Colin Cowherd Podcast - AD's Lakers Future, KD/Suns Fit, Westbrook Decline w/ Jason Timpf

Just use the promo code Colin and download the Fan Duel app today. Hi everybody, and welcome to the Wednesday Morning Podcast. Jason Timff hoops tonight at the volume. How great is he? He is really really good. We stole him, you know, somebody else wanted him, very popular network, and we said, in your face, we're taking him other network.

All right, So I want to start with this. If I get upset with my kids or my wife and I express my disappointment, the reason I do that is because I want to be heard and I want you to respond. I want some sort of visceral connection. I love you, I'm committed to you are you committed to me. I want to be heard, and everybody wants to be heard. That's why I've never taken criticism personally. If I don't want to go to a restaurant anymore, I don't write

him a letter. I just stop going. When people really leave my show, they just stop listening. They don't inform me of it. I thought it was interesting that the Super Bowl had its biggest rating in years. One hundred and thirteen million people watched it, third most watched TV program in American history. This comes, of course, after the boycott from Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. All I heard for eighteen months and the words used by all the

boycotters I'll never watch the NFL again. They didn't say they'd come back. Eventually, they said I'll never watch it again. They all came back. What are you going to do for twenty Sundays in the fall? What do you guys, farmers? In the end, it's the NFL. We bet it, we watch it, we love it. Many of us played it not particularly well, but you wanted to be heard. Conservatives overwhelmingly wanted to be heard. Remember when the CEO of Goya Foods g Oya Foods backed Donald Trump, there was

a boycott. Liberals were outraged by the comments, we are going to boycott Goya Foods. Actually sales went up twenty two percent. In the following weeks, Goya reported sales of some beans apparently Goya loves their beans rose four hundred percent. I remember when Kaepernick did that first Nike ad ooh. People wanted to be heard. I will never buy Nike again. The stock price at the time was sixty eight. It is now eighty four percent higher at one hundred and

twenty six. Actually rose to almost one seventy. Nike's never been stronger. NFL's never been stronger. Goya Foods is, by the way, because of the platforms, the number of platforms I'm on today, I get more hate, more ugly comments, more threats, more boycott tweets than ever before. January was my most watched, most listened to, most downloaded month of my thirty year career. And that's okay, yell scream, call me an idiot. People want to be heard. Liberals wanted

to be heard with Goya Foods. Conservatives wanted to be heard with Kaepernick and Nike in the NFL. That's why I don't take things personally when people really leave brands, restaurants, leagues, TV. By the way, teens do not watch linear TV. Teenagers don't watch it. It's down seventy four percent from I think like a decade ago. You know what I've never ever received in the history of social media, a teenager

saying I'm no longer watching linear TV. I'm out. They just leave to all my media brethren, don't take the insults personally. Roger Goodell doesn't, the CEO of Goya Foods doesn't. Phil Night at Nike doesn't. All of us. When you're connected to something, when you've been a customer, a fan, of viewer, a listener, sometimes you just pissed and want to be heard on the same way. So Aaron Rodgers is about ready to go on his darkness retreat for

four days. According to reports from legitimate sources, He's considering filming it little irony there, an isolation trip. Hey, let's make sure the camera guy's got it. The lighting eyes over here. It's supposed to be isolation. Thinking you by yourself, Aaron wants attention, ripping Adam Schefter, ripping Ian Rappaport, the vaccine. Aaron Rodgers wants attention. He wants to feel important. Right, No, kids, never married, may not have a pet. It's why he

needs to do these weekly hits. Aaron needs to be the center of attention. It just cracks me up. Like when you go on these retreats, you go to oh Hi, you're looking for peace. You're not supposed to be making another state farm commercial during your isolation trip. You know, people myself included, have odd habits. I tend to be a creature of habit. You know, three or four things for breakfast my entire life fruit, early, fish, late. I eat the same way, I exercise, the same way, same

time of the day. Very much a creature of habit. And I understand not everybody has the same habits. You know, my kids are quirky. I'm quirky, and I've had friends that have you know, mannerisms or things that are I consider odd. But the one thing I've dropped friends and people in my social circle over high maintenance slash neediness. Fuck, Aaron is needy. He is really really needy. As a small business owner or hiring manager, success depends on the

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qualified candidates. It's really cool. They make it easy to screen and rate applicants based on your job qualifications, all on one platform. That's why small businesses rate LinkedIn Jobs number one, number one in delivering quality hires against leading competitors. Go to post your job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash column LinkedIn dot com slash column. Place is great Post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply LinkedIn dot com slash column. His name is Jason Timp.

