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Speaker 1: net in West Virginia. All right, Welcome to Lakers Tonight,

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Speaker 1: presented by fan Duel. Here on the volume, I am

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Speaker 1: Jason Tim. Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope you're all having

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Speaker 1: a good start to your week. That was a good

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Speaker 1: old fashioned butt kicking. And you know there there are

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Speaker 1: a million things for us to get into in terms

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Speaker 1: of how something like this could go this wrong. To me,

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Speaker 1: the story, the overtop story for this type of butt

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Speaker 1: kicking is the obvious difference in talent between the two teams.

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Speaker 1: You know, I trust Lebron James and I trust Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis to hank height with any duo in the league.

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Speaker 1: I personally think Lebron is still better than Janice at

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Speaker 1: this point in his career. Some people disagree with me,

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Speaker 1: but regardless the duo of Lebron James and Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: you should feel comfortable with that matchup against any duo

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Speaker 1: in the league, including Janice and Chris Middleton, or Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant and James Harden, or Steph Curry and Draymond Green,

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Speaker 1: or any duo that you run into. That's how good

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is. And obviously we all know how good

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Speaker 1: Lebron James is. But you know what stood out to

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Speaker 1: me so much as I was watching that game. As

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Speaker 1: you go down the rest of the roster, there's a

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Speaker 1: massive difference between the two teams. You know, you get

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Speaker 1: to Drew Holiday, and Drew Holiday is many, many times

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Speaker 1: better than Russell Westbrook. It's kind of insulting to even

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Speaker 1: include Russell Westbrook's name in a conversation with Drew Holiday.

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Speaker 1: That's how much of a chasm exists between those two guys.

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Speaker 1: And then you look at the front court and you're

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Speaker 1: looking at Bobby Portis and he's not even their starting center.

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Speaker 1: He's a fill in for Brook Lopez because he's hurt,

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Speaker 1: and he's significantly better than Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee

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Speaker 1: or Carmelo Anthony or anybody else that the Lakers use

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Speaker 1: to fill in those front court minutes. Then you start

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Speaker 1: looking on the wing, and the Lakers have some interesting wings, right,

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Speaker 1: Like Malik Monk has been a win for the front

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Speaker 1: office this offseason, but he's kind of like a one

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Speaker 1: way player. He gives away a lot of what he

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Speaker 1: gets on the offensive end on the defensive end of

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Speaker 1: the floor. And you know, and you've got these young,

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Speaker 1: exciting players like Stanley Johnson and Austin Reeves, but the

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Speaker 1: reality is is Pat Conaton and Grayson Allen, Dante DiVincenzo,

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Speaker 1: those are better two way players. They're bigger and more athletic,

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Speaker 1: and they can actually fulfill their responsibilities on the defensive end.

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Speaker 1: They're good at doing what the Bucks need them to

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Speaker 1: do on offense. I mean, Grayson Allen went on like

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Speaker 1: a solo run there in the first half, or he's

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Speaker 1: getting into the lane, making floaters, finishing around the basket.

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Speaker 1: There's a huge difference in the talent level down the roster,

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Speaker 1: and that's where the Russell Westbrook trade becomes such a disaster.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not even talking about Russ as a player,

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Speaker 1: but just the the talent that was lost as part

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Speaker 1: of that deal, because the Lakers used to have those guys.

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Speaker 1: They used to have, you know, k c p like

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Speaker 1: a really good two way guard at the shooting guard position,

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Speaker 1: great lock and trail defender, awesome attacking closeouts, hit a

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Speaker 1: ton of big shots for the Lakers in the bubble,

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Speaker 1: can hold his own in isolation possessions as a defender.

