Speaker 1: M m all right, welcome to the State of the
Speaker 1: Lakers post game show that will be also airing on
Speaker 1: DASH Radio tomorrow morning at seven am. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for coming to hang out. Roj is still partying.
Speaker 1: God knows where he is. Barely heard from him, although
Speaker 1: I did hear from him enough to say that he
Speaker 1: could not make it tonight. So what I'd like to
Speaker 1: do is only go for about, you know, fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: or so on just my quick takeaways from the game,
Speaker 1: and then I'd like to get as much of you
Speaker 1: guys up here as possible, um, to get lots of
Speaker 1: comments and questions, opportunities for you guys to event This
Speaker 1: game ironically went kind of exactly as I expected it
Speaker 1: to because I have a lot of respect for Memphis
Speaker 1: and how good they are, and how good John Morant
Speaker 1: is and John Morant in particular. It's acts a specific
Speaker 1: weakness of the Lakers, so it was inevitable that at
Speaker 1: certain stretches of the game, uh, they would struggle. Lakers
Speaker 1: played good urgency, but I thought they were undercut by
Speaker 1: their starting lineup quite a bit. Um. I think this
Speaker 1: is a game that if the Lakers play small through
Speaker 1: and through they probably win by fifteen, even with their
Speaker 1: defensive shortcomings. Um, and we're gonna get to that. But
Speaker 1: this was kind of the type of game that you
Speaker 1: could expect. The Lakers weren't just gonna flip the switch
Speaker 1: and start kicking people's asses, because that's not how you
Speaker 1: fix bad basketball. It takes weeks of trying to ditch
Speaker 1: bad habits and replace them with good habits, and so
Speaker 1: on and so forth. And so this is a good
Speaker 1: step in that direction. And there's gonna be a slightly
Speaker 1: less tough game in my opinion going down to sant
Speaker 1: San Antonio, and then the Lakers are gonna head into
Speaker 1: four straight relatively easy ones. So this is this was
Speaker 1: the one they had to get, that they had to
Speaker 1: get to get things started off on the right foot. Um.
Speaker 1: Like I said, guys, I'm gonna talk for about fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes and the I'm gonna get callers up, So get
Speaker 1: your request in now and stick stick around, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna get as many of you guys up here as
Speaker 1: we can tonight. Um. The main thing that I've wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about to start was the interesting stuff in
Speaker 1: closing time there, because this is our first real crunch
Speaker 1: time opportunity to watch the Lakers this season considering how
Speaker 1: bad the things went off the rails against Golden State,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was interesting that they went with
Speaker 1: Mellow as that fifth guy next to bays Moore, Lebron Russ,
Speaker 1: and a d. This is the guy that I actually
Speaker 1: specifically suggested as the best fifth option in there. The
Speaker 1: reason being is that when he's with that group, his
Speaker 1: defensive responsibilities become so small that he can actually succeed
Speaker 1: in them. You don't need him to hold his own
Speaker 1: in a wide open space. You need him to hold
Speaker 1: his own alongside a bunch of really good defensive athletes
Speaker 1: that are going to make his job easier. And ironically,
Speaker 1: he made one of the biggest plays of the game,
Speaker 1: which was his uh steel on John Moran. I think
Speaker 1: it was as he was coming down the lane on
Speaker 1: the play ended up ended up getting reviewed and he
Speaker 1: just brings a ton of really good space for the
Speaker 1: rest of the line up because of his ability to
Speaker 1: shoot um. You know. I thought it was one of
Speaker 1: the best plays of the game for Mellow. Was a
Speaker 1: play where he was posting up Ryan Anderson realized he
Speaker 1: didn't have a size advantage kicked it back out to
Speaker 1: Lebron and they ran to pick and roll with Anthony
Speaker 1: Davison got a really good shot out of it. If
Speaker 1: you notice Tonight mellows shots, We're all in the flow
Speaker 1: of the offense, except for that last one that he
Speaker 1: took in crunch time, that little fade away. But for
Speaker 1: the most part, everything was easy and coming off of
Speaker 1: the tension gained from the stars, and he was kind
Speaker 1: of playing like a role player, an over qualified role player,
Speaker 1: which when he plays like that, he's going to have
Speaker 1: success with this group. So I didn't think that that
Speaker 1: was a coincidence at all. Um, let's talk about the starters,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure that's what a lot of you guys
Speaker 1: are thinking about. You know how annoying it is to
Speaker 1: watch this basketball team play with DeAndre Jordan's And again
Speaker 1: to kind of frame this, when DeAndre Jordan was signed,
Speaker 1: I really liked him as a depth signing that would
Speaker 1: specifically play when Dwight or a d had to rest
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. Why, because Frank has a defensive scheme,
Speaker 1: and while his defensive scheme had to change and be
Speaker 1: moved around a lot last year because of the different
Speaker 1: types of centers, that he had this year, He's got
Speaker 1: three of the same types of vertical, you know, rim
Speaker 1: protecting types of centers. And so it's nice when DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan's can slot in for Dwight Howard because he's you know,
Speaker 1: hurt or serving a one game suspension for being Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard or whatever it is, or if Anthony Davis has
Speaker 1: to take a night off, you can rotate DeAndre Jordan
Speaker 1: in there and play the same defensive scheme. I liked that.
Speaker 1: I did not like him as someone who would just
Speaker 1: play with the with the healthy Lakers in their starting lineup,
Speaker 1: rain or shine for no particular reason at all. And
Speaker 1: the reason why is he just clogs up the space
Speaker 1: and he doesn't impact the game enough where the trade
Speaker 1: off is beneficial, you know, like Dwight does so much
Speaker 1: on the floor as a guy, but like a ball
Speaker 1: of energy, especially two years ago that you know, even
Speaker 1: whatever you lost in spacing with Dwight, you got at
Speaker 1: least something back in return, because Dwight is legitimately a
Speaker 1: very good backup center in this league, which DeAndre Jordan
Speaker 1: at this phase of his career just isn't. And in
Speaker 1: the first two games, when DeAndre Jordan played center, Lebron
Speaker 1: and A d were making jump shots and so as
Speaker 1: a result, they were plus six when DeAndre Jordan was
Speaker 1: on the floor because even though they were forced to
Speaker 1: take a bunch of jump shots by the lack of
Speaker 1: space to operate, they were still able to make them,
Speaker 1: which kind of hit and masked some of the issues
Speaker 1: with that lineup now. Tonight, Lebron got off to a
Speaker 1: poor shooting start, although he did make some big threes
Speaker 1: late in the game, got off two poor shooting start.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis wasn't making his jump shots. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: that lineup can't score. And that's just what's going to
Speaker 1: happen when you put that specific group out there, because
Speaker 1: it plays right into the defensive team that every opponent
Speaker 1: they're gonna play this year is gonna put out there,
Speaker 1: which is we're just gonna pack the paint. We're gonna
Speaker 1: play way off of us, We're gonna play way off
Speaker 1: at DeAndre Jordan. We're just gonna sit in there and
Speaker 1: make you guys take jump shots, and it's gonna work. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it did tonight, and that, like I said, if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for that specific lineup, I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: end up winning this game by like fifteen, that's how
Speaker 1: well they played. Um. What was interesting there during the
Speaker 1: beginning of the game, when the offense was all clunky,
Speaker 1: was how well Russell Westbrook played. I thought it was
Speaker 1: really interesting that most of the shots that he took
Speaker 1: were either at the beginning of the game, he was
Speaker 1: getting into the paint. He took one three on a
Speaker 1: swing pass that I thought was a little quick, but
Speaker 1: he didn't have the crazy, you know, nonsensical transition pull
Speaker 1: up shots that have almost no chance of going in
Speaker 1: and just kind of feel like wasted possessions. Those were gone.
