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The Zach Lowe Show
Teams That Need a Makeover on Offense With Mo Dakhil. Plus, the Latest on Jonathan Kuminga.
01:30:49
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- [00:00]
A
This episode is brought to you by Paramount. Sylvester Stallone is back as the ultimate kingpin Dwight Manfredi in the original hit series Tulsa King, streaming September 21, exclusively on Paramount. This season, as Dwight's kingdom expands, he faces his most dangerous adversaries in Tulsa yet, forcing him to fight for everything he's built. Stream the new season of Tulsa King, Sunday, September 21, exclude exclusively on Paramount plus learn more at paramountplus.com trip planner by Expedia. You were made to outdo your holidaying, your hammocking and your pooling. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel. All right, coming up after this on the Zach Lowe show, we got Moetaquila. He used to work for the Spurs. He used to work for the Clippers. You could find him on every social media app talking about what happens in the game. They the actual game, not the highlights. The game. We're going to talk about teams that need to revamp or rethink parts of their offense. We're not going to focus on teams that got new players either. Trade, free agency, injury, guys coming back, because those teams obviously are going to look different. We're going to talk about teams look largely the same and yet for whatever reason, they've got to rethink aspects of their offense. We're going to get some big teams like the Lakers, the Knicks, the Heat, some under the radar teams. The Blazers come up, maybe the Grizzlies, Hawks for a little while. Orlando obviously. Orlando, Orlando. If you can't break your 12 year streak of being 20th or worse in offensive efficiency, this season might be time for stuff the Match Dragon to take a year off. My God. And we're going to get into all that. We're going to get into Alper and Shen Goon versus Giannis, War of words and Eurobasket because that's always fun. NBA season is coming up. We're taking a break from Kawhi for at least an episode. We'll get back to that later in the week. Probably. That's all coming up. And more we're going to get into like tons of teams come up coming up after this on the Zach Lowe Show. This episode of the Zach Lowe show is presented by HubSpot. Using only 20% of your business data is like going from a starting five to a starting one. Good luck with that. But that's how most businesses operate today, using only 20% of their data. Unless you have HubSpot, where all the data hidden in emails, call logs and chat messages turns into insights to grow your business. Because having all the data makes all the difference. Learn more@HubSpot.com welcome to the Zach Lowe Show. It's September 15th. We're about a month away from the start of the NBA season. Holy smokes. It's time to actually start thinking about these teams, these basketball teams. There's new players everywhere. What's going to happen and this is what we're going to do today for Mo Takeil. I challenge. I didn't challenge you. I said this is our assignment. I want to. I'm trying to think of creative ideas to pass the time. Basically, we're taking a day off from Kawhi. There's a lot of back and forth. Pablo Torre, Mark Cuban, they're sparring, documents are coming, statements are coming. We're going to get back to it, I promise. Later this week. I said let's take a look at some teams and let's try to focus on teams who did not have major personnel additions either by free agency, trade or like something like the Raptors, injuries, guys coming back. And look at these teams. Part one today are going to have to rethink how they play offense. They're going to have to rethink their offensive approach, their schemes, whatever, because their offense either wasn't good enough, didn't deliver in the playoffs, whatever. And again, we're not talking about like we, we know these other teams that brought in new guys or have new guys coming back, they're going to look different. I'm more interested in the teams they're like. They're going to look more or less the same, but they have to be different. And then part two will be about defense. So today we're going to focus on offense. I nominated some teams. You nominated some teams. We joined our nomination list. We're going to focus on about a half dozen of them. Are you ready for this, Mo?
- [03:54]
B
I am ready to go, Zach. But first, I just want to say from us here in Los Angeles, Dodgerland, you're welcome to your Mets. As we, we took the two wins from the Giants, should have been a sweep. We kind of messed up the Friday night game. But, you know, whatever keeps them out of the wild card. Because I don't want Giants fans to have any sort of happiness in their lives, you know. So keeping the Mets in there is now a key moment for me.
- [04:21]
A
You know, I was at the Mets game on Saturday. It was Alumni day. A lot of alums came back. A lot of distinguished alums. A lot of alums. I hadn't heard of. Because they were from my kind of blank period of Mets history. My daughter's analysis was a lot of them are fat. And I was like, yeah, but they're old. They're old, these guys, like 60 years old. Okay. I think Turk Wendell got hurt. He. He took himself out of the game. I think he went a little too hard with the slider. But I'm sitting there watching them. They go up 20 against the Rangers and blow the game lose 3 to 2. And I'm like, you know what? I'm not even going to look at the Red score or the Diamondback score or the Giant score, because all these teams are not good. And if we can't even win a goddamn game and can't hold off those teams, we don't. We deserve nothing. And so I wasn't even paying attention. Thank you, I guess, for beating the giants, who are near.500, just like the Mets are near.500. And the Mets pulled one off yesterday. Pete Alonso hit a walk off home run. And I'm. I'm a little bit ashamed to tell you. I was in the city at a book talk, a children's author book talk. One of my daughters now, I guess mid grade. Mid. Mid grade. Is that what they call these? Mid. Middle grade novel idea. And I'm in the audience, I'm paying, I'm paying attention, listening. There's a Q A. Like I almost asked a question just to embarrass my daughter. She did not want me to ask a question. But I did have my phone in my hand on silent, checking the Mets. The Mets Ranger score. And Petey hit a hit, a walk off. But it's been a rough. It's been a rough couple of months for the New York Metropolitans.
- [05:54]
B
Well, I can't say much more than the Dodgers. We've struggled since July, so it's been a very frustrating Dodger run here over the summer as well. Hopefully, hopefully we'll find our swing here by, you know, September in the playoffs.
- [06:09]
A
My wife and daughter did learn a very important lesson at the Mets game on Saturday, which is do not get up during a Juan Soto at bat because they went to get food or something and he hit a bomb into the second level in right field. Mets lost again. My daughter got to do something very cool during that game, but I will save that for Mets corner. Let's go, Mets. You just never know. Let's get in and see what happens. Just don't. I don't want to be embarrassed. Just get in. Just maybe win another game. Okay. Mo this, the six teams that I'm focusing on that we sort of narrowed our list down to offensive innovation necessary. Lakers, that was, that was your nomination. I'm so I'm curious to hear why. Heat, Magic, Knicks, Blazers, another MO nomination. And Grizzlies, which I feel like is obvious considering how strange their offense was stylistically last year and how much it changed after the coaching change late in the season. So I'm going to let you pick, you get to go first. What team you want to focus on?
- [07:06]
B
I actually want to start with the Orlando Magic.
- [07:09]
A
Yeah, let's hit. Let's start with the popular team. Let's just go right in, right off the play the hits.
- [07:15]
B
No, but I think this is a team that's so fascinating on so many levels just because I think they, they have a chance really with the Desmond Bain trade that they made. They're really kind of pushing all in. And the question, the way you had pushed it to me is like, what team's offense needs to evolve or how do we see it evolving? For me, my first thought is there. It's not evolution for them, it's birth. It's this. They haven't had an offense for at all. Like it's really been a struggle over the past few years. The defense has been so damn good, it's been able to carry them. But this is the first time where like they have to put an offense together here. And, and I'm fascinated to see how do they pull this whole thing together with Paolo as the focal point? How does Bane play off as a secondary creator? How does Franz Wagner coming off a phenomenal run with the German national team winning the Euro basket? How does all of this kind of come together offensively and make this a team that if they're going to take the leap forward, it's going to start by being actually competent and good on offense.
- [08:15]
A
So. So you were very nice to the Magic. You said it's been a tough few years for the Magic. I have made this joke many times before. I will make it again. I will make it again and again until the Orlando Magic make it impossible to make the joke. They are the Joe DiMaggio of offensive incompetence. Twelve straight years they have ranked 20th or worse in points per possession. That is incredibly hard to do in a 30 team league where teams don't, you know, they go up and down in cycles that are like two and three years, not 12 years to be 20th or worse. 27th last year, by the way. I mean, I think Tyus Jones is really going to help their team. We'll talk about that. Maybe they should have just signed Dennis Schroeder because when these German players get together, Dennis Shooter turns into like Michael Jordan plus Magic Johnson plus Kyle Korver or something. I don't really know what's going on, but they, and they have the Wagner brothers. Okay, so the Magic continuing their 12 year streak, 27th in offensive rating last year. Now in fairness, Paolo and Franz missed huge chunks of the season with the same bizarre injury. Jalen Suggs missed a big chunk of the season with his various ailments and obviously they have to be healthy and Jalen Suggs has not been able to stay healthy. Desmond Bane is a huge upgrade over kcp, both in accuracy, in volume of three point shooting, which I think is hugely important for them and, and in his ability to I think siphon some of the ball handling away from Paolo and Franz, who were the fulcrum of everything this team did. And I think part of the issue they ran into as a team in addition to just not having enough shooting for the millionth straight season around those guys, neither of whom is a great shooter in their own right, is when they cooperate in two man actions. And to Jamal Mosley's credit, Paolo and Franz cooperated in more two man actions last year, particularly off the ball. They'd run little split actions for him off the ball like that. Some Paolo, some, some Franz, Paolo pick and rolls here and there, not so much the other way around. Defenses can just switch a lot of times because they're very like sized players. And so having another guard come in with Suggs, another guard who can handle the ball in the pick and roll like Bane, I just think at a very basic level, not only does it make their team better, not only does it round out a weak spot shooting for them, it gives them more options in two man actions to get good matchups to, to, to put the defense into a bad choice. Either switch a small guy onto Palo or Franz, you don't want that. And unlock really even Paulow's post game is just sort of in its, in its just beginning stages as a, as a hub, as a passer and all that, unlock that or don't switch, double the ball because you don't want to switch and then we can start passing. I just think it's more options in that vein. And you know this team just like 27th in offense despite getting to the line a ton, getting a ton of offensive rebounds, they don't run a lot. Part of that is because they foul the hell out of everybody on defense. And when you're taking the ball off free throws, you'll get to run. But, but beyond just the, the. The addition of an A plus movement shooter with ball handling chops, like what else can this team do? You've worked in video rooms and on coaching stats like what else can this team dig into to be a little more dynamic and a little more, a little less predictable?
