Hoops Tonight X Nerd Sesh - 5 Big NBA Questions: Warriors surging, Celtics vs. field, Trae Young to Lakers?

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bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See dkang dot com slash promos for deposit wagering and eligibility restrictions, terms and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops to night here at the volume, Happy Friday, everybody, hope all of you guys had an incredible week. Here's a quick breakdown of how the All Start Break is going to go today. We have the Nerd Sash guys going

coming on. We're gonna do some big picture NBA questions. I got five of them. We're gonna hit some contenders. We're gonna talk about duos. We're gonna rank the duos around the NBA. We're gonna talk about the top three picks in last year's draft, a little bit of a rookie check in, something we haven't done yet this year. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And then next week, early in the week, I plan on having Sam Vassini

on the show. We're gonna go contender by contender and do a deep dive on every single one of them, basically like a two thirds of the way through the season type of check in. And then we'll do one more Power Rankings video and one more mail bag before we go live on Thursday night after Warriors Lakers. So make sure in this video and in the any of the breakout clips and stuff that we released, drop as many mail back questions as you can because we'll get

one more in before the end of the week. Next week, So with the Nerd, says guys Logan and Carson, We're going to start with a pic a big picture question about the Eastern Conference. So we're gonna start with you, Carson. So the Bucks are three and seven since dock Rivers took over. The Sixers are three and seven in their last ten games. Obviously, injuries have played a huge role there, the Miami Heat are basically all of their top tier

athletes except for bam Adebayo, are currently hurt. The New York Knicks entire frontline is currently hurt. Literally, they're starting three, four and five are all out, and so they've been looking pretty rough as of late. The Pacers and Calves have like some exciting talent. Obviously, the Pacers haven't been able to really play that well under with Siakam in the lineup yet. I think a big part of that is Tyres Haliburton is still struggling to come back from

his injury. Hasn't looked that good. But the Calves are winning a ton of games, but they don't really check a lot of boxes that you would expect to see among a traditional NBA contender. So here's my question for you guys this point, Is it a safe for bet to take the Celtics over the field in the Eastern Conference?

at least five like sub All Star caliber talents. Derek White, there was certainly a push room to make it at a stretch early in the year when you consider his incredible defensive value, his secondary playmaking, his pull up shooting, his cash and shooting like that's a top fifty guy in terms of winning impact, and then everybody else, I would just say stamped is an all star caliber talent.

Like Drew hasn't had the offensive production this year, but he is doing so many unbelievable things defensively and KP I legitimately thought should have been there. He's the most efficient twenty point per game score in the league. He has been the second most effective rim protector in basketball in terms of the field goal percenters that he's holding

opposing players to at the rim. So it's ridiculous like this is a regular season juggernaut and they are very much working their you know those conversations when we talk about the best regular season teams of the twenty first century. At the very least, we've seen so much more parody in the league in recent years in terms of teams not having those like utterly dominant regular seasons. And they could be the first sixty five win team since the

twenty eighteen Rockets. They're eleventh all time in point differential per game. So I just don't want to undersell how great of a basketball team this is, and how I do think the Dynamics are at least a bit different from years past, on top of them just having even more overwhelming talent because of a guy like Christaps Porzingis because of now how truly overwhelming the offensive skill is the fact that everybody on the floor at all times

is a high level shooter. So any drive and kick situation when you're forced to help somebody is going to be getting a good shot from deep. He is also the ultimate mismatch attacker. Like in the NBA, right now, Porzingis is averaging one point four points per post up.

It's obscene. He can shoot over anybody at will. He's the most physical we've ever seen him, getting great position, and he's drawing fouls at an obscene rate because he's just got overwhelming physical advantages in a vast majority of those matchups. And that's the problem that teams are going to face defensively against Boston. It's really your weakest defender on the floor can be hunted by anyone at any time.

They just have so many dudes who are so skilled offensively and also high end athletes physically imposing and then you consider the addition of a Drew Holliday, who brings a little bit more offensive punch certainly compared to like a Marcus Smart, and is defending at an even higher level, especially when you consider what he can do as a roamer when he can do guarding post players like the guy's just a freak. Derek White is significantly better than

he's ever been. Jason Tatum is stronger, he's more willing to post up. And I know Jason that you and really we on your show have discussed often how he at times it still feels like lets defenses off the hook and should impose himself more physically and does rely too much on those pull up threes at a high volume, and that's killed them in the past. But he is

at least a better version of himself. And introducing a guy like KP, I think, is somebody who can allow them to break some of those stretches where they are relying too much on pull up threes, one pass catch and shoot threes, because he really can find a mismatch at almost any time on the floor, and he is that interior scoring presence. And it's a small sample size, but in clutch situations. This year, he has been their number one score and he's done it with crazy efficiency.

So I think this team is great. I still slightly prefer Denver because I think they have the best player on the floor by a lot, and I think that offensive formula is just gonna be effectively unstoppable for them. But if Jason Tatum played like a consistent superstar maybe top five player kind of guy, it would be tough for anybody to beat Boston and out East, there are some teams that have upside, but they just have a

lot more questions. I love the Knicks, but for them to beat Boston, you would need Julius Randall to play at a sustained level that I just don't buy from him. He is like one of the great playoff droppers of the twenty first century. He has fallen apart in every individual playoff series that we've seen him in. And the Dynamics are different there because they have so much more spot up shooting. Their defensive personnel is so much better.

But at the end of the day, with Randall in a volume roll like, you're gonna need him to deliver, and I just don't trust him. And then the Bucks you always have the upside because Dame and Giannis can go nuclear, but they would need to somehow figure out a way to guard this Boston team who has all of these skilled and yet big and strong and athletic ball handlers, And I just don't see that, like Pat Bev is your point of attack, defensive move at the deadline.

You can't play a Dame and Pat Bev lineup against the Boston Celtics like you're just gonna get bullied. So ultimately, everybody else's flaws to me are just more significant. And this Boston team is crazy talented.

and I'm gonna be that guy again. The one thing that does scare me about the playoffs is the fact that Boston is attempting nearly forty four percent of all their shots from deep, that's the most in the league. And they attempt just just below twenty nine percent of their shots at the rim. That's twenty seventh in the league. Right, So when we're talking about offensive dynamicism in the clutch,

it's Boston does tend to settle a little bit. I think this year they are more well equipped to get rid of that fatal flaw because they have Christops, because they have a guy like Drew Holliday, Derek White, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum. These are all guys that, like you said, Carson, in hypothetical matchups against teams, they can kind of get. In theory, the Celtics are so dominant physically and athletically and have these advantages that they should be able to

get whatever they want. But it's their tendency to go to those outside shots. But I do think this is a and if we're gonna predict Boston to finally break through and get through that ceiling, it's gonna be this year because of Christops, because I think he breaks uh, he can break up those Lulls. You said it perfectly. That's gonna be the biggest challenge for Boston to overcome. It has been the past two seasons, and I do think the East is just really far away.

it pertains to Dame. Like Dame has shot below forty percent from the field in ten of his last fifteen games. How crazy is that? Yeah, Like it's become a safer bet than not that he's going to have a putrid shooting night on any given night that he goes out there. It's like it's like anytime you look at the box scores or you're looking through the nightly slight on the ESPN app and you click on a Bucks game, it's like you could bet it's going to be like five

or seventeen per dame. Like, it's just like it's become the trend here over the course of this especially as of late, Like it's not one of those things where he's gaining rhythm and figuring it out with continuity. It's

actually getting worse over time. But with the Celtics, I mean, obviously there are still some things there that are big question marks as it pertains to like just look at their most recent losses, Like all of their recent losses have involved going up against the upper level, upper echelon teams in the league and then their offense in particular falling Apart. That said, any sort of question mark that has risen from the Celtics this year pales in comparison

to the question marks we've seen. The Bucks have defended a little bit better since Doc took over, but their offense has completely fallen apart. Obviously, I agree with you. Like Patrick Beverley, I think as far as the discounted options that were available at the deadline, I thought he was a good pick up. Yeah, and I think he gives them a certain look that they can go to.

