Speaker 1: Mmmm. First of all, how are you, man, it's been
Speaker 1: a while since we talks. I'm good. I am good.
Speaker 1: It's it has been a while. It's good to kind of,
Speaker 1: um get a break from from the craziness it was
Speaker 1: that season and kind of just enjoy basketball without having
Speaker 1: any kind of emotional attachment to any of these games
Speaker 1: and just watching um greatness as it's been. It's been
Speaker 1: pretty great games going on. How is the vacation and
Speaker 1: it looks like you're all settled back into regular life now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, the vacation was great. That said like it was.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say I'm happy the Lakers lost,
Speaker 1: because that's obviously not the case, but it was a
Speaker 1: little bit of a blessing in disguise because man, when
Speaker 1: I was on that trip, uh, you know, with the
Speaker 1: East Coast time and you know, because it's a you know,
Speaker 1: it's an island, so you're starting early in the day,
Speaker 1: it just was one. It was one of those things
Speaker 1: where like, it's hard for me to even fathom how
Speaker 1: that would have worked for me, And you too, have
Speaker 1: consistently done those those postgame shows, so you know, it
Speaker 1: kind of it kind of worked out in that regard
Speaker 1: because I didn't actually watch a ton of basketball. I
Speaker 1: watched some, but not a ton while I was over there,
Speaker 1: just because it was chaotic and his vacation and um,
Speaker 1: obviously with all these games and shows, it was nice
Speaker 1: to kind of, you know, spend some time with my
Speaker 1: wife and just kind of get some distance from it.
Speaker 1: But I'm happy to be back, and I think there's
Speaker 1: quite a bit to talk about because we didn't even
Speaker 1: get to do really a a postseason show, and so
Speaker 1: that's kind of what my goal is for today is
Speaker 1: to do. I'm calling it a eulogy, but whatever it
Speaker 1: is you want to call it, just a like a
Speaker 1: remembrance of what this team was, what went wrong, and
Speaker 1: then just kind of looking forward as to in a
Speaker 1: macro sense, what they need to get better at, because
Speaker 1: obviously it's hard to say for sure until the actual
Speaker 1: off season and you get to see the really defined
Speaker 1: list of targets and the cap situation and and all
Speaker 1: those sorts of things, and when and when Rob has
Speaker 1: more detail about you know, what Crusoe wants to do
Speaker 1: and what Shrewder wants to do and blah blah blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. Um. But we can have a general conversation
Speaker 1: about what their needs are. And I think you can
Speaker 1: frame a lot of that just from the way these
Speaker 1: other playoff teams are playing. That that's kind of that's
Speaker 1: kind of what what I've been really taking away in
Speaker 1: the last week. So I guess I guess a good
Speaker 1: place to start is this, Like, aside from the obvious injuries,
Speaker 1: you know, which are out of the Lakers control, Um,
Speaker 1: what did you think was the death nail for that
Speaker 1: team in particular this Laker team, Laker team. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: kind of tough to separate like injuries from it, right.
Speaker 1: So like in my notes, I was just looking at
Speaker 1: the notes, and they have twenty five different starting lineups. Now, like,
Speaker 1: that's fine if it's just like a few players going
Speaker 1: out like three and d wings kind of about But
Speaker 1: when you have like your main shock creators out like
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D your main defensive acres out for
Speaker 1: a long time, it really just changes the the change
Speaker 1: the team, right, Like you need your main guys in there,
Speaker 1: and you kind of separate the season into a few
Speaker 1: different parts. So like that twenty one and six kind
Speaker 1: of start is what kind of sticks out to me,
Speaker 1: And from there, that's where everything kind of dropped off,
Speaker 1: even with a d not being his his full self
Speaker 1: to start the season. You kind of saw with the
Speaker 1: theories that we talked about in the off season, and
Speaker 1: that's mainly ly the thing that killed us to me
Speaker 1: is like just not being able to have any lineups
Speaker 1: with with our main guys in there. This team was
Speaker 1: built around and elite defense to go around. It's two
Speaker 1: stars to go around Anthony Davis to go around Lebron James,
Speaker 1: and when you have one of those missing for extended times,
Speaker 1: it's tough for your team to kind of be that team.
Speaker 1: And it just like for reference here the Phoenix Suns
Speaker 1: team we played, they they only had nine different starting
Speaker 1: lineups compared to twenty five different different ones from US,
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul Devin Booker played in almost every single
Speaker 1: one of those. I think both of those guys missed
Speaker 1: two games total um during the season. Spells my main
Speaker 1: kind of killer for me. What about you? What did
Speaker 1: you think kind of derailed the season? So, I mean
Speaker 1: obviously that that line of consistency was a huge part
Speaker 1: of it. I'm not going to dive too far into
Speaker 1: this next thing yet because I want to talk about
Speaker 1: it when we talk more about the off season. But
Speaker 1: I did think that there was a glaring example of
Speaker 1: a lack of shot making and skill out of our
Speaker 1: role players, something that other teams don't have an issue
Speaker 1: with or as much of an issue with. Um. I
Speaker 1: think that. You know, someone asked me last night on Twitter.
Speaker 1: They said, well, I agree with you. So what's going
Speaker 1: on across the hall, you know, with the Lakers, Like, like,
Speaker 1: what do you think their deal is? And I said,
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron and a d being two of the
Speaker 1: top five players in the league, and the fact that
Speaker 1: Frank is so good with his defensive scheming and coaching,
Speaker 1: and the fact that the roster just in general was
Speaker 1: such a good defense I think covered for a lot
Speaker 1: of those problems. And you know, again it's this is
Speaker 1: not a catastrophe type of problem obviously, because they just
Speaker 1: won the title and they took two games off of
Speaker 1: that Sun's team. That's really good. Like we can look
Speaker 1: back at the Sun's thing now. Like you know, I
Speaker 1: talked throughout the season, I think myself in particular told
Speaker 1: you that I was high on the Suns because I
Speaker 1: thought the roster made sense as a playoff team but
Speaker 1: they're even better than I thought they would be. Like,
Speaker 1: the Suns are really really good. They do all the
Speaker 1: things extremely well that you need to do to win
Speaker 1: a championship. And with Lebron and a D on the
Speaker 1: floor through the first four games, you know, not counting
Speaker 1: that ridiculous attempt that he had in Game six when
Speaker 1: his groin was basically useless to begin with, they were
Speaker 1: plus nine point three points per one out of possessions
Speaker 1: with Lebron and a D on the floor. So the
Speaker 1: Lakers were doing damage to a really good basketball team.
Speaker 1: They were healthy, so this isn't like a catastrophe. That said,
Speaker 1: I do think that the lack of skill and shot
Speaker 1: making from those role players is a key weak point
Speaker 1: in the roster if you have to point to something,
Speaker 1: And even some of the stuff like Carusoe shooting over
Speaker 1: during the season and uh Kuzma shooting higher than he
Speaker 1: did the last couple of years, some of that came
Speaker 1: crashing down to earth in the postseason in a way
Speaker 1: that made you feel like maybe it was a blip
Speaker 1: and not a trend um. Would you agree that that
Speaker 1: that's a that's a weak point, Yeah, for sure, But
Speaker 1: I think like it's kind of tough when like you
Speaker 1: have two kind of guys on max deals, Like when
Speaker 1: you're building your team around it's mostly going to be
Speaker 1: of these like role players, and like these role players
Speaker 1: are getting better and better, like we've seen in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: like with Phoenix, there guys can pretty much score in
Speaker 1: three levels, right you have like a Michael Bridges who's
Speaker 1: not just like a three point shooter. You can also
Speaker 1: put it on the floor. And I think that's where
Speaker 1: they need to kind of improve the roster. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how they will, Like you need guys that catch
Speaker 1: and also read like read on closeouts, read went to
Speaker 1: attack and went to shoot. I'm not sure what to take,
Speaker 1: Like we talked about this a lot, Like I'm not
Speaker 1: really sure what to take from the playoffs, like with
Speaker 1: all those guys hurt and we we saw guys scared
Speaker 1: to shoot, and I'm not sure if that's like a
Speaker 1: confidence thing or what to do with that, or if
Speaker 1: that's just like this season being kind of wonky. But
Speaker 1: I do agree, like we need more, we need like
Speaker 1: people who can shoot. Man, we're singing in the playoffs
Speaker 1: that that's such a premium. The Clippers are staying in
Speaker 1: so many of these games because they just hit ridiculous shots.
Speaker 1: They can hit threes and and I was over here
Speaker 1: just praying that we can hit a catch and shoot
Speaker 1: three pointer once in a while, and these dudes are
Speaker 1: just flinging shots. So trying to get some more shooting
Speaker 1: in him. But that's been the topic for for like
Speaker 1: a couple of seasons now, trying to get more and
Speaker 1: more shooting um. And I think you can kind of
Speaker 1: work with that, like you have a bigger margin for
Speaker 1: error when you have your stars playing, but like when
Speaker 1: you have one of them out, you need shooting. And
Speaker 1: we saw the kind of important importance of that. Phoenix
Speaker 1: kind of won the math game so many times because
Speaker 1: we just were shooting are open shots. So I do
Speaker 1: agree with that. I just don't know how you do
Speaker 1: that on like minimum heals and without just keeping your
Speaker 1: players that you've had last year, because they're going to
Speaker 1: be really strapped on the salary cap because you have
Speaker 1: two guys already making the max the max money. So
Speaker 1: I'm not sure where they do that from. But I
Speaker 1: do agree they need more any more shooting on this team,
Speaker 1: and you can't go you can't be shootingcent a series
Speaker 1: and expect to really win. So for starters, like the
Speaker 1: cap situation is what it is. The it's important to
Speaker 1: acknowledge that teams like the Clippers also have two MAX
Speaker 1: players and that you know, first of Paul and Devin
Speaker 1: Booker fetch massive salaries, and you know, Drew holiday In,
Speaker 1: Jana Santana Coumbo and Chris Milton all take huge salaries.
