WEBVTT - Kings/Lakers Postgame Spaces 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:17.920 Mmmmm, all right, welcome to the state of the Lakers. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:19.759 Does that if I dash? Reddio? Thank you guys so 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:22.840 much for coming to hang out on a Tuesday. The 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.120 Lakers used to be a team that would come out 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.320 and play a bad game of basketball, where their effort 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.280 would be poor and their stars would look lethargic and 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.400 they would lose. And so for them to have a 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.680 similar type of game tonight and to get a win, 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:41.040 I'm going to take as a huge positive. Rods. First 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.839 of all, how you doing, buddy. How's your week going 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.600 so far? It's going good. Yeah. Three games in a row, 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.159 three wins in a row, I think for the third 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:51.400 time this season. I think we won four in a 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.600 row one time. But man, it's good to stack a 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.160 couple of these together. It looked a little shaky early 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:57.840 in the fourth. I thing we went about we went 0:00:57.920 --> 0:00:59.800 down seven. Oh yeah, man, this is a good one. 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:01.800 This is a fun one. A lot of threes back 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.200 and forth. But I'm well, man, how are you? I'm 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.080 doing good? Um, It's been a day full of basketball 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:08.800 for me. I played a little bit this morning. I 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:12.800 coached my high school kids. They gotta win tonight as well. 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:14.360 And then the Lakers gotta win. So it's been a 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.040 good day of basketball. But I'm excited to break this 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.360 one down with you. It was an interesting game because 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.560 the Lakers clearly came out lethargic. In my opinion, their 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.200 health defense was horrible. They were missing a lot of 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:30.400 box outs. The Kings looked more energetic. Lebron in particular, 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.759 looked a little bit apathetic, and then he drove into 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.840 Alex lenn and what need a knee with him? And 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.560 you could tell, like for the next long stretch of 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.040 the game that that really bothered him physically. You could 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.800 see him favoring it. You could see him kind of 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.120 continuing to miss box outs and rotations, just trying. It 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:51.440 seemed like he was just trying to make it to 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.560 the final buzzer. Lakers had a little bit of a 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:55.480 stretch there at the start of the second quarter where 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.480 they looked amazing, and we'll get into the reasons why later. 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.720 Hin and th h teams white, but it was nice 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.800 to see that even though for the most part they 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.239 look lethargic and pour on both ends of the floor, 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:11.280 they hit the gas at the end of the game. 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.040 And when they hit the gas, they were better, and 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.400 that is what good teams do. And I know people 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:22.320 want to undersell and and try to undercut beating bad teams. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.280 But the Laker team, this Laker team has lost too 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.359 bad teams a lot this season early on, and so 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.120 I look at it more as taking care of business. 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.200 The Lakers took care of business tonight in a funky game, 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.880 made plays on both ends of the floor down the stretch, 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.640 and they deserve to win. Yeah. Man, we are in 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.280 no position I keep saying to be picky about wins, 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.640 especially where we are in the standings. Memphis just keeps winning. 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:48.400 They don't look like they're gonna slow down. They look 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:52.640 like they might lock up that fourth seed pretty soon. Here. Yeah, man, 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:54.320 it's a it's a good win, and you have to 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.480 kind of stack some of these wins together, and they 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.440 were able to do that tonight. I thought Sacramento hit 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:00.680 a bunch of tough shots as well. We lost Buddy 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.160 healed a few times off screens. That's gonna happen, But 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.240 I thought you hit a few tough ones. Deer and Fox, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:06.560 I think they said, I don't know if they have 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:08.360 if this number is correct, If I heard it right, 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.120 he sho from three. I'm not sure if that if 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.680 I heard that correct. Yeah, yeah, and he hit a 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:14.880 bunch of them to night. He had a bunch of 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.520 step back threes. I thought the Tyrese Haliburton one over 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.480 Mellow was a tough one. We had a four point. 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.520 We missed a lot of layups where like it could 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:23.480 have changed the tide of the game. Right, Like, we're 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.720 on a big run, we're up like six, and we 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:27.720 get like a turnover. I think Russ had a block 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:29.880 and he went the other way and miss the Mr 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.400 Russ no turnovers tonight, I believe he finished with no turnovers, right, 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.680 and again you texted me like he had some bad shots, 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.400 and that's that's true. There are a bunch of bad 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.840 shots that you can kind of convert over to turnovers. