The Mismatch - Dissecting the League’s Exploding Offenses and Recapping a Night of Extreme Scoring

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

Verno and KOC open the show by discussing last night’s historic performance by Donovan Mitchell, who scored 71 points to become the seventh player in the 70-point club (02:15). Klay Thompson dropped 54 points in the double overtime win over the Hawks as the Warriors are getting hot and riding a five-game winning streak without Steph Curry (12:30). After 12 wins in a row, the Nets seem like a completely different team under Jacque Vaughn (26:34). The guys debate why they think the NBA has exploded offensively this year (36:00). Also, they discuss Zion Williamson’s latest injury (46:26) and Christian Wood’s impact for the Mavs (53:52). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Connor. Wait a minute, you're not Chris Vernon. No, Kevin, sadly, I'm not as cherubic or as raspy as Verno, but it is I, Jay Kyle, man. And folks, basketball has been and continues to be so very good. That's exactly why Kyle and I are hosting a brand new basketball show on a brand new podcast feed, the ringers NBA draft show. We're going to have you covered every week as we go in-depth and deep dive in hopes of answering an ever-important question in the NBA. Who's got next?

Whether it's an international phenom like Victor Wimbunyama or the G-League Scoot Henderson. Or stars from Overtime Elite like A.M.N. Thompson, as well as a full-blown swarm of talented prospects from the promising 2023 NBA draft class. For sure, Kyle. And we're also going to get into players from the college ranks because this is a loaded class. for us to discuss prospects rising and falling, and we're going to revisit and redraft recent draft classes and get into how the league's evolution could help inform what's valuable in a prospect of the future.

This is a podcast for a fan of every team, whether you're losing and have high draft lottery odds or you're looking for sleepers later in the draft. We're going to be covering everything in the months that come, so please make sure you follow and subscribe to the Ringer NBA Draft Show. And hit us with those five-star ratings. Welcome to the Miss. match. I'm Chris Varden and join him as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com.

It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Connor. Kevin O'Hourne. Burd! Happy New Year! Happy New Year to you also. It is 2023. And man, did it start off with a bang NBA-wise with Donovan Mitchell's historic performance on January 2nd. This happened on Monday night. We saw one of the literally historic performances in NBA history. Donovan Mitchell added his name to very rarefied air, sets a Cleveland record with 71 points, the most by an NBA player in 17 years,

and helped the Cavaliers rally from 21 down to beat the Bulls, overtime. It is also the most points in the game by any player since Kobe Bryant had 81 in 2006. Unbelievable. We've seen a lot of freaky numbers put up this year, but he went to the very top

of those charts. That's going to be a tough one to beat, Kev, 71. And it's because he needed all of them, right? To drive the comeback in that second half of the game. And that's what made it all the more impressive. Like, David Booker's 70 was incredible. Like, I loved watching that against the Celtics.

Granted, he didn't need them, though. Like, this game, they had to fuel a comeback against the Bulls in the second half. And sending it to overtime with the miraculous shot off the rim on the free throw. Granted, it was lane violation. Who cares? The two-minute bolts fans care. But for the magnitude of the moment, it's crazy. We see that three times in a week with Louis.

doing it twice, once hitting the shot, once just grabbing the rebound, and then Mitchell doing it last night. But I thought the stat, I saw somebody tweet this out last night, the stat that amazed me, Chris, too, like he scores 71, but he scored or assisted on 99 points, which is second all time to Will Chamberlain having 104. I mean, like, that also put into perspective for me, yes, this guy was getting to the room at will. Yes, he was stepping back from three and pulling up from wherever he wanted. Yes, he was scoring. But he was making his teammates better, too, with clutch passes. 24 seconds left in the game down three, the lobbed Jared Allen. Two minutes left in the game, both send two guys to him.

He kicks it out to LaVerd for a wide open three. So many times throughout that game with the 11 assist that he had. Making his teammates better, weaponizing his scoring, and finding the open man. So he wasn't just hunting shots, getting points. He was also distributing around the floor and help win that game for the Cavs on top of scoring 71. So unbelievable that when it got to overtime,

every time Caris Lavert shot the ball, you're going, no! Like, this guy's got a chance. This guy's got a chance at really getting 70. You could tell, well, once that game was going, into overtime, you're like, oh, this is in play. Yeah. This is in play that he could get to 70.

And for him to get to 71 last night. And the fact that they needed all 71 points is just crazy. You don't see things like this happen often at all. And in fact, to think that it's been since 2.17 years. 17 years since we've seen somebody do something like that. You know, I was walking out of the arena. And Kobe needed those too. Like the fourth quarter,

the Lakers built the lead towards the end, just like the Cavs did in overtime. But like the Lakers needed those points from Kobe that night too. Well, and didn't I read this morning that he had 16 at halftime? I think that's right. It was a low number. I think he had 16 points at halftime.

So he had 55 in the second half. I mean, that's implausible. Again, if it's if it's kind of like, you know, maybe a little more evenly distributed, it becomes more believable. But if that's so, he did have 16, that's accurate, just looked it up, 16. I knew it was like under 25.

16's nutty. I mean, there's just no way. you get to 71 if you've had a 16.5. I don't know. It should be out of the realm of possibility. And, man, can you imagine? I tweeted this about a month ago when I was watching a Cavs game one night. And I think it was against the Pacers. And he had like gone to the ground. He wrestled for this loose ball. And it just felt like the tide had turned. And he's doing the whole like pumping. up the crowd. I mean, it's like a, it's like he was holding court in that arena.

Fans are just eating it up and he's like telling him to get louder and even louder. And I'm watching that game and I tweeted, I can't, I can't be happier for a fan base. Like this is, man, when you make a deal or you attain someone, this is so far beyond a 10 out of 10 in terms of what you, envisioned you might be getting. I mean, he has embraced the city, he's embraced the fans, he's got like this new lease on life. But beyond all of that, he's been the best guard in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, for sure, man. Sometimes like Mitchell personally, he thinks he's going home, right, to New York. He thinks he's going to be treated to the Knicks. But sometimes the things that you want most in life, you know, you think it's what's best for you, but something

else happens and that turns out to be what's best for you. And he lands in the situation in Cleveland where like he's this. He's been the best guard in the East. As you said, he's got the perfect supporting cast. Granted Darius Garland doesn't play last night. But Garland has very clearly been like, I'm the number two behind Mitchell in terms of the scoring and playmaking and, you know, touch hierarchy. Mitchell's the guy. Garland's the playmaker. They have Alan no mobile last night either. They have these two awesome defenders in the front court and Jared Allen and Evan Mobley. They have a good supporting cast.

