NBA Mailbag: Bucks biggest threat to Jokic & Nuggets? Anthony Davis’ mistake | Hoops Tonight

NBA Mailbag: Bucks biggest threat to Jokic & Nuggets? Anthony Davis’ mistake | Hoops Tonight

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

So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right let’s get to the mailbag since the 2021 season ad bulked up a bit to better fit the center position what are the pros and cons of

This bigger build in playing Center overall so I think it’s uh the the pros are in theory it should help him bang with other big centers underneath the basket um and and he for the record he does do better than he used to in that

Regard and he there are guys that he can bully now that he didn’t used to be able to bully there’s been some upside there also I think it’s probably helped him a little bit with his uh injury prevention just by virtue of him just being a

Little bit more sturdy in his joints and stuff like that uh that said like I think the cons have outweighed the pros on that front like his foot speed is substantially lower than it was before he bulked up and then also I really think it’s led to some stiffness in his

Joints in the sense that he hasn’t been as fluid as a score and you know for whatever that’s worth like I I I tend to think like leaning to your advantage like don’t play big guy basketball when you’re not as good at playing big guy basketball as Nicole yic right like

Don’t you’re not like you’re still running into the zubes and the sabonis and the niches and the yices of the world and struggling and that’s the only matchup where that size really makes that much of a difference so if it were up to me I would have have leaned more

Into ad’s speed and been like yeah there are going to be some matchups where we struggle because you know ad is getting buried but like as long as we’re playing hard around him and we have advantage of his ability to cover ground in rotation there’s going to be so much more good

Than bad that comes from that also I just think the Lakers would have been in a much better position offensively if they had the Anthony Davis from the bubble that was capable of being really a high level perimeter score and they and he’s just gone down a massive level

In in that department which I do think is connected to some of his strength so again there are Pros that have come with it and I understand why like conceptually why he did it but personally if I was Anthony Davis I would have lingered more around the body type he was in

2020 hey Jason I love this Channel and I think you provide desperately needed insightful content especially for a casual viewer and keep up the great work thank you for the uh kind words and for supporting the show I’m not a guy who generally likes plug- Inplay players in

Certain into certain eras and teams but I cannot help but wonder what if someone like Demar de rozan or Paul George was on ai’s Final team finals team I think the type of player that would greatly benefit the chances of that series being at least more competitive but then again

Who is guarding Shaq still yeah Shaq still would have been a massive problem but that was a team that grinded it out and just depended on Allen Iverson to take and make tough shots and so specifically the guy that I think would have been an interesting option there is

A Demar D rozan just because he was the kind of guy that like you could really uh he’s in my opinion a better like on an island score uh than Paul George can be because Paul George is just a little bit too dependent on his three-point

Shot he’s not as good at drawing fouls um demard de rosan I think like is a little bit bigger and sturdier for some of the more physical play back then I think Paul George for the record is a better player than DeMar rosen right now

That’s not what I’m trying to say but I just think in that like kind of boxed in like we just need someone to grind out points type of environment alongside that uh that Sixers team in 2001 I think Demar D rozan would have been a really interesting f

Next question hey Jason first off I love the show big LeBron fan here and I know you are as well I’ve said for years that I think personally the 2017 Cavs were better than the 2016 title team and that they just ran into the best team ever I

Know the regular season wasn’t great but when you look at the playoffs their run was inane curious if you agree and if you can provide some context as well so I I thought the 17 Cavs were obviously a much better offensive team than the 2016 team LeBron James kind of went up a

Level as a scorer between that uh from 2016 into 2017 2018 stretch LeBron really went up a level in terms of his consistency and his jump shot and just his overall feel as a score it was LeBron was really peaking in his offensive skill in that 2017 2018 range

Uh also like they just had totally nailed down all their spacing Concepts and the one-two punch of Kyrie and LeBron they were really huming on all cylinders offensively but it was one of their worst seasons of that era in terms of their overall focus and energy on the

