Here’s Our Three Teams to Watch Post All-Star Break: Post All-Star Preview | OM3 THINGS

Here’s Our Three Teams to Watch Post All-Star Break: Post All-Star Preview | OM3 THINGS

Welcome to the old man of the three things with JJ reck and the dunker spot theas Duncan and Steve Jones this is Monday morning we are all probably a little hungover is not the right word cuz I didn’t drink yesterday but uh hung over a little bit from Allstar Weekend

Because uh lots of festivities gave a full breakdown uh and reaction uh Last Night Live uh go check that out on our YouTube channel um just a horrible horribly played basketball game nice shooting though but horribly played um guys here’s what we’re going to do today

We are going to do three teams to watch coming out of the All-Star break and I think we could go a number of ways here I’m going to go in a positive way I hope you guys both go in a positive way as well uh there’s a couple teams that I’m

Worried about coming out of All-Star break but for the purposes of this I’m I’m going to be positive uh three teams to watch for we’re each going to pick a team to really focus on and then we’ll all discuss uh Steve why don’t we start with you who is your team to watch

Coming out of All-Star break it’s time to watch the Minnesota Timberwolves uh not only they number one in the Western Conference 23 and 11 against teams that are 500 above 27 and8 against the Western Conference 20 and 11 on the road the offensive rating y it’s 17th and I’m

Sure we’ll talk about it but that defense is what really sets the tone for me and over the course of the season I’ve had my question marks with Minnesota I’ve been worried about them against switching I’ve been worried is the defense going to hold up with two bigs they have stuck with this

Throughout this whole season it’s something we’ve talked about before they have a mindset they have a buyin they have a belief and they have an identity and now we’re starting to see the proof of concept I think there’s just real value for a team to find that and tune

It up as the season goes in we look at this team even if they go 90 everyone slots in everyone does their job everyone plays their role they’re able to have so much size on the floor and versatility on the floor they can space they can attack Closeouts they can get

To drive and kick they commit to that style and being able to do that throughout your whole rotation feels so important I I think when you look at them defensively a lot of question marks about defense in the NBA right now this is a team that’s going to consistently

Work active on the ball they consistently show help they recover they can mix coverages and show that Nuance I think the most most important thing with Minnesota outside of Rudy goar feeling better in a drop and in space and showing help and recovering they can have that Nuance

They can sustain those defensive efforts I think that’s been huge Carl Anthony towns and Nas Reed the work they’ve done defensively to where you can mix coverages with them they can be in a drop it’s not just hey we have to be at two in the ball their help has been so

Key because if there’s a drive and someone gets beat there’s always length and size in the paint that you have to deal with with you have to spray that ball back out they recover they work so well I want to ask a question to y’all because the question with Rudy always in

The playoffs is can he stay on the floor can a team play him off how many teams out west can truly play Rudy gobear off the floor with a lineup you know what’s funny Steve that was going to be my follow-up question to you something along those lines not

Exactly worded the same way my follow-up question was actually going to be remember we talked about Minnesota earlier in the season and you brought up uh their offense in the playoffs against switching my question for y’all is what problems do you potentially foresee on the defensive side of the basketball and

The playoffs the one team actually there’s two teams that that immediately sort of pop in my head when I think about teams that could give them problems in the west and there’s probably more there’s probably more the two team teams initially that I’m thinking of are the Phoenix Suns when

They go to that small ball lineup with Kevin Durant at the five they’ve had a ton of success they’re going to switch you’re not necessarily worried I think with you know Kevin Durant on goar and then if he’s switching you know you’re go down the list it’s Devon Booker

Bradley Beal uh Eric Gordon Grayson Allen like I’m not overly concerned I think about goar punishing that matchup what he does on the defensive end in that space and trying to close out while simultaneously protecting the rim with five Shooters on the floor that lineup in particular with the Phoenix Suns

Which let’s look at the the standings right now could be a second round matchup right so that that’s one team the other team I I think is the team that knocked them out in 2021 which when when Rudy Gober was on the Jazz and that’s the LA Clippers you know can they

Go to a smaller lineup and rely on Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and James Harden down low on against you know switching while simultaneously just creating a ton of space on the offensive end that Rudy goar has to navigate so those are the two teams initially that I

