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Speaker 1: Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are
Speaker 1: having a great week so far. We are almost to
Speaker 1: the weekend. And after Tuesday, when Kevin Durant recommitted to
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets, I had a feeling that pretty quickly
Speaker 1: the Lakers would begin to execute their backup plan. We
Speaker 1: have some precedent here. This is pretty similar to what
Speaker 1: happened with the Lakers in two thousand nineteen with Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 1: Kauai made them wait a little while they had time
Speaker 1: to cultivate a backup plan, and then they executed that
Speaker 1: backup plan when they didn't get Kauai. Pretty similar to
Speaker 1: what happened with Kyrie this summer, albeit with trades as
Speaker 1: opposed to traditional free agent signings. Well, that first deal
Speaker 1: went down last night, or at least was intellectually agreed
Speaker 1: upon last night. It was consummated this morning. But Stanley
Speaker 1: Johnson and Taylor Horton Tucker are going to the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz and Patrick Beverley is coming back to the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Lakers. At first, I didn't really like the trade
Speaker 1: when I first saw it come down last night. I'm
Speaker 1: very high on Stanley Johnson, not just as who he
Speaker 1: is as a basketball player in a vacuum, but with
Speaker 1: this particular Lakers team that is so thin on the wing,
Speaker 1: I viewed him as very valuable. So initially I wasn't
Speaker 1: super high on the deal, but thankfully you know it's funny.
Speaker 1: I knew I needed a couple of hours to really
Speaker 1: digest all of the different elements of the trade the
Speaker 1: players involved. The players of the Lakers signed this summer
Speaker 1: to potentially help that situation how it impacts next summer.
Speaker 1: The fit with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. I knew
Speaker 1: I needed to take a lot of time, and it
Speaker 1: was I was having a date night with my wife,
Speaker 1: so I knew I'd get in huge trouble if I
Speaker 1: just dropped everything that we were doing and got on
Speaker 1: my computer for a while. So I just put my
Speaker 1: phone down, put it on do not Disturb, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I will get to this in the morning.
Speaker 1: And then this morning I dove into it, and honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm a lot higher on the deal than I was
Speaker 1: last night, and I will explain why during the show today.
Speaker 1: The way I want to do this is I want
Speaker 1: to get into each of the players to talk about
Speaker 1: their strengths and weaknesses specifically so that we can understand
Speaker 1: the value exchange that is taking place in this trade.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Leakers front office and
Speaker 1: what this kind of indicates from them in their trajectory
Speaker 1: over the last few years, because I think that's interesting.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this year's Lakers team and
Speaker 1: the identity that is starting to take shape with this
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley deal, as well as the deal that I
Speaker 1: expect to follow shortly thereafter. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 1: we're gonna briefly touch on the chet Home Grin injury
Speaker 1: which is going to keep him out for the season.
Speaker 1: You guys know the deal. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels.
Speaker 1: You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
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Speaker 1: in audio form wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight,
Speaker 1: all right, let's start with Patrick Beverley. He's not my
Speaker 1: favorite guy, not even having to do with basketball, just
Speaker 1: as a guy. The the whole loud mouth concept is
Speaker 1: not is not my favorite type of personality. Pushing Chris
Speaker 1: Paul in the back after losing a basketball game, the
Speaker 1: way he's behaved on first take, being like outwardly aggressively
Speaker 1: disrespectful to people. He's gotta like. He's got dozens of
Speaker 1: of one liners and interviews and press conferences and show
Speaker 1: appearances and stuff where he I think, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: is as crossed the line in terms of respect to
Speaker 1: to his peers around the league. That's just my opinion
Speaker 1: on who he is as a guy. That's separate from
Speaker 1: who he is as a basketball player. Patrick Beverley is
Speaker 1: a very good basketball player, and he and for all
Speaker 1: of the attitude things I said, he's not a mal content.
Speaker 1: He rex that behavior outside of the locker room, which
Speaker 1: is a good thing. He doesn't beef with teammates, so
Speaker 1: his behavior is not going to negatively affect the Lakers
Speaker 1: in my opinion. The one thing I will say, though,
Speaker 1: is the beef that exists between Patrick Beverley and Russ
Speaker 1: makes it way more likely that Russell Westbrook will be traded. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley is the one that injured Russell Westbrook's knee,
Speaker 1: and then Russo Westbrook had comments basically undercutting Patrick beverley
Speaker 1: success as a as a defensive player, which Patrick Beverley
Speaker 1: took exception two because he thought that was him actively
Speaker 1: attacking his perception around the league and potentially costing him money.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of bad blood there, so I think
Speaker 1: you can pretty safely assume that Russ is going out
Speaker 1: of the Lakers locker room as a result of this
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley deal. But I did want to get into
Speaker 1: the basketball a little bit. He is a downright disruptive
Speaker 1: point of attack defender. We talked about the difference between
Speaker 1: positional defenders and this uptive defenders to positional defenders give
Speaker 1: ground to make you shoot over the top. Disruptive defenders
Speaker 1: are more aggressive forward, trying to disrupt your handle and
Speaker 1: shooting pocket, but they're more likely to give up straight
Speaker 1: line drives. We're gonna get a little bit more into
Speaker 1: that later as it pertains to the fit with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: But he is a downright disruptive point of attack defender.
