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- [00:01]
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- [01:04]
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- [02:54]
Dave DeFore
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily, presented by eBay. I'm Dave DeFore here with Zena Keda. Coming up, the Knicks get a big win over the Cavs in game one of their season. We got James Edwards live from MSG to talk about it. And Victor Wimanyama. Victor Wimanyama. That's it. Jared Weiss here to talk about it. From Dallas, Xena. What's the stat of the night?
- [03:14]
James Edwards
34 points by Vijay Edgecombe in his debut with the 76ers, third most by a rookie in his debut.
- [03:22]
Dave DeFore
Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Xena. Good morning, James Edwards. Or should I say good night? James Edwards joining us live from Madison Square Garden where the Knicks beat the Cavs on opening night. And this was Mike Brown's debut. A lot of pressure for the Knicks, especially Mike Brown because he's replacing Tom Thibodeau. What'd you think about game one?
- [03:44]
Zena Keda
They did what they were supposed to do, right? There's been a lot of hype going into this season. This team made the Eastern Conference finals last year. The only thing they did massive was change, was change their coach. There's not a ton of respect for the Cavaliers in Knicks world because of how their playoff series have gone in the past, even though Cleveland beat them four times last year. So yeah, I think fans looked at this as a test and the Knicks passed. I mean they, they got out of a little rocky start but then pretty much were in control from middle of the first quarter on. There's a lot to like. Knicks played 11 guys within the first 13 minutes. You see guys like Ariel Hook, Porty getting the start, Tyler Kolik playing. I think Kolik, Sham and McBride combined for 31 points while Cleveland really couldn't get anything from their others. Other Merrill had a hot stretch and Dean Wade here and there. Defensively they picked up 94ft. You see that trend more in the NBA and the Knicks kind of jumped in on that and you saw some point McHale. I mean I would say that first half basically Mikhail Bridges was the point guard essentially. A lot of Jalen Brunson off the ball, a lot of pin down stuff with him in the corner. So there was a lot of different from this Knicks team under Mike Brown and it led to a win. So take it one game at a time.
- [04:52]
Dave DeFore
They had 35 bench points. Xena. Yeah, I mean like if they had anything close to that in the playoffs and Think about it. They're still down Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart.
- [05:02]
James Edwards
And that was the part that got me excited. I mean, obviously we know what Mike Brown was able to do when he was out in Golden State with stepping up the defense aspect, and we know that that's his whole thing. Even with the Kings, this kind of felt like the Steve Kerr bowl. When you're thinking about Kenny Atkinson on one end and Mike Brown on the other end, but Mike Brown automatically, I did think that looked faster. And what I loved about it was that there wasn't a drop off when the bench came on. Right. And that was sometimes an issue. Last year, James, of just the consistency of offense going from the starting five to the bench. They mentioned a little bit about, you know, Mike Brown saying that this is going to be a little bit of a. A learning game for them. They're going to get accustomed to it. Etc. Like, what did you make after the game? What. What do the players feel like? Did they feel like they had a learning curve or. It looked like it was clicking quick.
- [05:54]
Zena Keda
Yeah, I think a lot of them do. I think some of these guys are still figuring out where their shots are coming from, right? Like, this is a completely different way of playing for Jalen Brunson. He's. He's a tremendous basketball player regardless if he has the ball 94ft or not. But this is different from him, right? Like seeing him come around screens and 45 cuts and stuff like that. Then you look at somebody like, like Mikhail Bridges, right? Like he's going to be a pseudo point guard. Carl Anthony Town, because he plays the four and five, he has to. In Mike Brown's system, he has to learn every position. So him and Gershon Yabu Selli have a bit of a challenge there and trying to learn where everybody's supposed to be. Cat needs to figure out where he's able to get threes, where he's able to get downhill. Like even today. I thought there was moments where he vanished in the game. I thought there were moments where even Jalen vanished in the game and other guys picked it up. But I think that's just part of the learning curve. Learning to play faster and learning where their shots are going to come from. I think that'll come with time.
