Can Wemby's Spurs win title? Warriors next move, Jaylen Brown MVP case, KD's weakness | NBA Mailbag

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All right, welcome to Hootsenite here at the volume.

Happy Friday, everybody.

Hope all of you guys had it in front of a week.

It is a mailbag day.

It's been a few weeks since we've had a mailbag.

And so as a result, we got a ton of questions to get to.

I've got 15 questions today for me bouncing all around the league,

hitting all sorts of topics.

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So you don't miss any more videos.

Make sure you guys like this video and sign up for post notifications.

That helps us a lot.

And last but not least, if you guys want to get questions into our mailbags,

go to our full episodes on YouTube,

go into the comments underneath those videos and write mailbag,

call and write your question.

That helps me sort through as I'm going through the comments and we'll get to them.

Mostly on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season.

All right, let's talk some basketball.

First question.

Hey, Jason, love the show.

Watch every single one.

Thanks for the support.

My question is, how is Cade and Jalen Brown,

not two of the top three MVP front runners?

I thought MVP was most valuable player to your team.

Cade doesn't even have a 20 point score on his team.

And nobody thought he would be first in the east.

And JB lost his whole starting five from last year and everyone thought they were

tanking, but they're number two in the east.

And my pick goes in my pick to go to the finals.

What's your thoughts on that?

Keep up the great work, my friend.

Thanks again for the support.

This is an interesting question.

This has been a popular topic over the course of the last few days as for one.

Shay looked like he was running away with it,

but then suddenly Luke account made a run at it.

Wembee has made a run at it.

And I think both of those guys have compelling cases.

I still think Shay's in the lead.

But then we had that Mike Wilbon quote that came out and he's an actual voter

who came out and said that he plans on voting for Jalen Brown.

And then he said, basically said, don't even consider Luca because he only plays

one side of the floor.

And so we've seen all sorts of different angles come at this over the course of

the last few days.

And so I think it's worth diving into now.

And yesterday's show, or I should say Wednesday's show,

I talked more about why Shay's number one,

why have Wembee number two, why I have Luca number three.

But I want to zoom in on why I think there's a large gap between Luca number

three and guys like Kate and Jalen coming after that point.

And the answer is pretty simple.

When you talk about these teams and why they have successes,

when you dig into the thunder, for example,

they have been utterly devoid of ball handling this year.

And you have the,

you have the injury to AJ Mitchell that took place through the year,

the multiple hamstring injuries for J.

And a lot of ball handling responsibilities fallen on Shay.

So that can be similar to Kate, right?

But there is a kind of, in my opinion,

a three step process to becoming the MVP or should say a three criteria method

to evaluating MVP.

Those of you guys who've been listening to this show over the years,

I've been pretty consistent about this.

I think MVP is a combination of who's the best player in the league?

Who's the best player on the best team?

And who is the most valuable player to their team?

It's those three things.

And when you look at Kate,

obviously you've got the best player on the best team case

in the sense that the pistons are the number one seed in the Eastern conference.

And certainly in terms of just how many impressive wins they've had this year.

That's a strong case for him.

But he's very weak in the other two areas in the sense that one,

no one even considers Kate close to that top tier of superstars.

He's firmly in the second tier somewhere between like the seventh eighth,

the seventh to 13th, 14th best player in the league.

Depending on who you ask, right?

Like I have on the upper side of that.

But no one's going to put him even in the same conversation as Wembee,

Shay, Luca, Yannis, Yoke, it's the actual top tier stars in the league.

So Kate does not have a strong, easy,

the best player in the world type of guy case, right?

So that undercuts him.

Then on the most valuable player piece,

the problem is is that the pistons.

I talked about this after one of the shows early this week, Monday or Tuesday.

I can't remember exactly which one.

But the star of the pistons is their defense.

They win games primarily because of their defense.

They mall you physically with ball pressure.

And then they do a lot of damage on the offensive glass as well.

It's a size and physicality based team.

Kate obviously is very valuable to the pistons.

I don't want to undercut his case.

But because he's weak in the value side and because he's weak in the,

is he actually among the best players in the league side?

He's weak in two out of the three areas,

which puts him pretty far down that list, right?

Same thing goes for Jalen Brown.

No one's going to consider him in the conversation

among the best players in the world.

He is firmly a second tier star.

Like I said, somewhere in that six, seven to 13, 14 range,

depending on who you ask, right?

And then in terms of value,

the Celtics have actually been better when he's off the floor this year than when he's on.

And when I look at the Celtics and I think about why they're so good this year,

it's a lot to do with Joe Mazula and their system and the continuity of the players

that have been around for a long time and the way that they play on offense

and how good they are with their physical ball pressure and the margins that they win.

Like their corner crashes and the damage they do on the offensive glass

to mitigate some of their issues that they've had defensive rebounding.

Like when I talk about the Celtics and the reasons why they win,

Jalen Brown is just further down the list than the guys that are above him in the MVP case.

So when I look at Cade and Jalen Brown

because they're not considered among the very best players in the world

and because they're not as valuable to their teams as some of the other guys on that list,

that's what keeps them lower and a lower tier than the other guys in the list.

So when I get to the top guys, right?

When I'm talking Shay, when I'm talking Nicole Yoke,

it's when I'm talking Victor Wembenyama, when I'm talking Luca Dongett

and I think Yoke just clearly on the bottom side of that.

