Hoops Tonight - Zion Williamson & Donovan Mitchell first impressions + Lakers-Suns preseason action

feature is that cash out feature. So if you already feel pretty good about your bed and you're in good shape, but you don't want to lose whatever it is based on some stupid thing with garbage time at the end, you can cash out your winnings before the end of

the game. Use promo code Jason T and download the FanDuel app today to make every moment more this football season twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. First online real any wager only refund issued as non withdrawalable site credit that expires in fourteen days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sports book dot fan duel

dot com. Gambling problem called one eight hundred next step or text next step to five three three four two in Arizona one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot

com slash rg in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey. In Virginia one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven for confidential help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight hope and why or text hope and why to four six seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight line in Tennessee visit www dot one eight hundred

gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fando here at the volume Happy Friday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had an amazing week and that you got big plans for the weekend. We're just gonna be hitting on three preseason games today. We're gonna hit on Pelicans Bulls our first time seeing Zion Williamson and over a year Lakers Sons, another impressive performance from a Lakers team that a lot of people were

pessimistic about going into the season. And then last but not least, Cavaliers Sixers, our first taste of Donovan Mitchell with the Calves and of James Harden in his revenge tour this year. I'm also gonna hit on a couple of you guys comments from uh the YouTube comments from the Victor Wemban Yama and Scoot Henderson video yesterday. I really want to work hard this year to get you guys is involved impossible and have more back and forth. We got a lot of plans on that front. I'll

keep you guys posted. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you get you guys, don't miss show announcements. That's also where I drop NBA footage since I'm not allowed to use it here. That's a great place for you guys to see some visual aids for some of the concepts that I talked about

on the show. And last but not least, if you miss one of these shows and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish them, you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. So there were two main disagreements that I saw in my Victor Women Yama and Scoot Henderson video yesterday. There were some of you guys that tried to give other examples of legitimate, you know, stretch bigs that were great rim protectors, and there were two that were thrown out, one that I

disagree with and one that I do agree with. But I think that at Victor is going to be even another level above that. So a lot of people throughout Joel em beat and the reality is that he's just too low volume, you know, like he does shoot about three three pointers per game, and he does shoot in the high thirties right like about thirty give or take a few depending on the year. But the reality is his teams aren't guarding him out there because it's a

really low volume. If James Harden and Joel embiad run a pick and pop, they're conceding that shot to try to take away things in the paint. When guys are closing out on him, they're closing out short preparing for him to attack that close out. And the reason why he's only taken three per game and he's not exactly lighting you on fire with them. That's three completely wide open attempts per game that he's barely making over a

third of. That's not a real stretch big. Also, when I'm talking about Victor women Yama and this concept of being a stretch big and rim protector, I'm talking about it within the role. Obviously, Embeat is fifty times the player that Victor is right now, So is Nicola Yokich, So is Karl Anthony Town, so are so many of

the bigs around the league. But I'm just specifically talking about plugging a player into a role as a rim protector and as a stretch big, a legitimate stretch big that teams would guard on the perimeter and be scared of giving up open shots too. So there was one other one of you guys, a couple of you guys.

I mentioned Brook Lopez a few years back. Now. His shooting has fallen off of a cliff since this season, so it kind of appears to be some kind of outlier, but a few years back, he averaged over two Maye threes per game and over two blocks per game, and he was averaging right around I think six or seven

attempts per game. Most of them were catching shoot and pretty wide open, but there were some complicated shots in there, a few jab step pull ups, and occasionally some wild step back threes that he would take and make from time to time. Um So, I do think that that's a good example of a legitimate stretch, big rim protector that we had in the league a few years ago. But I think that even that, even what we saw from Brooke, I don't think it's gonna be nearly like

what we're gonna see from Victor. I think it's gonna be the type of movement shooting and running him off of screens and the off the dribble shooting you're gonna see from him. I think he's gonna run picking inverted pick and roll as the ball handler a lot, and elevating to pull up threes. I think that what you saw from Brooke that season, that one outlier season that kind of stands out from the rest of his career.

