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Speaker 1: Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fando here at the
Speaker 1: volume breaking down the playing tournament. I'm gonna make my
Speaker 1: picks and talk about the games that I find to
Speaker 1: be most interesting, starting with the Nets at home hosting
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, one thing that we have heard
Speaker 1: coming down the pipeline is that the calves are pessimistic
Speaker 1: about whether or not Jared Allen will be able to
Speaker 1: play in the game. When he's working out, he seems
Speaker 1: to only be using his left hand. He's downgraded from
Speaker 1: a really stiff brace to wearing some tape, but it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be working. So it looks like Jared
Speaker 1: Allen is not gonna play. And that's an issue because
Speaker 1: in a game like this, you have two teams with
Speaker 1: extremely different styles. Like no one expects the Calves and
Speaker 1: Darius Garland to be in in like Carriss LeVert to
Speaker 1: be able to out execute offensively the likes of Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant and Kyrie Irving. That's completely unrealistic. But they have
Speaker 1: massive advantages that they bring to the table, especially on
Speaker 1: the on in the paint um. Their ability with their
Speaker 1: size with Lori Marken in at small forward, with Evan
Speaker 1: Mobley at the four, and with Jared Allen at the five,
Speaker 1: gives them the ability to hold opponents with those three
Speaker 1: on the floor to a hundred and two points per
Speaker 1: one possessions, specifically only forty one point five points per
Speaker 1: one possessions in the paint which would lead the league
Speaker 1: to give you an idea as just some perspective. The
Speaker 1: Miami Heat and totality lead the league in paint points
Speaker 1: allowed at forty two point four, So when they have
Speaker 1: their guys there are a dominant interior defense, they're a
Speaker 1: team that would give the Brooklyn Nets a ton of
Speaker 1: problems on the interior. Another thing that's so important about
Speaker 1: Jared Allen is his ability to punish switches. Part of
Speaker 1: what made Jared Allen suddenly not necessarily worth this full
Speaker 1: contract but way less of an issue at that big
Speaker 1: of a salary number is he can do what Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert can't when he switches onto a smaller defender and
Speaker 1: you dump the ball into him in the post. He
Speaker 1: is capable of consistently punishing those types of mismatches. So
Speaker 1: I would certainly give the Calves a better chance if
Speaker 1: they had Jared Allen because they would have a big
Speaker 1: advantage that they can bring to the table. But without
Speaker 1: Jared Allen, and it looks like he's not going to play,
Speaker 1: I have a team that has Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: a significantly better set of perimeter initiators, and going up
Speaker 1: against Darius Garland and Karras Laverton. I think They're just
Speaker 1: in over their heads in a lot of different ways there.
Speaker 1: I expect the Nets to pack the paint and take
Speaker 1: away as many of those driving opportunities and dump off
Speaker 1: lab opportunities as they can. In the Calves pick and
Speaker 1: roll and force guys to knock down shots, and I
Speaker 1: just don't think that they'll be able to score anywhere
Speaker 1: near consistently enough. Another big thing, Let's say that they
Speaker 1: go Evan Mobley. Let's say the Calves go Evan Mobiley
Speaker 1: at center, which I expect them to do for the
Speaker 1: most part during the game, and they funnel everything into
Speaker 1: that and expect Evan Mobley to control the paint. Like
Speaker 1: I've always said, that has a lot more impact on
Speaker 1: guys stars in particular, that are obsessively trying to drive
Speaker 1: to the basket. And that's not the way Kyrie and
Speaker 1: k D play. Kyrie and KD are at their most
Speaker 1: comfortable when they're operating in the miss in the mid range,
Speaker 1: in single coverage, making a move against the defender to
Speaker 1: get to a pull up jump shot. Those are their
Speaker 1: bread and butter plays for those two guys. The Calves
Speaker 1: are not a good perimeter defense team. Darius Garland is
Speaker 1: not a great perimeter defender. Lori Markenings got length and size,
Speaker 1: and he can play some good positional defense from time
Speaker 1: to time, but he's not a guy that's great at
Speaker 1: containing in dribble drive scenario. So I expect to see
Speaker 1: a lot of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant just getting
Speaker 1: to their spots and knocking down shots. Also that this
Speaker 1: Calves team relies entirely on Darius Garland for everything that
Speaker 1: they do offensively. This year, they are ten points six
Speaker 1: points better on offense with Garland on the floor than
Speaker 1: with him off. That's something that the Nets will be
Speaker 1: able to game plan around to make up for their
Speaker 1: limited defense, just by devoting all their attention to that
Speaker 1: screen and roll action in forcing guys to make shots
Speaker 1: on the back end. Calves also not a great road
Speaker 1: team this year. They were only nineteen and twenty two.