- [06:49]
James Edwards
Yeah.
- [06:49]
Dave DeFore
What do you think about Tyler Kolek off the bench? It. It was interesting where he's like kind of playing like a more traditional point guard. I thought at, you know, this to the bench point where they come in. It just felt like there was more organization right like the Jalen Brunson and the starters lineup. Last year played Jalen Brunson basketball. And now it feels like it's a more cohesive sort of game plan when the bench comes in. I mean, I'm assuming that's part of why we. We felt like the bench was a little bit more effective.
- [07:20]
Zena Keda
Yeah, I think that's a good point. It definitely felt like they have a way they want to play. Mike Brown didn't even put in plays days before camp. Like they were running off their philosophy and their spacing and their principles and what they want to do. Getting sprinting to the corner, flattening the defense. And he wanted to do that and establish that before putting in place. Because if plays don't work, you know what you're supposed to do after that.
- [07:42]
Dave DeFore
Right.
- [07:42]
Zena Keda
And I just thought that this is a group that, like, knew where guys were supposed to be. Ty Kolik, I thought I did a good job of spraying the ball all over the floor. Even drove to the basket, hit some floaters. I was. I was curious to see if he would play. Obviously, Malcolm Brogdon retired and they needed a point guard. I thought they'd maybe give Deuce those minutes. And Deuce played a lot. Right. But I thought. I wasn't sure if Kolik would play. And he had a rough summer league and didn't play a ton as a rookie. And he was, he was solid today and had some big minutes for them. So I find it fascinating the Knicks went out to get try to add some depth this summer, but it was guys who were there last year, year when the team didn't, quote, unquote, have depth and Shamet Kick and McBride who really turned it up. And you really didn't get a ton from Clarkson and Yabuzeli.
- [08:27]
Dave DeFore
Well, they haven't lost trust yet. Right. Like Mike Brown, fresh on the job. These guys haven't made too many mistakes. I mean, you know, everybody's playing in game one. This is like, you know, it's like high school.
- [08:37]
Jared Weiss
Yeah.
- [08:38]
Zena Keda
It's still preseason.
- [08:39]
Dave DeFore
Yeah. Yeah.
- [08:40]
James Edwards
I like the minutes we even got out of the backup backup bigs.
- [08:43]
Zena Keda
Yes.
- [08:43]
James Edwards
I was looking at Trey Jefferson, you know, coming. He runs so fast up and down the court for a seven footer.
- [08:49]
Jared Weiss
I was.
- [08:50]
James Edwards
Was really impressed with his movement, hook, porty, like his aggressiveness under the basket. Like there was some really great minutes that came out of, you know, the size and, you know, it's great to be able to go get Jordan Clarkson and have Tyler Colette kind of step up as a Another guard for you. But to have backup bigs is a luxury in this league. And so that was really cool to be able to see some depth from that perspective too.
- [09:11]
Zena Keda
No, I agree. I think that there were some real good defensive moments from Trey Jemison and even Huck Porty. I don't think they looked overmatched in a game against two of the kind of prototypical when you're playing two bigs in Cleveland Cavaliers. Right. Like Evan Mobley had some big moments, but I don't think I watched this and was like Porty and. And Trey Jemison are killing the Knicks at all. So I think that's a great point. And yeah, I mean, listen, you're going to play. If you're going to get that much production from your depth, you're going to play 11 guys a lot. Can you do it? Can they do it again? Can they do it consistently regardless? Brown, if one guy doesn't have a going, it seems like he maybe has another guy he can throw in. So we'll see how that lasts. I had questions about how impactful the bench would be. I didn't expect this type of performance from Kolik. I didn't expect this many minutes from Shamet. I was curious of Clarkson and Yabuzeli still kind of had it. So I mean, if they're gonna. The guys that they had last year that didn't play much are gonna just develop into that. Then it gives Clarkson Yabaselli time to feel comfortable and see what you got there.
