Clippers are hot... Lakers are not!!!

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[00:00:10] What our grassroots world is your boy, Vincent. It is FRPC Hoops. We back on the air, Front Runner

[00:00:16] Podcast Collective and we are late. We were supposed to get you something by

[00:00:22] while Wednesday and I know it's a day late and a dollar short but we had a

[00:00:29] week. With a family member who went into the hospital so you know things happen.

[00:00:36] So we are now back and we are now on the air and I am excited to do it. We have

[00:00:42] a lot to get into in regards to the NBA. So we're going to get into that momentarily.

[00:00:52] The things that are like house cleaning measures, you will get a second pot before the

[00:00:59] weekend is over. Do not worry yourself about that. We got a ton of stuff in this

[00:01:05] pot so you're still going to get the two pods a week. No questions there whatsoever and

[00:01:11] then we will go ahead and get back on regular schedule next week where you should expect

[00:01:20] a pod like at the first part of the week and then the back half part of the week. So we're

[00:01:26] getting back into that situation and I'll have clarification on dates and times and are

[00:01:32] not of dates whether it be Monday Friday or be Tuesday Friday or Monday Thursday,

[00:01:42] we will have something and I'll probably have it on the next podcast. So keep it locked

[00:01:47] here and we will go ahead and now get into this one. First and foremost what we're going to

[00:01:55] talk about is we're going to talk about the Los Angeles Clippers. Clippers are now 21 and 12

[00:02:03] Brody in the beard have shown tremendous unsubstitious by just sacrificing their games.

[00:02:14] I mean we can talk about a lot of things here and I have not been the biggest hardened

[00:02:21] proponent at all. You know my thoughts on how he left Brooklyn Houston and even you know

[00:02:29] Philadelphia, even though I think that was more on the more you front it will probably his issue

[00:02:37] more than anything else but that being said the way that hardened and whispered because those

[00:02:45] two are the guys that actually had to really sacrifice their game and we'll talk about

[00:02:51] usage rate in a second as well but I just love how both of them were playing. I love just the

[00:03:00] the willingness for Westbrook to go to the bench. He did not do that with the Lakers.

[00:03:08] He was he through a fit. Maybe it wasn't communicated very well we'll get into the Lakers a little

[00:03:16] bit later but it is actually working now and what has happened obviously we talked about a couple

[00:03:29] weeks ago. This collider Leonard has also gone up and been the player that we know

[00:03:35] a collider beat. Now he's had a hip issue the last couple games but they don't think it's serious

[00:03:43] and he should be back on court shortly. Let me give you a couple of numbers that you kind of need to

[00:03:51] think about. Westbrook is averaging 11 points a game in 23 minutes a night so this is a far cry

[00:04:04] from a guy who was a like 36 to 38 a minute a game guy and now he's going to relegate it to a bench roll

[00:04:12] and again whether we saw what Westbrook's future was before Westbrook it doesn't it doesn't

[00:04:24] change the fact that he has made some adjustments. We get on people for not playing the right way

[00:04:34] not having the right mental attitude about certain situations but we're also going to spotlight

[00:04:41] athletes when they actually do the right thing and Westbrook for all of the issues that he had last

[00:04:49] year he looks like a fountain of hope this year. I mean he's smiling things are going well

[00:04:58] and the team is winning which is always very very important when it comes to this situation. Now

[00:05:08] let's get a little bit into hardens number 17.6 per game as far as points eight assists

[00:05:16] and we'll get 34 minutes again. Now those aren't peak hard numbers and we'll get into that in a

[00:05:25] second but it is what actually is needed for the clippers right now for them to be successful

[00:05:32] and what we are also seeing is done play just a high level brand of basketball and you can never

[00:05:39] be mad about things like that. He's providing a steady force on offense and he remember when

[00:05:50] they were looking to do this when they brought Westbrook in they thought he could stabilize the offense

[00:05:56] but now you got a real coin guard who has a real feel for the game he has a real feel for

[00:06:01] getting the ball to the player at the exact right time. He also took when they had the little

[00:06:10] losing streak with when he first got their heart and took Zubakjasai and they worked on the

[00:06:17] clicking roll after the games and if you noticed over the last 10 to 12 games that clicking roll

[00:06:24] has been phenomenal. So Kudos to Harden on making some of these justice man we are

[00:06:33] amen I got to give it to him. The other thing that he's doing he's providing great energy and

[00:06:38] physicality on defense. He's a load he's always been load he has great hands and he's been

[00:06:47] getting a lot of deflections and stills and it's been really interesting to watch

[00:06:55] now we're also gonna get into here's the thing that I want to talk to you about.

[00:07:02] Peacard and right he was getting a 20-plus shots of game right with the Houston rockets

[00:07:11] this is like MVP season hard and this is you know 35 points of game hard and that guy.

