The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Top 25 Players in the NBA: Why Steph Curry is UNSTOPPABLE in the Warriors offense

Episode Date: August 19, 2023

Jason Timpf continues his ranking of the top 25 players in the NBA with No. 2, Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Steph is undoubtedly the best shooter in NBA history, but it’s more than just his shooting ability that makes him the second best player in the NBA. No matter what the defense throws at him, Steph continues to find ways to either score, or get teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green open looks. #Volume #HerdSee 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. 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 IHard 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, Clifford 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's podcast network on TikTok.

The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at The Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. We are live on Amp. So if you're watching on YouTube or listening on the podcast feeds, don't forget that Amp is the very first place that you guys can get these shows. We're continuing our player rankings today with no. Number two, Mr. Steph Curry. You guys know the drill before we get started.

Subscribe to the volumes 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 any show announcements. And if for whatever reason you miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. And last but not least, it may be the NBA off season. It might be kind of a slow stretch for sports, obviously. We pretty much only have baseball right now, although it's much hard.

than it used to be to watch baseball on television. I'm a big D-Backs fan growing up here in Arizona. It just can't get it with my YouTube TV subscription. So you've got to go to a stadium to see them. But other than that, not a whole lot going on in the sports world. But there's a ton of touring musicians and comedians going around the country right now. And the best way to get tickets to any of these is on game time, the fastest-growing ticketing app in the United States.

For amazing last-minute deals on tickets to see your favorite baseball team, band or comedian, download GameTime. Again, it's not just sports. August means huge summer concerts and comedy shows all across the country. And Game Time has your tickets. Download the GameTime app and redeem code Hoops for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the GameTime app.

Enter code Hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S for $20 off. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download the Game Time app. Last-minute tickets, lowest price. Guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So why do I have Steph Curry at number two? Like I said yesterday, I view a clear-cut top tier in the form of Janice, Steph, and Nicole Yokic. The gist of it is, is those three guys. We have six current active former finals MVP's, right?

But with LeBron, there's been a little bit of a decline that we've seen in the last few years. Kauai Leonard literally can't stay healthy and on the court for an entire playoff run. And Kevin Durant hasn't won a finals MVP since 2000. 2018 and is coming off of two of his lesser playoff runs in his career. So I wanted to kind of make a clear delineation between number four and the rest of the field and three up, because these are the last three guys who all in the last 25 months have been consistently great regular season players. Each of them have won a finals MVP.

Nicola Yokic and Yonis in particular have won MVP's as well during that span. Those three are clearly a level above the rest of the field, at least in terms. terms of the level of recognition that they deserve for what they've accomplished recently. Now, the reason why I have him below Yokits, pretty simple. Nicole Yokic just dominated everybody, including a bunch of his peers on his way to winning the title. He deserves to be the clear cut number one this year. I have him above Yannis because Yonis is demonstrating some clear signs of regression in terms

of his skill set, particularly free throw shooting and really anything away from the paint and away from the rim, I should say. And in addition to that, it like straight up cost his team. in the first round series against Miami as the Bucks lost the series. They had no business losing, even if we acknowledge the Janus injury. So I think it makes perfect sense to have Steph in there at number two. I'll go even further. I personally very much regret not putting Steph at number one in my list last year.

Now, the reasoning was at the time, I was so impressed by Janus in that second round loss to the Boston Celtics in how without Chris Middleton and with the completely, combustion of every spot-up player on the roster, he still had them this close to winning that series and advancing to the conference finals. And I didn't think Janus deserved to get knocked off simply because his team was injured. But I should have applied the same amount of appropriate credit and respect for getting the job done that I'm applying to Yokic right now. I should have applied that to Steph last year. So I regret making that particular decision.

So when I look back on the 2022 season now, I feel like we as a basketball community should view Steph as having been the best player in the world during that 2022 season. But you know, can't go back and erase the past. It is what it is. Like I said, I regret it. But as of right now, I feel very comfortable putting Steph in at number two. Now let's talk a little bit about last year. So in this previous season, as I predicted, because the year before, the year that they won the title, he actually had a down regular season, if you remember. It was like the first time he He shot below 40% from three in a full season in a long time. It was just a weird season where he just wasn't quite the same productive player. And I think it was fluky. I thought it was fluky at the moment. And I remember after they won the title, I was like, clearly this playoff run demonstrates that the regular season was fluky. Steph should get back on track this season.

