NBA Free Agency Reaction: Thunder ELITE contenders, Chris Paul-Spurs, Pelicans trade | Hoops Tonight

NBA Free Agency Reaction: Thunder ELITE contenders, Chris Paul-Spurs, Pelicans trade | Hoops Tonight

all right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Tuesday everybody hope all of you guys are having a great start to your week well we’re getting part two of our free agency reaction today we have three major moves that I want to hit in today’s show Isaiah hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder we’re going to be spending the majority of of the time on that one I think it’s a super interesting move that fundamentally changes both the physical profile and the ceiling of the Oklahoma City Thunder so we’re going to talk about that in extensive detail after that we’re going to get to Chris Paul headed to the San Antonio Spurs and then after that a trade that happened a few days ago to jante Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans we’re going to get into all those details we are taking for July 4th we’re trying to uh get some time off for for me and for our staff over the weekend so I tweeted out a a question asking for mailbag questions I’m recording that today that will be airing over the course of the next few days but unless something major happens like if we get a major trade I’m going to get a video out but unless something major happens we’re going to be taking through Sunday off to enjoy the holiday but we’re hitting the three other big free agency and trade moves today we’ll have a mailbag coming out tomorrow with some breakouts over the rest of the week and then we’ll be back with our normal schedule starting on Monday you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos follow me on Twitter atore jlt so you guys don’t miss show announcements don’t forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight then keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the summer and then last but not least it’s baseball season we are in the swing of it and there’s nothing like getting out to Major League Baseball ballpark having a day out with some friends and family having some good food having some beer whatever it is you like to enjoy at the baseball game this was something uh uh we used to do as a family when I was growing up we would all load up and we’d drive up to Phoenix and we’d go see a Arizona Diamondbacks game and thankfully they had a cover over Chase Field that you could air condition that that place because obviously this play we’re we’re in the mix of it right now here in Tucson it’s like 100 every single day for the foreseeable future but I just remember that as a kid that was just something that was always so important to me I love baseball season the Dbacks making their World Series run last year kind of reinvigorated my love for the game but you guys got to get out this summer to see a major league baseball game and this is where game time comes into the picture they’re an amazing ticket buying experience I had a great experience with them earlier this year as we went to go my wife and I went to go see the University of Arizona at male Center play their men’s basketball team play was a last minute kind of thing got a great deal knew exactly what I was getting myself into they’ve got some features that I think makes their process preferable in my opinion they have all in pricing so you know exactly what you’re paying when you go to check out you get a good view of the seat within the app you know what you’re getting for your money it’s not convoluted you can check out in as few as two Taps they have special deals like Flash Deals and Zone deals I’ve always been really interested in the zone deals where you can pick a section in the arena without picking your seat game time picks the seats for you and you get extra EXT ra savings that way so take the guesswork out of buying major league baseball tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and redeem code Hoops for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code Hoops that’s h o o PS for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right let’s talk some basketball so as I talked about over the those of you guys who follow me on Twitter have seen me tweet about it a few times and um and I’ve talked about it on the show once or twice before this but like one of the guys that I viewed as like a a really interesting option for Oklahoma City going into this free agency was Isaiah hartenstein I was worried about whether or not they’d be able to make a move on him just simply because I know hartstein enjoyed his time playing for the the New York Knicks and I would imagine that there was a certain amount of money that if the Gap wasn’t as big he probably would have stayed but it just the Thunder were able to offer him just a whole lot of money close to 30 million annually for the next three seasons and you know I want to start we’re going to talk about the contract details because there’s a flexibility element to this because the I’m pretty sure the final de year of this deal is Ungar which will line up with the Jaylen Williams ex potential rookie extension as well as the Chad holgren rookie extension so there’s a flexibility element to this but I want to focus on the basketball first and then we’ll get into some of those details so uh first of all the Thunder had two major weaknesses in the last season and those of you guys who who have been following the show will have heard me talk about this ad nauseum throughout the year but interior physicality they were one of only four teams in the NBA that gave up an offensive rebound on more than 30% of their opponent misses they allowed 7.7 points per game on putbacks that was the second most in the NBA they allowed 8.8 points per game on post-ups including passes which was the second most in the NBA this was a front line that you could bully that was the first weakness the second biggest weakness was experience right and this year was a huge step forward for them they got two rounds worth of playoff experience for all the guys in house they lost in heartbreaking fashion which I think is actually beneficial to the development of a basketball player like you were up by one off of that chadol Gren dunk in game six on the road with an opportunity to go home to win game seven and make it to the Conference Finals and Shay gild alander fouls PJ Washington in the left corner which leads to the series being over right that’s that’s a heart-wrenching way to lose right and I always talk about like there’s a difference between loving basketball and hating losing and the greats are usually both they are they are in