- [10:16]
Dave DeFore
Also trade chips later on.
- [10:17]
Jared Weiss
Let's.
- [10:17]
Dave DeFore
Let's be honest, James.
- [10:19]
Jared Weiss
Yeah.
- [10:19]
Dave DeFore
So this was game one between the Knicks and the Cavs, and we all have spent this summer assuming that is the top two in the east. That's going to be our conference finals. What do you think? How do you feel about how the Knicks match up with the Cavs? I mean, obviously the Cavs were down. Darius Garland. No, DeAndre Hunter, you know, but like, you know, what you saw in the game tonight, like, how'd you feel about how they match up?
- [10:45]
Zena Keda
Yeah, it's tricky because I do feel like Knicks fans will obviously. Well, we were missing Mitch and Josh. Josh Hart and I agree, but I think Darius Garland, Max Drus and DeAndre Hunter are a little bit more vital to how the Cavs want to play. Mitch, obviously, like, he's a big. But Josh is a muck it up guy.
- [11:00]
Jared Weiss
Right?
- [11:01]
Zena Keda
Like, he's not a shooter. He's. He's. He's just a connector. Right. So, yes, he has pretty much he has a Big role. But I would, I think we would all say Garland's impact for Cleveland is far greater than those two. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think the Knicks look good. If this is the worst they're going to look, then they're in great shape. I don't think this is the worst they're going to look. I didn't think Cleveland played great. Honestly, I didn't think anybody. Like I said, I thought took Mitchell well to get going. Mobley was kind of going early, but nobody else was really getting going until Donovan and Merrill kind of traded shots back and forth. Nothing from Lonzo, nothing from the Tysons and Proctors of the world. So it's hard to tell, right. It's game one. But I mean, I think these are the two most talented teams in the East. I think that the Cavs have the continuity. If the Knicks can get it together, if they can shoot the three ball. Well, that's a question I have. They didn't shoot it well tonight. And I'm curious if they're a high volume three point shooting team, but if they're going to defend how they did, then maybe they don't need to. So, I mean, yeah, I think these are the two best teams in the East. Am I ready to say that it's going to be the matchup? I'm not yet. I want to see Orlando. I saw Detroit came back against the Bulls but lost. I want to see, I want to see Milwaukee play a team that shouldn't be in the G League. I want to, I want to see, I want to see some other things. But yeah, these two teams are, are as good as it gets.
- [12:20]
James Edwards
I think, I think the only time that I was looking at this matchup and being like, ooh, this could be a point of concern for New York despite their absences, despite even Cleveland's absences, is that third quarter run. You're looking at Donovan Mitchell dropping 21 in one quarter and also the swagger with which he was doing it. Right. He was on that court getting to his spots, giving very SGA vibes. The other night in the second half going into, you know, overtime, like it was demonstrative how much he was attacking the top of, you know, the back court of New York and there was no answer. And that's where you're really like, ooh, Josh Hart is very much missing. When you saw that, that third quarter, you saw Merrill hitting his outside shots. Any concerns from the defensive aspect?
- [13:07]
Zena Keda
Yeah, for sure. And I, and I was, I said to somebody that was sitting next to me, when it looked like the Cavs were going to come back and make this run, I was like, the Knicks look different in a lot of ways, but they don't look different when it comes to the three point line. Last year they shot it effectively from three, but didn't shoot a ton. And teams that they played against shot a tremendous amount against them and it kind of was the same today. They shot more, but they didn't shoot a great amount. They lost a three point battle, right? Like sometimes they're slow to close out, sometimes they miss rotations and sometimes guys just get like really comfortable against this defense. And credit to Donovan Mitchell, right? Like he's one of the best players in the world. So sometimes guys are just going to do that. But Merrill was getting free, Wade was getting three. This is something that they've struggled with under different coaches. And again, we don't know. It's been one game here. But that kind of took me back to last year. It was like teams are continuing to shoot well against them from three and that. And I wonder if that's just a natural personnel issue or if there's something that can be tweaked.