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.720 But it's nice to see him have just a good 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.920 no turnover floor game, even if the shot selection a 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:46.840 few times wasn't great. But I mean it was a 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.160 it was a win. That's nice to stack them together 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.320 and hopefully we can win the next one as well 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.160 to to make it four. But yeah, we're in no 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.520 position to be picky. Uh. This team is still trying 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.760 to figure each other out. We lost a starter tonight 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:02.360 due to contractual reasons that help. We'll get back. Yeah, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.000 we'll get back on Friday. Um, So it was nice 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.120 to kind of get gut this one out. I thought, 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.000 you know, I thought Frank pushed a lot of the 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.680 correct buttons tonight. Like every lineup decision, I thought it 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:13.720 was correct. I thought he made, you know, a bunch 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.960 of good tactical decisions. He wasn't rigid with his lineups 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.000 like he was in the last game. I thought, you know, 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.920 mirroring Dwight minutes, and we'll get to Dwight obviously later 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:23.920 mirroring his minutes with Alex Land. I thought that really 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.000 changed kind of the course of the game as well. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.240 But this was a good way. It was a good, 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.279 good game to get a win. Went on. Yeah, so 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:32.960 let's let's start with Dwight, because we had an interesting 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.920 discussion after the last game going over this idea that 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.520 Frank refused to fold under pressure to go bigger. Um, 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.480 and I talked about how I personally disagreed with that 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:50.040 right and I had mentioned that Dwight is a quality 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.480 NBA player. He is a good backup center in this league, 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.480 and so I disagreed with the philosophy of leaving him 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.920 on the bench for the sake of your i've out identity, 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.160 when talent has been somewhat of an issue so far 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.159 this season. However, in in the last part, I explained 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.160 that I understood Frank's rationale in that it seemed like 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.159 his I hit the goal was to train yourself to 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.440 stay small and have that be the permanent identity. And 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.560 so that's why I was genuinely confused when they went 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:27.359 to Dwight tonight, because the same rationale for going to 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.080 Dwight tonight was the rationale they needed last game, and 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.800 for whatever reason, he couldn't get their last game mentally 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.680 as the coach, but tonight he could. And you know, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.440 I tend to think the reason why I was there's 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.599 two parts to it. Yes, it's Dwight being a good 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.960 NBA player, but it's also a versatility Raj like I 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.680 like the ability to be able to play multiple styles 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:54.480 of basketball, and leaning one thousand percent into playing five 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.760 out ball is just as detrimental, in my opinion, to 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.320 leaning one thousand percent to playing two big ball the 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.520 way they did last year, which I thought was a 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.880 departure from the previous season. And it was a problem 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.200 for many reasons because then when they went to a 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.680 d at the five in the very rare stretches where 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:15.320 they did, it felt unusual, and there were some struggles, 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.680 namely Game one against Phoenix, where things didn't go super well. 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.160 Point being, you know, having versatility, being able to play 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.200 multiple styles of basketball is is one of the one 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.200 of the hallmarks of a championship team. And Dwight is 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.000 a good basketball player that can make plays on the 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.520 offensive glass. He can make plays defensively in pick and 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:42.320 roll coverage. He can finish lobs and drop off passes 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:44.920 from guys who can make plays off the past, even 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.480 guys who aren't great and making plays off the past, 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:49.880 like Moleague Monk for instance, who hit Dwight for a 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.400 couple of dunks tonight. Point, being Dwight's a good player, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:55.760 it made sense to play him, even if it goes 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.440 against the style of play that you have in your 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.760 other lineups, because you need that versatility. You need to 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.920 have the ability to call an audible in a playoff series, 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.920 and Dwight's a really good audible. And so I thought 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:09.840 that was impressive, and I heard a lot of people 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.120 bringing up like, Okay, Dwight looked springy because he had 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.000 some time off, and I'm not debating that, Like, I 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.800 definitely don't think Dwight should be a big minute guy. However, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:23.880 a lot of the bad games Dwight had recently were 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.400 more related, in my opinion, to the COVID suspension and 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.280 him losing his conditioning. So I tend to think as 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.040 long as Dwight is in a small role, maybe a 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.280 two shift player or one shift player, then he can 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.560 play every night for us if we need him to. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:45.320 I don't think he's physically incapable of doing that, right, 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.400 And you know, I thought even I just like I 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:49.160 used the word ridgid a lot with it because I 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.080 just don't think we're in position like we had a 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.040 nice lead, or we were up in the standings, or 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.000 even if a d was healthy. And yeah, you can 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.000 go to this full no center as they call it, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.320 right because Local used to wear no center and when 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.480 he includes Aunt Davis in that as well, you could 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.200 do that. You can experiment, But I think we are 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.920 in still win collection mode here and we can't give 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:08.240 up nights and we can't have what nas redid the 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:09.920 other night. And I thought this game was kind of 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.520 tilting towards that, because the whole point of going small 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.120 right is to get an offensive advantage, Like that's what 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.120 we're doing when we go small, and I thought tonight 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.440 we were getting killed on the boards while also not 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.760 getting the offensive punch. I think we had Russ and 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.160 tailing in. I don't remember if Lebron was also on 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.560 the floor when Dwight Howard checked any might or might 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.240 have not, but I thought that kind of changed the 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.400 flow of the game. Sacrament And went up nine to two, 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:32.520 I believe, and then we caught them at four teen. 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.160 But then Alex Lann came in and I thought he 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.640 again took control of the game for Sacramento. He was 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.520 getting offensive rebounds. You talked about our health defense early 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.840 it was really bad. I thought Lebron wasn't wasn't there 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:44.960 on the help early. I'm not sure if that's just 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:47.360 him kind of load managing through or just didn't want 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.040 to whatever it was, or the physical battles download that 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:51.960 you don't want him doing all game. I thought all 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:53.319 of that was part of it. And I love just 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.720 putting Dwight in there to kind of nullify the Alex 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:57.840 land matchup, and I thought that changed the whole floor 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:59.120 of the game. He came in like the middle of 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.000 the first and know we kind of took back. I 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.320 think we were up thirty to twenty seven or something 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.720 after the first quarter. But yeah, do I can play 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.280 here and there. I'm fine. He doesn't have to play 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:08.839 every night. I would like him to be like ten 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.280 or fifteen minutes. I don't think you're gonna get fourteen 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.520 and fourteen as he put up tonight in twenty two 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.640 minutes every single time that you play him. But it's 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.080 just a nice switch up, Like you talked about the versatility, 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.240 and I don't think we're in the mode to be 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:21.960 able to give games away. And I feel like that 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.360 was it was kind of going there with the with 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.439 alex Lyn starting to dominating a similar fashion than nos READD. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.839 But Dwight still you talked about a good NBA player. 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:31.959 He's not DeAndre Jordan, and you don't need to cut 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.040 him out the rotation. He can still move his feet, 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.120 he can still jump to block shots, he knows how 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.440 to roll correctly. I thought him and Malik Monk had 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.280 a good chemistry earlier in the year. I thought you 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:42.520 saw that again tonight. Their screen role game was nice. 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.120 Um leaked through him some lobs. It's just a solid 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:47.720 NBA player that we can he can be our backup center. 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.480 But thought again, Frank, I thought he just pushed the 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:51.959 right buttons. He uh, Alex Lann came in, I believe 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.880 in the fourth. Then he put Dwight Howard in as well, 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.120 Like he mirrored their minutes really nicely, and I think 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:57.719 that's what you have to do right now. But yeah, 0:09:57.760 --> 0:09:59.640 Dwight was really good tonight. Man. I thought he kind 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.480 of say our first quarter and that kind of energized 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.720 us to the rest of the game. Mm hmmm. I 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.640 wanted to move on to Russ for a second because 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.080 I've been pretty hard on Russ recently, and I think 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.320 I've done a good job. I hope if I'm wrong, 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:15.920 you guys can let me know. But I think I've 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.880 gonna done a good job of explaining exactly what worries 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.960 me about Russ. It's not so much the day to 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.000 day stuff, because he's been good for some stretches of 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:26.920 the season and he's been bad for some stretches of 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.960 the season. He was bad to start, then he had 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.080 a stretch there for about a month or so where 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.920 he actually was really good and only some uninformed people 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.480 outside of the Laker fan base were particularly negative towards Russ, 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.040 and then he kind of went back into a slump 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.040 here recently where he hasn't been shooting the ball well, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.120 he's make more defensive mistakes, he's been missing everything around 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.880 the rim um, and so that that to me, is 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.000 separate from my concerns with Russ, which have always been 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.160 late game decision making, particularly in a playoff setting. You 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:58.959 know what I mean, That's what I've I've said, but 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.720 I want to be clear, like I do think Russ 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.079 dos a ton to help this team. He's the definition 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.480 of a good play, bad play, got type of guy, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.640 and there are a lot of nights, especially during the 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.640 regular season, where he brings a lot of good and 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.560 very little bad, and today was one of those games. 