Speaker 1: Like the thing is is, like guys like Reggie Jackson,
Speaker 1: they come available every year they do. Like a version
Speaker 1: of Reggie Jackson comes available, you know, a Marcus Morris
Speaker 1: or whoever it is. I'm just giving random example. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you have to do some you know, some uh, some
Speaker 1: you know, manipulation with salaries to make it work. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you gotta throw in a second round pick. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: got to get their teams involved. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to get you know, extremely
Speaker 1: high quality skilled shot makers, but that said, I do
Speaker 1: think that as a point of emphasis, instead of going
Speaker 1: after the Drummonds of the world, maybe you go out
Speaker 1: of your way to try to get the auto porter
Speaker 1: type instead, you know, And obviously he didn't even become
Speaker 1: a buyout guy. This year. But like the point is
Speaker 1: is like that's the archetype that I'd like to see
Speaker 1: them go after, because the Lakers added some suit like
Speaker 1: under Drummond is a significant piece given their situation. And
Speaker 1: so as we head into this offseason, I think, like,
Speaker 1: you know, you and I talked a lot this year
Speaker 1: about how deep the Lakers are, right, Like, they are
Speaker 1: twelve guys that they could play on any given night
Speaker 1: if you counted McKinney and eleven if you don't, So
Speaker 1: death was never an issue for them, but it was
Speaker 1: all depth that could play one way, you know, like
Speaker 1: almost every role player provided mediocre spot up shooting, really
Speaker 1: good effort and defense, and like not a whole lot
Speaker 1: of off the dribble stuff, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: even there even from the guards, Like even a guy
Speaker 1: like Caruso, like he could put the ball on the floor,
Speaker 1: he could run some pick and roll that he wasn't
Speaker 1: a guy like like when you had him running pick
Speaker 1: and roll counter to campaign, campaign was ten times better
Speaker 1: and it ended up, you know, manifesting in the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: So I guess what I'm saying is is like I'm
Speaker 1: not saying you ditch all of that identity, but maybe
Speaker 1: it's time to try to get a little bit more
Speaker 1: versatility on that front and try to get it so
Speaker 1: that maybe you have the ability to call an audible
Speaker 1: and go to some more shot making and ploymaking and
Speaker 1: things along those lines, just that you're more versatile. And then,
Speaker 1: like you said, shooting just absolutely without a shadow of
Speaker 1: a doubt. You know, the Lakers were able to overcome
Speaker 1: their lack of shooting as a result of their freak
Speaker 1: top end talent and the fact that they defended so well.
Speaker 1: But I moving forward, especially with how good Brooklyn is
Speaker 1: going to be when they're healthy, the Clippers kind of
Speaker 1: figuring things out, Phoenix being on the radar now with
Speaker 1: it with a number of good teams that are in
Speaker 1: the picture now that worked in, I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: simply have to be a better shooting team. That has
Speaker 1: to be a point of emphasis. Um that That's kind
Speaker 1: of where I'm at with it. So it's funny that
Speaker 1: you bring up like Reggie Jackson and he's on a
Speaker 1: minimum deal right and he's absolutely outperforming his contract. Um,
Speaker 1: I think he kind of outperformed it last year as well.
Speaker 1: He's ever he's getting like dirty points he had you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like the two biggest shots in the game
Speaker 1: last night. But that's kind of what we envisioned kind
Speaker 1: of Shrewder to be, right, like kind of like that
Speaker 1: scoring guard that can hit big shots, who can attack
Speaker 1: the rim um. I think we saw Shrewd as a
Speaker 1: little bit more of attacker. But I think that's where
Speaker 1: like the Lakers kind of poured their resources into right,
Speaker 1: they gave up a first round pick, they gave built
Speaker 1: Danny Green, who you know is very polarizing and Lakers Twitter,
Speaker 1: but I mean he was a shooter and shot forty
Speaker 1: pc from three this year, a good defender. Like that's
Speaker 1: where they kind of poured the resource. Us is out too,
Speaker 1: and again, like that's how I'm gonna remember this season
Speaker 1: is like it's a very theoretical season. It felt like
Speaker 1: every time one guy came back, another guy came out,
Speaker 1: We're like, Okay, imagine now when he comes back, how
Speaker 1: this will look. And then like he went out, like
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron, Lebron went out, and then a D
Speaker 1: came back for a couple of games. We're like, oh,
Speaker 1: imagine when Lebron comes back. Lebron game back. A D
Speaker 1: wasn't himself, like, so it's it's really hard for me
Speaker 1: to kind of judge like this roster. I feel like
Speaker 1: it's a lot of like hindsight, people are like killing
Speaker 1: Rob Boblinka kind of for the roster, killing rob O
Speaker 1: Lincoln for the roster. Here went over the summer, you know,
Speaker 1: they were kind of lauded as like they kind of
Speaker 1: um killed the off season, you know, yet Kendrick Perkins
Speaker 1: also saying stuff like, you know, they really laughed all
Speaker 1: these other teams, and I feel like we never really
Speaker 1: got to see it. And I feel like the drumm
Speaker 1: And edition really we can kind of get into that
Speaker 1: as well. The drum Edition really kind of derailed their
Speaker 1: identity in my opinion, like they really thought a little
Speaker 1: too hard to try to fit him in instead of
Speaker 1: kind of doing what they were doing to try to
Speaker 1: build to the playoffs. It just felt like a lot
Speaker 1: of like I felt like every game was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: did Drummond kind of fit in? Years drum And kind
Speaker 1: of getting used to it, and I feel like it
Speaker 1: kind of killed their identity there a little bit. Their
Speaker 1: identity was like this hard nose, defensive kind of team
Speaker 1: where the center would just you know, be like a
Speaker 1: finisher a lot finishing and drum and obviously sees himself
Speaker 1: more is that, you know, getting these post edges and
Speaker 1: not blaming him. I mean there are a lot of
Speaker 1: injuries around. It just felt like a really weird season.
Speaker 1: You know, Dennis Shrewder also coming in and out through
Speaker 1: COVID protocols, Like it's hard for me to take what
Speaker 1: he did as well in the play he's really struggled
Speaker 1: once Lebron and a D when I was just a
Speaker 1: really weird season, and like going after the GM and
Speaker 1: all that, like they built this team around a defense
Speaker 1: and the stars man and and we never got to
Speaker 1: see it really, so I'm just wondering, like where they
Speaker 1: where they go in terms of team evaluation, player evaluation,
Speaker 1: Like for you, how do you evaluate these players? I
Speaker 1: guess that really struggled when the lights got right, so
Speaker 1: and and this is you know, this goes back to
Speaker 1: something that I think we have to come back at
Speaker 1: a D four and and also to your initial point
Speaker 1: at the beginning about continuity, because like the Lakers did
Speaker 1: play with a D at five for the most part
Speaker 1: in last post season. I think it was like six
Speaker 1: of the minutes yeah, and then I think, I think
Speaker 1: in his minutes in this postseason it was kind of
Speaker 1: a similar ratio, but that's still just a little more
Speaker 1: than half. And you know, you said something a couple
Speaker 1: of seconds ago that stood out to me. He said,
Speaker 1: Dennis Shrewder was supposed to be our Reggie Jackson, And
Speaker 1: yes he was, but he's Dennis Shrewder playing with absolutely
Speaker 1: no space to operate. And meanwhile, I see a clip
Speaker 1: in the game last night of Reggie Jackson isolating against
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert at the top of the key. There are
Speaker 1: three help side defenders on the left and they're all
Speaker 1: within three ft of their shooter because they can't leave them.
Speaker 1: And Reggie Jackson mixes up Rudy Gobert gets him on
Speaker 1: his hip, kind of jumps back into him a little
Speaker 1: bit and does one of those you know, talent Horton
Speaker 1: Tucker the reverse style layups, and and gets a finish.
Speaker 1: We are setting Dennis Shrewder up to fail. We are
Speaker 1: setting Roun up to fail because of the fact that
Speaker 1: we are playing an archaic form of basketball. And it's
Speaker 1: funny because yesterday I was I was talking around because
Speaker 1: I was thinking about some of the Lebron's great playoff
Speaker 1: performances after you know, Kevin Durants amazing game the other
Speaker 1: night and I came across the two thousand fourteen Heat
Speaker 1: on the road in Brooklyn. They had just dropped game three.
Speaker 1: This is that, you know, that really stacked but old
Speaker 1: Brooklyn team and Lebron just put on a masterpiece, like
Speaker 1: a forty nine point masterpiece. You actually beat him with
Speaker 1: a pass to to Chris Boss, which was funny, um,
Speaker 1: but it was all bosh at the five with you know,
Speaker 1: d Wade was the only non shooter, but d Wade
Speaker 1: could by the end of there, had become such a
Speaker 1: good cutter that it was he almost provided his own
Speaker 1: form of spacing. Like the health defender had to be
Speaker 1: so aware of what Wade was doing because he couldn't
Speaker 1: you couldn't lose him on a cut and h and Lebron.
Speaker 1: Lebron just was operating in a ton of space. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is seven years ago, man, seven years
Speaker 1: ago that the that the Heat had figured out that
Speaker 1: that small ball was the way of the future. And
Speaker 1: and it just bothers me because, like you know, Jason
Speaker 1: Maples has been getting a lot of crap on the
Speaker 1: t l for saying that that A d should be
Speaker 1: a full time center. He's right, he should be a
Speaker 1: full time center. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be the
Speaker 1: centers on the roster. There should be, but they should
Speaker 1: strictly play in games when eighties resting or when eighties
Speaker 1: off the floor, that's when they should be playing. The
Speaker 1: Lakers need to embrace a modern form of basketball, and
Speaker 1: the entire reason why they don't it is because of
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and his fear of guarding centers because he
Speaker 1: thinks it's gonna wear them out. Meanwhile, on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor, he's playing in this like chaotic
Speaker 1: scrumball where every time he puts the ball on the
Speaker 1: floor there's three help defenders up on beneath him, and
Speaker 1: he's landing on people and he's getting bumps and bruises.
