Transcript for:
Mind the Game Podcast - Episode 2

you're 84 too I'm 84 yes sir yeah we got bad vintages for oh it's one of the worst oh thank you thank you have you spent any time with Mark dagel by the way no bro he's he's ridiculous he's so good no he's yeah he's on his [ __ ] he's Young Too is he younger than user yeah he's 30 38 I think he's 38 yeah's I think he was I think he's an 85 I looked it up the other day he's definitely younger enough smidge yeah like that all right cool we're already rolling so you guys wow oh we already rolling this is what we do this is what we do have [Music] fun welcome to episode two of mind the game podcast with LeBron James and JJ reck Pres Ed by uninterrupted and 342 Productions first of all just wanted to say thank you for all of you who listened and watch to episode one we greatly appreciate uh the positive response from all of the stuff that we talked about there's a lot more of xn0 stuff in episode two the title of episode two is simply the hardest actions to guard in the NBA no not necessarily the hardest play players to guard but some of the best players in the world are involved directly in these actions as you will see when we break it down and two of the actions that we focus primarily on in this episode are the Golden State split screens and inverted pick and rolls all right before we get to the plays that we're going to cover I want to go over some of the key terminology all right the first two words are tilt and Fire I want to be clear here every team in the NBA has a code word or a word for a double team a lot of teams I played on we had a color scheme so blue was a double team from the nail green was a double team from the Baseline side in this case tilt and fire represent those colors tilt means in a postup a double team from the Baseline Side Fire means in a postup a double team from the nail and of course we covered what the nail was in episode one next two terms are hedge and Blitz so these are common terms in pick and roll coverage now in the NBA right now not a lot of teams hedge in pick and rolls a hedge is simply when the screener Defender jumps out past the screener and tries to reroute the ball handler around the scen screener Defender and then the screener Defender will Retreat back to the screener again not a lot of teams do that primarily because everybody can shoot the basketball sometimes in inverted pick and rolls or sometimes as teams are targeting matchups certain players will hedge so for instance if LeBron James is being guarded by Jonathan kaminga and he wants to get a switch for Steph Curry he will have whoever is guarding Steph Curry come set a pick and roll and more times than not Steph Curry will hedge reroute LeBron and then return to his man that is what a hedge is a blitz is simply a double team on a pick and roll all right a ghost screen or as LeBron calls it a bluff screen a ghost screen is simply when you run into set a pick and roll and you essentially don't stop but you just run past the pick and roll and you either go to the three-point line or you slip to the basket that's essentially what a ghost screen is it's a ghost screen because you're not really there you're essentially just trying to create confusion for the two Defenders involved in what looks like a pick and roll but is actually just a ghost screen tag and 29 go hand in hand we have a defensive 3 second rule in the NBA so as a Defender you're only allowed to be in the paint for 3 seconds without guarding anyone there's two ways around this you can tag a cutter which simply means touching a cutter as he goes through the paint 29 is simply a game of cat and mouse how long can you be in the paint in a help position while not guarding anyone but not get a 3second violation 1 1000 2 1000 you're trying to be in and out in 2.9 seconds that's what we mean by 29 so when you're watching a game and you see a player with one foot in the paint one foot out of the paint one foot in the paint one foot out of the paint almost like a tap dance he's 2 ning a couple other simple terms backside weak side strong side strong side is simply the side of the floor where the ball is so if a player is on the right wing the right side of the floor is the strong side if a player's position in the corner while that player has the ball on the right wing then the player in the corner is on the strong side of the floor if a player is in the left corner opposite the ball the other side of the Court he's in the weak side backside is a little bit interchangeable with weak side backside is also a play where a player starts in a corner opposite the ball let's say the point guard passes to the fivan at the top of the key the player in the corner then receives a pin down and comes along the three-point line and gets a dribble handoff from the fiveman that's backside think Manu job in San Antonio or even better think JJ reic in Philadelphia all right I want to go over what is called a verou screen a verou screen is actually named after LeBron's teammate in Cleveland Anderson verou and all a Veria screen is is when a screener flips the side and angle of the screen let me show you in this case the X's are the offensive players the O's are the defensive players so in this case the big man would run into this pick and roll the defender would follow and as he gets to the screen instead of setting the screen on this side where the defense the offensive player would get to his right hand he simply flips the angle on the screen side and Vera it and the offensive player gets to drive away