The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Mailbag: Lakers TRADE TARGETS, Warriors potential, Thunder trade for Giannis?

Episode Date: November 9, 2024

Jason Timpf answers listener questions during an NBA mailbag segment. Jason discusses the best trade target for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, what the true potential is for Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and whether Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers are frauds following their hot start to the year. Later, Jason discusses if the Milwaukee Bucks will blow up their roster following their difficult start to the season and whether the Oklahoma City Thunder would consider trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo? Timeline: 4:00 - Introduction 6:30  - Best trade for Lakers 11:15 - Who Nets should trade 14:00 - Paul George looks off Tyrese Maxey? 18:15 - Jason's favorite offense to watch 21:00 - Are Warriors serious contenders? 34:45 - Should Klay start for Mavs? 36:30 - Are Cavaliers frauds? 39:00 - Is NBA too offensively oriented? 40:45 - Is Wemby taking bad shots? 43:45 - Hardest part transitioning out of competitive basketball 59:45 - Where do Clippers rank in West? 01:02:00 - What separates rotation from garbage time players? 01:04:30 - Hornets a playoff team? 01:06:15 - Will Bucks blow it up? 01:08:30 - Would Thunder trade for Giannis? 01:10:15 - Who will win NBA Cup? 01:11:45 - Why are offenses moving off pick and roll? (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 put on 10. 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

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We're doing a mailbag and to be bouncing all around the league, hitting a bunch of different teams. You guys know the drill 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 don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed, wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. Don't forget it's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review for us on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Hoops Tonight social media feeds. We're going to be releasing a bunch more content this year, so make sure you follow us there. And then keep dropping mailback questions in the YouTube comments.

Our plan as of now is to at least either do like today a solo mailback or at least a mailbag at the tail end of the show every Friday. And I'm going to be grabbing questions from Twitter and on the YouTube comments. So make sure you keep dropping your questions in there. And then last but not least, before we get started, I wanted to talk to you guys about game time. They have an incredible ticket buying experience. I've personally used them many times. They've consistently given me the best experience I've had ever using a ticket buying app. I'm really glad that we've had this partnership with them for as long as we have. It's a product I really believe in. I want you guys to check it out. This is the best

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What time is it game time? All right, let's talk some basketball. If only one possible trade can be made, what would be more essential for the Lakers? prioritizing an athletic guard who can defend and create or a backup big who can defend. This has been the big question surrounding the Lakers coming into this year. And there's been a lot of talk about like, oh, should they go after Kessler Edwards? Should they go after Robert Williams? Should they be hunting a center that can anchor units when AD's off the floor

and give them a better chance of contending when AD needs to sit out a game? And I totally understand that point of view for the record. And I certainly would like to have a better backup center option. than Jackson Hayes. That said, I think by far the biggest issue with this roster is the lack of perimeter athleticism. We're talking about this with the nerdsash guys on Wednesday, if you guys remember, but it's been like one of the biggest lessons I've learned in the league over the last year or so, extending into the tail end of last year and this year where it's like,

your ability to cover ground in rotation and cover ground in transition and get up into ball handlers with ball pressure is such an underrated part of today's game. I, you know, just go look at the metrics. These teams are playing in transition damn near 20% of the game at this point. Like one fifth of the basketball is being played in an up and down setting with guys flying around the floor in transition. You need speed. You need athleticism on the perimeter.

You need guys that can guard the ball. And the Lakers, you know, when you look at their perimeter core, it's in terms of athletes, like they've got other perimeter players. But when you're looking at athletes, like guys that can really kind of cover ground, it's like Dalton Connect, who's a rookie, and at this point hasn't been able to turn his athleticism into really functional defense yet. There's Gabe Vincent, who can't put the ball in the basket for whatever reason. It's like he's one for four, one for five every single game.

Max Christie, who I really think could be a useful three-and-d player if he ever embraced being a three-and-de player, but he's just convinced he's going to be more of an on-ball creator. And I just think he's a really immature offensive player right now. So at this point, you almost have to go a different direction just because he's been so bad to start the season. and Jared Vanderbilt, who's always hurt in Cam Reddish, who is a NBA journeyman who brings some functional athleticism but is so limited offensively that he becomes very difficult to play. So, like, all of the perimeter athletes on the Lakers come with massive question marks.

When you look at their actual like playable rotation guys, it's Austin Reeves, you know, average to below average athlete. DeAngelo Ruehousel, below average athlete. Rui Hachamuro is very big and definitely a decent athlete, but he's not what I would consider to be a fast play. or LeBron James, who's fast when he wants to be, but he's 40 years old, and so he's not going to be fast the majority of the time. And AD, who's fast for a center, but he's not going to be covering ground on the perimeter, doing all the work that the Lakers need from their perimeter core.

And so when you combine that being just such a big weakness on this Laker roster, which, by the way, I've been complaining about this exact weakness on this exact roster for more than two years now. This has been the consistent thing that I've pointed to. They're not athletic enough at the guards. They're not athletic enough after the guards. after the Western Conference finals appearance. I said going into the season, they need to make a DeAngelo Russell trade because they are not athletic enough in the backcourt. This is something

I've been consistently tied in on and it's only become exacerbated by the fact that my view of the game has shifted towards valuing that type of skill, or I should say that type of roster trade more than anything else. So given the option, if the Lakers could only make one trade, I would prefer them go find some functional perimeter athleticism. Same thing, for that backup center spot where it's like, when you're talking about backup center for a guy like Anthony Davis who's going to play a lot, again, this is not Dallas where they're splitting their center minutes more closer to the middle, right? Or a team like Golden State who's holding Draymond in the, you know, mid to high 20s in his minutes, right? Like Anthony