Speaker 1: The play where he hurt is growing DeAndre and is
Speaker 1: completely ignoring a center and standing under the basket and
Speaker 1: and it helps side and it just you know that
Speaker 1: that's like, that's been my biggest takeaway from this whole thing,
Speaker 1: is like the Lakers were able to win playing of
Speaker 1: their minutes in an archaic form of basketball because they
Speaker 1: were so good defensively, because Lebron and a d were
Speaker 1: so good, but they were actively handicapping themselves. And I
Speaker 1: just I think that at some point someone's got to
Speaker 1: have that tough conversation with him and be like many
Speaker 1: centers like you have come before, including Chris Bosh, have
Speaker 1: embraced this modern form of basketball. It's going to help Shrewder,
Speaker 1: it's going to help Lebron, it's gonna help you man,
Speaker 1: and and and and hopefully at that point they can
Speaker 1: start to you know, start to see because the Lakers
Speaker 1: offense has been a problem for both of these years,
Speaker 1: especially in the half court. Even the Chain Beanship team
Speaker 1: was a terrible half court offense. It's like a real
Speaker 1: problem that everyone just forgets exists because they're NBAH champions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we've kind of litigated this, like it's pretty clear
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis does not want to play center full time,
Speaker 1: and I just don't see that changing at all. Like
Speaker 1: it's just sometimes this is what happens, Like he wants
Speaker 1: to be the power forward and he feels like it
Speaker 1: makes it easier on him, and I think that's what
Speaker 1: they're gonna move going forward. It's just like, I think
Speaker 1: the main key for me next season is Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: coming with a sense of urgency, right Like, I feel
Speaker 1: like he never came with that this season, even when
Speaker 1: the Lakers started really well. Um, he was basically he
Speaker 1: was basically just a jump shooter. He was basically just
Speaker 1: a spacer, right like. He was never aggressive attacking the rim.
Speaker 1: And I think that's where the main thing for me
Speaker 1: for him playing power forward, Like, if he wants to
Speaker 1: play power forward, that's fine, it's just like I feel
Speaker 1: like it really baits him into being just a pure
Speaker 1: jump shooter or settling at the top, right, being able
Speaker 1: to be defended by smaller guys. Um, he doesn't attack
Speaker 1: the offensive rebound the same way when he's not the center.
Speaker 1: I think that's all well and fine, but I feel
Speaker 1: like your centers have to be guys who can either
Speaker 1: protect the rim or be able to really switch out,
Speaker 1: and I think that's where they need to kind of
Speaker 1: find that kind of balance there. I thought Dwight Howard
Speaker 1: was a really big part of that last year. That's
Speaker 1: why the Lakes were so successful in my opinion, even
Speaker 1: when Anthony Davis playing a lot of power forward, as
Speaker 1: they had a center that was Dwight Howard's a really
Speaker 1: smart high basketball like you guy really can protect the rim,
Speaker 1: and that's where they need to look this season. I
Speaker 1: don't see Anthony Davis playing center full time next year.
Speaker 1: I just I just don't see it. Like he obviously
Speaker 1: has made that clear to the front office, to the team,
Speaker 1: to the coaching staff that he does not want to do.
Speaker 1: And I think there's ways you can kind of protect that,
Speaker 1: but he's got to be more aggressive. I want a
Speaker 1: sense of urgency next year, and I just don't think
Speaker 1: we got that this season. And it's fine, he can
Speaker 1: have a past for that he was injured, um, but
Speaker 1: I want to see him attacking the rim attacks, which
Speaker 1: is like and you need I want to lop through
Speaker 1: at that center position as well. I think it's really
Speaker 1: tough when you have a big guy who can't jump,
Speaker 1: who also has a tough time catching. They can just
Speaker 1: sit another center right there, and it just really forces
Speaker 1: him into jump shooting, like litigating whether he can be
Speaker 1: a center or power forward, like if he's gonna play
Speaker 1: center when it matters, I think it's okay, Like I
Speaker 1: think that's I think that's fine. The Lakers are going
Speaker 1: to live with that, but he has to be more aggressive.
Speaker 1: We can't have this like jump shooting guy who's just
Speaker 1: not engaged in most of the games, and I think
Speaker 1: he will be next season. The one town side to
Speaker 1: to the to that approach that I think goes glossed
Speaker 1: over all the time is like, you know, the Lakers
Speaker 1: had some stretches against Phoenix where they went small with
Speaker 1: particularly in Game one, and they got they got their
Speaker 1: ass kicked. And part of the reason for that, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, is like when you're so used to playing
Speaker 1: one way all season, because a D refuses to play
Speaker 1: the five during the regular season except in very tiny bursts,
Speaker 1: you don't get the reps that you need. And what's
Speaker 1: crazy is like, you know, if if a D is
Speaker 1: not doing any pick and roll coverage all season because
Speaker 1: he's playing off ball and help, but then suddenly in
Speaker 1: a high leverage moment he's asked to do that something
Speaker 1: he hasn't practiced barely all year, I think that it
Speaker 1: can manifest in them struggling and and have moments like
Speaker 1: they did in Phoenix where they tricked off Game one
Speaker 1: in a in a way that could have potentially cost
Speaker 1: them the series. You know, and and it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things that practice what you plan on leaning
Speaker 1: on when the time comes like it. Maybe the compromise
Speaker 1: here is instead of going sixty at the five in
Speaker 1: the postseason in one a d at the four in
Speaker 1: the regular season, maybe you go sixty eight at the
Speaker 1: five and the regular season two and at least get
Speaker 1: some or some percentage of it there, so that the
Speaker 1: Lakers at least are comfortable going to that option frequently
Speaker 1: because they have the practice and the reps, and and
Speaker 1: and they've leaned on it. In that regard, I do
Speaker 1: agree with you that the Lakers center has to be
Speaker 1: a vertical spacer and someone I can guard in space.
Speaker 1: I hope that the bridge isn't burned with Dhite Howard
Speaker 1: because he was a really good fit. The best case
Speaker 1: scenario for that is the Sixers going down in flames,
Speaker 1: because if they go down in flames, dwightes know Dwight
Speaker 1: might miss what he had in l a um. The
Speaker 1: trouble is is that the Sixers are gonna be able
Speaker 1: to give him a raise on that veteran minimum without
Speaker 1: affecting their cap situation. So it could be a matter
Speaker 1: of a few hundred thousand dollars in whether or not
Speaker 1: that ends up being a factor, but yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: kind of guy that you'd like to see them go
Speaker 1: after for sure with that spot. So so it can
Speaker 1: be a vertical spacer or like a three point there,
Speaker 1: and which is why, like I thought, Marcusol was just
Speaker 1: like that perfect fit next to a D. Right Like
Speaker 1: we talked about this all over the off season as well.
Speaker 1: It allows a D to be the five kind of
Speaker 1: on offense, right like with Marcusol, he can be the
Speaker 1: five on offense. And it was still still weird that
Speaker 1: even in the even when those two played together. I
Speaker 1: think this was more because of eighties maybe aggression early on,
Speaker 1: but Mark was still the guy in the dunker spot
Speaker 1: a lot of the times, which is kind of strange,
Speaker 1: where a D was kind of the spacer there. I
Speaker 1: thought those two should be switched, but I just thought
Speaker 1: that would be the perfect fit. And we kind of
Speaker 1: saw that to start the season even with those some
Speaker 1: of those wonky lineups, even with a D not being aggressive.
Speaker 1: I think they were like twenty one and six or
Speaker 1: something when they when they started started the season with
Speaker 1: those two being the two bigs and once a d
Speaker 1: got hurt all that kind of drill, But I just
Speaker 1: thought that was kind of the perfect fit. And they
Speaker 1: really went away with that to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: go to the Andre Drummond experiment and try to fit
Speaker 1: him in. And like I said earlier, I thought that
Speaker 1: really derailed kind of their identity this season. Like I
Speaker 1: love that fit with Mark. I thought it lets a
Speaker 1: d B the five, not just a d B the five,
Speaker 1: have a guy that finds him when he seals down low,
Speaker 1: have another passer next to Lebron. So I hope I
Speaker 1: will get into free agency maybe later, maybe another pod,
Speaker 1: but just I hope Mark, and I know he's signed
Speaker 1: for next year. I hope he comes back. I just
Speaker 1: I would like to see those two kind of build
Speaker 1: a little bit more chemistry. I think those two only
Speaker 1: played like twenty something games together this season or something
Speaker 1: some low number. I'm not sure exactly how many it was,
Speaker 1: but just to have another guy that can pass like that.
Speaker 1: I don't think E. D S even played with another
Speaker 1: big man that can pass like that as well, um
Speaker 1: in his time in New Orleans or with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So just another guy there who can space the floor.
Speaker 1: I think Mark out up to like as a three
Speaker 1: point shooter as well. And and that's the only thing,
Speaker 1: right when when we talked about a D five, what
Speaker 1: do we mean, we mean that he's not able to
Speaker 1: be at the basket, right. And that's where Mark kind
Speaker 1: of flips that you get the size of a center
Speaker 1: while also allowing a D being inside because Mark Hasty
Speaker 1: perspected um from outside of like five five to ten feet.
Speaker 1: And that's where I kind of want to see. That's
Speaker 1: the balance you can kind of fit. If you don't
Speaker 1: have a lab threat, you can at least have a
Speaker 1: guy that's space the three point line that gives Mark
Speaker 1: like you were talking about, gives Dennis Shrewder driving lanes,
Speaker 1: give Lebron driving lanes. Um, how many times do we
Speaker 1: see that Phoenix just pinch, you know, right at the
Speaker 1: nails and there's no room because you have drumming down low.
Speaker 1: Even when a d was playing, they don't they're not
Speaker 1: really worried about him as a jump shooter in that series.
