Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast. Happy
Speaker 1: Friday everyone. I am feeling good to be back. Thankfully
Speaker 1: Raj and my guy Rouse from Houston, we're able to
Speaker 1: step in and fill in for me. While I was
Speaker 1: celebrating my birthday, was some dear friends out in San Diego. Um,
Speaker 1: first of all, Raj, how is your past week? How
Speaker 1: is Vegas? Do I need to get out there next year?
Speaker 1: Tell tell me about it? Man, how did it go?
Speaker 1: It was great? Yeah? Vegas was nice. Um, it was
Speaker 1: still extremely hot. So um, but I'm I feel like
Speaker 1: you'd be used to that. But yeah, some of the
Speaker 1: leagues are really cool place. It's a really nice mix
Speaker 1: of like really die hard fans you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: just a really different experience. The fans are like on
Speaker 1: top of the players, so like that there's people who
Speaker 1: want to like talk to the players and kind of uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, go at them like if they miss
Speaker 1: a free though or something. You have people counting down
Speaker 1: like Janice um when other people at the line. But
Speaker 1: it's so it's such a like a close knit experience.
Speaker 1: You got to go there at least once for sure. Well.
Speaker 1: And the other thing too, is I mean Twitter has
Speaker 1: been an interesting experience because it can be an ugly
Speaker 1: place sometimes, But at the same time, I've met so
Speaker 1: many great people on Twitter and have built good relationships.
Speaker 1: And it seems like that, uh, that NBA Summer League
Speaker 1: in Vegas is just a great opportunity to meet a
Speaker 1: lot of the people that you've become friends with on
Speaker 1: this platform. And so, you know, as as much as
Speaker 1: as much as it's become a social media world, I
Speaker 1: think it'd be cool to meet a bunch of you
Speaker 1: guys in person. Plus I just love basketball and I'd
Speaker 1: love to get out there and and uh and get
Speaker 1: to experience that up close and personal, especially when it
Speaker 1: comes to the really fun part of being a fan,
Speaker 1: which is evaluated young talent like that. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good to be back. As much as I love
Speaker 1: birthday celebrations that they can get, they can drag on
Speaker 1: as you get older, because you get to the point
Speaker 1: where you have these like different connections all over the place,
Speaker 1: whether it's this friend group or this family, your wife's family. Like, oh,
Speaker 1: the person who wasn't able to make it to the
Speaker 1: big friend things, so now you gotta do a separate
Speaker 1: thing with them, and then all of a sudden over
Speaker 1: the course of two weeks, you're just kind of NonStop
Speaker 1: doing stuff. So I'm kind of excited to just be
Speaker 1: thirty and and moving through my life now not have
Speaker 1: to be stressing about birthday stuff. But how was How
Speaker 1: was San Diego though? Like if you were in my
Speaker 1: state now, like what was how what was San Diego
Speaker 1: like for you? So I I haven't been in six years.
Speaker 1: And if you look at my Instagram or of my
Speaker 1: Twitter page and you scroll down, I posted a picture
Speaker 1: of myself on this bridge six years ago with my wife,
Speaker 1: and uh, it has always been one of my favorite
Speaker 1: places on the planet. The weather is incredible, the food
Speaker 1: is unbelo lievable. It's just to me, like, I've been
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles a lot because when I played basketball
Speaker 1: in college, a lot of my road games were in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, so I spent probably I probably went there
Speaker 1: a dozen times during my years in college, and I'd
Speaker 1: like Los Angeles. Don't get me wrong, but I think
Speaker 1: San Diego is prettier. That's just that's just my personal opinion.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sure some l A guys would probably disagree
Speaker 1: with me, but I can't wait to go back. I
Speaker 1: hope to go back more frequently. And by the way,
Speaker 1: they were shockingly back at it in terms of like
Speaker 1: partying and like COVID doesn't exist out there. I in
Speaker 1: the weeks leading up, I was worried about that being
Speaker 1: an issue and ended up not being an issue. Um. Anyways,
Speaker 1: let's get to the basketball. So, like, what we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about today is, you know, for starters, We're gonna
Speaker 1: start with the defense for the Lakers, because fascinatingly enough,
Speaker 1: there seems to be almost a consensus among Lakers fans
Speaker 1: that the defense is going to take a step back
Speaker 1: this year, and I actually disagree, and I'm gonna explain why. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna get your input on it and
Speaker 1: kind of hash that out a little bit. We're gonna
Speaker 1: focus in on two particular role players today, Wayne Ellington
Speaker 1: and Trevor Reza, who I think are two of the
Speaker 1: more interesting players on this team in terms of guys
Speaker 1: that could potentially not play much at all, or guys
Speaker 1: who could be huge key rotation pieces in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and and what could what could go right and wrong
Speaker 1: to lead that to happen. We're gonna talking about Lebron's
Speaker 1: comments yesterday and his his revival of the washed King narrative. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then we're gonna if we have time at the end. Uh.
Speaker 1: We only have about forty five minutes today, but if
Speaker 1: we have time at the end, we're gonna talk about uh,
Speaker 1: the Kevin Durant and Draymond Green. Um, the the someone
Speaker 1: says in the comments. Someone in the comments says, I
Speaker 1: come in and you guys are just bragging about v ks,
Speaker 1: making me feel broken. Anyway, at the end, we're gonna
Speaker 1: touch on the Katie Draymond stuff. But let's get started
Speaker 1: with the defense. So so here's the deal. Um, I
Speaker 1: think there there are three reasons why I think the
Speaker 1: Laker defense is going to be better this year. And
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to touch on him quick and then
Speaker 1: we can kind of deep dive into him a little bit. Um.
Speaker 1: But obviously so many people are are kind of honed
Speaker 1: in on the fact that the guards aren't as good,
Speaker 1: and I get that, I do. I I understand the sentiment. However,
Speaker 1: one of the most important things to understand is like,
Speaker 1: there's a reason why a guy like Ben McLemore gets
Speaker 1: plugged into the Lakers, and it doesn't work out defensively,
Speaker 1: and the reason why is because he's kind of set
Speaker 1: up to fail in the sense that he's not a
Speaker 1: naturally great defender to begin with. But there was no
Speaker 1: training camp and there was no practice, and so you're
Speaker 1: taking a guy and you're basically hoping that you can
Speaker 1: just verbally tell him how to fit into your defensive
Speaker 1: scheme and then learn on the fly with these like
Speaker 1: ten minutes stints because he wasn't getting much playing time,
Speaker 1: you know, he wasn't getting these long drawn out stants
Speaker 1: where he could kind of figure out where his fit
Speaker 1: is fit was with the defense. One of the reasons why,
Speaker 1: I think if you remember when a d first signed
Speaker 1: with the Lakers, there there was a similar pessimism surrounding
Speaker 1: the guard corps. Avery Bradley had been hurt most of
Speaker 1: the previous two years. He had a reputation as being
Speaker 1: a good point of attack defender in Boston, but Clippers
Speaker 1: fans were reaching out the Lakers fans telling everyone that
Speaker 1: he was washed, you know, Rondo washed, you know KCP capable,
Speaker 1: but wasn't exactly the kind of pedigree of defender that
Speaker 1: he became with Anthony Davison Lebron uh Caruso. We knew
Speaker 1: he was a high effort guy, we didn't know he
Speaker 1: was going to be this wrecking ball defensively. And that's
Speaker 1: not to say that this group this year is that talented,
Speaker 1: because they aren't. But there's a similar pessimism. And I
Speaker 1: really think giving Frank Vogel that full training camp with
Speaker 1: them and in the normal season with normal practices is
Speaker 1: gonna at least give them their best chance to fulfill
Speaker 1: their role. And there is some defensive talent there talent.
Speaker 1: Horton Tucker has a great deal of defensive talent. Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook is capable. Kemp Baysmore actually has had stretches of
Speaker 1: being a really good defensive players. So I think training
Speaker 1: camp and practices are gonna help. Secondly, really quick. Last year,
Speaker 1: the vast majority of center minutes were played by Montrese
Speaker 1: harrold uh, Andre Drummond, and Marcusol and they split those
Speaker 1: minutes just about evenly. Anthony Davis almost played no center.
