And now the low welcome to the low post podcast early on a Tuesday morning on the east coast where we are officially one week Into the 2022 2023 NBA season and the Lakers nets and Sixers are two and eight combined to open the season Meanwhile the jazz are three and one the Blazers are four and oh the Spurs are three and one What a really crazy start to the air, but we got to start with Lakers nets sixers two and eight Three teams under enormous pressure coaches trade requests the whole thing to win now And although the Sixers got right last night with a win over the tank tastic Indiana paces who are frisky I'll give it to him their frisky two and eight is two and eight and the pressure everyone knows these teams are under pressure to win But just like zoom out for a moment. We all we all heard the doc reverse chatter and we'll see what happens there LeBron signed an extension Lakers crowed big victory security LeBron signed an extension LeBron added one year Let's let's be real LeBron added one year to his deal next season. That's it That's all he did after this season he becomes straight eligible again if this season's a waistline We'll see what happens in meanwhile Do New Orleans pelicans sitting pretty with swap rights on the Lakers pick swap rights on the Lakers pick the New Orleans pelicans Maybe in the Victor web anyama derby by accident almost we all thought when the Lakers traded for Anthony Davis while there couldn't possibly be a Brooklyn net style downside to this trade Anthony Davis is 25 or 26 years old he'll carry the Lakers through dark times He'll carry the Lakers through the end of LeBron's prime. They are insured against devastation Maybe not maybe not maybe not and remember just a few short months ago when people started talking about who's the next Superstar who might want out of a situation?
Who's the next superstar that other teams might sit and and try to poach in the next year or two In April and May after the Sixers slunk out of the playoffs against the Miami Heat with their proverbial tail between their legs People started whispering is it is it? Joellen beat is it maybe Joel like it's Joellen beat looking around like is this what I'm going to work with now after all the high picks And all the holla blue about the process and all the Ben Simmons stuff Is this is this what I got and then they had a great off season PJ Tucker Daniel How's the ant got in hard and took a discount golf clap for James Harden not getting enough credit for taking a discount I wonder why all the Sixers are back well boy. Oh boy doesn't take one to get from the Sixers are back Joellen Beat the six of her life to uh-oh We got to start though with the Lakers and to help us sort through all of this and we're gonna get to the blazers I know Portland people I know I know blazers edge calm. I called you blah.
I call the team blah Joe Cronin and company in the front office I know chauncey my former colleague. I know I called you blah your foreign. Oh, wept the Denver Nuggets last night your five We're gonna get there Utah. We're gonna get there Chris herring of sports illustrated calm author of the playmaker newsletter that comes out every Tuesday That's today author of the New York Times bestseller blood in the garden the flaker in history of the 1990s New York Knicks Spike Lee's best friend and I can only imagine up for a starring role in his next movie and he'll probably get nominated for an Oscar Chris How are you?
Your introductions like get better and better each time I'm doing pretty well. How are you Zach? Not not as I'm not doing as well as you my friend not hanging out with Spike not not on set for the next the next joint and all that So let's let's start here. Um The Lakers are second in defense Do you know how hard it is to be second in defense and be oh and three and have the seventh worst net rating in the entire NBA?
Do you know how hard that is Chris and of course common sense would dictate that they must be terrible on offense They are dead last in offense 97 points per 100 possessions Chris herring Have you looked at who's 29th in offense one spot ahead of the Lakers and what their figure is? I I get mixed up between the defense. I know the Pistons were 29th or 30th and one of them I don't know who's right in front of the it doesn't matter who it is It's the Clippers and the point is they are six points better per 100 possessions than the Lakers on offense The Lakers are last on offense by a country mile meanwhile their inverse in Brooklyn the nets are last on defense allowing 125 points for 100 possessions they're last by three points for 100 possessions They can't get a rebound and or a stop and they're one and two after John Moran and Desmond Bain I think they weren't even playing basketball at some point They were just they were just playing their own personal game of let's clown this team with no defense ha ha ha ha ha 76 points John Moran. I think had five threes and oh my god.
Can we just pause for a second Chris John Moran? I don't even know This is gonna sound like hyperbole. I don't really think it is we could be old men in 50 years 30 years 40 years whatever God is willing to give us and we could say we never saw a basketball player more exciting than John Moran Is that crazy to say I mean this guy is a show every single second. He's on the floor on both ends Yeah, that that lob that he caught yesterday was at a tie stones that threw at to him and the It was one of the worst lobs I've seen a grandi threw it from pretty far out and jaw catches it with his left hand and just He comes down with stuff and makes plays that I don't think are capable of being made which that's a high bar to set because Job makes you think that he can do anything and everything and so when he's still making plays that even for him just seemed kind of beyond the pale He's fantastic to watch that game was fantastic to watch and to your point about the nets defense in that game The fact that jaw kind of took the first half and then Bayon had like what did he end up with 38 and he had six at half or whatever it was?
Yeah, it just kind of feels like a lot of times They're trying to rob Peter to pay Paul defensively the nets and they try to kind of plumb one problem and then another one crops up But it's it's it's concerning how bad they are in defense I don't know if it's more concerning how bad they are on defense than how bad the Lakers are on offense But they're both pretty pretty bad problems considering who's on these teams. I look forward to January 3rd the nets are 21 and 21 Last in defense on pace to have the worst defensive rebounding rate in the history of basketball and Stephen Ash strides to the podium But draggled sweaty despondent knowing Kevin Durant asked for his job in the summer if he even gets to 21 and 21 by the way I talked about pressure and trade demands in LeBron's extension Do we think that everything's cool with the nets like Durant rescinded a straight request and he I remember the headline He's committed for the long haul yo committed for the long haul after recending a trade request yesterday if the nets are 7 and 11. I can't wait to see what happens I took the under on the nets and I just I said if you're asking me between upside and downside I'm shorting the nets and I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind It's early, but I do look forward to 21 and 21 Stephen Ashkins up there You know guys Ben Simmons just has to be more aggressive on offense You know the rest is the rest you just got knock off the rest you just got to be more aggressive on offense That's all we'll get there games game game 68 and hey Ben Simmons just got you know gotta be a little more aggressive on offense But let's start with the Lakers everyone is clowning that Russ shot the two for one with the lead when he just dribbled The ball up with 30 seconds left and took a jump shot and missed and literally almost everyone on the court for the Lakers His own teammates either shrugged or made some gesture of like what's happening and Russ was going for the two for one That's that's rare when you have the lead if you're Chris Paul and you're like a 58% shooter on wide open-made Rangers cool Defensible you're not Chris Paul You might be the worst high-volume jump shooter literally in the history of the NBA someone whose jump shot is declining by the second Just bag that one but if you want to look back at where the Lakers season entered curb your enthusiasm territory Maybe it was actually when they traded for us But let's just focus on this season one minute before that shot Chris the early favorite for possession of the season You're grinning you know the possession I'm gonna bring up That's not what I was laughing at but go ahead. Okay, 90 seconds left in the game Lakers are by five Russ is dribbling the ball and there's the ball to AD at the elbow extended and just stands there and shrugs And AD is like dude you gotta go set a down screen for Lonnie Walker in the corner rush shrugs again Jogs into something resembling a down screen for Lonnie Walker again It's crunch time of the game that you need to win your own to at home Anthony Davis gives the ball to Pat Beverly on the other side of the floor LeBron James is on the court doing nothing not touching the ball Pat Bev takes an ISO 3 with seven seconds on the shot clock and misses And you just look like does anyone know the play does anyone have any idea what's going on?
