Speaker 1: M m all right, guys, welcome to the State of
Speaker 1: the Lakers postgame space. This is going to be events
Speaker 1: sash for all of you guys. Um it has been
Speaker 1: a rough week, to say the least. You probably couldn't
Speaker 1: script the worst string of events to happen to a
Speaker 1: team with championship aspirations in such a short period of time.
Speaker 1: But that's what we're here for, so that you guys
Speaker 1: can get it all off your chest and maybe we
Speaker 1: can find some silver linings. I don't know, I'll try.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, rog. Yeah, I mean that's
Speaker 1: what we're here for, to look for the silver linings.
Speaker 1: I guess there's not that many, but yeah, we can
Speaker 1: try to find some, I guess. So immediately off the
Speaker 1: bad one of the things I noticed with that game
Speaker 1: was the Lakers were just not quite as sharp defensively.
Speaker 1: The clip Is are a really good jump shooting team.
Speaker 1: In fact, I'm not sure exactly the best way to
Speaker 1: measure this because there's so many different types of jump shooting,
Speaker 1: but I think they're the I think they're the very
Speaker 1: best off the dribble jump shooting team in the league.
Speaker 1: And then they're one of the best catch and shoot
Speaker 1: jump shooting teams in the league, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: and just all sorts of open shots all over the floor.
Speaker 1: I remember at one point I even tweeted about it,
Speaker 1: and then immediately out of the time out, they gave
Speaker 1: up back to back wide open threes uh uh, just
Speaker 1: just right out of the time out, after whatever it
Speaker 1: was that they talked about. And I think it's just
Speaker 1: one of those things where I think I think that
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of lack of belief. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you felt that today, but it kind
Speaker 1: of felt like the Lakers didn't think they could win,
Speaker 1: and I think it kind of sucked the wind out
Speaker 1: of their sales a little bit when it came to
Speaker 1: like the sharpness and the extra effort plays and stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean the Clippers make it tough. I
Speaker 1: think they're like the best shooting team ever by like percentage.
Speaker 1: I think just as a full team, they have a
Speaker 1: bunch of dudes who take high volume and hit him
Speaker 1: at um and like just our plan wasn't right, Like
Speaker 1: they were having a d post up against MARKI Morris
Speaker 1: with Andre Drummond uh also in the game, right, and
Speaker 1: there's just no room for a D to drive, and
Speaker 1: they're they're loading that strong side and just daring our
Speaker 1: shooters to make shots. And like my problem with this game,
Speaker 1: I guess we can kind of get into it. I
Speaker 1: have no issue with being down like we have no
Speaker 1: shot creation. And we talked about this all the time.
Speaker 1: The Clippers are a team that ball pressure you, that
Speaker 1: make it really tough. Um you saw you saw the
Speaker 1: first catch for a D was at half court, which
Speaker 1: I thought was kind of ominous of how the game was.
Speaker 1: It was gonna go right Markey Morris was really denying
Speaker 1: the basketball and he made a D catch it three
Speaker 1: ft behind the three point line where he had to
Speaker 1: try to make a shot, and I just thought that
Speaker 1: was like a really bad sign early on. M My
Speaker 1: issue was like just the un serious nous of like
Speaker 1: the lineups and just our approaches to this game, Like
Speaker 1: there was no reason for Tress to be up against
Speaker 1: Cousins for that long, like and and just even though
Speaker 1: Tress couldn't even score them in on the other end,
Speaker 1: which is another issue, but Cousins bullied him downlow. And
Speaker 1: then we're doing weird things like they were trapping Kauai
Speaker 1: at the top with with a D with a D
Speaker 1: on him and it just led to easy kickouts. I
Speaker 1: thought Cousins got into rhythm early. Reggie Jackson got a
Speaker 1: bunch of wide open three's early that got him in
Speaker 1: a rhythm, and by that time the game was over.
Speaker 1: I think a d um reactive or he got back
Speaker 1: spasms in the middle of the second that kind of
Speaker 1: ended the game. So that's my issue with this. There
Speaker 1: was a lot of un serious, a lot of lineups
Speaker 1: that like, I don't think we'll play when it matters,
Speaker 1: Like we had Ben mclimore, Markey Moore, Is Montrez Harrold
Speaker 1: out there with no shock creation. That's like our worst offenders.
Speaker 1: I just it's it's a it's a tough game. But
Speaker 1: what did you see? What else did you see from tonight? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I agree to like that that lineup with Tres was
Speaker 1: setting him up to fail, Like it's it's like a
Speaker 1: nightmare for all of his weakness is kind of wrapped
Speaker 1: up into one like you can't he wasn't able to
Speaker 1: physically match up with the person and he had the
Speaker 1: box out on one end and they guy he had
Speaker 1: to guard in the post on the other end. It
Speaker 1: just it just was a nightmare. But we've seen that
Speaker 1: all season with Montres. That's not been his strength playing
Speaker 1: against traditional centers. Where Montrez has a lot of success
Speaker 1: is playing against one of the more modern iterations of
Speaker 1: the basketball team, where you have like a thin rim
Speaker 1: running five who does who's primarily out there to screen
Speaker 1: and roll and to to play like kind of like
Speaker 1: a Clint Cappella type of role. That's where Montrez can
Speaker 1: have a lot of success in that type of matchup.
Speaker 1: But when you put him against the big, bruising center,
Speaker 1: he's just gonna get physically manhandled. I mean, the guy's
Speaker 1: literally as tall as I am. It's just it's just
Speaker 1: not a good it's just not a good matchup for him. Um.
Speaker 1: I liked what you said about the ball pressure. That
Speaker 1: was immediately what stood out to me when when the
Speaker 1: game started, like, uh, Anthony Davis has a huge physical
Speaker 1: advantage against Marcus Morris, but he can never catch the
Speaker 1: ball within fifteen ft of the rim. There were a
Speaker 1: lot of times where and you know, I tweeted this earlier,
Speaker 1: and I know it's not the best night to try
Speaker 1: to have some sort of sweeping referendum about Anthony davis career.
Speaker 1: But he's he's kind of limited as a primary initiator.
Speaker 1: He's not a great ball handler. He's great for what
Speaker 1: he is. He's great for a center, you know, but
Speaker 1: he's not He's not a dude who's gonna break the
Speaker 1: d fence down off the dribble against a wing defender.
Speaker 1: That's just that's just not he's not sharp enough in
Speaker 1: that role. And then when he would get to the
Speaker 1: point where he had a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: decent positioning on the floor, the Clippers would load up
Speaker 1: the floor, which is partially Vogel's fault because he's playing
Speaker 1: drummond and crushing his spacing. But you know, Lebron in
Speaker 1: that same position is gonna have a little bit more
Speaker 1: success finding those little openings when they pop open and
Speaker 1: and eighties. It's just not his strength. And you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's kind of more of a tip of a
Speaker 1: spear kind of guy. Like if you could put all
Speaker 1: the necessary pieces around him, he can elevate your ceiling
Speaker 1: through the like like two enormous heights. But this, this
Speaker 1: type of game tonight is never the type of game
Speaker 1: where he was gonna have a great deal of success,
Speaker 1: which for the record, which was why I was, okay,
Speaker 1: they took him out when he got banged up. Now,
Speaker 1: we don't know if it was the ankle or the
Speaker 1: back spasms. That whole thing was weird. He's like smirking
Speaker 1: and smiling and tying up his shoe and You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's just like kind of had a mild ankle spraying
Speaker 1: next thing, you know. I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was when he tumbled over Kuzma or what happened,
Speaker 1: but you know, for the fact that I just hope
Speaker 1: that they kind of saw the writing on the wall
Speaker 1: there that that game was over and that there was
Speaker 1: really nothing to gain there and then just took him
Speaker 1: out for safety. That's what I'm hoping. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: I thought it was too. I mean, he went he
Speaker 1: was in the locker room for quite a while, right,
Speaker 1: I think almost that the whole second quarter he was
Speaker 1: in the locker room, and TNT broadcast said they didn't
Speaker 1: know what it was. They try to do some things right,
Speaker 1: like even with him, he's not a percent you could tell,
Speaker 1: like he's not moving, So him being out there with
Speaker 1: a guy like Drummond, they try to make him put
Speaker 1: him in screen roll actions right as the ball handler,
Speaker 1: and the Clippers are just too good, like too good
Speaker 1: defensively for that, and they don't respect Drummond as a
Speaker 1: roller as all. And Drummond had a pretty bad game
Speaker 1: as well, And so you put him next to and
Speaker 1: his jumper has to be going for it to work, right.
Speaker 1: I think it was two for nine tonight. Um he had.
Speaker 1: I think he had like one jumper early, but other
Speaker 1: than his jumper wasn't going, so like it was gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough night for him and he just wasn't ready.
Speaker 1: But like, just for some positive I thought Mark starting,
Speaker 1: not Mark ye West Matthews, I thought I had a
Speaker 1: really good game, Like he seemed really spry, mobile, yeah,
Speaker 1: lips really mobile. Yeah, his defense was good. I remember
Speaker 1: in the beginning of the year he got cooked by
Speaker 1: Kauai a few times. I thought he had a few
Speaker 1: good possessions on him, a few good possessions on Paul George, Like,
Speaker 1: I thought they played him pretty well as well as
Speaker 1: you could. And then Kuzma I thought was a really
Speaker 1: good game. He was the only one that could really
Speaker 1: bring anything offensively, who was comfortable Um coming off screens
Speaker 1: and shooting and creating shots so there's the sliver lining
Speaker 1: for me. I thought, are two wings, Like, are two
Speaker 1: wing guys who are gonna play big minutes in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I thought they played well and then Mark came in,
Speaker 1: and I thought I had a media impact again, Like
Speaker 1: he came in and you could just tell the floor
Speaker 1: opened up. He found like k CP on a cut
Speaker 1: right away, West Matthews on a cut right away. I
Speaker 1: think they blow both blew the lay up. But I
Speaker 1: thought he came in. So there's my silver linings, I
Speaker 1: guess for tonight. Yeah, I really liked that lineup they
Speaker 1: started the second half with. I think it was Kuzma, West, Matthews,
Speaker 1: Contagious called well, Pope, Alex Crusso and Drummond, And it
Speaker 1: was just because those four guys are really good defensive players,
Speaker 1: and Drummond can be good when he's when he's paying
Speaker 1: attention properly. But that it just goes to show you
Speaker 1: that when when the Lakers play a traditional four out
Speaker 1: one in um, you know, defense with a bunch of
Speaker 1: mobile guys, that they can still be pretty uh successful.
Speaker 1: Mind you, the Clippers were probably floating through a little
Speaker 1: bit at that point. Um what made me upset? About
Speaker 1: the Marcus All Minutes is you know, like like you said,
Speaker 1: he found a couple of backcuts. And then there was
Speaker 1: that play where Alex Cruso drove and de Marcus Cousins
Speaker 1: was standing at the three point line because he's guarding
Speaker 1: marcusol and and and Crusoe gets all the way into
Speaker 1: the lane, gets in and one uh and it just
Speaker 1: you can see the geometry of the floor change when
Speaker 1: he's out there. But then immediately after that, it was
Speaker 1: like Mark Keith Morris telegraphed to swing pass, said marcusol
Speaker 1: I got stolen, and then like the very next possession,
Speaker 1: Alex Cruiser ran like a pick and pop with marcosol In.
Speaker 1: Alex Cruso through like a terrible pocket pass that just
Speaker 1: went right to the clippers. And it was one of
Speaker 1: those things where like even then I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: like we can't even properly evaluate the Marcus Alo Minutes
Speaker 1: because of how much of a ship show this is.
Speaker 1: Like it was just that it was that kind of
Speaker 1: night where at that point, you know, that's when I
Speaker 1: read around Then in the middle of that, you know,
Speaker 1: around halftime, is when I texted you and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we might need to start early tonight. There's just not
Speaker 1: a whole lot to learn from this, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: And the Clippers are like really long at every position, right,
Speaker 1: they have a bunch of wings and they were just
Speaker 1: in all the passing lanes and some of those turnos
Speaker 1: run for us. But like we have Caruso trying to
Speaker 1: throw like over the over the back passes back to
Speaker 1: Marcasoul and people are saying he was slow, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: he is slow, but I mean, like that's not really
Speaker 1: a pass for him to go get right way out
Speaker 1: of his like catch area. So like it, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it feels like it feels like these aren't playoff level
Speaker 1: lineups yet, and that's I guess my issue. But I
Speaker 1: mean that can also be looked as a silver lining, right,
Speaker 1: Like these aren't the playoff level lineups that were going
Speaker 1: to and you could just tell. I mean, like PhD
Speaker 1: got ruled out for tomorrow and Friday's game, for today
Speaker 1: and Friday's game, it just seems like if a player
Speaker 1: was gonna miss tonight, they're gonna miss tomorrow as well. Um,
Speaker 1: that's why I don't think, like just I don't believe
Speaker 1: it he's gonna play tomorrow either that's that's just how
Speaker 1: it feels. They ruled Lebron out as well, right for
Speaker 1: these two games, Um that he's ruled out again, I
Speaker 1: think for Sunday too. So like just this like um
Speaker 1: seriousness of these games, which like I think that's the
Speaker 1: process that they're going with, is just about getting healthy,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the right look in some way.