Speaker 1: And the number one action that teams run on offense,
Speaker 1: especially during the regular season, is pick and roll, and
Speaker 1: the number one pick and roll defender on on the
Speaker 1: Lakers for the vast majority of those possessions was one
Speaker 1: of those three guys. Well, this year, the vast majority
Speaker 1: of the center minutes I think are going to be
Speaker 1: split between Dwight and a D. That's a significant upgrade.
Speaker 1: As much help as a D can provide off the ball,
Speaker 1: he's actually significantly more valuable in the screen action as
Speaker 1: the big man in his ability to kind of cover
Speaker 1: those gaps in a way that those guys last year couldn't.
Speaker 1: And then Dwight Howard's just better than those guys defensively,
Speaker 1: So I think you're getting a big upgrade in terms
Speaker 1: of your pick and roll defense. And Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond, and then lastly, Trevor Reasa. I think you know,
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma became a good help defender last year. He
Speaker 1: became an okay on ball defender. Uh Mark Kief was
Speaker 1: okay on the ball, is better in the post, not
Speaker 1: great on the perimeter, but he was kind of bad
Speaker 1: in rotations and stuff like that. Trevor Reason, even at
Speaker 1: the back end of his career, is a significant upgrade
Speaker 1: in terms of on ball defense and veteran savvy off
Speaker 1: ball defense, knowing when to commit when not to commit.
Speaker 1: Big game reps for all of that stuff. So those
Speaker 1: three things in particular are why I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: more optimistic about them defensively this year. What about what
Speaker 1: I just said, do you think I'm wrong about Are
Speaker 1: you also optimistic that there will be a good defensive
Speaker 1: team this year or do you think there will be
Speaker 1: a slit? I think you made good points. They are
Speaker 1: like you talked about Kyle Kuzma. I think he's like
Speaker 1: the face of this for me because it's kind of
Speaker 1: crazy when he left, um the kind of national media
Speaker 1: it was like, oh, who's gonna defend now, which is
Speaker 1: just wild to me because when Kyle Kuzma was here,
Speaker 1: he was known as a bad defender, like he could
Speaker 1: not defend before you know, he got with Vogel and
Speaker 1: really um up to his health defense, up to up
Speaker 1: this point of attack defense. To me, it's just all
Speaker 1: it's like reputation versus ability, right. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: Russell Russell Westbrook can defend, like he has all the tools,
Speaker 1: but he just never shown it the last few years
Speaker 1: to be a good defender. Um, say Trevor Reason, I
Speaker 1: think people are worried about his age a little bit. Um.
Speaker 1: I know you talked about him. I'm worried about himing
Speaker 1: at that age in the AD two game season. I
Speaker 1: think a D two versus sixteen this is kind of
Speaker 1: what we're discussing here in the regular season, Like how
Speaker 1: much effort is he gonna have? Um defensively Lebron as well? Right, Lebron,
Speaker 1: is he gonna put up another crazy defensive year? Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's where the thing is here. Um, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis will be the rock on that team. All obviously
Speaker 1: he will be the center, but uh, in that starting
Speaker 1: line up, to me, I still think Mark's gonna start
Speaker 1: so like for me, I feel like eight is not
Speaker 1: gonna start at the five. I think I think we
Speaker 1: talked about this, so like your defense there Westbrook, Lebron,
Speaker 1: maybe any whoever's that the guard spot also doesn't have
Speaker 1: a reputable defense, right if it's Wayne Alington, Malik Monk,
Speaker 1: maybe it's Kendrick Nunn, who's a little bit better as
Speaker 1: a pointed to tack Fender. But that's where my pessimism is. UM,
Speaker 1: I think Vogel should get the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1: Like last year, I think Bron and a D played
Speaker 1: like twenty games together something, and they still kept the
Speaker 1: number one defense, But I think that's where the question
Speaker 1: is for me, Like for you, how much do you
Speaker 1: think Lebron will be bought in? I guess defensively um
Speaker 1: this season, because I think that's where it is, um
Speaker 1: And we'll discuss his like comments, I guess later, But
Speaker 1: like just him on the defensive end, I think that's
Speaker 1: where we have to see and Westbrook as well. He's
Speaker 1: gonna have to show it. Westbrook has been in this
Speaker 1: league for way too long to have the benefit benefit
Speaker 1: of the doubt defensively, and I think that's where it's
Speaker 1: so key to me. Your guards need to have some
Speaker 1: level of awareness on defense to to have an impact there,
Speaker 1: to have a good defensive team, and I think the
Speaker 1: Acres last year they did. Um. You can credit the
Speaker 1: coaching stuff, but you always talk about it credit the
Speaker 1: players as well for getting better on that end. The
Speaker 1: players have to put in the work and they did.
Speaker 1: We had good defensive cards and we'll see this year.
Speaker 1: But I think that's where most of the pessimism is,
Speaker 1: at least for me too. I think we're gonna score
Speaker 1: score like hell, but like staying in front of guys
Speaker 1: that that's probably worried about a d can clean up
Speaker 1: a lot, but I mean, how much can you clean up?
Speaker 1: Is my question there? But yeah, for you, how much
Speaker 1: do you think Lebron is gonna be Because I think
Speaker 1: he's a big key of that starting lineup he's gonna
Speaker 1: be He's gonna have to be the second secondary uh
Speaker 1: secondary health defender if it's Marcusol at center. So where
Speaker 1: do you think pretty much do you think Lebron buys
Speaker 1: in this this year? I think Lebron is gonna have
Speaker 1: a great defensive season. The really short easy answer there
Speaker 1: is that he has He's gonna have less offensive responsibility
Speaker 1: than ever before. Um I can't think of a single
Speaker 1: season in my time watching and rooting for Lebron where
Speaker 1: he's going to have less on his plate offensively, He's
Speaker 1: going to be able to have entire games where Russ
Speaker 1: really has it going, or he can take on a
Speaker 1: tertiary role. Now whether or not he even wants that
Speaker 1: is is another story. But I think he's going to
Speaker 1: have a lot of We know Lebron. Lebron likes to
Speaker 1: be the center of attention, and it actually manifests in
Speaker 1: a good way in a situation like this because Lebron
Speaker 1: is so capable of impacting the game without the basketball
Speaker 1: in his hands that he's that guy that, like, if
Speaker 1: the crowd's really into it and Russ is Russ is
Speaker 1: the star of the show, Lebron's gonna try to squeeze
Speaker 1: his way in there and be the start. But not
Speaker 1: by taking shots. He's gonna do it by defending, by
Speaker 1: getting out transition and trying to get dunks. He He's
Speaker 1: done this periodically over the years with Kyrie, with Dwayne Wade,
Speaker 1: where like he finds a way to stay visible on
Speaker 1: the court through what he does off the ball defensively
Speaker 1: and then just as a rebounder, just a just a
Speaker 1: big presence on the floor. Um, you know, don't forget
Speaker 1: like they're not going to go into training camp and
Speaker 1: have Frank Vogel walk in and be like, all right, guys,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna be a lesser defensive team this year
Speaker 1: because you know, Kendrick, you suck and you know the
Speaker 1: MO League you can't defend either. So what we're gonna
Speaker 1: do is we're just gonna focus on the offensive end. Now,
Speaker 1: that's not what he's gonna say. You know what Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel is gonna come in there and say, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: guess what, We're gonna be the best defensive team in
Speaker 1: the league this year. That's what he's gonna say. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be the identity of the team. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: what Frank's focus is. Now. Does Frank have different pieces
Speaker 1: to work with this year, Yes, But like I discussed earlier,
Speaker 1: your pick and roll defense is going to shift from
Speaker 1: a combination of Mark uh marcusol, Andre Drummond, and Montrez
Speaker 1: Harold to a combination of Marcus al Dwight Howard, and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. That's a gigantic upgrade. And your big man
Speaker 1: pick and roll defense. You know, minutes that we're going
Speaker 1: to Mark, Keith and Kuzma are now going to go
Speaker 1: to Areza and mellow That's mellow As is a less
Speaker 1: than good defensive player, but Ariza is better. So I
Speaker 1: would argue that's a slide upgrade there. He's gonna look
Speaker 1: at the guards and he's gonna say, okay, a little thinner,
Speaker 1: we have guys who can defend at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: but guys that can't. And he's going to build a
Speaker 1: scheme that is going to work. He's going to think
Speaker 1: in terms of lineups. He's gonna think, Okay, my bench
Speaker 1: lineup is going to center around Kendrick Nunn and Malik
Speaker 1: Monk with Lebron and Dwight Howard and some other wing
Speaker 1: to be so with this group, we need to use
Speaker 1: a funneling defense where we chase guys off the line
Speaker 1: and try to always force him to the middle, where
Speaker 1: Dwight or whatever. I'm just coming up a baseline or middle.