Speaker 1: And then you got to see for the first time
Speaker 1: this season, one of Russell Westbrook's elite skills come to
Speaker 1: the table and start generating, you know, positives for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: And that was his passing, you know, with the starters,
Speaker 1: you saw it looking to the rim, to the bigs
Speaker 1: whenever Memphis would kind of cheat up into the to
Speaker 1: the middle of the paint to try to help elsewhere,
Speaker 1: he found DeAndre Jordan's and Anthony Davis in the lane
Speaker 1: for dunks. And then as the game progressed, when they
Speaker 1: got into open space, he did more of what he
Speaker 1: did with Washington, which is kicked open three point shooters
Speaker 1: and he had eleven assists, and like the first it
Speaker 1: was two and a half quarters, he had eleven assists,
Speaker 1: which is awesome. That's that's the kind of thing that
Speaker 1: Russ can bring to the table. That's gonna be really good.
Speaker 1: I also really liked what he did in crunch time
Speaker 1: when they started helping off of him a toime. He
Speaker 1: was setting ball screens for Lebron getting into that short
Speaker 1: role position. There were a couple of plays there that
Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of the Bosch Wade Lebron pairing
Speaker 1: where they'd have Wade comes at the screen for Lebron,
Speaker 1: Wade with short roll and drop it off to Bosch
Speaker 1: for dunker first shot. They had some sequences like that
Speaker 1: they're in the fourth quarter, including one where a d
Speaker 1: was spotting up at the three point line and cut
Speaker 1: and Russ kind of tried to do a little shell
Speaker 1: will pass to him. It just got fumbled, but that
Speaker 1: could have ended in the dunk too. That there was
Speaker 1: just the Lakers did a good job in crunch time.
Speaker 1: I thought of taking you know, Memphiss attempts to counter Russ.
Speaker 1: You know by over helping and kind of using it
Speaker 1: against them by keeping Russ involved in the play as
Speaker 1: a screener. Again, guys, get your requests in. I'm gonna take.
Speaker 1: I'm only gonna go for about five more minutes and
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna get you guys up here to talk
Speaker 1: and we're gonna go probably for another half hour or so. Um,
Speaker 1: because Roger isn't here tonight, so I don't want to
Speaker 1: just talk the whole time. Let me look at my
Speaker 1: notes really quick, make sure I'm not missing anything. Um,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves. So, Austin Reeves, i I tweeted yesterday, is
Speaker 1: going to be the plus minus hero of this team,
Speaker 1: kind of like Alex Cruso was now. Alex Cruso and
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves could not be more different other than the
Speaker 1: fact that they're six five white guys. There they the
Speaker 1: way they impact the game is so much different, so
Speaker 1: different from each other. However, what they do do extremely
Speaker 1: well and the reason why they kind of have a
Speaker 1: similar vibe with this team is they're just textbook glue guys.
Speaker 1: As the fifth guy in any lineup, I always talk
Speaker 1: about over qualified roles, like with Mellow right, like Mellow
Speaker 1: succeeded tonight because he was getting extremely easy opportunities that honestly,
Speaker 1: he's a little over qualified for. So when you have
Speaker 1: a guy is talented as Mellow, he's gonna just literally
Speaker 1: light on fire and just burn the house down the
Speaker 1: way you did today as a shooter, because he's overqualified
Speaker 1: for that a little bit. Well, what you're what you're
Speaker 1: asking for for guys playing off of lebron A d
Speaker 1: and Russell Westbrook is to knock down open shots, occasionally
Speaker 1: do something to attack a close out if they do
Speaker 1: get chased off the line, which Mellow did make a
Speaker 1: couple of wonder but pull ups into that like seventeen
Speaker 1: eighteen footmark today when guys did chase him off the line,
Speaker 1: or he'd pump fake and sidestep and knock something down.
Speaker 1: But you all you need from that position is just
Speaker 1: hold down your defensive responsibilities. Knocked down and open three,
Speaker 1: occasionally attacked the clothes out, and Austin Reeves is perfectly
Speaker 1: qualified for that specific responsibility. And because he's young and enthusiastic,
Speaker 1: and because he plays with desperation, because he doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like he's really earned his spot in the league yet,
Speaker 1: these guys, you know, in the direcs of the regular season,
Speaker 1: bring immense value because not only can they fulfill the
Speaker 1: responsibilities that you need them to fulfill to fulfill, but
Speaker 1: they have great motivation. Alex Caruso was like that for
Speaker 1: the Lakers. He was different, like he was had the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands a lot more. The Lakers actually
Speaker 1: used him as a pick and roll ball handler a
Speaker 1: lot last year. And I would say Alex is probably
Speaker 1: more of a, you know, a point of attack type
Speaker 1: of defender. Austin does okay at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: but his strengths are more off ball, thriving in the chaos,
Speaker 1: being able to chase shooters, being able to, you know,
Speaker 1: identify the little things in the defensive possession, like a
Speaker 1: little box out here, a little help here, they'll rotate there.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of things that he does extremely
Speaker 1: wealth and it's just interesting because they're different him and Caruso,
Speaker 1: but the way that they impact a lineup that has
Speaker 1: super talented players is the same. And and that's why
Speaker 1: you're seeing him succeed again. Guys, get your request and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna one last point I want to make, and
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna start getting callers up here. Um. Defense
Speaker 1: tonight was garbage. That goes without saying. The Lakers defense
Speaker 1: wasn't good enough in the first two games to immediately
Speaker 1: to be able to walk into a match up with
Speaker 1: John Morant and be able to play well like it
Speaker 1: just it was never going to work out that way.
