NBA Mailbag: Solving Nikola Jokic problem, change Celtics must make, Wolves lose KAT | Hoops Tonight

NBA Mailbag: Solving Nikola Jokic problem, change Celtics must make, Wolves lose KAT | 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 moving on to the mailbag and then we’ll get out of here for the day first question you should uh collab with Adam Modz from uh dnvr you two are so

Knowledgeable about the game of basketball first of all thanks for the kind words about myself and also for Adam as well uh I really really enjoyed working with Adam today it was uh uh super easy to talk basketball with super super smart guy had a ton of fun went

For an hour talked about basically a lot of the same games that we talked about today uh but you can find that on the all NBA podcast YouTube feed so go check that out next question if the MVP race if the MVP is a race Tatum somehow is

Running in the opposite direction so this was just a funny comment but I wanted to use it to just kind of talk about the MVP race because I saw there was I didn’t talk about about this over the last couple of weeks just simply because I didn’t think it was uh

Interesting enough um but you know this comment kind of gave me an excuse to talk about it for a second um I never considered Tatum legitimately for MVP and the main reason why is because like to me if you’re not actually in that top tier of super superstars in the league

You just don’t qualify for the MVP conversation and like that’s the thing like Tatum is the best player on the best regular season team in the league but there’s a couple of pieces of context one he’s playing for in opinion the most talented starting five in the

League two Boston is playing in an Eastern Conference that is really weak at the bottom and has a lot of opportunities to just rake up like uh to rack up like massive winds that inflate stats and inflate Advanced metrics for instance I’m sure you guys saw this stat

After the game after last night Boston is 33 and seven against the Eastern Conference they are 15 and seven against the Western Conference because the Western Conference top to bottom just has significantly more Talent down the East top is very talented but the bottom

Of the East has a lot of like you know automatic wins so to speak and that I think that’s reflected League wide in in records between Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams but like I never to me the standings reflect more just how much better Boston is than the

Rest of the East and then as far as the MVP race goes like he’s the best player on the team but he’s not as good as jic he’s not as good as Luca he’s not as good as Giannis and those are just doing more with less and so for me like I

Never really realistically considered Tatum for that mvp spot next question hi Jason love the content from Australia watching the Luca Kyrie pairing cook defenses is great viewing but it also got me wondering about the future of pairing two star guards as building blocks we’ve seen Fox and halberton Thrive separately questions about the

Trey Murray and Mitchell Garland combo as a long-term solution and even a young potential Superstar Duo like Kade and Ivy raised the issue whether they can Thrive together down down the line if you were coaching two young star guards in the making what skills would you prioritize them to focus on to maximize

Their own team success and what potential red flags would you look out for should they success uh that would suggest they’re better off on separate teams having followed you for a bit I’ll guess pullup shooting is right there thanks for these shows always learn something new every episode thanks for

Supporting the show um here’s the thing as it comes down to the two guards thing really just comes down to like if you heard the expression like you are who you can guard like you can have two star guards as long long as they’re different archetypes so for instance like if you

Have a skill guard let’s say that you had Steph Curry but let’s say your two was like Prime Dwayne Wade who’s like one of the best defensive players in the league and a real downhill athlete that I think is a pairing of star guards that would work because they have a lack of

Redundancy they don’t step on each other’s toes they bring different things to the table that is a defensive back court that can fly does that make sense so like in general when I’m looking at any Star Duo I want one of them to be really good at different stuff than the

Other guy take Jamal Murray and Nicole yic for example like Jamal Murray is this like perimeter shot making piece and Nicole yic is this physical imposition around the rim piece and playmaking piece right they perfectly complement each other if you wanted a star next to joic it would ideally be a

Guy that can run two-man game with him and hit tough over the top pullup jump shots it makes perfect sense think Kyrie Irving and LeBron James LeBron was the bully ball mismatch attacking forward that brought all the athleticism and defensive tools to the table Kyrie

Irving was the guy LeBron is the guy who loves to rest while he’s playing Kyrie Irving was the guy they could throw the basketball to and he could go stand on the left wing maybe shoot a catch and shoot three now and then but Kyrie Irving can just run the offense for a