Think of the jump in here anything on Minnesota from what he said I have some other stuff but I want to I want to let you jump in here I got you I was kind of just thinking about the who could potentially punish Rudy in a playoff setting question like Phoenix is a

Really good call but to the I guess to your point also steeve point it feels like every contender in the west has at least some level of a help point in their closing lineup to where you should be able to stash Rudy like even thinking about Phoenix like do you feel okay putting

Rudy on Eric Gordon if he’s just going to be like fourth or fifth in usage in that lineup he just trust he misses those shots or if Royce O’Neal is going to be in that closing lineup who is shot well but he still hasn’t shot well enough or taking enough attempts over

The last two three years to where you have to close out hard on him he feels like someone if he beats us then that’s just what we have to live with in a playoff setting like I feel like there are still places there um I was trying

To think through the Thunder matchup but like well I think you can say the same thing about Royce as you say about like L Al L Dort who has shot well from three this year but has he done enough to change the coverage that he gets to the

Playoff setting probably not and I think like the Josh giddy help point if he’s in the closing lineup I think that’s pretty obvious I guess a question I POs to both of you how do we feel about Dallas if they’re able to work their way into the

The true playoff hunt here I brought it up briefly I want to see more of a sample size I brought it up briefly last week uh on the old man in the three things or maybe in the intro to the Tyrese halberton episode but uh in the

In the two games I guess it’s been two games uh that they played with Gafford in Washington look when they’re healthy this is again in the NBA when we talk about like fit and complimentary pieces it’s not a knock on other players Talent it’s how the the pieces work together and I

Said this I think this is the best group that they’ve put around Luca just in terms of how the pieces complement each other and to some degree I think it starts with Kyrie because he’s so used to playing as the second guy he’s used to playing as the second ball handler

He’s used to playing off the ball so there’s not that that clashing that you sometimes have with star players right you can have great ancillary pieces great role players but if the second star doesn’t complement the main star it creates all sorts of issues I think I I

Would like to see more of Dallas hole with this new uh you know redone roster and then sort of make a call but I I I like you bringing them up because I think they’re going to be really good the second half of the season um they

Were I told you guys this they were sort of my second my last cut for this show you know I’m not going to talk about them in full I’m not going to talk about him in full I’m going to wait a little bit there’s another team I want to talk

About I want to bring up something with uh Minnesota um because I think we obviously talk about cat a lot uh we talk about Anthony Edwards both those guys Allstars goar particularly in the playoffs always the question mark he’s the defensive anchor uh certainly the reason the primary reason in my

Estimation uh of why they have the best defense in the NBA um a few guys I just want to acknowledge on their team that I think are having outstanding Seasons uh Nas Reed phenomenal you go into some of the lineup data look when he’s with goar when he’s paired with goar they

Have a 94 defensive rating outstanding 17.3 net rating Alexander Walker we saw him last year guard his cousin in that playin game and you know outstanding defensively his effort when Steve was talking about you know you get to the rim and you got to spray it back and

Guys are closing like Alexander Walker he’s a point of attack guy but he’s also great in rotation and he’s he the effort is always there with him and then the last guy the just The Unsung guy and and a lot of people pointed out when I said there’s not many true point guards

Anymore is Mike Conley Mike Conley is having a fantastic season um one thing because we we talked about an action a specific action with um with Tyrese last week that that Atlanta was running uh stack pick and roll uh into a flare to an empty side for bonovich Minnesota’s

Doing a lot of spinus action for Conley and so spinus was a great Greek player absolutely destroyed the USA in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championship uh played it briefly in the NBA uh there’s a famous story of him talking with Jeff Van Gundy um about uh

His playing time when he was with the Houston Rockets and him saying something like he’s like you know in Gree I’m I’m Michael Jordan and and then he they’re like well yeah but in the USA Tracy McGrady is Michael Jordan you’re not you so and by the way this dude is he’s a

He’s a stud he’s a baller right but spinula action is essentially when the point guard initiates the offense I call it belly this is how I I call it belly because uh Northwestern Chris Collins runs this for for their point guard and I run it for my kids but I call it belly