Speaker 1: I don't know what his scheme is gonna be. He's
Speaker 1: going to figure out what he thinks is gonna work
Speaker 1: with that specific lineup and they'll shift around and that
Speaker 1: that's just that to me is like, as much as
Speaker 1: we are pessimistic, I have a feeling that Frank Vogel
Speaker 1: is actually kind of chomping at the bit here to
Speaker 1: get to work with these guys because I would be
Speaker 1: willing to bet he thinks they're going to be a
Speaker 1: great defensive team this year. Oh yeah, for sure. I
Speaker 1: mean we can say this is offensive team, but Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel obviously like his thing is defense, even so times
Speaker 1: at a detriment to the offense. Right, He's gonna pick
Speaker 1: defense over offense. Um every single time. I think you're
Speaker 1: right with that, though, Like just on the basketball floor,
Speaker 1: I think this is this has to be a funneling
Speaker 1: type of defense, Um funneling or a switching defense, depending
Speaker 1: on the kind of personnel. But I think funneling probably
Speaker 1: makes more sense. Um again, because I don't believe that
Speaker 1: he's gonna play the five as much as you know
Speaker 1: people think he is. But if it's like a D
Speaker 1: and Dwight, then you can really have the guards kind
Speaker 1: of funnel. I think that's one thing that Frank Vogel
Speaker 1: is really good at. He's good at like kind of
Speaker 1: explaining his scheme right, making it kind of simplified for
Speaker 1: the guys on the floor, Um, kind of forcing guys
Speaker 1: into the paint Um, and then a D and Lebron
Speaker 1: can kind of be those crazy health defenders or ADI
Speaker 1: kind of gets steals that come to the corner and
Speaker 1: stuff stuff like that. Like that's how I believe this
Speaker 1: team will defend. But then it remains to be seen.
Speaker 1: Like when you have guys like Westbrook Carmelo and you're
Speaker 1: you know, in your rotation like that, you give up
Speaker 1: stuff defensively. That's just how it works. Guys can kind
Speaker 1: of pick on him, um, and he can get back
Speaker 1: on Vick back on them on the offensive end. But
Speaker 1: that's I guess where the concern is. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I agree, like it has to be a funneling
Speaker 1: defense or if eighties at the five, you can kind
Speaker 1: of switch a little bit with bron and Brandon a
Speaker 1: d at the four or five. But it remains to
Speaker 1: be seen. But I'm not as optimistic as like a
Speaker 1: top five defense. I'm not. I'm not sure. I think
Speaker 1: if they can stay top ten and with the offensive
Speaker 1: jumps that they have, I think you can make up
Speaker 1: for the margin and make them a better team than
Speaker 1: they were last year for sure. But that because that's
Speaker 1: where I want to see it first. Um, because again
Speaker 1: I think Mark's gonna start and then Dwight off the bench,
Speaker 1: Dwyan Dwight as your main center. Um, well, we'll see
Speaker 1: how that works. But I'm interested to see how like
Speaker 1: they defend defend with that. I think that in terms
Speaker 1: of the scheme of the defense, they have a lot
Speaker 1: more versatility than I think people realize. Uh, they can
Speaker 1: go with a you know, everyone thinks that this Laker
Speaker 1: team has no point of attack defense. I would actually
Speaker 1: disagree I think that one of Russ's strengths actually his
Speaker 1: point of attack defense. It's probably his only defensive strength.
Speaker 1: But but it's something where when he when he he's
Speaker 1: such a competitor, he gives a ship so like he's
Speaker 1: just gonna be, you know, against specific matchups, he's gonna
Speaker 1: take that point of attack role personally. Now, if you
Speaker 1: imagine a line up with Russell Westbrook, Talent, Horton, Tucker Kemp,
Speaker 1: bays Moore, Lebron and Anthony Davis, that's an excellent point
Speaker 1: of attack defense team. That's a team that's not going
Speaker 1: to give up a ton of straight line drives. Now
Speaker 1: you can imagine a switching defensive lineup that's got Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis at the five, Lebron at the four, Trevor Reesa
Speaker 1: at the three. You know, bays Moore and Russ. Now
Speaker 1: you know, I'm six five or bigger two through five,
Speaker 1: and Russ is super strong and athletics, so I can
Speaker 1: probably switch everything in that lineup. That's a switching lineup
Speaker 1: that would work. And then you know lineups that have
Speaker 1: none in Monk in the backcourt. Maybe you play a
Speaker 1: D at the four with Dwight Howard and you go
Speaker 1: big in the front court, you trust all the shooting
Speaker 1: off of Anthony Davis to generate space, and you just
Speaker 1: continually funnel Chase all You give them an easy role. Look, Malik,
Speaker 1: I know you haven't been a great defensive player in
Speaker 1: your career. All I need you to do is chase
Speaker 1: these guy eyes off the line. If you can chase
Speaker 1: him off the line, I've got Dwight Howard and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis behind you, They're gonna be able to clean up
Speaker 1: a lot of your messes. There's a versatility with the
Speaker 1: lineup that I think again, with a full training camp
Speaker 1: and with the full uh set of normal practices that
Speaker 1: I think that this Lakers team is going to be
Speaker 1: able to defend. I personally think they will end up
Speaker 1: as a top five defense this year, just in terms
Speaker 1: of their depth. Frank Vogel, you know, the chip on
Speaker 1: their shoulder, the identity of the team, so on and
Speaker 1: so forth. Is there anything else you want to talk
Speaker 1: about with the defense before we move on? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think the depth is a good point. You look down
Speaker 1: that roster and it's like tough to see who's not
Speaker 1: going to play right, Like, like I go down, Um,
Speaker 1: you were asking me, like, what end of the bench
Speaker 1: guys you're thinking, and I'm going down the roster. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know who's the end of the bench
Speaker 1: guy right now, because I'm not really sure. We have
Speaker 1: like twelve thirteen guys who can play. And again, maybe
Speaker 1: that would bode well for guys like a Resa who
Speaker 1: can kind of play eighteen or fifteen minutes and just
Speaker 1: be you know, just be crazy active defensively in those
Speaker 1: minutes instead of having to be relied on for like
Speaker 1: the thirty. Again, guys like Monk None, all those dudes
Speaker 1: have the ability to play defense, like they have all
Speaker 1: the tools. It's just can they fit into the scheme? Do?
Speaker 1: Will they you know, be engaged? Will they make the rotations?
Speaker 1: You know, care about the little things? These are all
Speaker 1: guys who want another contract, you know, only all this
Speaker 1: stuff kind of goes into this this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So um, that's what I'm interested in. Will they do
Speaker 1: the little things? But yeah, I think we covered pretty
Speaker 1: nicely how the defense defense would shape UK. I think
Speaker 1: I think they'll do the little things well too. And
Speaker 1: and the very last thing I'll say and then we'll
Speaker 1: move on, is like we have two years of likeer defense.
Speaker 1: We have a year where they were the best in
Speaker 1: the West, but two Eastern Conference teams had better defensive
Speaker 1: ratings in a historically weak defensive Eastern Conference from from
Speaker 1: basically from eight to fifteen in that conference was absolute garbage.
Speaker 1: So as as you and I have discussed at length,
Speaker 1: a lot of the advanced metrics from that season don't
Speaker 1: make a ton of sense, uh, particularly in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: So I thought the Lakers were the best defense in
Speaker 1: in the league that year. I think they proved it.
