Sam (1:39)
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That's code hoops for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only. DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler in New York, call 877-8-HOPE NY or text hopeny to 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG co be ball. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. We, as promised, are going to get into a mailbag today. Lots of interesting questions from you guys. But before we get into the questions, I want to give some thoughts off the top about the state of NBA media and the comments from LeBron James the other day after his kind of back and forth that he was having with the press about just like other players and media on the state of the NBA. So that's gonna be interesting. One off the top. You guys know the joke. Before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at_jason lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast fee wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Don't forget about our new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout the year. And last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions so we can hit them throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So I've talked about this concept a lot. It's a really difficult dynamic that the media and the players have. I've thought about this a lot because I imagine what it would be like, like if I was playing in the NBA and and I was working my butt off behind the scenes and doing everything I could to be the best basketball player I could be. And I had some dude in his guest bedroom with a bunch of stuff on the shelves behind him who's not an NBA player who is telling me what I'm doing wrong. And I get that that leads to a visceral response. There's a certain amount of this dynamic that is unavoidably weird. And I've always wanted to like sit with an NBA player and just ask him about it. And I haven't really had the chance yet. I've. The one interview I did was with Jaime Hawkez and it was a short form interview and we were focused on some other stuff. I didn't really get a chance to get into it and who knows, maybe one day I'll have that opportunity. But like, it's an interesting dynamic and I understand and sympathize with that kind of instinctual revulsion that so many of these players have towards the NBA media. I think it's complicated because one of the things that specifically frustrates me is this idea that it has a lot to do with guys like me who are not NBA players. When, when I'm watching NBA media and the vast majority of the negativity comes from former players. Like, it feels to me like the shitting on the NBA and the current players comes from the guys on inside the NBA. Not just that, but all of these player pods. It feels like every single week, every single. I'm scrolling through Twitter and it's like Gilbert arena said this, or like this other guy said that, or you know, Chandler Parsons said this. And it's like another NBA player relatively recently retired who's just openly shitting on an NBA player. And sometimes I'm looking at it and I'm like, that's not even true. You know what I mean? Like, I saw a dude the other day talking about how like LeBron James has struggled with shot making his entire career. I'm like, the guy who's the all time leading scorer is the guy that you think struggles to make shots. Like, what are we even talking about here? And I think it leads to a. There's a weird dynamic with former players too where like, they're already accomplished and they've done so many amazing things for the game of basketball. And their media career is kind of like just another like appendage on the back of it. But it's not something that was their fiery passion from day one. Like so many of the media professionals you read you, you meet out there. And so as a result there's a lot of like that kind of surface level insulting coverage of the league that you see. And like it's, it's kind of a reality because those guys would be the Guys who would be best equipped to teach people about the game. But like, I get how if they just spent 20 years devoting their entire life for an obscene amount of time to the game, that they might want to take an easier approach in their post career media experience. Right. Like, I understand all of that. I get it. It's complicated. But even among non NBA players, I see irrational criticism. I see stuff that I think goes too far. I'm not sitting here and saying that. I think it's perfect. I was thankful for the way LeBron phrased his response in that thread of tweets where he talked about how it is important for us to break down and discuss when players fail. This is a dynamic I talk about a lot on this show. If I came on every day and all I ever did was just tell you about how great and amazing every NBA player is, it is propaganda. Even further than that. It's not reality. What are sports? Sports are nasty, competitive, physical, violent. It's about a pursuit of winning. In sports, you're trying to step on your opponent's neck to get where you're wanting to go. It is inherently nasty. And guess what? There's a winner, but there's always a loser. And discussing how a team wins or how a team loses forces you to discuss weaknesses, forces you to discuss flaws and, and mistakes. And so, like, I think it's an. It's a very important part of this profession to also balance your praise with a certain amount of criticism. I think it's inherent. And so it's this dynamic that's unavoidable because I totally sympathize with the players who are doing all of the work and are actually playing basketball at the highest level. These are the very best people in the, in the entire 8 billion person world at their profession being criticized by people that are not even in the same stratosphere as them. I get it. But it is unavoidable because of the realities of the profession. My approach to it, and this is just my feeling on it, is like LeBron said, break it down. If you have an issue with a player or a weakness with a team that you want to discuss, explain why. If you make your case, then I think it's all part of the larger process of how we all process the game. And as we're all trying to learn about players and learn about teams, that I think makes sense where it becomes a problem. And I'm not even saying that I've made this mistake