Defensive end of the floor and so here’s the thing I don’t think it would mattered under any circumstances with how good that 2017 Warriors team was however had Kevin Durant not gone to the Warriors in 2017 was more or less a rematch of the Harrison Barnes Warriors

Versus the uh uh the 2017 Cavs I I think it would have been a great series but the Cavs would have been in some trouble in the sense that like even in that playoff run they didn’t really need to defend that much and so I wonder if

Their defense in 2016 they were just much sharper defensively overall from start to finish in the season and so I I I I don’t know what would have happened if the Cavs and warriors rematched in 2017 I really wanted to see that which is what kind of sucked about Kevin

Durant going there is it just kind of ruined what would have been a really fun rubber match uh because the 2017 Warriors are the best roster ever assembled in my opinion and they I mean the 2017 Warriors won 15 consecutive playoff games think about that like I

Don’t even I don’t even know if we’ve had a team won 15 win 15 straight regular season games this year and the Warriors literally won 15 straight uh playoff games in that 2017 run so like they they were just completely unbeatable and and uh but I do think

That 2017 Cavs is playing with a little bit of fire just with where they were at defensively at that point in the season and it was really just effort and focus and like discipline type stuff hey Jason I like your explanation on why it’s a better strategy to lean

Into higher field goal percentage shots at the end of close games is it also better to take higher field goal percentage shots when you have a decent lead to lower the variance of the game and lean into the trending outcome so in general I believe you lean on shot value

In the large sample at the end of games yes you want to hunt High field goal percentage also it’s about feeling the game so for instance like uh when you have a guy that you need to get in Rhythm that hasn’t been involved in the

Offense you want to find a way to get him in Rhythm when the other team let’s say you have an 18-point lead and the other team scores three four baskets in a row and they’re starting to regain control that’s a possession where it’s really important for you to identify a

High field goal percentage shot rather than a high shot value type of shot and again for those of you guys who don’t understand what I’m saying like shooting 30 5% from three is a higher value shot than shooting 40 45% on a two right but in that singular possession 45% is more

Than 35% so that’s what I mean in the large sample I want to lean into shot value we want to take the highest value shot but feeling out the game identifying when it’s important when you need baskets those pivotal possessions having really smart ball handlers that will track down high value shots within

That specific possession in terms of field goal percentage usually are the teams that uh manage the flow of offense over a game better next question really want to get into podcasting but I really don’t know where to start love basketball uh but I would primarily talk about football at the college and

Professional level any tips on how to start so a couple things it I think um it’s a blessing and a curse I think it’s the best possible time in the history of the industry to get involved because anybody can do it and you don’t need a ton in terms of investment upfront like

I uh I personally have a podcast that I do separate from this that I produce myself still to this day just like I used to with my basketball stuff before the volume came on board and uh for two suns podcast what I’ll do is like we recorded an episode at my buddy’s house

Talking about Shogun the other day and literally I set up my my phone on a tripod and it automatically pairs with my MacBook as a webcam and then I had a microphone that I used a plug a cheap plug-in microphone uh that I had so like

You can literally for like you could buy a used Macbook you know for what three 400 bucks and you can use whatever iPhone you have and buy a tripod for 30 bucks on Amazon and get a microphone for 30 bucks on Amazon and have all the equipment you need to to produce a

Podcast you can use like there are apps like Spotify for podcasters that allow you literally to host a podcast for free right like there are like YouTube is a an incredible tool that is completely free for you to distribute content social media is an incredible place for

You to put content out and advertise your podcast right so like it has never been a better time for you to get involved uh the flip side of that though is that it’s a very flooded field so if you do it very casually and you don’t in

Invest a ton of time into it you have to be prepared for that process to be more slow uh because there are going to be a lot of people out there that are Relentless with producing content that was a big thing that separated for me when I was getting into this industry I

Covered every single Lakers game after the game we went we went live right after every single Lakers game and so like we were first and we were going every day basically and then in between I’d cover the rest of the league by myself in these like uh other podcasts

