NBA Mailbag: 76ers trade rumors, Kevin Durant & Suns heating up, Lakers big moves | Hoops Tonight

NBA Mailbag: 76ers trade rumors, Kevin Durant & Suns heating up, Lakers big moves | Hoops Tonight

What’s up everybody thanks as always for supporting the show it would mean a lot to me if you would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel and then follow me on social media on Tik Tok Instagram and Twitter

So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right moving on to our mailbag first question in your opinion what has happened to Jordan pool is his steep decline in overall play all about

His attitude to his new situation or his skills that much heightened by playing with in the Warriors system so uh for disclaimer up front I haven’t watched a ton of Wizards basketball this year I’ve only watched a couple of their games um but here’s the thing and I started to

Notice this last year in the 2022 season Jordan p played a very undercontrol brand of basketball he did occasionally take tough shots but he was playing more within the flow of the offense starting last year and then extending into this year Jordan P has been leaning into like

Almost like his brand as being like this very uh um flashy is the wrong word I hate the negative connotations of it but let’s just call it beautiful like focusing on the Aesthetics of basketball right and like here’s the thing like making tough shots is I it looks great

You know hitting that wild spin move into that turnaround fadea away man that makes for a great Instagram reel and I’m not downplaying that I love that beauty in the game as well but basketball’s usually more productive when it’s boring and Jord pool actually has a lot of the

Capability to play some boring basketball too and I just think for him it’s typical young guard growth in the sense that like he’s kind of lost track of his priorities a little bit and give him a couple of years and he’ll figure out that he cares more about winning

Because he is a champion at the end of the day but he’ll figure out that he cares more about winning and being the best basketball player he can be than he does about some of the more Beauty oriented elements of the game and I think he’ll get on track I don’t think I

Don’t think the 22 2022 season was fluky I just think it’s more an indicator of inconsistency from a young guard if that makes sense next question hey Jason can you please talk about the sun’s recent Sun uh win streak they’ve been playing through adversity adversity and deleting

Huge leads that other teams have had doing it with high level defensive energy and offensive Brilliance KD should be all defense this year with how much effort he’s putting in thanks for all the great content Rees from Perth austral Australia re uh Rees thank you so much for supporting show I sincerely

Appreciate it and it’s cool it’s always cool to see uh fans out outside of the United States especially just even beyond the um support of this show just it’s cool to see how Global of a sport basketball is it’s something that I think it’s underplayed when we talk

About NFL versus NBA and like you know the NBA is a global sport it’s just it’s not even on the same playing field as the NFL in terms of its potential in the grand scheme of things and so uh I again ree thanks again for supporting the show

And uh shout out to Australia my uh my buddy Matt actually played Australian Rules Football out there he was one of my groomsmen in my in my wedding played center at the University of Arizona and um uh went out and played AFL football out there for a little while so the

Suns first of all they’re on my list to hit very soon I just haven’t gotten to them yet um obviously my vacations have thrown a giant wrench into things but we will do a more Deep dive on the Suns uh soon they have a tough back-to-back on Sunday Monday against the Orlando Magic

And the Miami Heat and we’ll probably be talking a lot of Suns on Monday and Tuesday coming up but they’ve won seven in a row uh most interesting part is they’re top 10 in both defense and rebounding over that span so really encouraging on the Dirty Work element

Side of things like again like that’s when we talk about like how the suns were supposed to look like the 2021 Brooklyn Nets and they haven’t like people forget that the 2021 Brooklyn Nets defended like they they they guarded and and that to me is like it

It’s a it is a two-way perimeter skill game that ends up winning uh in the the NBA not just a one-way perimeter skill game if that makes sense some impressive wins in that seven game winning streak they went into Los Angeles and smashed the Lakers they went into New Orleans

And won easily against the Pelicans uh but they’re really turning a corner when you zoom out like Bradley Beals played 14 straight games for all the talk about his health he’s been available for about a month now uh they’re 11 and3 in those 14 games that Bradley Beal has played is

They’re basically won at a 53- win Pace in games that Bradley Beal has been available I think they’re 13- seven in those games uh easily the most exciting part of all this though is Devin Booker has gotten going he started the season hot and then cooled off massively after

That injury that he had and like just now in this last you know like month or so he’s starting to look like the Devin Booker from the playoffs last year and that to me is you know kind of a p prerequisite to the Suns being a real

Threat because again like if if Devin Booker is going to be what he was a few years ago where he’s kind of like a second tier star uh I shouldn’t even say second tier almost like third tier star cuz to to me it’s like there’s the top

Top guys and then there’s like the other superstars and then there’s the guys that are right below Superstar and like Devin Booker used to be in that tier but recently he’s been showing like throughout the regular season last year and in the playoffs last year he’s starting to show this like higher level

Like now he’s like kind of like a tier B Superstar right and like it’s important for him to get to that level because so is Kevin Durant and two of those guys just gives you a much better chance to win I know big shock um but Devon Booker