Kevin Love, who now has sacrificed and plays his role, starts last night, but he's a great sixth man. They have, we've talked about this a bunch of times, Chris, they have all the pieces, except they really need one more wing, like one more wing, but the supporting cast for Mitchell here is perfect. It is, it is, it is, it is, it creates opportunities for him to have spacing in certain lineups, but he also has defensive support. They have the number one defense in all of basketball this year.

It's not their offense that's fueling their success this year. It's their dominant defense. But then you have guys like Mitchell and Garland who can go out and get buckets for you when needed. Get 71, score 40, whatever it is. Garland, of course, was the first guy earlier this season to score 50 points. He had 51 in November 13th. The first player to crack 50 this year, there's been 13 players this season. obviously we'll talk about Clay soon.

He did it last night too. 13 players will score 50 plus points this season so far. I mean, they have guys who can do that in Garland and Mitchell, and they're willing to share. Because Mitchell was not just scoring last night. He was playmaking. What a dynamic with those two. And it makes them a very scary playoff opponent as we look forward.

Especially if they make one more move. They don't need to, but if they do make one more to even, then bolster it more. Oh, of course. And to your point about just, you know, just needing some wing depth that they have, I was looking this morning, because I was looking at something up,

I had read this article, and it was talking about Sharon Jackson Jr., and it was saying that he has the highest net rating in the NBA at like 12 or something like that, but he doesn't qualify yet. You know who is number one

in terms of net rating in the NBA? It's Jetty Osmond. I was literally about to say, Jenny. It's crazy. Because Jenny, Jenny Osmond might be the piece that actually exist already on their roster. Like,

Jenny's a good, a good role player. He plays like what, 20 minutes a game, 21 minutes a game? He is plus 11.5. But he might be the guy. Like,

if they can turn Jenny up to 30 minutes per game, I mean, maybe defensively it hurts you a little bit. But if you get Mowbly and Allen protecting the paint, Look, you get open threes. Obviously, they wanted it to be Okoro, and that has not taken. You just need somebody that can knock down.

You're going to get threes. Those guys command so much attention because both of them just can get your defense to break down completely off the dribble. And so that driving kick stuff, just, man, if they found one or two guys that could just bang shots, you know, that they get open threes that they're deadly shooting them

because they generate them. They got multiple guys that can generate. I think it's possible if we talk about the need for a wing and we'd maybe make one more trade. I still think that's true, but it really might be just getting Jetty to 30 plus minutes a game. He has 36 last night, banging threes. He's been playing really solid defense all year long.

He's not a stopper like Isaac O'Coro, he's not a great defensive player. I'm sure he'd be targeted by some matchups, but he's a good shooter. He makes smart decisions, quick decisions on the floor, keeps the ball moving. He's a shooting threat, and he's solid defensively. So maybe he's the answer coming off the bench for the Cavs

for that wing position when they need more spacing in some other lineups that they throw out there. Yeah, every once in a while we see this happen where somebody has some unbelievable night and while another guy has an unbelievable night that would be the biggest story by far in the league, but it's just dwarfed by the more unbelievable night. And it's exactly what happened to Clay Thompson.

Oh, my. It's 54. Yeah, all anybody would be talking about is Clay Thompson's 54. And it was an awesome game. It was so fun. Double overtime, no less, right? Todd was going crazy. Come on, Lutie.

winning tippin? Oh my God. It was so fun. I was screaming at my TV. I think most people, most people thought that the days of Clay Thompson scoring 54 in a game, even if you thought he was going to get back closer to the form that he once held, that those days were probably passed. And yet, here it was last night, where 21 for 39 from the field, 39 shots. Could you ever, if I told you, Kevin, list the guys that you think, I'm going to tell you a guy's going to take 39 shots tonight.

Who do you think it's going to be? Not Clay. I mean, do you know how far we get down the list before we get to Clay Thompson in terms of guys that we think would shoot the ball 39 times? Like, I can't even fast. He shot that many times. 39 field goal attempts as he bent,

ends up with 54 points. By the way, like a lot of unassisted buckets by his standards, too. Yeah. But last night, a third of his made field goals were unassisted. He's usually around 12, 13% of total field goals unassisted. Like, he feeds off of others, as we know, watching him for years. But last year, he's creating some buckets for himself, too. Well, not only if I would have said somebody takes 39 shots or if I would have said, hey, a tandem is going to take 70 shots.

Just two guys are going to take 70 shots in the game because Poole had 31 attempts. He was 11 for 31. Some Warriors fans would argue like 20 too many. It might be true. That might be true. But, I mean, good grief, 39 and 31 for the attempt. And Clay Thompson ends up with 54 points, 10 of 21 from three. 21 three-pointers attempted.

That's just, I mean, that is Daryl Morey's wet dream. A guy, there will be a guy one day that attempts 21 threes by himself. Chris, I don't remember the show that I said to you that the Warriors are going to be ugly without Stefan Curry. I don't remember the date. I don't remember what show exactly it was that I said that, but they're 5 and 0 at home since Christmas when they beat your Grizzlies. I have to say, I was wrong. I was dead wrong.

I mean, every once in a while, this does happen with teams where you end up having to be better because of the collectives, right? Everybody then takes on a different role. there's not the dependence upon the one guy to bail you out every night. And when we talked about it, I brought up that I saw it happen last year in person with Moran, where Morant went out and all of a sudden everybody had to pull their weight. And it gives guys an opportunity that they don't normally have. And many times they can end up taking advantage of it. Look, they're a really tough team at home.