So point guard initiates the action he cuts through basically underneath the basket and he gets a down screen and comes back up through the nail through the belly of the defense gets a dribble handoff from goar Conley and goar and then they get into that downhill action

Goar catches a lob whatever um they’re running a a continuation of that that I love where goar will fake the dribble handoff to Conley and then go into an empty side dribble handoff and a lot of times that’s with Anthony Edwards so now you you’ve got all that movement from

The weak side the three guys on the weak side they’re all kind of navigating that so much confusion created for the low man in that and Edwards goar dribble hand off to an empty side goar getting behind the defense for lobs um but again Conley just navigating this stage of his

Career and having s such an impact on both sides of the ball think about last year when they got him is really when it was like oh this is now a really functional basketball team um and that’s not a knock on D’Angelo Russell it’s just been a perfect fit at this stage of

His career for Mike connley uh I’d agree 100 perc uh I think what Mike brings to the table is huge I think just all the off ball stuff even when they fake a flex and now Mike comes off a pend down they’re shooting on him

Off a pick and roll that kind of stuff is so important for a Minnesota team where it can be an adventure but when that ball is moving it gets really fun the usage of not just Mike but but they’re Bigs like everyone wants to point to Kyle Anderson as the shooting

Percentage but when you can run delay action through Kyle Anderson for a dribble handoff for Nas Reed or Carl Anthony towns that defense is flipped that defense is reversed and so I think just having that amount of guys who can just start plays in plays is where it gets really

Fun I point to the do y’all feel better about them against switching or no like right now right now right now right now um I I do I do feel better about them uh against switching um I haven’t have you guys like uh looked at the numbers uh with them in the half

Court versus switching on their points per possession have you looked at the numbers I have not that’s what I’m asking okay is gonna look it up right now look at this we had the yeah we had we had a conversation early in the year about the wolves and I’ve been reposing

The the the stat that you and JJ uh that they were 30 of it last time we checked Stephen I talked about them not too long ago they had moved up to I think 22nd okay hey we’re trending in the right direction they’re trending up so it’s

It’s very much I feel better about it the question isn’t completely solved for me yet uh but as I buffer I will look that up for both of y’all really quick well I was going to mention because I think one of the things that cat has done a better job of against these

Switches where he catches the ball has been so important as opposed to let me catch at the top of the key let me just try and drive Ram right through you turbo button let me get a catch closer to the Elbow let me get a jab in there

Let me drive hit you first and then get a finish and I think that’s really key because my concern with Minnesota earlier was okay well if I’m I’m just going to switch everything now I take Rudy’s pick and roll out of the action I’m gonna take cat and force him to have

The ball and trust my wing to defend him and now with Anthony Edwards we can go two on the ball or make him make plays and drop Anthony Edwards improving as a playmaker if you’ve watched some of the skip passes he’s been able to make this year that’s not something that he

Consistently nailed before so hopefully that gave you enough time to Ka to tell me the numberers I didn’t know indeed roughly roughly 0.97 points per possession against switches from Minnesota they are up to 18th now oh we’re moving in the right direction they get they’re getting on up there the

Point about cat I think this is just a general point I want to make that within a playoff series if you know a team uh not necessarily their base defense but at some point within a game they’re going to go to a a switching lineup and they’re going to they’re going to just

Switch across the board right I think within a playoff series when you have time to prepare for that there’s a lot of creative things you can do and it’s not just like Hey we’re going to ghost screen right when we hear the wired stuff it’s really interesting when I’m

Calling a game and you hear a coach talk about okay they’re switching this pick and roll how do how do we counter that and they’ll bring up the screening angle they’ll bring up the location of the screen um you see it all the time where

A guy runs into a screen and he stops so it’s not a ghost screen where he’s slipping out to the wing right he’ll stop and as the ball handler comes off he’ll just give a gentle nudge to the switching Defender and get behind and so I’m I’m thinking about cat as this seven

Footer in that situation catching the ball essentially in a short rle with goar in the dunker spot and spacing around not a bad option offensively in the half court I don’t I don’t hate that versus switching and of course you know you you have a guy in Anthony Edwards