Speaker 1: He's what I would call a test. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that is actively doing things that aren't even necessarily normal
Speaker 1: basketball behaviors because he's trying to get in your head.
Speaker 1: He's trying to frustrate you, he's trying to get you
Speaker 1: outside of your element and to be uncomfortable. There's a
Speaker 1: great deal of value there because there's nothing. There's nothing
Speaker 1: that's more important to an offensive player playing well than
Speaker 1: his comfort. If he feels comfortable dribbling the basketball, if
Speaker 1: he feels comfortable getting to his shot, in all likelihood,
Speaker 1: he's going to have a good shooting night. These guys
Speaker 1: are too talented, they work too hard to not play
Speaker 1: well when they're comfortable. Patrick Beverley actively attacks your comfort
Speaker 1: zone and tries to make you play outside of that,
Speaker 1: and a lot of players really struggle with that, which
Speaker 1: is why he's as success full of defensive player as
Speaker 1: he is. He plays with consistent energy, and like the
Speaker 1: real kind of consistent energy where he really tries on
Speaker 1: every single possession, not the Russ's consistent energy, where it's
Speaker 1: more more of the the the the yelling and the
Speaker 1: screaming and the jawing, and there's a whole lot of
Speaker 1: possessions being taken off, uh, surrounding that, so it's kind
Speaker 1: of more showy than it is a substance, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. He's a decent catching shoot three point
Speaker 1: shooter sixty for one fifty six last year, that's thirty.
Speaker 1: He's seven for fifteen on catching shoot threes in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: which was what does that amount to. He's a standard
Speaker 1: spacing threat. He's not a guy that people are going
Speaker 1: to actively account for off the ball, but he is
Speaker 1: a guy that the that teams will play normal uh
Speaker 1: positional defense off of him when he doesn't have the basketball.
Speaker 1: They'll be far enough away that they can help, but
Speaker 1: close enough that they feel like they can close out.
Speaker 1: They're not going to abandon Patrick Beverley and leave him open.
Speaker 1: Because he has proven himself as a willing and capable
Speaker 1: catch and shoot three point shooter, he's also really smart
Speaker 1: attacking closeouts, and he can make some plays as a
Speaker 1: second side creator. This is again this is there's a
Speaker 1: huge difference between primary side creator, meaning you're attacking a
Speaker 1: set defense, you bring the ball up the floor, the
Speaker 1: defense is set in perfect positioning, and you're attacking. Patrick's
Speaker 1: not going to succeed in that specific situation. But if
Speaker 1: he's attacking closeouts meaning the defenders out of position and
Speaker 1: sprinting out at him, or he's a second side creator
Speaker 1: meaning he's running an action after the defense has already
Speaker 1: been put into rotation, he can actually have some success there.
Speaker 1: He had two hundred and sixty eight assists this year
Speaker 1: to just sixty seven turnovers. That is a three point
Speaker 1: six seven assists to turnover ratio among all players in
Speaker 1: the league who played at least fifty games and at
Speaker 1: least twenty minutes per game. I would call that any normal,
Speaker 1: full scale rotation player. He was fourth in the league
Speaker 1: and assisted turnover ratio behind just Tias Jones, Chris Paul
Speaker 1: and Montemore Us. So he is good at making plays
Speaker 1: against a compromised defense without turning the basketball over. That's
Speaker 1: very impressive. He is a solid NBA starter. So if
Speaker 1: you look at it from that perspective, the Lakers are
Speaker 1: flipping two bench players for one starter, and as I said,
Speaker 1: going into the summer, the Lakers are in a predicament
Speaker 1: because if you don't count Russ, who's eventually gonna be
Speaker 1: sent out, they have two players on the entire roster
Speaker 1: who are NBA starters, Lebron James and Anthony Davis. They
Speaker 1: needed to bring in starter level NBA talent, and Patrick
Speaker 1: Beverley absolutely fits that mold. The one huge red flag
Speaker 1: that I would take a look at here is health.