Speaker 1: But the offense made significant strides tonight. You saw in
Speaker 1: those lineups where when DeAndre Jordan was off the floor.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to look at the advanced metrics tomorrow morning,
Speaker 1: after the NBA site gets all updated, just to look
Speaker 1: at what the Laker offensive rating was with DeAndre Jordan
Speaker 1: off the floor, because my guess is it's probably around
Speaker 1: one thirty points per one hundred posessions. That's how good
Speaker 1: and smooth and fluid everything looked when the floor was
Speaker 1: open for the Lakers tonight, and that was kind of
Speaker 1: a breath of fresh air compared to what we're all
Speaker 1: used to seeing with this. You know, Lebron and av
Speaker 1: core Um. I really liked there at the start of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter how they just put Lebron with Dwight
Speaker 1: and three shooters and basically just Lebron just stood at
Speaker 1: the top of the key called for a ball screen,
Speaker 1: waited for Memphis to over help off somebody and hit shooters,
Speaker 1: and it was like Moliague monk in the top of
Speaker 1: the key. Here mellow on the left wing. They're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this time you left me open. Okay, I'm gonna pull
Speaker 1: up the three. Like it was just methodical dissecting offense
Speaker 1: from Lebron surrounded by shooting, and it put the game
Speaker 1: away because I think Memphis was up to at that
Speaker 1: point and like bam, just like that, Lakers are up nine.
Speaker 1: It was a huge, huge stretch of just classic, you know,
Speaker 1: open floor Lebron, you know, the maestro at the top
Speaker 1: of the key type of offense, and that kind of
Speaker 1: stride is something you can build on as a team.
Speaker 1: And if the defense can catch up, which there were
Speaker 1: stretches tonight, especially at the end of the first quarter
Speaker 1: where the Lakers defended really well, if the defense can
Speaker 1: catch up and continue to progress the way that the
Speaker 1: offense does, that's how we know that they can potentially
Speaker 1: go up to Portland here in a week or two weeks,
Speaker 1: I think, and get a big win on the road,
Speaker 1: because like they're gonna come into some easy games now.
Speaker 1: The San Antonio wants a little tough. They're gonna go
Speaker 1: and play Houston twice. They're gonna play Oklahoma City twice.
Speaker 1: A're gonna get into some easy games here. They can win.
Speaker 1: They just need to get these things ironed out in
Speaker 1: time for when things get tougher, because they go up
Speaker 1: to Portland and then they come back and they play
Speaker 1: Miami and they play Charlotte, then they have to go
Speaker 1: on that East coast road trip to play Milwaukee and Boston.
Speaker 1: It's gonna get harder. So it's important for them to
Speaker 1: get things going now. All right, guys, I'm gonna start
Speaker 1: taking callers. Feel fair to bring come up and say
Speaker 1: whatever you guys want. You wanna vent, you have a question?
Speaker 1: Be my guests. Hang on, let's get our first guy
Speaker 1: up here. Barn, can you hear me? Mr? Barn? Are
Speaker 1: you there? All right? We gotta same bond back down?
Speaker 1: Hang on, Kingsley, what's up? Man? Can you hear me? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Cam Man, that's going on. I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1: What do you gotta say? Man? I'm doing good? Man? Um? Well, first,
Speaker 1: I'm glad we finally got to win. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying? Felt good? Uh? John Morn I said, there,
Speaker 1: John Moran is special, Like he has that fast twitched movements,
Speaker 1: like it's on some like Derrick Rose Young Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: type movements. So like the way he was getting to
Speaker 1: the rim tortured bays More kind of had me word for,
Speaker 1: you know, moving forward when we need bays More to
Speaker 1: get those stops. But overall, I'm glad that, um, you know,
Speaker 1: the rest bank getting a little bit more comfortable, you know.
Speaker 1: So I like that. I like that we're finally playing
Speaker 1: reeves more and it seems like Malik Monk is getting
Speaker 1: his footing, So I think I definitely like the where
Speaker 1: we're going. Um, I just think that it's the defense.
Speaker 1: And like, once our defense comes around, I feel like
Speaker 1: that will put us back, that will put us back
Speaker 1: at the top of the Yeah, not just the what
Speaker 1: and and last day is I was listening to the
Speaker 1: The Common Tailor and he brought up something that I've
Speaker 1: been thinking about is watching the Lakers as a fan
Speaker 1: of Anthony Davis is so stressful. Bro. I mean every
Speaker 1: ten minutes, Bro, it's like he hits the floor for
Speaker 1: no reason. And like, bro, it's so scary watching him play, bro,
Speaker 1: because like I know that we don't have a D.
Speaker 1: All of this means nothing. And I'm the biggest lebronst,
Speaker 1: but we need a D to get back to being
Speaker 1: a D. But man, it's like like the first ten minutes,
Speaker 1: he's going down at least four or five times. What overall,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, feeling good about what we
Speaker 1: you know, where we're at in the state of the
Speaker 1: Lakers right now. Yeah, man, I agree. I I'm generally
Speaker 1: an optimist um about this team. I've been a little
Speaker 1: discouraged early on, which goes that's kind of natural. Is
Speaker 1: just part of being a fan, right, Like we were
Speaker 1: as fans, were bad at handling the bad, and we
Speaker 1: always are really quick to to to to you know,
Speaker 1: cling to the good things that happened, And that's just
Speaker 1: kind of the way it goes. Anthony Davis part is
Speaker 1: interesting to me because you're right, like, if Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: goes down, this team can't do anything. But there's a
Speaker 1: specific reason why, Like it has to do with team construction.
Speaker 1: Like if you look at Phoenix in the way they play,
Speaker 1: you know they have all this talent down the roster, right,
Speaker 1: so if Chris Paul misses a game, they can play.
Speaker 1: If Devin Booker misses a game, they can play. Because
Speaker 1: they didn't have they don't have a top five player
Speaker 1: on their team that they had to trade all of
Speaker 1: their assets for. That's not the way their team is constructed.
Speaker 1: They got a discounted star that they could acquire in
Speaker 1: a trade for cheap and Chris Paul, and then they
Speaker 1: have a couple of organic, you know, up and coming
Speaker 1: stars like Devin Booker or DeAndre and who's not really
Speaker 1: a star yet but that could be trending in that direction.
Speaker 1: And then all the all of their brandon Ingram's and
Speaker 1: Kyle Ko's Musli Alonzo balls are still on the roster.
Speaker 1: That's your Mchail Bridges, that's your Cam Johnson, that's all.
Speaker 1: All of the talent that's on that roster is part
Speaker 1: of the way that they're constructed. The Lakers have all
Speaker 1: their talent tied up in Lebron and Nady. That's that's
Speaker 1: the reality of it. They're always going to be tied
Speaker 1: to Lebron and Nad and whatever you can get for cheap. Now,
Speaker 1: the advantage of that is when they're healthy and they're
Speaker 1: playing well, you just have the best players on the floor.