- [11:32]
B
Yeah, well, I think first off you, you're right on with creating opportunities to create switches, which is something they haven't been able to do, you know, in the time since Paolo and Franz have been there. Is this is going to be a big one for them. I just think running just first off, playing faster on offense and that doesn't necessarily mean transition but just getting the ball up the court quicker like you're. I'm going to be a little bit repetitive on this pod because we're going to. That's such a common theme for me now, especially after watching the way the Pacers through the course of the last season and this is something that Seth Partonow would always tell me every second earlier, a team gets into the half court to run their offense is a point for their offensive rating. Like it just helps them in that.
- [12:16]
A
By the way, I just want to cut you short for one second. You said the P word Pacers. Oh, I had a bunch of meetings yesterday or last week just catching up with NBA people who are in town or visiting or just wanted to have meetings. It still comes up every meeting. The Pacers, the example of the Pacers, how did they do that? Is it just Halliburton? How did Rick Carlisle get them to play that way? Can our team take some of that and put it into our DNA? It cannot be overestimated, overstated. What a talking point. The Pacers run still is three, four months later. Continue.
- [12:52]
B
Yeah, and I think it's just getting into your offense quicker, just opens it makes the defense have to defend longer. And I think that's the important aspect with this Orlando team was their 29th in pace. They were last in assists. Like it's not a matter of, you know, that the ball needs to move like I would just run in some simple sets. They also create mismatches, run some cross screen action, little even just a simple flex action, you know, just to get the offense moving and get everybody moving around and get the ball flying around the court. Like I think that's the first place I would kind of start if I'm Jamal Mosley in time is getting this offense in gear. We know what we have and we can end this all with. Have it all end into a pick and roll situation where we're going to create an opportunity and an advantage for a guy like Paolo or Franz. And I think that's an important aspect of it too. But I also think if you play faster, you're going to unlock a level of Franz that we haven't really seen too much in Orlando, which we saw a lot in this. This Germany run that they had was. He was really explosive, getting downhill and getting to the rim over and over again throughout the course of this tournament. And I think that's something they can take away from this Euro Basket and bring into this to unlock into his game, to just get him flying up the court here quicker if they make an effort. And I. Part of it is, you're right defensively, with all the fouls, it's hard to get up the court quickly. But if they can create an effort or the system where they just fly up the court right after, right after inbounds, whatever it is, they're going to open up more opportunities and catch the defense off guard. I think that's the first place I really want to start. I know it's simple, but it's just sense of just get faster, run faster, get to your spots quicker. Will make a world of difference.
- [14:38]
A
Well, so I mentioned shooting and how bad this team has been for years and years. They were dead last in three point percentage last season. Like worse than the Wizards. We should just call 30th worse than the Wizards. They were worse than the Wizards and in last by two full percentage points. That's, that's, that's like really hard to do and also indicative of some bad luck. Paulo is an okay shooter who I think will improve. He was 32% on threes last year, 51% on twos. Neither of those numbers is good enough. Part of what you're talking about, and I'm talking about in terms of pace and bane centric variety is not Paolo shooting less often. I don't want him shooting less often. I want three or four of his looks per game to just be easier than, than he was taking last year. And I think that will happen. Franz obviously like the hitch, the jumper, whatever's going on, he didn't shoot the three well in Euro Basket even as Germany rampaged over everybody. So those two guys, let's posit some improvement as shooters, but I don't think they're going to morph into like plus plus shooters. Or plus shooters next season. Suggs and and Bane are plus to plus plus shooters. I'm very curious about the center position. And like what. When things bog down in the half court, what is Wendell Carter Jr. Going to be doing? Because if he's setting screens in the pick and roll, that means at least one of your best guys is off the ball doing who knows what. We've already seen the idea of Wendell Carter Jr. Floor spacer in the corner is fake. It doesn't work. No one's going to guard him. And so to your point about variety is like when the offense is in the hands of the three best players and I think you know, at least one of those guys is going to be on the floor at all times. When, when it comes to nut crunching time, I think two of them will be on the floor at all times. Wendell Car Jr's got to be doing something interesting like setting us setting a pin down for someone off the ball to keep the defense occupied, stuff going on at the same time as the main stuff. And then you just get into like, does Mogner give them anything coming off a torn ACL because he was massive for them and he's like a more legit shooting five than Carter. And then, you know, I don't know. Mo, I'm just going to ask you, is this lineup too small and defensively challenged? Because I'm interested in Bankero at center and if they can nudge even, I'm not sure it's a great idea. But if my alternatives are the centers I have plus Goga, plus Isaac at center and Isaac kind of fell backwards on offense last year. I, I'd like to see Anthony Black, who's I think one of the big swing players this year. Suggs, Bane, Franz, Paolo. Is that too small? Do I have enough size with Black as like a big, big point guard and Bane plays above his size and Suggs plays bigger than his size. Can I try that one out maybe just to see what happens on offense?
- [17:31]
B
I think you can. I think just nowadays you can. I think there's a lot more teams are going to be kind of playing small for the most part or, you know, I think there are. It wouldn't be something I'd want to stay in for a long time, but it's something you could probably run for a stretch for about get like a five minutes, you know, four minute run in a game and see how this kind of goes and if it gets the offense kind of moving a bit and if it puts them in a situation where, like, it comes down to matchups. If a center. Can I make their center have to guard Paolo? Like, good luck. You know, in that situation, where are you going to hide a guy? It might actually force some teams to downsize themselves.
- [18:09]
A
We've seen centers on Anthony Black before. We saw it in the playoffs with Boston. I think that would be a place, too.
- [18:14]
B
Yeah. But I think it becomes an interesting spot where you put teams in a difficult position. I do worry defensively just about the size in terms of mainly just when it comes down to rebounding and who you go up against. But Zach, again, this team has had no offensive identity, really, or nothing to really kind of lay their hat on offensively. No idea. Should be off the table right now. Like, this is part of the thing to do in the offseason, in the regular season, experiment a little bit, see what you have in that stuff. And I think there are opportunities to do that. I'd love to see that. I think it'd be a fun sort of experiment and see if these guys can hold up defensively, because yet they're small in sense of, like, just the size. But they're all competitors defensively. Like, this is part of the thing I love about this Orlando team is they all compete defensively. They all fight hard in their positions defensively. I'd love to see it kind of play out.
- [19:08]
A
It's a big year for this team. They have not won, if I'm reading this right, they have not won a playoff series since 2010 when they got to the conference finals. And I think they've acquitted themselves pretty well in, actually, their last two playoff losses. Played Boston much tougher. I mean, they only won one game, but there was a tough series, a physical series, a series that left Boston being like, are these guys playing dirty? And they weren't the only team that kind of raised that. I didn't have any problem with their physicality. I liked it. They're just like, we're just going to get up in you, right? How do you like that?
- [19:39]
B
We're going to hit you.
- [19:40]
A
And played Cleveland, obviously, tough the year before. Kind of started a little existential question of, like, what exactly is this Cavs team? And I'll tell you, at. At base level, I think they only go as far and get as good next year as Franz and Paolo can take them. I think at the end of the day, those guys have to make leaps offensively for this team to become a real serious threat to Cleveland and New York. But the ingredients are there. And when you talk to People both with the Cavs and the Knicks. Not everybody, just some straight people I've talked to and around the league. You know, who's the biggest threat to those two teams? With Boston maybe taking a gap year, we'll see if Tatum comes back this year. With Milwaukee being a little bit of a question mark, with Halliburton out, etc, who's really going to be in position to push those teams? The Magic are the most common answer. And I think that that's. I think that that's fair. It's a big year for the Magic. Okay, I'm gonna pick the next team. Is that all right?
- [20:29]
B
Yes, sir.
- [20:31]
A
I want to talk about the team that had the highest offensive rating by far of all of these teams, and that's the New York Knicks. It sounds bizarre to say that you even think a team that ranked fifth. Fifth in points per possession needs any kind of stylistic overhaul. On offense, they have not really done anything massive in terms of personnel. They've upgraded their bench with Jordan Clarkson and Yabu Selli, Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamit. They, as others have reported Ian Begley, most notable among them, they have a second apron issue, and they may need to shed someone to fit Landry and Brogdon if they want to keep both of those players. We could talk about that. You know, the playoffs was a little bit of a slog for them against the Pistons and even the Celtics and then the Pacers, all top. But they got to the conference finals. Their offense was objectively good during the regular season, backslid in the playoffs, and obviously they have a new coach. They have a new coach. And so that's the tell that someone in the organization, unless this was just James Dolan being crazy, looked at what was going on on the court and said not enough bench, not enough variety, not enough juice, not enough smart usage of cat, whatever it is. And this year, the wild card coming into the season is Mitchell Robinson starting the season healthy. And that right off the bat, gives the new coach a different lever to pull. I think there's some chance that the Knicks are going to start Mitchell Robinson, maybe probably at the expense of Josh Hart. I don't know that that's going to be the case. I think that'll be determined in training camp. But when you look at this team offensively, and by the way, their bigger problem last year was that their defense wasn't good enough, and they're still going to have to figure that out. But this is an offense podcast. What can the Knicks do to juice this up? Or do they even need to juice this up? Are we making a mountain out of a molehill?
