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Remember, if you want to submit questions, YouTube full episodes, go into the comments, put mailbag colon and then put your question and we'll get to them on Fridays throughout the rest of the season. You guys know the drill. 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 unscore. Jason LT So you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for the Hoops Tonight channel. We're releasing content throughout the year. Make sure you guys follow us there and then, like I mentioned off the top, keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can hit them throughout the rest of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. Hey, how's it going? Jason? Love the show. Have been a fan for a while. My question is about the Oklahoma City Thunder. I hear a lot of people say that they are a team that needs to find a way to raise their offensive ceiling but can throw a hellacious defensive punch. From a historical perspective, do you think this year's Thunder is more Comparable to the 04 Pistons, the 08 Celtics or the 09 Lakers and how they are made up at this current moment? So ironically, the team that I actually think they remind me a lot of is the old Thunder in the sense that it's more of a too big type of look and it's younger, right? Like as we talk about the Celtics and The Lakers from 08 09, those are very veteran teams, not a lot of young talent on those teams and obviously the Thunder are more infused with youth, so. But in terms of basketball build, there's similarities across the board. Defensively, yeah, you're similar to the 04 pistons, although I would say that that 04 pistons team didn't have nearly the shot creation talent that Shay Gilders Alexander is. The 08 Celtics remind me of this team in the too big look or like your four and Kevin Garnett is this very versatile offensive player and more of a play finisher at the center spot, but it's kind of similar there and then Paul Pierce being like this guy in poor spacing that was asked to make a lot of mid range jump shots. The Lakers are the team that I'd probably compare them to the most because of the too big look, versatile offensive four, but just that heavy reliance on tough shot making from Kobe Bryant, which obviously was a huge part of this Thunder team with Shay and I. I talked about yesterday actually after the Cavs game how Shea reminds me a lot of Kobe Bryant in that stretch. What you talked about about raising their offensive ceiling is a really interesting point though, and I think that's going to be the main question mark because I've Talked a lot about shooting. When it comes to the Thunder, they're still, I haven't checked after the Cavs game, but after the Celtics game they were down to 20th in or I think they shot well in that game. So up to 20th, I should say, in three point shooting on the season. And like they've just continued to make shots as of late. Like these are a couple of big games. Like they didn't lose to the Cavs because of shot making. They made shots. They lost to the Cavs because they couldn't get stops. Which is ironic and just a testament to the Cleveland defense because that same or Cleveland offense because that same Thunder defense just put the Celtics in jail in the second half of their game. Right. But like, there is a certain decision that the Thunder are going to have to make at the deadline this year, which is are we good enough on offense to win the title? And there's a tendency in a lot of these situations to be like, oh, we have time. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend like this is the last shot for the Thunder, because it's not. But as we've seen so many times throughout NBA history, every time we think there's a five to eight year window, it ends up being shorter. It's usually not like the warriors. They're usually the, they're the exception. It's usually a lot of turnover. It's usually some guy wants a bigger role, this guy gets squeezed by the payroll. We don't want to be a second apron team, so we let this guy go. There's usually something that leads to a, like, kind of a pullback in talent in these sorts of situations. Right. And so the question is, do you feel urgency to try to win this season? And that's where you kind of have to find a sweet spot. Like, is it worth, like, let's take Cam Johnson for instance. I haven't done the exact machinations of the deal, but let's say it's Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Like, it's a lot to give up. I like Aaron Wiggins a lot. Aaron Wiggins is just a pro. I've been talking about him a lot. Like, I'm amazed at his ability to drive closeouts and defend, knock down, catch and shoot threes. Isaiah Joe has been one of their most reliable shooters of the last couple of years. I understand that's a lot to give up. But if you get a really high level player like Cam Johnson and you consider the situation where it's like, I know who our small ball groups are, because you know who the big groups are, right? Shea, J Dub, Dort Hartenstein, Chet. Right. You know, with the small ball groups, it's going to be Shay Dort, J Dub, Chet, and then somebody is that fifth guy. And there's flaws with all of them. With Alex Caruso, it's like, really good defender, but, man, he can really struggle to shoot sometimes. You talk about Kayson Wallace, a little undersized, also can struggle to shoot sometimes. You talk about Isaiah Joe, really skinny and undersized. Right. Like, there's downsides with any of your options that you go with a guy like Cam Johnson. It's like, pretty solid perimeter defender, big athlete, and really good offensive player. So, like, you could see that as an opportunity to raise the ceiling. And it's just, I'm not even saying which direction that I personally would go. I'm generally a pusher, chips in kind of guy. But, like, I think it's completely defensible to just ride it out with this roster if you want to. But Cam Johnson would be the type of guy that the Thunder could go for that would just raise their offensive ceiling without having too much of an impact on their defensive capabilities and legitimately increases your chances of winning a championship this season at the expense of a little bit of depth. So, like, that would be an example of a move along those lines. But again, like, I think there's a case to be made that