# Colin Cowherd Podcast - Rockets BLOW OUT Warriors, Should Rockets Target Giannis? Can Luka Win A Title? Westbrook The “Tone Setter” For Nuggets

An episode of [The Colin Cowherd Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1551365571), 1 May 2025, 37 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4013d28e-5f67-4885-bff1-ae3300346830/7c6b7414-c290-49a0-841f-b2d0003625c3/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=e829cf60-fc06-4d61-8691-ae330034683e

Colin’s joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight” to break down all the NBA playoff action! They start with the bevy of blowouts we’ve seen so far, and why the NBA needs to reduce the early rounds from seven games to five (3:15). They debate whether the Rockets should target Giannis and what players they should be willing to part with in order to get him (7:45). They discuss why the Knicks have actually LOST ground to the Celtics (12:30), how Jason Tatum’s leap this season has improved the Celtics (16:30) and why Russell Westbrook has become the “tone setter” for the Denver Nuggets (26:30). Finally, they debate whether Luka Doncic can be a “championship player” despite his weakness on the defensive end of the floor (35:30). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd #HoopsTonight See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The volume, blending Vice's signature dynamic storytelling with the high
[0:07] Speaker 1: octane world of sports. Vice Sports brings an exciting and
[0:11] Speaker 1: diverse range of programming that goes beyond the game. From
[0:14] Speaker 1: action pack live events to gripping behind the scenes documentaries,
[0:17] Speaker 1: to hard hitting investigative pieces and in depth profiles of athletes, coaches, teams.
[0:23] Speaker 1: Vice Sports captures the raw energy, drama, and passion that
[0:26] Speaker 1: makes sports truly unforgettable. Catch live events and other exclusive
[0:30] Speaker 1: sports programs only on Vice TV. Go to vicetv dot
[0:35] Speaker 1: com to find your cable channel. Well, usually when we
[0:44] Speaker 1: do instant reactions, we have something to urgently react to.
[0:48] Speaker 1: But I knew the Warriors were in a little trouble
[0:51] Speaker 1: when mid second quarter Butler and Curry hadn't scored. But
[0:56] Speaker 1: you know, this is a bigger point, Jason, is that
[1:00] Speaker 1: I've been on this for years. The quality of college
[1:03] Speaker 1: basketball is not very good. I mean the national champion,
[1:06] Speaker 1: Like you watch Florida play a very good college basketball team,
[1:09] Speaker 1: they would have seven or eight straight possessions that they
[1:12] Speaker 1: were wasted possessions they didn't run a play. College basketball
[1:15] Speaker 1: offensively is a tough watch. That's why almost every good
[1:19] Speaker 1: college basketball program lives on defense. I mean Saint John's, Florida, Houston,
[1:25] Speaker 1: Gonzaga is the rare. We're actually better on offense annually
[1:29] Speaker 1: than defense, and they do it because they have a
[1:31] Speaker 1: great coach and a great system. But you watch it
[1:35] Speaker 1: and the ratings are good because of urgency. The NBA
[1:38] Speaker 1: quality is insane. But a three game first round, which
[1:44] Speaker 1: had probably never happened. Darryl Morey said, give me a
[1:47] Speaker 1: game first round. But I've always argued, you don't need
[1:51] Speaker 1: seven games. If you want to keep it in the finals.
[1:53] Speaker 1: For historical symmetry, totally get it, but you don't need
[1:58] Speaker 1: seven game first rounds now. I will say the argument is, well,
[2:03] Speaker 1: what about Clippers Nuggets? And my takeaway is if it
[2:06] Speaker 1: goes five or seven, that's a coin flip series. I mean,
[2:09] Speaker 1: you can't tell me one team's definitively better. It's almost
[2:12] Speaker 1: like the Piston's Nicks five or seven. Whoever wins wins.
[2:15] Speaker 1: I'm not losing sleep, but I thought tonight was a
[2:17] Speaker 1: bit embarrassing for the league, Like it's just a bad look.
[2:22] Speaker 2: It's so consistent over the years. I in my series
[2:25] Speaker 2: preview for this series, when I picked the Warriors in six.
[2:28] Speaker 2: I was like, they're gonna get blown out probably in
[2:31] Speaker 2: game five. If one of the things that happens when
[2:33] Speaker 2: you see one of the things you see when you
[2:35] Speaker 2: root for the same team for over a decade, you
[2:38] Speaker 2: become very familiar with their personality. Yeah, And like we
[2:41] Speaker 2: saw an extremely similar game in Memphis three years ago
[2:46] Speaker 2: in that series where they were up three to one,
[2:48] Speaker 2: went on the road and just got demolished before they
[2:51] Speaker 2: came home and closed the deal. It's in. It's it's
[2:54] Speaker 2: just there's already a natural kind of like urgency swing
[2:57] Speaker 2: from side to side in a series after each team wins,
[3:00] Speaker 2: you know, like Houston gets Game two, you know Golden
[3:03] Speaker 2: State's gonna come out in Game three and just play
[3:05] Speaker 2: an amazing game, right, Like you know Houston's gonna throw
[3:08] Speaker 2: a great punch in Game four after Golden State wins
[3:10] Speaker 2: Game three. Right. But when you have this situation where
[3:14] Speaker 2: a team has a three to one advantage and they
[3:16] Speaker 2: know they have a home close out opportunity in the bank,
[3:20] Speaker 2: it almost always ends up being kind of a shalacking
[3:23] Speaker 2: in these types of situations. And it's happened to the
[3:26] Speaker 2: Warriors in the past as well when they lost to
[3:29] Speaker 2: the Lakers in twenty twenty three. Lakers took a three
[3:31] Speaker 2: to one lead, they went to Golden State, Golden State
[3:33] Speaker 2: beat them, then they head back to LA and LA
[3:35] Speaker 2: closes the deal. It's kind of like the natural flow
[3:37] Speaker 2: of series. And to your point, when you have such
[3:39] Speaker 2: a consistency in that regard, that just says this is
[3:42] Speaker 2: too long. We're wasting too much time here.
[3:45] Speaker 1: So I think it's interesting. So Houston is a team
[3:49] Speaker 1: that I said this today on FS one is that
[3:51] Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is a similarly young team but better and
[3:57] Speaker 1: they've got a ton of draft picks. You're not going
[4:00] Speaker 1: to leapfrog them. Whereas every one of their young players
[4:03] Speaker 1: to me, has sort of a defined role. Houston has
[4:07] Speaker 1: Jalen Green, who's athletic, but I still don't know what
[4:10] Speaker 1: his offensive game is in the half court, he's just athletic.