They are a tough team at home. They suck on the road with Curry. So if they suck on the road without Curry, that's not some massive demerit. The truth is they have been outstanding on their home floor. They were outstanding with Curry. They have remained outstanding on their home floor in the absence of Curry. And I think when you lose a superstar like this,

you just want to be able to hover around 500 or a little bit over. or a little bit under for that matter, as long as you can until you get your guy back. Just kind of hold down the fort and not turn to crap. And we're seeing it happen with Phoenix and Booker. They put up some duds with Booker out of the lineup. Oh, they've been terrible. We've got to talk about them too.

You can't, you know, they ain't holding down the ford in the absence of their guy. And so that's all you're wanting to do. And so then when you start winning, that's just, a massive massive bonus. Well, and they also seem to be finding the guys who were going to be part of it when Seth comes back. Like you got Anthony Lamb last night ripping the ball away from John Collins making big play after big play, clutch, timely.

Little plays do you see those Warriors role players make for years, whether it's like a Boget or a Sean Livingston. Like it was vibes of that, right? And like you got Baldwin, Patrick Baldwin, Jr., getting like light minutes deep off the bench, but he's looking solid as a big floor spacer. Dante DiVincenzo hitting the big shot when, I mean, what was Trey doing at the end of regulation?

He just spaced out, totally sagged off of him, gave him space to hit that three-pointer. He played great defense down the stretch Devencenzo did as well. Looney, I mean, like we know what he can do for years, but it just feels like a team that when you think about what's their eight, nine-man rotation, going to look like in the postseason, they're figuring out what that's going to be. And it's guys like Anthony Lamb, Die Venchenzzo, who are really finding themselves as perfect

supporting pieces for Stefan Curry. And I think with the Warriors, Draymond Green said it after the game last night, this is why we don't worry about seating. It doesn't matter. Once we're in, we know that we can beat anybody that we're a threat. And yes, like, there are people that say they need to start winning on the road. That's 100% true. The Warriors do need to show they can win on the road. They're three and 16 on the road this year, 17 and two at home. A dramatic difference. But I'm not betting against the Warriors with Steph, Clay, and Draymond to not forget how to win on the road. They are indeed a major threat to win the championship once again. And that's in part with what we've seen with step out, a team that's finding themselves. And I'd be very scared.

Like we talk about, you know, Josh said, you know, I'm not afraid of anybody in the West. I get it. like trash talk. Teams should fare the Warriors. They should. Oh, they'll always command the level of respect

that, from everybody. I mean, they have the rings. And I think you make the very good point on the finding who the others are

because in the end, you're not playing 10 guys. And so, Wiseman, you've gotten your chance, Kaminga, you've gotten your chance, and I know both

those guys were out last night, but I mean, and Kaminga might be one of them. Kamingas had some good games too. But you're figuring out which of these guys can fit in with what we've got. And I do think that those guys, the two that you highlighted, DeVicento and Lamb, both understand what they are. They are role players and they are willing role players. And that's what every team's got.

They got role players and they got stars. You don't see these guys getting wildly out of pocket trying to do stuff. stuff that they can't do. Like Looney too. Looney. Like hit more than anybody on that team. Right. Knows what to do. He knows what his loan is on that team.

Attack the glass against the tiny little fraudulent Hawks and win the game for your team. Yeah. And the Hawks, that's a tough way to lose for sure. It's a tough way to lose. And they've got that back court back. But, I mean, there's still so much of the. My turn, your turn. They're frauds.

They're not going anywhere. Yeah, I don't. It'd be interesting to see because, you know, they... McMillan, I wonder if we didn't, we didn't talk about that story, didn't. Yeah. McMillan, you know, potentially stepping down and he didn't totally deny it. When you got this weird deal with the Landry Fields thing, where they taking Landry Fields and now he's the decision maker. When I read that...

Shank in an advisory role, it's a lot of change there. So I don't know. I don't know the ends and outs of this. I'm just pontificated. Typically what my experience has been that when you hear something like that, hey, we're taking away all this guy's power, but he's in an advisory role.

That just means we can't fire him because he's going to end up, you know, we're paying the guy anyway. So we might as well have him around and helping us. And then, but he ain't, he ain't calling the shots on anything. anymore. You've neutered him, but he's still around. That advisory role is bullcraft. You ain't envisaged nothing when you've been the one in charge.

Yeah. And the only thing that can do is screw things up because the truth is the owner listens to somebody. So who's the owner listening to? And it's like, okay, now does fields have level of attachment towards roster that it's not totally unlike when somebody brings in new management and we know there's always turnover when somebody brings in new management always because these guys want their own teams the ones that they're they built the ones that they're responsible for and what level of marriage does fields have to those guys you know does he look at and say i'm i'm married to this guy because he was he was the one i you know put my foot down and said, we got to draft this guy,

or we need to sign this guy, or we need to trade for this guy. You don't really know who all he is married to. And the same thing goes coaching-wise, right? It's just an unknown, and it's a rarity that we see two guys in-house, basically one stripped of their power and given to the other one.

Not common. And it makes for a mess. I mean, this all stems from the mistake they made trading Luca. I mean, you think about those teams that passed on Luca. The Suns make an NBA finals. The Kings right now are one of the best young teams up and coming in the NBA. The Hawks made in East Finals, but now they're in disarray.

It all stems from that. Like, I know Trey's a great player. If he wants out, I'd happily trade him this coming off season, as was reported, what, 10 days ago or something like that, about him being a guy that executives just think to be the next player to ask out. It all stems from that, that mistake that ownership and front office made, trading down with the Dallas Mavericks,

Luca for Trey Young and Cam Reddish. That was a loss, a definitive loss. I know it seems like sometimes win, win, win, win, like, Trey's a good player. Oh, Luca is an all-time great player. Like, there's a reason why he's like... It is, but I mean, they did make it East Finals. I know the circumstances.

I know. They made an East Finals. against Ben Simmons, who is scared to score in the fourth quarter, scared to shoot. But that is something. They made in these finals. But, like, right now, Chris, like with where they are today, the position that they're in, it's not good. Like, they're nowhere near the Cavaliers. They're nowhere near the Bucks, the Celtics.