Speaker 1: So that that's kind of what I want to see
Speaker 1: this this offseason is a little bit more care on
Speaker 1: that on that position. Um, it felt like they really
Speaker 1: try to fit Andre Drummond in and I think that
Speaker 1: experiment kind of didn't go as planned. I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: and Drummond obviously doesn't want to be back on the minimum,
Speaker 1: so I think that was probably the last game we
Speaker 1: see him him and the liquor uniform. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it'll it'll be interesting to see. I mean, it's clear
Speaker 1: that he wants some port into the mid level exception,
Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna come down to what is available,
Speaker 1: because you know, honestly, if there isn't a reasonably reliable
Speaker 1: perimeter player available, I think you have to take from
Speaker 1: him because a d is gonna miss probably fifty games
Speaker 1: next year. Uh, and they will play him at the
Speaker 1: power forward a ton and you do need depth at
Speaker 1: the center position. I think that's just the harsh reality
Speaker 1: of the situation. I mean, but like if if someone
Speaker 1: comes up in that mold of the of the knockdown
Speaker 1: three point shooter who can do some you know, really
Speaker 1: low level playmaking and hold his own on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: I think you have to favor that. But it but
Speaker 1: it has to be like a knockdown three point shot
Speaker 1: like this, the Lakers have one guy on the roster
Speaker 1: that you're scared of if he catches when he's open
Speaker 1: and that's k CP. Everyone else, You're like, no, you
Speaker 1: might make it everyone else. It's like, oh, Cruis has
Speaker 1: been but you know when Cruiso shoots a three and
Speaker 1: you're the other team, You're like, we can live with that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. They don't have that that
Speaker 1: you know, that that Buddy Healed type of of just knockdown.
Speaker 1: Like if he's opening, Seth Curry, whatever it is, he
Speaker 1: catches it, you're panicking. We don't have that on the roster,
Speaker 1: and so that needs to be priority number one. And
Speaker 1: if that's not available, then I think you do have
Speaker 1: to bring back Drummond for depth. Um. But you know,
Speaker 1: like as far as the overall totality of the strategy
Speaker 1: going into this summer, this is something that Darius Soriano
Speaker 1: said from from like her film rooms the Laker Filming podcast.
Speaker 1: He had said, you know, there's no point and this
Speaker 1: is something you and I have said on and off
Speaker 1: throughout the year. There's no point in overreacting to what
Speaker 1: just happened because Dennis Shooter was playing really well before
Speaker 1: the COVID suspension. You know, I vividly remember I was
Speaker 1: on a ski trip in in in Park City and
Speaker 1: like literally like watching him just destroy the jazz, like
Speaker 1: just destroy the jazz by himself. Um uh, just executing
Speaker 1: and pick and roll, picking them apart with the pass
Speaker 1: and finishing at the basket. Just looking amazing. And and
Speaker 1: he was he was passing way better than he had
Speaker 1: in his entire career, something that going into the season
Speaker 1: I talked about being kind of a little bit of
Speaker 1: a weakness for him. You know, he's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a tunnel vision guy. He had grown, you know,
Speaker 1: playing with Lebron and seeing the floor a little bit
Speaker 1: better as a passer, and he was really kind of
Speaker 1: peeking on that end, on that end of the floor.
Speaker 1: And then bam, go sit in your house for two
Speaker 1: weeks and then come right back for for really high
Speaker 1: leverage you know, playoff basketball. And that's that's tough. And
Speaker 1: then the continuity stuff with with Lebron and all the guys,
Speaker 1: Lebron being a primary playmaker all of a sudden after
Speaker 1: playing you know, roughly thirty games without him, there were
Speaker 1: so many weird factors in there that made it's so
Speaker 1: that it's hard to really gauge what their needs are.
Speaker 1: I think there are clear obvious needs like shooting in
Speaker 1: a little bit of shot making. But it's hard to
Speaker 1: say for sure whether or not they need to overhaul
Speaker 1: things because what you know, as Lebron said in his
Speaker 1: postgame press or like we never got to see our
Speaker 1: full team. You know, even when they were all out there,
Speaker 1: it was they were still kind of they were like
Speaker 1: in game one of that series against the Suns. You know,
Speaker 1: the Suns are in like a well oiled machine, just
Speaker 1: on the tracks, going full speed, and the Lakers are
Speaker 1: like in training camp mode. Literally there. They might as
Speaker 1: well have been in training camp. That's where they were at.
Speaker 1: That's something that I talked about frequently. It's just like
Speaker 1: a rhythm that you have to build up, Like even
Speaker 1: for Lebron is like a jump shooter and like as
Speaker 1: a ball handler and stuff. It's just hard to just
Speaker 1: go from not doing it to just suddenly doing it,
Speaker 1: you know, at a really high level. And and that's
Speaker 1: why it's too hard to to really gauge. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: as far as judging that team, I think we can
Speaker 1: all agree that the spacing was a legitimate issue that
Speaker 1: made it really difficult to evaluate. Even something as simple
Speaker 1: as how is Lebron aging because you're right, they were
Speaker 1: just sitting on the nails in help side, and if
Speaker 1: he beat his man to the to the to the
Speaker 1: basket left or right, he had to like immediately spin
Speaker 1: back or cut back or do something like that or
Speaker 1: try to bowl somebody over. There was there was nothing
Speaker 1: that resembled the type of spacing that the Clippers had,
Speaker 1: and part of that as roster design, but another part
Speaker 1: of that was literally, in my time launching basketball, I've
Speaker 1: never seen a group of role players get the hips
Speaker 1: as bad as the Lakers did. Because they are limited
Speaker 1: in some ways, they aren't as bad as they looked.
Speaker 1: That was an outlier. Crazy, just complete mental breakdown of
Speaker 1: the supporting guest. Everyone played well below what their regular
Speaker 1: season performance was, and some of that is like some
Speaker 1: of that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, it's kind of hard to tell like that,
Speaker 1: this was a season full of like no fans as well, right,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden you get to the
Speaker 1: playoffs and these stadiums are packed. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that has anything to do with it. It's kind of
Speaker 1: hard to judge. And like going off Dennis Shrewder. I
Speaker 1: always say people are gonna totally forget that he had
Speaker 1: like two awesome games in Game two in Game three
Speaker 1: that the Lakers don't win out of those without him,
Speaker 1: Like he had like twenty points and he was getting
Speaker 1: to the rack and those again, those games were next
Speaker 1: to Lebron and a d and then obviously when those
Speaker 1: two went out, I think in game game five he
Speaker 1: had he went over nine and then in Game six
Speaker 1: it was a blowout after the first quarter. But like that,
Speaker 1: that's what's so tough, Like I feel like he had
Speaker 1: a really good season and it's not like it's not
Speaker 1: like this is his first playoffs, right, Like he's a
Speaker 1: guy that um even lastly in the oil Cloma City,
Speaker 1: Like he had a good playoff run. It's not like
Speaker 1: the light should be well. I was in the bubble
Speaker 1: as well, but he's played in playoff games before as well,
Speaker 1: So I don't know how to judge it. Like he
Speaker 1: went out with COVID twice, I think, right, I think
Speaker 1: it was two separate times that he got he got
Speaker 1: put into the protocols and every time he came back
Speaker 1: he really struggled. And that's again as hard as judge
Speaker 1: like where these teams go. And the Lakers are kind of, um,
Speaker 1: kind of in a trap here because they can't just
Speaker 1: let him walk and then like sign somebody with that
Speaker 1: money as well, right, so like you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: resign him, Like I don't think he's going to get
Speaker 1: the number that he you know, got offered the extension,
Speaker 1: but like they're gonna probably bring him back. And and
Speaker 1: that's where like it's it's really tough to kind of
Speaker 1: judge what happened in the playoffs, Like I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want to go off of six games to ruin
Speaker 1: the whole season, right, like six games going versus like
Speaker 1: the regular season and that sample, I think it's kind
Speaker 1: of more important. And and that's where they'll kind of judge.
Speaker 1: At KCP, I think they kind of know what he has. Again,
Speaker 1: I don't think one bad series kind of mix up,
Speaker 1: and he also wasn't healthy I think for a full
Speaker 1: part of that as well, So judging all those guys,
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma as well, like it it's really tough. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna go into next year and try to
Speaker 1: run not run it back, but bringing back most of
Speaker 1: the players that they had and try to see what
Speaker 1: happens was because they were shooting a well to start
Speaker 1: the season and when you have the team healthy and
Speaker 1: before Andrew Drummand came on, you know, like you talked
Speaker 1: about the spacing a lot, Like I thought it was
Speaker 1: great when you had marked out there with a D
Speaker 1: and then Dennis Shrewder like that's that's what they kind
Speaker 1: of switched out, right, They switched out a three and
Speaker 1: D shooter and Danny Green. We all again, Danny Green
Speaker 1: very very polarizing, but he is a spacer. He's a
Speaker 1: guy that teams usually do respect, except in the finals,
Speaker 1: but teams usually do kind of it would have been
Speaker 1: the second shooter that teams would have feared to leave
Speaker 1: open without a doubt exactly. Yes, So he's a guy
Speaker 1: that teams do do stay on. Like you talked about
Speaker 1: Alex Cruz as first that can hit for three, teams
Speaker 1: are still going to kind of leave him open, right,
Speaker 1: He's just not that kind of volume shooter. He needs
Speaker 1: to be kind of wide open to take a three.
Speaker 1: Danny Green, people are gonna respect him on the shooter,
Speaker 1: and they kind of switched it out for Denni Shrewder.