I think in particular matchups it'll be super valuable, like going against pretty much anybody that's guard centric, so like a team like New York, Like I'd love to have him to throw out of Jalen Brunson for extended stretches of a series and stuff like that. But I just think the question marks that have kind of materialized over the course of the season for Milwaukee greatly exceed that

that we've seen from Boston. The Sixers, even if Embiid was healthy, I didn't really view them as a legitimate contender. I didn't think they had enough shot creation beyond Joel Embiid.

Not to mention obviously, all the question marks surrounding Joel Embiid, like basically his success this year in large part has fallen on the jump shot, which is pretty much what the success was in his MVP season last year, and so that kind of raised some question marks as to whether or not that would translate to the next level the Miami Heat, you know, like in a weird way,

like they have it. Even before Terry Roger hurt his leg, they weren't really getting much offensive production out of Terry Rozier to begin with. Their team that relies pretty heavily on guys like Duncan Robinson and Tyler Harrow to generate offense. That to me is kind of makes them a long shot. Although I'll never right off the Miami Heat obviously, but I have the question marks there on the Knicks front, you know. You know, Carson, you were talking about Julius Randall.

One of the big things that I look at with him is he's such a rhythm player, and like I almost feel terrible for him with his shoulder injury because once again he's gonna come back and have like fifteen games to get his legs underneath him before he gets into the postseason, and that specifically is the issue. Julius Randall's that guy that like, if he can play two consecutive months without getting hurt, he kind of like just gets in a groove where his touch is dialed in

and he becomes really gifted. But like again, if you just zoom out from the Nicks. It's like, you need Ojan Andobe to come back and not have any more issues with his elbow. He didn't, they'd literally have to remove a foreign body from it. You know, You've got Julius Randall and his rhythm and inconsistencies, and then Mitchell Robinson. Will he come back or not. There's just a lot

of question marks on that front. And so when you just simply break it down to odds, it just feels a hell of a lot more likely that Boston will win than any of these other stories even combined. And you know, I did a deep dive on the Celtics earlier this week talking about some of their spacing principles, and you know, I think there's a pretty clear line

to some of their offensive issues being solved. Like, for instance, when they look to attack from the wings, in particular with an occupied corner, it seems to kind of bait specifically Tatum and Brown into really difficult pull up jump shots because they don't see driving lanes because guys are digging down into the lanes. And all the Celtic shooters are good shooters, but none of them are like unbelievable

dead eye, like you cannot leave this guy open. Even for a second type of shooters, they all can be a little streaky, you know, like like Derek White, very good shooter, but he's not a professional shooter. You know. Drew Holliday, very good catch and shoot shooter, not a professional shooter, you know. Like that's where it gets these guys. You can kind of sit into driving lanes and close out and and kind of just play the numbers in

a lot of ways. But you know, you put it simply, Carson, like, if he plays at a top five level, they're just going to win. That's the way I see it, like, because the one case is that a team like Denver or a team like the Clippers can just bring significantly more star power to bear in these sorts of situations, and as much as Tatum can close that gap, they just have so much more margin for error than the

rest of these teams. And so, I mean, really, I guess this would be my last question for you guys before we move on. Do you think, with some of the implications of the second Apron, with the new CBA, and with the rise of some of these other teams around the league, do you view this particular playoff run as a as an urgent one for Boston. Does it feel like this is the one they have to win?

win the title. So many times Boston was the most talented team in the league last year, I would say, they didn't win the title, and then they got like significantly more talented. So in terms of is their window gonna close, no, I don't think so.

later down the line, but it could. So I wouldn't say that they have to do it this year, but I would say this year or next there's a lot of pressure on them to get it done one of those years.

in the finals. Right, there is a huge on Boston's back, and I feel like it's gonna continue to grow unless they get it done this year. They do feel like the overwhelmingly most talented team. And yeah, I don't think the rest of the East is up to muster. Man. Like I said, I like the Knicks a lot, but there's too many moving parts there. I completely count out

the Bucks. I think they have to not that they have to get it done, like you said, they're gonna have these guys next year, but I think this would be the most embarrassing way, Like if they don't get to the finals, you know what I mean, I think this would be the worst season for this Boston team in the past five years.

that like they're they're they're they're really well run. They've got just a lot of really good basketball players on their roster, and they have the means with which to make a superstar trade should something like that come available

over the offseason. Like there's just a lot of really encouraging stuff coming out of New York obviously, like the the young talented teams around the Eastern Conference, whether it's Indiana or it's Cleveland, Orlando's another team I'd keep an eye on in the future as a team that could be a particularly could particularly be a pain in the ass in the playoffs, just with some of the physical

advantages they bring to the to the table. So and then and then obviously out West, like it's just gonna be a bloodbath out there, especially with some of the older teams on the table, and like whoever comes out of the Western Conference is just gonna be in worse shape in terms of how much they've had to endure than whoever comes out of the East. And so I

just I just view it as an opportunity. This feels like the year Tatum's twenty six are going to be twenty six, I think I think his birthday is very nat or either it just happened or it's gonna happen soon. So like to me, it's just it's the best opportunity that they're gonna have to go get this thing. And so I hope that, you know, for for Tatum's sake, that they can capitalize on it. All right, moving on our next question, we'll sorry with you, Logan. So the

Warriors seem to be taking shaite, right. We know what the front line looks like. It's Wiggins, Kaminga and Draymond, although Steve kerr inexplicably at the end of the Jazz game last night played a three guard lineup as they got absolutely murdered on the offensive glass and nearly blew that game. But for the most part, it's been Wiggins,

Kminga and Draymond in the front line. You know, obviously the backcourd it seems to be obviously is gonna start, but they can kind of go with Clay or Pazemski based on you know, the matchup or whether or not Clay's got to go in the way that he did last night. So we kind of a general feel of what the team looks like. We know Chris Paul is going to come back and add some more stability to the bench, and it's basically hopping into the Leicester Kenyona's men.

This is what I'm expecting. But there's been some good and bad. The eight out of ten, their starting lineup has been very, very good, but they've just had an absolute nightmare of a time, particularly in the fourth quarter,

particularly when games are close. And so I guess, let's just now that we've seen this, it's weird with the Warriors because all these other teams we kind of knew more about way earlier in the season, and like we're almost evaluating the Warriors from the perspective of like where we would normally evaluate a team at the end of November, because we're just like, Okay, we got like a good fifteen game sample size of like this group of guys playing a certain brand of basketball, And so I guess,

let's zoom out for a second. How do we feel about the Warriors? Do you view them as like a traditional contender, just a really good playoff team or something less than that. Where are you at with the Warriors logan?

