The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Lakers Offseason Reaction: Are Deandre Ayton & LaRavia enough for LeBron & Luka? + Knecht trade?

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Jason answers mailbag questions about the Los Angeles Lakers on topics such as Deandre Ayton's defensive struggles and his lack of post game, whether Jake LaRavia or Dalton Knecht is a better long ter...m fit for LA alongside LeBron James and Luka Doncic, if Cam Whitmore or Andrew Wiggins is a better player, and his five biggest takeaways from the 2025 playoffs. #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.
Starting point is 00:00:12 We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.
Starting point is 00:00:30 you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Starting point is 00:04:04 questions. I got about five of them from your guys's comments over the course of the last week. we're going to hit those questions off the top. And then every year, since I've started doing this, we've done an episode shortly after the playoffs that I call my five biggest takeaways from that postseason. This is going to be more of like a basketball tactics and roster construction type of conversation,
Starting point is 00:04:24 centering around the specific things that we saw in this playoff run that led to success and what I think teams should be targeting and building around as we move forward into next season. You guys know the joke before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements.
Starting point is 00:04:43 Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there for more content throughout the year. And last minute least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. Again, we're shifting away. I know we did our mailbag questions from the chat during our live shows during the postseason, but we're going back to our normal format now where I'm going to be taking mailback questions
Starting point is 00:05:08 straight out of the YouTube comment. So under our full episodes, put mailbag and then colon and then write your question. And once a week throughout the entire offseason, we will be doing a mailbag episode where we'll get to all of your guys's questions at that point. All right. Let's talk some basketball. First question, hey, Jason, love the work you do with the questions on defense with Aiton. Is there a defensive big that the Lakers could pick up that will offset Aiton's inability to
Starting point is 00:05:35 defend consistently? So first of all, the free agent market for centers is very limited. I talked yesterday about the Mark Stein report that came out regarding Al Horford and him potentially, or as he said, destined to go to the Golden State Warriors. And it was actually in the context, in his report, in the context of the Yonis Valensuna situation, this situation where Yonis has apparently already engaged in conversations with a team over in Greece and he would like to be bought out or be relieved from his contract with the Denver Nuggets so that he can go overseas and play. And Denver does not want to let him do that. Denver wants to force him to honor his contract.
Starting point is 00:06:17 The main reason being that they need a backup center to play off of Yokic. And, you know, obviously, Darren Holmes is a is an interesting option, but he's young and coming off of an Achilles tear. So you don't want to be like super dependent on that. And as Mark Stein pointed out in that report, there's not another great option to pivot to. Horford is really the only other guy out there. And as I mentioned, and as Mark Stein mentioned, it appears that he's headed to Golden State in all likelihood. So the point is, is there's not a lot of really quality options out there in the free agent market. Now, the Lakers did end up resigning Jackson Hayes.
Starting point is 00:06:53 I think he'll do fine as a backup. I wouldn't be surprised if they keep someone like Christian Coloco around on a two-way contract. to help, you know, with certain defensive looks. But Maxi Kleba, I think, is going to end up being a guy. I wouldn't be surprised if Maxi ends up basically winning the backup center spot from Jackson Hayes. The main reason why is let's look at the situation. The Lakers under JJ Reddick have done a lot more switching. This is a big in Maxi Kleber that I think that's his specific strength compared to most backup centers around the league.
Starting point is 00:07:25 Maxi is a pretty solid switch defender. He moves his feet pretty well. He's got good instinct. he takes good angles. He's just generally better at that than most of the backup center level players that are out there. And so I, you know, he already has chemistry with Luca as like a stretch by. I could see Maxie just beating Jackson out for that secondary spot. But again, there's not a lot of great options out there in the free agent market. And I think going from Aiton to having three different kind of like backup options for different looks like Jackson A's
Starting point is 00:07:58 being your traditional rim runner for certain looks where you need is vertical spacing. You know, a Christian Coloco on a two-way contract is more of like a defensive-minded motor big for certain situations. And then Maxi Kliba is the veteran stretch five that can defend in a switching scheme. I think that that's perfectly fine considering the Lakers were able to achieve that center rotation without having to give up really anything in the way of assets, which maintains their asset flexibility if they want to make a move for a wing, someone like an Wiggins or a Herb Jones, something along those lines. Next question.