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Speaker 1: You looked at Kyle Kuzma, just this huge forward who

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Speaker 1: towards the end of his Lakers tenure, had become a

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Speaker 1: great defensive player and a great rebounder who also had

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Speaker 1: the ability on not just on nights when a star

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Speaker 1: was out to lean on him significantly offensively, but he

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Speaker 1: could have huge scoring nights alongside Lebron and n a a

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Speaker 1: D and then Alex Caruso, Like, we're looking at this

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Speaker 1: Laker trade deadline and you're sitting there thinking, man, we

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Speaker 1: would love to have a swing guard slash forward that's

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Speaker 1: between six five and six eight who can guard everybody

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Speaker 1: and can at least hold their own on the offensive

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Speaker 1: end of the floor. That was Alex Caruso. That's what

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Speaker 1: he brought to this team. And the unfortunate thing there is,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's a debate there would you rather have

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Speaker 1: quality role players or a superstar? We talked about that

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Speaker 1: last night with James Harden and I was talking about

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Speaker 1: how you have to cash those things in for James Harden.

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Speaker 1: When we got to the two thousand nineteen offseason and

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Speaker 1: you were thinking about, hey, do we want Kawhi Leonard

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Speaker 1: or do we want all these role players? It was

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Speaker 1: obvious that you wanted Kawhi Leonard because that's Kauai freaking Leonard, Like,

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Speaker 1: obviously he's gonna be able to do so much on

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Speaker 1: the court that it's going to justify what you're trading

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Speaker 1: off in that deal. And this Russell Westbrook trade completely

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Speaker 1: gutted this roster of talent. You know, the Alex Cruso

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Speaker 1: thing is commonly portrayed is just a budget you know,

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Speaker 1: non signing, like let him go to save money on

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Speaker 1: the salary on the luxury tax. But as we know now,

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Speaker 1: if you look at the totality of everything surrounding the

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Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook trade, they brought in so much salary in

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Speaker 1: the form of Russ's forty plus million dollar salary that

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Speaker 1: that was a big part of why they had to

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Speaker 1: let Alex Caruso go. And it's really unfortunate because now

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Speaker 1: the task that lays in front of the Lakers is

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Speaker 1: significantly more difficult. Can the Lakers win without as much

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Speaker 1: talent as their opponent, Yeah, that happens in NBA history,

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Speaker 1: but it requires that your stars are significantly better than

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Speaker 1: what's on the other team. You cannot overcome that type

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Speaker 1: of talent advantage unless your stars are just absolute world beaters.

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Speaker 1: And now that's what they need to be, you know,

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Speaker 1: regardless of what happens at this deadline, whether or not

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Speaker 1: they can get a legitimate wing to put along the

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Speaker 1: side of them, or multiple wings, no matter what we

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Speaker 1: know now looking at this team juxtaposed with the teams

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Speaker 1: towards the top, that Lebron and Anthony Davis are going

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Speaker 1: to have to put on a performance for the Ages

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Speaker 1: in order for this team to have any legitimate chance

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Speaker 1: to win the title. And that's unfortunate because this was

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Speaker 1: self inflicted. You know, here in a minute, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about why the Bucks are so

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Speaker 1: much better, not just in terms of talent, just in

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Speaker 1: what they do functionally as a basketball team, But a

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Speaker 1: huge part of it is continuity. You know, the core

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Speaker 1: pieces of the Bucks are still there from years ago,

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Speaker 1: and so there's a culture that exists and that permeates

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Speaker 1: down the roster to everybody, and even the new guys

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Speaker 1: that come in kind of take on that culture. The

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Speaker 1: Lakers won a championship in twenty and basically turned over

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Speaker 1: the entire roster, you know, so much so that it

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Speaker 1: doesn't even it's not even recognizable compared to the identity

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Speaker 1: and the types of personalities and the types of competitive

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Speaker 1: nature that was on that team. Think about how crazy

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Speaker 1: that is that you could have a Lebron James and

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis team that is still Lebron James and Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis team, but just a year and a half removed

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Speaker 1: and completely and utterly different. Because of how much you

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Speaker 1: swapped out around them. And it's funny because there's a

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Speaker 1: classics saying you don't fix something that isn't broke, and

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Speaker 1: the Lakers fixed something that wasn't broke, and in the

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Speaker 1: process trashed their best chance to make another run with

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Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. It's really unfortunate. Now the

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Speaker 1: question becomes, how do you move forward from here? Right

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Speaker 1: because you don't want to have a defeatedst attitude, certainly

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Speaker 1: not within the locker room. You can't just be like,

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Speaker 1: well the Bucks are better, We're gonna lose all the

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Speaker 1: Sons are better, we can't compete with them. My, we'll

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Speaker 1: just call it. So I look at it from two fronts.