We were able to grab him a couple of years ago. He's going to be with us for a long time. Hoops Tonight podcast on the Volume Network. So I was talking about this Jason, about the Kansas, the Chiefs. If you were going to beat them, it probably should have been this year. Kind of a makeshift receiving Corps. Six rookies played old line is still pretty young, not great at tackle. Now this year they've got eleven draft picks, all the rookies at running back in the secondary, we'll

have a year under their belt. Mahomes is only getting better. And you know, this could have been the vulnerable year, right because they were very, very young. And I feel the same way about the Warriors last year Clay Thompson at seventy young guys weren't ready to play. Now they've got Peyton, he'll be ready by the playoffs. Clay's better pools emerged as more consistent. Dante de Vincenzo's actually a

perfect fit for that system. Now they're actually really deep in the next two months, really really deep, and Kuminga is at least now a contributor. And so as they go back and four, we know they're not the same team without Steph Curry. But I really believe Milwaukee's the best team in the league. And I really believe in two and a half three months, Golden State, a team that's in Boston's head, will be second. How much of a believer or a cynic are you of these Warriors

going forward? Well, generally speaking, I'm always going to be very bullish on championship cores that still have their core that we've seen show what they can do on that level, because the NBA regular season is so monotonous and boring, and they've had issues, like even the core of this team has struggled to close games this year, which is super unusual for a team that you'd expect to execute super well. And obviously they've had issues with the bench.

But college did you know that there are twenty seven five man lineups in the NBA this year that have played at least two hundred minutes and Steph Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Raymond Green, and Kevan Luney are still by far in the league. They're outscoring teams by twenty two points per one hundred possessions, five and a half points better than Denver starters who are treating this season every game like

it's the last game of their lives. Now, again, the bench was a little concerning, but at the end of the day, there's two things that give me optimism there. First of all, Gary Payton will be available for the playoffs. Last year in the playoffs, they outscored teams by three points per one hundred possessions When Gary Payton was off the floor and by sixteen points per one hundred possessions

when Gary Payton was on the floor. So you know, to their credit, they made the Wiseman mistake, but they were like, hey, we're gonna undo two mistakes in one move here and bring back Gary. Now. It sucks that he's not going to be available for this next stretch of the regular season, but if he's available for the postseason, that solves a lot of problems. And then Jamichael Green.

There's been all this talk about them going after a backup big, but he is shooting the laces off the basketball since he returned from injury, and that kind of alleviates that issue. Give me Gary Payton, give me Jamichael Green, Give me Jordan Poole and Dante DiVincenzo with that start lineup we just talked about in a Western conference, that's super flawed. I mean, as anybody is safer bet no

I I And that's what I go back to. I do think when you have a veteran team and you have a long playoff run, you're talking about twenty more intense games. This is not Tuesday against the Pelicans at home at Oracle, right, Like these are. These are play forty minutes of playoff basketball, and so I don't think it's surprising. The Warriors were flat defensively, frankly awful defensively

until about, I would say, about two weeks ago. It feels like there's moments now I think they've gotten They're not great, but they've gotten better. Probably has Kur has been barking at him, Draymond's been barking at him. But I tend to I'm with you on this, until you have a ring, teams play really hard. Those Chicago Bull teams with Derek Rose, Jesus, every game was Game seven. You'd go into the United Center and Lebron would go in there, and then the playoffs show up and Lebron

shut down de Rows. Speaking of Lebron, I had a scout I trust say the body language by Ad wasn't a coincidence. He's had, as you've pointed out on your podcast, a series of bizarrely ineffective games, like strangely ineffective first half against the Warriors was weird, like not there. And I had a scout tell me last week Dallas is going to make a run at him. Anthony Davis has sort of kind of believes he's lost the trust of Lebron, That's what I'm hearing, and that they're going to try

to get their way into the playoffs. And I do think if you if you gave me Lebron and that roster seven gamer playing, let's get that's a series against Denver, I'd take my chances with Lebron. What do you believe of somebody that watches every minute for the Lakers? What do you make of the last five to six games of Anthony Davis? The Anthony Davis thing is truly bizarre because all of the intel is is that his foot