from the defense because most of the time this defender of the screener has followed and is Assuming he's going to provide help defense on this side be out chaos ensues okay Blind Pig is something that we reference Blind Pig is a triangle offense concept uh I had to guard this concept playing against the Lakers Pal Gasol and Kobe Bryant would oftentimes be the two players involved in this and then against the Knicks oftentimes it could be Carmelo Anthony involved Raymond Felton Jeremy Lynn essentially what Blind Pig is the ball is right here with this play player here is your offensive player the X right here O's are the defensive player the x is being denied this is Kobe Bryant in this year this is Jaylen Brunson Isaiah hartenstein will flash to the Elbow the ball then goes to Isaiah hartenstein right here Jaylen Brunson who is being denied then has a clear path to go receive the ball ball or get a drop off pass dribble handoff whatever turn the corner create Havoc Blind Pig all right Golden State Post spits a big part of this episode we have so much visual component to this you guys hopefully will understand this at the end uh again this is another triangle concept um let's do a two-man post spit to start how about that so here's the ball the ball goes into the post now this pass for golden state is not to score this pass is to get Steph Curry and Klay Thompson into the action so Steph can split with Klay Thompson clay can back cut towards the basket he can curl towards the basket or he can come pop for three and that's only one option there are many options in this offense let's say cavon Looney wants to get involved here they throw it in to Draymond green Steph goes towards Klay Thompson maybe Klay Thompson curls to the basket cavon Looney then cleans up Steph ball comes out to Steph that's post spits it's impossible to guard the other thing I just wanted to tell you guys on this episode for these drawings MAV Drew these I did not draw these courts this clip went out on social America's play Baseline out of bounds pick the Picker whatever you want to call it this guy underneath the basket on a baseline out of bounds play Bo o Baseline out of bounds there should be an extra o but who cares it's just boob this guy right here that's the shooter this is Kyle corver this is Steph Curry this is Ray Allen this is Duncan Robinson he's going to set a back screen right here a rip screen for a bigger Wing usually Maybe you get a switch maybe you don't maybe you get a layup here underneath the basket this guy in the corner over here this is Bam this is DeAndre Jordan with me this is Joel embiid with me this big guy then goes and sets a screen for the shooter to come off towards the three-point line so if you don't get a layup you might get a three in the corner America's play pick the Picker the other concept that we talk a lot about this episode is Inver did pick and roll pick and roll as most basketball fans know it is simply a ball handler usually a point guard getting a ball screen so a live ball dribble from a big guy a fiveman right a center think Kenny Smith and aim alaguan think John Stockton and Carl Malone think Kobi and sha right it's a pick and roll a normal pick and roll the smaller player has the ball the bigger player sets a screen for him inverted pick and roll is simply when you invert that in this case a bigger player has the ball and a smaller player often times a really good shooter sets a ball screen for the bigger player very rare that big guys can do this but certainly a lot of them can Joel embiid nicolea yic Anthony Davis Giannis of course bigger Wings will also run inverted pick and rolls so so this is Duncan Robinson setting a pick and roll for Jimmy Butler this is me setting a screen for Ben Simmons that is an inverted pick and roll we actually had a call in Philadelphia it was called 12 rub rifle so 12 was just a onew pick and roll I'm the Twan Ben was the oneman rub was our name for a high pick and roll which means in the center of the Court rifle I'll get to that in a second so an inverted pick and roll would be the smaller player setting a screen for Ben Simmons right if I set a good screen Ben could get all the way the basket sometimes I would slip to three though in that case Ben would throw me the ball and sometimes like against San Antonio Spurs late in the game I would make the shot and get fouled and have a four-point play to hit a game winner but other times this would be Joel embiid this is the rifle part the rifle just means Chase action sometimes the definition of a concept is in the word if I said go chase the ball what are you going to do you're going to pass the ball and run after it so 12 rub rifle is a inverted High pick and roll followed by Chase action so if I didn't have a shot I would throw the ball to Joel embiid and we'd go right into Chase dribble handoff 12 rub rifle Miami Heat game four 2018 playoffs dagger [Music] do you look at basketball uh as a puzzle in some ways I was with Missoula in September he said competition is a puzzle and you have to approach it through intellect and what I what I find when I talk to you or when I talk to CP or I listen to you guys brondo of course who we had on the Pod um last year it's like it's exploitation I used the word manipulation once with Chris and he did not like that word so I'm going to use a different word today it's exploitation you're exploiting and some sometimes it's maybe basketball IQ sometimes you're maybe exploiting a matchup I know that I was exploited a lot at the at the end of my career