NBA Mailbag: Have Timberwolves EXPOSED Nuggets flaws? Could Knicks beat Celtics? | Hoops Tonight

NBA Mailbag: Have Timberwolves EXPOSED Nuggets flaws? Could Knicks beat Celtics? | 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 how can you differentiate a surprise playoff team like taking the next step versus an overachieving fake run to me that really just comes down to Personnel right like if you’re for instance like if I’m looking at a team that uh like the two examples that were given in this mailbag question are the 2023 Nicks versus the 2021 Hawks so one of the things for the Knicks in particular is like they’re doing this even though they’re they’ve got Personnel that’s unavailable right like it’s interesting I was talking with Paul our our our lead producer here he’s a big Nicks fan and we were talking about this earlier like before the show like I one of the things that’s a dead giveaway to me when the home team wins every game in a series is like neither team is particularly good now obviously the Knicks when they have everybody when the Knicks have ogan anobi when Josh Hart is healthy when they’ve got their guys in the lineup I think that they’re a team that’s much closer to the top tier than they appear right now and I actually think that if ogan and ob’s healthy this series is probably over already it probably ends in in six games right so like it just there’s just a certain amount of talent loss that they’ve experienced or injury that’s made them look like a different type of team but with a team like the Knicks no matter what happens in this postseason run you’re encouraged because Jaylen Brunson is clearly a top 10 player in this league uh there’s a lot of resiliency to his ability to score that we’ve seen over multiple playoff runs even dating back to when he was with Dallas and last year as well like brunson’s just one of those dudes now we just have to kind of consider him one of those guys and so brunson’s legit you’ve got a real identity a good coach uh a lot of two-way Personnel you really just need an addition shot Creator right for to tie this all together and the Knicks are in beautiful position to do something like that this summer so like I do think there’s a lot of legitimacy there with the Hawks like I never have really looked at uh I never have really looked at Trey young as one of those guys now I know that that’s kind of a a polarizing topic that Trey young has a lot of fans and a lot of people think he’s really really good I think Trey young is more in that like 20 to 30 range of NBA player not in the 5 to 15 range like Jaylen Brunson is right so like I just think Jaylen brunson’s better so I think that makes him different again when I’m looking at the uh what I’m looking at like whether a team has a real playoff run meaning like the potential to take the next step to get into Championship contention I’m going to look at the same set of rules that I look at for every franchise do do you have a guy that’s good enough to be the best player on a championship team and I actually think Jaylen Brunson is capable of being that guy I think he’s on the very low end of that but I think he is on that on that level do they have a legitimate secondary shot Creator this year they don’t but I Nicks fans have heard this consistently from me I love this team they’ve got a a really bright future but I never gave them a legitimate chance to win the title this year because they don’t have that like really reliable secondary shot Creator if they get that next year then we’re talking about a more serious team and then there’s all these other boxes that we look at down the roster which the Nick check with flying colors like Championship character basketball character coaching like two-way person like depth of talent like uh competitiveness and spirit like all of that stuff they have in Spades there’s just this one hole which is and I’m talking about the healthy version of the Knicks but there’s this one hole which is they don’t have a reliable secondary shot Creator all right let’s look at another one here Denver has been sold as a high floor team but they’ve had two Duds is this just about the matchup with Minnesota or actual flaws that teams in later rounds can exploit if the Nuggets get through so I think the the really ugly losses have had more to do with the play Styles and I think I think we’ve seen this a little bit in Nicks Pacers as well right like the Knicks are a much better halfcourt team than the Pacers but the Pacers are much better transition team so like if they play a half court-based game the Knicks win a lot by a lot and if they play a a a transition based game the Pacers win by a lot right for the Nuggets they they have an offensive skill advantage against uh Minnesota that is pretty substantial so when when Denver executes and and I mean on both ends of the floor when they handle ball pressure well when they set good screens when they really get into their offense and