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sports programs only on Vice TV. Go to vicetv dot com to find your cable channel. Well, usually when we do instant reactions, we have something to urgently react to. But I knew the Warriors were in a little trouble when mid second quarter Butler and Curry hadn't scored. But you know, this is a bigger point, Jason, is that I've been on this for years. The quality of college
basketball is not very good. I mean the national champion, Like you watch Florida play a very good college basketball team, they would have seven or eight straight possessions that they were wasted possessions they didn't run a play. College basketball offensively is a tough watch. That's why almost every good college basketball program lives on defense. I mean Saint John's, Florida, Houston,
Gonzaga is the rare. We're actually better on offense annually than defense, and they do it because they have a great coach and a great system. But you watch it and the ratings are good because of urgency. The NBA quality is insane. But a three game first round, which had probably never happened. Darryl Morey said, give me a game first round. But I've always argued, you don't need seven games. If you want to keep it in the finals. For historical symmetry, totally get it, but you don't need
seven game first rounds now. I will say the argument is, well, what about Clippers Nuggets? And my takeaway is if it goes five or seven, that's a coin flip series. I mean, you can't tell me one team's definitively better. It's almost like the Piston's Nicks five or seven. Whoever wins wins. I'm not losing sleep, but I thought tonight was a bit embarrassing for the league, Like it's just a bad look.
It's so consistent over the years. I in my series preview for this series, when I picked the Warriors in six. I was like, they're gonna get blown out probably in game five. If one of the things that happens when you see one of the things you see when you root for the same team for over a decade, you
become very familiar with their personality. Yeah, And like we saw an extremely similar game in Memphis three years ago in that series where they were up three to one, went on the road and just got demolished before they
came home and closed the deal. It's in. It's it's just there's already a natural kind of like urgency swing from side to side in a series after each team wins, you know, like Houston gets Game two, you know Golden State's gonna come out in Game three and just play an amazing game, right, Like you know Houston's gonna throw a great punch in Game four after Golden State wins
Game three. Right. But when you have this situation where a team has a three to one advantage and they know they have a home close out opportunity in the bank, it almost always ends up being kind of a shalacking in these types of situations. And it's happened to the Warriors in the past as well when they lost to the Lakers in twenty twenty three. Lakers took a three to one lead, they went to Golden State, Golden State beat them, then they head back to LA and LA
closes the deal. It's kind of like the natural flow of series. And to your point, when you have such a consistency in that regard, that just says this is too long. We're wasting too much time here.
So I think it's interesting. So Houston is a team that I said this today on FS one is that Oklahoma City is a similarly young team but better and they've got a ton of draft picks. You're not going to leapfrog them. Whereas every one of their young players to me, has sort of a defined role. Houston has Jalen Green, who's athletic, but I still don't know what his offensive game is in the half court, he's just athletic. And so I do think Houston's gonna have to make
take a swing. I think a Kevin Durant fits well, maybe they get into the I mean, they may have more than anybody for Jannis. But so we were talking about this, Jason McIntyre and I were talking about this, and I said I would Houston has told people Amn Thompson no chance, and it's funny watching him tonight with five steals in the first half. When I watch Amn Thompson, I absolutely know what he is. He's a physical, tough defense often is the best part of his game, hustle.
He has a defined even though he's a kid, he has a defined game, and that's one of the first things I look for. Actually, if Zion could have stayed in shape, I thought he had a very defined game, Like I knew what he was. Jalen Green, I don't know what he is, and I always feel like I don't care if it's a talk show host or a basketball player or a politician. If you don't, if you
can't kind of what what are you? And if I'm struggling with that three years into your political career, it's like, I'm not sure you are anything other than maybe smart or aspirational or driven. So I think I look at it and I think if they went into the Yannis sweepstakes, you'd have to give up two really good players. Would you give up Shamgon, Jalen Green and two firsts? Because I think if I'm Milwaukee, I'm gonna have multiple suitors. I'm going to get a Malik an og and four.