Like you know, Draymond starting the break. Draymond is so great at just getting the ball out immediately. And they've got other athletes like if it's Wiggins connecting it to Kamingo, who's finishing, uh, you know, the fast break whoever. It is, like, they move really well up and down the floor. They're fast, they're athletic, and on offense, I mean, they really spread

defenses out, you know. I think that's been a big key for me, is without Looney out there, you know, you don't have a I mean, Draymond's also been hitting threes an insane rate too, which I don't know if we can expect to keep up. You know, that's a big part of it too. All season, true, I'm crossing my fingers. Dra has been insane And so that's a big component is they are really spreading and stretching defense is out. It's it's really an optimized offense for virtually

every lineup without Looney at the five. You know, if it's Dra at the five, if it's sar Rich, if it's tjd All of those guys are high IQ, good decision makers who can stretch the floor. And I mean you see it with a lot of the double screens at the top of the key, and the Warriors run so many different actions out of that. I love it where you know, if it's Kamingo on a back door cut, if it's Clay relocating, they just run so many actions

out of that that it's really hard. You know, it keeps a defense on its heels because of how many different things they can do out of those sets. The one thing that scares me about the Doves, and it's really similar to Boston, Actually, three point shooting is still going to be the biggest variants in the biggest swing factor for the Duves. You know, this is still a very perimeter oriented team. And that's the thing that scares me the most about Golden State is the volatility of

the three point shot. Forty percent of their shots are coming from three this season, that's the fifth highest percentage in the league, and just twenty seven percent of their shots come at the rim, that's the lowest percentage in the league. They just don't exert a ton of pressure

on the rim. So what does that mean that means that Dray is gonna have to have a great shooting run, Wiggins is gonna have to have a great shooting run, Clay is gonna have to swing series, and on top of that, Kaminga is gonna have to play like a

legit number two when those guys aren't at their best offensively. Like, I really like what Golden State's done, but just considering those factors, the fact that I think all of those guys are gonna have to reach a different level offensively and are gonna have to shoot the lights out, the fact that in a lot of these matchups, I think they're at a huge, massive athletic and physical disadvantage. Jason, you talk about the game the other night where they're

getting out rebounded down the stretch. That scares me in any series against any team out West, you know, or the Dove's gonna be able to hang on the glass. Uh. It just it seems like for me that a lot more needs to go right than to go wrong. And it scares me that in a rock fight, in one of these grimy games, you know, Golden State just goes cold from the three point line and their offense completely

he disappears. You know what I mean. They don't have these like Carson, like you were saying with Christops in Boston, they don't have a guy that can really break up these It's Kuminga at this point. And that's just a lot of pressure to put on a young guy's shoulders. Like that to me, where I think everybody's gonna have to play beyond their means. You need Comena to play like a star. Yeah, they're just at major physical disadvantages and I think they're at a little overly reliant on

the three point shot. I love the Warriors. It's I'm gonna be honest, guys. I love watching the Warriors play. They're one of my favorite teams to ever watch in basketball history, and I enjoy watching them on a night to night basis. It's gonna break my heart if they get knocked out in the playoffs, man, because it's gonna

kind of feel like the end of an era. But I there's really no world in which I see Golden State hoisting the trophy at the at the end of this, Man, there's just too many factors that I think need to They're gonna need to go right in the playoffs.

I just don't think that Looney was playing at a level this year where you could justify giving him twenty something minutes a game starting him like you did last year's playoff run, when obviously he was awesome, especially on the glass. But now the spacing is so much better, as Logan mentioned, and that offensive congestion, having the sort of too big approach to just obvious non shooters with how Draymond was shooting the ball last year, really shrunk

the floor for them. And I do still wonder in a playoff setting. There's no question that it's a better situation now, and really everybody on the floor can handle and everybody can knock down an open jumper. I still worry if Draymond sustains this level, if Kaminga sustains the necessary level as a three point shooter. Wiggans obviously has been super volatile this year, Like, those are guys who

in the regular season you respect as floor spacers. In a playoff chess match, I worry a little bit about having a few guys who, yeah, can knock down those shots but consistently aren't necessarily great three point shooters. But overall, I just think it's so much better basketball Offensively. Draymond does unlock so much with his playmaking logan you mentioned pushing the tempo pods has been awesome there too. What Draymond does facilitating those split actions, like, it's just really

pretty basketball. They look like the Warriors right now. They're doing their stuff, and when Draymond comes back, he changes a whole bunch of those dynamics. Not only does he allow them to play these sort of small ball looks because he's such a freak defensively, he really does do so much to unlock everything that this team can do in terms of the creativity away from the ball, and they've just been way better when he's on the floor. When he plays, they outscore opposing teams by six points

four hundre posessions. They're legitimately a really good basketball team, and we're seeing that right now, particularly with the small ball lineup that has Pods in there with Clay, Curry, Wiggs, Kaminga and they've still been good. But when you put Pods in there instead of Clay, that is a plus twenty six net rating, not a huge stample size, but we've seen them legitimately run that lineup with good volume over this last ten plus game stretch with Ray at

the five, and they're just killing people. So I think that if you are looking at a matchup against say the Clippers, as we saw a couple days ago, they easily could have won that game, or the Suns, who they did beat, like these teams who don't have these overwhelming, super physical, big front lines, then I think this team can run and gun, and I think that they can hold up defensively in those matchups, and I think that they give themselves the best shot at an upset where

I get concerned about it. The reason I can't say that I could see them winning the title is that means you have to find a way to beat the Denver Nuggets, and the Denver Nuggets are going to be way way bigger than you, stronger than you, and still have this tremendous offensive skill, still have this unbelievable perimeter shot making, have all this continuity, have the best player on the floor, and that's a really tough mountain against the Clippers. Also, I think like you should play small

against them. That gives you your best chance. But also they just have more of those star level shot creators, and that's what concerns me. Logan, you mentioned the reliance on the three. It's the Golden State Warriors. They've always been relying on the three. They're an outlier because they have the greatest shooter of all time and the second greatest shooter of all time. Like, that's not what concerns me.

What concerns me is the lack of a second guy who can really threaten defenses with the ball in his hands. They don't have obviously what Kevin Durant did, but they also don't have Jordan Poole in twenty twenty two, who was awesome in that playoff run. They don't have a Klay Thompson who was more comfortable putting the ball on the floor, like at least was a capable athlete, right, And that, to me is the one thing that they had to find a way to acquire at the deadline.

Kaminga of course brings you some of that on ball scoring with his mismatch attacking, but it's different. And I do worry a little bit about guys in playoff settings who are so specifically reliant on athletic tools and don't necessarily have that skilled shot making. So they are playing so much better. They have found the best version of themselves.

But against like the best teams in the West, it's kind of the same thing where it's like, all right, can they hang physically and do they have that second star that all of these other teams are gonna have? And I'm still not convinced on those fronts.

good playoff teams that have big red flags. And you can say that about literally every team outside like whether it's the thunder just being kind of small and inexperienced, whether it's the Timberwolves having issues with late game offense and execution, whether it's the Suns with their lack of physicality. You know, we can go on and on down the list.

