Every day we rise, challenging ourselves to work for what we believe in. At U.S. Border Patrol, protecting our borders is more than a job. It's a calling. Agents answer the call, working together to keep our country and community safe. If you are ready for a new mission, join U.S. Border Patrol and go beyond. Learn more at cbp.gov/careers. What makes for a great vacation? Depends on who you ask. Are you looking to get away? Or bring everyone together? Do you want to get outside and play? Or see a play at the plate? Fortunately, however you operate, I'm the destination you've been looking for. The name's Missouri, but you can call me Mo, and I have just one question. What's your MO? Come see me at visitmo.com. Every day we rise, challenging ourselves to work for what we believe in. At U.S. Border Patrol, protecting our borders is more than a job. It's a calling. Agents answer the call, working together to keep our country and community safe. If you are ready for a new mission, join U.S. Border Patrol and go beyond. Learn more at cbp.gov/careers. What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat? Picking a vendor who sends a great gift basket. Outsourcing business tasks you hate. What about selling with Shopify? Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing. However you cha-ching, Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million order stage? Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell wherever and whatever you're selling. Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify.com/try. Welcome to latest episode of 5 on the Floor on the Five Reasons for Sports Network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app. On Android, we recommend Spotify or the Five Reasons YouTube channel on Apple. We recommend Apple Podcasts. Also check out Off the Floor. That's our new Discord server, $2.99 per month. That's where you can talk heat all day long with other heat fans and with us. More than 500 subscribers there now. So you'll find plenty of people with different opinions. You'll find your hero stands, your Jimmy stands, your BAM stands and all the opposite as well. But without some of the clutter of Twitter. So check it out, $2.99 per month. Link is right here in the description on the podcast feed as well as pinned to the top of the Five Reasons Twitter page. Also check out the great sponsors of the Five Reasons Sports Network. It includes prize picks. Use code 5, F-I-V-E. Get that initiative as it matched up to $100. Prize picks, the code 5. But yes, it does work in the state of Florida. Again, totally legal. Just got to play the lineups and it's called Arena Game. You can go up to four different players that you can play across different sports. I can tell you, I've actually had more success since they switched the games than I did before. So check it out, prize picks.com. Use the code 5, F-I-V-E. And now, today's episode. [MUSIC] Welcome to Five on the Four. A daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA, featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Solvander, and Alex Toledo, plus others from the Five Reasons Sports Network. All right, welcome back to Five on the floor. Here's today's floor plan on Ethan Skolnick and follow me, Ethan Jay Skolnick, and in Five Reasons Sports. We've got Brady Hawk. You can follow him at Brady Hawk 305 before I get to it. I do want to mention we're expanding a little bit on the NBA side. We've been doing more national NBA coverage. Now we've got a team actually up in Orlando that's doing some magic coverage for those of you in the central and northern parts of the state. Obviously, they had a good season this year and they're an interesting team going forward. So check it out. It's a podcast called Magic Mania, and you're going to be able to find it on the YouTube channel. You'll be finding more NBA content from around the country as we go forward. But here, we are still focused on the heat. We are going to continue to focus specifically on the heat. And we're going to focus again on Jimmy Butler. So this is the episode three of Jimmy Butler's. We just did a Tyler Hero episode. Alex and I spent about 20 minutes going through what teams Tyler would start for around the league. I think people found that compelling one way or the other. It seems to be a topic on Twitter today. But we're going to go back to Jimmy. First episode we did Brady and Alex and I broke down Pat's comments, Riley's comments at his end of season presser. The second one, Greg and I kind of projected where this might go going forward. He and I have a different opinion on that, which is rare. So actually make sure you check out that app. And Brady and I are going to talk about the on-the-port stuff. Because that plays into all of this. The question again becomes, how much are you going to pay a player if there's a perception that he's declining? Because then you're paying him for past performance instead of current or future performance. And so we want to get into whether or not he actually is declining or if it's just an availability issue. And I'm going to go to