Speaker 1: One last little interesting note on this game. There's a
Speaker 1: question to be asked about whether or not Brooklyn would
Speaker 1: be best served losing. Now, you guys know how I
Speaker 1: feel about that kind of stuff. I'm a big believer
Speaker 1: in don't toy with the basketball gods. Play the game
Speaker 1: the way it's supposed to be. Played, and if you
Speaker 1: are the best team, things will work out for you.
Speaker 1: I'm I've always been a big believer in that sort
Speaker 1: of thing, so I would not recommend losing. But if
Speaker 1: you are a Nets fan and they happen to lose
Speaker 1: to the Calves tomorrow, the advantage there is getting the
Speaker 1: one getting the eight seed and going to play Miami
Speaker 1: in the first round. I know for a fact the
Speaker 1: Nets are going to be favored in that series and
Speaker 1: be the team that they may not be favored, but
Speaker 1: I will be picking the Nets for sure to beat
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat. I do not believe in the Miami
Speaker 1: Heats offense. I I believe that the Brooklyn Nets will
Speaker 1: pick them apart. I saw that happen the last time
Speaker 1: they played each other. The Nets went into Miami and
Speaker 1: utterly destroyed them. So I would pick the Nets in
Speaker 1: that series. Nets Boston that's a little more of a
Speaker 1: toss up with that. With Rob Williams in the picture,
Speaker 1: I would absolutely be picking Boston. Without Rob Williams, it's closer.
Speaker 1: That takes away, like I said, one of those interior
Speaker 1: advantages that you can bring against Brooklyn, But I like that.
Speaker 1: I it's an interesting conundrum because if they do what
Speaker 1: they're supposed to do and they beat Cleveland tomorrow, they
Speaker 1: will face a significantly tougher first round opponent. Then if
Speaker 1: they lose that game and try to make things work
Speaker 1: against in the second playing game to play against Miami,
Speaker 1: So that would be an interesting conundrum. I expect them
Speaker 1: to win and go up against Boston. That's more of
Speaker 1: a coin flip series. Once we get the final results
Speaker 1: of the playing game. There's no games on Thursday, and
Speaker 1: I will do a breakdown of what I expect in
Speaker 1: those first round series is. But let's move on to
Speaker 1: Atlanta and Charlotte. So I like Charlotte better in a
Speaker 1: vacuum as a basketball team. They over the last fifteen
Speaker 1: games of the season war eleven and four, which was
Speaker 1: tied for the best record in basketball, obviously convoluted a
Speaker 1: little bit by the fact that so many of the
Speaker 1: best teams in the league were resting key players in
Speaker 1: preparation for the playoff run, but still nothing to slou chat.
Speaker 1: They were second in offense over that span, which is
Speaker 1: not a surprise. They're a up tempo, high high pace team.
Speaker 1: LaMelo Ball is one of the best, uh I know,
Speaker 1: He's young, I know he's inconsistent. I know he has
Speaker 1: if he shot selections sometimes. He's not a great defensive player,
Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a little bit, but he's
Speaker 1: already one of the best high pick and role playmakers
Speaker 1: that we have in the league. I love Terry Rosier's game.
Speaker 1: I talked about this a little bit the other day
Speaker 1: when we were talking about potential Russell Westbrook swaps very
Speaker 1: good polish in the mid range, very dynamic score from
Speaker 1: the perimeter. And then the one of the most interesting
Speaker 1: elements of this team in their future is Miles Bridges. Uh.
Speaker 1: He kind of coming out of college was this freak athlete.