They all have their issues, and so first there's a lot of good one eight of their last ten, the Steph Draymond Kmingo Wiggins line up up regardless of who it is at the two are plus sixteen net one twenty offensive rating. That's awesome, one oh four defensive rating. That's awesome. But they have in my opinion, three major issues, and these three issues are specifically bothering them at the

end of games. Although there is some one of them in particular is kind of stretching into other elements of the game. So, first of all, on the offensive end of the floor, they incredibly they're incredibly dependent, specifically on

Steph's shot making at the end of games. I went back this morning, even though I watched the games live, I just wanted to just look over the film a little bit closer at all the Warriors offensive possessions as they kind of blew things light against Utah and then as they blew things late against the Clippers, and it's just like it's Steph running around in circles until he can get a shot. That's literally what it is, and like when it goes in, it looks good and when

it doesn't, they just don't really have another option. And like here's the thing. Steph throughout most of the season, with the exception of like these last two games have been a little bit on the rougher side, but like

he's he's made a lot of those shots. But the problem is is even with Steph making almost fifty percent of his shots, you know, well over forty percent of his threes in these clutch situations over the last fifteen games, the Warriors have gone to crunch time eight of those fifteen games, and they have a one to h five offensive rating. So regardless of Steph making a good amount of these shots, it's not amounting to points on a per possession basis. And like one of the things I

talked about, you had mentioned rock fight. I think it was Logan who had brought that up. When you get into these rock fights, like a lot of times those jumpers do miss because guys are just tired. And that that That's not to say Steph won't make some of them. He's the best shooter of all time. But like this is why, like you know, early in the season, we were preaching, like go get a Siakam because like he's a guy that can turn his back to the basket, bully his way close to the rim, and try to

make something happen there. And like, honestly, like this is where I have some more Like both of you guys are really low on the Warriors as a championship contender. And don't get me wrong, I like I said, I put them in that tier below the Nuggets and the Clippers, but I think they have as good of a chance as any of those other teams. And the main reason why some of these problems are fixable, for instance, like throw some variety in there at the end of the games. Offensively,

don't rely only on Steph. If you can find a way to give some of those possessions to Kaminga on post ups or Wiggins on ISOs, or even just running more of your motion stuff and getting the ball in Pajemski's hand, who's done a really nice job of kind of hoeing that line of aggression and keeping the ball movement. Like if you do something like that, you buy some more time for rest for Steph where he might be

able to make more of those shots. The second big piece of it is the defensive end of the floor they have in those eight clutch games over the last fifteen, they have a one to thirty Dick's defensive rating. It has been a consistent issue this year, and that even extends to fourth quarters at large. Now again, I was like, let's go look at the tape. So I was looking at the tape specifically of the Clippers game, and I think a lot of it is fixable. This is not

a group that has bad defensive personnel. Draymond Green is one of the very best back line anchors that you can have for defense in the NBA. Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kaminga, Gary Payton, Brandon Pitziemski. That is a good core of perimeter defenders. They are capable of being a much better

defense than they have been. And one of the big things that I've noticed, and this is on Steve Kerr, they have been a little bit like the old Raptors teams under Nick Nurse, where they're just overly aggressive and unnecessarily overhelping the Norman Powell's left corner three, the one that bet Brandon Pitzemski ran over his head and then he kind of pumped baked and leaned in and shot.

It was a possession where they basically for no particular reason at all, double teams Paul George on a pick and roll when they didn't really need to, and it left an easy skip pass because Pazemski had to tag the roller. There was a play where Norman Palell made a three in the right corner. This is the one where Draymond Green went flying past him and swiped over his head and missed and Norman Palall made the three.

Jonathan Kaminga was guarding Russell Westbrook in the dunker spot and it was in a great position to help on James Harden's drive on Brandon Pazemski and Draymond Green vacated the strong side corner to overhelp and gave up an open three when he was not the right person to help there, and in general should not help out of the strong side corner, especially off of basically the best spot up shooter in basketball right now at is execution based.

Steph Curry overhelped on a Russell Westbrook drive out of the right side corner. Like it's been a consistent issue, and then so I look at it as some fixable stuff on defense that's just execution. And then we talked about the Steph Curry focus on the offense late in the games, which I think has kind of led to some diminishing returns. And then, last, but not least, they are a dog shit rebounding team. Like it is a

big problem now. They've been a good rebounding team for most of the season, in large part, like you mentioned, Carson, going with bigger lineups playing more of Kevon Looney. But this is a crazy stat. First of all, let's start big picture, Steph, Draymond Kmingo Wiggins. That main lineup, even with as dominant as they've been, only a sixty nine point eight percent defensive rebounding percentage. That's not good. Here's

another crazy stat for you. In the Jazz and Clippers games, in crunch time seven minutes of crunch time, they gave up an offensive rebound on eighty seven point five percent of their opponent's misses in those two games. Think about how crazy that is. If you were watching the Get Jazz game and it felt like every single time they missed they tapped it out and got an offensive rebound, it's because they did. They finally got one stop at

the end of the Clippers game. It was a James Harden step back three at the top of the key. Nobody boxed out Russell Westbrook. He got an offensive rebound. And again, if you look down the roster, if you look at Draymond Green, you look at John Kamika, you look at Andrew Wiggins, that's a lot of athleticism and long arms. They just have to do a better job.

And so like some of it is like like you mentioned Carson, like there are gonna be certain matchups like Denver's just bigger and more athletic than them on the front line, even with those guys, and so there's gonna be some limitations in the bigger picture. But I do think some of this is fixable. There is some better offensive process. Can they beat the can they match some of the firepower that other teams can bring to the table. No, But I think I don't think there are a one

to oh five offensive rating clutch team either. I think there's some room for improvement there defensively again not overhelping, and then as a team doing a better job rebounding. So again, they're just like any of these other teams. Their fate depends on their ability to address their weaknesses and reach their individual ceiling, and so I do put them in that tier. I just think there are a

lot of things that have to go right. Are you guys, Let's go back to go back to you guys really quickly, Logan, what are you guys noticing in your time watching the late game off and stuff with the Warriors. Is it something that you think is fixable or are you more concerned about it?

then the one against Phoenix. He literally drives on Anthony Davis, runs all the way to the hoop, dribbles back out to the right elbow, gives him a hesitation, and luckily Anthony Davis opens up the gate so Steph Curry can go in and get that lay up to tie the game up, sends it to Ot late in the game against the Suns, Bradley Beal bites on an inbounds pass and leaves Steph wide open for that deep, game winning three.

He is the league game offense. I think he is a much better job of, like you said, alleviating the pressure, giving him a breather. I mean, if anybody, and I think they have guys that they can turn to. It's like you guys said, it's Wigans is not at the level he was during the run. They don't have a guy like Jordan Poole, but they have guys that they can rely on, like if it's kaminga being physical and just like you said, get touching the ball in the paint.

It's not even about getting the shot down there. It's about creating the advantage, drawing the attention to the paint and that'll open up everything else with the team. And I think they should lean on Pods more too, like they have personnel. I think it is about execution. But STEP's a goat. But I don't think he can carry them single handedly through the playoffs in these big moments. It's just too much pressure on his shoulders. But I

do think it's fixable. I think they have the personnel in place to make it happen.

Last year they were twenty fourth in clutch offensive rating, and then out of sixteen playoff teams, they were thirteenth in clutch offensive rating. And the reality is, when you have one high level shot creator on your team, and that guy is particularly reliant on pull up jump shots, it's tough to manufacture a good clutch offense. Like there are ways to make the most out of the attention that Steph demands, but generally it's more like structured ato

kind of stuff. You think about that clay game winner, where Steph is a super effective diversion. At the end of the day, though you're probably not gonna run a lot of actions where it's like, all right, can Steph get open away from the ball in these last ninety seconds, or maybe he draws a second defender that opens up something for somebody else. It's like, you're gonna probably mostly put the ball in Steph's hands and the defense is gonna know that, and he might have to take a

tough pull up. So I'm not super optimistic about that because I really think when you don't have another guy who can threaten defenses with their shot creation, and I'm just not sure in clutch spots Kaminga is that guy, there's kind of a ceiling to what you can do.

go a long way towards him being more efficient. And and then again just part of the issue too is like, because they lean so much into Steph, when another guy gets an opportunity to even like look at the rim that they won't they'll turn and look for Steph. Because it's like it's almost it's almost become like the it's like you better not like you better get that ball

back to Steph. He's our one hope here. And it's like, I think in general, even though the Wiggans possessions might lead to some frustration and the Kaminga possessions might lead to some frustration, his jumper, by the way, is gone right off of the ledge after it was red hot there for a little while. Like that's one of those

things where you are more unpredictable offensively. If we come out of the time out and it's like, well, are they gonna post up Kaminga, Are they gonna use Steph as a screener to try to get one of these guys downhill or are they gonna run this action for Steph? Whereas if it's like it's gonna be Steph, you know, and it's like okay, We're gonna switch the ball screen with put Anthony Davis on, and we'll live with the results. Like that's it just becomes it just becomes really predictable.