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Speaker 1: The first front is the trade deadline. Obviously, you have

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Speaker 1: to find a way to slot guys better. Right now,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers third best players probably Molik Monk or Russell Westbrook,

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Speaker 1: depending on who you ask. You need to get somebody

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Speaker 1: better than those guys into one of those slots so

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Speaker 1: that you slot everybody down. You know, you want you

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Speaker 1: want your role players to compete, be competing with the

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Speaker 1: lesser role players on the other team, and the best

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Speaker 1: way to do that is to bring in just two

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Speaker 1: or three good NBA starter level wings that can come

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Speaker 1: in and move guys down the roster. That may not

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Speaker 1: even be possible. That's how dire this situation is. But

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Speaker 1: that has to be the goal throughout the next week.

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Speaker 1: Find some way to bring a little bit more talent

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Speaker 1: in so that you don't have a situation like what

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Speaker 1: you had tonight against the Bucks. The other half of

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Speaker 1: it is just simply becoming better at basketball. And I'm

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Speaker 1: not talking about skills or talent. I'm talking about the

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Speaker 1: things that basket ball teams do to win games. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, Milwaukee, you watch them tonight. They flow in

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Speaker 1: and out of their offense so easily. It just looks natural.

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Speaker 1: It looks like they've been playing together forever. The actions

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Speaker 1: that they run are all crisp and quick. They run

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Speaker 1: them early in the shot clock. They don't find themselves

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Speaker 1: in late clock situations where some guy has to isolates.

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Speaker 1: Very organized. Then you look on the defensive end of

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Speaker 1: the floor and they're always in the right spot. Their

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Speaker 1: rotations are sharp. They were doing a lot of switching

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Speaker 1: early in the game, which is super interesting because it's

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Speaker 1: not something that this team used to do. But The

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks are an extremely well run, extremely well coached

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Speaker 1: basketball team that has amazing habits, that plays the right

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Speaker 1: way on a night in and night out basis, they

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Speaker 1: don't have effort issues. Then you look over at the

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Speaker 1: Lakers and it's the exact opposite. They've struggled with effort

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Speaker 1: throughout this entire season. To start the game again tonight

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Speaker 1: after they got absolutely destroyed by the New York Knicks

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Speaker 1: and transition and off to an eleven zero start again tonight,

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Speaker 1: they weren't getting back in transition to start the game.

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Speaker 1: That's just effort. That's guy's just not running. That's guy's

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Speaker 1: just not communicating with each other about who their matchup

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Speaker 1: is or where they're supposed to be on the floor.

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Speaker 1: This is not a discipline team. They're running a switching

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Speaker 1: scheme a lot with their guys, similar to what Milwaukee's doing,

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Speaker 1: but it looks sloppy. They lose guys all the time.

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Speaker 1: When they do get switched onto a bier guy, they

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Speaker 1: don't try to get in front and box out. They

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Speaker 1: just kind of stand behind the guy and watch him

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Speaker 1: get an offensive rebound and put it back. All of

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Speaker 1: those little details within the Lakers are broken. So the

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Speaker 1: second part of this, aside from talent, Obviously, Rob Polinka

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Speaker 1: has a job here. Rob Polinka's job is to try

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Speaker 1: to bolster the talent on the roster. But for the Lake,

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Speaker 1: for the for the guys in the locker room, they

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Speaker 1: have to establish championship habits. And I can't believe I'm

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Speaker 1: still saying this after fifty something games, but for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: that urgency just hasn't clicked with this group. Now. I

