Speaker 1: Mmmmmm just posted so uh that's radio. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for coming to hang out. Man, this is
Speaker 1: going off the rails and I think that, Man, I
Speaker 1: have so many thoughts. I would probably chill for a
Speaker 1: second and give you a second to give me your
Speaker 1: your quick instant reactions off of what you saw tonight,
Speaker 1: particularly during the last five minutes and where you're at
Speaker 1: right now mentally, so just like full discretion today is
Speaker 1: actually do wally, which is actually like a thing my
Speaker 1: family celebrates. I'm actually at a family's house. Uh, we're
Speaker 1: actually they're actually having a party. So I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: I can kind of tune in and out of an
Speaker 1: Okay See game that even without Lebron, we should be
Speaker 1: able to handle, you know, pretty easily. I was wrong.
Speaker 1: I was staring at my phone for the last six
Speaker 1: or seven minutes. I don't even know where to start
Speaker 1: with this. The first quarter seemed like it was the
Speaker 1: same as it was in Okay See. I See Davis
Speaker 1: looked like he could have went for fifty if he
Speaker 1: wanted to. Um. I got to start see most of
Speaker 1: the first quarter. I missed the second and third quarter,
Speaker 1: and got to see the end of the fourth so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have you kind of film me in those
Speaker 1: second and third maybe I don't want to know. I
Speaker 1: don't know us. I know they went up like nineteen.
Speaker 1: I saw the box score. They went up nineteen, and
Speaker 1: I thought, I can just kind of enjoy, uh, my
Speaker 1: family's kind of presence here at this party. But I
Speaker 1: guess not so if you can kind of fill me
Speaker 1: in this the third quarter, because that fourth quarter was
Speaker 1: absolutely awfully was ugly. I saw Shae hit like a
Speaker 1: forty foot or something. But uh, there's a very basic
Speaker 1: principle that I think that that shuts this Laker offense
Speaker 1: down without lebron against Oklahoma City in particular, and a
Speaker 1: lot of it has to do with lu Dor. He
Speaker 1: deserves the lion's share of the credit because what ends
Speaker 1: up happening is he has the ability to switch on
Speaker 1: to both Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook and he turns
Speaker 1: both of them into jump shooters, and so they're they're
Speaker 1: down the stretch of the game. It was a lot
Speaker 1: of um there's a lot of Derrick favors in lu
Speaker 1: Door trying to defend these Russ and a D actions
Speaker 1: and they weren't getting anything good out of him, because
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is content every time the team needs a
Speaker 1: big shot out of him to take a step back
Speaker 1: jump shot, which just doesn't go in ever um at
Speaker 1: this point in his career, which is a whole other
Speaker 1: thing that we need to discuss there, because if Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is not a stretch big and he's just a
Speaker 1: rim running big, that severely changes the dynamic of this team.
Speaker 1: That turns this from It turns this from a team
Speaker 1: that has the capability to unlock a lot of the
Speaker 1: best of what russ of Westbrook is. It turns that
Speaker 1: into all of a sudden something that could be a
Speaker 1: bit of a liability and so and what. We can
Speaker 1: get into that later, but the gist of it is
Speaker 1: the Lakers could not score against Oklahoma City in the
Speaker 1: half court unless Carmelo Anthony was making crazy contested threes.
Speaker 1: And the reason why is they were getting underneath every
Speaker 1: single pick and roll with Russell Westbrook, and he is
Speaker 1: incapable of making teams pay for doing that. And Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City's post offenders were capable of forcing Anthony Davis into
Speaker 1: being a jump shooter, which he also uh it can't
Speaker 1: make teams pay for um but fundamentally, there's there's something
Speaker 1: wrong with this basketball team having to do with how
Speaker 1: much they depend on Lebron. And the reason why is
Speaker 1: last year, when Lebron was out, they had this identity
Speaker 1: that they could fall back on that allowed him to
Speaker 1: remain somewhat competitive, and that was their defense. This team
Speaker 1: obviously doesn't have that yet. Um So now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, when Lebron is out, they have nothing that
Speaker 1: they can fall back on. And from an XS and
Speaker 1: nose perspective, you know, if you think of it, the
Speaker 1: Lakers have no problem filling the center minutes because those
Speaker 1: are gonna get split between some combination of Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and the two big guys Dwight and DeAndre Jordan's. But
Speaker 1: at the power forward position, when Lebron is out there
Speaker 1: and he's playing thirty four thirty five minutes, everything makes
Speaker 1: sense because he's probably the best power forward and basketball
Speaker 1: you know, so from that, from that standpoint, everything seems
Speaker 1: to work. He he is that back line defender when
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis at the five is defending screen and roll
Speaker 1: actions at the top of the key. For instance, there
Speaker 1: was a late action there uh Mike Muscala and and
Speaker 1: shay Gil just Alexander to pick and roll at the
Speaker 1: top of the key and ad A d trapped on
Speaker 1: s G A and there was a very simple pocket pass.
Speaker 1: And because it's not Lebron James on the back line
Speaker 1: to blow up the play, it's Russell Westbrook who it
Speaker 1: was just too small and ended up just fouling Mike
Speaker 1: Muscala as he made an easy left handed layup. That's
Speaker 1: that's a a lynch pin in the entire defense and
Speaker 1: the way that it works that when it's not there,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, nothing makes sense. Why in the
Speaker 1: world would you want Russell Westbrook playing Draymond Green for
Speaker 1: you being the Draymond Green roll? You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not something he's physically capable of doing.
Speaker 1: And and then on and then on the offensive end,
Speaker 1: Lebron's ability to shoot the basketball off the dribble makes
Speaker 1: defenders chase over the top of those screens, which unlocks
Speaker 1: everything that him and Anthony Davis trying to do at
Speaker 1: the end of these games. So Lebron James not being
Speaker 1: out there fundamentally breaks the Lakers on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball, which is exactly why this isn't a good
Speaker 1: basketball team because in previous years they were a good
Speaker 1: basketball team because they had an identity outside of Lebron
Speaker 1: James that relied on the defensive end of the ball.
Speaker 1: This team without that relies way too much on him.
Speaker 1: And he's thirty. Said, we're gonna talk about it later today,
Speaker 1: later tonight, but at this age, that's a dangerous game,
Speaker 1: leaning on a thirty seven year old guy to beat
Speaker 1: the lynchpin on both sides of the ball. And and
Speaker 1: and that to me is scared because you might look
Speaker 1: at yourself and say, hey, Russe and a d we
Speaker 1: got enough talent, we should be able to win this game.
Speaker 1: But those two guys have specific limitations that when you
Speaker 1: get ed him in specific matchups against guys that turned
Speaker 1: them into jump shooters, all of a sudden, nothing works.