Davis is going to play 35 minutes a game in the regular season and 40 plus minutes a game in the playoffs. So like the benefit of having a really good backup center is real on the stretches of the game when AD's out and God forbid if you misses some time, but like in the idealized version of your team, that's a player you're not using very often. And like again, maybe if you want to go huge, if you can find a caliber center that you can play next to Anthony Davis, that seems appealing on the defensive end. But here we are a little chunk into the season. And Anthony Davis is still not shooting the three ball particularly well or particularly often. So like, I don't know that you can really get away with that unless Anthony Davis becomes a

knockdown shooter and he just hasn't been to this point. So like, ideally I'd like to have both, but if I could only have one, I would take an athletic guard who can defend and create over a backup center for the Lakers. Next question. Hey, Jason, love your content. Turns out that the nets have too many good role players and have become competent, which is bad because they need to be in the Cooper flag stakes. What would be your thoughts on a Schroeder, Dorian Finney Smith trade for Delo and another player to match contracts in a pick trade? So Dorian Finnis Smith is a guy that everybody should be looking at. Dennis Schroeder to me is a really good player. I, like, I loved him when he was with the Lakers. I thought he defended hard. I thought he was super

competitive. I thought he brought dribble penetration, which was really important. Like, is he a guy that you want your starting five? If you're a dead serious championship team, no. But like, I would think I would take him as a backup guard over many of the options that are around the NBA. I think Dorian Finney Smith is kind of a prototypical three and D wing. I think he's a guy that could help a lot of teams. Even like a guy like Zyre Williams. is a guy that brings real functional athleticism to the perimeter that could be had for cheap. And so, like, teams like Brooklyn, other teams around the NBA that either, like, but you're talking about them overperforming, but we've got to look out for teams that underperform

too over time that might look to decide to flip players. The clippers are a team. I could see, I would see teams targeting Terrence Mann. I would see teams targeting Derr Jones Jr. closer to the deadline. There's a lot of perimeter athleticism that is not playing for. top-tier championship contenders out there that can be had. And you just got to kind of kind of have to look around and wait for that right opportunity to pop up. To me, I look at it as like, Rui is the more functional piece between him and Dilo. I think both of them have their

issues. Rui's played two playoff runs with the Lakers. I thought he was awesome in 2023. I thought he was really bad in 2024, albeit it was in one small series that was only five games long, right? So like, if I had to choose between those two guys, I'd prefer to keep Rui. So like, I'm looking at really athletic guard that can defend at the point of attack, fly around in transition, slot Austin Reeves properly is a backup, not a backup, but as a secondary perimeter defender so that he's guarding the other team's second best player instead of best player. And then I think things kind of fall into order. So like, if the clippers continue to struggle, Terrence Mann is a guy that I would love to have playing the two next to Austin Reeves. If Bruce Brown could get

healthy, he's like the perfect example of, uh, of this type of archetype. Like keeping an eye out, for a really athletic two that has some strength to him that is also a functional offensive player. That's the type of guy I'd be looking at. We'll see how it shapes out over time. These trade markets, they're so volatile and they shift all the time that it's really hard to zero in on one particular guy. But to me, it's like starting caliber between, I'd say 6.4 at the lowest, but between 6'4 and 6, 6, 6, 7, at least 220 pounds of like solid functional strength and a really good. good athlete who at least just knows how to play alongside other good basketball players

is the type of guy I'd be looking for. I hate looking into this so much, but why did Paul George have the ball at the end of the Sixers game with Maxie Ball watching? Also, are Joel, Maxie, and Paul George going to have to make the required sacrifices like 08 Boston did to win? Second parts, obviously, yes, right? Like all of them are going to have to. And Bede can't play completely in a heliocentric manner because he's got to try to keep Paul George and Tyrese Maxie and rhythm. You can't just let Tyrese Maxie and Joel and Bede run two-man game and turn Paul George into just solely Michael Porter Jr. because that's going to be a misallocation of resources. You got to run action. You got to keep everybody involved. So certainly navigating that balance

is going to be a big part of Philly success. I watched the end of that game, the Sixers game. That was just unbelievable because Kevin Durant just completely took over that game. I live in Tucson too, so it was like difficult for me to track down a stream of that game, but I was able to watch it. um it's it's just all these stupid politics with these regional networks and how difficult it is to get their uh to get their games when you live inside that when you live in those particular areas uh anyway the the random soapbox but when it comes to the uh the end of that sixers game like i saw lots of people complaining like oh paul george looked off tyrese maxi blah blah and i get it i think tyrese is a better player than paul george i ranked him above i ranked tyrese in the top 25

for me and I did not rank Paul George, right? Like, I'm a big fan of Tyrese Maxi, big believer in who he is. That said, like, there is something to be said about, like, the big pull-up shooter being sometimes a safer option in those late game situations. So, for instance,

let's just take the last two shots that both players took. So the last shot Paul George took was a pull-up jump shot around the top of the key. Long two. I agree with some of the criticisms like, okay, I'd rather have Paul George take a three there. Yeah, I agree with you for the record. But it was a good look at a shot that Paul George definitely can make

and he missed it. Tyrese Maxie's last shot and again, the big difference there is he's a speed guard who's smaller and not as physically strong. So we talk about this like, it's like the Steph Curry versus Kevin Durant thing. Like you could argue Steph Curry is a better player, but if I'm in a singular possession and I need a guy to just get a shot for the 2017 Warriors? Probably KD because KD can hit into a high hesitation and wait for the defender

to buckle a little bit and he can get a decent look at a pull-up jump shot whenever he wants. Whereas with Steph, he can run around and make moves and do whatever he wants to do, but if like a really good defender stays attached, what Steph doesn't have is like that ability to get quick immediate separation for a shot off

over the top, right? Same goes for Tyrese Maxie. Like that floater that he took in the ball screen, like it was not a good shot. It was heavily contested. It had almost no chance of going in. And that's not to say that Tyrese or a guy like Steph is incapable of creating their own shot. Of course they are. But like I just say, I'm just saying it's defensible. I think it's defensible that Paul George was the better option for them to go in that specific situation. Before he takes a three, also Paul George didn't really have it going that game. Like he was kind of out of rhythm.