because by that time it was about Target hunting and oftentimes when I was on the court I was the target it is like pick white pick on the white guy huh [ __ ] man I don't like that man it it bothered me so much I mean I remember dude when I was with Philly and like we ended up not playing you guys in the playoffs but like that first year in Philly because I was guarding point guards that year because Ben wasn't good enough on the ball yet right they had him guarding bigger wings so I had to guard point guards first time in my career so like all of a sudden I'm navigating a pickup point with Damen Lillard people never understand that either by the way yeah people people that just watch casual basketball would never understand if you've been guarding two guards or small fours or whatever your whole career and then one year you have to make the shift to now guarding point guards it's a whole different your your intent is is now like it was so different screens were coming you're not used to getting hit with screens you know like it's a whole different the big don't talk to you get cracked you like what the [ __ ] are you guys doing back there and nine times out of 10 most bigs are not going to talk anym no I remember there's a game with like with Charlotte and kemell Walker you know he's a Shifty [ __ ] [ __ ] not he's doing that little left drop move I'm like come on man like what am I supposed to do but we were I remember we played you guys a few times that year and I'm I'm on a point guard and you're just like come here every time [ __ ] you [ __ ] you bra man no that's not me my B Bo IQ is not that good but I think I think part of it it's not for me at least as a as a as like a when I played of course but also as a as an observer now yeah part of the matchup thing so if I go switch on you right you've now got a favorable matchup part of it is not just so that you can get a shot part of it like basketball boils down to can you put two on the ball yeah and now you create the 413 on the backside yeah I don't think many people know that you know why because everyone now it's a narrative of this thing called I have a bag or he doesn't have a bag it bothers the [ __ ] out of me everyone thinks just because you get a favorable matchup that it means it's one onone time let's play ones that's all you hear the kids talk about now you want to play ones you want to play ones what what the [ __ ] is this we're this is not a this is not Jordan vers bird Nintendo like we're this it's five on five and yes if you have an opportunity to have a favorable matchup and you can beat your man but realize something most great teams are going to send help and can you make the right reads can you make the right reads can you instill confidence in your teammates to when you've scored twice on that favorable matchup do you know that the double is coming and you have to see it either coming from the tilt on the baseline or from the fire from the nail you have to be ready for that like and it takes time for guys and some guys don't want to learn and won't learn because they just want to play ones they I've had guys on the court that literally said to me before why y'all doubling me stop doubling me let me play ones you have 40 no no you have 40 we're going to W not because not only because you're great but also I know none of your teammates have been in the Rhythm all game and we're going to see if they can make a shot and if they do Derek Jeter salute cap to you two things on that I think the Clippers game the other night was a great example of that so first of all they're one of the most switch heavy teams in the NBA so it wasn't abnormal that you got going in the fourth quarter and they were switching Daniel tys on to you that is their normal defense right so you hit a couple shots on him then they start doubling right and then you're making the read um there's like a there's a there's a downhill or like a Snowball Effect going down a hill to this right it's like one thing leads to another so I think in some ways the the player has to establish that he can score in that matchup correct and then the next part is he has to establish he's going to then make the right read if you double correct then all of a sudden if you're the offensive team all bets are off you're going to get whatever you want you're get whatever you want then cuz the the defense has no choice there's nothing they can do then they they're not only are they off balance they just like oh [ __ ] we it's nothing we can do because not only is the guy that's been dominating the one-on-one matchup making the right reason individually in that matchup he's been scoring he's been getting fouled he's been drawing attention but now you in the double and now his teammates are making shots too and the momentum shifts the the offensive team there's nothing they there's nothing they can do wrong do you think teams concede the switch too much like do you think teams switch too much yes do you think more teams should just if you if you're Atlanta should you just hedge with Trey young absolutely absolutely we we it's fun you say that in the Clipper game we had a uh we had switching built in vers kawhai and vers James and whatever the case may be and I vetoed it in in the second half because I know I know T more than any other player that's ever been with tou and I know he plays Target ball too and it got to a point where I knew order for us to get back into the game switching anybody else into Kawai it's not it's not favorable for us might as we just get ready for