Hoops Tonight - Warriors take down 76ers, LeBron puts pressure on Lakers, Chet vs. Wembanyama

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plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See dkg dot com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the Vaulume. Happy Wednesday, everybody, hope all if you guys are having a great week. We actually have two shows today. In this particular episode, we're just gonna

hit Sixers Warriors. Then I want to talk about some of the past aggressive Lebron stuff, and we're gonna play a little game, a little hypothetical game about Lebron potentially leaping the Lakers. Then I have ten mail bag questions that we're gonna hit at the end of the show

where we bounce around the entire league. Later today, I have Carter Rodriguez from the Chase Down Pod, who covers the Cleveland Cavaliers after a big win against the Clippers on Monday night, and I think they've won something crazy like fifteen of their last nineteen games. So we're gonna do a deep dive on the Cleveland Cavaliers later this afternoon. That'll be in a separate video that you guys can see later Today, you guys known the Joe fort we

Get started subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel. It mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. I also found out the other day it's really helpful for us if you leave a rating in a review on the podcast feed, So if you guys have some time for that, I would appreciate it.

Don't forget about my Twitter feed out underscore jsonlt That's where I put show announcements as well as the film threads that I do in the morning. In the last not least, keep dropping mail, bad questions and those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout this season. All right, So, I think the story of the Sixers Warriors game was the defense they played on Joel Embiid now important caveat there. I thought Embiid looked super disengaged

in this particular game. The dead giveaway was like he basically would never be physically aggressive. He was just looking to take jump shots. As a matter of fact, thirteen of his eighteen shots that he took in that game or jump shots he basically just catch and then the Warriors would kind of press up on him and then he kind of take a jab step jumper. And there's some weird stuff going on with Philly, not just with the on the injury front, but also on the body

language front. It's a little weird. That said, I want

to give the Warriors some credit. They were swarming. Specifically, one of the things you saw both Kevon Looney and Raymond Green do is chest up Joel Embiid with their arms out wide to the side, basically making it so that they could play like physical ball pressure without actually risking fouling on those reaching you know, because Joel Embid's always like digging those arms out in front of him in a weird kind of like jump shot a gather to try to draw fouls, right, And that's the most

important parts of guarding Embeid is contesting those shots without fouling, and then from there it's like digging down into driving lanes and swarming him, especially when he puts the ball on the floor and turns his back. And they were doing a great job every single time inb did put the ball on the floor by reaching in from behind, Jonathan Kminga got a few steals. In particular, they actually forced him into eight turnovers overall. I think he was

like five to eighteen from the field. Just an excellent defensive performance from the Golden State Warriors. And you know, Draymond Green, I thought played a big part in this. I thought he did just an incredible job on Joel

Embiid and the possessions he was on him. And I think a lot of times, like one of the things that we gloss over in the in the NBA postseason is the capability that your roster has to make real significant impact on opposing stars, because like when you really look back, like let's just take a look at the twenty twenty two postseason run, for example, and point out some specific examples of the way the Warriors defense didn't just do good job but actually led players to having

struggles in real way. So for instance, like in that first series against the Denver Nuggets, there was a big play I think in game five if I remember correctly where Nicole Jokich was. I think it was actually game four when they went up three to one. I can't remember exactly which game it was, but you guys, remember it was a one possession game. Late Nicole Jokich was attacking Draymond Green in the post on the left block, and Draymond Green actually got to reach around steal on him.

Like how many players do you know that are capable of going on an island against one of the top five players in the league in a big moment and picking them clean. And that's what Draymond Green brings to

the table as like a transcendent defensive option. Right. And then looking at the Dallas Maverick series between Andrew Wiggins ball pressure, the good job they did on the back line helping without helping too much off of shooters Like Luca put up statistical numbers, but he was nowhere near as you put up box score numbers, but he wasn't

as impactful as an offensive initiator in that series. In fact, he was down a significant level from where he was in the Phoenix Sun series, and that's an example of what that transcendent defensive impact can do. And then lastly, the Jason Tatum series in the against the Celtics in the NBA Finals, they sent him into one of his worst playoff series as a pro, and that just goes

to show you, like that specific element. Having defensive weapons the caliber of Draymond Green, the caliber of Andrew Wiggins, they can go a long way towards swinging playoff series by causing opposing stars to play well below their capability. I thought last night against Joel Embiid was a great example of that. Like, don't take Draymond Green for granted, Like his ability to impact the game defensively isn't just really good, it's transcendently good. It's top tier in the

NBA good. Right. The second big takeaway I had from this game is that Steph is just back to form. Now at thirty seven on seventeen shots, He's averaging thirty three to five and six on fifty three percent from the field, forty eight percent from three, and one hundred percent from the line over the course of his last five games. Remember, over his previous twenty three games, just twenty five, four and six on forty two percent from the field, thirty six percent from three to ninety two

percent from the line. So like we went from an extended stretch there where Steph was playing below his capability to now we have a two or three week stretch here, two weeks basically where Steph looks more or less like the stepf that we know as matter of fact playing at an MVP level. And that was just an important checkpoint, right Like when I talked about the three important things that the Warriors had to accomplish, It's like step one,

Steph has to play like Steph Curry right. Step two you have to be coherent defensively and honestly have to be great defensively with some of the limitations they have in chock craation. And then three you need backup offensive support, which leads us to the next big takeaway. Andrew Wiggins was awesome in this game against the Sixers. He was getting downhill penetration on Kelly Ubra, he was rising up around the rim and dunking everything on cuts. That's an

area where he's been really bad this year. He's been

really timid and soft around the basket. And I pulled this data last week, but like before the last couple of games, Andrew Wiggins was down something crazy like eight or nine percent on layups around the basket compared to last year, and so that just goes compared to the twenty twenty two season, pardon me, so, like seeing Andrew just going up with more confidence around the basket as an athlete, like dunking everything hanging on the rim, just

having that like force and power behind his game is super, super encouraging it. Twenty three points on ten shots last night. In this four game stretch after the team took that break, obviously to grieve the loss of one of their assistant coaches, he's averaging nineteen points, five rebounds, and three assists on sixty three percent from the field, forty six percent from the three point line, and two point three steals in blocks per game. So like that's more or less than

Andrew Wiggins that we remember from twenty twenty two. That's what the Warriors have been getting. And you know what's crazy is the offense has come. But it started in that Atlanta Hawks game with re engaging defensively at the point of attack, with the job that he did on to Jontay Murray, and he's just kind of ridden that momentum. I've talked about this concept on the show before. I talked about yesterday actually, but one of the best ways to get out of a slump is to impact winning elsewhere.

Because when you start impact winning else elsewhere, you can feel it, You feel it in your confidence. You know, I am helping my team right now. That relieves pressure when you go to take a shot. And Andrew's shooting better from three. He's made six of his last nine threes. He's making those important kind of weak side wing above the break threes that the Warriors offense can generate for him. And like the confidence to take those and make those in a lot of ways can come from playing well

elsewhere on the floor. And I think you're kind of just seeing momentum, like real positive momentum with Andrew Wiggins. And you know, I saw a report yesterday it might have been it was yesterday or two days ago about the Warriors potentially exploring player for player swaps involving Andrew Wiggins. I talkalked about some of them on the show actually

that I had heard about behind the scenes. A couple of weeks ago, so, like, I know that's something that they had explored, but I've maintained this all season, like, unless you're getting something significant, like a real return, I wouldn't look for like a player for player, like another role player type of swap for Andrew Wiggins, because, as I've said all season, the potential he has to regain what he used to be is far greater than what

any potential trade return would be at this point. And so I'm actually very hopeful that the Warriors keep Andrew Wiggins and just kind of lean into hoping that he kind of gets back on track the way that he has in the last couple of weeks. And then lastly on the Warriors front, Johnathanmingez twenty six just a ridiculous

highlight reel. He had this transition push against Obias Harris where he like crossed him over right to left and Embiid was waiting for him at the rim and he just went right into him Beid's chest and finished at the rim. There's another one where he kind of slashed from the top of the key and he took off like he was gonna dunk on him and like took the content contact and then whipped around with like a

