Nuggets SHOCK Warriors on Nikola Jokic buzzer beater, Steve Kerr on the hot seat? | Hoops Tonight

Nuggets SHOCK Warriors on Nikola Jokic buzzer beater, Steve Kerr on the hot seat? | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Friday everybody hope all of you guys are having an incredible week we have a jam-packed show for you today the Denver Nuggets come back from 18 down to beat the Warriors last night on a heave from

Nicole yic we’re going to break that game down from the perspective of both teams then we had a report this morning that Jonathan kaminga is very frustrated with Steve Kerr we’re going to talk about what that means for the Warriors then we’re going to do a deep dive on

The New Orleans Pelicans after getting their ass kicked by the Lakers in the inseason tournament they’re playing really good basketball ever since then so we’re going to break them down for a little bit then we have our latest edition of the MVP ranking something we haven’t done in a couple of weeks and

Then last but not least we have eight mailbag questions for the end of the show as well you guys know the show before we get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel it mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe

Button don’t forget about our podcast feeds wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight follow me on Twitter atore Jason LT so you guys don’t miss any show announcements or the film threads that I do I’m going to be talking about the late game run from the

Nuggets and the Warriors but we’re not going to go possession by possession through it I did that this morning every single possession of the comeback on both ends of the floor in detailed breakdown you can find that on my Twitter feed _ Jason LT and then don’t forget to keep dropping mailbag

Questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the week and the last but not least have have you guys ever had a really frustrating ticket experience I actually had one this summer I was trying to go to a uh um to a deaden company concert

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All right let’s talk some basketball so you know one of the things we’ve talked about this season is I’ve never really been concerned about Denver no matter what happens you know they haven’t had the most impressive regular season so far to this point I think after last

Night they’re still like 9 and 11 against teams that are 500 or better that’s it I’ve never been worried because I think they’re the best halfcourt team in the league in my opinion what does that mean when the game slows down when when the transition opportunities are few and far between

It’s which team can execute in a Slowdown halfcourt environment and so I made a thread this morning of every single play that took place from when the warriors were up 18 with 6 and a half minutes left or so to uh Nicole jokic’s game winner and in that thread

There’s a really detailed breakdown of the specifics of what I’m about to talk about but the short version is on one end of the floor the Nuggets knew exactly what they wanted to do on offense and then on the other end of the floor the Warriors had no idea what what

They wanted to do they started by trying to post up Andrew Wiggins on Jamal Murray and nle joic was just completely ignoring cavon Looney camping in the lane making it so that Wiggins could not make an aggressive move and then off the ball the Nuggets were doing what a lot

Of teams have done to the Warriors since the Lakers kind of demonstrated it in the playoffs last year and that’s top locking the off ball actions meaning on this particular play that I’m referencing and I have a video clip of it in the thread Wiggins has the ball on

The post yoa just helping in the paint um Jamal Murray is guarding Andrew Wiggins and cavon Looney goes over to set a a screen for either Brandon psky or Stephen Curry to come flying off of that action towards the basketball to try to get open Casey P’s on one side of

The screen and Aaron Gordon’s on the other side and they’re both just denying the screen they’re like if you run this way you’re just going to run right into and Andrew Wiggins or excuse me uh uh kcp and Aaron Gordon were prepared to switch they were they had it all set up

So that kcp would take the first guy off the screen and it just shut down the action and they didn’t know what to do right they tried ball screens but Denver was just chasing Steph over the top with cavius Callo Pope and joic was just

Doing his best to trap as best as he could with how fast Steph is right but they just ignored Andrew Wiggins on the weak side and they covered Looney with that low man and nothing was open and they tried to make the pass to Wiggins once Steph made a really nice crosscourt

Pass but Wiggins is shooting 31% on catch and shoot threes this year not a very good shot right then Steve Kerr tries a lineup change he brings in Chris Paul he brings in Dario sarich he brings in tra Trace Jackson Davis they start ducking under every single Chris Paul

Ball screen so Chris Paul can’t get into the paint that shuts down that action they put Aaron Gordon on Dario sarich so they’d switch the Steph sarch pick and roll that put them in a situation where Steph couldn’t get downhill on that action right and then with Trace Jackson

Davis they could do the same thing that they were doing with Looney which is just have the bracket with Casey p and Nicole yic and just show help on the roll as a matter of fact there was one time that they got a good shot down the

Entire stretch of this game and what they did is they ran a sarich ball screen to get Gordon switched on to Steph then they brought Trace Jackson Davis and Nicole yic into the action then when they bracketed Steph hit Trace Jackson Davis and now Denver’s two biggest players are out at the

Three-point line and Trace Jackson Davis got a left-handed layup at the basket that was an easy shot because Denver’s smaller players were on the backline that was the one good shot they got in the entire 6 and 1 half minute stretch and what was crazy is they had three

Additional possessions after that play where Trace Jackson Davis got the layup and they never went back to that same sequence the G the screen to get gouron onto Steph and then the ball screen involving Nicole jokic’s guy they Steph tried attacking case KP in ISO that

Didn’t work he kind of got downhill but kcp defended it well and he missed a scoop shot off the glass they got one high percentage shot total in 6 and a half minutes with one of the very best offensive players of all time and certainly the best offensive player of

His era on the floor and that it was just a great example of some of the Personnel limitations that the Warriors have on the table which we’ll talk about more here in just a minute but credit to Denver’s defense first of all uh cavius C Pope and Aaron Gordon had three or