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.720 He had some pull up midrange shots that I thought 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.839 were ill advised early in the game, but other than that, 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.320 other than that, he did a really good job. I 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.880 thought he carried the team in the third quarter when 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.360 Lebron was in that funk um that we described earlier, 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.000 and that was an example of a basketball game where 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.599 if Russ isn't there, you probably lose, you know what 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.720 I mean, because that's what you need for various stretches 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.520 of the game. You need somebody that can carry you 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.679 when things aren't working. And Molikue Monk, if you remember, 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.360 was hot to start the game, but then kind of 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.360 went cold there for the second and third quarter. So 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.720 you had Lebron and Monk, the two guys who brought 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:00.840 the game home. Those two guys were mostly cold and 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.480 off during the middle portion of the game, and Russ 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.080 carry then. And so that's an example of some of 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.760 the good that that Russ springs to the table. But 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.360 above that, I wanted to because you actually brought this Upfrage. Yeah, 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:19.040 I thought it was interesting late game how they basically 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.760 started spamming the Lebron Monk pick and pop there on 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.440 the right wing, which I think is a good play. 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.920 But it was interesting how Russ basically got relegated to 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.400 being in the dunker spot. Now, there was a play 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.319 where he did get an offensive rebound at one point, 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:39.800 but that kind of thing does concern me potentially in 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:41.679 the long run, and you may feel differently about it, 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.920 but you know, for a player of Russ's caliber, in 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:50.199 terms of reputation to basically be relegated to being Ben 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.199 Simmons at the end of the basketball game, there's a 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:57.600 huge diminishing return there offensively, um, and that scares me 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.480 for a playoff series because then you start to look 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.439 at the situation and go, Okay, would we be better 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.560 off with another guy there who can shoot, so that 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.120 maybe Lebron and Monk are running that with a true 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.120 five out, or maybe Anthony Davis isn't that dunker spot instead, 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.080 you know what I mean? Like that, that's kind of 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.320 the It was an interesting end of the game there, 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.400 because again, if if Russ can't have the ball in 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.400 his hands, what is he really doing aside from grabbing 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.680 the occasional offensive rebound. But I wanted to hear I 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.440 wanted to hear your opinion on that sequence, Yeah, because 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.400 I know because you and not It's not just you, 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:35.720 it's a lot of people who have, you know, expressed 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.240 concern for the late game offense with Russ right with 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.800 his decision making throughout the game. Kind of lends to 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.320 your thoughts on him in high level situations. And I've 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.800 always thought that he's, like you said, what are you 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:47.719 gonna do? What's the point of having Russ on the 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.520 floor if you can't have the ball in his hands. 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.000 But you don't want the ball in his hands, right, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.840 you want the ball on Lebron James hands in those situations. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.760 And I've always said, uh, to kind of have Russ 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.400 in those situations. It's not to like control him or 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.800 try to bring him down, it's just to lower the usage. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:03.679 And I thought, this is what it's gonna look like 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:05.520 in the playoffs. He saw this when they played Cleveland 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.400 earlier and it was a close game. Anthony Davis was 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.240 also on the floor. He was kind of the screener. 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:11.559 This is kind of how I see Russ in those 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.600 kind of moments in the dunker spot. And to me, 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.360 it's not relegating relegating him there in a bad way 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.720 because it kind of puts what he's good at into 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.480 the forefront. Right. He is a good offensive rebound or, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:23.680 and you talked about him getting one tonight, and putting 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:25.400 him there kind of puts those in. It puts him 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.880 in those situations. He also gotta I think he also 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:29.920 got a basket off the cut. He's a good cutter 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:31.880 in those spots, and he doesn't always have to be 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.440 in the dunker spot as well. He can be a 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.560 little bit more on the weak side where it's not 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:37.240 all the way to the three point line, it's right, 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.240 it's right about halfway and that's usually where players cut 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.600 from the baseline on. And we saw that again tonight 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.520 and it was Lebron and Monk too man game screen 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.480 roll late, right, And that's to me what our late 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:49.360 game offense is going to be. Even when we had 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:51.400 Anthony Davis on the floor in the playoffs, are late 