So like that's the other counterpoint is like, I would also understand if Tyresex took over the offensive at the tail end of the game because he's the better player who's more in rhythm, who's been playing more lately and has his legs underneath him, is in better shape. Like, I understand that too. But, like, I just didn't think it was as egregious as some of the comments that I saw on Twitter just simply because Paul George is 6-8, 69,

and he got a decent amount of separation and had a pretty clean look. He just missed it. And, like, I think that those big, tall wings have that ability to, on a spot, just kind of rise in fire. and I'm always going to view that as a as a viable option for late game offense. I mean, Kevin Durant's been straight up stealing games for the Phoenix Suns with that kind of shot making.

What is your favorite offense to watch in the NBA? I thought about this one a lot and there's a lot of, you know, it's interesting because they're different, right? Like I really enjoy watching Boston's offense because they're the best driving kick team. So like there's an appeal, there's a visually appealing element to drive and kick basketball when when guys get. in the lane and make reads and it's like drive kick drive kick drive kick now we get a wide open shot making the extra pass with that um that um that that like relentless like rim pressure from guys driving the basket i've really enjoyed watching boston's offense over the course of the tail end of last year in the beginning of this year i really like watching denver's offense for a completely

different reason right like nicole yokic the way that he um can manipulate help side defense and generate openings for his teammates is really fascinating to me his passing connection with Aaron Gordon on the baseline is something that I've always found really fun to watch. I think tough shot making is fun. So guess what? I do enjoy watching Jamal Murray hit tough step-back jump shots. I do enjoy watching the sons and watching Kevin Durant and Devin Booker just hit tough shot after tough shot. I've always, as a basketball fan and as a guy who plays the game at a certain, like I played in college and I still play as an adult for fun all the time. I enjoy watching those things. But if I had to pick a single offense, I'd probably say the Golden State

Warriors. And the main reason why is I find their five-out ball and player movement to be the most visually appealing in the league. It's literally like a blender. There's nobody, even with all the teams that run five-out and all the teams that run some similar actions, there are teams that copy Warriors split action now. There are teams that copy a lot of the warriors like Chicago, you know, like dribble handoff stuff with guys back cutting out of it and all the different things that the Warriors do. There's a lot of teams that are copying it. But nobody does. does it as often or as effectively as the Golden State Warriors do in terms of their ball and player movement. And it's just really fun to watch. And I'm really, really excited to see it in the next

couple of weeks, too, because they've got some tougher matchups for them. On that note, the next question, what should we look for in the Warriors' next three games to indicate they could be a serious team regardless of whether they win or lose? Keep it up. Not all Warriors fans think you're a hater. I appreciate the kind words. For the record, I always say this to you guys, there are far more of you guys that are kind and who are willing to have discussion and are willing to appreciate the dynamic between like, hey, this is just my opinion, this is your opinion, let's talk about it. There are far more of you guys than the nasty disrespectful people and spend any time online as an adult and you find out pretty quickly there's lots of nasty

disrespectful people. So like I fortunately at this point, unfortunately at this point, I'm getting close to three years into working with the volume. I've gotten pretty used to it. and I just kind of shake it off and move on. But I do always appreciate you guys that bring kindness and respect because that's always the stuff that just keeps me going. So I sincerely appreciate it. So the Warriors heading into a tough little road trip here, right? Playing the Celtics tonight, super excited to watch that game.

They play the Cavs, I believe. And then who's the third team? Is it the Knicks, I think? But they're playing a couple of really tough road games at this point in the season. And I was actually talking about this with the nerds the other day, at Thunder. So it's at Celtics, at Cavs, at Thunder, then home for the maps. So I was talking about this with the nerds on Wednesday, but like, I'm specifically really excited to watch their defense. So, like, we all know that the ceiling of the Warriors comes down to whether or not Steph can get back to a top 10, top five type of level, right?

And who is their secondary shot creator? Whether that's in-house, like, oh, suddenly Buddy healed after 600 games as a pro becomes an all-star level shot creator. That that's our guy. Or maybe Andrew Wiggins has like kind of a renaissance to what he was in 2022, right? or it's a trade that where they bring in a high-powered star, right? Whatever that is. We know that the sealing of the Warriors is going to come down to Steph returning to superstar form, like super-duper star form,

and who's their number two, right? That's their ceiling. And I don't think we're going to know that for a while. I don't expect Steph to play like the best player in the world tonight against Boston. I mean, maybe he will, but like, I shouldn't even say against Boston. In the next four-game stretch, I don't expect Steph to just play like the best player in the world. He's just coming back from an injury. He played on a minute's restriction in their last game.

it would be absurd to expect him to go into these next four games and average 35 points a game on 70% for shooting and just light the world on fire, right? But I do think it's realistic that by the end of the season, at some time between now and the end of the season, after getting a bunch of games under his belt, when he gets into game shape and he's consistently playing 35 minutes a night, I think there's a chance that Steph could get back to that level. But we're probably not going to see it in these specific games tonight, right, in this next week. So what can we learn in the next couple of games for the Warriors? How legit is this defense? What can this defense do? I talked about it with the nerds. We argued about who is more likely to be a championship threat.

The Cavs are the Warriors. And even though the Cavs have more talent, the reason why I pick the Warriors is the Warriors are super fast on the perimeter and can contain the ball pretty well. The Cavs still have some big entry points, right? They still have some guys in their line. Like Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell is still a generally weak defensive backcourt, right?

