WEBVTT - Magic/Lakers postgame spaces 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.360 All right, what could you lass any boy? Dash Radio? 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.200 Happy Friday, everybody. I hope you all had a great week. Ros. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:18.360 How are you doing, buddy, I hope you had a 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.360 good week as well. I'm getting well. We're bad championship right, 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:26.239 I'm getting little man. I'm packing for my you know, 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.240 trip out to Vegas tomorrow. Um see, getting ready for that. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.640 How are you, man? How are you doing? I'm doing good. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.000 I'm pretty annoyed to be honest with you, man, like this, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.279 this was like probably one of the worst thing. This 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.640 is the this is the worst team you could see 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.280 on the schedule after a night like Wednesday for a 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.680 lot of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is, you know, 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.440 success against a bad team is not the same as 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.000 success against a good team. This is one of the 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:50.920 biggest things that I talked about with the high school 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:52.839 players that I coach. You know, like, I have a 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.600 young athlete on my team who frequently when we play 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:57.920 against bad teams, will make a lot of plays by 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:00.360 gambling and getting out of position. But because he's a 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.280 better athlete than some of the guys on a bad team, 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.760 he'll have some success. But then we'll play against a 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.120 good team and you do that same gamble and the 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:08.920 guy just behind the Bactora ble and he leaves you 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:10.280 in the dust and he's going all the way to 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.040 the rim, you know, And I was worried coming into 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.479 this game. I'm like, Okay, Frank's going with the same strategy, 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.800 and this is kind of what I was hoping wouldn't happen. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.199 The starters actually did pretty well, you know. The bench 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.319 player lineups didn't do as well. And I thought a 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:28.680 huge part of that was just because it's the Orlando 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.840 freaking Magic, because that was one of our worst efforts 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.479 of the season. So that part was frustrating. And then 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:37.280 it's about habits, right, like it's it it becomes very sloppy, 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.640 like we're about to play a team on Sunday that 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.759 is a bona fide championship contender. And so what's unfortunate 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:45.520 is you that some of the things that you do 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.520 against the Orlando Magic in a sloppy game like that, 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.520 like just the sheer number of botched switches and mistrotations, 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.560 lazy passes, lazy full court passes, lazy cross court passes, 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:02.440 all that sort of just unsound owned fundamentally sloppy basketball. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.400 That we played tonight in a win. Um, it's going 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.560 to be the thing that gets us killed by on Sunday. 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:10.880 So that part was really concerning. We're not going to 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.200 talk too much about this game tonight for that very reason, 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:16.519 but we we'll talk about it for a second, of course, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.200 but we're gonna talk a little bit about um some 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.840 Frank rotations and ideologies, and then we're gonna talk a 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:25.040 little bit about this trade, this potential John Wall for 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:29.880 Russell Westbrook trade marks. Sein reported today. But what's your 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.320 what's your quick overhead taking from this game? Where you 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.320 as irritated by the sloppiness as I was, Well, you 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.480 know you're texting me and we're texting back about topics 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.840 of was like your Land of Magic are just terrible, right, 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:41.480 They're just a really bad team. And you know you 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.200 said bad, that's probably putting it nice. Uh. They's just 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.440 a really struggle of an offense. Though I think they 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.560 have the worst offense in the league. We gave up 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:50.600 sixty two to them in the first half. Just a 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.799 lot of weird coverages against Thing and that you know, 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.000 drop coverage. Even when we went small, I thought they 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.400 got going with that, leaving shooters wide open. I thought 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.840 we got lucky on some of those as well. We 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.520 came back and won this one, Like this is not something. 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.079 You know, we're not really in position to be picky 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.360 about wins either, but I just didn't have any feel 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.480 about this one. I told you as well, this felt like, 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.680 you know, it just delayed the inevitable, which is like 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.080 another kind of fire type of game, another super chaotic 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.000 game where we lose by thirty or something to a 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.080 good team. This is just felt like a layover game, 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:24.280 like it's just over. Yeah, yeah, you did your job here, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.680 you came back on your Orlando Magic are just bad. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.280 They're eighting like thirty eight, which, like I think you 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.800 have to try to be that bad like, and they 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.280 have some talent like like I like friends what Wagner Like, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:36.480 I think he's a nice player, but um yeah, they're 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.320 just a struggle of an offense. They went over the 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.280 top on Russell Westbrook screens, which you know almost no 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.240 other team does. Like this is a lot of stuff 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.880 that you know Orlandos does that's just not replatable to 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.200 other squads. So that's the main point. I think in 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.440 this Orlando game, they did their job Lebron and thought 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.600 again came through offensively. Super lazy start though, and that's 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.000 why I wanted to see man. I was hoping to 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.080 see some emergency after all the articles we got about, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.280 like you know, the three straight articles that off, the 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.839 quotes that came out, YadA YadA, the Frank Voglar, Russell 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.840 Westborok stub. I was expecting some urgency in that first quarter, 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.880 and I just didn't see it. I saw guys going 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.040 through the motions, and maybe that's just because you're playing 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.120 the Orlando Magic, Orlando Magic, but we're what like five 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.880 hundred I think now, or maybe a game under above it. 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.320 But yeah, I was hoping for some emergency and I 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:20.440 didn't see it. But there are some some things we started. 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:22.599 Stanley Johnson in the second half, I think that's like, 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.680 you know, a point in the good process direction. He 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:27.960 played fourteen minutes at first half, only six minutes in 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.360 the second. I think that was more towards because Carmelo 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.240 was just on fire. You got an Inferno Carmelo game again. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.080 I don't know what to take from that. You got 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.719 Avery Bradley hitting step back jumpers to start the third quarter. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:39.760 Don't know what to take from that just a game 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.080 that I'm not really sure much you can take from 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.520 from this one. Ye. The two things that I broke 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:50.240 down as meaningful takeaways were Stanley Johnson shooting. There was 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.680 a really interesting point I think it was by a friend, 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.400 Alex Regula, who was who was tweeting out some details 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:00.320 from a player's tribute article that Stanley Johnson when he 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.360 was a rookie talking about how difficult the n b 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.120 A is and that kind of he kind of connected 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.440 that to a recent interview where Stanley Johnson basically was 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.480 talking about how MASSI U. Jerry looked him in the 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.960 face and was like you suck man, Like yeah, and 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:17.920 like how that was just kind of like a wake 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.040 up call for him. And you know, we've seen video 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.680 footage of him working hard with Phil Handy, and you know, 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.680 the truth of the matter is is like a lot 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:27.560 of every every I think every player that's gifted with 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.640 a certain amount of athletic ability reaches that point at 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.359 some point in their career where they're like, hey, I 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.000 gotta take the skill development a little more seriously. And 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.919 it seems like Stanley's there. Obviously, It's one game, a 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.240 long way to go. But the way he's handling the basketball, 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:42.400 the way he's making decisions, the way he's shooting, I 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.480 think is absolutely a positive we could take. And then 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.680 the other thing was Mellow you know, like, you know, 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:48.760 I thought it was really stupid that they played him 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:50.680 for thirty minutes the other night. That goes without saying, 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.960 but if there was one positive in that, it was 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.600 the reason why I should say the motivation for it 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:58.400 is like, hey, Melow is one of the best spot 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.600 of shooters in the league, So we gotta get him 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.520 back out there. We gotta get him reps because when 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:04.360 he does get it going, he can help you win 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.400 basketball games. Now, that doesn't change you and I, in 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.440 our opinion, how he should be used. He should be 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:11.760 used in limited quantities. It should be maybe one or 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.800 two ships a half short. First, make it so that 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.120 he's playing around defensive pit players that are capable of 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.039 covering for his defensive shortcomings, like stop putting him at center. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:22.360 Like there's a bunch of that kind of stuff that 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.920 we could talk about. But I'm happy with the fact 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.880 that Mellow shooting better. That's definitely a positive step in 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.000 that direction. But I wanted to so really quickly because 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.800 you know, um, I think what happened to Orlando tonight 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.440 is another interesting example as we as we get to 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:43.800 this first idea of of scheming. You know, Orlando, the 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.040 announcers for the Lakers were really talking trash about how 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.919 unorganized the Magic offense was. But a huge part of 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.960 that was the switching, which is the thing that we've 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.200 been talking so much about. When you switch screens, it 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:02.640 basically renders any defense or any offense defunct. And you'd 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.719 see it like they would. You know, Jalen Suggs would 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:06.440 come up a pin down and then there's somebody already 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:08.279 waiting for him because of the switch, And then Jalen 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.240 Suggs would have to flare out the half court to 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.080 catch the ball, and he'd kind of turn and take 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.360 two dribbles. And then here comes Mobamba, but