Speaker 1: And the point wants to bring another shot creator, a
Speaker 1: guy who can create off ball screens, a guy that
Speaker 1: can you know, run screen and roll with a D
Speaker 1: and kind of get him looks that just didn't happen
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and continuity whatever you want to blame
Speaker 1: it on, Like I think, I think it deserves kind
Speaker 1: of another chance to kind of see it. I thought,
Speaker 1: Dennis is, you know, like his competitiveness really kept us
Speaker 1: in a lot of games. I thought his energy, like
Speaker 1: when we were kind of dead, similar to Montres Harold
Speaker 1: in a little bit a little bit lesser extent, but
Speaker 1: like his energy and effort kind of kept us in
Speaker 1: a lot of these games. And I find with him
Speaker 1: kind of I think he'll be back for sure. And
Speaker 1: I think that's where it's tough to kind of evaluate
Speaker 1: who who played, who played bad in the playoffs and
Speaker 1: who didn't. Just with this weird season and you know,
Speaker 1: with the fans as well, Lakers were at like what
Speaker 1: eight thousand will Phoenix had, like I think sixty thousand
Speaker 1: or something like in all these kind of differences really
Speaker 1: went into that series. And the Suns are really good.
Speaker 1: Like I was saying before, I think you said Lakers
Speaker 1: in five and I was like, oh, man, I think
Speaker 1: the Sun's team is super legit. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be like six or seven. And they ended up winning
Speaker 1: the series. But yeah, that's it's tough, man, when you're
Speaker 1: the seventh seed going against a really in a lot
Speaker 1: of chemistry on that Sun's team. Man, wish that wasn't
Speaker 1: I wish that wasn't the one thing that like, you know,
Speaker 1: the core formula of Lebron and a D plus leape
Speaker 1: defense clearly works because, you know what, whether regardless of
Speaker 1: what is around that, you know, whether or not they
Speaker 1: play a D at the five or at you know,
Speaker 1: inferior shooting or really good shooting. Because even those two
Speaker 1: games they won in this series, they didn't shoot the ball.
Speaker 1: Well that was the crazy part. You know, Laker fans
Speaker 1: kept falling back on this idea, like, hey, just wait
Speaker 1: untill we start knocking down shots, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And and so you know, I don't think you know,
Speaker 1: include game two they won in Phoenix, and yeah, Chris
Speaker 1: Paul didn't play much in the second half, but that
Speaker 1: was because partially because campaign was literally lighting us on fire,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, and they were leaning heavily on
Speaker 1: that I don't think they wanted to play two tiny
Speaker 1: guards against that big Laker lineup. And like the thing
Speaker 1: is is, like the silver lining here is that core
Speaker 1: concept of the way that this team is built. You know,
Speaker 1: healthy Lebron and a d elite defense is hard for
Speaker 1: teams to deal with. And and you know, Phoenix might
Speaker 1: not lose a home game this year. You know, they're
Speaker 1: they're that good, and they're that good at home, and
Speaker 1: the Lakers beat them on their home floor, you know,
Speaker 1: comfortably they want but I think they want by like
Speaker 1: ten points or so. You know, like that was a
Speaker 1: you know, there are reasons to be optimistic, but like
Speaker 1: you know, we're going to talk about the off season
Speaker 1: in a more detailed way later on um in a
Speaker 1: few weeks. But I think the core principle needs to
Speaker 1: be bring back everybody you can by by signing them
Speaker 1: to their normal whether it's you know, player options in
Speaker 1: the case of someone like Tread's, or it's a you know,
Speaker 1: a twenty million dollar year contract with someone like Shrewder
Speaker 1: or whatever you can get, CRUs so forth, whatever whatever
Speaker 1: you can get. Just just get everybody under contract, because
Speaker 1: then you're gonna have a bunch of those intermedior intermediate
Speaker 1: contracts that you can put together into trades so that
Speaker 1: if something does pop up that looks like an opportunity,
Speaker 1: you know whether it is for someone like Buddy Healed
Speaker 1: or like a C. J. Mccollumn or something. And I'm
Speaker 1: just going random exam polls. I haven't really thought these through,
Speaker 1: but the point is that you needed to peach a
Speaker 1: piece together contracts. You need the contracts first. So I
Speaker 1: think that I think the move is to sign everybody
Speaker 1: and deal with the the cap consequences later. And and
Speaker 1: that because the only way they're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: improve the roster, because I don't think they want a
Speaker 1: hardcap themselves. Again, the only way they're going to be
Speaker 1: able to improve the roster is the smaller portion in
Speaker 1: the mid level. Of the mid level exception veteran minimums
Speaker 1: and trades. That's third, But that's the totality of their
Speaker 1: their options here, and so I think I think that's
Speaker 1: the smart path. Is there anything else you wanted to
Speaker 1: touch on kind of surface level with this Laker season
Speaker 1: before we move on to some of these other series. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this was like a really frustrating
Speaker 1: kind of season. Um, just in totality, I feel like
Speaker 1: the second or third most important thing was like HDS development,
Speaker 1: which is funny, like you don't usually do that on
Speaker 1: a championship level team, but it felt like his development
Speaker 1: kind of became one of the most important parts of
Speaker 1: the season just the way it down. We'll see how
Speaker 1: he kind of moves forward next year. I know you
Speaker 1: have um different feelings about him, but like the Lakers
Speaker 1: at least got something out of this season. I think
Speaker 1: that's that was the main thing, and the next year
Speaker 1: you hope that you know, you just stay healthy. Um.
Speaker 1: Injuries is a tough thing to kind of blame the
Speaker 1: whole season on, considering there's like injuries every year, but
Speaker 1: I just think this one was really frustrating. I don't
Speaker 1: think we ever got Anthony Davis this year either. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's just a tax that was a championship tax that
Speaker 1: this season kind of went so, so you know what
Speaker 1: we'll see next year. But yeah, I feel like that
Speaker 1: that kind of puts a lid lid on the lid
Speaker 1: on the Lakers here. Yeah, so rosen are going to
Speaker 1: continue to do plenty of Lakers stuff throughout the off season. Um,
Speaker 1: but obviously we're basketball fans, so we're going to continue
Speaker 1: to do um as much of this kind of stuff
Speaker 1: as we can throughout the playoff run. I wanted to
Speaker 1: start with this, uh the Nets series, UM with with Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: and you know, before we even get into the nuts
Speaker 1: and bolts of the series, I wanted to pay a
Speaker 1: compliment to Kevin Durant because I don't think people really
Speaker 1: lies just how big of a deal that performance was,
Speaker 1: above and beyond the obvious, you know numbers. You know,
Speaker 1: we've we've all heard the numbers. He had thirty one
Speaker 1: in the second half. He assisted another eighteen, so he
Speaker 1: scored or assisted on forty nine in the second half. UM.
Speaker 1: I thought he was awesome defensively, which is something that
Speaker 1: I've been critical of him a lot, you know, compared
Speaker 1: to his peers. I just never thought he cared as
Speaker 1: much as his peers at the position. And and but
Speaker 1: he showed in that game that he's will he's actually
Speaker 1: actually capable of anchoring at the defense. I wish we
Speaker 1: already knew, but he showed it again. And then you know,
Speaker 1: the biggest thing is like, like you know, there's a
Speaker 1: chance that Harden gets healthy and there's a chance that
Speaker 1: maybe Kyrie comes back in the finals and it's gonna
Speaker 1: it might look easy, they might win easily. And I
Speaker 1: think people are going to forget this game because this
Speaker 1: is it kind of reminded me of Game six for
Speaker 1: Lebron in Boston in the sense that you know, they
Speaker 1: kind of us through the thunder, kind of handled him,
Speaker 1: not not not souper. It wasn't a blowout or anything,
Speaker 1: but they kind of one relatively comfortably in the finals,
Speaker 1: and people forget that, like it was that close to
Speaker 1: falling off the rails in that Boston series, also because
Speaker 1: of injuries, because that series was the series that Bosch
Speaker 1: missed the beginning with an abdominal strain, and even in
Speaker 1: that Game six he came off the bench. And you
Speaker 1: can't put it anymore playing than this. If Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: has forty instead of the nets probably a ninety are
Speaker 1: like nine not just lose the game, they lose the series.
Speaker 1: They lose they lose the series if he doesn't do that,
Speaker 1: meaning they there are chances in you know, in this
Speaker 1: series is still very much not over. There still is
Speaker 1: a talent chasm here, and and we're going to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about you know, some of the coaching
Speaker 1: malpractice from from Mike Buddenholzer, But like, I just want
Speaker 1: to take a minute to compliment Kevin Durant on what
Speaker 1: was an absolute master piece, one of the best basketball
Speaker 1: games I've ever seen any player ever play. And and
Speaker 1: just remember that, like and it's you know, one more
Speaker 1: thing that Darius Oriano actually from Blaker Phil Room said
Speaker 1: this on a pod yesterday. He goes he goes the
Speaker 1: path that Kevin Durant shows kind of concealed how great
Speaker 1: he was over the last few years. And and it
Speaker 1: just strictly because he never had to dig that deep.
Speaker 1: And and what was so cool about that last night
Speaker 1: it was it was the first time since two thousand
Speaker 1: sixteen where he was in because like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to hear it about those shots in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, yeah, they were great shots. Yeah, he played amazing,
Speaker 1: but like he could have he could have won out
Speaker 1: there and had twelve points on four of seventeen shooting
Speaker 1: their winning the series. Like they might not have won
Speaker 1: that game, but they're winning the series. There was no
Speaker 1: real pressure to those moments. And what he did in
Speaker 1: that game was, you know, dig deep and do something
Speaker 1: he absolute we had to do in order to to
Speaker 1: keep his team alive. And I think I just think
Speaker 1: that's really cool because that's the best part about the
Speaker 1: NBA super the superstar experiences. The NBA Superstars are so
Speaker 1: good and so much better than everybody else on the
Speaker 1: floor that when they do dig deep like that, like
Speaker 1: crazy magical stuff like that happens, And as a basketball fan,
Speaker 1: I just thought it was so cool. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what most like, like saying those Warriors titles don't
Speaker 1: count is dumb, right, those those narratives that have been
Speaker 1: talked about on all these UM Sports shows and first
Speaker 1: taken all that where they talk about the Durant's titles.