this. And we actually looked this up right beforehand Brady. And this might play into your argument a little bit. Pat Riley referenced win shares the other day. For those who are not familiar with win shares, it's computed a bunch of different ways. In fact, Pat even said, I don't even know how they get to this. I don't even know how they get to it. But on the basketball reference site, they have a linked up site called Stathead, which I subscribe to, some subscribe to, in our audience as well. And they use their own version of win shares. OK, so basically what I did Brady was I put in players 33 or over this past year. Because Jimmy's 34 is going to be 35, but I figured, right, let's let's start it at 33. Players 33 and over this past year, and they sort them by win shares. Now they're not sorting this by win shares per 48 minutes or win shares, you know, on average per game. It's total win shares for the season. And there's a reason I wanted to do it this way. So we'll take a look at it. All right, so Brady, here are your top 10 in win shares, age 33 or over last year. Demar DeRozan is number one at 9.2. Jimmy Butler is at number two at 9.1. LeBron 8.5, James Harden 8.4, Kevin Durant 8.3, Mike Conley 8.2, Dame Lillard 7.7, Paul George 7.3, Steph Curry 7.2, Drew Holliday 6.3. Then it gets to Al Horford, Brooke Lopez, Nicole Vusovich, Chris Paul, Draymond Green, Clay Thompson, our old friend Kyle Lowry, Nicholas Batum, current Heat player Kevin Love, and then Patrick Beverly. Okay, of those guys, the youngest on the top 10 list are actually Dame, PG, and Drew. Jimmy is kind of at 34. There's others obviously older, LeBron 39, Durant 35, Conley 36. But here's the other part of this, okay? If you actually did this win shares per game, Jimmy would be first. Because DeRozan played 79 games and Jimmy played 60. And so I'll go through this. And then again, I think this may lead to your point that I think is coming here. In terms of games played of the top 20, Demar 79, Jimmy 60, LeBron 71, Harden 72, Durant 75, Conley 76, Dame 73, Paul George 74, Steph Curry 74, Drew 69, Portford 65, Lopez 79, Vusovich 76, you got to go all the way down to number 14, Chris Paul, who played 58 to find someone in that group who played fewer games than Jimmy Butler, and most played at least 10 more than Jimmy and some played as many as 19 more than Jimmy. What does your read on that? I mean, I was when you were naming those names, I was looking at the games played as you were going down it. And I'm like, every single one of these guys is in the 70s. And I was like, that's kind of the main point here. As we sit here and keep talking about availability problems, it's natural. I mean, the guy's turning 35. He's going to have dips in certain areas of his game. It happens to everybody. It happens with Dwayne. It happened with a lot of these other guys. And they find other ways to be effective. And with Jimmy, I think you just see the efficiency around the rim. We've been talking about that for a while. That's kind of been the one that's dipped a little bit. But it still doesn't strike you as a worry that he's tailing off. And I said that this past season, I know now another year that we're now, if Miami's looking to make another playoff run a year from now, that's a long time from now for another age of Jimmy to go by. But I still, I just haven't had that true worry of skill set drop off. I still think he could be a really effective player. I still think he is kind of one of the top, can be one of the top playoff performers just because I think his peak is just extremely high even at this stage. But it really does come down to the availability thing. I think that in terms of not only for himself and getting into a rhythm, because I know he does like to kind of ramp up in that way. He's always talked about. But as we keep saying, you can't just live with it and keep being in the play. And so it really comes down to that. You look at these other guys and these teams you're mentioning. The Western Conference is a different beast. And a lot of those guys you're mentioning is the Western Conference. But all those guys that are playing a bunch of games are battling to get in the playoffs and are fighting for positioning in the regular season. It feels like the LeBron's of the world, the Steph's of the world, James Harden's of the world. All those guys that you were mentioning are literally fighting for regular season position because they know how much of a bloodbath it is in the Western Conference. And it feels like because Miami knows what they're up against in the Eastern Conference, it almost is like, okay, we could take like, let me ask you this question. I know this is a little off, but do you think Miami would have a different approach if they were in the Western Conference? If it was as competitive as the Western Conference, would they approach it differently? I think so. I think there is an understanding in the East. Like the East was pretty much what we thought this year. Like we thought, okay, Detroit, Charlotte would lose a lot of games as would