Speaker 1: I kind of saw him as more of like a
Speaker 1: undersized version of John Collins, a guy you'd use as
Speaker 1: a vertical spacing threat and like screen and roll actions
Speaker 1: and maybe some defensive assignments that he'd be able to
Speaker 1: use his ath loticism in. But he's legitimately turned himself
Speaker 1: into a really good offensive wing player and the result
Speaker 1: has been, like I said, what, the second best offense
Speaker 1: in the league over the last fifteen games. I like
Speaker 1: Charlotte individually in this matchup. The tricky thing is home court.
Speaker 1: The Hawks have massively underachieved this year. Very disappointing after
Speaker 1: what was a very impressive run to the conference finals
Speaker 1: last year. But this year there and fourteen at home.
Speaker 1: When you have a factor in a single game elimination format,
Speaker 1: how rock is that environment is going to be? It
Speaker 1: makes it a lot more complicated. Uh, it makes it
Speaker 1: a lot more complicated than I would have originally thought. Now,
Speaker 1: the interesting element here is both teams have really bad
Speaker 1: defensive backcourts. So everyone thinks of Trey Young being a
Speaker 1: limited defensive player. And obviously Lou Williams from all the
Speaker 1: way back when he was with the Clippers has been
Speaker 1: attacked by really good teams as as frequently as they
Speaker 1: can when he's on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: But the same problem exists for Charlotte. They play Isaiah
Speaker 1: Thomas as their backup point guard. Now that's a really
Speaker 1: that's arguably the worst defensive player in the entire NBA.
Speaker 1: And then LaMelo Ball. I do believe one day he'll
Speaker 1: become a decent defender in a switching scheme. He's a
Speaker 1: little too tall and slender to successfully chase guys over
Speaker 1: the top of screens. He's too easy to screen so
Speaker 1: I think his defensive potential is in more of a
Speaker 1: switching scheme. That said, he right now doesn't have anywhere
Speaker 1: near the attention to detail on that on the end
Speaker 1: of the floor to be a productive player gets back
Speaker 1: cut on all the time, mrs help responsibilities often, and
Speaker 1: then he can give up a lot of dribble penetration
Speaker 1: at the point of attack. So what you have is
Speaker 1: to backcourts. Obviously they're staggered in a lot of different ways,
Speaker 1: but at any given moment, both teams have a really
Speaker 1: really bad perimeter defender on the floor. So so much
Speaker 1: is gonna come out come down to those two guards.
Speaker 1: Trey Young and LaMelo Ball are gonna be really comfortable
Speaker 1: for most of that game, and it's gonna be come
Speaker 1: down to which guy has the best game. My gut
Speaker 1: tells me that Atlanta it could win at home off
Speaker 1: the strength of their home crowd. But I'm picking Charlotte
Speaker 1: by a hair because I believe they're better basketball team
Speaker 1: that's playing a little bit better as of late, and
Speaker 1: I think that's going to carry them. All Right, let's
Speaker 1: move on to the Wolves and the Clippers. This one
Speaker 1: is a really tough matchup for me. To gauge based
Speaker 1: on what happened in the regular season, not a lot
Speaker 1: of data. They're from their individual matchups. That's usable. They
Speaker 1: played three times in November and the Clippers won all
Speaker 1: three games, but that's November. Both teams are monumentally different
Speaker 1: at this point, especially the Timberwolves. They're They've been one
Speaker 1: of the better teams in the league over the course
Speaker 1: of the last couple of months, and then in January
Speaker 1: the two teams played in the Wolves had a convincing win,
Speaker 1: but a lot of important players from the Clippers were missing,
Speaker 1: including Paul George, Lucanard, Marcus Morris, and a bunch of others,
Speaker 1: so not much you could take away on that front.
Speaker 1: The interesting wrinkle here is Minnesota is at home there
Speaker 1: twenty six and fifteen at home this season. I've talked
Speaker 1: about this a lot on the show. They are super athletic.