Speaker 1: But I think that's the main thing that most people
Speaker 1: are kind of annoyed about that is like it felt
Speaker 1: like when Katie would drop forty on those, like, you know,
Speaker 1: those Super Warriors teams, it felt more like an overload
Speaker 1: instead of like him having to do it right. And
Speaker 1: he totally can. He could totally carry a team like
Speaker 1: this um for a whole year, like he just he
Speaker 1: has that kind of talent. I feel like that's the
Speaker 1: stuff that we kind of missed out on being on
Speaker 1: this team. And I thought with him and Kyrie, I
Speaker 1: thought it was awesome that he got another kind of
Speaker 1: shot to do that, to kind of be the main
Speaker 1: kind of score where if he doesn't score thirty five,
Speaker 1: they lose, you know, that kind of not pressure, but
Speaker 1: that kind of like where they rely on his scoring.
Speaker 1: It felt like, you know, obviously he was the Finals
Speaker 1: MVP twice. You can't take that away from him. It
Speaker 1: just it just didn't feel the same, didn't have the
Speaker 1: same kind of those points, didn't feel the same, I guess,
Speaker 1: as they do in these games. And I thought kind
Speaker 1: of the hard and trade kind of UM mass that
Speaker 1: as well this season. But obviously with those two, with
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Harden out, you're kind of seeing what he
Speaker 1: can do. And to me, he's the greatest scorer I've
Speaker 1: ever seen, like just personally, like his ability to come
Speaker 1: off a screen and just shoot UM and no one
Speaker 1: can really bother it. And I actually said, we'll talk
Speaker 1: about with the coaching staff the opposite coady staff did
Speaker 1: with him UM, which I thought was not practice as well,
Speaker 1: but you know, him being able to just come off
Speaker 1: down screens like I just never seen a guy at
Speaker 1: that size like I think he's listed at like six
Speaker 1: tent but like, I feel like he's a legit seven
Speaker 1: foot of being able to come off screen, shoot handle,
Speaker 1: you know, left to right, crossover, pull up, Like there's
Speaker 1: just unguardable stuff, stuff that you just don't see from
Speaker 1: guys that side. So to me, he's like the best
Speaker 1: score I've ever seen, and it's cool to see him
Speaker 1: kind of get his flowers on this team. And he
Speaker 1: really outplayed kind of honest as well, and you kind
Speaker 1: of saw the difference in what kind of matters in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, Like we see what matters in the regular season,
Speaker 1: and then once you get to the playoffs, like shot
Speaker 1: making is the king. Like a guy who can create
Speaker 1: his own shot is everything. And we can bring it
Speaker 1: back to Lakers later, but like it's just you see
Speaker 1: guys that's able to come off and pull up, which
Speaker 1: I think is the most important thing in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: You need a guy who can when everything is taken away,
Speaker 1: when teams are locked in, um, you don't get open looks.
Speaker 1: You need a guy that you can just give the
Speaker 1: ball to and be like, hey, we need a shot here.
Speaker 1: And Kevin Durant is one of the best ever at
Speaker 1: that being just come off a screen and pull up
Speaker 1: or you know, you know, isolation and just just rise
Speaker 1: above anybody. And it was it was awesome to be
Speaker 1: able to watch that and and see him just tear
Speaker 1: a team's heart out. They had like a twenty point
Speaker 1: lead and once they saw Durant kind of hit those
Speaker 1: first shots, like that's really demoralizing. It's like, what do
Speaker 1: we do? You know, you play up on him and
Speaker 1: he drives by you. You hear in some weak drop
Speaker 1: coverage and it's a layoup. That midirate and shot is
Speaker 1: a lay up for him. Um, you kind of playoff
Speaker 1: or you know, you drop back, you try to cheat
Speaker 1: under the screen and hits at three. It's just just stuff.
Speaker 1: That's three level scoring. That's just you know, the best
Speaker 1: ever to kind of do that at that level. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was like a little jab step jumper on the
Speaker 1: left elbow that he made in the fourth quarter that
Speaker 1: was like he need to look easy. And I remember
Speaker 1: sitting there thinking like this is one of the huge
Speaker 1: advantages of three level scoring is that ability to um,
Speaker 1: you know, hit a stand still shot like that out
Speaker 1: of a out of a face up that allows you
Speaker 1: to get save your save your legs a little bit,
Speaker 1: he got to the foul and a couple of times
Speaker 1: driving along the right side, you know that there was
Speaker 1: it just was. The variety is. Variety is what allows
Speaker 1: you to to adjust and and have the ability to
Speaker 1: you know, kind of be one step ahead of a
Speaker 1: defense as elite as that as that Milwaukee Bucks defenses.
Speaker 1: And you know, the last thing I'll say about KT
Speaker 1: before we move on. You know, I think that if
Speaker 1: you're putting you know, superstars in the NBA A on
Speaker 1: tears and you know, I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: think that this stuff is silly, but I think it's fun.
Speaker 1: I think it's fun to rank players. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're you're not into that sort of thing, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you can find some other podcast out there. But like,
Speaker 1: I I think that, uh, you know, Kauai, Steph Lebron
Speaker 1: and and k D are all kind of on the
Speaker 1: same tier as in, like the only four guys that
Speaker 1: we are certain can be the best player on a
Speaker 1: championship team. That said, like, I feel like there's an
Speaker 1: obvious and discernible gap between k D and Kauai um
Speaker 1: in the sense that, like, even when when KAD does
Speaker 1: engage himself defensively, he's not as good on the ball,
Speaker 1: but he's like a much better in help side. And
Speaker 1: then that that level of shot making that he has
Speaker 1: is even a clear level above what Kauai does. And
Speaker 1: and what was crazy is I was I had been
Speaker 1: thinking that before that game, and then you watched the
Speaker 1: visible chasm that exists between him and Janice just like
Speaker 1: a absolute like like it's jarring when you're watching the
Speaker 1: game to see the difference between the two of them,
Speaker 1: and you know, someone the thing that was making the
Speaker 1: rounds yesterday was the last couple of days, was the
Speaker 1: A D and Janice stuff again. And I think that
Speaker 1: the A D. Janice stuff is the perfect example of
Speaker 1: the difference between a floor razor and a ceiling razor,
Speaker 1: because I don't think a D can hold a candle
Speaker 1: to Joannice as a baseline superstar to build a team
Speaker 1: around for an a two game regular season, as a
Speaker 1: guy that can run a rudimentary regular season NBA offense
Speaker 1: and score and create enough offense to to have a
Speaker 1: you know, fifty plus win season and at least get
Speaker 1: you to the playoffs, I think he's just flat out
Speaker 1: considerably better than a D at that but when things
Speaker 1: really grind down and scheming plays a role and the
Speaker 1: game gets into the half court and teams are are
Speaker 1: really cutting off everything that's easy in a way that
Speaker 1: they don't in the regular season, I think a d
Speaker 1: is considerably better. Like I think there's a chasm in
Speaker 1: the other direction. And so it's as simple as like,
Speaker 1: would you rather have him as a number one or
Speaker 1: a number two? And if I already have a Lebron
Speaker 1: or a James Harden, I'm picking Anthony Davis over Janice.
Speaker 1: But if I don't have that player yet, I'd rather
Speaker 1: have a nice and go after an elite high and playmaker,
Speaker 1: which is why it was such a huge mistake for
Speaker 1: them not to go after Chris Paul. Yeah. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: like looking at you, honest, like he's like the like
Speaker 1: he gets blamed a lot for what the Bucks do
Speaker 1: and it's kind of funny look at his line after
Speaker 1: it's like thirty five, twelve and and like five. But
Speaker 1: it's like a difference in regular season and playoffs. And
Speaker 1: I think it's really tough when your main creator can't shoot,
Speaker 1: you know, like that's just a fundamental flaw like in
Speaker 1: your kind of team building. So it's tough when their
Speaker 1: perimeter main perimeter shot creators are like Drew Holiday and
Speaker 1: Chris Milton, and those are two guys like the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: that's just aren't worried about kind of beating them. And
Speaker 1: comparing a D and your honest, like it's tough. I
Speaker 1: think you honest has a much better motor in the
Speaker 1: regular season, Like he's a guy that plays, you know, plays,
Speaker 1: uh knows to the wall every single game, and a
Speaker 1: D just doesn't approach the regular season like that, at
Speaker 1: least he hasn't. Um Last year was a little bit better,
Speaker 1: but especially this year, like he's just not going for
Speaker 1: regular season kind of points awards and things like that,
Speaker 1: and that's where you honest really excelled. And when you
Speaker 1: get to the playoffs, everyone's kind of playing hard, and again,
Speaker 1: when you can't shoot, it's just really tough. We saw
Speaker 1: it last year. A d shot making was a huge
Speaker 1: part of the Lakers winning a title, Like it's we
Speaker 1: kind of forget, we forget after a game two, we
Speaker 1: were wondering if he was the Finals MVP. Like his
Speaker 1: his shooting, his ability to hit that midrange kind of
Speaker 1: jab step pull up, it's kind of what won them
Speaker 1: a lot of the series against Houston. That's what changed
Speaker 1: the game. Houston went all and you obsolutely punish their switches,
Speaker 1: and you see Joannice Brooklyn goes small and Jannest just
Speaker 1: can't punish them at all either. Right, they are able
Speaker 1: to switch Bruce Bown on him, switch all these guys,
Speaker 1: Blake Griffin on him, like an older Blake Griffin, and
Speaker 1: he just can't do anything because like if he doesn't
Speaker 1: have any touch on a jump hook, and it's just
Speaker 1: just so funny, Like I was watching the Nets Bucks game,
Speaker 1: just funny to watch John is like have zero touch
Speaker 1: on like a hook shot, right, like a plane hook
Speaker 1: shot from like two ft and you watch Katie get
Speaker 1: the rebound, dribble up and shoot a thirty five ft
Speaker 1: or that just switches in. It's just a funny, like
Speaker 1: just the contrast of like kind of skill level there
Speaker 1: that that's just a difference when you're shot creators. I
Speaker 1: think Billy has every bone head center in NBA history
Speaker 1: has been able to make a two ft hook shot.