Speaker 1: Every game, right, and that's that's a huge advantage. But
Speaker 1: when one of them goes down, you're inherently going to
Speaker 1: be in some trouble and and that that's just kind
Speaker 1: of the way it goes. It's no different than what
Speaker 1: happened to Brooklyn in the playoffs last year because they're
Speaker 1: in a similar predicament. Yeah, there are some big names
Speaker 1: on that roster, just like with the Lakers. However, they're
Speaker 1: all guys that a kind of passed their prime, so
Speaker 1: they're not going to be able to pull the weight
Speaker 1: of losing a James Harden or losing a Kyrie Irving. Um,
Speaker 1: So that's part of that's just part of the journey
Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis and Lebron, Like with uh, you know,
Speaker 1: once again, somebody folded up into Lebron's leg and and
Speaker 1: Damnier messed up his ankle on that on that play
Speaker 1: at the beginning the game, which kind of reminded me,
Speaker 1: you know, of the play where he hurt his ankle.
Speaker 1: And honestly, I don't think he was hurt on that play.
Speaker 1: I think it was his bad ankle and when he
Speaker 1: felt somebody roll up on him, I think he just
Speaker 1: had like a little bit of a panic attack and
Speaker 1: was like, oh, you know, but then he took a
Speaker 1: deep breath and was like, Okay, it appears to be fine. Um,
Speaker 1: you had mentioned John Moran like he's he's to me,
Speaker 1: he's better at this phase then Derrick Rose and Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook and will be better. Yeah, as he you know,
Speaker 1: comes into his prime because he's already so much better
Speaker 1: as a shooter those guys were, and in addition to that,
Speaker 1: he's got so much more of that in between. And
Speaker 1: then he's a little bit shiftier. He's he's got a
Speaker 1: little bit more start and stop to him. Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: and Derrick Rose were almost especially when they were younger
Speaker 1: or one speed guys, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: they just they just were shot out of the cannon
Speaker 1: and no one could do anything about it. John's got
Speaker 1: some shiftiness. There was a play there in the first
Speaker 1: half where he got by Russell Westbrook on the screen.
Speaker 1: He's been discouraged because he had been turned away at
Speaker 1: the rim by that big Laker lineup, you know, the
Speaker 1: big one Laker lineup that we all hate. And all
Speaker 1: he did was just kind of stopping like pump fake
Speaker 1: and Russ just came falling down on top of him
Speaker 1: and send him to the free throw line. That's like
Speaker 1: savvy stuff that he's like just more advanced with this
Speaker 1: phase of his career. It's not a coincidence that the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies were two and oh, and I think they're very
Speaker 1: much gonna be in the mix of things in the playoffs. Yeah, man, definitely,
Speaker 1: And I appreciate you. I appreciate you letting me come on. Man,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming on, and we'll see you on Tuesday night. Sure, bro,
Speaker 1: get your requesting. Guys, I'm gonna take callers for another
Speaker 1: twenty minutes or so. Come up and talk about anything
Speaker 1: you wanna vent about the game. You want to have
Speaker 1: to ask a question, anything you guys want. Can you
Speaker 1: hear me? What's up in hey? Hey? Yeah, hey, Um?
Speaker 1: I just saw a play um in which Lebron, he
Speaker 1: and Russ went on a pick and roll. Then Ross
Speaker 1: was on a foreign tree. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes? Kay? Um?
Speaker 1: Then Ross because it was Lebron and Ross went on
Speaker 1: the pick and roll. We know the problem of Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d on a pick and roll. They'll just
Speaker 1: switch it, right, the defense will just switch it. So
Speaker 1: here Lebron Ross being the the roleman went on um.
Speaker 1: I think there was a foreign tree because Lebron um
Speaker 1: Paul in the two players um on him and it
Speaker 1: left a D on the bunker spot. I think that
Speaker 1: was a kind of a formula for them to use
Speaker 1: all those three players. You can actually do it multiple times,
Speaker 1: particularly if there's a big man out there in a
Speaker 1: D is just on a bunker spot. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: The play you called out is one that I thought
Speaker 1: was the most interesting play of the game because on
Speaker 1: the previous possession, Lebron was isolating at the top of
Speaker 1: the key and Russell Westbrook went over to the to
Speaker 1: the strongside corner, and they just switched Steven Adams onto
Speaker 1: Russ because they know that Russ isn't gonna shoot, and
Speaker 1: they gave you this big defender that you can kind
Speaker 1: of roam around with. You can't, you know, letting Russ
Speaker 1: play off the ball and crunch time is kind of
Speaker 1: like playing right into the defense's hands because that's going
Speaker 1: to allow them to play five on four on you
Speaker 1: off with whatever action you're trying to run. So what's
Speaker 1: interesting is coming into this season. I talked about three
Speaker 1: things that I wanted Russ to do in crunch time
Speaker 1: to counter teams leaving him open, and those three things
Speaker 1: were crash the offensive glass, which he had a huge
Speaker 1: rebound on the mellow he actually got stripped by Steven
Speaker 1: Adams right after, but he had a huge rebound where
Speaker 1: he crashed in after Mellows little turnaround fadeaway. That's an
Speaker 1: example of having an impact on the game even though
Speaker 1: you don't, even though your defender is not guarding you.
Speaker 1: Another example is I'd like to see him when he
Speaker 1: does catch the ball and teams are ignoring him, just
Speaker 1: barreling into the paint, trying to just cause the next
Speaker 1: driving kick action and hopefully the defense kind of collapses.
Speaker 1: But the third one, the most obvious one, the one
Speaker 1: that will probably see you will see the most is
Speaker 1: using him as a screener. And you brought up which
Speaker 1: is super interesting is the like sizes right, because of
Speaker 1: Lebron and d they're just gonna switch that action. But
Speaker 1: with Russell Westbrook, it's usually gonna be someone like a
Speaker 1: John Morant or someone small, and it's a lot harder
Speaker 1: to switch that action. And so what ends up happening
Speaker 1: is you're going to trap probably because you'd rather have
Speaker 1: Russ make the decision than have Lebron make the decision, right,
Speaker 1: So Russ sets the screen rust as a short role.
Speaker 1: Lebron hits him. This is the play right after the
Speaker 1: Steven Adams player was talking about too in US just
Speaker 1: barrels into the paint, big man steps up, drops it
Speaker 1: off the Anthony Davis dunk, and then the very next
Speaker 1: possession they actually did the same thing Lebron. Lebron reversed
Speaker 1: the screen and caught him before they could really get
Speaker 1: into their um you know, hedge and recover scheme or whatever,
Speaker 1: and just barreled down the right side. Then both defenders
Speaker 1: just sprinted back to Lebron. He threw a pocket past
Speaker 1: to Russell Westbrook, and Russell Westbrook shoveled that little past
Speaker 1: to Anthony Davis who's cutting down the lane, and Memphis
Speaker 1: actually broke that play up and forced us into a turnover.
Speaker 1: But it was another example of like really good offense
Speaker 1: and crunch time that keeps Russ involved so that the
Speaker 1: team can't ignore him. And that's what you have to do.
Speaker 1: You have to do that. Yeah, you have to do that.
Speaker 1: And I think those three fit on that plane because
Speaker 1: you can pay your Ross like Draymond. I mean Draymond
Speaker 1: is not a shooter mhm like Ross, but he can
Speaker 1: claim me. So I think that was on the offensive side.