scoop shot off the glass. It was ridiculous. He's dunking on everyone on these cuts that he catches underneath the basket. He's hitting pull up jump shots, he's hitting above to break threes. He's just it's outrageous, like we're watching an incredible rise. Remember, Jonathan Kaminga before this stretch had never put two twenty point games together in a row. Never, he had never done it. And now he's had seven

consecutive twenty plus point nights. Over the seven game span, Jonathan Kminga is averaging sixty two or He's averaging twenty five points and seven rebounds on sixty two percent from the field and fifty five percent from three, including one point nine stocks per game. That steals plus blocks. So I'm officially at the point with Jonathan Kminga where you

just can't trade this guy. You can't trade him unless you're getting back a legitimate star, and quite frankly, I'm not sure that type of star is available at this deadline. You know, I was talking with sam as fondi Ari in our post game show after I think it was the Kings game a few nights ago, and we kind of talked about how like the like like a Lori Marken and would be like the minimum allowable kind of

quality of player that you'd make a move for. And like, I'm not even sure Lori is enough now, Like I think this guy's on like a bona fide star trajectory. He's he moves, he moves in a way that is not like top tier for the position. He moves in a way that is like like truly, it's like a unicorn. It's like it's like his unique basketball trait that kind of makes him that makes him special compared to other

excellent forward prospects that we see in NBA history. It like when you combine that with like the touch and the confidence and the real like relentless downhill motor that

he has. I don't think you can trade this guy, not unless you're getting back a legitimate star, Like not unless you're getting a back a guy that makes you actually sit back and think, oh, we have a chance to win the title here, Like if for some reason you could get a player that's of like a Paul George's caliber, which obviously are not because the Clippers are contending for the title, but it would have to be that type of player, a bona fide top fifteen player,

and I just don't see that out on the market. So I think you hang on to Jonathan Kaminge at this point and you try to make it work with some sort of other ancillary moves on the margins. All right, so let's move on to this passive aggressive Lebron stuff. So first of all, we've had all sorts of reporting behind the scenes for a while. I had heard specifically that Lebron and ad were just done with Darvin Ham

at one point in time. That was about a month ago or earlier in January, I should say not quite a month ago. But we're seeing all sorts of passive aggressive stuff. I've seen Anthony Davis walk out of a huddle. I've seen Lebron have really bad body language in a huddle. Lebron post game last night gets cut off by a reporter and goes like, thanks for stopping me. I was about to go off. He tweets last night the hour goal emoji it. It's just a lot of classic Lebron

passive aggressive stuff. So now, for the record, I do not think that Lebron James is gonna leave Los Angeles, his kids are in LA I think he loves playing for the Lakers. I think he loves the I think he loves playing in Crypto dot com arena. I think he loves playing in front of the celebrities. I think he feels the stage, in the vibe, in the history of the organization, and I think he loves that. And quite frankly, he's gonna be in his twenty second season

next year. I don't think he's I don't think he's in a position from an age standpoint to start a new venture. So my opinion is that all of this his classic Lebron stuff just to try to apply pressure on the front office to get a trade done. That's what I think is happening. But we're gonna have some fun here. I want to contemplate different examples of opportunities for Lebron to potentially leave the Lakers and go help

another team win a championship, just for fun. So, first of all, what type of team would Lebron help the most? A team with like an opening in that big forward spot right to a team that's already in the title mix, right Like Lebron's not gonna leave for another Iffy situation, right,

that's that that would serve no purpose. And then lastly, a team that could use size and power on the front line, So specifically, teams that struggle with defensive rebounding helpside defense interior playmaking, whether it's out of the post or in just an overall like kind of a bullyball attack around the basket like matchup attacking. Those are the kinds of teams that we would be looking at. Right, So what I want to do here, I want to

give my top five favorite Lebron James destinations. Now important caveat here I'm looking at because I want to make because there's a bunch of different ways this could go down. Right like Lebron could ask for a trade at this deadline. Right Like Lebron could opt into his new deal and then ask for a trade this summer. That that would probably be like the most likely scenario. If Lebron wanted to leave, he'd probably opt in and ask for a trade because he'd probably want to make sure he gets

paid what he deserves. But that would make things really complicated and severely limit the types of teams that could go after him. So I am building this list based purely on the idea of Lebron signing an exception to start with the deal, start with the team. So whether that's a veteran minimum exception or like the whatever mid level exception the team has available, depending on their situation

with their salary cap. I'm looking at Lebron's signing with these teams outright, and I'm going to give you guys my top five here and I'll explain why I like the move for each team. So number five, the Minnesota Timberwolves. He'd be surrounded by now again, like you were looking at a construct here where you're looking at like Anthony Edwards,

Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Lebron, James, Rudy Gobert. He'd be surrounded by excellent defensive players and ton of and a ton of regular season motor to just kind of help him over the course of the regular season. He'd be an excellent back line guy without having to over exert himself on that end of the floor. He'd play alongside a young superstar and Anthony Edwards who can carry a good chunk of the offensive load in the regular season.

Anthony Edwards two kind of reminds me a lot of young Lebron where he just brings an insane amount of athleticism, motor, and competitiveness to every regular season game, which I think would be a great fit there. And then lastly, I think Lebron could help them with late game execution. This was one of the biggest weaknesses for the Timberwolves all season long. Like half court offense, slow down, clutch time offense, that's a specific area where Lebron would be able to help.

I think if you add Lebron at the four with the Minnesota Timberwolves, they immediately become a top tier contender. Number four the Oklahoma City Thunder, he specifically addresses everything they suck at. He's the big forward they don't have on the roster. He would help with defensive rebounding. They have no post presence. As a matter of fact, the Thunder run the third fewest post ups in the league, and so Lebron would kind of bring that matchup attacking

element to that frontline that they don't have. And he provides the experience and leadership that a team like this would need to navigate a deep playoff front And once again, just like we talked about with the Timberwolves, a young team with a ton of defense and shot creation and athleticism and motor to carry them through the regular season.

So important contexts with number five and number four, Minnesota and Oklahoma City are really small markets, and so they're extremely unlikely because even in the event that Lebron did decide to move, it's just hard to imagine Lebron being like, I'm gonna finish my career in Minnesota, you know, like I'm gonna finish my career at Oklahoma City. So I am abundantly aware of the fact that those are basically

just never ever ever going to happen. But as a basketball fan, those are examples of two teams positionally with the way those rosters are constructed that he would be a really good basketball fit with. These last three are like somewhat more legitimate for various reasons. In the event that Lebron did choose to leave, these teams actually make sense for him as destinations. So number three the Cleveland Cavaliers,

just like Oklahoma City, they don't post up. As a matter of fact, they are one of only two teams in the league that post up less frequently than Oklahoma City. The Calves are a massive pick and roll attack tons and tons and tons of spread, pick and roll, and so they don't really have a lot of diversity in their offense. Lebron would help them a lot with that, just giving them an additional matchup attacking option as a bully ball forward right. Secondly, late game execution, the Calves

are the fourth worst clutch offense in the league. Lebron would help them significantly on that front. And again, just the idea of matchup attacking. I love the idea of like a Donovan Mitchell Lebron James two man game at the end of games to pick on specific matchups and to generate high quality shots, and then you could really help with Evan Mobley's development. I think in the short term it would be a little complicated because like Jared Allen is just a better like kind of like center

and anchor right now than Evan Mobley. And you don't like the idea of Evan Mobley coming off the bench, right, But like in the long run, you could see better of an an option where like maybe you can get away with Lebron at the four and Evan Mobley at the five because of Lebron's strength, right, And I think maybe you lean into that sort of thing. Most importantly, it's a place that you could see Lebron actually wanting

to end his career. Like if you heard, oh, Lebron's leaving the Lakers to go back to Cleveland and finish his career there, he'd be like, oh, yeah, that makes some sense just because of Lebron's history in that city. Right. Number two, the Golden State Warriors. It's a fun one. Really would help with interior size and strength, which is one of the bigger weaknesses on the roster. Also an alternative playmaker. We've talked about this all season long and

extending back into the postseason last year. It just comes down to way too often Steph being the only guy who can generate a quality shot. Lebron would be able to just alleviate some of that for him. Three, he gets to stay in California and be relatively close to his kids, so it makes some logistical sense from the standpoint of where he is at this point in his life. And then lastly, Stephan Lebron playing together just be really cool. I think they're the two best players of this era.