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Speaker 1: have my theories about that. As I've said many times

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Speaker 1: on the show before, I just don't think this concoction

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Speaker 1: of players makes a ton of sense, not not in

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Speaker 1: terms of their personalities, just in terms of what they

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Speaker 1: do on the court. There's not the right mix for

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Speaker 1: these guys to really buy into his scheme and try

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Speaker 1: to execute it on a daily basis. But something has

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Speaker 1: to be done on that front. Because the Lakers have

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Speaker 1: fought injury problems all season. There have been issues with

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Speaker 1: guys in and out of the lineups. You can it's

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Speaker 1: hard to point at the standings and just say, oh,

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Speaker 1: this team sucks. When Lebron's missed as many games as

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Speaker 1: he has, Anthony Davis has missed as many games as

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Speaker 1: he has. If I remember correctly, this is just the

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Speaker 1: eighteen game this season that Lebron and Anthony Davis both played,

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Speaker 1: So there's some excuses on that front. But now you

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Speaker 1: have your guys, the excuses are gone. Obviously, you'd like

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Speaker 1: to tune up a little bit with some talent, but

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Speaker 1: more or less, this is the core. In the big moments,

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Speaker 1: It's probably gonna be Lebron and a d Russ, Probably

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Speaker 1: Malik Monk is gonna be out there. It's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a Stanley Johnson or Trevor Rees or maybe one other wing.

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Speaker 1: But this group of guys has to figure out how

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Speaker 1: to develop those same habits that Milwaukee has, and it

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Speaker 1: starts with a night like tonight, like you fight back.

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Speaker 1: I've been sick of the fake comebacks with this Laker team.

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Speaker 1: It's like that that stupid Russell Westbrook meme with the

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Speaker 1: calendar that talks about how he's the worst player of

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Speaker 1: all time, and then he's the best player of all time,

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Speaker 1: and then it's the you know, the dead face at

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Speaker 1: the end. That's kind of been the Lakers story for

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Speaker 1: within games all season long, starting off horrible, then having

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Speaker 1: this crazy fake come back, and then it all falling

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Speaker 1: apart at the end, but at least in that comeback,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers can have some semblance of something to cling to,

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Speaker 1: as like, Hey, here are the habits that we have

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Speaker 1: to build. This is the way we have to come

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Speaker 1: out to start the next game. For instance. I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's a coincidence that these stupid fake comebacks keep

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Speaker 1: happening with the young guys. That always happened with Reeves,

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Speaker 1: John sin In Monk Hey read read the room, Frank.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that is your group that needs to start the

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Speaker 1: game so that you can set that tone from the

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Speaker 1: start and give your team that best chance to feel

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Speaker 1: confident about themselves. The confidence was a huge issue tonight,

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Speaker 1: Like like I pointed out earlier, the Bucks are not

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Speaker 1: is That was the bucks very best punch. Now the

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Speaker 1: Lakers best punch might not even be enough in any setting.

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Speaker 1: We don't know that yet. Depth that definitely was not

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Speaker 1: the Lakers best punch. They are not this bad compared

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Speaker 1: to this team, but that's what they looked like tonight

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Speaker 1: because the confidence wasn't there. Milwaukee came in playing extraordinarily confident,

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Speaker 1: and everybody on the Lakers looked scared, except for maybe Lebron,

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Speaker 1: James and Austin Reeves on the entire roster. And so

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Speaker 1: you have to establish those habits and get in a

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Speaker 1: good groove so that you approached those games and you're

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Speaker 1: the confident team and maybe you can swing that pendulum

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Speaker 1: in your favor so that you can throw your best

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Speaker 1: punch and maybe they don't. Oh there's and you have

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Speaker 1: a chance to get a win. That's how you can

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Speaker 1: be the team that has more talent than you. So

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Speaker 1: that's that needs to be the goal as we go

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Speaker 1: down this game stretch. Guys are healthy, guys are in

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Speaker 1: the lineup. Have to start building out those habits, have

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Speaker 1: to start mastering whatever Frank's scheme is that he chooses

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Speaker 1: to use with this group of players, which has changed

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Speaker 1: half dozen times this year. But hey, now you've got

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Speaker 1: all your guys, now is the time to figure it out.