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley has averaged forty seven games played in the
Speaker 1: last five years. He pretty consistently has a decent a
Speaker 1: pretty significant injury that keeps him out of decent chunk
Speaker 1: of the season. Let's take a look at the players
Speaker 1: that the Lakers are sending out. So first of all, Taylor, Horton, Tucker.
Speaker 1: I really liked Taylan and I really leaving his potential
Speaker 1: as a two way power guard. The name that I
Speaker 1: always throw out is like the high end of his
Speaker 1: spectrum is Drew Holiday. That's unlikely, but he has that potential.
Speaker 1: That's a type of player that he could be if
Speaker 1: things go right. He's only twenty one years old, but
Speaker 1: he has a really low center of gravity. He's super strong,
Speaker 1: and he has very long arms that helps him guard
Speaker 1: up in size. Despite only being six four, he can
Speaker 1: guard a six eight wing because of how strong he is,
Speaker 1: because how low a center of gravity is, and because
Speaker 1: of his long arms that allow him to be disruptive
Speaker 1: in someone's ball handling and in their shooting pocket. It
Speaker 1: also makes him offensively very difficult to knock off of
Speaker 1: his line. This is what I mean by power guard. Like,
Speaker 1: if you look at Drew Holiday, you think he guards
Speaker 1: up a position. He can guard basically anybody but a
Speaker 1: big right because He's so strong and he is a
Speaker 1: low center of gravity, and if you put small guards
Speaker 1: on him, he could post them up and he can
Speaker 1: drive them to the basket at will. Because how big
Speaker 1: and strong he is, Tailor has that capability. I actually
Speaker 1: really like the way he attacks the basket too, because
Speaker 1: he doesn't seek foul calls. He tucks the basketball like
Speaker 1: a running back, goes up with power, and then extends
Speaker 1: to try to finish at the rent. He averaged two
Speaker 1: point one restricted area makes per game this year on
Speaker 1: only twenty five minutes per game. That's pretty significant. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of players in my top list that
Speaker 1: weren't getting to the rim that often. Now, he did
Speaker 1: only finish at six there, which for a guard is okay,
Speaker 1: not good. But the dude can flat out get to
Speaker 1: the rim, and he's an excellent disruptive on ball defender.
Speaker 1: So those are his two elite skills right now. That
Speaker 1: is that high end potential. Drew Holiday concept depends on
Speaker 1: those two skills being combined with a well rounded skill
Speaker 1: set around there. But he's in that well rounded skill set,
Speaker 1: He's got a long way to go. He cannot shoot
Speaker 1: the basketball. His release is too slow and he's set.
Speaker 1: He doesn't lift off the ground very high, which I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't understand why any coach would allow
Speaker 1: a player, especially when with his potential to do that.
Speaker 1: The main reason why is in the NBA, with the
Speaker 1: speed and the change of direction and things like that,
Speaker 1: I don't understand why you would want to slow yourself
Speaker 1: down to then shoot a set shot as opposed to
Speaker 1: shooting with more fluidity and pace like the vast majority
Speaker 1: of guards and wings in the NBA do. He shot
Speaker 1: only twenty seven on catch and shoot threes this year.
Speaker 1: That's atrocious. He's actually a little bit more comfortable off
Speaker 1: the dribble, but it's because with his set shot it
Speaker 1: actually makes it easier for him to fade away and
Speaker 1: to step back because he uses his legs a lot
Speaker 1: shot off the dribble this year. But he has to
Speaker 1: make massive, massive, massive improvements as a shooter to ever
Speaker 1: reach that high end potential that I was talking about.
Speaker 1: As a passer, he misses way too many easy reads.
Speaker 1: He makes flashy plays like you'll see Taylan, you know,
Speaker 1: in a pick and roll, get into the lane and
Speaker 1: make an awesome bullet passed to the weak side. Corner
Speaker 1: for a wide open three, and you'll be like, man,
Speaker 1: Taylor's got potential there, but you'll also see him miss
Speaker 1: that same read two or three additional times. For every
Speaker 1: one time he makes the read, he only averaged three
Speaker 1: point eight assists per thirty six minutes with two turnovers.
Speaker 1: That's not good as a playmaking guard. So right now,
Speaker 1: he's pretty one dimensional offensively. He's also weak defensively off
Speaker 1: the ball, makes puzzling help decisions, and he frequently loses
Speaker 1: his man when he's watching the ball as a help defender.