- [22:20]
B
No, I think there is a key word that you said there which was variety and I think that's the important aspect of it. It's as dominant as their offense was in the regular season. It's very easy to game plan for and that's the problem when you run into in the playoffs. Right? Listen, their offense was mainly Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns pick and roll and then just play out of that and really work out of that and attack the mismatches and attack the opportunities and then find, spray, spray it out to shooters and things like that. It was, it's what led to people being so frustrated with the Mikhail Bridges trade. You've traded five draft picks for this guy and you don't really maximize him. You don't really use a lot of OGN and obi. You didn't, you know, put those guys in opportunities or let them have, you know, turns with the offense. I think that's the area that you need to focus on is a little bit of variety. You know, what you have in the Brunson cat pick and roll. You understand what that is and what that can do for you. Now you need to build some other stuff into the offense. You need to have kind of a second offense and understand how are we going to work this stuff in. Can we take some of the pressure off of those guys and have Bridges take a larger share, have OG take a larger share of the offense and work them stuff in there. I want to see more variety. I want to see more, more work and other guys getting a little bit of more usage. And that's going to require Brunson being willing to give up the ball a little bit and willing to play a little more off the ball. Doesn't necessarily mean he has to be a screener or anything like that, as much as I would love that. But I think it's. It's being willing to say I'm going to give the ball up early in this possession. I'm going to run around and you know, maybe even set a screen or whatever, a flare or whatnot, but work my way and come back to it off of a pin down or something like that. Allow the offense to work and make the defense have to stress a little bit. I think that's an important thing there in their offense that I thought was missing a ton through the course of the playoffs. And it became just at a certain point, it became a way we know how to game plan against this. Can we, can we stop? It is a different matter, but we know how to game plan against this. And you're not throwing any wrinkles at the defense. You're not forcing them to have to think of multiple problems. And I think that's something that this Knicks team needs to add to their offense is just a couple of variety plays, couple of packages for Bridges, couple of packages for OG to let them start to cook a little bit. And that allows Brunson to be fresher come fourth quarter and end the game stuff so that he's able to kind of attack with more fresh legs and be able to put more pressure.
- [24:55]
A
I think he's absolutely going to be asked to move off the ball more. I think he's gonna be asked to set screens. And I think there's room on this team for him to be not just a random off ball screener or even like a token, like I'm just gonna run around, hit you and come back and get the ball, but an occasional actual intentional ball screener. For the guy whom you traded five draft picks for. For OG Anunoby, who can do a little bit here and there for Carl Towns in inverted pick and rolls, I think he's gonna be asked to do that. Now, in fairness to Tibbs, there are already a lot of actions in Knicks ran that would have Brunson give up the ball, run around the baseline, come back and get it off some action. There were, there were split cut actions for Bridges in Anunoby where they would screen for each other off the ball and Cat would hit them. I think that's just going to be all amped up under Mike Brown, who is now coming from the warriors to the Kings, where, you know, they added different kinds of cuts that Jay Triano installed that the warriors had that Mike Brown knew from and just sort of got things moving around the Sabonis handoffs. I think maybe you, you see Cat used a little bit like Sabonis here and there. To your point about pick and rolls, the Knicks actually ranked 15th in pick and rolls per 100 possessions. I think that should be higher. I think my big, my big criticism of Tibbs in the playoffs was every time a center is on Towns because teams wanted centers on Hart and not on Towns. Detroit, for whatever bizarre reason, spent most of the series with their centers on Towns. To me, it's a, it's a pick and roll with Towns every single time. I don't think he leaned into that enough. When they put their centers on Josh Hart, if Katt was at the five they had shooting everywhere else. I don't think they use Josh Hart as a screener even enough because he can compromise the defense that way. They did it. I don't think they did it enough. And I think part of the reason why Mitchell Robinson as a starting five is so interesting is A the offensive rebounding is just absolutely insane and B if you put shooting all around him that gives a little bit of a easy tent pole for some of the, for, for the offense. Now you got to figure out what his town's doing because you don't just want him chilling at the three point line waiting for the ball. Although that's fine for him sometimes. It wouldn't surprise me if they started Mitchell Robinson and I think if you do that, it's got to be hard coming off the bench because Hart plus Robinson the defense is just going to scrunch inside too much and the numbers weren't great last year. I think we'll see all that stuff juiced up on the Knicks and, and look, it's finals or bust for this team this year if they're healthy. It's finals or bust. I don't know what they're going to do about this bench. Look, Tyler Kolek barely played last year. I liked what I saw from him when he played. Smart, tough, good passer, not afraid to shoot. Threes do barely played at all. Don't know what they've got in him. I'm just saying this. I'd be real hesitant to move on from any rookie on a long term rookie deal with any kind of potential. And K has already proven that that alone that he has potential for either Shamit who I like but can never seem to stick for whatever reason or Brogdon who just doesn't play. And so I, I know they're like bigger names and Brogdon is especially intriguing name because when he's healthy he's good. He was a six man of the year candidate like two years ago. Well, he won six man of the year, didn't he? I think he did maybe three years ago now. I just, I would, I would be very hesitant to do that. But any, any concluding Nick sucks or can I pick my next team?
- [28:17]
B
Yeah, I think the other. I, I want to touch on your point though real quickly of using Cat as a bonus. Like I think that that unlocks a lot of stuff right there just in terms of dribble handoffs, especially with Bridges. I think they can have a good two man game maybe when Brunson goes to the bench and allow that kind of be a little bit of a. A moment there and kind of keep your offense afloat. I think there's a lot of fun stuff there that can be done. I just need, I just need to see variety. I need to see things change up a bit. Maximize the guys you have.
- [28:48]
A
This episode is brought to you by Samsung. The new Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the ultimate sleek bar phone you're used to that expands to do so much more. Z Fold 7 unfolds into a widescreen that allows you to view up to three windows at once so you can bounce between games to text and notes. And it's powerful. There's no lag, just smooth multitasking. Die hard fans. This phone is a game changer. The Galaxy Z Fold 7. Learn more at samsung.com Display measurements are diagonal and actual viewable areas less due to rounded corners and camera hole punch. Okay, you picked the Lakers MO.
- [29:28]
B
Yes.
- [29:28]
A
Let's do the obligatory Lakers talk. 11th in offense last year. Much better with Luka. I mean you can just throw out a lot of these stats because there's pre Luca and now there's Luka. And Luka now looks chiseled in shape, ready to go. And there's this sort of dichotomy of the Lakers because you look at them and the odds say this and my gut and brain say this. They're not as good as Houston. They're not as good as Denver, who I may end up picking to win the championship. I'm not quite there yet. They're not as good as Oklahoma City. And yet they have this dude who could be the second best player in the league. Yeah, I said that. The second best player in the league if he's healthy and in shape and dialed in. A guy who can win a playoff series by his own sheer brilliance. And you pair him with LeBron James and some. Okay, to good supporting talent headlined by Austin Reeves. So that's the, the thing that wants you to, wants to make you lift the Lakers up and say, hey, why are they below those three teams like Houston, Houston's like a bunch of young guys. And Kevin Durant, all the young guys are good. Alper and Shangun just tore up Europe. But that's a different story. Are they really worse than them? And then the, the flip side is like, oh yeah, their other second best player is going to be 41 years old in the playoffs. And everyone's like, well, if he's healthy and this and that and he's like 100% the expectation should be that LeBron is not 100% in the playoffs. If you have to go, if he has to go full bore during the year, and maybe even if he doesn't have to because he's that old. But this team's interesting. You know, JJ has been in the, in the lab looking at how to do this on offense, how to make the most of all these guys. So Mo, I will leave it to you. How do you make the most of all these guys on offense? What should we be looking for? Or is it just, is it just roll the ball out, give it to Luka Ayton? I'm on record as saying I think the Ayton thing is going to work for the Lakers. You run Luka Ayton pick and rolls. LeBron picks his spots off the ball. Luka sits. You have Reaves and LeBron play together like they did last year. Go to work at the two man game, LeBron take over. Or, or is it, is there more to this?
- [31:35]
B
I think there's more to it because I think you need to find more ways for LeBron and Luka to play off of each other and, and, and, and actually play with each other a little bit more. There felt like there were too many possessions, especially in the playoffs where it felt like, okay, LeBron, just go stand in the corner, right? And then let's go. And that's, I mean, 41 years old, all that.
- [31:56]
A
Get it?
- [31:56]
B
There are times where maybe he does need to take a, take a few plays off. Totally get it, understand that. But I want to see him more involved with helping Luka get off and I think get going. And I think this stuff there, I know it's mainly going to be DeAndre and as a ball screener, but why not throw in some stuff where LeBron's the screener for, for Luka or more importantly, where you position LeBron in those ball screens matters a ton to me because I don't want him in the corner, I actually want him above the break because I feel like with that pick and roll, you know, as, as good as Luca is and obviously with eight and there's an opportunity for LeBron to cut behind the nail or to attack on the, the kick out.
- [32:36]
A
You mean for LeBron to be maybe the most powerful cutter in the history of basketball, which is what he looked like when he would do that with Miami. Like, yeah, make the slot cut. When the defense loads off you, it's going to be there over and over again, right?
- [32:48]
B
And I feel like those are the things that were Missing so much when. When. And I get it, trade happened. No, it's not like you had a, a training camp. It took, you know, it was like a week or two before Luca came back and he was coming back off the injury. Took a long time to really kind of develop any sort of chemistry and things like that. But I think there's no reason for these two guys not to be able to play off of each other, work with each other to create opportunities for one another and open up the doors. And I think Luca can add a couple more years to LeBron's career, you know, if he's willing to kind of dial back his usage and, and be Superman when he needs to be. And I think that's an important aspect there. But I think offensively you have a lot of stuff that I think JJ can work in where those guys are working together off of each other. Even off ball screening like LeBron or Luca setting a screen for the other guy off ball to come to it, that's going to put a defense in a difficult position. Do I switch off? Do I might switching? Am I opening up opportunities or with those guys IQ, especially if LeBron's setting the screen, an easy slip to the basket for a bucket. With a guy like ball in the re, the ball in Austin reaves his hands, he's going to be able to make the right pass and read off of that. There's a lot of different things you can do and run actions at the same time. During Luca's running the ball screen with deandre Ayton, run a weak side pin down, occupy the defense that way, and open up an opportunity for LeBron to lift up from the corner. I think there's just so many different things that I would like to see this team do, but it all comes down to these guys working off of each other.