get ready for the Wizards so I vetoed it are you able to to do that on a nightly basis though like take that that match up asking a lot LeBron it's asking a lot at 39 with with I think I saw it the other day I think I have like 70,000 minutes I was I was explaining to my wife the other day she asked me how am I feeling when I came home after a game I said babe just imagine buying a 2003 Escalade and it's 2024 and you never change the tires so rub my feet please and I've never changed the tires these are the same tires from 2003 so can I do it every night I don't want to say I could do it for a whole game I mean I can't I'll take the challenge for sure but that's just I'm a competitor I was born that way I was taught that way I [ __ ] I'll die on the court because I just love it so much am I am I being realistic I got to pick my spots definitely got to pick my spots you've also picked your spots though on the offense Ben like I was talking with Darin about this and and I've spoken with Austin too there's there's definitely a a stronger ability I don't know if ability is the right word but a stronger ability like to just let DLo run the offense to let Austin run the offense and I know you had that at different points in your career with different guys but it seems like you're more content at this stage in your career to like I'm going to pick and choose my spots about when I'm the primary Creator yeah for sure I mean I I I yeah it comes with trust it comes with trust too um obviously last year in the Memphis series um AR um gained a lot of trust for me um but also had trust in him to make the plays I believe it was game three maybe or game two I think they had home court yeah they had home court so it was either game one or game two where in the fourth quarter I you know just was like AR let's go win it for us you know and I want to see like it's I play a lot of Chess not in real life I I've actually know a lot of people have told me you should look you should play chess because you'll be great I've never played chess but in my in my mind in theory I feel like I play chess on the floor and I feel like if I could get AR and steal AR and that confidence in that fourth quarter to make plays and win that game it is going to pay dividends for the rest of my time with him and the rest of his time when I'm not with him you know I I I I love seeing the success of my teammates more than anything like and so to have the ability now to be just like I pick my spots hey DLo you got it you know AR you got it you know um you know it means a lot not not only for me but for our ball Club all right I'm gonna go over these Blitz numbers because we're talking about two on the ball and this is I this is interesting so this year top five uh players that have been blitzed and pick and roll Luca by a lot by far almost 200 more blitzes uh and then everybody the next four guys are bunched together it's Brunson Anthony Simons Dame and and book top five by ISO Giannis Kawai Julius Randall Anthony Davis and Ben Caro those are the top guys it's interesting I looked up your your Blitz numbers in the tracking era and you were first ISO doubles in 13 and 14 uh second in 1516 and top 10 in 1718 and 1920 you've never actually been in the top 20 in blitzes against pick and rolls why do you think that is because I make all the right reads I think it's it's that simple you're right it's that simple team know they can't Blitz me in to pick a roll but there's what's interesting about Luca I think he's one of a handful of guys in this era that can make any pass against the devil team any James is one of them yep you you are for sure Luc is one of them yep so why are you blitzing him I don't understand it especially with the shooting they they surround too it doesn't make sense um like I get the Brun the Brunson thing has been since randle's out the uptick and Blitz has G yeah they don't have I get that yeah for sure sure I get that as well you know you you have to he's he's a onead monster right now with the Knicks and they blitzing him and making other guys beat him I saw Golden State do it a lot last night um as well before our game um but yeah it doesn't because he's gonna make every read and when Tim Tim Hardway is hitting six or seven threes you're done yeah Kyrie's gonna get what Kyrie's gonna do what Kyrie does yeah Luca is gonna do what he does when you get Tim Hardway hitting six or seven threes and in our game earlier this year we Blitz Luca and Dante exam hit five right 63s yeah that that I I I I guess what's interesting to me with great players because everybody always talks about mixing it up you got to mix up the coverage pick and roll you got to mix up how you double when you double all that stuff right so for example when just so we're clear on this when you double what by that what I mean is a guys's in the mid Post in isolation against the mismatch is it on the dribbles is it on the drible exactly how you double is it as you said tilt is it coming from the baseline or is it coming from the nail you have to you have to talk about all those things I just think with spacing and with shooting there's just no good answer so if people want explanations about why we're having all these scoring outputs it's because there's not a good [ __ ] answer Atlanta Blitz is the most in the NBA they decided not to Blitz LCA donic because they were worried about the consequences and he had 73 and he has 73 right there's just not good answers for the best players right now no and it's the it goes back to the three-point shooting