I think You're gonna see that from Victor every single season of his career, which is why I think he's

such a unique prospect. And then the other complaints. Several of you guys were asking why I don't include Dwyane Wade and aunt Uh Edwards in the um in the like small super athletic guard archetype that we were talking about, And the main reason why is that they're both bigger, and Dwyane Wade is about six four or six five with basketball shoes on, and Anthony Edwards is like six five, six six with basketball shoes on, and so they have

like a a legitimate presence, a physical presence on the floor. Like Dwyane Wade was routinely operating out of the post um as a as a guard when he was in his prime, he was, like it, consistently played significantly above his size as an impact rebounder, at shot blocker, as

a back line defender, and things along those lines. Anthony Edwards I have I've called him, I've called him like mini Lebron with the way he attacks the rim because he has such an incredible athletic presence going down the lane. These guys that I'm talking about, these you know, John Morants and Scoot Henderson and John Wall and Russell Westbrook and all these guys, they're all shorter, and I mean, I think John Wall is the tallest of that group, and I think he's about six four was shoes on um.

But there's a specific reason why I'm kind of parsing those guys out, Like Dwyane Wade and Anthony Edwards will be able to like Dwyane Wade and his prime could consistently guard bigger wings, and Anthony Edwards when he gets to where he's going to be as a defensive player, he's gonna be able to guard big wings as well. But I since really appreciate you guys offering lots of feedback and questions and comments and stuff in the YouTube comments.

I'm gonna try to make more effort every single day during our live shows, will respond to comments at the end of the show, and then during these shows, I'm gonna try better drop questions, comments and things like that in the YouTube comments and I'll address them in the next show that we do. So moving on to Pelicans bulls, So this was kind of an as kicking the Pelicans really man handle the bulls on both ends of the

floor that that roster is loaded, that Pelicans roster. And it's such an interesting combination of ball handling because they have all these guys like c. J. Mccollumn that can dribble the ball well, Brandon Ingram can dribble the ball well. You know, Um Davante Graham coming off the bench can dribble the ball well, uh Um, Jose Alvarado can dribble

the ball. Well. They've got all this ball handling, but they also have all these big rim pressuring forwards, like like obviously Jonas Malan Tunas causes a lot of rim pressure just with his presence around the basket. Zion Williamson

was just straight up frightening once again. And when he catches the ball on that right kind of like uh like high, like it's kind of like baseline extended short corner he catches there and like he had a play where he just ripped through and Patrick Williams just literally had absolutely no chance. The next thing he knows, Zion is hanging on the rim or when he rips through to the left, he just he doesn't actually need to

get separation. If he gets the slightest edge on you he's so strong in his center of gravity is so low that he's just gonna blow through your shoulder and get to where he wants to go. And you know, he was driving and kicking to c J. McCollum for wide open shots. And Davante Graham just a really interesting combination of guys who can apply for rim pressure, guys who can handle the basketball and shoot off of the dribble,

and just overall athleticism everywhere. And so as a result, they generated a ton of rim pressure, and they generated a ton of good, high quality three point shots, and that's the two most efficient shots in basketball. And I think they're gonna be a damn good offensive team as result of all of that talent. Ziion Williamson was actually especially active on the defensive end, trying to make plays

at the rim. He had a really nice chase down block in transition, and then when he was in help side, he was really loading up and trying to cause problems around the rim. Still has a long way to go there, but I do appreciate the effort that he's putting in there and and and it is showing some results. Um Jackson Hayes, he had a really, really good first shift, playing the passing lanes and getting out in transition. He just has these super long steps and super long arms.

He made two big plays in transition where I don't know if any other player in the league would have been able to score. Maybe a small handful of players in the league could have scored in those specific situations, like a bad bobbled pass that he tracked down on the right wing and then still just grabbed and took like two long steps to the basket and finished. He had another one where he did like a dramatic kind of pull over dribble over his head and then shot

a floater and he made it. Uh really impactful minutes from him playing off ball defense and getting out in transition. Davonte Graham, He's had a rough run so far in New Orleans in the last couple of years, but he actually a r might might even only be one year with DeVonta Graham, but his pull up shooting is a big impact thing, a big impact talent for this particular team. He shot the ball really well last night. Just a really impressive performance from the Pelicans again one preseason game.