Speaker 1: So if he improves as a shooter, improves as a
Speaker 1: decision maker, and improves as a as an off ball defender,
Speaker 1: he can reach the potential of like fringe all star
Speaker 1: guard like Drew Holiday, but he's got a long way
Speaker 1: to go there. What that means is is Talen is
Speaker 1: an interesting young prospect, but he doesn't fit the Lakers
Speaker 1: timeline because in order to be impactful, he needs years
Speaker 1: to fix all of those things that I was just
Speaker 1: talking about, and he's only twenty one years old. So
Speaker 1: for Danny Ainge and Utah Jazz, it's just a timeline
Speaker 1: swap you're teaching. Taking Patrick Beverley, who's a known commodity
Speaker 1: who's not getting any better, and you the Utah jazz
Speaker 1: A rebuilding, You're flipping him for Taylor Horton Tucker, a
Speaker 1: player who right now is not as good as Patrick Beverley,
Speaker 1: but has the potential to one day be much better.
Speaker 1: So I like the move for Utah in that regard,
Speaker 1: and I like to move for the Lakers in the
Speaker 1: sense that they're bringing back a player that more accurately
Speaker 1: fits their timeline and can actually help Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis win games right now. That swap made sense
Speaker 1: to me where I had concerned last night with Stanley Johnson. Alright,
Speaker 1: So first I need to reveal my biases here. I'm
Speaker 1: a huge fan of Stanley Johnson. I was born and
Speaker 1: raised in Tucson, Arizona. He came here and played at
Speaker 1: the University of Arizona for one year before he went
Speaker 1: to the NBA, and him and I played against each
Speaker 1: other a lot while he was here during the off season,
Speaker 1: and we had a good relationship, and I just like
Speaker 1: the guys. So that's gonna color my analysis here a
Speaker 1: little bit. But he also is directly a very important
Speaker 1: fit within what the Lakers need on this roster. This
Speaker 1: Lakers team is sorely lacking in wing size, and Stanley
Speaker 1: is their biggest and most athletic wing. He's six seven
Speaker 1: with shoes on, and here's the big one. He's two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty two pounds. That is huge for a wing.
Speaker 1: Lebron James is considered one of the biggest and most
Speaker 1: physically imposing wings in the entire history of basketball, and
Speaker 1: he played most of his career about two sixty and
Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson's two forty two. The vast majority of six
Speaker 1: six wings in the league are like two ten to fifteen,
Speaker 1: and he's two under and forty two pounds. That allows
Speaker 1: him to guard up in size. He also has a
Speaker 1: seven foot wingspan. He is the best defensive being on
Speaker 1: the roster for the Lakers now. In fairness, can't shoot
Speaker 1: on catch and shoot threes this year. He attacks closeouts
Speaker 1: well and can pass the basketball, but it's not enough
Speaker 1: to make up for his other offensive shortcoming, so that
Speaker 1: does make him a bench wing. My thing is, with
Speaker 1: how thin they are on the wing, I would have
Speaker 1: looked at other options before I would have allowed Stanley
Speaker 1: to go that easily and now I don't know the situation.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Danny Ainge insisted on taking Stanley
Speaker 1: or what the deal was. And look, if he insisted
Speaker 1: on taking Stanley, then you gotta throw Stanley in the
Speaker 1: deal because flipping Taylor for Patrick Beverley is is worth it.
Speaker 1: But that specifically was my one big reservation about this deal.
Speaker 1: One thing I'll say in defense of Rob Polinka, Juantaskano, Anderson,
Speaker 1: and Troy Brown Jr. Effectively do fill this role. And
Speaker 1: with the two of them and Austin Reeves on the rosters,
Speaker 1: they should be able to fill that role. It's just
Speaker 1: a matter of depth. I would have looked at other
Speaker 1: options before losing Stanley because of the depth and because
Speaker 1: of matchups. Him being two hundred forty two pounds that's
Speaker 1: so much heavier than a Troy Brown Jr. Or in
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves. That allows him to guard bigger wings and
Speaker 1: forwards that those guys just simply can't guard. So that
Speaker 1: was my one big reservation from the deal. So zooming
Speaker 1: out from the trade a little bit, you're flipping a
Speaker 1: bench wing and a bench guard for a solid NBA
Speaker 1: starting point guard. So that's a good exchange for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: they also get off Taylor Horton Tucker's contract, which gives
Speaker 1: them more long term flexibility, which we'll talk about here
Speaker 1: in just a few minutes. I also really like, specifically
Speaker 1: what Patrick Beverley does offensively and defensively alongside Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis in Minnesota. Because of Anthony Edwards and
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell and their lack of confidences ball handlers in
Speaker 1: a lot of situations, pet beeB was asked to do
Speaker 1: a lot with the basketball. He also had a good
Speaker 1: matchup against John rand so he was attacking a lot.