genuine fans of the game like they just love playing they love working on their game they love tinkering with their craft all that kind of stuff but then they also have this like psycho competitiveness like fear of losing or hatred of losing and like to me there’s a scar tissue that builds up when you take those losses that actually motivates you in those situations you find yourself in a big game uh in a big pivotal playoff moment and you think back to what happened when you blew it last time it leads to another level of focus and intensity because you’re terrified that it will happen to you again that kind of that’s why there’s like a process to these teams getting to where they want to go that’s why almost every all-time great team that you see has a a really ugly loss early on in the process right like that that’s just kind of like inherent in the process the nuggets made it to the Conference Finals and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers right but then they conquered them on their way to the title last year the Golden State Warriors in 2016 lost after winning 73 73 games even going before the 2015 title the loss they suffered against the Clippers in 2014 the loss that they suffered against the Spurs in 2013 the Miami Heat losing to the Spurs or to the to the uh Dallas Mavericks in 2011 that was scar tissue that led to them bringing that level in the future like you there are almost always heartbreaking losses early on in the process i’ I’ve missed a big one there 2008 Lakers painful loss before they win two championships in a row look at all of the painful losses for dirk nitzki before he won in 20 it’s just kind of like part of that growth it’s part of that process and so everybody in that locker room gets two more rounds worth of experience you added Alex Caruso veteran of six playoff series he’s played in 31 playoff games he started for the 2020 Lakers in game six of the 2020 NBA Finals uh lit literally is is one of the most you know Dependable type of playoff role players that you could have I I think that is a huge influx of experience hartenstein himself has played a major role in four playoff series in general as this team goes into next season they are older they are wiser and more experienced right that’s not something you can uh like really address through the roster as much as just through uh just through getting through those Wars because even with Caruso and hartenstein the main guys who need that experience are Shay gilders Alexander and Jaylen Williams who both got a big dose of it last year now from the interior physicality standpoint there were two routes that they could go they could get a big Center to put Chad at the four or they could get a big and athletic power forward to kind of anchor Chad at the five and each one of those routes had pros and cons like going with the center going to hartenstein Route the pros are you get a bigger look which will help against large front lines right like against Denver Minnesota teams that play really big front Court players you have a bigger look there right it alleviates some of the regular season wear and tear on Chet hren from having to guard centers and deal with just bigger bodies underneath the basket it’s cheaper like it’s just easier to get a center than a power forward as I talked about in our five biggest takeaways video after the finals I think the big athletic forward is the most valuable archetype in the league right now that you know Jason Tatum type that Aaron Gordon type that that LeBron James even part of the reason why in his old age he’s been as successful as he is is he just plays an incredibly important POS position in the NBA it’s why I’m excited about a guy like Jonathan kaminga for the Golden State Warriors it’s why a guy like I think Jeremy Grant could help a team next year in a big way it’s why Lori marinan I think brings a certain amount of of of trade value around the league there’s just that specific position is just becoming a very valuable position a guy who’s big and strong enough to kind of sort of hang with centers but has the perimeter skill to function in a five out offense that is the key to that kind of big Power Forward position and so as a result it’s just really expensive if the Thunder wanted to go out and get uh uh if they wanted to go out and get Lori marinin talk about what at least five or six picks right to get that deal done like that’s just it would have been incredibly expensive they would have had to turn around and extend Lori Markin in probably somewhere in the neighborhood of like four years and $160 million right which fundamentally does change the cap situation moving forward as a basketball fan I’d be lying to you guys if I didn’t say that I wanted to see what that looks like of course just to see Lori Markin and in that group but it was an expensive option to go that way the center position they were able to just go out and sign a center to a a short-term deal and and overpay a little bit because who cares they can afford it on the cap in the short term that was just an easier option for them to pull out pull off while maintaining their long-term flexibility the cons Chad has to be able to function as a high level perimeter player now I don’t want to get into this yet I want to save this for a little bit later in the show but this is my one concern with going with the Isaiah hartstein type of look Chad when he’s on the floor with Isaiah hartstein which won’t be all the time but when those two guys are sharing the floor together Chad now has to function as a ball handling Wing essentially and we’ll get into some of th more of those details we’re going to be using the uh the play software today to demonstrate some things for the thunder on both ends of the floor with Chad and Isaiah hartenstein so we’ll get more into that but that’s one of the cons of going with the center it puts a lot of pressure on on Chet’s perimeter skill if you go power forward the pros are spacing is always a little bit easier when you have five three-point Shooters on the floor just is look at the Boston Celtics right it puts less pressure on Chet’s perimeter skills he would continue to be guarded by centers who are primarily going to be operating in drop coverage he’s going to have pick and pop looks he’s going to be able to space above the break while while his man sinks into the lane there just are it’s just less pressure on Chet’s ball handling and playmaking ability right it provides more matchup versatility for when they run into teams that really test their ability to contain the ball right like if they ran into a in the west a team like the New Orleans Pelicans now