- [14:01]
LinkedIn Jobs Advertiser
There's.
- [14:03]
Dave DeFore
Before we get out of here, give me one adjustment that you expect to see from the Knicks, not necessarily before game two, but over the course of the season. I want to know what's different from tonight in a month.
- [14:14]
Zena Keda
That's a great question. I think we will see more of.
- [14:23]
Dave DeFore
Huh?
- [14:25]
Zena Keda
Damn you. It's been a long day.
- [14:27]
James Edwards
I've got an answer.
- [14:29]
Zena Keda
Please let me hear more.
- [14:31]
James Edwards
Tyler Kolek, baby.
- [14:33]
Zena Keda
Hey, listen, listen. They love him in New York. They love their second round picks. He's got, he's got a loud contingent here. I mean, that's a possibility. I will say I think that they will. I don't know. I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't know. I don't know. I'm still in preseason mode. I don't know.
- [14:57]
Dave DeFore
Or actually just leave it. Leave it. We'll leave it all in. James Edwards. That's game one. You're gon to be here. We're probably going to Talk to you 25 times again this season. I appreciate you staying up late for us. The Knicks 10 in the Eastern Conference. Guys, stick around after the break. We're going to Talk about Wimy vs Cooper. Flag with Jared Weiss.
- [15:22]
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- [16:20]
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- [18:03]
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- [19:28]
Dave DeFore
Hey, Xena, if you were a rookie in the NBA, all right, like, you play college basketball, you know you're a Hooper. If you were a rookie in the NBA, let's say you're the number one pick. And let's say you're kind of a big. Who would be the worst person for you to play in your first game in the NBA again?
- [19:47]
James Edwards
I'll give you a funny thing is, the funny thing is they're probably otherworldly, right? They're probably extraterrestrial. And yeah, it's a good old wemby ruining things for everyone.
- [19:59]
Dave DeFore
Not fair.
- [20:00]
Jared Weiss
Victor women.
- [20:00]
Dave DeFore
Yama not fair. 40 points, 15 rebounds. Somehow only three blocks. It felt like 50. Jared Weiss covers the spurs for us on the beat. This is your first year on the beat, first regular season game, and Victor women. Yama looks like the front runner for mvp. Jared, what was it like being in.
- [20:18]
Jared Weiss
The building for that?
- [20:20]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, Congratulations.
- [20:22]
Jared Weiss
Yeah, it's like you ever like, walk out of a movie and you're like, I can't believe what I just saw. My. My entire life is rewritten. It's that kind of feeling. I mean, the only game I can remember, like the first game that comes to mind That I can remember feeling this way, like, was LeBron James. Game six, 2012 Eastern Conference finals. That was the game that he had his transformation where he became LeBron and he became a champion. And he just destroyed Boston immediately, just wiped the floor with them. He just couldn't miss a shot. And it was like, scary. Like, you were like sitting in the stands being like, I feel unsafe. And watching Wemby make Anthony Davis look like Mugsy Bogues on some of these drives, I was just like, what the hell am I watching? I've never seen this before. I've seen Giannis destroy people. I've seen Shaq destroy people. Maybe Shaq, like, I guess those guys have done some stuff like that, but, like, he's just like doing it. And then he's cracking open a four point pull up three over Derek Lively. He's just like doing all of it. He's taking bits and pieces of the most remarkable ends that people have reached in this game, and he's putting them all together into one package. And it's just. It's insane. It's truly insane.
- [21:36]
James Edwards
It's literally Kareem and Kevin decided to have a child. And then Kobe was like, hold on. Like, let me get my crossover and my mentality in there too. And then Hakeem Olajuwon was like, hold up, my defense wants to be a part of it. Can I be an uncle in the mix of the family as well? Like, it's just like this bizarre fever dream that we're watching that physically does not make sense, geometrically does not make sense. Like it all you're trying to make sense of it. And then you remember the person guarding him is also a seven footer. But they're not used to be being out on the perimeter like that. Right. Anthony Davis was on him. Derek Lively was on him. Anyone that was on him couldn't stop him. And it was kind of surreal to watch. And you know what's so funny, Dave? When you opened this, you said, I wonder who, like, who's the worst person? I thought you were going to ask. If you're a rookie, you know, what's the worst night that you could possibly have a great game on?
