The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Top 5 NBA Duos: Where LeBron-AD, Steph Curry-Draymond, Kevin Durant-Booker rank

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Jason Timpf ranks his top five duos in the NBA including the Lakers' LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Warriors' Steph Curry and Draymond Green, and Suns' Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Who ranks number one? And which star duos were left off the list? #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 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-related episodes.

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I hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. We're going to take a break from our daily instant reactions to all of the games to go over the top five duos in the NBA. right now. 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 guys 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, before we get

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All right, so what I did when I started this project, and I've seen a bunch of different people around NBA media, make a specific, their version of this top, duos in the NBA type of list. I want to focus down on five so that we can go into a little bit more detail. But what I did to start is I put down a list of duos that I would consider. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to list the kind of like that initial list that I had of all the duos that I thought were in the running and then we'll work our way from five up to one.

So I had in no particular order. I had LeBron and AD, PG and Kauai, Luca and Kyrie, Steph and Draymond, Jimmy Butler, Bamette at a bio, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall, Dian Fox and DeMontasabonis, John Morant, Jaron, Jaron, Jaron, Jaron, Jaron, Jailen & Bid, Jason Tateum and Jalm Brown, Nicolich, and Jainanko and Jules. So that's where I kind of started from, and then I did two rounds of cuts to get down to five, and obviously I focused on. on duos that I thought had the most playoff impact, just like I always do. You guys know I favor playoff basketball over anything during the regular season. So number five, I have LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

I actually think they have the highest ceiling of any duo in the league. If the two of them are healthy, their ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor, whether regardless of the type of game it is, if it's an open floor kind of skill-based game, or if it's a slowdown rock fight type of game. There is no duo in the league that can impact the game on both ends the way that those two guys are. When they're both dialed in defensively, they are a menace with their ability to switch onto the perimeter while bothering shots around the rim. I think Anthony Davis, when he's at his best, is actually the best defensive player in the league. He just doesn't really get to have that title because he's not at his best often enough.

But like I said, they can win rock fights. They can win with skill. LeBron is arguably the best playoff, like the best reliable playoff player of this era. He's one of the great chess masters. He's so good at navigating that that, you know, up and down nature

of the NBA playoffs as you navigate through multiple series. And we saw that on display. A little over two years ago, when they ran through back to back to back to back, Damien Lillard and C.J. McCollum, James Hardin and Russell Westbrook, Nicola Yokitch and Jamal Murray, and Jimmy Butler

in Bamette, a bio. the more dominant playoff runs in recent history. They were never truly threatened. But the problem is, is over the last three seasons since that run, they've only managed to play just 77 games together. To give you some perspective, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown have played together in 162 games. So more than twice as frequently. AD has suffered a string of injury.

Some of them are bad luck. I think some of them are attributed to the fact that he bulked up too much, which affected his mobility and his ability to. to withstand the long grind of an NBA season. And LeBron is just getting old. Last year, his knee just started swelling for no particular reason at all. And this year, he suffered a non-contact injury on his right foot after dealing with a non-contact stress injury and playing on it

for most of the season on his left foot. So he's just starting to get kind of old. So as a result, I cannot put them any higher than number five, even if they do have the highest ceiling, because your highest ceiling doesn't matter if you can't actually get there or it's statistically improbable that you'll be there when you need it. All right, moving on to number four, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. This is a new pairing, so we don't have a ton of prior playoff experience to fall back on.

But we can kind of piece two and two together just based on their skill sets. KD has been the best basketball player that I've watched in this regular season. Yes, I think he's been better than Yokic. I think he's been better than Janice. I think he's been better than Joel Embed. Also, you guys know that I typically have always gravitated towards perimeter initiators over Biggs anyway. But he's the best pick and roll shot creator in the league this year.