He missed a large chunk of games this year and since he came back from his knee injury,

as I'm very good. Yoke was like clear MVP candidate before his knee injury

and had he not gotten hurt and sustained that play throughout the end of the season.

I think he would have been neck and neck with Shay.

I think the nuggets would probably be higher in the standings, right?

But we got to, we got to take the Yoke pitch piece and set it aside

that this tail end of the season just hasn't been as good for him as he was to start the year.

I think, I think he's above Cade and Jalen Brown,

but I think he's clearly below the Luca, Wembeny, Shay, GO2S Alexander group.

So, but in that group, all four of them have legitimate cases to be the best player in the world.

You can talk to, you can make a case that Wembeny is the best player in the world.

I wouldn't make that case because I think that's a playoff case as we've talked about.

So, to me, Wembeny's not going to get that recognition until, until he makes that case in the postseason.

But you can make the case Wembeny is the best player in the world.

You can make the case Luke is the best player in the world

with the way he's been playing over the last month and a half.

You can make the case Shay is the best player in the world.

I think he probably has the best case right now in terms of the regular season.

And obviously, like you Yoke itch in that group, obviously,

because he's been recognized as the best player in the world for several years at this point.

So they all have really strong cases in that department.

Then you dig into like best player on the best team conversation.

This is what puts Luca to me below the Victor Wembenyama,

Shay Gilgis Alexander to you.

Shay and Wembee are the two guys that check the box of like,

could he be potentially the best player in the world?

And is this the best basketball team in the world?

The Spurs have a legitimate case to be the best basketball team in the world.

They've been one of the most, the two or three most impressive teams in the league this year.

Same with Oklahoma City.

So, Oklahoma City and San Antonio have the team success.

Then you dig into the on-off numbers and all of those guys.

Luca, Shay, Wembee really strong on-off numbers.

Luca at the bottom of that group, the Lakers are better this year when Luca's on the floor versus off.

Shay, they're about what six or seven points better per 100 possessions when he's on versus off.

Actually, I think it's eight or nine.

I think it's like nine points per 100 possessions.

And then Wembee, it's like plus 17, right?

So like when I'm looking at Jalen Brown and Kay Cunningham in those three categories,

they're really only strong in the team's success category compared to their peers.

Wembee and Shay, my two, the two guys that I think have the best chance to win it,

are candidates for best player in the world clearly playing for teams that have had an enormous amount of team success

and that are in that top tier and are deeply profoundly valuable to their teams.

And so they check all three of those boxes and that gives them a substantial edge.

That's why to me, Kay and Jalen Brown are far off of that tier.

Next question.

Hey Jason, with all the injuries piling up,

do you think it would be a good idea for the warriors to just sit, Steph Curry,

the rest of the season and look ahead next year?

My concern is that with so many guys out, the entire offense falls on his shoulders.

And the last thing we need is Steph over exerting himself and ending with the season ending injury.

It's not, it's just not worth the risk at this point.

I'll talk to that.

Do you think it would actually be a good opportunity for the warriors to make a move

for Yannis and Tenek Kumpo?

With the buck situation being what it is,

go and stay put together a package worth considering.

Perry Yannis was Steph next season on a healthier roster.

He could absolutely be lethal.

If they go that route, what do you think are the realistic chances next season?

So first of all, there are three steps to that.

Number one, should they shut down Steph for the year?

To me, it's 100% about what he feels.

Like if, and Steve Curry actually said his much last night,

but like, or two nights ago, but like,

if Steph is 100% and he's like, my knee's good,

let's play basketball, then what do you have to lose?

Go play basketball.

Like there's, I just like we're going to,

just like we talked about with Yannis on Wednesday's show,

like trying to tell a super competitive player to go sit down

and not play basketball when he's healthy and can play basketball

is bullshit, frankly.

Like I'm not okay with that.

So like if that's 100% go for it.

But yeah, if he's experiencing discomfort in his knee,

especially now that Moses Moody is out,

you have no shot.

So what's the point?

Don't risk overheard it overexerting and injuring Steph

if he's not ready to go.

So all whether or not he plays before the end of the season to me

is like, is he 100% or not?

If he's 100% yes, play him.

If he's not, no, sit him down and make a run next season.

Second part of this, Yannis.

I talked about this at the deadline.

To me, Yannis makes the most sense

for a trade destination after he leaves Milwaukee

as you dig around the league.

Like I don't understand the next part

because I don't think they have enough to offer.

I just don't understand why Milwaukee would want to do that.

I just don't think they would get enough back.

Same goes for Miami, although Miami can offer a little bit more

but I don't know why Yannis would want to go there.

I don't think Miami would be close to good enough with Yannis, right?

Minnesota, I don't know why Minnesota would do it.

Anthony Edwards is this young ascending star.

Don't sell your future and massively shorten your window

when you've got an ascending star in his early 20s.

I've hated that move from the start.

Golden State toes the line of like can offer a massive amount

of draft compensation to Milwaukee

to help reset their future.

To where like Milwaukee would actually get a ton back

and feel like, hey, to be able to go to their fans

and be like, hey, we lost Yannis,

but we got this massive trove of first round draft picks

for a team that's probably going nowhere in the long run

in terms of like after the Yannis step phase.

This is great for us.

Let's do this.

So it makes sense for Milwaukee for Golden State.

Now, especially that Moses Moody is out.

Your future is looking extremely bleak.

You don't have a single guy

that is like a legitimate foundational piece

to build around for the future.

So like you got nothing to lose.

You got Steph who's going to turn 39 next season.