Brief stretch and be that skill guard right like that’s that to me is the big piece is you want to have a lack of redundancy so for inance like let’s take dearen Fox and and tyres salurn I do think that could have worked in the long run but it would have required dearen

Fox to basically become one of the best two-way guards in the league to really focus on the defensive end of the floor but like there’s no doubt that that that could have worked in the long run because I view Tyrese is the skill guard and dearen fox to me is like the athlete

Guard in that in that pairing it just would it just dearen fox has always been a little bit of an inconsistent defensive player although I think he’s capable of being an awesome defensive player next question LOL I’m not letting mpj shoot but I get your point you close

Out late make him drive so that he can finish but he doesn’t handle well again I this was in reference to a point I made at the end of last night’s show about how I would guard if I was Boston basically I said I wouldn’t want to live

With joic and and Gordon hitting shots right around the rim I would want to bring help either from the Baseline but then bring that weak side corner guy to get inside position on Gordon in box him out and force yic to make a skip pass or

I double from the front side to force yic to make kickouts to the perimeter but the main point there is like yeah I don’t want I don’t want mpj to shoot but like mpj you know I’ve talked about the difference between shot value in the large sample size versus shot value in

The individual possession so for instance an mpj catch and shoot three just to make the math easy if mpj’s wide open let’s just say he makes 50% of them right that’s 1.5 points per shot that’s a really high percentage shot right I would have to shoot 75% at The Rim to be

On or on a hook shot or something on any other type of shot to be as efficient as Michael Porter Jr on a catch and shoot three right but on the individual possession it’s only a 50% shot right the statistic means nothing to the individual both in life and in in

Basketball in my opinion like the statistic is is what happens in the big picture but on that individual possession you have the you have you uh they’re you’re down to the field goal percentage at that point right right so for instance if joic let’s say yic

Shoots 65% on hook shots that’s a lower percentage shot by points per possession I shouldn’t say lower percentage it’s a lower value shot by points per possession than a Michael Porter junor wide openen catch and shoot three but on the individual possession the Michael Porter shot he he’s gon to miss half the

Time whereas the yit shot around the basket he’s going to miss it one out of three times and and probably if you get him to miss you brought Baseline help and Aaron Gordon’s going to get an extra possession about half of those times so like the individual possession that

Around the rim stuff is so much more valuable than the big picture stuff when it comes down to the three-point shot so what I was saying is obviously leaving a Michael Porter Jr or a kcp wide open is not a good option but here’s the thing we know porzingis can’t guard joic

One-on-one we know the Baseline help lead Zaron Gordon opening underneath the basket those are super high percentage shots so to me it’s more of a lesser than two a lesser of two evils kind of thing next question how would you rank this version of the Nuggets among the

Championship winning teams of the last 10 to 15 years as you have said Denver is built a near perfect roster around joic who is by far the best player in the world today however at what point does a cumulating Elite Talent just outow everything else for instance as

Good as the nuggets are most people wouldn’t give them much of a chance against the Warriors of 20178 who sacrificed the roster roster depth to bring in KD so I do think the nuggets are on the same tier I shouldn’t say on the same tier I I I like let me put it

This way the only two teams of the last 15 years that are better than Denver are the Miami Heat team that repeated and the KD Steph Warriors that repeated those are the only two teams that are on their level right Denver’s not I don’t think they deserve to be put on that

Level because it’s hard to win two championships in a row and here’s the thing I think the Nuggets I’m way higher on them than I was to start the season I told you I’d be surprised that they didn’t win the title if they were healthy but it’s still like a coin flip

Right because like Boston has a much easier path out of the Eastern Conference Denver could be in for some blood baths Out West Boston does have a lot of talent and some room for improvement like Denver doesn’t have as much room for improvement between now and June as Boston does Boston can

Figure some out and get better so like that’s that that’s my point I’m picking Den I think Denver is the safe bet but there’s there’s always it’s really difficult to win NBA championships so like I don’t want to jump the gun and I I I don’t think I’d ever put them above

The 2017 2018 Warriors because like they literally were just so so much better than everybody to give you an idea going into the 2018 season off of the 2017 Championship when they won 15 straight playoff games the Warriors had negative odds to win the title in preseason meaning meaning if you bet