that they have dejonte Murray and Zion Williamson or like Sacramento as a team like this teams like Boston and Indiana out of the Eastern Conference teams that have a lot of dribble drive speed that having that smaller look with Chad at the five and another athletic forward next to him just is a little more resilient defensively in those types of situations but quick caveat it’s worth mentioning that most of the top teams in the west don’t bring that type of dribble penetration right like Jamal Murray is not a a a dribble Drive type of guard I know the Nuggets want Russell Westbrook which is something I saw yesterday which I it’s kind of funny to me that LeBron and Nicole yic could end up making that same mistake but I but the teams in the top of the West they’re either like Denver where they don’t have great dribble penetration Dallas who doesn’t have great dribble penetration or teams that have great dribble penetration but have lots of non-shooters for you to sink into the lane on or at least guys that you’re willing to live with shooting like Minnesota and Memphis John marant and Anthony Edwards they’re incredible dribble Drive guys but that’s kind of the head of the snake and you can really pack the paint on them they’re not teams that have like B like Bunches of guys that are going to be slashing and challenging your perimeter defense so like there’s no doubt that having a forward next to Chad gives you a little bit more defensive versatility against dribble Drive teams but they may not even have to deal with that until they get to the finals anyway just by virtue with the of the way the western conference is laid out cons of going the route of the forward like we talked about earlier getting a forward is super super expensive and I don’t need to go into any more details there it’s just it’s the most valuable archetype in the league it’s really hard to get like we talked about earlier so the way I look at it by going the Center Route rather than going the power forward route it was a lowrisk way for Oklahoma City to beef up their front line while also maintaining some flexibility for the future now again as I mentioned the initial reporting is um that believe that final year is uh I believe that final year is non- guaranteed so again like they can line up the cap sheet to where if they need to clear heart and sign off the books when they’re signing jdub and Chad they should be able to do so so that’s that’s where that flexibility piece comes from whereas if they got a Markin in and they had to extend him four years now now there’s just some overlap there that could put them into some issues with the second apron you know whatever your Vibe it’s a Camry Vibe that’s the reason the Toyota Camry has been America’s bestselling sedan for the past 22 years and the allnew Camry takes it to a new level it comes equipped with a standard 225 horsepower engine and available sport tune suspension providing power Speed and Agility think of the Camry as your typical Swingman and it’s a good-look car too the Camry racing on the 2025 NASCAR circuit was based on the racing inspired design of the allnew Camry with available features including two-tone midnight Black Metallic roof and rear spoiler and 19in alloy wheels the interior is just as fly the Camry has a modern interior design with available features like a leather trimmed steering wheel and multi-stage heated and ventilated front seats we’re talking fundamentals and Flash you don’t see that combo often on the court or on the road and because every allnew Camry is a hybrid it has awesome fuel efficiency with up to an EPA estimated 51 MP gallon combined whatever your Vibe it’s a Camry Vibe learn more at toyota.com Camry so let’s talk about the basketball fit though so it’s not just that they picked a center they picked Isaiah hartenstein so where does Isa Isaiah hartstein specifically fit within this team on both ends of the floor so the initial reporting I’ve seen is that Oklahoma City does not intend to start Isaiah hartenstein they intend for him to come off the bench but obviously he’s going to play 25 to 30 minutes a night and we have a lot of crossover with Chet home grin inevitably they will play together quite a bit so really it’s about having multiple looks they’ll have a small look right well they’ll have Shay on the floor with Jay dub Alex cruso lud Dort Chad homin there’s a lot of perimeter speed there five guys who can all defend multiple positions and can space the teams out on the other end of the floor that’s their small look now without a real forward that that will have it’s a it’s a really small look but that is a look that they will have and it will work in most matchups it’s really just some of the bigger teams that will give them issues there but then they’ll also have a big look where Chad and Isaiah hartenstein will share the floor together now what I want to start with and I’m gonna go over it as a quick monologue for our podcast audience and then we’ll go over to the clipboard but defensively what I really like about having hartenstein and Chad together is it gives you the ability to put Chad in a position where he’s the low man rather than the guy who’s defending ball screens when you have real length on the backline that buys you flexibility for the ball screen Defender to come higher up into actions more aggressive on the ball because the low man has has to be in two places at once the low man the guy that’s on the backline when your screen Defender is running up to defend the ball screen again I’m going to show Vis visual example of this in a minute he is responsible for the rle man coming down the lane and for the man in the corner right and so there’s a certain like stunting and recovering element there’s a lot of like really hard Closeouts there’s there’s a lot of ground coverage both vertically under the rim and in terms of covering ground out to the corner that comes from that position and like going from a Josh giddy in that type of role or an undersized you know guy a guy who’s not as big like a Jaylen Williams or Shake GIS Alexander those guys did decently enough it’s not like they’re not capable of being the low man but they just don’t bring enough height or athleticism to that position and what that does is that puts a lot of pressure on Chad when he’s defending those ball screens to make sure that he doesn’t let the rle man get behind him because if he does that puts a lot of pressure on the back line of Oklahoma City’s defense when you have Chad on the backline and Isaiah hartstein defending the ball screen you can have Isaiah hartenstein be aggressive out at the level attacking the ball handler because