Speaker 1: Everyone thinks of Carl Town's in D'Angelo Russell, but they've
Speaker 1: got a bunch of athleticism on the wings, and those
Speaker 1: guys feed off of the energy of that crowd, which
Speaker 1: carries them on the defensive end of the floor. The
Speaker 1: where this game teeters towards the Clippers in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and the reason why I'm picking the Clippers is one,
Speaker 1: the Clippers know exactly who they are in this type
Speaker 1: of setting. The Clippers have a bunch of huge road
Speaker 1: playoff wins even with this core, even just with Paul George,
Speaker 1: them going on the road to beat Phoenix in Game
Speaker 1: five last year, them going on the road to beat
Speaker 1: the Jazz last year in Game five. A lot of
Speaker 1: big playoff wins with that group. They're gonna be comfortable
Speaker 1: in Minnesota in that environment, They're not gonna be scared
Speaker 1: away at all. And then, like I've talked about NonStop,
Speaker 1: I don't trust the Wolves guards to make good decisions enough.
Speaker 1: The Clippers are gonna do a lot of switching, especially
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. They'll do drop coverage is when they
Speaker 1: have their traditional centers on the floor. But you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot of switching on the perimeter. And there's
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of moments where it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Anthony Edwards or D'Angelo Russell having to make decisions
Speaker 1: against the very good Clippers defense, and I trust Reggie
Speaker 1: Jackson and Paul George to out execute them. And that
Speaker 1: sort of setting so interesting matchup on some levels, home
Speaker 1: court makes it a wrinkled carl Anthony Towns is a
Speaker 1: huge matchup problem. If carl Anthony Towns goes for forty
Speaker 1: and seventeen, yeah, that could swing it. It's certainly close.
Speaker 1: All of these matchups that we're talking today are close,
Speaker 1: except for maybe Brooklyn Cleveland. But I'm leaning towards the
Speaker 1: Clippers because of their playoff experience, their modern approach to
Speaker 1: the game, and I think their primary decision makers are
Speaker 1: better and more reliable in the setting. Last, but not least,
Speaker 1: the Pelicans and the Spurs. Not gonna talk too much
Speaker 1: about this one. I don't find this matchup particularly interesting
Speaker 1: to very young teams with two interesting stars kind of
Speaker 1: leading the way in Brandon Ingram and then Murray Degonda.
Speaker 1: Murray killed the Spurs the last time or killed the
Speaker 1: Pelicans the last time these two teams played when both
Speaker 1: teams were at full strength, which is shortly after the
Speaker 1: trade on February twelve. CJ. McCollum played really well in
Speaker 1: that game as well. He's gonna be that weird veteran
Speaker 1: presence in that game that's gonna be the most comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm leaning towards the Pelicans because of home court. But
Speaker 1: this one's a coin flip to me between two really young,
Speaker 1: talented teams that are kind of just excited to be there,
Speaker 1: and so it'll be an interesting wrinkle. I would lean
Speaker 1: towards the home court in an environment like this where
Speaker 1: Spurs team is super young on the road. So I
Speaker 1: have the Nets over the Calves, the Hornets over the Hawks.
Speaker 1: That means that the Hornets and the Calves will be
Speaker 1: playing for the eight seed. I'm gonna pick the Hornets
Speaker 1: there as well. Once again, Jared Allen being out, I
Speaker 1: just considered to be too big of a of a
Speaker 1: of a of a of a obstacle for the Calves
Speaker 1: to overcome. I'm a huge believer in this Calves corps
Speaker 1: and what they can do going forward, but with Jared
Speaker 1: Allen being out, I just don't think they can get
Speaker 1: it done. So I've got the Nets getting the seven
Speaker 1: seed and the Hornets getting the eight seed. How West
Speaker 1: Clippers over the World Wolves, Pells over the Spurs. That
Speaker 1: means the Wolves will host the Pelicans for the eight seed,
Speaker 1: and I would absolutely pick the Pelicans, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: pick the Wolves in that game at home. I think
Speaker 1: one of the pelicans biggest strengths is all of their
Speaker 1: length and athleticism on the wings. We talked about this
Speaker 1: a lot in their matchups with the Clippers, and the
Speaker 1: Wolves are just athletic enough and young enough at those
Speaker 1: positions to match that effort, especially at home. And then
Speaker 1: it's gonna come down to Karl Anthony Towns trying to uh,
Speaker 1: just trying to overpower that thin interior from the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: and I like them in that matchup. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: end up, in my opinion, with the Nets at the
Speaker 1: seventh seed in the East and the Hornets as the
Speaker 1: eight seed, and out West with the Clippers as the
Speaker 1: seventh seed and with the Timberwolves as the eight seed.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk for just a few minutes about
Speaker 1: the Lakers because obviously, as is always the case with
Speaker 1: that particular franchise, it's all drama, but in this case,
Speaker 1: it's drama that actually is impacting, in my opinion, the