Four ISO stops on Steph Curry during that stretch the rest of the guys executed their scheme to Perfection I talked about the top locking of the shooters to shut down some of their split cut stuff the ducking under ball screens like kavus cwell Pope or excuse

Me on Chris Paul that was actually Jamal Murray doing that uh tagging and rotating on the weak side even Jamal Murray who is a lesser defensive player had some big contributions down the stretch on the defensive glass had two massive contested rebounds over that stretch but the main reason is as much

As I I do want to credit Denver and I’m not trying to undercut that in any sense but you saw a lot of the Personnel shortcomings with golden state on full display right like whether it was Looney and Wiggins or it was Trace Jackson Davis and Chris Paul no matter what

Chris Paul no matter what Golden State went with down the stretch they had two non-scoring threats on the floor and that just made it so that Denver could throw the kitchen sink at Steph without reprisal and it’s a big it’s the biggest latest example of why Golden State desperately needs another highlevel

Offensive player to put in those final groupings I also disagree with the lineup Steve Curry used down the stretch but we’ll get to that here in a few minutes on the other end Denver just continually spammed their pet actions and got great shots on every single possession steady dose of two-man game

With joic and Murray and they they like it would be like the first time they ran it during the run joic just gets a sweet little hook shot that he makes all the time right second time Looney gets a little more physical with him he smokes that little shot but Aaron Gordon gets

An offensive rebound that’s key a key little story line here down the stretch is like even when they did get a stop on the Murray yic postup or or excuse me the Murray yic two-man game Aaron Gordon would just be there to clean it up on the back end because he had Klay

Thompson on him and it’s just too much of a of a physical disadvantage there right they ran a bunch of double drag sets down the stretch now remember the double drags where they set two ball screens typically one guy rolls and one guy pops uh to the three-point line on

The first one like Steph Curry went like he was going to Hedge Way on the outside so Jamal split after the first screen and got downhill made a kick out pass to pton Watson who knocked down a corner three by the way shout out pton Watson who’s been getting a lot of

Opportunities at the end of games because he’s a really good defensive player and he’s knocking down shots he’s actually shooting 38% on Corner threes this year and then they ran another double drag set where Steph didn’t hedge this time he actually switched out onto Jamal Murray and they ended up getting

The ball to joic on the roll who ended up hitting uh Aaron Gordon for a lob dunk they just managed to get good shots every single time down the floor even if they did rotate out of the the the action that Denver was running they

Could just throw the ball to joic in the post on the key possession late in the game the one that tied the game Chris Paul actually shut down the two-man game with a really smart stunt in rotation to take away the corner three from pton Watson and they just threw the ball to

Niic in the post who just calmly worked for an easy shot in the Lane to score over Dario sarage so it was like the actions were getting great shots even when they stopped the actions they just go to joic in the post even if joic missed the shot in the post Aaron Gordon

Was there to clean up the mess really the one shot during that stretch where you’re like eh that was lucky or not a you know not necessarily great offense was there was a strongside help play from Klay Thompson where Aaron Gordon knocked down a corner three and Aaron

Gordon’s shooting like 26% on Corner threes this year so you could say that was somewhat lucky but outside of that it was just a boatload of high quality shots for Denver and then one highquality shot for Golden State which was the trace Jackson Davis slip of the

Ball screen which they never went back to the rest of the game and even then chances are even if they just did it a second time Denver probably make some sort of adjustment simply put they probably just have Aaron Gordon run a variation of a drop instead of switching

And then they don’t end up with Aaron Gordon on Steph right so like it just was a a Complete Personnel mismatch on both ends of the floor not just just the physicality not just the rebound and the uh rebounding and what they’re capable of doing in terms of defensive rotations

But also an offensive Personnel you know there there was a play where joic is going to work on on cavon Looney and Brandon pmy just can’t help because it’s Michael Porter Jr that’s on the strong side and he just can’t help because he’s leaving too good of a shooter open there

Was even a play where Michael Porter Jr missed a wideopen wing three it was just a complete in total Personnel mismatch and on the Denver front this remains the main reason why I think Denver is Comfortably the championship favorite to this point even more so than I’ve been

Saying earlier I’ve been saying I think Denver is clearly and discernably better now I think there’re starting to be a little bit of a gap they are by far the best halfcourt execution team and it’s like legitimately on both ends of the floor now yeah they can generate quality

Shots every time down but they are a really good defensive team this year first of all they have two outstanding individual defenders in Aaron Gordon and cavius coo Pope talked earlier about how they had like I think they got at least three ISO stops on Steph Curry kcp got

One and then Aaron Gordon got two but then everybody else just does their job and now they even have the ability to go to pton Watson who’s shot the ball well enough to close games for them and just bring another outstanding athlete onto the court so at this point to put it

Simply I’ve seen enough to say that if Denver is healthy I’d be genuinely surprised if they didn’t win the title this year I think they’re just a better version of the team that ran through everyone last year only an injury to a starter would crack the door enough in my opinion for

Someone else to get through so shout out to Denver you know I was literally thinking this as I was watching the game last night um I only watched the very end of it live I watched the rest of it this morning but I was actually uh

Watching Game of Thrones with my wife or do going through a rewatch just for fun and I uh I checked the score in the game and I’m like holy the nuggets are coming back so I pull my phone out at 1271 25 and I watched that final bucket

Against sarich in the post and then the the Steph turnover and then the uh the yic game winner and by the way the yic game winner was just completely absurd the dude it it it’s unbelievable what this guy is doing he’s missed five shots in the last four games it’s insane he’s

Comfortably he’s got a strangle hold on the best player in the world title right now but I was thinking as I was watching the get the end of that game on my phone I’m like every once in a while in the NBA there a special team comes around like a