[4:13] Speaker 1: And so I do think Houston's gonna have to make
[4:15] Speaker 1: take a swing. I think a Kevin Durant fits well,
[4:17] Speaker 1: maybe they get into the I mean, they may have
[4:19] Speaker 1: more than anybody for Jannis. But so we were talking
[4:22] Speaker 1: about this, Jason McIntyre and I were talking about this,
[4:25] Speaker 1: and I said I would Houston has told people Amn
[4:31] Speaker 1: Thompson no chance, and it's funny watching him tonight with
[4:36] Speaker 1: five steals in the first half. When I watch Amn Thompson,
[4:39] Speaker 1: I absolutely know what he is. He's a physical, tough
[4:45] Speaker 1: defense often is the best part of his game, hustle.
[4:48] Speaker 1: He has a defined even though he's a kid, he
[4:51] Speaker 1: has a defined game, and that's one of the first
[4:54] Speaker 1: things I look for. Actually, if Zion could have stayed
[4:56] Speaker 1: in shape, I thought he had a very defined game,
[4:59] Speaker 1: Like I knew what he was. Jalen Green, I don't
[5:03] Speaker 1: know what he is, and I always feel like I
[5:05] Speaker 1: don't care if it's a talk show host or a
[5:07] Speaker 1: basketball player or a politician. If you don't, if you
[5:11] Speaker 1: can't kind of what what are you? And if I'm
[5:14] Speaker 1: struggling with that three years into your political career, it's like,
[5:18] Speaker 1: I'm not sure you are anything other than maybe smart
[5:21] Speaker 1: or aspirational or driven. So I think I look at
[5:25] Speaker 1: it and I think if they went into the Yannis sweepstakes,
[5:29] Speaker 1: you'd have to give up two really good players. Would
[5:33] Speaker 1: you give up Shamgon, Jalen Green and two firsts? Because
[5:39] Speaker 1: I think if I'm Milwaukee, I'm gonna have multiple suitors.
[5:43] Speaker 1: I'm going to get a Malik an og and four.
[5:46] Speaker 1: You know, I don't think the Knicks. You know, I
[5:48] Speaker 1: gave up so many first for Michale Bridges. Let's just
[5:51] Speaker 1: talk Houston. What would Houston give up in your opinion?
[5:54] Speaker 1: You run the rockets for Yannis.
[5:57] Speaker 2: Well, first of all, Colin at the I'm going to
[6:00] Speaker 2: try not to be too insensitive here, but I'll tell
[6:03] Speaker 2: you what Jalen Green is. He's salary filler. That's what
[6:05] Speaker 2: he is. At this point in his career. He has
[6:07] Speaker 2: demonstrated through multiple years with Houston that there are certain
[6:11] Speaker 2: things that he just hasn't figured out in terms of
[6:13] Speaker 2: how to bring consistent, winning impact every single game. When
[6:16] Speaker 2: he's got his pull up three point shot going and
[6:19] Speaker 2: he's making good decisions at the rim, he looks like
[6:20] Speaker 2: an all star caliber player that can lift that team
[6:23] Speaker 2: to greatness. But two out of three games he struggles
[6:26] Speaker 2: to accomplish those things, and then suddenly the inattentiveness off ball,
[6:30] Speaker 2: the poor decision making, all that just rises to the surface.
[6:33] Speaker 2: And so he needs to go somewhere where he can
[6:35] Speaker 2: go make mistakes for a while because he just needs
[6:37] Speaker 2: a lot of time, right and you know, Amn Thompson,
[6:40] Speaker 2: to me, should be untouchable. I would not give up
[6:44] Speaker 2: a mental honest, I think that unlike the only reason
[6:48] Speaker 2: I would ever consider giving up a player of a
[6:50] Speaker 2: Men Thompson's caliber is if I was certain that we
[6:53] Speaker 2: would be a runaway favorite the next season, you know,
[6:55] Speaker 2: like like, for instance, if OKC wanted to make a
[6:58] Speaker 2: move for Giannis, they should be more willing to part
[7:01] Speaker 2: with someone like a Jalen Williams for instance, when you
[7:05] Speaker 2: consider the fact that they would immediately become a runaway
[7:08] Speaker 2: championship favorite. Right, But Houston with Giannis is still like
[7:11] Speaker 2: they'd be very good defensively, but it wouldn't be perfect, right.
[7:15] Speaker 2: A Men Thompson is the level of prospect that I
[7:17] Speaker 2: think has the potential to be like the Scottie Pippen
[7:20] Speaker 2: of this eras the most devastating perimeter athlete defensively that
[7:25] Speaker 2: we have in the sport. Intimidate but he has exactly
[7:28] Speaker 2: but he has a lot more offensive pop than people realize,
[7:32] Speaker 2: and wait till he starts to piece some of these
[7:34] Speaker 2: parts of his game together. He can handle the ball
[7:37] Speaker 2: a little bit. He's got a pretty decent set of
[7:40] Speaker 2: moves in one on one situations. Once he polishes up
[7:43] Speaker 2: mainly the short range mid range shot making and adds
[7:47] Speaker 2: a little bit of muscle, he's going to be a
[7:49] Speaker 2: guy that can easily average twenty points a game in
[7:51] Speaker 2: this league very efficiently, potentially more.
[7:53] Speaker 1: And he is really a physical I mean most young
[7:57] Speaker 1: players Jason are not that physical. He has a twenty
[8:01] Speaker 1: nine to thirty three year old physicality to him. When
[8:03] Speaker 1: I watch him play.
[8:05] Speaker 2: It's it's the type of athlete that is most valuable
[8:08] Speaker 2: in the modern MBA, which is rangy but also strong
[8:12] Speaker 2: because there's a lot of rangy dudes that can get
[8:14] Speaker 2: shoved around. But like there's a when you can bring
[8:17] Speaker 2: physicality and the ability to cover ground. I mean, that's
[8:19] Speaker 2: what made Draymond, you know, the best defensive player of
[8:21] Speaker 2: this eras he could cover ground, but he was also
[8:24] Speaker 2: big and strong and could win ground battles and there's
[8:27] Speaker 2: just a there's a ton of value there. So like
[8:29] Speaker 2: if I was running the rockets, I would literally I
[8:31] Speaker 2: would negotiate earnestly, but I'd get a deal done. And
[8:34] Speaker 2: what I mean by that is everything's on the table.
[8:36] Speaker 2: But amen, Thompson, if you want Shangun Jabari Smith Junior
[8:40] Speaker 2: and Jalen Green will make it happen, you know, like
[8:42] Speaker 2: whatever it is you need to do to make it happen.
[8:44] Speaker 2: Because one of the things that Houston has is depth.