Getting getting going I think he played a big role but they’re definitely turning a corner and we will talk more about them next week uh next question Jason would you give us a trade scenario on what the Lakers would have to give up to get Bruce Brown and dejon Murray so

Yovan bhha came on the show yesterday and we aired the show today but it came on the show yesterday and we did like an hour on the Lakers trade deadline and we did uh a bunch of scenarios surrounding to jonte Murray and Bruce Brown and even

Some other guys so make sure you check that out on our YouTube feed also shout out to yovon he’s been awesome for us and and we just signed him to be on the show twice a month through free agency this year so for Lakers fans basically once every other week we’re going to

Have you know 45 minutes or so with yovon where we talk you know not just reporting surrounding the trade deadline but also also like uh uh just Intel coming from within the locker room yovon travels around with the team like he’s like going to be with them on this

Grammy road trip he’s going to be able to give us some insights of what’s Happening inside the locker room and then obviously when we get outside of the play OB he’s going to be big for us surrounding the draft in free agency so shout out to yovon uh officially going

To be a recurring guest on the Hoops Tonight Show for the rest of this season next question what is the value of screen setting in the NBA I feel like one of the reasons for Dame struggles can be because Giannis is not setting good enough screens for him like nkit used to

Do in Portland I also feel like it affects Giannis because since the second Defender doesn’t have to step up as much it clogs the pain for him do you think this is a reason why their pick and roll has not been as great as we thought so

Here’s the thing I’ve watched God I’ve watched so many Dame Yannis pick and rolls this year and Dame like Giannis is not a good screener it’s not exactly surprising he you know hasn’t really had a ton of practice with it over the years right like that was something that early on uh

In you know 2019 202 21 like he just wouldn’t do all that much right uh and so there’s a certain element of like kind of like learning how to do it but at the end of the day the coverage that is implemented in most cases against the

Bucks kind of dictates whether or not a screen is as necessary so first of all is screening important in the NBA absolutely it’s most important in when it comes to pick and roll in a drop coverage the main reason why is like just visualize it so uh a drop coverage

The big man guarding the screener if this is the basket the big man guarding the screener is back further toward towards the basket right and then the on ball Defender is chasing over the top of the screen right so there’s this Gap there and to give the offensive player

An opportunity to work in that Gap you need to set a solid enough screen so that the offensive player can get over the top while dragging this guy behind so that he can operate in this mid-range to get to his wide open looks or maybe pull the drop coverage big up and make

Something good happen from there so in that specific situation like screen setting is vitally important the in blitzing situations and in hard Hedges and shows and things like that it’s actually more important to make yourself available on the rooll quicker and so a lot of these times like like

Giannis he could set a better screen on Dame’s man but even if he did like Dame’s immediately running into the HED the hedger or the screen Defender right and so a lot of times like Giannis is slipping out of the screen pretty quick you watch just just watch Dam is picking

Rolls and you’ll see like he runs over to screen the guy and he’s immediately bailing out of it into the short roll which he’s just trying to make himself available for the pass as quickly as possible as Dame is facing a second Defender the second part of it is icing

So an ice coverage is a pick and roll coverage that you typically see on the sides of the floor and so imagine Dame on the like imagine uh you know the baskets here like I said and here’s your Arc right and Dame is on the right wing

And Giannis comes up to set up B screen a lot of times what teams will do is ice those side pick and rolls meaning the guy guarding Dame will jump high side and basically stand between Dame and the screen and not allow him to use it and

So at that point same exact sort of thing Dame’s job there is to quickly reject the screen meaning drive away from the screen which will then allow him to quickly Engage The Screen Defender and then as the on ball guy is now chasing him as he’s rejecting the

Screen Giannis has an opening in that Gap created by the ice coverage so once again it’s more important for him to slip out of it as quickly as possible and so again like do I think Giannis is a fantastic screener no uh but I think specifically with a lot of the coverages

That Milwaukee is facing it’s more important for Giannis and Dame to kind of figure out the angles for slipping and how to get the ball to him quickly and in space where he can see the floor and make quick reads whether or not he has an opportunity to drive or quickly make a

Pass great question though thought that was really interesting um two more what is the next step for Philly go for depth or another All-Star Talent assuming Joel can figure it out in the playoffs and Maxi will be effective so those are two big ifs if Joel can be can figured out in the

Playoffs and if Tyrese Maxi can be effective to me I look at it like this like who are the other two best kind of like front Court fuls I should say three best right it’s Anthony Davis It’s jiannis s Koo it’s Nicola yic what do those guys have like Anthony Davis has

LeBron James and Austin Reeds and D’Angelo Russell he’s got all of this offensive skill around him to kind of set him up in spots right uh Nicole yic is one of the best shot makers in the NBA the guy one of the best guys at making tough pull-up step back ISO pick

And roll jump shots right and so that basically puts their their two-man game in a very uh uh in a position where it’s very difficult to guard and specifically the why the reason why I bring those guys up is it translates to the postseason and so here’s the thing if