Truly special team and you know the last one felt like the Warriors I think they’ have been really good teams since then I’m not trying to undercut that but like a truly special team where you just know that they’re going to be a level above everybody for a little while and that’s

What Denver feels like to me it feels like they’re the next in that long line of of of truly special teams if it was like the Spurs in the heat in the early 2000s and it was the Warriors in the late 2000s and you know uh uh like I

Think I think we’re flowing into now this is the Denver era they are the the truly special team of this era on the Golden State front so we get this report coming out uh uh from sham Shania this morning basic basically Jonathan kaminga just saying that he’s completely lost trust

In in Steve Kerr and his ability to help him reach his potential and basically what happens is kaming ends up sitting um the majority of the end of the game when he was supposed to come back in late Kerr Kerr’s excuse was basically like Andrew Wiggins was playing well and

Kaminga was sitting too long so I didn’t want to go back to him but that doesn’t really make sense considering with like three minutes left he made a line shift of of of Chris Paul and Trace Jackson Davis and dariio arich so like I I don’t really necessarily agree with that

Reasoning but here’s the thing Jonathan kaminga handling that stuff in the Press not a not a good look and it’s not the first time he’s done it this year but he does have a point Kerr was literally throwing stuff at the wall at the end of

That game and like kaminga just has to be one of the things he throws at the wall there especially against a team as big as Denver that’s killing you and helping recover situations and on the offensive glass now I personally would have gone with Stephen Clay with Wiggins

And kaminga and then Dario sarage maybe you if Moody was in the rotation but Moody’s out of the rotation maybe you can go with Moody and place of of Wiggins there but like I would have gone with those guys I I think it would have just given you a much better chance of

Hanging defensively you were already having all sorts of offensive limitations now Steve cerr is on the record and he talked about this last night he doesn’t think the two of those guys fit well together he said it doesn’t look good on tape and it doesn’t look good in the numbers and there are

Some numbers that backed it up there there here’s my concern though like he’s right they are a little bit redundant and they do need a perfect Trio of players around them to be like really really good but that doesn’t mean anything when the lineups he’s throwing out there are also

Redundant and also lacking in key areas it’s not like he had a clearly defined lineup that made perfect sense that didn’t include kaminga he was throwing at the wall and kaminga wasn’t among the pile of he was throwing at the wall if that makes sense right and those are really aggressive words

But I’m trying to make a point um the bottom line is in my opinion if you’re going to be bad you need to be bad with kaminga on the floor like because in terms of upside he has some of the high upside on the team he was playing great

That game having success attacking Jamal Murray in the post like I don’t understand how that wasn’t one of the options that he went to down the stretch of the game so even though I disagree uh with with handling that sort of thing in the Press Jonathan kaminga has a point

But like it really to me shines a light on the bigger issue here it’s time it’s time for Golden State to pick a direction and go already is Steve Kerr a bad coach no I I genuinely believe he’s one of the best coaches in the league

For a good veteran team that has an opportunity to win the title he’s very very good with the tact tactical adjustments in playoff series and he can manage the EB and flow of of that playoff path right but it’s clear that philosophically he hates playing young players that aren’t excellent in the

Dirty Work areas right or at least in terms of their reputation like I think it’s interesting that he continually trusts Trace Jackson Davis and Brandon pm but not Moses Moody and Jonathan kaminga and it’s because these guys have the like the higher end potential I I think

Pmsk is a really good 2A player but those two guys have like the really highend potential on offense but like the thing at too is like they can defend on the perimeters to too he’s mainly concerned about their decision making process and kerr gets so paranoid about

Guys making bad decisions that he gets these guys really short leashes but like he doesn’t have to worry about Trace Jackson Davis making a bad decisions because he’s screening and rolling to the rim but I would argue that he made it like here’s the thing though like

Trace Jackson Davis made a key defensive mistake at the end of the game overh helping on a yic role that gave up a Aaron Gordon dunk and even though that’s not throwing a bad pass or taking a bad shot it is still a decision-making mistake that led to two points for the

Other team so I don’t even necessarily buy that as a reason but I’m just trying to say like I think Kerr’s philosophy here is these guys are loose cannons I can’t trust them to do their job these so I’m going to go with the veterans and

I’m going to go with the young players that he trusts to do their job and so it’s it’s clear that as long as Kerr is at the helm of this thing kaming is not going to get consistent opportunity Moody’s not going to get consistent opportunity unless there’s some sort of

Directive from on high that he’s willing to listen to maybe that’ll happen here down the stretch I mean that’s what they need to happen at least until the deadline but here’s the reality you need to do one of two things you either need to fire Steve cerr rebuild around the

Young players and move on to a new era because Steve cerr is not the right coach for a young rebuilding team he’s not good with young players right but he’s the perfect coach for a a soft rebuild around Steph clay and Draymond not to mention Steph and clay in

Particular would probably Mutiny if you fired Steve Kerr if they were still on the roster right so do one or the other make up your mind it’s the middle ground which is getting you into trouble constantly over the last couple of years so like trade Jonathan kaminga trade Moses Moody great draft compensation

Bring back a SE yakum or a marinin or a Jeremy Grant and and run at it again with Stephen Clay and Draymond and those guys in Andrew Wiggins go and Steve Kerr is the perfect guy for that group you’ll never have a Jonathan kaminga report to

The Press again after that but if you don’t believe in that then yeah fire Steve Kerr and go this way there’s been so much talk about uh Steve Kerr being a bad coach he’s not a bad coach he’s coaching a bad team right now that’s what’s happening and they’re a bad team