You know, I don't think the Knicks. You know, I gave up so many first for Michale Bridges. Let's just talk Houston. What would Houston give up in your opinion? You run the rockets for Yannis.
Well, first of all, Colin at the I'm going to try not to be too insensitive here, but I'll tell you what Jalen Green is. He's salary filler. That's what he is. At this point in his career. He has demonstrated through multiple years with Houston that there are certain things that he just hasn't figured out in terms of
how to bring consistent, winning impact every single game. When he's got his pull up three point shot going and he's making good decisions at the rim, he looks like an all star caliber player that can lift that team to greatness. But two out of three games he struggles to accomplish those things, and then suddenly the inattentiveness off ball, the poor decision making, all that just rises to the surface.
And so he needs to go somewhere where he can go make mistakes for a while because he just needs a lot of time, right and you know, Amn Thompson,
to me, should be untouchable. I would not give up a mental honest, I think that unlike the only reason I would ever consider giving up a player of a Men Thompson's caliber is if I was certain that we would be a runaway favorite the next season, you know, like like, for instance, if OKC wanted to make a move for Giannis, they should be more willing to part with someone like a Jalen Williams for instance, when you consider the fact that they would immediately become a runaway
championship favorite. Right, But Houston with Giannis is still like they'd be very good defensively, but it wouldn't be perfect, right. A Men Thompson is the level of prospect that I think has the potential to be like the Scottie Pippen of this eras the most devastating perimeter athlete defensively that we have in the sport. Intimidate but he has exactly but he has a lot more offensive pop than people realize, and wait till he starts to piece some of these
parts of his game together. He can handle the ball a little bit. He's got a pretty decent set of moves in one on one situations. Once he polishes up mainly the short range mid range shot making and adds a little bit of muscle, he's going to be a guy that can easily average twenty points a game in this league very efficiently, potentially more.
And he is really a physical I mean most young players Jason are not that physical. He has a twenty nine to thirty three year old physicality to him. When I watch him play.
It's it's the type of athlete that is most valuable in the modern MBA, which is rangy but also strong because there's a lot of rangy dudes that can get shoved around. But like there's a when you can bring physicality and the ability to cover ground. I mean, that's what made Draymond, you know, the best defensive player of this eras he could cover ground, but he was also big and strong and could win ground battles and there's
just a there's a ton of value there. So like if I was running the rockets, I would literally I would negotiate earnestly, but I'd get a deal done. And what I mean by that is everything's on the table. But amen, Thompson, if you want Shangun Jabari Smith Junior and Jalen Green will make it happen, you know, like whatever it is you need to do to make it happen. Because one of the things that Houston has is depth.
They just have a lot of good players. They can afford to give up three rotational players for Giannis and not be in a situation where they don't have the requisite talent to compete next year.
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at you. This was my take on the Nick Pistons is a year ago, the Pistons were in a rebuild and the Knick thot McHale Bridges was going to get them right up next to Boston, and yet five point separates he seems in five games. And my take is they gave up a little too much for McHale Bridges. Though I think everybody, myself included, kind of liked the deal. But the problem was, when you're talking vs. V. Nicks Celtics, is that Jalen Brunson og and McHale Bridges and Cat
we know what they are. Tatum made a leap, and Peyton Pritchard went from Nina game to the best guy in the league off the bench, and so two of the Celtics. Because Jalen Brown has established what he is, Tatum is playing with the confidence today that we thought he should have been playing with four years ago. I don't think his skills necessarily that much better, but go look at his first quarter scoring against Orlando. He's a much more aggressive player. And by the way, Steph's been
burned by this is that Steph sometimes defers. Steph's smart, collaborative, a great teammate NBA fans, And it's not a criticism, it's a reality. They were ward aggressive, even if it's like over the top Westbrook aggressiveness, like they just I mean, and Westbrook jumps off the TV much. I mean, just you can't when he's on the floor, you can't. Okay, Westbrook's right there, there could be a seven foot of That's just I always said with Andrew Wiggins, is he
on the floor? Is he playing? Does he have? I mean? So my point being is is that the problem that the Knicks face and I think they have to swing big is they thought McHale bridges really bridge the gap. They were inches behind Boston, Tatum Pops, Pritchard Pops, and it's like, oh god, they did. They lost ground. Actually, so I look at the Knicks and think, let's not waste our time here. Cleveland and Boston both got significantly better.