But I'm really excited about that team and what they could accomplish this year. Um, the Bulls are just clunky and weird. Their offense is just a weird mix of Mardros and pump faking as he comes off of screens and Zach Lavine taking really difficult three point shots. They're

still way too thin on the front line. I know they brought in Andre Drummond to try to address that, but his fit is clunky, He's got bad hands, he doesn't finish around the rim very well, and he just was getting cooked in transition when the Pelicans really tried to run the floor. So I I really, I'm just I'm not. I feel like even in my power rankings at sixteen, I might have had the Bulls too high. They're a couple of teams there that I might have

to consider moving above them if we ever do. Uh. I mean, most of our power rankings this season will probably focus on the top ten. But I think you can safely say that the Raptors are probably better. The Pelicans are probably better. I might have jumped the gun on that one, but again, let's give it a little bit more time. And also, I was expecting a Lonzo ball to be ready to start the season, all right, let's move on to the Lakers. So this is their

second back to back encouraging preseason performance. And I know they lost both games, but their core lineups when the Stars were playing one both matchups one against a bad but talented Sacramento Kings team and then last night or Wednesday night against a very talented Phoenix Suns team that has had a psychological hold over this team ever since Anthony Davis pulled his groin in Game four of the Western Conference first round series. And uh, they've whooped their

ass every single time they've played. And so for them to go out there without Anthony Davis with a ballball grouping of when you and Gabriel with Lebron, James Russell, Westbrook, Austin Reeves, and Patrick Beverley, for them to go out and play as well as they did is an excellent indicator for this team. I told you guys when we

started preseason breakdowns, I care about the preseason. I think it is the best opportunity to build good habits, to build an identity, to build conditioning, to build continuity, To see the way you stack up against other teams. I think it matters. And so to see the Lakers come out, and some of it's Darvin Ham, some of it's just them getting a different voice in the locker room and them not wanting to listen to Frank Vogel anymore. A lot of it is effort and focus and just trying

to actually be a good defensive team. And then a lot of it is an influx of some better defensive players. Patrick Beverley is a great defensive player. Getting Austin Reeves a little bit more muscular over the summer that makes him a better defensive player. I want to look at the defensive ent from two different angles here. So first of all, Austin Reaves and Patrick Beverley, the two of them are, you know, both for undersize because they're both

considered undersized for their respective positions. Both of them are are teams that are players that teams love to attack in isolation. Their ability to hold their own in those isolation situations and their ability to fight over the top of ball screens just adds a dynamic to the Lakers perimeter defense that they haven't had in uh in the in the last year or so. Um Austin Reaves in

particular is an excellent positional defender. He gives ground. He does not go for the basketball until you expose it as you're going up for a shot. And so so often you'll see guys put their head down and try to drive past Austin and they're just driving right into his chest, and he's just holding his ground, holding his ground, And then you show the basketball and he'll poke it away and or he'll just wall up and make you

make a tough shot over the top. He he got stops on Devin Booker, he got stops on Landry Shammit. He was sliding his feet and playing really solid defense. Patrick Beverley is a more aggressive defend He's going after the basketball and trying to make you feel uncomfortable. But from the start of this game, the Sun's stars were way less comfortable than usual, and as a result of that, their shot quality was lower and had set its tone

for that game. Defensively, every other time the Sons have played the Lakers in the previous year, they come out easy, breezy basketball because they just weren't making them feel uncomfortable from the opening tip. The second dynamic here that you're seeing with the Lakers, and last night he was even with their small ball groupings because when You Gabriel and Lebron James were flying around trying to block shots, this team is blocked seven and a half shots per game

through the first two preseason games. A lot of Damien Jones, a lot of one You Gabriel, a lot of Anthony Davis, a lot of Lebron James. Because of that, they are building this unique reputation of a a perimeter pressure team with their guards like Austin Reeves, Russell westbrookom Patrick Beverley, that is going to swallow everything up around the rim. Now they're going to give things up. They've been great defensively these two games. One major caveat against the Phoenix