Speaker 1: And that's a real problem. Yeah, So we spoke about
Speaker 1: this in the last Okay see a game, right, because
Speaker 1: I remember you're saying something like it's hard to judge
Speaker 1: this team without Lebron James, And I think that's totally
Speaker 1: true judging this team. Like someone asked me today in
Speaker 1: my mentions, like are you worried about the Lebron James injury,
Speaker 1: and my response was really going to be, like, to me,
Speaker 1: worrying about Lebron James being injured is kind of like
Speaker 1: that makes no sense because if Lebron is injured, then
Speaker 1: this team is not going anywhere anyway. But there's still
Speaker 1: a level of like you have to get to where
Speaker 1: they have to be somewhat competitive without him. Like Lebron,
Speaker 1: like I said, is not going to play forty eight minutes.
Speaker 1: Russ and Ittie should be able to win these type
Speaker 1: of games against Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City tunder that
Speaker 1: beat you already and again blowing another nine team point lead.
Speaker 1: I always talked about how defense isn't just effort. There
Speaker 1: are some issues here. I didn't like Russ on Loue
Speaker 1: Door in terms of like his job was to be
Speaker 1: the help guy, tell me if I'm wrong there. Did
Speaker 1: that continue throughout the game as as Russ being the
Speaker 1: blue door that I saw that in the first quarter
Speaker 1: and the fourth quarter where he was the guy that's
Speaker 1: supposed to kind of help offer. He was supposed to
Speaker 1: be the cheek guy. And several included included yeah, just
Speaker 1: recklessly double tea at the top of the and we
Speaker 1: talked about this over the summer. I want Russ on
Speaker 1: a guy where he has to focus right, he has
Speaker 1: to be mentally engaged defensively. I don't like him on
Speaker 1: a guy like Blue Door, where it's his kind of job,
Speaker 1: even if his bogol tells him to be the help guy,
Speaker 1: to stay in the paint. I just don't like that
Speaker 1: from a defensive kind of awareness standpoint. There was one
Speaker 1: play in the fourth quarter. I think he was on
Speaker 1: Kirk what I forgot the guy's name move at the
Speaker 1: third quarter? Who at the three pointer in the in
Speaker 1: the third quarter, Kendrick Williams. Kenrick Williams, um he was on.
Speaker 1: He was on him in the corner. He just recklessly
Speaker 1: helped balls swang swan. Russ was in no man's land.
Speaker 1: He wasn't helping at all, He wasn't trapping. It was
Speaker 1: on his man. Kenris Willins had a wide open during
Speaker 1: the quarter and hit it. I don't like that, I guess.
Speaker 1: But again, like there's just got There's just has to
Speaker 1: be enough talent there where you have. You have to
Speaker 1: be able to survive even if Lebron doesn't play against Okay, see,
Speaker 1: like what are you gonna do when you go play
Speaker 1: Dame on you know, on Saturday, or you play at
Speaker 1: Miami in a couple of days. Like these are teams
Speaker 1: you have to rack wins up against. And Okay, see
Speaker 1: it's one and six for a reason, their only wins
Speaker 1: against US. And I don't think that's an accident. This
Speaker 1: is not a good basketball team. You should be able
Speaker 1: to defeat them without Lebron James. I just think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of things going wrong year again a d
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if his hand was bothering him. I
Speaker 1: know that he had an injury to his hand or
Speaker 1: finger or something like that before halftime time. He finishes
Speaker 1: with twenty nine. I think he had like fourteen in
Speaker 1: the first quarter or something like. There's just something kind
Speaker 1: of missing there, Russ. At the end there where he
Speaker 1: was dribbling up the court, I don't know about you.
Speaker 1: When I saw him start running full court, US down three,
Speaker 1: needing at three, I was a little bit worried there
Speaker 1: about his decision making. I don't know, maybe Lebron opens
Speaker 1: everything up, but there has to be something where we
Speaker 1: can kind of live even if he doesn't play. And
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just not seeing that from the Russ
Speaker 1: had too late game gaps that made no sense to me,
Speaker 1: including the final three that he took. You know, it
Speaker 1: was almost like he dribbled up the court and he
Speaker 1: couldn't believe that they weren't intentionally bowling in, and so
Speaker 1: then he just decided to shoot instead of at that point,
Speaker 1: you know, I would just go with like that Villanova
Speaker 1: play that they ran when they won the national title
Speaker 1: a few years back, where you just dribbled really really
Speaker 1: hard and have Carmelo Anthony kind of just trail behind
Speaker 1: you and give him even if it's like or that's
Speaker 1: going to give you your best chance. I mean, did
Speaker 1: anybody in the world think that rush shot was going in?
Speaker 1: I mean, like, it's just it's just not he's he's
Speaker 1: he's a bad he's a bad jump shore, you know.
Speaker 1: And and then the on the on the plane returned
Speaker 1: it over a couple of possessions prior the same exact thing.
Speaker 1: It was like he they got to stop. They were
Speaker 1: in semi transition, and he just can't help himself. He
Speaker 1: looks up, sees all the bodies in the paint and
Speaker 1: it's just like I'm just gonna go. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: go and see what happens, you know, like it's just
Speaker 1: like that, you know, it's it's it's it's it's bulling
Speaker 1: the China shop behavior, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: that that to me is like, you know, so so
Speaker 1: let's let's let's try to get around this for a
Speaker 1: second here, because no one, no one in the world
Speaker 1: thought that the Lakers were gonna win a championship without
Speaker 1: Lebron James. So we have to we have to set
Speaker 1: that aside for a second and look at something fina
Speaker 1: mental problems with the roster, right because even with everything
Speaker 1: that I'm saying about how the team's complete lack of
Speaker 1: anybody that can play power forward other than Lebron, you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm not talking about what Mellow does, because what
Speaker 1: Melow is doing right now is as an offensive player
Speaker 1: is kind of interchangeable with what you have at the
Speaker 1: two and the three. You know, he's he's a spot
Speaker 1: up shooter, but but defensively, he can't play power forward.
Speaker 1: He can't be your back line um, you know, roaming
Speaker 1: person that that that blows up pick and roll actions,
Speaker 1: is that third defender. He can't do that. So what
Speaker 1: you have to look at here, fundamentally, with the way
Speaker 1: the team is put together. And this is something that
Speaker 1: I was talking about with a buddy earlier tonight. Like
Speaker 1: this team, if you look at the way that they
Speaker 1: were constructed in previous seasons, there was an obvious formula
Speaker 1: for success. That formula was, We're going to defend the
Speaker 1: hell out of the basketball with these defensive minded players,
Speaker 1: and we have a defensive minded head coach who's arguably
Speaker 1: the best in the business at figuring out how to
Speaker 1: throw opposing teams out of rhythm. My favorite example of
Speaker 1: that is the playoff run in the way each successive
Speaker 1: round he made these tweaks into into very unique defensive
Speaker 1: approaches that through really good defensive offensive players completely out
Speaker 1: of whack. That's what Frank deserves credit for. And then
Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the floor, it was, you
Speaker 1: know what, we have Lebron who is arguably the highest
Speaker 1: basketball q i Q in the league and in an
Speaker 1: offense in and of himself. And the problem is is
Speaker 1: somehow in the Laker hierarchy, they convinced themselves that that
Speaker 1: was broken when it wasn't broken. They just had injuries
Speaker 1: that if you you and I have talked about this
Speaker 1: a lot over the last six months. Though. What happened
Speaker 1: to the Lakers last year wasn't an offensive shortcoming. It
Speaker 1: was a growing shortcoming. Literally okay, like like Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is growing failed and the team fell apart as a result.