then on the other end of the floor when they press up into Minnesota and make them uncomfortable you just see this massive Chasm and offensive Talent the games are slower but Denver just scores more reliable and they’re winning by what like somewhere in that 12 to 18 points range right like every one of those games from game three four and five kind of looked the same right in terms of like Minnesota’s offense really struggling I want to say five times in those six halves they failed to reach 50 points if I remember correctly I I need to go back and double check it might have been four times but they they were consistently being held under 50 points in a half like Minnesota just couldn’t score and Denver had a 128 or 127 and change offensive rating over those three games so like that was the difference right but in games two and game six games where Denver really struggles offensively and they uh are not bringing that same level of defensive pressure that’s where Minnesota’s athleticism Advantage just comes screaming off the screen and all of a sudden it’s like wow they just look so much faster so much lankier and like they just bring so much more like downhill Force Through Anthony Edwards running his Lane and like cat bullying his way to the basket nasri driving and dunking on people like there’s just like a level of athleticism that pops for Minnesota when Denver doesn’t have control of the game but as long as Denver can control the game the athleticism stuff doesn’t matter as much it’s just it’s very much been to me like when Minnesota wins those battles it’s just more extravagant of a deficit because they’re athleticism Advantage is so big does the winner of game seven in Minnesota Denver instantly become the title favorite so I one of the things that I I was high on I was much higher on Minnesota after game two of this series in the sense that I looked at they had a lot going for them offensively and there were a bunch of different things that were clicking that weren’t clicking in the regular season that had them looking really good on offensively cat was like consistently good on offense every night nikil Alexander Walker was consistently good on offense every single night cat’s three-point shot in particular was just like deadly locked in and ant was playing Super well but then we found out over the course of the series particularly game three four and five like ant has had some resiliency in his ability to score the basketball throughout the different circumstances of the series but the rest of his team is not and that has been pretty standard for what we’ve seen from inota All Season except for it’s been even more exaggerated because ant wasn’t as good in the regular season right and so when I when I look at uh Denver vers Boston I think Denver is is to me clearly just the safer bet because they’re more consistently operating at their ceiling but if we imagine a Minnesota vers Boston final Boston’s going to be able to do a lot of the same damage to Minnesota’s offense that Denver has done to Minnesota’s offense and Boston also has this incredibly high-powered offense that can look to attack entry points one of the unique things that makes Boston’s offense so scary is when you have five starting caliber players out there when porzingis is healthy or six with or five when porzingis is not healthy and six when he is but when porzingis is out there with that starting group not only do you have five high-powered offensive players you have five high-powered offensive players that are all great at attacking matchups Drew holiday can really do damage to smaller guards in the post Chris absp can really do damage on switches in the post Jaylen Brown can do the same thing so can Tatum Derek white obviously is an offensive initiator of a different type but can also do a lot of damage and so one of the things is like you can’t really hide Defenders against Boston the way that you can against other teams and like if if Jaden McDaniels is gonna guard Jaylen Brown and uh and Drew holiday is gonna guard or excuse if uh um uh Anthony Edwards is going to guard Jason Tatum or however it is that they split up the matchups Conley’s going to have to guard one of them You Know Carl Anthony towns is gonna have to guard one of them Carl Anthony towns like my guess is they’ll probably end up putting him on like Drew holiday and trying to let him roam around if they end up in that type of series but like that Drew holiday is a really good cutter and he’s he’s found ways to be useful off the ball he’s been a Deadly Catch and shoot guy in the regular season not so much in the playoffs but he’s made a few more as of late but like Boston has like a a plethora of shot creation ability that makes them a very difficult challenge in their own right so like I I’m going to stick with what I said right around the time that uh Minnesota was kicking the out of Phoenix which is like I look at Denver and and Boston as the top two teams