over the years. I remember when Russell Westbrook was on The Lakers. I, I had a day, like I was so frustrated with him and I was younger, you know, it was three years ago. But like I had a day where I came on the show and I said, russell Westbrook sucks. I said it in the context of his frustration with the fans. And I was explaining why the fans feel the way they feel. It was wrong. I came on the next day and I apologized. That's not the kind of guy I want to be. Russell Westbrook doesn't suck. He's one of the very best basketball players to ever grace the earth. And I'm a fan. That's the crazier part too. I'm a fan of his from his younger phase of his career when he was a star. And I just got worked up and I got a little too emotional and I said something I wish I wouldn't have said. And I'm not, and I'm not expecting perfection from anybody. That's part of the profession. If you're going to talk for a living, you're going to say stupid shit. It's not the first time I said something stupid. It won't be the last time I say something stupid. But as a goal for all of us and as a goal for myself, I just want to, if I'm going to be critical of a player, make sure that it's based in evidence, in something that I can defend. I want to be able to, if I'm saying Bradley Beal is really struggling off ball, both as a rebounder and as a help side defender, I want to make sure that I've watched the film and I have a clear feeling in my head, based on my pursuit of evidence, that what I'm saying is based in reality. That doesn't mean it's perfect. There are disagreements right there. One of the most common things I find when I'm talking with NBA personalities is like, this guy thinks so and so is a good defender and I think he's a bad defender. This guy thinks so and so is a reliable playoff performer. I, you know, I disagree, whatever it is. Like a lot of this is subjective, but if you're at least putting in the work and you're making an evidence based case, I think criticism is good. It's part of how we learn about the game. You want to understand why this team is struggling to do this. It's important for us to dive into why. Helps all of us learn. And it's just the reality of sports. Sports is nasty. Sports is competitive. Sports is not just like a big love fest that's not what it is. It's mean. Guys talk shit. There's cheap shots, there's blood, sweat, tears. It's complicated. So like, like I, I, I, I think we all embrace that. But as it comes to our coverage of the game, I think it's important that criticism is based in evidence and not just like slanderous. And it is one of the funny things I see because like, it does kind of like grate at me a little bit. The way that it's portrayed as like a, an issue that can be solved by just getting certain types of people into the profession. The types of people has nothing to do with whether or not you played the game. I played the game I played in college. I have a lot of playing experience. That's not why this show is what it is. The show is what it is because I love basketball and because I put in the work behind the scenes and yeah, my playing experience is something I relate to sometimes and I might drop a, a reference in there based on my experience playing the game. That helps to a certain extent. I've met people that never pick up a basketball that are brilliant basketball minds that I learn every day from and I've sat across from dudes that I play basketball with every day that are very good basketball players that I'm talking about an NBA team and I'm like, dude, I just don't agree with you like that. That to me that I think the gatekeeping surrounding NBA media about the idea that you need to have like a certain amount of basketball experience is foolishness. I think that it's about a love and a respect for the game that will manifest in hard work that will lead to quality educational content and entertaining content for all of us. All right, let's get to our mailbag questions. Could Stanley Johnson help the Lakers in this difficult stretch with Rui's injury? The Lakers wing rotation is pretty shallow. If they wave reddish and sign Goodwin, which is expected at this point, they could sign Stanley to a two way to give them a couple of shifts per game. They could also check his fit with the team for a potential minimum contract next season. Loving the coverage of the Lakers on the show lately. Keep it up, Jason. I, I'm really curious to see how they handle all these different roster situations as well because it gets even more complicated with Trey Jemison. Like if Trey Jemison is your backup center behind Jackson Hayes, like he needs to be rostered if you trust him more than you trust Alex Len to be your ass kicking center and you need a guy on the roster where if like, if Rui goes down or if like a small ball group doesn't work in a specific matchup, that means you got to roster Jemison too. And it's going to be complicated. It's going to be complicated because I do think Jordan Goodwin is like basically like their 10th man or whatever in their rotation and a guy that they're going to need to use even when they're fully healthy at times if they end up converting one of those guys. I think Stanley is a perfect fit. I think he's a great small ball type of forward. He's been shooting the three ball substantially better in his time in the G League over the last couple of years. I'm personally a fan of Stanley. He came through Tucson, Arizona, super nice guy. Played against him and with him several times when he was here. I would love to see Stanley be a Laker. I think he'd be a great fit. I know you're a big Celtics advocate and I do rate them, but I feel like when the lights shine brightest and a full strength team really matches them toe to toe, they do struggle. You talk of the Celtics settling for shots when under pressure, but do you think they lack BMT at the highest level? Not sure what that means. You know how Butler thrives in that situation and so does Steph and LeBron. It's that killer instinct which I think Tatum lacks as the leader of the team. I keep reflecting on how the Cavs and Pace severely injured in last year's playoffs. In the previous playoffs they did struggle against the Heat and the Warriors. So part of me thinks the Celtics are still unproven at the highest level. What are your thoughts? Chase? So there's a small part of me that