Speaker 1: end of the season for the NBA. It's impacting who's
Speaker 1: holding the trophy because not often do you have a
Speaker 1: brand as big as the Lakers with players as good
Speaker 1: as Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Effectively kept out of
Speaker 1: the running because of the fact that there's so much
Speaker 1: going on above them that is actively disrupting what they're
Speaker 1: trying to accomplish on the court. So I wanted to
Speaker 1: hit on three quick things that were reported over the
Speaker 1: course of the last few days that I think are
Speaker 1: beyond discouraging if you're a Laker fan and you're thinking
Speaker 1: about how this team can be turned around next year. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, as a report for major in war
Speaker 1: Zanowski that he gave on ESPN last night, and he
Speaker 1: specifically came out and said that the Lakers are expecting
Speaker 1: to be patient with their coaching search, wait until after
Speaker 1: this postseason and to see if there's any coach that
Speaker 1: ends up getting let go from one of these playoffs teams,
Speaker 1: to see if there's a better option for them before
Speaker 1: they make that decision. But he also mentioned a couple
Speaker 1: of very specific things. He directly implied that the coaching pool,
Speaker 1: the coaches who would potentially consider the job, are concerned
Speaker 1: about one how much money and years they would be
Speaker 1: willing to offer, and two whether or not there would
Speaker 1: be uh interference or micro management from those coming above.
Speaker 1: Specifically mentioned that many coaching coaches that would be potentially
Speaker 1: considering the job, would never in a million years consider
Speaker 1: it because of what he said was the front office
Speaker 1: sitting in on coaches meetings and trying to basically micromanage them,
Speaker 1: which is we already knew that. We saw a report
Speaker 1: earlier this year that Kurt Rambis was going in on
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel and telling him things like you need to
Speaker 1: play more DeAndre Jordan and so on and so forth.
Speaker 1: I did a video yesterday you can see it on
Speaker 1: my on my Twitter feed where I very briefly was
Speaker 1: just venting about how discouraging it was that Frank Vogel,
Speaker 1: even though he did deserve to be fired, that the
Speaker 1: Lakers botched it the way that they did and let
Speaker 1: that report get out. Now, I've a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, anytime a report comes out, you immediately have
Speaker 1: to start playing the game. Who who stands to gain
Speaker 1: the most by doing this? Who? Uh this reporter? Are
Speaker 1: they someone that would report like a source of a source?
Speaker 1: Are they going to report only like a very strong source? Well,
Speaker 1: it came from Adrian Warzanowski, and Adrian Warzanowski is only
Speaker 1: going to report something if he gets it directly from
Speaker 1: the front office. He doesn't mess around with the source
Speaker 1: of a source and things along those lines someone who
Speaker 1: might not know for sure. That's just his stature in
Speaker 1: the business. So I think it's pretty safe to assume
Speaker 1: that it's coming from the front office. Also, they don't
Speaker 1: deserve the benefit of the doubt. This is not a
Speaker 1: really well run team where if something weird happens, you
Speaker 1: can go, well, maybe there's some explanation for it. No,
Speaker 1: that's not the case here. The Lakers botched this. They
Speaker 1: reported that Frank was fired before even telling Frank. That's
Speaker 1: remarkably unprofessional. Then the next day they sent all their
Speaker 1: players out to meet the media for a season ending
Speaker 1: press conference without telling any of them or without resolving
Speaker 1: the situation with Frank, and basically throwing them out there
Speaker 1: to have to answer those types of questions open ended,
Speaker 1: without any sort of resolution from the front office. That's
Speaker 1: just incredibly incompetent. They are. I said this yesterday. They're
Speaker 1: laughing stock and people pay attention to this. We had
Speaker 1: a report come out from Brad Turner that uh that
Speaker 1: Quinn Snyder of the Jazz was less less interested in
Speaker 1: the job because of the way they treated Frank Vogel,
Speaker 1: and then we have this report for Major and more
Speaker 1: Zanowski that they're worried about her Rambus getting involved. They're
Speaker 1: worried about Genie Bust being cheap with the offer that
Speaker 1: they make, and they have every right to feel that way. Now,
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean it's very possible that the Laker brand
Speaker 1: and the prospect of coaching Lebron and Anthony Davis still
Speaker 1: brings a quality candidate to the table, and I sincerely
Speaker 1: hope that is the case. However, they are doing damage
Speaker 1: in that regard. Your they If the Lakers get that guy,
Speaker 1: the right guy, it will be in spite of the
Speaker 1: fact that the higher ups of the Lakers are actively
Speaker 1: sabotaging the team, and that's a problem. The other thing
Speaker 1: I wanted to quick talk about was Lebron. Sam Ammi
Speaker 1: of The Athletic reported that Lebron would be very satisfied
Speaker 1: if Mark Jackson became the next head coach of the Lakers. Now,
Speaker 1: Mark Jackson, to me falls into that category I talked about.