- [22:36]
Dave DeFore
Yeah. Yeah.
- [22:36]
James Edwards
And I immediately imagined, who else scored in that Wilt Chamberlain 100 game. Like, imagine if someone else got 30 points in that game. That was a career high and it was amazing. And they had a triple, double. And it's like, no, bro, we only care about the kid that put up the picture with the 100. That's it. And it's funny because playing against Wemby.
- [22:58]
Dave DeFore
It'S only a 40 point game. Right. Like we're kind of like we're, we're maybe being a little hyperbolic, but it was the way guys that he got the 40, the growth from last season to this season. And Jared, I know you spent the summer grinding tape. Yeah. If you guys are listening to this and you don't, you're not familiar with Jared, go back and read some of his Celtic stuff. He knows his X and O's, he knows basketball and, and he's going to bring that to the spurs this season. But I know you, you were grinding tape. I mean, just what did you see in night one that you didn't see last season before he was out and injured?
- [23:34]
Jared Weiss
It's the, it's the patience, I think is the biggest thing. Is he. Last year, you know, we talked about this with him after his first preseason game or maybe the second one. You know, last year he wouldn't have been so patient. And so he would have gotten a little bit of a look at a three and he would have just chucked it. He would have seen an opening and he would have thrown the ball at the rib. And sometimes he get fouled, sometimes, most of the time he wouldn't. And last year his three point attempts were more than twice his free throw attempts or like around that. It's completely flipped. Now he is. Now this is like the big thing that stars do is they start getting 10 free throws a game.
- [24:11]
Dave DeFore
Right?
- [24:12]
Jared Weiss
And he is doing that. And mind you, what we're talking about is numbers here. 40 points, 15 rebounds, zero turnovers. Courtney, ESPN. He's the fourth player in all of the NBA in any game. This isn't an opening night stat. This is an NBA history stat. Fourth player to do that since I think the 78 season. And he did that in 30 minutes. He only played 30 minutes. It was a blowout game because he destroyed the game. This is like when Clay had like, you know, 60 points and he didn't even play the fourth. Right. Like Clay, Clay scored 80 points. Let's just give him 80 in that one. You know, Wemby had 60 tonight. Probably if this was a close game. But it wasn't because he went up against maybe the best defensive front court in the NBA.
- [24:54]
Dave DeFore
Crazy.
- [24:55]
Jared Weiss
Like he just erased them. Like they look like crap, man. They look terrible. Because producer Jade. So good.
- [25:01]
Dave DeFore
Jade Hoy used to always say all the time, if you don't have anything to say and you just find yourself saying crazy all the time.
- [25:06]
James Edwards
Yeah.
- [25:07]
Dave DeFore
It's probably like you don't. You got to find something else to say. The truth is like he tonight in this game, Xena, I mean like he did like four things that I just don't think that a person his size should be able to do, much less that I ever expect to see it happen. You know that one reverse dunk where, you know, it goes across the lane. I mean, it's just how is he this nimble? How is he able to slither through the defense? I mean, he's huge. He's the biggest person maybe to ever play in the NBA, right? I know he's sneaking around out there.