This is a disaster so far and the downside we mentioned the pick with the pelicans look the hope is their second in defense They're competing when they get out and run they look pretty good But I just this I was at their clippers game and from from just talking to people around the league and looking at it The rust thing has now just taken on a life of its own I saw after the game the recent game LeBron's like you guys are trying to set a trap for me I don't want to talk about rust blah blah blah and it's not all on rust Everyone has bad on off numbers the lineups with LeBron and no rust have been bad Like it's not all on rust but it also has now become this mushroom cloud over the team that just seems to be sapping everyone's spirit And I don't really see a solution other than I've been saying they should bring them off the bench since the summer even before that I'm not wondering if they just need to just not have him around I don't really know how tenable that is but what have you seen is there is for a potential turnaround here? I mean Zach I so you you plug my newsletter which I appreciate in the last one and by the way and the one that I have going up today I essentially said I'm not after this I'm not talking about because anywhere in this newsletter until something substantial changes until the brown forces me too because he becomes The all-time leading scorer something I said in the last newsletter essentially They should have traded him during the offseason that I fully fully fully understand how reluctant they are and why they were reluctant to want to move These picks because they really don't have much left in the cupboard at all as far as first round picks are concerned at the same time You play in Los Angeles. It's it's going to be a circus Until you resolve this and what makes me feel bad for us when I think about the stuff from last season and I think about the fact that You know people say stuff to him from the you know from the stands Whether people say stuff to family whether people tweet his family whatever it is that's an uncomfortable spot to be as a player Nobody fundamentally deserves that people are frustrated I think a lot of that frustration should be directed at the Lakers front office for bringing him in the first place But as soon as you see it's working and the star players and the star players You cannot leave that out considering that frankly I don't know how you can listen to or look at the fact that Demar de Rosen still talks about how confused he is that He wasn't a Laker and that he thought he was and then all of a sudden he wasn't and Russell Westbrook was like Especially when these guys all kind of like interviewed with LeBron essentially So you can put two and two together kind of figure out that there was probably something to that where it wasn't just the front Office it was also the guys on the team the key guys on the team, but I will say in a certain point like Russ's Russ We've known that he's capable of kind of having a brain freeze where he takes a really bad shot at a bad moment And ill advise shot where even if you're I'll be honest with you I've watched him take shots were team for daring him to shoot in the playoffs where Was it cancer daring him to shoot in the playoffs when Russell's okay see he does there? There are only two kinds of Russell Westbrook shots high speed layups and jump shots The other team is daring him to take those are the only two shots that exist right So I mean my thing is that they should have traded him before this season started And I feel like by having him and dangling him and all these moves and hoping to pick up enough leverage to where it's team will just You know give you miles turn or give you buddy healed whatever else sure you want to save some points on this or on that You want to you know salvage a pick here there But and this was my problem This is what I said last week my problem with the Lakers for the last few years is that they've always kind of waited out a situation Hoping that they would have to give up quite as much whether it was for Anthony Davis and missing the playoffs in LeBron's first year Whether it was you know it was trying to alter the team and you're after everybody told you didn't have enough shooting Whether it was this year's team where people still said you didn't have enough shooting and it just annoys me because LeBron is as old as he is And Anthony Davis might as well be 37 years old for how fragile he is sometimes and it's not trying to demean him It's not trying to be rude.
It's just the truth The team has a window But as we're talking about if you're in a conversation to potentially lose That your pick would be in the running for the number one pick and you've got the best player potentially of all time on your team And another top 2015 guy. What are we talking about? What are you waiting on you might not have the cushion to absorb losses like these to make the playoffs So I don't understand how we even got to the point where we're in the season and Darv and Ham is still talking about Whether he's gonna bring Ross off the bench Russ is having to answer questions about what they want you hear It's it's so tired of that. I'm so tired of it And by the way, you know, it's over when Kevin O'Connor bless his soul Kevin O'Connor of the ringer my friend and colleague For years would write the well, you know, Russ could be a good cutter and a good on ball-screener Right like to the point that I said on this podcast I'm actually worried about Kevin O'Connor's mental health because he keeps hoping against hope that today's the day Russ is gonna buy in to setting all these ball screens and it will never happen It's never going to happen.
He doesn't want to do it. He doesn't want to shoot corner threes He doesn't want to cut he doesn't want to do these things And that's why he deserves some of the lame to and finally Kevin O'Connor basically was like it's over He wrote the column yesterday Have you ever seen that that scene in AI have you ever watched AI before the Steven Spielberg movie? I have not it has the sixth sense kid in it, right? Isn't that the one with him?
Hayley Joel Osmond? I think his name is yeah, it's him and there's a scene in particular where you know, he's a robotic child basically and he just Well spoiler alert. He waits basically for his mother to come back for him Because they've abandoned him at one point He waits under the water under under the sea in like this block of ice for like 10 million years and just waits and waits and waits till his battery Essentially runs out. It's like there's aspects of that that feel like this Which is why they should have traded him and the offseason don't don't put him in a position where he's going to have to respond So this much criticism in one of the largest markets in the country It was pretty abundantly obvious to most of us last year before the season started that it wasn't going to work And less rust completely shifted who he was as a player Which it's really hard to rewire people like that And he did it he did it for one game one game the third game of the season And I almost wanted Jonathan Abrams to do like the oral history of the game Russell Westbrook set eight ball screens against the Memphis Grizzlies because clearly like By the way Frank Vogel was the problem Frank Vogel was different We got to get rid of Frank Vogel clear You think Frank Vogel if if an idiot like me knows that Russ has to set ball screens You don't think Frank Vogel and his staff are like yo Rescue you set some ball screens and he did for one game and decided yes I'm gonna make him do it You can't make him do it And if you make him do it that you're gonna get criticized for being mean and not liking Russell Westbrook like this has been a problem For a while it's been so clear and look again I get the idea of wanting to save a pick here there You were mortgaging way more than a pick if you don't make use of the fact that you have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on your roster period And that was clear last year Third stars don't work around two other stars if they can't shoot It just doesn't if you can't attract defensive attention This is the opposite of attracting defensive attention It's actually sagging the defensive attention You would want Russ to pull out of the paint into the paint and that was what we watched happen in that blazer's game Or he took that two for one shot So it's been a disaster for a while it actually reminds me in a roundabout way of the Sixers going all in on Horford Because a orford was the mb stopper and b and this is more relevant Horford could solve the Sixers inability to do anything when Embiid was on the bench The best and only reason to even think about acquiring Russ for the Lakers was well He can ease the load on the Brown we can ease LeBron's minutes He can run the offense with the brown is on the bench and the lesson that you learn repeatedly over and over again is you can't Invest your resources based on the 12 minutes a game when your best player is on the bench You just can't it doesn't work and the thing that I don't want to hear anymore of an addition to Russ setting balls Means as you mentioned Marvin ham Darvin ham was brought to the Lakers because he was the guy who would take no He was the guy who wouldn't be afraid of us and you keep hearing Brian Windworps keep saying this on TV you can tell Darvin ham wants to mention brought him off the bench in the last preseason game You know the tea leaves he benched him that I love the headlines like Russ Russell Westbrook benched in fourth quarter of blazer's game He's not over like the last 12 seconds of the game and then the most harmful shot there was and then the first few minutes of the Fourth quarter that's not being benched that's like called coaching the game And so we keep hearing the tea leaves just just to bench him That's what if you want to do it.