Why not pair him with Yannis?

There's a really nice natural basketball fit there.

Yannis would step in and they'd immediately become a relevant team

in the Western Conference.

So Yannis gets to play serious basketball.

Him and Steph are this fantastic fit.

It's a high risk proposition for Golden State

because Yannis is injury prone.

But what does Golden State have to lose?

It's the one situation that actually seems to make sense

to me for both sides.

Milwaukee gets a bunch of draft compensation.

Yannis gets to play serious basketball.

Golden State can actually afford to absorb the risk

because they're not going anywhere anyway, right?

Like it's not like they have a foundational star

where they could use those four first round picks

to build around him in the coming seasons.

Like you're starting from scratch no matter what.

And let's say you have Yannis

and it's a two year window

and you win or you lose whatever.

But then it's post Yannis, right?

You can flip Yannis and maybe get something small back.

Probably not close to what you sent out.

You can get something small back.

Steph for tires.

Then what you can do is you can have two years

where you eat every bad contract in the league

and just take on draft picks for two years.

You suck and you eat all these bad contracts

but you build your draft throw back up

and then you get a chance to go for it.

But at the same time you're faithful to Steph Curry.

You gave him his final chance

to try to compete for a championship.

To me, it's the one situation that makes a ton of sense.

There was a lot of this like,

oh, why are we trying to force Yannis

to the warriors thing going on around the deadline?

I was like, this just makes the most sense.

It's not forcing anything.

It's like the warriors are old and desperate.

They have draft compensation to offer Milwaukee.

Yannis and Steph are a natural basketball fit.

Like why the hell not, right?

So like I actually think it makes a ton of sense.

Now if they go that route,

what are their chances look like next season?

It all depends on how they can fill out

the rest of the roster.

Obviously losing a guy like Moses Moody

would really hurt you in that case.

But like you instantly become a favorable destination

for your veteran minimum contracts

for your mid-level exceptions, right?

Like maybe you can convince a guy

like LeBron to come over if you're lucky.

Like maybe Jimmy Butler

if he isn't used as the,

I think you probably have to be used as the trade piece.

But like there's, you just,

it just depends on how you round out the rest of the roster.

But they would certainly go up from where they've been

to in that like middle tier in the Western Conference.

And from there, it's like,

good luck dealing with Steph and Yannis

in a playoff series if they're both healthy

when they get there.

So I would be, if it be foolish to count them out.

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Aside from the injuries,

the warriors continue to be a confusing team to watch.

They can beat teams like Denver and Houston,

keep it close with Oklahoma City in New York,

but then they lose to the jazz and the bulls

and were blown out by Boston this week.

Why are they so inconsistent?

It seems like this has been a trend ever since the 2022

championship, is there something larger at work here?

Curious to hear your thoughts, I love the show.

Thanks again for the sport.

This to me is pretty simple.

So like, you're building around ball handling right now

because Steph is out in the form of, like,

Brandon Pajewski and Dan Danymelt,

and, you know, you're, what's his name?

The lacrosse player I'm playing against.

The Pat Spencer, I don't know why I was blanking on his name

there for a second, but you're working with younger

inconsistent ball handlers, right?

Dan Danymelt is not young,

but obviously he's more of a role player.

And so you've given him a bunch of on ball responsibility.

It's going to be up and down.

You know, generally speaking in the NBA,

the difference between the awesome players

and the bad players isn't necessarily potential.

There are a lot of guys around the league.

Like, I've watched the angel of Russell have games

where like, I'm like, oh my god, like he, you know,

27 points and 11 assists.

Like he's this incredible ball handler, right?

Like, I've seen Najee Marshall go for massive games

as an on ball player, right?

Like, even just within the Warriors,

we've seen Brandon Pajewski have great nights.

We've seen Pat Spencer have great nights.

There are guys all around the league

that on any given night can give you a 30

or on any given night can give you 10 assists, right?

Like, it's just about making the reads.

I remember the first time we watched Andrew Nemhard

go into Golden State and ripped the Warriors apart.

This is a few years back.

And I'm like, holy shit, this Andrew Nemhard guy can like

hit pull up threes, hit mid range jumpers,

make all the passing reads and pick and roll.

Like, there's 50, 60 guys in the league

that can handle a basketball and run 30 picking rolls

in a game and run good offense.

Maybe even more than that.

The difference between the guys that are making

40 million dollars a year doing it

and the guys that aren't is consistency.

And so yeah, like that's gonna be the nature

of Golden State while steps out.

And I'd argue it's been the nature when steps been in

because the secondary ball handling piece

has been inconsistent at times, right?

So like, ultimately what's happening

is some nights Pat Spencer can get the job done.

Some nights Brandon Pajewski can get the job done.

Sometimes they can't.

And that's kind of what separates them

from those upper tier guys.

And that's just a reality of life

without Steph Curry in the lineup.

Next question.

Is Yoke it's making it a big deal to get a trip,

making it not that big of a deal

to get a triple double anymore?

Or is it just not that big of a deal

when he gets one because he averages it?

I do still see social post go crazy

when a player gets one,

but it's just another game for Yoke Joker.

Does that take away from the triple double at all

as he isn't always flashy?

And sometimes he always plays,

sometimes he even plays bad for his standards

and still ends up with one.

Curious your take.

This is the classic problem that has been the case

for ever in the NBA,

which is the greatest players in the league

are so consistently great that they become,

almost we become numb to it, right?

Like I'm recording this on Wednesday.