Starting point is 00:08:32 Love the show. My question to you is who are your top five players going into next season? I hate to break it to you guys, but I cannot reveal this yet because one of my favorite things that we do every summer is we do a detailed top 25 players in the NBA list with extensive breakdown for every single player on the list. We set up criteria. It's something that I take very seriously as one of my major offseason projects. and so I'm not going to jump into it at this point in time,
Starting point is 00:09:01 but my guess is shortly after Summer League, we'll get started with that, and we're going to have all sorts of fun stuff along those lines throughout the off season, so hang type, and we will get to that later on this summer. Next question, another Lakers-related question. Jake Laravia or Dalton Connect, long-term better player. I look at these two guys as very, very different types of players.
Starting point is 00:09:23 Like Jake Laravia can shoot, but I look at Dalton, Connect is an entirely different tier of shooting prospect. To me, Dalton Connect is a guy that I could see being one of the high volume, successful three-point shooters in the NBA for a long time. He's just got the ability to hit from all these different spots on the floor. He's a little bit more of a heat check guy. I can get into a better rhythm. And Dalton is this like very big and strong, like kind of a vertical, a very impressive
Starting point is 00:09:51 vertical athlete that brings like a transition element, a cutting element, a driving element. but Dalton to me is just a different type of player. Jake La Ravia is more of a traditional like role player NBA wing in that like he can do a little bit of everything. He's a guy who can shoot the ball. He can drive closeouts, has some higher level off the dribble moves in the short to mid range. He's a good athlete, but not like an elite athlete. He's, you can do a lot of things reasonably well on defense, but he's not great at anything. Like to me, Dalton Connect has a couple more of those like apex traits.
Starting point is 00:10:22 Jake Laravia is more useful in the short term. Dalton Connect will probably be a better player in the long run. And, you know, I think Jake Laravia becomes valuable in the context of a potential Dalton Connect trade. If the Lakers were to include him in a deal at some point this summer or in the middle of next season, Jake Arabia can come off the bench and not bring the same apex shooting trait that Dalton Connect brings, but bring a more versatile, kind of useful NBA role player attack to that position. I know the trend and emphasis for NBA Biggs in recent years, has been threes and stretching the floor.
Starting point is 00:10:57 But hearing about talented guys like Aiton having more potential than actual post game, why does a guy like that not really go after developing a serious post game? You watch McHale in his torture chamber and Olajuwon and the Dream Shake. If a guy like Aiton really went after some of those guys and even had a poor man's level, he would be better than most in the lead or could handle. I guess it's just not having the drive going by his inattentive, mediocre overall defense. I guess it's that. So this is a complicated issue. And I actually think this is a very interesting topic that you're bringing up here with this question.
Starting point is 00:11:30 So why is it that we don't see more post-up players dominating in the NBA? If you go look at Synergy, for example, the high-volume guys, the Yokic's, the MBs, those types of guys, they are in like an entirely different tier of volume of post-ups. And then there's just like a giant drop-off. And there's just not that many guys who do it. outside of those two. Now, even Yokic compared to Embed brings another level to just the sheer amount of posting up that he does. And so what I, my theory with this actually has more to do with the way the game has changed defensively and how difficult it is to generate offense out of the post if you can't pass the ball. So with the way that teams space the floor defensively now and with the type of athleticism and speed that's on the floor, it's very, easy to load up on a post player and make one pass available and over the top pass that goes across the court to the opposite corner or to the opposite wing that usually has to go through a
Starting point is 00:12:36 bunch of traffic or has to fly looping over the top in order to get there. And it's just a lot easier than it used to be to double team or shade or heavily send help towards a post player and take away that option without really conceding anything super damaging. I've watched this for years as a guy who covers Anthony Davis, and Anthony Davis made progress and got better at it, but there was a reason why they never went to Anthony Davis the same volume that they went to Nicole Yokic in Denver. And it was because inevitably, if he had some success down there,
