Hoops Tonight -NBA Power Rankings: How Giannis, Damian Lillard & Bucks return to CHAMPIONSHIP FORM

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the volume Heavy Friday. Everybody obave you guys had a great week on a jam pack show for you. Today we are covering the Milwaukee Bucks at number nine in our power rankings, going to do a deep dive. I also have fourteen clips of video to show you guys from the Milwaukee Bucks. If you are excited about the new editions in the Perimeter Defense Core, I've got lots of clips to kind of demonstrate to you guys the strengths of Delon Wright.

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he was being used his entire career. Basically, this phase of his career, he had been used as a bench wing everywhere else, and then Darvin Ham just decided to make him like a huge minute starting small forward for the Lakers. And he's just he has a lot of like key weaknesses that make him kind of like not up to the task of being a starting wing in this league. He's not a good rebounder, which is something you really need from that position in your starting group.

He is a good shooter, but not like an other worldly shooter. He's a good closeout attacker, but not another worldly closeout attacker. He can run action, but he's not particularly great at it. He can defend, but typically against a starting caliber like upper tier shot creator, he's completely overmatched. But when you slot him on that bench unit, all of those little things are actually really useful, especially against lower level NBA players that are coming off the bench.

He's a solid backup wing. He shot forty percent on catch and shoot jump shots last year. Has like some of those like higher level closeout attacking moves, like if he needs to, like unleash some scoring chops, like a little step back in the mid range or something that's a little more crafty around the basket, he's got a little bit of that, like natural scoring ability. Always does his job on defense. The defensive issues are more about limitations.

He's just he's thin. He's not particularly vertically athletic, not particularly quick footed. But he will do his job if his game, if the game plan asks for him to do certain things with side pick and rolls and certain things with top pick and rolls, or certain things with this star, but different things with this star, Like you can count on him to do his job. He just has some athletic limitations that are going to prevent him

from like being a really imposing type of wing. The Lakers just started him, put him in a bunch of matchups that were kind of beyond his capability, and it was issued. So as long as he has the right role in Milwaukee, I love the fit. Gary Trent Junior one of the best discount signings of the summer. I think he's a much better version of Malik Beasley. Not a good defender overall, but he is good at pressuring

the basketball. He gets really aggressive with his hands, does a lot of reaching in, gets a lot of deflections and a lot of steals. I actually think playing alongside Brooke and Giannis is a great fit for him because if you're not going to be a good defender in the aggregate in all of the different elements of defense, it helps if you're good at one particular thing, and the one particular thing Gary Trent is good at is

ball pressure and attacking the basketball. So if you do that at the point of attack, you will funnel because the way you counter ball pressure, the way you counter a guy who's recklessly reaching in all the time, is to make aggressive downhill moves to just get past the guy. Because usually when you're reaching and gambling, you're getting out of position, you're messing up your feet, and you will

give up dribble drives. Right, So, like I kind of like the idea of Gary Trent just pressuring the shit out of the basketball, reaching in a lot and forcing that guy to drive, because he's going to be driving into the strength of your defense, which is your frontline. So in a weird way, like, even though I don't think Gary Trent is a good defender, he doesn't have the pedigree to get that type of respect, but he has a useful defensive skill that I think can be

plugged into this particular system. And again, like that's you're just the bar is low here. You just need to do better than Malik Beasley did. Right, He shot over fifty percent on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots last year. It was just a deadly, standstill shooter. He gets to the rim more than Malik Beasley as well. So I think he's a substantially better offensive player than Malik Beasley

and a slightly better defensive player. So anytime you can upgrade a starting spot with a guy who's better on both ends of the floor on a veteran minimum contract, that's like a slam dunk home run, whatever you will call it, it's that's just the best that you can do in that particular situation. Delon Wright really enjoyed watching Delon Wright tape today. He shot the ball really well from Miami last year. I'll be in a small sample, he shot thirty nine percent on catch and shoot threes.

He's thirty two years old now, not quite as quick as he used to be, but he is a professional defender. He's got long arms. He has four consecutive seasons of at least two steals per thirty six minutes. He had two point six steals per thirty six minutes last year. That was second best in the entire NBA among players

who played at least seven hundred minutes. And the main thing you guys will see, especially when we start to look at the tape here later on in the show, is he just does a really nice job navigating screens, and he he's got long arms so he can get good rear view contests. He's especially good at getting recovered back into position where he can excuse me, bother the ball handler somewhere in that mid range area where they're often looking to score. I'll show you guys some clips.

I'm not gonna go too much further on to lawn because we can get into it in the film session part of the portion of the show. But I just think he's gonna be a way, way, way better guard defender than anybody that was on Milwaukee last year, even than Patrick Beverley in my opinion, because Pat just didn't quite have the link. So that's really the big change in this year's team in terms of the differences in role players. Right, So they've improved their point of attack defense.

That was easily the biggest weakness for them last year. Malik Beasley got a little better as the year went along, but he never got good at it, and Dame was legitimately terrible all year. I never even realized how bad Dame was defensively until I watched him on this Milwaukee team. It was abysmal, and they allowed pick and roll as a team, they allowed pick and roll ball handlers to get zero point nine to six points per their own shot attempts, which was the third worst mark in the

entire NBA. Only the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers were worse. They just have so many more options to go to this year. Gary Trent Junior at least has an elite defensive skill in terms of his activity with his hands that you can try to weaponize. Delon Wright is still just a really good guard defender, and then Torrian Prince is a nice wing defender option to have

as a bench guy. And like again, especially with the issues with Chris Middleton and his health over the last couple of years, I think that Torrian Prince signing was especially important. The main thing I'm looking for there is I just want to see the Bucks recapture the identity that made them a Titan in the Eastern Conference. It was defense and rebounding and Giannis barreling down the floor in transition. They were That was what made them great.