You're the coach of the team just mention so I'm tired of hearing that and look It's just I don't know so the trade the trade the I said over the summer And I stand by this the one that would kept me up at night was the two first for buddy healed in miles Turner understood and now The whole league has the Lakers over a barrel you think Indiana's bending now on the two first no picks No, no, they're like they're like you need to if you had a third pick to trade We would demand that too because you stink and we have you over a barrel the whole week has them over a barrel and the other trades Even that trade is as well as healed and Turner would fit there Turner's already injured Yeah, it's on an expiring contract he holds contract cannibalizes your cap space to somewhere unless you can dump it And you probably can or you stretch it or you do some magic stuff to magic Lakers stuff to make it go away This team it becomes an interesting team like a good team. It's a legit good team with those two guys Is it good enough? Is it good enough that you trade both those picks are you a contender if you make that trade and all the other trades to me? Especially now the book Donnebitch is gone to Detroit now Maybe you get back into that and you construct some three team trade where you get both Donnebitch here and someone else from the jazz over here All the other trades are half measures to me like I saw the athletic report yesterday Josh Richardson from the Spurs like Josh Richardson and Yaka Purdle forget it like for two first round picks That's not getting me anywhere.
Josh Richardson couldn't even play for the Celtics and I like Josh There's a nice player now then you bring up the possibility and I see this all the time What about trades where they only send one first round pick out with that be an example of that? Well, that's kind of interesting and then you bring up people who bring up Charlotte Like I think Charlotte would definitely have a meeting about doing two first round picks for their stuff And I think the Lakers would argue well Gordon Hayward That's a pick to get off of that contract. So that's a wash We'll give you one and take Rose here too. Um, is that good enough?
Terry Rose you're in Gordon Hayward who's also always hurt like our any of the to your I agree with you because I sat there and I looked at that Indiana deal Chris and thought boy Those players fit really well and yeah 20 29 27 like that hurts unprotected. It's dangerous LeBron will be out of the league AD might be out of the league It's dangerous, but man does it hurt to waste a year of LeBron's But it's not prime just waste one of the few remaining years So I but but you look at the rest of the trades and I'm like two first round picks for that stuff I can't do that and then you get into these negotiations that are probably gonna fall apart Can I say something it's just I mean we can have and I think it's some point because of what you're saying in the fact that they are over A barrel at this point they have to do something they're going to trade at some point Fundamentally I can't see how this goes on for the rest of the season the question we need to be asking and I think maybe it's kind of inherent And what we're talking about anyway is like how much better does the team get just not having him there? Immediately better and so if that's the case and we can acknowledge that part and not again not trying to be funny about it It's painful to talk about someone that loves basketball. I know Russ loves basketball It doesn't it looks joyless for these guys These were guys that wanted Russ there and then are throwing their hands up in the air when he takes an ill advice shot in a game It's a winnable game when they've got the lead in a winnable game in less 30 seconds So if we if we really think and I imagine the Lakers kind of have to feel this way too If we really think that they get better instantly by not having him there Then then it becomes a question of like how much better do they get can they realistically become a contender by adding pieces that would help their team Too and of course they would get better.
It's a question of how much better, but also they're going to just get a boost by not playing him So it's I mean I don't know I it's kind of saying I don't know how much better they get because they should just get a boost just by not having Russ there And that's again, that's it sounds really mean, but it also feels like the truth And so I don't know how much better they get but it could be a lot better If guys are actually healthy if the guys they get back in the trade can stay healthy if it smiles Turner If it's Hayward what have you those guys would have real fits with this team and you're not dealing with the spacing of a shoebox anymore And that is really a tangible sort of thing for this team All of this is wrapped up into the question that you're hearing I asked more frequently with every loss and every Brandon Ingram mid-range jump shot in every Josh Hart defensive rebound By the way, as a team has a free running rate of a center. He's going coast to coast like ten and a half rebounds a game I mean six foot five I love it and every every time tank of thumb calm updates with the pelicans odds getting better and better The question of course being was the Anthony Davis trade worth it And I think the knee jerk reaction is for the naysayers is to say well look at the cost now and the bubble championship was fake and all of that Of course the Anthony Davis trade was worth it You want a championship and of course it was worth it because the question you're really asking is you have to imagine a counter reality Where you don't mess up the team that won the championship by making all these bad decisions including trader Russell Westbrook if you just reverse that one decision We are not here and no one is asking if the Anthony Davis trade is worth it or or the people asking it are doing so from a much Sort of weaker argumentative position The other thing I will say look the Lakers have done a atrocious job in the last two summers That's the front office in Rob Blinka That's the star players who are involved in all this the one thing I will say in defense of all that is everyone's like well They need to acquire shooting how do they not get shooting shooting shooting you can't find shooting at the minimum You can't the shooters who are available at the minimum are Dwindling minutes already because they can't play defense or they're just not that good of a shooter The way to get shooting on the cheap is to do a Max Drew stunkett Robinson Dorian Fenny Smith John Conch are you like snag a guy on a two-way and he's yours or you trade he's an appendage in a trade like a Seth Curry or something And he's yours and then you have bird rights and then you re-sign them like the criticism is not that they couldn't sign those types of shooters In free agency it's that they never got them to begin with and got them in house where they had them But anyway, that's enough can we just stop talking about the Lakers now? I would love that nothing more well, you know, let me add one more thing. Let me add one more thing and then I promise I was curious because at this point in the season this team is shooting 21 not even 21 and a half percent from three They're shooting 21.2 percent from three which if the number were double that it would be more believable than I mean You have teams that probably are shooting that so far.