And he absolutely did 29 points per game, six rebounds and six assists, 66% true shooting, which is obviously completely outrageous, played in 56 games. It was a really weird warrior season. A bunch of young players were dissatisfied in their roles. This is one of the big reasons why I've been so critical of the two timelines plan. It's one thing in a perfect world, if you can navigate everyone's personalities, it can make some sense. But the big downside is that's not how life works. In life, like, everyone has a personality.

Everyone has an ego. Everyone has expectations in a situation. And so if you're Jonathan Caminga or you're James Wiseman or you're Jordan Poole, you have a certain expectation of what your life should be like. You have a certain expectation of what your role on an NBA team should be. And like, imagine being James Wiseman or Jonathan Kaminga in particular players that were the, you know, some of the best players in the country coming up, and suddenly you're riding pine in the NBA. And even though you probably deserve to play, and your buddies, who are also at the top of their classes in high school, are elsewhere in the league, just,

off making mistakes. You're watching them be able to play 30 minutes a night, no matter how many turnovers they get, no matter how many missed shots they get. Meanwhile, you're on the Golden State Warriors, and you can't get in because Steve Kerr doesn't trust you to defend and to make the right decisions offensively. Now, for the record, no one's wrong.

Like Steve Kerr has an obligation to lead his team to win basketball games. And Jonathan Camingo wasn't ready. And James Wiseman wasn't ready. And when Jordan Poole was struggling, in this playoff run, he had to make a move in a different direction in terms of the rotation, right? He had no choice. His obligation is to win basketball games. So is it for Steph, for Clay Thompson, for Draymond Green, for Andrew Wiggins, for all those guys, right? And so I'm not blaming anybody on the Warriors front. It's just the reality of the situation. You're asking a bunch of younger

players who, like everyone else in their early 20s, kind of lacks long-term perspective, right? because I would argue that there's great value in learning how to play basketball in that environment. But try telling that to a 21-year-old who's watching his buddy drop 27 on 27 shots. You know what I mean? So I understand where those guys were coming from. I don't blame anybody, but that's what happened.

There was a clear, you know, fissure taking place between the younger players in the roster and the older players on the roster. And you combine that with the Dremont punt, and the fact that the team just couldn't gel on the road at all all season, and it just was kind of a disaster. I mean, Steph did everything he could to float the ship, but things just never really settled down.

I mean, Steph scored 40 or more points six times this season, and the Warriors were only 500 in those games. He had 50 twice, and they lost both of those games. He was like the lighthouse in the storm, but there was just nothing he could do with all of that chaos around him to really get them to settle down. and get into a groove. As a matter of fact, the Warriors were just 30 and 26 in the game Steph played this season,

despite how good he was offensively. Now, let's take a look at some of the play type data. As you can imagine, with Steph Curry, his half-court creation numbers were just completely off the damn charts. He ran 778 pick and rolls this year, which led to 914 points. That's 1.18 points per possession. Now, that didn't qualify for a high-volume list, right? Because our high-volume list was a minimum of 1,000.

but if I adjust that list from 1,000 to 750, there are 34 players in the NBA this year that ran at least 750 pick and rolls, and Steph ranked number one in the entire NBA in pick and roll efficiency at 1.18 points per possession. We're going to talk a lot more about pick and roll here in a few minutes because I want to highlight the Lakers series as a demonstration of Steph's superpower, how completely unguarable he is, and the way that he solved the Lakers pick and roll coverage.

We will get to that here in the game. a little bit. 1.07 points per ISO. That was in the 76th percentile, although very low volume compared to some of his peers. Steph just doesn't run a ton of ISOs. He certainly could. It's not what he needs to do in that particular offense,

although he does end up having to lean on that a little bit more when he gets to the postseason. Off-screen actions. The Warriors, just so you guys know, this is actually a crazy stat, the Warriors run more off-ball screens than any team in the NBA. To give you an idea, the Warriors took a shot off of an off-ball screen 958 times this year.

958, almost 1,000, right? The Jazz were in second place at 724, and 24 of the 30 NBA teams ran fewer than 400 off-screen plays leading to shots. So when I talk about how the Lakers, or excuse me, the Warriors run more motion than everybody, they run more sets than everybody, they take more shots in sets than everybody. It's literally not even close.