Washington, right? They did. The reason that so many of those teams in the East got to the mid to high 40s and wins was they just fattened up on those teams at the bottom because you play the teams in your conference more often. So yes, I think we all projected Orlando would be improved because they showed that in the second half of the previous season. I don't know when necessarily thought they'd be in a four or five series. Philadelphia would have been better if not for the MB injury. Cleveland was kind of what was expected even with their injuries. The Knicks may be a little better than expected, but again, they were playoff team the year before. Milwaukee, it didn't gel the way people thought. But again, they still ended up in a three seed situation. And Boston, we thought, was the class of the conference. So it was what it was. Now, the West was just a mad scramble and it basically had 11. If you had it used in it, they basically had 11 teams that were really trying to compete. And even the bottom end teams, Utah wasn't awful. They could get you on a given night. They're not like Washington, although Washington did get Miami once. So I just think that, yes, I think the approach would have to be different. And I think there has kind of been a feeling that, okay, if we just get in, we're not afraid of Boston. That was the perception before this year, right? And everybody else, we match up pretty well with, and we have Jimmy. So I feel like that did seep in here a little bit. I think it's really striking when you see the numbers, though, of the games. And I know that his side has kind of argued that most of these were legitimate absences, it was either approved personal reason absences by the heed, or it was injury related, and he couldn't go. And there were maybe a handful of games that he could have played, but he just didn't really feel like playing or feel like pushing it. And that, I was told, it was a handful, an under five, actually. So that's what they would argue. But then again, why these other guys not have those many misgames? That's what I'm looking at. Again, it's hard to make an excuse, and we'll get into Jimmy's on-court performance. It's hard to make an excuse for it when you've got DeMarr is the same age, and he's playing 79. Now they needed that to get into the play in, but OK. LeBron is 39. He's playing 71. I mean, James Harden was traded. And we talk about his lack of commitment in certain areas, and yet he played 12 more games than Jimmy. Durant, who's had major Achilles surgeries and other surgeries, played 75. I mean, Conley is just, he's consistent, he plays. But for all the talk about Dame's lack of fit and fresh frustrations he may be having. He played 73 games. Paul George has had injuries in the past, played 74. Steph, who had the one season, he missed some time. But again, they rely heavily on Steph. They probably don't even make the play in. They probably fall behind Houston if he doesn't play 74. But he played 74. So I guess I'm going through this list, and I'm kind of like, all right, if these guys can do it, OK, with the exception of, and this is probably what Pat is saying, if these guys can do it, why can't Jimmy? If LeBron can play 71 games, why can't Jimmy? And I know there were circumstances this past year, but again, it becomes next year. If you don't have those, why can't Jimmy? And I've said, I don't know how they stipulate that in a contract, but that is clearly the availability question. I guess, you know, let's get to this. Is there any, does his style of play lend to be him being out more? Because that was always an issue with Duane, and then Duane had to adjust. Is that because some of these guys are not like crash dummies, like he is? 100%. I was just thinking about that. But the reason I dialed back on mentioning it was because like many of his absences that you're mentioning are not because like he took a hard foul at the rim because he put his head down and took a hard drive. Like, yeah, the one in Philly, in the playing game, but that was just a freak accident on a fast break where he kind of messed up his knee. But it's like, a lot of these other injuries, I'm not really thinking it's because he's putting his head down a ton and going to the rim and just like taking shots on the way to the free throw line. But I will say like a lot of the guys you're mentioning, the guys you're talking about that are aging are translating more into perimeter players. Like even LeBron is taking way more threes and is kind of leaning in that direction. A lot of these older guys are just kind of playing in that way that it's like, it's not that Jimmy has to coast in the regular season. But like maybe if you see him translate more to a perimeter player at times where he relies more on the mid range jumper and the three or even the three points, I mean, he just shot 40% from three this past season. It's not crazy to say that he could get to you develop that work on that and say, okay, I could play this X amount of games more and just not have to get to the line 12 times. I could play my game and still be an