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Speaker 1: For those of you guys who are just joining us.

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Speaker 1: This is Lakers Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here on

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Speaker 1: the volume. We were just talking a little bit about,

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Speaker 1: you know, the talent differential between these teams. The one

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Speaker 1: other thing I wanted to hit on from this specific

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Speaker 1: game was the interesting reality of the Anthony Davis conundrum.

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Speaker 1: You know, Janice takes this matchup super personally, and I

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Speaker 1: think we can all guess why. After the Bubble, Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis was claimed by my including myself, to be better

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Speaker 1: than Janice. Now, part of the reason why that opinion

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Speaker 1: looks so ludicrous in retrospect has to do with Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis's decline more than it does with the opinion itself.

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Speaker 1: In the Bubble, guys, Janice looked helpless getting gentlemen swept

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Speaker 1: by the Miami Heat the only game they wanted that series.

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Speaker 1: Jhannae sat and watched with his brand ankle. That's how

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Speaker 1: bad he looked in that series. And in the same

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Speaker 1: playoff run, Anthony Davis dusted everybody. Okay, you had one

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Speaker 1: of the most dominant defensive playoff runs that we've ever

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Speaker 1: seen and then shot like Kevin Durant out of the

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Speaker 1: high post. So that's why that was said. Now in retrospect,

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Speaker 1: it looks really foolish. Now we know in retrospect like

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Speaker 1: a lot of that had to do with Lebron James,

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Speaker 1: A lot of that had to do with some uncharacteristic

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Speaker 1: hot shooting, and Janice has gotten much better since that

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Speaker 1: that's the real reason why that is the way that

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Speaker 1: it is. But for whatever reason, Janice takes this matchup

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Speaker 1: super personally, and every time he looks eye to eye

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Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis, he tries to end him. And I

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Speaker 1: think there's an interesting dilemma there because Anthony Davis has

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Speaker 1: some limitations in these types of matchups. It really dawned

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Speaker 1: on me in the Miami Heat series in the Bubble

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Speaker 1: in so Portlands, Houston, and Denver, the three teams that

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Speaker 1: the Lakers played on their way to the championship, all

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Speaker 1: three of those teams were limited in the front court

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Speaker 1: defensively right like it's Nurkics. The Rockets didn't even play

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Speaker 1: a center. And then Nicola Yokich, although he's turned himself

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Speaker 1: into a decent drop coverage big at this point in

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Speaker 1: his career in the Bubble, he's not that great of

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Speaker 1: a defensive player and he certainly doesn't hang well with

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Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis on an island guarding him in isolation.

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Speaker 1: So he thrived in those settings. But then he ran

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Speaker 1: into Bama to Bio, and then he ran into an

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Speaker 1: extremely athletic Miami Heat team and almost immediately in that series,

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Speaker 1: those post up touches that he was getting, we're only

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Speaker 1: resulting in jump shots. He wasn't able to get a

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Speaker 1: step on Bam or any of the other wings that

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Speaker 1: Miami put on Anthony Davis. And I paid close attention

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Speaker 1: to Anthony Davis in that series, and most of his

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Speaker 1: success around the rim came as a rollman or as

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Speaker 1: an offensive rebounder. And it's just the unfortunate reality of

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis's physical limitations. And I know that sounds crazy

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Speaker 1: to say, because the dude is freakishly tall and way

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Speaker 1: more mobile than most bigs, and that's why he's one

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Speaker 1: of the best defensive players in the league. But the

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Speaker 1: reality is, if you have a quick, strong forward sitting

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Speaker 1: right in front of Anthony Davis that can slide his feet,

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Speaker 1: he's not really quick with that first step, and so

