Speaker 1: The volume. Well, it is a beautiful Saturday morning where
Speaker 1: I sit in southern California. I hope you're having a
Speaker 1: great day. This is a not so instant reaction about
Speaker 1: sixty and eighteen hours after the Lakers in six games,
Speaker 1: finished off the Warriors, and I have some thoughts. First
Speaker 1: of all, the reason that a Lebron James, or a
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant in his last game, or Tom Brady in
Speaker 1: his last year can still be so dynamic is because
Speaker 1: the better you treat your body, the better it treats
Speaker 1: you as you age. We've all seen somebody who's fifty
Speaker 1: years old and looks sixty and they haven't eaten right,
Speaker 1: haven't slept right, haven't taken care of themselves, and you
Speaker 1: can see it. And then you'll see somebody that's seventy
Speaker 1: and looks fifty eight because they've taken care of their body.
Speaker 1: And as you age, it is punitive if you don't.
Speaker 1: And so Lebron has this ability to not on a
Speaker 1: nightly basis, but in a series once or twice, to
Speaker 1: summon this energy and this greatness that no other player
Speaker 1: in year twenty has ever had. He was the best
Speaker 1: player on the floor last night. For a majority of
Speaker 1: the basketball game. And by the way, some of it's generational.
Speaker 1: I mean, Michael Jordan was steaks, cigars, wine and late
Speaker 1: night card games. That was his generation. So now when
Speaker 1: Michael with the enormous amount of money today, I think
Speaker 1: Michael was smart enough to know I'm going to extend
Speaker 1: my career, get another contractor too. So much of this
Speaker 1: is economic where players see, you know, if you can
Speaker 1: get that extra contract because you've taken care of your
Speaker 1: body's it is life changing, right, It's generational money for
Speaker 1: your kids' kids. Lebron has always been smarter than the
Speaker 1: average player, and the average star takes great care of
Speaker 1: his body. And last night is the reason why this
Speaker 1: has been a team I think, for me, a very
Speaker 1: unique Laker team. They were bad before the big trade
Speaker 1: deadline move. Bad. They're a bad team. They weren't great defensively.
Speaker 1: Westbrook wasn't engaged defensively. It was toxic. And then they
Speaker 1: made sweeping changes, bringing in guys who have been abandoned
Speaker 1: or bounced around the league. Malik Beasley, Jared Vanderbilt, D'Angelo Russell.
Speaker 1: Dilo was abandoned by the Warriors quickly. Minnesota gives him away,
Speaker 1: so he comes back to Los Angeles. And I think
Speaker 1: one of the reasons I've struggled to appreciate the Lakers
Speaker 1: in the second half is and I've never thought the
Speaker 1: Warriors were a championship team this year or the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Lakers was easier to say that, but people I respect
Speaker 1: really did. And because generally championship teams and there's four
Speaker 1: teams left and Denver's going to be a handful, and
Speaker 1: so I presume will be the Celtics in the championship.
Speaker 1: I think they'll beat Miami and probably about five games,
Speaker 1: five six games. But the great teams and we know
Speaker 1: what they are. Let's take the MJ Bulls, because that
Speaker 1: was the most discussed in our lifetime. You knew almost
Speaker 1: every night the production you were going to get and
Speaker 1: the game you were going to get from Scottie Pippen
Speaker 1: and Michael Jordan. You knew you were going to get
Speaker 1: Packson and Steve Kerr dependability or a Tony Kukoch or
Speaker 1: Rodman's rebounding or defensive effort. And that's the difference between
Speaker 1: great players and good players is consistency. Right, You kind
Speaker 1: of get though he can drive me crazy at the
Speaker 1: end of games. Jason Tatum pretty much delivers eight out
Speaker 1: of ten games the exact same performance. You know what
Speaker 1: you're gett You're gonna get your twenty five plus points,
Speaker 1: You're going to get real good defense, good players. James
Speaker 1: Harden now he's a good player. Game to game, you're
Speaker 1: not sure what you're going to get. And I think
Speaker 1: with this Laker team, think about it, if it did
Speaker 1: become a championship team, it would be one of the
Speaker 1: least consistent championship teams. Ever. Anthony Davis is great offensively
Speaker 1: every other game, and he is your best player. Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan was not great every other game offensively, either with
Speaker 1: Shack or Kobe or Tim Duncan. So Anthony Davis, always
Speaker 1: good defensively, is great offensively every other game. Lebron James
Speaker 1: is truly great in Spurts only, although last night's the exception.