The Warriors just run more organized offense than anybody in the league by a mile. Steph personally shot 52% effective field goal percentage and off-screen plays scored 1.03 points per possession. Here's a little bit of trivia for you guys. Which guy do you think led the NBA this year in points coming off of off-ball screens? Take a guess. The correct answer is Clay Thompson at 407. This is how crazy this is. Clay Thompson led the league.

in points off screens at 407. Second place was Lori Markinen at 235. So Clay Thompson, in and of himself, is like the only guy in the league that leans that heavily on off-screen stuff himself. Steph was also the very best dribble handoff player in the league last year, 1.2 points per possession. He was number one out of 20 players

to run at least 100 dribble handoffs. He was 1.34 points per spot-up possession, which is absolutely outrageous. 67% effective field goal percentage. Now low volume, because obviously Steph doesn't get a ton of spot-up looks. But if I run a filter, there were 182 players in the NBA last year, basically half the league, who took at least 150 spot-up possessions. And you guessed it, Steph was number one on that list with his 1.34 points per possession number.

So how do you become the best pick and roll player in the league, the best dream? handoff player in the league, the best spot-up player in the league, basically the best half-court shot creator in the league. How do you do that? Through incredible shot-making. And just get ready, because these numbers are just completely ridiculous. Catch-and-shoot jump shots, Steph, 62% effective field-go percentage. Pull-up jump-shot, Steph, 61% affected field-go percentage. That was best in the league. Only player in the league over 60% in effective field-go percentage. Forty-five percent on floaters, 73% in the restricted area on volume. Not only is 73% insane for a guard in the restricted area,

but 2.2 makes per game, that's more than Kauai Leonard, that's more than Kevin Durant, that's more than James Hardin. He actually got to the rim quite a bit during this season. I've said, you guys might remember there was kind of a crazy sequence like a month ago where Steph hits that like crazy put or it like puts it up the hill and then it like slowly rolls down and goes into the hole

and he starts walking away before it goes in and I tweeted out I was like Steph has the best hand-eye coordination in sports and literally the very next day he hits a hole in one in the same tournament. But like that hand-eye coordination you can specifically see in the shot making.

Nobody is better in all of sports at precise body movements and muscle memory the way that Steph Curry is. That's his superpower. And that's the reason that despite being below 6-4, he's really the only player that's below 6-4 that will probably ever get consideration in the top 20 all-time NBA players.

If you ask people to build their top 20 lists, it's a bunch of dudes 6-6 and taller and Steph Curry. And every once in a while, you might find someone who throws Dwayne Wade in there on that list somewhere. He's 6-4 in Freaky Athletic. Steph has completely broken the mold for what succeeds in the NBA. You can be a small guard and be good in the NBA,

but to be truly transcendently, unbelievably, historically great, it's unheard of except for Steph. And that hand-eye coordination superpower, I think, is what drives that. 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 which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver 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. 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 you? 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 all day, but just so you 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 age. 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. So looking at the playoff run, he absolutely eviscerated the Sacramento Kings, despite the Warriors Road struggles continuing as they fell down 2-0 in that series. He averaged 34, 5, and 5 on 62% true shooting and drops 50 in game 7.

And I went back and watched most of that game this morning, and he missed a lot of shots that he normally makes in that game. So, like, that 50 could just have easily have been 60 or 65. The Lakers series wasn't his best statistical series, but it was the first time, I could just say, like, the stats don't really tell the story there, because Jordan Poole and Clay Thompson both kind of, like, spontaneously combusted in that series.

they both combined to take 157 shots and only scored 147 points on them. And with that and some of the offensive limitations in the front court, it really became Steph Solo versus the entire Laker defense. And so obviously there was going to be a dip in efficiency. And I can say personally is, as you guys know, the only team that I'm really a fan of right now is the Lakers because I'm a fan of LeBron James. And when he retires, I pretty much won't have a team that I specifically root for. And so, like, this is one of the last times that I'm going to be experiencing

like what it's like rooting for a series as a fan. And I could tell you, rooting against Steph Curry in that series was absolutely terrifying. It was like there was literally nothing they could do with them. And so this is where I want to get to the Steph pick and roll thing. Because, you know, we talk a lot about the skills necessary to be a successful pick and roll ball handler on this show, right? Like you got to have a really good handle so that you can set your man up for screens. You've got to be able to shoot off the dribble really well, which forces players to go over the top of screen. when they're guarding you. From there, you've got to be able to score anywhere between there in the