I don't think the roster is talented enough that people would discount any success of those two guys. Like, I think if Steph and Lebron won a title together at this phase, with Steph turning thirty six in March in Lebron being thirty nine years old, I think it would actually be more of a testament to the greatness of those two rather than some sort of detriment because they did it together, especially with some of the limitations of

talent around them. Also, Jonathan Kaminga with his athleticism and with the shooting that he's demonstrating as of late, shooting over fifty percent from three over the seven game span, Like, I actually think he could theoretically play the three next to Lebron and Draymond Green, and so like, just as a basketball fan, I would just I think that would be really really fun to see the two of them

play together. And then lastly, our last one, uh, the number one place that I'd like to see Lebron James go if he left the Los Angeles Lakers the New York Knicks, another huge market, a franchise with a ton of history. They are legitimately built to win the title.

With a couple of a couple of upgrades, Just imagine like a significantly better version of Julius Randall, a better shooter, a better matchup attacker, a better defensive player, better attitude, better leader, better all of that stuff, right, And you can imagine, obviously, with Mitchell Robinson being back like this incredibly physically imposing frontline of ogn and ob Lebron, James and Mitchell Robinson alongside an excellent point of attack defender

in Dante DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson, And specifically the Jalen Brunson fit kind of reminds me of the Kyrie Irving fit with the Cavaliers in the sense that like he's more of like an individual shot creator on an island who also is capable of passing. But Jalen is a guy that like picks on matchups primarily looking to score. And I think that that compliments Lebron really really well.

And again, like you can just imagine Lebron potentially enjoying being at Madison Square Garden, enjoying the history, enjoying playing for the celebrity in front of the celebrities, enjoying, you know, trying to add another chapter or to his legacy in reviving the New York Knicks, although they've already kind of started that revival, right, But like of all of the teams out there, there are a lot of options that

make sense. But I thought the New York Knicks had that best balance of like he would get the majority of the credit, and you know how much that matters to Lebron, the history of the franchise, the actual proximity to championship contention. It just makes a lot of sense on that front. All right, let's move on to the mail bang. First question, what do you think is up

with Jamal Murray? I figured he would be a good candidate to get his first All Star non but does not look likely this year unless there are injuries or some other factor. Clearly, he's a great player and with great physical tools and skill set who tends to rise to the occasion. But to me, he seems like he just plays to the level of the competition and the moment. So a couple of things I think. For I think it's important to acknowledge that Denver has a lot of

offensive talent. So like Contavio's Collo Pope is a guy who can easily go for twenty in a night, right like He's he can hit jump shots coming off of screens. He's a great transition scorer, spot up shooter, that kind of thing. Michael Porter Junior is a guy you can go for thirty on any given night. Aaron Gordon is a guy that, like I mean, we've seen him literally in the NBA Finals spam post ups as he goes to work. He's a guy that's got a lot of

offensive talent, especially combined with his athleticism. And so I think a lot of times in the regular season on the night and night out stuff. You see this with Jokic too, where it's like there are nights where like Jamal and and Nikola just don't really have to be aggressive. They don't have to because of the way the regular

season pans out. And then what we've seen consistently is anytime there's some sort of significant challenge in front of them, especially when you see Michael Porter start to misshots, you see KCP start to misshots, see Aaron Gordon getting left open, and all that stuff. Every single time we've seen that, Jamal and Nikola, Jokich the kind of just have this moment where they're like, hey, it's time for us to

take over, and they do. And again, like I understand that there's some frustration on that front as it pertains to the awards and the fact that Jamal Murray deserves more recognition as a player in this league than what his accolades would suggest. Right, But if you had to choose between a guy who had all the accolades but couldn't rise to the occasion, or a guy that didn't have the accolades but the guy that you trusted to rise to the occasion, which guy would you take? Obviously

the second one. I am happy for Nuggets fans that they get to root for a guy like Jamal Murray. I think he's the perfect co star for Nikola Jokic. Next question, do you think Torrian Prince is being given so much playing time to juice his trade stock. I know his contract isn't as big as a d LO, but alongside someone else he could make a desirable offer. Van Do and Ruey are the playoff wings, but they've had injuries this season. Maybe Ham is thinking of it

in a load management sort of way. So the digging I've done behind the scenes would lead me to believe that the Lakers are primarily prioritizing Torrian Prince because of his shooting just a simple, a simple concept of spacing. He shoots thirty nine percent from three, and I think they're just kind of keeping it at that level. But there's no legitimate basketball reason for Torrian Prince to be starting at the three. Historically in the NBA, he's been

a bench player. I mentioned this stat the other day. Torrian Prince has started more than twice as many games this season as he has in the previous three seasons combined. He's a bench wing, perfectly fine bench wing, but he's being asked to do more than he's capable of. Right now. I was doing lineup data stuff for the Cleveland Cavaliers video that I'm doing later today with Carter Rodriguez, and I found this gem for you guys. There are twenty two to five man lineups in the NBA that have

played at least two hundred minutes this year. The D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Torrian Prince, Lebron James Anthony Davis lineup is being outscored by four and a half points per one hundred possessions, which is the second worst mark in that entire list. Literally twenty first out of twenty two teams. So like, there is an extensive bit of evidence that that lineup does not work for everything Darvin Ham is

focusing on on the spacing side of things. It is a basic misunderstanding of the way the modern NBA works. In the modern NBA, there is a ton of perimeter speed and athleticism, and teams are trying to drive and kick you to death once they get into rotation, whether it's through the post or whether it's through pick and roll.

You need perimeter speed, you need perimeter strength. And the Lakers have perimeter speed and strength in the form of Jared Vanderbilt in the form of Max Christy, right Like. They have guys that can do that sort of thing they need more Like, I'm a big believer that even the Jared Vanderbilt in the starting lineup situation has some playoff limitations, And that's why I think a trade needs to be made, And that's why I'm kind of withholding any sort of big picture evaluation of the Lakers until

that point. But the bottom line is that three man grouping with Tory and at the three very clearly is not good enough. They can't defend, they can't rebound. It's a huge problem They're bad on offense. They're bat on defense, a bat on the glass. It's like even even the spacing concepts that the Lakers are envisioning with toryn prints at the three are not coming to fruition. The offense is not good with that five man grouping, and it

has nothing to do with Torrian making shots. Torrian Prince has had ten games this year where he's made at least four threes. The Lakers lost his minutes in six of those ten games. They're minus twenty in those ten games, so in Torrian's minutes in those ten games. So even when Torrean's got the three point shot going, it's not helping them. It is legitimately one of the most con like. It is legitimately one of the worst consistent coaching decisions

I've seen made in a very long time. There are better basketball players than Torrian Prince on the roster right now, even if we acknowledge the Lakers need to make a trade, and Darvinham is deliberately handicapping the team by starting every single game in half with a lineup that is doomed to fail. And I don't really know what else to say. This is a consensus around the league, not just with

Lakers fans, but with non Lakers fans. All of the data clearly demonstrates this, and Darvin ham is either completely oblivious to it or he just doesn't care. And it's it's it's truly confounding to me. Next question as a Dubs fan, aunt Man versus say Gil justs Alexander looks and feels like the new version of MJ versus Reggie. Both are great in their own way at the guard spot, and both are absolutely insane. I one hundred percent agree.

I was actually thinking about this this morning, like they're so different, Like Ant is this incredible athlete who plays with a ton of power and verticality, while Shay is like this thinner, longer player who brings physicality to the position, but it's much more finesse and skill oriented. And so it's one of my favorite things about the game of basketball. Two guys that basically play the same position, that are basically even the same height, but that just play fundamentally

different brands of basketball. I think you guys know me, you guys know the way that I see the game. I am always gonna lean more towards that strength and power and so like, even though Sga may or may not be a better player right now, I think when we fast forward five years, it's far more likely that Anthony Edwards is a more impactful playoff player because he

brings that two way element. Not that Shay's not a good defender, but it's just a better defensive player, and he just has that strength and power element that he can inflict on the game. Next question, Chet has been so confusing to me on offense. When he's wide open for three he's been pump faking and looking to drive, but when he takes contested ones in the heat of the game, he tends to hit them. Seems like as much as he still has to develop, he is also

in his head a bit right now. Would love to see him just take these open ones. So I've noticed this as well, and it's a classic young player thing. Young players are have a lot harder time seeing the forest for the trees. I know this because I was a young player once, obviously, and like what I talk about this concept all the time. Young players struggle to identify what works and keep doing it, and they struggle

to identify what's not working and stop doing it. It's a it's they have a hard time seeing the bigger picture of basketball, and so the reason why he hits the contested one seemingly a big part of that is you just don't have much time to think about it. If it's a late clock situation and the ball ends up in your hands and a catch and shoot five on the shot clock that's relatively contested, but it's like the best shot your team can get on that possession.