Like, whoever it is that they have at the three, there are guys that they can look to attack there. You know, Jared Allen's a very good defensive anchor, but can he defend in space the way that Draymond Green can't? No, right? So, like, there's a lot of, like, things with Cleveland where I'm like, okay, they're great, they're interesting. They're going to be a, we're going to talk about them in a little bit,

but like, do I think they can guard the Celtics? Like, I don't know, right? Whereas Golden State, they can put out lineups where it's like, here's Andrew Wiggins, here's, you know, Brandon Pajemski and DeAnthony, Melton with Draymond Green, and they're going to switch everything and fly around and contain the ball. And like, that's the part that I'm looking at is like, can the Warriors defense really slow down

the Celtics offense? Can it really slow down the thunder offense? Those are the things that I'm looking at as areas for Golden State to show real potential. Because again, the offensive end, like, if you get a couple of 30-point games out of Steph against the Celtics and the Thunder, you're getting away with murder. he's just coming back from an injury. He's easing his way back into the game. So, like, I'm less worried about the offensive end.

I'm more worried, I'm more interested in can the Warriors defense cause any real problems for the Celtics offense and for the Thunder offense? Those are the things that I'm going to be looking very closely at with the Warriors over the course of the next week. 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, 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. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say it. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college. college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed cracks. starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the Hardway.

Open your free, our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Should the math stick with this starting five, or should they try Clay on the bench? for more defense in the starting lineup. I think they should keep Clay with the starters. I don't think there's anybody on the bench that actually is like a truly deserving starting caliber player to slot into that spot.

Also, I still think the maps have their issues. They're slow on the perimeter. They're like the Pacers game is a perfect example. They kind of just got run around, right? They just ran circles around them all night. But they're still top 10 defense. They have a very high defensive floor. Why?

Because they have lots of rim protection, right? Rim protection is a basic concept that gives you a high defensive floor. They're playing 48 minutes plus of legitimate, like, defensive talent in the front court. So, like, they have a really high floor. So my thing is, like, lean into Kyrie, Clay, and Luca, and just try to be the best offensive team that you can within that concept.

I don't think there's a version of this Mavs team that is, like, this incredibly stifling perimeter defense anyway. I talked about this with the nerds the other day, but, like, I think if you were ranking the fastest perimeter players on the team, in terms of like real wing athletes. Like Derek Jones was number one. And like you're probably putting a guy like Josh Green was really fast. Josh Green had speed, right?

So this is not the same type of roster. So like I would lean into them being a big front line that can defend and protect the rim and just being best possible offense that you can possibly be, which will come in time as you learn how to incorporate Clay, as you learn how to incorporate all this additional ball handling. As Luca gets back into shape and reaches the form of Luca that we all know that he's capable of being. So I would not tweak the starting lineup, at least not on the perimeter. I mean, we could all talk about whether or not lively should start over Gafford in the big picture, but that's a different debate.

I would not move Clay to the bench. Why does nobody in the NBA media remember what happened in May by the time October comes? Everyone thinks the Cavs are a top three team when they started last season 9 and 1, then got throttled by physicality in the playoffs. Same team, same small back court, Cancun by the second week of May. So they are a different team in several different ways because of the way they're playing. They're playing substantially faster than they did last year. They're doing a lot more switching on defense, which is allowing them to force more

turnovers, which is allowing them to get out in transition even more. And they've tweaked their offensive approach considerably with the increased usage of Evan Mobley, who's doing a lot more work on the ball, running inverted ball screens, looking to drive, looking to shoot more. They're different in some of those ways. However, I agree that the roster in and of itself kind of is what it is. And my specific issue with the Cavs is they don't match up well with Boston and their ability to really spread them out

and the ability to guard Cleveland's guards and make life difficult on them and to wear them down. And so, like, I agree that I'll be surprised if they're, you know, still playing basketball in late May. But at the same time, guys, like, I think it's completely fair and reasonable for us to, I think it's completely fair and reasonable for us to acknowledge when teams are playing really well to start. the season. NBA history tells us that championship teams do attack the season from start to finish.

We also never know what can happen in the long run. Like guys, like sometimes, but like, what if Evan Mobley just continues to develop? And by the end of the season, he's a 60% true shooting 20 plus point per game guy, right? Like, we don't know how this is going to go in the big picture. And so, again, like, we're just watching trends. And as I said at the end of our last mailbag, you know, I had a question that was like, why, like, why do we always pretend like the regular season matters when it doesn't. It's like, guys, this is the job. Like, the NBA media that you're referencing, their job is to watch the early season games and have an opinion. It'd be pretty boring if we all just came on here every day and we were like, yeah, none of this matters. See you guys in April.

Right. Like that, there's no fun in that. The fun is let's try to learn about these teams. And so when a Cavs team starts seven and oh, let's talk about what they're doing differently. Let's talk about what they're good at. And yeah, like I'm not about to move them into my top tier of contenders. I actually dropped two teams off my top tier of contenders in the NerdSest show on Wednesday. Like, I'm going to wait to get more data before I make any sort of big sweeping declaration about the calves, but I think it's okay for us to acknowledge that they're off to a really good start. Has the NBA game leaned too heavily into an offense-oriented basketball game, emphasis on the three ball? And if so, are there any

changes you would make for defenses so we can see a balanced game slash product that mimics the playoffs? So there's been this whole debate around the idea of three-point shooting. I've talked about it a little bit on the show. The main, my main kind of point. of you is essentially that like it doesn't really matter what the final shot is. It matters the quality of the basketball. So for instance, Boston takes a ton of threes. I do enjoy watching Boston because they play a really fun brand of driving kick basketball. There are a lot of teams out there that just shoot bad threes for the sake of getting their three point volume up and that is ugly, right? There are teams that don't take any threes where it's pretty, right? There are teams