- [34:19]
A
Now, there's a little bit of a Franz Paolo problem with these two in that they'll often be guarded by guys who are similar enough in size to switch. That said, LeBron, I'm sorry, Luka LeBron pick and rolls. LeBron is the screener. 3.5 per 100 possessions. That's not enough. Flip it around. LeBron ball handling, Luca screening. I've checked this like four times because I'm like, this can't be real. Second Spectrum recorded seven instances of that total. Seven. I do. I do something seven times in a day by accident, you know, just walking around my house. That's incredible. And again, it's like if defenses are going to switch and there's going to be a rim protecting center clogging up the paint. When LeBron rolls to the rim or whatever, Luka rolls to the rim. I get it to some degree. I also will say they ran a lot of stuff last year. You'd see it six, seven, eight times a game. Variations of a set where either LeBron or Luka would have the ball on one elbow and on the other elbow reaves and the other guy, LeBron or Luka would screen for each other and cut and spring out in unpredictable directions. And it would be designed with Reeves because he would have the smallest guy on the floor on him and it would present the defense with that choice. You're going to switch that little guy onto LeBron slash Luka or you're not and you're going to try to double and get your way out of this play and someone's going to spring open and they would have a counter off of that. Like if you defended the first cut well, they would have a counter to that I think. I mean I know J.J. redick well enough. He's like the rare coach that I knew as a non coach when he was much more open about his basketball philosophy than he will be now. I know that that's how he wants to play. I know he wants to run more. This team did not run enough last year. They ran a lot more when they got Luca and when Luka and Lebron were on the floor at the same time. I think that's something they should lean into. I think this is going to be a great off a good to great offense. The problem issue is going to be on the other end of the floor which we will talk about next week. I will put it this, put it, put it this to you just I'm going to put you on the spot. People have penciled in the starting lineup of Reeves, LeBron, Luca, Hachimura, Ayton. There has also been a case made including here. I mean I've pitched it. I haven't made the case for it for Marcus Smart to start over Rui Hachimura with the idea being that original starting lineup with LeBron Rui and Luka has no one that can really guard like twos or even fast wings. There's also been a pitch made for Marcus Smart to start over Austin Reaves and put Austin Reaves into like do we need these three alpha style? I mean is Austin Reaves an Alpha? Yeah, I think he's proven enough. It's close, you know, lead ball handlers on the floor at the same time I'm not sure that's like politically palatable in any realistic way. Maybe it is. I don't know. What would your starting lineup be?
- [37:22]
B
I. I want it to be a situation where I think I would probably actually start Smart over Reeves would be.
- [37:29]
A
What I want to do. But it's like, I think that's defensible.
- [37:32]
B
I think it's just. I think there's just. It's not even so much. I know we're talking offense, but it's on the defensive end where I'm most concerned with that. And I think that's just. Those are the areas where I would really want to shore up in that situation. But I understand the, the problems that they have in the political aspect of it or the, the. The. The impending free agency of Austin Reeves, that you have to kind of be aware of that stuff and that whether people are like, they should just ignore it, it shouldn't matter, should be about what's on the floor. I go like that stuff plays into everything. It's going to play. It keeps the locker room going and, and things like that. So like, I think ultimately I would probably in the end start Reeves just because of that side of it, but part of me thinks the smart thing to do would be to start Marcus Smart in that area. Just because you need to have that defense.
- [38:21]
A
If he's. If. Because it's been a while. Yeah, it's been a while for Marcus Smart. It's been a while since Marcus Smart looked defensively like a guy who couldn't guard these like fast wings twos that we're talking about. He's been better, as others have noted, guarding up in size, even guarding like fours. He's been a little bulky and he'll be better this year. I'd like to make a case for Laravia to start. I just think that doesn't do really anything for me. It doesn't do anything for me defensively. It doesn't. Maybe a little bit defensively, but enough to. To go that direction. It's going to be an interesting team. I think there's a good team in here. I mean, I know there's a good team in here. They'll be good. And if Luca is Luca, you know, they'll be. The other encouraging things are with Luca, they'll run more. Their three point frequency went way up when he was on the floor. Their accuracy will go up when he's on the floor. I think he's like an offense unto himself and I like their depth. I think there's, you know, just five is a question. Where does Vando fit into. Into life as a total non shooter alongside Centers and Ayton? You know, it's been a running joke. I've heard so many people make the same joke. Well, JJ Redick's reaction to 8 and you know there's going to be a couple memes this year. When JJ who's you know, like a lunatic out there, I say that respectfully and DA does some dominating stuff, I think the thing's going to be fine. Again, when I say fine, I don't mean all star max contract guy. I mean reliable, 16, 8 with good defense and some like nice passing. That's all. I mean, maybe I'm crazy. I don't know Mo. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm. Maybe the 20, 21 finals left too much of a mark on me. But I'm not giving up on, on dominating.
- [40:01]
B
Well, I just hate the nickname Dominating because it's not. I've not. We haven't seen that in so long. And I hate the nickname. Kills me. I'm not as enthused with it, but I think you're right in that like one, playing with Luka will open up opportunities for him in the pick and roll and I think we'll see him kind of understand the role he needs to play and I think it'll be a lot of fun and I think the JJ side of it will be interesting because there will be those nights. But I don't think it'll be as often as everybody thinks.
- [40:29]
A
If you are. If you can't exist as a role man, and we've seen him do it with Chris Paul and Devin Booker and this is just better and taller than that as passers and playmakers. If you can't reorient your career to just do that stuff with these two guys, you know, I was really mad. I was listening to Bill's podcast on Friday. I had in my notes from my Thursday episode a joke to make about how like, look, man, if they find Cap circumvention with the Clippers, just fold it up. Like it's. We've tried, we've tried with the Clippers. It hasn't worked. Like for just if you went through all the things that have befallen the Clippers in their entire history since moving to Los Angeles, if this actually. If they actually find this evidence and I'm not gonna. It's an if and we're not gonna discuss it anymore and they hammer them with a big penalty, I think it's Just like it's. It just didn't work. Let's try something else now, Bill. And I was gonna say, let's. Let's just dissolve the Clippers and bring back the Sonics. Bill made the same joke, except he went like, let's just move the Clippers to Seattle. I. I don't want that juju if I'm Seattle. Don't bring that on me. I don't want the Clippers. I don't want any of this. I want to start fresh with this. And that's my point with Ayton, is if you can't make this work, playing for a contract with these two dudes, just like it's. It's just like all you got to do is screen, roll, finish, and play defense. You're going to make $25 million a year. Just do that. If you can't do that, go sign in Europe and put up 30 a game or whatever. Okay, Lakers done. Bye, Lakers. I get to pick a team now, Mo.
- [42:05]
B
There you go.
- [42:07]
A
I think this team. First of all, I'm higher on this team than almost anybody I've said that. It wouldn't surprise me if they're a top six team. I might pick them to be a top six team, but I think if there's a team. I used the word existential before to talk about Cleveland and their inability to get over the hump in the playoffs. I heard Perk called him a paper tiger last week. Let me tell you, let me tell you. I think it was Perk, whoever it was, the paper tiger phrase, that got noticed at Cleveland Cavaliers hq. Okay, I know that that got noticed. I've heard it got noticed. But if there's a team that's truly facing an existential crisis in terms of we love defense, we're the hardest playing toughest, playing toughest, minded. Put the knee pads and the elbow pads on and practice. Write it down on the court. Defense first. No rebounds, no rings. If there's a team that has reached a point where it might have to trade some of that for offense, it's the Miami Heat. And I am just fascinated to see what this looks like for a team that I feel like has hit rock bottom offensively. They were 21st in offensive efficiency last year. And it's in all the ways that the Heat have just sort of been gradually trending in this post Jimmy Butler world. And even with Jimmy Butler can't get to the line, 24th and free throws don't get any offensive rebounds. 27th in offensive rebounding, don't run 26th in transition frequency. Take way too many red range shots because they don't get to the rim and their three point volume has dipped down. This used to be a team that was ahead of the curve taking tons of threes. They're basically league average now. And it just felt stale. It felt like, okay, you guys are going to do this like cool handoff stuff and like get it to the second side and Bam's going to pivot over here and hand off to this guy who's kind of a good shooter. And then Tyler Hero is going to do this and it's going to end up in a mid range jump shot. Bam migrated away from the rim last year, took too many mid range shots, started taking threes. It just felt like boring and stale and it was just never going to be good enough. And now they acquire Norman Powell for nothing. And I'm interested in like right off the bat. I would consider even starting Norman Powell, Tyler Hero, Andrew Wiggins, Jovic and Bam. And the Heat might have two different starters penciled in there that I do. Wouldn't surprise me if they had Damien Davion Mitchell penciled in in Powell spot. That's actually my prediction for their starting five that I already made because he was so good for them and checks the defense box. And they started Khalil Ware last year alongside Bam toward the end of the year. I'm not sure I really believe in that. Double big look is the way I want to go to start out this year. I'm not sure I'm going to squeeze enough offense out of it. It was okay last year. Defensively, it was very good. Weirdly, they got to the rim even less with two big men on the floor according to the numbers. And maybe it's not weird, maybe it's just your spacing is so bad that you literally just can't get people there. Your ball handlers are not exactly adept at getting to the rim. Norm helps me change that. He's a great north south player. Jovic had a great Euro basket until Serbia. Disappointed. I think I. I don't know if I'd start that lineup. I think I would start Jovic over where and then figure out the guard spot. I want at least two of Powell, Hero and Bam on the floor all the time. I. I love great depths. Awesome. We lost gave away Haywood Highsmith for nothing to get under the Tax Lawson depth. Pella Larson, come on up. Jaime Hakis Jr do you have anything for us in year three? I just think if there's A team whose coaching staff as good or better than anyone in the league. By the way, Eric Spoelstra, maybe my prediction for coach of the year had to spend the entire summer just like let's throw it all out and start from scratch on offense, it's this team. Because I think this team could be good and in the East I think they could challenge for the fifth or sixth seed. They could also get 10th and be in the play in for the millionth consecutive season. I don't know, Mo. I'd like to see something fresh from this team offensively and I bet we're going to see something a little bit fresh at least. There's only so much you can do with the personnel. Right. It's like Bam's not going to grow six inches. Tyler Hero is not going to become Luka Doncic as a passer and become six' eight. But there's only so much you can do, but it's got to be better than this.