They were a defense to transition type of offense. Yes, they had these half court weaknesses, right, and that was fatal most of the time. They outside of the twenty twenty one season. That pretty much was the reason they lost in every other playoff series. Teams just eventually grind them into the mud and they can have some half court issues, but everything else they were great at. Like

they're just a physical, ass kicking type of team. Now, the Dame trade helped massively with your half court offense stuff. You substantially improved overall in your half court offense. I have the stat later on in the show, but I think I think they went up from sixteenth to fifth in half court offensive efficiency according to Synergy just by bringing Damian Lillard into the equation. So definitely helped on

that front. But you lost some of that ass kicking identity with the loss of Drew Holliday, right, Like I think bringing in Gary, Trent, Delon Wright, Torrian Prince is

about the best that you can possibly do under the circumstances. Again, like, obviously those guys aren't massive needle movers for you on the defensive end of the floor, but considering the constraints you were operating under with your cap situation, to be operating basically on the veteran minimum exception, and to add those caliber of players, I think that's about the best

you can do. And again, all you can do is the best you can do with what you've got in your hand of cards that you've been dealt, and I thought Milwaukee did about as good as you possibly can do. One last note on the defense. Last year, they were twenty ninth in points off of turnovers per game. Because Gary Trentz more of an active on ball defender in terms of reaching and trying to get steals, and because delawonn Wright is one of the best steels guards in

the league. I would like to see them get more aggressive at the point of attack and try to drive more of that transition attack off of turnovers. I think it's one of those things too, where like if you're going to be a mediocre defense because you're old, and there's like there's just not a lot of footspeed on this team, right Like I pulled the stat for a different part of the show, but they have fifty one years of combined NBA seasons of wear and tear on

Chris Dame, Jannison Brook fifty one seasons. It's a lot of wear and tear. There's some foot speed issues there right beyond Giannis. It's not a fast like cover ground type of team. So like there's a certain limitation to what they can get to defensively, but if you can, if you can counter that by forcing more turnovers and getting out in transition more, it undoes some of the damage that a mediocre defense could do to your chances in the large sample. Now, the Bucks were a good

offense last year. They were sixth in offensive rating, they were fifth and three pointers made per game. Dame, as I mentioned earlier, really helped the half court offense. They went from fifth and half court offensive rating, or from sixteenth the previous year to fifth last year. But I think there's even room for improvement there. Like Dame did not have a great year shooting the basketball. Dame got just one point zero zero points per jump shot last year.

The year before in Portland he got one point zero nine points per jump shot, so a nine percent decrease year over year in points per shot. That's something that if Dame can make up some of that ground, that goes a long way. I thought they left some meat on the bone. And pick and roll, there was a bunch of benefits there. They were a very good pick and roll team. Overall, there was a substantial increase in

Yiannis's usage as a role man. He had forty five field goals made on rolls to the rim the previous season. He had seventy five last year. So that's an example of the Dame effect. But it hasn't become like the unstoppable action that we all knew it was capable of becoming. Right, So I want to talk about some of the specific things that I think the Bucks can do better this

year to be more impactful. In pick and roll number one, Giannis was kind of inconsistent with his screening and his rolling a couple of things, specifically, like when he would go to set screen sometimes he'd slip out of the screen too early before getting that initial bit of separation, or he might not even make contact at all whatsoever. Some of it's to be expected, like Jannis was never really a high volume screener and roller up until this Dame partnership. He did it, but not to this extent.

And so it takes Reps to become a guy who's like this is now a massive and substantial part of the Bucks offense in a way that it didn't used to be. So it's going to take some time for him to kind of figure out some of those intricacies. Another thing I noticed is occupied corners, So like the one of the things I noticed that happened with Gianis a lot. Is I talked about with his rolling to the basket being inconsistent. A lot of times Janis would

set the screen and then slip out of it. But he'd slip and then pop to the top of the key. And he would especially do this when there was somebody in the corner in the side that he couldn't see, So like when he'd be rolling, when he would be looking back at Dame, if there was somebody in this corner, he'd be hesitant to roll because he'd think he'd run into a bunch of bodies. So a lot of times he'd pop, and then that would defeat the purpose because Yannis is not a pick and pop threat, and he's

not getting ahead of steam. Well, he needs to be able to catch on the roll with a head of steam so that he's going into a paint that's a little more spread. Because Dame's pulling his defender out and the screen defender is being pulled out, you have more space to operate and fewer bodies that you're rolling into right like that's the advantage, but you need to have

a head of steam. And a lot of times Yannis was just a little hesitant to really hit the jets on those rolls because he couldn't see what was happening behind him, and so not setting great screens and not rolling as often as he needs to. Those were a couple things Janis could get better at. How do we

make sure that Yanis is rolling more well? Some of it is about understanding the spacing and understanding that Yanis, like I said, is worried about people being behind him, So what if you try to do more work without.

out teams do. So I under stand why in the flow of the game you don't see that a ton from the bucks, but maybe it's something they could look to do in crunch time more where it's like, okay, now we're not trying to have all the flow of just establishing rhythm for our offense over the forty eight. It's three minutes left in the game.

the right wing. Dame's on the left wing. Giannis comes up and sets the screen, and then he pivots into a roll that's along the left side.

now on dame. Three defensive players are in his line of sight, and from there he can either have a quick one on one where he's got a downhill burst of speed going and there's a one single defender in his way that he can swallow him around and get all the way to the basket, or if all three guys coalesce around him, he's got easy kickout reads because his face is turned in the direction where all the

defenders are. There are also little things you could do in terms of spacing concepts to make sure that Yiannis is going against the right type of defensive player there right, so you clear the side. If you put Brook in the corner, then brooks Man is going to be the one that rotates. If brooks Man is the one that rotates, now Giannis is barreling downhill against a big bodied center,

which might be a tougher finish. Put Brook on the wing like extended, and you have two different shooters in the corner and then a little bit further up the wing. So if Brooke is the third guy furthest away from the corner, then his man is probably not going to be the guy that Jannis runs into when he's rolling into the basket. If it's somebody from the corner, it's probably gonna be a guard. And now Jannis could be rolling downhill into a guard or maybe even Chris Middleton's defender,

a smaller forward. Now Jannis is barreling downhill with a smaller defender in front of him that he can get around or just go through and go to the basket. Or again, as we mentioned earlier, if the bodies all coalesce around him, he has easy kickout reads. So at the end of games in particular, I want to see them run more cleared side concepts. By the way, I have video clips that are gonna help break this specific concept down in more detail here in a minute out

within five out. When you're doing it with an occupied corner. The couple things that I saw that that look to work better was one, make sure that the guy that's in the corner Giannis is rolling into the side of the floor that Jianis is rolling into.