Yeah, you do I was curious just how bad that is as far as like historically It's the worst three point percentage for any team going back to 1990 91 when Washington was still the bullets as opposed to the wizards I was just curious for the hell of it like what's the worst of all time? It's also the Lakers you got to go back to the team that Riley took to the finals in 82 83 But this was like two three years after the three is this worst of all time through this point in the season period ever periods So you've only got it over essentially over the last 30 years you've only had three teams two teams I take the back that have ever shot worse over the last 20 over the last 30 years But you have to go back to 1990 91 to find the last time a team was shooting worse shot this bad over the course of a full season And it's it's just kind of mind blowing like we know they don't have that much shooting But and they're even worse on touching shoots was just seems so backwards But I guess LeBron is really the only guy that's making any so it kind of makes sense And LeBron is game one is already in full-on I'm shooting from the logo mode sticking I think 9 th reason game. He has the highest 3 point rate of his career by far He's just like I'm shooting let's give him a ball I'm shooting I don't care anymore Let's hop around the league a little bit and the first place we're gonna hop is to Portland because Portland's good and you talk can sustain a Little bit non skeptical that we'll talk about the jazz later It's but if just Portland's good the math on the Lakers gets even worse the math on the Lakers getting out of the play and or into the play It gets even worse and Portland is for no seventh on offense. That's not unexpected ninth on defense That's the number we'll dig into that.
I know these guys are I think leading your newsletter today? So we'll dig into the defense three of their wins have been very close wins Phoenix Lakers Kings and then they blew out the nuggets Monday night last night And look do I believe it? I'm not sure I believe this is a top five team in the West all of a sudden I'm not sure I believe this is a top ten defense in the NBA all of a sudden, but I'll say this They're not blah. They're not blah stylistically.
They're a hell of a lot of fun to watch and they're not blah qualitatively I think after four games. It's not too early yet No injuries happen and they can derail any season we know that but like as currently constituted We haven't seen Gary Payton the second year. I think it's clear already They're better than blah. They're better than the Vegas over under it Which was like 39 and a half or 40 and a half depending on where you look they look like a legit pretty good team Dame is back the Simon's only line-ups are Working mostly because opponents are missing every single shot they take those lineups are working because of defense But they're surviving for now.
I love the construction of the team and they bet on youth athleticism and speed and that's showing up particularly I love I just have a sucker for teams that at 2 3 and 4 shooting guard through power forward can just play big rangey wings And they've got a whole lot of what they are so tell me I know they led your newsletter Tell me and diving into the blazers first four games whether it's the defense we thought about or anything like what's stuck out to you No, it's it's actually just that the athleticism just kind of jumps off the screen when you watch him It's exactly what you said. It's you know the way I looked at all this was just you know Portland last year was the year from hell From when they hired Chauncey and the questions that surrounded that that they really didn't answer adequately in my opinion Whether was a little shay stuff and the fact that he was the one that made that decision and then you know gets Investigated on workplace culture stuff and gets fired over that whether it's Dame You know right at the beginning of the season just not looking himself and then figuring out these gotten abdominal injury They require surgery, you know the painful decision even though it was one I felt like they needed to make a couple years earlier with CJ and moving him And not getting the pick you dreamed of getting because right luck not luck the pelicans turned against you Right, right, so it's you know it was a it was a rough year for people that believed in the blazers that loved the blazers Nothing about that you respond. I would say that maybe the one upside is that Simon's kind of gets to spread his wings a little bit Or got to spread his wings a little bit. So this is probably like an over-do feeling just a joyous feeling for blazers fans But what stands out to me aside from the fact that guys are kind of firing on all cylinders offensively in some cases and Jeremy Grant Looks like a great fit just generally speaking the athleticism like you said two three and four For this team heart running in transition grant kind of you know I think has really grown as a player even if it's maybe not efficiency wise Just the idea that he's willing to do a little bit more than he wanted to take that challenge when he went to Detroit is Someone that fits this team really well kind of similar to what I was just saying about Simon's where he gets to spread his wings a little bit That was what Grant did in Detroit And so now maybe he's even better equipped to play a second third fiddle to someone like Dame whether it's Dame or Simon's or whoever else and Looking at Justice Winslow out there Who I don't think played last night But just generally speaking someone that you know I think teams have been reluctant to really believe in that much given his injury history and everything else But his look good out there and is a really good fit if he can stay healthy for a team like this and hell shade and sharp His looked really really good and really bouncy and like a really good sparky came I was the first guy off the bench for them yesterday and a huge win over Denver I mean they look like they could actually be real like that this looks sustainable to me if guys can stay healthy You imagine that certain things will even blow But they needed to be more athletic in certain spots I think that was the aim when they had Covington really briefly too was the same sort of thing was that I think he was probably a little bit overrated as a stopper I think he's more of a really good health defender and probably way more well equipped for where he is now given what that team has But still they had that idea right But I think that these are guys that fit better and they've got more of them and they invested more and more guys like that and so that jumps Off the screen to me and you got dame back healthy that that alone and Simon's is jump that alone is enough to make them Interesting and intriguing and I think that we will see and hear more about them as we get into April and May I don't know how big a force they'll be by that point I think health will be a huge determining factor there and how well they continue to depend will be a huge factor in whether they're true Contender or not, but damn are they fun?
Like I've really enjoyed watching them Yeah, they're they're a ball to watch and GP2 fits right into yeah everything We're talking about athleticism speed and he's not quote-unquote tall or big in that two three four main We're talking about he but he's long and he plays really big above his height and he'll fit into that The Winslow at center line-ups have been really good in a very very small sample size So you know we'll see we'll see what happens and you brought up Covington and I think if there was another reason I think people were a little pessimistic including me about the blazers is they kind of sold at the lowest possible point on Covington and norm Powell together getting back, you know, Kian Johnson I think some seconds and and Justice Winslow is part of that and Justice Winslow maybe becomes a bigger part of the team Then we thought and to your point about sustainability. I mean you look at the numbers They're not getting like super lucky in opponent jumping and where they are getting lucky is mid-range jumpers Which they you know are not a huge percentage of shots anymore and they're not super high value shots They're allowing an average percentage from three a below average percentage like defensively at the rim There's nothing that stands out to you is like well, this is this is crazy. Maybe their own three point shooting They're shooting 41% on threes that will drop a little bit come down a little bit Yeah, they're second and free throw rate that will drop a little bit But they're also turning it over a lot which is uncharacteristic for a Damey Lillard team Now you look at their defense Chris their eighth and defensive rebounding fourth in free throw rate allowed like their fundamentals are pretty good Their shot the shots they're allowing they're not allowing a ton of threes or shots at the rim like there's nothing here that screams luck luck luck Unsustainable sustainable and sustainably offensively if you have Damian Lillard you should be a good offense I'm just curious about the name Simon's defensive minutes if the two small guards thing, you know those minutes I think they're let me look at it They're plus seven and 105 minutes so far with a really good offense and a blah defense sorry use blah I'm interested to see how that holds up But and also like to bring it back to the Lakers I guess because we have to you know I think one of the dreams that people concocted for the Lakers was well if they just wait this out You know the Bulls maybe they'll crap the bed and tomorrow's don't become available the Wizards Maybe they'll crap the bed and Bradley Beale with his no-tray clothes will become available don't blazers Maybe they'll crap the bed Damian Lillard will become available while the blazers are not crapping the bed Therefore no and I just think in talking to people around the league over the weekend the Beale and Lillard contract specifically are Really really hard to value because they're the first sort of like gargantuan Cap spike adjacent mega extensions the league has seen that get to like the 50 $60 million range and right now There's this temporary sticker shock where other deals haven't caught up to them Yeah, never like Mike Conley was the highest paid player in the league for a hot second everyone was freaking out Not realizing that this will not be the case in six months last less than a couple months Yeah, that's where Beale and Dame are now it'll though It'll last longer a day will be older at the end of that deal Beale has been on mediocre teams most of his career and you have some Teams who are like well those contracts man I don't know what to do with them like there's they could be really bad at the end But those players mean more to their own teams than they do to almost anyone else and both of those teams I think would say wait a second the tip was just give up the whole farm for Rudy go bare right you may be concerned about Damien Lillard's age in 2027 when he's making $60 million Bradley Beale's game in 2027 when he's making $60 million You guys are good. It's got some really good players right now and you need them Lakers or team X We're not giving you like do the Lakers even have enough to get those guys like no That's the question no one even asked I would say probably not They become a bill with the Lakers have enough with the two first round picks and that's a device of question But that's in here here nor there the blazers are just super fun And I'm with you on sharp sharp is now.