Who can break down a defense late in the clock against the switching so I’m glad the numbers support my personal opinion I thought Steve’s breakdown about cat catching the ball was great let’s get to our second team Nas I know you’re so excited you’re so excited to talk about

This team who is your team to watch coming out of the All-Star break a team that we just do not give enough attention to with all due respect to the Minnesota temple wolves let’s talk about the Los Angeles Lakers I don’t think they’ve been in the new cycle enough um

Lately especially as it returns to LeBron James who almost threw all of my notes over the top rope as I was getting things together and then he had the allstar pressers like well I’m actually getting more treatment on my ankle so we’ll see so very obvious caveat LeBron

Needs to be healthy a stretch run uh for Lakers to be be able to capitalize on things but it’s funny to kind of transition from Minnesota and the fun things they’re doing offensively and some of the stuff they have to solve then I just watch this Lakers team who

Heading into the allar break they’re finally hitting threes which is pretty cool like as a whole which obviously helps but even like concept wise it is a whole lot of five out we are just going to pound you into submission we’re going to drive we’re going to post up I had to

Look it up as I was going through some of their offensive possessions like they feel like they’re going empty side pick and roll a lot sure enough top five in frequency uh since the beginning of February no team in the NBA has been more efficient on empty side or empty

Corner pick and rols in the Los Angeles Lakers and it makes sense they’re using just about everyone as a screener like ruy hachimura entering the starting lineup he’s not down shots over 40% of his threes but the way that he’s used as a screener the way LeBron James is used

As a screener Austin Reed will screen for LeBron they have chemistry they’ve been able to build off of that from last year they go empty against you you switch it flows right into a postup and if it’s a good shooter either setting the screen or as the ball handle that

They’re not one pass away so if you help that that activates some of the cutting we’ve seen more of that from LeBron we’ve certainly seen that from ruie like one of my favorite Niche things watching his Laker team now is when he’s two passes away from a pick and roll or post

Up and you try to send that double team to Anthony Davis or Lebron Whoever has it it ruy just times his cut as the double is coming so you’re trying to rotate to a shooter now he’s gone it’s just been a lot of fun watching them very simplistic stuff but you can’t

Really do anything when they’re also knocking down shots which hasn’t really been the thing for them for most of the year then you add in the defense I still have my questions about some of the point of attack stuff with them but if you’re funneling everything inside to

Anthony Davis and you’re giving up as large of a shares mid-range jumpers as they are I kind of trust the math at that point and just in general this is a very big long ranging team so even if they get beat it’s not like you have a

Lot of space to operate with to begin with like they don’t make it comfortable for you so the fact that they own the paint the way that they do they’re able to force help without getting super fanasy in half court the free throw disparity and The Possession battle is just going to be

Theirs for the most part it just feels like a formula where as they continue to hit shots or if they continue to hit shots if they’re healthy they should be firmly in the playin race and quiet as Keel they are closer to the six seed than they are to the 11 seed right

Now so I don’t know if I’m ready to shift to the Lakers are quietly a contender again like that I need a larger sample on that but as far as know the Lakers falling G being able to claim a top six seed it really isn’t out of the question for him

Yeah I I said on Thursday’s intro uh that they have defended better and they have made threes and that’s their winning formula and a lot of people were like well duh that’s the winning formula for every team but here’s why it’s important specifically for the Lakers because we saw with essentially the same

Group right this Core Group post trade deadline and there’s a lot of noise with some stats uh in March and April I get that in the regular season uh particularly last year when seemed like everybody just kind of rested everybody um but they went 16 and4 they had the

Second best defense uh so their identity to me has to start on the defensive end um I have a question on that in a second so for them to be a contender as you say they’ve got to be an elite def defense it starts there when we think about a LeBron James

Team and particularly a LeBron James team with Anthony Davis when have they had success when they’ve made threes when they’ve had shooting in space because what is Anthony Davis and LeBron James trying to do they’re trying to put pressure on the rim they’re trying to get to the free throw line they need

Space and if your Shooters aren’t making shots guess what it’s a game of inches like this is the the difference between being at the nail on LeBron James ISO on the right wing and being two feet or a foot right of the nail closer to Austin Reeds that matters all that stuff