New York is what. They just have good players. They've got to take a big swing.
You know. I think I think people have missed the point on Boston in a lot of ways, in the sense that they look at them as a team that's led by all these big wings that are super versatile, and I think that was the direction that the Knicks were trying to match. But it's much more of a team wide concept of the ability to piece together these
lineups where everyone can guard. That's really the foundational concept that makes the Celtics so unbeatable if you look at it, Mikhale Bridges Og Andnobi and Josh Hart in theory, are these three rangy wings that can do a lot of work defensively, but because they're bracketed by these two weak points, there's almost like a diminishing return and having that type of defensive talent because of the way teams can still get them in rotation, like it's still the Pistons in
the half court, Kate Cunningham bringing Jalen Brunson's man into the action and getting great looks attacking even though he's got Ogn and Obi on him. Whereas if you're with the Celtics and you run that exact same thing at a Derek White good luck, you run that exact same thing at a Drew Holliday good luck, and Peyton Pritchard competes his ass off defensively, and so that really is
the foundational trait that everybody's missing. Is like you're seeing this situation where the Knicks copied almost on the margins in a way that has a diminishing return because of
their bill. They almost would have been better off looking for like waiting and holding their firepower for a better player than putting all their cards in the Michale Bridges type of basket, because McHale Bridges would have been more valuable if Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns were replaced by more versatile, defensive minded stars, and they're just not.
And so I think the ultimately, it doesn't matter how good your on ball defender is if I can put him in an action that gets me an advantage.
Yeah, I kind of felt for it. I thought McHale Bridges got him close. I didn't think he would be better, but I thought, oh, they'll compete if they could win a game, maybe a second in a seven game series or you know, you know, and it's like, no, you know, I will say this about Jason Tatum. I mean, again, he feasted on Orlando, but this was the best year he's had as a pro. He had a really really
good year. Is that we do this sometimes in society attention with all these media platforms, attention is a currency, and Jason isn't an attention seeker, and it probably makes him a much more balanced to human. I'm watching his
post game last night. If you told me he ran a tech company, or you're like, oh, yeah, he's a professor at the local college, I would be like, yeah, he comes up and he's thoughtful, and he's got interesting pace when he talks, and none of it's I just my takeaway is he's got the personality in some ways of just like a great friend or just a guy you'd want in a band. It's like he's thoughtful. And the truth is pro athletes are sometimes delusionally, delusionally confident,
and it's sometimes it works. Like you read I've read the I remember reading the book The Three Ring Circus on the Kobe Shak stuff from Jeff Pearlman, and like, I love Kobe, but oh, good, good lord, he was a lot. I mean he was seventeen eighteen nineteen. You're like, this guy's abnoxious. He'd be the you know, it's the guy that you never could depend on to take you to the airport, you know. But it's like that's sort of what that's sort of what made him great, like
that obnoxiousness. So I just look at Tatum and I think sometimes am I punishing him because he's so patient, thoughtful and collaborative. I mean, I feel like now when I look at him and I'm like, hey, he'd just be the best teammate.
Right, I think that it's okay to change our opinion based on new information. And what I mean by that is Jason Tatum, in his inconsistent level of aggression in his last of top end was a legitimate part of why they struggled over the years. And then last year, with an overwhelming talent advantage, they made it through the East and Tatum contributed in a big way, especially with his defensive versatility and his playmaking in the half court.