effective offensive player. Just doing it in a different way. So many players in the past, I feel like I've done that and look, Jimmy is not a straight line player. He never was. He wasn't when he got into this league. He wasn't when he has been on any one of these teams. He's never been like, okay, I'm good at this. Like he's just kind of an all around player that has developed different things at different points. Like he was a three point shooter in Chicago that was that took a bunch of threes. Then he stopped taking threes all together and he was just kind of went all like just stopped taking them. And now he's back to taking them again. Like he can alter his game. It feels like season by season. He's just that kind of player. So I don't think it's crazy to say that regular season Jimmy can kind of lean more into a different style. I think that's the way we're heading. He kind of I think into that at this past offseason when he started really working on the outside shot where he was like, okay, like he it still never looks the same when he shoots it, but it's effective. Like it works. It feels like for him. So I just think that's going to be the thing that's like, okay, he was six in free throws for game this past season. I think it was three 20 year olds in their guys in their 20s. The number one was Joel and Peter's 30. And then I think the Rosen was number five in three third attempts at the same number as Jimmy. So five and six, both 34 years old was was the Rosen and Jimmy. So it's like, maybe it's like, okay, I don't need to get to the line eight times a game in the regular season when I'm playing. If I try to play 70 games, it's okay, I can play my game a different way. So I just wonder if there's that emphasis for him. If it's like if contract stuff aside, if all that stuff gets figured out and it's just about his game, I don't really have much worry about that. I feel like he could kind of figure that out and just just try to just make it easier on himself, right? Like, I feel like that's the key here. Well, it's make it easier on himself without posting, right? Like that's that's the down thing. Because I can come back to this and I see Barry tweeted about this and I'm glad that some are finally coming around to this perspective. My issue again with Jimmy this year was not miss games. It was the games he went missing in. That that's more my thing, especially against the good teams. Like I just felt like. Hey, it's Ethan Skolnick for five on the floor in the five reason sports network. As you know, we heard from Pat Riley recently, everybody has an opinion on trades, free agency, who they should keep, who they should give up, who they should get. Well, whatever it is that Riley in the heat do, you don't want him giving up too much and getting too little, right? Well, the same is true of shaving products. And that's why I use Harry's shaving products. I love the way to handle. I love the way it looks. And I love the quality of the shave. I have a little bit of trouble growing out of good beard. So better to just shave it off and make sure that it looks somewhat professional. These are German engineered blades made in their own factory. So they stay sharp longer means you can use them longer and also they've got customizable delivery options for scheduled refills as low as two bucks, half of what you pay for other big brands. Also, I would recommend the shaving lotion as well and the body wash. So check it out. You can go to harries.com backslash five. That's harries.com backslash five. You'll get a $13 trial set for just three bucks. Again, don't pay too much and get too little. Same is true of shaving as NBA transactions. Harries.com backslash five for your $3 trial set. What makes for a great vacation depends on who you ask. Are you looking to get away or bring everyone together? Do you want to get outside and play or see a play at the plate? Fortunately, however you operate, I'm the destination you've been looking for. The name's Missouri, but you can call me Mo. And I have just one question. What's your remote? Come see me at visit Mo.com. What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as fast as our nation, where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission? At US Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities. CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe. Join US Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself. Learn more at CBP.gov/careers. Every time we said, "Oh, this is a Jimmy game. It wasn't a Jimmy game." The concern then becomes, "Okay, does he struggle against top 10 defenses because they're top 10 defenses?" Physically, he can't either because of their length or their help or whatever it is, he can't be as effective, or was it just a general coast throughout these games? He didn't really care which game it was that he was in or what opponent he was in. It was just certain nights he just didn't feel it or didn't feel like it. That's more... And I would think of on the heat, that would be more my concern than him missing a few games is kind of like, "All