All right, let's agree, go ahead.

many dudes are quit good athletes. The spacing is just clearly better, whereas Minnesota, although Kat is obviously super skilled big, they still are running these two big looks with a very conventional offensive five, and they are really just like a quick athletic team. I'm looking forward to seeing them with Gordon Hayward when he debuts after the All Star break, because to me, the biggest red flag about this team

in the playoffs. Arguably at the very least, there's a couple other ones experience as we talked about strength, physicality in the front court, but particularly playing Josh Kitty twenty five minutes a game just doesn't do it for me. I think that when you have a guy who is not a plus athlete, not a plus touch shot maker, certainly not a plus defender, and then really struggles to knock down open catch and shoot jumpers like that guy's just gonna get played off the floor in a playoff series.

It doesn't matter how snazzy, how sick of a passer he is. There's too many exploitable weaknesses there, particularly against Minnesota. We saw the Minnesota Simberwolves do what any Rudy Gobert Anchor defense loves to do more than anything in the world, which is park Rudy and the paint have him as a full time helper. Say let's put him on the weakest shooter on the team who can just sit in the corner, and Rudy doesn't have to guard that guy,

And that's what they did against Josh Gitty. If it's Gordon Hayward, who brings all the same good traits, the playmaking, the ability to create in those driving kick situations, to handle out of pick and roll, he does all of that, but he's better in terms of the scoring on ball. And then he also will actually knock down forty percent of his catch and choot jumpers. So maybe seeing that realized changes my opinion on this, because I have concerns about Minnesota.

I mean, they are just so much stronger and more physical. I like the depth for both of these teams, so that's not necessarily a huge difference maker for me, and I really do believe that this defense is going to

be elite regardless of the matchup. I wonder a little bit if like the Thunder could attack cat and space because they have so many quick guys who can handle the ball and they can run, and really those four perimeter players at all time lineups, and then chet at your five who are super skilled from the perimeter too. But you mentioned the Rock Fight, and it does feel like in those hyper physical environments, Minnesota still just fares

a little bit better, and they've been there before. But I don't know, it's really close for me here because Okay, See is pretty clearly the better offensive team, and I don't necessarily see that changing, but I do think Minnesota can kind of grind people down with elite defense and then just enough of that half court shot making from from Att and Kat.

Minnesota is to draw them out. But I do just have more confidence in Minnesota, and they've been really impressive and their last ten they're number one in net rating, they're number five offensive rating, number one in defensive rating, and they do just have physical advantages where like you know, in those scenarios offensively and in certain possessions, like the Warriors do scam me, but they're gonna crush them on the glass, like go bear seven to one, seven nine wingspan,

Towns seven foot, seven to four wingspan. McDaniels is somewhere between six nine and six eleven within your seven foot wink. They're huge. Anthony Edwards is a tank, you know what I mean. They're just they're big and physical, and I think their track record's kind of proven this regular season. They're twenty and eleven on the road. They have the best record in the league versus teams that are above

five hundred. Like, yeah, I do worry about this offense stalling out in a half court setting spacing issues because with Rudy Gobert, Karl Anthony Towns disappearing on a big stage. Right now, they're twentieth and clutch offensive rating one oh seven point nine. That's the fifth lowest of any current eight, top eight seed, any current playoff team that's in there. And okay, see that's not a problem. They have the

number one half court offense in basketball. They have the number three much offensive rating this year, like okay, so he just doesn't have those offensive weaknesses Minnesota does. But I like their track record. I like their defense more. I like their continuity. And I don't know, man, I I kind of like the vibes of this team. I don't know, man, I like the I like the vibes in Minnesota right now, to say the least, you guys, did you guys see the shirt that Mike Conley was

wearing the other night, the finchy shirt. I don't know, man, I like the I like the energy of Minnesota a lot. Is a bit of a cop out. Minnesota is huge, and that ultimately is the distinction to me. I believe in the defense. I believe in their physical and athletic and advantages in a grimy, nasty playoff environment where it's tough to get a bucket. I think Minnesota is is equipped to deal with those environments.

best five into essentially a guy who's arguably perfect. Maybe not positionally, but at least in terms of like veteran guy who could do all the little things well in terms of like a connectivity type of piece. Like, I think it just makes a ton of sense. I also, like,

I was literally thinking about this last night. This this thought hit me randomly because our next question we're going to be talking about Kendrick Perkins and his mythological superstar trade that he says is going to happen this summer. But I was thinking about this last night. I was like, man, like, what if the bucks just go up in flames in like a really ugly way. And then next year they tried again and it's just as bad. And then all of a sudden, the Bucks look around and they have

no assets in a bunch of old role players. And then Yiannis goes like I want to out of here. You know who's getting them?

oh god, that could be completely terrifying. But to put it simply within the lens of this season, I think the Timberwolves are a significantly better playoff threat. And I'm before I even go any further, I'm just gonna spit it back to you guys. Let's quit looking at this as Minnesota versus Oklahoma City, Carson. Which team has a better chance to beat Denver? Yeah? Minnesota, Like it's they

they match up so much better physically. Like again, like I Oklahoma City has had some advantages in the regular season against Denver, but Denver has been kind of a mediocre regular Like they're going through another one of the those like kind of patches right now, or they could give a shit on any given night, and like guys are hurt, and like, I think Denver would eat Oklahoma City alive in a playoff series personally, Logan, would you take Minnesota or Oklahoma City against Denver?

And I mean we literally just saw Minnesota, Like as much as the issues that they can have offensively at the end of games, they also have the ability to just completely lock up the other team lat in games. We literally just saw this against the Clippers the other night. And even with some of their half court offense stuff, there's a physical imposition to where it's like, oh, you finally get a stop at Rudy Gobert just tapped the ball out. They have another offensive rebound, they can have

another go at it. There's a look at like there's a pretty consistent theme. I'll be it in only two series. But like Anthony Edwards, his athleticism just translates to a really really good NBA playoff player. I it just and then and then then there's always just the NBA history part like it, like it would you rather have the young, inexperienced, small team that has a ship ton of talent or the big, strong, veteran team that has a shit ton of talent, like like, let's just let's just let's just

get down to the to the nitty gritty here. So like I I I think I think I would take Minnesota over them, And and to be clear, I'm not I am so high on Oklahoma City long term. I just think I think they're a really really good team that is that is lacking some specific things that I think are necessary to succeed in the NBA playoffs. Did you guys have any follow ups? There? Can we move on just real quick?

lobs and bounce passes to Aaron Gordon. They have the athletes on the perimeter, So I do think that that's ultimately what it comes down to. Like Jokic would take Okac's lunch every single possession. He literally said, like Chet, you need to get fatter, and that's very real for that specific matchup. So I agree definitely on that everything's gonna go through Denver. In Minnesota, it would still be a long shot, but they just have a better formula.

I had heard that Trey Young and Clutch are really really have no interest in Trey being in Atlanta for a rebuild or reboot or anything along those lines, obviously him being a Clutch client. It's a name that we've seen mentioned in reports in terms of guys that the Lakers would potentially be targeting. We even had a report that I saw, and I can't even remember who put this out there, but that the Hawk are considering rebuilding

around Dejante Murray. And I was like, okay, yeah, like this is this is the clearly direction this is going so I have my thoughts as it pertains to the Lakers making a Tray Young trade this summer, and it's it's really this simple to me. If I'm Atlanta, I'm going, okay, cool, I want all three of your first round draft picks. I want Austin Reeves, I want Max Christy, and I want Jared Vanderbilt, basically every positive asset that the Lakers have.