and Minnesota for me joined that tier with their performance through the first two rounds of the playoffs and so yeah I I think I think if Denver loses Boston becomes the favorite I think if Denver wins Denver stays the favorite but certainly all three of those teams have a really good chance when was the last time you were able to get practice with guitar so uh it’s actually kind of a funny story I I played a lot when I was a kid my dad was a a DieHard uh Almond Brothers fan so I would kind of grew up on Blues a lot of like Dwayne almond Derek Trucks you know Warren hannes DIY bets those kinds of guys and when I went to go play basketball in college I I I moved into a dorm up in uh up in Utah and so I didn’t bring my guitars with me and I just kind of stopped and like I stopped for a long time it wasn’t until I was probably I want to say I want to say it was like 2000 it was right around like 2019 2020 relatively recently two things kind of got me back into it one I discovered the John Mayer Grateful Dead the whole thing where like I I I’d always thought of John Mayer as John Mayer you know and like I didn’t even know he was doing this kind of music and my older brother who’s also a big guitar guy and a big blues guy he ended up sending me a link one day that was like hey check this out and it was John Mayor playing ala and I was like holy this is awesome and right around the same time my brother-in-law uh who doesn’t play guitar gave me a guitar that he had sitting around I didn’t even I didn’t even have one like my old ones I I genuinely don’t even remember what happened to him and so I I it was just an acoustic guitar that my older brother my brother-in-law gave me and I played it for a little bit and I remembered that I loved it and so like two days later I went down to a Car Center and bought like a cheap it’s this epone L Paul that I have over here and then immediately I was like being a kid again I just fell in love with it again and then I got like super hooked and one of the things that that uh um about me that’s like kind of different than um than it was when I was a kid is like I really struggle to work hard on things that I that I don’t have a passion for and I just have a passion for guitar and so it’s like really easy for me to work on it but that said I don’t devote as much time to it as I do basketball right now my guess is whenever my knees fail me or whenever I have some sort of serious injury that causes me to stop playing basketball I’ll probably devote a lot more time to playing guitar uh but it’s definitely like something that I that I love to do and that i’ I’d like to do more and more as I get older I joke with my wife there are a lot of dive bars here in Tucson I’d love to be that like 50 60 year old dude who like goes down on a Tuesday and like plays cover band music at a at a at a dive bar somewhere just I I I just I just love that uh um that kind of music all right let’s see when is a good time to pull the plug when losing in playoff games if not down 20 with five minutes remaining in game 748 hours away then when I mean that’s really it is like I think when you’re I think when you get down 20 plus with like right around like seven minutes left in that fourth quarter you’re almost better off buying rest for the next game do you watch the MCU I watched the entire uh whatever you call it phase one with the the Thanos story everything through Avengers endgame loved those uh my wife and I a couple times over the years have rewatched them too was a big fan I’m a big fan of like anything that’s like fantasy based and that has deep story building and like deep World building and uh the MCU has been like that for me but I’ve had a really hard time getting into it in the next phase it’s just the villains haven’t been as interesting the characters haven’t been as interesting I’ve just had a I’ve had a hard time getting into it do you classify Jimmy Butler’s heat as real contenders or overachievers I look at them as kind of like in between I think they’re like the to me they’re like the bouncer at the championship Club but they’re not actually in the club what I mean by that is like if you’re a fraudulent team and you run into Miami you’re going to lose uh when they have Jimmy and Bam healthy but every time they end up running into a team that actually has Championship ability whether it’s the Nuggets last year or it’s the Lakers in 2020 or that Celtics team in 2022 which I actually think was better than some of these other Celtics teams because they were so much more engaged on the defensive end of the floor they uh the heat just that he just eventually run out of Firepower and so there’s a lot of guards available this summer whether it’s Deonte Murray or it’s Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell or it’s or Trey young or whatever it is there’s a lot of uh there’s just a lot of guys available this summer I think Jeremy Grant could be available this summer Brandon