Tyrese Maxi can bring the same level of of volume and efficiency to the playoffs this year that he does in the regular season then yeah that’s great and now it’s like you know I’ve seen a lot of of rumors surrounding Bruce Brown to the uh to the Sixers basically is an I don’t

Know I guess you’re looking at him uh um as an upgrade of that two spot right with where DeAnthony Melton is but to me that only works or makes sense if Joel embi and Tyreek smack can do what you said which is reach their regular season impact in the postseason but last year

As a secondary offensive initiator off of James Harden catching the second best perimeter Defender Tyrese Maxi went down 6% in true shooting percentage from regular season to the postseason and so that’s where it gets complicated and like that’s where you have to have tough conversations because Joe ID is still

Relatively young but he’s got an injury history and he’s huge and so like I don’t think he’s one of those guys necessarily that you can I’m not saying you can’t but like it there’s some there’s some risk involved as it pertains to like can Joel embiid still

Be at a superstar level when he’s 33 right so like there’s a little more urgency surrounding Joelle and so there are tough conversations for Daryl Morty to have with his front office about you know is Tyrese Maxi good enough at as a young guard to be the

Number two next to Joel an Jo Joel embiid the same way that Jamal Murray is for Nicole yic the same way that LeBron James and Austin Reeves is for uh uh for Anthony Davis is the same way that Damen Lillard is for for Giannis and tenmo right and so that’s where that’s where

It gets complicated because like that’s why I actually pitched Philly as like an interesting team for a Deonte Murray trade because now you just have a lot more offensive skill in your back court another guy who can consistently beat people off the dribble and get the defense into rotation uh to me that’s

More of an offensive-minded upgrade of that of that two spot um but like at the end of the day like who’s the All-Star guy you’d be going after I mean like maybe you go all in for like a Lori Markin in and you uh add a lot of

Shooting and size into that front Court like there but like that’s the thing is like I’m not necessarily sure that there’s that type of all-in move available but from a philosophical standpoint it’s just important for Daryl Mor in the front office to have a conversation about the timeline of like

Tyrese Maxi’s rise as it pertains to Joel Anthony and his Prime and how or I keep saying Joel Anthony Joel embiid and and his Joel shout out Joel Anthony on the the Miami Heat back in the early 2010s but uh just it’s just kind of like weighing that

Timeline there and and and you guys know how I feel about trusting young players in the playoffs but that’s for the Sixers to decide lastly before we get out of here have you been talked to by a player that you have covered if so how

Was it uh so yes I have and uh it has been overwhelmingly positive I have not I’ve seen examples of players like really going after members of the media that to this point hasn’t happened to me yet uh it’s been Pleasant um I I’ve people forget like I I I’ve spent my

Young adulthood around the game of basketball so like I’ve talked to lots of NBA players I’ve played with lots of NBA players like there are guys all over the league that I’ve played in games with before um so like for me it just kind of feels somewhat natural just

Because I’ve had those kinds of conversations before but I will say it’s sural from the standpoint of of it being just kind of a sign of the show gaining some legitimacy which is obviously something that I I don’t take for granted uh but at the same time like I

Know that it there’s an ugly side to that too and and I’m sure it I’m sure it it will eventually happen that I’ll say something about a player and then they’ll come after me but that’s just kind of the name of the game right that

Like I one of the things that I’m most interested if I ever do player interviews in the future is picking players brains about the media player relationship because I think it’s super fascinating like like I know I do the work like I know I study the film I know

That I don’t just come up here and talk for the sake of talking uh but at the same time like I’m not an NBA player and even though I have a basketball background and even though I have played and even though I think I’m a good basketball player I’m not an NBA player

And so like imagine the roles were reversed and I’m an NBA player and this dude who played in college but didn’t make it out of the didn’t make it to the NBA is like you know sitting in his guest bedroom talking you know like I’d be like what the hell dude you know

Like so like I I I do find that Dynamic super interesting cuz on one hand it’s like that’s my job my job is to not just come up here and praise players but to offer criticism like I I try to be like incredib I try to just be fair as as

Much as I can but at the same time like there’s a certain like respect barrier as it pertains to the NBA and like I just have so much respect for NBA players and what they accomplished and like I just think it’s fascinating and I would love to uh pick players brains

About that in the future just specifically um the relationship between players in the media but yeah I have talked to NBA players since I started the show it went well um obviously to respect those players privacy I won’t uh mention anybody by Name

Jason Timpf answers NBA mailbag questions including what Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns’ win streaks means for them moving forward, if Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers need to make a trade for another star player, and why the Giannis Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard pick and roll has disappointed for the Milwaukee Bucks. Jason also discusses what it would take for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to acquire Dejounte Murray or Bruce Brown and more!

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/xWm-bNHhIpc

Timeline:
00:00 – What has happened to Jordan Poole?
02:06 – Suns win streak
05:33 – Lakers trade scenarios
06:42 – Why Lillard-Giannis pick and roll has flopped
10:34 – How 76ers become championship good
14:14 – Jason’s interactions with NBA players

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