Speaker 1: I did a video about which coach the Lakers should
Speaker 1: go after the other day, and I gave you guys
Speaker 1: a kind of a spectrum. Right, there's the young ambitious,
Speaker 1: super smart guy. And then there's like the old established
Speaker 1: kind of lazy because he's already had some success, but
Speaker 1: commands the respect of the star players around the league.
Speaker 1: Right well, Mark Jackson and Doc Rivers are very much
Speaker 1: on that side, whereas like you're over on this side,
Speaker 1: you got your like your Kenny Atkinson's your your young
Speaker 1: successful ambitious coaches that maybe a star player wouldn't listen to.
Speaker 1: The Lakers have to find something in the middle there.
Speaker 1: The two guys that I throughout were like Mike D'Antoni
Speaker 1: and Quinn Snyder. We're not gonna get into that again,
Speaker 1: but this suggestion from Lebron from Mark Jackson is one
Speaker 1: of the worst possible suggestions. I was terrified when I
Speaker 1: read that report because Mark Jackson is not the guy
Speaker 1: that is going to orient the Lakers off and the
Speaker 1: way it needs to be oriented. Never forget that the
Speaker 1: Warriors offense completely took off after getting rid of Mark Jackson.
Speaker 1: Mark Jackson also has a giant ego. He there's we
Speaker 1: don't have to get into it, but there's a bunch
Speaker 1: of reports about him. He's kind of a weird guy
Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways. I understand that he
Speaker 1: would command some respect from the likes of Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D. I just don't think he's capable, in strictly
Speaker 1: in the terms of basketball coaching, to be the right
Speaker 1: guy to get that franchise on track. So I was
Speaker 1: deeply concerned by that. And last on the Lakers front,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook I said many times on the show this
Speaker 1: year that if there was one silver lining and all
Speaker 1: of this with Russ, that this seal this season was
Speaker 1: so humiliating for him that maybe, just maybe it could
Speaker 1: be the thing that humbled him into making some wholesale change.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like what happened to Carmelo Anthony when
Speaker 1: he was kicked out of the kicked off the Rockets
Speaker 1: and out of the league for a little while. It
Speaker 1: humbled Carmelo Anthony in embracing a smaller bench role as
Speaker 1: a guy that would be more of a spot up
Speaker 1: shooter and an occasional matchup attacker and more emphasis on
Speaker 1: the defensive end rather than what he had been doing
Speaker 1: before that, which was very old fashioned Carmelo, give me
Speaker 1: the ball, get out of my way. I was hoping
Speaker 1: that would happen for us, but everything that we heard
Speaker 1: from that press conference yesterday screams Nope, he hasn't learned anything.
Speaker 1: He specifically when he was asked about Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis letting Rusty Russ, he was like, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: they didn't actually do that. Then he talked about how
Speaker 1: he thought Frank Vogel had a problem with him, and
Speaker 1: then he came out and said that he never felt
Speaker 1: like he was really given a fair chance this season.