In large part because one of their most important players has been suspended there one of their other most important players in Andrew Wiggins is just playing really bad basketball by his standards and what he’s used to right and there’s a a a a a philosophical Schism taking place between the young

Players in their development and what’s best for the team in the short term and like I would argue playing the young players is actually also better for the team in the short term until the trades are made but Steve kerf feels differently and so in this in between

Stretch before they trade the young guys and at up until the stretch where or from now up until the stretch where they uh get something back at the trade deadline that Gap there Steve cerr is the bad coach for this group not because he is a bad coach he’s just not the

Right coach for this specific Personnel Dynamic and that’s what you’re seeing manifesting there but like at the end of the day and and maybe they do have to wait till the deadline because that’s the best way to drive the price up right cuz people just get a little bit more

Desperate when we get to February right but if that’s the case you either need a directive from on high like I said that say hey stop it with the kaminga get him out there on the floor right or Warriors fans need to be prepared for a really ugly stretch here up until the

Deadline which is not the end of the world because once again once you get to the deadline that we’ve seen just like with the Lakers last year you can make a run get up to that seven seed and try to make some noise in the playoffs and you

Know if if if golden state gets to that point and they have an OKC or they have a Minnesota in the first round like Golden State’s going to go into that series thinking they can win especially if they bring back a high caliber player at the deadline right so like not All Is

Lost but they need to make a decision and before that decision it’s either going to look really bad or there needs to be some sort of flexing of muscles in the front office or the ownership group to try to get Steve Kerr to start playing these young guys all I want for

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Basketball only on draftking Sportsbook with code Hoops the crown is yours all right let’s move on to the New Orleans Pelicans so I was watching pel’s wolves this morning and uh it was a really interesting game because close early but then the uh the Pelicans just completely dominated in the second quarter CJ

McCollin and Brandon Ingram are both absolutely cooking and pick and roll right now so those guys were going off they were defending extremely well they had Anthony Edwards frustrated and complaining at the refs Carl Anthony towns was taking one leg fadeaways the Minnesota’s got some Personnel shortcomings too when it comes to off

Ball shooting which has been a big problem in their half court offense but they ended up running away with the win as a matter of fact the Pelicans held the Wolves under 25 points or 25 points or fewer in each of the first three quarters as they ran away it was

Actually one of the more impressive wins of the season when you figure it was on the road in Minnesota so I figured it was time to check on the pels because since getting their ass kicked in the inseason tournament game against the Lakers they are N9 and3 and have Avenged

That loss to the Lakers they are sixth in offense second in defense second in net rating and second in rebounding percentage and I want to start on the defensive end of the floor and really just comes down to them being excellent in three key phases they’re excellent at

The point of attack they’re excellent in backside rotation and they’re excellent on the defensive glass and when I say backside rotation that’s help that’s defensive rebounding that’s rotating when the ball uh when the defense is compromised and you’re kind of in like a uh kind of a chaos situation they have

Athletes and they communicate really well Brandon Ingram in particular has been so so good as a helps side Defender this year I think he’s having one of his better defensive seasons of his career but specifically what’s interesting to me about it is Jonas Valen chunis is not

A very good defensive player and it kind of reminds me of Denver in the sense that like what they have bracketed around him with the point of attack and their backside rotations kind of makes the whole thing work especially when you factor in that they’re cleaning up the

Glass and again it comes down to some of that backside athleticism too you know when we look at Denver guys like Michael Porter Jr and pton Watson in addition to Aaron Gordon as a low man go a long way towards making that whole thing work and there’s just always so much length and

Athleticism on the floor for the Pelicans and I think it’s a the primary driving force between their uh behind their defensive foundation on the offensive end of the floor over this 12-game span CJ McCollum Zan Williamson and Brandon Ingram are all averaging over 20 points per game very efficiently

Zion’s up over 60% from the field um thanks to those three guys in particular the Pelicans have been the sixth most productive isolation attack in the Le in the league Brandon Ingram in particular getting 1.14 points per isolation possession including passes there are 26 players in the league that have

Attempted at least 100 Brandon ingrams at number six right now still love his combination of over-the-top shot making and he’s always been one of the better Playmakers at his position group I talked in the game breakdown a little bit about their pick and roll attack in the second quarter and both CJ and

Brandon Ingram have been excellent pick and role players all season Brandon Ingram’s at 1.05 points per possession s mccollum’s at 1.03 it’s the most common Play Type in the NBA so pretty much anything over one is good uh there are 67 players in the league to run at

Least 100 Brandon Ingram and CJ are 24th and 27th respectively Trey Murphy is shooting 45% from three on six attempts per game during this 12-game stretch then I want to shout out Jonas valunas because like obviously we’ve talked some about his some about his defensive limitations but he’s having an awesome

Offensive season he’s been one of the best postup players in the league 1.13 points per possession including passes sixth out of 23 players to attempt at least 100 post-ups to this point and then he’s become a super important part of the pel’s pick and roll attack he’s

Got a really good you know uh pick and pop and pocket pass uh chemistry with Brandon Ingram as a matter of fact Jonas malan chunis is converting ROM man possessions at 1.38 points per possession which is outstanding that is second in the NBA among players to attempt at least 7

There’s 20 players that qualify and he ranks second and then the last guy I wanted to shout out was Jose Alvaro Alvarado excuse me just such a useful role player off the ball in particular is an absolute Menace at the point of attack 2.3 steals per 36