Speaker 1: But the reality is is, alongside On James and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: he is going to be able to hyper focus his
Speaker 1: skills in in the directions that he's great at, ball pressure,
Speaker 1: being a disruptive defender, being a great rebounding guard, shooting
Speaker 1: in spot up situations, attacking with an advantage on the
Speaker 1: second side, and attacking closeouts. He's gonna be able to
Speaker 1: direct his racehorses in the directions that he's most capable of.
Speaker 1: But this is why the Pacers trade is so important.
Speaker 1: The proposed Buddy Healed Miles Turner for Russell Westbrook in
Speaker 1: two first round picks trade. When you lose Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: and you lose Taylor Horton Tucker, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: your backup creators outside of Lebron are Kendrick Nunn and
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley, which is just not good enough. Buddy Healed
Speaker 1: fills that role of that secondary creator next to Lebron
Speaker 1: that properly slots Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn as weak
Speaker 1: side creators, and Healed provides that off the dribble shooting
Speaker 1: that I've always found so value. But we've talked about
Speaker 1: this before, but just about every point guard that has
Speaker 1: played for the Lakers has been a bad shooter. You know,
Speaker 1: Region Rondo, Dennis Shrewder, Russell Westbroog, You guys get the point.
Speaker 1: And what ends up happening is it makes the the
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis point guard pick and roll useless because teams
Speaker 1: can go underneath the screen and they don't have to
Speaker 1: account for off the dribble shooting. Buddy Held is an
Speaker 1: outstanding off the dribble, high volume, three point shooter, so
Speaker 1: that makes it so that guards have to chase him
Speaker 1: over the top of the screen, which changes the dynamic
Speaker 1: of the pick and roll. If the guard is chasing
Speaker 1: over the top of the screen, Buddy Healed can get
Speaker 1: downhill into the lane. If Buddy Heald can get downhill
Speaker 1: into the lane, then the big man and the drop
Speaker 1: coverage has to step over to contain Buddy Healed. If
Speaker 1: the bigest containing Buddy Healed and the guard is chasing
Speaker 1: over the top, who's rolling untouched to the rim. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be Anthony Davis. They're gonna have to pull guys
Speaker 1: out of the week side corner to tag Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: as a roller, which is gonna open up wide open
Speaker 1: shots on the week side, or if they stay on
Speaker 1: that shooter, Anthony Davis is gonna get pocket passes or
Speaker 1: lobs for dunks all day long. So Buddy Heald is
Speaker 1: immensely important now to the Lakers because you can't have
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn being your secondary creators and
Speaker 1: you need to unlock that Anthony Davis pick and roll again.
Speaker 1: As far um as Miles Turner goes, this is a
Speaker 1: two big team. Not only did you just bring in
Speaker 1: another small guard, but you just shipped off your biggest wing.
Speaker 1: This is a team that is very heavy on little
Speaker 1: guards and big players centers, right, So you're not gonna
Speaker 1: be playing Anthony Davis at the five because you don't
Speaker 1: have enough wing size. This is a two big team.
Speaker 1: Lebron is gonna play most of the season at the three,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis is gonna play most of the season
Speaker 1: at the four. And I like Thomas Bryant and I
Speaker 1: like Damian Jones, but on good teams, they're bench bigs.
Speaker 1: So Miles Turner brings in a starting level NBA center
Speaker 1: to fill that role once again. Now, if with this deal,
Speaker 1: I can competently set confidently say that the Lakers have
Speaker 1: five NBA starters because they have Patrick Beverley, Buddy Yield, Lebron,
Speaker 1: a d and Miles Turner. Miles Turner is an interesting
Speaker 1: player because his value is so specific to this system
Speaker 1: in the modern NBA. He can shoot a little bit,
Speaker 1: and he's an outstanding rim protector, and he runs the
Speaker 1: floor okay, But like a lot of bigs, he struggles
Speaker 1: in spaced out situations and he's not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to guard on the perimeter. He's also not grad at
Speaker 1: attacking close out, so you're never gonna use him in
Speaker 1: a five out, you know, attacking closeouts type of system.