Chad brings so much ground coverage and verticality to that low man position so let’s go over to the play software and we’re going to take a look uh in more detail at what I was talking about here so I have a setup here in a typical kind of like ball screen setup right so this number three this the small forward is spacing out above the break on this side this guy’s going to be in position where he can dig down at the nail potentially or stay home he’s going to be somewhere in this range right we have the strong side corner shooter this guy might be a little bit up the lane line but this guy is under pretty explicit instructions to not overhelmed and this is Josh giddy as the ball screen comes in the event that they’re icing what the the the main point of attack Defender will do is play this high side and force this ball handler to work downhill this way right but what I want to look at I want to start with the ice and then we’ll look with our regular coverage after that at that point Chet’s responsibility is to basically be in to to cover both of these guys as this ball handler is funneling back this way and this guy’s pressuring from behind this guy’s rolling into this space right as he’s rolling into this space if this is Josh giddy he is going to have a hard time bothering a lob pass here and a skip pass to the corner that’s a lot of ground to cover for Josh Giddy and so as a result he’s not going to come up this high and now Chad has to drop a little bit further back to keep this rle man behind in front of him he can’t let the r man behind him because if he does that’s going to put a lot of pressure on this low man here right this guy’s going keep working downhill this guy’s going to keep pressuring over the top Chet’s kind of working in playing that middle ground right but now imagine a situation where it’s Isaiah hartenstein and Chad hren is now the Forman in this case if this guy is icing the ball screen and trying to force him back towards the sideline he can come really high and aggressive because if this fiveman gets behind him into the Zone Chet can stand right here and provide a good vertical deterrent to any sort of pass over the top and if this guy the ball handler throws a skip pass and it gets over here to the fourman Chad has the length in athleticism to cover that ground and recover and while he’s closing out while that ball’s in the air hartenstein can recover back into the lane and so again by virtue of having a real height length speed Advantage at this fourman position you can trust him to actually be two places in at once over here by being aggressive on the ball handler you can get the ball out of this guy’s hands right whereas if this is Josh Giddy and Chad has to be a little bit more cognizant of the rle man now this guy has some space to operate in this part of the floor where he can get to floaters mid-range games maybe try to bait chat up and then hit this guy maybe Josh giddy’s out of position or maybe he’s just not tall enough to bother the rle man again this was this was an area where they struggled like last year so by virtue of having Isaiah hartenstein to add to that look you give yourself an aggressive pick and roll coverage because Chad can function as the low man in their defense in general in general like we’ve seen this type of setup work in a bunch of different cases right like this is what the Nuggets did they put Nicole yic aggressive up in a high drop because they trusted Aaron Gordon to be able to be two places at once in the backline we uh of the Milwaukee Bucks for years did that with Brooke Lopez bring Lopez into a higher drop coverage We Trust Giannis to be able to be both places at once or even when Brook Lopez would deeper drop against specific matchups Giannis was just able to help off of that weak side corner and provide another layer of Rim DET deterrent Excuse me while also being able to recover out to that corner so again having chat at the four just gives you an entirely different type of athlete at the low man position than what you had beforehand on the offensive end of the floor Isaiah hartenstein becomes now instead of Chad basically your main screening fulcrum in five out and this is something that Isaiah hartstein excels at quickly flowing from side to side in ball screens this is one of the things I talked about um uh with Dron sharp from the Denver Nuggets the Denver Nuggets just drafted like that quick ball reversal is so important from the big man in five out in terms of getting the ball from side to side the threat of the back door cut there’s a lot of like dribbling into dribble handoffs right like Isaiah hardenstein will dribble at the guy who’s coming at him or at the two guys who are running action that are about to flow into him from there he’s supposed to if there’s a slip cut out of it to hit that if the guy like goes to set a screen and then his man stays on the high side he could slip through Haren Stein’s job is to hit that cut if the guy who’s the primary the guy who’s supposed to be coming off the dribble hand off he’s being top locked like if his Defender is just literally denying him the use of the dribble handoff and he has to back cut Isaiah hartenstein has to make that read if he dribbles that way and nobody’s open it’s his job to quickly interpret that in Reverse like like kind of do a little half spin move switch ball handling hands go the other way and kind of signal to the two guys on the opposite end of the floor hey I’m coming your way now there’s a lot of decision making and playmaking responsibility on the fivan in ball screens in in five out offense and that is legitimately something that Isaiah hartstein excels at as a matter of fact he averaged 43 assists per 36 minutes in this last playoff run operating as that type of fulcrum for the Knicks and that was the Knicks team that didn’t have a ton of ball and player Movement by virtue of the injuries that took place to them and them leaning so much on uh Jaylen Brunson so let’s go back over to the play software and we’re going to I I want to demonstrate this concept for you guys so we’re going to set up in like a typical five out type of setup we’ll get all of our our uh Defenders matched up here now most of this stuff will run and flow out of like a transition push so like imagine the three-man dribbled the ball up the floor in transition and the fivem man’s trailing he’s gonna kick the ball back to the fiveman now hartenstein has the ball okay hartenstein has the ball let’s imagine this is Shay gild Alexander and let’s imagine this is Jay duub right so let’s just imagine like basic five out motion concept like Chicago and all Chicago is is