$100 to pick the Warriors to win the title in 2018 and they won you would get less than $100 in winnings that’s how that’s how dominant that Golden State team was Denver before last night’s game I haven’t looked at the odd sense before last night’s game even as good as

They’ve looked this year are they were plus 450 to win the title on DraftKings so that just goes to show you the difference in just the level of like talent that that team had but it was more because of like they had two of the top three players in the league and they

Had Klay Thompson who was an awesome defensive player and the second best shooter of all time and they had Andre guala who’s the best Wing defender in the league at that time and they had Draymond Green who was arguably the best defensive player overall in the league

At that time so like there’s kind of another level there however there will be an interesting conversation to have about this team and the 2012 2013 Miami Heat teams if Denver can win the title this year and I’m inclined to pick Denver and that specific matchup because Miami just because of Dwayne Wade’s

Decline because Chris Bosch got hurt in that 2012 run like I’ve seen a lot of talk about uh there’s so much talk about the uh the because of Udonis Haslam and Norris Cole coming out talking about Lebron in the Heat and it’s so funny to me because it’s just it’s just something

I I think people are writing some revisionist history on on a bunch of different fronts first of all I think that when LeBron like I I saw a Jeff Teague quote something about how like everyone thought that was weak when LeBron went to Miami for the record at the time it kind of

Was like what LeBron did going to Miami was supposed to be more or less like what KD did going to the Warriors what saved LeBron’s ass was he got humiliated the first year which made him a better basketball player and so he went up a crazy level two Chris Bosch got hurt in

The 2012 postseason which made them have to play it made LeBron play desperate basketball to beat Indiana and then desperate basketball to beat Boston right and then three Dwayne Wade rapidly declined after the 2011 finals was never the same player he was a top tier superstar in 2011 like a second tier

Superstar in 2012 2013 and like a third tier superstar in 2014 and so as a result LeBron’s intended dominant team turned into just another one of the teams in the league which forced LeBron to play heroic basketball to win two championships so now when we look back

At the Miami Heat runs we look at it as like man that was some unbelievable basketball from LeBron however Kevin Durant went to the Golden State Warriors they stayed healthy they absolutely murdered everybody and so everyone looks at it differently because it we never had to see KD play desperate we never

Had to see KD like holy like we’re down 3-2 on the road here we got to make this happen holy game seven against Indiana holy game seven against San Antonio like we never saw that because golden state was just so much better than everybody LeBron intended for that

To be the case in Miami and then it never it didn’t break out that way and so he had to be great so that that’s kind of unrelated to what I was saying but I just wanted to get that off my chest after the uh uh the comments that

Were flying out around those heedles but that said I will be curious to see where we rank Denver in the big picture after if they do win the title this year because I think that I’d be inclined to put them above those Miami Heat teams

Not that he like I think joic and Lebron in that at that era in a similar tier in terms of a ceiling U but I thought that that Miami Heat team wasn’t as good top to bottom as this Denver team was and so I’d probably pick Denver over them but

They got to close the deal they go to win another title this year three more questions and we’re out of here hey Jason love the show keep up the great work I was wondering what you think the issue is with Boston’s bad habits is it

A coach or a lack of IQ feels like they’ve had the the move or less they’ve had more or less the same issues under three different coaches granted lots of personnel changes in player growth but still feels like the same glaring issues throughout so Joe moula in particular I

Actually talked about this a lot with Adams today but um the to me the freedom is almost gone too far so when you have five really good shot creators on the same floor together it gets a little tough because there’s not a clear hierarchy so like for Denver for

Instance everything runs through Murray and joic late even those like early second quarter early fourth quarter stretches it’s like Murray’s just dribbling the air out of the basketball looking for his own shot the whole time there’s a lot of equal opportunity with Boston they kind of just play basketball

And so as a result like that continues into crunch time it’s like those two possessions that Drew holiday took over like Drew holiday took those two random like here’s another question we had this our our last one I don’t like the fact that Jason Compares Drew taking those

Last shots for the Celtics to kcp taking such shots for the Nuggets saying the Nuggets would never do that and they are more deliberate in my opinion kcp and Drew holiday are nowhere near the same players and the fact that the Celtics have so much talent in their fiveman