Speaker 1: But another thing that I saw is that I think
Speaker 1: Mellow fits on the starting line instead of DJ right,
Speaker 1: because if if it's there for defenders, then Mellow he
Speaker 1: can guard. I think Mellow can guard the bigs. He
Speaker 1: can't guard the guards, so I think if it's there too.
Speaker 1: And as for Austin Weaves, I think Carusa is a
Speaker 1: better defender and a better point of attack defender and
Speaker 1: a better athlete. But I think Weaves as an offensive
Speaker 1: skill set that um that Caruso doesn't have. He can
Speaker 1: shoot trees at a high clip with confidence, and he
Speaker 1: knows how to see the floor on the patch. I
Speaker 1: mean that one that passed white. It's not easy to do,
Speaker 1: particularly on that setting. They're playing too fast and for
Speaker 1: a player to see that that the floor that quick.
Speaker 1: You can teach that too to any I think PhD
Speaker 1: Reeves is what we want th HD to be on
Speaker 1: offense right, because PSHCS has this uh how do you
Speaker 1: call this? This funnel vision that he wants to attack
Speaker 1: the basket like Ross that to the point that it's
Speaker 1: becoming reckless. But as for Meeves, he has this i
Speaker 1: Q to see the floor first, then make the play.
Speaker 1: He doesn't make reckless decisions, so I think he fits
Speaker 1: that scheme too. Instead of th HD put In Reeves
Speaker 1: there so that if you scramble situation, he can still
Speaker 1: make place. Yeah, I thought you broke that down perfectly.
Speaker 1: Reeves is the definition of a guy who's never going
Speaker 1: to force anything. And that's exactly what you want alongside
Speaker 1: really good players, because this is something that bays Moore
Speaker 1: struggles with a little bit, right, because like beings Moore,
Speaker 1: bays Moore has more talent in all of these areas
Speaker 1: than a guy like Austin Reeves, but he just can't
Speaker 1: help himself sometimes, right. It's it's no different than it's
Speaker 1: no different than on the defensive end that play that
Speaker 1: he had where he fouled John Moran, Like he knows
Speaker 1: he can't foul there, he knows he's not supposed to,
Speaker 1: but he just can't help himself. Like when when he's
Speaker 1: when things are going fast and it's chaotic, he just
Speaker 1: he just acts without thinking and and and the same
Speaker 1: team translates to offense. He'll try to do too much
Speaker 1: on a close out. He'll try to do too much
Speaker 1: on a drive. He overpenetrates those kinds of things. Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves is the definition of a player that just takes
Speaker 1: every read, one read at a time. There was a play.
Speaker 1: His first NBA basket is the perfect example of this.
Speaker 1: So his first NBA basket was in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: against the Suns. He's in the right or in the
Speaker 1: left corner, and uh, I think Lebron ends up kicking
Speaker 1: it to him. He catches, he catches it, and JaVale
Speaker 1: McGhee is not javal m. Excuse me, I can't remember
Speaker 1: who some of the jaale m. He was in the lane,
Speaker 1: but someone calls someone calls out on him. I can't
Speaker 1: remember who it was. It might have been Cam Johnson,
Speaker 1: so uh yeah, or Campaign somebody like that. So he
Speaker 1: so he's not open on the shop, but he pump fakes,
Speaker 1: and when he pump fakes, the defender kind of closes
Speaker 1: out to his right shoulder. And on the play he
Speaker 1: takes a dribble to the baseline, but instead of being weak,
Speaker 1: he actually extends his off arm and like chicken wings
Speaker 1: and like pushes the then're off, which which again you
Speaker 1: want to do. That means you're playing into the toughness
Speaker 1: in the physicality of an NBA game in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: that's what you're supposed to do. So he awards the
Speaker 1: guy off. Then as he's dribbling on the baseline with
Speaker 1: his left hand, that same defender reaches around and tries
Speaker 1: to poke the ball out. Austin sees it coming and
Speaker 1: does like a push dribble with his left hand into
Speaker 1: the into the lane, gathers and shoots that fade away
Speaker 1: over the top of Al McGhee and nothing but the bottom.
Speaker 1: And on that play, I was just like, this is
Speaker 1: an unbelievably advanced closeout attack that that this kid did
Speaker 1: for his first NBA basket, which was just it was
Speaker 1: just incredible and and to your to your point, it's
Speaker 1: that controlled approach to the role player position that you're
Speaker 1: begging for from some of these other players on the teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it was just a smart smart for him
Speaker 1: to um to do those things. I mean, read the
Speaker 1: floor and not just push push yourself to barrel into defenders.
Speaker 1: M hmm. I think um PA's for the defense. I
Speaker 1: think it will it Wilcome that will become eventually, because
Speaker 1: I mean, our reason is a good defenders still and
Speaker 1: d h D is a much bigger and garden, so
Speaker 1: I think they still have room for that defensive end.
Speaker 1: But I think a monk should really take over on
Speaker 1: those positions. Yeah, I'm a big believer and moreaker definitely agree.
Speaker 1: Hey Bond, thank you so much for hopping on and
Speaker 1: come back on Tuesday if you feel like it. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you. Alright, guys, get your request. Let me take
Speaker 1: a few more here, let's go, Dave Day. Can you
Speaker 1: hear me? Man? Yeah, Man, I can. I'm here. What's
Speaker 1: up in? So? I love what you're talking about with
Speaker 1: the starters. I kind of feel and and don't don't
Speaker 1: hear me wrong here. I kind of feel like DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan's is taking the flak for all the starters. But
Speaker 1: to me, you you just broke up a little bit
Speaker 1: on Camp bays Moore, And to me, we have so
Speaker 1: many guys on this team that just should not be
Speaker 1: on the floor together. Like it's not like they're bad players,
Speaker 1: Like Camp bays Moore is not a bad player, but
Speaker 1: I feel like with him in DeAndre Jordan's and with
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook at the same time, that's just a really
Speaker 1: crappy combination. Like you just said that you're a big
Speaker 1: believer in more Monk minutes, it seems like he just
Speaker 1: fits with with most of the other players. Obviously Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d are going to fit with whoever, but
Speaker 1: it seems like man having Russell Westbrook and camp Baysmore
Speaker 1: in at the same time, it just doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: a good fit. And obviously DeAndre Jordan nobody really wants
Speaker 1: him to play any time. But even there at the end, right,
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan is not in the game, but it's still
Speaker 1: really clunky, And to me, that kind of falls on
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook and camp Baysmore not necessarily being that good
Speaker 1: of a fit. We the whole fourth quarter, we were
Speaker 1: having great, great lineups, right and Russ was kind of
Speaker 1: on the bench, which is unfortunate for us. And I
Speaker 1: know he's not going to be the odd man out
Speaker 1: right like unless it really comes down to it at
Speaker 1: the end of the season. But it just seems like
Speaker 1: some of these other guys, like like A Reeves or
Speaker 1: a Month or someone like that, it seems like they're
Speaker 1: they're better fits with some of these guys same with
Speaker 1: like like uh, you know, Rondo and and Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: again a really clunky fit. They just shouldn't play together.