Starting point is 00:13:11 teams would start loading up, and AD just couldn't make the reads. When I was evaluating Aiton as part of the Lakers signing here, him and I went back and watched all of this tape, Aiton's post-ups often went awry because he didn't trust his ability to go to power because of the help defense. And so he'd either turn it over against the help defense or he would settle for some difficult over the top shot. And that really is the final piece of it. If you want to put everything together to be an elite high volume post player in the NBA, you have to have the combination of really physically imposing size with high, high-level
Starting point is 00:13:48 playmaking to be able to break apart the defense when they load up on you. And then the third piece of it is the touch. Like we talk about this all the time with layups. You watch these guys around the league, you know, when it comes to layups, sometimes they're shooting 50, 55 percent. You know, the really good layup shooters are 60, 65 percent. It's because anything that is a two-point shot that is contested, that isn't a wide open layup or a dunk, the percentages in the efficiency tank from there. 55% on a layup is like 1.1 points per shot. That's not great for a layup, right? You're expecting more efficiency there. And it craters even further when you go out a further away. Like, let's say you've got a decent hook shot. Like you've got a,
Starting point is 00:14:34 your 45% on hook shots. That seems like a good percentage, right? That's only 0.9 points per attempt. And so there's a level of short range shot making that you need in order to be a reliable post-up threat as well. to command the defense a certain way to unlock that playmaking talent. That's why you look at Yoke, it just kind of feels like Yokich and then the rest of the league when it comes to posting up. It's because of that difficult dynamic.
Starting point is 00:15:00 There's a, you know, Aitin has actually a decent hook shot, but he really struggles to handle all the helpside defense. And so defenders press up on him. They pack the paint. He turns the ball over. He settles for these turnaround fadeaway jump shots that he can't make. Even with Yokich, when he has to go to further away shot making, like some of those turnarounds, like some of those deeper hook shots,
Starting point is 00:15:21 he can still make those at 55, 60 percent. And that's what makes him such a dynamic postplayer. But I think that the league has just become so fast and so sophisticated defensively that teams have just found a way to greatly diminish the impact of postplayers if they do not have those talents. And, you know, when we see other guys, like you look at a Shangoon, for instance, who's had some impact as a post player, it's power, mix a short range shot, making and he's got some playmaking talent, although it's not where it needs to be to be at the
Starting point is 00:15:52 level of the best post players in the league. But that's why it's not as simple as just, you know, you got to go into the gym and rep out footwork and hook shots. No, that's that that's not the pathway to success in the post in the NBA. It is a combination of that with reliable short range shot making and the ability to interpret what the defense is doing and to make the reeds. And there just aren't that many guys who can do that. All right, last question. Then we're going to get into our top five takeaways. Do you like Cam Whitmore more or less than Andrew Wiggins? This is a question that we had in our YouTube comments that I want to evaluate more just as an example of just differing archetypes. We had a similar question earlier regarding Jake Loravia and
Starting point is 00:16:32 Dolan Connect, right? By the way, Cam Whitmore has been traded to the Washington Wizards. And I think his trade to the Washington Wizards is actually an interesting example of the difference in the archetypes. You trade for Andrew Wiggins, for instance. By the way, they're totally different phases of their career, Andrew Wiggins is 30. He makes over $30 million. Like, it's just, it's just not even remotely the same. But I want to get into why. Why is it that Andrew Wiggins is worth more and would go for more in a trade and teams would be hunting for a key rotation spot in a playoff front? Like, why would I as a Lakers fan be much more interested in Andrew Wiggins, even at a massive number to come in and play the three for the Lakers than I would Cam Whitmore? And it comes down to the
Starting point is 00:17:13 same thing we talked about earlier with Dalton Connect. It's the same thing we talked about earlier yesterday when we were having the conversation surrounding Jonathan Cominga. There are things that Andrew Wiggins does right now at a very, very high level that impact winning in the context of a core five, like of a starting lineup or a closing five for an NBA team. Andrew Wiggins is somewhere between a second tier and first tier perimeter defender in the NBA. Like if your job as Andrew Wiggins is to guard the other team's best player every single night, he's one of the best options still in this league to use in that way. He can guard multiple groups.
Starting point is 00:17:58 He can guard guards. He can guard forwards. He moves his feet well. He has the length to contest from behind and the length to contest pull up jump shooters. He can apply full court ball pressure. He's done it in high leverage playoff situations. He did an unbelievable job on Jason Tatum in the 2022 finals. He did an unbelievable job on Luca Donchich in the 22 Western Conference Finals.