He's gonna miss defensive rotations He's gonna watch in loose shooters, but boy oh boy can he shoot and he's an admin and he's he tries hard like I'm in I'm in I'm in from that standpoint I also think like if ever there was a team that needed to essentially take a gamble and you know by the way Mike for cornov wrote a really from the athletic wrote a really good piece on on Mike Schmitt's who obviously worked at ESPN One of the nicest people you'll meet. Yeah, he's a hack. He's a hack Mike was obviously in favor of getting sharp, but he He I think was so interesting is that the blazers were the sort of team when you remember like a year ago when people were like Does Dame really want to be in Portland? Like do they've got do they have a team that's really really suited to actually build from where they're at if they're gonna tear it all the way down to name one and wait for that and We're sitting appraising the wing talent that they have the athleticism that they have the blazers were exactly the sort of team That should have taken a chance on Shane sharp really someone that has a ton of upside by all accounts But someone that like nobody's really quite sure about because of not having played whatever else I mean even if he doesn't work out this was exactly who they should have taken a chance on someone with this sort of Epilogism somewhat this much explosion somewhat this sort of range and he's already shown a little bit of it in each of these games So who knows you know sky might be the limit there?
But if he pans out on top of all these other things that look like they might hit for them It's fantastic and the one other thing I'll say is we talk so much about fit. We talk so much about just skill talent athleticism Damn it and I think Steph gets a lot of crap for this and I think Dame does too often, but just a leadership to like I was so blown away By the you know the last play really the last offensive play that Portland had against Phoenix were Dame Just decides unilaterally just to give the ball up to Anthony Simon's who has a defensive player the here candidate guarding him and Simon's puts it in essentially a hook shot and Dame after the game said I had talked to him about this I told him that I trust you and you know It's certain times you need to show someone that you trust him as opposed to saying that I'm not just saying it The leadership there and also the sort of thing that that can do for a player's confidence particularly after he kind of got to run The show while you were out. I just think is massive again It's a it's not necessary It's more of an intangible than a tangible sort of thing But for a team that has guys that are still relatively young in a lot of spots Simon's particularly I'm just really impressed. I'm really curious to see where it goes where it ends up for this team look I'm a true believer in Damian Lillard as a culture center and a leader Like you don't even have to be around the blazers that much to register that I remember I went out there for a week in the year they ended up making the conference finals Everybody sneezed at that like it's easy to make the conference finals even if you get some injury breaks or match up breaks Like it's not easy and that was the year after the pelicans just mantled them in the first round of the playoffs with Drew Holiday Yeah, and I went out there specifically to write How did that not end the blazers?
Why did that not end the blazers because that that series was so Empatic and decisive that it just felt like okay We've seen enough now like this team it just isn't good enough can't get over the hump And then they bring essentially bring it back and what I ended up hearing from everybody there was damn damn damn damn damn Just all the ways he sets the tone for the organization I'm a true believer Simon size one of the prettiest floater range games in the entire NBA How about that quarter head last night? Oh look and it's early But if you're the Lakers and you're like oh my god We ain't nine seven tenth something at best in the league you're worried because the blazers have invaded your space And even if you're in the sort of like Minnesota doesn't look great Dallas who knows Clippers were trying to pace ourselves for the season and we think we have a safety net like the safety nets get a little more precarious in the Play and safety net in the Western Conference get a little more precarious because at least one team has said oh no We're a little better than you all thought even more of a reason to make a trade if you've got just a hot potato And your lap that is going to only get hotter in me play in the second largest market in America But either way we both said we're moving on let's please move on Utah jazz came back down to earth last night on the second end of a back to back in Houston against the youthful Exuberant frisky Houston Rockets. They are still three in one There are three wins all come against playoff hopefuls at the very worst in New Orleans, Minnesota and Denver They are tenth in offense 14th in defense And just the thing that sticks out to me against early is a they play super hard super hard super hard Tailin Horton Tucker had like Taylor Horton Tucker and Eason from the Rockets were having a personal battle at the rim on like seven consecutive sessions last night They just play really hard and what why I was why me and the League Pass algorithm League Pass rankings algorithm We're both skeptical and Utah aside from their embarrassing jerseys was they just look like what what can happen to a team when it is Essentially the product of two trades is the players you get back in those trades are not the point of the trades They are vehicles to get draft picks and so you end up with like oh, yeah All these players are kind of good like Consecsons good and Lowery Market and sadly I sold my lower market and stock about a year ago So I'm not benefiting from the lower market and explosion unfortunately There's like all these guys are good But then you look like did they have any cohesion together is there any point of them being together? They just hear by happenstance in a waiting area until they get traded again And I think what Utah has done is and credit will hardy for this and credit the players is taking what looked like a disparate mishmash or stuff and thought Well, how can we use the mishmash to our advantage?