And I also think that you could see a team like a potentially a like a Utah getting involved, although like County George had a really nice game last night, so maybe they're they're higher on him in the long term, but like San Antonio is a team that I could see getting involved. And there are just a lot teams, a lot of teams that have more to offer, but you know how clutch can be in the way that they can kind of flex their muscles to try to

get Trey in a certain spot. And so I think that if you went to LA, that's what the deal would look like. And maybe if you're lucky, Rob could fight to keep Vanderbilt in a deal like that, but it's hard to say. And so then I think about Trey Young, D'Angelo Russell, Lebron James at age forty and Anthony Davis, and I don't see that team as being really that much of a threat for the same reason this year's team has some issues the lack complete and

total lack of two way perimeter talent. So from there, I look at it more as like a future move for the Lakers, like, hey, we need a post Lebron all star to partner with Anthony Davis to make sure that he's willing to stay and basically venture into this

next era of NBA basketball. And even then, I don't necessarily like this idea for the Lakers based on the simple fact that I'm not sure that an Anthony Davis Trey Young duo is all that highly placed in the NBA, which puts us in a perfect situation to brank NBA duos. So here's what we're gonna do. Logan, you're gonna go first. I want you to give me your rundown ranked one through whatever of every NBA duo, ending with where you would put an Anthony Davis and Trey Young duo.

shot out of pick and roll. So for my list, I agree with Jokich Murray, I agree with Katie Book, Johannison Dame I think is a no brainer. Then I think you start to get into the territory where you can kind of argue with theoretical tray and ad over anyone.

I think that Luca and Kyrie are playing unbelievably well this year, and I think that of course Luca is having a historic season and is the best he's ever been, but Kyrie is all doing an awesome job of floating that offense in non Luca minutes, of complimenting Luca like just hyper efficient, crazy shot making, good playmaking all the

things that he does. I also think embiid MAXI is at least on the fringes of these conversations because we kind of gotta see MAXI do it as that number two option as the number one perimeter guy in a playoff environment. But I do think that he's pretty awesome. I think he's a pretty legit efficient, twenty five point per game score improved playmaker who at least has more tools to defend at the point of attack than like a Trey Young. But those two are both pretty close.

And then to me, you have to have Trey and AD because I think that they do complement each other's games pretty well. I think that you would probably get the best version of AD playing with Trey, just because he's never played with a guy who spoon feeds him looks like that out of pick and roll, Like Lebron has never run pick and roll at that sort of volume with the Lakers.

a good defender narrative brewing. I don't know if you've seen that, Jason, but it's a real hot topic these days, and I think that we have a real struggle collectively between separating improved from good. Trey Young is an improved defender who is playing with more effort, who is making more plays with his hands. All of that is fair.

He is still six foot one, one hundred and sixty pounds with a negative wingspan, a six to two wing span, like he's one of the most physically limited NBA athletes, and so he's never going to be able to be a plus defender in his career. But eighty as a back line guy would do a lot to cover that up.

of Anthony Davis on the back line. I'm not sitting here and pretending like it wouldn't be a very successful duo in the league. My thing is, like, basically what I'm pitching here is when you start to look around at the other duos around the league, and then also the timeline stuff, Like Anthony Davis is, you know, like he by the time this trade takes place, he could be what thirty one, thirty two years old, So like we're getting in is a guy with some injury history.

And so the question is whether or not because I have heard things like Donovan Mitchell has some interest in playing in a big market one day, you know, like there's some other guards around the league that are in smaller markets playing really good basketball that maybe in a few years would be more interested in playing in a bigger market. The question is whether or not the Lakers should wait for a bigger fish. And then when you really look at it, it's like, are you gonna have

issues on offense with an Austin Dilo backcourt? Probably not so, at least not in the regular season. And so that's where I kind of look at it as an opportunity to wait. Now my list, I have Jokich Murray number one. I actually put dam Jannis too. I did this bit on my show yesterday, but I actually would pick you Honest to win MVP this year. I think he's been the best regular season player in the league. Not by some large margin over Jokics, but by some very small margin.

Why Paul George, I think is clearly better than Anthony Davison, Trey Young, like the way you put it as perfect Carson, these are guys you could argue, but I but like like Tatum and Brown, Like that's Tatum is like probably right around the same level as Anthony Davis. And you know, Jalen Brown for all of his flaws, like that, like is a guy that's relatively close to a Trey Young. He's in that same conversation. Jimmy and Bam is who I had at five, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker at six.

I think that's a group that you could argue at an ad Tray is better, but I would personally rather have Katie and Devin Booker. I personally think Luca is better than Anthony Davis. And in terms of the playoff context, I'd rather have Kyrie as my number two than Trey personally, just because especially in that the like kind of supplementary, supplementary kind of playmaking role, like the way he's partnered

with Luca. Again, we got to look at it's kind of like the Jokich Murray thing, Like, it doesn't really matter how good Murray is stacked up to the other guards. It's how valuable he is to the Nuggets, And the two of those guys are more valuable than all of these other groups. Like a Luca Kyrie duo, in my opinion, as a better basketball duo than a Trey Young Anthony Davis duo. I even put Embiid Maxie over that group. I think Joel Embiid has the potential to be a

wrecking ball that destroys everyone in the NBA playoffs. I don't think Anthony Davis has that potential, So like that to me is the swing factor. I do think Trey Young is better than Tyre's Maxie right now, but who

knows in a few years, you know what I mean. So, like, as far as I'm concerned, I would probably take those eight duos over Anthony Davis and Trey Young, And so from that standpoint, especially given the Lakers and the way that they're consistently a group that is at the top of the list for stars when they're just gruntled and want to get out, I would lean. I would lean

towards passing on Trey and waiting on a bigger fish. So, now that we've discussed the duos, given those lists, would you, if you were the general manager of the Lakers, would you target Trey as the next guy to partner with Anthony Davis? Or would you hang tight and wait for something better to develop.

And I think the crucial point of this is to just not waste whatever time you have left of Lebron James. And I think this is probably their biggest need. I don't think the roster is there, and I wouldn't the Lakers to knock off the Nuggets or to make a finals run. I think they need bigger, more athletic, two way guys, point blank period. But I also think they need another secondary shot creator, another guy from the perimeter that can carry this offense. They can open up things

for them. And that's the biggest thing to me is just whatever time we have left of Lebron James. You have to maximize that. And I'm not saying that it fully opens the championship window. We don't have a gust coming through here, but there's a breeze, there's a little bit of breeze with that championship window that I buy into enough with tray Lebron and Ad and it's La man. You know, there's a reason that we always theorize these big superstar trades to La Los Angeles makes stuff happen.

They make trades, they make crazy deals. So it's not impossible that one offseason we could see a dramatic, crazy roster overhaul or turn around that makes the Lakers legit. I probably wouldn't predict it because I think I put the cart before the horse this season by taking the Lakers in my championship favorite early this year.

be your number one option for long stretches. We've seen the playmaking from him this year has been very legit and then and he is more of a guy who's willing to give you catch and shoot attempts at like a higher volume, and he doesn't singularly dominate the ball in that same way in.