Speaker 1: It's just I feel like you have to build some
Speaker 1: kind of reps here um going into the playoffs. That
Speaker 1: Denver win was a big one, really got them I think,
Speaker 1: some confidence. And at the end tonight it was just
Speaker 1: another game where I don't think we learned much. Right,
Speaker 1: we're starting this space in the before the fourth quarters
Speaker 1: even at eight minutes yet, so like you could tell,
Speaker 1: there's just nothing really to learn from these from these games,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the issue. That's my biggest issue
Speaker 1: with this. I think we're healthy, we'll be fine. It's
Speaker 1: just that I'm not sure how much Boggle or any
Speaker 1: of anyone's learning from like these Montrez at five with
Speaker 1: Marquis at the four minutes, like it's just clear those
Speaker 1: don't work, Like you just can't defend at a high
Speaker 1: NUK level with that and we're doing that with like
Speaker 1: Ben Malclimore on the floor, and I think that's the
Speaker 1: line about there right now as well, which is funny.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm just not sure what we can learn
Speaker 1: from here. Yeah, and you know, they they're prioritizing health
Speaker 1: and like it's basically just the lesser of two evils here,
Speaker 1: Like they're they have two options. They can chase some
Speaker 1: sort of continuity even though Shroder's out of the lineup
Speaker 1: and make Lebron play through pain. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe like like what's the difference going to be when
Speaker 1: they're in a playoff series between them getting three or
Speaker 1: four games of regular season reps, you know, with Lebron
Speaker 1: and ay D together or getting six or seven. And
Speaker 1: I think I think they're just looking at it and
Speaker 1: they're like, it's not gonna make that much of a difference,
Speaker 1: so let's just prioritize health, which is fine. It's just
Speaker 1: a lesser of two evils. And you know, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like there there are things we
Speaker 1: can count on and the things that there are things
Speaker 1: that we can't, Like I can't count on what Lebron
Speaker 1: is gonna look like physically, Like I hope that he
Speaker 1: looks great, you know, realistically, maybe between seventy or eighty
Speaker 1: percent of his normal physical self. But we just we
Speaker 1: just don't know. But what we can count on is
Speaker 1: like they're gonna defend better than they did tonight. Like
Speaker 1: if you think about what a first round series between
Speaker 1: the Clippers and Lakers would look like, even if it
Speaker 1: was sloppy as all hell on the offensive end, like
Speaker 1: Frank and those guards and those wings and even of
Speaker 1: Lebron and d or whatever it is, those guys are
Speaker 1: going to find a way because it's in their identity
Speaker 1: to make things tough on the Clippers, a heck of
Speaker 1: a lot tougher than they did tonight. Like the Clippers
Speaker 1: were playing like easy breezy basketball tonight, a lot of
Speaker 1: wide open shots. And I do think that there there
Speaker 1: is a way that this team will go down fighting,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be going down fighting on the defensive
Speaker 1: end by just mucking things up, turning it into a
Speaker 1: rock fight, and just hoping that at some point in
Speaker 1: the seven game series and we're on and theybe can
Speaker 1: kind of get a clicking enough offensively to make enough
Speaker 1: plays to carry you through. Um But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. They need to be helping, They need
Speaker 1: to be on the court to literally to even have
Speaker 1: a chance to do that. So you know, this is
Speaker 1: the best available strategy out of a list of really
Speaker 1: crappy strategies that they had to choose from. So I
Speaker 1: mean it kind of it kind of is what it
Speaker 1: is at this point. Yeah, you're gonna beat this Clipper
Speaker 1: team without any shock creation, right, There's just no Dennis Shrewder,
Speaker 1: no lebron Um, even no THHD tonight, there's just not
Speaker 1: enough shock creation out there. They were just giving the
Speaker 1: ball to a d and have him try to shoot
Speaker 1: mid range jumpers over Marcus Morris and try to create
Speaker 1: that way. Um a lot of Drummond post ups again tonight.
Speaker 1: So like again, like the lass doesn't really matter to me.
Speaker 1: It's just about like where what were we doing? What
Speaker 1: are we building towards? And it's just it's just tough
Speaker 1: to see that from this and this is a team
Speaker 1: that we might play in the first round, you never know,
Speaker 1: Well it's not really looking that way now, but it
Speaker 1: just feel like we didn't learn anything from the playoff,
Speaker 1: from like a playoff matchup view here. So I guess
Speaker 1: that's my own thing with this game. I would have
Speaker 1: liked to seeing a little bit more. I would have
Speaker 1: liked to see a game a little closer, Like it
Speaker 1: felt like when the Clippers started hitting threes, like you said,
Speaker 1: that belief went away right, like they just they just
Speaker 1: contell exactly and once once a few threes went down. Um,
Speaker 1: I thought that stretched when like when Treads was in
Speaker 1: and I think they just went on like a nine
Speaker 1: o run put the lead up to thirteen, and after
Speaker 1: that the game was pretty much over. A d never
Speaker 1: came back in the game after that. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that was pretty much it. Do you have anything
Speaker 1: else from from this game tonight? Real quickly before you
Speaker 1: uh started taking guests on what what? What's your opinion
Speaker 1: on the uh like the prevailing thought that was going
Speaker 1: around Twitter today that the Lakers might be better off
Speaker 1: in the plane. What was your thought when you saw that?
Speaker 1: So I don't really agree with that, Like I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers would be favorite obviously in any playing matchup.
Speaker 1: I just think you're playing with fire when you're doing
Speaker 1: like one and one in two game kind of UH
Speaker 1: win or go home kind of stuff, like like we
Speaker 1: talked about it before in the best of seven series,
Speaker 1: like the better team usually wins, right, Like, I feel
Speaker 1: like in those games you never know what could happen. Um,
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people want that plan
Speaker 1: just to avoid the Clippers. I feel like you're kind of, um,
Speaker 1: kind of burning yourself both ways there by doing that, right,
Speaker 1: because then you have to lose war, and then you're
Speaker 1: in this tournament with Steph and and Dame most likely
Speaker 1: and just things you don't want to be a part of.
Speaker 1: So I think any team would like to rather just
Speaker 1: be in the playoffs no matter who the matchup is.
Speaker 1: You can you can focus in on one team right
Speaker 1: for a huge for a long set of days, instead
Speaker 1: of you know, Lebron all of a sudden has to
Speaker 1: be right or a d has to be right for
Speaker 1: you know, in a in a few weeks, instead of
Speaker 1: having this time to kind of get themselves together for
Speaker 1: a full team. How about you? What do you? What
Speaker 1: do you think about it? Yeah, I'm gonna understand with you.
Speaker 1: I think it's I think that is foolish thinking, just
Speaker 1: just my personal opinion and a couple of a couple
Speaker 1: of reasons why. First of all, of course, you'd rather
Speaker 1: play the Nuggets if you could, like, the Nuggets are
Speaker 1: obviously the best of the available first round matchups, but
Speaker 1: they come with this coin flip that associates them with
Speaker 1: the Clippers. It's like, you might play the Nuggets, but
Speaker 1: you might play the Clippers. Of course, I'd rather have
Speaker 1: the coin flip of Sons and Jazz, because I like
Speaker 1: the Lakers more in both of those matchups than I
Speaker 1: like them against the Clippers. So if you're asking me
Speaker 1: whether or not I'd rather have that coin flip or
Speaker 1: the other coin flip, of course I would. But the
Speaker 1: play in and everything that's associated with it should terrify you.
Speaker 1: And the reason why is basically everything that you saw
Speaker 1: from the bubble last year. Like when you have, you know,
Speaker 1: one subset of teams that is playing this like k
Speaker 1: Oddic frantic brand of basketball because they're trying to get
Speaker 1: into the play in kind of like Portland's, Memphis and
Speaker 1: Phoenix were last year in the bubble, and then you
Speaker 1: have and then you have this other subset of teams.
Speaker 1: And in the bubble it was teams like the Lakers
Speaker 1: and Bucks who were kind of just messing around as
Speaker 1: they were working through the games, or in this case,
Speaker 1: teams like the Lakers, who are just flat out not healthy.
Speaker 1: They're just like, this is not what the Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna look like when they're when the chips are down.
Speaker 1: And so those two subsets are so different that when
Speaker 1: you put them in a setting where they have seven
Speaker 1: games to figure each other out, obviously the better teams
Speaker 1: are going to figure it out. But in that one
Speaker 1: game setting, like, you know who's got really good habits
Speaker 1: right now on the defensive end, and you know who's
Speaker 1: got a really good offensive rhythm right now? The Warriors,
Speaker 1: because they've been healthy for the most part, aside from
Speaker 1: a few unfortunate things, but they've been mostly healthy, and
Speaker 1: they've been playing like their lives depend on it every
Speaker 1: single night. And so that is a team, even though
Speaker 1: they're not as good a team the Lakers by a
Speaker 1: significant margin, they're they're playing a brand of basketball that
Speaker 1: translates into that environment really well. And there's just so
Speaker 1: much variance that goes into that. You know, like a
Speaker 1: game where Lebron and a d can't make jump shots
Speaker 1: or whatever it is, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: if you lose that first plane game, you're in a
Speaker 1: situation where there's just an unbelievable amount of pressure that
Speaker 1: comes on, which may not have an impact on someone
Speaker 1: like Lebron, but it's definitely gonna have an impact on
Speaker 1: the on the lower players on the roster because they
Speaker 1: freak out a little bit. And it's like it's just
Speaker 1: one of those things where all of the potential pitfalls
Speaker 1: that come with the plan you have to avoid at
Speaker 1: all costs. So here's the thing. They might end up
Speaker 1: in the plane and it may be something they just
Speaker 1: have to deal with, but this idea that they should
Speaker 1: actively seek that out, I think is a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 1: And it's a risk, Like it's like you said earlier,
Speaker 1: it's a risk that they just don't need to be
Speaker 1: taking right now. Yeah, And just like to your point
Speaker 1: with that, if you remember last year, like I don't
Speaker 1: think any of us thought that Portland would be the
Speaker 1: later than a seven game series, But they walked in
Speaker 1: into that game one in a full rhythm, right, Like
Speaker 1: they were playing games that mattered in a consistent basis
Speaker 1: for weeks before they walked in there, and the Lakers
Speaker 1: were just starting to like wake themselves up, right they
Speaker 1: they weren't playing any games that matter for a while,
Speaker 1: and you could just tell the difference in rhythm, and
Speaker 1: the Lakers went super cold, which they can do. It's
Speaker 1: not like they have all these super leade shooters on
Speaker 1: the team. Like you can go hold for one game, um,
Speaker 1: and then I think the Portland won that first game.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing that can happen. And that's why
Speaker 1: I just like, if you get in the plan just organically,
Speaker 1: like and you lose the games and you're resting players
Speaker 1: and that's fine, but just going after it, I think
Speaker 1: it is a totally different kind of thing. Uh. Actively
Speaker 1: losing to get into this to avoid a team just
Speaker 1: feel like the wrong thought process, especially for the defending champions, right,
Speaker 1: Like they should not be losing to avoid a team
Speaker 1: like that. I don't think that, and I don't think
Speaker 1: they are, Like, in my opinion, they just the way
Speaker 1: that they're yeah, just the way that they're acting doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like they fear any of these teams in any
Speaker 1: kind of different different manner. Even though we as fans
Speaker 1: probably put Clippers UM in a different kind of tier
Speaker 1: than like Utah, UM, Denver and and the Signs. You
Speaker 1: feel like the Lakers kind of just see all those
Speaker 1: teams in the same way should I start, Should I
Speaker 1: start bringing some people up for it? All right, let's
Speaker 1: start with so get your request, and we're gonna try
Speaker 1: to get to as many people as we as we can. Tonight,
Speaker 1: Let's start with Jakey can what's going on, man? How's
Speaker 1: it going good? How are you not too bad? How
Speaker 1: are you Fellas doing? We're doing good man? Man? Okay,
Speaker 1: So I mean I think everyone can agree. Realistically, this
Speaker 1: is kind of a carbon copy of every single Lebron
Speaker 1: season from the past decade, where people kind of freak
Speaker 1: out either at the beginning or the end of the
Speaker 1: regular season, and they see trends that kind of destroy
Speaker 1: them from thinking that whatever team he's on is going
Speaker 1: to have way off success. But nevertheless, he always ends
Speaker 1: to show up. So I guess my question is, if
Speaker 1: there is hypothetically a series with the Clippers, would you
Speaker 1: see Vogel going with Gasol mostly or would you see
Speaker 1: him going with Drummond mostly to kind of clog up
Speaker 1: the paint? Knowing how playoff basketball is just it's a
Speaker 1: different environment because I know that Drumm is getting a
Speaker 1: lot of hate right now and some of it is warranted,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, simultaneously, I think that in
Speaker 1: the playoffs he can be an advantage for the Lakers
Speaker 1: because he can take up that space in the paint
Speaker 1: and take away opportunities for Wings to just get in
Speaker 1: there easily and get easy buckets, don't go first rush. Yeah. Sure,
Speaker 1: so I've said all along, like I feel like Drumming
Speaker 1: is really matchup depending, Like I've kind of compared him
Speaker 1: to like Debail from last year, and that's how I
Speaker 1: maybe that's just wish thinking, that's just how I see
Speaker 1: it going in in a playoff series versus the Clippers. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm just not sure how much Drumming can play if
Speaker 1: he's gonna start. I just think zoo back is a
Speaker 1: really tough matchup for him. We saw it tonight. He
Speaker 1: had really no impact um in that first half, and
Speaker 1: they don't respect him on the role at all, and
Speaker 1: they're just too good. They have too many good health
Speaker 1: defenders there. Makes it really makes life really tough for
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis um if he's trying to get any room.
Speaker 1: And just imagine because lebron A d and drum and
Speaker 1: against the Clippers, I think that's just a really tough matchup.