agrees with you in the sense that like I have consistently said, and Celtics fans know this, I've consistently said I do not view this Celtics team as an all time great type of team. I they were a dominant regular season team last year in a historically weak Eastern Conference and they caught favorable matchups on their way to the postseason. That doesn't mean that they're not the best team in the league. Still, I do think Boston is the best team in the league. I just don't think they're the 2018 Warriors. And there were a lot of Celtics fans after last year's postseason who were saying that they're like the 2018 Warriors. I don't view them like that. But as I zoom out and I look at all the teams, yes, their record is not as good as Cleveland or OKCs, it'd be weird if it was. Those teams are in entirely different motivational cycles or parts of their motivational cycle. But as I look at them, I go, do they have versatility on defense, different schemes they can use? Yeah, they can keep Porzingis at the rim and run, you know, more traditional drop coverages and, and, and be kind of physically imposing in that way. But then they also have switching groups where they can switch one through five and like every single one of the five defenders is a good strong defender and like they can put together tons of groups that space the four really well. They have a bunch of different dudes that can create shots. They have different types of shot creators for different types of matchups. And as I look through them as strictly as strengths and weaknesses type of team in the playoff context, I just think they're better than OKC and Cleveland and Denver and the Lakers and the Knicks. And I think they're better. That doesn't mean that they're. Yeah, like guys. I don't think they're the Katie, Stephen Prime, Clay Prime, Draymond Andre, Guadalupe Warriors. I don't think they're that team. I don't that's. That will be determined in the long run. If they get into this postseason and they rip through the Knicks and they rip through the Cavs and they rip through whoever comes through the west, then we can start having a conversation about whether or not they're one of those all time great teams. I've said this before, all time great is determined by multiple dominant playoff runs. But like, I do think that like just we're having a different type of debate in terms of where last year's team ranks historically. And among these 30 NBA teams this year, who is the most well equipped to succeed in the postseason? Should the Lakers prioritize going for the 2 seed, or do you think JJ will instead risk some losses by testing out different lineups and rotations to see which players could be useful for the playoffs and to keep his core players healthy and fresh. I would be 100% focused on health within the context of trying to win games. Like for instance, like Austin probably could have played last night. I think they have a high enough foundation to be able to win a certain amount of games. 2 seed would be great for home court. Like if you ended up in a 2, 3 matchup with Denver. It'd be great to have home court. But like, I'm not particularly worried about home road necessarily as long as the Lakers are completely healthy. So like to put it simply, I think they should try to win as many games as possible, but never play a guy who's in any sort of significant discomfort in terms of managing health and just their, their bodies as they head into that stretch. The Celtics have gotten into a lot of trouble and have lost a few games leading into the fourth. Majority of these games, Tatum isn't put into the fourth until the 86 minute mark. Why do you think Missoula keeps doing this in the rotation? I think this year Tatum has created even more space between him and JB being the clear number one. But as it stands, Missoula is content with sitting Tatum four plus minutes. I don't understand it. I didn't. I wanted to know what your thoughts are on this. This is something every team does. This is what the Lakers do with Luca. This is what the Nuggets do with Jokic as they're trying to establish a rotation. Most teams with their very best player are either going to play their start the entirety of the 1st quarter, the entirety of the 3rd quarter, and the 2nd half of the 2nd quarter, and the second half of the 4th quarter. So they take a break to start the 2nd quarter and start the 4th quarter. An easy way to put it is if you sit six minutes in the second and sit six minutes in the fourth, you're still playing 36 minutes. You don't want to rest. You don't want to be routinely playing your guys more than 36 minutes in a regular season game. Right? So some teams will tweak that a little bit and they'll move that six minute stretch to span the first and second quarters and to span the third and fourth quarters. This is what the Lakers do with Luca. Take him out with like two minutes left in the first, bring him back with like eight minutes left in the second. But like, that is pretty typical for teams to want to get off to a really strong start and set the tone. So they play their star the majority of the first quarter and the majority of the start of the second half. And then it's like we're going to try to cover you during the stretch in the early second, early fourth in clutch time. You come in six, seven minutes left and you fire the rest of the bullets in the chamber and we see if we can get this thing. Also, if you look at it, there's different phases of the game where the starters play, typically beginning of the first quarter, end of the second quarter, beginning of the third quarter, end of the fourth quarter. That's when all the starters on the floor end of first, early second, end of third, early fourth are almost always bench groups. So regardless of whether your star is playing with the first set of bench groups or the second set of bench groups, it's still bench groups. Those are opportunities where you need to show that you can have your bench guys outperform the other team's bench guys. And if you played Jokic or played Tatum to start the fourth quarter, you'd have to sit him at the end of the third quarter. And if you sit him at the end of the third quarter, you could have the same problems that you're complaining about in the fourth quarter. Context. Got to sit these guys in the regular season or you're going to wear them out.
