Joel Embiid. You have an injury history, your needs, have had issues,

your feet, I've had issues. You can't afford to waste time and running it back with James Harden flipped first salary filler is a waste of time for what talent Joel Embiid brings to the table, so for his sake, for Joel Embiid's sake, I hope they can work it out with James Harden and give him a legitimate chance to compete next year. All right, guys, that is all I have for right now. We'll move back later tonight with mister con Coward, and we have a bunch of

interesting stuff to get into. I will see you guys then