Speaker 1: I would like I would like a Saul out there
Speaker 1: to bring a little bit more spacing and just smarts
Speaker 1: out there. And I think he can bring subach out
Speaker 1: of the paint and it really opens up driving things
Speaker 1: for a guy like Lebron. And in that series, I
Speaker 1: think that's an a d at the five series anyway,
Speaker 1: Like I think it's all is gonna play, But that's
Speaker 1: a D at the five series for me. What about you, Jason? Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: first of all, Jake, respectfully, I disagree. This isn't like
Speaker 1: any Lebron season that I can remember watching. And the
Speaker 1: reason why. It's like if the Lakers were playing crap
Speaker 1: basketball but they were healthy, I would be the first
Speaker 1: guy screaming from the mountaintops to stop we're because I've
Speaker 1: seen that plenty with Lebron James teams, and I know
Speaker 1: the difference between the team that's not trying in a
Speaker 1: team that you know lacks the personality and the job done. Um,
Speaker 1: that's the difference is it's just they're they're literally not
Speaker 1: healthy and they have almost no continuity. That's the That's
Speaker 1: what kind of makes it super fuzzy. And there have been,
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron teams that have had injuries in the past,
Speaker 1: whether it's Kevin Love being out for a little while
Speaker 1: or or Kyrie Irving when he had his fractured kneecap,
Speaker 1: and you know, d Wade missed a bunch of time
Speaker 1: in two thousand fourteen. But the jis to the team,
Speaker 1: the primary engine, which was Lebron James doing Lebron stuff
Speaker 1: and then a ton of shooting and defense and all
Speaker 1: that stuff that that has been missing for the you
Speaker 1: know what is that twenty two of the last twenty
Speaker 1: four games. So it's just I do think that there's
Speaker 1: a distinct difference there. That doesn't mean you should necessarily panic,
Speaker 1: but I don't think I don't think that. I don't
Speaker 1: think that we should be sitting here with our chest
Speaker 1: puffed out acting like everything's fine, because it's definitely not. Um,
Speaker 1: as far as the gasal stuff goes, we should take
Speaker 1: year as a queue. UM. He did eventually go away
Speaker 1: from McGee, and he did eventually play a lot of
Speaker 1: Caruso eventually started him in Game six of the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: but his tendency to stick with it a little bit
Speaker 1: longer than the fan base is comfortable with. So my
Speaker 1: guess is, let's say you're in a Clipper series and
Speaker 1: Drummonds playing a lot and it looks ugly and there's
Speaker 1: obvious signs that Cassall should be playing. I do believe
Speaker 1: Frank will eventually make the move. I just don't think
Speaker 1: he'll make it right away. I think he'll make a
Speaker 1: sweat a little bit. But Frank has shown that he's
Speaker 1: not afraid to make an adjustment. I mean, even in
Speaker 1: this game tonight, he waited until Montrez got bullied into
Speaker 1: you know, like literally into oblivion, but he did eventually
Speaker 1: make the adjustment. So I do I do think. I
Speaker 1: do think that the adjustment will be made. I just
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if it was, you know, game three,
Speaker 1: Game four of the playoff series. As much as I
Speaker 1: love Shrewder, do you see the Lakers going with Gassol
Speaker 1: a lot more in the playoffs just for playing baking
Speaker 1: purposes instead of well, no, not instead of Shooter, just
Speaker 1: because of their lack of a true point guards. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean Rondo last year. I mean, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: he was like point god, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: he at least was able to kind of facilitate. And
Speaker 1: I can't say I'm not saying Shooter can't facilitate, because
Speaker 1: he can, but he does typically kind of go for
Speaker 1: like that pick and roll, like either I'm going to
Speaker 1: make a move where I'm going to score first. So
Speaker 1: I'm just curious. Do you think that Vogel would go
Speaker 1: with Gasol more just for playmaking purposes, because we know
Speaker 1: that Gasol can kind of play from the top of
Speaker 1: the key and pass it. I think in general kind
Speaker 1: of similar to the chemistry that Rondo and Lebron had
Speaker 1: last year, even and you know that it was really
Speaker 1: ugly for the most part during the regular season when
Speaker 1: Lebron and Rondo were on the floor together, because it
Speaker 1: was very you know, uh, it was very It just
Speaker 1: they were redundant and what they brought to the table.
Speaker 1: But like you know, with Marc Asol, it unlocks a
Speaker 1: lot of Lebron off ball stuff, which I think, you know,
Speaker 1: he used a lot with Dwyane Wade but didn't use
Speaker 1: a lot in Cleveland, and and that Rondo unlocked a lot,
Speaker 1: especially in the NBA Finals. If you watched there's a
Speaker 1: lot of really good clips of Brondo and Lebron playing
Speaker 1: off of each other pretty well. I definitely think that
Speaker 1: that that Marcusol brings that, But my guess is that
Speaker 1: the decision is going to be really simple. I think hope,
Speaker 1: like I saw as a matter of spacing, I think
Speaker 1: that I think against I think against the Clippers and
Speaker 1: against any defense that's gonna load up aside as they
Speaker 1: post up Lebron or post up Anthony Davis. I think eventually,
Speaker 1: just after incessant film, they're gonna look at the tape
Speaker 1: and see the obvious fact that the driving lanes aren't there,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna have to make an adjustment. I think
Speaker 1: that's gonna be what ends up being the driving force
Speaker 1: behind the decision. Yeah, well we forgive that that's starting
Speaker 1: lineup with Like Gasol was like one and six before
Speaker 1: any one out and they were like, yeah, they were
Speaker 1: really great. So I hopefully they get back to that
Speaker 1: along with Shooter. But they didn't really get the reps
Speaker 1: this this this year. Jake. I appreciate you coming up. Mhm,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead, yo, Joe are you there? Are you there? Hey? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys allowing me to answer ask the question. Hey, hey,
Speaker 1: nothing much, man, nothing much, just real quick, you know,
Speaker 1: I understand, you know, with all the injuries and everything,
Speaker 1: but man, every time, it seems like every time the Lakers,
Speaker 1: this iteration of the Lakers when they play the Clippers,
Speaker 1: they just seemed tentative in terms of body language and
Speaker 1: overall it just they just don't like have that Vogel swag,
Speaker 1: you know. West Matthews looked like he came to compete
Speaker 1: Kuzma mc lamore. Other than that, every onbody else just
Speaker 1: see even with a D they just seemed tentative when
Speaker 1: playing the Clippers. I don't understand it. It's almost like
Speaker 1: they're kind of timidated. I just need to know if
Speaker 1: anybody else sees that. I see that every time they
Speaker 1: play the Clippers. Go ahead. Uh well, I mean I
Speaker 1: feel like the take the Clippers really take it out
Speaker 1: of them right like client PG really do. We saw
Speaker 1: at Ring Night as well. Um, they feel like there
Speaker 1: was a lot more like he on this matchup last year,
Speaker 1: right before both teams kind of got their rings. And
Speaker 1: we saw that in the March in the March game
Speaker 1: before COVID kind of shut the season down. And we
Speaker 1: also saw it that first game in the Bubble where
Speaker 1: both teams were really hard from at each other. But
Speaker 1: after that, um, it really feels like the intensity of
Speaker 1: these games just have not have not been at a
Speaker 1: playoff level or the or the level like the hype
Speaker 1: should be with these two teams, and the stars have
Speaker 1: been out right. I think we've had three games where
Speaker 1: all four of the All Stars have played UM in
Speaker 1: this matchup all I think all those things go together,
Speaker 1: and I think that's why hopefully we get a playoff
Speaker 1: series of this, I think it will be different. I
Speaker 1: think teams will be going full throttle. UM. Not saying
Speaker 1: the Lakers would absolutely win, but it just feels like
Speaker 1: tonight they just did not go out go out there
Speaker 1: full full, full potential here. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's like they're going soft on the clip I don't
Speaker 1: think so. The Clipers are a really good team, Like
Speaker 1: they create good shots. UM, they have to really star
Speaker 1: wings who give the Lakers problems. I don't think that's
Speaker 1: an accident that client PG kind of play well. So
Speaker 1: that's how I see it. How about you, Jason, Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: like this kind of was a topic of conversation in
Speaker 1: the last couple of days, just surrounding this quote unquote
Speaker 1: rivalry rivalry between these two teams, that there has been
Speaker 1: no rivalry because it's been destroyed by circumstance. The games
Speaker 1: that I think, if I'm not mistaken, there's only been
Speaker 1: what four games that all four played in, or three
Speaker 1: games that all four played in, and it was basically
Speaker 1: the Christmas Day game where the Lakers basically for the
Speaker 1: better team for forty six minutes and then blew it
Speaker 1: at the end. And then then there was the game
Speaker 1: right before the end of the right before the the
Speaker 1: COVID shutdown, where Lebron went crazy and uh and they
Speaker 1: beat them. And then there was a game to start
Speaker 1: the bubble where the Lakers beat them, and then there
Speaker 1: was Trophy Night that was basically those are basically the
Speaker 1: healthy iterations of this matchup. It's been all destroyed by
Speaker 1: COVID and injuries and all this stuff. I did at
Speaker 1: one point after the Christmas matchup, I think that maybe
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of a mental advantage that
Speaker 1: the Clippers had. I used to tweet a lot about
Speaker 1: it for those of you followed me back then, but
Speaker 1: I I thought that Lebron resoundingly ended that with the
Speaker 1: with the takedown right before the COVID shutdown, like that
Speaker 1: was a pretty uh demonstrative win for the Lakers, you know,
Speaker 1: to cap off a game where they had just beaten
Speaker 1: the Bucks to Um, you know, so I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't think there's any mental advantage. To Roger's point, there's
Speaker 1: just a bad matchup for the Lakers in the sense
Speaker 1: that even though that, even though the Lakers are a
Speaker 1: better team, and it pretty consistently showed that over the
Speaker 1: last two years, with exception of injuries, that even even
Speaker 1: in spite of that, the Clippers are going to always
Speaker 1: compete with them because they present matchup advantages. And that's
Speaker 1: why I've always said that they're the team that's most
Speaker 1: likely to be the Lakers, but it won't be because
Speaker 1: of some you know, mental advantage. In my opinion, I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers have had enough success against this team,
Speaker 1: uh in their matchups that there's no reason for them
Speaker 1: to be scared. It's not like some Clippers Warriors thing
Speaker 1: like you used to see when the Warriors were at
Speaker 1: their peak and the Clippers used to just get blown
Speaker 1: out every time they play. Okay, Also one more question, um,
Speaker 1: do you guys see them if they If they do
Speaker 1: in fact play the Clippers, will Westby used a lot
Speaker 1: more in that series you think in terms of because
Speaker 1: he just seems to be very active on defense. I
Speaker 1: know this shot is inconsistent, but I just like it
Speaker 1: approach when especially when um body and what Kauai and PG.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna play a ton of that matchup.
Speaker 1: I think that that's the matchup for Wes Matthews, and
Speaker 1: I think I think you'll see plenty of them. And
Speaker 1: I think that Vogel knows that. Yeah, for sure, I agree. Thanks,
Speaker 1: Thanks Ryan? Are you there? Yeah, I'm everybody. How are
Speaker 1: you doing, guys? Good? Good? Hey, I'm just gonna piggyback
Speaker 1: on Joe and then, like you know, basically, I see, like,
Speaker 1: you know, the last two years of playing you know,
Speaker 1: the Clippers, you guys, hear me, I'm sorry, hear okay, cool, cool? Sorry, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the last two years of playing the Clippers. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we did play. In my opinion, we played timid,
Speaker 1: you know, the first few games, like the first year
Speaker 1: when PG was out. We should have warned that guarantee,
Speaker 1: you know, and then we really showed up in the
Speaker 1: last two games. I loved it. But you know, it
Speaker 1: seems like, you know, the Clippers do have a mathup
Speaker 1: problem with us. But I mean, you know, with us,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not sure if you guys agree with
Speaker 1: me or not, but then you know, we just gotta
Speaker 1: beat them up inside. I just don't feel that they
Speaker 1: had the big to compete against us. But then again,
Speaker 1: Drumming right now, just gotta figure out his role with
Speaker 1: the team. He needs to just play with a role. Man.
Speaker 1: It seems like every time and Anthony Davis got the ball,
Speaker 1: he's trying to get get a post. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: get the hell out of the way. It's the trade
Speaker 1: off the Lakers have made. I mean, you know, I
Speaker 1: talked about this a lot with Warriors Twitter because they're
Speaker 1: always so frustrated about spacing and everything associated with with
Speaker 1: what they're doing with Steff. But you know, their management
Speaker 1: made a decision that they were going to prioritize defense
Speaker 1: at the expensive offense because they thought that they had
Speaker 1: a better chance of competing if they defended at an
Speaker 1: extremely high level and let Steph have a harder job.
Speaker 1: But think that would be able to make enough happen
Speaker 1: around the margins that they would win games. And for
Speaker 1: the record, I think they've been right. I mean, given
Speaker 1: the amount of talent on that team, for them to
Speaker 1: be the eight seed is pretty remarkable in in this
Speaker 1: ridiculously stacked West, especially when you look at the talent
Speaker 1: level on some of the teams below them in the standings. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know that that's basically what the Lakers have said. Now,
Speaker 1: some of this I think is Anthony Davis and what
Speaker 1: he wants. Um. But the Lakers are prioritizing size at
Speaker 1: the expense of spacing and hopes that it will physically
Speaker 1: wear teams down and and be something that is advantageous
Speaker 1: in a playoff series. Now, as I've told Raj a
Speaker 1: bunch of times in our podcast, like, I think the
Speaker 1: irony there is that, Like I think the Lakers where
Speaker 1: themselves out physically a lot on the offensive end with
Speaker 1: the lack of space, and so I personally think it's
Speaker 1: a tactical error. I would I think the only center
Speaker 1: that should play is Marcasol because he allows the Lakers
Speaker 1: to have spacing on the offensive end while still having
Speaker 1: that big physical presence on the defensive end. Uh. Because
Speaker 1: I think I think Anthony Davis tricks himself into thinking
Speaker 1: that if he can avoid banging bodies on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: it will save his legs but then he goes down
Speaker 1: on the offensive end, and he's playing in a crowd
Speaker 1: all day and he's taking just as many bumps and
Speaker 1: bruises on the offensive end. So I think, I personally
Speaker 1: think it's a tactical error. I just think that's the
Speaker 1: decision they're making, a prioritizing size at the expensive spacing
Speaker 1: and hope in hopes of of wearing teams out. And
Speaker 1: it's clear that that's what that's what Anthony Davis wants, right.