basket, whether that's a long mid-range pull-up, a floater in the short range, or anything around the rim, right? And then you've got to be able to make all of the reeds. But that's just like the actual tactile skills involved with pick and roll, except for the reeds, right? Another big part of it is just the basketball IQ element, the chess match element, figuring out different angles and spacing and different little tricks to generate better openings. And Steph was just unbelievable in that chess match in the Lakers series. And so I wanted to quick kind of break down games one through game four and kind of go over that chess match because I thought it was a great example

of just how malleable Steph is and how he can figure out things over the course of a playoff series. So in game one, the Warriors primarily run their motion offense. The Lakers basically top lock all of the guards, forcing them to back cut, and LeBron James and Anthony Davis are ignoring Draymond and Cavan Looney and just trolling the paint, patrolling the paint, and they just shut down the warrior offense. And yeah, it got close late because the Lakers let their foot off the gas a little bit, but then after they tied it, they didn't score a bucket the rest of the game because the Laker defense shut them down again.

And the Lakers actually led by 14 in the fourth quarter. So the Lakers kind of dominate game one, right? And Steph only runs nine pick and rolls in the entire game. So in game two, the Warriors want to run more pick and roll, but they want to generate more space in that pick and roll. So they bench Kavanaugh-Luny, they bring on Jemichael Green, they space to the floor, and they just start spamming pick-and-roll. Steph runs 19 pick-and-rolls, which would have been more if the game was closer,

but the Warriors blew them out. The Lakers get absolutely cooked by the pocket pass. Steph finishes with 12 assists, and the Warriors win big. Then we go to game three, and Anthony Davis puts on a defensive masterpiece. So essentially, this is where, you know, and again, Anthony Davis got a high spot on this list in large part because of what he was able to do to the warrior offense. But we talked a lot about the yo-yo, right? The ability to get up to the level of the screen, to do something to disrupt the pocket pass,

then to sprint back to the basket and be able to protect the paint. And AD just put on a clinic in game three. He was really, really good at the level of the screen, being active with his hands and forcing deflections and turnovers on that interchange there at the high ball screen, right? So AD dominates the game defensively, the Lakers win big. Game four is the game that I want to use as an example of Steph's basketball IQ. So AD is causing problems up at the level of the screen with his hands, right? How does Steph counter it?

He counters it by holding onto the ball longer. Sometimes he just drag AD off to the side. So set the screen and just make a bunch of lateral dribbles, which pulls AD over, which created a much bigger pocket for him to make that pass. So we didn't have to pass around Anthony Davis's hands as much. sometimes too he would just get over the screen and kind of work his way to the top of the key he'd pin the dude on his backside and kind of keep him in jail and just hold it until the big man actually got past Anthony Davis and then he would like use pass fakes and wrap around AD I was watching

the film this morning it was like game four was one of the most magnificent pick and roll performances I've ever seen the lakers were literally throwing the kitchen sink at step he ran 28 pick and rolls and the Warriors scored 38 points on them. That's 1.36 points per possession in pick and roll in a pivotal playoff game on the road against the best defense in the league. And they just literally could not do anything with him. And if it wasn't for Lonnie Walker getting hot at the end of the game and Steph, now this is another thing to Anthony Davis's credit, the final possession, he switched the

pick and roll and turned Steph into an ISO player and he got a couple of stops. So credit to Anthony Davis there. And again, we'll talk about it in a second, but like the reality is, is the Warriors eventually just ran out of gas in that series. Because they weren't getting anything out of Clay Thompson, because they weren't getting anything out of Jordan Pool, because the Lakers were able to throw the kitchen sink at Steph, eventually he fatigued.