Speaker 1: Like the there was a it was. It was bad
Speaker 1: access from the beginning to look back at what happened
Speaker 1: in those seasons and decide that there was something fundamentally
Speaker 1: wrong with the way the team was put together and
Speaker 1: not just an issue with Anthony Davis having a groin injury,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and from that standpoint,
Speaker 1: looking forward, I think you have to you have to
Speaker 1: address this somehow. Right, So when Lebron comes back, if
Speaker 1: everyone says, like, how is th h T none and
Speaker 1: a reason? Are going to come back and completely fix this?
Speaker 1: I don't know, and they may not be capable of that. However,
Speaker 1: when they do come back, if it's not working, then
Speaker 1: the team does have to make changes. And that's something
Speaker 1: you have to keep in mind. Here is like, I
Speaker 1: know it's it seems early, but there appears to be
Speaker 1: something fundamentally broken with the way this is put together.
Speaker 1: And so from that standpoint, if when they start to
Speaker 1: get healthy, when Lebron comes back, when a Reason comes back,
Speaker 1: when th HT comes back, when Kendrick Nunn comes back,
Speaker 1: If this doesn't look demonstrably different, and I mean like
Speaker 1: demonstrably like you need to be blowing out the okay
Speaker 1: Seas of the world, handily beating the Cleveland's of the
Speaker 1: world and and winning more often than not against the
Speaker 1: Miamis and the Charlottes and the Bostons and the Milwaukee's
Speaker 1: like they're going to play in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: If that's not the case, you don't want to go
Speaker 1: down with the ship because Lebron's thirty seven, So you
Speaker 1: might have to consider packaging something like Moleague Monkey Kendrick nine.
Speaker 1: We talked about this a little bit in the Tuesday Pod,
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, the early returns
Speaker 1: are in here, guys, and this looks fundamentally broken and
Speaker 1: and it might just be health issue, but we're not sure.
Speaker 1: And so if this doesn't turn around quickly when guys
Speaker 1: start to come back, I think they need to be
Speaker 1: ready to make a big change. Well, you talked about
Speaker 1: how the kind of Team twenty team it's like identity
Speaker 1: even with loud Lebron was its defense right, and how
Speaker 1: they can go to that That's not this team though,
Speaker 1: Like I think that's pretty clear, like that's not going
Speaker 1: to be what this team is, and I think they
Speaker 1: have to kind of start leaning into like being an
Speaker 1: offensive team. I understand Vogel is going to continue to
Speaker 1: try to start DeAndre Jordan's I was kind of on
Speaker 1: that train early, but I think it's pretty clear that
Speaker 1: Russ just can't be effective in that way, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like it, when I was watching the
Speaker 1: first quarter, even though we were up, A was hitting
Speaker 1: like step back jumpers and all that mid range pull
Speaker 1: ups and that looks all great and fine and what's
Speaker 1: going in, But Russ still felt like he was playing
Speaker 1: in a phone booth, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: it just felt like when he was attacking the paint,
Speaker 1: he was in a phone booth and putting all our
Speaker 1: hopes and dreams into like twenty year old th HT
Speaker 1: thirty six year old Trevor Reza. I think Kendrick Gunns
Speaker 1: a really good defender. I think he's gonna play. I
Speaker 1: just think like something with his team has to kind
Speaker 1: of switch. I don't think you can continue to start
Speaker 1: this where like Russ can't get comfortable offensively, and I
Speaker 1: thought I saw that at least in the first, first
Speaker 1: quarter and the fourth quarter when I was watching the
Speaker 1: offense just looks too bogged down. He's not in the rhythm.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Like again, Lebron is gonna be out
Speaker 1: a week, Kendrick Gnunn still out, probably another two weeks.
Speaker 1: We'll see what th h T. I do think bringing
Speaker 1: four rotation back for rotation guys helps. I just don't
Speaker 1: think that can be your prayer. Like there has to
Speaker 1: be some internal like, yeah, we can't do this too
Speaker 1: big anymore, like we have to kind of pick one
Speaker 1: maybe to kind of accus to Russ to kind of
Speaker 1: let him play. And he was a plus six tonight
Speaker 1: just looking at the box core. Like I said, I
Speaker 1: missed kind of the second quarter. Uh maybe that was
Speaker 1: a good thing or just for my health, but like
Speaker 1: I mean, if I missed like the second and most
Speaker 1: of the third, but it was a plus six. Um
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis being a minus minus fourteen in thirty eight
Speaker 1: minutes while he was eleven for twenty. Maybe you can
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, fill me in on how that's possible. Um.
Speaker 1: He also put in eighteen rebounds, but like, I just
Speaker 1: think like there has to be especially when Lebron's out.
Speaker 1: I think I have to kind of go all in
Speaker 1: onto the rust ball, Like I think that's how this
Speaker 1: team was built. When you when you're playing guys like
Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington, Carmelo, Anthony Moleigue Monk a bunch of minutes.
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves I think is a good defender. But still,
Speaker 1: I just think the identity of this team is like
Speaker 1: a running, running gun kind team. I don't think you
Speaker 1: can go to this like just pure defensive line up.
Speaker 1: The Rondo minutes, I'm still kind of confused by even tonight.
Speaker 1: I understand what Vote was trying to do there at
Speaker 1: a little bit more playmaking. I just think you're like
Speaker 1: you're fixing one problem while making another. Rondo's effort on
Speaker 1: defense is just not there, And I mean that's kind
Speaker 1: of expected. I guess he's a older player, but still
Speaker 1: I thought right when he came in, I saw a
Speaker 1: couple of those minutes the defenders went right at him.
Speaker 1: I don't know, like this is just an inexcusable loss
Speaker 1: to me. You can't lose the okay, see twice, let
Speaker 1: alone once and that's what they did. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: just think there has to be some kind of like
Speaker 1: switch here. I don't think this. You can just expect
Speaker 1: th ht arena a reason and none to get back
Speaker 1: and everything goes. Everything is fine. There's some fundamental which
Speaker 1: was here, and I think I don't think you can
Speaker 1: start the two big I think I was on that train,
Speaker 1: but I think that train has left the station a
Speaker 1: long time ago. I think Russ's Russ's play has made
Speaker 1: that pretty clear. I don't know where else to kind
Speaker 1: of go to this game so ironically and actually, you know,
Speaker 1: this is something that I think then they brought up
Speaker 1: a couple games ago, particularly when the run is out,
Speaker 1: they almost have to go to bigs because it's the
Speaker 1: only thing that gives them a legitimate chance to bother
Speaker 1: teams defensively. Because Lebron for all purposes, is a big.