Speaker 1: And because they practice that, you could tell that the
Speaker 1: coaching staff isn't having him work on that enough. Right now,
Speaker 1: should get he's bullying down and he's getting within five
Speaker 1: ft of the basket and that's the shot they're getting in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's no touch on it. No, And he also
Speaker 1: settles for these fade away jumpers. You know that Brooklyn
Speaker 1: absolutely throws a priddy any paray at anytime he takes
Speaker 1: and these like dribble up three is like, I think
Speaker 1: the dribble up threes are like kind of okay if
Speaker 1: you're up like fifteen, you know, like it's just like
Speaker 1: a like a like closed the door type of shot, right.
Speaker 1: I just I don't like those when you're down or
Speaker 1: when the game is close. Like he's just too Brooklyn
Speaker 1: has zero into kind of defense to really stop them.
Speaker 1: And I like I was going with, like I think
Speaker 1: Philly has this issue too, where their main kind of
Speaker 1: perimeter shot creator, because I think that's really important in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Like I think their main perimeter shock creators
Speaker 1: like Tobias Harris, right, and uh yeah, like Tobias because
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons just stayed in the ducker's part and it's
Speaker 1: really tough just to give you give the ball to
Speaker 1: Jewel and beat every time who's a really good jump shooter.
Speaker 1: It's just I think when he takes those mid range
Speaker 1: fade away jumpers. I think, you know, Atlanta is fine
Speaker 1: with that. So it's just like that's a tough part
Speaker 1: when you don't have star levels shot creation. Um, I
Speaker 1: think in the playoffs really tough when we're seeing that
Speaker 1: with Milwaukee as well. Um, when with the honest trying
Speaker 1: to just give him the ball and he's just running
Speaker 1: his head into a brick wall every time, and sometimes
Speaker 1: he breaks through the wall like sometimes he does. You
Speaker 1: can see it's taxing. It's tiring to just run in
Speaker 1: the paint against three dudes every time and trying to score.
Speaker 1: Like he gets worn down at the end of these games.
Speaker 1: You see him stop attacking that way. He doesn't want
Speaker 1: to get to the line. To me, the free throws
Speaker 1: is the bigger issue here. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: agree with that, but the free throws to me is
Speaker 1: the biggest issue for him over the jump shot, over
Speaker 1: the post game, Like his aggression level drops because he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to get to the line that you know,
Speaker 1: that allows Brooklyn to get even more into the pain.
Speaker 1: Like it's just a domino effect for me for him.
Speaker 1: So that's where I kind of see these Bucks net
Speaker 1: series um going here, Yeah, well and allowing your player
Speaker 1: to sit there and think about the free throw that
Speaker 1: he's not good at shooting for ten seconds before he
Speaker 1: shoots is just like, whoever, yeah, whoever approved that in
Speaker 1: that organization? That needs to get fired. But you know,
Speaker 1: the thing is, and this is why the series is
Speaker 1: not over. The You know if Lebron, if Lebron was
Speaker 1: on the Bucks even at age thirty nine, what he's
Speaker 1: doing in the game is he slowly bringing the ball
Speaker 1: up the floor every possession he's finding James Harden and
Speaker 1: he's either getting Chris Middleton on him, or he's getting
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday on him, or he's doing something along those lines.
Speaker 1: And he is slowly trying to suck the life out
Speaker 1: of you for playing a lineup that he knows can't
Speaker 1: beat him. And what was so missing from the Bucks
Speaker 1: in that game is that calming, steady presence that can
Speaker 1: make those decisions. Because even Drew Holiday, who's the point
Speaker 1: guard of that team, like in the fourth quarter, was
Speaker 1: breaking off and isolating against Kevin Durant, and you're like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Man? You know Chris Middleton doing
Speaker 1: the same thing. I'm like, this is the only guy
Speaker 1: on the floor you shouldn't be going at and like
Speaker 1: and just in general, there are some obvious you know
Speaker 1: that you know, I have a buddy who plays on
Speaker 1: my little men's league team that I play with on Sundays,
Speaker 1: and he played basketball Wisconsin back in the day, and uh,
Speaker 1: and so he's a big Bucks fan and I was
Speaker 1: talking to him about this at length, and he's and
Speaker 1: it's all the same stuff that you've heard. It's it's
Speaker 1: the for some reason, Harden and Katie are playing more
Speaker 1: minutes than than any other book stars. The Bucks are
Speaker 1: making absolutely no attempt to make hardened garden space that
Speaker 1: you don't want to post up Harden. You want to
Speaker 1: make him Guarden space because that's where his hamstring is
Speaker 1: going to be useless. And you could tell when you
Speaker 1: watch him play, he's basically a decoy out there. He's
Speaker 1: playing the Jason Kidd role. You know, I'm gonna knock
Speaker 1: down spot of threes and make basic basketball decisions. Then
Speaker 1: you have the fact that they continue to play Brooke
Speaker 1: Lopez Um, but in the same exact issue that we're
Speaker 1: seeing in this Clippers series with Um, with Rudy Gobert,
Speaker 1: you're using a rim protector against a five out lineup
Speaker 1: with shooting, and so for for Gobert, he what he
Speaker 1: kept doing is he kept getting sucked in on a
Speaker 1: drive and then his wide open three point shooter causes
Speaker 1: the team to rotate, and then he stays in the
Speaker 1: paint and doesn't get back out to the three point line.
Speaker 1: The same thing is happening with brook Lopez. He's on
Speaker 1: Jeff Green, he's helping on a drive. He's shutting off
Speaker 1: the paint. That's great. The Nets aren't trying to score
Speaker 1: at the paint. They're kicking it out to Jeff Green.
Speaker 1: If he's open, he's making seven out of eight, and
Speaker 1: if he's not, he's moving it around to the next piece.
Speaker 1: And guess what, brook Lopez is still in the paint,
Speaker 1: and it's like at a certain point and he and
Speaker 1: brook Lopez isn't even even in the same you know,
Speaker 1: stratosphere is Rudy Gobert. So I just don't understand the
Speaker 1: trade off there. But there's just some basic strategy stuff
Speaker 1: here that the Bucks can kind of just kind of
Speaker 1: calm down and understand they have a talent advantage and
Speaker 1: attack them properly. They should win Game six and they
Speaker 1: should be favored going into Game seven. They just have
Speaker 1: to pull their head out of their ask. For lack
Speaker 1: of a better expression, I'm glad you brought up the
Speaker 1: Rudy gobert Um kind of brook Lopez, because I just
Speaker 1: didn't understand playing brook Lopez. It just felt like once
Speaker 1: he once he came in, like Hatie just soft food,
Speaker 1: and Katie was in full inferno at this point when
Speaker 1: the quarter started, and then yet brook Lopez in and
Speaker 1: this like like it's okay if you want to play
Speaker 1: a job kind of coverage, but I feel like it
Speaker 1: has to be a little bit more aggressive. Like brook
Speaker 1: Clubs was already in the paint while Katie is behind
Speaker 1: three point line, and now Katie's just walking in and
Speaker 1: I saw someone tweet at me, well, that's a contested jumper. No,
Speaker 1: it's not like brook Lope his hand comes up like
Speaker 1: five seconds late. Um, that is not a contested shop
Speaker 1: for Katie. So those kind of things just confused me.
Speaker 1: I feel like you have to trap him, you have
Speaker 1: to get the ball, has to get to Bruce Brown.
Speaker 1: Like brook Lopez, I see him worried about the cut
Speaker 1: from Bruce Brown, Like, now you've got to get the
Speaker 1: ball out of Kim Durant's hands. And then with Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert as well, Um they're trying to hide him right
Speaker 1: like to me, like, if you can't punish the Clippers
Speaker 1: inside for playing small, like I feel like you're going
Speaker 1: to lose even without Kawhi Leonard because they're shooting is
Speaker 1: just too good. You have to make them play Zoobach
Speaker 1: and the Jazz just don't because Rudy Gobert takes three
Speaker 1: seconds when he catches the ball to you know, gather himself,
Speaker 1: dribble and then try to shoot. And by that time
Speaker 1: he's either stripped, he's either fouled. Like they need to
Speaker 1: be able to punish him. They have Nick but Tom
Speaker 1: kind of switching on him and they don't care at all.
Speaker 1: And if you can't punish them going small, same with Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: if you can't punish them from going small, I feel
Speaker 1: like you're going to lose. It's just it's just too tough.
Speaker 1: You have to kind of make them go big with you,
Speaker 1: and the JAD just can't do that, and neither can
Speaker 1: the Bucks. Round Brook Lopez catches in the posts, they're
Speaker 1: not scared of him shooting a jump. Brook Lopez is
Speaker 1: spacing like they're using him as a spacer. He's out
Speaker 1: like thirty five forty feet while Janice tries to barrel
Speaker 1: himself to the rim, and they're just not worried about that.
Speaker 1: Same with Utah. To me, it's like they doesn't care exactly.
Speaker 1: And also like Gobert needs to be a force inside.
Speaker 1: He got some offensive rebounds last night, but I thought
Speaker 1: it was a little a little too late to me.
Speaker 1: And those offensive rebounds just don't aren't going to force
Speaker 1: the Clippers to go big either. They're trying to hide
Speaker 1: him on Terrence Man, hide him on Nick Patum, and
Speaker 1: we saw Terrence Man kind of dunk on him yesterday.