[00:07:18] Point guard Harden is getting up 11.1 shots of game again we asked for change

[00:07:31] and we've gotten it we asked for Harden to fit in and he has so no this is not all well you know

[00:07:43] trash harden whatever the case and he'd be no no we're gonna get glad to win it is call for

[00:07:48] and right now with a 21 into 12 record with them both playing so unselfishly

[00:07:55] collidered player on a high level Paul George playing on a high level this team is back

[00:08:01] and this is a team that we literally have to consider one of the teams that is going to be

[00:08:09] a contender at the top of the western conference now that western conference is loaded

[00:08:16] shots out to Minnesota timber walls for having the best record in the west and shots out to

[00:08:25] the Oklahoma City Thunder who are now second in the west is pretty damn interesting I must say

[00:08:38] now here's the thing we know that Harden is is hunting a lucrative deal you know something you

[00:08:44] know a contract extension we're having you we can talk about we can talk about why

[00:08:52] he's playing this way or whatever is it going to is he going to change his clouds back once he

[00:08:57] gets some money or whatever here's the things that I will tell you

[00:09:02] is that if you look at what you are getting from Harden this year if you're looking

[00:09:07] at the credit activity the way he's playing a game should you reward this and the key is

[00:09:17] will he continue to play like this once he gets to back their questions they are questions

[00:09:27] but what you can actually see right now is a willingness to give up

[00:09:36] someone himself for the betterment of the team and again that's all we can ever ask for

[00:09:44] now here's a question that I'm going to ask X with him playing the way he has in plan James Harden

[00:09:51] that person that we're talking about would you give him a three-year deal

[00:09:59] give me a one X at front runner PC or head up my guy Nico at Nico FR PC

[00:10:11] I really would like to know I know there's a bunch of Harden stands out there they don't think

[00:10:15] he can do anything wrong I definitely understand that but I want to hear from true

[00:10:21] clicker fans I want to hear from who fans you know who might need a guard are you willing to give

[00:10:29] Harden if what you've seen this year and you believe in it are you willing to give Harden a

[00:10:35] three-year deal do you think that Leopard will actually change his spots to the point where

[00:10:42] you can trust him enough to give him a long-term extension again hit me up on X and let me know

[00:10:51] I'll be really interested to find that out a couple other clip or notes that I want to

[00:10:56] throw at you is this there's seventh and the league in offense offensive rating is 118.5 right now

[00:11:04] in the defensive rating they are 11th currently and they are sporting a 1113.6 defensive rating

[00:11:14] um they are just playing well that that little buff in the world that they had early in the season

[00:11:21] seems to have dissipated and they are better for it. Couple more notes on Harden and Russ

[00:11:32] keep in mind both of these guys have a come now now we have they played together before and

[00:11:37] had a tremendous amount of success individually and league. The other thing that you have to understand

[00:11:44] is that they both do not have a championship at this present time and I am sure that is something

[00:11:53] that I'll put it this way. Westbrook showed a kind of blouse a fair attitude towards winning last year

[00:12:04] I'm not saying he's not a winner please do not misguest through what I'm saying but Westbrook

[00:12:10] seems very comfortable in his skin he also feels very comfortable in his career now.

[00:12:17] If you got him to the side got him alone had a couple drinks you know everything is flowing

[00:12:25] everything is nice I wonder if you would get a more open answer when it comes to

[00:12:35] does Westbrook thinking thinks that he needs a title for his legacy.

[00:12:43] Now the one person that we don't have a question with that is James Harden because he actually told us

[00:12:49] this is what Harden said I'm still focused on adding an NBA championship to all the

[00:12:59] phenomenal statistical career that I've had. It is something that alludes me and it's

[00:13:09] something that keeps me up at night so I think my man is still looking for that ring and I

[00:13:19] think that as long he's still on that chase and he can play at a high level and the great thing

[00:13:24] about Harden is that the speed that he's at right now is basically the speed he's probably going

[00:13:31] to be at for the rest of his career it wasn't like he had this crazy vertical or this tremendous

[00:13:42] speed or anything like that he's built like a tank he can get to any place on the court and as

[00:13:50] long as they continue to allow this due to use his forearm he is going to be able to create space

[00:13:57] and create an open shot for himself as long as he wants to so the clippers of plan well James Harden

[00:14:08] has come in and assimilated himself very well to this team and West Russell Westbrook

[00:14:17] has taken a back seat and is coming off the bench it has nothing to say it truly is upside down

[00:14:27] year I know it's a leap year but I'm also going to officially say 2024 is upside down year

[00:14:36] because we didn't see any of this coming but a welcome change then

[00:14:45] literally sitting on harden the whole time so it's a welcome change I'm actually here for it