Suns pick and roll. They were offering help out of the strong side wing every single time. So pretend Devin Bookers on the left wing, he's coming over the eight and ball screen, he's getting downhill, Russell west broke his guarding Mcail Bridges, let's say, on the left wing. On the right wing, so where the direction that Devin Booker

is driving, Bridges is right there. Russ is coming into the elbow to contain that Devin Booker drive, and they're consistently making that swing pass one pass away to a wide open shooter. They did it about six times in that first quarter and only made one of them. That is, for the record, a staple of the Milwaukee Bucks defense and presumably the scheme that Darvin Ham brought with him to the Lakers. They give up threes at the expense of taking everything away at the point of attack and

at the paint. It's it's a concept that can beat you, and it's a concept that that can beat the other team. If you bait teams into taking those shots and they miss them, like the Sunstead last night, you get a good result. You do what the Milwaukee Bucks did to the Celtics in Game seven in Game six last year, they make forty something threes or whatever they did in the last two games, and you end up getting beat.

So there's a it's a gamble there. But at the very least, they're going to be very good in two specific areas defensively, they're gonna be good at the point of attack, and they're gonna be good in the paint.

That is enough to build a functional defense around. But they're gonna have to figure out some way to at least make it a little bit more difficult for these teams to shoot threes, especially in easy kickouts like they do when they're helping out of the strong side like that um on the The other thing that that I wanted to point out as it pertains to the shot blocking, again, seven and a half blocks that would have led the

league last year. I think that the lead. The team that led the league had about six and a half blocks per game last year, again just two preseason games, but a good indicator of their activity around the rim. Most of this is extra efforts, and you're seeing it from Lebron James, and you're seeing it from when you and Gabriel. You're seeing it from Anthony Davis seeing a a that you could let happen. You could just let him go, but instead saying no, I'm gonna go get

this thing. There was a play in transition where Michael Bridges ended up getting a run out and he had an opportunity at the rim. Lebron could have just let him go, but instead he loaded up and went for the block. It sends The most important part of that is once you start making those extra effort plays, once you start getting block shots to the two and of seven and a half per game, you start to get in the other team's heads. It gets to the point,

and we saw this a ton with the Lakers. Guys start to start thinking their shot blockers around them even when there's not, and it makes them feel again the

big key defensive concept that I talked about comfort. When you make teams feel uncomfortable because they're getting in you at the point of attack and they're flying around trying to block shots at the rim, that right there, in and of itself will make stars feel uncomfortable, which makes them less confident when the rising up into shots, which

directly affects shot results. So I really like what I'm seeing so far from the Lakers on the defensive end, even though it's not perfect, even though they're gonna have some work they gotta do, I really like what I'm seeing there. Um, the Lakers are making a concerted effort to get out in transition so far in preseason. Once again last night, Lebron James and Russell Westbrook attacking down

the floor when they get stops. Russ had a really nice left handed finish in transition on the first possession of the game, and then Lebron one of the most ridiculous finishes I've ever seen where he was going along the left side of the rim and extended like he was gonna go with his right hand, and then basically turned his body and flipped a left handed spinning shot off the glass. Just a ridiculous shot. The main key there is this is not gonna be a good half

court offensive team. They don't shoot the ball well enough. They simply don't. So this is a brute force offense that's gonna rie heavily on Lebron James and Anthony Davis, generating rim pressure when when things get tight. But as much as they can avoid the half court, the better, because if they can get out in transition where they're gonna be a much better off pensive team, let's say twenty percent of the time, then that buffers and ads

and supports your half court efficiency. I'll give you an example, the Lakers. That team, according to Cleaning the Glass, was not a very good half court offense team. But before they went into the bubble, I believe they were fourth, it was either sixth or fourth. Before they went into the bubble, they were a top six offense and by offensive rating. Even though they were a bad half court offense. It was because they got out in transition so frequently

that it bolstered those numbers enough. And the best way to get out in transition is to get stops. And so they're building an identity as a defensive team that prioritizes the point of attack and the rim, and when they get the basketball, they run the damn floor because that's their best opportunity to score. I like the identity that they're building so far. A couple other quick notes that I wanted to hit Austin reads the ball handler.