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Speaker 1: as a result, when those big athletic forwards really man

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Speaker 1: up on him, he can't do anything but take a

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Speaker 1: jump shot. He doesn't have that ability to get around them,

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Speaker 1: which is why he never became a perimeter initiator for

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Speaker 1: a big who dribbles as well as he does. What

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Speaker 1: makes Janice so much better or than Anthony Davis is

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Speaker 1: he is capable of being a perimeter initiator. What makes

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Speaker 1: Johanna is capable of being a perimeter initiator is that

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Speaker 1: he can dribble and shoot like Anthony Davis can, but

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Speaker 1: he also has an incredibly quick first step, so he

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Speaker 1: can stare a guy face to face and do a

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Speaker 1: quick move and get by him, which is something that

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has always struggled with unless he's going up

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Speaker 1: against a plotting, slow footed center. Now, Joanna says a

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Speaker 1: million other things that make him better. He's got an

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Speaker 1: incredible motor. He came out and attacked this game from

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Speaker 1: the start, like just truly tried to end Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: We that you don't see that type of aggression out

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Speaker 1: of Anthony Davis very often. He's a little bit more

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Speaker 1: of a mild mannered guy, tends to kind of go

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Speaker 1: with the energy of the team rather than kind of

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Speaker 1: generating his own energy. That's another big part of what

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Speaker 1: Janice brings to the table. And it's funny because as

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Speaker 1: Johannis has developed and as Anthony Davis has declined in

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Speaker 1: recent years as a jump shooter, you and with just

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Speaker 1: his motor and just what he brings on a night

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Speaker 1: night to Night basis. Now there's a comically large gap

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Speaker 1: between those two guys, and it is kind of insulting

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Speaker 1: to even consider Anthony Davis as one of Janice's peers.

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Speaker 1: But that's you know, that's that's something that's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a problem in any matchup because in that Miami Heat series,

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Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why Ron had such a

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Speaker 1: good series and that I think he averaged thirty on shooting.

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Speaker 1: They relied on him a ton in that series. Because

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Speaker 1: Miami did such a good job of shutting Anthony Davis down,

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Speaker 1: that limitation doesn't go away. That's going to continue to

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Speaker 1: be the case. What Anthony Davis almost becomes, He's still

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Speaker 1: very good. I want to be clear, I'm not trying

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Speaker 1: to say that he's, you know, in addict, like completely

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Speaker 1: incapable of impacting the game. What I'm saying is he

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Speaker 1: becomes more of like a Rudy Gobert with a pretty

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Speaker 1: decent jump shot. Is basically what Anthony Davis becomes in

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Speaker 1: those settings. Dominant offensive rebounder, dominant defensive player. He can

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Speaker 1: screen and roll to the rim and finish above the

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Speaker 1: in but he just doesn't have as much just a

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Speaker 1: lot of his polish gets neutralized by having those big,

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Speaker 1: strong athletic forwards that can slide their feet and stay

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Speaker 1: in front of him. That's a limitation there. So that

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Speaker 1: puts a lot more on Lebron. Now you end up

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Speaker 1: in that kind of playoff series, you're depending on a

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Speaker 1: thirty seven year old Lebron to be unbelievably amazing as

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Speaker 1: that perimeter initiator. But again, uh much props to Janice.

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Speaker 1: That was he came in with a mission to end

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Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers tonight and he very much pulled

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Speaker 1: that off, at least in whatever metaphorical sense that you

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Speaker 1: can think. So the next question becomes who needs to

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Speaker 1: make a move more? Who's more desperate a team like

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Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets in their situation or a team like

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Speaker 1: the Lakers, who obviously have a very different circumstance but

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Speaker 1: of equally floundering. Both teams are in the play in

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Speaker 1: Now both teams are They were literally coming into the

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Speaker 1: season the two favorites to win the championship, and their

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Speaker 1: way below where they were expected to be. And I

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Speaker 1: think this answer is very obviously the Lakers. The Lakers