Ingram could be available this summer so like the the the heat just have to get one of those guys they simply do and they have to give it a shot with Jimmy and Bam and one of those guys to see if they can get something let’s see do you think good SGA player comp would be the late late 90s MJ with the way his offensive approach is along with the shot profile but not as great as an athlete you know I don’t really see MJ in Shay Shay is such a hesitation based like stop start kind of like methodical player he’s honestly like super unique and and even like his release it’s kind of like slow but then quick at the end like he kind of has like a long load up but then a quick snap at the end Shay is a very very unique player that I think uh is hard to find comps in NBA history and so like honestly that’s just kind of unique about him and one of the things that I think is really cool about SGA he’s another one of those guys kind of like Luca where uh I I feel like young players should watch him because his handle is a lot tighter than I think people realize and specifically like you will see Shay get into contact with Defenders and then hit a dribble combination and that dribble combination will just kind of get the defender to lose his like base and then he’ll wait for you to lean one way or to to maybe take a hop and like as soon as a think of it like this whenever an offensive player sees a defensive player come off of his feet in any way shape or form or get his footwork messed up he can’t plant to make the next slide so like that’s the perfect time to try to hit the Gap is like find those moments when the defender just kind of uh uh hesitates for a second right Shay has this move where like he’ll go between the legs slow but then right when it gets to his right hand then he’ll take off and it’s like a very it’s very much change of pace oriented there’s a lot of like really good stuff in there for young basketball players to replicate and he’s unique and I think that’s what makes him kind of a a cool player in NBA history what are your thoughts on the Christopher Nolan Batman movies absolutely loved him dark Knight’s one of my favorite movies to watch it’s been a while since I’ve gone back to see him but really really enjoyed the Christopher Nolan Batman movies should the 76ers pursue Paul George yeah they should pursue again he’s another one of those guys in that long list of stars that I just Unleashed but like they got to get one of those guys right like I think embiid has a little bit more of a clock on him than people realize with his injury history and so you got to try to give it a go also if embiid’s going to make it to the playoffs and be ready to go you have to cut substantially down on his workload and make it so that he can load manage throughout the season and the only way you’re going to do that is if you get a secondary star because as we saw last year there was a moment towards the end of the embiid injury phase where Maxi kind of regained control and have had them hovering around 500 but they dropped a bunch of games at the beginning so in totality they were below 500 for the uh for that whole stretch and so I think they just need a little bit more Firepower to be able to weather embiid being out of the lineup who has a better chance against the Celtics the Pacers are the Knicks with all the injuries I think it’s the Knicks no question I think that I think the Pacers would really really struggle to uh to um to score and to guard Boston one of the things with the Pacers that we talked about earlier is they’ve got really good perimeter Defenders but like they can only really keep two of them on the floor at the same time and so as a result they run into the same issue that a lot of teams are going to have with Boston where it’s like just give it to one of the guys that Tyrese halton’s guarding like they’re just gonna like one of the things with de McBride is you can put Tyrese on Duce McBride because dece McBride is not just going to come down the floor and run pick and roll all game long but if they put him on Derek white or Drew holiday you bet you’re ass that Boston’s just going to to look to attack him every single time they get a chance and get really good looks out of it um the Knicks for me they represent a cou like when they’re healthy and OG and and Obi is allegedly going to return but when they’re healthy to me the Knicks kind of represent some of the Celtics weaknesses in terms of like physicality and uh like the Knicks can really grind games down into the mud and make teams not shoot well with from jump shot range and so I think they can play the Knicks or the Celtics into some cold shooting stretches and then obviously with Madison Square Garden and and that just the the how borderline unbeatable the Knicks have been there I think that gives him a chance to win some games at home I’ll pick the Boston Celtics to win that series probably in five or six games but I think the Knicks have