is fine. Now generally speaking, with foot injuries, there's a difference between fine and I trust myself to explode off of this foot one I need to. The numbers are really bad. So he's been back for nine games, twenty two points and thirteen rebounds, which is the weird thing with Lebron and AD there's always such a disconnect between what their box score production is and what you actually see on the floor. Because I think he's been bad

by his standards. He's shooting just sixty one percent in the restricted area since coming back, which is awful for a big that's okay for a point guard. To give you some perspective, DeAndre Eighton is shooting seventy nine percent in the restricted area this season, so he's just getting manhandled around the basket. He's not running up and down in transition. He's losing box outs everywhere, right and left.

Now if he's dealing with something up here. The reality is is this roster is so Allan did now because they've they've really addressed their two biggest weakness backcourt offensive skill size on the perimeter with the with Ruey Hotchmer and Jared Vanderbilt. So yeah, if they if they get Lebron back and he's playing at an MVP level at a certain point, ad will have no choice but to

lock back in. And I believe that he will, but you know if he does not, because one of the biggest subplots of this Laker's era is Anthony Davis's inability to remain at his ceiling. Since the twenty twenty playoffs, it's been like two games against the Suns in the first round where he looked really good, like maybe ten fifteen games earlier this season, but that's about it. And if he can't stay at that level, the Lakers will have to look seriously at whether or not he can

be a foundational piece for them. Well, the source told me, Dallas will make a run on him because Kyrie and Luca have huge defensive efficiencies and they don't trust Christian. Would it would make sense. What can you get in your opinion for an Anthony Davis at the end of

the year. Man. Okay, So if he does not ever in this season return to Form, I think he becomes He's got similar value to Lebron James, meaning like you're looking at him and you're like, yeah, like I might get some top tier superstar production here, but I also might not. I'm not going to give away three four first round picks and two three swaps and a good young player I was. I actually pitched this idea to Ryan,

our producer, earlier today. But like, if if ad cannot return to Form, you start to look at potentially him being the vehicle for a Kyrie Irving sign in trade, which kind of which satisfies both needs. Maybe you get a Josh Green out of Dallas as well. Maybe you get one other first round pick and the two you know, Jared Vanderbilt, such a good work hard forward for them. If they can get one other center, you start to look at them as a more offensively focused team behind

Kyrie and Lebron. And Lebron when he's surrounded by really good ball handlers and shooters, he does devote more energy to the defensive end of the floor and he can be really impactful there. Just look at the twenty sixteen calves. So that would be an interesting direction for them to look if Anthony Davis can't return to form. And here's the thing called if I asked you, what are the percentage chances that Anthony Davis returns to MVP form before the end of the season, It's like a coin flip

or worse. Oh, absolutely it is. And I think, as you pointed out, it may be a little physical, some of it's mental, and I think that's where he struggled. You know, there's some things you can teach and some things you can't. Passion like Patrick Mahomes visibly in intense pain during the Super Bowl and sprints for twenty six yards in my opinion, his greatest moment as a pro player, and he is wincing. Pain tolerance is a skill. Playing through injuries is a skill. Dwyane Wade was banged up

almost the last ten years of his career. He was constantly on the deck. So let me start with this premise. I think Milwaukee when healthy's the best team in the league. Do you agree? I do. I just don't trust Boston

to close games. And then everybody in the West is significantly more flawed, and Milwaukee kind of float under the radar as they were consistently near the top of the standings despite Chris Middleton being out and Drew Holiday being in and out of the lineup, like Janis has been sneaky, like a favorite, one of my favorites for MVP this year and not getting enough credit for it because he's

been floating a really limited roster. And so yeah, again, it's to me, it's about the safeness of the bet, and I just can count on Milwaukee in a way I can't anybody else out East. So that brings me up. Two. And you watch the NBA and a more consistent level, because I'm kind of a generalist than half the cherry pick stuff. But I've watched the Celtics. I get on a treadmill and I watched them as much as I can.