Speaker 1: You're not going to count on him to an extended
Speaker 1: advantage or to drive and kick to other teammates. Defensively,
Speaker 1: you would never play him with small lineups where he
Speaker 1: needs to cover a lot of ground, But in huge
Speaker 1: lineups where you're primarily funneling guys to biggs and you're
Speaker 1: using drop coverages instead of switching, you can keep him
Speaker 1: near the rim where he's more impactful. Turner has weaknesses
Speaker 1: and teams will find ways to attack him, but he
Speaker 1: also has emense strengths and they can at least try
Speaker 1: to build the system around turner strengths, and you can
Speaker 1: kind of kind of start to see the identity of
Speaker 1: the Lakers taking shape. They are going to be an
Speaker 1: a an aggressive perimeter defense team that is willing to
Speaker 1: give up drives because they're gonna have a ridiculous back line. Defensively,
Speaker 1: Miles Turner is one of the best shot blockers in
Speaker 1: the league. So is Anthony Davis. Lebron James when engaged,
Speaker 1: is a dynamic help defender on the back line. The
Speaker 1: three of them cleaning up messes on the back line
Speaker 1: will allow Patrick Beverley to be more aggressive on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: It will allow Buddy Healed, a limited defensive player, to
Speaker 1: focus on ball pressure, to focus on disruption, knowing if
Speaker 1: he gives up a drive, it's not the end of
Speaker 1: the world because there's a ton of help behind him
Speaker 1: and he just needs to rotate out to the next
Speaker 1: guy and then on the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: Spacing is gonna not be great, but at least Miles
Speaker 1: Turner as a shooting five, can go to the corner
Speaker 1: or go on the opposite wing, and you'll be able
Speaker 1: to run high pick and roll with Anthony Davis. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna be a five out driving kick attack. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a traditional high pick and roll and mismatch
Speaker 1: attacking type of system. But Miles Turner's ability to come.
Speaker 1: He's not a great shooter, but he's a competent shooter.
Speaker 1: His ability to be a competent shooter will at least
Speaker 1: provide them better spacing than they had in the season
Speaker 1: when that big man was Dwight Howard and Javaiale McGee,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers half court offense suffered that year because
Speaker 1: of spacing. I think it'll be a little bit better
Speaker 1: this year if they can get Miles Turner into that role.
Speaker 1: So as far as grading this trade goes, it's an incomplete.
Speaker 1: If they get Buddy Healed and Miles Turner, I'll give
Speaker 1: it a beat because it fits the identity of the team.
Speaker 1: But I don't like losing and Ley Johnson. But we
Speaker 1: can't technically give them that trade until the following trade,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, ends up actually taking place, So I'd
Speaker 1: give it an incomplete as of right now. But once again,
Speaker 1: just like every other season of this Lakers era, everything
Speaker 1: comes down to health. Miles Turner has had health issues.
Speaker 1: He's played less than fifty games two years in a row.
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley is averaging less than fifty games in the
Speaker 1: last five years. Lebron James and Anthony Davis had have
Speaker 1: had health issues. If they all get hurt again this year,
Speaker 1: this is another team that will miss the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: if they all stay healthy, they can be damn good.
Speaker 1: The other angle of this trade is the future. Getting
Speaker 1: off of Taylor Horton. Tucker's deal gives the Lakers more
Speaker 1: cap space next summer. There are other factors there, obviously,
Speaker 1: like if they trade and obtained Buddy Healed. Buddy Healed
Speaker 1: has one more year on its contract, but Russell Westbrooks
Speaker 1: salaries bigger than Healed and Turner, so chances are that
Speaker 1: they make up some of that ground there. But then again,
Speaker 1: he'd be in expiring so they might be able to
Speaker 1: move him. There's a there's a bunch of different pieces
Speaker 1: in play, but they could have as much as thirty
Speaker 1: five million dollars in cap space next summer. That's the max.
Speaker 1: That's if they somehow managed to shed all the salary
Speaker 1: after the season, Because Lebron James and Anthony Davis alone
Speaker 1: leave the Lakers with only thirty five million dollars in
Speaker 1: max in cap space, that's not enough to offer a max,
Speaker 1: but it is enough to attract high level players who
Speaker 1: would be willing to play with the Lakers. Alongside Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis. There were three names that I
Speaker 1: looked at when I was looking at next year's free
Speaker 1: agents that I thought were interesting. Obviously, Kyrie Irving. We
Speaker 1: don't have to get into his fit. I've done that
Speaker 1: several times on the show, but he has said that
Speaker 1: he wants to go to l A. Obviously, if things
Speaker 1: go south in Brooklyn this year, I would imagine that
Speaker 1: he'd be the top target for the Lakers. James Harden
Speaker 1: is also potentially a free agent next year if he
Speaker 1: opts out of his player option, which his player option
Speaker 1: would be right around what the Lakers have in cap
Speaker 1: space next year. I don't think that's a realistic option
Speaker 1: because I expect things to go well this year in Philly.