Speaker 1: And then last year they actually were the best defensive
Speaker 1: team in the league. So I inc And there was
Speaker 1: a ton of roster turnover. You could have actually argued
Speaker 1: that shifting to Marcusol and Montrese Harrold was going to
Speaker 1: be a downgrade defensively last year. Uh. In Dennis Shrewder,
Speaker 1: as good as he is as a ball pressure guard,
Speaker 1: he kind of brings his whole other slew of defensive
Speaker 1: shortcomings because of his size. But yeah, it'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see. Will keep an eye on it. But I
Speaker 1: just wanted to kind of express where I'm at with
Speaker 1: the whole thing and let you know why I'm optimistic
Speaker 1: about it. But let's move on to Aresa, because this
Speaker 1: is another thing that I'm I'm kind of in the
Speaker 1: in the you know, I was listening to the LFR
Speaker 1: pod yesterday, I think, actually, and they did a pot
Speaker 1: on Areza and Mellow and there was a lot of
Speaker 1: pessimism surrounding Aresa from those guys, and you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of it does make sense, you know, like, Uh,
Speaker 1: Trevor Reason, even though he was a great athlete in
Speaker 1: his prime, he's certainly on the back end in that regard. Uh,
Speaker 1: he did not look great against Milwaukee and the playoffs
Speaker 1: last year. However, I would as a cautionary tale, like
Speaker 1: when a team gets swept and the wheels come off
Speaker 1: like that. I tend to think that. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: look at the Lakers last year. A lot of guys
Speaker 1: you got paid this year didn't look great in that
Speaker 1: in in that specific matchup. But the point being is that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna The reason why I'm optimistic about
Speaker 1: a reason is pretty simple. You when you're when you
Speaker 1: are in that fifth guy in the lineup type of spot,
Speaker 1: so much it's more about what you can screw up
Speaker 1: than what you can help, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So for instance, like if I'm running a bench lineup
Speaker 1: and I need a primary ball handler, I'd rather go
Speaker 1: small and play someone like Malik Monk at the two
Speaker 1: or at the three, even even if I had to
Speaker 1: play him at the three and the three guard lineup,
Speaker 1: because I need dribble creation and he at that point
Speaker 1: is almost at the top of the food chain for
Speaker 1: that particular lineup. But a Reason is never going to
Speaker 1: be that guy. A Reason is always going to be
Speaker 1: on the floor with super high end creators in Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook and Bron James. He'll never play a minute this
Speaker 1: year without either Russell Westbrook or Lebron James on the floor.
Speaker 1: He's going to be at the end of the lineup
Speaker 1: where all you really need is for him not to
Speaker 1: screw things up. He's not an elite three point shooter,
Speaker 1: but he's not a guy you can completely leave button
Speaker 1: naked all the time, so that's that's not gonna really
Speaker 1: hurt your spacing all that much. And then, defensively, even
Speaker 1: at this stage of his career, he's actually better than
Speaker 1: any wing defensive player that the Lakers have had in
Speaker 1: recent years. Now, the last thing I'll say about a
Speaker 1: Reason before before I let you go is there's something
Speaker 1: to be said about his minutes. If you look at
Speaker 1: his Basketball Reference sheet, he's always playing. Not only that,
Speaker 1: he's always playing a lot. Okay, since he became a
Speaker 1: bona fide rotation player. Last year was his lowest minutes total,
Speaker 1: and he played twenty eight minutes a game. Twenty eight
Speaker 1: minutes a game would have been one of the top
Speaker 1: rotation players last year on the Lakers. Now what does
Speaker 1: that mean. It just means that, for whatever reason, coaches
Speaker 1: trust this guy as that fifth guy in their lineup.
Speaker 1: And I think Frank will too. If you look throughout
Speaker 1: his Basketball reference sheet on every one of these teams,
Speaker 1: he's just constantly slot in is that fifth guy. And
Speaker 1: it's because he doesn't make mistakes. He shoots wide open shots,
Speaker 1: he makes simple reads at a close outs, and he
Speaker 1: defends at a high level, which is all you need
Speaker 1: out of that fifth starter. That's all you need. Did
Speaker 1: stop thinking about him being with the Lakers back in
Speaker 1: in two thousand nine reverse dunking on dudes, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: not That's not what his role is going to be
Speaker 1: on this team. It is going to be a master,
Speaker 1: like a completely simplified role that I think at his
Speaker 1: at his age and with his experience, he's going to
Speaker 1: excel at Yeah, for sure. The reason is a guy
Speaker 1: that like you know, Lia your fans love because of
Speaker 1: that time. But I'm just watching him now. To me,
Speaker 1: he's like he's not obviously as good as Andre Iguodala,
Speaker 1: but like he's in that kind of like older kind
Speaker 1: of statesman and I think he can do what p J.
Speaker 1: Tucker did right in the playoffs this year. Like to me,
Speaker 1: he's in he's in some gap between those two. To me,
Speaker 1: like he's a better shooter I think than p J.
Speaker 1: Tucker showed he can be um and he's not the
Speaker 1: playmaker you doll is, But he's the guy that he's
Speaker 1: just a glue guy. He knows how to play the
Speaker 1: game of basketball. He knows how to find fine guys
Speaker 1: when when they're open um he makes a simple reads um.
Speaker 1: He knows like if the help comes here, you know,
Speaker 1: sort of fast and twenty eight minutes the game. I
Speaker 1: did not know that. I did not know he played
Speaker 1: that much last year. But Eric Spoelsa doesn't, you know,
Speaker 1: take fools. He doesn't just play you if if uh,
Speaker 1: if you if you don't know what you're doing. So
Speaker 1: obviously he was he got something there, and uh, Miami
Speaker 1: obviously trusted him. But I think you're right. I think
Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing here is ten two minutes go
Speaker 1: to like eighteen or twenty, and then he can be
Speaker 1: super charged in those minutes, um, instead of you know,
Speaker 1: having to play twenty eight minutes. Because maybe that's why
Speaker 1: some of the you know, some he looks kind of
Speaker 1: slow sometimes and that's expected at thirty five years old.
Speaker 1: But I think, to me, he's another like you know,
Speaker 1: last year we got a lot of at two game
Speaker 1: players like Montres Harrold was an AD two game player. Um.
Speaker 1: When you look at the signing, Dennis Shrewder ended up
Speaker 1: being kind of like a T two game player. Um.
Speaker 1: But Trevor Lee's Trevor reasons a sixteen game player to me,
Speaker 1: Like what he does in the regular season, Um, he'll
Speaker 1: have good, he'll he have bad, he'll have ups and downs,
Speaker 1: he'll look slow sometimes, but I think in the sixteen
Speaker 1: game playoff setting, that's the guy you wanted your team,
Speaker 1: and that's what matters to me here. Um, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that you can throw on the best wing. Defender
Speaker 1: and you could just say, hey, stick him and then
Speaker 1: go stand in the corner on offense, and he can
Speaker 1: do that. He'll play his role um, and I think
Speaker 1: that's what's really interesting about him. And yeah, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: I'm more optimistic about Trevor reason than I think most
Speaker 1: of the national media's. I think he will defend well.
Speaker 1: He's one of the guys that's been a good defender
Speaker 1: no matter how old he has been so and he
Speaker 1: knows what he's doing, so so I agree with you there.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because he he's used to being the physical
Speaker 1: presence in these lineups. And you know when you watch
Speaker 1: with Miami for instance, you know they have bam Um,
Speaker 1: but like they were using him as their primary wing
Speaker 1: defensive player you look at to add size and length
Speaker 1: and athleticism the Rockets team. Literally, he's playing on a
Speaker 1: Rockets team that's playing Chris Paul and James Harden. The
Speaker 1: vast majority of their athleticism in that lineup was tied
Speaker 1: up in in Trevor Reasa because it'd be like Eric
Speaker 1: Gordon at the three, and then like Clint Capella, who
Speaker 1: wasn't guarding on the wing, but he was playing in
Speaker 1: that lineup. To the point being is like, this guy
Speaker 1: is used to being the guy that coaches insert into
Speaker 1: the lineup to be the six eight switchy wing that
Speaker 1: can kind of cover a lot of ground and make
Speaker 1: up for shortcomings from their smaller, less athletic guards. Well,
Speaker 1: now he's gonna be the third or fourth most athletic
Speaker 1: guy in every lineup, So like he's gonna be playing
Speaker 1: alongside Lebron and Anthony Davis, Lebron and Anthony Davison lineups
Speaker 1: that are just massively physically imposing. That to me is
Speaker 1: the exciting part. And you know, you said sixteen game player,
Speaker 1: and I agree, Like his great value will be in
Speaker 1: those playoff moments. And the reason why is, like I
Speaker 1: just said you we we watched the Bucks fall down
Speaker 1: to zero in back to back series, not back to back,
Speaker 1: in two series, and they actually lost Game one against
Speaker 1: Atlanta too, But over the course of those series, their
Speaker 1: physicality just eventually won the day. As things continued on,
Speaker 1: the other team just got tired and physically beat in
Speaker 1: a way that they couldn't match their intensity, and then
Speaker 1: it ended up costing them series and and and it
Speaker 1: won the Bucks the championship. I think the Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna have a similar impact on teams, and I think
Speaker 1: a reason is going to be a huge part of that.