[00:14:51] so kudos to James Harden could owe us to Russell Westbrook on there if I'm not going to start

[00:14:57] and 33 games in proof isn't putty we're going to move on and let's talk about

[00:15:07] the nicks and raptors and we'll talk about the trade a little bit more now there's been a

[00:15:13] couple games played OGM nobody is doing OGM and a noby things and what I mean by that is that

[00:15:22] it's not the points is not the recount is not him facilitating the offense it's exactly

[00:15:31] what he was in Toronto which is a guy who can he definitely understands defense he takes on the challenges

[00:15:41] of the toughest offensive player on the opposite team and his job is to make them as inefficient

[00:15:53] as possible and he doesn't want to smile on his face which also means that

[00:16:02] town table nicks at coach has a smile on his face as well so he fits like a glove with that

[00:16:10] team so what we've seen so far now mind you mind you this is one game it is one

[00:16:22] so we are going to save our judgments on who won who lost the trade whatever I've heard

[00:16:33] raptors fans or people who are like on buried and quickly side they won the trade I've heard

[00:16:41] people say that the nicks is one one the trade as the old school Carson something that

[00:16:48] some some I said to me a long time ago whoever got the best player in the deal one

[00:16:56] well right now OGM noby is the best player now quickly can become

[00:17:02] he's a really good player now and I do believe and we'll get to him in a second because he's played

[00:17:09] well since he's been in Toronto but right now OGM noby is the best player in this deal

[00:17:17] and if that's the case then if that's what we're going off of next one the trade but I believe

[00:17:24] that with this situation is that this might be one of those deals that everybody won and I know

[00:17:32] people really hate hearing that but if you look at it it's all needs on both sides of the aisle

[00:17:42] Toronto needed another ball handler another creator OGM noby who wanted to do that it's still really

[00:17:49] not that guy and getting somebody also who can just provide like outside shooting and just

[00:17:59] fearlessness it's exactly what Toronto wanted and they also got our jay barit who is a six with six

[00:18:07] win who yes all be it hasn't shot the ball very well we would definitely like to see more play

[00:18:15] making ability or offensive creation with him but at the end of the day if you can get a guy who

[00:18:23] was like more committed on defense and he basically becomes like 70 80% of what OGM noby became or is

[00:18:35] I think you can go ahead and look at this trade and say hey we did very well for ourselves when

[00:18:43] it comes to Toronto see if there's anything couple more notes on this game than I need to tell

[00:18:52] you guys about not think that's about it man I think we're good there oh there were a couple

[00:19:03] things I wanted to let you know quickly I wanted to talk about did we know that quickly was the

[00:19:10] all-ton leader in plus minus in New York Nick history when I heard that stat I was like what

[00:19:19] that's nuts what it's true the other thing that this deal does for Toronto it links since

[00:19:28] it links things out the bench it provides them with a little just some more options to go off of

[00:19:37] that then they had previously and in New York's situation what it does for them it kind of

[00:19:45] things out the bench it allows Josh Hart in Quentin Grimes to get minutes Dante Deave in Chenzel seems to be

[00:19:55] fitting very well in Gotham so another wing that can help Julius Randall on the boards

[00:20:03] is always going to be something that especially for Toronto is going to be something that he's

[00:20:13] gonna want and he's always going to lean defense before he wins offence I got a couple numbers

[00:20:22] that I want to get off today I want to shout out on X NBA University so they have a couple of stats

[00:20:36] here that I want to talk about and it kind of leads me into the next thing because we talked about

[00:20:40] the clip earlier and now I want to give you a step the effective field goal percentage

[00:20:49] and they even gave like a definition it's on wide open kitchen shoots field goal attempts

[00:20:59] the leakers right now are 29th in the NBA who's 30th take one guess it is the Detroit

[00:21:13] Pistons at 30 who are shooting at 51% at this present time okay so we saw the game last night

[00:21:26] and we're gonna get into that right now um I got notes here but I want to

[00:21:34] man I'm uh oh that was tough last night okay so here's what I had from last night

[00:21:42] and I also have just thought today I just want to give you guys watching leakers in the first quarter

[00:21:48] last night was a soul exhausting experience turning the ball all over

[00:21:55] camera edition and Vanderbilt right now they can't throw a P in the ocean I mean it is is bad

[00:22:04] they weren't by themselves last night but those guys in particular are the kind of what I'm talking

[00:22:09] well I know um last night in the first quarter the leakers had 10 turnovers

[00:22:15] now if you are a leaker fan or basketball fan and you you know you watch the leakers they

[00:22:22] got enough to horrendous starts all year one of the reasons for that

[00:22:31] now yesterday was different and we'll talk about last night because I think there's something there

[00:22:39] that we need to go ahead and really dig into but I will tell you right now