Speaker 1: I think James Harden has recommitted to taking care of
Speaker 1: his body. I expect him to have one of the
Speaker 1: best seasons of his career this year, and I expect
Speaker 1: the Sixers to be very good, and I expect him
Speaker 1: to stay in Philly. But if something else goes south
Speaker 1: in Philly, for instance, if Joel Embiide gets hurt, or
Speaker 1: if James Harden for whatever reason doesn't have a great season,
Speaker 1: he could end up opting out of that deal and
Speaker 1: becoming an unrestricted free agent next year and looking outside
Speaker 1: of Philly, at which point the Lakers become a possible
Speaker 1: destination for him. There. The last guy I wanted to
Speaker 1: mention here is Andrew Wiggins. He's an unrestricted free agent
Speaker 1: next summer. The Warriors will have his bird rights and
Speaker 1: have the ability to sign him again, but they're in
Speaker 1: a huge situation with luxury tax and and their payroll.
Speaker 1: So there's a decent chance that Joe Lake of ends
Speaker 1: up letting Andrew Wiggins go. Andrew Wiggins is not an
Speaker 1: All Star, but he's a very interesting fit. Well technically
Speaker 1: he was an All Star last year, but he's not
Speaker 1: an All Star type of player, but he's a very
Speaker 1: interesting fit alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis. To actually
Speaker 1: allow them to go small, you need a Legit three
Speaker 1: and D wing andy Legit three and D four power
Speaker 1: forward in order to put an Anthony Davis at center.
Speaker 1: Lebron James can do that at the four, but they've
Speaker 1: never had someone to fill in that spot at the three.
Speaker 1: It wasn't Trevor Ariza. They like Kyle Kuzmago. Maybe Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins could be that guy for them. Point is the
Speaker 1: getting off of Taylor Horton. Tucker's deal gives the Lakers
Speaker 1: more cap space next summer, and they will be an
Speaker 1: interesting player in the free agent market, albeit a limited
Speaker 1: free agent class, but a couple of interesting names in there.
Speaker 1: So like, just to put a bow on it, I
Speaker 1: do like the trade, and I like the buddy healed
Speaker 1: Miles Turner deal again, You guys gotta there's flaws here.
Speaker 1: Miles Turner has issues, Buddy Healed has issues. But you
Speaker 1: are flipping Russell west Brook. You're taking a roster that
Speaker 1: had nothing and potentially retro fitting it into a team
Speaker 1: that has real upside. So if you're gonna get that result,
Speaker 1: there's obviously going to be some risk. And the risk
Speaker 1: here is health. They need everybody to stay healthy. But
Speaker 1: if they do stay healthy, this will be a damn
Speaker 1: good team and they will be a team that absolutely
Speaker 1: has a chance to hoist the trophy at the end
Speaker 1: of the year if they stay healthy. The last thing
Speaker 1: gole I wanted to look at this trade from was
Speaker 1: the Lakers and the totality of their predicament that they
Speaker 1: created over the course of the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: The truth of the matter is is it's extremely difficult
Speaker 1: to win an NBA championship. A lot of things have
Speaker 1: to go your way, not just off the court, but
Speaker 1: on the court, Guys staying healthy, guys making shots. But
Speaker 1: there's obviously the stuff that's off the court that's under
Speaker 1: your control, the way you construct the roster, and it's
Speaker 1: it's it's already difficult enough without you sabotage dging yourself.
Speaker 1: This Lakers trade is an attempt to clean up a
Speaker 1: mess that they created. They decided that they valued Taylon
Speaker 1: Horton Tucker, a young prospect, over Alex Caruso, a proven
Speaker 1: winning player who started an NBA Finals game. Then they
Speaker 1: had to trade Taylor with Stanley Johnson to get back
Speaker 1: a player and Patrick Beverley, who is a lesser version
Speaker 1: of Alex Cruso. Alex Crusoe is the same type of
Speaker 1: disruptive defender, the same type of impact effort player that
Speaker 1: also has the size to guard up several positions. He's
Speaker 1: a better player, and the Lakers are undoing damage that
Speaker 1: they did to themselves as a result, and it's really unfortunate.
Speaker 1: The other angle I wanted to look at here is
Speaker 1: the Lakers have such an interesting direction that they're going
Speaker 1: in different than the other team around the league. All
Speaker 1: of the smart teams are going in on wings, players
Speaker 1: between six six and six ten that can guard multiple
Speaker 1: positions and dribble the basketball and shoot and do all
Speaker 1: the things that perimeter players do while also containing on
Speaker 1: the perimeter as defensive players. And the Lakers continue to
Speaker 1: prioritize the exact opposite small guards and bigs. Arguably, their
Speaker 1: best free agent signing the summer was Thomas Bryant, a center.