Speaker 1: When you run lineups that have Russ baysmore Areasa Lebron
Speaker 1: in a D that is just a gigantic, like bludgeoning
Speaker 1: lineup in terms of just physical strength and power and
Speaker 1: athleticism and that sort of thing. You know, if you
Speaker 1: just Opareza for Kyle Kuzma, that already just becomes a
Speaker 1: significantly less physically imposing lineup because Kuzma, you know, we
Speaker 1: give him the reputation, uh or he earns the reputation
Speaker 1: of being a lesser defender. We give him props for
Speaker 1: turning himself into a possible defender. He never became a
Speaker 1: high end defensive player that that that never happened. He
Speaker 1: had his moments, but he was inconsistent. We just were
Speaker 1: giving him props for turning what was kind of a
Speaker 1: huge negative into something that was possible. Areza is an
Speaker 1: above average player even at this point in his career
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. Him plugging him
Speaker 1: instead of Kuzma into that lineup, in my opinion, is
Speaker 1: an upgrade in a playoff series in terms of that physicality,
Speaker 1: in that length and athleticism. So I I I think
Speaker 1: that I agree with you in the sense that he's
Speaker 1: going to be one of their biggest weapons in all
Speaker 1: of their key lineups in the playoffs. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: And he has He's another guy with like a seven
Speaker 1: two wings fan right, just huge arms can really get
Speaker 1: steals out. I think about a lineup with like we're
Speaker 1: not talking about th HD today, but like th h
Speaker 1: T or Reza, you know a D and you throw
Speaker 1: Lebron and whoever at the point, Russ or whatever. That's
Speaker 1: just a lot of arms going everywhere. And he's another
Speaker 1: guy like I think Vogel also comes from like that
Speaker 1: spolster kind of He's gonna go with defense man like
Speaker 1: Trevor Reason is a guy who can defend. Um, he
Speaker 1: has a chance to start too. I feel like like
Speaker 1: he could. He could start on this team. Um, if
Speaker 1: he's the best defender in camp, I think he will
Speaker 1: at the two. That's just the way Vogel kind of works.
Speaker 1: So um yeah, I think he's gonna get minutes on
Speaker 1: this team. Again, like I would like him in the
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty minute. I think we have enough guard. You
Speaker 1: talked about the depth the depth earlier, like we have
Speaker 1: enough guards on this team like that can kind of play. Um,
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of guys are gonna need minutes. And
Speaker 1: I think that works well for these older dudes, like
Speaker 1: like a Reason who can just you know, focus on
Speaker 1: his role defend and uh defending, hit hit corner threes.
Speaker 1: And I think he does that well. I think like
Speaker 1: half his shots came from three last year, if I
Speaker 1: if I looked at the numbers correctly, Um, so, uh
Speaker 1: yeah it was something like that if I remember correctly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he's a guy who's like a three n D
Speaker 1: and knows exactly what it is. You know, he's not
Speaker 1: gonna try to run pick and roles. He's not going
Speaker 1: to do anything that's out of his scope. He knows
Speaker 1: exactly what he is in the NBA. He knows what
Speaker 1: stuck him in the NBA, and he's gonna do that.
Speaker 1: I think those kind of players fit really well on
Speaker 1: a team full of you know, guys who need the ball,
Speaker 1: who need touches, all that stuff. A Reason as a
Speaker 1: guy just that can just fit in and that you
Speaker 1: talked about that he's a glue guy and he's why
Speaker 1: he's playing twenty eight minutes a game, which is really
Speaker 1: high for a guy at that age. I did not
Speaker 1: think he was playing. I don't even know Lebron played
Speaker 1: like thirty two or something, which is just which is
Speaker 1: just it's just funny to look at the reasons and
Speaker 1: it's in that in that way. But yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: guy who's gonna play. He's a glue guy and and
Speaker 1: he fits well into this this court for sure. He
Speaker 1: kind of reminds me of Wesley Matthews in the sense
Speaker 1: that like it's it's about the fact that he won't
Speaker 1: make mistakes, you know, like you can. Wesley Matthews did
Speaker 1: not shoot the ball particularly well last year, but he
Speaker 1: was still one of my favorite plug ins for lineups
Speaker 1: as a fifth guy as long as everything else was
Speaker 1: kind of cover by the other four players because of
Speaker 1: the fact that he just doesn't make mistakes and he
Speaker 1: competes on the defensive end. He's like a small forward
Speaker 1: version of Wesley Matthews. So last year, Lakers minutes uh
Speaker 1: k C p KCP played twenty eight minutes a game,
Speaker 1: So that gives you an idea of just the kind
Speaker 1: of role that Kyle Kuzma had and again like or
Speaker 1: excuse me, that Trevor Reasa had last year and and
Speaker 1: that was down from previous season. So the point is
Speaker 1: is like, if NBA coaches keep putting him into the lineup,
Speaker 1: then clearly there's value there. But let's let's go on
Speaker 1: to Ellington. And I want you to go first on
Speaker 1: this one. So what you you specifically mentioned that you
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about Ellington today? Why did you want
Speaker 1: to talk about Ellington? What has he so excited about him?
Speaker 1: I feel like he brings something that we just haven't
Speaker 1: had UM on this team in like two or three years.
Speaker 1: Actually just a guy, just a movement shooter, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? I think that changes so much when
Speaker 1: you have a screener like a D so, like when
Speaker 1: you have actions like where Ellington, because the Lakers run
Speaker 1: this run this action a lot. They start a shooter
Speaker 1: in the corner, right, so they started so sometimes this KCP.
Speaker 1: But whoever it is, Avery Bradley did this a lot, right,
Speaker 1: He had this triple handoff with Dwight Howard that they
Speaker 1: would run a lot off the bench. Um he'd come out.
Speaker 1: But every Baddley is not a three point threat. So
Speaker 1: like every Badley would come off and he's at the
Speaker 1: free throw line and it was effective. Avery Bradley hit
Speaker 1: his majoring jumpers or throw that loft to Dwight Wayne
Speaker 1: Ellington can do that behind the three point line. So
Speaker 1: like that screen and kind of move up and I
Speaker 1: think it's really exciting. Um, he was in like the
Speaker 1: I was looking at his numbers. He's with in like
Speaker 1: the seventy six percentile as an off screen shooter. These
Speaker 1: guys really comfortable moving off screens. Um, and just being
Speaker 1: able to fire like that and having a shooter like that,
Speaker 1: I think changes everything. When you have a guy like
Speaker 1: Russ Braun a d just a guy can fit. Um.
Speaker 1: I know you were talking about that. You don't think
Speaker 1: he's gonna play much, but I just feel like having
Speaker 1: that kind of dead eye shooter who can fire away,
Speaker 1: who can get hot, shoot shoot from three, Um, it's
Speaker 1: something we just haven't seen on this team. So what
Speaker 1: do you think about him, Deed? Do you think like
Speaker 1: my excitement is is a little bit overflowing on him
Speaker 1: or what do you think? Because I'm really excited to
Speaker 1: have a shooter of this caliber. K CP couldn't shoot
Speaker 1: like this coming out the screens. KCP was one of
Speaker 1: a spot up guy. He hit a few kind of
Speaker 1: curl shots, but not not in this way. Wellington is
Speaker 1: really good at like catching and then squaring up really quickly,
Speaker 1: um and not having to you know, set his feet
Speaker 1: and stuff like that in a way that our other
Speaker 1: shooters did. Yeah. So Ellington is a player that I've
Speaker 1: probably changed my opinion about the most since the signing.