How can we take advantage of some of these skills in unconventional ways and leverage what we do have here? And so you see like Kelly Olinik inverted pick and rolls you see Defense is switching when Olinik and marketing set screens because they are worried about their pick and pop threes And so how can we exploit that with bully ball post-offs and weird isolations Jordan Clarkson is passing like we've never seen him past before He's embraced kind of a semi point guard role Mike He's got some juice lads and all of a sudden it's like they're kind of making sense out of this now Mr. Herring what have you seen and I think you and I both are probably skeptical that this is sustainable in any real sense But what have you seen so far? Well, it's a lot of it is what you said where it's just first of all I think and I was almost you'll see this when I you know did kind of over-unders before the season I was you know gonna plug in the under for all these teams that just you know It's gonna be a race to the bottom at least the way we think about it for when Vignama This was a team full of guys like keep in mind Danny Angel wanted to continue to trade a lot of the guys He traded four of the five guys in the starting lineup He wanted to get rid of Conley or wanted to find a taker for Conley Let me not say he wanted to get rid of him the same I'm sure it's true of Clarkson was true Clarkson and couldn't do it And so you've got maybe more left than what you really wanted to have Talent-wise and not to mention that you got I mean because you were trading good players away.
You got good talent back So you got some guys that I'm sure Timberwolves fans were a bit frustrated You know if not by what they gave up in picks to get go bare and what they gave up in talent You gave up three legit roster guys and Beverly Vanderbilt Malik Beasley Vanderbilt has been a complete dog as far as when you talk about You know fighting for rebounds and just kind of every Utah game you watch the broadcasters still getting used to these new players Or just blown away by how hard the guy plays I mean, it's just a team that works really hard and so you see it show up all over the statistics their second and offensive rebound rate Their third enforcing turnovers defensively their fifth and assist percentage Which like you said a big chunk of that is Clarkson who granted also has the highest turnover rate of his career He's kind of negotiating a new role and frankly probably needs to given that Conley is slowing down Their seventh in three pointers made their 11th in 3.0 percentage and they've held opponents to a really really low 3.0 percentage I would say unsustainably That's the one that's the one red flag that's like okay, that'll that'll change But they're there as you said giving up the least amount of threes overall in the league, right? I think the other red flag for me Which if you look at this roster you could have seen it coming Oh, by the way, they also gave up Rudy go bare who was great at doing what obviously limiting stuff at the rim They're giving up 62 points per game in the paint Which is the highest in the league by like five points? So that is something that you actually kind of could see continuing maybe not at that level Maybe it tapers off a little bit, but you know, it's Kelly Olenik and marketing depending the rim So you're probably not going to be a great team in rim protection You're going to see the three point numbers for opponents come up, but it's a team that plays hard It's a team that as much as we normally think about rebuilding teams as being young This is not that young a team you have a bunch of veterans from Colin Sexton Rudy gay Horton Tucker is not a young guy anymore Olenik and marking it have been in the league long enough now and you've got Conley and Clarkson I did find it humorous watching one of their games a couple days ago where again as their broadcasters are getting used to the new talent That they you know, I think Holly row was like, you know, you look at it It's like Colin Sexton's got some qualities that Donovan Mitchell has and Walker Kessler's got some qualities that you know He studied Rudy go bare in terms of what he does around the rim to try to deter stuff And it's funny because that's kind of where they're at as far as they are a young team still ish as far as experience to some extent But age wise these guys have been around Walker Kessler hasn't but these guys have been around I know they're looking for optimism I don't expect this to be a player But it is really refreshing to see them play hard It is one of those things that really affirms the point that so many people make is that even when organizations decide to bottom out The players are not deciding to do that these guys are playing hard These guys know that other teams are watching and even if that's not what this is about for them There's pride involved You can't tell me that someone like Rudy gay after the way that he was kind of pilloried last season for not getting it done After trading for him to try to get them over the hump that he's not someone that wants to show pride here That Olenik and all these other guys want to show pride here They want to win and quite frankly for a minute I thought that they actually might run to four and oh yesterday too. They just didn't have enough to get it done I think they're maybe coming off the back to back as well.
They were I'm sure Minnesota fans have also noted that Jerry Vanderbilt has two threes in four games both from the right corner after making three threes He's entire career before landing with you guys all the develop once they're off your team. That's the way it works Kessler's good Walker Kessler's a good a good life for that They're easy legit and I've heard the same stuff that other people have reported that they they are just super reluctant to move Clarkson they're really fond of him for whatever reason So I think I would peg him as sort of maybe the least likely of all these jazz guys to get traded But it's been a fun story there. They have real players. We'll see we'll see how long they can keep it up Let's shift gears to the Sixers who are one and three thirteenth and offense 22nd in defense Got right last night as I said with a with a win over Indiana that for a second became a little too close for comfort in the fourth quarter I'll just open the floor to you either end of the floor But what have you seen and are you worried or do you feel like okay?
They lost to the Celtics and the Bucks then they laid an egg against the Spurs for some reason I don't know why but this is still at least the regular season team the regular season team that we thought they would be I'm right on the cusp of being where I don't know if I'm worried yet the disperse loss was not encouraging at all You know their announcers I thought were Pretty stunned at that and then said as much during the broadcast and then pairing that with the fact that they didn't just put the game away Yesterday they got out to a an early lead yesterday and the Pacers just couldn't hit the broadside of a barn for the first half And then the game got close and that concerns me a little bit Just because these are the teams that you're supposed to be you know by all accounts I think most of us looked at you know Maybe if you had to pick one team that you thought had the best off season particularly without trading for a star I think most of us probably would have pegged the Sixers as either that team or maybe you know They have the second best off season as far as the role players that they were able to pick up They just haven't looked good at all really Doc talked about you know imploring this team to pick up the pace They are dead last in pace not that I expected them to be you know at the top of the league and that they are dead last in pace defensively They really aren't Doing much to to really influence anything about I like that. I like that analysis Chris defensively. They really aren't doing much It's the only it's the only way to put it because it's crazy because you're hunched when you look at this team and who they have and the fact that Struggling would be there that someone's not getting it done offensively and granted and be struggled for the first couple games I mean, he's he was he's been okay. He's been fine And he's recovering from planar fasciitis Foot issues over the summer and is and I think is as the announcer's have been pretty open about playing his way into shape So as he looked a little lurchy and mopey, he's defending with his arms down on the pick and roll Which is a sort of a tell for big men that they're not totally into it.
They're not taking away passing lanes I'm assuming that part of it will correct itself. Mm-hmm that so I'm not worried about that What is a little bit concerning to me is the fact that one Daniel House has not really shot well at all so far. That's a little bit of a concern I mean it's early so obviously time to turn it around but some of the bench stuff like Doc really has not played his back-up Center's much at all Trez has looked awful. There's really no way around it.