So uh, we heard a lot about Austin Reeves doing well in early training camp as a primary ball handler. I've always really liked him attacking closeouts making reads, but I had heard over the summer that he put on a little bit of muscle and then he had been working a ton on his handling and shooting, and I he's flat out turning into a very good second side creator.

He's running pick and roll. He's not he's not an excellent athlete, right, but what he's doing is he's playing smart, old man basketball at the point at the as the initiator and pick and roll, he's getting over the top of the screen. Getting the defender on his back side, slowing down his dribble, pinning him on his backside, working into the lane. He was drawing fouls yesterday by shooting those little floaters and push shots as the defenders draped

on his back. He's consistently making good reads and swing passes out of it, and he's attacking closeouts as well as he does. I put an example of one of Austin's closeout attacks in our video in video form on my Twitter feeds, you guys can find that there. Really like what I'm seeing from Austin Reeves so far. Last note on this game, the Suns continue to have weird

negative energy. Now some of that youve got to give the Lakers credit for for the way they played defensively, but once again, DeAndre Ayton was awful on the defensive end of the floor, really bad in tape. I shared one specific clip of that on my Twitter feed. You can see that there. Look, I said that the Sons were gonna go out and win a ton of games just on the strength of their talent. And it's still early and there's a long way to go, but there

are two preseason games. If they come out with this kind of effort. They're just simply going to lose a lot of games this year if they're not careful. All right, before we get out of here, um, Sixers Calves. I only watched the first shift of this game, so I'm only gonna give you a couple of notes on the Calves front. And when I say first shift, I just watched the starters go against each other for about six

minutes each. I just have a ton of film that I still have to watch, and I haven't gotten to this full game yet. So Um, First of all, they started Caris LeVert. Now Evan Mobley is dealing with an ankle sprain, so they plugged Kevin Love into the power forward position. We're gonna talk about him in a minute, because he was awesome at least in that first shift. But I really thought it was interesting that they put

Harris Lavert at small forward. Who knows if that's something that they plan on doing during the regular season or if that was just something they did for this specific preseason lineup, but it's a redundancy and ball handling. They don't need him with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on the floor, and he's simply not as good defensively as some of the other wings that they have on the roster,

So I thought that was strange. But the natural give and take between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on the offensive end already looks pretty good. They're actively hunting each other, they're making quick decisions, they're not dribbling their out of the basketball. There's already a good natural give and take there. If that's very encouraging for Calves fans. Also, um, let's

let's do uh Kevin Love first. Kevin Love is a legitimate knockdown three point shooter, as you guys all know, and I know this from what I covered him with the Calves. He every single time the Sixers offered help out of his posis issue. In this game, Kevin Love made them pay, knocking down shots on the on the wing, above the break and in the corner as well. He's got a quick release, He's got a good pump fake

that gets people to blow by. I don't necessarily like it the fit necessarily next to Alan Um because I think it'll be I I just don't quite think they're fast enough in terms of overall foot speed with that grouping. But and when they actually are healthy. You're gonna see Evan Mobley next to Alan. But I really like the idea of running a bench line up with Evan Mobley and Kevin Love because I think Kevin Mobley's overall foot speed will allow them to hang in transition and in

five out settings really well. And Kevin Love just shoots the ball so damn well. It's gonna help solve a lot of their spacing concerns. And then you saw a lot of that classic Kevin Love transition passing yesterday as well. I like it as a as a mix up when spacing becomes an issue to put him next to Mobile and just give you a different look, especially if Mobile

develops as a three point shooter. Last note from the Calves in this game, Donovan Mitchell the opening tip, decided to guard James Harden, got up into him, got up into his airspace, made him uncomfortable. Look. This guy got fairly and legitimately criticized for being atrocious on the defensive end last year. One preseason game wasn't perfect, but I liked I liked the mentality of him trying to address that concern early in this season. Going over to the Sixers,