That that I would do so like I was really really grinding at it and I was fortunate I had a flexible job at the time so I was able to kind of just fit it in there I had a wife who’s very supportive and was helping me uh you

Know pursue my dream of trying to make this happen so like just keep in mind it is flooded so like if you want to separate yourself you have to separate yourself through quality work and through consistency of your work as far as how to do it like it’s really this

Simple set up your and record get something out there when you do distribute it everywhere have it on a podcast feed have it on YouTube make sure you take clips of it put it on social media to direct people to those feeds as far as what content you cover

That’s the beautiful thing about YouTube you can have a podcast titled whatever but on YouTube you can just Target whatever that specific um subject matter is so for me my uh two sons podcast with with my buddy Luke we cover a lot of like TV shows and spe and movies but

Specifically I’m big into fantasy right so like I love Star Wars I love Lord of the Rings I Love Game of Thrones like shun is is something that’s right up my alley in terms of what I enjoy and appreciate obviously with the history element of it and so like we the The

Branding of the episode is surrounding the subject matter it’s kind of like these shows like you guys see like we I just do a show but we have a team of people that is really smart about identifying what is most uh you know uh like like interesting about whatever

We’re talking about and they brand it accordingly but like make sure you’re using YouTube make sure you’re using social media the reason why the algorithms on those apps they do the work for you in the sense that like as long as you’re talking about something interesting and as long as you’re being

Interesting in terms of the watch time those algorithms will continue to push your content out to other people and so the point is never been a better time to do it I highly recommend that if it’s something you’re interested in doing that you do it just because like you can

Do it on the side of another career it’s it’s a hobby for lack of a better term right um but as long as you in order to separate yourself you really have to make quality and quantity of content and that that’s just something to keep in mind because it is a very flooded

Industry at this point uh and one last little uh uh note on that front what works for me doesn’t necessarily work for everybody this is just my own personal experience uh being in this industry and I as is always the case I think it’s important to pick the brains

Of uh lots of different people that bring different perspectives because again what works for me might not work for you and what works for you might not work for me it’s just you know everyone’s in that regard how important will an improved Jaylen Brown be in a

Playoff series over the last 15 games he has a blistering 67% field goal percentage and 8.2 halfcourt drives per game while only turning the ball over 3.1% of the time how useful will his paint penetration be in a potential Milwaukee Milwaukie or Cleveland series I think Jaylen Brown’s Improvement is

Super exciting mainly just because he’s found a way to impact games in a way that doesn’t rely on his skill as much obviously he’s playing a very high level skill game right now but he’s really leveraging his athletic tools on both ends of the floor both as an on ball

Defender then also as a physical Rim pressure guy as you’ve been talking he’s been one of the main drivers of uh the Celtics have been the third best paint offense in the league of um over the last seven games so B like two weeks or so and Jen Brown’s been the primary

Driving force behind that so I absolutely think it’s encouraging and I absolutely think that it could help in the playoffs the main reason why is like so much of basketball can be mental and so having the ability to lean on athletic gifts when you’re not confident mentally is a great way to keep

Impacting winning and I just feel better about Jaylen Brown’s resiliency as a playoff impactor this year as a result next question do you think the NBA would ever consider doing away with the one through eight conference separated playoffs and instead go for a 1 through 16 March Madness style bracket think it

Would be incredible to see a seven game series between teams and players we wouldn’t otherwise see and I think it would open up the opportunity for alltime Legends to face off where they otherwise wouldn’t they’ll never do that just CU of travel it’s just too uh

Unrealistic to be imagine a game five a game four five6 seven in in basically the same two cities going back and forth like it just it wouldn’t work if you were going across the country what do you think is the realistic ceiling of the Timberwolves and what is their

Championship window this team is clearly wellb built right now but it’s interesting to see that there’s an age gap between the Anthony Edwards cat McDaniel’s group and the Rudy gobear Mike Conley group I see the issue of relying too heavily on Ant to generate for us and grind down half court offense