in set 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.800 of screen, and he come off the screen from Obamba, 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.080 but they're Stanley Johnson. He just switched on to him, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:20.840 and you could tell Jalen Suggs is like, what do 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.080 I do? And so then they kind of like throw 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.600 it around, and Franz Vogger was like the only one 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.160 big enough and athletic enough to try to create his 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.000 own shots, so you'd usually see him and try to 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.160 put the ball on the floor and make something happen. Now, 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.560 obviously against a bad team, it's gonna look way more 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.720 effective than it would against a good team, but that 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.480 same concept does translate against good teams. That I that 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:46.000 ability to make teams shoot over the top of contests 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.400 rather than funneling them to the paint. It's a huge 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.520 difference between those two defensive schemes. And I'm such a 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.640 huge believer in and I have no idea why Frank 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.480 is so hesitant to accept it. Now, they can get sloppy, 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.680 Like you guys saw tonight, there was there's a big 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.160 play the first half on the on the three that 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.200 I think put Orlando up that put them up ten 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.200 where Stanley Johnson, Austin Reeves and th h t were 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.000 all in a cluster and they had almost like a 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.040 flex action with like three offensive players in the same screen, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.960 and they miscommunicated and someone got left wide open. That 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.600 kind of thing can happen from time to time, but 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.080 if we practice it, if we lean into it and 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.280 we use it more often, and we give our guys 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.840 a chance to perfect it, it can be something that 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:28.880 we can depend on in the postseason. So I want 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.480 to see I just want to see Frank lean into 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.960 that more, if that makes sense. Yeah, and I thought, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:34.880 you know, someone brought a good point. I forgot who 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.920 it was that said that, you know, we run these 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.080 like drop coverage kind of schemes because it might be 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.280 what we run in Anthony Davis is back, right, and 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.360 so we want to kind of keep that structure together. 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.520 It's why you know you badly starts. Maybe, but I 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.080 just don't think we're in a position to do that. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.400 And definitely, like, I don't know how high our ceiling is, 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.480 I guess with this type of team, with these type 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.640 of defenders, but I know the floor is pretty low, right, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.680 especially when we're not running the correct stuff and we 0:08:57.720 --> 0:08:59.719 don't have the correct lineups and you know, we got 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:01.800 the a little rest stuff going back and forth, but 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:03.720 you know, these lineups and stuff have to kind of 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:05.560 make sense. And I would like to see more switching. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:07.880 I think Stanley needs to play like thirty minutes a 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.120 game right now, and that's crazy for a guy on 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.040 a ten day, but we just need an athletic dude. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.520 Nesta lebron I the Dwight can still you know, sit 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.600 as the backup center, uh, in a lot of nights. 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.720 But you're right, man, Like I would hope we would 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:21.640 go to more switching. And I think it's really clear, 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:23.320 right we were down ten. I think I have now 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.640 down eight a half time. We go in the third quarter, 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.040 but we start standing again. We go on a nineteen 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.040 to two run, I believe. I think I wrote that 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.319 down correctly. Two run just by going small against a 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:38.320 team like Orland. Yeah, right, and because you know Orlando, 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.360 and like this is I think the my bigger kind 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.000 of point on this. We need to start coaching night 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.199 to night. Like I get, we have seasonal goals to 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.080 kind of you know, pick on, and we can do 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:48.839 that when a d comes back. But we're in a 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.640 situation where we need to rack up wins and we 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.960 need to have a belief from the players to the 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.800 you know, coaches that are walking in unison, that believe 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:58.599 in the stuff they're doing. And I feel like, I 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:00.520 don't know, I wrote this down for my a few notes. 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.240 I feel like our energy picked up when we started switching, right, 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.520 There was like a tangible like energy shift, uh in 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.120 all the players, And I think that just lends to 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.520 the kind of personnel that we have. We have guys 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:11.760 that are kind of better that way. You don't want 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.400 Russell Westbrook chasing all the time over the top of screens. 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:16.120 He's just not that type of defender. He's not a 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.800 good defender in that way. Um, maybe that's that works 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:20.959 well when dwy Howard's playing, But yeah, man, I think 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.120 we need to go more small, especially a team like 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.600 Orlando that doesn't have a guard that's really gonna punish 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.960 you on switches. They hunted Mellow a bit, but we 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.120 talked about he was inferno and when he's when he's 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.000 doing that, you can kind of play him in those lineups. 