right, are we going to get the guy?" Because the other part of this is too, if you go through this list, I don't know that there are a lot of coasters on that list. Demar is not a coaster in any way. It's funny he had Demar's career is emerged here because people don't think of him like a great player, but a lot of his numbers ultimately, I mean, people can say he's a compiler a little like Joe Johnson was, but I mean, the numbers are good, at least during the regular season, and he is most similar to Jimmy in approach. He actually had 225-3 point attempts this year, which for him is a lot, although it was, I think, the lowest on this list. And that's the other point here, as we get to it, which is Butler of the top, you mentioned it took more threes. Well, of the top 15 guys, of the top 14, he took on this list of age 33 or more in terms of win shares, he took the fewest threes still. Demar, I think, took the second fewest threes, but still money more than Jimmy, but under it, LeBron took 200 more threes than Butler, hard and obviously took 300 more threes, Durant, 250 more threes, Conley, 250 more threes, Dame, 450 more threes, Paul George, more than 400 more threes, and of course, Steph took 700 more threes. Even Drew, even even Al Horford had double as many three-point attempts, as Jimmy did. So as we kind of talk again about evolving the game, like, yes, you can take more threes, but he's not going to be a three-point shooter like that. Like, it's never going to be that. I want to get to the rim stuff afterwards after this break. So let me introduce another sponsor here. And then we'll do that. Want to talk about our great friends over at Better Edge. You can use the code 5RSN there. You'll get $20 to play right away. This is legal sports betting. We know that there's another book here that's legal, and this is not a book. This is a market. There's another book that's, there is a book that's legal in the state of Florida. But the problem there is, first, you got to take the line that they give you. And second, you got to pay the VIG. That is not the case with Better Edge. Better Edge, you can find the line that you want. There is no VIG. Get in on the NBA playoffs right now. We're also running contests during the NBA playoffs all this time. You can also bet NHL and more. So check it out. It's betteredge.com. Use the code 5RSN. That's the code 5RSN, and you'll get $20 to play. What's the easiest choice you can make? Window instead of middle seat? Picking a vendor who sends a great gift basket, outsourcing business tasks you hate. What about selling with Shopify? Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing. However you ch-ching, Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real-life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million order stage? Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell wherever and whatever you're selling. Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/try. Go to Shopify.com/try now to grow your business. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify.com/try. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers, where you'll find over 30,000 mouth-watering choices that excite your inner foodie. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week. You can also save up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with fuel points. More savings and more inspiring flavors make shopping king supers worth it every time. King supers, fresh for everyone. Fuel restrictions apply. Save big on brunch for mom, all in the King Supers app. Get a tender USDA choice boneless New York strip steak for $6.99 a pound, then get half gallons of delicious king supers milk for $1.19 each, all with your card and a digital coupon. Shop these deals at your local king supers, less than five miles away, or tap the screen now to download the King Supers app to save big today. King supers, fresh for everyone, prices and product availability subject to change, restrictions apply. See site for details. All right, here would be the counter on, well, Jimmy's the same player, he just needs to play more, is that the rim percentage, his numbers at the rim this year, I mean, there's, there was clear decline, like it's, it's the percentages across the board. What do you attribute that to and do you think that's reversible? So here's the funny thing about that, because I know there's a lot of numbers out there about that declining. I've talked about that a lot that that's kind of a one area, where you just want to see a little more efficiency, because he's, I, I even, I wouldn't say he's not able to get there. Like he's been able to kind of get downhill when he feels like it, even in the regular season. But it was an interesting number, because he shot around 56% less than 10 feet from the basket this season. And let's just look back on last year's incredible playoff run. Like the, the, all the performances he had, all the scoring first, it felt like he was on the peak of his powers. He's shot 53.5% from the field, less than 10 feet from the basket. So I think some of this may be