I watched the Suns Nuggets game this morning

and like Yoke it was incredible in that game.

Like absolutely incredible.

But like it wasn't a game where he had 35 points, right?

So like it's not the game that gets the type of recognition

that other games gets,

but like we take for granted the fact

that a lot of those top tier guys

are generally incredible every single night.

The second piece of it is there's levels to it.

I deal with this with Luca fans all the time.

They go, oh, he had 35, nine and seven last night

and I'll be like, yeah, he was really good,

but like I've seen Luca be a lot better.

Like there's levels that he can get to that are above that, right?

So like we get numb to it.

The best players in the world, specifically the top tier guys,

even when they're not on their best night

can really fill the box score,

which can also kind of make it difficult to judge

their like true best performances

versus some of their more mediocre performances, right?

But like that's just the issue with everybody.

Yokech, just like LeBron over the years,

just like Shay does now, just like Luca does now,

just like Yannis has always done,

like Wembee to this day,

like, or Wembee kind of joining the conversation now

at this point, like when you're in that top tier,

we get numb to your success

and all of a sudden the stuff that sticks out

isn't your average performances,

it's your extraordinary performances.

And that's just kind of the nature of what comes

with the standard, the standard of the best player

in the world conversation.

Are the Rockets problems, coaching problems,

or roster construction problems?

Secondly, so the Rockets trade Shenguin for Yannis,

possibly run a lineup with him at the five,

making him much better defensively

and giving him more on offense and more consistency.

Thank you, love the show.

Thanks for the kind of words.

So I would argue that it's both,

there's a lack of a depth of ball handling

and shooting talent for Houston.

There's a, you know, one of the things

with Dylan Brooks that was underrated

is it wasn't just that he was this great defender.

Dylan Brooks had ball skills.

He could knock down an open catch in shoe three,

he was good at driving closeouts

and making the next decision in the chain.

You take Fred Van Vliet out of the equation,

he's another like very good ball handler passer.

And so as you took those guys out,

and Katie is very much a pure score.

He's not the best ball handler,

not the best passer in the world.

As a team, their amount of ball handling

and shooting talent has dipped from where it was last season.

And so that has made it really difficult

for them to convert four on three.

So some of its roster, some of its injury,

like the injury to Fred Van Vliet was really devastating

for this team, right?

And like, I definitely think that the rockets

over the course of the next few trade cycles

will be looking to supplement this team

with ball handling and shooting.

But there is a coaching piece there.

I saw this hilarious tweet the other day

that was basically like,

you made you docker's half game,

a half time adjustments is basically just to call you a bitch.

Like, I just died laughing when I saw it.

Because it's so funny,

because that's basically you made you docker, right?

Like he famously turned around the Boston Celtics

in the 2022 season in large part by making them tougher.

He took a group that was not achieving

what they were capable of relative to their talent.

And he got them to be tougher and to play harder,

to be more physical.

And I think there's real value there.

But like Houston in particular,

their guys are already pretty tough.

So it wasn't really a toughness issue.

It's more of an organization issue there.

And that's not to say that there's no value

in having e-mail and his ability to motivate you

and his ability to make sure you play hard on most nights

like that sort of thing.

But like e-mail clearly is the kind of head coach

that's more of a motivator and needs to be anchored

by a refined offensive tactician.

And so that'll be the thing.

Like if you're running an e-mail you docker led staff,

you got to get an assistant that can help him

with the X's and no side of it.

Because that's clearly something that he needs support with.

Next question.

Hey Jason, in your opinion,

which dysfunctional player slash team trait

is more damning to these respective coaches

overall process and gameplay?

The fact that the Timberwolves can't run a fact

to pick and roll with Rudy since he's unable

to catch consistent passes in the nail with coach Finch

or the fact that KD has constant mental breakdowns

when he sees the double is most likely forcing a turnover

on that possession with e-mail you docker.

So again, both have been disappointing.

I've been very disappointed in the ability of Houston

to weaponize KD's attention that he gets

as a score into easier opportunities,

but I actually think the Finch stuff is worse.

And the reason why is like coaching can only take you so far.

Like yes, KD turns the ball over way too much against traps,

but I've seen a lot of possessions where KD draws the double

and does get rid of the basketball and sparks the four on three

and they just don't convert it.

And large part because of that lack of aggregate ball handling

and shooting talent that we talked about earlier.

What bothers me with Minnesota is they have a ton

of ball handling and shooting.

They have a lot of guys who can dribble shooting pass

and they've got a ton of shooting.

And so this is where I put it more on coach Finch

where like we know with Rudy,

like he can't catch and finish in traffic,

but if he's wide open, he can catch and dunk everything.

And so I do wish that there were some more complications added

into their pick and roll.

So for instance, instead of just spread ball screens,

maybe more sequences where Rudy is involved

in a three man dribble handoff style action

where there's lots of ball and player movement

and he's slipping out of it so that when he catches on the roll,

there's more space to operate because the defense is more warped.

The defense is more challenged in the amount of action

that they're trying to defend, more stack pick and roll,

more situations where you try to create more separation

between Rudy and the traffic around the basket.

In general, I think coach Finch has done a poor job

of organizing the team offensively and motivating them.

So like I've actually talked about this a lot.

I think Minnesota's next step after the season

is to move on at the head coach and to get somebody

who's a little bit more of an offensive tactician

and a better motivator or at least a different voice

in that locker room.