that don't take many threes where it can get ugly sometimes too. It all just depends on whether or not you're playing quality basketball. Now, as far as like the leaning too much on the offensive end of the floor, I am of the opinion that with how spread out the floor has got, with how talented and skilled these offensive players are, I do think we need to give defensive players more leeway to be more physical and dribble drive situations. So like some of these calls where like a dude is very slightly out of position

and there's a slight bump and we end up getting a foul call, I disagree with that. Some of the hand checking and physicality, I wish they would let go a little bit more frequently. By the way, none of this stuff is like by the rulebook. Hand checking happens on every single possession that goes uncalled. It's just a question of like how often it does get called. But like I'm just saying within that realm of discretion, I would allow more physicality from the defensive player because I think it would allow them to contain drives more and just give the defensive fighting chance. There are way too many games that just turn into like neither

defense can guard the other. And that I think becomes ugly basketball pretty quickly. Do you have an issue with Wemby's shot distribution so far? 8.7, 2-point attempts at 59%, 7.1, 3-point attempts at 22%. Seems hard for him to get opportunities closer to the basket. His teams have been sticking smaller stout guys on him that he can't beat with a live dribble. What would you change? So this is actually a very similar concept to something we talked about on the show earlier this last week. But this is a team that basically every, this is a strategy that basically every team in the league has been deploying against Wemby, which is like guard him with the wing, right?

We just saw it with the thunder, right? It was like steady diet of like Jalen Williams guarding him, Alex Crusoe guarding him, like just guarding him with small stout guys that can get up underneath him because they can beat him to spots and prevent him from driving. A couple of different things. As far as the three point shot goes, I think I said the same thing about Anthony Edwards. Like I don't care if it's taking, you know, 11, 12, 13, 3 point shots a game if he's making 44, 45% of them, right?

Like that's a debate that you have. have if he starts missing a lot. Like if we fast forward a couple months and he's still at 12 attempts a game, but he's shooting 36% on threes. And yeah, we probably should have a conversation about how he should cut that number from 12 down to eight, right? Same thing goes with Wemby. Like, he's shooting really poorly. Seven attempts a game, 22%. It's not good. But I also, like, it's November 6th, guys. Like, I would say like if we get to December and he's still taking seven threes a game and his percentage is still in the low 20s, then there's a conversation to be had. But if he wants to try to build that out, I respect it.

I think like it's scary to think about what Wembe could be like if he was a high volume efficient three-point shooter in addition to whatever else he does. As far as like handling the smaller stout defenders, that to me is on his own individual skill development. I talked a lot in our last discussion about this about Dirk Novitsky and the work he did, one, fighting for position, two, being really tight with the basketball, not exposing it so guys couldn't swipe it away. And then three, being able to get to his shooting pocket efficiently from a kind of, of like strong tucked position so that he could deal with ball pressure and shoot over the top relatively easily. Dirk was also really good at like leveraging shoulder angles for quick spinoffs and rip-throughs and stuff like that to get Trouble penetration. Dealing with the

defenders he's dealing with, that is all about the, that is all about the individual development of Victor Wembe Niam. Part of it too is like if teams are going to put a wing on Victor, they're probably going to put their center on Jeremy Sohan, right? Jeremy's on as a thumb injury, he's going to be out for a little bit. But like, you've got to put together lineup groupings where teams can't afford to put their center on someone else. That's on the front office, right? In terms of action, it's tough because, like, when they put a small on Victor, they're going to switch ball screens.

And that's going to make it tougher for you to actually, like, get Victor Wenamahama the role opportunities that he wants. But, like, that's the truth is, like, if he's skinny and can guys can get up underneath him and beat him to spots, It's going to be difficult for him to get dribble penetration, so a lot of it's going to come down to his own skill development. This one's a personal one. Was the transition from hooping professionally overseas to coaching slash talking hoops hard? What was the most difficult adjustment to it? So first of all, I technically never actually made it overseas to hoop. I tried to, and I signed a deal with a league called the UBA, which was in India.

And they paid me for, I think, two weeks of work. And then the league folded because of some sort of like international incident involving the Indian player. I don't remember some of the details. But at that point, I made a personal decision. At that point, I had a wife and two dogs and we owned a home. And we were very established in Tucson. My wife works for a local business here in town. So it just got to the point where I was like, you know what?

I'm just going to focus on moving on with my life. And that's when I got into real estate. And I used real estate as like the flexible job with which I could pursue sports media. But I played in college, and obviously, as you know, I was at least trying to play overseas, right? So, you know, it was interesting. I was actually thinking about this the other day when there was a question asked to Kevin Durant about his role in that starting five show and why he wanted to do it. And he talked about how he wanted to do it because he wanted young basketball players to see the pros and cons of playing in the NBA. And I thought it was really fascinating when he said that because the hardest adjustment for me by far.

going from playing in college and playing against pros. Because during that time, I was, like, working out with and working against pros all the time. And still to this day, when the pros come back into town, I work out with them. When all the college players come back into town in the summer, I work out with them. So those are the opportunities I get to still play with those players.

But, like, going from that to playing pickup basketball is an incredibly frustrating experience in terms of, like, the competitive engagement. So like, very rarely now do I find myself in a basketball game where like I'm really feeling the adrenaline in the challenge of the moment where I feel like I'm going against other really high level players. The game has a certain level of competence in terms of like people knowing how to play at a high level. And I really like to get my competitive basketball juices flowing. It happens very rarely now. the occasional men's league game.

