Shadowing Practice: I Don't Have Much Hope For My Nets - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Next up on the season preview list is my very own Brooklyn Nets.
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Last year, they finished 20 -62, the worst offense in the entire league, 30th in offensive rating, which is impressive,
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considering the fact that Michael Porter Jr. was better and healthier than expected and was a borderline all -star, 26th on defense, and 13th in the Eastern Conference,
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which, of course, was on purpose.
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This was a team that was trying to lose.
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They wanted to have one of the worst records in the league.
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They succeeded.
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They got high lottery odds and, unfortunately, once again, slipped down.
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I like Mikel Brown, but it's definitely tough
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when you look at the last couple of years for the Nets where the goal when they traded away Mikel Bridges, made that Houston trade, was get their picks back for the last two years and then move forward.
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And they got the eighth pick and the sixth pick despite pretty good lottery odds in each of those years.
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Now, I like both those players, but still, clearly their plan was let's be bad for two years and then turn it around.
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And I don't think this roster is as good as they were hoping
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that it would be at the end of those two years.
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But regardless, let's talk about their offseason and end of the season.
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They added Julius Randle, Michael Brown, Keon Ellis, and Mo Wagner in the offseason, and then they lost Nick Claxton.
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So some upgrades, certainly, obviously, the youth of Michael Brown.
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We'll talk a lot about him alongside of Yeager in the backcourt.
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Julius Randle is, you know, say what you want about Julius Randle, certainly as a postseason player, but he's been a floor -raising kind of guy.
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Each of the last two teams that he's gone to, the Knicks were not that good, and when he went there, they certainly improved while he was there, and then same thing in Minnesota, just continuing to raise the floor.
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I'll be honest, I'm not particularly excited to watch Julius Randle play basketball this year, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
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Maybe he'll lean a little bit more into the playmaking
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that I think has always been something he should have been leaning more into as an NBA player.
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But still, an interesting offseason for the Nets.
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Maybe you were expecting something more exciting given that they had so much cap space, but Keon Ellis, Moe Wagner, being able to maneuver around, get some extra assets by taking on Julius Randle is what it is for their offseason.
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Really quickly, though, I want to thank the sponsor of today's video, Courtyard.
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And I also want to thank them for this giveaway way.
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I am going to give that away to a random commenter on this video.
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All you have to do is comment your Courtyard username and I will transfer it to you in the app digitally.
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You don't have to do anything else.
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And again, that is just a random comment that comments their Courtyard username underneath this video.
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I'll be getting that 1998 PSA 8 Michael Jordan card.
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If you purchase a pack and you get a card, you're not that excited about, they go ahead and send you an offer so
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And again, as I mentioned earlier, we have that giveaway going on as well.
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Comment your Courtyard username, and I'll pick one person randomly to send this card to by the end of the month.
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So go check out Courtyard, and thank you again at Courtyard for sponsoring this video.
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Let's talk about the starters.
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Now, to me, this is pretty much locked in.
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Not necessarily for night one, because I don't know that Michael Brown is going to be healthy for night one, but the ideal during the season starting lineup for the Nets would be Michael Brown, Yegor Jemen, Michael Porter Jr.,
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Julius Randle, and De 'Ron Sharp, who came back on a cheap deal, but I actually think is pretty good but obviously no more Nick Claxton.
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They have a couple of other bigs as well that they're going to have off the bench, including Moe Wagner, who I talked about earlier.
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And it's an interesting group because, you know, Sharp is kind of, people don't really care too much about him at the five spot.
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Then you got the two young guys in the backcourt in Brown and Jemen, and then you have MPJ and Julius Randle on the wing slash four spot
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as the kind of veteran core of the group.
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And I think there are ways in which this can really work.
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Certainly if there's a leap from Yegor, obviously Michael Porter Jr., if healthy, was really good last year him
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and Randle together in the backcourt slash on the wing is just a really difficult size matchup for teams to deal with.
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I mean, MPJ is like a legit 6 '10".
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Julius Randle is big and strong.
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So I think there are certainly nights where they're going to be able to take advantage of their size in that way.
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Yegor's big.
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Michael Brown's big.
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So it's a bigger starting group.
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And I think that'll be one of the ways they try
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and grind out some wins is try and get on the offensive glass, be a relatively strong defensive team, get out and transition.
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There's obviously concern with that when you're dealing with two young guys in the backcourt.
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But I think that's at least kind of the goal is
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for one of the strengths of the team to just be overall size.
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And then, you know, De 'Ron Sharp has a pretty good offensive rebounder as well.