And even if he has an occasional turnover, as we talked about, Gary Trent shot over fifty percent on unguarded catching two jump shots last year, So even if Jannis does turn it over occasionally, he's just going to burn you so much on that shot that I think it'll

still be a big net positive for the offense. The other thing that I noticed, and I have another video to demonstrate this is when they do the occupied corner thing, just slide the action further up to the top of the key so that when Yannis rolls, he's rolling with an extra few feet before he runs into any congestion from that corner. But these are just like little details in terms of spacing concepts and like how to handle different portions of the game that I think will go

a long way. And then if you combine that with Yannis just setting better screens and rolling harder more consistently, I think that's where you could get to the true unstoppable element of that ball screen attack. There were some games here and there where it looked unstoppable. There was a Laker game, one of the games that the Lakers won, I think it was the overtime one if I remember correctly, but there was a stretch in the fourth quarter where they spammed and it was just like I talked about.

It was where they kind of shifted closer to the top of the key instead of on the wing, and just kind of shoved everybody a little bit further over to that side with the occupied corner, and they were spamming that and getting a bunch of stuff for Yannis going downhill to the rim. Like they had stretches where

it looked really good last year. But it'd be great if they could get it to the point where it's like, oh, we're in a close game, well let's just go to this specific action that they literally cannot stop, and we're going to get a great shot every single time. Now we're going to out execute you. That's what Denver has done for the last several years in a way that has made them really dominant. So again, these are all just little details to help squeeze more out of the

sponge for them. Offensively, they're good against sixth in offense, seventh in clutch offense last year. But this is a team that's not going to be a good defensive team or a great defensive team. They can get to good, but they can't get to great on defense, and so you need to get too amazing on offense. You need to try to get well into that top five for offensive rating and for half court offense and for clutch offense and all those different metrics in order to compensate

for a defense that has some issues. And that's where those little intricacies in ballscreen up can go a long way towards squeezing more out of the sponge. So what does Milwaukee need to do to rejoin the ranks of the top tier contenders? I have.

true shooting than the previous year. Just a massive drop off, so like needs to get back to form. The encouraging thing is he looked really good in the playoffs. He shot the seams off the basketball. He got one point one to one points per jump shot. That's like real Damian Lillard jump shooting. He ran eighty ball screens including passes, for ninety four points. That's one point one to eight

points per possession. That's awesome. So like that looked more like real Dame in that first round series against Indiana DA. It comes with real defensive shortcomings, so he needs to be a transcendently great offensive player to justify the move, and I think he still has that in there. He just needs to bring it back this season. Three health from your older players. He got a great year out

of Brook last year. He played seventy nine games. I think he played seventy eight the year before, so he's had a good stretch of availability since that rough year. In twenty twenty one, but it might have been I think it was twenty twenty one. Yeah, the year where he missed most of the season. But Chris Middleton missed a good chunk of the year for the second consecutive year.

And this team needs Chris not just on offense either, like they need him to be a good athletic wing defender, and he's just had a lot of lower body injuries. He had two ankle surgeries this offseason. So they need some luck on the health front with their older players this year. As I mentioned earlier, Giannis, Brooke, Dame and Chris have a combined fifty one seasons of wear and tear on their bodies that are that kind of make

it a little bit scary on the health front. Number four, you got to optimize your scheme on both ends of the floor. On defense, this is a really slow footed team, so you need to stay out of foot races as much as possible. That means you know, prioritize getting back in transition over attacking the offensive glass, which they basically already do. Their bottom five offensive rebounding team in a

top ten transition defense. And then two, you need to stay out of rotation in a half court, you got to guard actions two on two as much as possible. That means your guards have to do a good job chasing over the top. As soon as you start needing to bring help over from the weak side and the ball gets skipped, this team is dead because they don't have the foot speed to really cover ground in rotation when teams start driving and kicking them. So a lot

of pressure on those guards. One of those two guards in particular, Gary Trent Junior or de Laonn Wright really needs to pop in a big way on the defensive end of the floor in a sizeable role in order for this to kind of come together. And then on offense, it's like what we talked about earlier, everything about your ball screen spacing.

playoff games total in the last two seasons. Luca and Nikole Jokic are on the rise, and so I think Giannis is flying under the radar a little bit here. I still firmly have Giannis on the same tier as those guys. I think he's absolutely capable of going on a wrecking ball tour and reasserting himself as one of, if not the best player in the league. But in order for this team to win a championship, that's a non negotiable Yiannis has to assert himself as the best

player in the world. They're not talented enough and well rounded enough to win with Giannis not playing at that level. So what is this team capable of? I think they'll win plenty of regular season games. The East is really weak, like the Bulls, the Nets, the Raptors, the Hornets, the Wizards, and the Pistons are all basically trying to lose. The Hawks will be bad even though they're try trying to win, and they may end up trading Trey Young and going into full tank before the end of the year. So

that's seven bad teams in the Eastern Conference. I looked up their schedule of their eighty two games. Twenty five of those eighty two games are against the Bulls, the Nets, the Raptors, the Hornets, the Wizards, the Pistons, and the Hawks, so like they're good. Like something to keep in mind when we're doing our power rankings list, like regular season wins don't translate much from conference to conference, Like the