Situations and I don’t see how that is improved without some sort of big roster move bya trade because the cold soda ain’t exactly the h hottest free agent destination in the nation I’ve never heard that saying before the cold soda uh um my wife actually went and played college basketball up in Minnesota

Though she’s told me a little bit about it I just feel like by the time ant Ant-Man matures enough to make the right decisions and is able to be the best player on a championship team it’ll be three to four years from now and those

Guys will be too old can we actually win a chip with this group given the deepness of the league and the odd age gaps with the core guys couple of things I don’t I don’t like right now what’s exciting is the combination of perimeter defense and goar but when you have Elite

Perimeter defense you don’t need as much in terms of Rim protection this is something we’ve seen with the Nuggets right when you have kcp and Aaron Gordon it doesn’t make Nicole jokic’s limitations matter as much as a matter of fact it gives him a role that he can

Really thrive in defensively right so like that’s kind of the way I look at it in the long run first of all goar is only 31 so like in the event that you move on from goar and goar is not really a tradable contract because of his

Salary num so it like really as far as goar goes like I actually do think there’s a longer window here than you think but after gobear the way I look at it is you slide cat to Center and then you just have to find a Aaron Gordon

Esque type of power forward to put next to him you got to find somebody that can essentially be the low man that can be a rim protector and rebounder that allows Carl towns to be aggressive and pick and roll coverages up at the level where he can use his intelligence more than the

Physical gifts that he has right and so from that perspective um uh from that perspective like I actually am not really worried about the timeline stuff and I I do think a is advancing at a fast enough rate that I think you’ll be able to capitalize on the goar window at some

Point um few more do you uh do you feel like it is a lock for the 2024 Larry O’Brien trophy to be hoisted up by a western conference or Eastern Conference team I argue that the West has arguably been the more difficult conference particularly this season with the amount

Of tanking unorganized teams in the East so I’m on the fence because I kind of look at I look at the Clippers in the Bucks as like I put the Clippers slightly above the bucks but they’ve been struggling as of late and then now the suns are playing better so got to

Kind of like kind of factor them into that list a little bit I I would say that there’s I would say that like I give it like an 80% chance that either Denver or Boston wins they feel like the clear obvious choices and I definitely lean closer towards Denver in that

Regard so then the question becomes out of that Phoenix Clippers bucks group who’s more likely and I still lean towards the West between those two teams versus that one so like I’m going to go with I’m going to go with the Western Conference on that one I think the Bucks

Uh I think the Bucks might be the best chance to beat the Nuggets in the finals the gap between the two teams isn’t as large as people make it seem I’m a fan of both teams mainly because of Giannis and yic are my favorite players to watch

Over the past three years can you provide in details the advantages that either team has if this wants to play out potentially in the finals because I don’t believe any other team even the Celtics can beat Milwaukee in the East so I disagree in the sense that I think

Milwaukee has their work cut out for them to get out of the East but I do think they have a legitimate chance to get out so with that being the case looking quickly at matchups Brook Lopez is another guy who will struggled to guard Nicole joic uh over the course of

His series he’s had some success with him over the years but he’s got a high enough center of gravity that yic can kind of bump him off um Aaron Gordon is actually a decent matchup for Giannis I I think that on the let’s look first at the Denver on offense joic working

Against Lopez Giannis on the backline that’s like as good of a Duo as you can find there because Giannis has that ability to kind of be in two places at once and I think they will have some success there where I worry about Milwaukee’s at the guard position we

Just saw D’Angelo Russell cook Dame Lillard in large part because of the size differential these bigger skill guards are are starting to give Milwaukee some issues uh this has been an issue that we’ve seen kind of as of late in general with Milwaukee and I worry about Jamal Murray just like

Really really causing problems uh for their back court just because of how much bigger he is than all of them and then I don’t think like a guy like Jay Crowder can hang with a guy like Jamal either so I worry about that a little