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Off the bench, things get more concerning, in my opinion.
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Ben Saroff, Nolan Traore, obviously two of the young guys they've drafted in recent years.
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Keon Ellis, Drake Powell, another young guy.
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Noah Clowney, who I thought was pretty good last year.
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And, you know, depending on how concerned or not concerned you are about rebounding, like maybe could start over De 'Ron Sharp, although I don't think he's a natural five.
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And then Mo Wagner, who they also added in the offseason.
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So some decent depth, some decent vets.
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Overall, though, just not that impressive of a roster, depending on how much Julius Randle really raises the floor of this team.
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There's a lot of concerns here defensively, as much as they want to try and be better this year because they don't have their pick.
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There's still a ton of youth throughout this roster, and that obviously, especially in the backcourt, could lead to some not great play.
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And if you really look at their guard rotation, I mean, it's Brown, Jemmins, Seraf Traore, either year one or year two guys, two of which, and Seraf Traore were not very good as rookies.
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And then Keon Ellis, who's like a solid NBA player, but on actual good basketball teams, was playing like 12 minutes a game.
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So injury here or there in the guard rotation gets pretty small pretty quickly in Brooklyn, not to mention i'm not super excited about the wings maybe drake powell will come along a little bit
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but i think i wanted to be really excited about the team
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because i like the backcourt we'll talk about that in a second
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but it's more of an experiment than it is a really good basketball team to me
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and i just i have a lot of concerns up
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and down their roster let's talk about uh big storylines for their season i've mentioned this already for them
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but they do not have their draft pick this year they owe it to houston
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so i think in a in a normal year they would try
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and be in that four to ten spot
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which is you know the non -relegation zone right where you'd want to be in the draft
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but they don't have their pick it doesn't seem to be a super strong draft anyway
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but this is a scenario where they certainly I mean they
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could give away the number one pick in the draft that's
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a realistic scenario typically over the years the Nets have good lottery luck
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when they don't own their own pick so you know
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if they are as I expect them to be one of
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the five to eight worst teams in a league look out for where
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that Houston pick ends up for for the Nets
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and that's just I've done this before with this team already
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but it's just it's a tough place to be in
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when you know you need to get better you know the team's not
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that good then you're giving away high picks
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and not even getting anything out of what will probably be a pretty down season for them.
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Next up, big storyline here, and I think is the number one thing to come away from this season with, and that is this backcourt.
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If the Nets win 20 games again, but you come out of this season thinking, okay, Jordy's like a pretty good coach, maybe had some injury issues, da -da -da -da, and you have Michael Brown and Yegor as like,
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these are our guys for the future, to me, that's a successful season because then I have something to build from.
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If that's not the case, if Brown is hurt, plays like 30 games, and Yegor like takes a leap, but not that big of one.
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I don't really know where you're going.
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I don't know really what the foundation is other than, you know, MPJ is a decent trade asset and Julius Randle.
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Like, I don't know where the team is going from there.
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And I'm hopeful.
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My optimism for the team is Brown's ability to be an on and off ball guy because of his spacing.
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Yegor's continued improvement on the ball, getting to the rim.
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And then how he didn't necessarily shoot it great last year, but he shot way more than I thought that he would
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and clearly was like a point of emphasis for him in terms of improvement
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and those guys being kind of bigger and being you know both on
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and off ball guys I think there's something there
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that could be really exciting in a year or two years
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and that's all I want to see every single time I
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turn on a Nets game is both those guys healthy
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and then playing together as much as possible to me unless
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for some reason this is going to be a play -in team
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and a very tough Easter conference
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which I doubt the number one goal the season should be Brown
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and Jemen should be playing together as many minutes as possible
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don't stagger them at all always have them together on the floor at the same time
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because that to me is one of the only things
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that matters out of this season from an evaluation perspective offensively
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I think there's a lot to like on defense there's obvious
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concern Brown was not a great defensive player in college Jim
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and I think can be a really good NBA defender
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and they each have that size
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but I don't I don't want this to be a situation
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where it's like oh yeah well Yeager's gonna be the guy that guards
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and Brown doesn't I need both of them ideally to be at a guard in this version of the NBA so
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that's certainly something to keep an eye on the Jordy Fernandez
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factors another thing I put down here is a big storyline
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because I think amongst coaches whose record isn't
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that good in the first couple years I think Jordy has like a decently high reputation