[00:22:47] is that the Angela Russell for the most part was starting those games now he injured his

[00:22:53] tailbone he's been out for a couple games he nine times at a ten will be going to the bench one

[00:23:02] he comes back I'm not sure we're gonna get into all of it there's a lot of leaker stuff that

[00:23:07] we need to get into but the Angela Russell is part of the problem and I'm not saying that he's a

[00:23:22] terrible player and all this no I think actually if the Angela Russell could embrace being a spot-up

[00:23:28] shooter and occasional second side initiator I think that the Angela Russell could have a fantastic career

[00:23:40] accident you can make a lot of money instead of leading for a long long period of time

[00:23:44] if he decided to do that well I will tell you is that the one thing that I don't love about

[00:23:51] Angela is that he's very casual with the basketball and it leads to crazy turnovers he's also

[00:24:00] prone to take up illiterate by a shot that also leads to fast break opportunities or

[00:24:11] second break opportunities you know with the with the guy come out from behind the trail guy

[00:24:21] they got to get serious about that they got to clean that up last night was just an abomination

[00:24:27] they look completely this interest it last night this had nothing to do with

[00:24:32] the Angela Russell last night nothing at all this had to do with the leakers

[00:24:42] basically not caring now everybody will say well that's not true these professionals whatever

[00:24:50] I understand the date care but it's so in a shot started not to fall

[00:24:56] you could see the energy just just die in that team and there was no one not one guy on that team

[00:25:08] hey step it up step it up step it up step it up

[00:25:13] multiple players talked about how the Miami heat last night

[00:25:19] communicated again they lost to the Miami heat last night without Jimmy Butler

[00:25:30] hotcast was doing dream shakes on on the bran yel right for real he was he took the brine

[00:25:39] to the post

[00:25:42] post number about 16 feet away from the basket on the on the far side it then goes on the left

[00:25:48] hand side of the court west side of court and this is in the second half and just post it up

[00:25:55] the one on fake to the right way back left turned around shot it right over the one now

[00:26:10] the only reason I bring that up is because I love how many hotcast junior and you know I love

[00:26:15] you say late but the uninspired played by the leakers last night was troubling in a lot of ways

[00:26:24] I'm not down with the rotation I have not really expressed how I feel about cam reddish on this podcast

[00:26:35] but here's a deal when you are as talented and as big and as athletic as cam reddish is now

[00:26:48] listen if you can't shoot that's you know you can go ahead get practice and whatever but some

[00:26:54] dudes just can't they you need to buy in on the defensive side of the ball and I'll hear a lot of

[00:27:03] leaker fans tell me oh no he gets great effort on the defensive side how come he loses his man at

[00:27:11] least four times a game for like a easy layup or dunk it's like it has to be four to six times

[00:27:22] again and I understand that maybe some of this wouldn't be going on if gave a fancend it wasn't hurt

[00:27:29] I get that but at this point you're looking at the leakers we talk about LeBron James and we talk

[00:27:35] about AD and we talk about legacy and you know what they want accomplished in all this

[00:27:44] I told you before the year started I saw the leakers like it's a seventh or AC in the West

[00:27:51] that's what they're playing like they're playing like a playing team

[00:27:57] the lack of movement is also a lawman to me when you see the leakers get the basketball now LeBron is

[00:28:06] a pretty plotting type of offensive initiator but once LeBron is not in the game how come we can't

[00:28:14] speed it up and move the ball around the quadrants of the court especially in the half court

[00:28:22] Reddish doesn't move he barely cuts Vandal does cut he didn't cut a lot last night there was

[00:28:32] a lot of energy from him last night I like to see Austin reuse set a couple more screens honestly

[00:28:42] he did play well last night he did show some grit but if you're a guy who's an energy guy

[00:28:49] like ready for a Vandal bill or hell even really hot to more now really hurt so

[00:28:56] we're going to worry about that right now but move the basketball get some energy get some flow

[00:29:03] get something going on because you don't have the you don't have the offensive firepower just to

[00:29:10] stand out there and say hey I'm whomever it just shoot the ball you know this is not Tariah

[00:29:19] Reshalibarton can't read it just far from that take shot princess has some good games he's

[00:29:26] has some bad games he's what he is he's a rocler but the leakers don't look good they don't get back

[00:29:37] on defense 80 is having to clean up way too much on the defense societal ball and if they don't get

[00:29:48] whatever is going on if they don't bite the sleep from their eyes soon they're gonna blink

[00:29:55] and they're not gonna be in the plan tournament they're gonna be on the outside looking in

[00:30:01] and now we gotta go through another furious rush just to get into the plan tournament like last year

[00:30:12] I'll say it like this this is year five of LeBron James in a leaker uniform

[00:30:23] and if you would have told me that we would spend more days under 500 then we spent