You just rise and fire. You don't think about it, and it can be the open ones that get in your head a little bit. But the bottom line is is like it would be really bizarre if we saw a kid his age that just was consistently great on a night and night out basis, month and month out basis. This is part of the growing pains of being a young basketball player. Next question, mail bag, love the show, where's your Rookie of the year so far? Or who's

your rookie of the year so far the season? I'm a Spurs fan, so obviously I think Victor is your thoughts, so I agree it's Victor. A couple of different reasons for that, Like Chet's role with a thunder is very different. He's playing on a great team and getting set up with great opportunities as he's playing alongside great ball handlers. And that's not to say that Chet's not playing really well. Of course he is, and I'm a huge believer in

Chet in the big picture. But Victor is playing on a team with some of the worst ball handling you'll ever see. And the bottom line is, I just think I just think Victor is a little bit better as a basketball player, and I think you're showing that. The most encouraging trend so far this season for the for Victor is the uptick in his efficiency. In his first twenty one games this year, he only shot forty three percent from the field, and as a team they went

three to eighteen. In their last twenty games, Victor is averaging twenty two points and ten rebounds and four assists, fifty percent from the field thirty five percent from three sixty percent true shooting, and they're seven and thirteen. They're actually just a shade under five hundred. So you're just seeing really good progress on that front. Also, there just aren't that many rookies in NBA history that walk in

and average twenty points a game. I think that's significant I think he's easily the rookie of the year at this point. Do you have a favorite move, slash, counter move, combo from a specific player? So, I have a lot of just like any basketball player, I have a lot of specific like moves and combos that I've picked up from people. There's a like, I have a lot of my in and out step backs or I stole from Damian Lillard. A lot of the footwork that I use

on step back three's comes from James Harden. A lot of the like off the dribble, like combination stuff into pull up jump shots I've I've stolen from Paul George. But the biggest one that I would say my favorite is because my my biggest asset as a basketball player is my size and strength. I weighed two hundred and twenty five two hundred and thirty pounds depending on the depending on how much vacation I've been on lately and how much I've been eating and drinking, but I weigh

a lot of I weigh a lot. I have long arms and I'm about six six, so uh, with that being the case, Like I play like a power back to the basket game against smaller guards when they try to guard me on the perimeter, and so the big one for me has been this. This is actually something I built out over COVID because it was not a part of my game when I was younger. But like basically just a back to the basket combination of right

to left shoulder fades. So I have a drill that I do every single day, and I basically start on the left block, spin the ball out to myself, and I shoot a left shoulder fade and I shoot a right shoulder faith. Then I go to the opposite block and I shoot a left shoulder fad and I shoot a right shoulder fade, and I keep going until I make them, and then I go through that cycle four to five times, so I make twenty total turnaround fade aways, ten over each shoulder, and I say kawhi because like

I steal like the contact oriented element of it. Like a lot of people take tough fade away shots that are more athleticism oriented, where they're like covering a ton

of ground and jumping really high. Mine's more of like a I'm hitting you with my shoulder and I'm trying to create space so I can spin into it and more or less go straight up and down, and like that ended up being huge for me because when I was younger, I was a lot of off the dribble stuff from the perimeter, especially pull up threes and trying

to slash off of that. I played a lot like more like Paul George at that phase in my career or my basketball life, i should say, because obviously I'm not a pro, but like the what ended up happening is a lot of the teams and players in town would start sticking smaller, quicker guards on me to press up and test my handle in quickness, and so it was important for me to build out a back to

the basket game to counter that. And now it's like no team will put a small guard on me because I'll just take them down to the post every single time. And so that's been definitely my favorite move. Counter move combo is like I'm hitting you with that shoulder, and if you're overplaying the right side, I'm spinning off into that left shoulder fade. If you're playing me straight up,

I'm spinning into that right shoulder fade. And then obviously important caveat, I do not think I'm a professional basketball player in the NBA. This is just simply talking the game because I love the game, and I still play the game, and I still love playing the game, all right, next question, I'm a football fan through and through first, but I've been watching basketball a lot more and thoroughly enjoying it as I learn more, as I learned about

the more techno parts. With this in mind, we've seen the Celtics team be one of the best teams for the last three years now, and with those three years not resulting in a single championship. I understand a championship is hard to get, but if I compare it to football, it's like the Ravens versus the Chiefs number one seed but can never punch it in. Is there a point in being such a good team if you've never won anything from it? And can you eventually write a team

off if they can't punch it in the postseason? So, first of all, football and basketball fundamentally different in the way that like a quarterback, a quarterback can impact winning right like Aaron Rodgers, in my opinion, is the second best quarterback of that era that Tom Brady era, right, and he just didn't have nearly as much playoff success because of all the different moving parts in an eleven man unit on offense, in an eleven unit on defense. Right,

Like we've even seen Patrick Mahomes. It's like, oh, you have a couple of injuries on your offensive line. Now you're running for your life, and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team with a pretty limited version of Tom Brady beats you, right, Like, we've seen how that can happen. So basketball is more more a sport where the best player can impact the outcome. And you know, as much as like, as much as I have frustrations with the Celtics, the reason why I could never be done with them is Tatum is still

relatively young. Like most of these guys don't really figure it out on the biggest stages until they're twenty seven to twenty eight years old. You know, every once in a while, you'll get a guy like a Yoki, you'll get it at twenty six, but it's like, for the most part, it's that twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine where they start to figure it out. And like Tatum's just now entering into that phase of his career.

And so I think it'd be foolish to punt on that core until they at least have a few chances with Jason Tatum in the heart of his prime. Next question three more. You often talk about the Lakers' ability to turn it on in the playoffs, how their size and experience will be key in a Wolves or Thunder hypothetical matchup. But at one point does a size and

experience advantage become a disadvantage. At what point do the big veteran Lakers become the slow old Lakers and the young inexperienced thunder slash Wolves become the youthful, hungry, and spry thunder slash Wolves. Eventually, these advantages slash disadvantages are going to flip in favor of the younger teams. You obviously think that that that won't happen this postseason, But if not this season, then went Lebron in forty ad is a thirty year old big man with a lot

of mileage. The same also applies to teams like the Suns, Warriors and the Bucks and their younger counterparts the Kings the Pelicans in the Magic So, first of all, you guys want to hear a fun fact. Did you know that the Oklahoma City Thunder have only two players on the roster that are thirty years old or or older. That is Davis Barton's and Vasila jay Mesiich if I remember correctly, guess who else only has two thirty old

players on the roster The Los Angeles Lakers. Every single player on that roster that's not Lebron James and Anthony Davis is less than thirty years old, and Anthony Davis is only thirty years old. The specific issue for the Lakers is they actually have a lot of youth and athleticism. Like Ruby Hachimura is an excellent athlete at that power forward position. Jared Vanderbilt is an excellent athlete at that

power forward position. Max Christi camp British are excellent athletes at the two guard position, Jackson Hayes is an excellent athlete at the center position, and more is just the Lakers have this issue where the actual guys that are playing for them are not great athletes. Austin Reeves and Dangelo Russell at this point kind of have to play

because of the way the roster is organized. But their issue is they play guys like Austin Dilo torn Prints massive minutes and they're not great athletes, and so even though they're young, they run into athleticism and there's a problem, and especially when Lebron James isn't engaged defensively. And I've said this many times on the show, but the reality is is Lebron's defensive engagement has been the primary culprit

of the Lakers defensive issues. Like I can't tell you how many times I'm watching on tape and I'm like, oh, Lebron could have made a play there as the low man, and he just chose not to. And so one of the big reasons why the Lakers have been so good in like big time games on against big time opponents and then so bad in other situations is like Lebron just engages himself defensively, and suddenly the Lakers look more

coherent defensively, and that goes a long way. Lakers have actually been one of the top ten defenses in the league this year against the top ten offenses in the league. The Laker defense goes up a level when they play

better teams. My concern with the Lakers is are they going to be able at this deadline to turn one of those skill, non athletic players that's at the top end of their rotation, swap them out for a more athletic version of that type of rotation player, which is why I keep going back to players like a Dejante Murray or a Bruce Brown. I've also seen, like Royce O'Neill doin Finney Smith, potential combinations coming from the Brooklyn Nets.