Matters and when Austin Reeves you know he’s shooting 47.6% in this little stretch of seven games uh the shooting numbers by the way for this team they’ve won six of seven LeBron at 37 a half% Russell’s at 42 Reeves is at 47.6 Haim MO is at 43 uh

Toian Prince is at 45 Jared Vanderbilt three attempts a game at 67% like if they’re going to shoot and you’re those are not sustainable numbers across the board if they’re going to shoot well and defend then they’re they’re certainly in that second tier to me of contending now

Again this is the seven games leading into All-Star break that I’m using these numbers for but this is a team trending in the right direction um and I I love the empty side pick and roll stuff cuz I think you brought up they’ll use everybody in a screener the other thing they’ll do

They’ll use anybody as a ball handler so Austin Reeves operating out of that empty side pick and roll with anony Davis that’s been effective D’Angelo Russell in this stretch operating on that MC side pick and roll has been very effective and of course the LeBron James ad pick and roll with shooting around

That it’s a tough it’s a tough play it’s a tough play to defend question for both both of you and maybe you don’t have an answer and we’ll edit it out if you don’t but what do you make of the fact that the Lakers as a team for the season have

Roughly uh a defensive rating of 11 14.6 I think that’s the number Anthony Davis with a defensive rating of 11 15.1 so the Lakers team defense is better when Anthony Davis is off the floor like what do you make of that I’m not making those numbers up I’ll go

First that’s one of those moments where the uh ey test and the numbers are not matching up for me yes at all exactly because that I don’t know how that defense Works without Anthony Davis I know they have size I know they have length but they need him to be in

Position protect the rim throw in some switches I can’t I can’t get there Nikas what you got uh this one of the things that popped from me as I was doing uh again Lakers stuff over the weekend uh just looking at Anthony Davis page on clean the glass like the big thing seems

To be that teams are just blowing away Corner threes while he’s on the floor and like I don’t think that’s necessarily him just looking at clean the glass if you want to laugh very quickly uh Team shooting roughly 12% better on Corner threes with Anthony Davis in the game interesting that is in

The second percentile and Anthony Davis again he’s in a drop he’s been in a deeper drop than I’m used to seeing him in with the Lakers this year I think po part of that is just who he’s got in front of in Terms of the point of attack

You just want to make sure you all off the rim but yeah that combined with how aggressively the Lakers help and sink down in the paint like I think there’s some room for fine-tuning there but in terms of that specific number I think that’s just the biggest portion of it

Teams are helping so far off the corners and those are generally guys that the Lakers are okay with shooting and they are just knocking down those Corner threes in particular at a rate that is toly unsustainable to be frank with you this is this is uh a perfect example

Of why we have you on the show Steve not much help there but the thank you just kidding I’m just kidding oh no all right crack Knuckles what’s the next team I got no I mean look I look I I wanted to say just a general point is like individual defensive rating it’s

It’s it’s a marker but it’s not like the be all and end all and I I think you have to take into account like lineups who is Anthony Davis playing against right who is the bench unit playing against like all that all that stuff it matters I guess and there’s algorithms

For that defensive RPM all that um did I say that maybe they’re a heavy stunt and recover team plus one for Steve great Point Steve great Point very quickly before we move off the Lakers a while we’re kind of on Anthony Davis just go to highlight the passing uh

Averaging five assists per game during the stretch he already has I think 16 games of at least five assists this season he had eight last year I think his career high is 19 and like I think that also flows into like the just the yeah nothing fancy but the Lakers

Playing Five out they’ll have him in the middle of the floor about to break so even if it’s an empty corner somewhere else someone teams are naturally going to help off of him they swing it to Anthony Davis he’s done such a good job of picking out Cutters I just wanted to

Quickly highlight that portion of it and just to quickly bounce up what JJ said earlier about the shooting like yes every team needs shooting for this Laker team in particular you want to space around LeBron Anthony Davis this also is a Laker team that just doesn’t take a

Large share of Threes so it hits even harder when they’re just fumbling the paint to the degree that they are getting to the line and they may only take 25 28 threes in a game if they’re hitting 40% of them there really isn’t much for you to be able to do so again

Just keeping eyes on what the Lakers got going on I love it um all right my team to watch never Wast an opportunity to talk about the New Orleans Pelicans that’s how I look at this whole podcast scenario uh number of teams I I could