[8:46] Speaker 2: They just have a lot of good players. They can
[8:49] Speaker 2: afford to give up three rotational players for Giannis and
[8:52] Speaker 2: not be in a situation where they don't have the
[8:54] Speaker 2: requisite talent to compete next year.
[8:57] Speaker 1: Fuba is my favorite way to watch live sports, NFL,
[9:01] Speaker 1: NBA playoffs, MLB, college sports, and more. I love it.
[9:04] Speaker 1: They have over two hundred live channels, live sports shows, movies, news,
[9:09] Speaker 1: and they offer an incredible base plan for sports fans.
[9:12] Speaker 1: We must have sports channels including FS one, ESPN, NFL
[9:16] Speaker 1: Network in the Big Ten Network, watch the NFL, NBA, baseball,
[9:19] Speaker 1: college sports, tennis, golf, F one and more. And they
[9:23] Speaker 1: have a special offer for my fans. Go to FuboTV
[9:28] Speaker 1: dot com slash Colin. That is me and I love
[9:31] Speaker 1: Fubo TV. I've been telling you this for years. I
[9:33] Speaker 1: watch it on planes, I watch it in ubers, I
[9:36] Speaker 1: watch it at home. Go to FuboTV dot com slash
[9:39] Speaker 1: Colin for twenty five bucks off each month for two
[9:43] Speaker 1: months of the pro plan that's FuboTV dot com slash
[9:46] Speaker 1: Colin for fifty bucks off, I'm going to throw something
[9:49] Speaker 1: at you. This was my take on the Nick Pistons
[9:52] Speaker 1: is a year ago, the Pistons were in a rebuild
[9:54] Speaker 1: and the Knick thot McHale Bridges was going to get
[9:57] Speaker 1: them right up next to Boston, and yet five point
[10:01] Speaker 1: separates he seems in five games. And my take is
[10:05] Speaker 1: they gave up a little too much for McHale Bridges.
[10:07] Speaker 1: Though I think everybody, myself included, kind of liked the deal.
[10:10] Speaker 1: But the problem was, when you're talking vs. V. Nicks Celtics,
[10:15] Speaker 1: is that Jalen Brunson og and McHale Bridges and Cat
[10:21] Speaker 1: we know what they are. Tatum made a leap, and
[10:24] Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard went from Nina game to the best guy
[10:27] Speaker 1: in the league off the bench, and so two of
[10:29] Speaker 1: the Celtics. Because Jalen Brown has established what he is,
[10:33] Speaker 1: Tatum is playing with the confidence today that we thought
[10:36] Speaker 1: he should have been playing with four years ago. I
[10:38] Speaker 1: don't think his skills necessarily that much better, but go
[10:42] Speaker 1: look at his first quarter scoring against Orlando. He's a
[10:45] Speaker 1: much more aggressive player. And by the way, Steph's been
[10:48] Speaker 1: burned by this is that Steph sometimes defers. Steph's smart, collaborative,
[10:53] Speaker 1: a great teammate NBA fans, And it's not a criticism,
[10:58] Speaker 1: it's a reality. They were ward aggressive, even if it's
[11:01] Speaker 1: like over the top Westbrook aggressiveness, like they just I mean,
[11:05] Speaker 1: and Westbrook jumps off the TV much. I mean, just
[11:09] Speaker 1: you can't when he's on the floor, you can't. Okay,
[11:11] Speaker 1: Westbrook's right there, there could be a seven foot of
[11:13] Speaker 1: That's just I always said with Andrew Wiggins, is he
[11:16] Speaker 1: on the floor? Is he playing? Does he have? I mean?
[11:18] Speaker 1: So my point being is is that the problem that
[11:22] Speaker 1: the Knicks face and I think they have to swing
[11:23] Speaker 1: big is they thought McHale bridges really bridge the gap.
[11:28] Speaker 1: They were inches behind Boston, Tatum Pops, Pritchard Pops, and
[11:32] Speaker 1: it's like, oh god, they did. They lost ground. Actually,
[11:37] Speaker 1: so I look at the Knicks and think, let's not
[11:39] Speaker 1: waste our time here. Cleveland and Boston both got significantly better.
[11:45] Speaker 1: New York is what. They just have good players. They've
[11:48] Speaker 1: got to take a big swing.
[11:51] Speaker 2: You know. I think I think people have missed the
[11:54] Speaker 2: point on Boston in a lot of ways, in the
[11:57] Speaker 2: sense that they look at them as a team that's
[11:59] Speaker 2: led by all these big wings that are super versatile,
[12:02] Speaker 2: and I think that was the direction that the Knicks
[12:04] Speaker 2: were trying to match. But it's much more of a
[12:07] Speaker 2: team wide concept of the ability to piece together these
[12:11] Speaker 2: lineups where everyone can guard. That's really the foundational concept
[12:15] Speaker 2: that makes the Celtics so unbeatable if you look at it,
[12:19] Speaker 2: Mikhale Bridges Og Andnobi and Josh Hart in theory, are
[12:22] Speaker 2: these three rangy wings that can do a lot of
[12:25] Speaker 2: work defensively, but because they're bracketed by these two weak points,
[12:29] Speaker 2: there's almost like a diminishing return and having that type
[12:33] Speaker 2: of defensive talent because of the way teams can still
[12:35] Speaker 2: get them in rotation, like it's still the Pistons in
[12:38] Speaker 2: the half court, Kate Cunningham bringing Jalen Brunson's man into
[12:42] Speaker 2: the action and getting great looks attacking even though he's
[12:46] Speaker 2: got Ogn and Obi on him. Whereas if you're with
[12:48] Speaker 2: the Celtics and you run that exact same thing at
[12:50] Speaker 2: a Derek White good luck, you run that exact same
[12:53] Speaker 2: thing at a Drew Holliday good luck, and Peyton Pritchard
[12:56] Speaker 2: competes his ass off defensively, and so that really is
[12:58] Speaker 2: the foundational trait that everybody's missing. Is like you're seeing
[13:02] Speaker 2: this situation where the Knicks copied almost on the margins
[13:05] Speaker 2: in a way that has a diminishing return because of
[13:09] Speaker 2: their bill. They almost would have been better off looking
[13:12] Speaker 2: for like waiting and holding their firepower for a better
[13:16] Speaker 2: player than putting all their cards in the Michale Bridges
[13:19] Speaker 2: type of basket, because McHale Bridges would have been more
[13:21] Speaker 2: valuable if Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns were replaced
[13:25] Speaker 2: by more versatile, defensive minded stars, and they're just not.