So like I actually find this stuff with Minnesota

to be more disappointing because of the talent.

Like I look at Houston and I go,

this roster is fundamentally flawed.

I look at Minnesota and I go,

this is a championship level roster

and coach Finch is just not getting into play hard

and they're playing really stupid offense

and I wish that they would clean some of that stuff up.

All right, a couple of spurs questions.

As a spurs fan, I truly appreciate your basketball analysis

and today's media that's full of hot takes

and people who don't watch the games.

Thank you so much for the kind words.

My question is about Deer and Fox.

To me, his performance is pivotal

to the spurs playoff success.

But his regular season performance

is so far and slightly below expectation to me.

I know part of the reason is that his usage is low

and then he plays off ball a lot.

But when he runs the offense,

he is a bit careless with the ball

and with his passes and his shooting is still inconsistent.

And maybe I just have too high of an expectation of him

or I didn't watch other teams to evaluate him

in a broader context.

So what's your thoughts on Fox's performance this season?

And do you worry about it when it comes to the playoffs?

And if he can't be the second best player

on a championship team,

how would his max contract affect the spurs future team building?

So the important detail is that

the important detail is that you have to go

with what was available.

It'd be great if instead of Deer and Fox,

it was a higher level guard,

like if it was Jalen Brunson, for example,

like it'd be great if you had a better player

than Deer and Fox.

But the bottom line is you get what you pay for.

Deer and Fox was available.

He was available at a price point

that was closer to actually less than what

the Orlando Magic paid for Desmond Bay.

So part of it is like,

St. Antonio wanted to maintain flexibility for the future,

but they also wanted to accelerate the timeline

to match the level that Wembee was playing at.

Deer and Fox to me perfectly fit that kind of middle ground

in the sense that he was achievable,

he was affordable relative,

and he fit the skill set really well.

And this is the important detail.

So like when you really dig into Deer and Fox's strengths,

on defense, for example,

what's Deer and Fox's best strength?

He's not a physical ball pressure guard

who's gonna keep the ball in front all game long.

They call him Swipe, he's an aggressive turnover forcing guard.

That complements Victor Wemmen Yama's rim protection really well.

Right?

On the offensive end of the floor,

he's a pick and roll player that makes it really difficult

to switch, right?

So like he's gonna face a lot of drop-covered style looks

which is gonna unlock Victor Wemmen Yama's a roll man.

And as I've talked about a lot over the course of the last few years,

one of Deer and Fox's sneaky strengths is cross-court passing.

And when you have a big man in Victor Wemmen Yama

who has so much role-gravity going towards the rim

that he's consistently drawing tags,

we talked about this in the Tuesday pod.

Like Victor Wemmen Yama is helping this bird generate

the most corner of the reason, the history of the NBA.

Who's gonna make those passes?

And obviously Steph Castle can make them.

Steph Castle's a very gifted passer,

but Deer and Fox is one of the very best like skip cross-court passers

in the league.

So again, like when you dig into it and I get it,

he's gonna be very expensive on this new deal.

But like when you really dig into it

and the way he complements Victor with his on-ball defense,

the way that he complements Victor offensively is a pick and roll player

and with his cross-court passing,

it was like a confluence of factors

that I thought made him a worthwhile risk for this first.

Now as I've talked about,

he's not gonna be as good as some of the guards that he goes against.

If he ends up in a series with Shay, he's not as good as Shay.

He ends up in a series with, if he ends up in a series with Luca,

he's not as good as Luca, right?

If he ends up in a series with Denver,

like he may not even be as good as Jamal Murray, right?

Like it's gonna be tough in the sense that he's not as good

as some of the other ball handlers in the league.

But the idea is if Victor ascends to the top-tier superstar level,

is he fine as a number two?

And I think he is, especially as a stopgap

between where they are now and where Steph Castle projects to be.

And I think Steph Castle projects to be a top 15 player in the league

sooner than later.

So I generally speaking, I think inconsistency's gonna be part of it.

He's gonna have playoff games where he doesn't play super well,

but the Spurs aren't incredibly dependent on him.

The way that the Lakers are on Luca,

the way that Oklahoma City is on a guy like Shay,

it made sense to me given the trajectory the Spurs were on,

the complimentary fit with Deer and Fox.

And ultimately, he's gonna be the guy that the Spurs lean on a lot.

I've talked about this like, I think there's a version of this story

where Steph struggles on the postseason shooting the basketball,

where Wembee's on ball stuff doesn't work,

and he functions more as a role man.

And like, you're gonna be really glad you have Deer and Fox.

Even if he's not as good as some of the other guys around the league,

you're gonna be really glad you have Deer and Fox

when some of these playoff games slow down.

And I do think from that one warrior series that we saw

that he did a pretty good job getting passes initial defender

and compromising the defense.

Jason, I think I may watch Wembee differently because I'm five foot eight

and I always had to make up for my lack of size with skill.

When I watch him, I obviously see the talent,

but I don't instinctively feel impressed in the same way

that most people seem to.

A lot of his defensive impact to me looks like geometry,

huge wingspan, huge standing reach,

automatic rim deterrence,

unoffense things like lob gravity,

finishing above the rim can also seem more tool-based than skill-based.

Can you make the basketball case for what separates

his actual skill processing and technique

from things that are mostly a result from being 7-4

with ridiculous length?

So I think, first of all, it gets complicated

because one of the big pieces of it is his mobility.

And if you've done any research,

if you watched any of the videos,

like Victor Women Yammer works extremely hard

on flexibility and pliability.