hardenstein has the ball Shay is going to run down and set a pin down just a screen for jdb and jdb is going to come off of that screen into a dribble handoff with Isaiah hartstein that is a basic Chicago Action that you will see a lot of times in like decisions that hartenstein has to make as hartenstein has the ball and is dribbling this way as Shay is setting the screen these guys are probably going to try to switch this screen so let’s say this guy stays on the high side but let’s say this the guy who’s guarding jayd dub just lingers on jdub as he’s coming off let’s say he just lingers on jayd duub for a split second before this switch occurs and Shay slips it as Shay slips that screen it’s Haren Stein’s responsibility to hit that bounce pass he’s got to be the guy that makes that read right let’s say that uh as Shay let’s say that as Shay’s going running down this guy’s top locking him and so Jay dub back cuts through and as he back cuts through this guy clears and then let’s say shay then decides okay now I need to run the dribble handoff so now Shay comes up after jdub cuts through to come off on the dribble handoff let’s say that his Defender is top locking him if he’s top blocking him and refusing the use of it he’s got a back cut Isaiah hartenstein is the guy that has to make that read he’s the guy that has to hit that bounce pass on time and on target let’s say as I mentioned earlier if the entire play falls apart so for whatever reason these guys just do a really good job switching and they as Shay goes to set the screen this guy stays on the inside position to take away the cut he quickly switches on to Shay as this guy tries to come off he top locks him the entire play is is butchered Isaiah hartstein is the guy has to go oh this is falling apart let me dribble this way he’ll point at uh whoever the three man is let’s say it’s Alex cruso or or or or Lou Dort and he’s goingon to be like go set a pin down for Chad then Chad he’s gonna pin down for Chad and then Chet’s gonna come off that’s a decision that Isaiah hartenstein has to be able to make and then the last one that will hit is just the big man ignoring him so in the event that this guy the defender guarding Isaiah is just sagging way back in the paint and we have our our matchups pretty normal over here and this guy’s coming down to set this pin down Isaiah hardenstein might need to just attack this man and that was something you saw a bunch in the playoffs if you guys remember he did it to Joel embiid too we’re like embiid would just be playing center field and just ignore hartenstein and sag back into this painted area hartenstein would just drive at him hard with his left hand and get all the way to the rim those are all the types of reads that your big man needs to make in a five out offense and and there’s a whole other layer to it when he’s already set the screen and now he’s rolling into space we’ve talked about like him needing to score in the short rle like literally made 60% of his floaters in the regular season last year made 66% of his floaters in the playoffs last year so like he can score on the role as well like Isaiah har Stein I think in a lot of ways represents kind of the quintessential the quintessential modern five out offensive big he can set good screens he can make all of the reads he can make the back door passes he quickly flows from side to side he can score when he’s on the roll he can score when the centers ignoring him he’s not going to put up massive box score numbers but he’s just a really functional Cog in that type a five out system and again like I don’t even worry about him on the offensive end of the with this unit the only guy that I get concerned about in terms of how the offense will function when Haren Stein’s on the floor is Chad hren and this is something I mentioned earlier but I want to get a little bit deeper into it now going from being guarded by centers who are slower footed usually dropping in traditional coverages on ball screens which allows him to Pop Free and Clear to the top of the key when chett spaces above the break his man the center typically sags way back into the lane going from that to that guy guarding hartenstein and now Chet’s being guarded by a forward who is going to apply more ball pressure who’s probably going to be quicker footed at least as quick-footed as Chad to a guy who’s probably going to switch most actions as opposed to dropping in most actions going from that is going to put a lot more difficulty or or just Challenge on chett in his perimeter skill and so we’re going to go over to the uh the play software one more time and I just want to kind of demonstrate this concept so again if this is CH we’ll set up a we’ll just set up in like a five out kind of ball screen kind of situation here if this is Chad and Chet’s guarding the ball screen and this team’s going to ice aside ball screen by the way guys the reason why I keep talking about icing every single team in the NBA wants to ice side ball screens that’s what they try to do which all that is is this man instead of chasing over the top and then funneling into the middle of the floor this man is actually going to stay way on the high side of the screen and try to force him back towards the sideline there are there are times where ball handlers in the NBA do get to the middle of the floor I don’t want to pretend like that never happens they’ll just a lot of times like they’ll dribble down and then this guy will chase and then they’ll use a retreat dribble which will get them back onto that high side so they can get over they will get over and when they do get over the top of the screen the same exact kind of coverage principles apply the only difference you’ll see is sometimes if the ball handler gets way over here they may ask this guy to be the low man once the ball crosses that midline this guy becomes the low man as opposed to on an ice when they funnel this way this guy is your low man right so there are some differences in the floor construct but most teams are going to try to ice that ball screen and funnel him back towards the sideline right so as he funnels him towards the sideline This Guy’s in his drop coverage he funnels towards the sideline he’s chasing Chad is going to pop right here and he’s going to be wide open and he’s going to have a slow-footed Center closing out at him that he can cook off the dribble and make stuff happen that’s GNA be hartenstein now now this is going to be Chad guarded by a Ford so now what’s going to end up happening is a lot of times Chad’s gonna have this guy on him ball pressuring whenever he has the ball when Chad goes to set a screen if Chad like let’s