Eastern Conference is just a much much easier schedule. To give you an idea, the Bucks went thirty four and eighteen against the East, but they went fifteen and fifteen against the West. So that's a team that if you pick them up and dropped them in the Western Conference, they're playing team in all likelihood, right, Like, It's it's

very different from conference to conference. And that's why when we're doing these power rankings, you can't be like, oh, like they're gonna win more games or they're gonna get a higher seed. It's like, well, they're in a different conference. That makes absolutely no sense. It's very possible that the Bucks end up with a better rec than the Mavericks or a better record than the Minnesota Timberwolves, but aren't

as good at basketball, you know, what I mean. So that's why we have to be careful with kind of comparing side to side with conferences. But I do think the Bucks are gonna win plenty of regular season games. As for their potential as a playoff team, I think they're just like every other team in this tier. I think they're a little bit vulnerable to certain matchups, but if they get favorable matchups, they could win the whole thing.

Right Like teams like Boston, Indiana, and New York that have lots of perimeter skill and speed, I think will be tough for them. They did go two and two against Boston last year, but it was kind of weird, Like the two games they beat Boston, Boston folded in the first half of both games, like just kind of let go of the rope, So that was kind of weird. I feel like Boston in a playoff series could really spread Milwaukee out and expose their lack of foot speed.

that kind of works out. Like I see, Boston, Indiana, New York is kind of tough matchups for them, but then I think they match up really well with Philly, Orlando, and Cleveland. So I think as long as they end up on the opposite end of the bracket then Boston, and if Boston can get eliminated by one of these teams, I think they have a really really solid chance to get out of the conference and make the finals where

anything can happen. And obviously they have a puncher's chance against Boston, but Boston would be heavily favored for good reason, with some of that matchup stuff that they talk about. So again, more or less, all the teams that I have in this five to eleven range are teams that can win the title but need some luck, need some things to go their way, and I think Milwaukee falls into that group as well. All right, let's get into some of this footage before we get to our mail bag.

So here's our first clip. This is an example of Delon Wright offering some really good ball pressure on CJ.

a huge advantage. Gets down the floor, gets the steal. Big time play from delon Right, here's a great example of good back pressure against Jose Alvarado in a ball screen. So again, remember in ball screen defense, you're probably going to give up a downhill drive. That's just kind of natural as part of the way these coverages work. Right, Like, he's supposed to chase over the top his job in this ball screen, Like here comes this ball screen.

the basketball. See how he stays attached on that backside funnel funnel funnel forced him into a tough shot. And now he's shooting a really tough contested shot because you did your job in the ball screen. You stayed attached. You funneled back pressure, back pressure, back pressure, and he's got the length to be really bothersome with that back pressure. Actually forces an air ball on that one from Jose Albarado. Here's an example of game plan discipline. Now he's guarding Campaign.

Campaign is a player that most scouting reports are going to tell you duck underneath the screen. Why because he's kind of got a slow, drawn out pull up jump shot and he's really fast when he gets going downhill, and he could really pick you apart that way. So watch the way this play sets up. Ball's gonna work its way over to campaign.

one if I remember correctly. Yeah, So like again, don't worry so much about the result there. This is really good process. I'm gonna run it in full speed again. Watch he's in help in help ball gets reversed, Cam shoots up. We're ducking under the pick, navigating back around, gets a really good contest. That is solid ball screen defense from Delon. Right, here's another example of really good back pressure on Tyrese MAXI. Tyrese is coming down the floor.

I think Tyrese hits this shot too. But this is again, like just really good defense within this game. These are these are incredibly talented guards we have in the NBA. You're not going to stop them. What you have to do is force them into the toughest shots in their shot profile. A tough contested step back long two is the best you can do in a ball screen against Tyrese Maxi. So again, here comes the ball screen. Look at the attachment stays attached over the top. Back pressure,

back pressure. Notice notice the hands in the passing lane two. If Tyreese tries to come off of this and throw the pocket pass, watch the lawn get his hand into the pocket pass owned See he's reaching in there to take away that pocket pass stays attached attached on that side. If Tyrese has no option now but to drive headlong into a BAM or to take this tough contested too, ends of forcing him gets a good contest on that shot again, knocks it down. But you're doing your job

there defensively. You're turning an action that can be really efficient a ball screen into the least efficient shot that they can take, a tough contested fade away two point jump shot. Here's another really good one against Kaid Cunningham. So we're on kid here. Jalen Duran is setting the pick, chasing over the top funnel funnel notice, stays attached, stays attached, gets back in front, forces him into a tough gets great contest this time forces h miss. That's a really

really good ball screen defense. And then I think this is our last one, okay, So he's this is a defensive rebound that Caid's coming back to get the ball. But we get some backcourt ball pressure from Delawn. He kind of stunts at Cad, which forces them to not go to Kaid. So then Kid doesn't take the basketball and runs up the floor instead. But then Delon points

because he knows Kid's going through. He wants to guard the ball, so he points through to Haywood high Smith stays up on Fournyer, jumps up on Fournier, ducks underneath the first pick because it's too far away from the basket. Second pick is closer to the basket, so he chases over the top, stays attached, gets a great rear view,

contests and forces him into a miss. Just really good defense the ball pressure their best player into not even getting the ball, and then or ball deny I should say, because he never actually had the ball, but ball deny on Kate Cunningham. That gets him to not even get the ball, and then you end up switching onto the main ball handler and getting a stop. All right, we're gonna talk a little bit about Gary Trent junior here. Let's look at some examples of him just kind of