as you said teams are afraid of teams hitting six or seven or eight threes in the game right now so there that's this is where all the switching occurs now everyone's saying okay let's get to the switches at least we will keep everybody home but then you realize when you switch a nonfavorable defender on a great player if that great player know it's going to make the reads they're going to get threes anyways because they're going to drive there's going to be a help and then there's going to be a numbers game so it doesn't matter so it it has to come to a point it's like what are we what are we willing to give up not what are we willing to stop you can't stop great guys you can't stop great players just hope they miss but what are we willing to give up and then you have to just tip your head like these scoring outputs is I it's insane I wish I was back in like 2012 right now with the young leg the young young tires young tires TIR yeah the tires with only 11,000 off um the switching thing is interesting too to me because there's certain teams that can put switch heavy lineups out there right yeah you you get you need the Personnel able to switch right and you need to be able to trust certain guys so like tyou clearly trusts his bigs to be a switch to the point like going back to Luca I played on that team in 21 that lost in game seven against the LA Clippers yeah and he trusted zubats yeah to switch onto Luca that entire series despite the fact that Luca was killing him right because he didn't want to get in rotation right so what's interesting to me though about the switching against switchable lineups like so you have five guys that are capable y is how creative teams have gotten yeah with defeating the mhm so it's two of the hardest actions to guard to me right now are ghost screens with a great shooter yep and running into a pick and roll it's not a traditional slip right you run into a pick and roll you touch the guys back and then you get behind the behind the defense and if you have a guy like christops porzingis or Jason Tatum that is doing that y you you can't guard that so you could be like oh yeah we're going to switch teams have now figured out ways to exploit switching I mean even I mean I know Washington is in the [ __ ] but even last night in our in our in our match up last night we got to a switching lineup but kzz was hip tapping AR and we were calling switch and AR two two times couldn't get back to Koz and he was able to get into the lane he missed one made one but exactly what you're just saying like teams are figuring out ways to when the switches happen how can I exploit a switch that's interesting you brought up the hip tap too so like on the ghost screen you called it a bluff screen the ghost screen um like you guys used to when I was in New Orleans kcp I'd guard him he would do this all the time so let's say we are in a switch defensively we're in a switch if the guy slips on a ghost screen my job is to go with him yeah call square right square square slip slip but offensive players as they're running up into the screen they tap the guy the hip so you're switching on you're supposed to switch on contact when you feel the contact you think it's a switch now the ball hand and I'm doing my job cuz he slipped so I'm going with him that's why it's hard that's why it's hard in real time it's like yeah we can have all these rules but then you got to you got to do it real time that's why the NBA is the best league in the world that's why it's hard for me to watch my son play college basketball you want to go there I loved you in college basketball I [ __ ] hated Duke but I love watching you I love Duke now cuz K is my guy now obviously for obvious reasons obviously but it is hard watching a 40 minute college basketball game it's hard I almost I get more anxiety and I sweat more watching college basketball especially my son now than I've ever done in my life I still watch legitimate teams ranked teams they will will run a play and their best player will get the ball on the wing and they will have a non threat big man posting up on the same side and the guard or the wing will drive into the occupied post and I'm like guys it's 2024 we can all watch YouTube there's a wealth of information out there why are we still playing this way what I don't I I've never understood why a coach will throw the ball into a post to his big that has no business with the ball in the post the only time the ball should go into the post to the big if he's automatically as soon as he catches it flatten the defense he goes right back into a dho uphill up D roll if he's not a pocket passer you can't throw it to the you throw it to the rim or his job is to just shrink the defense because his role was so Dynamic I watch college games and I see guys throw the ball in the posted guys and they turn around and shoot a jump shot or a running leftand jump hook this one drives me crazy you see like a few young NBA guys that will get like because we don't post anymore if unless you're like Joel and beating yic right you see young NBA guys they'll get a rebound and the defense will be on them and they'll shoot you know the shadow I'm talking about the big gu shoot it's like it's not a real shot man it's not a real shot it's not sh shot it's not a real shot there's one there's there's one other thing you can do on the post which leads me God [ __ ] Segway is so good man I love it it's a good conversation no it's great people somebody asked me this the other day they're like triangle coms nobody nobody has it nobody