Speaker 1: We saw Reggie Jackson like hunt him out, which I
Speaker 1: thought was kind of crazy to see Reggie Jackson look
Speaker 1: for the Gobert switch, which I thought was just a real,
Speaker 1: real funny thing to watch. But yeah, those two teams
Speaker 1: have some issues there. They need to be able to
Speaker 1: punish inside. If not, I feel like the shooters for
Speaker 1: both they're just are just too tough to kind of
Speaker 1: kind of stop well. And and that's the thing, like
Speaker 1: you want to set yourself up with those rotations to
Speaker 1: to kind of have the math work out right, So
Speaker 1: like if like the way the Clippers are guarding the Jazz,
Speaker 1: the way the Nets are guarding the Bucks, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a really simple concept, you know, Like particularly with
Speaker 1: the Clippers, you know, we have these five mobile perimeter players,
Speaker 1: and if at any point someone has to help the
Speaker 1: whole team two ships and whoever was guarding the ball
Speaker 1: handler that got burnt, he kind of gets into that
Speaker 1: shift and and and finds the next available guy. And
Speaker 1: because everyone's mobile, there just tends to not be anything open.
Speaker 1: That's just kind of the way that their their defense works. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, are of one of the guys
Speaker 1: that I follow is uh he runs Jazz film room.
Speaker 1: Ben daw said he did a bunch of film analysis
Speaker 1: last night. He's he keeps pointing to these road attians
Speaker 1: where you know, Clarkson's getting lost and and things along
Speaker 1: those lines, and and and one of the things that
Speaker 1: I think is getting glossed over there is the math
Speaker 1: is off because Gobert is in the paint. So now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, instead of it being five guys
Speaker 1: rotating to five guys, it's four guys rotating to five guys.
Speaker 1: Because Gobert is now in the paint because he helped
Speaker 1: on the drive and the driver has already run back
Speaker 1: out to the three point line, but Gobert has stayed
Speaker 1: in the paint. And and now you're kind of running
Speaker 1: like almost like a four out one end zone. And
Speaker 1: but if there's five shooters, and if they if they
Speaker 1: rotate the ball well enough, they're still getting open shots.
Speaker 1: And and and that to me is like, you know,
Speaker 1: I think, I think this is something that I did,
Speaker 1: something I tweeted last night. It's something I believe. You know,
Speaker 1: the Rockets got kind of roasted for their switching defense
Speaker 1: in two thousand eighteen for it being for being kind
Speaker 1: of gimmicky, um and something that was uh, you know,
Speaker 1: not just Anibal and and and it and it wasn't
Speaker 1: because you know, the the greatest offensive team ever picked
Speaker 1: them apart at the end of the day. But I
Speaker 1: do think like switching is the future right now as
Speaker 1: of right now, that there's always gonna be there. There
Speaker 1: will be another shift where the we're switching will get
Speaker 1: attacked too well by NBA offenses. But NBA offenses haven't
Speaker 1: quite figured out how to properly attack a switching defense
Speaker 1: yet other than isolation. And so because of that, like
Speaker 1: I think, I think, like, look at how well the
Speaker 1: Nets and the Clippers are playing, and there you're too
Speaker 1: heavily switching teams right now. It is it's very obvious
Speaker 1: that that works right now in the league. And so
Speaker 1: I would actually, you know, just temporarily bring this back
Speaker 1: to the Lakers. I'd like to see them do that
Speaker 1: a little bit more. And it's something that they can
Speaker 1: only do in a d S at the five unfortunately.
Speaker 1: But there's something to be said about switching in the
Speaker 1: way that it stagnates another team causes guys like Drew Holiday,
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton, you know, Donovan Mitchell to lose their minds
Speaker 1: a little bit and not know what to do and
Speaker 1: resort to just throwing up bad shots. Like I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how many times in the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: both those games, either Mitchell or Drew Holiday or Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton threw up a bad shot, sometimes even early in
Speaker 1: the shot clock. And it's because like all of their
Speaker 1: offensive you know, motion attack is based on you know,
Speaker 1: teams playing a traditional defense and they get up the
Speaker 1: floor and they run that first action and it's a
Speaker 1: switch and They're like, what do I do now? Well, like,
Speaker 1: I think I can. He's kind of giving me a
Speaker 1: little bit of space, like maybe I can just elevate
Speaker 1: over the top, you know, or shoot a step back
Speaker 1: or something. And and so I do think I think
Speaker 1: that this this playoff run has been kind of a
Speaker 1: case study in the fact that going a bit smaller
Speaker 1: in favoring switching defenses, favoring shooting, doing traditional drive and kick,
Speaker 1: not necessarily driving to get all the way to the rim,
Speaker 1: but driving to get that first defender so that you
Speaker 1: can get out to an open shooter. That stuff works
Speaker 1: really well even in a playoff setting. And I think
Speaker 1: that I think that that's been something that I just
Speaker 1: you don't have to abandon your identity if you're the Lakers.
Speaker 1: But I'd like to see them add that as like
Speaker 1: a VERSTI like a like an audible that they could
Speaker 1: go to if that makes sense. No, for sure. And
Speaker 1: I like that you brought out Houston because's kind of funny.
Speaker 1: Last year, like we forget like Houston was really successful
Speaker 1: with their switching defense, right they they won Game one
Speaker 1: I think by like twenty points or something like that. Um,
Speaker 1: And how did the Lakers beat that they had Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis right, they were switching these small guards and I
Speaker 1: think that's the only like bad thing about switching is
Speaker 1: that the other team can kind of hunt who they want, right,
Speaker 1: So we saw Lebron as well hunt Brussell Westbrook every
Speaker 1: single time because like Houston, Robby switch everything, so Lebron
Speaker 1: can kind of get the magic he wants, or Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis kind of can get the magic he wants. That's
Speaker 1: the only thing was switching. And I feel like for Utah,
Speaker 1: like you talked about it, like you have to be
Speaker 1: able to punish when they switch, and I think that's
Speaker 1: where Mike Conley has really missed for them. Like Mike
Speaker 1: Conley is a big part of them being able to
Speaker 1: attack because obviously Utah, like with all their shooting, the
Speaker 1: main like the easy kind of defensive scheme is to
Speaker 1: switch everything. Right, they want to shoot three, so just
Speaker 1: switch everything. And that's where I think you need another guy.
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell, you know, did a great job. I thought
Speaker 1: this series really keeping them keeping their head above water.
Speaker 1: Um scoring forty points thirty five points on pretty good
Speaker 1: efficiency other than last night. But um, that's where Mike
Speaker 1: Conley is really missing on the guy who can not
Speaker 1: only attack swhich is but really can find Gobert down
Speaker 1: low and really feed him. Loves Donovan Mitchell is a
Speaker 1: is a good pastor. He's not. Mike Conley is the
Speaker 1: guy who's actually looking to get others involved, which I
Speaker 1: think is a difference there. And he's a guy that
Speaker 1: can really beat you with speed, get to the rim,
Speaker 1: hit threes, and I think they really missed that against
Speaker 1: this Clippers team. Like you, I feel like it'd be
Speaker 1: tougher to switch if we have two guys that can
Speaker 1: really punish you the Clippers. The only guy that're worried
Speaker 1: about Donovan Mitchell. I don't worried about Bogdanovitch beating them
Speaker 1: and switches or you know Royce O'Neil getting to the
Speaker 1: basket a few times. Like it's really Donovan mitchell um
Speaker 1: doing that. And Drew Holiday as well, you brought him up.
Speaker 1: He's another guy that he's a good score, but he's
Speaker 1: not like his skill isn't to shoot off the dribble, right.
Speaker 1: And that's where Brooklyn like switching really baits you into
Speaker 1: that based players into trying to match up um Matt
Speaker 1: trying to go in isolation when they maybe that's not
Speaker 1: their skill set, so that that's where switching kind of
Speaker 1: hurts them. And I think these two series kind of
Speaker 1: have played that out. Unique guys who can punish you,
Speaker 1: especially when you're a big man, can't be honest and
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert not to compare them, but those two really
Speaker 1: aren't punishing the other team inside, and so the teams
Speaker 1: can continue switching, continue staying small, skill ball small ball,
Speaker 1: still be able to stay small and space out five out,
Speaker 1: and it's just that's really tough. You lose the math
Speaker 1: game there, m M. Yeah. And you know what's what's
Speaker 1: exciting about potentially playing a little bit more of that
Speaker 1: style with the Lakers is they can attack switching defense.
Speaker 1: Is they have the skill set in their roster to
Speaker 1: do that. Um, you know. And one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why it's kind of in the same way that that
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant does. The the ability to put your back
Speaker 1: to the basket or attack and face up, or attack
Speaker 1: and pick and roll or attacking like the ability to
Speaker 1: go to a bunch of different styles of of isolation
Speaker 1: offense with Lebron and a D gives you the ability
Speaker 1: to attack both ways. But you know, I know, we
Speaker 1: gotta get you out of here, UM because of work.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that we, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: stay consistent with this stuff. Maybe either uh, you know,
Speaker 1: after tomorrow night's games or sometimes sometime this weekend, we'll
Speaker 1: do another one of these spaces after the game. UM.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to get back and and kind of
Speaker 1: do like a little recap of the Lakers season. Everyone
Speaker 1: who hopped in. I have this recorded, so I will
Speaker 1: post it on our podcast feed if you missed any
Speaker 1: of it, and you can check it out in its
Speaker 1: entirety here, probably within the next twenty minutes or so.
Speaker 1: But Roger, I appreciate you taking some time before work
Speaker 1: today to hang out. I'm glad to be back. I
Speaker 1: look forward to doing this for a long time with you,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited for this offseason and and hopefully another
Speaker 1: UM running a championship at some point in the future. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: it feels good to be back to like a week
Speaker 1: to pe a list off. So it's nice to be
Speaker 1: back in the fold again and talking basketball. Even if
Speaker 1: it's not the Lakers, we can really get into these
Speaker 1: teams as well, so it's a lot of times to
Speaker 1: be back. It's cool to be back, all right, everybody,
Speaker 1: enjoyed the rest of your Thursday, and stay tuned on
Speaker 1: the podcast feed and and Roger and I'll see you
Speaker 1: at some point before the end of the week. Appreciate everyone.
Speaker 1: Thank you.