[13:29] Speaker 2: And so I think the ultimately, it doesn't matter how
[13:32] Speaker 2: good your on ball defender is if I can put
[13:34] Speaker 2: him in an action that gets me an advantage.
[13:36] Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of felt for it. I thought McHale
[13:38] Speaker 1: Bridges got him close. I didn't think he would be better,
[13:40] Speaker 1: but I thought, oh, they'll compete if they could win
[13:42] Speaker 1: a game, maybe a second in a seven game series
[13:45] Speaker 1: or you know, you know, and it's like, no, you know,
[13:49] Speaker 1: I will say this about Jason Tatum. I mean, again,
[13:53] Speaker 1: he feasted on Orlando, but this was the best year
[13:55] Speaker 1: he's had as a pro. He had a really really
[13:57] Speaker 1: good year. Is that we do this sometimes in society
[14:02] Speaker 1: attention with all these media platforms, attention is a currency,
[14:09] Speaker 1: and Jason isn't an attention seeker, and it probably makes
[14:13] Speaker 1: him a much more balanced to human. I'm watching his
[14:16] Speaker 1: post game last night. If you told me he ran
[14:19] Speaker 1: a tech company, or you're like, oh, yeah, he's a
[14:21] Speaker 1: professor at the local college, I would be like, yeah,
[14:25] Speaker 1: he comes up and he's thoughtful, and he's got interesting
[14:28] Speaker 1: pace when he talks, and none of it's I just
[14:32] Speaker 1: my takeaway is he's got the personality in some ways
[14:38] Speaker 1: of just like a great friend or just a guy
[14:41] Speaker 1: you'd want in a band. It's like he's thoughtful. And
[14:44] Speaker 1: the truth is pro athletes are sometimes delusionally, delusionally confident,
[14:50] Speaker 1: and it's sometimes it works. Like you read I've read
[14:53] Speaker 1: the I remember reading the book The Three Ring Circus
[14:57] Speaker 1: on the Kobe Shak stuff from Jeff Pearlman, and like,
[15:00] Speaker 1: I love Kobe, but oh, good, good lord, he was
[15:04] Speaker 1: a lot. I mean he was seventeen eighteen nineteen. You're like,
[15:07] Speaker 1: this guy's abnoxious. He'd be the you know, it's the
[15:11] Speaker 1: guy that you never could depend on to take you
[15:13] Speaker 1: to the airport, you know. But it's like that's sort
[15:16] Speaker 1: of what that's sort of what made him great, like
[15:19] Speaker 1: that obnoxiousness. So I just look at Tatum and I
[15:22] Speaker 1: think sometimes am I punishing him because he's so patient,
[15:29] Speaker 1: thoughtful and collaborative. I mean, I feel like now when
[15:32] Speaker 1: I look at him and I'm like, hey, he'd just
[15:34] Speaker 1: be the best teammate.
[15:36] Speaker 2: Right, I think that it's okay to change our opinion
[15:41] Speaker 2: based on new information. And what I mean by that
[15:44] Speaker 2: is Jason Tatum, in his inconsistent level of aggression in
[15:50] Speaker 2: his last of top end was a legitimate part of
[15:53] Speaker 2: why they struggled over the years. And then last year,
[15:56] Speaker 2: with an overwhelming talent advantage, they made it through the
[16:00] Speaker 2: East and Tatum contributed in a big way, especially with
[16:03] Speaker 2: his defensive versatility and his playmaking in the half court.
[16:07] Speaker 2: But he didn't show that superstar upside in that playoff run.
[16:11] Speaker 2: And so I think this is the first time really
[16:14] Speaker 2: that I'm watching Jason Tatum, and I'm watching him from
[16:18] Speaker 2: start to finish through a playoff series, command things in
[16:21] Speaker 2: a way with a level of aggression and with the
[16:24] Speaker 2: same level versatility showed in recent years, but also bringing
[16:28] Speaker 2: the high end scoring pop Colin. He had three straight
[16:30] Speaker 2: thirty five point games. He had two total in the
[16:32] Speaker 2: entire playoff run last year. Like this is like it's
[16:36] Speaker 2: okay for us to be, Like Tatum is growing up
[16:39] Speaker 2: into Like I don't think he was a top tier
[16:42] Speaker 2: superstar until this year.
[16:44] Speaker 1: Now I think he is exactly how I feel.
[16:45] Speaker 2: And I think it's okay. I think it's okay to
[16:47] Speaker 2: be Like he's growing into the player that some people
[16:51] Speaker 2: thought he was and I disagreed for a while, and
[16:53] Speaker 2: now I'm there where it's like it's the versatility and
[16:56] Speaker 2: it's the top end, like the big one. For me,
[16:58] Speaker 2: it's a Game four and I'm watching the difference in
[17:00] Speaker 2: the maturity with the way that he's attacking switches against
[17:04] Speaker 2: guards down the stretch against Orlando, while Pallo is not
[17:09] Speaker 2: getting good shots doing the exact same thing on the
[17:11] Speaker 2: other end of the floor. And I'm like, oh, it's
[17:13] Speaker 2: like it reminds me of the old days when I'd
[17:15] Speaker 2: watch Lebron or some other grown up do it to
[17:17] Speaker 2: Tatum when he was the young guy. Like Tatum is
[17:19] Speaker 2: growing into like he almost looks like a thirty thirty
[17:22] Speaker 2: one year old star as a twenty six, twenty seven
[17:25] Speaker 2: year old star because he's got so much experience in
[17:28] Speaker 2: these big moments over the years. But it's a combination
[17:30] Speaker 2: of two things, Colin, you mentioned it. This is a
[17:33] Speaker 2: huge piece the confidence. There is a calm, cool and
[17:36] Speaker 2: collected demeanor that he has in the half court now
[17:39] Speaker 2: that he just didn't have in the past. That to
[17:42] Speaker 2: me is part of his growth. And then the second
[17:44] Speaker 2: piece of it, he finally brought along this shot making piece,
[17:47] Speaker 2: which was so inconsistent for him over the years. He
[17:50] Speaker 2: had it in the past, but he wasn't as big
[17:51] Speaker 2: and strong and versatile. Then he got big, strong and versatile,
[17:54] Speaker 2: but he didn't have the shot making. Now he has both,
[17:57] Speaker 2: and he's confident and he looks like a top three
[18:00] Speaker 2: player in the NBA right now.