Speaker 1: And it screams to something that I've been talking about
Speaker 1: with Russ all season, which is the lack of personal accountability,
Speaker 1: the inability to look at what's happening and be willing
Speaker 1: to accept the fact that maybe, just maybe you share
Speaker 1: some responsibility for the way things have gone. I released
Speaker 1: another video yes sor you can find out on my
Speaker 1: Twitter feed where I laid out some very specific stats
Speaker 1: involving just how bad Russ was in areas that have
Speaker 1: nothing to do with the coaching staff are the players
Speaker 1: he was playing around. He missed more shots in the
Speaker 1: restricted area, so layups. He missed more layups than anybody
Speaker 1: in the NBA this year by a country mile. There
Speaker 1: were seventy eight players that attempted at least a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty shots in the paint outside of the restricted area,
Speaker 1: So basically any shot in the paint that's not a layup,
Speaker 1: so push shots, floaters, short jump shots, anything along those lines,
Speaker 1: longer layups, all that kind of stuff. He only made
Speaker 1: thirty four percent of those out of a hundred he attempted, like, uh,
Speaker 1: I can't remember exactly what it was, but almost two.
Speaker 1: I think it was one nine, Okay, so only made
Speaker 1: of him. The only player in the entire NBA out
Speaker 1: of that seventy eight player list that was worse was
Speaker 1: r J. Barrett. So that goes to what I've always
Speaker 1: been talking about. Russ has absolutely none of the short
Speaker 1: game that NBA guards have these days. You can't make
Speaker 1: a floater, he can't stop short and pull up, he
Speaker 1: can't make scoop shots and other crap. He finishes around
Speaker 1: the basket. Every single one of his peers can. How
Speaker 1: can you blame that on Frank Vogel? How can you
Speaker 1: blame that on your basketball situation? That strictly your skill
Speaker 1: set is not at a competent NBA level anymore. He
Speaker 1: attempted a hundred and eighty nine wide open threes this year.
Speaker 1: Wide open meaning defender was at least six ft away
Speaker 1: and he only made sixty of them. That means that
Speaker 1: you are probably the worst wide open jump shooter in
Speaker 1: the NBA at volume. That's on you, man. That's not
Speaker 1: on Frank, that's not on Lebron, that's not on Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: And so again I've said this a million times. I
Speaker 1: can't wait for this whole thing to be over, and
Speaker 1: I believe it will be very soon. Here in the
Speaker 1: next couple of months, Russ will no longer be a Laker,
Speaker 1: and we can all pretend this whole thing never happened
Speaker 1: or try our best to move on. But what I
Speaker 1: had said earlier this season that I thought that maybe,
Speaker 1: just maybe Russ could learn a lesson from this year
Speaker 1: and translated into something that could transition him into being
Speaker 1: a productive role player in the future. The guy to
Speaker 1: watch is Drew Holiday. That could be you, man, a
Speaker 1: power guard who plays in a tertiary role alongside two stars,
Speaker 1: who embraces all of the dirty work, the defensive responsibilities,
Speaker 1: the rebounding, every little detail involved in winning basketball games.
Speaker 1: That could be you, and you could be winning a
Speaker 1: championship one day in a key role. But no because
Speaker 1: you never blame anybody. You never blame yourself. You blame
Speaker 1: everybody around you for everything that has happened to you.
Speaker 1: And as a result, you're one of the least skilled
Speaker 1: guards in the NBA who's no longer athletic enough to
Speaker 1: finish around the basket. And it's causing you serious problems. Man,
Speaker 1: you gotta wake up. I don't know what else to
Speaker 1: tell you, man, but I mean to put a bow
Speaker 1: on this whole thing. We're not gonna talk Lakers for
Speaker 1: a while. We're getting into the NBA post season now.
Speaker 1: This is just a reaction to their exit interviews yesterday.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I talk the Lakers is they're
Speaker 1: one of the biggest brands in basketball. This season has
Speaker 1: been an all time catastrophe one will remember for a
Speaker 1: very long time. And you know, I've covered the Lakers
Speaker 1: for the last two years and I'm just gonna be
Speaker 1: an authentic basketball fan. So in this case, it's going
Speaker 1: to result in me talking about the Lakers good amount. Alright, guys,
Speaker 1: that's all I have on the Lakers. As always, I
Speaker 1: appreciate your support and I'll see you guys next time.