Speaker 1: That's why this works, you know, like the only when
Speaker 1: you see these small lineups that work elsewhere in the league,
Speaker 1: it's because they have these like all NBA level wings
Speaker 1: you're looking at, you know, uh, this this team has
Speaker 1: Paul George and kawhile Ard on it. That's why they
Speaker 1: can go small. This team has Jalen Brown, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum on the team, so they
Speaker 1: can go smaller. You know, even even Utah plays like
Speaker 1: a plethora of these guys that are in that six
Speaker 1: six to six eight range and it kind of just
Speaker 1: makes everything work. But with the way that this Laker
Speaker 1: team is where outside of Lebron and a D, all
Speaker 1: of your non centers are are either Carmelo who's extremely slow,
Speaker 1: or are very small, and so that sort of limitation
Speaker 1: puts you in a position where that aggregate size and
Speaker 1: aggregate defensive length is too low when you don't have
Speaker 1: a second big out there. But regardless, looking forward, you
Speaker 1: know something some of this is going to be on
Speaker 1: Lebron in a D and the and the reason why
Speaker 1: I say that is like you have to think that
Speaker 1: the Lakers, either through getting healthy or through the trade market,
Speaker 1: one of the two, they're going to find an assortment
Speaker 1: of role players that play the one through the three
Speaker 1: that can defend and shoot and do the things that
Speaker 1: they need to do within this system. And so, like
Speaker 1: one of the I brought this up at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the show, Anthony Davis is no longer a stretch big,
Speaker 1: and that fundamentally changes the equation of this team. The
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis being a big that stretched the floor and
Speaker 1: that caused problems for teams that played off of him
Speaker 1: is part of what made him a top five, six
Speaker 1: seven player in the league right now, being basically a
Speaker 1: you know, a glorified slightly better, you know, offensive version
Speaker 1: of like a Rudy Gobert type, you know, where he
Speaker 1: he can bully some guys inside and finish, but like
Speaker 1: he's he's really struggling with anything outside of ten fift
Speaker 1: feet and Brudy Gobert's bad comp To be clear, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying there's a there's a delineation, a clear delineation
Speaker 1: between this Anthony Davis and what we had in the bubble.
Speaker 1: That's that That's probably the better way for me to
Speaker 1: describe it. Anthony Davis from the bubble was a significantly
Speaker 1: better basketball player than this Anthony Davis. And there there
Speaker 1: everyone in Lakers Twitter is so quick to make excuses
Speaker 1: for him, and I'm sure you're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of people that bring up the thumb tonight, but the
Speaker 1: reality of the situation is more often than not, when
Speaker 1: Lebron's not out there with him to put him in
Speaker 1: spots to succeed. He struggles to to take command of
Speaker 1: the game when he's far away the best player on
Speaker 1: the floor. There's not a damn person on that floor
Speaker 1: for either team that's in the same stratosphere as him
Speaker 1: as a basketball player, and he could not take over
Speaker 1: that game. And it's because he has completely lost the
Speaker 1: ability to make teams pay from the perimeter, which allows
Speaker 1: teams to basically pack the pain on him and turn
Speaker 1: him into a jump shooter that's probably not going to
Speaker 1: make jump shots. And so there's two things here that
Speaker 1: need to happen for the ship to get right. Thing
Speaker 1: number one is Anthony Davis needs to find a way
Speaker 1: to regain his bubble form. I'm not sure how that is.
Speaker 1: This to me, with his jump shot, appears to be
Speaker 1: a mental thing that is way off of the train tracks,
Speaker 1: like way off of the train tracks, So I don't
Speaker 1: know how that comes back. It might just be I
Speaker 1: think probably the best bet for him is hopefully this
Speaker 1: thumb injury isn't serious and he can get a good
Speaker 1: consistent chunk of this season where he doesn't sit games
Speaker 1: and he plays every night and just through rhythm and
Speaker 1: consistency and conditioning and comfort. He regained some of that
Speaker 1: bubble form, but Anthony Davis needs to regain bubble form too.
Speaker 1: Lebron James needs to be available to this team. Now.
Speaker 1: This is something that I was critical about of him
Speaker 1: from earlier today, and some of this is out of
Speaker 1: his control. But like you know, there's two angles to
Speaker 1: look at this here. Either Lebron is being overly cautious
Speaker 1: because he sees the big picture of the long season,
Speaker 1: which is probably the truth, or there's some you know,
Speaker 1: age and nutrition starting to show here. But regardless, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna get too much further into what he needs
Speaker 1: to do. Aside from the fact that him not being available,
Speaker 1: this team can't float without him because Anthony Davis isn't
Speaker 1: the same player he was in the bubble Bubble Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis with this group would win a lot of basketball games,
Speaker 1: but it's not. And so Lebron needs to come back.
Speaker 1: And Lebron needs to come back and be here consistently
Speaker 1: long enough for Anthony Davis to regain his form. But
Speaker 1: the bottom line is, like this team was constructed on
Speaker 1: two guys that were supposed to be top five or
Speaker 1: six players in the league. After they won the title,
Speaker 1: everyone a lot of folks were saying Lebron's one Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is too well right now, that number one was
Speaker 1: wearing street clothes tonight, and that number two had lu
Speaker 1: doored on him in the post and had no ability
Speaker 1: to do anything other than take a step back jump
Speaker 1: shot that he can't make. So that's the problem right now. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, that's the harsh reality. I know that I
Speaker 1: know a lot of those things that I just said
Speaker 1: aren't gonna sit well with a lot of people in
Speaker 1: Lakers Twitter, But that's just the reality of the situation.
Speaker 1: And until those two get on the court and get
Speaker 1: back to where they were when they were at the
Speaker 1: top of the league, then they're not going to be
Speaker 1: able to cover up for some of the shortcomings of
Speaker 1: this roster. And I don't care if the best role
Speaker 1: players of mankind are coming back. If those two guys
Speaker 1: aren't those two guys from the bubble, this team isn't
Speaker 1: going win anywhere. I lost ros for second when get
Speaker 1: back up here. Yeah, sorry, my connection kind of went out,
Speaker 1: but yeah, yeah, but yeah, you're right. I mean, this
Speaker 1: team is gonna fall back on his three stars, and
Speaker 1: I think that's totally true. Lebron being out shouldn't affect
Speaker 1: a game like against Okay. See again, it's still one game,
Speaker 1: I guess, just to put in perspective like Okay, so
Speaker 1: he's not gonna like the playoffs. It looks like I
Speaker 1: just think there's issues here that are larger than just
Speaker 1: this game. Though, like I'm looking at the defensive issues,
Speaker 1: I still think Carmelo is playing a ton of minutes,
Speaker 1: even though he's been an absolute inferno. We'll see when
Speaker 1: a reason gets back. Eight has always been a finisher,
Speaker 1: and that was the point of kind of getting Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook was to make him kind of be able to
Speaker 1: be more of a finisher in that way. And it's
Speaker 1: just not connecting towards like wins and losses. Like the
Speaker 1: defense just isn't right to me, blowing all these big leads.