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Speaker 1: have a clear talent disadvantage and a lot of these

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Speaker 1: matchups down the roster, and they absolutely must bolster the

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Speaker 1: middle of their roster to have any chance to compete

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Speaker 1: with any of these teams. When I look at Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: they're they have health issues, but generally speaking, if Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant comes back at some time before the playoffs, if

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Speaker 1: Joe Harris can come back at some time before the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: and if Kyrie Irving can even just play in road games,

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Speaker 1: we already know what that formula looks like, and we

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Speaker 1: know that formula works in a playoff setting. They got

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Speaker 1: a lot of wins last year and we're on their

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Speaker 1: way to winning the title before the Kyrie Irving ankle

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Speaker 1: injury and before the James Hardened hamstring injury. So the

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Speaker 1: answer is very clearly the Lakers. They are the most

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Speaker 1: desperate team here. They are the team that has no

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Speaker 1: choice but to try to improve, and they also don't

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Speaker 1: have the long window that the Nets have. Kevin Durant's younger.

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Speaker 1: You know, James Harden is younger, Kyrie Irving is younger,

431
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 1: Lebron is thirty seven years old, Anthony Davis is injury prone.

432
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:07,639
Speaker 1: There's a lot of issues there that shortened that window.

433
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: The Lakers are absolutely the more desperate team between those two.

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Speaker 1: Thanks again for coming to hang out, guys. This is

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Speaker 1: Lakers Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the volume. The

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00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: last thing I wanted to hit before we got out

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00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 1: of here tonight was this, uh the trades that happened today,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to start with the c J McCollum trade.

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00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,200
Speaker 1: So I've always been a huge fantasy Jim McCollum in

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00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 1: his game. I think his skill set, that three levels

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00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,639
Speaker 1: scoring from the perimeter, that real three level scoring, that

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00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 1: ability to create your own shot against the top tier

443
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,440
Speaker 1: defenders is easily the most valuable skill that you could

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00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 1: get from the guard position right there. Now, everyone points

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00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 1: to Portland's and how much they've struggled, and they use

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00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 1: that as the lens with which to basically minimize what

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Speaker 1: c Jim McCollum has done in his career. And don't

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00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,639
Speaker 1: get me wrong, c J McCollum has limit patians, Like,

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00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:03,359
Speaker 1: if you're depending on him to be one of the

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00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 1: talent focal points of your roster, then sure his shortcomings

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00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:12,639
Speaker 1: become more meaningful. But Portland's never supplied damon c J

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00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 1: with the type of front court defensive talent that they

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00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: needed in order for those two guys to stay purely

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Speaker 1: focused on what they do best, which would be one

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00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,880
Speaker 1: of the best offensive backcourts in the league. And that's

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00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 1: why that group never really reached their potential. I Obviously

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00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 1: New Orleans has the same problem, but in theory, brandon

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00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,639
Speaker 1: Ingram is very capable of being a good defensive player,

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00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 1: and if they could just find some kind of front

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00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 1: court talent to put along those guys that can defend,

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00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: that's when you start to get really excited because one

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00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: of Zion's shortcomings, as good as he is as a

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00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,959
Speaker 1: wrecking ball around the basket, creating his own shot, is

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00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 1: just like with your honest when you really pack the

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Speaker 1: paint and you make things difficult and you take away

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00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 1: the easy stuff, some of his skill limitations start to

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00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,719
Speaker 1: show up. And that's where having a guy like Brandon

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00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,880
Speaker 1: Ingram and a guy like CJ. McCollum gets super exciting

469
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,520
Speaker 1: in the sense that you have that surgical approach that's

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00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,479
Speaker 1: very different than the sledgehammer approach that Ian Williamson comes with.