Speaker 1: They can play, you know, you put Rondo out there
Speaker 1: with a D and three shooters and that's a great lineup,
Speaker 1: you know. So to me, it's about combinations, and that's
Speaker 1: really what's making it ugly is that some people just
Speaker 1: did not fit together. For the record, I thousand percent
Speaker 1: agree with you there. There's there's a concoction that happens
Speaker 1: in five on five basketball that all has to work.
Speaker 1: And now what's interesting is you can see where Frank
Speaker 1: is coming from with Russ in bays right. Because Russ
Speaker 1: you have to play. He makes four million dollars. Bay
Speaker 1: is the reason why he starts. I really don't think
Speaker 1: it's any more complicated than this. Each game, each team
Speaker 1: you play, there is this you know, alpha on the
Speaker 1: other team that somebody has to guard. And it's clear
Speaker 1: that on the night and night out basis, the three
Speaker 1: stars don't want that responsibility right after they will do
Speaker 1: it when they have to. But like Jont Murray on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Baysmore is gonna guard him. He's gonna guard him. To
Speaker 1: start the game. And so what ends up happening is
Speaker 1: inevitably they're going to start bays Moore because he's now
Speaker 1: the team's you know, de facto primary defensive, isolation scorer
Speaker 1: type of defender. Now what's tricky is you're right they
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan does get the flak for the whole group
Speaker 1: not performing. There's a lot of truth to that. That's
Speaker 1: it to be clear. Like the like the lineup was
Speaker 1: minus stift team with DeAndre Jordan's tonight, that's not all
Speaker 1: on DeAndre. There were there there are there's there's some
Speaker 1: sloppy basketball happening there. However, the flip side of that
Speaker 1: is like you can kind of draw a clear line
Speaker 1: between comfort level and quality of basketball. Like I thought
Speaker 1: it was really interesting that when Russ started playing with
Speaker 1: no center there and this I think it was in
Speaker 1: the second quarter where he started getting going, got all
Speaker 1: the way to the rimper layup, got a couple of
Speaker 1: easy jump shots, got to the got to the rim,
Speaker 1: started kicking out the shooters. That comfort level breeds good
Speaker 1: basketball on both ends of the floor. And what ends
Speaker 1: up happening with the DeAndre Jordan lineup, even though it's
Speaker 1: not just DeAndre Jordan's fault, the way he clunks up
Speaker 1: the pain causes all three of the stars to be
Speaker 1: indecisive about what they should do, which inevitably leads to
Speaker 1: them taking jump shots, which when they're going in like
Speaker 1: they did against Golden State, Lebron and A D have
Speaker 1: the swagger to them and they're gonna be awesome anyway,
Speaker 1: and yeah, that lineup is gonna do fine. But when
Speaker 1: they don't go in like they didn't tonight, all hell
Speaker 1: breaks loose in terms of just the clumsiness and the
Speaker 1: sloppiness of the basketball, and so that that's the tricky part.
Speaker 1: Like you almost have to have Bays in there because
Speaker 1: he's gonna want the tough job you have to there.
Speaker 1: But DJ is the problem I think with Bays though too.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's that good of a defender, you know,
Speaker 1: like when it was Crusoe or someone like Legit, it
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, he's the he's a great defender, um,
Speaker 1: And it just feels like like he he's probably the
Speaker 1: best option we have. But that's like a huge weakness
Speaker 1: for us, Like it doesn't feel like, oh, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: when he's in there for his defense, it feels like, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's probably the best defender that we have on ball,
Speaker 1: but he's still not very good, you know. Like and
Speaker 1: again it feels like the whole activity without a production
Speaker 1: kind of deal, like he's doing a lot, but he's
Speaker 1: not really bothering. And again, who's Franks supposed to go to, like,
Speaker 1: because I don't think Avery Bradley is. I mean, as
Speaker 1: much as people are like, oh yeah, we're so excited
Speaker 1: every bad he's back, I'm like, okay, maybe in like
Speaker 1: real spot minutes, but not not like on a regular basis,
Speaker 1: he's your go to guy to shut down like John Rant.
Speaker 1: Like again, John Avery was pretty bad tonight again, and
Speaker 1: he was pretty bad against you. He can't He checked
Speaker 1: into the game in his first possession, went like way
Speaker 1: under an off ball accident, lost John Murray. He literally
Speaker 1: lost John Murray on the first possession that he got
Speaker 1: in the game. And I was like, oh, man, like
Speaker 1: he was really good there to try to ignite a
Speaker 1: run against Golden State and try to stop Jordan Pool,
Speaker 1: but he was pretty bad in his last two games. Yeah, agreed,
Speaker 1: And again Frank kind of gets crap about it too,
Speaker 1: But it's like, who's he supposed to go to like
Speaker 1: because again, Malik Monk isn't going to be the guy,
Speaker 1: which he's in there great for his offense, and I
Speaker 1: think that's why all of us are looking at Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves going well, at least he at least he like
Speaker 1: holds his own and he's giving a ten percent, you know,
Speaker 1: like the rest of the guys. It just feels like
Speaker 1: we're bleeding. But yeah, I agree with you. It's it's
Speaker 1: a tough predicament that they're in just in general. But
Speaker 1: the thing is is, like, you know, when when John
Speaker 1: Morant went on his crazy run, the Lakers immediately coming
Speaker 1: out of the time out started sending you know, multiple
Speaker 1: bodies at him, and then and then he immediately started
Speaker 1: kicking the shooters and the next three possessions after that
Speaker 1: ended in threes. But what was funny is the rotations
Speaker 1: were so bad that they were like wide, wide open three.