[00:30:33] above 500 I've been like oh that's crazy we got LeBron AD there's no way I mean I can understand

[00:30:43] injuries or whatever but we're not gonna be this bad yeah this is what we are this is what the

[00:30:50] leakers are and now on here's the best part we still haven't had the 10 game stretch of LeBron being

[00:31:00] out we still haven't had the 10 game stretch of AD being out for like a hip flexor or knee or a back

[00:31:10] or a calf injury we haven't had any of those yet and this team is 17 and 18 they are now

[00:31:20] three in 10 since the in season tournament and now reports are the Don Reham might be in trouble

[00:31:36] sources who said that the non-firm lineups that are out there in here's the thing

[00:31:57] I understand those injuries and whatever but explain to me when you have the Angela Russell

[00:32:05] and you have Austin how we start a game with Jared Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish on the court

[00:32:18] like last year you're sitting here in his Edygbitty guards all over the place

[00:32:28] we had Russell Lesbrook garden six foot 10 guys right that was last year

[00:32:39] this year Darry Ham wants to put everybody at 67 in the above on the on the floor

[00:32:49] here's what I need him to do Darry if you want to hold on to your job bro

[00:32:56] here's what you need to do put shooters on the court put shooters on the court next to LeBron

[00:33:05] James next to Anthony Davis now if they can provide some resistance on defense it

[00:33:17] isn't better but you're putting two non shooters out there to start a game next to LeBron

[00:33:25] who shot his if he I know he shot it very well this year but that's not history tells us that's

[00:33:33] not what LeBron usually is so explain to me how okay yeah you don't have gave Vincent fine

[00:33:46] I'm not saying you got a start max Christie what damn he finally got some run last 92

[00:33:57] but the liquor's ain't trouble and they don't look good it's not even about them losing

[00:34:04] and how they're losing it's just the lack of resistance that was in them last night

[00:34:16] Miami could get to anywhere they wanted to on the court it wasn't like bam had this great game

[00:34:25] here's uh there's three there's I have so many stats off this game that I haven't even got to

[00:34:32] on just on a rant right now let me give you some stuff to back up what I'm talking about okay

[00:34:39] first of all I wrote this down 80 had three field goal attempts with five four team left to go

[00:34:47] in the second quarter what 80 had three field goal attempts with five minutes to go

[00:34:58] in the second quarter he wasn't in foul trouble he had his normal rest he didn't have to go

[00:35:04] back to locker room for injury to use the bathroom or anything like that explain to me how

[00:35:11] 80 has three field goal attempts with literally less than half of the second quarter left to go

[00:35:22] playing quality basketball here's the new slogan for the lakers

[00:35:32] lakers basketball no they gave it away again that's the new slogan so the clippers have

[00:35:42] street lights over spot lights the lakers have lakers basketball

[00:35:50] no they gave it away again that's their slogan at this point somebody on the marketing team for

[00:35:58] the lakers needs to get on that actually tell you truth all right couple more stats um

[00:36:07] this was horrific in every way now here's the best part so the lakers come back a little bit

[00:36:15] so in third quarter 80 finishes up it has 24 points 16 rebounds five assists five blocks on 14 shots

[00:36:27] so he went from like six points to like 24 points by the end of the lakers actually it was like

[00:36:33] he had like nine or ten because he had some free throws but you get to point also

[00:36:39] the lakers shot for a 30 from three last night for a 30 hmm um oh every heat player that played

[00:36:54] double digit minutes all score double digit points so eight guys played double digit minutes

[00:37:03] and every last one on them had double digit points so is it panic time with the lakers

[00:37:13] maybe does Darwin have a lot to answer for you betcha and here's the thing the lakers still have

[00:37:26] like eleven more days before January 15th and you know it really opens up the trade market

[00:37:37] so if they still and they hit their they're at home but their plans and teams coming in

[00:37:46] like I think they get Memphis one of those games but they get a bunch of playoff

[00:37:52] teams on this home stand so they got to get it together I mean they got to get it together

[00:38:00] and get it together quickly um I just again I am disappointed it's not the word

[00:38:13] I think the word is just this is what the Levant era has been

[00:38:21] you know we had the title in the bubble I will never I will never downgrade that title whatsoever

[00:38:30] because everybody had to play in it with the thing that I want to say is that if this is not

[00:38:37] the return on the investment that we thought we were going to get when we got Levant James

[00:38:44] we've had some cool moments he passed Korean as the all-time scoring leader

[00:38:51] we did get that championship we did get a run to the Western Conference Finals

[00:38:59] but this has been marked by injuries in consistency not able to field

[00:39:08] the proper team around Levant I gave a lot of credit to Rao Palinka in the all-season

[00:39:17] I thought the moves were great and now I'm looking at these moves and I'm not like