Have brought up here um I I think what really gets me excited about the New Orleans Pelicans with the way they’re playing right now is point Zion that’s what gets me excited the pels they’ve won seven of eight going into the All-Star break they’re essentially tied

With Phoenix for fifth um same record as Phoenix they’re right there in the mix um Point Zion so over the last nine games and Zion has played in seven of those over the last nine games when Zion brings the ball up the floor the Pelicans are averaging 1.44 points per possession that’s pretty

Good uh I think back to my last year in the NBA when we had Stan Van Gundy and about a month into the season we just realized hey our best offense is for Zion to bring the ball up and either a big to screen for him or me to screen

For him you know you use a shooter as a screener form you use a big so there’s do they’re doing a bunch of things and the one point I want to make before I get into what they’re doing with Zion at the point is I want to bring up the spacing

Because I think the spacing with Zion when he’s in the corner or when Zion’s in the dunker spot is very different because let’s just be honest Zion are not not a very active off ball player right that’s just not he thrives with the ball in his hands when he can attack

He’s not a high energy off ball guy so when he’s off the ball in those positions you’ve essentially got a defender in the restricted area so it kind of with their spacing and I’m going to get into how that is different when Zion is up top but here’s some of

The things that they’re doing first of all in transition every time he gets a defensive rebound he’s breaking it out and he’s attacking when I watch all the clips over the last nine games of him getting a defensive rebound and pushing the basketball first of all the way he’s

Moving this is like the Zion we all envisioned there is a burst there is a pop to the way he’s pushing the basketball there’s an energy to it right it reminds me of Giannis it reminds me of LeBron it reminds me of Ben Simmons in Philadelphia like it is a weapon

And he has completely weaponized his athleticism and skill set in transition when he gets a defensive rebound of course he’s putting pressure on the rim and scoring at The Rim sometimes too when he gets these defensive rebounds He he’ll have a guard you know having to

Pick him up because he gets the ball and he’s pushing so hard that there’s mismatches he’ll spray it out to their Shooters uh in transition the other thing they’re doing in the half court is they’re running a lot of empty side pick and roll on the right side and and it’s

Primarily with with valent chunis and what’s really interesting about this action as it relates to Zion specifically and it reminds me a little bit of Ben Simmons because he used to do this too you bring the ball up and you go to that empty side pick and roll what

Is Zion’s Defender doing he’s not pressuring him at the three-point line he’s essentially hanging back and he’s at like 12 to 15 feet so when valent chunis sets that screen it is so low whether they switch or don’t switch he’s got got one dribble and he’s in the

Paint now unlike Ben who I think is better playing off of One Foot Right Ben is a one foot jumper one foot finisher Zion off of two feet can just get in the paint create contact and Elevate right over and we’ve seen that time and time

Again so that’s a great action the other thing they’ll do is he’ll just bring it down the right side and he’ll post and with the way the Pelicans have constructed this rock roster they can go to these basically shooting lineups and you’ve got CJ McCollum as the next guy you’ve

Got Trey Murphy as the next guy and he’ll spray it out three-pointer all right they’ll also run some high pick and rolls they’ve run it with some bigs I’ve seen a few actions with Larry Nance but what I love and I brought it up earlier is the ghost screen with the

Shooter so uh they’ve run it with niji Marshall Zion turns the corner gets a dunk they’ll run it with Trey Murphy he’ll slip out of there Trey Murphy will get a three um and the last point which is why I think it’s so important it goes back to the spacing Point Zion will

Bring the ball up in the half court they’ll run an Iverson cut just a little over the top screen for bi to catch at the elbow and a lot of times they get into that pick and roll low pick and roll at the elbow with valent chunis what the defense does then if

They’re going to help off of Zion he’s essentially got a stampede so if you help off of him in that position he’s got a Stampede from the slot and can attack the rim again I I I hate bringing up the Ben Simmons things I played with

Ben for two years you know how many times in floppy action I would catch the ball coming off the screen the help wouldn’t come from the big the help would come from Ben’s man at the nail and it’s a quick swing and Ben just right down the lane layup right down the