There are a lot of big dudes out there who are stiff,

who can't move, right?

I mean, there's that giant dude who plays for Florida,

who like isn't even in their regular rotation

because he doesn't move well enough, right?

So like, having Victor Women Yammer B-7-4

is not anything unless he can be mobile, right?

Like, even just look at like Christophe's poor Zingas,

there's okay mobile, but he's got ridiculous size,

but ever since his injury when he was younger,

he hasn't been as mobile as he used to be,

and so he's kind of stuck being a drop coverage big.

Victor Women Yammer can fly around on the perimeter

and really move.

So I think he deserves a lot of credit

for his overall athleticism separate

from his like just measurable physical traits.

Secondly, like, guys, if you're under the impression

that these guys are relatable, I don't know what to tell you.

Like, Steph Curry's six, three.

If you guys want to go play Pick Up Bass while those of you

guys who go play at your LA fitness or your pickup runner,

whatever it might be, and Steph Curry showed up,

you'd be like, holy shit, that dude's big.

Like, everything's relative at the MBA level.

So like, to me, it's okay to be like this seven,

four guy running around is super impressive.

Similar to like this six, nine freight train LeBron James

running around is super impressive, right?

Like, I'm with you that there's a skill element

that gets super appealing.

That's why I got like Yannis hasn't resonated

as much with casual fans as outside of Milwaukee, right?

But like, I think that in general in the MBA,

if you're thinking that these guys are something

we can relate to, like even Damien Lillard is like six, two,

and can jump out of the damn gym.

Like, Damien Lillard in his prime could throw the ball down

through his legs, like he's an insane athlete.

So I think some of us, we need to adjust our kind of vision

of reality of what the MBA is like.

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Last spurs question.

What kind of conversations do you think we'll be having in June

if the spurs win it all?

First of all, I think we're way ahead of ourselves here.

I think the spurs can win it all.

I think when it can be the best player in the world,

but the NBA playoffs are totally different beats.

They're officiated completely differently.

There's a lot of really good experience teams

in the field this year.

Everybody pump the brakes.

Let's see what happens.

But if the spurs win it all, it does get really interesting.

The main thing that I think about is one, obviously,

you have the Wembee trajectory stuff

and what that could mean for him all time

if he's that far ahead of schedule.

But the second piece of it to me is like the rivalry

between Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

Like, Oklahoma City kind of needs to win this one

because as the years go by, OK, season a later stage

of their roster where they're going to have to start shedding

talent soon because they have to pay everybody.

San Antonio's in a phase where they still have a few years here

before they're going to have to start breaking up their talent.

So like if the spurs get this one,

that's what gets scary for a team like Oklahoma City

because as the years go by, whatever perceived talent gap

is actually going to favor San Antonio

over the course of the next few seasons

because of where they're at in their payroll.

Next question.

Hey, Jason, I've been loving your analysis and personality

since I found your channel.

Thank you for the kind of words.

Why is it that head coaches seem to be recycled more

in the NBA compared to the NFL?

Is it due to the specifics of each coach's ideal scheme

slash system needing more specific players on the roster?

And so they're given more chances with different organizations

saying, hey, our roster is closer to what this coach likes

to run.

We don't care if he was fired.

And he wasn't given a fair shake with that roster.

Thank you for your time and keep up the good work.

So first of all, I'm actually not 100% sure

if there is, if there are what the stats are

in terms of the recycling of head coaches,

but I'll just accept this premise for the sake of your question.

Like, let's just say separate from the NFL.

Why is it that NBA coaches tend to be recycled?

And I really think it comes down to the head coach

in the NBA is just the easiest thing to swap out

when you're looking at a situation that's not going right?

So for instance, like, let's take Minnesota, for example.

You have Anthony Edwards.

You have Julius Randall.

You have Jaden McDaniels.

You have everybody go bare.

You've got your core, right?

And like, it's very possible that the players are flawed

in some way or another.

But like, once you start talking about like,

should we break up this star pairing?

It gets really tricky because of agency politics

and how are you going to get your next star?

And like, it can be a lot more of a commitment

to decide to shake up your roster than it is to be like,

let's change this one dude at the top

who's not tied to the cap at all whatsoever.

I can pay four or five coaches at a time

if I fire people who cares.

Like, I can easily swap a coach

just by throwing money at the problem.

Whereas if I make roster changes,

I've got to find someone who's willing to trade

for Julius Randall.

I've got to potentially put draft picks on the table.

It gets much more complicated changing over the roster.

And so I think a lot of teams look at their situation

and they go, hey, it would be easier if we just change our coach.

Then you get to the point having to do

with the urgency of the situation.

So say you're Minnesota.

Like, when you're,

and we do see younger coaches get opportunities.

Like, I think Boston's a great example, right?

Like, they fire email you, Doka because of the scandal

and they end up giving a shot to a guy like Joe Missoula

and it pays off.

And for the record,

I think teams should do that sort of thing more.

Like, let's get the guy that we think is best for our team

regardless of reputation and more just look at skill set, right?

But a lot of teams look at the situation and they go, okay,

we've got a team that's going to compete this year.

Do we want to take a shot on a young coach?

Why don't we get JB Bicker staff to come in

and coach the Detroit Pistons

because we're on this shorter timeline

and we're trying to make something happen right now.

And we can't afford the risk of messing around

with the younger coach.

I mean, we even, like, it's even like what the Steelers

going after Mike McCarthy in the NFL is actually a similar example.