Speaker 1: I talked about it when they blew it against Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: Like you that can kind of extend like that can
Speaker 1: kind of sit with you as well, and they can
Speaker 1: kind of mess you up mentally. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's what was the reason tonight, if that's why
Speaker 1: the Blue lead, but I just think they shouldn't be
Speaker 1: this over reliant on Lebron. There's some lineup stuff that
Speaker 1: we can do, and maybe Voglo is just gonna be
Speaker 1: spearheaded and continue to do this. I understand what you're saying,
Speaker 1: where you have to kind of play two bigs with
Speaker 1: Lebron out. I just think with this team, it's it's
Speaker 1: so offensively minded focus that like, I don't think you
Speaker 1: can go to that. You can't just I don't think
Speaker 1: you can start this too big lineup and it'd be successful.
Speaker 1: I think Russ just can't get it in a rhythm
Speaker 1: that way. A d is still kind of taking all
Speaker 1: these tough shots. Okay see, kind of switched a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff they had doored on him and the pains packed.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's just a lot of weird things
Speaker 1: going on here. I'm really interested to see how they
Speaker 1: respond on Saturday against Portland. I think Dame's gonna be
Speaker 1: a really tough matchup coming off a law against okay see,
Speaker 1: and Lebron is gonna be out a while, like I
Speaker 1: know they said a week we'll see um, but they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to start a five lineups that are successful
Speaker 1: without them. And tonight wasn't really a step in that direction.
Speaker 1: I talked about how I like the Second Units with
Speaker 1: Russ and a D kind of playing that one five
Speaker 1: kind of screen and roll game with shooters around, and
Speaker 1: maybe a Resa and THHD coming back help that. Maybe
Speaker 1: none helps that, but like I think seeing those guys
Speaker 1: as saviors, it just isn't the right way to kind
Speaker 1: of look at this. Lebron is gonna be out a
Speaker 1: little bit, why a little while, and just being the
Speaker 1: over reliance on him. He's in year nineteen, man, Like
Speaker 1: we have to be able to find lineups that are
Speaker 1: successful without him, and we're just we're not seeing those.
Speaker 1: We still have a negative net rating without him this season.
Speaker 1: I think we're like negative point two or something. Where
Speaker 1: Lebron sits for this season, Like that's that's crazy to me.
Speaker 1: With Russ and a D manning a lot of these lineups.
Speaker 1: So I don't know where they kind of go from here.
Speaker 1: I guess we'll see if the starting lineup changes are.
Speaker 1: I really liked Russ and a D starting at the five,
Speaker 1: but we'll see if that continues. They just can't do
Speaker 1: it without Lebron. They can't run a D at the five.
Speaker 1: Lays about Lebron unfortunately because of the the way I
Speaker 1: am constructed, Like if you had the Lakers, and it's
Speaker 1: like I've got I've got Danny Green out there, and
Speaker 1: I've got KCP out there, and I've got Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 1: out there, and i get every Bradley out there. Hell yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm running a d at the five all night long.
Speaker 1: And I like my chances, but it just it just
Speaker 1: doesn't work with this group of guys. And I mean,
Speaker 1: and you know, coming coming back to Russell Westbrook for
Speaker 1: a second, like this is something that you and I
Speaker 1: respectfully have have kind of deviated from each other. You know.
Speaker 1: I I don't think Russ is a star. I look
Speaker 1: at him as someone that's kind of just a better
Speaker 1: version of Dennis Shrewder. That's that's the way I look
Speaker 1: at him in this regard. And and to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, to til I know, but so let's let's
Speaker 1: let's be clear. If I said, hey, here's this basketball player,
Speaker 1: here's the basketball player player A. Okay, Now, for player
Speaker 1: A to succeed, literally everything has to be catered exactly
Speaker 1: to his strengths and weaknesses. If they're not, he's not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to do anything. Okay, if you play
Speaker 1: the wrong lineup, he will be able to score. If
Speaker 1: you play him without somebody who's got to hire i
Speaker 1: Q than him or or more cachet than him, then
Speaker 1: he's going to be a bowl in a China shop
Speaker 1: lat in games and make poor decisions. You know. If
Speaker 1: he's not you know, if we don't trade quint Capella
Speaker 1: to get him out of the paint so that his
Speaker 1: lesser version of himself can get to the paint, then
Speaker 1: he's not going to succeed. Like then that that that
Speaker 1: that describes what what you're describing is a limited basketball player.
Speaker 1: It's like it's like Carmelo Anthony, Like Carmelo Anthony has
Speaker 1: been very good for the Lakers, why because they're asking
Speaker 1: him just to capitalize on defensive attention put on someone else.
Speaker 1: If you ask if you shift off Carmelo Anthony to
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City and asked him to run their offense, I
Speaker 1: guarantee you would be ugly as all hell and and
Speaker 1: and that's kind of the thing. Like I I look
Speaker 1: at Russ as a player that with a D at
Speaker 1: the five. Later in the season when this team is
Speaker 1: healthy and has all their wings, and in specific playoff matchups,
Speaker 1: he can be a guy that can raise your ceiling
Speaker 1: as a guy that can attack specific matchups and a
Speaker 1: guy that can that can have big nights that can
Speaker 1: help you win playoff games. And then when he doesn't
Speaker 1: have it, he can fall into the background a little
Speaker 1: bit and let better players take over. But if you're
Speaker 1: sitting on your couch right now and thinking Russ is
Speaker 1: the one that has to carry us to the promised Land,
Speaker 1: I hate to break it to you, guys. He just
Speaker 1: can't do it. That's not who he is anymore. There
Speaker 1: was a play late in this game. He actually had
Speaker 1: a nice little left handed layup towards the end, surrounded
Speaker 1: by all the crap. But he had another one where
Speaker 1: he got into the lane called paulm the ball with
Speaker 1: his right hand took off from the semicircle and there's
Speaker 1: just no lift there and he ended up throwing the
Speaker 1: ball into the bottom of the rim. That's Russ now,
Speaker 1: that's Russ in. Russ is the guy that on some
Speaker 1: nights he'll look like he's got that burst. In most
Speaker 1: nights he won't. And if things aren't perfectly set up
Speaker 1: for him to succeed, He's going to struggle. That's that
Speaker 1: is the rust of Westbrook experience, in my opinion. And
Speaker 1: I know you're higher on him than I am. And
Speaker 1: and that's fine, And I'm not trying to say you're
Speaker 1: wrong or anything. I'm just giving my two cents. But like,
Speaker 1: I think that pretending as though the magic fix for
Speaker 1: all of this is like laying into rust ball. I
Speaker 1: just respectfully disagree with that because I think if you
Speaker 1: want to play rust ball, you're gonna lose a hell
Speaker 1: of a lot of basketball games. Yeah, I mean when
Speaker 1: I say lean into rust ball, it's also kind of
Speaker 1: lean into like Russ and a d ball, right, because
Speaker 1: I feel like doing this like too again, like I
Speaker 1: thought DeAndre Jordan will be able to be kind of
Speaker 1: effective only of JaVale McGee in that way, it just
Speaker 1: hasn't kind of worked out. Again, that's kind of more
Speaker 1: Accua thing to Russ. But when I say, like, play
Speaker 1: rush ball, I mean play kind of what this team
Speaker 1: was built around, right, Like this team is not THEI team,
Speaker 1: Like it just isn't that they don't have the defenders
Speaker 1: to kind of play that way. I know Vogo has
Speaker 1: his system and it's gonna be tough to kind of
Speaker 1: convince him to be like, hey, like you know the
Speaker 1: way that you won the championship, Yeah, scrap all that.