exaggerated, if that, if that makes sense, that I still think he's able to work around it. And it's more so about him getting down there, because in that playoff run, he was getting there over 10 times a game. Like he was just putting his head down and getting there that he can still do that when he feels like it. Now, is he gonna get the same free throw attempts that he did in that playoff run? Because rules are changing. That's another conversation. And I think that's, that's kind of Ethan, probably a bigger topic here. And we're talking about Jimmy moving forward and his game developing and maybe trying to find different styles is the league is going toward not calling the fouls on, on type of players like Jimmy, like guys that are just putting their head down and running into people, which is funny enough. Like, usually you think you'd reward those guys, not the guys that are like doing the, the jumpbacks into jump shots and trying to force them. Like Jimmy just running it at the lane into people and the fact that they're taking those away are a little strange. But, and you mentioned the three point shot, Ethan, he's the one who says every time you ask about shooting more threes, he goes, I don't want to shoot more threes. I just want to go run into people. But it's like, well, how many times are you going to do it in the regular season? If you're trying to last, like if you're trying to play 70 games, I don't know how realistic that is. So that's why I think the style of play is interesting. But I just think that numbers interesting because we think we look so often at these numbers, but I really think it's more so about the amount of times getting there, the, the offense that they're running, I'd wonder if they, because we, they've always taken away the mid range shot as often as possible, like he does, like even when Tyler really started finding a flow with it, they were like, okay, take more threes, start flowing those into pull up threes. I wonder if they, they're a little more lenient on Jimmy mid ranges, just because you're matching to Rosen and the way he does it. And I wonder if Jimmy could be more regular season to Rosen in terms of just the shot diet of taking more mid range shots. I think he's a good mid range shooter, like the ability to like find ways to attack drop and not have to run into the big and worry about, you know, twisty and ankle or taking a shot or trying to get to the line, like just take that nice little pull up mid range that he has and mix in maybe a little bit more threes. But I think just controlling inside the arc in that way, it could be a different gadget for him. But one hundred percent, we still have to monitor the rim stuff because it's, it's been on a bit of a decline. It feels like over the last few years, slowly. But I still think, like I said, like that number provides like, I think there's still ways for him to be effective with it. And maybe this isn't a thing about himself. It's more so the guys around him because like, yeah, in that playoff run, he had the full range to do whatever he wanted. It was like, okay, if he's effective or not, he could still just go to the rim 11 times a night because he was it. So in the regular season, not gonna have that freedom. So that's why I think they're gonna have to mix it up a bit. Okay. And now let's look at the other side, because Jimmy and brother came in the league, mostly as a defensive player. Like that was, you know, he didn't start any games as a rookie. He then he slotted in next to Rose, kind of waited his turn behind the well dang as another option there. Rose got hurt. Jimmy emerged. And then we really saw Jimmy emerge when he got his own team in Minnesota. I guess defensively, though, again, his ability to play the passing lanes, ignite offense that way. And we talked about activity a lot this year. And, you know, the games that we knew he was good, he was getting to the line, he was getting steals. What do we, where do we think that goes? You don't see a whole lot of guys in their mid to late thirties who are terrors defensive. I mean, they could be good positional defenders, but as far as, you know, again, now we're talking about another knee injury. He's had ankle injuries, right? Like this stuff does not make you, you know, does not help in terms of the quick twitch stuff and, and, you know, to be able to make those plays. I mean, are we expecting him to be a plus defender as he ages? Because Dwayne really wasn't, actually, and people don't remember that. He kind of Dwayne conserved himself on that end. So he still had something on the offensive end. At the peak of his powers, 100%. Like look what he did in that Philly game. Like even with the injury, but before the injury, he was absolutely a terror defensively in that game. Like the passing lanes you mentioned those pick six is just positionally just switching on to everybody. He had the matchups like he was guarding maxi out the gate, like just doing all that stuff. But I don't think it's realistic to say that's what you're going to expect in the regular season. If we're