If they can find a way to turn their top part of their rotation, the guys that aren't Lebron and ad but the guys right below that into a more athletic group that is also capable of scoring the basketball or making shots, that would go a long way towards alleviating some of their issues. But yeah, the Lakers have a lot of issues. Age isn't one of them. They are not an old team. Lebron is old, and that's it.

It's one hundred percent issue with the guys they play are primarily to unathletic, and so they have to find a way to balance their rotation so that there's a little bit less of the offensive skill and a little bit more of the power and force. All Right, two more questions. When the Pacers traded for Siakam, I thought it was a great move, but I still think they're all move away a significant move from being a contender. In your opinion, would you trade for McHale Bridges to

make them a contender. I understand the Pacers would have to give up Jarris Walker, their recent lottery pick who has a high upside, but I think the move would be worth it. A starting lineup of Halle Mathrin, Bridges, Siakam Turner could make the Pacers contenders next season. What do you think? So I'd remind me if I'm wrong about this, But when I reacted to the Siakam trade, I think I might have pitched to McHale Bridge's trade.

I can't quite remember. I don't want to take credit forward if I'm wrong, but I vaguely remember saying something along those lines. I really like that fit there. That's a positional archetype they don't have They've got, you know, Aaron NEI Smith is the kind of perimeter oriented forward on the team. But the problem with Aaron Nee Smith is is just a little bit on the short side.

I tend to like Aaron Neismith still because I think he's kind of in that Rus Brown archetype of like kind of lower center of gravity lots of strength, really physical at the point of attack, which I find to be very valuable, especially in a playoff setting. He also can shoot the ball and he can slash off of

catch and shoot situation. So like I like Aaron E. Smith, but there's no doubt that Mikal Bridges would just be a much better version of that of that archetype, more length, more offensive pop. It's like a legitimate, you know, third creator next to Siakam and Albert, and I really like that setup. As far as championship contention goes, it's all about playoff lumps for me, Like nikol jokicch didn't win the title his first run through the playoffs. That dude

has been in wars. He lost to Anthony Davis, lost to the Warriors twice. Like he's been to the playoffs a bunch of times. He's been in those wars, right, it took lots of loss and building of scar tissue, the hatred of losing to get to the point where he succeeded in twenty twenty three. And the same goes for Giannis. The same goes for every single one of these guys. There are lumps along the way. You don't just walk into the playoffs and start winning, so regardless

of what the roster is. And this is a big believer. This is why I'm a big believer in getting there sooner than later. You want to get him to take those lumps a tyre Saliburton meaning. And so I think I love that idea, But the idea of them contending right away, I would think they would need to take a loss or two in the postseason for them to actually get to the level of commitment. They would need to win the title, all right. Last question, Hey, Jason,

a quick hypothetical mail back. A lot of people have tatum over Lebron and their player rankings. However, I firmly believe the Celtics would have won with Lebron in twenty twenty two and maybe even in twenty twenty three. What

are your thoughts on this? So there's a huge difference between like ranking players for the entire campaign from training camp through the trophy to Okay, we're healthy and we're starting a seven game series tomorrow or playoff run tomorrow, right, And I actually talked about this in my player rankings this last summer, and I actually said in my player rankings, I think Lebron is a better playoff player than Jason Tatum,

and he's healthy. But I think Jason Tatum has a much better chance of being healthy when we get there. And we actually saw last year Lebron, even though he got through the regular season, he got to the playoffs and he was hobbled, and so like, I tend to agree that I would take Lebron in a playoff setting over Jason Tatum. He's just more experienced. He just and at this point he's just Lebron's better than he was

last year. Even but there's no doubt that Jason Tatum is a better player for the eighty two just because of his youth and his ability to kind of withstand the grind of the eighty two game season at this point. Have you, guys ever had a bad ticket buying experience.

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apply again. Create an account and redeem code Hoops. That's Hops for twenty dollars off. Download Game Time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. Well, we have a very very special show today. We have Carter Rodriguez from the Chase Down podcast, a podcast that covers the Cleveland Cavaliers who are absolutely scorching red hot right now. They've won fifteen of their last nineteen games, so some impressive wins in there. They got a couple wins against the Bucks,

including that last one. We're like Milwaukee wanted to win that game and they and they just couldn't get it done. And then they on Monday had a big test against another red hot team and the Los Angeles Clippers, and a lot of the same stuff that's been working for them as of late continued to work and they notched

yet another impressive win. I'm excited just to dive into the weeds on everything that's making this Cavs team a function right now and then also, they've got a lot of change on the horizon with some important players coming back. So Carter's gonna help us get to the bottom of all of it. So, Carter, this is where I want to start. Can you help explain to our listeners how the Calves managed to go up a level after losing Darius Garland and Evan Mobley for an extended struck.

in pretty embarrassing fashion, to be honest. You know, they got just physically dominated in that series in a way that was hard to shake. So they go into the offseason, they get all the shooting that we thought they needed. You know, you're hearing great stuff out of camp, and then it comes out and it's like, oh, this doesn't feel good at all. You know, they start four and six,

you know they're hovering around five hundred. They through sixteen games, they're eight and eight, and it's not even a good eight and eight. They're like, you know, minus two, minus three net rating, and you just start wondering, like, where's the Catharsis I was looking for?

injury that you know wasn't disclosed. Just felt like things weren't right. And so when on December fifteenth, I believe it was when the Evan Mobile and Darius Garland injuries announced, you just kind of go, well, okay, well it was already a bad, kind of a weird too bad vibe season. Maybe it's just not their year, and maybe it's a lost season. And then of course they rattle off fifteen

wins out of nineteen ten of their last eleven. Right, if you go to cleaning the glass and check their projected wins over the course of the season over this nineteen game stretch, they're on a sixty four win pace over that tineteen game stretch. So, I mean, they're kicking the snot out of teams. I'm gonna knock out the boring stuff. First, the schedule has been easy. They had one of the hardest schedules in the league to start the year. It lightened up in a major way. Even

in some of their tougher matchups. You know they were playing you know, they host the Magic it's three and four. They play the Hawks, it's their third and four. They got they finally had some schedule luck bounced their way. Since that December fifteenth stretch, they've only played nineteen games. Twenty seven teams have played at least twenty two games in that same stretch, and I think the Pacers have played twenty six in the same stretch. That's crazy. You

rarely see that. Now. Part of that was because the Caps had a week in Paris where they only played one game in eight days. But like it does matter, all this stuff matters. It doesn't matter to the point of being the best team in the league by net rating with two of your best three players out, So they've really had to lean into high variants offense.

hitting open threes. You know, we talked about shot luck all the time and the league, and we'll probably talk about that on the defensive end for them during the stretch where they've been getting a little luck. They have the number one shot profile in the league for cleaning the glass. They're only fifteenth in effective field goal percentage, so you know, they they actually could benefit from the talent that's coming back because even though they're generating great looks,

they're not really converting them that well. They's second in the league and potential assists per game. So it's been a ton of ball movement. It's been it's been playing you know, it's been Jared Allen playing frankly out of his mind up front, you know, averaging career highs and assists, like not just being a role man with vertical gravity, but being a guy who can operate in the high

post and run durable handoff action. It's been the revelation of Sam Merrill, who was you know and also ran that is now shooting the third most threes per one hundred possessions in NBA history on real minutes like twenty minutes a game and shooting around forty one percent on those attempts. It's it's Donovan Mitchell, I think, playing the best basketball of his career since he's since he's been

with the team at least. And it is also just an absolute killer of a point of attack defense between Isaac o Kora and Dean Wade, who are consistently shutting off the water of the league's best players pretty much every night. So it's it's really an enormous amalgamation of these things that everything's just kind of going right for them.