- [46:20]
B
Well, yeah, because I think the league is caught up to their whole dribble handoff game, you know, and I think part of the, also part of their three point numbers going down to was just the fact that like Duncan Robinson wasn't in the lineup as much and was buried on the bench and him and Bam had a really strong sort of dribble handoff game that led to opportunities for both of those guys. I think when you look at them offensively, it's a really interesting question in terms of what do they do with their starting lineup. Right. Because we do know when the team wants to lean on defense. But it's only taken you so far at this point that you have to really kind of focus on offense. I don't know if I would start off with your starting lineup off the bat with just all, all offense.
- [47:00]
A
I think I would. To be clear, that's just an option that I would consider more seriously today than I did two months ago when I was looking at their season and just put in Penn Davion Mitchell instead of Norman Powell, that's all.
- [47:12]
B
Yeah, and I think, I think I would start Powell in the sense of like just to get that north south driver right. Because I don't feel like we get that enough from them. You know, I think when you have. That's kind of a problem with Tyler Hero a little bit is that, you know, it's, it's a little bit more side to side. He's gonna kind of go to the side step three and, and, and try to find those, those step backs. And opportunities. I think when you have pal in the game, like he is a straight line driver, like he is going to try to get to the rim as well as obviously knock down his. His threes and things like that. I kind of like the idea of starting him, but I would. I still intrigued Zach by the double big. I. I really like Khalil Ware.
- [47:51]
A
I'm not. I'm not saying scrap it. It's going to be part. It's going to be part of my arsenal. I like Khalil Ware. Look, I. There was a lot of like this happens with young bigs a lot where. When he was mentioned as sort of the point of no return in the Durant trade discussions, like the Phoenix Suns had to have him. The Heat wouldn't give him up. The Heat were kind of ridiculed in some corners. Like, oh, this guy, he didn't have great instincts for a big. I'm like, the dude is a rookie learning the NBA. I'll take the tools that I saw and assume with good coaching, a good work ethic, this guy's going to be fine. Most rookie bigs are not going to be good at defense. The verticality, the lob threat, the fact that he took. I think he was 35 of 111 from three as a rookie. That's all interesting to me. And maybe he's been working out all summer and he's ready to just unleash hell from all over the floor. I haven't seen him. I don't know. I don't know how BAMS3 is progressing. Obviously took a lot more last year. Maybe you do start that lineup. Maybe SPO's already seen enough and said that's it. I just. I want to see what the Jovic lineup looks like. I'd start there, but I, I don't. I don't mind. I don't mind you going the other way. I like it.
- [48:52]
B
But. But I think there's a level of like, I'm gonna get a little more offense from Powell and then I'm gonna get. And I'm gonna keep my defensive kind of set. Like I'm not compromising too much off. Right.
- [49:04]
A
You know, right away what we're basically saying, it's. It's Mitchell and Jovic is the same trade off as like a little of this and a little that. As. As what you're foul. It's the same thing. Use them in combination. Yeah.
- [49:16]
B
And that's. And that's kind of the. The focus aspect of it is. Is what I want partly too Because I'm not sure how strong like where the, where Jovic is going to get his touches in that, in that starting lineup with those guys, like it becomes a little bit more difficult for him to get a lot of touches and that stuff. But everything for me with the Miami, he. It starts with Bam's aggression because I'm tired of the mid range jumpers. It's. You gotta, you gotta really start either knocking down your three balls or really just be the monster that you were inside the paint and work in the restricted area. Being able with his speed and quickness, face up game should be able to try to get by guys and get into the paint and really attack. For me, that's gotta be your focus. Offensively if you're. The Heat is just getting Bam to be aggressive because when he's aggressive and you get that aggressiveness from him, the Heat go up another level in terms of just their, their, their opportunities, the way they can play. They got to get back to attacking the rim. It's got to be. We're focused on attacking the restricted area you got. The Tyler hero is going to get his shots up. We know where they're, where they're going to be. Norman Powell is going to get his shots up and he's going to help you also get more threes up. You need to be able to focus and attack inside the paint and it can't be a lot of mid range jumpers or Bam settling and, and, and, and shooting a elbow jumper and things like that. I want to see that aggression come from for them. They gotta, it's gotta be aggressive.
- [50:41]
A
Yeah. I mean, the more you're talking, I mean, maybe it doesn't matter. I was gonna say the more I like the idea of starting Powell because he's just, look, he's not, he's a very good player. I didn't really feel like he was a huge snub at the All Star game last year. I thought he was a candidate, he wouldn't have made my team. But he's a very good player. I don't want to over hype him, but he does have a certain ferocity with the ball, for better or worse that the Heat just don't have in their DNA. Just put my head down and go fast as hell at the basket. And he's going to play a lot of minutes regardless of whether he starts or doesn't start. But I, I like the idea of like if, but you're talking me into if we're going to lean into this and really embrace him as a player and what he brings. Maybe we do just say, you know what, we'll start you and Tyler hero, and we'll figure out the defensive piece. Or like I said earlier, we can't be too precious with our defense because our offense is just not taking us where we need to go. I don't know. I. I think this is an interesting team. I like Fontechio off the bench for them. SPO will make the most of this team. I'm just interested to see sort of how they revamp. I'd like to see Bam handle the ball a little bit more as a passer and particularly in picking roles like have Norm Powell, you know, set a screen for him. I think Norm on the second side is going to be a huge part of their offense. Hero band, pick and roll, Swing it to Norm. Coming off a pin down, like, if you're gonna have wear and Bam on the court, that's how you got to use them. And just, you know, look, I don't want to spoil what may or may not come out with league pass rankings. I do. I. The last I heard is a couple weeks ago mo the court with the words on it. All the words. You know, the words. Heat culture, toughest playing, all that. That's. That was. As of two weeks ago. That was slated to be gone. We're not gonna see that anymore. And I think the Heat suffered enough mockery and humiliation. Justifiably so. That was the Fonz jump in the Shark of Heat culture. Rest in peace, Heat court. I hope to never see you again.
- [52:39]
B
Or.