Speaker 1: When he first signed, I just I thought of him.
Speaker 1: His first signing kind of reminded me of Troy Daniels
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: remember that. We're like, we're like the Kauai news hadn't
Speaker 1: even come down yet, and then it was just like
Speaker 1: Troy Daniels has agreed to a minimum deal and you're
Speaker 1: like they're like okay, Like I get Like it was
Speaker 1: it was clear that it was one of those deals
Speaker 1: that he just didn't carry. He was just going to
Speaker 1: the Lakers. You just assumed he was going to be
Speaker 1: an end of the bench guy, and he basically was.
Speaker 1: He barely played that year. Well that's what I thought
Speaker 1: about the the Ellington signing at first, because it was weird.
Speaker 1: It was like really quick it was early in free agency,
Speaker 1: none of the other chips had really fallen yet, and
Speaker 1: it was just like, oh, by the way, Wayne Ellington's
Speaker 1: gonna be a Laker, Okay, cool? Well, um, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: I was really interested. I got intrigued by him after
Speaker 1: listening to the JJ Reddick podcast um when he said
Speaker 1: that the most underrated signings, as most underrated signing from
Speaker 1: the Lakers this past summer was the Wayne Ellington signing,
Speaker 1: and he just said because he thinks that he's one
Speaker 1: of the best shooters in the game just from his
Speaker 1: personal experience. And then he also said something that I
Speaker 1: thought was interesting. He's like, he's one of the best
Speaker 1: competitors that I've played with. And I thought that was
Speaker 1: really interesting because to me, defense in particulars all about competitiveness.
Speaker 1: It's all about this idea that you know, you have
Speaker 1: a certain amount of physical tools, which Ellington is going
Speaker 1: to be a below average defensive player in terms of
Speaker 1: his physical tools at the position, but so much of
Speaker 1: it can be made up for just with giving a
Speaker 1: ship and and caring, and to me, that comes from
Speaker 1: your competitive nature and and that that to is something
Speaker 1: that uh that that brought me back around to look
Speaker 1: into Ellington. So as I started to look into him,
Speaker 1: a couple of things stood out to me. One, he's
Speaker 1: bigger than I thought he was, which was interesting because
Speaker 1: I for some reason I thought he was in that
Speaker 1: like kind of like six two range. But it turns
Speaker 1: out he's six four without shoes on, so he's actually
Speaker 1: got some size to him. And then two kind of
Speaker 1: similar to what I was saying about Aresa, he plays
Speaker 1: a lot, and he was on a team in Detroit
Speaker 1: where they had a lot of young guys and they
Speaker 1: were rebuilding and they were trying to give minutes to
Speaker 1: young guys, and he was started when he was there,
Speaker 1: And think think about what that would take, like the
Speaker 1: coaching staff deciding to start Wayne Ellington kind of a
Speaker 1: known commodity at this point in his career over prioritizing youth.
Speaker 1: And I think the reason why is because they knew
Speaker 1: in it actually helped the younger players because of all
Speaker 1: the little things he did on the floor to create base,
Speaker 1: to give them the ability to run to to run
Speaker 1: actions for him and so on and so forth. That
Speaker 1: that to me gets me excited, and and that that
Speaker 1: particular play that you're talking about, the one that they
Speaker 1: used to. There was a famous moment last year. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you can remember which game it was,
Speaker 1: but when they ran that Horn's action with the pin
Speaker 1: down handoff for Avery Bradley like five times in a
Speaker 1: row and he scored a time. I can't remember who
Speaker 1: they were playing, but it was something like that. But
Speaker 1: the Jazz, the Jazz. But that sounds about right, yeah,
Speaker 1: But like it's funny because like the Lakers, you know,
Speaker 1: Lebron and Anthony Davis have such high basketball I cues
Speaker 1: and they don't care about how they score that they
Speaker 1: were just willing to keep running the play because they
Speaker 1: didn't care. All they cared about was the fact that
Speaker 1: they were scoring. And you know what's funny is this
Speaker 1: year and this isn't just Ellington, this is Monk. This
Speaker 1: is especially Kendrick Nunn because he's so good on drible handoffs.
Speaker 1: They actually have three really good options to run that
Speaker 1: specific action with and and Ellington is really really exciting
Speaker 1: because he's actually a lot better than any of those
Speaker 1: guys at catching and firing with just the smallest amount
Speaker 1: of space, which is the kind of thing that causes
Speaker 1: defenses to panic and start to jump. That action, which
Speaker 1: is what leads to stuff like Anthony Davis slipping that
Speaker 1: screen or Dwight Howard slipping that screen, and now you've got, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a rim run that's uncontested or one that's
Speaker 1: gonna lead to a wide open three on the backside.
Speaker 1: And so just he brings a unique threat that really
Speaker 1: no one else on the roster, even Malik Monk. Although
Speaker 1: Molik Monk is a pretty good quick release, catching fire
Speaker 1: type of guy, Ellington is just better than him at that.
Speaker 1: So having having that as an option I think will
Speaker 1: actually end up getting him quite a bit of burn
Speaker 1: in a way that I didn't think so when he
Speaker 1: first got signed. Yeah, and it just opens the floor.
Speaker 1: I mean, like that again, if you go run, go
Speaker 1: watch those actions like Dwight and e d or whoever
Speaker 1: setting those picks like they're in there below the three
Speaker 1: point line, like near the freedlow line, and they're like
Speaker 1: Ellington can kind of in Casey is not as comfortable
Speaker 1: right pulling up from three in these actions, Ellington is,
Speaker 1: he'll just fire. Um. I think he's a little bit
Speaker 1: of ball handler too. I don't know how much a
Speaker 1: better passer he is. He's a little bit a ball handler.
Speaker 1: He can on the floor, he can hit like step
Speaker 1: back three, side step three. He's like he's really comfortable, um,
Speaker 1: shooting all types of ways. And he talked about his
Speaker 1: like you see on J J J j Reddick's podcast,
Speaker 1: he's competitive. Um, I could see that. But like, you know,
Speaker 1: if if Wayne Ellington was like a two way guy,
Speaker 1: you're not getting him for the minimum. So like I'm
Speaker 1: going into this thinking like he's a he's a one
Speaker 1: one way guy who can play defense. And I think
Speaker 1: that's the way I'll kind of look at him. Um,
Speaker 1: if he depends, well that's great. I think he can
Speaker 1: fit in the scheme for sure. And yeah, the Troy
Speaker 1: Daniels I saw that comp a lot too. Um, But
Speaker 1: like he's six five, Like that's I mean, at least
Speaker 1: on Google existed at six five maybe six more. It's
Speaker 1: a good size at the guard position, at the two
Speaker 1: guard position, with the amount of length and um height
Speaker 1: that he'll have around him. But yeah, I'm just excited
Speaker 1: to have a movement shooter like this. Um, A guy
Speaker 1: who doesn't doesn't just need to be spot up, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Because you saw in the playoffs
Speaker 1: how that kind of works. Seems to kind of get
Speaker 1: back to that. But a guy you have to top
Speaker 1: lock on, a guy you have to chase over the top.
Speaker 1: You can't just go under on his screens. Um, if
Speaker 1: you're even a little bit short. Last year, I think
Speaker 1: it was his best shooting in a while. So I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if you'll shoot or whatever he shot last year,
Speaker 1: But if that's I like thirty percent on the type
Speaker 1: of volume that he takes and the type of shot
Speaker 1: quality that he takes, then Uh, I'm really excited about
Speaker 1: having a guy guy like this because I think he's
Speaker 1: the best shooter that we sign. Yeah, and he's gonna
Speaker 1: be able to They're gonna be able to weaponize him
Speaker 1: as a screener to which I think is exciting. This
Speaker 1: is something that the Warriors do with stuff all the time.