I play in a league here in Tucson where there are a handful of really good teams, and there's the occasional game there where I get the competitive urge. Money tournaments, I play in about two of those a year. I get those kind of like competitive juices flowing. Then over the summer when the college and pro kids come back

and we play a little bit of a pickup in the summer, there are moments, but the vast majority of the time I go to, play basketball, I feel very unfulfilled because I'm playing against, like, I'm just not playing against super good competition. And so it breeds laziness and me because I'm not really playing all that hard. By far, the most frustrating part is like, you guys, those of you guys who have played basketball at any real level will know, like, there's a flow that is supposed to take place in a basketball game when everybody knows what they're doing, meaning like guys who, when everyone knows, like,

when to cut, when to screen, when to throw an extra swing pass. when to relocate when the spacing is off, how to do basic things on defense, how to do basic things in transition. When you are playing with a group of players, like a pickup game, and there's four or five dudes on the floor that like don't know how to play, it like dips below a certain, it dips below like a certain like mandatory minimum amount of understanding of the game. And then the game turns into shit. And I end up being like, I leave straight up depressed sometimes from those types of games. But thankfully, I get enough good basketball days a year where I still, my love for the game

is still engaged and I still feel challenged just on Sunday, a buddy of mine, Daniel Canorkay, who is, in my opinion, the best player that I've ever played against in the Tucson area. Of all of the players that I've run into over the years who are like kind of local guys, he's like the uh he's a very good friend of mine have also compete competed with him a lot i've played in money tournaments with him uh but like every time him and i go against each other it just brings me back to that level and so like i left sunday feeling very thankful um that i still get to have moments like that when i play uh when i play the game but like that is by far the hardest part of the transition going from playing at any sort of real level in basketball to the post basketball life

is you still love the game. You still want to play. You're still super competitive. A guy like me, I'm still 33. I'm a better player now than I ever have been in my entire life. I'm many times better at basketball now than I was when I was playing in college. And it just feels like a waste. It just feels useless, right?

And so, like, that's the part that gets frustrating. But there's a flip side to that. This is the interesting part that I was thinking about with Kevin Durant. So, like, when I look back in my college career, like, yes, I was competitively engaged. Yes, I was challenged. Yes, there was a lot of upside in that department. But let's be clear, it is not the same as playing truly carefree basketball. When I was in Juko, I remember my second year.

I was one of only two players on the roster that got a full ride scholarship, meaning they paid for my lodging, they paid for my books, they paid for my tuition, they paid for all my meals, like I got the full deal, right? And Jouca, that's somewhat rare. And there was only two guys in the team that got it. But I went to that school coming off of a foot injury that happened over the summer. And when I had the foot injury, I put on a bunch of weight in muscle because I just lifted weights all summer to try to be useful and productive while I was injured. And so when I showed up to the school, I was a little heavier, it was a little slower.

And I was still working my way back into basketball shape. and I one of the big things was like I didn't trust my foot so like even though it was healthy I didn't like really trust it to plant and at that time I was playing around 225 pounds I was like a big heavy dude

so like if I didn't if I didn't feel comfortable planting my foot like I just wasn't the athlete that I needed to be and so I really struggled at the start of the season and there was a there was a two game stretch in the first like five games of non-conference play where after a bad game, I got called into the coach's office. And the coach was this Brazilian dude, total hard ass in a good way.

Like, he just was a tough dude. But he was a no-nonsense kind of guy. And he was like, what the heck, man? Gave you a full-ride scholarship and you're not doing shit for me. Like, now he was more delicate about it. But, like, that was basically what he said. And all of a sudden, like, and by the way, he benched me for, didn't bench me completely, but took me out of the starting lineup for two games as like a,

as like an attempt to try to like wake me up and get me going. And it was so interesting because like everything was fine. Like I eventually just got my legs back underneath me. And that ended up actually being my best season in college. And I ended up making the all conference team when we got to conference play. But like after that, after that meeting, every day I went to practice, I felt pressure and stress. Every time I was in the game and I was taking a shot, I felt pressure and stress, right? Because like, there's responsibility. There's expectation that comes from this coaching staff decided to invest some of their hard, their hard to find scholarship funds on me, right? And so, like, I felt pressure. I felt expectation. The year after that, I went from being a consistent double figure

score type of guy in Juko to playing at an NIA NIA team that had really good guards like all American guards and they just needed me to defend and to rebound and to take wide open corner threes. And so my role completely changed again. And when that happened, it was a challenge. I remember like in the early part of the season, like every day going to practice and going to games like what am I supposed to do? What am I not supposed to do? I was getting called into the coach's office to get to talk about like, what shots they wanted me to take versus what shots they didn't want me to take because obviously in Jukho, I was more of a score,

so I needed to have my shot by it, like, kind of reconfigured around more of like a role player type of role. And it was, there were dark times. Like, there were times when, when I wasn't playing well,

where it was frustrating, right? And like, that's kind of like the point that I'm getting at. I vividly remember when I was done playing in college. and I came home, I remember going to play pickup and feeling free.

Like feeling this, like the pressure had disappeared and the expectation had disappeared. And like, if I decided to jog back on defense on a specific possession, it wasn't the end of the world. If I decided, if I took a bad shot every once in a while,

it wasn't the end of the world. If I turned the ball over, it wasn't the end of the world. And so for the record, I loved playing. in college. And I love pressure and expectation in basketball. It drives me competitively.

I would take that in a heartbeat. Okay. Like, I love what I do for a living. If I was not married, I would have tried more to play overseas and I would have tried to, I would have been playing overseas until I was 40. That's how much I love the game.

But I do think there's some legitimacy to the stuff that Kevin Durant's talking about where it's like basketball when it's your job is different than basketball when it's just for fun. And there is some reality to that. And I do think it's fascinating. But like I said, the flip side of that is like I also have a really hard time, even though I don't have pressure and even though I get to have fun playing the game the way I want to play, it's just really hard for me to find really good basketball players,

even in a city like Tucson that has over a million people. And so it's just it's kind of interesting. That's a very, very long answer to your question there. But it's not very often that I get to talk about my personal relationship with the game. So I do appreciate the question, and hopefully that answers what you were specifically asking. 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. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand-new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast.

Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. And I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. How would you rank the current iteration of the Clippers if they added Kuzma plus Kauai getting healthy? I think the middle of the pack in the Western Conference is pretty mediocre.

I shouldn't say mediocre because they're all good teams, mediocre with relation to each other. And so if Kauai can get healthy, I think this current Clippers team, with Zubach at Center, with James Hardin as the backup shot creator, with all of the depth of perimeter speed and talent that they have, I think right now they're just as good as anybody else

in the Western Conference. It's not Oklahoma City, as long as Kauai Leonard can get healthy and get back to form. And so, again, that's a big question mark surrounding Kauai. An addition of Kyle Kuzma would certainly be very interesting. It would be kind of like a lesser version of Carl Anthony. towns for this team in the sense that like he would function mostly as an off ball score, not an on ball score, but I think that there's real value there,

playing off of a guy like James Harden, someone who's like really aggressive and spot-up situations, both shooting threes and driving closeouts and things like that. Hi, Jason, I've always wondered, what's the one thing that separates rotation players and garbage time guys? Is it one single thing or can it be multitude of things? This came to mind as Jaylon Hood-Hofino, who's barely played and probably won't get another opportunity. So I think about this all the time. If you are not, incredible at doing things with the basketball, meaning like creating shots for yourself and for others,

then you have to be incredible at everything else. And when I say everything else, I mean all the little things. Defending on the perimeter, defending off the ball, running your lane in transition offense and transition defense, knowing what to do when you're off the ball in terms of spacing and screening and things like that. being able to make a wide open catch and shoot three, being able to make a quick decision driving a closeout. All of the, if you really break it down with these NBA teams,

there are guys who run action and there are guys who don't. And the majority of the guys on the team don't run action. And so it does come down to with those groups like actually being able to succeed in a small role by doing these small things that help a team win basketball games. And so like rotation players, I would just put, I would just describe that as. any NBA player that is capable of like doing a little bit of guarding on the ball, a little bit of guarding off the ball, a little bit of rebounding, a little bit of spot-up

shooting, a little bit of close-out attacking. Like those are those guys that are just rock-solid and all those little things will have easier time getting a foothold in the NBA than a mediocre ball handler will. Because mediocre ball handler is a dime a dozen. Remember Alonzo Trier that like, everyone's like, oh, why isn't Alonzo Trier in the NBA? It's not because he's not a good basketball player. but Alonso Trier is a among the NBA ranks, a mediocre

ball handler. And so if he's not elite at the point of attack defensively, elite off the ball defensively, elite rebounding, then he's going to have a hard time finding a foothold, right? But they're, you know, like that's the thing. Like there's, they're going to take a Quentin Grimes, a guy who's maybe not

as shifty, maybe not as as, you know, natural of a score, but that can still do a lot of that shit, but that's a damn bulldog and can guard the hell out of the basketball, I've always found that sort of thing. Interesting. My hot take of the year was that Charlotte was going to be better than the heat.

Can we get your take on Charlotte if they can still complete for a play-in or if injuries and roster talent is not there yet? So Lamello's been awesome to start the year. 29 points, 5 rebound, 6 assists, 61% true shooting. He's been a super efficient, super high volume pick and roll player. He's running like damn near 20 ball screens a game. Shooting the ball really by shooting 48% field goals out of ball. screens. And then he's also getting 1.3 points per pull-up jump shot. He's been really gifted at

finding opportunities and angles to get three-point shots off the bounce. And he's been making them. Trey Mann has been hooping. He's become one of my favorite players to watch in the league. They have six players averaging double figures. The thing with Charlotte is their dead last in defense and their third to last in defensive rebounding. So if you can't guard and you can't actually grab the ball when they miss, like you're just putting yourself at a huge disadvantage every single night. And that's why I don't think the Hornets will make any noise in the playoffs at this point. Or I should say that they won't supersede the Miami heat. Four quick ones.

There are three quick ones and then a longer one. Hi, Jason, do you think that the chances are that the Bucks blow up this team by the trade deadline? I know it's very early in the season, but even if they turn it around, I just don't see the Bucks being a real contender with this roster and coaching staff. I think it's a very real chance that they blow things up, right? Like, I think there's a good chance that they end up two and eight after 10 games. I think they'll beat the Jazz, but I think they play the Knicks and Celtics after that. Those are probably a couple of losses, right?

And so I think they're probably going to be sitting at two and eight. And if they don't, if they aren't active participants in their own survival, if they don't dig out of this hole, and if they find themselves, you know, 15 and 25 after 40 games, there's a really good chance that you end up trading everybody, right? Because at that point, it's like if you're just bad and you're not close, then there's no point investing in an older Damien Lillard at that point, right? And if you can't quickly put a contending roster around Janus, he's going to request to trade anyway. and there are guys on that roster that are valuable to other teams around the league. Like Brooke Lopez is a guy that would be valuable to some other teams around the league. I know he was.

There are a lot of teams that are looking for a center. Hell yeah, one that could shoot the ball a little bit, right? Like, I mean, I even think that a guy like Chris Middleton would have some trade value if he could get healthy for a decent amount of time. So, like, there's a very real chance that this goes south and they're completely blown up before the end of the season. But there's also a real chance that they figure it out. The blueprint is the 20-23 Lakers, right?

They started two in ten. The 2023 Lakers started two and ten with LeBron and AD combining to only miss three games in that stretch. Like that's as bleak as it gets, right? That team made the Western Conference finals, right? So it's like you can turn it around and especially in that Eastern Conference where there's only two teams over 500 right now. And if you look at the standings, they're not really all that far out of the mix because everyone else has been so mediocre. So like there's a very real chance to figure it out as well. and I think we got to make sure that we quantify that.

If Janice becomes available, will the Thunder just say F it and include Chet and Jalen Williams in a deal? I'm getting to the point with Chet where I think he might be untradable. Like, if you were listing the players that have played better than him this season, it's not very long, like maybe 15 guys.