He's having his best playmaking season that's gone completely under the radar because everyone just thinks of him as a score. And he's still the best three-level score in the league. Pair him with Devin Booker, who's a very similar archetype, just at a different position at the two-guard. He's also been one of the better pick-and-roll shot creators in the league this year, and he's still one of the best three-level scores in the league, despite dealing with some injuries this year.

and this is the most important part that puts them above of some of the other pairs that didn't even make my list. They are both excellent offball players. In fact, among 219 players in the league this year to attempt at least 100 spot-up possessions, Kevin Durant is second out of 219 players and Devin Booker is fourth out of 219 players in points per possession. So they're two of the top four spot-up players in the entire league. that allows them to impact the game at a high level regardless of whether or not the other person is more involved in an on-ball role. The only thing really holding them back on this list compared to some of the guys above them is their defensive prowess. Devin Booker has worked hard to become an above-average defender at his position,

but he's not a good or great defender at his position. And Kevin Durant, even though he's been an all-defense level help defender this year, he does have some weaknesses, specifically with guys that are bigger and stronger than him, and he can struggle a little bit with perimeter contain on shorter, faster players. So there are just, you know, when it comes to specific matchups, they don't have the same defensive versatility as some of the groupings that are above them on this list. But we are going to learn a ton about Booker and KD over the next couple of years. Number three, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown.

This is the quintessential modern wing duo. Two freak athletes, both with great size, length, and athleticism, both with modern skill sets that balance perimeter prowess with downhill aggression. They're both young and on the same timeline. They should, in theory, be playing together for a long time. Jason Tatum's a little bit of a better passer, but Jalen Brown's a little bit more versatile of his score. And they've combined to play in 159 playoff games. They're super, super experience, which is not what you would expect for a group that age. You know, to give you some perspective, that's almost twice as many playoff games as Nicola Yokic and Jamal Murray have combined.

And they're an older duo. So, you know, for being younger players, these guys have been through some wars. They've been on some big stages. They've played in some really big games, which I think is valuable, especially when it comes to feeling comfortable again when they get to that stage this year. They've been to the conference finals three times. They made us to the NBA finals last year and put up a decent fight against a perennial. NBA finals contender and the Warriors, they've been through a lot. And I put that as a notch in the pro factor for them.

What keeps them lower on this list than the two duos ahead of them is that neither Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown are great at anything offensively, like truly great. They are truly great players as total packages. Like Jason Tatum, for instance, like his best skill, ironically, like I think Jason Tatum is a top tier, like top of the top tier, perimeter defensive player. That to me is like one of the skills that you can say he's truly great at.

But on the offensive end of the floor, he produces at a superstar level. Like he's putting up volume scoring. His true shooting percentage is 60%, which is excellent. But he's kind of going into that James Harden, one-dimensional offensive approach is just taking a lot of threes and getting all the way to the rim. That to me, I think, makes him not a truly great score in terms of his versatility. I think Jalen Brown has actually demonstrated a little bit more, you know, improvisational shot making, which I think is a big part of why on many nights he's actually been a better crunch time player for them than Jason Tatum event.

However, Jason Tatum is a better playmaker than Jalen Brown, but even then he's not exactly a good playmaker. He's still below five assists per game this season. And then on Jalen Brown, like, yes, he's a much more versatile score than Jason Tatum, which has helped him in a lot of ways, but you're not putting him in the same ballpark there as a guy. like Kevin Durant, right? And he's super limited as a playmaker for his career. He's basically a one-to-one assist a turnover guy. So again, like when I'm looking at Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown,

they're both very good offensive players, but neither of them has this like truly great skill. Like I'm a truly great playmaker, or I'm a truly great versatile score or whatever it is. There are guys in a league that are better than them at all of those things. And I think that's a big part of why they've struggled with late game execution, specifically against stars that are better than those two guys are. Still, third best duo in the NBA,

that's just the specific reason why I have these other two duos ahead of them. And I don't think it's a coincidence that they've struggled specifically in those situations and with their confidence. Like, both Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum were completely shook in terms of their confidence by the end of the 2022 NBA Finals. And I think a big part of that was that lack of that truly great offensive skill. Number two, Steph Curry and Dremon Green, the duo that beat Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown in the finals last year. They are the most accomplished duo of this era.

They have four championships and six finals appearances in the last eight years. Steph is also, like Kevin Durant, a candidate for being the best player in the world, depending on who you ask. He's absolutely the best offensive player of this era. Draymond Green is the best defensive player of this era in terms of consistent defensive greatness on a year-in-year-out basis. So you have the best offensive player in this era and the best defensive player in this era and the best defensive. player in this era on the same team. They also have natural offensive synergy. Draymond Green has learned how to weaponize the way teams ignore him to be in an on-ball

role, creating shots for his teammates as a playmaker, weaponizing quick-dribble handoffs or locating Steph Curry off the ball. He's done an admirable, admirable job making himself playable on the offensive end so that his defensive greatness can be realized in the impact of the game. Their combination of championship experience and continuity over a day, decade of basketball has allowed them to consistently perform better than pairings that are actually more talented than them that are beneath them on this list. At the end of the day, the scoreboard is all that matters. And Steph and Dremont in any sort of playoff setting are more dangerous than any of the