- [25:41]
James Edwards
It's crazy. I just yapped for five minutes on TikTok. I made a video because as I was watching this game and for me I've always thought that the sheer beauty of big players like a LeBron or like a Steph or. You mentioned the clay game. But particularly a player like Victor is not just the agility and his mobility at this size and his ability to do these crazy things. It's the fact that he stacks plays, right? So if you hear the game stat line of 40 points, 15 rebounds, you don't know if he immediately got, you know, 20 in the first half, 20 in the second half or if it was like really quiet in the first half, he blew up in the second. We don't know that. Or even if we watch the highlights, we don't know that. That four point play, the pull up and one three came after a monstrous block out on Derek Lively, right? And we don't know that. Right after he did that and hit the free throw, he came down and stopped a drive from Cooper Flack and went straight up, didn't get a foul and got the rebound to start the break again. Like it's the continuation of the excellence. And it's funny, Jared, I did not know until your piece on the Athletic over the summer summer about the work that Victor did. We've been talking about the Shaolin Monks, we've been talking about him going to NASA. That's awesome. But it was the constraints points led approach. This is a term that is like blowing up the NBA right now. Shout out to Alex Sarama out of the Cleveland Cavaliers now with the Portland Fire in the wnba. But you saw the difference between a player just doing reps, right and doing the same thing over and over versus what you detailed, Jared. That it is live action. You are constantly making the reads in real time and it's allowing you to be able to translate that on the floor and to your point. So many plays we saw where he would just chuck up a three, he would settle for an outside shot. There was a give and go play that you just saw him make an extra pass, get it back and not chuck it up immediately go to the basket. There was another play where he gets the ball on the free throw extended, and he goes up with the ball. He looks like he's like, you know, trying to assess what the situation is. Maybe he's going to pass it out and instead of just chucking it up because of the defender in front of him, he fakes out his defender and goes straight to the basket. And you're seeing that comes from the patience, the game slowing down, but also live action reps. Being able to see that I have more options than just chucking up a shot just because the defenders in front of me.
- [28:18]
Dave DeFore
Is Wimby a Fortnite guy? You know, I have this theory on, on decision making, high level decision making, and how kids coming up playing these sorts of games, they have to make so many decisions like, you know, per second, essentially. And, you know, that sort of training actually lends itself to it. Jared, you know, there were other people that played for the spurs, allegedly. Yeah, Dear.
- [28:42]
Zena Keda
And Fox didn't.
- [28:43]
Dave DeFore
And they looked really great. Like the fit. I, I was shocked by, you know, the, the youth of the team looking so good on opening night, fitting together. When's he going to be back and. And how does he fit in this mix?
- [28:58]
Jared Weiss
Yeah, I talked to some sources before the game. The. The indication is, or the expectation is he's back around before the end of the month. So they have us, they have about a week stretch here at home after they go to New Orleans tomorrow or Thursday. And then the, on the day after Halloween, they head out to Phoenix in LA for a road trip. So I think they're hoping he'll be back in time for that road trip when they head to Phoenix.
- [29:22]
Dave DeFore
How does he fit, though? You know, like on the court.
- [29:25]
James Edwards
Discretion.
- [29:26]
Jared Weiss
Listen, man, I don't know. Like, this is the thing with the spurs is like they, they traded for an All Star point guard, who I really like is a fit next to Wembanyama. But then, you know, Steph Castle looks, looks like an All Star tonight. And sorry, Wednesday, I'm supposed to not say the word tonight because we're talking podcast. However, however, people, I just sat courtside for Victor Wembanyama, so my brain is completely scrambled. And the fact that I'm even alive today to tell you about this is remarkable. And so you know, Castle looked, looked phenomenal. Like he looks great in this game. This is one of the best games of his career and it's a complete afterthought because Wemby was so good. But he made a huge statement in this game that he's going to be defensive presence who's going to get a lot of turnovers and he's also going to be a pretty composed attacker at the rim and we'll see if his perimeter game works. But so you know, with Fox it's like all right, you slide in Fox Harper takes more of a backseat and like they're also probably going to have competitive games. I don't think they're going to be like the Thunder last year. They're not going to win 67 games. Like they're going to, they're going to be fighting for a place in the West. There's going to be a lot of competitive games. There will be plenty of minutes for all three of those guys. They're not going to need to go to Jordan McLaughlin nearly as much as they did on Wednesday. So there will be minutes to be shared. However, Dylan Harper looked good, Castle look great and I mean Fox is going to be good. So you know this team is going to be interesting this year because they're going to have three really explosive, hard working guards and someone, I mean somebody might surprisingly lose some opportunity because the other guys are just simply playing that well. And I mean Fox has the most opportunity to lose because he has the most opportunity probably locked in at this point.