[00:39:24] questioning the moves because I do think they were still pretty solid I just wonder if you can

[00:39:33] continue to lean on Levant James and Anthony Davis to get you to where you need to go

[00:39:42] I will say this the Lecker's need shooting they needed desperately and James you were

[00:39:48] you 15 can't come soon enough because I would put all of a few of them for shooting all of them

[00:39:57] anybody who shooting 38 plus percent from three I yeah hell if he can play some defense even better

[00:40:06] while I'm just telling you we are looking for like 40% three coin shooters

[00:40:11] of Lee at in the 6x to 6x8 range but those guys are hard to come by

[00:40:17] C O G M N O V right all right couple of the notes power

[00:40:23] NBA University on X Deren Fox on pull up jumpers let me tell you something check this out

[00:40:33] in the 19 in the 19 uh 20 season he shot 5.5 field of field raw attempts at a 42.4 effective

[00:40:49] field goal percentage and that point in time now pull up jumpers this year 2324

[00:40:58] he shooting 9.3 field goal attempts in pull up jumpers right

[00:41:08] he's also his effective field goal percentage in that time is 56.3 Fox doesn't stop there

[00:41:22] 41.1 on pull up three or 5.2 attempts

[00:41:29] again crazy just nutty nutty numbers from Deren Fox and think about what that dude has to go

[00:41:40] the room in the west like as far as guards is concerned you still got stuff in the west

[00:41:47] you know say and they say somehow consider Luca Donchage a guard

[00:41:53] with that no he plays guard I'm just saying he's like 240 pounds he should be in the front court

[00:42:03] oh here's another staff where this is so cool this is also part NBA University

[00:42:10] corner three is Kings Malik Bayesley is at shot 78 corner threes

[00:42:19] and he shoot net 57.7% and niece Smith has shot 67 corner threes he issued a row bus 53.7

[00:42:32] in corner threes and Deren and Fini Smith that shot 67 corner threes and he shoot in 46.3

[00:42:41] the reason why I bring up the name of Deren Smith and Aaron Nees Smith is that if I'm the

[00:42:48] lacquerist those are the type guys I'm looking for I need to do that can stand and shoot

[00:42:54] according to three we need shooters desperately in the lot lot

[00:43:02] all right oh here is the best part there were the Grudge Watt chapping last night

[00:43:09] okay um Milwaukee in the paces clay now let me give you a little backstory the last time

[00:43:17] they played that was ballgate right so yawning scores the career

[00:43:26] Milwaukee bug single game record right he scored 64 points and I guess one of the

[00:43:34] paces I ask her sheet weight and also got his first bucket in that game and there was a

[00:43:41] controversial over the ball and yawning lost his mind it was like if you don't give me my ball

[00:43:48] y'all not going home because we gonna keep you prisoner he didn't say that but basically I

[00:43:53] saw they look like my man was really heated so they played last night and uh yeah

[00:44:04] okay so four paces players shot seven plus free throws last night okay now how about

[00:44:16] her and had a good night in the sense of he stuffed the stat sheet 26 9 and 11 but can I give you a

[00:44:28] key stat here it was the bench the bench went crazy for the paces mother and had okay looks this

[00:44:41] this is their plus minus okay then mother and had plus 22 oh we talking was a plus 35

[00:44:52] TJ McConnell was a plus 31 and I as a Jackson was a plus 29 last night they were getting

[00:45:02] contributions from a lot of people and they had kind of struggled since the in-season tournament

[00:45:10] but they're starting to get it back again and listen they still can't play a lick of defense

[00:45:17] it's still terrible but last night they boat up they definitely boat up against the bucks

[00:45:25] because we now have a little rivalry in the NBA the bucks and paces I don't think they exchange

[00:45:35] Christmas cards at all during the holiday season I think there was a bunch of animosity and like

[00:45:43] like me and mugging and uh like wait till we see you again another key stat from that game is that

[00:45:54] the paces had 14 offensive rebounds in the bucks hat eight just numbers that were going at you

[00:46:05] I like the paces of competitiveness in that game like I said they've been going through like quite

[00:46:13] a little tail spin lately and for them to say oh no no no no we don't wake up for this one

[00:46:19] and we're gonna show you how how you should be taken as seriously now I'm not saying that

[00:46:28] paces are a a team that you really need to worry about in the playoffs I'm not saying they're

[00:46:33] gonna make a long run in the playoffs or anything like that I think this has been amazing for them

[00:46:40] this year I think just seeing the growth and development of Haliburton and some of their other guys

[00:46:48] is gonna great but I will tell you that it is that game was fantastic in a lot of ways here's

[00:46:58] a couple other numbers that you need to know about the paces score at 70 bench points last night

[00:47:04] to the buck 16 tell you right now Janis and James are awesome but they cannot do it by themselves