Speaker 1: He does not want to read in the center. And
Speaker 1: I think the problem is like the difference this year
Speaker 1: because Anthony Davis played before a lot last year too.
Speaker 1: It's just Jabille at least in Jabille and Dwight, or
Speaker 1: at least like Lobb spacing right like vertical spacers. But
Speaker 1: Drummond doesn't give you that either, so it takes away
Speaker 1: even more space. It's even more tighter for him to drive,
Speaker 1: like there's no room. Um he's trying to hand off
Speaker 1: in the painted Drummonds and then Drummond has to like
Speaker 1: catch it, hold in and try to go up and
Speaker 1: draw about. And again I'm not trying to blame on
Speaker 1: your drumming here, he's not in the best um scenario. Either,
Speaker 1: he's not like he's playing with Lebron James a bunch.
Speaker 1: But that's just what's going on here. Like that's where
Speaker 1: the spacing is really tough. And it's why I just
Speaker 1: think in the playoffs, like Bogo is watching all these
Speaker 1: games just like us. Let's just I just can't see
Speaker 1: a way that he's gonna play huge minutes um when
Speaker 1: it matters. Maybe maybe with Lebron and looks different, just
Speaker 1: if they can switch everything be very physical, run, get
Speaker 1: out and run, which they're not doing right now either.
Speaker 1: They just don't have the ball handling Tom to push
Speaker 1: the ball the way that they want to with Lebron,
Speaker 1: So maybe that changes. Thing is just the way I
Speaker 1: sear right now, like the spacing is. For now, it's
Speaker 1: a regular season thing. It's him to eat, eat innings
Speaker 1: to to bang with body so Anthony Davis doesn't have to.
Speaker 1: And you can see Anthony Davis still getting hurt here.
Speaker 1: But that's obviously the plan here is for a dy
Speaker 1: to kind of rest and be able to relax through
Speaker 1: these regular season games and then the spacing will, hopefully
Speaker 1: will will correct itself in the playoffs when we sold
Speaker 1: all those minutes and and uh and drumming gets a
Speaker 1: little bit less and eight is at the five there
Speaker 1: where he can kind of operate more in the paint.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. I agree, yeah, No, like I agree to.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, you know, I see Anthony Davis, you know,
Speaker 1: he wants to maintain his body throughout the post to
Speaker 1: the post season and stuff like that. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: it would be great to see Drummond, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of play that gavel Dwight roll and kind of get
Speaker 1: the hell out of his way. But you know, I
Speaker 1: think he kind of sees himself at the same focal point.
Speaker 1: But you know, changing off topic, like, honestly, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of hoping we're in the seven sam for
Speaker 1: a seed, preferably a C, because I don't see the
Speaker 1: Suns or Utah even matching up with us. I think
Speaker 1: it's honestly, it's a six game at most easy out,
Speaker 1: you know, and we might we probably will get a
Speaker 1: good pick out of it. To be honestly, I don't
Speaker 1: really want to see the Clippers in the first round
Speaker 1: because in you know, we've kind of played tentative towards them.
Speaker 1: We don't play with that edge towards them, even towards
Speaker 1: the like, you know, the last seven games we played
Speaker 1: with them the last two seasons, so it might be
Speaker 1: kind of beneficial. I don't see, you know, in the
Speaker 1: play ins. I don't see Memphis beating us, obviously. I
Speaker 1: don't see the Warriors beating us, because you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm in the Bay Area and I talked to the
Speaker 1: Warrior fans all the time. We're just bigger human beings.
Speaker 1: You know, give the ball to a D. What are
Speaker 1: you gonna do a Draymond? I don't care your defensive
Speaker 1: player year. You're a smaller human being. I'm a back
Speaker 1: up on you, and I'm gonna throw lobs all day.
Speaker 1: Get the hell out of my way. And that's the
Speaker 1: argument I have all the time. We're big things against
Speaker 1: the Warriors. We're gonna you know, the Memphis and Memphis
Speaker 1: Grizzlies is John Morant motor. We're gonna beat you guys
Speaker 1: up inside and we're gonna take you guys out. I
Speaker 1: like your optimism, Appreciate you Ryan. Some similar people up here,
Speaker 1: see yo, Bret, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. This
Speaker 1: is my first time on spaces, so U don't mess
Speaker 1: it up. And mute myself. Okay, my question is about um,
Speaker 1: when Lebron presumably does end up coming back and Shrewder
Speaker 1: comes back, I think that in order to preserve Lebron's legs,
Speaker 1: I think with it, they should send him to the
Speaker 1: post more and sort of let Shrewder be that Lebron
Speaker 1: off the dribble facilitator, because obviously Lebron can facilitate from
Speaker 1: the post. I was learning what we're thinking of that
Speaker 1: of letting Lebron play off the ball in the post
Speaker 1: a lot more um when he comes back. So I
Speaker 1: tend to think that I've actually put a lot of
Speaker 1: thought into this ever since that article came out from
Speaker 1: what was talking about how he was feeling pain when
Speaker 1: he was cutting um. You know, the post is the
Speaker 1: area for him that he least needs his mobility and
Speaker 1: he most needs his strength, and it's also one of
Speaker 1: the areas, in my opinion, where he passes the ball
Speaker 1: the best. So I tend to think that, you know,
Speaker 1: as long I talked to Roger about this, I think
Speaker 1: in our last podcast, like if you had to choose
Speaker 1: between having a hundred percent healthy a d and eight
Speaker 1: percent healthy Lebron or eight percent healthy A D and
Speaker 1: percent healthy Lebron. I would take the A D because
Speaker 1: for him, especially with what he brings in terms of
Speaker 1: the defensive ceiling, they need him to be healthy. But
Speaker 1: Lebron has this like old man version of his game
Speaker 1: that he doesn't use as much as he probably should.
Speaker 1: And that's his low post game. And you know, talk
Speaker 1: to any you know, the high level NBA bloggers into
Speaker 1: the analytics and they'll tell you that, you know, possessions
Speaker 1: that start with Lebron James post up almost always end
Speaker 1: with some absurd number like one point three points per
Speaker 1: possession or something crazy like that. Uh, give or take
Speaker 1: a few tents of a point based on the season.
Speaker 1: But that's always been one of his best areas and
Speaker 1: I think it's the easiest counter to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: effectually uh, to take away the need for him to
Speaker 1: make really quick cuts. That's not to say that he
Speaker 1: doesn't still need to get healthy if he can, and
Speaker 1: it's not to say that he won't that he will
Speaker 1: experience some discomfort working out of the post, but I
Speaker 1: think that would be the best way for an injured
Speaker 1: Lebron to impact a playoff series in my opinion. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's probably a good way for him to start kind
Speaker 1: of in the first round. Um, like the point you
Speaker 1: made about Wish Shrewder, because if if if Lebron is
Speaker 1: at the top of the key running running screen actions,
Speaker 1: then Shrewd is probably a spot up shooter mostly right
Speaker 1: or easily he's a cutter out of that. So pring
Speaker 1: Lebron in the post kind of makes it a little
Speaker 1: bit harder to kind of double him. But again that
Speaker 1: depends like who he's around. If this is like eighty
Speaker 1: at the five and I think you have a really
Speaker 1: nice open space. But again, if it's like drumming next
Speaker 1: to him or treads, it's really tough to even just
Speaker 1: throw Lebron in the post there other than he's passing
Speaker 1: to the dunker spot. But they're gonna help balog a
Speaker 1: lot of drum and especially Montrose, Harold kind of and
Speaker 1: Dare are other shooters kind of make shots. So yeah,
Speaker 1: Lebron's like post numbers are great. I think he's really
Speaker 1: efficient at it. Um. I think he used it a
Speaker 1: lot last year, But it just depends if he wants
Speaker 1: to like mismatch attack from from the top or if
Speaker 1: he wants to attack from the post. I think he's
Speaker 1: more comfortable right now, going from the top. You want
Speaker 1: to pick out his defender, um using screens rather than
Speaker 1: just having to bang downlow. Even though it might be
Speaker 1: saving a little bit, I still think he kind of
Speaker 1: uses a lot trying to back up every time. But
Speaker 1: that's that's a good way to kind of use him.
Speaker 1: I guess in the first round, UM, get his legs going,
Speaker 1: get his jumper kind of going on those. He really
Speaker 1: likes those followay jumpers, so maybe that gets him going
Speaker 1: in the first round. Well, I suppose I'm speaking specifically
Speaker 1: of at the times when he wants to be more aggressive,
Speaker 1: because I agree with you that in terms of been
Speaker 1: saving his legs sometimes sometimes you know, we've all seen
Speaker 1: it with Lebron when he's in cohast mode, which regardless
Speaker 1: of the game, it will happen at some point. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just his way of saving energy while
Speaker 1: he plays. What he'll do is he'll run some sort
Speaker 1: the screening action at the top of the key, and
Speaker 1: he's not even really trying to get to the rim.
Speaker 1: What he's trying to do is just get the defense
Speaker 1: to overcommit to somebody, whoever it is, whether it's him
Speaker 1: the Roman or just leaning one side of the floor
Speaker 1: a little bit too much, and and then he'll either
Speaker 1: throw some looping swing pass or he'll do behind the
Speaker 1: back pass on the top of the key like that.
Speaker 1: That to me is his like energy saving play. And
Speaker 1: he can still do that because he doesn't need to be,
Speaker 1: you know, aggressively cutting off of it. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: in the portions of the game when it becomes like
Speaker 1: really necessary for him to be aggressive as a score,
Speaker 1: I think the post game is going to be an
Speaker 1: area where he can still be physically successful even when
Speaker 1: he's less than in terms of his recovery from the
Speaker 1: ankle injury. Yeah, for sure, I agree, Ryan. Appreciate you
Speaker 1: coming up here. It looks like we lost Ryan. All right,
Speaker 1: let's see mhm yo, great, are you there? Yeah, I'm here.
Speaker 1: What's up, man? What's up? Uh? Yeah. Overall, I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily like super and panic mode about the Lakers, but
Speaker 1: I do feel like it's like the whole center of
Speaker 1: situation and just the effort in general is just very
Speaker 1: different from last season because I feel like last season
Speaker 1: they kind of took their lumps early on, Like I
Speaker 1: remember kind of being um worried about the losses against
Speaker 1: the Celtics and Philadelphia, and I was just wondering, Okay,
Speaker 1: has Lebron lost his step against Wings? But I feel
Speaker 1: like one thing that was really important was that as
Speaker 1: that season went on, they kind of peaked towards the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Like in the game against the Bucks and the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I think back to back, you I just saw them
Speaker 1: look a lot better than they do now. And even
Speaker 1: in the bubble, the effort wasn't always there, but they
Speaker 1: can still kind of turn it on and lock in,
Speaker 1: and you saw that kind of ramp up as time
Speaker 1: went on, and I don't really think I'm seeing that
Speaker 1: with this team, which is kind of like concern. And
Speaker 1: my other concern is that with the center minutes, I
Speaker 1: think that the person in most hurts, it might just
Speaker 1: hurt short Dennish shorld of the most because at least
Speaker 1: eighty and Lebron, regardless of the spacing, they'll still be
Speaker 1: effective to some level in terms of finishing around the
Speaker 1: paint because of their size, athletic system in touch, Whereas
Speaker 1: for Shoulder, I just realized that Drummond is kind of
Speaker 1: always going to be in the dunker spot, and you
Speaker 1: don't really want shoulder, just taking jump shots to the
Speaker 1: whole game, and because of his size, I'm more so
Speaker 1: worried about his performances in the playoffs and his ability
Speaker 1: to kind of finish around the rim. So my question is,
Speaker 1: do you think that the Lakers can afford to give
Speaker 1: the spot minutes that they would give ja Vail and
Speaker 1: Dwight last year, So for example, they would give like
Speaker 1: you would start Javail and you're not necessarily giving five
Speaker 1: points to the other team. But again, you guys kind
Speaker 1: of talked about how Vogo would be a little bit
Speaker 1: slower to make those rotations. I mean, he definitely at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, he did do it, so
Speaker 1: credit to him. But feel like, again against the Clippers
Speaker 1: and just most of the Western Conference teams, you really
Speaker 1: want to be giving yourself the best shop possible off
Speaker 1: the jump, and right now I don't necessarily see that
Speaker 1: situational lineups that give me the confidence that we're going
Speaker 1: to do that. So you know, first of all, you
Speaker 1: want to hear something that's kind of ironic is that
Speaker 1: if you actually look at the Lakers line up data,
Speaker 1: among their lineups that meet a certain minutes threshold, the
Speaker 1: most successful Laker five man lineup last year was the
Speaker 1: lineup with JaVale McGee. Um. Now, I think that the
Speaker 1: obvious explanation for that is because they would play him
Speaker 1: with the starters, so he was playing he was playing
Speaker 1: with the other four best Lakers. But the point is
Speaker 1: is that, like I think that that was one of
Speaker 1: part of the issue that delayed uh, you know, Frank's
Speaker 1: reaction is you know, I think that lineup that I'm
Speaker 1: referencing was roughly about plus fifteen points for one d
Speaker 1: possessions in terms of their net rating. And the truth
Speaker 1: you're right, it's like, what if that lineup was plus eighteen,
Speaker 1: you know, or plus nineteen if they stopped messing around.