at least two hundred minutes together this year. And specifically, I think Dean Wade him and he was the biggest surprise for me this year as I was pouring over the tape, just how gifted he was defensively, not just off the ball, but like consistently holding up in switches against different archetypes of players, not just wings but guards as well. He's got long arms, He's a good positional defender that just kind of forces guys to take tough

shots over the top. And then honestly, like we know Evan Mobley and what his potential is, but right now, offensively with most of his touch related stuff, he's just so far behind where he needs to be for this team to be a really functional half court offense. That having a guy like Dean Wade that just kind of fills a traditional spot up type of role and a guy that just has a little bit more offensive touch at that four spot, I think has helped at least

in the short term. Again, like there's obvious, obviously so much more long term potential with the guy like Evan Mobley. But the big one for me too, Donovan Mitchell, you said he's having the best season of his career. I one hundred percent agree, and it comes down to two things for me. The playmaking piece, he's just getting so much better at running an offense above and beyond his

own shot hunting. But the second piece of it is Donovan's defending at a significantly better level than he ever has in his NBA career, his off ball awareness, jumping into passing lanes, his quickness in rotations. There's a play a steal that he had when James Harden was driving along the baseline where he jumped from the weak side wing into the passing lane and got the steal as he went the other way, and I'm like, I'm like, he's a step ahead of some of this stuff in

a way that he used to be very passive. Those outs that he's showing on that week side when he's digging down to help and then chasing guys off the line because he has such incredible quickness. It's funny. I used to have concerns and the big picture about the Darius Garland Donovan Mitchell backcourt just from the same point of two smaller guards that have some limitations on that

end of the floor. But Donovan Mitchell's rise on the defensive end completely makes it tenable in my opinion, and it's been one of the biggest developments of this season. And then honestly, like I think one of the other pieces that's really helped them on the offensive end of the floor is just getting out in transition, which again

requires that certain bit of defensive intensity and playmaking. But they've been one of the best transition offenses in the league this year, and they are a classic case of a team that uses their defense to generate higher quality offensive opportunities. That lineup Mitchell Strus, Isaac Corro, Dean Wade, and Jared Allen. They're the seventh best offense out of the twenty two lineups that have run at least two hundred minutes, the second best defense, the second best net rating.

They grab fifty four percent of available rebounds, that's the fourth best out of all those lineups, and they have a two point six assist to turnover ratio, which ranks fifth out of that group. They've been one of the best lineups in basketball, and it's crazy because, like you said, there's more talent on the way.

The decision making is simple. You know, Jared Allen doesn't get to have to think about what like, oh, I've got the ball in the short role, do I try to hit it to Evan in the dunker spot or do I just to tell you it's like no, he just has to be decisive because they have a lack of options. So a guy like Dean Wade that you mentioned, if you ask, you know, diehard Cavs fans what they might have a gripe about Dina's Sometimes he just disappears out there. You won't see him. You know, he'll play

thirty minutes and have two field goal attempts. Well, you can't do that when you don't have Darius and Evan to eat up shot volume. Like the Cavs can't sacrifice good for great. You know, this has been a great cab stands hat with Darius Garland, who doesn't shoot enough from three, And like something I saw it put this way with Darius that I thought was really funny, which is like Darius knows that an open three has like one point two points per possession. You know that's a

great shot. But like I think deep in Darius's core. He feels like he's going to get two points per possession if he just gets into the lane because he he's so confident he's going to be able to set up a wide open layup or dunk for someone else. So, like I do think there has been a simplicity of options with the group that has kind of with that group that makes things much easier on the offensive end.

And also it's just a stifling group on the defensive end of the floor, you know, where you know, Okoro can be the lead point of attack. Strus gets to very comfortably guard the team's second or third best options instead while Dean guards up. With that said, I do want to push back a little bit on, you know, some of the some of the Evan Mobley numbers. The team starting lineup with Isaacle Coro in it at the three last year had a one twenty one point six

offensive rating in about four hundred minutes. Like, this is a group that was very successful despite some very clear inherent spacing limitations. I wouldn't expect that number to get worse with Max Strus in for Isaacle Coro, you know, and like you mentioned, some of the defensive concerns that

some folks have with a very small backcourt. One of the ways you insulate against that is to have a very very big front court in Evan and Jarrett who can help protect I think the inverse has kind of been done on the offensive end to protect the space and concerns that you have with a Jarrett in An Evan.

You know, if Darius, Donovan and Max are being the volume three point shooters that the team needs them to be, you know, I do think a lot of those concerns about you know, you know, the shape of the floor

go away. You know, no one ever criticizes the Warriors for having two non shooters on the floor because they have two of the best shooters of all time in the back court juicing those numbers, so, you know, like I do think there is a degree to which that simplicity of options has forced those guys into you know,

more decisive action. What I really want the team to learn is, no matter what our talent level on the floor is, Hey, if I'm Dean Wade and I'm opening and open in the corner, it doesn't matter.

you know. And I don't expect to see a guy like Sam Merril out of the rotation either, and talk about a reason that the three point volume is used. They got a guy take in seventeen threes per one hundred possessions. So it's it's a really interesting kind of theory versus practice experiment that's going on here, because like, I don't see any reason why the Caps can't continue to do what they're doing no matter who's on the floor.

It's really about what the players decide to do with the opportunities in front of them.

this roster needed to address. And they have gone up a little bit. They went up from twenty eighth then spot up efficiency last year according to Senergy to sixteenth this year, so there's been some improvement there, and I could argue they could even go up a level over the course of the season, and they have been trending up. The numbers have been going in the right direction. But Mitchell Robinson dominated Mobley and Allen in that series, but

it was on both ends of the floor. It was the offensive glass, but one of the bigger issues was the Cavs are a very high volume pick and roll offense. It's the primary source of their offensive initiation that they

play off of. And last year one of the constructs that they went with was Jared Allen in the dunker spot with Evan Mobley setting the ball screen and so he kind of roll into space and Mitchell Robinson would basically split the difference between the two and bait Evan into some of his weaknesses, and specifically right now, Evan Mobley is an excellent cutter who can finish in traffic above the rim, but he struggles with touch shots, he

struggles with floaters, he struggles with hooks, he struggles with that kind of stuff in the mid range. And so, honestly, like that to me, is is and you invest in that hoping that he improves over time and it works out. And I agree that the upside of the two of them together defensively in the front court can can kind of can kind of counteract a lot of that issue.

But you know, I do wonder if you're worried at all about the Mobley Allen front court just strictly from the standpoint of like how that short role situation works and how Evan Mobley struggles with it. He was zero for ten shooting out of the short role in the Knixt series last year and once again this year zero point eighty nine points per possession on rollman possessions. There are forty eight players in the league that have logged at least fifty He ranks forty sixth in that group.

And so do you let me just put it to you this way, what do you think the cat will do? Because they are going to lean into that front court? What do you think the Calves will do to address that specifically?

dig with the third guy as easily. If Max Struce is in the corner as opposed to isaacle Kor who was not being guarded and he's shooting the lights eye, he's actually not. He's actually like in the low to mid thirties right now from three uh, he's in catching shoo situations and spot up situations. He's been much better than that, and that's kind of what the Calves were

banking on. And you know, hopefully when you get some easier threes with Darius on the floor again, the main percentages will rise because he's taken some really tough ones, so there's better spacing. I think there's also just more optionality. I think they've seen how well Jared's done in the short role this year, and I think you can invert that based on the personnel you're being guarded with in a way.

shooter on very low volume. Like I think you can invert that and you can just get Mitchell Robinson out of the way a lot better because if he has to go, if he has to go hard hedge against Darius Sir Donovan, then you know, now now it's Julius Randall having to come up in those help spots. I also think, frankly, like they just have more options. You know, Danny Green ended up being their seventh man, you know, like they didn't have as many as many criticisms as

there were levied against JB. Bickerstaff, some of which I think are fair. Dean Wade couldn't lift his arm above his shoulder because his shoulder was so injured last year and they were playing, you know, a fresh off of a destroyed knee, Danny Green, like real rotation minutes, They couldn't really go to a smaller lineup or a spaceier lineup. Like Dean shooting really really well. George Niang is the one of the most reliable corner three point shooters in

the league. Like, so if they do run into a matchup where the two big lineup is getting tested. I think they have a lot more options around it, and like frankly, I just think they're doing better against the drop.