say Isaiah hartstein goes down to the dunker spot and Jaylen Williams calls for a screen and shett goes to set it this is probably just going to be a switch they’ll just switch the ball screen and now jdb will be going against the forward and shett will be going against the two guard that’s not going to be a drop or an ice the way that you see in most of these ball screen coverages when he’s at the five that so that inherently is going to prevent some of those openings that Chad gets in terms of clean catches on the perimeter the second piece of it is having to run action as we talked about earlier let’s imagine Isaiah hartenstein is our ball handling fulcrum right up here right so he’s our fulcrum and we have hartenstein getting ready to run Chicago Action so Jay dub runs down he sets a pin screen or pin down screen for for Shay Shay comes off the dribble handoff these two guys switch Isaiah hartstein goes to flow into it these guys let’s say they deny it or let’s let’s just for the sake of making it work or look kind of a different look than we’ve already shown let’s say shay gets over the screen so isaah hartstein sets a pick Shay gets over the screen he comes down into this Zone let’s say this guy offers nail help so there’s just a lot of traffic in here around Shay Shay would make the kickout pass over here to L Dort at which point Lou Dort would flow down into a dribble handoff where Chad would come off this guy would switch now Lor’s Defender is guarding Chad on the ball and as as Shay kind of Cycles through and Jaylen Cycles up hartenstein is going to turn and go set the screen so now Chad is running action as the primary ball handler in five out because of Isaiah hartenstein being the fiveman that is going to put Chad in positions where he’s going against a quicker perimeter Defender who’s pressuring the ball and testing the ability of his handle as he gets into the lane testing his ability to playm playmake as they come off of those situations so that like like I said in terms of the offensive end of the four going with two bigs I don’t worry about hartenstein at all my only real concern is will Chad be able to function offensively in more of a perimeter role where the ball in his is in his hands more and to be clear like in the long run I’m a big believer in Chad in what he can do with the basketball in his hands but I just don’t think he’s quite ready for that yet so I’m really curious to see how he fares in that role next year and I do expect some lumps in the regular season especially when they go to those big looks but as long as they can figure that out over the course of the 82 and chat makes enough progress before they get to the postseason that’ll be a viable look for them and they will always have the option of going back to their small ball look which is going to be better this year because you have Alex cruso instead of Josh giddy under any circumstances it’s a better look and I expect them to be better defensively immediately with hartenstein on the floor alongside Chad I expect those big looks to be stifling on the defensive end of the floor so overall love the love that it gives them more matchup versatility in the long run by having a a big look I still think in the long I I still think I’d prefer if they had a forward look as well where Chad has a big forward next to him just just because I think that that would give them a little bit more versatility uh because I think they’ve got like a really good small ball look and a really good big look but they don’t have anything that’s kind of in between that’s traditional that is something I’d like to see them address in the long run but hartenstein gives you the ability to have at least some of the benefits in the short term and you have the flexibility two years from now by virtue of the way that deal is structured so you can be picky and you can be patient in the process of trying to hunt down whoever that fourman was lastly kind of talking about the thunder in the big picture I think the addition of Caruso and hartenstein makes Oklahoma City a top tier Championship Contender I probably still have them behind Boston and Denver by some small amount at least until we see these guys play and there are some other teams potentially Philly potentially some other teams who make a trade this summer there’s some other teams that that could be entering into that tier Minnesota and Dallas too potentially as we kind of look into it but I definitely view Oklahoma City in that tier right now they just added two quality starting caliber players they only had four of those last year now they have six of them just like Boston does so we’ll actually rank our contenders later in the summer we usually do that like like middle September uh as we kind of get ready for training camp we’ll rank our contenders but I want to wait until all of the signings and trades come through before we do that just because there’s just going to be a lot of new information over the course of the next couple of months but I do at this point have Oklahoma City in that top tier of contenders by virtue of these two moves I really wanted hardenstein to the Thunder we got it it’s going to be a lot of fun you know the beautiful thing about being a sports fan there’s only like two days the whole year without a game two with so much happening and so much action that makes just about everyday game day at draftking Sportsbook it’s super easy for first- timers to get started try betting on something simple like picking a team to win go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app select your team and place your first bet it really couldn’t be any easier or any simpler baseball golf UFC there’s something for every fan of every sport to bet on DraftKings and I know it’s early but football season will be here before you know it and the Kansas City Chiefs are currently the favorite to win the Super Bowl on DraftKings at plus 550 and if you’re new to DraftKings you got to check this out new customers bet $5 and get 150 in bonus bets instantly download the draftking Sportsbook app now and use code Hoops that’s ho o o PS that’s code Hoops for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just $5 only on DraftKings the crown is yours all right CP3 to the Spurs I love this move because it accomplishes two things it gives Victor wanyama a highlevel ball handler to make things easier for him on offense to give you an idea Victor Victor only got 2.5 roll man possessions per game last year that’s the same amount as Rudy goar ston hands Rudy goar and with who doesn’t play with passers right and that’s half as many as the star bigs at the top of the league guys