[00:47:13] they're gonna need some help middle thing has played better so this is not a middle to the thing

[00:47:19] this is just a bag of game by day and time was definitely post calling last night I don't

[00:47:29] think the watch is working last night 13 points three of 16 from the floor one of nine from

[00:47:36] three last night again it's one game they still are one of the better teams in league and hell

[00:47:44] it is I just saw them beat San Antonio which listen it's not like San Antonio's awesome but

[00:47:52] that was a competitive game tonight and Janis took that game seriously after the loss

[00:48:00] and properly put up 44 tonight this is what winning teams do and he did it it it was just like

[00:48:09] hey listen we we gonna shake that one off and we gonna come in here and we gonna beat a team

[00:48:16] that was up to play them because win by Yamuma was up to play Janis after Takumo and they put

[00:48:25] on a show in the fourth quarter so you have them caught those highlights I was suggest that you do

[00:48:33] okay Janis put up 44 and win be put up 27 so the buck's have record

[00:48:43] 25 10 so it's not like the bucks or this middling team that had no identity they are basically

[00:48:52] in a situation where they just got tightened things up right they need to figure out what the

[00:48:58] deficiencies are see if they have any ammunition as far as trade ammunition to go out and get whatever

[00:49:04] they can whatever deficiencies they have but a lot of their thing is going to be internal

[00:49:13] as long as Middleton stays healthy and we can route him back up to close listen he doesn't have to be

[00:49:20] Middleton against Phoenix in the finals he doesn't need to be that but a consistent 16 to 20 every

[00:49:32] night pretty good defense and you know this is body just looking more lively as it has lately

[00:49:40] I think that is going to be suffice but I loved the game last night I loved the energy I

[00:49:48] loved the caution of the paces I loved that they were like we are not going to be stepped on by you

[00:49:54] and actually we're going to be trash so there's pretty much what happened so

[00:49:59] we have been promising you more drought coverage and we're about to get to it right now

[00:50:07] I'm going to give you a couple profiles on a couple guys that I'm going to have and look at it

[00:50:12] and have some thoughts on we will have something towards the middle of the month that will be on

[00:50:21] the website which is frontrunner pc.com

[00:50:27] and we will also have a correlating pod that goes with that and I look forward

[00:50:34] to Nico and his additive of information that he's going to compiling and toiling for us

[00:50:44] basically sits at timber since I promised that my guy was going to be here and coming

[00:50:49] and doing all this and everything like that my guy is coming back shortly but he's doing a lot of

[00:50:55] work in the meantime and I can't wait to kind of spring that on you guys so look forward to

[00:51:01] that coming and the next two to three weeks. All right let's get to a couple guys

[00:51:11] I want to talk about Ron Holland a little bit and Ron Holland right now plays for the G-League

[00:51:18] and he's six eight he's 200 pounds he's 19 years of age he is

[00:51:28] athletically he's his athletically gifted I mean jump high run fast just agility off the you know

[00:51:43] off the charts here's the thing he's completely athlete he has a nice frame for

[00:51:53] and a frame that will fill out okay so six eight 200 pounds he's great body control

[00:52:02] so when he gets it either in transition or if he gets like a wide open lane to the to the bucket

[00:52:10] if somebody comes in and tries to defend him he has a lot of just control over his body he can

[00:52:18] manipulate it in all sorts of different ways to get to the basket and shoot the wall

[00:52:27] and he's a fluid athlete you know he looks smooth out there but here's the thing

[00:52:34] you gotta be able to shoot it my man like I'm gonna tell you right now I am not falling for the banana

[00:52:41] in the tailpipe again I have seen so many six seven to six nine dudes who are super athletic

[00:52:52] jump out the gym look like Superman and basketball shorts and then they can't get on the court

[00:53:01] because he can't hit a jump shot so I'm not I know he's in the top 10 for a lot of people

[00:53:12] but I can tell you that why Holland is not in my top 10 he is not and again this is

[00:53:22] gold off what I saw last year and I wanted to definitely make some adjustments to how I scout

[00:53:32] how I look at players how I value a player's I'm not saying that he can't be a good player

[00:53:38] I'm not saying that he can't check those boxes but I I'm gonna need something other than

[00:53:44] uber super athlete to get me excited about whether he can actually stay on the court

[00:53:52] for more than three minutes when the other team is absolutely ignoring him

[00:54:00] by the way I see it all the time we can't retish all the down time we can't retish

[00:54:07] super athlete jumps out the building super fast super long all these things and guess what

[00:54:17] 29% from three not gonna cut it really really is not gonna cut it

[00:54:27] I want to check in with Ryan Holland probably in March and see what the development of the

[00:54:37] shot looks like and talk to people and see what see what kind of work he's been doing but right now