Minutes so far this season he’s a really aggressive up underneath players he’s got a low center of gravity slides his feet well Beats players to spots he disrupts the basketball still getting people with that sneak attack but but he’s also a very good offensive player off the ball he converts spot up

Possessions at 1.09 points per possession and is shooting 62% in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers and you can see it on the scoreboard the Pelicans are 13 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor versus off which is the second best mark on the team behind Trey

Murphy so shout out to the New Orleans Pelicans let’s see if they can keep up this level of Play Over the rest of the season now let’s move on to our MVP rankings so we have a a couple of guys dropping off this week specifically Steph Curry and Jaylen Brunson between

The two of those guys they have lost eight games since our last edition of power rank or of uh MVP rankings so they’re dropping off the list for now number 10 and remember my uh my MVP rankings like if I was an MVP voter I’d

Feel different I I just want to use my MVP rankings as a means with which to basically just say who’s been the best regular season player this year that that is the main purpose of my MVP rankings and for what it’s worth that’s the way a lot of Voters see it too so

We’ll see if it ends up panning out at the end of the year but I just wanted to I know we’ve done them a few times but I wanted to just give that quick little uh briefer uh briefing number 10 dearen Fox his scoring and efficiency have taken a

Little dip since our last rankings and the Kings have dropped some games um so he drops to 10 and he had a nightmare game against the Orlando Magic the other night although he did hit a couple of big shots in double overtime but he’s been one of the best volume pull-up

Shooters in the League this year which I wanted to shout out really quick he’s getting 1.1 points per pull-up jump shot there are 23 players in the league that have attempted at least 200 and he ranks Third only Tyrese Alberton and Trey Young have been better so an excellent

Pull-up shooting season for uh dearn Fox and just a huge deal when you factor in the fact that he’s already one of the best downhill athletes in the league and already a great mid-range scorer as excellent floater great Rim finisher and great passer number nine Anthony Edwards He’s averaging 34 points four rebounds

And five assists since our last MVP rankings on 40% from three by the way best player on the best team in the Western Conference even if it is largely on the strength of the team’s defense I do want to shout him out though because he’s been one of the best pick and roll

Ball handlers in the League this year he’s getting 1.1 points per pick and roll including passes sixth out of 48 players to run at least 250 he’s got really good chemistry with uh goar on the role this year number eight Jason Tatum even though I get annoyed with his

Offensive approach and even though he’s not as efficient as some of his peers around the league the Celtics are 4- one since our last rankings and Tatum is averaging 28 points eight rebounds and six assists so he’ll hold on to the eighth spot for now number seven another

One of the new guys on our list kawhai Leonard most folks don’t know this but kawhai is having the most efficient scoring season of his career he’s over 63% true shooting for the first time time ever he’s getting 1.22 points per ISO which is outrageous only his teammate James Harden and Tyrese

Halberton have been more efficient um on volume I think it’s like a minimum 100 possessions if I remember correctly he’s also making 48% of his catch and shoot jump shots getting 1 Point uh 1.34 points per shot the Clippers are 15 points per 100 possessions better with kawhai on the

Floor versus off and the Clippers are now up to fourth in the Western Conference and riding another four game winning streak so he could climb much higher on this list if he stays healthy throughout the rest of the season number six Giannis and tenmo Giannis is still

An absolute Wrecking Ball even if Victor wanyama that play where he blocked him at The Rim uh last night was one of the craziest basketball plays I’ve ever seen and Victor just keeps doing stuff like that right uh but despite that since our last rankings 32 points 13 rebounds

Seven assists on 63% field goals and 36% from three since our last rankings he hit two huge threes against the Spurs last night in crunch time but the Bucks have dropped three games in the last two weeks including back-to-back out classing at the hands of the Indiana

Pacers so Giannis is going to drop to sixth for now number five Luca donic our leading scorer since our last rankings 38 points per game to go with eight rebounds and 10 assists per game 50% from the field and 41% from three he’s also led the

Mavs to a 4-2 record in that span so he moves up to five this week number four Tyres Alberton five straight wins all against good teams including back-to-back wins against the Bucks who you know have some issues at the point of attack as we’ve broken down on this

Show uh he resoundingly outplayed Damen Lillard in both games I’m telling you this is a theme I’ve seen around the League this year too these young guys are really starting to outplay some of the veterans around the league and it’s getting to that point where it might be

A Changing of the Guard of sorts uh in that five-game stretch 27 points five rebounds and 15 assists per game 51% from the field 39% from three 88% from the foul line in 1.4 turnovers a game to go with 15 assists as a matter of fact

In terms of pure value in terms of who is doing the most with the least I actually would put Tyre Salton at number one but it’s team success that’s keeping him down to number four for now but I don’t think anybody’s done more with less this year than tyres

Alberton Nicole yic he only missed five shots over his last four games hit the nasty game winner over cavon Looney last night he’s a different candidate than some of the other guys on this list cuz he’s not very aggressive as a scorer this season with the team healthy hasn’t

Attempted 20 shots in a game a single time over the last seven games but he’s still dominating and the nuggets are rolling he’s up to number three number two Shay gilis Alexander the only guy to beat joic in the last month or so and he did it twice including with a gamewinner

Here’s a crazy set of Shay stats for you 1.1 points per pick and roll including passes 1.2 points per ISO including passes 1.31 points per postup including passes so he’s basically getting almost 1.2 points for any self-created possession in the half court he’s become one of the

Top five shot creators in the league I’m very very excited to watch him play meaningful playoff basketball this year last but not least number one Joe lmbi he’s only played in two games since our last rankings but he’s averaging 3113 and 10 assists yes 10 assists per game