I'm gonna watch them tonight when I we hang up here and I'm gonna go watch their backups play Milwaukee. My daughter's actually at that game totally about the health. Things aren't starting anybody. So one of the things I've noticed in a game that a lot of people watch was the Laker game, which was a fantastic night of NBA basketball, it felt like a playoff game is that I think Golden State remains in Boston's head is even though they won that game and that had a playoff

feel to it. This is and you played college basketball at a high level, more good late in the shot clock, in late in games, the body language tells me that Jalen Brown is really the alpha. He wants the ball. He's more aggressive seeking the ball. Now when they design or set screens for Jason a play, he'll come get it, but he won't take over a possession. I always feel

like Jalen's the alpha. Tatum's more talented, and I think when you get into these huge games that may only rear its head three possessions in the last six minutes, that's the difference between beating the Warriors and not. There's something it's almost like Tatum's too nice a guy. That's my takeaway. It's like, I don't want that when Steph wants to score, there's nobody else on the floor. Steph.

Do you see this ever with the Celtics in big possessions in key spots, some of it is skill set, Like I think Jalen Brown is much more of an improvisational score. He can score in the sense that, like every basket looks different than the last, Jason Tatum is very much your modern MBA analytical offensive approach. Like he's he's toned way back on his mid range jump shooting, He's taken a ton of threes, he's finishing better at the rim than he used to be. But he's kind

of becoming a more predictable offensive engine. And at the end of games, nothing goes the way you want it too. There's so much contact that goes on called there's random double teams and weird schematic things, and having a player that's an improvisational score, a guy that can take and make weird shots ends up being a huge advantage there, and I think that's a huge part of why Jalen

Brown thrives so much in those settings. But it's funny because I would agree with you that Golden States in their head, which even when they won this last game, they kind of backed into that win. Yeah, they won, because Golden State also made a bunch of mistakes, like even on that final possession when Jalen Brown got open, it was a transition cross match and Jordan Poole got lost and they left Jalen Brown open. Like again, we talked about this earlier, but Golden State has struggled with

like game execution. Jason Tatum was awful down the stretch and regulation of that game, including having Steph Curry on a switch on the left wing. No double team, dude, you've got the advantage, and he ended up just like kind of like trying to step sideways into a three, and Steph was all over it, and he ended up turning the basketball over. And you can tell there's something going on up there. To be clear, Boston's even better

than they were last year. Malcolm Brogden, we talked a lot after the NBA Finals about them needing backup ball handling. Malcolm Brogden was a home run trade. He's been amazing for them, But at the end of these games, if

I would feel so much better about Boston. If they just kicked Golden State's ass in those two games, I would be in a completely different place mentally with them if they just closed the deal in those two games emphatically, and instead they lost one and they fell ass backwards into a win and the other, and so that just puts me in the same position where it's the same type of flaw when they get to that big stage. Yeah, and that's why Golden State. Golden State picks its spots

the Boston game, that Memphis game. You know this, there's about for defending champions. There's about six nights a year their national TV games, or they're the cocky upstart Memphis. It's like, okay, guys, don't have to be talked into it. So I think everybody. I've probably seen Phoenix play six times this year. Chris Paul is not what he was two years ago. Let's start with that. Mikhail Bridges really valuable wing defender, no question, that's where they're not as good.

Kevin Durant remains. However, when healthy about the best easiest bucket in the league, I tend to think it's going to work. Because in the NFL, I always feel in pro football, an offense needs an identity can overcome lack of personnel. If you have a New York Giants won a playoff game, they knew what they were and what they weren't. I don't worry about that. In the NBA, what I worry is, do you have elements? Two great wings, a big that runs the floor, a smart distribution, veteran

point guard, a respected coach. Situationally, I look at Phoenix and I think there's a lot of elements here. I like, now, they're not deep, but you know, Golden State plays eight guys like depth is a tad overrated. I think Phoenix could move through some of these teams in about five six games. I think the Suns it works for me. But now in three years this could be a disaster if they fall apart. But just for this year, does

it work for you? Well? Overnight they have the most talented top four in the NBA in my opinion, I putting them ahead of Philly in Boston. There's also schematically a supernatural fit for Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant has been by far the very best pick and roll ball handler this year. He is having one of the very best

pull up jump shooting seasons in NBA history. In all pick and roll coverages in the NBA concede pull up shots, so every team in the league has just been like, let's just double KD and play four on three in the back end, which is why the Nets have been so good this season when he played. Phoenix is the pre eminent pick and roll team in the NBA. That's

what they run every single possession down the floor. They run a variation of it called Spain pick and roll where they include a shooter that replaces to the time the key while Aton is rolling. So KD offensively is