They they've killed the Bucks on offense this year, even with Giannis on the floor, They've killed Jokis, they killed him Bead, you know, teams that really like to play in that drop, they've done a really really good job manipulating that, whether it's via floaters from the guards, pull up threes like this has clearly been a focus of Theirs to attack the drop because it killed them so much. And I think I think that they have just not only do they have a better toolkit, I think their

players are just playing better. Like I think, as much as we want to talk about, you know, roster construction and archetypes, I think most of the Caves just played really bad in that series, you know, and like it's really hard to overcome Donovan Mitchell just not hitting open pull ups in that Calves offense, and he didn't make a lot of them. Darius didn't make a lot of them. Evan missed every FLOATERY tried, Jarrett got completely was you know,

non existent on offense. I think they learned a lot of lessons and and you know the things that they couldn't learn, like you can't learn spacing and shooting. So they went and got that. But you look at at the other thing that killed them in that series, which is rebounding. I mean, they were after the All Star break last year, they were the worst defensive rebounding team in the league. In the playoffs, they were certainly the

worst defensive rebounding team in the postseason. And Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart, it wasn't just Mitchell Robinson, it was everyone. Everyone on the Knicks was just beasting against the Calves on the offensive glass. And it's one of the only reasons the Knicks where ever to win the series, because they couldn't score either in the half court they had, you know, Jalen Brunson had a horrible series from an

efficiency perspective. It was just that the Cavs couldn't score, and you know, every extra bucket they got off on offensive board felt that much more painful. Since December fifteenth, they are first in the league in defensive rebound rate, their third in offensive rebound rate, second overall, like and that's with no functional personnel changes that should make that

the case. And I think that those are one of those things where you go, hey, if we just changed the way we're playing a little bit and decide to care about this a little more, will be a lot better, you know that. Like they've been playing with one sinner, really one traditional big and then Tristan Thompson for fifteen minutes a game, who is, by the way, not a good defensive rebounder and never has been, and yet they're cleaning the glass at a rate that they never have

been able to do. So, Like, I think there's just been a lot of improvement to make that. Now that series would still scare me, don't get me wrong, but like I do think that they have just both in the things they've worked on in their game and schematically within their roster construction, been able to address some of those things.

of guys but also it's going through the battles. You got to go through the battles, you got to lose, and like, because there really is another level of intensity in the NBA Playoffs that you have to be able to reach, and it requires a level of desperation that I think losing helps you get to. And you know a lot of the specifically on the schematic side. I love that you brought up inverting it because I was

thinking the exact same thing. Like, Evan Mobley's strength offensively right now is he's got a ton of vertical pop right under the rim and he can dunk everything. And so like, if you can, if you can set him up with opportunities down there, he can be a useful vertical spacer. Jared Allen in this recent stretch has shown some really good play out of that short role position. So like, that's where you could imagine with it inverted.

Not only are you pulling a Mitchell Robinson or whoever the bigger rim protector is further away from the basket, but you're also just putting those two guys in a position where they're more likely to succeed and then just down the roster, I like you mentioned guys not playing well in general. Above and beyond that, guys have gotten better going into the season, Like a lot of these guys have patched up specific weaknesses, Like Donovan Mitchell has gone up a level as a playmaker and as a

defensive player. He's a better basketball player than he was this time last year. Isaaca Korro last year was a guy that you could afford to leave open. This year, a catch and shoot jump shot for Isaaca Corro is worth one point one five points. You know, unguarded one

is worth one point almost one point two points. So like Isaaca Corro has now turned into a legitimate three and D option that you can't afford to leave open, and he will make you pay, Like Dean Wade obviously growth all over the place, Like they just guys are getting better, and it's and it's gonna.

twenty two. You know, Isaacle Coro is only a few months older than Evan Mobley, Like like they are this is a bunch of kids, man, and like it's really really exciting to see that they're all growing, they're all getting better, and like, you know, I talked a lot about one of my pet peeves Jason in basketball coverage is when people talk about culture, because a lot of times it's like a lot of times it's just a team full of young guys had an unexpectedly good run,

and then we'll see this glowing like profile where a reporter goes and spends two weeks with them and talks about all the things they do in culturally, and then when they suck again, like a year later, I was like, oh, I guess the culture wasn't there, and like so like I always find culture to be like better tested when you suck or when things are going wrong, and like this was a go wrong start of the year for

the team. They didn't they weren't playing well. Then they got banged up, and like I feel like that is the test of what the team has kind of built in terms of the kind of guys they brought in, and like they've passed that test with flying colors, and another one's coming by the way because a lot of guys who deserve to get minutes are about to get dropped out of the rotation or you know, severely get

their minute. But like, your culture is continually tested, and like I find it really interesting how much time is spent talking about culture when a team is on the rise. Like I've seen more pieces about the Calves culture over the last two years than I've seen now, and I think now is the best time to write that piece.

expectations and you don't live up. It's when there's frustration, and it's when there are those big picture topics that are getting thrown around, Like I can say it from this show. We did a segment the day after the Darius Garland and Evan mobile Evan mobile injuries were announced, We're like, what if the Calves decided to trade Donovan Mitchell, who would want it? Like that, that's literally the direction

the narrative was going. And instead of leaning into that, they said, no, screw this, We're gonna go win a bunch of basketball games. And like you mentioned, the young players in their improvement, that to me is the most exciting part about this team because to me, Evan Mobley has so much room to improve. And I look at that as upside because like, legitimately, if this dude can figure out some of this other stuff, it goes such a long way towards bolstering the specific potential of this unit.

Because you know, one of the unique places where Evan Mobley's actually had some success this year is in ISO, Like straight up ISO, He's had some moments like that, Yeah, exactly, And like, what is the one thing that this team doesn't really have offensively is another way to initiate offense

that isn't pick and roll. And so you can imagine a version of this kind of like what Jonathan Kaminga does for the Warriors, where it's like you're clearing the side for face up ISOs and post ups for Evan Mobley to get the defense into rotation and to play out of that. That's long term. That's not something that's gonna happen this year, but like that's the potential in the long run. So obviously, the trade deadline is about

a week and a day away. Uh And you mentioned even the reality of their rotation and the fact that they just have more good players than they did last year, and there's gonna be some guys that get squeezed, uh as as the minutes get tighter around around the next couple of weeks. So do you think the Calves will be an active team at the deadline? I don't.

It's a weird mix of they don't have a lot of tradable assets because they can't trade any first right now, they can only trade wops And then if they want to trade anyone in their rotation, then you know they have to they have to get someone a lot better or what's the point, you know, Like you can look to trade Kars Lavert, but if you if you trade him, then it has to be a meaningful upgrade. Like Okay, I'm just gonna throw out a fake trade that won't happen.

But let's say you could trade Karris Lavert for like, uh, Dorian Finney Smith straight up, which you couldn't, by the way, you couldn't like Dorian Phinney Smith would add something really

really valuable. But is that thing so much more valuable than whatever Dean Wade and George Niang are giving you in those in those exactly four minutes that you're also willing to lose all the playmaking Carris is giving you, Like I just don't you know, it's I'm like any fan, I'm on the trade machine all the time, just you know, messing around, and I can't find anything that feels good, you know, feels good that you wouldn't get laughed out of the room for asking for so, Like, they're just

at a spot where I'm not crazy interested in marginal upgrades spending a ton of pick capital. Like the only thing I could see is like maybe bolstering that backup five, given that Tristan Thompson is uh, you know, on a suspension for for you know, drug policy violations and which is ridiculous and wild. But given that, and you know, Damian Jones hasn't really been someone they want to play

in in competitive minutes. Like maybe you look there, but like, are you really gonna want to give up draft compensation to improve on a spot that if you're healthy in the postseason you want to be playing zero minutes? Like it, I just don't see the move Jason, Like, and every move I see is either like too much for too little, or or like just to help another team, And I'm not crazy interested in helping other teams solve their problems at the expense of our own.

of feels like an inefficient use of resources. And if I'm Kobe Aldman in the front office, I just would keep my powder dry until the summer where I have a tradable first, you know, like I just I just don't see the clear upgrades here.

they have any sort of need there. It's like, oh, what about those minutes is like that kind of swing shooter. It's like between the Extrus and Isaacacoro and and uh in Sam maryl It's like they don't really necessarily have minutes available in that in that position. It's like they're really they really do have a very deep roster in a way that they did.

sense to figure out what they have. Like my big gripe about last year's postseason, my big gripe about them not making a deal when I thought they should, was that the roster construction was so out of whack because you got to remember that Donovan Mitchell trade was late in the off season, Like their off season was done by the time they made that trade.

four guys are and how well they play together. I think their roster does that right this second, and until I have that data point in another postseason, I'm just not crazy interested in another wild swim.