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00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: Not to mention part of the reason why brandon Ingram

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00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: has struggled so much defensively is his offensive role has

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00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 1: been so large since he left l A. He had

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00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 1: a great defensive season in two thousand nineteen before the

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00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: Lakers traded him, but it was because he was alongside

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00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 1: Lebron James. It was because he had a smaller offensive

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00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,119
Speaker 1: role and he could devote resources in that direction. C

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00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 1: J McCollum helps with that. Poor New Orleans has been

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00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: playing with young guards all season. Getting a savvy veteran

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00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 1: guard that can come in and take the keys to

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00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 1: the offense for extended stretches gives brandon Ingram the ability

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00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: to devote his resources to the defensive end, have more

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00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,520
Speaker 1: possessions where he's a spot up player instead of an initiator.

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00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: It's just better for him in general. I'm very high

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00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,119
Speaker 1: on Brandon Ingram, and I always have been, so I

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00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: like to see J. McCollum move as a really good

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00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 1: move in the direction of the Pelicans building a viable

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00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,120
Speaker 1: contending team around Zion. They just have to find some

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00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,199
Speaker 1: defensive talent to bolster things in the front court, and

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00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: then lastly, really quickly on this Indiana Pacers trade. So

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00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: the the obvious overreaction from Twitter today is that the

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00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: Kings are a total dumpster fire. They got rid of

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00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 1: Tyley's how Tyrese Haliburton, why didn't they send off Deer

494
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: and Fox? They're just a team in mediocrity. What are

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00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 1: they doing now? In general, I think people have outrageous

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00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: expectations for what these small market teams can do. Hey,

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00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,360
Speaker 1: guess what, guys. They don't have the ability to do

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00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 1: the to make the signings and to make the trades

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00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: that some of these bigger markets can do. They're limited

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00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 1: in what they can do. And the reality is is

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00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: the King's got the best player in the trade. Demonisa

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00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: Bonis would say what you want to say about him.

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00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 1: He's not my favorite player, but he is certainly a

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00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 1: lot better than anybody they sent out. And what always

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00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:00,720
Speaker 1: happens in these kinds of setting is there's like this

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00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,679
Speaker 1: weird hipster crowd that kind of gathers around one player

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00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: and elevates him to something bigger than what he is.

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00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:11,119
Speaker 1: I like Tyrese Halliburton's game. He's fine. He's not a

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00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,680
Speaker 1: franchise cornerstone. I'm sorry, Like I I don't think that's

510
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,720
Speaker 1: an insult, it's just a reality. He's a decent two

511
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 1: guard in the NBA who shoots the ball well, play

512
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: makes really well, low turnovers. He's a solid two guard.

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00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 1: He was not a franchise cornerstone. If I'm a Sacramento fan,

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00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: I can look at this now and I can go, hey,

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00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: I got Dear and Fox, I got Demonest Sabonis, and

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00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 1: most importantly, I stirred things up. Like I talked about

517
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: earlier with the Lakers, this basketball chemistry thing is a

518
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 1: real thing that ability to for just an assortment of players.

519
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 1: It's the it's the concept of the sum versus the parts, right,

520
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: and in this case, just swapping out a bunch of

521
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: bodies and bringing in new guys, you roll the dice

522
00:28:58,080 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 1: a little bit and you give yourself a chance to

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00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 1: have a better group that fits better. And so from

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00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,480
Speaker 1: that same point, for both teams, whether I'm looking at

525
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: this a Sacramento or Indiana, these were two bad teams

526
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: that both have showed flashes of potential in recent years

527
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: that never really materialized, and they're just smartly understanding there

528
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: at the end of that window and they needed to

529
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: mix something up. So I didn't have a problem with

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00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 1: it from both sides. Alright, guys, that's all we have

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00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: for tonight. We're gonna be off tomorrow night, although the

532
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: Lakers will be playing on the road in Houston. We

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00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 1: will have a show immediately after the trade deadline on Thursday,

534
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: so hang tight for that and if anything really crazy happens,

535
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 1: we're gonna try our best to drop whatever we're doing

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00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 1: and get something out. As always, I appreciate your guys

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00:29:44,560 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: support and I will see you in a couple of days.

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Speaker 1: The Volume