I don't know what anyone was hoping for expecting out of him anyway, but I can see this very quickly if it hasn't already I'm not completely plugged in the sixth Twitter If this is not already become a situation where fans are saying play Paul Reed over Trez like they did last year with let me spoiler alert That one for you Chris six or Twitter is all about Paul Reed once I know that Paul Reed yesterday Paul Reed today Paul Reed for the future Paul Reed 2024 presidency I mean so so if they're not if they weren't clamoring for him before they are now I know they were before but I don't know maybe they've you Trez is like this year's version of DeAndre Jordan when he was there I'm not sure but this is Trez just his look brutal yesterday yesterday might have been his best game just getting to the line a number of times at the But he hasn't played Reed much. He hasn't played Trez all that much. He's barely played Thieble Shake Milton really saw some of his first action yesterday that wasn't coming in a blowout So it's just kind of curious. I know I guess we all were clamoring about how much depth they had I was still expecting to see some of these guys a little bit more than we have and I'm wondering also as we talk about the team Struggling defensively why wouldn't you play Paul Reed a little bit more particularly when we're talking about him be maybe not being all the way into it at times Why wouldn't you play Thieble in particular if you're talking about defensive struggles Offensively they I'm not worried about it They don't turn the ball over much if you look at their isos which obviously James Harden on a team that he's on You're going to have a lot of those they've been they're scoring like a point and a half per ISO or something great Maybe not point and a half, but it's pretty high.
They're very efficient When they turn it over is really the only time they have problems where they're giving up more than a point and a half On those possessions after a turnover via unpredictable So I'm not worried but it just kind of feels like they're missing something They're there second to last in offensive rebounding which is a little bit concerning But it's I'm more kind of confused by some of the choices of guys that aren't in the lineup given what they're struggling with So I would like some of that at the feet of doctor right now Well, the Thieble stuff doesn't surprise me because they didn't extend him They saw what happened in the playoffs, but no one even pretended to guard him Sure, and they designed their entire offseason around the idea of like we don't have to play Matisse Thieble We have all these other wings now they can do at least something on both ends of the floor I will say there are two things that worry me a big picture And I still think this is a team that's gonna win a lot of regular season games I pick them to have a better record than Boston and in the regular season do I trust them as far as I can throw them in the playoffs No won't do it until I see it, but in the regular season they should win a lot of games I still think they will two things I don't know that I've seen a team With alleged championship ambitions come out playing worse transition defense than this team They are an absolutely abominable transition defense team. They are In a 30 team league in points allowed per possession and transition that's according to cleaning the glass and they are so far in a way 30th in points allowed per possession after a defensive rebound by the other team that it's embarrassing now Some transition defense issues are baked into a structure of two corner shooters somebody driving to the basket and you'll Be down low, right? That's that's a lot of potential for four guys under the rim when the possession changes even so The first step back has been horrendous and this is year 15 of that or whatever for James Harden people are whining to the refs People are slow the communication is a disaster in transition and transition defenses about communication the transition The communication in the half court has been a disaster The Spurs beat them because over and over again They would run simple screening actions and the Sixers would be confused by we're switching over not to my god Oh my god Doug McDermott open oh, yeah The Stuff that you eat you can interpret one of two ways. Oh, we're just gonna flip this switch in the playoffs Yeah Where the where the 2001 Lakers we're gonna flip we're gonna be a bad defensive team the regular season when it counts will play or You just aren't a serious team.
You're just not a serious team And this team doesn't have to track record of the 2001 Lakers who won the previous year's championship and had a certain proof of concept in the playoffs This stuff worries me because it's like are you guys like do you is this gonna be a serious team or we just do you care? It's kind of what it feels like is that's the in my nose what it just feels like the foot is off the pedal at times Did you did you get through both things that you wanted to say was that one? No the second the second one is Offensively the talent is the talent right and so maybe the talent just answers all questions, right? But you watch this team and it's like they have two different teams They have the harden offense and they have the MB low post offense and there's nothing connecting those two systems And that's fine when and beads resting and harden runs the show or hardens rusting rather and the maxi MB duo runs the show When they're both on the floor, it's just and maybe again Doesn't matter because their pick and roll is so lethal together But it just hasn't there's just no connective tissue between two very distinct ways of playing and the two guys that get lost in the shuffle with that are maxi And here's a staff from actually ready for this Maxi has has run 81 pick and rolls this season in a hundred piece play 150 minutes.
He's run 81 pick and rolls 51 of those so 60% of them or whatever have come in 38 minutes with harden on the bench The remaining 30 have come in the 112 minutes that he has shared the floor with James Harden He's too much of an afterthought with Harden on the floor and Tobias Harris I'm sorry to say it is a 40 million dollar floor spacer and he's good at these fine at that role He's done well He's a little overstretched on defense and that's the other thing that's emerged already is like Tobias Harris has to guard jail And Brown Tobias Harris has to guard buddy healed because harden won't do it can't do it maxi won't do it can't do it Tucker can only guard one guy and it's like I could find Someone to do these Tobias Harris things for a third of the price and that would make my roster make a lot of sense I there's either does the offense stuff where you are you just like they'll just figure it out because the talent is too Pretty just well, I think some of what I was saying when I just watched them was exactly what you laid out in the fact that Maxi and I think this speaks to what Doc was saying during the offseason is that he wants them to get out and run and be able to make Use of what maxi does so well and the fact that maxi kind of has a different game and a different rhythm to what he does So sometimes it does kind of feel like okay within the ISO even if it's efficient Does it sometimes play guys out of a rhythm does it sometimes make for a quick hook with certain players when I think about guys Like that we were talking about before like a thibler whoever else or a Daniel house who you're only gonna get so many opportunities because you've got three guys that all are gonna have relatively high usage and not only that but it's gonna come out of like pretty Pretty static sets where it hardens is just getting his own stuff or it's in a pick and roll where it's kind of him and indeed So that part of it worries me a little bit But a lot of it just goes back to the defense and particularly you pointed out transition and I was pointing out earlier There's seconds to last and offensive rebounding and they're still bad in transition defense It's like I've actually talked to doc about rebounding before offensive rebounding I did a story on Andre drumman and kind of the death of the big time rebounder in the NBA and just how rebounds don't really matter Quite as much statistically at least non contested ones and doc was telling me and went through the whole spiel of like that's all we Talk about is transition defense. We don't have to offensive rebound that much But we cannot give up transition defense We can't be lacking there and so to be bad at both is kind of puzzling and again Just kind of like do you give a damn sort of where does that rate so if there's anything concerning about to me? I think there's more than enough talent It's more just like how much do you care and I do think we'll learn that over the course of season Yeah, they've been a bad offensive They've been a bad rebounding team period for years now and that doesn't appear to have laind The offense doesn't worry me so much because their best three offensive players are just so good that I think they will figure it out You can kind of see them trying efforting some synergy like like they had a few plays last night where Joelle screened for either hard-in or maxi and then flared out Behind a flare screen from like PJ Tucker like pick and pop behind a flare screen And then they had a big three from maxi late where he set a back screen for him beat in the post hit and beads guy hard enough That maxi's guy had to stay back and help a little bit and maxi zoomed out for a three And they're like okay, give me a little more of that stuff But I do think against the very very best defenses and that's what the Sixers are trying to beat Yeah, it's hard to win when you're super predictable and sluggish, especially if James Harden isn't James Harden anymore And I know everyone's like oh my god. He's got his first back It's like Houston James Harden.