[18:02] Speaker 1: Boxing's biggest weekend is here in Draft Kings Sportsbooks. Heating
[18:05] Speaker 1: Up it All kicks off Friday in Times Square, Ryan Garcia,
[18:09] Speaker 1: Devin Haney, and Tiafimo Lopez light up New York City
[18:12] Speaker 1: that on Saturday, the King returns. Canelo Alvarez is back
[18:16] Speaker 1: on his own pay per view, and Sunday it's a
[18:18] Speaker 1: can't miss moment. Naowa Inua makes his electrifying US debut
[18:23] Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. This is a fight weekend for the
[18:25] Speaker 1: history of books and DraftKings. Sports books got you a
[18:27] Speaker 1: front row seat to all the actions. So who you got?
[18:30] Speaker 1: Who's walking out with a w and each of these
[18:32] Speaker 1: fights sound off, But remember we're taking picks, not betting advice.
[18:35] Speaker 1: New to DraftKings, You're gonna love it. All you have
[18:37] Speaker 1: to do is about five bucks. Five bucks, and you'll
[18:39] Speaker 1: get two hundred bonus bets instantly. Five bucks get you
[18:42] Speaker 1: two hundred to play with only on DraftKings. The crown
[18:45] Speaker 1: is yours.
[18:46] Speaker 3: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
[18:48] Speaker 3: called eight seven seven eight hope and wire text hopein
[18:51] Speaker 3: why four six seven three six nine In Connecticut. Help
[18:54] Speaker 3: is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven
[18:56] Speaker 3: eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org.
[19:00] Speaker 3: P Lease play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino when
[19:02] Speaker 3: resorting Kansas twenty one and over. Agent eligibility varies by
[19:05] Speaker 3: jurisdiction Voyd and Ontario. New customers only Bonus bets ekspire
[19:09] Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. Four additional
[19:11] Speaker 3: terms and responsible gaming resources see dkanng, dot Co, slash Audio.
[19:21] Speaker 1: Okay, I have to mention this, as I've always said,
[19:26] Speaker 1: in our business, and you're in this business, is I'm not.
[19:31] Speaker 1: It's not flip flopping. If you give me new stuff,
[19:33] Speaker 1: I'll have a new opinion. I have never liked six
[19:37] Speaker 1: four and under players Derrek Rose, John Wall Westbrook that
[19:43] Speaker 1: can't aren't pure shooters. Nash Curry, little guys don't lead
[19:47] Speaker 1: the titles anyway. Historically, Curry's and Outliar Isaiah Thomas, both,
[19:52] Speaker 1: by the way, really good perimeter shooters. Therefore, when you're
[19:56] Speaker 1: six four and under and can't, especially with no handcheck,
[19:58] Speaker 1: you get to the rim and you get hit by
[20:01] Speaker 1: the redwoods and you just hit the floor too often.
[20:04] Speaker 1: Now Dwayne Wade had a little bit of this because
[20:07] Speaker 1: he was never a gifted outside shooter. But Dwayne was
[20:09] Speaker 1: built like a like a running back. I mean, he's
[20:11] Speaker 1: he looks like an NFL player. So I was always
[20:14] Speaker 1: like with Westbrook, I'm like, listen, man, this is just
[20:18] Speaker 1: it just doesn't work for me. But I said, I
[20:22] Speaker 1: watched him last night, and I thought he was last night.
[20:26] Speaker 1: The tone center of every great player in that game
[20:29] Speaker 1: is that Jamal Murray would have an amazing second half.
[20:33] Speaker 1: Jokicch was off. I never trust Gordon or Porter offensively,
[20:36] Speaker 1: although I really love Gordon as a player. He is
[20:42] Speaker 1: so relentless that he almost makes teammates guilty if they
[20:48] Speaker 1: don't play with energy. Like I mean, you can see why,
[20:51] Speaker 1: like Harden and Westbrook they're good buddies. They go to Houston,
[20:55] Speaker 1: they didn't get along, and I think part of it
[20:58] Speaker 1: was Westbrook is like, Bro, I know you were out
[21:01] Speaker 1: last night, but you can't bring that last game for
[21:04] Speaker 1: the Clippers. I mean, Harden might as well have been
[21:07] Speaker 1: a hologram. I mean, he was invisible. But I watched
[21:10] Speaker 1: Westbrook and I think, all these years later, what I
[21:12] Speaker 1: appreciate about him is he plays so hard. He almost
[21:17] Speaker 1: forces you as a teammate to play harder because you
[21:21] Speaker 1: and I know this. Some nights, this is asking a
[21:23] Speaker 1: lot eighty two games playoffs. I mean, Jokich last night
[21:27] Speaker 1: just doesn't have it. And I was like kind of
[21:30] Speaker 1: blown away by Westbrook last night and this new found
[21:33] Speaker 1: ability to hit a three, but it's his energy was
[21:37] Speaker 1: just ridiculous last night in the first half.
[21:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's infectious. It I'm so Glad you said it
[21:44] Speaker 2: like that, because I've always felt that way in team basketball,
[21:47] Speaker 2: Like when there is somebody on your team that is
[21:50] Speaker 2: busting his ass on defense, you look like an idiot
[21:53] Speaker 2: if you're out there next to him not doing the
[21:55] Speaker 2: same thing. It screams on film, and like, trust me,
[21:59] Speaker 2: like these film sessions, like I remember when I was
[22:02] Speaker 2: in college, Like it's embarrassing when you're sitting in the
[22:04] Speaker 2: room and you're not doing your job, like and the
[22:08] Speaker 2: coaches pausing the screen, and like you're jogging back in
[22:10] Speaker 2: transition defense and he's standing up there pointing at you
[22:12] Speaker 2: in front of your teammates. Like it laziness stands out
[22:16] Speaker 2: on the TV, it stands out in film. It especially
[22:18] Speaker 2: stands out juxtaposed with an energy bunny, and like that
[22:21] Speaker 2: there's a ton of value there, you know. I've like
[22:24] Speaker 2: really grown to appreciate Russell Westbrook in this phase of
[22:28] Speaker 2: his career in a way that I didn't in the past. YEP,
[22:30] Speaker 2: a couple of different things. He is a guy that
[22:34] Speaker 2: his motor and physicality actually translates in the postseason really well,
[22:40] Speaker 2: because he's a very physical player. So like, and we've
[22:43] Speaker 2: seen so many examples of this in NBA history, the big,
[22:46] Speaker 2: strong athlete who plays hard just has a lot of
[22:48] Speaker 2: utility when it's a rock fight, when it's like super
[22:51] Speaker 2: super physical. During the regular season with the Lakers, there
[22:56] Speaker 2: was just so much time where he was asked to
[22:58] Speaker 2: do more than he was capable of. But as this
[23:00] Speaker 2: has shifted towards him being in a smaller role, he's
[23:03] Speaker 2: polished up his jump shooting. Like you mentioned earlier, like
[23:06] Speaker 2: he put in work behind the scenes. He understood, oh,
[23:09] Speaker 2: if I'm going to stay in this league, I'm going
[23:11] Speaker 2: to need to be able to hit a corner three.