I'm not sure, and he's only in his second full year playing in the NBA. I don't know that I would trade Jets, Chet, even if it was for Janice. Who is your pick to win the NBA Cup? Do you think winning the NBA Cup affects the winning team at all for the rest of the year? I think Boston's the right pick. I think that they're the best team playing the best basketball right now.

The Thunder, I think also, I think Boston and Thunder, just like I would say for the championship, they're the two best basketball teams. I think both, I think Boston in particular, because of their reliance on three-point shooting, has some vulnerability in a single elimination format, but they're also so good. defensively that they can kind of level that out. So I think I'd go with Boston. Does it affect the winning team? I thought in the moment, I remember,

I actually talked about this. I want to say the night, either the morning after or the night of, but I was worried as the Lakers were hoisting the trophy in the in-season tournament last year. I was like, I was like, I hope that they don't just immediately relax after this. And it was literally then, it was right after the in-season tournament that they lost

three out of, they lost 10 out of 13 games. they completely fell apart right away because it was like a sense of accomplishment in the middle of a season when the other 29 teams did not have the sense of accomplishment and for a team that already struggled with motivating itself that ended up being a real problem I think a team like Oklahoma City and Boston

know I think they're professional enough and I think they're talented enough to be able to overcome that. Last question I thought this was really interesting. Why are offenses in general slowly moving on from pick and roll over the last couple of years? I had to look it up. because I wasn't sure this was a real thing. Here's a stat to prove this, though.

Teams to run pick and roll on over 35% of their possessions, okay? 2012 teams ran pick and roll in over 35% of their possessions. 2022, 10 teams. 2023, 6 teams. Last year, 2024, only five teams in the NBA ran pick and roll in over 35% of their possessions. So there is a clear shift away from ballroom. screens in the NBA. What's causing that? I think it's a combination of a bunch of factors, right? It's always super complicated. One, there's a lot more dribble handoff stuff as part of five out, right?

Like, there's one of the most common plays you'll see in the NBA is Chicago action or Zoom action, whatever you want to call it, which is basically just big man at the top of the key, ball handler in the opposite, in the right corner or left corner, whatever it is. Let's call it the right corner. And then another guard who can do something with the basketball that is setting the first screen. And basically that guy's screen. screen's down and the big comes over for a dribble handoff and the guy comes out of the corner and gets the handoff and goes to work, right? That functions as a ball screen, but it's not going to be logged as a ball screen.

It's going to be logged as a dribble handoff. But it functions the same way because the guy guarding the ball, the guy coming out of the corner, is probably going to lock and trail, and that's going to get him into trail position, and then it's going to function more or less like a ball screen, right? But one of the things we've been seeing all over the place in the NBA is teams are trying to deny the use of ball screens as much as possible, right? On the side of the floor, they are icing ball screens, meaning that they're taking their defender way up to the screen side and forcing them to reject and go back towards the sideline. Situations like Chicago and Zoom, like I just broke down. A lot of

times, the defender of the guard in the corner is just top locking and forcing that guy to back cut, right? Which is in turn, in many cases, forcing the other guy to turn around and then come off of the dribble handoff, right? Even that guy is in many cases top locked and forced to back cut. Now the big has to turn around and look for action on the other side of the floor, right? That's really the thing. If I had to come up with a reason why beyond some of the shifts to five out, NBA teams got pretty good at guarding ball screens. Like, as is always the case, right?

Like, everyone had like different strategies. Like, you go back to the late 2010s. There was a lot of hedging. Like, bigs were hedging. They were coming way out to stop the drive and then sprinting back into the lane, right? then there was a lot of like guards going under, right? Guards ducking under picks and meeting the guard on the opposite side of the screen. And then when Steph Curry came in, everyone kind of had to readjust that.

Then Dames started doing it. Then everyone started shooting these off the dribble threes. And then they kind of crafted this new system. And now the most common ball screen coverage that you'll see in the NBA right now is you have the on-ball defender chase over the top of the screen on any high ball screen. Side ball screens they're icing, right? Which means they're forcing them towards the side. line and rejecting the screen. But anything up in the middle of the floor, you're chasing over the

top, you're bringing the big up to the level, and you're tagging from the weak side. That is the way the vast majority of teams are defending in the NBA. Then what they do is with that weak side two on one, they have the defender kind of split the difference between the two and they rotate out of it, right? And so that has kind of become the set way to defend ball screens all around the NBA. and what's becoming clear is like that's actually one of the easier to guard actions in the league. And so I think you're seeing a lot more off ball action, a lot more big at the top of the key with guys cutting and playing off the ball off of him, right? You're seeing a lot. You're just in general.

The post up kind of died in the NBA for a while. That has been a big return with guys like Nicole Yokic, with guys like Alperin Shangun, with guys like Joel Embed with guys like Anthony Davis, right? all the switching that you see in the NBA now. That's another thing too. Another big part of why there's not as much pick and roll. There's a lot more switching. When there's more switching, that's going to lead to more ISO and post-ups, right? Like there's a lot more of like Pascal Seaccombe posting up a small after a switch and a ball screen, right? So like, again, I just got presented this today. I'm not trying to pretend like I know the answer, but if you guys are curious, my guess, my guess is it's a combination of like shifting to more

five-out concepts, a lot more switching, neutral. some pick and roll and traditional pick and roll coverages reaching the point where they're actually doing a pretty decent job guarding it at this point. It's always going to be a huge part of the game. They're still, you know, the vast majority of teams are still running it roughly a third of the time. So it's still a huge part of the game, but it definitely is tweaking down a little bit, which I do think is fascinating. So very good question. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend. We'll see you on Monday for some power rankings. What's up, guys? 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. 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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

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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 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. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan,

so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars. Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. It was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.