Speaker 1: And it was obvious that Frank didn't necessarily want to
Speaker 1: play Javail because he literally only played the first five
Speaker 1: minutes of the first quarter, in the first five minutes
Speaker 1: of the third quarter, that was like his only time playing.
Speaker 1: But it was part of him, you know, capitulating to
Speaker 1: the demands of I'm guessing E E. But that you're
Speaker 1: right about the fact that it affects Dennis the most
Speaker 1: because Lebron and a d can physically dominate the game
Speaker 1: in a way that even though there's poor spacing, they'll
Speaker 1: find a way to be impactful and agree that Dennis
Speaker 1: is the one that it affects the most. And you know,
Speaker 1: all you can hope is that, just like last year,
Speaker 1: eventually Frank finally looks at the guys and goes, hey,
Speaker 1: a d we saved you all these lumpster in the
Speaker 1: regular season, we're benching the centers and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I saw this stat the other day on Twitter, UM,
Speaker 1: and I'm assuming it's correct, which is probably a bad
Speaker 1: strategy on my part. But a sixty of the Lakers
Speaker 1: minutes last year in the playoffs we're played without a
Speaker 1: traditional center. They played with either mar Quief or a
Speaker 1: D at the five. UM. So you know, for all,
Speaker 1: for all of our complaints, you know, when when the
Speaker 1: Chips were down, they went to their best lineups. UM.
Speaker 1: And then the last thing you mentioned about their inconsistent
Speaker 1: effort this year, I think you know, as fans, we
Speaker 1: have really irrational expectations. We just want our teams to
Speaker 1: play hard all the time, and I think we forget
Speaker 1: that NBA teams always have bad effort nights. And you
Speaker 1: know that's why before the season I would tell Raj
Speaker 1: I'd be watching that defensive rating because I think that
Speaker 1: defensive rating is the best indicator of your average effort.
Speaker 1: You know, how often you go into a game and
Speaker 1: you just totally mail it in versus when you actually
Speaker 1: are engaged and you're trying on the defensive end. And
Speaker 1: the Lakers have had the number one defense in the
Speaker 1: league almost all year. Um, So you know, as far
Speaker 1: as I'm concerned, Yeah, there have been bad nights. It
Speaker 1: may even seem like there's been more bad nights than
Speaker 1: usual lately. But this Laker team, when you actually compare
Speaker 1: them to the other thirty team, the other twenty nine
Speaker 1: teams in the league, they they tend to mail in
Speaker 1: nights less often than everybody else. So I would actually
Speaker 1: argue that this has been a good effort team in
Speaker 1: a team that, in a really crappy season with a
Speaker 1: lot of crappy circumstances, has brought it for the most part,
Speaker 1: and I think they deserve credit for that. And I'll
Speaker 1: think the other out of the question, he said, Shrewder
Speaker 1: would probably be the guy that struggles the most. I
Speaker 1: would agree with that. Just from another sense, I think
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d kind of built their chemistry last year, right,
Speaker 1: Like they got a bunch of games under their belt. Um,
Speaker 1: the kind of pieces changed around them, but they're still
Speaker 1: each other. They know their games. Shooter only got like
Speaker 1: twenty something games next to Lebron and a D. And
Speaker 1: he's supposed to be a big time shock creator for
Speaker 1: this team, um, running a lot of actions that are
Speaker 1: supposed to go through him. He's supposed to be the
Speaker 1: third score. And that's where I worry about him out
Speaker 1: now until the first round. Like they're getting no continuity
Speaker 1: between those three, especially and the four if Drummond is
Speaker 1: gonna be a big part of the playoffs, like, they
Speaker 1: just not enough minutes with them. So that's where I
Speaker 1: think I agree with you. Shooter would be the the
Speaker 1: odd man out here and the guy I want to
Speaker 1: look to too. Hopefully in that first round we get
Speaker 1: someone like Denver where he can kind of get going.
Speaker 1: Denver runs a real drop coverage where uh it really
Speaker 1: lends to the strengths of Dennis Shrewder him be able
Speaker 1: to come up and take the shots he want. So
Speaker 1: so I agree with you on that point that that
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D are gonna be fine. I think
Speaker 1: I think worrying about the Superstars is not the part here,
Speaker 1: Like I feel like they will be there. It's just
Speaker 1: the continuity and the health you need to worry about here. Um. Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1: I did have one more point about like, one thing
Speaker 1: that I have seen in the past couple of games
Speaker 1: was a D as a ball hand there more so often,
Speaker 1: and I kind of really like that development doesn't always
Speaker 1: looked great with drumming and a D, but they're still
Speaker 1: kind of working out that fit and I kind of
Speaker 1: see the idea behind it. I think it was all
Speaker 1: I could look even better. So that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: the one thing that I'm hoping that they do kind
Speaker 1: of carry into the playoffs. Yeah, I'm I think he's
Speaker 1: a little bit shaky dribbling out on the perimeter, uh,
Speaker 1: in an environment where he doesn't have great spacing. I
Speaker 1: thought he struggled under Marcus Morris's ball pressure today. Roger
Speaker 1: and I actually talked about that at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the space and you know, I think I think at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like in in in specific matchups,
Speaker 1: when he has more space to work with, anytime a
Speaker 1: D is being aggressive is good. I just think that
Speaker 1: if you're if you're kind of parsing out his skill
Speaker 1: set against the team like the Clippers with a ton
Speaker 1: of ball pressure, a ton of switchy wings who's loading
Speaker 1: up the side and sending doubles him kind of a
Speaker 1: six eleven guy putting the ball on the floor is
Speaker 1: kind of asking for, you know, bad things to happen. Um.
Speaker 1: But that's not to say that that shouldn't be used
Speaker 1: in certain in certain spots when he has a little
Speaker 1: bit more room to work with and the defense in
Speaker 1: the defense isn't so keen in on him. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree with I like that they're using it. They used
Speaker 1: it really nicely against Denver Um kind of kicking on Yoki, right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's a big that you can really go at in
Speaker 1: up all screen actions like tonight, it's tough, especially with
Speaker 1: eighties jump or not going. Um, it's gonna be tough
Speaker 1: for him to run those four or five and with
Speaker 1: like very little shooting around right there. It's like Alex
Speaker 1: Caruso and the other guys that teams just don't respect
Speaker 1: their shooting. So eighties running four or five screening roles
Speaker 1: are just no space. He's driving into three or four bodies.
Speaker 1: There's just nowhere to go and and the Clippers just
Speaker 1: switch it pretty easily. So like if he succumbs at
Speaker 1: the screen with Drummond, it just switches you batch on
Speaker 1: him and they're comfortable with him kind of contesting his shots.
Speaker 1: So that's that's where I would like to see him
Speaker 1: more in the playoffs, for sure. I think him and
Speaker 1: the solve and running nice couldn't running nicely and put
Speaker 1: the ball more in eighties hands on at the top
Speaker 1: of the key instead of just throwing it to him
Speaker 1: in the post and hoping he just backs down and
Speaker 1: gets a hook shot or something and try to be
Speaker 1: super physical, which is just not his uh, not his game. Yep,
Speaker 1: I agree, Thanks Rick, appreciate you coming up here. Thanks Rick,
Speaker 1: thank you. I'll be safe. I might regret this one,
Speaker 1: but read what's up? I see you tweeting me you
Speaker 1: wanted to come up here? Are you there? No, it
Speaker 1: says connecting, Well, get someone else while we're waiting for
Speaker 1: to connect. Okay, mhm, you know George? Are you there? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What's up? George? Does it go? Man? Good? Good? I
Speaker 1: thought Rick was gonna take my spots, gonna slander hour
Speaker 1: up here, but one question, I guess I'll ask if
Speaker 1: Frank is going to commit to Drummond at the five
Speaker 1: for starting, would you guys think it would be better
Speaker 1: for Dennis to come off the bench, maybe because I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's gonna be hampered by COVID And
Speaker 1: I think, Jason, you said something earlier in the year
Speaker 1: that you wouldn't mind Dennis starting or coming off the bench.
Speaker 1: I should say so, I want to get your thoughts
Speaker 1: on that. You know, it's It's always been my longstanding
Speaker 1: philosophy that if you've got, you know, too many ball
Speaker 1: handlers on the floor, it's not necessarily a bad thing,
Speaker 1: but inevitably one of the guys who is going to
Speaker 1: be relegated into a position that affects his rhythm. And
Speaker 1: unless you're literally like a Clay Thompson, or you're like
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Kevin Duran James Harden, where you're really good
Speaker 1: spot up shooters, it can be a problem. Dennis Shooter
Speaker 1: is an okay spot up shooter, but when he's off
Speaker 1: the ball, it can it can disrupt his rhythm. I
Speaker 1: always from the start thought that that he would benefit
Speaker 1: from a role where he could come in guns blazing
Speaker 1: as Lebron or a d goes to the bench and
Speaker 1: he can just get his rhythm going. Uh. The one
Speaker 1: thing that Dennis did that kind of countered that is
Speaker 1: he was so good defensively at the point of back
Speaker 1: that it actually was kind of helpful to have him
Speaker 1: out to start the game, almost to like set the tone. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean I don't know that they'll do
Speaker 1: the same thing when he comes back from the COVID stuff. Uh,
Speaker 1: Dennis's uh, you know, Dennis has made his his position
Speaker 1: known throughout the season and his interviews. He's got he's
Speaker 1: got a little bit of an ego on him, as
Speaker 1: he shawd. He's a really good basketball player. And my
Speaker 1: my guess is he wouldn't take kindly to a benching,
Speaker 1: So I would I would put my I put my
Speaker 1: money on him starting when he comes back. Yeah. Same.
Speaker 1: I feel like I wanted him to come off the
Speaker 1: bench to to start, but his defense is just too good. Um.
Speaker 1: I feel like he was at all all NBA defense level,
Speaker 1: Like he had all NBA defense level year. Um, he's
Speaker 1: a really good ball pressure guard. Um, even better than
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley was. Heyst here and you gain all that
Speaker 1: shock creation, all that ball handling, Um, he really raises
Speaker 1: the ceiling of the team. I feel like Crusoe is
Speaker 1: going to close a lot of games, might even close
Speaker 1: over him, but he gained. He really raises that offensive
Speaker 1: ceiling that they miss a guy that can create his
Speaker 1: own shot. So I don't know if he'll come off
Speaker 1: the bench, maybe for the first few games in the
Speaker 1: first round, but I think he'll eventually start, and plus
Speaker 1: you have the whole um Well. I don't know if
Speaker 1: the contract issue will come up as much in a
Speaker 1: playoff setting, but I'd rather him start. I just think
Speaker 1: that the starting lineup means his offensive creation, especially when
Speaker 1: they start too bas like like a d and Drummond
Speaker 1: or or something like that, where you just have so
Speaker 1: little scoring anyway, um inside and so little space to
Speaker 1: work with. You need a guard that can attack and
Speaker 1: really pressure put pressure on defenses where other other guys
Speaker 1: just don't do that to his level. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: just saying that I know the Bucks did it Withdrew
Speaker 1: because he had really bad symptoms coming back. But I
Speaker 1: mean I said would be a question to be answered
Speaker 1: later because I just think with Drummond out there, it
Speaker 1: kind of hurts his ability to attack because he did
Speaker 1: especially in that NETS game. Well, I guess Drummond was
Speaker 1: out there, but I don't know. I mean, I thought
Speaker 1: just with Drumming out there, it would hurt his ability
Speaker 1: to attack, and him and Gasol out there, just another
Speaker 1: playmaker to add and shooting. I thought that would be
Speaker 1: a lot better. But I don't know what Frank's gonna do.
Speaker 1: We we'll find out. Yeah, I guess. I guess that's
Speaker 1: all I had to ask if if a shooter would
Speaker 1: come off the bench. But I don't have really anything
Speaker 1: else to add, So you can't let me up here again,
Speaker 1: Thanks George, Thanks guys. I would see if if we
Speaker 1: can get his book, get his connection going here. Yo,
Speaker 1: what's going on? Man, don't make me, don't make me
Speaker 1: regret this now. I was going on a question though,
Speaker 1: I got two questions. The first question is are you
Speaker 1: worried about Denis short of coming back playing high minutes
Speaker 1: at the point with COVID symptoms? Yeah, definitely, Man, I
Speaker 1: would never know how that's gonna go. Like even I
Speaker 1: think Katum even said like it affected him, what like
Speaker 1: months after right like he had he had his COVID
Speaker 1: stuff and he said he was still breathing out of
Speaker 1: like an inhaler and stuff before games. It's really scary,
Speaker 1: so you never know, like and I don't know, So yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely I'm worried about it. You gotta play the numbers man, like,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're worried about it. What happens If he
Speaker 1: comes back and he's not doing well, Um, then you
Speaker 1: got to react accordingly. But chances are, as a young
Speaker 1: healthy guy, he should be fine. My guess is that
Speaker 1: if anything, it will just be his conditioning just from
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, like when when I got it,
Speaker 1: it knocked me on my butt for you know, eight
Speaker 1: nine days and I was sleeping like twelve hours a
Speaker 1: day and it just affected my affected my conditioning when
Speaker 1: I tried to come back, just because I wasn't doing anything. Um.