Speaker 1: But when you've got a shooter that you have to
Speaker 1: top lock on, but at the same time you can't switch, uh,
Speaker 1: because he'll just run the big guy off a screen
Speaker 1: and end up causing problems. Is as long as he
Speaker 1: can set a really solid back screen on Anthony Davis's man,
Speaker 1: it kind of puts them in the awkward position now
Speaker 1: where the little guy can't leave Ellington because he's in
Speaker 1: that lock and trail and the big guys caught on
Speaker 1: the screen, Anthony Davis just cuts back door, there's a
Speaker 1: wide and dunk. That kind of thing is there's a
Speaker 1: lot of actions there that they will be able to
Speaker 1: run that they just haven't been able to run in
Speaker 1: recent years. Did you have anything else on Ellington before
Speaker 1: we move on to the Lebron comments. Yeah, obviously I'm
Speaker 1: not going to compare him to Staff. No one's Steph.
Speaker 1: I mean just like, so don't kill me. But like
Speaker 1: you can just see how like even having one insane
Speaker 1: shooter changes the whole defense, right, just even one like
Speaker 1: Steph is the really only guy, but still just him
Speaker 1: his movement and Aalantine is not a guy that just
Speaker 1: stands there. He actually does move. He's really active, you know,
Speaker 1: on the floor, and just having one guy like that
Speaker 1: just changes the concept of the floor um, the floor balance.
Speaker 1: And like you talked about Lebron a d Russ high
Speaker 1: basketball accused, Well, we'll know how to kind of use
Speaker 1: that and and take advantage of it. And I'm interested
Speaker 1: to see what kind of vogel comes up with that.
Speaker 1: So I think they have a lot of things to
Speaker 1: work on. But I'm just excited to have this, uh,
Speaker 1: this level of shooting on the roster. I agree and
Speaker 1: there and yet they got a full training camp to
Speaker 1: try to figure out how to make these guys work.
Speaker 1: And competition is a good thing. Like when you have
Speaker 1: positional competition like this, it's it's there's a pressure on
Speaker 1: everybody to do their job to an even higher level
Speaker 1: because they know that if they don't, there's another option
Speaker 1: behind them that might be willing to do the work
Speaker 1: that you're not willing to do. Um, that kind of
Speaker 1: competition is good. Okay, So let's quickly touch on this,
Speaker 1: this Lebron thing. So I think it's interesting because you know,
Speaker 1: you know, this is something that everyone is so incredibly
Speaker 1: sensitive about, and I get in trouble literally just for
Speaker 1: even saying that that Lebron can be a little bit corny.
Speaker 1: And then I'll have people in my mentions calling me out.
Speaker 1: But um, to me, this was a big non issue.
Speaker 1: But for those of you you guys who didn't see, Lebron
Speaker 1: basically didn't get voted as the best player in the
Speaker 1: league by ten executives out there, uh and uh, Lebron
Speaker 1: basically just used it as an opportunity on Twitter to
Speaker 1: revive the washed King meme. So there are two things
Speaker 1: that I want to talk about this. First of all,
Speaker 1: let's just start here. Do you care at all that
Speaker 1: Lebron is going to these great lengths to motivate himself? No,
Speaker 1: I mean Lebron is a guy like just seems like
Speaker 1: he's having fun with it. I mean, I don't understand
Speaker 1: the crazy I saw your tweets about it, and that's
Speaker 1: why I was gonna let you kind of get your
Speaker 1: spill off on this because like, I just think it's interesting. Man,
Speaker 1: he's a guy that's self motivated. I mean, you have
Speaker 1: to be to be at the ag is, to have
Speaker 1: the accomplishments. Think he does. The money he's made, he
Speaker 1: could stop right now. But I mean he's self motivated,
Speaker 1: and this is how that works, I guess. I like
Speaker 1: when I just look at like on the floor stuff,
Speaker 1: like he was the finals MVP. To me, it was
Speaker 1: the m v P before he went down, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And then so like, of course he
Speaker 1: believes he's the best of why shouldn't he, Like that's
Speaker 1: on him. I don't get what the big deal is,
Speaker 1: and he has fun with it. He laughs about it.
Speaker 1: Um he, I don't know, I think that's that a
Speaker 1: gas station, Mean, like, was was that what that was
Speaker 1: the the pump pump? Me? Yeah, it was that a
Speaker 1: guy Okay, yes, but but yeah, he has fun with it,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what's important. Man, it's not I
Speaker 1: don't think he takes it too serious, but obviously it's
Speaker 1: he motivates him. Um, you said Yannest is the best
Speaker 1: player in the league. Can you know you could say
Speaker 1: Katie's the best player in the league. There's arguments for
Speaker 1: both of those, but I mean the argument for Lebron too,
Speaker 1: and he just saying, uh, he's just pumping himself up.
Speaker 1: And he did this. He does this a lot. And
Speaker 1: the only thing I'll say about this, Lebron has been
Speaker 1: a Laker for three seasons, right, and um he's got
Speaker 1: hurt in two of them, like pretty much. So like
Speaker 1: to me, it's all about health with Lebron, Like when
Speaker 1: he's healthy. He's been the best player in the league
Speaker 1: to me the last three years, and it's all about
Speaker 1: him staying healthy. So like this, but this is all
Speaker 1: really fun. And we're in August. I mean we have
Speaker 1: like forty five days. Um, I think until preseason, which
Speaker 1: is kind of crazy and we're about to start here,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's all fun. What do you what do
Speaker 1: you think about that? So on the on the motivation front,
Speaker 1: like throughout NBA history, this has been the way that
Speaker 1: this stuff goes like they're they're um and And this,
Speaker 1: for the record, is not something that's unique to stars.
Speaker 1: This is for anybody who's a competitor in any I
Speaker 1: I personally when I play pick up sometimes like some
Speaker 1: kid will say something and I really shouldn't care, but
Speaker 1: for some reason, I'll just use it as an excuse
Speaker 1: to rev up the engine a little bit. You know,
Speaker 1: you you come up with, you know, like for for
Speaker 1: a guy like Lebron, he literally plays in front of
Speaker 1: twenty thousand people eighty two times a year and then
Speaker 1: again in the playoffs on these big stages like there's
Speaker 1: in the there's a there's a certain like uh like
Speaker 1: long and drawn out process that is the the NBA
Speaker 1: regular season. And so if he uses these sorts of
Speaker 1: things to motivate himself, who cares? And And Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: used to famously like there was a whole thing in
Speaker 1: the Last Dance about how he fabricated something that a
Speaker 1: role player on a bad team said to to to
Speaker 1: to to go off against some bad team, and then
Speaker 1: it turned out it never happened like that to me
Speaker 1: is just part of the process of trying to get
Speaker 1: through this stuff. And then I saw someone on Twitter
Speaker 1: say some some media guy go like wise Lebron so
Speaker 1: of ended that we think he's the third best player
Speaker 1: instead of the best player. And I want to be like,
Speaker 1: have you ever ever ever met anybody who's good at anything?
Speaker 1: They want to be the best, like the are. They're
Speaker 1: arguably more offended by saying you're the third best than
Speaker 1: saying you're the twentie best, because that means you're close
Speaker 1: but not that guy yet you know, like that, it's
Speaker 1: so obvious why he might be able to draw some
Speaker 1: motivation from that. This is a guy in his nineteen
Speaker 1: season who, for more or less like has no chance
Speaker 1: of improving any ground in the goat debate. You either
Speaker 1: think he is or he's not. I mean, like the
Speaker 1: that that ground is so overtrodden that everyone's really made
Speaker 1: up their mind. It doesn't really make a difference. But
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, like people can't relate to the fact
Speaker 1: that he uses it for for motivation. I think it's ridiculous. Now,
Speaker 1: let's talk about whether or not Lebron is the best
Speaker 1: player in the league, because this, to me is the
Speaker 1: is the more interesting question. Now, uh, in this poll,
Speaker 1: there are ten executives and five of him voted for
Speaker 1: Janice and five of them voted for Kevin Durant. Now,
Speaker 1: I think that there are five players that have a
Speaker 1: case to be this guy Joannice, Kauai, Lebron, Stephen k d.
Speaker 1: You know, the Katie thing makes some sense to me.