Speaker 1: We're gonna play, you know what I mean, Like, we're
Speaker 1: gonna play differently, Like no Vogo wants to play this
Speaker 1: drop coverage. They call it the no roller behind right
Speaker 1: where the big kind of stays with the center. But
Speaker 1: our base just aren't able to do that. And we
Speaker 1: talked about it over the summer though, like when you
Speaker 1: trade for Russell Westbrook, you know what you're getting, right, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not like they traded for Russ and they don't
Speaker 1: know that this is who he is, and it's about
Speaker 1: adding this production next to the two other stars, and
Speaker 1: maybe without Lebron, this is just how it looks. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's where the team is. We've kind of seen what
Speaker 1: A D and no Lebron lineups look like the last
Speaker 1: few years. They've been pretty terrible as well, right, and
Speaker 1: then now the Russ and A D lineups have been Okay.
Speaker 1: I felt like in a few I feel like it
Speaker 1: was trending upwards. But now you pull Lebron out, you
Speaker 1: plug again Rondo, you plug in DeAndre Jordan's it just
Speaker 1: hasn't looked right, and maybe Vogel is still kind of experimenting.
Speaker 1: But it's not that I'm like higher on Russ. I
Speaker 1: just feel like, like no disfrict to like Dennis Shooter
Speaker 1: or nothing like that. But Russ put up twenty seven,
Speaker 1: nine and five and again, like we talked about this
Speaker 1: last game, but not nine. Sorry, I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: his numbers here. Russ tonight was twenty seven five and six,
Speaker 1: uh four turnovers again stuff you can kind of live with.
Speaker 1: Plus six. I kind of gotta go back and rewatch
Speaker 1: the game. But that kind of production is something that
Speaker 1: you should be able to build along with our two stars, right,
Speaker 1: that's when you add it. And again you can kind
Speaker 1: of qualmb about the numbers there are what they are, seven,
Speaker 1: six and five is kind of what it is. That's
Speaker 1: where I was going with that. But there's just like
Speaker 1: the other lineup just haven't been successful with it. We're
Speaker 1: still playing just a lot again, a lot of Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony and maybe that gets fixed with the rotation. But
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I mean by going to Russ ball.
Speaker 1: It's not just about Russ, about the team that was built.
Speaker 1: It's this team that's supposed to run and score high
Speaker 1: level and defend at a baseline amount where you can
Speaker 1: kind of win those minutes, and that hasn't happened. Yeah,
Speaker 1: defensive identity is just not there. And maybe that's because
Speaker 1: you're playing Rondo Karmelo Anthony. You plug in Wayne Ellington,
Speaker 1: another minus defender into this who was one for five
Speaker 1: from three as well, a little bit worried about his shot.
Speaker 1: But again, whether you play with Milly and Allington the
Speaker 1: league monk, you have the same defensive issues. There is
Speaker 1: a team that kind of has to lean into their offense.
Speaker 1: That's what I mean by russ ball. I don't mean
Speaker 1: that like, yeah, I just accus everything to us. It's
Speaker 1: just that's what this roster is right now, without a reason,
Speaker 1: without none, who is a little bit better of a
Speaker 1: defensive guard, Like I think that's what you have to
Speaker 1: lean into or we're gonna lose a lot of these games.
Speaker 1: These leads are getting blown ninety six like that's that
Speaker 1: shouldn't happen. And that's that's kind of you, right. For
Speaker 1: russ a d ball to work, a D needs to
Speaker 1: be a stretch pack. That that's that's that's the kind
Speaker 1: that the problem here is, like, like I said, fundamentally,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, at the end of these two games, its
Speaker 1: supposed Russ and a D as guys that would turn
Speaker 1: into perimeter jump shooters if you got up under if
Speaker 1: you if you took away the pain from them, and
Speaker 1: they were when they would run those Actually, like in
Speaker 1: a weird way, bringing a pick and roll over is
Speaker 1: almost bad for both players because it kind of, um
Speaker 1: it kind of just by the way Oklahoma City was
Speaker 1: guarding it kind of made their decision for them. I
Speaker 1: almost think you're better off just spacing the floor and
Speaker 1: having a D go into the corner and in having
Speaker 1: Russ just try to get ahead of steam and go
Speaker 1: to the rim because at this point Dort is just
Speaker 1: going underneath that screen and Derrick Favors is also in
Speaker 1: a drop and it's like there's just nothing open when
Speaker 1: they run those actions. So it's just it's just tough.
Speaker 1: But regardless, anyway, let's let's try to bring this back
Speaker 1: to some positivity here, because like, because I like you know,
Speaker 1: I I've you and I've always prided ourselves on shooting
Speaker 1: you guys straight, Like you know, this is not this
Speaker 1: is not like the propaganda. If you're looking for that,
Speaker 1: you should probably go somewhere else. I'm just gonna be
Speaker 1: honest with you. This isn't Lebron propaganda. This isn't Laker propaganda.
Speaker 1: This is just we're gonna call it like we see it.
Speaker 1: And um, you know that said, everything about what the
Speaker 1: Lakers are right now doesn't change what they can be.
Speaker 1: This Laker team very much still can achieve championship form.
Speaker 1: This team still has a championship ceiling. In a weird way.
Speaker 1: Everything we've seen in the last few weeks just shows
Speaker 1: that they have a long way to go. So the
Speaker 1: reality of the situation is in the immediate future, you've
Speaker 1: got to try to find a way to be competitive
Speaker 1: without Lebron, and the way to do that, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: is too in my opinion, is to play two bigs.
Speaker 1: In your opinion, is to lean heavily into russ ad ball.
Speaker 1: Regardless of what it is. They have to find some
Speaker 1: way to be more competitive right now. Then when Lebron
Speaker 1: comes back, rob needs to be very attentive to the
Speaker 1: way this team looks as the guards and the wings
Speaker 1: get healthy and and be prepared to potentially make a move.