I don't think it is I don't think his burst is there as I think it's better than last year But I don't think it's back back I think he's actually become more bully than blow by guy His eyeshows are just kind of like I'm gonna burrow and burrow and hit you with the shoulder and make a floater over you And like even against them knee part or net part last night with the Pacers He's kind of like bullied on a little bit He didn't blow by him jail and Smith you couldn't get by jail and Smith with one exception where you beat him for a layup and The the evidence of this is everyone's lauding James Harden's mid-range game like all of a sudden James Harden is a mid-range game And he does 21% of his shots have been long twos this year Chris that number in the previous five seasons was 4% 2% 4% 3% So this is a giant new thing for him Yeah, and you can read it as oh wow what a great late career resourcefulness I read it the other way as in 20% of his shots are coming at the rim by far the lowest number of his career He can't get to the basket as much anymore I don't think the burst is there and so that number is something to monitor And I just do think they're gonna need to have a little more connectivity a little more snap on offense to really get where they want to go And that's on the player then it's also on the coaches and the pressure here is if the pressure on everybody is enormous the pressure on Harden Facing more pressure than always anyone in the league this year when the game starts really count on Doc Rivers Bill Simmons has been saying for weeks on his podcast Doc could be the first coach fired Certainly people are chattering about that in the league ecosystem, but I don't know how much that chatter is actually reality And this is Darrell Maurice team. This is this is the Rockets reunion tour. This is I gave up everything I waited on I waited on my long loss love James Harden I waited and waited and got him back This is it like this is the team and they've just got to be better than this and to me offense offense fine We'll see that's that's why I give them time right it takes time to get that snap start trying and transition defense Because what's on the floor right now is embarrassing. Yeah, we'll see I am curious a little bit because I see what you see as far as I Think everybody at the beginning of every new process for Harden thinks that there's a burst when he first got to Philly That was also the talk to is it he had a couple of really good games And and people were like oh he's trying the effort it's still different fundamentally different than what he had in his prime in Houston Do you see some benefit at all to the idea of if he maybe it's been too quick and not gradual?
But do you see any benefit from the idea from a playoff setting of him being more of a guy that relies a little bit more in the Midrange as opposed to having it to the ramra having a I like that thought because I think there is something to the all-or-nothing nature of his game gets harder to Excuse the playoffs so this having this in his bag and usually his mid-range game has been just floaters right like floater for this sort of long 16 footer is a Newish thing for him. So I think there is something to that we'll see on the six I still think they're gonna win a lot of games still think a box or win any use but that's neither here nor there and Tatum looks unbelievable my guy Quick quick hitters are you ready for some very quick hitters? Let's do it the nicks are fun They're benches just running all over people the heat 28th and offense Lowry and Bam and dead men sinkhole I'm a little worried a little worried the Brooklyn Nets in 68 minutes With Ben Simmons and Kevin Durant on the floor 68 minutes take a shot on what their plus-minus is Chris Negative neck. I'm gonna say negative 30 very good minus 42 I was low.
I was too low at the number. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Yeah, that's a 30th in defense 30th in defensive rebounding Having some bad luck with opponent 3 opponents are shooting a lot of I think 40 something percent on 3s Yeah, they're not getting around screens though defensively to defend them either, but yeah, I'm with you It's that curry's not gonna help in that regard right? Clackston's actually played pretty well the Clackston Simmons minutes have been a disaster on defense and kind of also bad on offense by the numbers and just the two non shooters together I'm just not sure it's gonna work and You know Simmons rushed all that that's all fair. He hasn't played in a long time It's not off to a great start in Brooklyn. Can I ask you something?
I feel like it's my podcast go I'm asking you questions I obviously Simmons doesn't need time to work up rust so many of us thought about the offensive side of the ball And what I'm saying is the defensive side He he's rusty I mean the the fact that he's fouled out of two games already that he hasn't been able to stay on the court for 30 minutes a game I'm wondering to some extent with how bad they are defensively do you see them as? Maybe being or maybe that they were going to be overly reliant on him defensively and just being up Thanks for them or do you kind of see more to them? No, I think they really need him to be a great defensive layer because if you're skeptical about Ken Simmons and Clackston played together Extended extended fourth quarter minutes against the best team Obviously they're gonna state they appear to be starting that group I thought they might go the other way and just start small right from the beginning and start kairi Harris own yield Durant Simmons, which is a lineup I think will be really good if you're skeptical that offensively those two can really share the floor then by default You're really relying on Simmons and Durant defensively a lot and I do agree He's rusty the first step is a little rusty. I did enjoy When you found out the first game kairi saying Failing out is not an option.
We told him falling out is not an option. I'm like dude. He played the game He played in the game man like do I need to remind you what happened last season? Are you that self-aware the tone deafness that emanates Subsiles from love him or hate him and if I were a fan sometimes I would probably just hate him based on how tone deaf he is But anyway neither here nor there please continue.
It's a long it's a long season I am just I'm interested to see how the nets evolve. They have a lot to figure out. There's a lot of new pieces There was a report this week that TJ Warren is getting closer. I think he'll help their team So I'm not I'm not gonna worry too much yet But I did look you did look at this roster and the in the combination of Simmons and the inexperienced at center and wonder to yourself Yeah, look on paper the dundramiffle nets are gonna be an incredible offensive team What if they're a little less than incredible when Simmons and klaxon or Simmons and sharp or Simmons and big man extra on the floor together?
And what if their small line-ups are just completely helpless different like you can switch You can tell me all these things if teams like the pelicans are just gonna come in and the pelicans are an incredible rebounding team But if teams routinely are just going to play volleyball on the glass against you It's really hard to win like you can't win giving up 20 offensive rebounds in a game It's really really hard you have to be that good offensively on some nights this team will be that good offensively But if you had outlined sort of where to worry about Brooklyn those things have showed up, but it's early it's early We can't over really early the blazers aren't winning the title like we can't overreact everything I'm curious to see what happens. I think we always knew Simmons was gonna have to be good probably really good defensively Again, I think that we assumed that if there was rust that it would probably show more on the offensive side than the defensive side for him And he's gonna have to be a little bit better a little sharper defensively. I think he'll get there It'll just take time, but we'll see that there anything could happen with that team They're so combustible all the time and again It's very early where four games and nobody should be taking any victory laps yet Nobody should be taking any panic laps yet if there's such a thing as a panic lap But you know in a week in 10 days and in three weeks We'll have a lot of information and we'll have more information on a lot of teams We didn't talk about much today like Denver's to worry worried about them Minnesota's to worry worried about them on and on and on we'll have a lot of infrae Phoenix is back in the wind column And sort of got things out. We'll see but and we will have to invite you back to see on those teams Chris Herring Just second and none the playmaker comes out Tuesdays.
The book is is again What blood in the garden? I almost forgot the title blood in the garden and you can read and read Chris at I.com listen to Chris on S. I's NBA podcast one of the two S. I NBA podcast and Just second and on man.
Thanks for spending some time with us. I so appreciate you. I think he's probably something