But he didn't show that superstar upside in that playoff run. And so I think this is the first time really that I'm watching Jason Tatum, and I'm watching him from start to finish through a playoff series, command things in a way with a level of aggression and with the same level versatility showed in recent years, but also bringing the high end scoring pop Colin. He had three straight thirty five point games. He had two total in the
entire playoff run last year. Like this is like it's okay for us to be, Like Tatum is growing up into Like I don't think he was a top tier superstar until this year.
Now I think he is exactly how I feel.
And I think it's okay. I think it's okay to be Like he's growing into the player that some people thought he was and I disagreed for a while, and now I'm there where it's like it's the versatility and it's the top end, like the big one. For me, it's a Game four and I'm watching the difference in the maturity with the way that he's attacking switches against guards down the stretch against Orlando, while Pallo is not getting good shots doing the exact same thing on the
other end of the floor. And I'm like, oh, it's like it reminds me of the old days when I'd watch Lebron or some other grown up do it to Tatum when he was the young guy. Like Tatum is growing into like he almost looks like a thirty thirty one year old star as a twenty six, twenty seven year old star because he's got so much experience in these big moments over the years. But it's a combination of two things, Colin, you mentioned it. This is a
huge piece the confidence. There is a calm, cool and collected demeanor that he has in the half court now that he just didn't have in the past. That to me is part of his growth. And then the second piece of it, he finally brought along this shot making piece, which was so inconsistent for him over the years. He had it in the past, but he wasn't as big and strong and versatile. Then he got big, strong and versatile,
but he didn't have the shot making. Now he has both, and he's confident and he looks like a top three player in the NBA right now.
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Okay, I have to mention this, as I've always said, in our business, and you're in this business, is I'm not. It's not flip flopping. If you give me new stuff, I'll have a new opinion. I have never liked six four and under players Derrek Rose, John Wall Westbrook that can't aren't pure shooters. Nash Curry, little guys don't lead the titles anyway. Historically, Curry's and Outliar Isaiah Thomas, both,
by the way, really good perimeter shooters. Therefore, when you're six four and under and can't, especially with no handcheck, you get to the rim and you get hit by the redwoods and you just hit the floor too often. Now Dwayne Wade had a little bit of this because he was never a gifted outside shooter. But Dwayne was built like a like a running back. I mean, he's he looks like an NFL player. So I was always like with Westbrook, I'm like, listen, man, this is just
it just doesn't work for me. But I said, I watched him last night, and I thought he was last night. The tone center of every great player in that game is that Jamal Murray would have an amazing second half. Jokicch was off. I never trust Gordon or Porter offensively, although I really love Gordon as a player. He is so relentless that he almost makes teammates guilty if they don't play with energy. Like I mean, you can see why,
like Harden and Westbrook they're good buddies. They go to Houston, they didn't get along, and I think part of it was Westbrook is like, Bro, I know you were out last night, but you can't bring that last game for the Clippers. I mean, Harden might as well have been a hologram. I mean, he was invisible. But I watched Westbrook and I think, all these years later, what I appreciate about him is he plays so hard. He almost forces you as a teammate to play harder because you
and I know this. Some nights, this is asking a lot eighty two games playoffs. I mean, Jokich last night just doesn't have it. And I was like kind of blown away by Westbrook last night and this new found ability to hit a three, but it's his energy was just ridiculous last night in the first half.