being really aggressive at the point of attack. So here's Gary Trent. Just watch how aggressive he is with his hands. He's just always reaching, always going after the basketball, just reckless. Just reach, reach, reach, reach, swipe, swipe, swipe, swite. Here's another one swipe. See how he's just kind of like constantly reaching at the basketball. He beat gambles a lot, makes a lot of mistakes, but he's been playing with teams that don't have elite defensive front lines that can

really cover him in that department. Milwaukee will give him that opportunity. Here's another example on a play with Kyle Kuzma of just just wreck list ball pursuit from Gary Trent. Notice the ball comes up, swipes, misses it, gets out of position. But look at how he's just running back, swipes back at the ball. He just Gary Trent is just a BALLHWK. Like he's not a good defensive player, but he's a ballhawk, and so if you can plug that specifically into a scheme, I think you can get

some positive outcomes there. Here's another example against against Franz Wagner picks up the ball. Watch how aggressively is on the ball. We got a little bit of a reach swipe, swipe swipe knocks it away. Really really aggressive on the ball. Now it's socks and pick and roll stuff. So here's an example of a cleared side ball screen in the game against the Lakers. So we're gonna run over to

this side. It ends up functioning as a ball screen with the cleared side with Middleton, so beasily clears out. We have a cleared side. Now fast forward a little bit here, all right, So here's our setup. Now, this is why I was talking about. It's basically a four out kind of brute force concept. These three guys are basically just standing around off the ball right now, running your ball screen. Janna is going to set the pick and roll. But when he rolls, look at where he rolls.

Now boom right here. From the minute he gets into this spot, he has no need to even look or consider this side of the floor. He is seeing everything and so it's just a much easier read for him on the catch to not have to worry about this side. And this is what I was talking about in the pick and roll sequence about one on ones with Giannis

going downhill. When you get Janis on the pocket with ahead of steam, he's going to an all likelihood get a one on one with him going full speed against someone that is not a big notice too that they have brook Lopez out of the corner. He's going to

barrel downhill and Rui just has no chance here. But a lot of those times, in situations where this is an occupied corner, Janis just won't roll hard or he'll pop, or when he does catch, he catches here and he hesitates because he's a little bit worried about the traffic that's taken place behind him. One of one more time,

so you can see. So again, I really like the idea of spamming that more at the end of games, when it's less about rhythm and flow and more about we need a bucket right now, here's another one against Philly contenting cuts through. Here's our ball screen. Mobomba's up at the level. Now when he catches, it's the exact same setup we talked about with Ruey. There's no extra

defender over here, there's just the one. Here's our one on one, but it's a one on one with Yannis having a head of steam and he just goes right around him to the basket. We can generate more of these one on ones for Yannis with a cleared side than we can with an occupied corner. That's the main point that I'm trying to make here, But again there's a time and place for it. One of the things I like about a clear side ball screen, too, is it's very easy for Yannis to flow into a post

up out of that action. So here's an example of that, and fast forward a little bit side is cleared. Now it's functioning as a cleared side ball screen, but it's actually a double It's a double screen, right, so like in this case, it's actually part of the setup of the play. But as we come off here, Yanna sets the first screen and then Brooke pops right. But notice when Jannis rolls, they end up switching watch Schroeder. Schroeder's

on Dame. Schroeder ends up taking Yannis on that pre switch as Cam Johnson runs out on Dame so there are gonna be teams that do this and switch a small on Giannis. How easy is it that Jannis has rolled exactly to where he would need to be for a post up swing post entry. Now Jannis goes to work, draws an easy double team, hits Jay Crowder on the cut for the layup. But again, like that's kind of the natural flow of that cleared side too. Oh, it didn't work, but we got to switch Yiannis is already

where he needs to be for a post up. It's easy and quick. Here's an example of how an occupied corner can cause Giannis to hesitate. Notice as he sets this pick and slips on the catch. Because McHale bridges any decent defensive player, and because Jay's not that crazy good of a shooter, it's easy for McHale bridges to stunt and recover. Now, by the time McHale stunts and recovers,

boom advantage is gone. Now see that, So look at how easy it is for McHale bridges with an occupied corner to stunt and recover at Giannis and cause that play to come to fall apart. Now Jannis ends up making a play anyway, just because he's Yannis and he just kind of barrels his way into the lane and then draws an extra defender and kicks the dame. But that's an example of how the occupied corner can cause an issue. Now, before we go to the next play,

I want to talk about a couple of things. So if you are going to occupy the corner, the corner that Yannis is rolling into, which again at the when they're if it's an ice, so like if they're icing the ball screen, meaning they're forcing the offensive player to go away from the screen, then Giannis would be rolling this way right because he's not actually going to set the pick. He's just going to create kind of a

passing angle. But in a case like this where they're chasing over the top, he's going to be rolling the direction he's facing. So you just want to make sure in this case, if I knew Giannis was going to be rolling this way, I'd want Crowder over here and i'd want Beasley over there, because then i've got cam Thomas as the guy that's digging down, who's not nearly as good or as long of a defensive player as McHale Bridges, and i've got a better shooter to make

them pay. So that's like a little detail of spacing. Just swap these two shooters a little detail in spacing that could make something work versus not work. Right, those are like those are the kinds of little things that Boston got so damn good at last year that were difference makers for them in their driving kick attack. The other thing I like about this too is instead of going with another offensive player on this wing, you could take the other big and drop him down into the

dunker spot. It creates a little bit more traffic, but at least there's more space up here for Giannis to roll into without as many guys digging down. But it's an imperfect setup. But if you're gonna do it this way, I like more space up top for them to work with. Let's go to our last clip here, all right, So here's an example of having your best shooter in the strong side corner and how that can help once again, Notice how they've shifted the action closer to the top

of the key instead of at this wing. That makes it that there's just more area over here for Yiannis to work with. And now we have Malik Beasley, the best shooter in that space. So now when Yannis catches, Yannis catches, and there's a commitment from Spencer Dinwiddie, but it's the best shooter on the team that can make them pay for it here in that corner. So those are some examples of that one as an example of much better spacing in general to generate a higher quality.