talking the word coasting and throwing that around, you're not going to get that defensive Jimmy every night. You're not going to be able to use that. That's, that's emptying the tank. That's using up all his powers in the regular season. If you're expecting that guy to full out, just go at it like band does, like switching around, trying to sprint for these, these pick sixes every single night. Like that's not what I would think you'd expect. And look, they have enough wing defenders and we expect them to bring one of them back and hey, would I estimate that you'd expect to be guarding a lot of the better perimeter players and kind of be that switchy player. But he could definitely be an average to plus defender in the regular season, even when he's coasting, because of his physical ability, just because of I think more so, there was points in the regular season where you wanted him to be like the off ball stuff to be there, where it was like, you just want him to be in the right spot and just continue to do that stuff. Like even the, the rebounding stuff, like just being able to attack defensively is more so you'd want because he has the ability to really defend at a high level as we've seen that play in kind of the playoffs last year in that Philly game as mentioned. So I'm not too worried about that. I guess at the when the time comes around, but like consistently, I don't think you're relying on that in the regular season. Would you, would you agree? Like, I don't think that's something you're relying on. Well, but again, I think he'll coast to a large degree on that end. Like, and I, I think that, you know, again, I go back to the Dwayne example, like Dwayne was an elite, right, off ball defender early in his career. I mean, he's the greatest shot blocking guard, particularly of his size of all time. But, you know, then we know, and, and the, even those who were Dwayne stands, like he stopped running back on defense when he didn't get a call. And, and on the defensive end, like you could hunt him like late in his career, you could hunt him. And they're not at that point. You can't hunt Jimmy. No, you can't hunt Jimmy, but they could hunt him and they hunt it now. Again, if you think about the big three, you know, group that nobody talks about enough is that there were, there were very few places to hunt. Like you, you weren't hunting Rio, who never, I think, got enough credit as just handling his business defensively. Norris was a good defender. And that's what he was drafted for. Shane was guarding up, but he always competed. We know that. That's how he made his name. Bosch became an elite pick and roll defender after not being a very, very good defender when he came. You know, you had Birdman playing off the ball, but there was no, there was no, like, hold it. Like Ray was, like the Ray was the guy that they hunted a lot when Dwayne wasn't in there, particularly late. And Ray was actually a decent defender earlier in his career. But again, this happens. Okay, this happens as you age. And LeBron took nights off defensively, even at that stage. Okay, but LeBron was still at the peak of his athletic power. He can make up for it. That, that again, becomes the question with Jimmy, because Jimmy has never been a LeBron athlete. I mean, no one is. And so I'm, I'm wondering where that goes on that end. And I feel like sometimes we focus a little bit too much on the offensive stuff and, and really, you know, when this team is great, and Alex has talked about this, or has a chance to be great, it's because, you know, Bam and Jimmy are leading them defensively with the other pieces that they have around them. And that, that is just something I think to monitor going forward. And then I guess the counter that though, is even when he is coasting, they're still top five defense. Like defense is never the problem with this team. They, like they're not, they find ways to cover it up. And it's such a credit to Bam with the fact that he, as Pat said, is available, but also is the anchor to everything they do defensively and can throw everything out and spoke and be a madman in that way, that they're still, they can make ways up for it in ways that they can't really for the offense. Like they rely so heavily with this current roster with this current construction on Jimmy being a good offensive player, that they can't really, when you say nights, when he doesn't feel like playing or he's out, he's just kind of out there, and he's kind of in the corners, they can't score. They don't have enough talent to like bypass that. They just don't. So like defensively, they can get by because of Spo and Bam specifically, and just the different pieces, but offensively, they can't. So the defense, I think we know what it is with him at this stage. And I still don't think we're really worried about it because we know what they're going to be defensively. The issue, as we need to talk about all offseason, is scoring the basketball. This is like, we always say, and I'm surprised, like Pat and kind of all like, other guys from the past will say like, Oh, defense