[00:54:43] my man has some work to do but definitely not in my top 10 another guy that I want to talk about

[00:54:50] he's not in my top 10 but I want to give you a name that you might have not heard of

[00:54:56] or if you are that deep deep draft Nick guy you definitely heard of this guy

[00:55:02] to John A. Salon is a 6.9 200 crown wing for France okay he's 18 years old

[00:55:13] actually was about 6.10 he's 18 years old has self creation he has good natural

[00:55:23] feel on offense like he can if he doesn't see you he can feel you and get you the ball in the

[00:55:30] proper place okay he has acknowledgement on small player so if he gets a it doesn't switch

[00:55:41] and he has like a 6.3 6 foot 4 guy on him he understands that he's gonna go to work

[00:55:48] and go to work immediately before the double team gets there and in the open court he makes quick

[00:55:57] decisions he can if he gets the ball and he sees somebody he'll do the hit ahead

[00:56:04] as far as that's concerned to the guy who's already in the front court waiting on the

[00:56:09] pass you know getting the break started so he's good with that good rebounder for somebody so

[00:56:17] slight I like that I like the just a tenacity of this guy 39.6 from three okay 39.6 from three now

[00:56:34] here's the thing I will say about Salon he's only playing about 20 minutes right now so this is

[00:56:40] not a big sample size he's not taking it's not like he's taken Duke he's playing like 34 minutes for

[00:56:47] Duke and shooting 39.6 from 3 but he's playing in a league a professional

[00:56:56] players a good league and here's the thing he's doing what he's asked to do so it's like

[00:57:05] yeah we need to stand in the corner shoot three we need you to hedge on screens we need you to be a

[00:57:15] weak side ram protector we need those things from you he can do he does those things he does those

[00:57:27] things in speed I think there's more to the game I think there is some you know I think there's

[00:57:35] there's some stuff that he definitely needs to work on but I think a lot of his there

[00:57:41] and I don't know if he's gonna go in the first round I think he will actually I think he will

[00:57:48] go in the first round but right now he has like a second round great we'll see what it is at the end

[00:57:53] of it what to John A Salon if you haven't seen the kid going you to get the clips start looking

[00:58:00] up start getting your drive coverage right away or just keep it locked here just keep it locked

[00:58:06] front right of podcast collective because you know we do the damn thing what it comes to the

[00:58:12] draft okay that's what we do all right I think we got a couple more no oh I got one more guy

[00:58:20] I want to talk well and then I want to talk about one more thing and then we're going to get

[00:58:24] up out here all right actually this might be the last thing we talked about exactly a

[00:58:30] Resist here another kid from France marksman 46.9% from 3.0.0 showed a

[00:58:40] yes positional size 68205 18 years of age

[00:58:45] Capits performed in a good league

[00:58:50] Easteans and Scouts with the playmaking he doesn't he doesn't play make right now

[00:58:55] um the defense will come with strength and age as far as that's because our or maybe maybe not

[00:59:03] maybe it never develops we don't we don't know we'll see but Zachary, Recisher and

[00:59:12] Tijane Salon are two guys in France you guys got to go check them out as far as I saw

[00:59:18] and I'm keeping close eye on them I'm trying to talk to people as much as I possibly can

[00:59:23] to get as much information on these guys as possible and um I can't wait to do the breakdown

[00:59:30] but I will tell you that there's a good chance that we share is going to be in the top 10

[00:59:37] just so you know because he's 68 and Cushut Paul. Ronald and 68 catch you to ball this

[00:59:44] do 68 catch you to ball see the difference see see you want to talk about right there

[00:59:50] all right so you got draft coverage we talked about the lakeers clippers you guys are covered

[01:00:01] and we'll see you on this feed in the next couple days y'all be easy stay on y'all grind

[01:00:09] oh and by the way I know it's four days into the new year but this is the first time that I'll

[01:00:15] spoke to you guys so happy new year also we want to um shout out our new listeners in France

[01:00:28] in Brussels in Germany I want to I want to give a shout out to my people in Boston you guys

[01:00:37] shout out the charts lately we get a bunch of love from Oklahoma City so we're so blessed to have

[01:00:47] it so again I want to tell you two things you know thank you for the bottom of my heart that's

[01:00:54] the first and foremost thing and then secondly you know tell a friend tell a partner tell some tell

[01:01:02] tell a co-worker to get on the front runner podcast collective bandwagon because we do in

[01:01:09] the big and 24 baby y'all saying we're gonna have guests we're gonna have we're gonna have contributors

[01:01:17] the website going be bumping you know you're gonna get youtube clips you're gonna have a lot of

[01:01:22] stuff to sell x and it's a going to be a good year so with that being said again y'all be easy

[01:01:31] happy 2024 and we are out