- [31:09]
James Edwards
Point. So we've been talking about how stacked this backord is. What did you think about the reinforcements for women Yama? I think rounding out the front court. How'd that look like for you on that end? Because I, that's where I'm wondering if the women Yama, the non women Yama minutes in terms of rim protection and that sort is going to work out for the spurs.
- [31:32]
Dave DeFore
Like he's been a Spur for 25 years. You know, I mean he just.
- [31:36]
James Edwards
I felt like that too.
- [31:37]
Dave DeFore
I did perfectly.
- [31:38]
James Edwards
I'm really trying, I'm trying to bait. If we get him a New Balance.
- [31:40]
Dave DeFore
Deal, I think he's set.
- [31:42]
Jared Weiss
You know the irony is the team we just played for practices next to the New Balance headquarters. I talked to Luke after the game. You know, French Vanilla had a good start here. The, the Wemby Luke pairing which is one of the best games I've ever seen. You know they, they, they struggled in at the beginning because he got in foul trouble, but, like, I think they had a pretty decent feel and also just Wemby just turned it on in the second half, so it didn't really matter who was on the floor with him. But in the preseason, Cornette and Harper had a really good feel for pick and roll. So I think we're going to see some more of that as time goes on. Keldon Johnson is in a very interesting position on this team because he is the sixth or seventh man, I guess, and he's great in that role. His role this year has basically been like, offensive rebounder energy guy kind of playing like a bit of like an Aaron Gordon type of role, essentially, like kind of like a dunker spot four. And so it's going to be interesting to see how they utilize him because he's a very, very happy go, lucky guy. He's very funny. He's. He's the spurs vet. Like, he's the captain of this team. Even if we might be the face of it, like. Like Cage Calden is the. He is the heartbeat of that team. He's the guy that's been there. He's the guy that brings that kind of attitude and work ethic. And so it's going to be interesting to see how do they fit all these minutes when Sohan gets healthy.
- [32:57]
Dave DeFore
Right.
- [32:57]
Jared Weiss
Sohan is really good. Like, he was one of their best players over these last couple years a lot of the time, but there's just not a lot of room on this team because, like, I've. I've been really high in champagne since last season and he had a really good preseason tonight or Wednesday night. He didn't do a ton, but he, you know, he was okay. Fissell had a really good game and then Barnes. Harrison. Barnes is a pretty reliable player. He's really good playing out of the corners. Very smart guys, very reliable. So, like, they have so much depth on that team that, you know, the. All these questions you're hitting on are they have like 11 guys that can play?
- [33:30]
Dave DeFore
Yeah.
- [33:30]
Jared Weiss
How do you play everybody? How do you. How do you decide who finishes games? I don't know. We're going to see some ups and we're going to see some downs, and eventually they're going to have to see who kind of like separates themselves. But this is a team that really needs to compete with each other because there's a lot of guys worthy of these minutes.
- [33:45]
Dave DeFore
Yeah, it's good to have options, and it's good to have a guy that makes it look like he's playing on a little Tykes hoop every single time he does something. That block on Derek Lively was one of the single most embarrassing NBA blocks of all time. He looks like a small child. It was insanely disrespectful.
- [34:04]
James Edwards
It got dropped behind him. He turned around and did that, Dave.
- [34:08]
Dave DeFore
Absolutely nuts. All right, that's gonna do it for the show. Shout out to Jared Weiss. Thanks for staying up late, everybody. Go and follow him at the Athletic. He's been covering the spurs and Victor Womenyama all year. Thanks, James Edwards, guys. Go and follow him, of course, covers the Knicks for us. Thanks to Xena Keda. As always, I'm Dave DeForest. This has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
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