duos that are behind them on this list. The only reason they're not on the top of the list is that Steph Curry can still struggle a little bit in some specific matchups with his lack of size defensively, although he is a above average defensive player. And Dremont Green can still have some problems on the offensive end in specific matchups when teams really start to ignore him, even though he's worked a lot to mitigate that. So that gives them a slightly lower ceiling than the duo that I have above them. But they did win the title and outplay the two Jays last year, which is why I have them above those guys. But I do think Janus and Drew at number one are just a touch better. So my number one duo in the NBA is Janice and Tenacumpo and Drew Holiday. It was an easy choice for me. They're consistently available.

those two have played in 150, 152 games, excuse me, 150 games over the last three seasons together. Both are consistent offensive forces. They combined to average 51 points per game this year on just under 60% true shooting. They combined to average 13 assists per game. Yannis is a better playmaker than Jason Tatum and Kevin Durant. They are both top tier defensive players at their position. They are both perennial all defense selections. I think Janice is a case to be the best defensive player in the world, depending on who you ask.

And they have the versatility to guard in different ways. They can run a traditional drop coverage, but Drew is big and strong enough to switch on to forwards, and Janus is quick and smart enough to switch onto guards. So they are miles better in terms of consistency, availability, and talent defensively than any duo in the rest of the league. Even LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who are good when they can get to that level, but they don't get to that level nearly frequently enough, and that is what makes them such a pain in the ass duo to deal with,

especially in a playoff series. And then with Yannis, I think he's the best player in the world, which means he'll be the best player in any potential playoff series. He's averaging 31 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists with 2.1 stocks per game in each of it total in his last two playoff runs. On 62% true shooting, which is outrageous. His play style is perfectly constructed for the NBA playoffs in the way that the game is officiated.

When the refs swallow their whistle and they let physicality go on both ends of the floor, it directly elevates Janice's individual impact. And that's why he's the best possible guy that you could have in those rock fight situations. You know, it's funny when I was thinking about this this morning, I thought about pool basketball. For any of you guys who've ever played basketball in a pool,

I had some buddies when I was growing up, and we would go to, like, my parents' house and we'd get in the pool, we'd play basketball. basketball. And I had a buddy named Matt who played Division 1 for the University of Arizona. He was the center. And my other two buddies that we would play with, like, we were good basketball players, right? And like, I'm pretty big and strong. I'm 6-6, 260 pounds. But Matt is like 6-10, 260 pounds of just solid muscle. The dude is just a unit. He actually went on after playing in college to play professional football in the AFL in Australia. Any of you guys ever know what, who know what

AFL football is. It's like a whole different incredibly physical sport. It's kind of like rugby mixed with some football principles too. But he was just a beast of a human being. And when we play pool basketball, like a lot of contact happens. Like it's a very physical game because you're not dribbling, right? And you can't really go around people. So you're trying to like fight through people to get to the rim. And we just couldn't handle that guy because he was so damn big and strong. He was just a monster in a game of pool basketball. That's a totally random anecdote. But That's just what I thought about when I was thinking about Janus in the playoffs this year. It's like during the regular season, when the game is a little more fast and loose,

you know, sometimes he looks a little bit more like one of the guys. But you get him into that setting where the refs are allowing him to just drop his shoulder and plow through people every single possession. And on the defensive end, he's allowed to use his size and strength to grab and hold people around the rim. Suddenly his impact just skyrockets. And when everyone's stuck in the mud of the physical NBA playoffs, Janice is the dude that just suddenly is the biggest, strongest, most impactful athlete.

And I think that's a huge part of why he is the best player in the world. He desperately needed a counter to his rim assault. That was a problem for him in 2019 and 2020. But we found out, we thought it would be his shooting, but it ended up being his passing. He's turned himself into a very good playmaker at his position, which has allowed his rim assault to feel truly impactful on that stage. No duo in the NBA represents more challenges for an opponent in a playoff series than Yanos Antenicombo and Drew Holiday.

All right, guys, that's all I have for tonight. We're going to hit on Celtics Cavs from last night as well as all of tonight's games tomorrow morning. So keep an eye on the feed Wednesday morning. I will see you guys then. As always, I appreciate your support. The volume. 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 helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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. 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. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.