Speaker 1: Um you know, at the at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: the Lakers do one of the things that you know,
Speaker 1: the Laker roster was mixed. Characterized in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways this offseason is oh, it's just old guys, or oh,
Speaker 1: it's just veteran minimum guys, and it's like, well, actually,
Speaker 1: it's it's old guys mixed with young guys. There are
Speaker 1: what at least four core rotation players that are twenty
Speaker 1: eight or younger. Um. And there are some legit draft
Speaker 1: excuse me, some legit contract assets on this team. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Molik Mounk, even as bad as he's looked
Speaker 1: this year, there's not a team in the league that
Speaker 1: wouldn't want him for the veteran minimum. Um. There's not
Speaker 1: a team in the league that wouldn't want Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: that the five and a half million or would ever
Speaker 1: he makes. So at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 1: it's very important for Rob to really carefully watch the
Speaker 1: way this ship goes when the pieces start coming back,
Speaker 1: because sometimes, you know, kind of like with the two
Speaker 1: eighteen calves, sometimes there's just something off with a group
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. Sometimes it's chemistry, sometimes it's a basketball fit.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's you know, attitudes. You know, obviously there was
Speaker 1: some attitude problems with the two eighteen caves stending from
Speaker 1: Isaiah Thomas and from Jay Crowder, you know. And then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the swap a bunch of mediocre
Speaker 1: players for a bunch of other mediocre players like Larrynnson
Speaker 1: Rodney Hood, and all of a sudden, the team just
Speaker 1: takes off, you know. And and that's that's because basketball
Speaker 1: is a living organism. There's Bill Simmons talks about this
Speaker 1: in his book. He calls it the secret. It was
Speaker 1: something that Isaiah Thomas used as the uh you know what,
Speaker 1: what he claimed was the reason why the Pistons in
Speaker 1: the late eighties won their championships. And it's just sometimes
Speaker 1: there's just just a concoction that takes place of the
Speaker 1: basketball team that's just off. And sometimes that concoction is
Speaker 1: just on, and you know, the thing that you do.
Speaker 1: At some point, we were through what nine games. Now,
Speaker 1: at some point, if this concoction was right, it'll it'll
Speaker 1: hit a stride. And if we see a stride in
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks where the guys are all healthy,
Speaker 1: they win a bunch of games in a row and
Speaker 1: they beat some good teams, then you could say that
Speaker 1: this team has the secret. But if for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: this doesn't come together over the first thirty forty games
Speaker 1: of the season, it might be one of those things
Speaker 1: where you gotta make a lateral move moving you know,
Speaker 1: two guards for a wing, or a wing for a wing,
Speaker 1: or you know, a buyout guy here in a waving
Speaker 1: a guy here, or whatever it is. But you know,
Speaker 1: they need to get this concoction right so that the
Speaker 1: so that this particular basketball team jels it's supposed to.
Speaker 1: If that makes sense. Yeah, Like you talked about kind
Speaker 1: of Robney's to look at the team, Like, to me,
Speaker 1: it's early to to kind of speak on that, Like
Speaker 1: that's probably more at the trade deadline, right when most
Speaker 1: people teams kind of would make moves. I still want
Speaker 1: to see this team healthy before I kind of, yeah,
Speaker 1: before I started trading pieces off. And you're right, it's
Speaker 1: still a bunch of like I feel like they were
Speaker 1: finding things. You know. The Lebron injury is so unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Obviously he is a big part of this team. Usage
Speaker 1: I don't think it's an excuse for losing against Okay see,
Speaker 1: but I thought they were kind of buildings towards something,
Speaker 1: you know, like there was like a ladder there. They
Speaker 1: were going up, even if there was against bad teams
Speaker 1: like Houston. I just thought they were lineup that they're
Speaker 1: starting to find, especially that second unit that I kept
Speaker 1: talking about, Like I thought they found something there, and
Speaker 1: now that's all kind of destroyed. We're getting all these
Speaker 1: Rondo minutes and again Rondo blessing than he was amazing
Speaker 1: in that playoff run. I just think in the regular season,
Speaker 1: it's just ugly when you, like I was, can have
Speaker 1: some of the lineups that people were kind of posting
Speaker 1: about Rondo, Dwight Howard, you know, next to Baysmore and
Speaker 1: a couple of like nonshooters, Like those kind of lamps
Speaker 1: are gonna get destroyed on the floor. Like that's just
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen, even against a team like Okay, see
Speaker 1: against sha it was awesome tonight, Like sometimes that happens.
Speaker 1: It's just that I feel like there is some positive
Speaker 1: you can take. It's just they have to start to
Speaker 1: find Like you can't go and just lose a bunch
Speaker 1: of games now because Lebron is out, you know, like
Speaker 1: he's out for a week. It's gonna take some time.
Speaker 1: We'll see how much longer that is. But you're gonna
Speaker 1: play some good teams here, and they have to start
Speaker 1: to find lineups. And that's why I would kind of
Speaker 1: maybe you don't start too big, but at least like
Speaker 1: kind of move into this more offensive mode here, uh,
Speaker 1: instead of trying to fit them into this like defensive
Speaker 1: kind of lineups that that we're kind of seeing. And
Speaker 1: and maybe you know, Carmelo has to play a bunch.
Speaker 1: I just don't like him playing next to like Dwight Howard,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I just feel like those kind of
Speaker 1: lineups also are going to blow a bunch of defensive assignments.
Speaker 1: Like there's little things they can do. It's not all
Speaker 1: doom and gloom, but there are some like inward looking
Speaker 1: that that has to go on here before we just
Speaker 1: start to try to trade a bunch of people, Like
Speaker 1: I want to see the four rotation guys back and
Speaker 1: maybe we judge this team until then, I just I
Speaker 1: want to see a little bit more inward we're developed
Speaker 1: a little bit more care. I don't like Russ and
Speaker 1: I said lu door types where you can just relax
Speaker 1: defensively like I want him on some on ball kind
Speaker 1: of assignments. There's little things we can move on here,
Speaker 1: but there's some bigger kind of issues here that we
Speaker 1: have to solve as as we go into these better teams.