runs the triangle anymore right does it exist in the NBA and the truth matter there are still Concepts that exist so we don't the Chicago Cut which was when you throw it in the post the guard would cut through screen in the middle of paint for the big guy you don't want to switch that if you do switch it you know Pekovic from Minnesota would catch the ball at 5T against me and just jump hook right easy breezy teams don't really run the Chicago Cut anymore the two things that they still run Blind Pig yep which New York runs for Brunson all the time where hartenstein or Mitchell Robinson flashes the elbow you deny Jaylen Brunson he's getting that back cut going downhill they'll get into the stepup pick a rolls with Blind Pig action right and then the Golden State Post splits splits the post splits the post splits I have been wanting to have this conversation with you for so many years because I have said the Golden State Post splits specifically with that team is like the hardest action to guard y I was doing research on something else the other day and I was looking up uh because I was for a bossing game because porzingis has the highest efficiency in the tracking era for points per direct postup right he's every time they switch smaller guy on him he's mashing whatever Draymond was at the top of the list for a bunch of years in 189 he had the highest efficiency on post-ups of any player in the NBA and you're like well Draymond doesn't score in the post but they're throwing him the ball and either Stephen Clair run their action we saw back in 22 Wiggins would be the screener slip for the dunk y they also involved the big so Steph and CLA doing their little dance yep Looney then comes and cleans it up yep because the big that's gar Looney is Sting y exactly it's the hardest thing to guard you guarded at four straight finals yep what are your thoughts on how to defend it when Draymond catches a ball in the post the one thing the first thing you have to do you have to track his eyes you can't track the ball because Draymond has the ability what they kind of they they started take out in our league this a swipe through so obviously he has his back towards the basket you have to track his eyes cuz if you track the ball with your hand he'll go to your arms he used to get that fou the second thing you have to do you have to get the bodies right away and you can't get to the top side because Steph and Clay are great at back doors and get to the rim you have to get to the lower hip of them and whoever setting the screen has to give a little space so you don't allow to slip and the guy that's guarding either Steph or clay that's coming off you have to get to the bottom hip of their shoulder and Trail them all the way out the two most important people in the whole thing is the two guys that's weak side when they have those when they have certain Shooters out there it's very difficult but nine times out of 10 when we were playing them in the finals it was at times it was javel McGee and eala it was Andrew bogot SE Sean Livingston Harrison Barnes when everything went haywire when it was [ __ ] Kevin Durant over there and another shooter it was like impossible to guard because you couldn't help from the weak side because now Draymond such a great IQ player if you help if you tag from the guy on the weeks he throws it all the way across Court you can actually see there's a play that you can watch on YouTube probably where they were taking the ball out on SOB of yeah not son of a [ __ ] sorry guys side out of bounds and I was getting ready I was two Ning on the strong side because they were about to get into some split action Steph takes the ball out and throws it all the way to the weak side corner by their bench and I try to close out the KD because I'm looking trying to shrink the floor he throws it from the sideline out bound all the way across I close out slips falls on the ground KD dunks the ball but back to your point that I don't understand well I do understand why most most teams don't run it because they don't have they personel they don't have the Personnel they don't have there are certain teams that like right now Mike Brown in Sacramento is kind of running some split action he has those Shooters he has he has you know obviously Kevin herter you know he has uh the kid Keegan Murray who can shoot the piss out the ball and also the speed of dear Fox you know they they playing a lot of pinch post with demonis who's now triple double threat every game you need a pass her like you have to have yeah you have to have a yeah yeah exactly like Deon is Draymond Mar Gasol back in his day um you know certain guys obviously Joker he does he's one of a kind but you have to have the Personnel you have to have the Personnel um the the thing with the post spits for me is like you can let's say they involve Looney what do they call you what do your what do your kids call you Dad why no when you when you coaching what do they call you coach coach JJ coach call JJ they just call you JJ oh [ __ ] okay your iPhone first no we don't want to talk to you right now Siri they they they just call me JJ they just call you JJ okay you got a good commiss with tell them all this I tell them this all the time you brought up the the the flubbing that atto play yeah I don't care if you miss a shot I don't even care if you take a bad shot I've never yelled at a kid or gotten on a kid for taking any shot right I never have now I may after a game be like hey you know we were up seven with 42 seconds you didn't need to shoot