Starting point is 00:18:19 Andrew Wiggins brings an apex straight to the table, which is that he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, and that has enormous utility in the modern NBA. Then on the other end of the floor, he's a guy that can hit in the high 30s and catch and shoot threes, can do a little driving, close out stuff, and can do some stuff in transition, get you in the that 15 to 18 points per game is a useful offensive player. That makes him a very, very high quality starting small forward in the NBA as a role player. That brings real value in the short term. Cam Whitmore has all sorts of potential. He's an apex athlete himself, but that athleticism hasn't translated to some reliable apex trait right now, right? He has shown some ability over
Starting point is 00:19:06 the years to shoot the ball. He has shown some ability over the years to put the ball on the floor. He has shown some ability over the years to play some defense. But none of it has amounted to a reliable day and day out. This guy can do this for me right now starting day one of camp, and I can count on him to do this until the end of the line. That's why it makes so much sense to send cam to a place like Washington. Houston signs Dorian, Finney Smith, gets Kevin Durant. Houston is on a different timeline. Houston's trying to win right now. Ham's not going to get a lot of minutes, not a lot of opportunity, because he's not good at those things like we talked about with Andrew Wiggins.
Starting point is 00:19:43 So why not go to Washington, a place where he has a spot in the rotation, and he can continue to build out his game and find what those apex traits are. If he becomes an apex perimeter defender that can knock down threes and drive closeouts, he'll be the guy that everyone's trading for as a starting level wing in the NBA. But he's not there yet, and I think that's an important distinction when we're talking about these players. guys that can do a specific role player thing super well right now are more valuable in the short term than a young player in his potential. Because with young players, as we always talk about, they struggle to identify what's working and repeat it and to identify what's not working
Starting point is 00:20:23 and trim that fat. That is why young players struggle to play important roles on championship level teams. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts
Starting point is 00:20:46 throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band Before Jonas Brothers.
Starting point is 00:21:05 This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Starting point is 00:21:22 Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.
Starting point is 00:21:48 Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in. tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset,
Starting point is 00:22:15 and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenschen went. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.
Starting point is 00:22:49 Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman. documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's get into our biggest takeaways from the 2025 postseason. First, generating margin. I've referenced this idea in many ways over the year. I've referred to it a lot in the playoff run as low-hanging fruit or winning battles, like winning battles on the glass, winning battles in transition. I believe that in order to be a championship team, you need to be able to generate margin for error, something that covers some ground so that your half-court offense and defense has a little
Starting point is 00:23:54 bit more slush to work with. Examples, offensive glass. If you can control the offensive glass and generate second-chance opportunities, That can buy you margin for error. Literally, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in game four of the NBA finals on the road. When the thunder offense was sputtering yet again, the offensive glasswork that Shet and Isaiah did bought them margin for error so that She could just make a couple of plays at the end of the game.
Starting point is 00:24:22 Forcing turnovers, this was big for both Indiana and for Oklahoma City. It was big for Cleveland in the regular season. If you can force turnovers, it leads to more transition opportunities. transition opportunities are way more efficient. Transition pushes in general. We're going to talk about that a little bit more when we get into our second piece. So let's move there.
Starting point is 00:24:43 You have to be able to control the transition game on both ends. More and more of the game is getting played in transition than ever before. There's a very specific reason for that. Teams are way more efficient in transition. To give you a basic stat to demonstrate this. on Synergy. There were 10 teams this year that logged an offensive rating over 115 in transition.