Speaker 1: Katie is a different archetype of player of Lebron, but
Speaker 1: he's arguably mastered that archetype archetype to the same level.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is like in terms of
Speaker 1: the like ultra efficient three level score, who's just an
Speaker 1: absolute sniper type of jump shooter who also has the
Speaker 1: size to get those shots off against any defense. You know,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is the perfect version of that, and he
Speaker 1: demonstrated it at the highest level against Milwaukee, out playing Janice,
Speaker 1: I thought, comfortably and making it clear that he had
Speaker 1: a case to be the best player in the league.
Speaker 1: You know, when I start talking about Janice, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about a player with some gaping holes in his game.
Speaker 1: You know, a guy that you know, even against just
Speaker 1: against Phoenix, like, he had a great deal of success
Speaker 1: defensively and had a great deal of success in semi transition,
Speaker 1: meaning when the defense wasn't set, he was unstoppable getting
Speaker 1: to the rim. But then in half court sets, you know,
Speaker 1: Eighton was able to square him up a little better.
Speaker 1: And aside from a couple of you know, kind of
Speaker 1: strange foul calls, I thought those Sons actually defended him
Speaker 1: really well in the half court. You can actually see
Speaker 1: where Janice isn't that guy yet, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But like when I'm making the case for Lebron as
Speaker 1: the best player in the league, it's really simple. On
Speaker 1: the defensive end, is he a defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year type of candidate. No, But before he went down
Speaker 1: with injury last year, he probably was going to get
Speaker 1: second team All Defense. And he's still is incredibly savvy
Speaker 1: as a back line defender with his hands underneath the
Speaker 1: basket and blocking shots above the rim. He's a great communicator,
Speaker 1: and he's still really good on the ball defensively, especially
Speaker 1: against the bigger, stronger wings in the league. He's probably
Speaker 1: the best body that you could throw at somebody like
Speaker 1: Kauai in the league right now in terms of the
Speaker 1: ability to handle his strength at the point of attack.
Speaker 1: So Lebron still rings a great deal to the table
Speaker 1: defensively offensively when he's at his peak. We literally saw
Speaker 1: him in the playoffs last year. Have are in the
Speaker 1: in the bubble last year, have a playoff run where
Speaker 1: the average twenty points a game shooting well, Janics just
Speaker 1: average thirty points a game on shooting. So Lebron offensively
Speaker 1: still capable of generating offense at the highest possible level
Speaker 1: that a basketball player can generate offense. Then you have
Speaker 1: his playmaking ability. He's arguably the best passer in the league.
Speaker 1: If you think someone like Yogi or Luca is better,
Speaker 1: he's still in that top three, which is a whole
Speaker 1: other facet of the game, especially in the playoffs, especially
Speaker 1: in the half court, when the windows are so tight
Speaker 1: and the defenses are so locked in and you need
Speaker 1: to generate high quality offense. Lebron crosses all those boxes
Speaker 1: and because of that, he absolutely has a case to
Speaker 1: be the best player in the league. It's that simple
Speaker 1: to me. None of the other players that you encounter
Speaker 1: can cross those boxes the way that he does in
Speaker 1: terms of elite deep sense, elite playmaking, and elite scoring.
Speaker 1: There's literally zero guys in the league that can do that.
Speaker 1: He has to be considered and so any sort of
Speaker 1: push back that he might think he's the best, I
Speaker 1: think is silly. Yeah, for sure, any you brought brought
Speaker 1: a bunch of basketball kind of um basketball takes with that,
Speaker 1: And I guess my things like we we always talk
Speaker 1: about like sixteen versus like eight two, right, um, And
Speaker 1: like to me, like if you're looking at a sixty
Speaker 1: if you need to win a playoff series, like who
Speaker 1: are you taking? You know what I mean? Like, to me,
Speaker 1: it's still Lebron. I think that kind of answers my
Speaker 1: question with it. But like when you're talking to top
Speaker 1: three Katie stuff, like to me, you're splitting hairs like
Speaker 1: they're right, Like you're kind of splitting up and you
Speaker 1: can kind of give the edge to Lebron. You can
Speaker 1: give the edge to Katie whichever people prefer, I guess
Speaker 1: in this conversation. But yeah, like of course Lebron is
Speaker 1: gonna be mad you put him top three, Like that's
Speaker 1: like he's still the way he trains, the way he works,
Speaker 1: the way he like pays a million dollars I think
Speaker 1: for his body every year. You know, all the kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, all the stories, all the things you hear
Speaker 1: um about how he works. Like, of course he's gonna
Speaker 1: be offended and offended about that. And I think that's okay.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's okay for him to do that
Speaker 1: used as motivation. I think it's fun. I think it's fine.
Speaker 1: I hope they I hope the executives keep going, like
Speaker 1: I hope they say he should come off the bench
Speaker 1: next year, Like I hope, I hope they say he should.
Speaker 1: You know, I hope they say all kinds of stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, get him even more motivated for this season. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, say that he should retire, you know, say
Speaker 1: say all this kind of stuff. Because I'm I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I I put this in a tweet earlier, like I
Speaker 1: feel like there was a seriousness in a tone that
Speaker 1: was set in the beginning of the two thousand nineteen
Speaker 1: two twenty season. Um, you can go look up that. Well,
Speaker 1: I know it's a preseason game. I know, I know
Speaker 1: it didn't matter. I know it was you know, Stephan
Speaker 1: D'Angel Russell in the back court. Like, I know all
Speaker 1: that stuff was what was on the floor, but just
Speaker 1: look at the tone and the and the like demeanor
Speaker 1: of the team, Like look at Anthony Davis, how he
Speaker 1: was he like how serious he was. Look at Lebron
Speaker 1: the tony was setting the his first and one. He
Speaker 1: was like screaming when they want to up tend nothing
Speaker 1: again in a preseason game. That means nothing on Draymond Green.
Speaker 1: That means nothing when they've had multiple finals together. Like,
Speaker 1: I think there's a seriousness and a tone that was
Speaker 1: set in that season that wasn't there last year due
Speaker 1: to a bunch of circumstances that the title COVID, no fans, etcetera, etcetera. Um,
Speaker 1: and I think this year will get that type of
Speaker 1: same um series and tone set from day one, especially
Speaker 1: with Russ now coming on the team, such a new personality,
Speaker 1: such a new star, such a new you know, energy
Speaker 1: to the team. And and yeah, but I think Lebron
Speaker 1: it's fine. I hope he continues to find things that
Speaker 1: motivate him. I hope Anthony Davis is reading all this
Speaker 1: stuff about how he's now a top ten player. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe his top friend. Like, I hope they're reading all
Speaker 1: this stuff. I hope Russ is reading that. You know,
Speaker 1: he can't pass or whatever, he can't shoot whatever. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it should be a fun season, yea. This is
Speaker 1: that they had a reason to to let their foot
Speaker 1: off the gas last year for like having to do
Speaker 1: with the short turnaround, having to do with COVID, all
Speaker 1: that stuff that can't be that can be allowed this year.
Speaker 1: This this season needs to be an attack from the start.
Speaker 1: They have the depth, even for guys like Russell Lebron.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go out there and do what
Speaker 1: Luca does for eight two games. You guys are sharing
Speaker 1: that burden and you're sharing it with Anthony Davis. So
Speaker 1: there's no excuse this year, obviously injury, as long as
Speaker 1: they can stay healthy. But as long as they can
Speaker 1: stay healthy, they need to attack this season and be
Speaker 1: NonStop prepping for this inevitable showdown, um with with the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets in the finals if they can make it
Speaker 1: through the West. So like, I I'm with you, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm on board with that and whatever Lebron needs to
Speaker 1: do to derive the motivation to do that, I hope
Speaker 1: he does it. Um, but we need to get you
Speaker 1: out of here. Uh. We'll we'll get to some other stuff,
Speaker 1: like the Katie Draymond stuff maybe early next week. We'll
Speaker 1: shoot for either Monday or Tuesday. UM. But I hope
Speaker 1: everyone here has a great weekend. I hope that, uh.
Speaker 1: I hope that next year I can make it out
Speaker 1: to Vegas to see you guys all. I'm planning on
Speaker 1: it at this point. We'll see how it goes obviously
Speaker 1: in the next year. But Roger, I really appreciate your time, man,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk again next week. Thanks everyone, Y