Unit I think their offense has to be free flowing so they can maximize each player 100% agree throughout like certain chunks of the game right like outside of your starting groups late second quarter early or excuse me late first quarter early second quarter late third quarter early fourth quarter you

Want to be free flowing you want everybody playing your game however you run the risk when you play equal opportunity basketball of either everybody being in a rhythm or nobody being in a rhythm and that is part of what makes Boston so hot and cold and yeah they’ve been mostly hot against the

Eastern Conference but like that’s what makes them so hot and cold is they have these stretches where all of them go out of rhythm because there isn’t a clear hierarchy so like to me an easy solution there is I would have pet actions for for your best players that I’d run at

The end of the games if that’s Tatum porzingis pick and roll that’s Derrik white porzingis pick and roll if it’s Jaylen Brown Tatum Twan game whatever it is that you decide to do I don’t think you could do that CU teams would probably just switch it but like you got

To find some sort of like hierarchy that you go to in big moments because it makes it more likely that those players will be in rhythm in those moments because it’s like Tatum after the game like I totally disagreed with that comment from Tatum about how he wanted

To kind of like he didn’t want to hijack the game no no no no no if Jaylen Brown is bringing it to that level you got to meet him there you got to meet him there t Jaylen Brown’s not shooting the ball every possession down the floor just

Because he’s hot doesn’t mean you can’t be involved but to me like that’s where having a clear hierarchy does make sense you’re right Drew holiday is not the same type of player as kcp and like he is a guy that can create a shot off the bounce at a higher level

But he’s not as good as create at creating a shot off the bounce as Jason Tatum or Jaylen brown or Derek white so when you do that even if he does make the shot you’re worri like and he did by the way he made two big ones

At the end of the game and it worked out like like that’s playing the results in my opinion but being more deliberate about running pet actions for the same players in big moments at the beginning of games and at the end of games I think would go a long way towards kind of

Getting them to have more consistent rhythm in those environments last question with cat’s injury how do you think Minnesota should structure their rotation they went with Kyle Anderson but that is a spacing nightmare for me I would start in close with nas Reed then

Try to keep one of him or goar on at all times so I talked about this a little bit the Timberwolves segment that we did so in case you missed that if you’re just watching the mailbag episode go back uh Timberwolves fans we did a whole breakdown but I would do it matchup

Related would not go with Kyle Anderson though I thought that was a disaster on both ends of the floor I don’t think he’s good enough defensively or offensively to make up for it kind of was disappointed uh because Kyle Anderson is a guy that is capable of

Being very good defensively but he just hasn’t been good enough uh but I would just base it on the matchup I think there’s versions of this against smaller teams where you could go with nille Alexander Walker and go with like ant Conley naw and jayen McDaniels alongside gobear

And just defend the hell out of the basketball at least you you know because Nale is just a better offensive player than Kyle Anderson off the ball and he can defend in space but then there are going to be matchups that are too big and you need to go bigger the Lakers

Game that’s coming up on Sunday is actually a good example of this I’ve Goen azri because at least you have the physical imposition he’s kind of like actually a reasonable fact simile of Carl towns although he’s not as good because he can shoot the three and he

Can attack Closeouts so like that would be what I would do I’d base it on matchups but the reality is is like it is flawed options now that Carl Town’s out is out of the picture which is Unfortunate

Jason Timpf answers listener questions during an NBA Mailbag segment. Jason discusses where Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets rank among the best teams in the NBA over the past 15 years, including LeBron James’ Miami Heat and the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors. What has led to some of the Boston Celtics late-game issues, and should Jayson Tatum assert himself more in clutch time? And how will the Minnesota Timberwolves adjust with the recent injury to Karl-Anthony Towns? Jason answers all these questions and more!

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/__jwRs2Cigw

Timeline:
00:00 – Check out All NBA Podcast
00:47 – Why Tatum is not in MVP discussion
02:36 – How to build around two star guards
05:27 – Best chance of stopping Denver in clutch time
08:08 – Where Nuggets rank among best teams of last 15 years
13:49 – Why Celtics can have late-game issues
17:16 – What should Timberwolves do without KAT?

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