It's like, I think they look at it and they go like,

do we want to take a risk with the younger coach

or do we want to try to go with somebody

that we is a known commodity in that sense?

I think there's like in the NBA in particular,

there's like a player buy-in part of it too

that gets fascinating.

So like, I think it coaches get scared

if they're like, take Minnesota, for example,

let's say they fire Chris Finch,

they're going to be looking at the situation

and they're going to go like, man,

Mike and Norey might be the guy,

but he's been around for a while.

What if the players don't listen to him, right?

And so I think it gets super easy

when an experienced head coach

who's been in charge of multiple franchises

get becomes available for an owner to be like,

let's just put this guy in there

because he'll be able to step into that locker room

and all those guys will at least have a certain amount

or respect with him.

But to your point, I don't think it should be that way.

If I was running an NBA team,

I would run an interview process

more geared towards what you're saying,

like talent fit rather than experience.

And I would trust that like that coach

would be able to win over the locker room

with his personality and with his work ethic,

not necessarily his reputation.

And I'd use Joe Missoula as an example

with how fast he was able to turn it over.

JJ Reddick as well and with the Lakers,

I think those are two good recent examples.

Five more quick ones.

What do you think is the Thunder's biggest weakness?

They have better shooting and three good on ball guards

improving from the previous biggest weakness last year

and early in the season.

To me, it's just their small on the perimeter.

The Isaiah Hartenstein piece gives them

a little more resilience on the front line.

I'd add Jay Will to this as well.

Jay Will has just got a big frame

and him becoming a reliable three-point shooter

just a better all around basketball player

has made him a legitimate rotation option for them.

So they're a little less susceptible in the front court

than they used to be, but like,

especially when they go small with chat at the center

and a lot of their perimeter looks in general,

they're just kind of small and thin on the perimeter.

And so that makes them vulnerable

to the bigger ball handlers around the league.

Guys like Aunt Julius, Jane McDaniels, LeBron James,

Luke Donchitch, Aaron Gordon, you know,

like even Jamal Murray a little bit.

Like they just have a little bit more susceptibility

to like bigger, stronger perimeter players

because they're not particularly big on the perimeter.

The rare jazz fan here.

Well, the jazz seemingly ready to do something

other than tank next year.

How would you approach this summer?

Are there any moves you would make in preparation

for playing real basketball in 26, 27 with this roster?

Really interesting question.

I don't wanna get too far into specific players

because one, we don't know where the jazz

are gonna end in the lottery yet.

And so which guy they get,

like whether they get a Darren Peterson or like,

you know, a Darius Acuff or even if they get

the number one pick, you know,

we don't know what they're gonna end up with.

So that makes it a little bit hard.

And we also don't necessarily know

who's gonna be available both via trade

or restricted free agency, things like that this summer.

So like we'll get into more specifics

when we get into the summer.

But as I dug into the payroll earlier this morning,

the two main things I think they're really gonna need

to look at is one, some sort of like,

unscreenable perimeter defender.

And then two, just overall perimeter jump shooting.

And the reason why I feel that way is,

if the strength of your roster is your front court

and you're gonna be playing a lot of looks

with Lori and Jeren Jackson and Walker Kessler,

then in theory, like you're not gonna be very fast,

you're gonna be big, right?

So your base scheme is probably gonna involve either

a lot of switching or a lot of zone

because you're just gonna wanna lean towards your bigs,

being able to be big and not have to cover a lot of ground,

right?

But you wanna have some scheme versatility.

And so if you had the ability to put a specific type

of guard defender on an opposing point guard,

think as an archetype, think Davy on Mitchell.

And Davy on's on an expiring deal next year

at like 12 million.

So maybe you can make a deal, who knows?

But like, you have Davy on Mitchell and you go,

hey dude, chase that dude around,

do not switch anything, fight through every screen.

That way you can keep your bigs back.

That would give you some scheme versatility

versus quick guards.

Whereas if you're switching everything,

and it's like Chiante, George,

and let's say Darren Peterson gets drafted by the jazz

and he's a good defender,

but he's not ready to like be a shutdown

chaseover screens guy yet.

A quick guard could pick you to part

by like targeting specific matchups

or like if a team shoots the ball well enough,

maybe they could pick apart your zone.

You want some scheme versatility.

So having some sort, and I don't know if Isaiah Collier

is that guy yet.

And so that's where it gets tricky.

But if you have a bowling ball,

unscrupible type of guard,

that could go a long way towards your screen

a scheme versatility.

And then again, like Walker Kessler

has shown some ability to shoot,

but I don't think he's gonna be guarded out there.

Jared Jackson is improved as a shooter,

but he still doesn't get really guarded

that well like a shooter.

So any sort of counterbalance to your size

in the form of reliable jump shooting talent

would go a long way.

But I personally am very excited

to watch the jazz next year.

As a jazz fan, you should be very excited.

I'm really curious to see how Danny

age rounds out the roster.

That's going to be a fun team to watch next year.

All right, three more quick ones.

Would you ever consider having Nick Wright on the pot?

We'd love to see you both on your takes

on the Lakers and the NBA Playoff preview.

Thanks for your time.

We are working on it.

And I think we're going to have it happen.

So I'm not sure at which point

in the next couple of weeks,

there'll probably be a mix of like playoff previews,

some Lakers, some,

I'm curious to debate Victor,

Wemme and Yama with him too.