Speaker 1: And that's hard because he'll be coming back into playoff
Speaker 1: NBA basketball, so that could that could be a little crazy.
Speaker 1: But I mean at the end of the day, I
Speaker 1: think we should just try to be optimists here and
Speaker 1: hope that he comes back as a young, healthy person
Speaker 1: with very little residuals. And it's also possible that he's
Speaker 1: one of the lucky ones about symptoms and he can
Speaker 1: do some training while he's awaiting his quarantine to end.
Speaker 1: So I mean, we we'll sim we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: But you know there's no point in speculating. I guess yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. All right, Okay, now I'm my question though,
Speaker 1: what is how? All right? So uh if you guys
Speaker 1: so right now, I was looking like you're gonna play
Speaker 1: the Suns in the first round, right right? All right?
Speaker 1: So how many? How many players deep do you think
Speaker 1: I'm playing in the playoffs for Lakers? This leged team
Speaker 1: got too many? Man like twelve. I think you can
Speaker 1: go twelve deep. I don't think they will, but they can't.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Lakers don't have a depth problem. I
Speaker 1: promise you that. Um they they they have an issue
Speaker 1: with when it comes to the rotations with too many
Speaker 1: players you can play. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: the guard spot, you've got Dennis, Dennis A CP West, Caruso,
Speaker 1: th H T and Ben McLamore. So you've got that's
Speaker 1: six cards that you could rotate in and out. Even
Speaker 1: if you played three guard lineups all the time, you
Speaker 1: go too deep. And then on the wing you've got
Speaker 1: basically Kuzm Lebron, Markis Morris and although Marky Morris played
Speaker 1: some small ball five. But then you look at the
Speaker 1: four words and you've got you know, Gasol, Drummond, A
Speaker 1: d Uh and Uh, Montrez and Lebron is gonna play
Speaker 1: a ton of minutes at the four in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I like because there the their issue has to do
Speaker 1: with health for their superstars. But outside of that, depth
Speaker 1: is just not a concern on this team. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: they could drop a player in any position at any
Speaker 1: given time, a time that's in a role player spot
Speaker 1: and be fine. That's never been a concern for me.
Speaker 1: This year, Yeah, I just wish they played less players.
Speaker 1: To be honest, I think that I think exactly Vote
Speaker 1: was playing way too many. He needs to cut the
Speaker 1: rotation down, which I think he will in the playoffs
Speaker 1: like they did last year. But I don't know that
Speaker 1: Soun's team is deep though as well. They're gonna go
Speaker 1: like ten eleven deep, so I don't know how that's
Speaker 1: gonna work. But I just like him to cut the rotation,
Speaker 1: like I think Drummond and Trez and those guys should
Speaker 1: just be all situational. Market Morris probably too, should always situational,
Speaker 1: should be like Kuzma Caruso, Lebron Andy and a few
Speaker 1: and KCP and a few other few other players, and
Speaker 1: that should be a should get like an eight nine
Speaker 1: rotation down. But but yeah, they're gonna go like ten
Speaker 1: eleven deep though They're gonna try at least. Yeah, appreciate
Speaker 1: you get get something else out of here. I thought
Speaker 1: it would be a lot worse. Yeah, it was too bad.
Speaker 1: Hm mhm, amazed. What's how's it going? Rog? Can you
Speaker 1: hear me? I can hear you? What's going on? What's
Speaker 1: going on? Rag? Just a couple of questions for you? You
Speaker 1: You know me, I'm a big baseball guy. It seems like, um,
Speaker 1: two of the dominant l A teams, the Lakers and Dodgers,
Speaker 1: are struggling due to injuries. How that being have that
Speaker 1: being said, are you more concerned about the squad getting
Speaker 1: healthy or about like the chemistry when they come back?
Speaker 1: Which one is more concerning to you most? Definitely the
Speaker 1: health coming back, because none of the chemistry matters if
Speaker 1: they're not healthy. Right, So, but I feel like there's
Speaker 1: a fine line that we need to walk and they're
Speaker 1: really playing with fire here, like they're really trying to
Speaker 1: just put go full on into the health kind of basket,
Speaker 1: putting all their eggs in the health basket. And I
Speaker 1: feel like there's got to be some respect to the
Speaker 1: chemistry and respect to the continuity that it takes to
Speaker 1: win a title. But they're going all into the to
Speaker 1: the health basket, so that's obviously what's most important to them.
Speaker 1: I think that's most important to me too, What do
Speaker 1: you think, Jason? Yeah? I agree. And when it comes
Speaker 1: to you know, uh, when it comes to this kind
Speaker 1: of thing, I look at what's dependent on chemistry and
Speaker 1: what isn't Like if your team like the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: and you don't have a ton of super high i
Speaker 1: Q offensive players, but you've got a bunch of talent.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it takes time for it's all kind of meld
Speaker 1: together and for it to work. But when you've got
Speaker 1: guys like Lebron and when you've got guys like uh Marcus,
Speaker 1: all these really high i Q players that are kind
Speaker 1: of the glue that makes it all work, everyone's job
Speaker 1: becomes simpler. And when people have easy jobs, it's not
Speaker 1: so much about chemistry at that point. And uh, and
Speaker 1: then especially with their their you know, what they do
Speaker 1: on the defensive end, that sort of thing has already
Speaker 1: been set up throughout the season, and I'm not worried
Speaker 1: about Lebron and they d coming in and doing their
Speaker 1: job defensively. So like you know, I always say that,
Speaker 1: like when when when the ship hits a fan, you
Speaker 1: have to fall back on your core identity, you know,
Speaker 1: like you can't, uh, you know, when things really get tough,
Speaker 1: you have to fall back on these like habits that
Speaker 1: you set up throughout the season. And that's why I
Speaker 1: think teams that are bad defenses don't do well in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, because like you're gonna go through a stretch
Speaker 1: against the Clippers where you're just not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to score because they're going crazy that they're the rest
Speaker 1: are letting a lot of physicality go, they're playing their
Speaker 1: best defensive lineups, and things are gonna really shut down,
Speaker 1: and you just have to weather that storm by defending
Speaker 1: them on the other end. And I think that the
Speaker 1: I think that the Lakers, because of Lebron's high i
Speaker 1: Q and because of the fact that you will primarily
Speaker 1: be the one making decisions, and because they can fall
Speaker 1: back on their defensive identity, I think they're capable of
Speaker 1: of you know, weathering these kinds of storms without a
Speaker 1: ton of continuity in chemistry. Obviously, Like rog said, I mean,
Speaker 1: none of it's good. You know, it's certainly a little
Speaker 1: freaky to think about the fact that Lebron that most
Speaker 1: is going to play three or four more games before
Speaker 1: the playoffs, Like that's obviously not a good thing. Um,
Speaker 1: But you know, like if that you know Lebron, Lebron,
Speaker 1: You've got to think about it this way, Like Lebron
Speaker 1: doesn't want to play in the play in he knows
Speaker 1: that these two games tonight and tomorrow against the Blazers
Speaker 1: are important games, and he's not playing. That means Lebron
Speaker 1: is sitting at home and he's thinking, my ankle hurts,
Speaker 1: and I would rather have my ankle feel a little
Speaker 1: bit better then try to fight for this right now.
Speaker 1: And you've got you gotta trust that they know what
Speaker 1: they're doing at that point for sure. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, Mike has a question if that's okay? Okay?
Speaker 1: Rod was something? How you doing what's going on? In? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I just wanted to come on board and say Clipper Nation, baby,
Speaker 1: I need to do that. No, no, thank you, Roger. Oh,
Speaker 1: last question up would you rather have the Lakers in
Speaker 1: this situation be seventh or fifth? Right now, what do
Speaker 1: you think it's more safe for them? I'd rather be David,
Speaker 1: I'd rather than be fit just to have a full
Speaker 1: on playoffs. But no matter who they play, well, I
Speaker 1: think I think we can have a good argument here
Speaker 1: that I'm pretty confident that the Lakers will make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It's just a matter of who they're going to be
Speaker 1: a first thing in the face round. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we got an interesting couple of months coming up, so
Speaker 1: I'm excited for it. So but thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Thank you. My friends. Uh, we got
Speaker 1: like four more people of Jason, do you have time,
Speaker 1: because they've been requesting for a while. So I just thought,
Speaker 1: let's just let's pull through and let's just make them
Speaker 1: a little quick. Let's do it. Yeah, let's go with
Speaker 1: uh Exavier, So yeah, what's going on? In what's going on? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really wanted to know what did you'll to about Vogel?
Speaker 1: I think yesterday the day before his comments about playing
Speaker 1: Gasol and treads together like that it was hard to
Speaker 1: play two bigs and uh the NBA to day when
Speaker 1: man they play two bigs all the time. I did
Speaker 1: not want to get mad before I go to bed here,
Speaker 1: but like, yeah, that's that's really annoying, man. Uh because
Speaker 1: the only reason I pushed for is because he's the
Speaker 1: one that said he would play it. And I just
Speaker 1: think they fit really nicely together, Gasol and Treads. It's
Speaker 1: just like a perfect four or five allows Gasol to
Speaker 1: play that five on offense and that four kind of
Speaker 1: on the five on defense, and that four on offense.
Speaker 1: Let Treads kind of do what he does be able
Speaker 1: to switch. But they obviously don't believe it will work.
Speaker 1: I would like to at least see it once. I
Speaker 1: don't know why we can't at least see it, but
Speaker 1: they obviously don't believe in it. I don't think his
Speaker 1: reasoning really made sense to me considering who we were starting,
Speaker 1: But it's clear they don't really want to go to that,
Speaker 1: so I guess that's that's just what it will be.
Speaker 1: I don't think we're gonna see it for I could
Speaker 1: see it now, I mean I doubt we see it
Speaker 1: when it comes to the playoffs. Playoff time, I just
Speaker 1: think Treads will be out of the rotation or Gasol
Speaker 1: won't be plane in the series. I don't think them
Speaker 1: two are gonna gonna play together at all sadly this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I literally thought that was the most ridiculous and
Speaker 1: hypocritical statement that I've heard from Frank since he's had
Speaker 1: the job. Like, here's the thing. You can't play two
Speaker 1: centers in the modern NBA in the sense that you
Speaker 1: can't play Drummandantrez. Absolutely, But you absolutely can play two
Speaker 1: big men in the NBA today if one of them
Speaker 1: has the ability to function on the perimeter and the
Speaker 1: other doesn't, because then then they can kind of play
Speaker 1: off of each other in that sense. And you know,
Speaker 1: the reason why you can play Mark and Trez is
Speaker 1: the exact same reason why you can play Ap and Drummond.
Speaker 1: It's the fact that you know one of them can
Speaker 1: function on the perimeter, why the other doesn't. Now, ideally,
Speaker 1: like here's the thing, you know, what's not going to
Speaker 1: fix all of the Lakers problems, Marcus Solo and Montrez
Speaker 1: Harrold playing together. It's not going to fix all their problems.
Speaker 1: That's that's foolishness. But the idea that you wouldn't try
Speaker 1: that lineup as a manner in which to were some
Speaker 1: Marcus all minutes and hopes of getting something going because
Speaker 1: you say you can't play two bigs together. That's that
Speaker 1: to me is flawed reasoning. It doesn't make any sense,
Speaker 1: I think, especially considering he's the one himself who said
Speaker 1: he was going to try to make it happen originally.
Speaker 1: So I think that that that, to me was some
Speaker 1: some class a hypocrisy. But I mean, yeah, let's for
Speaker 1: all the people clamoring for that lineup, let's stop pretending
Speaker 1: like that's going to solve all their problems either, because
Speaker 1: I think that's irrational as well. Yep. The only thing
Speaker 1: I'd say is let's get a d and gasolvers before
Speaker 1: we beg for like, let's Getslfers consistently out there getting minutes,
Speaker 1: and then we can talk about gasol with other line ups.
Speaker 1: But until he's playing with the starters or even that
Speaker 1: full second unit, um, I just don't think this is
Speaker 1: a lineup we're gonna see like that. The way that
Speaker 1: he's being played right now is is pretty much just
Speaker 1: at backup five where he plays spot minutes next to
Speaker 1: uh Anthony Davis. So I think that's how it's gonna go.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, Davier. We're gonna try to get some
Speaker 1: the last few people up here appreciate you. Man. Thanks
Speaker 1: for let's see five. So that's which I think is
Speaker 1: Lebron's record in the finals. Is that right? No, that's
Speaker 1: just what I wanted to be when he retired, so
Speaker 1: I could put my go to Genda. But the question
Speaker 1: I had was like, albeit, I think it's kind of
Speaker 1: biased because watching every Lakers game, like Vogeo gets my
Speaker 1: like blood pressure high every game because he like has
Speaker 1: his love affair with Drummond. But I just had a question, like,
Speaker 1: say the Lakers like don't make the finals and they
Speaker 1: flame out, flame out, but like Sayley loosen to the the
Speaker 1: conference finals, is there any like way that Vogel doesn't
Speaker 1: come back next year? Like I know, literally bias, Okay,
Speaker 1: so like he's like definitely back next year whatever happens,
Speaker 1: There's absolutely no way. Now, Yeah, I guess the only
Speaker 1: way is if they got swept in the first round
Speaker 1: in some terrible like manner where you know, just like
Speaker 1: some apo apocalyptic thing, which again I just don't see
Speaker 1: happening at all. He got the title last year. There's
Speaker 1: a bunch of I wouldn't call him excuses, but you know,
Speaker 1: there can be some valid reasoning for you can say
Speaker 1: why this season didn't work out, injuries, short off season,
Speaker 1: no practices, etcetera, etcetera. And now all these teams go
Speaker 1: through that. But I just don't see I don't think
Speaker 1: Bogel has done about enough job. Look, he's got to
Speaker 1: see him with the number one defense, Like we can
Speaker 1: lose sight of a lot of things, but they have
Speaker 1: number one defense in the league without Lebron and a
Speaker 1: d for a lot of that. So I think he's
Speaker 1: done what he's supposed to do. If he doesn't have
Speaker 1: the stars healthy by the time of the playoffs, that's
Speaker 1: not his fault. I just don't see him going anywhere.