[23:13] Speaker 2: And so he's put in a lot of work behind
[23:14] Speaker 2: the scenes. The second piece of it finding a fit
[23:17] Speaker 2: that works. So, for instance, Jokic, we've talked about this
[23:20] Speaker 2: on the show before, inverts your spacing. He brings the
[23:23] Speaker 2: center away from the basket. That makes it so there's
[23:26] Speaker 2: fewer redwoods around the basket. And so Russ is Russ
[23:30] Speaker 2: had a layup missing problem over the years, and he's
[23:33] Speaker 2: missing fewer layups in Denver because he's getting easier cuts
[23:36] Speaker 2: right around the rim. And so when you combine the
[23:39] Speaker 2: little bit of corner three point shooting, the ability to
[23:42] Speaker 2: finish because of the lack of congestion under the rim
[23:45] Speaker 2: with the Yolkic team, and then you add to it
[23:48] Speaker 2: just the way his physicality translates to the playoffs. He's
[23:51] Speaker 2: become a very useful player for the Nuggets now, like
[23:54] Speaker 2: a flat out important player in the championship goals.
[23:57] Speaker 1: No question. And I know that isn't the be all
[24:01] Speaker 1: end all, but there is something about when you turn
[24:06] Speaker 1: a television on and you come into the second quarter,
[24:10] Speaker 1: the players that add something you can usually spot in
[24:14] Speaker 1: like two possessions, Like you're like, oh, you like to amend.
[24:18] Speaker 1: Thompson's a great example. You're like, shit, man, that dude
[24:20] Speaker 1: is physical. He's an intimidating presence. Obviously, great scores almost
[24:28] Speaker 1: all have that. Russell Westbrook jumps to the TV screen.
[24:31] Speaker 1: He is just straight gin on the rocks. It's like, pow,
[24:34] Speaker 1: it hits you. It's who's this guy like cutting you?
[24:38] Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler's got that too. When he's really into it.
[24:41] Speaker 1: It's like, dude, who is Like when you're a pro
[24:43] Speaker 1: athlete and can kind of intimidate other pro athletes and
[24:46] Speaker 1: it's a man's got it. Butler's got it. Russell's got it. No,
[24:49] Speaker 1: and you know, it's funny watching Westbrook. I'm thinking, could
[24:54] Speaker 1: he have always shot threes like this? He's now shooting
[24:57] Speaker 1: him because he's probably a little less you know. I mean,
[25:01] Speaker 1: everybody comes down a little bit athletically, and he was
[25:04] Speaker 1: so hyper athletic. But it is amazing to me to
[25:07] Speaker 1: watch him shoot threes. I don't know if the shooting
[25:10] Speaker 1: style has changed, but last night, I'm like, it looked smooth,
[25:15] Speaker 1: it looked confident and comfortable.
[25:18] Speaker 2: He's more compact, there's less wasted motion. He's getting good
[25:22] Speaker 2: energy transfer, like it's straight up and down, there's no hitch.
[25:25] Speaker 2: I think. I think taking more corner threes has been
[25:28] Speaker 2: really big for him because it just takes that little
[25:31] Speaker 2: extra bit of distance off. But it's at the end
[25:34] Speaker 2: of the day, it's work. It's repetition. I mean Aaron Gordon,
[25:36] Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon is now like a legitimately good three point shooter.
[25:39] Speaker 2: You want to know how he built a gym at
[25:41] Speaker 2: his house and he shot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
[25:42] Speaker 2: and hundreds and hundreds of shots for years and years
[25:45] Speaker 2: and to turn himself into this kind of player and
[25:47] Speaker 2: not Aaron Gordon has now transformed himself into a player
[25:51] Speaker 2: that kind of changes the future of the Nuggets because
[25:53] Speaker 2: of his ability to shoot the three really really well.
[25:56] Speaker 2: One last thing I wanted to say, the Russell Westbrook thing,
[25:58] Speaker 2: which I think is fascinating, Like the James Harden juxtaposition
[26:01] Speaker 2: is crazy to me because you know, there there is
[26:06] Speaker 2: like levels to competitive fire, right, Like, Like I'm not
[26:10] Speaker 2: gonna sit here and say James Harden wasn't playing hard
[26:12] Speaker 2: because you know, he was guarding Jokic for parts of
[26:15] Speaker 2: the game. He was a big part of the way
[26:17] Speaker 2: their defensive scheme was set up to keep zoobots on
[26:19] Speaker 2: the back line. But like there was such a palpable
[26:22] Speaker 2: difference in intensity except Westbrook aside for a second, look
[26:25] Speaker 2: at Jokic yelling and screaming. Look at the way he
[26:28] Speaker 2: acted in game two when his team fell apart, when
[26:31] Speaker 2: he made a scene on the sideline, ripping those guys
[26:33] Speaker 2: a new one. There's a level of it. He's screaming
[26:36] Speaker 2: at the right, there's like a light in his eyes.
[26:38] Speaker 2: It's it's hard to explain, like an intensity in his
[26:40] Speaker 2: eyes as a competitor in that game, and James Harden
[26:44] Speaker 2: looked half asleep, and and it's it's weird. Because like
[26:47] Speaker 2: I think part of it stems from the way that
[26:50] Speaker 2: over the course of a series, coaches start to scout
[26:54] Speaker 2: out your pet actions, they found the coverage that works
[26:57] Speaker 2: best at that point in the series. The one defender
[27:00] Speaker 2: in this case, Christian Brown, has been eye to eye
[27:03] Speaker 2: with James Harden so many times now in this series
[27:05] Speaker 2: that he's starting to pick up on some of his
[27:07] Speaker 2: tips and the way that he likes to set up
[27:09] Speaker 2: his moves. And you start sitting on that same left
[27:11] Speaker 2: to right crossover, right to left crossover a bunch of times,
[27:14] Speaker 2: it starts to take on a resemblance for you, and
[27:17] Speaker 2: you can start to pick up on those cues and
[27:18] Speaker 2: be ahead of things. And it's always right around this time, Colin,
[27:22] Speaker 2: right around game five, game six, and a coin flip
[27:25] Speaker 2: type of series that you see as things get really
[27:28] Speaker 2: hard for Harden, he kind of just like relaxes and
[27:32] Speaker 2: with Jokich he goes four to thirteen last night, But
[27:35] Speaker 2: he's the best player on the floor because he's just
[27:36] Speaker 2: super intense and he's hyper focused on every advantage on
[27:40] Speaker 2: every possession because he knows what it takes.