a just an incredibly natural fit with him. He's also probably the best plug in play star in NBA history because his off ball offensive talent is every bit as effective as his on ball offensive talent, and he makes quick, predictable decisions, like compared to Luca, where it's like there's nine seconds of dribbling and you don't necessarily know where

he's going. That can be tough to play with sometimes, but when you're playing pickup basketball and there's that dude where you know exactly what he's gonna do and he makes that decision quickly, it makes it easy to play with that type of guy. So that's why he plugs in so well. On the defensive end of the floor. He's actually having one of his better defensive seasons of his career as a help defender on the back line

with his length and DeAndre Ayton. One of his biggest issues is he can be a kind of up and down defensive player from his motor. From the perspective of his motor. Now, they're not a perfect team. They're going to be probably the worst perimeter defense team out of the high level playoff teams, and that will put them in some trouble against dry can kick teams like the Clippers or Golden State. With Jordan Poole constantly putting downhill

pressure on the rim, they're gonna have some issues. But again I go back to what I said with Golden State. In a Western conference where everybody is flawed, you'd be foolish to write them off. And you're you gotta look at the buy out market, Like they snatched Terrence Ross away from Dallas, I would be surprised if they go after someone like Patrick Beverley as well. Like they're gonna be there, and I think Kevin Durant might be the best player in the world right now, So they're gonna

be a pain in the ass for everybody. Yeah, no, I I think you really put it well, m he's the best plugin play guy in the world, Like I love Lebron or Janis, but you have to sort of build around them, Luca, because he's so ball centric, you can he's he I think he's a much better not much better. He's a better version of Harden, but I mean, at his best, James was hard to play with. Like Chris Paul for all the misgivings, kind of works in

every era. He would have worked in the seventies, he works now in the three ball here and doesn't shoot him like. He's a really effective player with a lot of personalities. I mean, Blake Griffin to me sort of disappeared when Chris Paul left his side DeAndre Jordan, that offense dried up. Looking to get more out of the NBA season, well, now is the perfect time to download fan Duel, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get a no sweat first bet up to a

thousand dollars. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. The promo code is always Colin. FanDuel has tons of betting options. I like the same game, parlay, bet a little, win a lot. Fandel's app is safe, secure, easy to use, and you get paid your winnings really fast. The no sweat first bet up to a thousand bucks promo code Colin. Make every moment more this season with FanDuel,

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Redline one one hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine Tennessee visit one eight hundred gamble dot in West Virginia. Okay, I'll give you a team. I want you to give me a team that you just don't buy. Okay. I love watching Memphis, but of Jaws off and I just had dinner or the other night with an NBA scout. Jaws probably a better. I don't like hyper athletic guards that can't shoot. Never like John Wall, don't like Westbrook. Derek Rose wore me out. I think Jaws a better

shooter than those guys. But Jason, he's one hundred and seventy eight pounds. He's tiny. I don't know if I buy Memphis. I just I like their depth, I like their coach. Dot. I don't buy this team as a championship contender, do you. Yeah? Memphis is who I put down as my most overrated team in the league. So to give you an idea, these are the top four teams in the league and their records against teams that

are five hundred or better. Boston is twenty two and nine against winning teams, Milwaukee twenty one and ten, Denver nineteen and eleven, Phillies sixteen and ten, Memphis sixteen and fifteen once again against Boston. On Sunday, shortly before the Super Bowl, they competed. They were in the game, it was close late, and they backed way off of Jaw and made him shoot threes that he couldn't make you

one over four. And on the other end of the floor, they could not contain Derek White driving to the basket, which put them in rotation, non stopping. They gave up a bunch of wide open threes and they lost. This is a phenomenon I've seen several times in NBA history where there's a team that has an outstanding regular season machine to produce wins. My favorite example of this is

the twenty twenty one Jazz. They were third in defensive rating in the regular season, and then they ran into the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard and it turns out that it turns out Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell couldn't guard anybody. They gave up one hundred and twenty eight points per

one hundred possessions against the Clippers and lost. And so what happens is in the regular season, you can set up a baseline scheme and you can hide guys, But then you get to the playoffs and it becomes so the game slows down and it just teams target your entry points. And what it is is John Morant is one of the easiest entry points in the NBA to