They're not near the Sixers. They're not near the Nets, winners of 12 in a row. Like, they're not near any of those teams. They're nowhere close. They made in these finals. It was fortunate circumstances. It was a blip. Looking to get more out of this NBA season, well, now is the perfect time to download

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In New York, call 1-8778-Hop New York. And Wyoming, call 1,8002-470. And West Virginia, visit 800 gambler.net. That aforementioned Nets team, we may look up, Kevin, and there ain't many teams that are close to the Nets because, my God, they, you know, I feel like we've now done three or four shows. in a row where it's like,

eh, the Nets did it again. The winning streak passing a test, all of it. I mean, right? The winning streak is.

That Warriors bucks cab stretch a couple weeks ago, didn't we say, oh, that's the tests? And then they passed that too. Yeah. And they've got two guys

simultaneously. This is, if you were to, if you're Sean Marks, and you come up with, like, what's the best version of this? they are getting it, and they're getting it for a lot of games,

and they're getting it early in the schedule. And so you think about this, and it's like, man, by time you get to playoff time, this thing could be devastating because on a game-in, game-out basis, even with some better guys, the way they gang rebound, the way they defend, and those two guys being as efficient as they are, and being simultaneously so awesome,

it is truly special. This started off with, I mean, just what you would think would be debilitating turmoil to begin this season. And not only have they got it right, a big credit to Jacques Vaughn, a credit to Durant, they are a very dangerous team,

Kev that keeps on seemingly getting better and better and better. I keep waiting for them to, you know, calm down. And you flip them on and they are. They're something special. They really are. I didn't see this coming. But in this course of this season, no drama. Obviously, you're always waiting for a shoe to drop

and worry that there could be some, but no drama, a team that seemingly has started to come together and understand their roles, and they haven't even had everybody back yet that they would have. And, man, I don't even know what to say. It's kind of shocking how awesome they've been. Well, since Jog Vonn took over, they have the number one offense in the NBA, the number seven defense, they're 18 and 3 under Vaughn, number one net rating. I mean, we've talked a bunch over the last couple of weeks

about their defensive dynamic with Kevin Durant, Nick Claxton, the returning personnel. We've talked about T.J. Warren with the sport. He provides coming off the bench, and last setting against the Spurs, 18 points on 13 shots, how they can stagger him and KD or play them together. We've talked about guys like Guantanabi and Harris and Curry

and Mills, the spacing they can provide, we haven't talked a lot about just like the pure energy of the team like I feel like there's something different like personnel-wise they're far different scheme-wise they're not that different at all like they're running the same sets playing very much the same way they did

it's just like the energy of the team is so different. They defend and they rebound. They're hustling. They're hustling hard. They're playing hard. There's a together. with this team.

I remember when at the very beginning of the season, I saw them at first, and I said, I don't understand. Like, what are they doing? Like, I watch these teams and it's like,

okay, here's the game plan. Here's what they're trying to take away. And the Pelicans ran it up on them one night. I watched Memphis running up on them in person. And I'm like, golly, like,

what are you, what are you trying? What's the goal here? And they just, they looked like a, a poorly coached basketball team to me. And that was not me trying to take aim at Steve Nash, but as much as an observation of what I'm watching.

They were lifeless. And now you fast forward. It's like, bro, how bad was Steve Nash? Did he make these guys look like a mediocre to submediocre basketball team? And I don't think, like I said, I don't think it was necessarily, X's and O's. I mean, game plan, in-game adjustments, that's obviously different, game-to-game adjustments that's different, but like the skeleton, the types of sets they run, off-screen actions, that's very similar. You know, the defense, the switching is very similar. I think it's largely

personnel driven. Kyrie comes back 18 and 3 cents, right? Kyrie's awesome. Ben Simmons looking more and more healthy, getting your shooters back, getting T.J. Warren back. But like, the the energy, like it's something culturally, like there's a buy-in that togetherness. Like maybe this team had to hit that rock bottom, Chris, right? With the Kyrie stuff, the Steve Nash stuff, guys being out, and now they're rallying together, playing hard together, and your best players,

Kevin Durant, he is your best player, and he's busting his butt, play after, play after play on defense, setting a tone for your team. Anytime your best players doing that, like there's always a trickle-down of, to the rest of the roster. And I think KD needs to be given the utmost respect for that.

And he deserved, like, MVP conversation will ramp up later in the year. But he deserves to be right there with everybody else because he's killing an offense, as we all know, but defensively as well. He is setting a tone for this team and is one of the driving forces behind their success as up late. You nailed it with the KD thing. And even in his interviews, he talked about, you know, kind of what he's, you know, kind of what he wanted and this commitment to defense and how they didn't defend, how they didn't

rebound. And you know, Nash is not. Didn't he say something like we don't practice defense? Don't even do defensive drills. Yeah, yeah, that's what it was, right? Yeah. You know, and. And that's the changes.

It's like the stuff we don't see as much. Right. And the buy-in. Yeah. We knew he wasn't bought into the last guy. We talked about this a hundred times. People get annoyed with me bringing it up. your best player has to be bought into your coach.

He tried to get the guy fired in the off-season. You thought everybody was just going to walk into the locker room and everybody was sacked like, oh, it's all sympathetico now. You had Camp Thomas rolling his eyes at Steve Nash and stuff. I mean, he publicly, like, this story was not like things that people talked about behind the scenes. This was something that the owner of the. team had to acknowledge on Twitter that you tried to get the coach fire. You thought you were just going to walk into the season and it was going to be all right?

Everybody was just going to get back on the same page. The flip side, Chris, is like he may have wanted Steve Nash hired. He realized it was a mistake. Yes. Yes. He's like, oh, God, I can't do this. And Steve Nash, like, he very well. If he gets another coaching opportunity, if he wants it, maybe it'll work out there.

Maybe it will. Maybe it will. But with Brooklyn, the mix just wasn't right. Yeah. I mean, he was giving a pretty good job with some pretty good players. I know there's been drama and whatever, but just basketball-wise, that's a peach of a job. Oh, I know. And good for Jacques Vaughn.