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.480 game offense was a guard screen action. It was k 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.440 CP and Monk is a lot more versatile than Cap 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.040 is a better shooter, better off ball handler. It reminded 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.400 me a little bit and I hope this isn't like terrible, 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.400 but it reminded me a little bit of like Kyrie Irving, 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:05.680 and of course Monks not the talent of Kyrie Irving, 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.520 had just me and the archetype of a three level 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.120 score right where you have to guard a monk off 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.760 the dribble. You have to guard him as a spot 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:12.760 up guy and he can float, and he has a 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.360 floater game like he has the whole offensive package. And 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.280 it's not always on every night, but I just think 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.280 that's what we're gonna see. And that's why I'm not 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.880 too worried about Russ in those kind of situations. If 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:23.440 a d is on the floor, to me, he's probably 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:25.480 the screener or he's in the dunker spot, and maybe 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.520 Russ is a screen and there's things that you can do. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.760 I just don't think Russ would have the ball in 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.200 his hands in those situations. So I was gonna ask 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.440 you that does that seeing that like late game offense. 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.280 I guess does that kind of temper your your worries 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:38.920 a little bit? Because it did, at least for me. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.680 I've seen this a couple of times now late game offense, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.240 but Russ just does not have the ball at the 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.520 top of the key in late game situations, Like that's 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.280 just not what we run. It's Lebron James with the ball, 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.160 screen action whatever, whoever he wants to come set the screen, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.360 whether it's Wayne Ellington to be Dallas, right to be Dallas. 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:56.840 We went Wayne Ellington straight screen roll tonight. It was 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.840 Malik Monk against the Calves. It was Anthony Davis to 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.680 get mobile on him, like it's gonna be whoever he 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:04.800 wants to mismatch hunt and it's not going to be 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.040 rusted with the basketball, which is why I'm not as worried. 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.720 And I think putting him in the dunkers again, stretch 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:11.800 weak side, not all the way to the corner, but 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.800 on the baseline where he can cut through. I just 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.960 that's how I see us playing late game offense. So 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.160 I see that side of it. I do, And I 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.680 want to be clear like I I do. I try, 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:25.600 like I said from the beginning, with this rust thing, 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.800 I go out of my way to try to see 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.880 the positive. I really do. Where where I concern myself 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.160 primarily has to do with a situation where that's not 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:41.240 Damien Jones and Buddy Healed guarding the Malik monk Lebron action. 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.760 So so let's say we're playing Phoenix or playing Golden State. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.360 If it's if it's Phoenix in all likelihood, if that's 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:53.640 a Malik Monk, it's Devin Booker guarding him, right, and 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.080 probably Michael Bridges on Lebron. That's just they're they're gonna 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:01.440 switch that every time. And yes, Steven Booker is is 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.720 someone Lebron can attack. But the point is is that's 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.320 gonna be Lebron having to beat Devin Booker off the dribble, 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.479 and it's gonna be DeAndre Ayton and you know, probably 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.040 Cam Johnson or Ja Crowder on the on the week 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.280 side and CP three. It's just all those windows get 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.439 way tighter against a really, really good defense. And the 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.719 same goes with Golden State. That's probably gonna be someone 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.440 like Andrew Wiggins on Lebron and someone like Clay Thompson 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:30.919 on Malik Monk, and they're just gonna switch that action 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.280 and forced Lebron to either post up or drive to 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.679 the basket. And again, like having a guy like Russ 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.480 in the dunker spot doesn't show some of the downsides 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.520 of that diminishing return I'm speaking of against a bad team, 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.960 but it will against the top tier teams, especially on 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.080 the defensive end of the floor. So that's kind of 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.560 like what I visualized. They're like, Okay, would we be 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.600 better off, you know, not having to occupy that spot 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.040 to give Lebron a better chance to come to consistently 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.240 beat someone like Clay Thompson off the dribble or Devin 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.960 Booker off the dribble. The playoff series with enough of 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.080 an advantage to where he can finish over the inevitable 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.359 rotating defender that's going to be someone like Draymond Green 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.239 or Deandret like, it's just everything I look at it 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.639 is through with Russ, is through the lens of what 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.119 it's gonna look like on the biggest stage, and that stuff. 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.159 That stuff does worry me a little bit. I'm not 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.200 saying it's not gonna work, because it might, but that's 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.640 where it gets concerning. That's why I prefer the idea. 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.439 As great as the Monk Lebron screening actions are, I 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.040 prefer the idea of getting Russ involved in the action 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:39.919