Speaker 1: He's he has. He's done his job for the most part.
Speaker 1: Just the rotations are a little frustrating for all of us,
Speaker 1: but I feel like that's like a team thing, something
Speaker 1: that's been kind of decided as an organization rather than
Speaker 1: him like kicking out who's playing and not every night.
Speaker 1: So no, I don't see him getting I don't see
Speaker 1: him going anywhere. Yea. In addition to that, would you
Speaker 1: I know, like some people complain about the offensive schemes
Speaker 1: like the coaching staff didn't really do much or anything
Speaker 1: like that. Are there, like people you guys would like
Speaker 1: to see added to the staff this offseason. I kind
Speaker 1: of like the way that the staff is put together
Speaker 1: in the sense that they are primarily defensively focused and
Speaker 1: they kind of let Lebron be your offensive coordinator in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Uh, you know, it's it's not
Speaker 1: the first time that we've seen that kind of idea before,
Speaker 1: where you know, you you bring in a coach to
Speaker 1: focus on one side of the ball. It's basically what
Speaker 1: Mike D'Antoni has done his entire career. Um, I I
Speaker 1: just I don't I think the I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: have a health problem. They don't have any sort of
Speaker 1: coaching problem. I don't think that. You know, when here's
Speaker 1: the other thing too. This doesn't just go for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: This goes for everybody. Because I've seen just about every
Speaker 1: national podcast I've listened to is like, well, what happens
Speaker 1: if you lose in the first round of this playoffs,
Speaker 1: Like if you're Portland, or if you're the Clippers, or
Speaker 1: if you're whoever it is. I mean, Portland's maybe a
Speaker 1: different story. But if you guess what if the Clippers
Speaker 1: losing the first round, like I wouldn't blow it up,
Speaker 1: like this has been the most absurd season ever, you know,
Speaker 1: like Dennis Shooter just has to miss the last two
Speaker 1: weeks of the season with the pandemic, like because he
Speaker 1: caught a disease, Like there's uh, you know, the the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls are going to miss the playoffs because they
Speaker 1: made an all in trade for all star forward and
Speaker 1: then Zach Lavine got COVID and was out for two weeks.
Speaker 1: Like it's it's like, it's like this is this is
Speaker 1: not the season to make any sort of sweeping changes
Speaker 1: to anything. If the Lakers lost in the play in
Speaker 1: it would not change anything about the way they should
Speaker 1: approach this offseason or anything about what they should like
Speaker 1: think of as their ceiling for next season, because guess what,
Speaker 1: this season has been a total ship show and there's
Speaker 1: no point in making any sort of massive over like
Speaker 1: reaction to what has taken place this year. It has
Speaker 1: been it has been the furthest I guess what, you know,
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen, a full offseason for everybody to get
Speaker 1: healthy and then a traditional NBA schedule that starts in
Speaker 1: the middle of October and runs to the middle of April,
Speaker 1: and there's very few back to backs, and there's much
Speaker 1: better travel and lots more opportunity for the players to
Speaker 1: get into a traditional, you know, routine in terms of
Speaker 1: taking care of their bodies. And I'm just I'm just
Speaker 1: not necessarily worried about that in the long run. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you, man. We're trying to get the last week
Speaker 1: that they left here. Thank you. Man. Let's see, looks
Speaker 1: like is not connecting so you can get someone else
Speaker 1: while that one loads up here? Yo, what's up? What's
Speaker 1: going on in? How's good? Hey? How are y'all pretty good?
Speaker 1: I was just listening the whole time, and then I
Speaker 1: just saw Dave mcmanimon's tweet about Lebron and had to
Speaker 1: hop on he was like Lebron's absence from the lakers
Speaker 1: last two games against Denver and Clippers was not medically related.
Speaker 1: When asked for the reason James was not present, Vogo said,
Speaker 1: he's just not here. Added James was not at shoot.
Speaker 1: Was that shoot around Thursday? But we'll not join the
Speaker 1: team in Portland. What do y'all think about that? What
Speaker 1: in the world. I just saw it seven minutes ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing that. I'm not sure. Maybe he just didn't
Speaker 1: want to come to of the game. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know. Lebron I'm sure has his reasons for not
Speaker 1: uh for not going to the thing at the game.
Speaker 1: I guess is that what he's saying. He wasn't at
Speaker 1: the game, um sou and he was not at shirt
Speaker 1: shoot around Thursday. I have no idea. I'm sure Lebron
Speaker 1: has his reasons though. If he's not, if he's not
Speaker 1: a shoutout Georgie shared it at the top, I don't
Speaker 1: know if everyone can see in the spaces there he
Speaker 1: shared that little tweet um that it says that he
Speaker 1: was absently. I have no idea, but I mean, Lebron
Speaker 1: I'm sure has his reasons, so I'm sure he'll be
Speaker 1: with the team when that when it matters. I don't
Speaker 1: have no care. Yeah, I tend to like, if you
Speaker 1: wanted to be a massive conspiracy theorist and you wanted
Speaker 1: to come up with some like I don't know, Desperate
Speaker 1: Housewife's type of drama for this, you could say that
Speaker 1: maybe he's taking space from the team. In reaction, to
Speaker 1: Dennis Shrewder revealing his vaccine history or something crazy like that.
Speaker 1: But I just, I just he's a grown ass man, dude.
Speaker 1: There's no way that's the kind of thing that's happening.
Speaker 1: My guess is that, uh, that there's a very good
Speaker 1: reason and that it's something that that Frank Vogel doesn't
Speaker 1: want to disclose just out of respect. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I can think of if you, if you're trying to
Speaker 1: build a list of things that should worry you about
Speaker 1: the Lakers, the fact that Lebroun wasn't sitting courtside should
Speaker 1: be extremely low on that list. Yeah. Yeah, he'll be
Speaker 1: there when it matters. That don't know what a crazy
Speaker 1: season that's such as it's been a fucking ship show
Speaker 1: of the season. Very true, great test. We appreciate you.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to these last two, all right, get
Speaker 1: out of here, all right, thank you. Let's see if Rome, Rome,
Speaker 1: are you there? You hear me? What's going Yeah? I
Speaker 1: can hear you. What's going on? Man? Jason was good. Man.
Speaker 1: I can't believe Reek came in here and did not
Speaker 1: dance on all of our grays. Bro shout out to him, Bro,
Speaker 1: because that's wild, Like I was a man would deserved
Speaker 1: it now, But I just want to ask. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you guys saw it. It was a like
Speaker 1: pregame today, Vogo was saying something about how he kind
Speaker 1: of has an idea of who he's gonna play like
Speaker 1: come playoff time. I don't know if you guys saw that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, I didn't see that. I think he
Speaker 1: basically tweeted out like that he he knows who the
Speaker 1: rotation is going to be, but it's gonna be matchup dependent,
Speaker 1: which is basically Roger and I can saying for weeks
Speaker 1: like like it's it's all fun in games until the
Speaker 1: chips are down, man, Like you don't, uh, you don't
Speaker 1: keep a bullet in the holster when the chips are down,
Speaker 1: like they're gonna they're gonna tighten up things when when
Speaker 1: the time comes. And then there's there's evidence of that
Speaker 1: if you dig into the line up data in last
Speaker 1: year's postseason. Yeah right, And that that quote really tells
Speaker 1: us nothing, right that he knows his match he knows
Speaker 1: his play approtation, but his matchup dependent, Like that's just
Speaker 1: that can be could really mean any yea, but I mean,
Speaker 1: if you just if you just go off his like
Speaker 1: resume with the Lakers, right like what he did last year,
Speaker 1: just going off what he's actually proven to be, not
Speaker 1: this theoretical that we're going with. He plays who's going
Speaker 1: to help him win, right like Javal mcgie did not
Speaker 1: play minutes when it mattered. Um, what if we forget this,
Speaker 1: but Dion Waders was a huge part of the rotation
Speaker 1: right in those seeding games and those like those those games,
Speaker 1: and he did not play um when it mattered either,
Speaker 1: j R. Smith. Those kind of guys just did not
Speaker 1: get minutes. Those guys that cannot defend um and do
Speaker 1: not hit shots at a respectable rate, or don't play
Speaker 1: play well, don't play a good playoff basketball, not gonna
Speaker 1: get minutes. Like That's just how I see it, and
Speaker 1: until proven otherwise, I'm saying that that's what he's gonna
Speaker 1: do when the when the chips are down. As as
Speaker 1: Jason said, so I don't think you have to worry
Speaker 1: about that. But yeah, that quote really tells me nothing.
Speaker 1: That he said his playoff rotation is ready what its
Speaker 1: matchup depending that that tells me absolutely nothing. And then
Speaker 1: someone go ahead, Sorry my only quick quick questions. How
Speaker 1: confident are you guys that Drummond is getting pulled? Bro,
Speaker 1: Because like, I don't know what it is, man a
Speaker 1: d I don't know if if if they just got
Speaker 1: a thing, but like I don't know, they got a lot.
Speaker 1: They act like like Drummond is not an issue. Man,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm comingant that he'll eventually get pulled.
Speaker 1: I just think that he'll also play quite a bit
Speaker 1: before that. I think that's it's that simple. I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: the one thing I was gonna add about the rotation
Speaker 1: stuff is we had someone come on the pod on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: It was like, do you remember when Dion Waiters and
Speaker 1: j R. Smith were playing a ton in the bubble
Speaker 1: seating games? And He's right, like literally the Lakers were
Speaker 1: running a ton of offense through Dion Waiters in the
Speaker 1: bubble games. So like it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: you can never overreact to regular season rotation stuff. It's
Speaker 1: very seldom going to make any sense. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: I think they will pull Drummond. I just think they're
Speaker 1: going to play him a lot first, and I think
Speaker 1: we'll all be pulling our hair out as it happens.
Speaker 1: But you know, a lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with how quickly they're threatened to, you know, like if
Speaker 1: they if they somehow now managed to get a you know,
Speaker 1: a gentleman sweep in the first round, and and they
Speaker 1: go into the second round they win games one and two,
Speaker 1: Like that's just going to trick them into thinking that
Speaker 1: the way things are going, nothing needs to change. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, depending on how quickly they find themselves with
Speaker 1: their back against the wall could be what ends up
Speaker 1: dictating when they finally start playing their best lineups. Right,
Speaker 1: that's valid, that's valid. All right, Thank you guys, Thank you. Man.
Speaker 1: We got we got two more. All right, let's see,
Speaker 1: let's see a few works this time. What's going on? Man?
Speaker 1: Can you can hear us? Hello? Can hear me? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I can hear you. What's going on? Man? All right?
Speaker 1: I just want to go back to what we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier. Um, someone brought up that, like, um, the
Speaker 1: Suns are like the possibility right now, like the most
Speaker 1: likely possibility rights somehow the like the lebron lest Lakers
Speaker 1: going to run here, which I doubt, but regardless, UM,
Speaker 1: I remember Jason talking earlier about how like the Warriors
Speaker 1: are peeking right now, while the Lakers like you know,
Speaker 1: lacking continuity, lacking health all that. And so that's why
Speaker 1: the plane is pretty dicey. And I'm not suggesting that
Speaker 1: like the Lakers tank or anything obviously, but like if
Speaker 1: that were to happen and that they were the Warriors
Speaker 1: um playing and then Son's first round, I honestly think
Speaker 1: that that's like the best case scenario. And hear me out,
Speaker 1: because the Warriors, while they may be peeking that you know,
Speaker 1: they don't have a single center. And and the only
Speaker 1: thing that really troubles Lebrons in Game ones, which is
Speaker 1: a lot of I see a lot of people bringing up,
Speaker 1: is that like because a lot of teams he has
Speaker 1: to adjust to the rim, like the rim pressure that
Speaker 1: he puts. A lot of teams throw something out in
Speaker 1: the game ones that he doesn't, he like he has
Speaker 1: to adjust to. And if I mean, unless you're counting
Speaker 1: on Draymond to to shore up the entire paint for
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D Like I know Draymond does well
Speaker 1: against a D, but like he doesn't do anything he
Speaker 1: can't do both at the same time. And so I
Speaker 1: don't know, I think that that's like the best case
Speaker 1: and the Lakers defenses centric around stopping guards, right Schroeder
Speaker 1: verse Curry this year, Schroder has clamped him, like yeah.
Speaker 1: And then the Suns when it comes to CP three book,
Speaker 1: that's like obviously they have eighten but like I'm not
Speaker 1: trusting Eitan yet because from what I've seen and just
Speaker 1: he has no experience, so I don't know. And then
Speaker 1: in the second round, if you have to face the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I think you'll be more equipped to face them rather
Speaker 1: than in the first. So what are your guys thoughts
Speaker 1: on that you can go ahead? Rush? Yeah? That was
Speaker 1: that was a lot. I guess I'll try to keep
Speaker 1: up with I guess the defense I think you talked
Speaker 1: about that. Oh, look, I think the defense is good
Speaker 1: enough against any of these teams. Like the Suns are
Speaker 1: a really good team. I feel like they're a really
Speaker 1: high level regular season team. But I think they're pretty
Speaker 1: close to like where they're going to peek at um.