He's done a great job giving that opportunity. Got a great beard as well. It does have a great beard. It just a fantastic beard. Yeah. It reminds me of Lovie Smith. Do you remember what Lovie Smith? Yeah.

When he showed back up in Illinois. Out of nowhere, yeah. Yeah. They're like, wow, look at this, different guy now. You know, we talked about Clay's 54 being overshadowed. Another that was overshadowed, and this is now become comical. Joel Embedead had 42 last night, and no one even knows. Poor in Beads.

42 is nothing. It's just no big deal. And it was against the Pelicans. The offense in the league now has just gotten so ridiculous that Joel Embed has 42, and it's like, Ho-hum. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, 42, cool. You know, another guy had 71. Try 50 next time, Joel.

Another guy had 54. Nobody even cares if you have 42. By the way, he was just to note it. He did at 59. He scored 59 the same night. Darius Garland had 51 earlier in the season. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. And nobody talked about Garland. Yeah. It's such old news. And what was it last year? There was one like this last year. Oh, was it was it was it? Was it Super Bowl Sunday?

The Sidney had 50? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. It's like nobody came. It's like it didn't happen.

What do you think? So like there's been 13 players where four. 45% into the season right now. 13 players have scored 50 plus points, which means the league right now is on a pace of 28 and a half for total games with 50 plus points. That would be the most since the 1962, 63 season when Will Chamberlain did it 30 times,

and Elgin Baylor did it four times, 34 total. The record was the year prior with 57 total with a bunch of guys, you know, like Jerry Watt. I love it. Bill Chamberlain, Elgin Miller, like a lot of, so we're seeing more scoring

than ever before. Why is this happening? What are the driving forces behind it? Is it bad defense? Is it just spacing? Is it a talent? Like, what is it? Yeah, I have not,

I haven't thought in depth on this, but I will just tell you from going to games and watching games this year, I think the individual talent is at a apex. All time level. Yes.

Yes. Higher than ever. Truly. The shopmaking, the moves, everything else. And my theory would be that you've obviously taken the hands off these guys. No hand-checking. There's more space. If you ever go back and watch some of these old games, turn it on classic, there's no space.

Everybody's within about five feet of each other in a lot of these games. Just spacing every team. has spaces out the floor well, for the most part, right? Many of them space out the floor well. So now when you team up Apex Talent with a spaced out floor that now it's a pick your poison thing, everybody's trying to get to the rim and trying to get threes. Okay.

So now I've got that guy, let's just take into consideration of Mitchell, right? If I don't double team this guy, These guys are now so talented, they can get their own shot whenever they want to get off their own shot. And if I bring someone else, I got so many defenders that now I want to stay attached to the three point line because so many of these teams are now shooting 30, 40, sometimes 50, three-pointers in a game. So if I want to keep my, if I want to keep my defenders attached, and I know that everybody, spaces out the floor.

Now I've got one-on-one basketball in many cases, or I've got just pick and roll basketball, where my big comes up, he sets a screen. Now you've got this Apex Offensive Talent against the big guy or with space. And I think that because those defenders have to stay out there or else they're going to drive and kick you to death, that now once you've got these offensive talents,

it just makes it near impossible to defend them. If you don't dedicate, we've got so many talents that if you don't dedicate to them, they're going to kill you. And so teams have a choice, and more often than not, the choice is not to double team them. Like with Mitchell last night,

we talked about earlier, right? Like when they showed two to them, kick out to LaVerd for three. Lob to Jared Allen. Right. And we get to the playoffs and you see like they'll try to run two at Luca and they'll just say, you know what, if Maxie Kleba and Dorian Finney Smith and these guys three me to death, then so be it.

But I'm not, I'm not guarding this guy straight up. Many of them will bring their big all the way up now as to make them see two guys almost immediately over and over and over again. You're going to see a second guy very quickly. And that's if the teams, so again, but I'm still dedicating two to that guy, right? I mean, I saw it last year with Morant. The team that did the best job was Minnesota. And they just said, we're going to take a big guy to guard him with, like an Edwards.

And then we're going to make that second guy he sees, Knicks do this too. Second guy, they're going to see him at the free throw line extended. That's where he's going to look up. he's going to see somebody because you can't have them all the way back to the rim because it'll stop up short. And so, you know, it became Desmond Bain. I had 25 points a game that series. And I think you see that with,

you see that with Luca, you see that in the ranch, you see that all manner of these guys. If you don't dedicate to, they are going to torture your ass. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt about it. That's the only choice you got to make.

I mean, I think it's like you're talking about like, what answers do a defense have, right like what do you do right we see teams like miami's playing zone a lot teams are playing zone more often tibs years ago and other coaches started like pre-switching the the scram switching where they switch a pick and roll the guy rolls they have the wing come over and switch with him to get a bigger player on the big rig whatever it is right we've seen teams try different things it just feels like right now with the level of offensive talent the the the schemes with teams spacing the as you're saying, Chris, like it's those factors mostly.

Right now it's as if defenses just don't have an answer. Like, whether it's because of rules or like lack of personnel, like my like not a coach, like not a player, my like outside basketball idea is I watch football players play a different scheme, you know, every single possession. Granted, there's a stoppage between each play. You know, you can put new personnel on the field, but sometimes you can play man-to-man coverages. Sometimes you send a blitz. Sometimes you play with four,

you know, zone defenders dropping back. Sometimes you have two, right? Like different defensive schemes to try to make the quarterback think. I wonder if like that's the thing that you could see defenses do. One possession, they press. The next possession, they play

zone. The next possession, they play drop coverage of the pick and roll, then the next one they blitz. And that's very like when I've taught throwing that idea to NBA people, like coaches you know, video coordinators, all that. And all of them saying to me, nah, like, it won't work. You know who did it?

It happened. The first, if you go back and watch, there was a game I remember in the playoffs last year, and the first, let's say, 10 possessions, I bet the heat through six different defenses in Trey Young, because I remember tweeting out, welcome to hell. Because it was like every time he came down. Something different. It's like, yes.

It's like they're backing it in a zone. Make them think. Yes. I just think, like, I know the NFL is a far different sport. Yeah. Far different. It's almost not even comparable. It's not a play-by-play basis, but you certainly can throw ranges.