a step back three we could have just dribble the clock out right what drives me crazy though is when I draw an atto and then we go out and they forget it it's like dude it's been 10 seconds I my my big thing with them now is like don't worry about what I'm drawing up just watch you pay attention to you that's it just watch you just watch you anyways so let's say involve Kavon Looney or whatever yep and so the big decides to like you know be in a drop back here y so Steph and Clay they're up here doing their dance or whatever yep um they're going to get an open three yep right yep if you switch out with cavon Looney's guy I think what's always been difficult for me is someone who's guarded that action you were talking about body position yep bro sometimes it doesn't matter they're so good the second you get on that angle the second you turn your head The Cutting to the basket is the hardest part to me y like I can chase over a screen and get a contest on three but like they're just they they they keep you off balance which is interesting that you bring up the weak side being the key to the whole thing but you that's that's like what you're saying is Advanced basketball you know what it's you're saying if I'm guarding Draymond in the post Kavon Looney is at the quad they're doing their thing at the the free throw line they're doing you're saying that if he has a wideopen three why not are you're saying draymond's man just go take and then Kavon Looney just stays in the paint is that what you're saying no I I'm saying as as as this guy right as one of them yeah so we can switch this action let's say we're switching this action I'm saying if cavon Looney is so worried in this his guy's in this drop and he's off the body we're going to live with the contested three right you're going to give that up if you're worried about taking the layup the second you bring cavon Looney up they're getting a layup yeah for sure they're getting a layup you're getting a layup they're too it's too hard to guard the dance is too hard and they've done it so many times you're absolutely right you go back to that 22 dude that 22 finals run where they just like all right so Wiggins is getting guarded by whoever draymond's got the ball and we're just getting involved to people we're not even going to put the big in there yeah how many Cuts did Wiggins get he runs into the to the to the split action and doesn't even stop right to it it's a lay you know what's interesting you think about that that run you talking about getting in the playoffs you can't beat High basketball IQ teams with a low basketball IQ teams no there's no way and at the time some of those teams I didn't think were were High basketball I IQ teams you're absolutely right it's interesting Aaron Gordon talked about that because they they beat them in the first round and that was a big takeaway for me now they didn't have the personel they didn't have kcp right they didn't have the Personnel Murray was hurt but it I'm not saying guy I don't would never say a guy's dumb I'm saying basketball IQ yeah yeah for sure they got outsmarted that Series yeah yic was a monster all that stuff but they got outsmart they got outsmarted and Aaron Gordon has talked about coming off of that series being like I gotta I got to become a smarter basketball player yeah to to win at the highest level to win at the highest level and he did it he did it there's a lot of things other things I would do in basketball too like it's a couple other coverages I would do the the the pick the Picker Bo not Bombs Over Baghdad but Baseline out of bounds America's play yeah America's play yeah you have the guard you have the best shooter sitting in the middle of the lane yep you have the biggest Wing sitting at the top yep five is on the strong side you have the point guard taking it out yeah and then the weak side corner the weak side corner yeah when the no one ever it's not many times that the guy the wing that's coming down the middle gets that pass because in theory if you're guarding the ball 1 10000 to 1,000 take away the basket and then jump out right to take away the shot I've always wanted to no coach has ever allow me to do this or want or or giving me the the the freedom to do this the guy that's guarding the ball when he says 1 1000 2 1000 3 [Music] 1000 why doesn't he just take the the guard that's coming out for the pick the Picker and the guard that's guarding the the pick the Picker guy just Falls right to the to the guy that's taking the ball out yeah you go 1 1000 2 1000 JJ reck is flying off Left Right Where You know he's dangerous he can shoot straight up and down if he wants to or he's going to fade if he wants to as well maybe kick you it's my natural shooting motion it's my natural shooting motion I'm guarding the ball I just take JJ and the guard who was chasing you just Falls right to the to the to the to to the guy that's taking the ball out that's one that's not we can talk about that so no no so it's interesting about that I like that I'll tell you why because like someone who ran that play right so whether I slipped or set the screen I'm coming off a lot of teams after 21000 would send the guy guarding guarding the takeout guy they'd send him to me yeah the problem is my guy's still chasing me so what happens I get the ball I don't have a shot because now I got two guys at me it's a quick pass back to the inbounder he gets a layup so don't chase you that's what I'm saying it's actually a good it's actually a good coverage take you to the screen yeah and at the