I really do love the offensive fit between Trey and Ad, So I think it's honestly gonna depend on, like, if either of those two are available, I would probably take the one who's available. If they're both available, then I

think I leaned on of a Mitchell. But to me, either way, you need to add that star guard creator and it's gonna be imperfect either way, but it's gonna make you a more serious contender because you need that sort of offensive pop and guy who can carry the load when Lebron just isn't gonna do that for a full thirty six minutes at forty years old.

with Donovan Mitchell. I think you could build a like a legitimate championship defense him and Anthony Davis with a you know, if you could maintain a Jared Vander built in a deal like that, Like, I think there's enough athleticism on the perimeter between a guy like Donovan and a guy like Jared to kind of make that functional

in a big way. But I do think the Lakers are starting to get to the point where, like, if you're starting to make decisions this summer based on the Lebron version of the team, that gets tricky because he's going to be forty next year. I think I think it's you know, last summer it was very much like, hey, we need to give it one last shot with Lebron.

We got to try to do something, and by the way, they didn't not, but like, there is a case to be made that we're officially encroaching on that territory now where it's like, what are we gonna do when this guy does, you know, either fall off significantly or experience an old guy injury that takes him out for a season or whatever. It is like, what are we going

to do? And that is where I would not like a Trey Young trade if I was running the Lakers, would be like keeping Austin, keeping all of these young players, Ruie, Jared Vanderbilt, retain D'Angelo Russell, and just be this really fun.

Basically the team you saw in Utah the other night, like a really fun team with a bunch of offensive talent around Anthony Davis, and just wait and wait and wait until a legitimate top ten player becomes available that you can jump on, and within a couple more seasons, you'll have a couple more picks. And that would just be the direction that I would go if I was running the Lakers. If Donovan Mitchell comes available this summer, pounce on him. If it's Trey Young, I'd wait and

see if if a bigger fish comes available. All right, before we get out of here, we're gonna have to go somewhat quickly here. I want to just do a quick little round the table on each of the top three picks in last year's draft. So we'll start with you, Carson Victor Webbin Yama. Are you higher or lower on him than you were when he was drafted?

men like Tim Duncan anymore. I think that he's the best that we've seen, and on a per minute and per possession basis, what he's been doing offensively since moving to center is ridiculous. He's scoring twenty seven and a half points per seventy five possessions, which is a pretty good estimate of like what a star player should be playing in a normal game. He's just only been giving you twenty seven minutes a night, so he's outscoring like

every other rookie that we've seen this century. He's doing it with legitimately good efficiency now over fifty nine percent

true shooting, and he's just transformed. He took a full on lead mid season to where now playing at the five is just better for him because the spacing is better in his situation that was really rough offensively still rough because of the guard play, but now he does also have Trey Jones who is just more capable of setting him up, so he's getting some more of those manufactured looks around the rim where he is a physical outlier like we haven't seen in sixty years. It's ridiculous.

Put the ball up there and he'll finish it. He's the best transition scoring big in basketball. More outlier athleticism there, He to me, has been more decisive and assertive attacking the rim and a bit more comfortable with NBA physicality. He's shooting way better, Like he's just playing like a bona fide star right now and he's barely twenty years old. And he's the best defensive rookie that we've seen this century. That to me is the separator between him and any

other candidate that you could have in that conversation. He's averaging six per seventy five possessions Like, he's far and away leading the league in steels and blocks combined in twenty seven minutes per game. He just has physical tools We've never seen seven to four with an eight foot wingspan and can also move this fluidly and has these sort of instincts and IQ at this age, it's unbelievable.

He recks games defensively in ways that like you almost can't conceive of until you see it in the NBA, Like you can't really conceive that a physical outlier to the extent that Wenby's can actually exist and blending that with basketball skill. He's been playmaking better. He's everything that we expected, and I think even a little bit more.

to bed early. They're focused on their craft. They're focused on the game, and it really is you can talk about the skill when you can talk about the physical imposition in the traits. His IQ is off the freaking charts. Man, The way he sees the floor is insane. And I think if we opened up the conversation to other guys like I do. Think Carson did a great video, a great breakdown on Victor and why he's the best rookie this century on our YouTube channel. I mean, I think

you could expand that conversation. We're gonna do an all time rookie draft later, and I'm really intrigued to see where Wemby goes. I mean, I think you could make the case that Victor is, you know, one of the best rookies in NBA history, point blank period.

a leap in the middle of the season. Yeah, and you know you had one of the things that stands out to me because I'm trying to get some some more time with the Dallas Mavericks in the film sessions, because I'm going to try to hit them early next week, and I was watching the Maverick Spurs game from the other day and like, his first shift was fucking outrageous, for lack of a better term, like and you know, there's one guy that I can remember having this type

of athletic impact as a rookie in it's Lebron, and even at a lower level, but similar in the sense that like, because Jannis had this two in like twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, but he didn't have it early in his career. But where like when you watch an NBA game that has twenty eighteen Yannis in it, or rookie Lebron or rookie Victor wembin Yama, it looks different than other NBA games because there's an athlete on the floor that doesn't even resemble any of the other athletes that are in

the league. And you actually see established NBA players be like flustered by some of the things that they run into. You know, with Giannis and Lebron, it was like the transition, like holy shit, he caught it with three dudes in front of him and somehow, just with a live dribble, just raced past all of them and dunked it. Or oh, I threw this pass to the wing and they jumped this passing lane and they just shot like a canon the other way and transition for a dunk or whatever.

It is like they just had this like like crazy combination of straight line speed and power to do it. But Victor just does it with the absurd link and

and that's what it is for him. Is like every time I'm watching a game with Victor win min Yama, it just you can tell there's like an initial phase of every single one of these games, because a lot of these Spurs games have looked like that MAVs game has, where like in the first shift, the other team is just completely shell shocked because they don't know how to

handle what Victor does. And then finally they kind of settled down and they were like, oh, yeah, we're way better than this team, and they kind of figured it out and they go along the way. But like, yeah, it's just he he has a truly a truly unprecedented physical profile that other teams don't know how to handle. And it's and to me that has impacted winning at the NBA level level much faster than I expected. Logan, you're first on Brandon Miller.

He just has a smoothness and a fluidity to his game. It's really elegant and beautiful and beyond his years, something that you don't really see with rookies. He's a great athlete. He is a great defender. He's a good defender now, but I think he's gonna be great as it goes along in terms of positioning on ball, off ball as a help side guy. He's got great length and physical tools too. Like, Brandon's everything to me, and he's got

an advanced handle in IQ. I think Brandon is the building block cards And I know put a poll out on our YouTube and on Twitter as well, who would you rather build around through the Hornets, Lamello or Brandon Miller. For me, it's wholeheartedly Brandon Miller, and I think it's

kind of got lost in the shuffle, you know. I feel bad for guys like Brandon Miller, for guys like Chet Holmgren, because they're in a rookie class of Victor Win Boniamas, and we're also enamored with him that he can kind of get lost in the shuffle a little bit. Brandon's also one of the most advanced rookies that I've seen this century in terms of winning and winning impact and in terms of versatility. I think Brandon's a future superstar.

level of athleticism with PG. But when you're talking about six nine dudes who just have like seely smooth handles, crazy comfortable pull up shooters, the ability to excel both on and off the ball, to defend multiple positions, it's like there's a lot of the same stuff in there. And I think that he's just in an archetype that really translates to winning anywhere. And Jason, I remember when you came on our draft show with Colin two and

we were talking about the number two pick. We were all in agreement that it should be Brandon, and one of the things that you pointed out is that the archetype of hyperathletic downhill guard like Scoot Henderson is one that people often become enamored with but doesn't always translate

to like winning at the highest level. Whereas this versatile wing like a Brandon Miller, two way shot creator, off ball shot maker with some playmaking chops like that guy is always going to have a spot as a star.