Yeah, but why not more frequently? Like, maybe you don't do that during the regular season. Like, because it could screw up your defense. Like, your defense might, you know, not get the play call and screw it up. Like one player might be out of position in his own thinking it was supposed to be a different coverage, whatever. Like you do raise the risk, but like between different timeouts or, you know, like different like free throws change up the coverage. I don't know. I just think the key is you have to make these unbelievable offensive talents think.

And you need to make their teammates think. Because even if like you can't screw up how Luca's reading the play or how Kevin Durant's reading the play or Devin Booker or whoever it is, maybe you're screwing up how like Royce O'Neill is or how Cam Johnson is right like maybe that or Maxi Kleba who are they the one out of position and not sure where to be on the floor

and like that that's where I think about will we see a defense just change personnel on a far more frequent basis as a means of slowing down some of these scores rather than sticking to their principles, their system maybe it's like turning up like we saw the bucks a couple years ago

the year they win the finals they practice switching more often all season long so they have more versatility when they needed it in the playoffs. Having scheme and versatility is just as important as having an individual player be versatile, be able to hit spot-up threes or attack off the dribble

or switch screens on defense, defend guards and wings, but a coach who can have a team that can play different styles is equally, if not, more important. So why not instead of like having to do me, instead of game-to-game, why not play to play on a more frequent basis?

Yeah, and well, I mean, it's usually, even in the course of the game, you saw, I mean, that's where Bud got the affection that he probably deserved prior to, but he was willing to adapt. He's willing to just roll with Bobby Portis down the stretch when he needed to. There are other guys, you know, you could go all the way back to the finals with tricked up defense is that Dallas was throwing at LeBron and Wade and that heat team back in the table. Sean Marion

and them, Spolstra's known for it. Carlisle will just drop back into a zone in a regular season game out of nowhere. You're like, wait, what? And it's crazy, to your point, it's crazy when you watch those games how teams are so ill-equipped to deal with it. Every once in a while, you see Miami or the Pacers

drop into his own, and they will be exposed if that team knows exactly how to attack it, but more often than not, that team's like, uh, what the hell, our play doesn't work now. So do it more.

You know what I mean? Yeah, right. More. Like, maybe not, I don't know. That's just, that's just my thought. Like,

maybe that would be disastrous. Yeah. But I don't know. I'm not convinced. We started this by talking about that 76ers game. It sucked a season. Zion pull up with that hamstring. Because, you know, we've talked about this literally every year going into the playoffs.

I tell you, I ate the muscle stuff. Hamstrings and groins. We also saw Paul George as a hamstring thing. We haven't gotten an update on that yet today, right? No. And it's just both, something you want to be mega careful with. Because that's just a healing thing. And so here's hoping.

He pulled up lame. Zion did. I mean, he's running full speed down the court when it happens. And so there was a pop, a twinge, whatever you want to call it,

because he grabs the back of his leg immediately if you see the replay. And it's like, oh, no. I mean, because he's clearly having a very good game once again, as he always does. But that is something to truly monitor because he has been

very, very healthy. this year. It's been a great revelation so far for the Pelicans. I mean, he had the non-COVID illness thing a little bit. But I mean, it has not been, and I think he had the ankle thing for a minute, but nothing that has kept him out for an extended amount of time. And watching him, that is a big guy grabbing his hamstring last night as he's running down the court. So he's hoping it's not something that's going to keep him out as long as sometimes these hamstring injuries can. And just as Brandon Ingram is just about due back. They always do this, don't they? They're never, like, line up. Yeah. It feels like they're very rarely lined up at the same time. But, I mean, that is the good news for the Pelicans is that as a 20-plus point-per-game

scorer goes out, they've got another one coming in. We don't know still with Ingram. Like, there's still no set date. He's just doing more on-court stuff. So it's possible New Orleans is going to have to pull a golden state and have success without either of their go-to guys. Granted, they've been doing it without Ingram. But now C.J. McCollum is going to have to be the guy who steps up big time for them.

Well, they can also get a lot more out of Valentinus in those type of games. Totally. You know that about it. Valentunist. He's a good player. He's the one that's kind of had to fall back when they've got their guys. But as someone who watched him game in, game out, If you need him to go get you 19 and 16, he can.

He can. He's not playing that role. And it's not a good role for him, honestly, with them right now. It's not the best to accentuate his talent. Well, I mean, but it's what he needs to do for that roster. For that roster, right? You're not getting, he's not in the best position for what he brings to the table. Of course not.

But you're not going to win a champion. with JV in the best position that he can that he could be in as an individual player, averaging 20 and 10 or whatever. Well, I mean, and you've got to get them off the court. They, you know, at the end of these games, they got Nance in there. They got, well, they'll try Jackson Hayes. Like, very rarely are they going to close games? And certainly not in playoff games.

Are you going to close with Valenciennes and Zion? Can't do it. So now if they get Ingram back, hopefully sooner than later for their sake, they can at least replace the 20 plus per game score with the 20 plus per game score. I will say, though, Kev, after watching them over the weekend, there is, and I do think that this can show up in the playoff.

There's so much put on guys that are not natural passers. and I think this is why in a lot of games you'll see them have this tremendous success with Alvarado I do think they would be best suited to have like a point guard like just a real point if I were building that team and I were looking at that team

and I get it it's like well then who do you sit down look I'm just talking about I think CJ is at his best when he can be off that ball and be a duel, another guy that can share the load. And Zion, obviously, is going to initiate a lot of offense, though, I mean, I watched them in a game where he had nine turnovers trying to initiate offense. Like, I just think they need a point guard, and many times, just to settle it all down,

because their offensive talent is devastating. Just somebody to set the table for it. And I wouldn't be surprised if Griffin ends up looking for somebody. that could do that. I can see that for sure. I think the flip side of that is, you know, you can be more matchup dependent on the guy that's going to initiate your offense and beat the settler.

Whether it's CJ, whether it's Ingram, who can handle the ball and handle that when needed. Zion, I think they have guys who can share that responsibility. But to your point, you're talking about a stabilizer on a nightly basis that you can always rely on, regardless of matchup. Well, and that's the Alvarado thing. He ain't taking the shot.