Starting point is 00:25:11 Only one team in the entire MBA logged a half-court offensive rating over 105. Only one team. NBA teams are substantially more efficient scoring the basketball in transition. Not hard to figure out why the defense isn't set. They don't have their shell drill. help defense isn't there. There's often, often man advantages. It's difficult to generate advantages in the half court. Transition often comes with baked in advantages, whether it's through
Starting point is 00:25:39 a guy being left open because a guy's lagging back in the back court or if it's a transition cross-match. There are so many different ways that you can get easier offense in transition. So what do I mean when I say both ends of the floor? What that means is on offense, every opportunity you have to throw a kick ahead pass. The preaching from day one for guys to run their lanes. On every miss, every make, whatever it is, you sprint that left wing, you sprint that right wing, you sprint the middle of the lane as a big man to try to get dunks, you sprint as the trailer in transition, you throw kick-ahead passes when you can. You look to push every single opportunity you can because very simply put,
Starting point is 00:26:21 your offensive efficiency skyrockets when you are in transition. So every possession that you don't get out in transition, you're operating at a lower efficiency. So every chance you get, you have to hunt those opportunities. Every team, I don't care what your personnel is. Every team from day one in training camp needs to be accentuating and emphasizing running your lanes, getting out in transition, throwing those kick-ahead passes, and playing up the floor as much as possible. Then with defense, because this can go both ways. We saw New York in the conference finals, completely lose control of a series because of poor transition defense, because of floor balance, constantly having four to five players below the foul line, literally not being in a position
Starting point is 00:27:09 to get back. Basic principles like floor balance, making sure that you always have two players above the break. Those two players stopping ball and getting to the rim, the other three guys sprinting back, communicating and getting matched up, the more you can keep your opponent out of transition slots them down out of transition efficiency into half court efficiency. This is the market inefficiency in the NBA right now. If you're not hunting every transition opportunity you can while also building your defense and your spacing around being able to get back in transition, you are missing out on a huge chunk of points that you can take advantage of on both ends of the floor.
Starting point is 00:27:53 third biggest takeaway you still need an apex shot creator when things got ugly for Oklahoma City it was Shea Gildes Alexander who put games away big moments against Denver in game four and in game five particularly down the stretch in game four
Starting point is 00:28:10 he was huge versus Indiana amazing down the stretch in game four but also for entire games in game two and in game five and in game seven look at other teams in this playoff run what Tyrese Halliburton did, the game winners that he hit in each series, Nicola Yokic and what he did with Denver almost pushing Oklahoma City to the brink, what Jalen Brunson was able to do for the New York Knicks.
Starting point is 00:28:33 To me, as you look back, the exception is actually Boston. Boston was the team that didn't have your traditional Apex star that won, but they were a unique circumstance. They had five players that would command over $30 million a year in the open market. They had this brilliant spacing. It was kind of like a cumulative star power that Boston brought to the table. And there aren't many teams in the league that can ever find themselves in a situation where they can field five really expensive players like that.
Starting point is 00:29:05 They are the exception. If you go back, though, it's Jake Gildes Alexander this year. It's Yolkich, the year before Boston. It's Steph, the year before Yokic, it's Yonis, the year before Steph. It's LeBron, the year before Yonis. it's Kauai the year before LeBron. We can go back and we can go back and we can go back. For all of the talk about depth,
Starting point is 00:29:26 and again, depth does matter. We're about to talk about it. You still need an Apex star. Boston is the exception to that rule because of their aggregate talent. You need a guy that's like, I can create great shots for my team in shitty, physical, ugly half-court playoff environments. Number four, depth.
Starting point is 00:29:53 More transition means more running. More drive and kick means more covering ground and rotation. NBA players are running and moving around the floor more than ever before. I think this is a big part of the Achilles tear issue that the NBA has been having for a little while. Think about the landslide runs that Oklahoma City and Indiana went on at various points during the postseason, just simply because their opponents have been having. eventually war down under the ball pressure, under the physicality. The playoffs are a war of attrition.
Starting point is 00:30:27 And if you have eight or nine guys that you can reliably trust in a postseason setting, you can keep your starters minutes down in the mid to low 30s, which gives you a better chance or mid to high 30s for some guys. Keeping the minutes down in the 30s gives you a better chance of holding up over four playoff rounds. If you have a six or six and a half seven man rotation, suddenly all your starters are pushing up into the 40, 45 minute range, that's where you end up having problems with wear and tear over the course of the postseason. And again, it's not the end all be we've seen teams that don't have an enormous amount of depth win before, but I do believe
Starting point is 00:31:08 it is a legitimate advantage in the modern NBA because of the amount of running there is. All of the transition, all of the driving kick has put more miles per minute on the NBA body than ever before. In depth is a great counter for that specific issue. Lastly, dribble shoot, pass, and defend role players. This is a concept I've talked about ad nauseum over the course the last few months. We talked about it a lot with Sam Sini in our pre-draft podcast. Like we talked about with creating advantages, there are all these different guys in the league that specializes. creating advantages. Janice in his downhill force causes teams to build a wall.