more of a chance to keep it competitive than Indiana does are the Spurs the next Dynasty with wemi and vasel here’s the thing I think Victor wanyama is just a clear Bonafide top tier Superstar like he’s probably going to be that by halfway through the year next year and is certainly going to be that within two to three years so like we’re going to do a lot of stuff with wemi this summer I plan I didn’t spent a lot of time on during the regular season just for obvious reasons as I primarily focus on the top 10 15 teams in the league and so we’re going to do a ton of Wy film study this summer and just kind of dive into what he’s good and bad at right now and and where his opport areas of opportunity are and I do think the Spurs are going to end up doing something uh in the trade market this year to try to bring in some more ball handling to make things easier for them so like I mean here’s the thing if Wy stays healthy for 10 years and is a spur for 10 years then they I mean dynasty a lot just because there’s so much talent in the league but I think the Spurs are going to be a perennial Contender uh at some point in the next five years how do you approach watching film when breaking down a player or team what are the top things that you look for so for instance if I if I’m looking at uh I I look at it in two different ways if I’m and I’ll start with a player so like for instance I’m going to scout draft prospects when we get out of the NBA Finals like as soon as the NBA finals are over we’re going to turn turned all of our attention to the draft right and uh so I need to try to scout a player in a short period of time even though there are draft guys that do it year round right and so I look at a couple of different things I look at I think it’s very important to watch full games at least one or two of them and the main reason why is like a full game is going to give you the best view of all of the little things that a player does like does he e inlow in effort does he e inlow in aggressiveness how is his game management like identifying doesn’t matter how like what your points per possession and ball screens are if you’re not good at identifying when to be aggressive versus when to be a playmaker in the flow of a basketball game right like all these little details leadership details are do they get uh can players get in their head and get them emotional like there’s all these like different things you look at defense is a big one there watching full games you get a much better view of uh of what it looks like for them and helping recover situations what they’re like on the defensive glass you know all all that kind of stuff right so you got to watch a few full games just to pick up the little details then from um then from the uh from like the individual Play Type data it just depends on what kind of role they’re looking at so like if I’m looking in Lottery at Lottery stuff and like let’s say I’m trying to figure out a uh let’s say I’m scouting you know Trace Jackson Davis right like I’ll literally go to uh to Synergy and I’ll just watch every single ball screen that he’s involved in and I’ll look at how well he screens how good his hands are at catching in the pocket how good his decision- making is there and I was really high on Trace Jackson Davis out of Indiana if you guys remember because one of the things I talked about with J he played with Jaylen Hino there and like the when he would catch on the roll Trace would catch on the role just completely swarmed because he was one of the best players in his conference and so kind of similar to what joic deals with now where teams are swarming him on the role it just there’s a lot of uh uh there’s a lot of traffic that he’s running into in terms of what the game plan is is dictating right and so what I was excited about for Trace Jackson Davis with the Warriors is like he’s going to be rolling to the rim largely unimpeded compared to what it was like for Indiana and so for him he’s got so much practice already making reads out of the role I just thought he’d be a good fit there right similarly to like uh uh like when I Scout a a ball handler like I’ll look at every single ISO they run every single pick and roll they run every single you know like back to the basket player we’ll look at all their post UPS so like I’ll look at Play Type data to dictate to learn more about their shot creation ability and then obviously I supplement that with actual data in terms of what their efficiency was in those situations and then the last one I’ll look at a lot is like close out attacking so like uh spot up situations are are too often like to me oversimplified down into like what’s the catch and shoot percentage and so much of it is like good defenses will chase you off the line so what do you do when you get chased off the line are you capable of hitting a one dribble pullup are you capable of hitting a like ripping through to beat the closeout Defender kind of slowing