And I agree that his pure shot making is unbelievable, but the other things that stand out to me, he really does have a rare handle for a guy at this size, at this age, and his feel and pace out of pick and roll is pretty exceptional, Like he will trap people on his back, he's got the hostage dribble down, he can get to the flowida arrange, but he can also playmake out of those situations. And it's just very atypical, especially from a guy who does have

that sort of scoring skill. Wing playmaking development generally is something that takes several years, and guys come into the league much more score first, and then they realize, Okay, to be the best offensive player, I need to weaponize my defensive attention to create for others. And I think that Brandon's already on a very good trajectory there, and defensively, he's in Charlotte, so you can only be so good.

Like I would say he's been a good defender. He's a rookie in Charlotte, But I think you see that he cares more than the other guys. I think you see that he has all the tools. He's super mobile, he guarded oftentimes the opposing team's lead guard at Alabama, but then he was also this impactful rebound and secondary rim protector. The guy's just a stud. I think he's

going to be an all NBA kind of guy. I don't know that he'll be like superstar top five player, just because again, like a PG does have that athletic advantage over him, Brandon doesn't have a great first step and he's slight, so getting to the rim for him was an issue in college and it remains an issue in the league. I think he's outside the top one point fifty in the league in terms of restricted area

makes per game. That's the one thing. But he is like a dream number two on a contending team to me for years.

tries to beat people straight up. But like it's extreme. I have to dig into it. But like, I can't remember a player walking into the league and being this good of a pull up shooter as a rookie, Like I don't. I can't even think of a guy off the top of my head that's in the same conversation, he's already one of the best pull up jump shooters in the league. There are sixty six players that have

attempted at least one hundred and fifty. He's nineteenth on that list in efficiency and over a point per possession at one point zero three. Like, it's just there aren't that many guys in the league, regardless of age, that are are like efficient pull up jump shooters, and he's doing it as a rookie. It's extremely rare. Carson, you mentioned the pick and roll kind of like feel I

that like, and Logan you mentioned the footwork. The handle and footwork stuff has been what's most impressive to me, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of really dynamic scoring in the NBA is the ability to get to a pull up jumper out of many, many different kinds of footwork and dribble combinations. And that's the thing is, like none of these look alike he's doing. He can do it. He can square up in mid air, he can do it off a step back, you can

do it off a side step. He can. He's got that. Like one of the ones that he has that's really nasty is he's got that like really aggressive dribble in one direction and then just rise up and then while the defender's doing the defensive slide, he's already getting up into his shot. He like, there's some really really high

level stuff there. There was a play at the end of the Pacers game Crunch Time Possession, where he ran a ball screen and the pacer switched it and he ended up with Miles Turner in a straight iso at the top of the key, and he like dusted him with a dribble move to a pull up jumper at the elbow where Miles Turner just wasn't even in the frame anymore when he rose up, and I was like that was disgusting, and like again, that's you know, it's funny.

He's been better as like a mid range shooter than anything else in these pull up situations, which a lot of times people look at as a downside, but like in my opinion, those are often the best that you can get in rock fights, and so having a guy that can that feels comfortable rising and firing at a different combinations in footwork at fifteen feet is just super super valuable. He's also been one of the best plus minus guys. They're five points better per one hundred possessions

when he's on versus one. He's off all right, Carson, really really quickly before we get out of here, Scoot Henderson higher or lower than you were after the draft.

I think that he's a guy who settled for a lot of tough jumpers and wasn't a very good jump shooter for Ignite, Like he has these stretches where he really gets in a rhythm from mid range, but he's erratic even there, and then from three he was a poor shooter for Ignite, and he's like thirty one percent this year, and at the rim, I think you've seen that he can't physically dominate against NBA guys immediately like he could those younger or just lower level athletes that

he was facing. So he's shooting fifty one percent inside of three feet, so it's just been like a sort of erratic, rocky start for him. The efficiency numbers will look awful. I think that to some extent, like we have moved the goalpost too far for guards, where we've had some guards in recent years who are like really immediately ready to produce at least with good volume and like respectable efficiency, like what Trey and Luca did in

the same class, what Jaw did. That's not normal Normally rookie guards are super inefficient, they're super turnover prone, like and maybe they make some improvements mid season and anything that Scoot has taken some strides as of late, so I still see a really athletic guard who I think plays with some good pace out of pick and roll himself, who has playmaking chops, who I think, if he wants

to be, can be a plus defender. But he's certainly further behind on the trajectory compared to a guy like Brandon, who it's like, yep, he's delivered everything and even a little bit more than I expected. Scoot, It's like, I still see all the tools, but in terms of production, he obviously hasn't delivered this year.

just get reps and to get better. That being said, you know, I think his jump shot was a question mark heading into the draft. It doesn't look busted, it doesn't look ugly. I like the shots that he generates. I think that Scoot can tend to get off balance a little bit, a little bit with his pull up jumpers, and I think he needs to work on that, but you know, like mechanically, it doesn't look busted, it doesn't

look ugly. And I did think, like you said, Carson, I did think he was gonna be able to physically impose himself a little more with his athletic traits. But the thing that I really like is his change of pace and his ability to hunt space when he gets a screen, like, Scoop is really good at finding the open area and just navigating and getting into the lane right. And so for that, to me, that's really encouraging. It's

going to take time. More of these tough shots are gonna fall, He's going to produce better looks, he's gonna develop better feel for the game, and that's ultimately it for me. I really like the way that Scoop navigates the half court as a ball handler. He's really good at hunting space, and while he hasn't been crazy dominant athletically, when he catches defender's flat footed, damn, Scoop can just

blow by somebody and get into the lane. So I'm a little lower on Scoop, but I really do think that he's going to be a. I think Scoot's going to be a really good player one day. I just think it may take a little bit longer for him to get there.

in the year. But there have been some really encouraging trends there, Like he's made twenty five pull up threes this year at thirty five percent. That's not bad. That's over a point per possession. He's an eighty two percent free throw shooter, that typically, you know, kind of bodes well in terms of a player's you know, touch. He's actually been a pretty good pick and roll shot creator this year's zero point nine to eight points per possession.

That's really not bad for a for a young guard like him, and he's shown some higher level passing shops

than I think a lot of us were expecting. And I think again, one of the things that I I think is important to acknowledge here too is Portland's kind of a weird team in the sense that he's not really getting handed the keys and like, hey, go lead this bad team for eighty two games, like the Blazers were like putting him out there with a bunch of guys who like to get buckets, like like DeAndre and he loves to take his little face up jump shots

and have his post touches. Jeremy Grant like it in his in his dream world, would be a twenty point per game guy on a bad team.

just in the way that it's gone down. That said, I do think Brandon Miller at number two is the right choice, and I think Charlotte is satisfied with their decision there. All right, guys, we've gone for about an hour and a half, so I think it's about time to call it. God blessed Paul, our producers probably getting frustrated by the scenes. Thank you all for supporting the show. Before we get out of here. Actually, Logan and Carson, thank you guys for donating your time today always means

a lot to me. Can you guys shout out some of the work you've been doing lately.

we're doing that. We also have all of our full shows over there with video talking now all MBA, but we do NFL stuff when that is in season, and then we do some trivia con on our YouTube channel and also across social media, TikTok at Nerd Sash, Instagram is the same, and Twitter is a Nerd underscore Sash.

out of it. The Lebron won like fadeaway game and then the one where Anthony Davis won on the free throws and Giannis was like, you know, the blocking Lebron, Lebron is ripping Yiannis. That's they got a couple of good games out of it. And then they quit on the elam ending too, and they started playing how did they do that? I I well, but to the league's defense, the last couple ones were bad though. Yeah, but like I think I put it on the players. Yeah, yeah, I guess.