at center. This, however, leaves much to be desired. Steph would have to have a top five season this year, Pods would have to have one hell of a breakout season proportionate to the responsibility we're putting on him, and Comingo would have to take a defensive lead, and Wiggins

would have to have a bounce back season. Draymond can't regress defensively, and Tray Jackson Davis and Kaman Luni would have to be able to defend other dominant biggs while putting pressure on the rit All in all, I'm not too high on us this year, but that could just be dooming gloom Top because of the last two years. I wasn't too upset we missed out on LORII, but I don't know what this team does moving forward to

content to keep up the great work. So as far as the starting lineup goes, I think it's an obvious answer. I would take a page out of JJ Redick's book, which is, yeah, it's an imperfect lineup, but go with the lineup that was your best lineup last year. The Lakers line up with with Ruy Hatchermurrett the three is an imperfect lineup, but it's their best lineup, So it's their best way to go for now until they decide whether or not they want to invest more in this

season and make some sort of personnel trade. Right, Well, what was the best lineup for the Warriors last year? It was obvious it was the It was Draymond at center next to Kaminga and Wiggins. So instead of choosing between one of Kaminga and Wiggins and going two bigs, I would just go Wiggins at the three, Minga the four, Draymond at the five. That was their best line up by far. It was their most used lineup by far. Ye had two hundred and thirty two minutes with Pods

at the two. They were plus twelve per one hundred possessions, which is great. They were great on both ends of the floor, and they rebounded well. They had one hundred and fifty seven minutes with Clay at the two instead, they were plus eighteen net rating great on both ends of the floor. They weren't great on rebounding with that unit, but they weren't terrible either. So like that was your best you were you were really really good with the Kamingo Wigans Draam on front court. So like, is it

a perfect lineup? No, it's It's got some tricky spacing. Kaminga is a little bit of a ball stopper. There are issues with that lineup, not a ton of offensive firepower. But when end doubt, when you have a flawed roster and flawed options one in doubt, just play your five best players that will carry you through the regular season until you can decide whether or not this team is worth investing in, and you make some move to try to balance out a more complete starting lineup. Hey, Jason,

loved the show. If you were the coach of the Bucks, would you tell Giannis to stop shooting threes with a twenty seven percent three point percentage? He's obviously hurting the offense when he does it, and he's not keeping the defense honest because they leave him wide open. Do you think there is any value in those shots whatsoever? Even the announcers call him out for it and say the defense should be sending him thank you cards every time

he does it. He took one hundred and seventy one threes in twenty twenty three and had the worst three point percentage out of all players who had as many attempts. Love to hear your thoughts, thanks, So ironically, the threes are his most efficient jump shot. He shot thirty three percent on mid range jump shots last year. That's just zero points six six points per shot. He shot twenty seven percent on threes, that's zero point eight points per shot. So like he was kind of efficient on long twos.

He shot like thirty nine percent on long twos that were outside at seventeen feet according to Synergy. But even that is just zero point seventy nine points per shot, which is less than the zero point eight points per shot he was getting on threes. He was really really bad on short range, mid range jump shots that are like inside of seventeen feet last year. Now here's the thing. I understand why he's trying to build out that shot.

In the long run, it's about saving energy. It would be great if Jiannis could take three or four threes a game and hit him thirty three percent of the time, so he gets one point per shot, because then he could rest right. So, like my guess is like I I would take it out entirely in the postseason. There's never a reason for him to take a three in the postseason unless it's like late clock and he just has to get something up on the rim, which unfortunately

he's done the opposite of that in his career. He's actually taken more threes in his career. He's taken barely over to a game in his regular season career. He's taken three a game in his regular season career or his postseason career. So like he needs to cut those out. But when he's in the eighty two game season and you're in the Eastern Conference, Like the Bucks aren't gonna fall into the play in There's not enough good teams in the Eastern Conference, right like that. If they were

in the West, totally different issue. But in the East, they're not gonna have to worry about that. So who cares if he lose a game or two off of some inefficient shots from Giannis. If he's trying to build that out in the long run, if he wants to take two or three threes a game as part of his big picture, who cares because it could eventually help you. But yeah, I do think he needs to stop taking

them in the playoffs. I love how Jason. I love how the Lakers ranking is perpetually lifted by this pending trade that Jason has been fantasizing about for the last two seasons. So a couple things. First of all, the Lakers are next in my power rankings. I have them at eight, pretty much in line Vegas has them at ninth in championship odds. The only team that Vegas had above the Lakers that I didn't is the Milwaukee Bucks.

And it's very different to make a trade when you've got two top ten players on your team, like the Lakers have a strong foundation, so a small tweak can go a long way. When you've got two top ten players, you craft really small and achievable roles. When you put good basketball players into small, achievable roles that fit their

skill set, you get enhanced returns as opposed to diminishing returns. Right, And so here's the thing, Like I had another mail back question, someone said, Okay, so the Lakers are getting in the fringed here because they can hit on a trade and have two first round picks. Do you know how many teams below the Lakers have first round picks and have plenty.