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.280 But yeah, I don't not much really to take from 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.080 this woman That Lebron was great. He torched a terrible 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.000 Orlando defense r So Westbrook was good tonight, Like he 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.439 had a really good floor game, got to the rim, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.079 took some questionable three point shots, which is going to happen, 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.800 took some one leg fadeaways. Um that's just part of 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.280 his you know, shot selection repertoire. But you know, a 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.240 good floor game, got to the room, was able to 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:55.760 They picked on Cole Anthony a lot tonight because the 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.480 Orlando Magic did not want to switch Cole Anthony onto 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:00.800 Lebron or Russ. Uh, so they kind of picked on 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.080 that to get get to get open actions. But Russell 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.000 was good tonight. I've got to see it against Miami 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.400 of course, but like there's not really much take on 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.840 this one man. Yeah, agree, So we wanted to, uh, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.520 you know, Mark Stein reported today that the there was 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.520 one team that would for sure be interested in a 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:21.720 trade for Russell Westberg gift draft compensation was involved. Now, 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.199 I tend to think that when push comes to shove 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.640 and we get closer to the deadline, that there will 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.679 actually be a couple of options there. They may not 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:31.839 all be good options, and we'll talk about that here 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.880 in a second. But this John Wall concept, I wanted 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.880 to shoot this down immediately, and I'm gonna use my 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:39.840 I'm gonna be a little self deprecating here and use 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:41.880 myself as an example. Have you guys seen some of 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.560 these videos of John wallplay and pick up lately, and 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:50.400 like you know, there's there's athleticism and then there's real athleticism. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.439 Like you guys see a video of me at it 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.280 elic fitness, Like Duncan or running up and down the floor, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.560 and I look pretty athletic compared to those guys. I'm 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.120 not anywhere remotely close to an NBA level lathlete. You 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.280 guys have no idea what these guys can do. And 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.560 when I see these John Wall videos, I look at 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.400 that guy and I'm like, man, you look like you 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.240 should be at an l A fitness like. He looks overweight, 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.599 he looks slow. He still can't shoot. I think he 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.199 was at like six attempts and thirty two last year 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:21.880 in Houston. There's there's just the The idea of swapping 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.040 Russell Westbrook for John Wall, to me, is like the 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.520 equivalent of cutting Russell Westbrook. Like there's just there's no 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.560 advantage there. John Wall certainly doesn't fit into what we're 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.080 trying to do. That would be like trading a really 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.320 really big problem for another really really big problem. I 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.240 just I just don't get that one. And we can 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.439 get to in a minute what I would classify as 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.760 a good Russell Westbrook trade in the platter of crap 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.040 that we're gonna have to choose from. But I can 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.800 say one thing for absolute certain, John Wall is not 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.800 the move. What was your initial uh takeaway when you 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.560 when you saw that, I mean, this team could use 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.920 prime John wall like, like that's a that's a you know, 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.240 that would be a viable thing. They could also use 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.280 the prime Russell Westbrook. None of those two are on 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.560 the table. None of those two are available. Um. I 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.920 think Houston w also asked for a first round pickback. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:09.679 I just don't think that's realistic. I've been on the 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.200 like these last few days have been the closest I've 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.880 seen like, oh man, maybe you know, like a small 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.880 short percentage chance that a Russell Westbrook trade could happen, 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:22.640 But it looks like I don't know of that. But 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:24.719 but yeah, like I still don't see it happening. I 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.920 think Russell west is gonna be on the team. Look, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.920 tonight probably delayed the real type of conversations that you're 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.200 gonna have with that. This type of stuff, it's much 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:34.800 easier to ignore it after a win, no matter who 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.920 the win is against. Uh, you know you have all 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.319 these happy kind of quotes that are gonna come out tonight. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.480 Of course after a win. That just makes sense. Every 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.439 gonna delay, um in an inevitable kind of thing that's 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:46.000 going to happen. But yeah, I don't think john Wall. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.520 Uh that just to me, Like you said, it's like 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.040 cutting Russell Westbrook. That's exactly what it is, right, That's 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:52.440 just what it is. John Wall is the guy you 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.760 don't have to play like. He wasn't here in the beginning. 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:57.679 He wasn't part of the story of this team. Right, 0:13:57.679 --> 0:13:59.760 you want to trade Russell Westbrook for John Wall, maybe 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.240 you get you know, some type of backup, productive guy. 