wins championships. And in Miami praises that because of how good defense they are. But it's like, there's almost an asterisk there, like defense wins championships. If you have like an average to above average offense, like, you can't just do what Miami does it. Just say, I'm just going to defend like this every year and just expect to get there. They have to score eventually. They have to have some type of option consistently. And I think that's what kicks back to availability in some way. Like, even when they felt like you're, they're like, Oh, okay, we're, you're gaining a little bit of ground here with Terry in different options offensively and you're finding a rhythm. And then Bam, now you're sitting here with no offensive options down in the playoffs. So availability is what we're going to keep kicking back to because it's what Pat mentioned. It's what we've talked about all season. But look, they still don't, they still don't really have it all together offensively even when it's fully there. Let's just say that. No, they don't. And that's going to be about changing the group in some way, because I don't, I don't see how they get to a great offense with the personnel that they have. They don't. You're right. Spoken craft a defense with this group, but, but not an offense. But this does explain as we go through the numbers, I think it's a worthy exercise because it does explain like you can still play at a high level at his age. It's rare. That's why there aren't a ton of guys on this list. And it's why he was second in win shares while of, of that group while only playing 60 games. He's still a high level player. It's just not, it wasn't high level enough at certain times for this team. And it wasn't, it wasn't, he wasn't on the court enough. And I think that's, again, how they get there contractually is that's, that's the rough part of this. But, you know, if you're going to pay him into the future, he's clearly got to be providing that more. And, and, and he will take care of his body. Like, I don't think that's a concern. The off the court stuff that does not seem to prevent him from getting in the gym and getting in good shape. Like, that's never been a question here. This is not Kyle. He'll be fine in that regard. But again, anytime you start to pay someone as they get into their mid to late thirties, it does become a bit of a question. All right, thanks to Brady. We appreciate it. Also, better edge use code five RSN prize picks use the code five more episodes coming over the weekend. We will be transitioning to draft coverage at some point. But also, I want to get into, I'm going to do a fun episode here. I might have to do this one with Greg. And I know where he's going to go with this. But there's a lot of Anthony Edwards comparisons to Dwayne Wade lately. So we might, we might get into this house, how real some of those are. My favorite player to watch in the league right now, as Dwayne was for a lot of people at that point. So we'll get into maybe their differences and kind of where they're at. But Edwards has a chance to do something at his age that really only Dwayne has done in the past 20 plus years, which has lead a team like that to a championship. So we'll see if Ant can do it. All right. Thanks again to Brady. Thanks to our listeners. We'll be back to him. Thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the fire isn't sports network. After all, someone needs to listen to my dad. What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as vast as our nation, where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission? At US Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities. CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe. Join US Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself. Learn more at CBP.gov/careers. What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as vast as our nation, where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission? At US Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities. CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe. Join US Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself. Learn more at CBP.gov/careers. At Independent Financial, we know you work hard for your business. That's why we work hard for you. With our business high-yield money market account, your business can earn up to 4% annual percent of yield. That means you'll have easy access to your funds while you boost your bottom line. Ready to get started? Visit iFinancial.com/businessmoneymarket today for details. Independent Financial, banking for business, banking for life. Member of TIC, certain restrictions apply. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers, where you'll find over 30,000 mouth-watering choices that excite your inner foodie. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week. You can also save up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with fuel points. More savings and more inspiring flavors make shopping king supers worth it every time. King supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply.