Speaker 1: Their first trade targeted a small guard. They have shipped
Speaker 1: off Stanley Johnson, their biggest and most athletic wing. Their
Speaker 1: mid level exception signing was on an undersized guard that's
Speaker 1: not a great defensive player. The while all of the
Speaker 1: smart basketball minds in the league are going one way,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are going the opposite way. It's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest reasons why I don't have a ton of
Speaker 1: confidence in the direction that Rob Bolinka has taken this team. Now,
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis are so damn good that
Speaker 1: they might be able to win anyway. They actually did
Speaker 1: at one point in time, But at a certain point,
Speaker 1: if the Lakers are going to have consistent success in
Speaker 1: this league, they're going to need to have a front
Speaker 1: office that pays attention to what works in the modern
Speaker 1: NBA so that they can target those players so that
Speaker 1: they don't make mistakes that put themselves in a situation
Speaker 1: where they have to fix their own problems. Going after
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, sacrificing the wing defenders that they lost. Alex
Speaker 1: Crusoe Contavious called a pope Kyle Kuzma. Any smart president
Speaker 1: of basketball operations that is aware of the direction the
Speaker 1: league is going is going to know that's a bad idea,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers did not, and so they walked headlong
Speaker 1: into the trap. And now they have to clean up
Speaker 1: the mess, and as a result, they have to make
Speaker 1: high risk moves like obtaining guys like Patrick Beverley and
Speaker 1: Miles Turner that haven't been healthy often and that have
Speaker 1: flaw us. So it's just it's just an interesting it's
Speaker 1: it's an interesting dynamic because the Lakers have enough you know,
Speaker 1: cashet around the league to pull big names, but their
Speaker 1: front office is definitely a step behind the rest of
Speaker 1: the league and it will permanently as long as Rob
Speaker 1: Polink is in control. As long as Genie Buss allows
Speaker 1: the decision making process to work the way it does,
Speaker 1: the Lakers will be operating at a disadvantage and will
Speaker 1: make it harder for them to win. All right, Before
Speaker 1: we get out of here today, I wanted to quickly
Speaker 1: touch on this Chet homegrown injury. So, first of all,
Speaker 1: as far as it pertains to Chet and his health.
Speaker 1: Hopefully this was just bad luck on the play where
Speaker 1: Lebron is barreling into him and not the classic issue
Speaker 1: that seems to happen to so many super tall players
Speaker 1: in basketball history, which is they have bad feet. Hopefully
Speaker 1: that's not what happens here to chat and hopefully he
Speaker 1: makes a full recovery. The question that that was flying
Speaker 1: around this morning was should players play in pro ams?
Speaker 1: Should players play in the summer? And I find this
Speaker 1: to be such a stupid conversation that's frustrating for me
Speaker 1: to listen to. Now, if it was wet floor, Like,
Speaker 1: if it was about the wet floor, I get that, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: no player, regardless of whether or not you're a pro,
Speaker 1: should be playing basketball in a dangerous floor. It's just
Speaker 1: not worth the risk. So let's set that aside for
Speaker 1: a minute. As far as the discussion of pro players
Speaker 1: playing in pro ams or pickup games and things like that,
Speaker 1: basketball players have to play basketball individuals. I'm a big believer,
Speaker 1: Like I do individual training for my high school team,
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer in balance, for every one hour
Speaker 1: that you spend on individual work, you should spend an
Speaker 1: hour doing it against a live defense. Because there is
Speaker 1: a huge difference, and you need to be able to
Speaker 1: bridge that gap, connect your individual work with something that
Speaker 1: you can comfortably do in a game. And the only
Speaker 1: way you can do that is playing basketball. And when
Speaker 1: you play basketball, there's a risk for injury. I don't
Speaker 1: care if you're playing against other pros, or you're playing
Speaker 1: against other overseas pros, or you're playing against other college players,
Speaker 1: there's risk. Now do I think Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis should go play in l a fitness against a
Speaker 1: bunch of like meatheadlifters that don't know how to play
Speaker 1: and could get them hurt. No, of course not. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to live basketball against other competent basketball players,
Speaker 1: they should play in the offseason, and fear of injury
Speaker 1: is irrational. You could avoid playing pick up all summer
Speaker 1: and then get hit hurt on the first day of
Speaker 1: training camp because you land on someone's foot. Injuries are
Speaker 1: part of the game. Basketball players have to play basketball. Therefore,
Speaker 1: some basketball players will get injured. It's part of the deal.
Speaker 1: I feel horrible for Chat and I hope that he
Speaker 1: makes a full recovery and I look forward to watching
Speaker 1: him next year. But there. There doesn't need to be
Speaker 1: some sort of you know, uh rehashing of whether or
Speaker 1: not basketball players should play basketball. That to me is
Speaker 1: so nonsensical. All right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 1: for today. As always, sincerely appreciate your support. We should
Speaker 1: be back on Sunday night. I will see you guys.
Speaker 1: Then the volume