[27:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like Steven Adams, isn't it his class But
[27:44] Speaker 1: the other night I'm watching Steven Adams for Hueston. I'm
[27:47] Speaker 1: like christ these the most consistent player, Like He's just
[27:50] Speaker 1: I think, and I love players like that. Now it's
[27:54] Speaker 1: time for power players, brought to you by bmw the
[27:57] Speaker 1: Ultimate Driving Machine, and today's power player is Jamal Murry,
[28:00] Speaker 1: who gave us an electrifying performance in the Nuggets Game
[28:03] Speaker 1: five win over the Clippers. Wow. Knock down eight threes,
[28:06] Speaker 1: dropped forty three points. What a second half, His highest
[28:10] Speaker 1: total since the Disney World pandemic bubble. If Jamal Murray
[28:13] Speaker 1: continued to shoot like this, he and Jokic and the
[28:16] Speaker 1: Nuggets could be on their way to hoisting another Larry
[28:19] Speaker 1: O'Brien trophy. So what is it that sets apart these
[28:22] Speaker 1: power players from the rest? Bottom line, it's their attention
[28:24] Speaker 1: to detail innovative playing styles from reletless drive for performing
[28:28] Speaker 1: at the highest level. The same goes for bmwix everything
[28:33] Speaker 1: you love about the Ultimate Driving Machine electrified. It's not
[28:38] Speaker 1: just scoring. By the way, before we close this out,
[28:40] Speaker 1: because we're going to both go watch the Laker game.
[28:43] Speaker 1: We got into this discussion today. The Mavericks shouldn't have
[28:47] Speaker 1: traded Luca but and Jack Lowe was talking about this
[28:54] Speaker 1: on the Ringer is that I would never trade Mahomes,
[28:58] Speaker 1: Alan Lamar Jackson, but I would now take a call
[29:02] Speaker 1: on Joe Burrow because of two major injuries. I would
[29:05] Speaker 1: take a call. I'm not looking to trade him. I
[29:08] Speaker 1: would take a call on Jalen Hurts, who I still
[29:10] Speaker 1: think small and okay in the pocket. But there are players,
[29:14] Speaker 1: you know, like Lebron in his prime got you guaranteed finals.
[29:19] Speaker 1: MJ got you guaranteed titles. Kareem got you titles. In
[29:24] Speaker 1: Luca's prime, he guarantees you buckets and those are great.
[29:29] Speaker 1: But there is a difference between the Lebron and his prime,
[29:33] Speaker 1: and I think now he'll be in better shape next year.
[29:37] Speaker 1: The Lakers won the trade. I'm not in any way
[29:40] Speaker 1: insinuating they didn't crush it, but I think this little
[29:44] Speaker 1: peak at Luca. Let's face it, when he's on your team,
[29:50] Speaker 1: you just watch him more. Even if you love the NBA,
[29:52] Speaker 1: you watch him more. Can you look at him now
[29:56] Speaker 1: and you watch as much NBA as anybody, But is
[29:58] Speaker 1: there a part of you, even ten percent that goes
[30:01] Speaker 1: I get Houston, I get Dallas and Nico taking the call.
[30:07] Speaker 2: So just because there is a reason to do something
[30:11] Speaker 2: doesn't mean it's reason enough. And like I see the
[30:15] Speaker 2: reason like they call it. I'm I'm I don't. I
[30:17] Speaker 2: don't want to be overly critical of Luca here, because
[30:21] Speaker 2: it is tough to come into a team right in
[30:22] Speaker 2: the middle of the season and to do all of
[30:24] Speaker 2: the things that he's being asked to do. But let
[30:26] Speaker 2: me just pause it, like, let me just present it
[30:28] Speaker 2: like this. If Luca outplays ant do the Lakers win
[30:33] Speaker 2: the series? Let me let me give you one more.
[30:42] Speaker 1: Literally, the last game at was like six of seven
[30:44] Speaker 1: against him. So I think that is they don't put
[30:47] Speaker 1: Luca on ant a ton because for obvious reasons. So
[30:51] Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the answer.
[30:52] Speaker 2: Is to that. So in the fourth quarter in this series,
[30:56] Speaker 2: which is where the games have been decided, Yes.
[30:58] Speaker 1: The guy Soda was in these close games all year long.
[31:02] Speaker 2: They did.
[31:03] Speaker 1: I mean, so it's like that is who they They're
[31:05] Speaker 1: not pretty enough offensively to blow good teams out. They're
[31:08] Speaker 1: in all all their games look like this.
[31:11] Speaker 2: Luca has five made field goals and one assist in
[31:15] Speaker 2: the fourth quarter in the series, and has ten made
[31:17] Speaker 2: field goals and seven assists in the fourth quarter in
[31:19] Speaker 2: the series, he has dramatically outpaced Luca's output when the
[31:23] Speaker 2: games have been on the line late. Luca is shooting
[31:26] Speaker 2: five to seventeen in the fourth quarter in the series,
[31:30] Speaker 2: and he looks blatantly exhausted every single time down the
[31:35] Speaker 2: stretch of these games. There's been so much focus on
[31:38] Speaker 2: the fact that he had to play twenty four straight minutes.
[31:40] Speaker 2: You know who else played twenty four straight minutes in
[31:42] Speaker 2: that game, Anthony Edwards, he looked fantastic. Julius Randall played
[31:47] Speaker 2: twenty three and a half of the twenty four available minutes.
[31:49] Speaker 2: He looked fantastic. He's Garden Lebron, grabbing rebounds, doing all
[31:52] Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. Lebron, who's forty years old, had
[31:56] Speaker 2: three of the most absurd defensive plays I've seen. Like,
[31:59] Speaker 2: Lebron almost single handedly stole that game with defense.
[32:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, dis stretched the Vincenzo block, and then Fitty Smith
[32:04] Speaker 1: shot in on the other end.
[32:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, and then he stripped Nasried on the very next possession,
[32:09] Speaker 2: got another stop, and then he did strip Anthony Edwards
[32:11] Speaker 2: on what was kind of an iffy call. Aunt was
[32:13] Speaker 2: kind of already slipping when he was like, but it
[32:15] Speaker 2: was good defense on that play. The point being like,
[32:17] Speaker 2: there were four stars in that game that all played
[32:20] Speaker 2: basically the entire second half. Three of them looked like
[32:22] Speaker 2: they were spry. For the record, they're all better athletes.