Starting point is 00:31:49 He is spraying the ball out to wide open shooters all day long, right? Tyrese Halliburton, just through his remarkable quick decision making with kick ahead passes and his ability to make reads out of ball screens, he's constantly setting up players with a catch on the perimeter with a dude sprinting out at him at the three point line. Shea Gildeser's Alexander, like legitimately drawing lots of double teams from Indiana down the stretch of that series. Nicola Yokic constantly drawing double teams out of the post, dumping it off the players. I don't care who it is or how they do it.
Starting point is 00:32:23 Steph Curry sprinting off of off ball screens and constantly drawing multiple defenders. These guys create situations where either a player is standing at the three point line, wide open with a guy sprinting out at them, or inverted spacing, catching the ball around the middle of the floor in a man. up advantage, meaning like a four on three or a three on two where that guy has to either quickly score or make a quick decision. That is the type of advantage. Those are the types of advantages that these stars are creating. You need to have players that can knock down catch and shoot threes, drive closeouts, make decisions when they drive closeouts, or make decisions
Starting point is 00:33:06 in short roll situations. That's the dribble shoot pass element of it. But at the same time, if you can't defend, it becomes a problem on the other end of the floor. So a role player that has versatility on that front, it doesn't matter if you're the best shooter in that group, but you can't dribble, you can't pass, and you can't defend. Having a stability in those four categories, being a somewhat useful defender that can pass the ball, that can knock down a shot, that can drive a closeout,
Starting point is 00:33:38 that type of versatility becomes immensely valuable in a modern NBA, where there's lots of advantage creation that's creating those advantages for you, and that you're constantly operating in transition, where you need to guard a random player in a transition cross-match or because a good screen gets set, and now you're switched onto a bigger player or onto a smaller player. Versatility out of the role players is how you maximize star talent in the modern NBA. These are things, these five things are the things that I think front offices
Starting point is 00:34:11 need to be targeting with their roster construction, that coaches need to be emphasizing with their coaching from day one in camp. You got to generate margins somewhere. You have to be able to control the transition game, both on defense, keeping your opponent out of transition, and then hunting transition opportunities as much as possible. You have to find an apex advantage creator. You cannot win a championship without one.
Starting point is 00:34:36 You need to have depth to be able to survive all the mileage that you're putting on bodies throughout the season, and your role players need to be versatile with the ability to shoot, drive closeouts, play out of the short role, and to defend multiple players on the other end of the floor. Those to me are the market inefficiencies around the NBA that teams need to be hunting.
Starting point is 00:34:55 All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We're going to take the next day off, Wednesday off. In Summer League, what we have planned is on Thursday night, we'll have an instant reaction to the Cooper flag, Dylan Harper, Brony James games from Thursday night. We'll have that on the feed that evening on Friday morning, Yovan Buha, who runs a great Lakers YouTube channel.
Starting point is 00:35:20 You guys might remember him. He used to cover the Lakers for the athletic as well. He'll be coming on the show to talk some Lakers stuff on Friday night. We have another instant reaction to some summer league games from that day. We also have Adam Maris coming on the show to talk some Denver Nuggets. and then we will also have an episode on Saturday night as well, breaking down the second round of games for the top picks, Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper. We'll be recording on Friday night and Saturday night at the Wynn Studio in Vegas,
Starting point is 00:35:48 so I'm super excited about that. We'll be around. We'll be at the games. So make sure you come say hi. I'll kind of tweet out and let you guys know where we're at if you guys want to come say hi. But again, jam pack week scheduled for you guys in Summer League that we're very excited for. All right.
Starting point is 00:36:01 We will see you guys later this weekend. What's up, guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening. to and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:36:20 The volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.
Starting point is 00:36:32 We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because. we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.
Starting point is 00:36:45 Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman
Starting point is 00:37:03 help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 00:37:22 or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.
Starting point is 00:37:44 I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story
Starting point is 00:38:10 behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:38:24 And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-Live 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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