He's a role-playing point goal, right? Like a good, you know, even like a Caruso type. Like those kind of guys, just, man, all I need you to do is get me in the offense. Right? All I need to do is to settle it down, get me in the office. Because CJ, you know, that's round hole square pet. He is an outstanding player. But I think you'll get the absolute best out of him when he's not having to handle the ball over.

time. He doesn't think so, though. When I interviewed him later in the year from my Pelicans love letter, everybody likes that for ball. Yeah, I mean, but part of that was him saying how, like, you know, I've evolved as a guard, I can run the offensive need be. I'm going to average, you know, close to 10 assists

per game and be near the top of the league and assist turnover ratio. And I don't, like, he's not a natural point guard, but he has gotten a lot better since, you know, some of the years in Portland where he was playing clearly second fiddle behind Damien Lillard.

I want him running off screen. You know what I mean? Yeah, but like you need, like all of these guys are guys who can thrive with the ball in their hands, though. Like, we've seen CJ dominate playoffs out of isolations. Zion is somebody who's dominant when he brings

the ball up the floor and he's able to use a screen. Ingram can run pick and roll for you too. I think it would be nice. I wish Alvarado had that quality. I wish he had. that quality because he brings it on defense in the way that you need. He's an

awesome smart plug off the bench. I think you're right, Chris, but also I trust the guys they currently have as well. Some of them, they just need Brandon Ingram. They need Brandon Ingram. They need one more guy who can be that matchup killer, and they need to make it work with him as well.

I know you're more skeptical of the Zion Engram fit than I am, but I think they can make it work with Ingram. I hope we get to see them both at the same time. Wouldn't that be nice? Dallas is another team that I wanted to mention before we get out of here today. Eight and two in their last 10.

You were long before Jason Kidd ever wanted to start him. You wanted him to start Christian Wood. Oh, I wanted to start him three years ago in Houston. I mean, look, it goes without saying, Luca has been, like, from a different planet. Over the last six games, he's averaged 44.5 points per game. It's over the last six.

50, 32, 60, 35, 51, 39. Those are the point totals. Well, and it's crazy because when I went and looked up, I went and looked through their lineups, their five-man lineups, and they don't have a sample size for any day. Like, the most they've got is 158 minutes. That's the most minutes any lineups played,

And that's Bullock, Dinwiddie, Powell, Finney Smith, and Luca. And it's actually got like a plus nine net rating. Going through it, and the Christian Wood one, I was expecting it to be a lot better than it has. But none of them have, like, big numbers next to them. The sample size is so small in all of them. The only thing that I could gather when I was kind of going through all of it was, you know, They get a little bit smaller. You don't know if you get forced into things because of Klieba being out.

That's going to force you into some other stuff. Tim Hardaway finally started making some shots. He was miserable at the beginning of the year. A lot of the lineups with Green have been good, which is interesting. And then the other thing is just the elimination of Javall McGee from playing. playing. I don't even need to at all.

Like I was going to say minute, just play. He's like minus 16 and a half. Yeah. It took Jason Kidd a little while to realize, oh, wait a minute. Huh.

I have better challenge on my team. To listen to Tim McMahon, my buddy, who covers this team intensely, basically, they promised him he'd be a starter. Well, too bad. I guess they didn't realize he stinks.

You know? Which again, fairs third. I mean, let's be clear here. Like, Luca is the reason why they're having so much success. Yes, that goes without saying. Are you trying to tell me you think it helps to have a guy that averages 45 again? Yeah, it definitely helps to have a guy who is having an all-time great stretch. That makes a big difference.

But moving Christian Wood into the starting lineup was a long overdue decision. This should have happened earlier in the season. I'm still perplexed what mind games Jason Kidd might have been playing, having him come off the bench. I'm sure the Javille McGee thing was part of it, but, you know, Christian Wood's been playing over 30 minutes per game since early December after starting the year at like 20 to 25 on a night-in-night-out basis.

Luca and Christian Wood are the number one pick-and-roll. duo in the NBA this entire season. If you look at the top 50 duos most frequently used this year, number one, Luca and Christian Wood, number two, Spencer Didwitty and Christian Wood. Number three, Luca and Dwight Powell. The Mavs have the top three. Who's four? Just out of curiosity.

Mitchell and Allen. Five, Mitchell and Mowgli. Wow. Stefan Looney, seven, hero, Bam, Atabio, very underrated combo this year, by the way. Do you want to know any others? Any other curiosity?

No, those are interesting, but the top three are all maths? All maps. And I think we talked about this before the season when they got Christian Wood, and I said how Christian Wood would be everything that they hoped Chris Staps, Porzingis would be. I think I was right,

because with Wood, he's a better shooter than Chris Stabs, Porzingis. He's better off the dribble than Chris Stap's poor Zingis. He's a better lob finisher. Defensively, he's not as great as Kate P, but he's been very good this past month. Better effort blocking multiple shots every single night. He's a deterrent around the basket,

five blocks in their most recent game. Like Christian Wood is a really, really important player for them on both ends of the core. It was long overdue. You saw his walk-off interview. He's like, I suck defensively. It was hilarious. And he did have the block. He did have the blocks.

But he's like, and I've got to be better at that. That's a good thing. You hear that accountability. Lucas said after, I think it was last week's game, he's like, well,

what do you like about playing with Christian Wood? He's like, he doesn't get mad at me when I yell at him. I'm hard to play with because all I want to do is win. Sometimes I'm yelling and he doesn't get mad at me. Like that's true. Lucas is demanding. And Christian Wood,

I think, has embraced that accountability. Like for years, like I talked to people. I talked to Sixers fans, Bucks fans. Like they talk about this guy like he's an utter loser and he was. Like he was a loser. He was not a good player back in the early days.

There was a reason why he had a stint in China and got cut. He was not a good player. He had took a bad approach. But ever since Detroit, when he played with Dwayne Casey in that 2019-20 season, that's where things flipped, Chris. It did, but it got dicey in Houston last year. Yeah, because he signs the play with Hardin' And then he bounces within weeks.

