Will Kevin Durant & Suns be playoff threat? Jokic & Nuggets UNDERRATED? | Hoops Tonight NBA Mailbag

Will Kevin Durant & Suns be playoff threat? Jokic & Nuggets UNDERRATED? | Hoops Tonight NBA Mailbag

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball it seems like there are a lot of teams in need of a starting caliber small forward this year who are some names that you think could be on the move and where

They might be going and on a larger scale what does this need stay say about the state of the league in basketball so it’s not just small forwards I I look at it more as like there’s a lot of guys that need more of like a perimeter 2-way

Guy and there are a lot of teams in Need for like a low man two-way guy so like the teams that need a more of a perimeter two-way guy are like the Lakers and the Bucks I think the Mavs are another team that could be looking

To make a smaller version of that type of deal uh just as a guy that they could throw at the best perimeter players in the league it’s it’s been a lot of drick Jones Jr to start this year and and and Derrik Jones Jr is fine but I think they

Could use a a a another option there the uh teams that are looking for more of a low man are like the Pacers or the Kings or the Thunder or The Warriors right like these are teams that have good perimeter Defenders but they need help in interior physicality that’s a uh

Those are examples of those teams the uh the kind of perimeter guys that I look at this year that could be available anybody from Brooklyn as Brooklyn’s falling apart so look at Dorian finny Smith male Bridges is another guy I think that could be had potentially if if the for Brooklyn continues Alex

Caruso from the Chicago Bulls is another guy Javon Carter from the the Chicago Bulls is another guy i’ be looking at he’s another guy that could be more affordable there are a lot of those types of guys out there that I think teams will be going after uh Alex kuso’s

Up over 45% from three this year by the way pretty crazy the low man that I look at uh there’s three big ones Lori Markin and Jeremy Grant Pascal seak and they’re all very different right like Lorie marinan is this like outstanding offensive play finisher right just a

Dead ey shooter a guy that can screen and roll the rim a guy that can beat mismatches in the post like he’s a ju just really like a imagine like a big giant forward version of Klay Thompson he’s like a tip of the spear kind of guy

I think I think he’s really valuable Jeremy Grant is more of like a scorer he’s a guy that like attacks mismatches in the post at all takes a lot of like ISO pullup jump shots and stuff but he’s shooting the ball really well off the catch this year and has been really good

And effective scoring out of the post so I think he’s more of a a lesser version of Lori marking in for lack of a better term but Jeremy Grant has had some impressive moments of perimeter defense this year I still think he’s got that in

Him if he’s willing to buy into a role and he’s a guy that I’d be open to looking at especially if you’re a team that can’t get into the bidding war for Lori marinan and then Pascal seaka this is a guy that I think both the Warriors

And Lakers should be calling on uh uh mainly just because I view him as a guy that I think is one of the best available players per value he’s you know kind of gone under the radar in a lot of ways cuz he’s not a very good

Shooter but this is a guy who’s a Transcendent athlete this is a guy that was so damn athletic that Draymond Green was struggling to handle him in the 2019 playoffs right this is a guy that like if you br like when he is asked to do a

Ton with the basketball like he has the last couple of years he can be somewhat underwhelming as a postseason player right but when he’s in a position where he’s playing alongside guys who do a lot of that stuff for him and he can really focus his effort and energy to just

Inflicting his physicality on the game he can be a gamechanging athlete and so even though teams like the Warriors and Lakers might not be interested in him from a shooting standpoint I look at it as like just for the price for the caliber of player that you’re getting

Back you put him like a Wigan SE yakum Draymond front line a SE yakum LeBron Anthony Davis front line those are front lines that could like absolutely Maul some of the bigger front lines in the league even teams like Denver and so I

Think I I think that that could be a a a real swing piece this year that teams should be looking out for all right next mailbag question I I actually missed a small part part there what does this need say about the state of the league in

Basketball pretty quickly I I just think it’s a clear indicator of of the obvious fact that weak side responsibilities matter a lot or I should say Ro roll player responsibilities matter a lot there are a lot of teams this year that have stars that are playing well that

Are not necessarily uh succeeding to the extent that they should right like we’ve seen this with Dam and Giannis I know they’re doing good in the regular season in terms of standings but they’ve lost a lot of big games and struggled specifically because of something silly like who’s guarding the other team’s

Point guard like who’s who’s picking up the and applying ball pressure during this game like they just that singular role not being filled has made it so that the Bucks look bad in big games that’s that’s a real problem to keep an eye on right like the Lakers it’s like

LeBron James and Anthony Davis both playing way better than last year both like legitimately playing at a top 10 level this season in their 500 basketball team in large part because they don’t have a guy that can pick up at the point of attack and knock down a

Three at a high rate like it’s a it’s a legitimate issue for them I think it’s these teams like Oklahoma City that have so much skill and they have a rim protector or the Pacers as well so much skill have a rim protector but not having a low man and you’re seeing just

How fundamentally important a low man is in Big Time matchups and I I just think it’s a as the game has become more spread out and there’s more Talent on the floor it’s become more important than ever to have guys that are willing to do the dirty work on both ends of the

Floor next question do you honestly think the Suns will be healthy around playoff time knowing the injury history of the three stars on their roster so here’s the thing it’s Le let’s just say for this uh I would say there’s a good chance that they’re healthy and there’s