- [52:40]
A
Or in my absurd wing of absurdity in the hall of Fame when they. When they take my idea and make a wing of just absurd things for the hall of Fame. All right, let's take a little interlude to journey into the nether world of the Jonathan Kaminga Golden State warriors negotiations. ESPN drops the story today inside the warriors stalemate with Jonathan Kaminga. You know, nothing is going on in the NBA when Jonathan Kaminga. And I like Jonathan Kaminga, but when Jonathan Kaminga merits a massive inside story about meetings that took place and where they took place and what was said and Joe Lake up was there and what he say and what did Jonathan Kaminga say back and who was in the room and what color was the couch? What did they drink? Holy smokes. And I also, I was waiting for something like this because I've been dialed into this situation off record, talking to all the relevant parties enough to know that something was going to pop publicly around this time and training Camp's coming up. The warriors still haven't signed anybody. They got all these guys waiting. They don't want to renege on any deals they may or may not have made. And so they have to negotiate the salary with Kamingo very carefully. Because if it's something over like 23, 24 million, depending on all the other contracts for your Horfords and your Meltons and your Seth Currys and whoever else, Gary Payton, the second, the second apron is right there. And if you go back and listen to the first podcast I did after vacation, I just went solo for 40 minutes. Here's all the crap that happened or didn't happen while I was on vacation. And I made predictions for all the restricted free agents, the big four that were hanging out back then. We talked about whether Cam Thomas would take his QO or not. He did. I said three years 75 for Josh, Kitty got 400. I was pretty close. And for Kaminga, I focused the thing on Kaminga because he's the most interesting. He's the spiciest. I've called him in. I mean, the train may have left the station on this already, but I said he's maybe the most important trade asset in the entire league because the warriors so badly need him to turn into something that helps their team have a post Steph Curry, post Jimmy Butler, post Draymond Green, roadmap. And again, that it may be too late for that. It may be too far gone. And my prediction was, boy, doesn't it feel like, you know, the warriors have offered this one plus one with a team option in year two. And by the way, you got to waive your de facto no trade clause. And Kamingo rightfully said, well, that sucks. I'm not going to do that. And maybe he wanted something big. And I said, doesn't it feel like they just meet in the middle? Just like two years, 45 million. I don't know what I said. I think I said a higher number than that because I forgot about the second April. Now it was rusty after vacation. All right, doesn't it just like two years, no options either way? No two plus one. No team option or player option on year two. Two years 48, two years 50. Wrap it up. Done. It works for everybody. He's tradable on a two year contract. More so than he'd be on a one year or one plus one. Because any team that sees him on a one year deal and wants him is good. What are they going to trade for him? He's a he's a flight risk right away, you know, yeah, you can try to do like the wink, wink thing, but it's not guaranteed. And the warriors, that's bad for them because they don't get the trade assets back that they're going to need to get. If and when they trade Jonathan, I think it's a win. I don't think it's a nip. I think it's a win. I, I mean, I would. That's not a hot take. I'd be shocked if Jonathan Kamingka is on the war. Two years, three years, six months. Pick your, pick your timetable. And I said in that pod I'm talking about from a month ago, whenever I said, boy, I could, you know, if you go two plus one, boy, then it gets dicey because they're going to argue over who gets to plus one, whether it's the warriors option or Kaminga's option. And sure enough, inside the warriors statement with Jonathan Kaminga, Anthony Slater and Sham Strania report, the warriors have upped their offer to three years. 75. So it squeezes under the second apron for this year, but it's a team option on the third year. And both sides right now, in what is becoming one of the more contentious free agent negotiations that I can remember at least, like non holdout yet division, are not budging on that option like Kaminga's. We're not taking it with a team option. Warriors, we're not giving you a player option. Whether it's year one or year two, you're not getting it. And so we're stuck in this sort of leverage duel. And the leverage duel for the warriors is, hey, Johnny Kaminga, we're offering you, let's ballpark, $22 million this year. Your qualifying offer, if you dare to take it, is 8 million. You're going to lose $13 million of guaranteed money. We don't think you're going to be able to make that up on your next deal. And they're probably right that he would not quite make all of that up because that's a lot of money to light on fire to get your unrestricted free agency guaranteed in next summer. He'd have to make a lot in years 2, 3, 4 going forward to make that up. And yeah, the cap environment is going to be friendlier next year and I think particularly friendly to a player like Kaminga because a lot of the teams with room will be younger, slash bad, slash rebuilding teams. And he fits the timeline more than he, more than, you know, necessarily for a win now team like the one he's on now, the one he's been drafted onto. Two timelines, baby. That's the worst leverage. Kaminga's leverage is like you want me to take the qualifying offer because it's 13 million dollar hit for me, it's a disaster for you because if I'm on a one year, eight million dollar deal, you're not going to get much for me in a trade. And then I'm walking and you know I'm walking and you can't afford to turn me the seventh pick in the draft. The golden chip you got from Minnesota and what disastrous trade for the Timberwolves turn me into nothing and two timelines becomes Brandon Pajimski and Trace Action Davis and Moses Moody. James Wiseman plays for the Pacers now. Like I've already said, I think the warriors are, I mean, screwed is too strong of a word because they have Steph Curry and Jeremy Butler and Draymond Green. At the very least they're going to be good and competitive and fun as all hell to watch. While that remains the case. I just think they're screwed in the sense that I think the window is closed on them winning a championship with this score. And I don't see the, what the roadmap back to that kind of prominence is. Maybe it's a free agent, maybe it's a trade out of nowhere. Who the hell knows if, if the, if Superstar X's situation ever goes haywire, you know, the warriors will try and get in on it. Do they have enough? I don't know. Both of those leverage plays are interesting. I would actually almost side on, lean toward Kaminga's leverage play more than the words because I do think it is a abject disaster if he takes the QO for the words. Maybe they'll posture that it's not. They'll posture that we'd rather do that than give you a one year $30 million balloon payment, which is mentioned as a, as a, as a sort of structure that's been pitched by one side or the other, I suspect by Kaminga's side in the Shams Slater story. Doesn't make sense for second apron reasons for the warriors to do that. So go ahead, take the qo. We'll still have your bird rights. That's what the words will say. We still have your bird rights. We can still offer you more years, more money than everyone else. Not all hope is lost. Yeah, okay, that seems like posturing to me. I still think there's also the sign and trade Possibilities that Kaminga's side has tried to generate, most notably with Phoenix, a pick and like Grayson Allen and Royce o' Neill and whatever. And the Kings, same thing. And dealing with the Kings, always a smart thing to do for any other team. Try to trade with the Kings. I just. The warriors don't want Malik Monk. They don't want him. That complicates life for the Kings. And they don't want what the Suns have to offer. And by the way, they shouldn't. Those offers aren't good enough. They're not. They don't even outweigh the chance that Kaminga comes back on a short term deal, blows up this season and the warriors want to keep him. And he wants to keep him in his relationship with Steve Kerr as a coach player. I think personal relationship is fine. Coach player, relationship was repaired. Everything's great. That possibility is remote as it seems I'd still rather have that than the poo poo platter the Sons and the Kings are offering me. So this stalemate will continue. I, I'm gonna stick with my prediction. I just think it makes too much sense. Two years, 48, wrap it up. Done. You get a lot of money, we get a second year, nobody has an option. You're pretty tradable. No one's super happy, no one's super upset. The Kaminga side can say the ship has sailed on that. All they want. I mean, that's something you say now. I still think that makes the most sense. If that, if that is really off the table and this situation is that far gone, then everyone is going to have to look back. And I mean everyone. I mean Jonathan Kaminga, I mean his agent, Aaron Turner, I mean Steve Kerr, I mean Joe Lakob, I mean Bob Myers, I mean Mike Dunleavy Jr. Everybody is going to have to look back and say, how did this happen? Where could we have corrected this? And no one is going to be blameless. They're all going to blame the other side. And no one is going to be blameless. Jonathan Kamingo walked into a very tricky situation for a rookie. A score. First score, always go to the rim like gangbusters. Score, veteran team win. Now team finesse, team that, yeah, they need somebody like him, a powerhouse, a leaper. Go get us baskets at the rim, get us free throws, create buckets out of nothing as a one on one score. But you've also got to do that within the not confines, but within the beautiful game system that we play. And I think John, the gaming sometimes bristled against that and went his own way and took some regrettable shots. I also think he made sort of an underrated effort to fit in some of that. If you like, watch them play. He tried to learn the pin in screens for Steph Curry. He tried to learn to get it hand, pitch it, hand it off, pitch it back, screen here, Pass to Draymond. Get the offense moving that way. Pass to Steph. Go screen for him. He tried to learn all that stuff. He wasn't playing selfishly. He was trying his best. And sometimes it looked great and sometimes it didn't. I also think, like part of, part and parcel of being a rookie drafted onto a team that good and with those stakes is I just think the tolerance for mistakes by the coaching staff was really, really low for him as a young player on that team. And I honestly think too low. I think there should have been more freedom for him to play through mistakes, for him to play through bad shots, like, and play through all the stuff that young players who are trying to prove themselves, trying to make their money, all that stuff. I even remember as he was kind of, you know, carrying the offense for parts of the Timberwolves series last year after Steph got hurt, there was a. There was a. If I'm remembering it right, it's in Minnesota. Kaminga is late to close out on Nasrid. He's late, there's no question about it. And once he's late, it's not an urgent closeout, it's a lazy closeout. And on the bench, you can see the coaches, including Steve Kerr, just visibly like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And it just made me think, yeah, John, the kabing is in the wrong. If there's one thing that he could have done or that the coaches could have coaxed him to do that would have papered over all this. It would have been be a balls to the wall defensive player all the time. Every second you're on the floor, we know that's not the kind of player you envision yourself being. Defense first, defense always switch everything, guard every position. But that's what we need you to do. Sometimes he'd be going pretty hard on defense, and sometimes he'd be closing out late and lazily on Nasrid. Like, I like other warriors, make mistakes of both commission and omission that didn't necessarily get that kind of reaction from the coaching staff. And by then it's obviously, you know, year four of the Jonathan Kaminga experiment, there's all sorts of built in. Like, sometimes you've been a starter, then you come off the bench. And that ankle injury last year when he was fine, when he was moved into the starting lineup and was playing really well, and then he got hurt. Then they get Jimmy Butler. Then the spacing doesn't make so much sense anymore with Jimmy and Draymond and Kaminga, and Kaminga goes back off the bench. That ankle injury will always be a big what if? Because it felt like, okay, we're finally kind of figuring it out. But it just. It's. It's been a tough. There's a lot of baggage, and it's hard for me to imagine that this gets repaired in any lasting way for the Warriors. I think everybody needs a fresh start, but I do think, like, cooler heads should prevail. And there's an easy middle ground here that both sides just has to grab and make the best of it. And by the way, if it is a two year, $48 million deal and maybe I'm just pie in the sky Pollyanna, like, there's no shot, the feelings are too bad, the bridges are burned, whatever that still gives you the opportunity. Like, the warriors still need Jonathan Kaminga. They still need his skill set. They need some oomph, they need some bounce. And there's going to be games where Draymond Green sits out. There's going to be like, Steph could hurt. Jimmy Butler is going to get hurt in sit out games. Like, they're going to need a guy who can put his head down and get you 20 points. It's not always going to look great. It's not always going to conform to how the warriors want to play. There is still a mutual need here. I don't know, we'll see what happens, but I'm sticking with my prediction. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled podcasting. Okay. You nominated the Blazers.
- [65:34]
B
Yes.
- [65:35]
A
I gotta tell you, Mo, not. Not high on my list of teams that, That I was considering for this exercise. And then you suggested them. Now they did acquire Drew Holiday. They reacquired Damian Lillard, who will not play this year for them. So Andrew Holiday is a meaningful addition. Maybe he might start. I think that's an interesting question in of itself. Then I dug into the numbers, watch some video. I was like, kind of like this pick. I kind of. I kind of get what Moe was going for here, but why don't you tell me what you were going for? Bringing up the Portland Trailblazers, who ranked? Let me just check. 22nd in offensive efficiency.
- [66:14]
B
Yes, 22nd in offensive efficiency. And 28th in assist percentage. Right. Like, it's, it's really. I'm really more fascinated with the fact.
- [66:23]
A
Was that worse than the Wizards? Let me, let me. You keep talking. I'm gonna check.
- [66:28]
B
I know. For next time I come on the pod, though, Zach, to make sure. Whatever stats I have to check if it's worse than the Wizards. And I'll do the.
- [66:35]
A
I'm gonna check, but I'm gonna predict it's not worse. I, I. That it's that the Wizards are better in assist rates.