James Harden to me, looked about the same. And I say that as a biased person who sincerely believes he's gonna have a bounce back year. But this is preseason. As I've said, almost all of the players are a little bit slow legged right now because they're out of shape. They're building up their conditioning. I always refer to it

as breaking through the wall. In your preseason conditioning. There's about four weeks where your body is just getting destroyed because you're not used to playing every day to this level of intensity. You're not used to this level of physicality every single day. You're worn out. But right around that fourth week in this case, basically the end of if training camp started September thirty, we're talking like second third week of the regular season is where I'm really

going to start looking at athleticism. If James Harden still looks pretty slow in early November, then I'll start to be concerned. But I'm not overly concerned here. He's still got into the paint a couple of times, made a really nice and one floater um drew a foul in a driving lay up going left once. He's still got some dribble penetration, but still doesn't look like he had the burst that he had a few years ago. But

I'm not concerned until about a month from now. The same goes for Joe l Embiid, and he's gonna be one of the last guys to get his conditioning going, so I'm not worried about his shot blocking or shot making as well. Last note from this game, p J Tucker. One of my favorite things about p J. Tucker is he knows what he's good and bad at, and he tries to find ways to impact the game. As a result, this guy is not a knockdown shooter and he struggles

to attack close outs. That's just reality. He had a stretch with the Houston Rockets where he shot corner three as well, but that doesn't appear to be going on anymore. But he does two things that make him an impactful offensive player. Despite that one crashing the offensive glass, he'll just run down the lane and just truck stick somebody to fight for a position and go get the basketball.

But secondly, off ball pain screens, so like if there if p J. Tucker's man abandons him out of the corner to go help on a drive somewhere and Tobias Harris is on the wing with him and he's in the corner. Rather than just staying there knowing that if he catches it, he's got a thirty four percent chance or whatever of knocking down that corner three, he will just run and screen Tobias Harris's man, which then gets

Tobias Harris a wide open three. So now even though the um the Calves in this case, made a decision to leave p J. Tucker open, the result is Tobias Harris got open, and that that off ball screening he did a bunch of this in that first shift that I wish Russell Westbrook would just watch it, watch tape of that for a while and gain an understanding of how you can be an impactful off ball player even when you're not shooting the ball well. And again, I

like what I've seen from Russ through two games. He's got a long way to go before I start believing in what he can do, but those are types of little things that will help him be more impactful um in off ball situations, especially on the offensive en I didn't even get to Russ when we were talking to Lakers really quickly. You know by a little one minute rule. UM. I thought he was really good in transition on offense.

I thought he was really good off ball and offense, made a couple of threes, attacks closeouts well, but he did not do well in primary creation against that Sun's set defense. And that's to be expected. He's just not good enough anymore as a primary creator to be able to successfully create good shots against an elite defensive team.

But I'm not as concerned about that because I think on this team, with Kendrick Nunn, with a healthy Lebron, healthy Anthony Davis, with Patrick Beverley, what he's been doing with the basketball, and with Dennis Schroeder, They're not gonna need him to create as much. They need him to defend the hell out of the basketball on and off the ball. They need him to attack in transition. They need him to attack in off ball situations, at driving closeouts,

knocking down the occasional corner three. That's where he's gonna be an impactful basketball player for this team. If he does all of those things, then he will be a huge plus for this team and they won't need to trade him. But he needs to demonstrate that he's willing to do those things night in and night out. We're two games in and he's done a good job, but we've got a long way to go. All right. That is all I have for this week. Guys. We're gonna

take the rest of the weekend off. Monday, We're gonna have a show coming out late at night. I'm I'm going to San Diego tomorrow morning, and I'm gonna be gone through Monday at about you know, sometime in the afternoon. But that night I'm going to watch those games and some games from the weekend. We'll have our first film breakdown of next week coming out on Monday night, and then we'll go back to our normal schedule starting on Tuesday.

As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. Thank you so much. I will see you after the weekend. The volume