A good chance they’re not right so let’s just call it 50/50 if if it’s 50/50 there there’s we all know that if they get hurt they’re not a threat but that could be said about every team in the league I believe that if the the Nuggets lost Aaron Gordon or kyp or

Michael Porter Jr they would go from being a top tier Championship Contender to the lower tier like losing a player and kicking you down a tier is is a is a reality for every single team in my opinion except for maybe Boston like maybe Boston could afford an injury to

One of their guys right but outside of that like no team really has that type of flexibility and so when it really comes down to it it’s like do you want should we just ride off the Suns all year and be like screw it they’re going

To be hurt no like we have to prepare for the potential you know eventuality that that that that they’re healthy and what could happen if they are and and I think that’s the purpose of uh of the way that we should cover them if that makes

Sense lot of nuggets fans upset that I had them lower in my power rankings I’ll just pull one comment here here nuggets ranked too low they uh 10 wins out of their last 12 games played one loss they let slip away and should have won the most recent was definitely an

Embarrassing performance but they’re nowhere near as low as eight so couple things my power rankings are designed to be a vehicle with which I can honor or pay respect to teams playing good regular season basketball that was one of the decisions we made early in the

Year like I don’t want my power rankings to be the same as my Contender rankings the nuggets are number one in my Contender rankings there has not been a single moment this year not even for a split second not even during stretches when Jamal Murray was out and they

Looked bad like I have not even for a second doubted or had any sort of change of heart as it pertains to Denver being number one of my contenders list like I am I trust them more than everyone else and it’s not particularly close and like

I’m a big believer in Denver right but they’re 9 and 11 against teams that are 500 or better this year and in my power rankings list the teams that are above just have more impressive wins and I I’m using that list that specific list for regular season

Kudos and so that that’s the purpose of that list and so Denver fans like them being eight and in the power rankings more has to do with the fact that they’ve just been they’ve been a really good standings team they’re 15-0 against below 500 teams which is what’s carried

Them in the standings but in the bigger games by the way mostly because of things like Jamaal Murray being out and Aaron Gordon missing a big game against the Thunder like there’s no question that’s why which is why I’m not worried about them for the postseason but but

For my power rankings list there are teams out there that have been more impressive in terms of winning big regular season games and just the totality of regular season accomplishments that’s why I have Denver at 8 at this point it it has nothing to do with what I see as their Championship

Potential go look at the teams I have above them and look at them in big games look at their key like signature wins this year most of the teams above them have a lot more in that specific Department last question I started tweaking my shooting form since I have

Bad habit of shooting with way too high of an arc how should I go about fixing it how feasible is it to just lean into it love the show keep it up so I have a I have a philosophy with shooting form and it’s a philosophy I’ve gained from

Coaching kids because as you can imagine when you coach kids you coach a lot of kids have bad shooting form and it’s really this simple to me like there are a million different ways to shoot a basketball and I think it’s way less important to focus on the

Particulars of your release and more on little details like how is your balance are you good at making sure you have a good wide base and going straight up and down all the time and getting good lift like that’s step one particularly because most move most shots in

Basketball on the Move in some way shape or form even when you’re spotting up you might be relocating you might have just played a lot of defense and so you’re tired legs and lift are a huge part of it from there the second bit of it is

Like any energy transfer is what I refer to it as but energy transfer is how do you get from your feet through to the top of the shot in a way that has no wasted energy that has no unnecessary movement which then creates a muscle memory that is simple that you can

Replicate if you can do that if you’re balanced and you have good energy transfer meaning you have a good you know routine that doesn’t have wasted energy that you can that you can reproduce every single time you can be a good shooter even if you shoot with a

Ton of Arc even if you shoot with very little Arc even if you shoot with opposite thumb even if you shoot with one hand even if you shoot without jumping super high even if you jump while shooting shooting even if you shoot while jumping super high that to

Me is is way less important than do you have good lift are you doing the exact same thing every time it’s got to be replic replicable when I go I I shoot on the shooting machine at least twice a week so I do a lot of different kinds of

Shooting drills I do a lot of like one person one ball like movement shooting drills that that’s that’s where I do all my off the dribble and movement stuff and the primary goal there is like I’m trying to do game speed and and like add a lot of complication to it right when

I’m on the shooting machine I just do standstill shooting and when I’m on the shooting machine I have this constant mentality there are two shooting machines here the machine that’s throwing me the ball and then me I need to be a machine how does the shooting

Machine get the ball to me in the same spot every single time because it’s literally like a little catapult that’s going like this with the same spring on the same hinge throwing the ball to the same spot every single time right that’s what I need to be as a shooter I need to

Have a form that like looks the exact same every single time with very little wasted movement and I need to look like a shooting machine and if I do that I’m going to be more consistent as a shooter and so again I wouldn’t uh I wouldn’t Focus so much on this particulars of

Your form just make sure that you have good fluidity and energy transfer make sure you have good lift make sure you’re doing the same thing every single Time a

Jason Timpf discusses Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns’ playoff potential if the superstar trio of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal stay healthy. Jason explains how there isn’t a defense in the NBA that can stop the big 3, but the Suns defense may still be their downfall in the playoffs. Jason then discusses if the Nuggets have become underrated in the NBA. While not having the No. 1 spot in his power rankings, Jason still believes Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets are frontrunners to win the NBA championship.

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