a defense. If you attack him, you can quickly at them in rotation, and then it doesn't really matter what kind of personnel you have in the back end if you're playing four on three, and then on the other end of the floor, they just don't have any shot creation behind Jaw, and so they're actually a bottom ten half court offense in the NBA according to Cleaning the Glass. And so if they can stay up and down in transition and in funnel guys to Jaren Jackson in the

regular season, they're fine. But they get to the playoffs, the game slows down. It's entirely in the half court. On both ends, they're attacking Jaw, they're on the other end, they're back and way off of him, and that's why they struggle against good teams. Those clutch situations and those games against the good teams, those are what mimic the playoffs most closely. And this is the final stat I'll give you. The Jazz are third in regular season defensive

rating this year. They are twenty fourth in clutch defense this season. So when the game slows down at the end, they just can't get stops. Well, this was always my knock on Westbrook is that in the regular season, if you face Westbrook and you played the night before and he has two games asked, you're ft is he's going to get sixteen points in transition? And then I mean, but in the playoffs, we're all equally rested and I can attack his flaws over and over and frustrate him.

And so Westbrook, Derek Rose, these are remarkable regular season players, and they have their moments. I mean, you can't stop all transition. A team misses you're good in transition. This has always been my knock on Westbrook, and he's gotten worse, is that he doesn't have good hands. He won't set a pick. He's become a terrible defender. He can't shoot

midranger outside. So when you take the sloppy transition points away for the team, you know, I wonder if in history, if you look at Westbrook against the team without equal rest, he's just he's a handful. He's just too much athletically in the half court. And that's always been my knock on Westbrook. The playoffs are a different sport. It's not a coincidence he struggles when we're all equally rested. I do think he's a good guy. I do think he's

well meaning. But I mean, you and really critical of him. Are you ever surprised, or I should say, how surprised at the pushback you get when it appears his flaws are so obvious and counterintuitive to really good, solid, playoff level basketball. Right, it seems obvious he can't play off the ball. My time covering Russell Westbrook with the Lakers has been one of the more confusing experiences as a basketball fan, because it goes beyond even just the crazy

angry fans. There's also really smart basketball people that I know that don't see it. And for the record, like I do see the positives with Russ He's excellent at pushing the pace. He actually had a lot of success this year in the middle portions of games against inferior bench guards when the game had a more up and down flow. Yeah, I do believe that he could help a team if he ended up in a situation where

he was only in those types of situations. That's why I actually like him for the Flippers, as long as Tyler wouldn't play him in crunch time they have so much shooting. Give him a big who runs the floor, put him in those middle portions of the game, running up and down, pushing the pace. He can bring a

lot of value. But the problem is there's a there's a disconnect between the way league personnel view Westbrook, at least in terms of the coaching staffs and the players around the league, and the way the really smart basketball players see him. Because what would happen is is you get in these situations and like Darvin Hamms, like I need Russ out there and crunch time, and I'm not sure that Tyler wouldn't make the same mistake, and so like, if I could create the perfect set of circumstances for

Russell Westbrook, He's still a very productive NBA player. But the problem is is like everything about the playoffs is not the perfect set of circumstances. It's about being adaptable, it's about having versatility, which is everything that Russell Westbrook is not. And it was just a frustrating experience because it wasn't like people would be like, oh, you're hating on Russ for the ratings. No one cares. Like no

one cares. It's like it's authentic. I just as a basketball fan, and I've always been a big Lebron fan, so I've been covering the Lakers and I've been rooting for that team. It was like pulling my hair out trying to watch the guy. And I'm just thankful that he's hopefully going to end up in a better basketball situation now because of all the places to have that

loud and that critical of a fan base. In the worst possible basketball fit Anthony Davis who doesn't like to run the floor and a complete lack of shooting, Like it was the worst possible basketball fit, you get scripted for him. You know what, I I'll explain it to you. So in baseball, where personality is often seen as a negative, there's a way to play the game. If you don't work analytically, you don't work. Seamheads push back. They don't care how cool Cody Bellinger's swing is and how cool

he is. If you don't work analytically, you don't work. Basketball has always had an allure to the aesthetic. Style matters. I never trusted Doctor j shooting a free thrower, hitting a jumper, but god, I love watching him and he's absolutely crucial to the NBA story. World B Free. I loved World b Free, Marbury, Stevie Francis. You know, I don't know what their analytics are. They have to be really suboptimal. But style matters, fashion matters, cool matters. That's

why I love the NBA. There's always these weird, quirky players who are completely limited and can be marginalized. I love watching them. It doesn't work that way in baseball. Personality is seen as a weakness, a liability, disrespectful to the game. So I get the Westbrook. Like I always said, Zach Levine. He's not a winning player, but he has fun to watch. Hell yeah, So I do think a lot of it is if you love basketball. You know I'm old now, man. I watched Wilt in seventy two.