Yeah, it's infectious. It I'm so Glad you said it like that, because I've always felt that way in team basketball, Like when there is somebody on your team that is busting his ass on defense, you look like an idiot if you're out there next to him not doing the
same thing. It screams on film, and like, trust me, like these film sessions, like I remember when I was in college, Like it's embarrassing when you're sitting in the room and you're not doing your job, like and the coaches pausing the screen, and like you're jogging back in transition defense and he's standing up there pointing at you in front of your teammates. Like it laziness stands out on the TV, it stands out in film. It especially stands out juxtaposed with an energy bunny, and like that
there's a ton of value there, you know. I've like really grown to appreciate Russell Westbrook in this phase of his career in a way that I didn't in the past. YEP, a couple of different things. He is a guy that his motor and physicality actually translates in the postseason really well, because he's a very physical player. So like, and we've seen so many examples of this in NBA history, the big, strong athlete who plays hard just has a lot of utility when it's a rock fight, when it's like super
super physical. During the regular season with the Lakers, there was just so much time where he was asked to do more than he was capable of. But as this has shifted towards him being in a smaller role, he's polished up his jump shooting. Like you mentioned earlier, like he put in work behind the scenes. He understood, oh, if I'm going to stay in this league, I'm going to need to be able to hit a corner three. And so he's put in a lot of work behind
the scenes. The second piece of it finding a fit that works. So, for instance, Jokic, we've talked about this on the show before, inverts your spacing. He brings the center away from the basket. That makes it so there's fewer redwoods around the basket. And so Russ is Russ had a layup missing problem over the years, and he's missing fewer layups in Denver because he's getting easier cuts
right around the rim. And so when you combine the little bit of corner three point shooting, the ability to finish because of the lack of congestion under the rim with the Yolkic team, and then you add to it just the way his physicality translates to the playoffs. He's become a very useful player for the Nuggets now, like a flat out important player in the championship goals.
No question. And I know that isn't the be all end all, but there is something about when you turn a television on and you come into the second quarter, the players that add something you can usually spot in like two possessions, Like you're like, oh, you like to amend. Thompson's a great example. You're like, shit, man, that dude is physical. He's an intimidating presence. Obviously, great scores almost all have that. Russell Westbrook jumps to the TV screen.
He is just straight gin on the rocks. It's like, pow, it hits you. It's who's this guy like cutting you? Jimmy Butler's got that too. When he's really into it. It's like, dude, who is Like when you're a pro athlete and can kind of intimidate other pro athletes and it's a man's got it. Butler's got it. Russell's got it. No, and you know, it's funny watching Westbrook. I'm thinking, could he have always shot threes like this? He's now shooting
him because he's probably a little less you know. I mean, everybody comes down a little bit athletically, and he was so hyper athletic. But it is amazing to me to watch him shoot threes. I don't know if the shooting style has changed, but last night, I'm like, it looked smooth, it looked confident and comfortable.
He's more compact, there's less wasted motion. He's getting good energy transfer, like it's straight up and down, there's no hitch. I think. I think taking more corner threes has been really big for him because it just takes that little extra bit of distance off. But it's at the end of the day, it's work. It's repetition. I mean Aaron Gordon, Aaron Gordon is now like a legitimately good three point shooter.
You want to know how he built a gym at his house and he shot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of shots for years and years and to turn himself into this kind of player and not Aaron Gordon has now transformed himself into a player that kind of changes the future of the Nuggets because of his ability to shoot the three really really well.
One last thing I wanted to say, the Russell Westbrook thing, which I think is fascinating, Like the James Harden juxtaposition is crazy to me because you know, there there is like levels to competitive fire, right, Like, Like I'm not gonna sit here and say James Harden wasn't playing hard because you know, he was guarding Jokic for parts of the game. He was a big part of the way their defensive scheme was set up to keep zoobots on
the back line. But like there was such a palpable difference in intensity except Westbrook aside for a second, look at Jokic yelling and screaming. Look at the way he acted in game two when his team fell apart, when he made a scene on the sideline, ripping those guys a new one. There's a level of it. He's screaming at the right, there's like a light in his eyes. It's it's hard to explain, like an intensity in his eyes as a competitor in that game, and James Harden
looked half asleep, and and it's it's weird. Because like I think part of it stems from the way that over the course of a series, coaches start to scout out your pet actions, they found the coverage that works best at that point in the series. The one defender in this case, Christian Brown, has been eye to eye with James Harden so many times now in this series that he's starting to pick up on some of his tips and the way that he likes to set up
his moves. And you start sitting on that same left to right crossover, right to left crossover a bunch of times, it starts to take on a resemblance for you, and you can start to pick up on those cues and
be ahead of things. And it's always right around this time, Colin, right around game five, game six, and a coin flip type of series that you see as things get really hard for Harden, he kind of just like relaxes and with Jokich he goes four to thirteen last night, But he's the best player on the floor because he's just super intense and he's hyper focused on every advantage on every possession because he knows what it takes.