down waiting to see the play develop and then like change your angle and get into the middle of the floor for a floater or driving and kicking to the next sky in line like spot up situations to me uh need to be examined in a more full sense than just catch and shoot jump shooting but in terms of players it really just comes down to a combination of full game and play types teams I uh exact same kind of thing but one of the things with teams that I primarily focus on is like looking at different phases of the game so like bench units I’ll look at a lot of like First beginning of the second quarter beginning of the fourth quarter type of stuff but when it comes to starting units I feel like you actually learned the most about them in crunch time situations that’s when uh uh that’s when you actually see them against a defense that’s fully engaged that is scouted all your plays through the game to that point and is probably going with whatever they’re going to try to do to win the game and so you can learn a lot about a team watching uh a watching crunch time but again what film for a team is more of a a big picture type of thing like I need to watch a team 30 40 times during the season for an entire game to really get a good feel for him before we get to the postseason who is higher in current player rankings Booker or Kyrie so you know Devin Booker had a postseason that left a lot to be desired obviously although he had a big game for but I still think that Devin Booker with his height and his shot making ability brings a little bit more to the table than Kyrie Kyrie’s one of those guys too where like if you put him in a situation where the rest of the team can do everything else and he just needs to focus on scoring You could argue he’s the best at that you know what I mean uh but Devon Booker I think is a is a a higher level playmaker in ball screens I think the thing with Deon Booker that’s been issue is his hamstring injuries like he just continually deals with these soft tissue injuries that seem to affect his his explosiveness and then he’s not as good getting to his spots and getting lift right so like obviously it’s tough but uh I I would probably lean I I I think Devin Booker has the edge there for sure had the Warriors gotten the first pick in the 2020 NBA draft and taken ant would the dynasty have extended or have ants development slow they of course it would have extended don’t overthink ant he’s 22 years old he’s already better than most of the players in the league like he’s just awesome but at the same time like he wasn’t available that’s just the reality right like like even as it pertains to the uh the Wiseman pick like that draft in particular everybody was a high-risk pick and I think there’s a lot of like there’s a lot of like uh what do you call it like there’s a lot of revisionist history in the sense that like so many people want to pretend that you know one of these some of the some of these things were obvious and it’s just not the case like Golden State kind of needed a big now should they have taken a Lamela ball maybe but like Lamela Ball’s had injury issues right so like so much of it is just like it was a weak draft everybody was risky even Anthony Edwards even though he was the clear number one Anthony Edwards came with a lot of question marks coming out of Georgia right and so now all those question marks have been answered resoundingly and I think you know I think Anthony edwards’ series actually reminds me a lot of Lebron in 2008 against the Celtics where it’s like he’s clearly playing the best team in the league and like like he has this like superpower that has kept him in this series but like Denver’s just better now ant has an opportunity on Sunday to etch his name in history if a goes in on game for game seven and he goes for 35 Plus and he shakes the foundation of that Denver team and they win and they advance to the next round you’re talking about going without homec court advantage as a substantial Underdog to be the best player in the world on his home FL that would be one hell of an early feather in the cat for Anthony Edwards especially since that that puts them into a conference final Series where I think they’d probably be the favorite against whoever comes out of Dallas Oklahoma City so huge opportunity for ant on Sunday I don’t think they’re going to win but that’s the type of opportunity that lays in front of him do you watch anime so I what was the show with the superheroes that was anime um Paul if you could think of it let me know it’s uh the one where the kid has the dad um no not my hero Academia what was the it’s the one where like the kid’s dad has the has the mustache and he’s like Superman and like and there’s a moment in the first season where he beats the out of him I I can’t remember exactly what that show was called but like I watched I watched the uh um that doesn’t count as anime or it’s just animation I guess Invincible that’s what it’s