You heard that correctly over his last two games averaging five turnovers game over that span but we can’t uh deny anymore that Joel embiid is taking a leap as a passer and that’s a very very encouraging thing for him as a postseason player I want to credit Nick

Nurse too for simplifying some of his reads this year he has the best combination of total MVP case which is like 2-a impact insane counting stats team success and specific value to his team success on this list so he’s at number one for for the time being all

Right let’s move on to our mailbag first question do you think that Tatum will continue to hunt difficult pull-up threes late in games or against favorable matchups and playoffs when it’s so clear that driving and kicking and hoping for the ball to come back to your hands for a high percentage shot is

A better option I don’t know if I’m just very accustomed to your show and your words but man it has become so obvious when he’s taking these contested difficult shots that don’t go in anyways in other words if it’s so obvious to us on TV why hasn’t B Boston adjusted that

Part out of his game yet or will we see it adjusted come playoffs so I I think the reality is is Jason Tatum is probably trusting his work here and like he probably just has a great amount of belief in that pull-up jump shot that

Doesn’t mean it’s a good shot but that I think is his reasoning behind taking it uh I do think the coaching staff could be a little bit more uh you know deliberate about trying to talk him out of taking those shots but at the end of

The day too like it’s a fine line between that and taking away a player’s confidence you want him to be confident taking those shots and like he has made him in the playf s at times like we saw him make him in game seven against the Philadelphia 76ers right that was a big

Part of his late game comeback there but we do have a really large sample size of him being largely inefficient with that shot and the reality is in my opinion he’s young still and eventually it will click for him as he learns to truly value every single possession at a

Higher level than he does now I just think it’s a matter of time most of these guys don’t figure this kind of stuff out until their late 20s early 30s right that’s why all the great Superstars you know don’t win until they’re 26 27 years old right so like I

Just think it’s only a matter of time he just needs to figure out you know what the best way to attack every individual possession is for him next question do you have any interest or capacity within the framework of the show to mix in some WNBA coverage Andor analysis it could

Fit in nicely as some NBA offseason opportunities for your uh for Content that wouldn’t need to replace your NBA offseason coverage and opport opportunities for rest and relaxation for you but maybe some coverage that would give you the chance to address interesting observations about the basketball and Personnel in that

League there’s certainly other shows out there that are exclusively covering the WNBA but I’d certainly be interested in hearing your perspective on WNBA basketball and have some fun hearing you talk shop about some of my favorite players and teams in that League thanks for all you do and keep up the great

Work so um here’s the thing I it’s not just the WNBA there’s a lot of sports out there that I don’t watch as much as I’d like like like I’m a huge NFL fan and I you know I went into this season I I ended up paying for the uh the all 22

Package because I wanted to kind of learn more about the schematics of football just because I’ve always been a fan of the game and then the season starts and I’m so busy with my job I just it just falls on the Wayside I barely use that package so I might as

Well have ripped up $70 and I’ve haven’t followed the NFL very closely I’m a big college football fan I’m a big uh college basketball fan huge U OFA basketball fan we have a really good team this year I’ve only watched like four or five of the games and it’s just

Because like this job is so demanding from the standpoint of like think about all the things on this show that we still kind of need to hit like Trey young hooping his ass off would like to talk about it at some point right like the Cavs despite being

Without Evan Moy and Darius Garland have been kind of feisty they’re worth talking about like there I could go on and on there there are so many NBA topics we I’d love to do a rookie rankings at some point right and like talk about Victor wanyama and Scoot

Henderson and the Thompson Twins I’d love to do all that stuff but the reality is is like it’s it’s so difficult to find time for all of these things that if I have an extra hour like I’m going to be like this morning I’ll be like you know I need to hit the

Pelicans they’re hooping I need to get to the Pelicans and so I I crammed in time today to watch Pelicans wolves and to do a deep dive into the numbers and like if I have time I direct it towards the NBA and so even though I’m a huge

Basketball fan who loves loves watching women’s basketball specifically I had a great time watching the women’s tournament last year I thought Caitlyn Clark was one of the most entertaining you know a television phenomena that I’ve seen in the last couple of years and what she did in the tournament last

Year I’d love to do that it’s just when I have extra time I devote it towards the NBA because I just want to keep doing a better job of this and like I don’t think there a version of it where I could cover other things and still do

This as well I it would it would have to be part of some larger shift to just covering All Sports in a lesser capacity and right now I first of all I’m not even sure I ever want to do that I love the NBA it’s it’s it’s like you know the

Second most thing important thing in the world to me to my to my family and friends right so like I I uh uh for for me right now like I I just don’t see it in the cards that’s not to say never but for right now I just don’t see a

Universe where I start covering the WNBA just simply from the standpoint of how much time I have next question you move the Thunder into your Contender tier are there any moves that could make their pool of assets that moves them into your Denver Boston tier right now and if so would

You make that move and wait and see what happens this playoffs before changing anything they’re young but rookie contracts will end and they might not be able to retain all the key guys so uh again I’ve said this before on the show but an upgrade at that four spot is what

Would move them into the contender tier for me I agree from the standpoint of like they’re not being urgency I don’t think they win the title this year anyway just simply from the standpoint of like you need experience like I always talk about Battle Scars like you need to be scarred

By losing in the playoffs so many times that you suddenly break through that there’s nobody that gets to cheat that process the Warriors lost in 2013 and lost in 2014 right like it you you you suffer on the way to that point it’s a it’s a very very important part of that

Process the Nuggets lost to the Lakers in the 2020 bubble right then they lost in 2021 then they lost in 2022 when they were injured it’s like it’s all part of that process and you get so terrified of losing that you start to make these crazy extra efforts I remember in the