I'm with you still like, you can't just leave a game with Kevin Porter, you're right. You're 100% right. Things got dicey. And I'm not saying he's perfect. I'm not saying he's a winning. He epitomizes winning in leadership and hard work.

I'm not saying that. But I'm saying you surround this guy with players like Luca, they can elevate each other. Hey, and I think that's what we're seeing now. Super fascinating one. because he's, you know, they got a decision to make because they could get Brunsoned again. And it's like, no one is committed to this guy long term yet.

But you may have to make that choice. If I want to commit to this guy, you know what I mean? Get an extension done now. You know, would you preemptively get it done or would you want to let it play out? and especially let it play out when you get to the highest level of the playoffs. Because the last time they let it play out, Brunson went bonkers, even without Luca there, and made himself $100 million in the process. Whereas they could have had him for a lot less.

Do you risk it again with Christian Wood and then look up? Because it could go one or two ways. you could say, oh, God, this is why they didn't commit to him. They're targeting him, you know, when we get to this playoff round and the guy's averaging, you know, 14 and 8, and he ain't worth that. Or you could get up and he's 25 and 12 like the Brunson thing last year, and you're like, oh, shit, what have we done? Well, so just to give this some context,

right now he's eligible to sign a 70, 70, a 70, 77 million dollar extension over four years. Tim McMahon, our friend at ESPN, reported the Mavs could offer him. They want to offer him a two-year extension at a max of 36 million. So there's a difference there with what Wood can receive now versus what he theoretically could get with a great playoff run, and then what the Mavericks are willing to offer right now, with two years, 36 million according to McMahon,

as what they have interest in offering him. So, like, I think what you say, Chris, is a very fair point here. If you're the Mavs, you get to the postseason, he very well might be too skinny. Like, like Jokic might completely run him off the floor. That's possible. It's also possible. They're feeding him buckets, and he's getting 25 and 10, like you said, right? And then it becomes a guy that any contender in the league would say,

we'll pay him the max, because we see him as a guy that can help elevate what we are and what we can become. You can see sign and trade possibilities, all that. But if you're a Christian would, him specifically, like you signed with Houston to play with Hardin and to create a great pick and roll duo when they were statistically in the short time they played together.

You're in Dallas now. This is an ideal situation for you playing with Luca. Like it cannot be any better playing with a savant shot creator like him. This is the best situation for you. Well, and evidently, they're, friends. Yeah, they like each other. They play well together, right? So I think I think if you're Christian Wood, Dallas

is the place that you'd want to be, right? Like you want to sign somewhere just for big money and lose again? Like, that's not the best situation for him. He's an ideal circumstances now. The teams that had him in the past that talk poorly about his character and mindset and approach,

fair at the time. I don't think it's fair now. He's changed in his environment with Dallas, with Luca, with the situation that they have. And it's a good thing. And I hope they stay together, Luca and Wood, that is.

But we'll see. It's a tough situation because I totally see the point with Dallas waiting because he could also be the type this fear that he gets the big money and then he stops trying a defense as much. That's a fear, of course,

in the back of their mind. And you also just wonder how much the Brunson thing plays into this. Yeah, with the mistake there, exactly. It's like, man, do we want to do this again? Because this is exactly what they wanted the Porzingus thing to be. Friends that played well together. And neither of those two things were particularly true.

You know, I think I understand letting go of Brunson hurts, but like Dinwiddie's also been really good. He's been really good filling the Brunson role. the issue has been filling the Dinwiddie role, right? Like replacing him, you sign Kemba. Yeah, it's the Brunson role too. When it gets to the playoffs, it's the Brunson role too. I know, but Dinwiddie's been good in the Brunson role.

So it's about who fills in behind him. You don't trust Dinwiddie when it comes time for the playoffs. Come on, not in the same way. J-Lau Brunson is a different level of player. He is. Yeah, but Brunson's being paid a lot of money. and if you give Brunson all that money and then you give Christian Wood all that money

No, I'm not saying that look I'm saying that when you get now to the table and it's commitment time they didn't want to give Brunson the money and then they lost him for nothing that's the problem here of course, yes. It's the losing for nothing

because you could lose Wood for nothing like you did Brunson. If you wanted to have different players than Brunson, okay, that's a decision you can make. But, bro, you can't lose it for nothing. You had that asset and lost a guy that got paid $100 million for nothing. It's a critical error for sure. And so would you be redoing that if Christian Wood goes for 25 and 12? And then in the playoffs, next thing you know, he's getting $100 million.

I guess it's just, I don't know. You got to make the bet one way or the other. And I'll be interested if he signed up for two years. Would you give him the four years 77? Honestly, I would lean more on people that watch him every single night than I would. That's not that much. That's under 20 million annually. That's not like you're not paying him to Supermax.

If you're Christian Wood, how about this? If you're Christian Wood, do you want that deal? You wait. You bet on yourself. I'm going to make this as simple as I can. I would walk straight to Luca Donchardt's. I said, do you want him? If he says yes, then yes, I sign.

Okay. End of story. That's simple to get. So if you're the Mavs, that's what you do. But what if you're Christian, what? Do you sign the four years 77 right now? It's offered today. Are you signing that contract?

Or are you betting on yourself to get four years like 30 bill per? I think I would too. I'd bet on myself. I think I would too. I'd look around and go, I'm better than these guys. Yeah. I'm watching some bums get paid more than that. Yep.

I'd say there's not a lot of big men in the league who can shoot threes at 40% attack closeouts off the dribble, post up, finish lobs at an elite rate and block shots. Like, there's not a lot of guys who can do that. Especially if he's going to win and he gets a playoff. Yes. He's playing in the playoffs. That's the big one. If he succeeds in the playoffs or fails in the playoffs, that's what would determine the amount of money. he gets.

But they've got it going now. They've won eight of their last 10, and certainly the Lucas stuff is just alien-esque. Oh, he's something else. What a special talent. It's been fun, and now we've gotten, 2023 kicked off with a lot of great performances

thus far, to say the least. Kevin is always a pleasure. Thanks to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always, and I will talk to you on Friday. Have a good one.