[32:25] Speaker 2: I'm not expecting Luca to be out there flying around
[32:27] Speaker 2: like a six to eight freak athlete in those situations,
[32:29] Speaker 2: but I would expect him to look like Luca. I
[32:33] Speaker 2: would expect him to look like Luca. And the bottom
[32:36] Speaker 2: line is is every single time a game has been
[32:39] Speaker 2: hanging in the balance in this series late, Ant has
[32:42] Speaker 2: looked like Ant and Luca hasn't, and the Wolves have
[32:45] Speaker 2: immediately taken control and won the series. And so I
[32:48] Speaker 2: don't think it's negotiable at all at this point whether
[32:51] Speaker 2: or not Luca's conditioning is standing in the way of
[32:53] Speaker 2: whether or not they could have won the series. The
[32:55] Speaker 2: Lakers controlled the first three quarters. They are capable, They're
[33:00] Speaker 2: capable of beating this team and in the biggest the
[33:04] Speaker 2: like for instance, I saw some criticism of Lebron for
[33:06] Speaker 2: having zero points for the record, Lebron does deserve some criticism.
[33:08] Speaker 2: He had a bad turnover late. I didn't like the
[33:10] Speaker 2: three he took off the left wing. Zero points, like
[33:13] Speaker 2: find a way to score something. But he only took
[33:16] Speaker 2: two shots in that fourth quarter. You know why, because
[33:17] Speaker 2: this team has a construct. The construct is we need
[33:21] Speaker 2: Luca to create offense for us. That's his one job.
[33:24] Speaker 2: This is one job everyone else, like Lebron's job on
[33:27] Speaker 2: this team is to be Draymond Green on the other
[33:30] Speaker 2: end of the floor, you know. And like, yes, Lebron
[33:33] Speaker 2: could have and should have done more. But I left
[33:35] Speaker 2: that game very disappointed because I felt like Luca, when
[33:40] Speaker 2: the series was hanging in the balance, didn't even look
[33:42] Speaker 2: remotely like himself. If he makes that layup against NOAs Reed,
[33:47] Speaker 2: which by the way, is just maybe a little bit
[33:49] Speaker 2: more conditioned athlete than he is right now, doesn't even
[33:52] Speaker 2: have to be in peak condition, just in good enough
[33:54] Speaker 2: shape to get the lift to get that ball up
[33:57] Speaker 2: off the backboard, they win the seri they did, don't
[33:59] Speaker 2: win the series. They win the game. It's two two.
[34:01] Speaker 2: But instead he smoked it and then didn't get back
[34:03] Speaker 2: and transition defense and left nas Reed open. He hit
[34:05] Speaker 2: a three, and all of a suddenly seven point game
[34:07] Speaker 2: was a two point game, right right, So like I
[34:11] Speaker 2: am a huge believer in Luca, I genuinely think he
[34:13] Speaker 2: could be the best player in the league. There's a
[34:16] Speaker 2: version of this if he gets in shape where he
[34:18] Speaker 2: is the best combination of scoring and playmaking talent in
[34:21] Speaker 2: the NBA after jokicch age is out, And if he
[34:23] Speaker 2: is and he also gets in good shape and becomes
[34:26] Speaker 2: just an above average defensive player, that's the best basketball
[34:29] Speaker 2: player in the world. It's an achievable outcome for him.
[34:32] Speaker 2: He just has to put in the work behind the scenes.
[34:34] Speaker 2: And by the way, it's not too late. Maybe he
[34:36] Speaker 2: can flip the script. But the Lakers are not winning
[34:38] Speaker 2: tonight and Friday and Sunday unless Luka Doncic outplays Anthony
[34:42] Speaker 2: Edwards and he he has to win that matchup.
[34:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think that's really well put. Is that
[34:47] Speaker 1: any listen, It's just years ago I said, and I
[34:53] Speaker 1: got so much pushback. I said, he's a better version
[34:56] Speaker 1: of Carmelow He's a better version, there's no question. But
[35:00] Speaker 1: Carmelo is one of the great I mean, one of
[35:03] Speaker 1: the great offensive talents we've seen in fifteen years. Like
[35:07] Speaker 1: he was an absolute bucket against every defender in the league.
[35:11] Speaker 1: And the truth is so is Luca. But I say
[35:15] Speaker 1: this most great players, at least for about a seven
[35:19] Speaker 1: year window in their prime, were great defenders. Now you
[35:23] Speaker 1: can be Bird and Staff where you're trying really hard
[35:27] Speaker 1: but you're limited. That's also okay in the locker room.
[35:30] Speaker 1: But mailing it in sends a message, Harden, Luca Mellow.
[35:37] Speaker 1: It sends a message like you, guys take it from here.
[35:41] Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of times in the NBA
[35:43] Speaker 1: you don't face a profound offensive player on the other end,
[35:46] Speaker 1: But when you and Aunt are matching up and aunts
[35:48] Speaker 1: this ascending, dynamic player that you can't take your eyes off,
[35:51] Speaker 1: you notice, like Luca's defense is noticeably awful. And I
[35:57] Speaker 1: think it was well said by you.
[35:58] Speaker 2: Okay, let's well given some credit. We can give a
[36:00] Speaker 2: hands some credits to like Colin, like he has been
[36:02] Speaker 2: so so, so incredibly good. Yeah, in the series, he's
[36:06] Speaker 2: growing before our eyes. You said the other day that
[36:08] Speaker 2: he's the best young player in the league. I agree.
[36:10] Speaker 2: I think I think he's the fifth best player in
[36:12] Speaker 2: the world right now, Like he's playing unbelievable best now.
[36:15] Speaker 1: I think we've been looking because of the emergence of
[36:18] Speaker 1: great international players, which I do not think is bad
[36:20] Speaker 1: for the league. Shoheo Tani. I will argue forever is
[36:24] Speaker 1: great for baseball. I don't care. But I think Tatum
[36:28] Speaker 1: and Ant have emerged as the guys. I think it's indisputable,
[36:32] Speaker 1: and this we're seeing it in real time. One in
[36:35] Speaker 1: the East, one in the West. It's not deniable because
[36:38] Speaker 1: they're on the floor with other good players. Ben Caro
[36:41] Speaker 1: has been up and down. Luca looks over matched, like
[36:44] Speaker 1: when you can put great players on him and you're like,
[36:47] Speaker 1: oh wow, Yeah, they've separated worldwide, and so it's good
[36:51] Speaker 1: for the NBA. I don't think it's necessary to have
[36:54] Speaker 1: a domestic face of the league. It helps. It's something, right, Jason,
[36:59] Speaker 1: great toff. Let's go watch the Lakers.
[37:01] Speaker 2: Yep, see you next week. Colin the volume
[37:08] Speaker 1: M HM

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.