2012 NBA finals that was a big storyline like Shane Bader is like making these crazy efforts for extra rebounds cuz he’s been in the league for a decade and he just wants to win so bad right and it’s like as good it’s not to say that there’s the young players aren’t

Competitive it’s just it’s hard to it’s hard to explain other than to just say there is another level to this and as good as the Thunder have been the other level is winning in April May and June and and that that that is not something that teams pick up overnight it it takes

Time and so from that standpoint you wait to to make that Allin move for the right player now if the right players available at this deadline get them now because the more time you have to build that chemistry the better might as well build those play that playoff Scar

Tissue this season right but if the right guy is not available this deadline you can be patient because I don’t see this year ending in a championship for the Thunder I have to include them just by virtue of their overall talent in my list of contenders but I would be

Shocked if they won the title just based on everything we’ve learned from NBA history um next question and this is less of a question just a comment I got like four Celtics fans saying this in the comments definitely a worthy game to talk about but just to be clear that’s seven for

Seven on Celtics videos immediately following a loss let’s try to match that amount with videos after they win if that’s not too much to ask lots of Celtics fans said this uh to be clear I pick the show uh the the kind of the layout of the show which games I’m going

To cover in advance so like when I covered the Celtics I planned on covering them before the game if they I haven’t looked back to see I don’t I don’t agree with that stat because I literally covered the Celtics beating the Lakers on Christmas day so that’s

Just it’s at least some amount of inaccurate um that said like like I have no Vendetta against the Celtics I would pick them to win a playoff series against everybody in the league except for Denver and I’d give them a chance to beat Denver um we’ve talked one of the

Reasons why we don’t talk as much about them on this show as some of the other teams is they have a very clear style that they play and it doesn’t change they’re not a team in turmoil they’re not a team trying to figure out how they

Want to play they’re not a team that has major rotation concerns and so they’re not a team that like has as much like debate surrounding them other than can they get the job done is Tatum capable enough of being that guy which I think is something we’ve covered in detail on

This show but the reality is is like I’ve picked them in a lot of big high leverage games and they’ve lost a lot of those big high Leverage games which has a lot to do with some of my concerns surrounding the Celtics and what their potential is in the big picture but

Here’s the thing I’m going to keep picking Celtics games based on major matchups throughout the season that we’re going to cover and if the Celtics win that we’re we’re going to cover them as if they won right so like it’s it’s not any sort of uh uh of you know uh

Cherry picking Celtics losses this is predetermined stuff here for the layout of the show next question the Warriors have experienced lackluster performance from Klay Thompson cavon Looney Andrew Wiggins seems unusual for this group of historically consistent players to be struggling at the same time it seems

Like their issues are more than on the court what is the likelihood that the chemistry and the buyin from their core is broken and if this continues as Steve Kerr’s job and Jeopardy so I’m not going to talk about Steve Kerr’s job because we talked about that in the Warriors

Segment earlier today but here’s the thing to talk about each of those individual players Klay Thompson’s just getting a little bit older that’s all that is cavon Looney is a big part of it is scheme I think as the overall offensive Talent on the floor is dipped

Having Kavon Looney out there has become a bigger problem than back when Andrew Wiggins was playing really well and back when Klay Thompson was playing really well right so as the offensive Talent is dipped uh cavon Looney’s offensive shortcomings have kind of risen to the

Table and that was a big issue down the stretch last night Andrew Wiggins your guess is as good as mine man I don’t know what happened to him he’s just not the same guy and I I wish I could give you some sort of explanation but I I I don’t know what

To say the dude he’s not shooting well he’s not defending as well he’s not making decisions as well he’s just not the same player and that is a really unfortunate circumstance for the Warriors because it’s changed the you know the trajectory of that team over the course of the last couple of

Years next question please tell us what shoes you wear while hooping would’ love to know what your favorites have been throughout the years what you’re currently wearing and how your play style affects your preference thanks for putting out such great content we don’t deserve it well disagree with that last

Part although I do sincerely appreciate appreciate the support and the kind words um basketball shoes when I was younger I played in Kobes a lot um played in hyperfuses when I was in college that was my go-to I wore Hyperfuse Lowe’s my uh my second year in college that was one of my

Favorite shoes that I played in uh but a lot of Kobes after that post Kobe it’s been like I basically try to find whatever uh new shoe is performance space me I shouldn’t say performance Bas that fits my my foot in the way that I play best and it’s funny when I was

Younger I used to care so much about the what the shoes looked like and I’d find a pair that looked sick and I’d buy them right but like now I could care less all I care about is like does it feel good in my foot and does it feel good to hoop

In and so the last two that I’ve been because what I’ll do is like I’ll find a pair of shoes that I really like and then I’ll just buy as many of them as I can and just ride it out until that shoe doesn’t exist anymore so the previous

Shoe to the because right now I’m wearing the uncus very similar to Kobes I’m on my second pair of them one of the things for me is I like a lighter low top shoe kind of like a Kobe uh but the problem is I weigh 230 pounds and so I

Wear through them super fast because I play like a guard I play at on the perimeter and so they just break down really fast so I do go through shoes relatively quickly unfortunately but I like having that lighter shoe because I like to be quicker on my feet but the

Uncus have been my go-to shoe as of late but before that I went through five pairs of LeBron 19 lows which is crazy because I never was a LeBron guy uh I think his shoes are generally too heavy and and and kind of uncomfortable and the traction’s not great the never been