Speaker 1: Generally in Spurts three or four times a series, he
Speaker 1: can take the game over for four to five minutes.
Speaker 1: That's what he is now. Austin Reeves is your third
Speaker 1: most dependable player, and he's undrafted. Di Loo is hot
Speaker 1: and cold, though very talented. But again there's a reason
Speaker 1: he's bounced around the league, and he's coming to the
Speaker 1: Lakers for a second time. And then it's a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys that role players who are generally not dependable
Speaker 1: on the road, slightly more dependable at home. Alonnie Walker
Speaker 1: a Vanderbilt that's not a championship team, and so their
Speaker 1: inconsistency and they're low ceiling offensively is just hard to
Speaker 1: wrap my brain around. Now. Some of it may be
Speaker 1: the West is weaker this year, Paul George and Kawhi
Speaker 1: not available, Sons fell apart. Maybe it's just the West.
Speaker 1: There is a lot of occasional greatness. There's not a
Speaker 1: single Laker that you know what you're getting every single
Speaker 1: night offensively, not one. I mean even the Warriors, who
Speaker 1: the Lakers beat, you kind of know what you're getting
Speaker 1: from Steph every night offensively. You know it's twenty four
Speaker 1: over some nights better than others. Dominant ball handling, he's
Speaker 1: going to break down your defense, You're gonna get a
Speaker 1: number of assists. You gotta know what you're getting. So
Speaker 1: it's a very unique team. I think Denver's a tough challenge,
Speaker 1: first of all, because it's at seven thousand feet. It's really,
Speaker 1: really a tough place to play. They also, unlike Golden State,
Speaker 1: have a formidable, productive offensive center. They're gonna stretch out
Speaker 1: a little bit. That are also younger and more athletic
Speaker 1: in spots Michael Porter, Gordon Jamal Murray. It's a younger,
Speaker 1: more athletic team, and they don't have a player like
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins, who took a large chunk of the year
Speaker 1: off and we felt like coming into the last two
Speaker 1: series he was playing his way into shape and playing
Speaker 1: his way into form. They're a number one seed, They've
Speaker 1: been good all year. They're healthy, they're deep, and they
Speaker 1: spread the scoring out. So Denver's going to be a
Speaker 1: handful and they're really really good at home, and the
Speaker 1: elevation is a big part of that. I think Denver
Speaker 1: match is already well up with the Lakers, But at
Speaker 1: this point I've doubted the Lakers the entire second half.
Speaker 1: I'll have to think about it more this weekend. Maybe
Speaker 1: I should just surrender and pick the Lakers that win
Speaker 1: at all. As far as Golden State, they've got their
Speaker 1: own issues here. So there's a big difference between losing
Speaker 1: and feeling you were better and then realizing you were
Speaker 1: probably lucky the series went this long. I mean, let's
Speaker 1: be totally honest about the Warriors. If Dearon Fox doesn't
Speaker 1: hurt his hand, do they beat the Warriors? You got
Speaker 1: to break. They got to break against the Lakers because
Speaker 1: the schedule was every other day. That was not playing
Speaker 1: in LA's favor. With Lebron's age and eighties brittleless, that
Speaker 1: kind of played in the Golden States favor. There's two
Speaker 1: things that end a dynasty, ego and age. They don't
Speaker 1: have a ton of ego. Age is a factor. The
Speaker 1: other thing that extends a post dynasty drought is delusion,
Speaker 1: where you start rewarding players and can't be honest about
Speaker 1: what they now are. Klay Thompson, we all know that
Speaker 1: you bring Steph back, everybody they acquire will be on
Speaker 1: Steph's timeline. That's why they moved off number two pick
Speaker 1: James Wiseman, he just wasn't ready and why Cominga didn't
Speaker 1: play in this series. Anybody they acquire will have to
Speaker 1: be on Steph's timeline capable of helping him win a title. Now,
Speaker 1: Draymond Green is still second team All NBA defense. He's
Speaker 1: a catalyst, a screen setter, excellent passer, he's going nowhere.
Speaker 1: Those two are the heart and soul of the Warriors.
Speaker 1: But Klay Thompson is a shadow on both ends of
Speaker 1: what he was four years ago pre injuries. He's not
Speaker 1: an elite defender. He's often a liability. It's why they
Speaker 1: brought Gary Payton the second back, and offensively he is.