So we'll get into that when we have the chance,

but I'm in touch with Nick Wright's producer

and we're working on it.

I think we're just more figuring out scheduling at this point.

So Nick Wright will most likely be on in the next couple weeks.

I'm just not sure when,

when I do know I'll let you guys know.

Next question.

Do you guys have any desire becoming a part of an NBA team's

coaching staff or broadcasting?

I really appreciate your eye and knowledge of the game,

keep doing great stuff for the NBA world JT.

Thanks so much for the kind of words.

I would love to work for an NBA team.

I've talked about this before.

If I actually got a legitimate opportunity to work

for an NBA team that paid me well,

because it just would be tough for me to give up my job

to go take some entry level like, you know,

work in the film room kind of thing.

But that's how you do it.

If you want to work for an NBA team,

you got to go work in the film room and do like dirty work

for a long time for a little bit of money.

If you want to kind of work your way up there

and like it's just,

I couldn't do that and do what I do.

So like, it's completely unrealistic.

But I would do it if I ever got the opportunity.

Like if I got an opportunity,

especially like I think coaching is very perocials

that's super unlikely,

but even if I got an offer to go work for a front office,

I would take it in like a real context,

not in like some entry level context

because I just want to work in the NBA

and I want to be a part of a team and I'm competitive.

And like, here's the thing,

like my job requires me to be critical of NBA players.

Otherwise, my show has no credibility.

I have to be critical of NBA players,

but I don't want to be, they're NBA players.

You have any, as a person who played basketball

my entire life, like you don't think

I have an enormous amount of respect for those guys.

You don't think like,

think about like a player that I get

have been super critical of over the years.

Let's just take a random example,

like Russell Westbrook, for example.

I was super critical of him when he was with the Lakers.

Like you don't think I was a big Russell Westbrook fan

when I was young, like Russell Westbrook

was like a hero of mine when I was a kid.

Just like every other young basketball player.

So like part of it is just the nature of my job

dictates that I'm critical in answer,

and I praise in a criticize.

That's the nature of the profession, right?

But like if I worked for a team,

I wouldn't have to do that anymore.

And I could channel my love for basketball,

my passion for basketball tactics

and all these like different intricacies.

And I could channel it into a team context competitively

and be a part of an ultimate goal

of the team is trying to pursue.

So like I would take that sort of opportunity

in a heartbeat if it came up.

It's just incredibly unrealistic.

So like the truth is, you guys are probably stuck with me

for a very long time.

Last question.

Hi Jason, I will need more time of you explaining

why you didn't like at Astra.

Keep up the great work,

and thank you for all the analysis you do.

Thanks again for the kind of words.

So a couple of things.

Like it just kind of felt like it had these weird phases.

You obviously have the main plot line,

which centers around the Brad Pitt psyche

vows as a relationship with his father

and this weird thing that's happening out at Neptune

or whatever it is, right?

But then you have these like weird detours,

like the whole moon lander or moon rover gun scene

just kind of felt like this weird separate entity,

the commercial flight to the moon,

the weird like SOS call where the monkey

is killing all those astronauts on board

that weird traveling space station.

Like it just kind of felt like they were using

weird plot devices to fit in some special effects.

So like it kind of felt like it had some fluff

and some filler that didn't make a ton of sense.

Take for a counter example, like Project Hail Mary,

a movie I really enjoyed.

Everything felt like less like a plot device and more like

like there was one clear plot device in Project Hail Mary

and that was the communication piece.

Like they were like here's this five minute scene

where we show these basic interactions

and now we just all as the audience have to accept

that these dudes can talk to each other,

which I had no problem with because like they tried

to make a whole movie about that.

It's called a rival where they dig into

how complex language structure is.

And if you really want to dig into that,

it'll take you two hours just to do that

and none of us have time for that, right?

So like in the context of that movie.

So I accepted that plot device more as just like a,

hey, let's establish that these two people,

these two beings can communicate with each other verbally

so that we can watch this damn movie

and not have to sit through them dealing with the chore

of trying to learn how to communicate with each other, right?

So like I was accepting of that plot device.

And Astro felt like it was filled with lots of plot devices

just to drop in certain special effects.

Whereas Project Hail Mary aside from that one language

plot device, everything felt like it was moving

the plot forward in a really genuine way.

And so it just felt like it had some filler.

It wasn't my favorite Brad Pitt part.

Like I'm a huge Brad Pitt fan.

My wife had this comment, I thought it was funny.

She was like, she's like, this is the kind of part

that like Ben Affleck should have done.

I was dying laughing because like,

there's not a whole lot of expression.

Everything's very deadpan, which is like right up

the Ben Affleck alley, whereas Brad Pitt has a lot more range

and what he can show emotionally and that sort of thing.

So like, and he just has more of a cool factor.

So like it was kind of a weird part for Brad too.

And then the story was kind of like anticlimactic as well

when they get to the end.

So like, just one of my favorite movie,

I gave it a second shot.

I love sci-fi too.

I'm not going to see her and act like I didn't

and still enjoy parts of the movie.

It's just the visuals and things like that.

But like it was a distant last place compared to a lot of those

like whether it was the movie with Matt Damon on Mars

like that one, the Martian or even a rival

or Project Hail Mary, you know,

the I just thought that those movies were far better

than that, Astro.

All right, guys, that's all I have for today.

As always, this is really a percent you guys

for supporting us and supporting the show.

I hope all of you guys have a wonderful weekend.

I'll see you guys on the month.

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something.

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