without a trade being made. They had just two fewer wins and a much tougher conference. They beat the Bucks head to head both times, even though Lebron James didn't play in either game. They had more wins against teams that were in the top ten and point differential. The Lakers were just They just had a more impressive and more successful season last year than the Bus in my opinion. So like again, like you can argue one way or another, I have them divided by hairs in this tier like

the fifth team and the eleventh team. You could jockey them all around as much as you want. I have the Lakers at eight. I'm sure all the people that hate the Lakers have them lower. I'm going to save most of my Lakers positivity talk until Monday, because on Monday we are covering the Lakers as number eight in

our power rankings. I'll make my case there. If you guys disagree and you want to make a basketball case for why you think I'm wrong about the Lakers, throw them in the mailback question on Monday's show and we'll get to those later on in the UH. In this series, if you were coaching a contender level team, maybe in the six to ten range, how would you approach the n Season Tournament. I loved watching it as a fan, but I'm uncertain how a coach would feel about this

new institution after year one. I love this question, and I think the answer is very simple. You try to win it, no question, you win it. You go and you try to win the damn thing. It's about establishing a culture in your franchise that is entirely focused on winning. NBA fans like to pretend that the regular season doesn't matter, but NBA history tells us that the team that wins the title almost always attacks the regular season from start to finish the whole. Like flip a switch late in

the year. Thing that doesn't happen. It's even rare for a team like Dallas to flip the switch at the tail end of the year and go on a finals run. And by the way, they got their ass kicked when they got there. Like, the team that wins the title is great from start to finish. Winning is part of their character. Real competitors see the n Season Tournament as

another opportunity to prove themselves. I actually expect the n Season Tournament trophy will become more and more prestigious as the years go by, because I do think we will see the great teams in the league consistently win it, consistently go after it, because that's just what winners do. And I think we'll even see the seeding games take on another layer of hensity this year because we had some teams that didn't qualify for the tournament last year,

because you have to take those games very seriously. So I'm a huge fan of the n season Tournament. I think it's going to become a bigger part of the NBA with each passing season. Hey, Jason, when you get to the MAVs, I remember you suggesting earlier that the offense would be a lot better and resilient if they played five out with more movement, especially with the Clay

addition in the offseason. I definitely agree with that. However, in some other recent videos, you made it seem like you were skeptical the MAVs would even do so, given how they empower Luca Ball and that Luca has a very narrow play style. I don't think that's correct. The MAVs do play five out a bunch two. The twenty twenty two Western Conference Finals run was built on it. The reason they hadn't done much this year is because Maxi Kleibo was hurt and he was the center that

made that possible. I also don't think Mark that Mark Cuban the interview was really that relevant because he isn't the coach and he doesn't even have control of basketball operations anymore. The part about Mark Cuban's fair like, I am keeping an open mind about Dallas. I'm going to make up my mind about how they play when I watched them play like that. I want to see what they do. But this is the biggest misconception that I see in the YouTube comments around here. Five out does

not mean five shooters. Five out does not mean a center that can shoot threes. Those are elements that can be utilized in five out, and you're right in a very literal sense. When they would play with max Kliba at the center, Maxic klib at the center, and they had him screen and pop to the top of the key,

that is technically five out because everyone's operating on the perimeter. However, five out is a very complicated play style that encapsulates a bunch of different elements, and one of the key elements that the vast majority of real five out teams use is ball and player movement. Again, the Golden State Warriors ran one of the best and most devastating five out attacks in the league with two non shooters on

the floor at all times. That have andre Iguidala and Draymond Green, or Draymond Green and Kevon Looney or Draymond Green and Andrew Bogit. They consistently had non shooters on the floor, but it was five out because those bigs, those non shooters were screening in passing folkrums that operated from the outside. Dribble, handoff, roll into the paint, not available, catch, go into the next action, right swing, pass, go to

the next action. That's the whole point is like ball, Like five out is about ball in player movement, and the paint is not occupied except for temporarily on cuts, flashes, rolls, and drives. That So again, like, I'm not asking for Dallas to employ a stretch five and to run their exact same offense just with the center that can shoot. I want them to flow from side to side with multiple guys running action because that is what makes you

truly hard to guard. I am skeptical that they'll do that, but I'm keeping an open mind to see if they will once we get into the season. Hi, Jason, do you think this upcoming season might be Lebron's last season as a top player or when do you think we'll see a significant decline in his game?

by referring to them as a bad offense. Can you elaborate on how as a middle of the pack offense during the regular season they were a bad offense, especially when you noted that Ant's elevation in the playoffs was a step you expect him to carry over to the season. Regardless of that, the Wolves were not a bad offense in the playoffs. They weren't a top offense, but they were far from bad. That is all relative. It's relative to the other playoff caliber team. So yeah, they were

seventeenth in defensive or offensive rating. But like, this league has ten really bad teams at the bottom that are outliers, right, So like that's the important thing to consider. It's all we're discussing this relative to the other championship teams. They also played one hundred and forty six minutes of clutch basketball last year, so important late game minutes, less than

five minutes left inside of five points. They had a one to oh four offensive rating in the regular season in one hundred and forty six minutes of clutch basketball. That is abysmal. All three of their clutch losses against Dallas, they lost three games. I went to crunch time against Dallas. They had an offensive rating of eighty in those three games. In those three situations, they turned the ball over on twenty four percent of their possessions in those three clutch performances.

So again, are they really bad offense relative to the rest of the NBA. No, they're below average. But are they bad relative to the real competitive teams at the top of the league. You bet your ass they are. I do agree that Ant's elevation in the playoffs was a step in the right direction, and I think the Wolves will be a better offense this year. I think they'll go up from seventeen to something probably closer to

twelve or thirteen. But if they still have those issues scoring in the half court, because teams don't really have to guard Jada McDaniels, because teams don't really have to guard Rudy Gobert, because teams don't really have to guard and kill Alexander Walker, whoever it is that's out there in those moments, then that's still going to be an issue. But we'll get into that in more detail when we get to the Wolves, and they are considerably higher on

this list if I remember correctly. Can you touch more on the Miami Heat than how BAM's three point development can help transform their offense. Personally, I think it's going to take them to another level when it comes to handoffs and playing at the top of the key. It just adds another element, specifically when Jimmy posts up and Bam spaces to the corner. I think it'll be a great look. I'd love to hear what you think it'll help.