Utah Gordon Hayward or or even Boston Gordon Hayward. You know, maybe a step down, but like a guy who can run a secondary pick and roll, because one of the problems that Calves do have is most they're dribbling comes from guys that are six to one, you know, so so a shooty playmaker, you know, a guy who's like maybe a BB plus at shooting, playmaking and defending. But guess what, everyone wants those guys. They're the hardest guys

to get in the whole NBA. So like, you know, like, man, if we can only find a great, big small forward who can shoot and defend, like duh.

just with more optimized pieces around it. It's really hard to find those optimized pieces. To ask the great and grind grizzlies who spent eight years looking for the right

small forward and never found one. So like, I'm not saying it's easy, but that is what I would like to see from them, because you know, the one thing about a guy like Jarrett that kind of kind of grinds my gears a little bit is he's he's paid like by in three years, he's going to be around the mid level exception for his salary, Like he's on a great deal and he's a guy that is a good dude. You don't need to He's not like he's not at the level where it's like, if we don't

play Jarrett, forty minutes were screwed. Like he's a guy who like, and that's what I wanted to see from this offseason was like, hey, if we went into a matchup where the double bigs just aren't working, Like, it shouldn't be the end of the world to have your have a twenty million dollar player only play twenty to

twenty five minutes in a postseason series. We see that all the time, you know, Like how different does it look if they can just split the minutes of the five, you know, twenty four to twenty four and Evan plays six more minutes at the four in a certain series. So I think they have a lot more flexibility with that core four than people think they do. And like, I think this idea that all four have to be like forty minutes, be able to play forty minutes in

every series against every opponent. I just think it's like it's holding all four of those guys to a standard that no other team's top four guys are held to. You know, like if Michael Porter Junior has has a series that doesn't fit for the Denver, no one's like you gotta blow it up, Like they just go, oh, it's not NBJ series. We'll just see if the next series is serious. And that's kind of the way I feel about a guy like Jared.

have that in their toolkit. So like, do not count me among Cavs fans who are earnestly trying to figure out how to not have forty eight minutes of elite rim protection and a league where that matters a whole lot.

things to keep an eye on. But I do agree with you that I feel a lot more optimistic about the team construct now than I did one year ago today, which I think is a testament to the hard work of those guys. All Right, I have two fun Lebron related questions before we got out of here. So Lebron

was acting all passive aggressive last night. You know, he was about to go off, and then he did go home, Jason, So I'm gonna paint an imaginary scenario for you here where Lebron opts out of his team his player option this summer, and he calls Kobe Altman and he says, I want to come sign a veteran minimum contract in Cleveland. Would you take him.

chicken noodle soup. When Lebron's getting a little passive aggressive, like I'm I'm just far enough away emotionally now where I can kind of just like see that for what it is. And the the narrative of, you know, him closing out in Cleveland is always super appealed to me.

And also maybe this is this is some Napoleon complex stuff, but isn't it kind of nice the idea that the first two times Lebron was a cavalier, he was coming to save them and as like a present to him on the way out, they can be the safe haven for him you know, they can be the team that is ready made to plug him in and become a title contender and help send him off into the sunset.

You know, Like, I think there's something kind of nice about that narratively, Like I care about stories as much as as much as anyone like, And doesn't that just feel like the way it's supposed to end, not just like fading away and you know on unhappy, odd fitting teams in LA I don't know if you know obviously you know, supposed to is probably overstepping. He's an adult with his own wants needs. You know, his kids still in one of his kids is still in heigh cool.

You know, maybe like there's a billion reasons he shouldn't, But just as like a basketball narrative, isn't that kind of the coolest story to come back and win one more, but this time as the wise old man, not as the as the savior.

It's like, oh, well, Lebron typically can't play the three because he can't chase guys around on the perimeter. It's like I just watched Evan Mobley chase kwhile Leonard around, Like like Evan Mobley can kind of take more of the perimeter oriented assignments at that position. It's like, oh well, they can struggle sometimes against really physical teams on the defensive class. It's like I just watched Lebron grab twenty defensive twenty rebound in a game against the Warriors the

other night, Like it is a natural basketball fit. And and to your point, like you know, there's all these other basketball teams that make sense. Like it's he'd be really good in Oklahoma City, he'd be really good in Minnesota. But it's like he would never leave to go to a situation like that. If he was gonna leave, it would be for something like Cleveland. And I love the way you put that in terms of like Lebron came to save Cleveland, so to speak. But what if Cleveland

got to save him? You know, that'd be that would be, that would be and I'm sure he'd hate lasting exactly. He'd pushed back that like crazy. Yeah, there's no Yeah, that's exactly what would happened. He would he would he would be gunning for stats in the NBA Finals to make sure he got that Finals MVP. All right, So what is your favorite Lebron moment with the calves that is not the twenty sixteen championship.

And you know, my first basketball memory is Lebron's I'm sorry, Jordan's last shot against Utah. You know, I was seven or eight years old, but I really strongly believe like you don't actually know what the hell you're watching until you're like sixteen or seventeen. I just think before that, you're just a dumb kid that doesn't really know how

to interpret what's going on. So like, I feel like that push against the pistons where he just you know, went absolutely ballistic, was like it was like my basketball bar mitzvah. You know, I became a man watching that and like my obsession with the game. I feel like, win up another notch with that run, and it was just so fun. It was like it was like the first time I watched basketball majesty and had the frame of reference to understand it, you know, and really contextualize it.

So that's got to be my favorite because you know, I remember exactly where I was. I remember calling my mom into the room to watch, like it was like a whole thing. So yeah, that's got to be my pick.

that being the whole thing. I remember in game three and four, like just the unbelievable momentum plays he made at home as they tied the series, and then I remember even game six, after the after Game five, when he was kind off and Daniel Gibson went off and they it was just like that whole series as a you know, it's funny because I'm sure you feel this way too, where like as we've become older, we've almost become jaded to the point where we're like we we

almost underreact to everything, which is which is so much more boring than what it was like when we were kids.

But dude, I remember, yeah, I remember those those Calves playoff runs as just being so such an emotional roller coaster, and like even some of the bad ones, like the the twenty ten run, it's like right before he was so bad and at the end of that series, remember Game three when he went in when it was one to one and he just completely obliterated them in Boston, like it just yeah, it's crazy, my my, Like foundational basketball moments as a fan are all like Lebron James

playoff runs makes sense, it's.

I have deleted so many humiliating Facebook statuses complaining about Lebron during the Miami era because you know, you get the memories and I'll see some like Lebron, this guy sucks, you know, like it was just such a like, you know,

just like just a dumb kid angry. It's angry that you know, my basketball hero left me so like, you know, like he's just been such an important part of this this uh, this era of NBA history, and so anyone who's you know, my age, maybe a little bit older, a little bit younger, Like like he's been kind of at the core of it, so of course it's going to be interesting every time, you know, like he gets

passive aggressive. Of course, people in my dms are like low return, you know, like it's just going to be part of it, and like that's kind of part of the fun. I don't expect it to ever happen, but like he's you know, I think he's the best player of all time, and like it's been really really fun to root for him root against him. He's never boring and that's what I think is really funny about him. And it's cool that the Calves ever bright future regardless

with that decision. M M all right, Carter, can you tell us about where we can find your stuff? Yeah, you can find me at Carter Underscore Shade on Twitter dot com, slash x or whatever. And you can follow our podcast at Chase Down Pod on the same site. You can we live stream after a lot of games. All of our pods are on the Calves official YouTube channel, so go ahead and check us out there. And and yeah, of course subscribe to the pod on whatever platform you prefer.