Speaker 1: So the truth of the truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: is like it's I never look at individual matchups necessarily
Speaker 1: as the crippling point of the defense, because truth be told,
Speaker 1: if I've got Molik Monk on an island with John
Speaker 1: Moran and I leave him on an island, then I'm
Speaker 1: I'm playing bad defense. But even if even if he
Speaker 1: forces John Morane into a jump shot and he happens
Speaker 1: in this like when you're playing how did teams guard
Speaker 1: Lebron Russ and Anthony Davis. Everything's multiple bodies. There's no
Speaker 1: such thing as like, let to let Anthony Davis go
Speaker 1: one on one against our six six small forward. No,
Speaker 1: it's like there's dudes in his face. There's there's a
Speaker 1: guy sitting under the rim, there's a guy at the
Speaker 1: top of the keys, like digging down and swiping down
Speaker 1: at the ball. Like every Lebron drive and post up
Speaker 1: ends in multiple bodies. Like you throw multiple bodies that
Speaker 1: good offensive players. So the way you have to defend
Speaker 1: is to send multiple bodies and then rotates and recover
Speaker 1: and do everything on the back end you needed to
Speaker 1: do to take shots away. So I'd like from that standpoint,
Speaker 1: I wasn't so concerned necessarily, you know, at the point
Speaker 1: of attack with Jaw. It was the fact that when
Speaker 1: they started sending multiple bodies at him, they just didn't
Speaker 1: do a good job kind of like making it a
Speaker 1: little bit tougher on the role players. And that's when
Speaker 1: like mellow just get really exposed because he will not
Speaker 1: make very many efforts on the defensive end at all,
Speaker 1: if exactly exactly No, you're right, hey, Dave, I really
Speaker 1: perceived coming on and if you like, come on back
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. All right, let's see who guys, I'm really
Speaker 1: one more and then we'll take a bunch more on Tuesday. Hulio,
Speaker 1: can you hear me? You're muted, so you might not
Speaker 1: do on mute. Hey man, I'm here. Hey, how's it
Speaker 1: going great? How are you? I'm doing good? So what
Speaker 1: do you gotta say events about something? You have any questions? Listen?
Speaker 1: And I think that it was a this same game,
Speaker 1: O world. The most important things throughout the game for
Speaker 1: me was stopping these huge runs by me by Memphis,
Speaker 1: because the last two games against the Words and Suns,
Speaker 1: we get on these huge hus runs and from that
Speaker 1: point on the game was mostly lost. Mm hmm. Also,
Speaker 1: I think the transition difference was the way whether this game.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that was only by the presence
Speaker 1: of job alone, but definitely an provement. Blowest rotations were
Speaker 1: bare overalled. Beside your under Jordan, who everybody is taking
Speaker 1: short setting and this I think Frank has put more
Speaker 1: consistent and quantity lineups throughout the game, and in certain
Speaker 1: ribs throughout the game, I think he got like three
Speaker 1: or four shifts and those were really good. And I
Speaker 1: think this this would be his role going forward, and
Speaker 1: just like a reserch, he will eventually win more minutes
Speaker 1: just based on confidence by Frank and the starts just
Speaker 1: by not making defensive or offensive mistakes. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: interesting because Reeves is going to fall out of the
Speaker 1: rotation here. It's unfortunate, but it's it's the reality of
Speaker 1: the situation. Guys like Kendrick Nullan coming back, you know,
Speaker 1: guys like THHD coming back, those other guys that are
Speaker 1: to get those minutes unfortunately. Um, which is just kind
Speaker 1: of part of the politics of the way the NBA works, right,
Speaker 1: Like you've got Kendrick Nunn on the mid level exception,
Speaker 1: the ownership group, when you count tax, the luxury tax,
Speaker 1: is going to be paying almost you know what, fifteen
Speaker 1: million dollars or something to have Kendrick Nunn on the roster.
Speaker 1: So there's a certain amount of an expectation that those
Speaker 1: guys are gonna play. So Reeves is going to fall
Speaker 1: out of the rotation. But fortunately rob was smart and
Speaker 1: signed him, I'm pretty sure to a multi year contract.
Speaker 1: The two year contract, I believe before the season when
Speaker 1: they converted him from a two way to UH to
Speaker 1: a guaranteed contract, which at the time everyone was confused.
Speaker 1: And remember the intel was just like they just said
Speaker 1: that he went to Lebron's preseason camp and he was awesome. Um,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's what it was. Maybe it was as
Speaker 1: simple as the camp went well and then Lebron called
Speaker 1: Robin was like, hey, you gotta sign this dude, you know,
Speaker 1: like it could have been one of those kinds of things.
Speaker 1: But the unfortunate reality is he's going to fall out
Speaker 1: of the rotation as soon as all these other guys
Speaker 1: get healthy. So everybody who wants to see more Austin
Speaker 1: reeves enjoy it while you can, because it's gonna last
Speaker 1: about a week or two and then Kendrick Nunn is
Speaker 1: gonna come back and take all of his minutes. That's
Speaker 1: just kind of the way this is going to go down. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I thought I thought you brought an interesting
Speaker 1: point about the transition defense. Transition defense was horrible against Phoenix,
Speaker 1: and there's a couple of different things about transition defense
Speaker 1: that you have to factor and part of it is
Speaker 1: effort and focus, but a big part of it is
Speaker 1: team speed and when you when you play guys like
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan's sometimes even on their best
Speaker 1: day when they're playing hard, if you catch them in
Speaker 1: bad position and you sprint down the floor, you're just
Speaker 1: gonna beat them down the floor because they're slow. And
Speaker 1: we talked about this a lot with vene On on
Speaker 1: the Friday Night Pod. But your overall team speed in
Speaker 1: the lineup in the modern NBA has to be at
Speaker 1: a certain level to keep up with the way these
Speaker 1: teams are, you know, with with pushing the ball the floor,
Speaker 1: especially guys like John Moran and uh in general, I
Speaker 1: thought tonight they did a better job, much better than
Speaker 1: they did against Phoenix of just getting back off of
Speaker 1: the shots and trying to take away the super super
Speaker 1: easy stuff. Did you have anything else with you? No,
Speaker 1: Let's keep the rolling so everyone can alrighty, thanks man,
Speaker 1: thank you man. Al Right, guys, I have one left,
Speaker 1: so let's get one last one up in here. Mandel,
Speaker 1: can you hear me? Sorry for miss pronouncing your name, Hello, man, dope,
Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna drop me into there, not hearing in.
Speaker 1: I do have one left though, Spencer, Spencer, what's up? Man?
Speaker 1: So I did, Hey, how's it going good? Um, just
Speaker 1: kind of a comment. I thought it was interesting watching
Speaker 1: a ton of games. I like, I won't miss a
Speaker 1: Lakers game right, probably like everyone Elton here watching a
Speaker 1: ton of games last season. Watching a ton of games
Speaker 1: last season, I remember being like shocked because sometimes you
Speaker 1: like get lost in the game and the flow and
Speaker 1: you won't won't really look at the score a ton.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you guys. And there are times
Speaker 1: where like we're missing open three after open three, and
Speaker 1: I look at the score and we'd be up ten,
Speaker 1: and I'd be like, what's going on. It's because last
Speaker 1: year and kind of the year before, we relied so
Speaker 1: heavily on our defense, just chasing dudes, guys on a string.
Speaker 1: Everyone bought into this game, just like great, right, and
Speaker 1: then this year it was just like a total flip side.
Speaker 1: We're hitting every open three and I look and we're
Speaker 1: only up by you know, like a few points. And
Speaker 1: it was like last year if we had a game
Speaker 1: where we shot fifty from three, we win by thirty,
Speaker 1: right like easy, and so it just like was pretty hopeful.