like Anthony Davis guys like Joel embiid because those guys play with high level ball handlers who consistently set them up with those opportunities here’s a crazy stat for you guys Victor only logged 2.2 cut possessions per game those are easy feeds around the rim for quick finishes right Trace Jackson Davis are the Warriors who played less than 17 minutes per game logged more cut possessions per game than Victor wanyama in about half as many minutes guess who was the primary guard for most of those treace Jackson Davis minutes Chris Paul so like is Chris Paul gonna make the spurs into a championship Contender obviously not but he’s just going to allow them to function more like a normal basketball team on offense he’s going to generate those higher quality opportunities for Victor wanyama that most of his peers at the position get and again like the big thing is in the long run they are eventually going to have a star ball handler next to Victor and we don’t know who it’s going to be and we’ll talk about that in a minute but he’s eventually going to play alongside this type of guy why not let him get some reps learning how to do that in the short term while the second thing this accomplishes maintaining flexibility because it’s a one-year deal a lot of the ball handlers that were available to the Spurs this summer didn’t make a lot of sense dejonte Murray isn’t good enough to be your primary ball handler Trey young is good enough but he comes with a lot of other issues as we know attitude issues defense issues Donovan Mitchell just reup in Cleveland so he’s not an option Darius Garland’s kind of an interesting option in terms of the fit but I don’t think he’s good enough to be the best ball handler on a championship team Paul George was too old Brandon Ingram isn’t good enough either this is the summer for Fringe stars to be hunted by contenders not for young teams to look for foundational pieces and so this for instance we just talked about the thunder this is why the thunder went for hartenstein instead of making some sort of other deal they’re probably looking at it like you know we don’t view Lori marinan as a guy on a Max contract that is worth it in the context of Jaylen Williams and Shay we would rather wait for a different type of player right so hartenstein they they have the cat flexibility to do it that was them kind of making the same type of decision that the Spurs are talking about there weren’t a lot of foundational type of of talent available this summer to try to go after CP3 gives the Spurs another year to wait things out and maybe Devon vasel takes another step forward he had his best scoring volume in efficiency year last year maybe he takes a step forward and looks like he could be that guy in the long run Stefon Castle who the Spurs drafted at the top of the first round like maybe he learns how to shoot this year and maybe that kind of turns into a guy that the Spurs project as a ball handler or maybe a different guy becomes available in the trade market and the can jump in there and try to make a move and like the one thing is Victor is so talented already that he applies more timeline pressure in the sense that like you don’t want to wait five years to be good because Victor could be a top 10 player literally next year and there’s a certain pressure that comes with that right but I thought this was a Savvy move by the Spurs it it it it just again is going to give them that flexibility to wait out a better ball handling option while giving them or giving Victor at least a fact simile of that to practice with for this season and most importantly it’s going to make the Spurs more fun to watch the Spurs were like watching college basketball last year just the ball handling capability was so low it made them really difficult to watch Victor weany is the only saving grace of them as a television product getting a CP3 out there and having them look more organized on offense will help a lot last hit for today dejonte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans this move was all about Rim pressure in my opinion guy like CJ McCollum he averaged 9.9 drives per game last year for the Pelicans dejonte by himself a averaged 15.1 deante attempts over eight shots per game in the paint and so this kind of like we talked about earlier is going to go back to what we talked about after the playoffs in that five biggest things one of the things that I took as one of my five biggest takeaways from that playoff run was Rim pressure is the most valuable thing for shot quality right and there’s a bunch of different ways to get Rim pressure you can do it in the post you can do it cutting you can do it uh crashing the offensive glass you can do it rolling in ball screens there’s a bunch of different ways but the most resilient way in the playoffs to do it is dribble Drive penetration right the ability to beat people off the dribble is the easiest way to generate uh that type of Rim pressure and so in these situations like if you look at the Pelicans Zion Williamson was really the only guy for them last year generated sustainable Rim pressure Jonas did a bunch on the glass in in the post but he was so matchup specific and and like incapable of being played against certain types of teams that they didn’t really add up to much in real tangible value for the Pelicans right like Zion was the only kind of Dependable Rim pressure they had you guys watched in that Lakers playin game just how damaging Zion can be just because he can beat people off the dribble and and like even CJ and Brandon uh Brandon Ingram they’re like pull-up Shooters who are like in ISO situations mainly going to step back or turnaround jump shots they both need screens to get all the way to the rim Deon is a guy who can legit just beat the man in front of him off the dribble and that is where he’s going to bring the most value of value for this team on the offensive end of the floor I like this move because when I think of like the idealized version of the Pelicans in the long run I view them as a driving kick team I look at them as a team that should use Deonte Murray and Zion Williamson to break down the defense at the start to get the defense in rotation and then these guys Trey Murphy is like a professional closeout attacker herb Jones made a lot of progress this last year as a closeout attacker like I even prefer CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram operating with an advantage because of their high level of skill and so like to me this is a move in the direction of the Pelicans being more of a driveing kick team which I think is going to be good for them in the long run and then they can