But in order for a shooter to actually create space for an offense, he has to be guarded like a shooter that's a huge difference, right. It's like we were talking about early with the honest, it's not keeping the defense honest if they're never actually guarding you out there. There's only a real multi possession benefit for shooting if you make enough of them to where they actually start

accounting for you with their base defensive scheme. So like, he needs to hit enough of them at a high enough rate to where he's actually being shadowed by his defender. If his defender can dig down and just offer a late contest and you're not burning them enough, it just doesn't matter enough. But yeah, if he does unlock that part of his game, if he does become a shooter that people have to guard, that's great, even more than just the spacing stuff with Jimmy posting up or anything

like that. It'll unlock two big looks for them, and not two big looks with like Kevin Love or I heard some talk about the heat potentially looking at like Vucevich and that sort of thing. And you don't get the benefits of two bigs if it's a finesse big that doesn't bring much physicality to the table. Like if you have a big defensive center that you can play next to Ban because now he's a good shooter that unleashes a whole other element to your offense or to

your defense. I should say, Bradley Beal coming off the bench is what Phoenix needs. As you say, they need a professional defender in the starting lineup, and that can be roy O'Neil, bill Book and Durant is already starting to give you diminishing returns. Another ball handler added to the mix is not it. Here's the thing, this is not going to happen because they just fired their coach and one of the many reasons was Bradley Beal was unhappy with his role. Bradley Bual wants the ball more,

and it's crazy. I went back and watched a good chunk of the Wolves Sun series for our son's preview. Bradley Beal was so bad. He was so bad. And it's tough because, like it's a different role than anything he's done in his career. He's off the ball the majority of the time. It's so much more about knocking down open shots, moving without the basketball, driving closeouts, and they desperately need him because he's probably the best athlete

in the starting lineup. They desperately need him to guard the ball and to do it well. But he did a poor job guarding the ball in the Minnesota Series, and he did a poor job functioning as a cog in the offense in the series. So like it's a

tough role and he's struggling with it. The truth about what Bradley Beal needs to do is it actually does make more sense on this team for him to function as a sixth man so that you can have a better athlete that's committed to the work in the starting lineup, that can guard the other team's best player, be more of a connective piece on offense. Then when brad checks into the game, he can come in guns blazing on offense and have the ball in his hands the whole time.

Then then you close the game with him. Right that Bradley Beal makes too much money to be traded and is not good enough for you to just put the ball in his hands and put Devin Booker and Brad and Kevin Durant off the ball. That's a misallocation of resources.

So in order for Bradley Beal to maximize his potential on this particular team, he's got to become a souped up, overqualified role play, and I just don't think he's willing to do that, and so I'm not sure that there's really a good answer, and I expect it to look a lot like it looked last year. Hey, bro, another great episode. No one breaks it down the way you do. Keep up what you're doing. Thank you for the kind words. Can you talk about the potential impact of Matas Matas

Buzzellis can have on the rebuilding Chicago Bulls team. That young man is so dynamic. I think he's the deal of the draft. We had a question a few weeks back, a mail back question talking about like what the Bulls should do as part of the rebuilt process, and I talked a lot about how you gotta find out what you got. You gotta find out what Josh Kitty has, and Matas Buzzellis is another example of that, Like give him lots of opportunity and find out if you have

something there. Once you identify what your foundation is, then you can start to look at their strengths and weaknesses and how to build around them. But you got to find out what your foundation is first. And there was not really much to get excited about in terms of young players in that organization. Mantas Buzzellis is the first guy in a while where it's like, Hey, let's see what this guy's got, and I'm excited to watch him too.

We'll be covering him very closely this year. Last question, Jason, if you were the Magic general manager, what would you do in the next calendar year to take the team from Tier two to Tier one? So the key here is you don't want to jump the gun. If I had to improve the Magic in the short term, I

would bring in a skill guard. Let's just say, like D'Angelo Russell, for instance, and I'd have him handle the rock and I'd have Palo and Franz operate more off the ball, because those guys are really struggling right now

to be decision makers and half court shot creators. Right They're struggling, especially in like slow down physical environments, right A skill guard that you can compensate for by doing all the dirty work and creating an opportunity for him to just set guys up with quality opportunities would go a long way towards elevating the Magic in the short term. But the short term doesn't matter. If it's not good enough to win the championship, which the magic are not

there yet. So the goal here is you want to not change too much. You want to continue to force feed Fronz and Pollow to basketball as much as possible over a longer period of time, so you can get a really firm grasp on what they're good at and what they suck at. Then when Palo's a fourth or fifth year player and Franz has even more experience than that, at that point you can sit down as a front office.

You can be like, Okay, Palo's played three hundred and fifty NBA games now, you know, or three hundred two to fifty, however many it is. He's played a few hundred NBA games. Now we have a good grasp of what he's getting much better at and what his true weaknesses are. Now we can look to really be more precise and deliberate with tweaks around those guys. But it's just like I was talking about the bulls. You have

to find out what you have first. What we know about Fronz and Polo is that they have a world of potential, but we have no idea how much of that potential they're going to reach, and what specific areas they're going to get better at, and what specific areas they're going to struggle with. Like what if we don't know is Palo going to become better and better as a playmaker overtime or better and better as a scorer overtime?

Is Palo going to be a guy that becomes a really good jump shooter or is the jump shot never going to come around? Because if the jump shots never going to come around, that alters is ceiling a little bit. Same goes for Front's right. So in the short term, you don't want to jump the gun. You want to give these guys opportunities you can learn about them in real detail, about what they're going to be when they're in their prime, so that you can then build around

them at that point. Patience is key with young players. That's all I have for to I have one last point. If you guys are into Rings of Power, My buddy Luke and I this morning just recorded like forty five minutes breaking down that crazy episode seven of the penultimate episode of Rings of Power. So you can find that on my YouTube channel which is two Suns Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Under two Sun's podcasts. Don't forget to hop over there and support that. We're done

for the weekend. I'll be back on Monday to cover the Lakers and read everybody complain about it the comments.