Speaker 1: Just like with these guys, if they can just get
Speaker 1: that Vogel defensive system down, I know, like personnel lies,
Speaker 1: we may not be able to reach last year previous
Speaker 1: year's levels, but man, if they can just get it
Speaker 1: down and locked in, I think I think it's just
Speaker 1: a hopeful nugget. Honestly, So I'm really glad you brought
Speaker 1: that up, because that was something that I had been
Speaker 1: thinking in the middle of the fourth quarter and had
Speaker 1: not yet mentioned in the show. But there was a
Speaker 1: moment when Mello hit a three in the middle of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter at our early fourth quarter, and I
Speaker 1: think it put us up like one oh five, one
Speaker 1: oh two or something, but the game was relatively close,
Speaker 1: and I immediately thought to myself, I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: kind of what everyone was talking about over the summer,
Speaker 1: like the fact that we might have to outscore some people.
Speaker 1: Right Like, it was this up and down basketball game,
Speaker 1: and we were just better at scoring. In the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: There was like it was like John Morant trying to
Speaker 1: drive and kick the shooters versus Lebron trying to drive
Speaker 1: and kick the shooters and Lebron is just way better.
Speaker 1: So we just want we won based on the quality
Speaker 1: of shots we've got in that fourth quarter and people
Speaker 1: knocking it down. And it's super interesting because you're absolutely right,
Speaker 1: like it's a totally different dilemma, but it's the same
Speaker 1: feeling where you're like, you keep looking now at the
Speaker 1: scoreboard and we're like, we're in we're in the lead,
Speaker 1: but we're just not like pulling away, so to speak. Now,
Speaker 1: as far as the defense goes, I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: more optimistic than most people because like with your core five,
Speaker 1: you look at the defensive ceiling, You look at, you know,
Speaker 1: on on a handful of possessions, how likely are they
Speaker 1: to get stops? You know, and you're you're so focused
Speaker 1: on the ceiling. Now with this team, I still believe
Speaker 1: in the defensive ceiling because I have Lebron and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis on the floor. Now, frank Is, that lineup is
Speaker 1: probably gonna look like Russ bays Moore aresa Lebron a
Speaker 1: d later in the season, and that lineup is going
Speaker 1: to be every bit as high as a ceiling defensively
Speaker 1: as what we've seen in previous years. Now, the bench
Speaker 1: lineups throughout the game. They're never gonna be able to
Speaker 1: reach the ceiling that the Lakers Lakers had, They're never
Speaker 1: gonna be able to reach that. However, to your point,
Speaker 1: over the course of the season, you can you know,
Speaker 1: the way you win with defense in like Game six
Speaker 1: of the NBA Finals is different than the way you
Speaker 1: win with defense in their regular season. And the regular
Speaker 1: season it's all about habits and focus and dudes not
Speaker 1: falling asleep and dudes just doing their jobs right. And
Speaker 1: then in the Game six of the Finals, it's like,
Speaker 1: how big and athletic and strong and in freaky physical
Speaker 1: can you be? Right Like, so the way that I
Speaker 1: look at it, with those bench lineups, they don't need
Speaker 1: to be the most freaky physical, crazy athletic lineups in
Speaker 1: the entire world. They just need to have enough guys
Speaker 1: they give a shit about doing their job and give
Speaker 1: a shit about doing uh, paying attention to those little details.
Speaker 1: If they can do that over the course of the season,
Speaker 1: like you said, just kind of buy into what Frank
Speaker 1: is trying to get them to do. Over the course
Speaker 1: of the season, the bench lineups will defend well enough
Speaker 1: to where they can reach the defensive ceiling again at
Speaker 1: the end of the game with their core lineups, and
Speaker 1: this defense can be really good. I still believe that
Speaker 1: over the course of the season this team will defend
Speaker 1: pretty well. Yeah, I'm gonna be really optimistic when we
Speaker 1: have a game where we're shutting teams down, shutting their
Speaker 1: water off. You know, we'd have these back to back
Speaker 1: to back. We'd almost go on defensive runs the past
Speaker 1: couple of years, you know what I'm saying, and man
Speaker 1: to to string one of those together, because that's that's
Speaker 1: what makes a championship team. Right. There's like teams that
Speaker 1: are built completely off of defense that are great teams
Speaker 1: to make deep playoff runs. But if you don't have offense,
Speaker 1: like they'll struggle later in the postseason, right or you
Speaker 1: have these all time offenses that struggle on defense, you
Speaker 1: need you really need both. And I know there's been
Speaker 1: some like defensive only teams that have, you know, one
Speaker 1: the finals. Maybe I think of the Pistons way back
Speaker 1: in the two thousand's, but way way back now. But
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, I think I think if this team
Speaker 1: can like find a good balance there, because it's like
Speaker 1: a mental thing too. If you're focused so much on
Speaker 1: shooting and scoring, you you fall asleep. You know, you're
Speaker 1: absolutely right. Now, You're absolutely right. And they do have
Speaker 1: to reach a certain baseline of defense without a doubt.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's plenty of metrics about that, or you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of his historical you know, a pre you know,
Speaker 1: kind of little landmarks that we can look at that
Speaker 1: show that you have to be at a certain level
Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor. And the bottom line
Speaker 1: is is, like they the way that this group would
Speaker 1: defend well would take time. Right Like it was, There's
Speaker 1: no way that you would be able to get Mellow
Speaker 1: and Monk and and Ellington and some of these guys
Speaker 1: into this system and they would just immediately pick it up.
Speaker 1: It's going to take time. You're you're overturning bad habits
Speaker 1: like Mellow at this phase in his career, Pick and
Speaker 1: Roll was deph Curry in the fourth quarter. He's not
Speaker 1: a focused on the fact that he has to be
Speaker 1: up at the screen, and so he gets beat. But
Speaker 1: maybe after sixty games with Frank, with film sessions and
Speaker 1: accountability from his peers, he'll be sitting there looking at
Speaker 1: this from the perspective of like I can't make this
Speaker 1: mistake or I won't play. You know, I can't make
Speaker 1: this mistake or it'll cause the entire system to break down,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So I do think over
Speaker 1: time that kind of thing will come around. And thank god,
Speaker 1: they have a really easy schedule here over the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks because they'll they'll be able to win
Speaker 1: without playing super well. But Spencer, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on. Man, come back and say if you
Speaker 1: feel like it, see man, Alright, everybody, We're going to
Speaker 1: call it tonight. Ros will be back to make this
Speaker 1: not a solo show on Tuesday. UM. As always, I
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate all of you guys and your support. I'm
Speaker 1: going to take the recording of this show and post
Speaker 1: it onto our podcast feed immediately after the show ends.
Speaker 1: It will also air on Dash Radio tomorrow morning at
Speaker 1: seven am. But again, I just want you guys to
Speaker 1: know how much I appreciate to you guys for supporting
Speaker 1: ROJ and I as we do this. Three shows down
Speaker 1: and what's a seventy to go. I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: every one of them. Have a good night, guys,