Speaker 1: So like in my opinion, I think Jason, you've said
Speaker 1: this to like, we just want to avoid the Clippers
Speaker 1: in the first round. Like, I don't think the Lakers
Speaker 1: are operating that way at all. It doesn't feel like that,
Speaker 1: but I just think like that's what we would that's
Speaker 1: what we'd prefer to try to just get Lebron's legs going. Um.
Speaker 1: I saw all the doctors kind of Laker Twitter doctors
Speaker 1: say that Lebron probably won't be himself until the second
Speaker 1: round because I guess it takes like a full twelve
Speaker 1: weeks to get that full level of healing bad So,
Speaker 1: like just to get just to get a matchup where
Speaker 1: they don't have to go against those full superstar wings
Speaker 1: in the first round out there, I think it would
Speaker 1: be good for them. Um And yeah, like look, the
Speaker 1: West is tough. There's no easy matchup like Denver being
Speaker 1: the prize in the West. It is just shows how
Speaker 1: good the West is in my opinion, Like they're on
Speaker 1: a ridiculous team. M P. J. Yokich is the clear
Speaker 1: m v P for me, um So, and that's surprise
Speaker 1: team in the West. And you go all the other matchup.
Speaker 1: Utah is really good, really solid. Um So, like there's
Speaker 1: no easy matchup there that you want to try to
Speaker 1: avoid the Clippers in my opinion, but the Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna have to win against tough teams for all three
Speaker 1: all four rounds um in the playoffs in the final.
Speaker 1: So I guess that's my take on that. I think
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what other questions were in there, but
Speaker 1: but yeah, like just going from playoff to playoff matchup, um,
Speaker 1: I feel like that it's gonna be tough either way.
Speaker 1: There's no avoiding it. You're just gonna have to have
Speaker 1: to start playing well. And that's that's my fear here,
Speaker 1: is we're just going full health, zero continuity, zero chemistry,
Speaker 1: zero building anything learning from any of these games. Really,
Speaker 1: you watch these games back and there's just nothing ready
Speaker 1: to learn. Our coverages are so simple, are very relaxed,
Speaker 1: are very health conscious. Trying to get eight D to
Speaker 1: just be able to relax and ROLLM on defense to
Speaker 1: a point where he doesn't have to really go too hard.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I guess that's my sum up here. Sorry,
Speaker 1: it's kind of late, Jason, You're good. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: if the Lakers end up in a play in game,
Speaker 1: you should pick the Lakers. The Lakers are the smart bet.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're the there are a championship caliber team
Speaker 1: that is low in the standings because of other circumstances,
Speaker 1: and the other teams that are going to be in
Speaker 1: the play in which are most likely going to be
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors, and in need
Speaker 1: of the Spurs Repelicans. You're gonna be smart to pick
Speaker 1: the Lakers in those matchups. Don't get me wrong, because
Speaker 1: those are extremely flawed basketball teams that are not championship contenders.
Speaker 1: So I hear where you're coming from in the sense
Speaker 1: that you know, you like that the Lakers would probably
Speaker 1: beat up Golden State. They would kill him on the inside.
Speaker 1: They would devote an enormous amount of attention to Step,
Speaker 1: and they've had success against Step with exception of choking
Speaker 1: a late fourth quarter lead. And and I hear you
Speaker 1: on all of that. It's just that in a one
Speaker 1: game sample of any NBA basketball anything can happen. And
Speaker 1: if and I personally think the upside of avoiding that
Speaker 1: uh is better there I should say, the downside of
Speaker 1: having to potentially deal with the Clippers in the first
Speaker 1: round seven gamer, I think is is better than the
Speaker 1: downside of potentially having to deal with you know, a
Speaker 1: game of Russian Roulette and the play in you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, And that's what it is like. You're
Speaker 1: probably gonna be fine, but you might blow your brains out,
Speaker 1: you know, so like that. So that's kind of that's
Speaker 1: kind of where I'm at with the plane app. We
Speaker 1: think these are all valid points. Um. Not to cut
Speaker 1: you off, Rob, sorry, but you're good. Yeah. I just
Speaker 1: think like healthy Lebron, healthy a D. One of the
Speaker 1: best duos I've ever seen in my life. I just
Speaker 1: feel like if that's there, there really shouldn't be much
Speaker 1: like else to talk about. Yep, that's what they're that's
Speaker 1: what they're betting on, and so hopefully they're right. Um,
Speaker 1: and that if you have healthy Lebron and a D
Speaker 1: still have a bunch of people who pick them and
Speaker 1: they should be fine. But there's just stuff that this
Speaker 1: don't need to work on. Edge. I appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: on man, Thanks, yeah, thank you, appreciate it. Love the
Speaker 1: love the spaces appreciate alright. Last last one, Uh, like
Speaker 1: I called the night. What's going on? Let's see if
Speaker 1: they connects? What if? Sam? Can you hear me? What's
Speaker 1: going on there? Jason Rods? What up? Guys? Mane you
Speaker 1: guys doing incredible jobs to the Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: So I've got a two part question here. So, first
Speaker 1: of all, I mean, I think it would be interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, you've seen Lebron James at a you know,
Speaker 1: a game seven high stakes game. We've never seen Lebron
Speaker 1: James at a playing game with high stakes. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty interested in you know what that's gonna look like. Um.
Speaker 1: But let's go past that. Let's say for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: you know, we do win the playing games. Um. All right,
Speaker 1: So there's a question for both of you. I want
Speaker 1: to know who is your preferred matchup between the Clippers
Speaker 1: Sons and the Jazz all right? And second part question
Speaker 1: is the big question that everybody's asking. What would be
Speaker 1: your big man rotation with that, you know, as far
Speaker 1: as Harold, as far as Mark, as far as uh,
Speaker 1: you know, putting in you know, a d at the five,
Speaker 1: maybe you know, using Drummond. So who would you rather
Speaker 1: face out of those three? And what players would you
Speaker 1: use as far as the big man role goals. So,
Speaker 1: I so we've never I've actually thought about this a
Speaker 1: little bit in the last few days. You're right, we've
Speaker 1: never seen Lebron in a in a in a winner
Speaker 1: take all type of game in the sense that it's
Speaker 1: a single elimination format. We have seen Lebron in a
Speaker 1: lot of games Sevans though, which while they're not the
Speaker 1: same in terms of the chess match, they are the
Speaker 1: same in the form of the pressure. Um So I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about about the pressure. What what would get
Speaker 1: the Lakers beat in a play in game is horrible
Speaker 1: shooting from the role players and excellent shooting from their opponent.
Speaker 1: That would be what gets them beat. And and the
Speaker 1: reason why I think that should scare people is because
Speaker 1: that's some of that is out of your control. Uh So,
Speaker 1: some of that is just kind of the nature of
Speaker 1: the way the ball bounces in the m Yet, so like,
Speaker 1: if you can avoid that, I think you should. That
Speaker 1: said you, like I said it before, you should you
Speaker 1: should pick the Lakers. As far as those three teams
Speaker 1: that the Sun's, Jazz, and the Clippers, I think they
Speaker 1: should hope to face the Jazz. I think the Clippers
Speaker 1: are the team most well equipped to beat the Lakers.
Speaker 1: And as I've said many times, I think that I
Speaker 1: think the Suns are are significantly better than the Jazz,
Speaker 1: and they're much more built for a playoff environment. They've
Speaker 1: got a point guard with a ton of wayoff experience.
Speaker 1: They've got an Elite three level score, which is something
Speaker 1: that's an extremely valuable thing in a playoff series. They've
Speaker 1: got lots of defensive wings, and Jake Crowder and Michael
Speaker 1: Bridges and even Cam Johnson's a halfway decent defensive wing.
Speaker 1: And then DeAndre Ayton, you know, is certainly going to
Speaker 1: be a presence. He's not as good as as the
Speaker 1: Laker front court, but he's going to be a presence.
Speaker 1: And that's not to say that I wouldn't pick the
Speaker 1: Lakers in the match. If I would, I just find
Speaker 1: them less intimidating in a playoff series for the chess
Speaker 1: match than what the Lakers could do to the Jazz.
Speaker 1: I think the Jazz have a severe lack of wing
Speaker 1: defense between Royce O'Neil and and Boyan Bogdanovitch to deal
Speaker 1: with Lebron and a d and they have they have
Speaker 1: the cure for Rudy Gobert with two centers that can
Speaker 1: shoot threes um and then quite frankly, when it comes
Speaker 1: to close games, I think Donovan Mitchell has a little
Speaker 1: bit of the Russell Westbrook aidis in the sense that
Speaker 1: he just has a tendency to go out guns blazing,
Speaker 1: which isn't necessarily the best decisions to make in crunch time.
Speaker 1: And and I usually would I would pick Lebron making
Speaker 1: decisions at the end of games over Donovan Mitchell. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in a seven game series ad percent of
Speaker 1: the time. So I think the Lakers would win that
Speaker 1: matchup relatively easily, even in the weekend state. So the
Speaker 1: Jazz would be your best bet. So that would require
Speaker 1: them to lose to the Warriors in the first playoff,
Speaker 1: playing in game and then and then to beat the
Speaker 1: winner of Memphis and whoever wins the the Pelican Spurs race.
Speaker 1: So would would your big man rotation then to be
Speaker 1: just Harold and I mean Gasol and if we're up
Speaker 1: to if we're up to me, it would be a
Speaker 1: D and Marcosol is the only two fives that play. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: see that's what I would rather play the Suns, Like
Speaker 1: I know, the Suns are really good, just I feel
Speaker 1: like this is their peak. Though I said a little earlier,
Speaker 1: I feel like they peaked kind of who they are.
Speaker 1: I don't see another level that they'll get to. I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers are the best guard defenders in the
Speaker 1: league like I love Crusoe, shooter, um k CP all
Speaker 1: like Chase Around, Devon book or Chris Paul, and I
Speaker 1: think the Suns are still kind of young like deonder
Speaker 1: At and I just don't think will I think he
Speaker 1: will be really good, I just don't think he's ready
Speaker 1: for like that kind of playoff matchup against a guy
Speaker 1: like a d if he's gonna play the five um
Speaker 1: and again, like we see what happens to like Chris Paul, teams,
Speaker 1: teams start to switch bigger hope to get into him.
Speaker 1: And I just know Chris Paul and Devin Booker are
Speaker 1: gonna be able to hit that midrange kind of jumper
Speaker 1: to in a level that will get them four wins
Speaker 1: on the Lakers. I would I would think the songs.
Speaker 1: I think it's close, though, I don't think there's no
Speaker 1: easy match up there. And I think Tress can. I
Speaker 1: think Tress can kind of play against Phoenix, right. They
Speaker 1: played Dario Sarich as their backup five a lot, like
Speaker 1: I think trys can get minutes there, um this Saul
Speaker 1: as well against Eton and uh. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Drummond can play. That depends how he's playing. Honestly. Um,
Speaker 1: but I would hope Eight will be at the five
Speaker 1: in those lineups. So I would rather play Phoenix. But
Speaker 1: there's no like easy game there, especially if you're in
Speaker 1: the play and you gotta play that game to win
Speaker 1: and then you have to play a tough series against
Speaker 1: a tough West team. But I would rather play Phoenix,
Speaker 1: to be honest. Yeah, Rod, to your point, I mean
Speaker 1: that's the thing is a lot of people talk Phoenix
Speaker 1: and they mentioned experience, but if you look all around,
Speaker 1: I mean Chris Paul is the one that does have
Speaker 1: the experience. I mean, you look at Devin Booker, you're
Speaker 1: looking at eight and they don't really have that playoff
Speaker 1: for you know, high stakes experience yet you know. But
Speaker 1: um that that's the only thing that makes me want
Speaker 1: to play Phoenix a little bit more because I know
Speaker 1: Chris Paul can be dangerous, but the other guys don't
Speaker 1: really have it. I mean Jay Crowder, yeah he was
Speaker 1: in the finals, But as far as everything else as
Speaker 1: a whole unit, I feel like we can, you know,
Speaker 1: handle Phoenix a little bit easier that we can handle
Speaker 1: the other teams. Utah has kind of been in the
Speaker 1: playoffs a little bit already gone to that game seven
Speaker 1: with Denver, so I know they have a chip on
Speaker 1: their shoulder, so it can be tough. I would choose
Speaker 1: Phoenix myself. Yeah, man, I feel like overall we do
Speaker 1: got to use Mark a little bit more. Vogel has gotta,
Speaker 1: you know, get out of the politics. You know, if
Speaker 1: you have to sit drum in some games, you have
Speaker 1: to sit them. Um. You know that's my take, And
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys for letting me on. I'm kind
Speaker 1: of the opposite of Jim Hill here asking last question
Speaker 1: instead of first. But I appreciate you guys. Man, you
Speaker 1: guys are killing it. Thanks man, I appreciate the kind words.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it, man, Thank you, and it's man. Yeah, we've
Speaker 1: been going a while here. Appreciate everyone that came and
Speaker 1: requested to speak and came up. Hopefully that helped anyone
Speaker 1: here that kind of got stuff off their chest and
Speaker 1: was able to to um to talk it out. So yeah, thanks,
Speaker 1: thanks everyone, Thank you, and I will I will take
Speaker 1: the time I've been waiting until the morning is usually
Speaker 1: because I've been so tired, but I'll take the time
Speaker 1: to get the pot up tonight so that you guys
Speaker 1: can listen to it whenever you wake up tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1: Appreciate everyone, Thank you, Thanks guys,