A huge fan of LeBron basketball shoes but the LeBron 19 lows were really really nice and I really liked those and I went through five sets of them so like I I’ll probably end up riding out the uncus for the next year or so and then

I’ll be on to the next one but I I the UNESCO kind of follow this Kobe Trend and so so I kind of have a feeling that that’s going to be my go-to basketball shoe for a little while and I know I’ve said this on the

Show before but I can’t even begin to describe how much better it’s been just being back out on the court because that injury Saga was just an absolute nightmare um I’m slow as I’m still it’s still going to take a couple of months for me to get to the point where

I can play at the level I was playing before but it just feels good to be back out there I just don’t get having the Lakers as a top five Contender when they clearly need the trade and not have Minnesota in there are not currently a theoretical team you’ve spoken often about theoretical

Basketball or or that simp uh you’ve spoken how theoretical basketball is simply that theoretical Lakers aren’t even guaranteed to be a top tier Contender with Contender with a good trade they’re certainly not top five at the moment and totally and got totally owned by the Wolves the other night so

Here’s the thing the Laker thing is Up For Debate so is the Wolves thing like they’re like Up For Debate topics and then they’re not up for debate topics like if you tried to sit here and tell me that you didn’t think Denver was a championship Contender I’d be like yeah

You’re just wrong about that like I don’t I don’t know what to tell you right uh but this stuff is Up For Debate and here’s the reality when I say theoretical basketball to me the wolves are the theoretical team because I haven’t seen them make a long playoff

Run I watched them last year be not good enough to beat Denver right but like I haven’t seen them against multiple matchups I haven’t seen them have to make multiple defensive adjustments or offensive adjustments against multiple opponents you have to win four series to get through I have personally watched

LeBron James and an Anthony Davis win six playoff series I just watched them last year beat the two- seed Memphis Grizzlies beat the defending Champion Golden State Warriors and then lose to the eventual Champion Denver Nuggets that’s not theoretical they have issues within the regular season that they need

To address they are not a theoretical basketball team I know exactly what they look like in the postseason that to me is exactly why I have the Wolves below them I I you should know this I’ve been working on adding things to the show to have more reverence for the regular

Season that’s kind of like what my power rankings are that’s kind of like what my MVP rankings are right like I want to do a better job of acknowledging the regular season accomplishments within the 82 but I am like it takes a lot to move me in a regular season like it just

Takes a lot because I value post season basketball is almost like a different sport it’s not really a different sport but it’s like such a higher level of basketball in terms of intensity and physicality and adjustments and and it like and experience suddenly comes to the table and Superstar Talent comes to

The table and all these different things and like the the problem with the Wolves is like I I I know Anthony Edwards is going to be really freaking good one day but like I don’t know when and their half court offense sucks it was a huge issue against the Pelicans when they got

Their ass kicked the other night like they have all these big red flags and they don’t have a playoff Foundation that gives me margin for error with them notice I haven’t taken the Warriors off of my Championship contenders why because I know what Steph clay and

Draymond can do in a playoff series when they have two other really good players on the floor with them and if they go out and they make a trade and they bring back a pascal cakam or a Lori marinin they’re going to be really damn good

Again and I know Steph Curry is one of the best playoff players in the league I to put it simply Steph’s a way better playoff player than Anthony Edwards in my opinion right now so that to me makes even Steph and the Warriors somewhat less theoretical than Minnesota I have

Minnesota higher than Golden State right now because golden state has major Personnel issues I actually think the Lakers who have Personnel issues have significantly better Personnel than the Golden State Warriors they’ve underachieved in a lot of ways we’ve talked about their coaching situation I think the Lakers are actually pretty

Close and that’s why I still have them at fourth in in my Championship rankings I don’t view them as theoretical because I’ve seen LeBron James and Anthony Davis and what they can do in a playoff series more importantly LeBron and AD look better than they did last year so to

Clarify theoretical basketball to me is more referring to the playoffs not the regular season like you are correct the Minnesota timber RS have been a much better regular season team than the Lakers but that to me is not the same as what I saw in the postseason last year

When I I just I think LeBron James and Anthony Davis are just a significantly more impactful playoff Duo than Anthony Edwards and Carl towns or Anthony Edwards and and Rudy goar however you want to look at it doesn’t mean the Wolves can’t win I

Just view them as more of a long shot as a result last question did you forget about the Clippers as contenders or do you think they aren’t contenders here’s the thing with the Clippers I’m really concerned about their front line size and and and a lot of their shot

Selection stuff the James Harden playoff stuff so for for me I I’m not saying I won’t put them on there as a matter of fact I expect that I probably will at some point this season I just want to see a couple more High leverage games uh

I want to see them in like a major nationally televised like on the road in Oklahoma City against the Thunder which I wanted to see the other day but Kawai was out but like I just want to see them get a couple of really big high leverage

Wins before I add them to the contender list at that point uh because there’s a lot theoretical with the with the Clippers as well unfortunately as it pertains to their front line all right guys that is all I have for today as always I sincerely appreciate your

Support I hope you guys have a good weekend and we will be back on Monday

Jason Timpf reacts to Nikola Jokic’s game winner as the Denver Nuggets staged a big comeback against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Is Steve Kerr wearing out his welcome as the Warriors head coach? Plus, Jason does a deep dive on Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans who have quietly crept up the Western Conference Standings, and gives his updated MVP Rankings.

Timeline:
00:00 Intro
02:44 Nuggets-Warriors
14:10 Is Steve Kerr on the hot seat?
21:52 Pelicans deep dive
27:26 MVP Rankings
33:57 – NBA Mailbag

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