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because there are there were points not necessarily last year
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but the year before where they kind of had to start losing some games on purpose
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because he was getting a lot out of the team
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and they were playing fast in transition it's a little bit
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like um the Jazz's coach Hardy where it's like okay we know the team isn't
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that good but you're doing stuff here
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that we like I hope that's still the case by the end of this year
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because although i don't think they're going to be very good
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i think the internal expectation level is higher certainly than it was last year
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or the year before so
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if they're not good i get a little bit worried about his future
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but i think ultimately he's a good coach
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and there's just going to be a lot of ways in
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which that will shine through even
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if the team record does not necessarily show hey this is a guy you should build around long term
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and then another thing i want to mention here as well is the michael porter jr julius randall fit
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and importantly that is a fit
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that they're not committed to michael porter jr as of this
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recording still does not have a new extension with the team he is a 2027 free agent
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and someone that regardless of how their season goes is going to be in trade rumors especially
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if you feel like that's not a good fit between those two guys
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and you just want to go ahead and move on from mpj
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and play one of the younger guys you don't have your pick anyway maybe get a pick
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or two out of mpj and even
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if he does stay on the team although the size is like interesting
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and intriguing i think mpj is more natural at the four
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spot julius randall obviously more natural at the four spot
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so is there enough ball handling is there enough creation here mpj had a really great season last year
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so i'm certainly not doubting his ability to have another one
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but early season as i'm like trying to talk myself into
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the team seeing how those two guys play together is going
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to be one of the number one things i'm going to be watching
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and paying attention to now in terms of prediction
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um i wish i could be optimistic it's my team i want to be excited
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when i looked at this roster and especially like
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if brown's not going to be healthy at the beginning of the year
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i think this i don't know if they'll finish this way
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but i think this is the worst roster in the conference
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but truly they're i have them at 15th in the east i i do not want
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that to be the case but unfortunately someone's got to be 15th
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and i think
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that there's just not enough here some of the vets are okay julius randall will help
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but if like if brown plays 20 games or 30 games
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because of a back issue
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or an ankle issue they're definitely bringing him along slowly i
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just don't know where you're getting any kind of backcourt creation
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from i don't really like any of the other guards other than yegor
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and maybe keon ellis
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so uh i i unfortunately do not think they're going to be very good i hope i'm wrong
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but that's where i'm at with the nets right now
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “I Don't Have Much Hope For My Nets”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: julius, brown, pick, michael, Randle. This video has 190 sentences and 2678 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:52. The speaker talks fast, about 246 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| roster noun | /ˈɹɔ.stɚ/ | A list of individuals or groups, usually for an organization of some kind such as military officers and enlisted personnel enrolled in a particular unit; a… |
| porter noun | /ˈpɔɹtɚ/ | A person who carries luggage and related objects; (historically) one who carried luggage or did manual labour in the transloading of cargo. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| offensive adjective | /ˈɔˌfɛnsɪv/ | Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation. |
| decent adjective | /ˈdiː.sənt/ | Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances. |
| lottery noun | /ˈlɑtɚi/ | A scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance, especially a gaming scheme in which one or more tickets bearing particular numbers draw prizes, the… |
| username noun | A name or string of characters used as a person's identification on an individual computer system. | |
| storyline noun | The plot of a story; one of several within a story, usually interwoven. | |
| regardless adverb | /ɹɪˈɡɑɹd.lɪs/ | Without attention to warnings or indications of bad consequences. |
| impressive adjective | /ɪmˈpɹɛsɪv/ | Making, or tending to make, a positive impression; having power to impress. |
| transition noun | /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/ | The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another. |
| odd adjective | /ɑd/ | Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected. |
| bench noun | /ˈbɛnt͡ʃ/ | A long seat with or without a back, found for example in parks and schools. |
| defensive adjective | /dɪˈfɛn.sɪv/ | Intended for defence; protective. |
| asset noun | /ˈæsɛt/ | A thing or quality that has value, especially one that generates cash flows. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| give away verb | To make a gift of (something). | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come along verb | To accompany. | |
| get out verb | To leave or escape. | |
| move forward verb | To cause to make progress. | |
| put down verb | To insult, belittle, or demean. | |
| start over verb | to begin again; to return to the beginning |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You don't have to do anything else.
- Let's talk about the starters.
- I don't really know where you're going.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | they've drafted · i've mentioned · I've done |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was let · is hurt |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 61 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: sixth /sɪksθ/, eighth /eɪtθ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, rotation /ɹoʊˈteɪʃən/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, extension /ɪkˈstɛnʃən/, evaluation /ɪˌvæljuˈeɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, evaluation /ɪˌvæljuˈeɪʃn̩/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like roster, porter, necessarily.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.