Yeah, it's like Steven Adams, isn't it his class But the other night I'm watching Steven Adams for Hueston. I'm like christ these the most consistent player, Like He's just I think, and I love players like that. Now it's time for power players, brought to you by bmw the Ultimate Driving Machine, and today's power player is Jamal Murry, who gave us an electrifying performance in the Nuggets Game five win over the Clippers. Wow. Knock down eight threes,
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you love about the Ultimate Driving Machine electrified. It's not just scoring. By the way, before we close this out, because we're going to both go watch the Laker game. We got into this discussion today. The Mavericks shouldn't have traded Luca but and Jack Lowe was talking about this on the Ringer is that I would never trade Mahomes, Alan Lamar Jackson, but I would now take a call on Joe Burrow because of two major injuries. I would
take a call. I'm not looking to trade him. I would take a call on Jalen Hurts, who I still think small and okay in the pocket. But there are players, you know, like Lebron in his prime got you guaranteed finals. MJ got you guaranteed titles. Kareem got you titles. In Luca's prime, he guarantees you buckets and those are great. But there is a difference between the Lebron and his prime, and I think now he'll be in better shape next year.
The Lakers won the trade. I'm not in any way insinuating they didn't crush it, but I think this little peak at Luca. Let's face it, when he's on your team, you just watch him more. Even if you love the NBA, you watch him more. Can you look at him now and you watch as much NBA as anybody, But is there a part of you, even ten percent that goes I get Houston, I get Dallas and Nico taking the call.
So just because there is a reason to do something doesn't mean it's reason enough. And like I see the reason like they call it. I'm I'm I don't. I don't want to be overly critical of Luca here, because it is tough to come into a team right in the middle of the season and to do all of the things that he's being asked to do. But let me just pause it, like, let me just present it like this. If Luca outplays ant do the Lakers win the series? Let me let me give you one more.
Literally, the last game at was like six of seven against him. So I think that is they don't put Luca on ant a ton because for obvious reasons. So I'm not sure what the answer.
Is to that. So in the fourth quarter in this series, which is where the games have been decided, Yes.
The guy Soda was in these close games all year long.
They did.
I mean, so it's like that is who they They're not pretty enough offensively to blow good teams out. They're in all all their games look like this.
Luca has five made field goals and one assist in the fourth quarter in the series, and has ten made field goals and seven assists in the fourth quarter in the series, he has dramatically outpaced Luca's output when the games have been on the line late. Luca is shooting five to seventeen in the fourth quarter in the series, and he looks blatantly exhausted every single time down the stretch of these games. There's been so much focus on the fact that he had to play twenty four straight minutes.
You know who else played twenty four straight minutes in that game, Anthony Edwards, he looked fantastic. Julius Randall played twenty three and a half of the twenty four available minutes. He looked fantastic. He's Garden Lebron, grabbing rebounds, doing all that kind of stuff. Lebron, who's forty years old, had three of the most absurd defensive plays I've seen. Like, Lebron almost single handedly stole that game with defense.
Yeah, dis stretched the Vincenzo block, and then Fitty Smith shot in on the other end.
Yeah, and then he stripped Nasried on the very next possession, got another stop, and then he did strip Anthony Edwards on what was kind of an iffy call. Aunt was kind of already slipping when he was like, but it was good defense on that play. The point being like, there were four stars in that game that all played basically the entire second half. Three of them looked like they were spry. For the record, they're all better athletes.