layer their pull-up shooting on top of that as we know CJ and Brandon Ingram are pull-up Shooters but there’s not as much resilience there you saw in the Thunder series it’s like those pull-up jumpers start to miss suddenly they both become relatively ineffective basketball players right and so like there’s more resilience to drive and kick basketball than pull up three-point shooting it’s like the difference between the Suns and the Boston Celtics right like Boston was more diligent about driving Phoenix wanted to settle for a ton of Pull-Up jumpers and ended up being the death of them right so like this to me is a good move in that direction but Deonte also brings high level pull-up shooting as well he shot 45% on pullup jumpers last year 51% when you weight it for threes 1.02 points per shot he was one of only nine players in the league to attempt at least five 00 pull-up jump shots and to maintain an efficiency over one point per shot he’s in a rare group of efficient pull-up jump shooters in the NBA he also had the best catch and shoot season of his career he got 1.17 points per catch and shoot jumper he shot 46% from the field like just straight field goal percentage on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots so if that’s a trend and not a blip then we’re talking about some real upside to this trade and deon’s got like real scoring pop he was one of the best ISO players in the league last year he got 1.1 points per possession out of isos including passes according to Synergy that ranked sixth out of 19 players to run at least 300 isos last year he had 13 30o games he had four 40o games he had multiple game winners he had at least eight assists in 25 games like he’s just a damn good basketball player and like Again part of it is just Atlanta and their situation and and it just the lack of success the lack of Team success that came out of that situation I think put dejonte in a position where he’s discounted but he’s a player I was a huge believer in I really wanted him for the Lakers and so I’m really excited for Pelicans fans because I think they got a good one here he’s also a bit of an and I mean that in the best way like you need to have that streak to be like an effective basketball player and knock down drag out fights and he’s just that type of guy and I think Pelicans fans are really going to like him I have two main concerns and the same they’re the same concerns I talked about uh when dejonte was first being Ru R rumored for the Lakers last year around the deadline just hasn’t been very good defensively since leaving San Antonio but the capability is obviously there it’s not like he lost his talent on that end of the floor it’s just about commitment hasn’t done it since leaving San Antonio where he was an all defense guy so he just needs to get that piece back and hopefully by virtue of just being on a team that has this much talent and the Pelicans have a ton of talent now just by virtue of being on that on that sort of team I think that he’ll have more energy resources to devote to that end of the floor but that’ll be a big piece then the second piece of it is he struggles to make layups shot just 52.9% on layups last year according to Synergy I ranked 37th out of 44 players who attempted at least 300 layups last year there’s pros and cons to that right like missed layups usually mean occupied Rim protectors right so like there are opportunities for offensive rebounds that come from that but the Pelicans are not a good offensive rebounding team they were 19th in offensive rebound percentage last year and they just lost two of their top three offensive rebounders in Larry Nance Jr and Jonas valunas so that isn’t really a value add for the Pelicans the B the downside is missed layups specifically from guards especially when they’re driving from above the break that leads to bad floor balance which can lead to transition opportunities that just to put it simply just imagine two guards above the break if one drives in and misses there’s only one guard back and that can lead to some transition opportunities I with Russell Westbrook when he used to miss layups it was an overwhelmingly bad experience for the Lakers so like really for and to be clear on tape it’s mostly about decision-making Deonte will just over penetrate sometimes drive into Rim protectors and try impossible layups that end up hurting his P percentage so really it’s going to be about just better Rim decisions better decisions about when to drive not over penetrating when the help is already there making sure you have a plan when you get on on the dribble into the lane making better reads when get there in terms of kick out passes and drop off passes as long as he does those sorts of things he should be able to clean that up but again those are the those are the two things he’s just got to recommit on the defensive end and he’s got to be able to make layups or at least better decisions when he gets to the rim I’ll had a third there last year’s catch and shoot season was a little bit of an outlier for him that needs to be a trend and not a blip for him to continue to function as part of the drive and kick uh that the Pelicans are going to try to build out overall I like the deal though Dyson Daniels is a really interesting young player but Deon is just a better player within the context of trying to win right now which I think the pels are trying to do and I’m just generally really high on deante as I mentioned earlier I wanted him for the Pelicans so I’m happy for Pelicans fans that they get to root for him this season all right guys that is all I have for today we’re going to be back tomorrow with a mailbag uh probably have a couple mailbag breakouts over the course of the time that we’re off I hope all of you guys enjoy your holiday weekend and I will see you on Monday oh I’ll see you on the mailbag and then I will see you after that on Monday he [Music]

Jason Timpf reacts to several big moves from around the NBA including Isaiah Hartenstein joining Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Why does Jason believe the addition of Hartenstein and Alex Caruso has moved OKC into his elite championship contenders tier? Later, Jason reacts to Chris Paul joining Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs as well as the New Orleans Pelicans trading with the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray to pair with Zion Williamson.

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
03:22 – Hartenstein to Thunder
15:28 – How Hartenstein fits with OKC
37:40 – Chris Paul to Spurs
41:40 – Dejounte Murray to Pelicans

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