called Invincible to okay so anime is like okay I see what you’re saying so I I watched you know when I was a kid you know like I watched Yu-Gi-Oh when I was a kid right or or Pokemon when I was young but like I haven’t been into anime uh very much I did really enjoy the Star Wars Visions uh shows uh where where they went to a bunch of anime Studios and had them make a bunch of Star Wars stories I really really enjoyed those there’s a a part of Star Wars that I’ve always enjoyed just in terms of like I’ve always been fascinated by The Sith and like their kind of like overly D dark Aura and like that mixes with anime extremely well and there was a lot of really really cool stuff from Star Wars Visions with that see I’m going to be in trouble now because I just called Invincible anime and that doesn’t count all right any more questions before we get out of here also I uh I know I’ve mentioned this a couple times in the last week but like I uh um I have a podcast that I have on the side uh two sons podcast this one that I do with my buddy Luke and we cover basically TV shows and TV series and major movie releases and stuff like loved Fallout we covered Fallout loved Shogun we covered Shogun we uh just did a kind of a preview of the acolyte acolytes less than a month away we’re gonna be hitting the acolyte every single episode we’re going to be hitting a house of the Dragon every single episode I saw the trailer today for rings of power super excited for that we’re going to have uh breakdowns for all of those so you can find that where at my other podcast at two sons let’s see and someone gave it a description of anime for me thank you I apologize I didn’t mean to to disrespect the the the format I I I I have a brother-in-law is a big anime guy and he’s always trying to get me to get into it but I just haven’t been I love that you went to Star Wars yeah I just I one in doubt I’m always going to go to Star Wars that’s just how it goes how close is Indiana to being a true Contender I think part of it is like tyres Alberton just needs to get a little bit better as a score right like I think they need to get they need to get kind of like that Nim hard neith piece like a I think of those guys can be the fifth best player on your lineup but I think you got to upgrade one of those guys and then um if Tyrese can become a more reliable scorer in the postseason I think that’s enough for them to really enter into contention I’m a huge believer in Halton I I think like I think he’s got a very unique shot creation ability that goes under under the radar so much focus on his scoring in this series and like I’m not trying to underplay that the scoring matters but like let’s just be honest about the situation and acknowledge that like halton’s best skill is getting the defense in rotation and he’s done a lot of that in this series and he’s just generating easier offense for his teammates should the Knicks trade Randall I think they should I think they should trade Randall and try to get a star forward to put next to OG if they can thoughts on Brony I thought that a lot of people like here’s the thing one of the things that that sucks for Brony is LeBron is just a super polarizing player right and I I I want to be clear like I feel like the majority of people who are basketball fans are pretty reasonable about this like they either like in respect LeBron or don’t like but respect LeBron but then there’s like 10% on the front end that’s like so like problematically obsessed with LeBron that it poisons the discourse and then there’s like 10% on the bottom and that’s like so like to like hates him in such a toxic way that it poisons discourse right and so like I think like that turns it into this like shouting match about the bronnie stuff and like one of the things for bronnie is like he literally had heart surgery less than a year ago I want to say it was like nine months ago so like everyone’s like oh his numbers at USC weren’t very good it’s like dude he almost died like come on like what are we doing here like this this is not that’s not fair to bronny or to to anybody involved right like to me it’s this simple he’s got excellent physical tools so the uh at 210 for a guard that’s like really stocky and strong and then in addition to that an outstanding athlete super quick first step great vertical athlete long arms he’s got like a 67 68 wing span which for a guard is outstanding and so to me I keep thinking he’s like jayen Suggs he’s a he’s a guy that I think could be a primary point of attack Defender that can be a guard who sets guard guard screens and Pops a three-point line and can attack Closeouts and things along those lines and be a transition weapon that’s what I look get bronz and I mean here’s the thing like does does the fact that he didn’t put up great numbers at USC matter no but does that mean that he’s just like an automatic shoe into to be an NBA player no it’s just my thing is he deserves his chance I think