Speaker 1: He really struggled in this series outside of one game
Speaker 1: and mostly one half. So if you want to give
Speaker 1: him a contract and romanticize rear view mirror Clay Thompson's
Speaker 1: career and reward him for what he's done previously, that's
Speaker 1: how you extend droughts post dynasty. If I was the
Speaker 1: Warrior's front office, I would try to initiate something that
Speaker 1: creates some front court scoring beyond Andrew Wiggins. They get
Speaker 1: all their scoring Wiggins and smaller, and with Kayvon Looney
Speaker 1: incapable of really adding much offensively, it's hard to have
Speaker 1: him and Draymond on the floor at the same time.
Speaker 1: So I think they have to create some sort of
Speaker 1: scoring threat. Karl Anthony Towns maybe, I'm not sure. If
Speaker 1: he's a great fit. He can be kind of squarely
Speaker 1: and they don't those kind of players don't work with
Speaker 1: a Warrior system. They have to find somebody offensively, a
Speaker 1: big who's at least sixteen to eighteen point a game
Speaker 1: score to take the burden off Staph and Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: Maybe you have to give up Andrew Wiggins for that.
Speaker 1: Maybe you finally make the pivot to Jonathan kaminga who's
Speaker 1: just too raw for Steve Kura play now in big games.
Speaker 1: But I think if you look at the history of dynasties,
Speaker 1: they end when they get old or they have egos.
Speaker 1: Kobe and Chak was ego. Warriors now feels like Age,
Speaker 1: Spurs felt like age, Miami Heatles felt like age. Not
Speaker 1: really ego, maybe some ego. But I think when you
Speaker 1: really get into trouble is when you don't reconstruct it.
Speaker 1: So I would look for the Warriors to try to
Speaker 1: make some move, move some parts. I really like Moody
Speaker 1: off the bench, Gary Payton, Steph Draymond. I'd like to
Speaker 1: keep Wiggins. You know, Jordan Poole is somebody I'd be
Speaker 1: willing to part with. I think he's a much better
Speaker 1: player being the man instead of backing up the man.
Speaker 1: Be that as it may. I thought he was under
Speaker 1: control last couple of games of the series. How great
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Speaker 1: So the Lakers move on to Denver. Can't wait to
Speaker 1: watch it tomorrow. I'm going to take the Celtics to
Speaker 1: beat convincingly the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. That has been
Speaker 1: a wildly entertaining series. The Sixers, to me, are a
Speaker 1: pretty easy team to figure out, a lot of flair,
Speaker 1: a lot of personality. Do not trust them at all,
Speaker 1: And for all the misgivings I've had about the tandem
Speaker 1: of Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. I trust them to
Speaker 1: come prepared, play defense, to take leads. I think. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure, but I think the Celtics led the NBA
Speaker 1: first or second in the NBA in point differential this year.
Speaker 1: They win comfortably a lot. I worry when it's tied
Speaker 1: with two minutes to go and Marcus Smart is getting
Speaker 1: the best shots. But my feeling is the Celtics will roll.
Speaker 1: They will then beat Miami in five or six. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what the heck to make of the
Speaker 1: Nuggets and the Lakers. I need to watch a couple
Speaker 1: of games. My gut tells me Denver's a number one seed, deeper, younger,
Speaker 1: real scoring at all three levels. But I haven't been
Speaker 1: right about this Lakers team in two or three months,
Speaker 1: and that's what makes it so fascinating. I know there's
Speaker 1: this constant, you know, the sky is falling opinion on
Speaker 1: the NBA, But a lot of that comes from two areas.
Speaker 1: The NBA season is too long, Come on, eighty two
Speaker 1: regular season games, let's evolve, get down to sixty eight.
Speaker 1: And load management, which stinks, hurts the league. Fans go
Speaker 1: to games on big Friday and Saturday nights, you take
Speaker 1: a date, you take the family, and three of the
Speaker 1: four stars don't play. It's not good for business. Sorry,
Speaker 1: we'll all get over it, but it's not good for business.
Speaker 1: I think it feels like a disconnect between stars and fans,
Speaker 1: and fans pay a lot of money to go to
Speaker 1: NBA games, but you can't deny the passion, the intensity,
Speaker 1: the fun, the storylines, and the drama. Even though last
Speaker 1: night was a blowout. I mean, you were watching a
Speaker 1: dynasty potentially end and you're watching one of the most
Speaker 1: unique potential championship teams with Lebron and ad I can
Speaker 1: ever remember good stuff a not so instant reaction. Hope
Speaker 1: you're having a great Saturday afternoon talk soon the Volume.
Speaker 1: Make sure to check out The Draymon Green Show. I
Speaker 1: brought Draymond Green into the volume because one of the
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Speaker 1: also chops up with guests like Gary Payton, Zach Levine,
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