Speaker 1: You know, That's why I said, like you wanna you
Speaker 1: want Rob to just pay attention as the team gets
Speaker 1: healthy to whether or not this is gonna work. That's
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like I obviously you don't trade everybody
Speaker 1: right now. There's no point in making a you know,
Speaker 1: a serious evaluation of this team until everyone's healthy. That's
Speaker 1: that's step one. Um. You know what you were saying
Speaker 1: too is really interesting. Like I would say, start a
Speaker 1: D five play defensive players in that line up, So
Speaker 1: play a a's more play of Reeves next to Russ
Speaker 1: with a D at the five, so that that team
Speaker 1: can float defensively. And then when Russ is off the floor,
Speaker 1: I'd go a D with a second big, and then
Speaker 1: you play like a monk with that group or in
Speaker 1: a mellow with that group, so that those guys just
Speaker 1: chase guys off the three point line and funnel into
Speaker 1: your two bigs. And that just as a way to
Speaker 1: try to like kind of fake it till you make it,
Speaker 1: so to speak, until Lebron comes back. Um, I wanted
Speaker 1: to you know before you know, and we can we
Speaker 1: can call it here in a few minutes when I
Speaker 1: wanted to read this tweet from Darius Oriano because this
Speaker 1: is the ultimate silver lining. If you're looking for something
Speaker 1: to make you feel like this might be okay, this
Speaker 1: is it right here. If you removed end I'm quoting
Speaker 1: Darius Oriano here, if you remove DeAndre and Rondo from
Speaker 1: the lineups. Here are some Laker stats per Cleaning Glass.
Speaker 1: This is from before tonight's game. For the record, Russ
Speaker 1: and a D on the floor plus four teen net
Speaker 1: rating Russ and Lebron on the floor, plus six point
Speaker 1: two net rating, Braun and a D on the floor
Speaker 1: plus seven point three net rating all three on the
Speaker 1: floor plus twelve point seven net rating. Now, why does
Speaker 1: that matter? A couple of reasons. First of all, Rondo
Speaker 1: and DeAndre Jordan probably aren't going to play much in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, if at all. Okay, Um, if you if
Speaker 1: you do see DeAndre Jordan in the playoffs, it will
Speaker 1: be in game one of the playoffs series before they
Speaker 1: get rolled, and then they immediately pulling which is exactly
Speaker 1: what happened with Javail in playoffs. Okay, so that's what
Speaker 1: you would see from DeAndre Jordan's and sat Rondo just
Speaker 1: won't sniff the floor at all. And so the way
Speaker 1: you got to look at it as those numbers look
Speaker 1: pretty damn good when you factor in the fact that
Speaker 1: this team has no defensive identity, is struggling to figure
Speaker 1: out how to play together, and has had a really inconsistent,
Speaker 1: uh you know lineups having to do with injuries. So
Speaker 1: the silver lining is when they play real you know,
Speaker 1: coral lineups that are missing the bad basketball players on
Speaker 1: this roster. They've been really successful with with those pairings
Speaker 1: despite the fact that quite frankly, they haven't played well.
Speaker 1: So that would be your silver lining. Um. But but
Speaker 1: to your point there, you can't ignore you can't ignore
Speaker 1: the fundamental problems that lead to Arruss and a d
Speaker 1: team losing to Oklahoma City. You know on your home floor.
Speaker 1: You can't ignore those problems. But like I said, if
Speaker 1: you're looking for a silver lining, that's your silver lining.
Speaker 1: This team, especially with with playing real NBA players, has
Speaker 1: been pretty successful and the vast majority of the struggle
Speaker 1: that this team has gone through has been a product
Speaker 1: of injuries and Frank's unwilling to to bench DeAndre Jordan's.
Speaker 1: If you look beyond those two things, they've been okay,
Speaker 1: And so that would be, like I said, that's if
Speaker 1: you that that that can be you know, kind of
Speaker 1: the thing that we end on tonight is just that
Speaker 1: silver lining. And obviously I want you to give your
Speaker 1: opinion on that as well. But that's kind of where
Speaker 1: I'm at as like kind of put a bow on
Speaker 1: everything tonight, is that as for as bad as it's been,
Speaker 1: there are there are some little, you know, positive nuggets
Speaker 1: in there underneath at all. Yeah, and I think we're
Speaker 1: both kind of more optimists in terms of like at
Speaker 1: least we were for this team. Those are you know,
Speaker 1: great numbers, and I think that is true. DeAndre Jordan's
Speaker 1: probably won't play in the playoffs when it matters Rondo,
Speaker 1: I'll wait and see, you know what I mean, they
Speaker 1: can say, Um, I think in the playoffs Rondo will
Speaker 1: still get some times. But but you're right, there have
Speaker 1: been lineups and then that's what I was talking about
Speaker 1: there was they were kind of building something and again
Speaker 1: it wasn't against great teams. But still like it was
Speaker 1: a four game win streak. They were kind of feeling
Speaker 1: out the team, and I felt like Russ was finally
Speaker 1: getting his bearings and kind of being combed with the team.
Speaker 1: That's why I said this Lebron injury is so unfortunate,
Speaker 1: because I thought they were kind of starting to build
Speaker 1: these better habits, even though against Houston they kind of
Speaker 1: gave up seventy points in the first half, and the
Speaker 1: second half they really did turned iron I was looking
Speaker 1: up I think some net ratings earlier. Lebron James was
Speaker 1: like a plus. The Lakers were like plus twelve point
Speaker 1: two when Lebron was on the floor. Of the last
Speaker 1: five games, just about absolutely killing. There's some teams until here.
Speaker 1: We'll see against Portland's I guess on Saturday, but there
Speaker 1: are some seperate linings. But I mean, losing against O
Speaker 1: Casey second time in a row, this isn't like something
Speaker 1: that caught him off guard. There's definitely something when you
Speaker 1: know the other team goes on a run, the team
Speaker 1: just not able to stop it. And maybe that's just
Speaker 1: how the Russ A D lineups have worked. Maybe the
Speaker 1: answer is just stopped playing DeAndre Jordan and Rondo, but
Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen for a week at least. But
Speaker 1: you know this team is gonna go through the mental shift.
Speaker 1: Four rotation players you throw in is not nothing. You know,
Speaker 1: that's a whole bunch of minutes that you're throwing in line.
Speaker 1: All these other five man lineups are You're going to
Speaker 1: get all these new kind of rotation players playing together.
Speaker 1: We'll see when that happens. But yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: tough one. It's good to see those silver linings, I guess,
Speaker 1: but losing against probably the worst team in the league
Speaker 1: isn't isn't great. But those you're right, those are some
Speaker 1: good silver linings to kind of fall back on as
Speaker 1: we wait for the next one. Yeah, I think it's
Speaker 1: good for us. Sand On a positive note, everyone who
Speaker 1: came on and in requested to speak, I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go ahead and call it tonight. This just
Speaker 1: turned into an events session, but on Saturday night we
Speaker 1: will take more callers, I promise. So for those of
Speaker 1: you who came and wanted to speak, please come back
Speaker 1: on Saturday, UM and we will give you a chance
Speaker 1: to UH. As always, we sincerely appreciate your guys to
Speaker 1: support Roger and I continue to be blown away by
Speaker 1: how many of you guys choose to come at hang
Speaker 1: out with us after these games. And uh in the meantime,
Speaker 1: hang type. This is gonna air on dash Radio tomorrow
Speaker 1: morning at seven am, and we'll be on our podcast
Speaker 1: speed Understate of the Lakers here in about thirty minutes
Speaker 1: or so. Thank you guys so much and enjoy the
Speaker 1: rest of your night. Appreciate everyone. Thank you,