Bit um you need to keep that size of the weak side because Michael Porter Jor is a guy who can really do damage on the on the offensive glass and then obviously you need a guy who can bother him with contests at his height so I like how

They matched up with Denver in the front Court uh just in the sense that I think Giannis is as good of a low man as you could have in that situation kind of helping off of Aron Gordon but I worry about them in the back court on the

Other end of the floor joic and and Aaron Gordon is about as good a front line as you could have to deal with the Yannis problem right and then they’re going to throw kcp on Dame for the entire series um uh again the Aaron Gordon with joic behind him is going to

Be something they’re going to be able to do against Giannis and have some success I’ve seen even in Euroleague basketball joic do a decent job guarding Giannis for stretches so like I again I just think the nuggets are a better team I think they match up a little bit better

I think that they’re going to have an easier time generating quality shots that doesn’t mean Milwaukee can’t win I think it would absolutely utterly depend on Dame just being an absolute Superstar because in that event you uh if you can actually Force the Nuggets to bring joic

Way up to the level of the screen and exist in rotation and kill teams with the Dame Yannis pick and roll I think they can have some success but I would still lean Denver in that matchup two more quick ones a lot of people upset that I didn’t mention D’Angelo Russell

In the in the last podcast I swear I talked about him he was the hero of the game he made the biggest play of the game at the end with that floater I mentioned him having 21 points in the fourth quarter I don’t really understand there’s a segment of Lakers fans I think

I hate DLo which is just completely nonsensical D’s won me over this year I’m a huge fan of DLo even before the season I had no issues with DLo I just looked at it as next to Austin Reeves he was the obvious guy that you had to

Trade just based on his salary number the years left on his contract and the fact that he wasn’t as playable in the playoffs last year two things have changed one I was super impressed even when DLo wasn’t playing very well I was impressed with his professionalism and then since he rejoined the starting

Lineup uh a couple months ago he’s just been a better player and like again this is something I harp about on the show but like I’m going to respond to new information and so like DLo is a better basketball player now than he was when I

Was saying some of the things I said about him over the summer like that’s just that’s just a fact and so I’m not married to any opinion I don’t have any personal beef with DLo I like DLo a lot he’s now become one of my favorite players because I’ve learned to love not

Just his personality and his professionalism but now he’s also improved so much that there’s a lot to love just on the basketball side of thing so like I did mention him last night big fan of him don’t know don’t really know what else to say last question hey Jason do you really think

The Bucks defense got so awesome just because the Bucks went on a small win streak against Bad teams except the Clippers it doesn’t seem like they are really any better than they were before Doc Rivers got there and the offense is definitely slower and worse off so a

Couple things first of all I uh actually am more encouraged about their offense that I’ve been all season just because some of the stuff they’re figuring out figuring out with the Dame Yannis pick and roll um they’re just starting to figure out some stuff in terms of their

Spacing and their timing on the roles that is really encouraging as for the defense I wanted to wait for this West coach trip to really evaluate them for that very reason and they haven’t defended well so like I still have major defensive concerns but I do think they’re trying harder since Doc Rivers

Came and there’s still plenty of time here down the stretch of the season to evaluate them further which we will do So

Jason Timpf answers fan mailbag questions about the hottest topics in the NBA. Jason explains how Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are the BIGGEST THREAT to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, reveals the biggest mistake Anthony Davis has made, and much more.

Timeline:
00:00 – Did Anthony Davis make mistake bulking up?
02:12 – 76ers-Lakers NBA Finals hypothetical
03:30 – 2017 Cavaliers better than 2016 Cavaliers?
05:44 – Shot selection debate
07:05 – How to get into podcasting
11:30 – Jaylen Brown’s playoff impact
12:36 – Would NBA ever change playoff format?
13:05 – Timberwolves ceiling
15:03 – Western Conference destined to win NBA Finals?
15:57 – Do Bucks have best chance to beat Nuggets
18:38 – D’Angelo Russell’s monster night
19:58 – Believe in Bucks?

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