And over the final three games of the series, Steph was just 10 for 39 from three. And I do think that that's a huge, I think that in large part is a kind of a residual effect. of all of the fatigue that built up over the course of the series. But then again, that's where Chris Paul should come in. Like that, that's where having the ability to offload some of that slow down methodical pick and roll attack to a different guard and giving Steph more off ball possessions where he can

relax a little bit more, I think that will help a lot with that specific dynamic. And I think that's why they went that dynamic with that way with that trade. But make no mistake. Like in that situation, 38 points on 28 pick and rolls, when Anthony Davis is in almost every action, it was just unbelievable. So here's the bottom line. There are a lot of really great offensive players in this league. But there are only two that I view is truly unstoppable,

where even if they don't shoot particularly well, you cannot prevent them from consistently generating great shots for themselves or their teammates. And that's a great example. That game that I pointed out, the 38 points on 28 pick and rolls, Steph didn't shoot particularly well, but he manufactured points come hell or high water with his ability to consistently warp the defense and make the right play. And that's what I'm saying. Like almost every offensive player down the list that as we go further down,

whether it's Janice, whether it's Kevin Durant, whether it's LeBron, Anthony Davis, Kauai, Jason Tatum, Joel Embed, all those guys are to a certain extent dependent on shot result. like Joel and Bede's mid-range jumper stopped going in, his offensive impact fell off a cliff, right? LeBron James couldn't get his pull-up jump shot or spot-up jump shot to go at all in this playoff run. Suddenly he dropped from 30 points a game to 25 points per game. It wasn't even the best player on his team anymore, right? You know, Jason Tatum so much depends on whether or not he's making that pull-up three. But when it comes to Steph Curry and Nicola Yokic, they're the only players in this league

where no matter what you do, no matter what you throw at them, you cannot stop them, and they're offense from consistently generating high-quality shots, which are going to go in over the course of a game and certainly over the course of a series. There's no coverage they can't beat. Again, the Lakers literally threw everything at Steph Curry in that series, and there was just nothing that he couldn't solve. There's no adjustment that Steph can't make to find an opening, no matter how great your defenses. Steph is the very best shotmaker in the league. He is consistently a threat with or without the basketball, and he's a very strong. worked incredibly hard to turn himself into a positive defensive player despite his physical

limitations. And lastly, and this is the last thing I want to say on the Steph Curry front, he's got a nasty streak. He is one of the most competitive players in the league. I talk a lot about this idea of the difference between loving basketball and hating losing. In my time playing the game, I've met so many players that are incredibly talented. But when I'm when I'm, when I'm in a situation, whether it's in an open gym when I was in college or pick up basketball here in town now as an adult, like, I would see that guy and I'd be like, man, he's super talented, but I'd rather not play with him today. Not because of touches or anything like that, but because I don't think he hates losing enough. And I have a feeling that even if he makes a

couple of nice plays, it's going to be a hard, it's going to be a chore to win this game because he's just not going to give a shit enough about doing all of those things. And that's just something as I've grown older, I've noticed the difference between that with players. And then you'll meet a lot of guys. Like even in my time coaching in high school, there are specific players where it's like he's not as talented as the dude that's in front of him in the rotation. But like sometimes like us and the coaching staff would decide like, hey, we should play him

instead because like he's just going to go out there and freaking fight. He's just going to fight. because at the end of the day, winning basketball games is like 50% talent skill execution, and 50% of it is just a knockdown, drag-out fight. And, like, that's what I love about Steph is, like, there's a nastiness to him. There's a fight to him. And he is obviously the most gifted shotmaker in the league, but none of that matters if he's not nasty. And Steph also has that nasty streak.

He's been, you know, it's funny because, like, during the Steph-Lebron rivalry in the mid-2010s, I was younger, right? So I was like, what, in my early mid-20s, what, 24, 25 years old? And I couldn't stay in Steph, obviously, because I was rooting against him all the time. And I was a big LeBron fan. Also, I was just younger, so I struggled to compartmentalized stuff. And as I've grown older, like, I have just completely fallen in love with Steph's game. And it's funny now looking back, because, like, he's legitimately my second favorite player in the league.

behind LeBron and I like absolutely love watching him play and I've become such a huge fan of his and like it took time and distance from that to to kind of figure it out but like I I it's just been kind of a cool like journey as a fan to kind of see the difference in the way that I've used Steph now versus the way that I viewed him 10 years ago or I should say like eight seven eight years ago all right guys that puts Steph at number two we got number one tomorrow big shock it's going to be Nicole Yokic. I'm excited to talk about that for a little bit tomorrow. And then heading into next week, we're going to be doing our all-time player rankings. Actually, I think we're just looking at the last 25 years, basically everything post-MJ. So that'll be fun as well. Three weeks of that.

And then we have three weeks of season previews heading into training camp. And from there, we'll be breaking down actual basketball. That's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys, and I will see you tomorrow. 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. 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. 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, 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, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Cliverd Show on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast,

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.