- [66:41]
B
Yeah. I just think with the Simons trade, where is the, the actual playmakings coming from? Who's creating shots for everybody? I know Scoot Henderson led them in the in assist at 5.1, but that's such a low number. And you know, even Simons, it was so much ISO stuff. It was so much off picking roles and looking to attack off of that. But it wasn't really a team concept. Like, you know, when you go back and you watch a lot of their offense, it was like a Princeton action into a, a handoff, and then whoever's, whoever got the handoff, that was probably who was getting the shot. And I feel like they, they need to find an offensive system that fits them and they can flow into it, you know, and open up the stuff. It can't just be, hey, we're. I'm assuming they're going to start scoop. If we're starting scoop, Scoot, you need to go. You and Drew Holiday.
- [67:35]
A
I wouldn't assume that off the bat. We'll get there. We'll get there. I wouldn't assume anything, but I wouldn't necessarily assume that.
- [67:41]
B
But like, you know, Drew Holiday the past few years, not obviously playing for Boston, he didn't have to be quite the playmaker when he was in Milwaukee. Was averaging good number of assists, but like, I probably could get two or three assists if I just pass it to Giannis. So I think there's a lot of stuff where I'm curious where the playmaking is, because coming from for that. So if they're not going to have necessarily just a natural playmaker that a guy that can just create for everybody, where is. What offense are you guys going to kind of put in to get guys like Denny Advia going downhill, Shaden Sharp going downhill. Those are the guys I want to see attack and get going. And then of course, there's the other side of it is when Hansen, Yang, or excuse me, Yang, Yang, Hansen. I'm sorry, I'm still working on that. When he comes in the game, then you Run a whole different package with him because you got to run the offense through him. I think to a degree because of his ability to be the, the playmaker. Like I, I want to see what they kind of put together.
- [68:37]
A
Young just turned 20 a couple months ago. Makes me a little nervous when you're Talking about a 20 year old from an International League talking about running a package of offense for them. But, you know, we'll see, we'll see. So when you suggested the Blazers, I wrote a bunch of notes and literally one of my first notes is vanilla after option number one. And that was the thing that struck me about the Blazers last year. And I don't mean that as a knock on Chauncey. I think Chauncey's going to be a good, he's a good coach, will be a good coach and has not really had a fair shake despite that. He's been there for four years in terms of like a stable good team to coach. It just, I would watch them and there would be one action and then nothing else would happen and someone would shoot or create for themselves. And this was a like miserable isolation team. 23rd in points per possession on isolations. By the way. The Magic were high on that list too in terms of frequency, low in efficiency. Magic also ranked 30th in pick and roll efficiency out of 30 teams. And part of that is just like a lot of young players, a lot of roster turnover, you know, young center, young at every position, a lot of injuries, hard to build any continuity. I think continuity is step one. I don't know how you do that as a coaching staff with lots of young players. Part of it is just like this. This is really hard to do and speaks to just how miserable this team was. Shooting from everywhere on the floor, cleaning the glass. Has this thing where they, it's location effective field goal percentage where they just say if an average team shot your shots from where they were, what would their effective field goal percentage be? The Blazers, because they took a lot of shots at the rim and the fourth fewest mid range shots in the NBA, they had the second best location effective field goal percentage in the league. Actual effective field goal percentage. Like did you make the shots? 25th. That is as big of a gap positive or negative as you will ever see. They were 25th in shooting percentage at the rim, 28th from mid range, 26 from threes. Could not shoot for shit anywhere on the floor. Could that change this year? Sure. I mean, look, Kamara Tomani, Kamara shot 37 and a half percent from three. He had wide open threes. People didn't guard him. Abdia made some progress. I loved him in the second half of the season. The free throws, getting to the rim, continuity, better shooting. They were 29th in turnover rate. That's a young player thing. And they had a similar thing in transition where they got out in transition a lot as you would want a young team who struggles in the half court to do. And they were 29th in points per possession in transition. Just a lot of finishing issues with Scoot and Shady Sharp at the rim. Just taking tough shots, contorting themselves, throwing up wild layups when probably a kick out pass would be better. Typical young player stuff. This team should be better offensively this year. I think the coaching staff need to get in the lab and craft a little more continuity, coach. A little more continuity. But I will say you said I assume Scoot will start. I hope to hell Scoot Henderson starts. Because as much as this team would surely love to make the play in tournament, I just. I. It's still a development story to me. And you just drafted a 20 year old center in the first round. Okay. To. To me there are only three starters in Penn right now. Abdia Kamara and Klingon.
- [71:55]
B
Yes.
- [71:56]
A
That leaves two spots for Drew Holiday. Jeremy Grant still here. People forget that he exists. I forget that he exists sometimes. Scoot and Shade and Sharp. I'm telling you right now, there's a world with a coach who's a. A pretty persnickety coach in terms of his standards on defense. Put Shaden Sharp on the bench last year and told the world why not Garden hard enough. A point guard who's pretty persnickety about decision making. There's a world. A coach who probably wants to win some more goddamn basketball games this year. Timeline. Irregardless of timeline, there is a world in which the starting lineup on opening night for the Pacers is Jrue Holiday to Monte Kamara, Denny Abdia, Jeremy Grant and Donovan Clingan. And let me tell you Mo, I do not want to live in that world. I do not want to live in a world when both Scoot Henderson and Shaded Sharp are coming off the bench for a team that's not going to be good or not going to be like over 500 chasing playoffs good no matter what lineups they play. I need to see particularly what Scoot can be with real talent around him. He's one of my most intriguing players for the season. I don't look if that means Drew Holiday's gotta eat you know, bite the bullet and come off the bench. That means Jeremy Grant has to come off the bench. I'm okay with that. Shaden Sharp. I'm. I'm more okay with kind of working as a six man. If he comes in and, and rounds out his game a little bit and earns his way into the starting lineup, that's fine too. I just. I don't like that the veteran lineup is fine. I get it. You know, Drew Holiday is one of the greatest guard defenders of all time. I just. I don't want to see that, Mo. I don't. As a league pass aficionado. I do not want to see that as someone who's going to find all the streaming games, figure out what's on where. It's not a highlights league. It's not a highlights league. Don't say it's a highlights league. Now, I think Adam Silver got a little bit unfairly raked over the Coles. You get raked over the coals. Raked over the coals for that. Because he then added correctly that there are more games on broadcast TV than ever this year. You can pick and choose your streaming services, but that is expensive. As someone who, by the way, I am. Do you have a way to remind yourself to unsubscribe? Mo, I gotta get better at this because. No subscribe with that.
- [74:11]
B
I just got killed by LinkedIn Premium.
- [74:17]
A
LinkedIn? You're a subscriber of LinkedIn Premium?
- [74:20]
B
I did the free trial.
- [74:21]
A
What do I get for LinkedIn Premium.
- [74:23]
B
To find out what I get with LinkedIn Premium.
- [74:26]
A
What a mistake. Okay, Mo, you need me more than I need you.
- [74:29]
B
Oh, my God.
- [74:31]
A
With that one, apologies to the fine folks at LinkedIn. I'm sure LinkedIn Premium is a fine product. You will clearly not be sponsoring the Zach Lowe show anytime soon. Sorry, that is. That's a bring Scoot Henderson off the bench level. Bad decision, Mo. But I do. The commissioner of a sports league should just never say that this is a highlights league. It should never happen. It diminishes the game. Even if you then follow it up with a more nuanced, well crafted answer. It's a highlight lead stinks. You don't win the championship based on highlights. And the championship is what we're all here for. I don't even know what the hell we're talking about anymore. The Blazers.
- [75:08]
B
I'll say this. So just to the Scoot Henderson point. It's a disservice to the organization if they don't. If they don't start him because you need to find out what it is. This is such a make or break year for him and it's so important for them to have that understanding of what do we have in Scoot Henderson? And you know what, what can he be for us? It doesn't have to be all of that right now this season, but we have to see the progress and see where it's going. And you got to do it at some point. You might as well put him right off the bat as a, as a starter because I think next year you're in a very difficult position once Dame's healthy, you know. You know, then you really have to figure out what you're going to do. Obviously that's future Blazers problems, but they need to find out now what do they have in Scoot Henderson. And I think it'd be a disservice to the, the organization just going forward if they just say, hey, we're just going to put him on the bench, we're going to bring him off the bench. It's hard to get those minutes that you're going to need to see if he's this guy, if you're just going to start him, if he's just going to be a bench player for you and not a starter.
- [76:13]
A
And by the way, I. The, the wild card is that the fact that the team is in the process of being sold. SL just got sold. I could you. There might be more pressure on everyone in the organization. Like, I don't, I don't know who's in the most secure or insecure in their positions. The front office, the coach could have anybody, I don't know, rapid fire. Just three other teams that I wanted to bring up and you wanted to bring up that we're not going to belabor. Memphis, I think is just the most obvious one. The team that played the most idiosyncratic offense last year and decided three quarters of the 90 through the year, we don't want to play that way anymore. John Morant doesn't want to play that way anymore. I. I don't. We'll see. You know, they totally went away from the pick and roll. It was cool for a while and then it wasn't close. Cool. Atlanta. I want to table Atlanta because I, I need to go to therapy because of the Hawks. I just, I just. I need to learn. I need to learn how to have the Hawks in my life. Why did you want to talk about the Hawks? Is it more just like can we can. Is it the stuff I've been talking about? Like, can we veer a. Can we continue moving in the direction of. It's not just Trey Young pick and rolls a hundred times a game. We have other guys who can do other things. Let's spice it up a little bit. Yes.
- [77:25]
B
And then the addition of Porzingis and how he can kind of present different. A different iteration to their offense because I don't think Trey Young has ever played with a pick and pop big like Porzingis or even close to that level. And I think that opens up opportunities when he's able to create mismatch, mismatches. And then how do you guys attack from that? I think is. Is was really kind of what I was focusing on.