Will it was a flake, but Will it was cool like Wilt. There was value to Wilt being Wilt. And Moses Malone was amazing, but his game was boring. It was offensive, rebounding, you know, Paul Silas, a lot of these guys just they're just not vertical players. So that I guess that's my explanation is basketball has this unique relationship with its fan base that style matters. And I mean just I just since I've been a kid, I loved Spencer Haywood, doctor J World, b Free. I mean,

that's way, way a long time ago. Alex Alex English led the damn League in scoring in the eighties. There's no such thing as an Alice Alex English fan club. He led the damn League it's scoring for and by the way, a good decade the eighties. He wasn't vertical. He hit elbow jumpers. So I just think it's it's it's why I loved the NBA, but one sometimes why it's maddening to argue about players. Yeah, you know, and

I wish people could understand that. Me being critical of the way Russ is playing for the Lakers when they have a championship expectation, which sounds hilarious with the way they've performed. But that is not the same as me disliking Russ as a person or not having an appreciation for his career. I have so much appreciation for Russell Westbrook's all time resume in his accomplishments in this league. It's also true that he never adapted to become a

functional off ball player. It's also true that in a league that has been dominated by skill guards in recent years, which if literally the skill of guards has completely changed the landscape of the NBA. It's changed every pick and roll coverage in the league. It's changed the geometry of NBA defense. Everything is different because of what Dame does and what Kyrie Irving does and what Steph Curry does.

And in a league where all those guards have gone this way, Russell Westbrook could be left completely unguarded by himself all season long and shoot twenty nine percent from three like at a certain point, like me saying like, hey, dude, you didn't adapt is not the same as like I am now tossing away Russ's entire career resume. Huge Russ fan loved watching him play when he was in Oklahoma City, it was rough for the Lakers. Man, I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, no, I mean, and some

of it is Russ. I don't think it's lack of effort. Derrick Rose shot had a weird spin to it. Russ has bad handles, like for a guard, he's got nineteen seventy four power forward hands. He can't catch. And I just think he was even at UCLA, Jason, he was just an athlete. He was They didn't know what to do with him. I don't think Oklahoma City for the first two years, nobody knew what to do with him. But he was too damn athletic to keep off the floor.

And again in the regular season and transition, it's like John Wall. You just can't. You couldn't stay in front of him. And now Russell comes in when they eliminate the hand check, so forget it. He's just gonna score at the rim. I mean, hell, Lebron still gets to the rim in year twenty. You can't stay in front of him. I mean really, so anyway, folks, for those of you, and of course, if you watch the volume in the YouTube, you know who Jason timp is. But

I think it's the smartest basketball breakdown. We're so happy to have him. I don't know if it's official yet, but he's going to be with us for a long time. He just loves the game, played the game. Absolute pleasure to have. You. Teaches me stuff every time we talk. Keep crushing and go to our YouTube page. It's hoops tonight. It's on the Volume Network. Nobody at our company works harder more consistently. You know, I love you. Your work's fantastic.

You make everybody, including me, much smarter. Thanks buddy. Hey Colin, I just wanted to really quickly say congrats on two years with the Volume. Hey man, I know it's been a successful business venture, but it's also created or a bunch of really cool opportunities for a lot of people, including myself, and being with the Volume has completely changed my life. So I wanted to say congratulations, but also

I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done. Man. Listen, as you age as a sportscaster, the coolest thing is passing the ball. I'm like Chris Paul, I can't shoot from three anymore. I really can't defend on back to back nights. You know what, I mean, I can give you about twenty six decent minutes, but I can still dish, I can still deal, and it's just been great. I love having you as a teammate. You can finish the fast break for us, buddy, I appreciate it. Thanks, Colin,

We'll see you next time man the Ume. Make sure to check out The draam On Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the Volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports. Unique perspective understands behind the rope also chops up with guests like Gary Peyton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download The Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcasts, only on the Volume podcast Network.