I'm not expecting Luca to be out there flying around like a six to eight freak athlete in those situations, but I would expect him to look like Luca. I would expect him to look like Luca. And the bottom line is is every single time a game has been hanging in the balance in this series late, Ant has looked like Ant and Luca hasn't, and the Wolves have
immediately taken control and won the series. And so I don't think it's negotiable at all at this point whether or not Luca's conditioning is standing in the way of whether or not they could have won the series. The Lakers controlled the first three quarters. They are capable, They're capable of beating this team and in the biggest the like for instance, I saw some criticism of Lebron for having zero points for the record, Lebron does deserve some criticism.
He had a bad turnover late. I didn't like the three he took off the left wing. Zero points, like find a way to score something. But he only took two shots in that fourth quarter. You know why, because this team has a construct. The construct is we need Luca to create offense for us. That's his one job. This is one job everyone else, like Lebron's job on this team is to be Draymond Green on the other end of the floor, you know. And like, yes, Lebron
could have and should have done more. But I left that game very disappointed because I felt like Luca, when the series was hanging in the balance, didn't even look remotely like himself. If he makes that layup against NOAs Reed, which by the way, is just maybe a little bit more conditioned athlete than he is right now, doesn't even have to be in peak condition, just in good enough shape to get the lift to get that ball up off the backboard, they win the seri they did, don't
win the series. They win the game. It's two two. But instead he smoked it and then didn't get back and transition defense and left nas Reed open. He hit a three, and all of a suddenly seven point game was a two point game, right right, So like I am a huge believer in Luca, I genuinely think he
could be the best player in the league. There's a version of this if he gets in shape where he is the best combination of scoring and playmaking talent in the NBA after jokicch age is out, And if he is and he also gets in good shape and becomes just an above average defensive player, that's the best basketball player in the world. It's an achievable outcome for him. He just has to put in the work behind the scenes. And by the way, it's not too late. Maybe he
can flip the script. But the Lakers are not winning tonight and Friday and Sunday unless Luka Doncic outplays Anthony Edwards and he he has to win that matchup.
Yeah, no, I think that's really well put. Is that any listen, It's just years ago I said, and I got so much pushback. I said, he's a better version of Carmelow He's a better version, there's no question. But Carmelo is one of the great I mean, one of the great offensive talents we've seen in fifteen years. Like he was an absolute bucket against every defender in the league. And the truth is so is Luca. But I say this most great players, at least for about a seven
year window in their prime, were great defenders. Now you can be Bird and Staff where you're trying really hard but you're limited. That's also okay in the locker room. But mailing it in sends a message, Harden, Luca Mellow. It sends a message like you, guys take it from here. And you know, a lot of times in the NBA you don't face a profound offensive player on the other end, But when you and Aunt are matching up and aunts this ascending, dynamic player that you can't take your eyes off,
you notice, like Luca's defense is noticeably awful. And I think it was well said by you.
Okay, let's well given some credit. We can give a hands some credits to like Colin, like he has been so so, so incredibly good. Yeah, in the series, he's growing before our eyes. You said the other day that he's the best young player in the league. I agree. I think I think he's the fifth best player in the world right now, Like he's playing unbelievable best now.
I think we've been looking because of the emergence of great international players, which I do not think is bad for the league. Shoheo Tani. I will argue forever is great for baseball. I don't care. But I think Tatum and Ant have emerged as the guys. I think it's indisputable, and this we're seeing it in real time. One in the East, one in the West. It's not deniable because they're on the floor with other good players. Ben Caro
has been up and down. Luca looks over matched, like when you can put great players on him and you're like, oh wow, Yeah, they've separated worldwide, and so it's good for the NBA. I don't think it's necessary to have a domestic face of the league. It helps. It's something, right, Jason, great toff. Let's go watch the Lakers.
Yep, see you next week. Colin the volume
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