Lane dunk so the point about Zion and where he’s at on the floor when he doesn’t have the ball their offense to me functions better overall with him as the primary ball handler it just does pulled it up as you were talking 1.3 points per possession on Indie Zion pick and roll

Since the beginning of February which would also appear to be a very good number but like you mentioned the go screens with the wings like I love they’re setting some of these flat and when they mix in some offall action there you can’t load up the way you want

To and Zion whether he’s at the peak of his form or working his way towards that he’s always been very good at navigating tight quarters and at least getting shots up at The Rim so the fact that they are also mixing in okay how about you lift right here or you cut through

While we’re trying to get to this it just makes it so much harder to Build That Wall to even stop Zion and try to force him into some of those offensive files he’s having a lot of fun getting down here uh they are nine and one when

Zion Brandon Ingram and CJ McCullum all have five plus assists oh I love that I love that do you think do you think guys do you think that there has been I feel like the hierarchy and I’ve touched on this a couple times but I feel like the

Hierarchy at times with them has been a little clunky about who’s going to be the high usage guy who’s going to be the primary playmaker who’s going to have the ball in his hands more Zion kind of touched on this earlier in the season where he said look you know there there

Asking me to play a little bit differently you know I’m trying to fit in like how many times do you talk about a max player and he’s like yeah I’m trying to fit in so it it it hasn’t been like the smoothest thing with those three guys but I feel like in this

Stretch it’s like clear right and I think by by having Zion at times as the primary Handler will it takes some of that burden off of CJ Brandon then can just be half court set we’re going to we’re going to run a play for you and his you know ability to score and

Also read defenses and make plays with the shooting around them they’re eighth overall uh for the season in three-point shooting and and really truly that’s that’s without Brandon Ingram or Trey Murphy having a great shooting season both those guys about League average at about 36% Trey Murphy of course missed

Uh the beginning of the season coming off of offseason knee surgery to me their offense can be even better better and I think they’re 12th yeah they’re 12th overall offensively seventh in defense um Dyson Daniels be out a while but uh this team again when hole is very intriguing when we talk

About the playoffs because of their ability to run different lineups switching lineups drop lineups shooting lineups uh Mash you know big lineups Mash lineups what I call them but I I I just there’s there’s something there with this team and the thing that gets me excited again is this point Zion just

To the hierarchy point I think you only feel that in the clutch at least for me I think the flow is there the base they’ve tried to work through offensively to where we can play with Tempo everyone get a dribble handoff we can play through JV get to the second

Side that stuff is built throughout the year but when it gets tight I think that’s when you start to see okay what are we looking for what’s our go-to action what are we searching for how are we using CJ how are we using Zion who takes what that’s the only moment that I

Really feel yeah as you brought up the three-point numbers earlier that was going to be my excuse to bring up that herb Jones is shooting nearly 41% from three this year in addition to the fun defense that he’s bringing even tying it back into the point Zion thing they’ve

Used herb as a screener too and if you have spacing concerns about Zion on the perimeter or herb even though he’s shooting well again he hasn’t made enough to where you’re Shifting the defensive coverage to him yet if you’re putting those two in actions together

Who are you helping off of at that point so I just wanted to give her the quick salute love watching that dude play basketball same same he’s just a good basketball player he is all right guys always fun uh Again by the time next Monday rolls around uh we

May be changing our tune on all these teams we’ll see that’s the NBA three teams to watch uh coming out of break the Timberwolves the Lakers and the Pelicans um yes we are haters of the Eastern Conference all right uh appreciate you guys appreciate you guys uh and we’ll see you soon

NBA All-Star weekend came and went. This Monday, JJ Redick is joined by Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones Jr. on The Dunker Spot to share the three teams that they are most excited to watch in the second half of the season and why: Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and the Minnesota Timberwolves; LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers; and Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and the New Orleans Pelicans.

00:00 – Start of show. We’re hungover.
01:08 – The Minnesota Timberwolves
15:58 – The Los Angeles Lakers
25:51 – The New Orleans Pelicans

Subscribe to The Old Man and The Three podcast w/ JJ Redick (ESPN / First Take) and Tommy Alter YouTube channel today for more NBA analysis, player interviews and highlights.