- [77:47]
A
You know, I was guilty of just putting a Congu as the starting center in Penn even after the Porzingis trade. If I was a Kongu, I'd be pissed if I lost my starting job after the way I finished last year. And then I've. I've talked to some people. I don't know that it's an open competition. I don't know. I think all these people are just getting back to their camps, their, their teams the last week and it really amping up soon. They're not going to start both of them. You know, you could talk me into Porzingis as a starter because I want to match his minutes up with Trey's minutes to maximize the pick and pop aspect. You know, because the Trey Daniels, Risache, Johnson, Akongu lineup is not a great shooting lineup. Top to bottom. Rim protection from Porzingis, a little bit easier of a defensive identity. I don't know what I would do there. It's an interest that's, that's one of the more interest. And again, we, we overdo these things because they're both, they're going to play together a little bit and then they're both going to play a lot of minutes individually and poor Zingus is inevitably going to miss time. What would you do?
- [79:02]
B
I would probably start poor Zingis again to align himself a little bit more with Trey Young. Trey Young's minutes because I think that's where you're going to get the most maximum Porzingis out of that situation. And I think you're going to maximize the offense to a large degree. Like you said, that lineup when it was a Congu wasn't as great offensively, numbers wise. And it's not. I'm an SC guy. A Congu is an SC guy. Like I'd love. I want, I want, I want to alter just to kill it. But it's tough to put him in that situation. I think when that it's tough to justify it. When you have Porzingis there that can change your offense and the variables in your offense and create opportunities for everybody else.
- [79:43]
A
It's fair. I just, I think it's a really, I think absent the last two months of last season, Porzingis starting would be a no brainer. Akangu going up a level the way he did and being young and Porzingis being not old but mid career and like just sort of generally unreliable as from an availability perspective. I think it's interesting. Also interesting we're not going to do the Rockets because they they imported a a player who changes your offense for the good just by being there and that's Kevin Durant. But you know I did see over the weekend some reporting that IME Odoka hasn't decided on the fifth starter yet with the other four being Van Vliet, Amen Thompson, Durant and Shen Goon and that Jabari Smith Jr. May be the favorite. I think that's less interesting than the Hawks one because it's going to be Jabari Smith Jr. Or it's going to be Finney Smith or it's going to be Tari Eason. It's going to be like a broadly similar player who has a similar job in that lineup. But I, I love the Rockets. I think the Rockets are going to be really good. What did you make of I skirted all over this because I didn't over this a little bit. I didn't, I didn't realize how spicy it got Shen calling Giannis not a great passer at Euro basket and Giannis being like yo, watch my highlights. It's a highlight league. I guess Giannis is right. Watch my line, my highlights and get back, back to me. And then, and then the coach. I think, I think Spinulas is the coach of Greece now. He is Greece got €30 basket. By the way. Shen is a very, very small kid to talk about Giannis. This is, you know, we were not having a good day about the game. I love that people got fired up about this. I think Giannis is a good passer. I don't know. Good, great semantics. I don't think Sengun is wrong that like Giannis is a good passer but not a great one. To me Giannis is a great passer when he wants to be a great passer. And it's just the same issue that a lot of scorers have. They pass Once they can't score. Right. And I'd like to see Giannis be a little bit more of a proactive passer. That hasn't been his style of play, and that's been mostly awesome for the Bucks because they haven't had a team for that has enough talent really, for him to play that way. And also if, like, Giannis should go to the rim until somebody stops him. But I think. I don't think Shingun is wrong. I think Shingun's a better passer in the honesty. Assist numbers won't bear that out. Giannis averages more assists. I think Shen Goon's a better pass. To the honest talk your Alper and Shangun. That's what I say.
- [82:08]
B
Go to work. I kind of. I agree with you and with Shen. Good. So I think that's gonna. And that's not a. A massive shot at Giannis. Shen Goon's not to score. Giannis's.
- [82:20]
A
That's. Oh. I mean, Giannis is like, not.
- [82:22]
B
Not even close. So. Yeah. So it's. I. I just think there's just. Everybody's got different levels of games to it and. And so on, and I think that's a really. It. But it is fun when these things get spicy. I love when we have that stuff. We need more of these. Zach.
- [82:36]
A
We're. We're in talks for an Alper and Shingoon appearance on the Zach Lowe show. So that would be. That would be a lot of fun because I think the Rockets are going to be really interesting and whatever. Whatever they do, he's going to be a central part of it, the focal point.
- [82:48]
B
Yeah.
- [82:48]
A
I can't wait for him and KD to sort of get some chemistry playing off of each other. All right, well, this. Was there any other team you were secretly dying to talk about that? We didn't talk about offense. Only offense. Only today.
- [83:02]
B
No, I think we're good. I think we covered pretty much the. The basics of that. I'll throw one question at you real quick, and this is. I'm putting you on.
- [83:12]
A
I like when people ask me questions on my podcast.
- [83:14]
B
Yeah. On the spot. What do you make of the Spurs? Because I think we're both believers in this being a good year for them, but I am worried of their lack of shooting. I think their defense will cover that up to a large degree. But where are you with. How do they handle that?
- [83:33]
A
So I'm so glad you mentioned them, because they were on my initial list for this very exercise for the reason that you bring up. And I Just I've already, you and I have already gone on record. We're higher on the spurs at consensus. I would take the over on the Spurs. I would take the over on everything when Banyama just, you couldn't oversell me on what that dude is going to do. I already have said like the Fox extension, you know, people are like, ah, it's a lot for dear and Fox. How does this fit with Dylan Harper and like the timelines. I don't care. I like the extension. Darren Fox is really good. I'm betting big on a Deer and Fox bounce back year and I decided to table it because I think they're so interesting that I don't want to shoehorn them in to this discussion because I am worried about exactly the same thing you have. I, I, I'm worried that I am overlooking in my exuberance the lack of shooting. I mean I, it's funny because Fox, Vassell, Barnes, Wembanyama and then pick the fifth starter. I assume it'll be Castle. That's a, that's a pretty good shooting lineup. Like it's not bad, but it's just off the bench. I've got Keldon Johnson, I've got Sohan, I've got a bunch of centers. I don't know how it all mixes and matches and you know, as much as we are sometimes guilty of fetishizing shooting and gravity and like oh the because, because a lot of those great shooters, when the going gets tough in the playoffs, they can't get their shots in the regular season. Like if you don't have shooting, it just doesn't work as well as the names on the back of the jersey suggested should work. I'm still not off my hammer the spurs over yet, but it's something that I wanted to look deeper into. Why you do, are you, are you starting to get worried?
- [85:15]
B
Just worried a little bit about the shooting in this in terms of what it does to the spacing and how it, you know, impacts the because I kind of been looking more and more at the potential of the Fox Wemby pick and roll and, and what that would open up and, and things like that. But again, it does clog the paint. It does. I, I, if I'm coaching against them, I'm packing in the paint and just all right, daring you guys to shoot from deep and that's just one of those things. Again, I think the end the long run, I think the defense will paper over a lot of that stuff. I think they're going to be so good defensively especially with Wemby on the floor like I think it'll make up for that stuff. It'll be tough to score against them but just something I'm keeping an eye on and was going to ask you about.
- [85:59]
A
Harper is a rookie who handles the ball. Carter Bryant looked incredible on defense in summer league and like wildly green on offense which again rookie so hands a strange player but he can't shoot. Kelton Johnson likes to shoot is just okay at will be you're right that that's what coaches are going to do. And Vesel I love, I love his game. I love his jumper. I think he's taken some steps as a finisher at the basket. He, he's also in and out of the lineup and if they lose him and he's really there like a plus a a plus level shooter like that's a huge, huge blow. So that'll be interesting. But yeah, one of my projects, not projects but one of the things I'm going to take an hour or whatever it's not going to take long to do in the coming days I want to go back and watch every Fox wembanyama pick and roll. I think they only played five games together so yeah, it won't take but I wanted something to see what did it, what did it look like, who was on the floor, what kind of passes did fox discover? What kind of angles did Wemby roll to pop to. I want to see all that because that may be the single most interesting two man game in the NBA this coming year in terms of what it could portend for the rest of the league if it clicks. Mota kill. Where can we find you this week, next week, all weeks, promote yourself.
- [87:20]
B
All right, so for starters I'm still writing a bleach report. I have something dropping this week on bounce back players. So players, I think they're gonna be a bounce back. De' Aaron Fox is, is one of them as we kind of talked about and I just kind of want to let everybody know this season I'm going to be covering the NBA with offsides alongside some really fun creators like Jason Concepcion. You can find us on all the socials at Join offside. We're creating a new sports app around creators that's going to be a fun sort of way to watch get kind of a highlight league Zach. But not really. But for us to be able to give you quick videos, give you a rundown of what's going on in the NBA. Please come check us out. Go join at join offsides and then again, sign up for the app, the wait list for the app, because that's where you're going to be able to find all my videos that I'm going to be doing a whole bunch of videos this season.
- [88:16]
A
Well, again, I will close by saying the thing I always say about you, Mo, if you want to know how one team in this highlight league beat the other team in this highlight league, like what actually happened on the floor, whatever social platform you're talking about, follow Mo to kill Mo. We'll be hearing from you again soon on this podcast. I follow you all over the place. Thanks for your time, buddy.
- [88:36]
B
Thank you for having me.
- [88:39]
A
All right, that's it for today's edition of the Zach Lowe Show. We'll see you later this week. TBD on topics. But we'll be coming back later this week. NBA season coming up right around the corner. Thanks to Mo Daquil, thanks to Jesse, Victoria and Ceruti on production. We'll see you later this week on the Zach Lowe Show. Thank you for listening and or watching.