screen the X5 that's guarding to pick the Picker big opens up and you slide right to the guy that's guarding I would I didn't know if you wanted a second glass I didn't know okay I love talking basketball by the way the other the other play and it goes back to the ghost screen um that I think is really difficult to guard and you've been the ball handler in this case is the inverted pick and roll MH so Giannis [ __ ] joic now embiid now all these guys they take the weakest Defender they take a shooter whatever it may be and they go set an on ball screen for the big for the big last night in the Knicks game Draymond had it at the top and Steph was in the paint to go set the the high pick to go set this inverted pick and roll now Steph has a number of options here he can slip out he can set the pick they can go back to a dribble handoff if he passed Steph like their Twan dances really hard they decided to top lock Steph so he couldn't get to the screen and Steph Steph screened him step streamed him into draymond's guy Draymond got a wide open dunk yeah that is a insanely difficult action to guard [ __ ] last year in the Western Conference Finals uh I can't remember which game it was but it was in the fourth quarter they ran that three times with Murray as the screener joic as the ball handler on the right right wing right in front of the bench right in front of the bench yep how would you guard that there's uh there's a couple ways you can how do you guard it how do you stop it is two different things depending on the ball handler and his shooting ability if he's not a great shooter or numbers wise he hasn't shot the ball well then the guard that's guarding the screener just we call it a smack yeah you stay body onbody with the screener and the big that's guarding the ball X4 X5 whatever goes to removed so he goes not only under the screener he goes under his uh uh teammate as well if the big is not great shooter if if the big has it going and he's shooting the well I.E you know it could be you know Joel it could be porzingis it could be Joker where he might be shooting it well then thear can get out and give a hard ass hedge and the the big that's guarding the ball goes one removed so he goes underneath his player in between his player and the offensive player if that doesn't work then you have to switch and then fire and that's with with with Joker that's what makes their team insanely to guard because when you switch and you fire he can make every single pass and fire means double from the top all right so two things to this um so in the first scenario this I'm and again this is why I'm I'm asking you because I want to tell you now why it's hard and you know this I'm not telling you telling the audience the first scenario which you described which is a non-shooter y I.E Giannis I.E Ben Simmons okay so I'm setting an inverted we called it 12 and we would get in sometimes we get into 12 rub rifle which is then I would slip out Ben would hit me I'd swing it immediately go to Chase action with Joel in the right corner I either get a shot or a pocket pass Joel right but in a normal 12 rub with Ben if the defense was all the way back he has a Runway not only that I'm just gonna go get a dribble handoff and get a wide open shot yeah so if you want to play off of Joel with maxi and Maxi wants to Mexi just go get the ball and shoot a jumper at any point in time right the other reason I think this is so hard cuz I I I took a lot of pride in my screening big guys are terrible at navigating screens so in the second scenario when you're talking about going Third Man removed that sounds great in theory right right right the problem is I mean maybe I was just speaking from a I have Anthony Davis so know who's who's a hybrid but yes you're absolutely right that's that's the other part of is like and by the way they let s they just do he's not used to like shooting the Gap you go run like a normal pick and normal high picking roll where I'm going to screen the fiveman first you know I go down screen the fiveman I can come back up into Spain action or I can go out to the corner like I would sit there I sometimes be on the screen for 4 seconds for they don't they just don't know what to do and then all of a sudden they're you know chucking me in the throat or pushing off I get off and that's what makes it even more Dynamic cuz when you have a guy like Giannis and Ben when he was in his Groove you know and Joel and now yish they have the ability to you know obviously Yannis is like the the best at it and today he has the ability to have the defense go one way and then the guard will flip screen it so now the guard that's guarding X2 screen of screen he'll be on this side getting ready to show or Blitz or hedge and now they flip the screen and when he cross is over there's nobody over there it's you don't and then once jannis get gets to the to the to the launching pad you know it's over with he's going to dunk you and the ball in the rim let's do it grab all the glass man JJ don't want to finish his oh yeah I brought these from home Manos yeah you know it LeBron thank you for your generosity with the oh appreciate I do appreciate it app I I'll I'll make sure you know I home court home court last time I was ready last time I was ready so I I'll have some for you next time I'm not ready man I walk can always bring I got plenty of it needing somebody to drink with hey guys thanks for listening thanks for watching mind the game podcast if you like it please hit that subscribe button thank [Music] you [Music] a