they should just ride it out as well. And I think that that's going to be a really tough decision when the time comes. I am a Celtics fan, but I'm also a fan of the game, and I really enjoyed yesterday's game between OKC and the Cavs. Congratulations to Atkinson, who is a very good coach. But at the same time, in defense of J.B. bickerstaff, we shouldn't forget that Garland was far from being himself last year in that Mobley seems to have improved a lot during the summer. Or maybe is that Atkinson's effect? Aside from that, who do you think has the best chance to dethrone the Celtics in the East? To me, so and so far, every team being healthy, Celtics included, I really only fear this Cavs team. So here's the deal with the Atkinson JV Bickerstaff stuff. We had Carter Rodriguez from the Chase down podcast on earlier this year, and he talked a lot about how, like, a lot of these concepts, like, were things that Atkins or that JB Bickerstaff was hammering. JB Bickerstaff did preach playing with Pace, JB Bickerstaff did ask Darius Garland to make more, to take more threes. There was a lot of things that he was preaching behind the scenes that just didn't resonate. And that happens sometimes. That's why when you ask me, like, I'm not going to sit here and pretend like Atkinson's not doing an incredible job, he is doing an incredible job. He, it seems like a shoe in for coach of the year this year. I, I'm all, I'm all in on the Kenny Atkinson thing. But if you ask me to list the number one reason why the Cavs are better this year, I would go with the improvement of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley as individual players. Health is part of it. Natural player development is part of it, too. Atkinson has then pushed that up into a team that's playing at over 70 win pace. But to me, it's the talent influx. Jared Allen's a little better. Darius Garland's a lot better. Evan Mobley's a lot better. That's allowed Donovan Mitchell to be more, you know, picking his spots and they have this depth of role player talent. Ty Jerome is really panned out a lot. Dean Wade's healthy and playing great. All of that has come together and made them into this more successful team. But, like, Atkinson is part of it. And again, I think a lot of times when it comes to these coaches, sometimes it's just like one voice doesn't resonate and the next one does. You know, it's no different than if, like, certain people told you something that was critical, you might, you know, laugh it off or, or, you know, roll your eyes. But if, like, a different person told you the same thing, you might be more willing to listen. Right. Like, it's just kind of a new voice in the room, if that makes sense. As far as your last question, though, like, who has the best chance to throw in the Celtics in the East? I agree. The Cavs are the only team that really threaten, in my opinion. Like, I still watch Knicks games and watch Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns get picked apart in space. I just still worry about that with any sort of Celtics matchup. The Bucks as good as they are, same sort of thing in terms of entry points where they can get attacked. Those are teams that have a puncher's chance. I don't want to say they can't win, but to me, the Cavs are the only team that I think is on the same tier as Boston and a team Boston should be appropriately scared of. I had a lot of people talking about titles in my YouTube videos. All I'm going to say on this is I don't make the titles, guys. The Volume has a marketing strategy that is company wide that they do with this kind of thing. I just make my notes and I make a show and then my team handles the rest. So just something to keep in mind Next one Hey Jason, Longtime watcher, first time mailbagger, been a fan of the show since the Volume days and I just want to say it's been a pleasure watching this channel grow to what it is now. Thank you so much. It's been cool to watch as well. For me, I'm coming up on three years at the end of this month. I'm watching from Melbourne, Australia, so I get to tune into your videos first thing in the morning. Keep up the good work and analysis. Someone posted a stat, though I don't know how accurate it is that since 2022 when Jason Tatum's usage rate is above 33%, the Celtics have a record of 49. 3 Given their current struggles, albeit coming off of a championship in January Basketball should the Celtics try to change their philosophy around the way they play? Should the Celtics play a little bit more heliocentric with Hayden making all the decisions? Maybe it might make them win more games during the regular season? Or is this just a mid season lull for the defending champs and we should expect to turn around come March and April? It's just frustrating as the Celtics fans know what they're capable of but not play up to their standard this year as opposed to last. Keen to know what your thoughts are. I'm exactly there. In terms of the mid season lull, the Cavs and Thunder are really good, but they are playing this season with a ton of urgency on a night in night out basis because they're both kind of on the verge of something special, right? Like the Thunder are just barely below a 70 game pace, the Cavs are over a 70 win pace. Like it's very possible for both of those teams that if they take some losses and they get off of that pace that they might tone things back a little bit and get a little bit conservative down the stretch of the season. But most importantly they neither of those teams have ever played beyond the second round. So with the Thunder not having that experience, with the Cavs not having that experience, they don't even like really grasp or understand yet the fact that there's two months of playoff basketball at the end of this thing. If you want to get to the promised land, the Celtics are aware of that. The Celtics know they're. The real fight is on the horizon. The Celtics know that it doesn't really matter what they accomplish during the regular season if they can't win the games in May and June. So like they're dealing with that lull and that's led to a little bit of a gap in the standings. But I've still, I still view the Celtics a hair above the both of those teams. As far as the Jason Tatum usage rate stuff, it's always tricky when you start talking about record and talking about game to game