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:03.959 I don't know what John Wall has been doing these 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.560 last you know, months without playing, But yeah, I just 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.160 don't see that happening. Uh, they understand. I understand it 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.319 from Houston's perspective, like, yeah, we'll get a free first 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:13.360 round pick for a guy we're telling not even to 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:14.960 come to game. I don't know if he's at games 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:16.959 or not, for a guy pretty much sitting at home, 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:18.720 Like we'll take a first round pick for that. That 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.600 makes sense, as Houston sends. But yeah for the Lakers 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.600 that and I just I wouldn't be able to sit 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.320 with that, I mean, trading what we traded to trade 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.280 that for John Wall four months later. It's just I 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:30.120 know you said there's no you know, there's no winning 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.280 and having a prideful kind of feel about this, but 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.040 just would be a bad look. I don't. I think 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.360 you gotta at least give this the chance it deserves, 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.800 you know, even if it hasn't looked pretty so far. 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.400 When I look at like a potential Russell Westbrook trade 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:44.080 and look at it, is like kind of like a 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.920 similar vibe to some of the moves that the Calves 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.320 made in two thousand eighteen. Like you're you're acknowledging that 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.240 this isn't working. You're giving the other guy an opportunity 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.000 to go be happy elsewhere, right, Like, let's be, let's 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.280 face it, like under all this pressure in l A 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.240 with all of the you know, the the Laker fan base. 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:04.960 You know, there's a lot of like stuff about the 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.200 Laker fan base and then being you know, kind of crazy. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.080 They're they're crazy in number, without a doubt, but every 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:11.840 fan base can be crazy. But the Lakers are just 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.760 an extremely loud fan base because of how many of 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.600 them there are. And you know, Russ is under a 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.600 lot of pressure. Every time he has a rough night, 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.040 every time he has a bad highlight. It becomes a 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.120 meme that gets shared thousands and thousands of times on 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.840 the internet, like it's tough here and there's there's a 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.520 case to be made that you know, he might be 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:33.800 happier somewhere else, you know, And that's where you look 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.880 at it from his perspective. Our friend Ruge came on 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.880 the podcast last week with me and reported from his 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:43.680 connections and when Russell was in Houston that Russ basically 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.520 went to upper management and said, like, I care more 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.240 about having the ball in my hands than winning. Like 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.600 that's basically what he said. And I think you can 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.080 kind of see that a little bit in his demeanor 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:55.840 this year, with things like him talking about how he's 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.680 been utilized in the offense um in press conferences, despite 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.840 the fact that we all have eyes and we see, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.200 we see what Russ has been doing on the floor. 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.720 I mean, I saw that article that came out yesterday 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.440 talking about how like the Lakers went small ball to 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.720 help Lebron and Russ is trying to figure out how 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:14.160 to fit in. I wanted to be like, are you guys, 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.360 are you guys kidding me? Like Russ is a big 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.200 athletic point guard who puts his head down and goes 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.760 to the rim, can't succeed in a small ball, five 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.280 out attack, like, come on, man, Like, how can you 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.680 possibly blame that on the situation and not on Russ. 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.000 They literally did that in Houston for him, the exact 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.080 same thing they did in Houston for him. The reason 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.040 why Russ hasn't succeeded in this system is because Russ 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.960 has declined as a basketball player. It is nothing other 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.680 than that. Has nothing to do with touches, has nothing 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.320 to do with the way he's been utilized. Yeah, you 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.400 can argue some stuff with spacing, but the Lakers have, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.880 you know, leaned into shooting in a lot of ways, 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.960 and most of their spacing concerns have to do with Russ. 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:56.920 And if you want to tell me, how is it 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.720 that this system that's geared towards Lebron, you know, is 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.360 hurting these other players? And why is Molik Monk looks 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.760 so comfortable in offense? Like, I just don't buy any 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.959 of that. So Russ isn't working out here. He'll be 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:11.119 happier somewhere else. So from that angle, it's it's just 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.080 about it's about accommodating him, similar to the way in 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.159 two thousand eighteen the Calves accommodated Dwayne Wade by sending 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.600 him to Miami where maybe he wasn't gonna win as much, 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:22.560 but he could be happier. That's kind of the way 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.560 that I look at it from that perspective. Now looking 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:28.200 at trade return, there are bad contracts in the league, 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.640 not many as bad as Russ's. The John wall contract 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.119 is on the short list. I'd probably put John Wallas 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:38.000 contract as the worst in russ Is at second, but 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.200 there are some others that are nearly as bad. Maybe 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.359