he’s got the tools to get uh to um he’s got the tools to uh to potentially be a good NBA player and as far as like the whole like nepotism angle here’s my thing like like would bronnie have gotten an invite to the combine if he wasn’t Lebron james’ kid maybe not but I mean probably not but here’s the thing he is Lebron james’ kid and he did get an invite and so he is going to get a chance are we going to sit here and be stupid and pretend like there aren’t people that get opportunities because the connections that’s just how life works and so if Brony is able to take advantage of that and parlay it into an NBA career more power to him you know you got to get lucky in life and like no one ever achieved anything without some luck you know what I mean and so so I I think it’s I think it’s straight hater Behavior to to focus on what has benefited Brony when the reality is is like if he goes to the NBA and he’s not good he won’t he won’t stay in the NBA so like he he’s GNA get his opportunity because of LeBron but it’s still on him to capitalize on it no coach is going to be giving Ronnie real NBA minutes on a good team if he can’t play so so just get over it let the kid have his opportunity let’s see what he makes of it um let’s see last question better at 23 Kobe or Anthony Edwards that’s tough I G here’s the thing Kobe at this age had already had a lot of of deep playoff experience I think he was a little bit more reliable at this point and Kobe had like actually made plays in the NBA Finals so I think it’s foolish to give ant The Edge right away that said like Kobe’s role in his early 20s was fundamentally different as the second best player on his team if ant were to win the title this year like let’s say ant goes in game seven tomorrow or on Sunday and drops 38 soundly outplays joic and wins the game and then he goes into the next round and soundly outplays Luca and wins the Western Conference finals and then goes into the finals and soundly outplays Jason Tatum and they Hoist the trophy he at age 22 would have the best case for best player in the the world be the reigning Finals MVP and will have done it about a half decade earlier than the majority of the people that he’s getting lumped in with in terms of his potential right like Kobe was the second best player on those Lakers teams he was vitally important but he was the second best player on those on those championship teams right and so like I think ant has an opportunity again I expect the Nuggets to win on Sunday but I think ant has an opportunity to do something truly special on Sunday and that’s why we’re going to be all in front of our TVs to watch it which is going to be exciting [Music]

Jason Timpf answers listener questions during an NBA Mailbag segment. Have Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves exposed flaws that will ruin Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets’ chances of repeating as NBA Finals champions? Who has a better chance to take down Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals – Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers or Jalen Brunson’s hobbled New York Knicks? Jason answers both of these questions and more as the NBA Playoffs continue!

Watch the full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/rPUcpAl_Yq0

Timeline:
00:00 – How to differentiate rising team vs. overachieving team?
03:45 – Do Nuggets exploitable flaws?
06:10 – Is Wolves-Nuggets winner title favorite?
09:27 – Does Jason practice guitar?
12:00 – When do you pull starters in playoff game?
12:20 – Does Jason watch MCU?
12:52 – Are Heat real contenders or pretenders?
13:55 – Is SGA like Michael Jordan?
15:45 – Thoughts on Christopher Nolan Batman movies
15:56 – Should 76ers go after Paul George?
16:42 – Better chance vs Celtics: Pacers or Knicks?
18:10 – Are Spurs the next dynasty?
19:07 – How Jason approaches film studies
23:45 – Devin Booker or Kyrie Irving?
24:45 – What if Warriors had drafted Anthony Edwards
26:48 – Does Jason watch anime?
28:13 – Check out Jason’s Star Wars podcast
29:13 – How close are Pacers to being true contenders?
30:06 – Should Knicks trade Julius Randle?
30:15 – Thoughts on Bronny James
33:30 – Better at 23: Kobe or Ant?

Follow Jason Timpf on social:
Tweets by _JasonLT
https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/

Shop the hottest gear in all of sports podcasting: https://thevolume.com/shop-all-new

Follow us on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/thevolumesports
Tweets by TheVolumeSports
https://www.facebook.com/TheVolumeSports

@thevolumesports

Learn more about the Volume:
https://www.thevolume.com

#nba #nuggets #timberwolves #denvernuggets #minnesotatimberwolves #wolves #nikolajokic #jamalmurray #anthonyedwards #karlanthonytowns #nbaplayoffs #nbafinals #nbahighlights #basketball #sports #bostonceltics #celtics #jaysontatum #knicks #newyorkknicks #jalenbrunson #miamiheat #heat #jimmybutler #indianapacers #pacers #tyresehaliburton