stuff because one of the things that I think is really fascinating and you guys, as fans will notice, especially you guys, you fans that watch the same team every night, every basketball game is different. You know how you watch your game. You watch a game, you're like, oh, this is the Derek White game. Like, he's got it going. Oh, this is the Jason Tatum game. Oh, Al Horford hit five threes this game. Oh, this is a Porzingis game. Like basketball games, you start with the plan and then things start to happen in the game. Just starts to go in all these different directions based on how things are going. And every game looks different. And there's something to be said about the teams that have some more consistency there. But like in these, in a, specifically in an advantage creation like mismatch hunting, you know, killer whale offense, it's just depends on the night. So yeah, on the nights in, on the nights where Jason Tatum is hooping his ass off and he's grabbing more of the reins like he's one of the best players in the world. So when he's at his best, it's going to be really hard to beat the Celtics. And I'm not surprised that that manifests in a good record. But what makes the Celtics dominant is they don't need Jayson Tatum to be super duper star every single night. They need him to be hyperversal defensive player and advantage creator, which sometimes manifests in him becoming more heliocentric and taking the reins of the offense to a greater extent. But I think that has been what has led to the success for the Celtics. Back in 22 is too much. Tatum and Brown, now it's it. There's a lot more of the ball popping around. Everyone's involved. I wouldn't overreact to this lull. I think they're going to be fine. Most importantly, guys, like there's a, the, the Cavs and Thunder optimism is a runaway freight train right now. Like it's literally a runaway freight train. Everyone's on this bandwagon. That should appeal to the Boston's pride a little bit. That should help them to get off their ass and to lock back in and play some better basketball down the stretch of the season. Which season? Which I expect them to do. Next question. I personally don't think that the Nuggets should trade Michael Porter Jr. I think he's a good compliment to Jokic and has been playing very well and more consistently lately. Where is all the buzz to trade him coming from and do you think Denver is actually considering it? MPJ is younger than both Jimmy Butler and Zach Levine and offers better rebounding and height than both of them. If they made one of these trades, would you lower the Nugget ceiling and decrease their odds to win a championship this year? I definitely think it would hurt them, especially in the long run due to the age difference differences. So as far as the trades go, the big thing for me is it's just super high risk. Like you bring in a guy like Jimmy Butler, he's better than Michael Porter Jr. But Jimmy Butler is a very different player than Michael Porter Jr and Michael Porter Jr's off ball scoring is so immensely valuable to this Denver Nuggets team. But Jimmy Butler does a ton a Jimmy Aaron Gordon Christian Brown 234 is a much better defensive 2, 34 than Christian Brown Michael Porter Jr. Aaron Gordon. It's an influx of defensive talent in the half court. You gain more versatility, you still have the Murray Jokic two man game, but now you have Jimmy Butler who can either run two man game and is just a much better version of Jamal Murray in terms of matchup hunting in ISO situations. So there's upside. My thing is the upside is relative to what they could fix in house with Michael Porter Jr. Right. Same thing goes with Zach Levine. There's upside, right? Zach Levine is just an awesome offensive player, really good movement shooter. A guy that brings some of that off ball scoring that Michael Porter Jr. Does but also bring some on ball scoring. Could be a two man game partner with Yokich that's pretty effective, but he's not. I don't think he's the type of off ball defender and rebounder that Michael Porter Jr. Is either. So there's risk there, right? I look at it from this perspective do I think. I think the reason why a lot of these teams are a lot of these fans are looking at potentially making a trade for Denver is because they're they're worried. They're looking around and they're like we look like a Tier 2 team, which they are. For the record, Denver's a Tier 2 team. They're not on that top tier with Cleveland, Boston and Oklahoma City and so you feel like you're not there. However, take this Denver team out of the equation and let's look at it in a vacuum. Jokic best player in the world. If Jamal Murray can get back to 85, 90% of what he's like and he has been playing better as of late. Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. Christian Brown a fit that I actually like those five guys. I still think they're one of the scariest five man lineups in the league, especially with with their ability to get better over the course of the season by getting back to their previous peaks as players. So you have to ask yourself what gives the Nuggets the best chance to win the title? Everyone getting back to form and riding the continuity. And Jokic his greatness to win in the playoffs or a gamble. And there's been a lot of examples in NBA history like the Russell Westbrook trade for the Lakers where it's like you take that gamble thinking you're going to raise your ceiling and instead the bottom gets pulled out from you and now you're digging out of it for years. I think for this Nuggets team, between those two options, their best bet to win the championship is to bet on continuity, to bet on that five man group. That's just what I would do. That doesn't mean you don't explore options. It doesn't mean you don't look out there to see if something can't be done. I just tend to lean towards that being the best option I would look for. Like if you were to make some type of deal, I would try to do something with like Zeke Najee's contract. Something with the bench group to try to bring in talent by attaching draft compensation just to increase your depth. Maybe give you a shooting option at the 2 over Christian Brown in case that he becomes an offensive issue in the playoff series. But like at the end of the day, like I think that team has a lot to bet on when it comes to continuity.
