Speaker 1: M m all right, Welcome to Stage with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: presented by DAS Radio Happy New Year Edition. First of all,
Speaker 1: I want to extend welcome to our friend Jason Maples
Speaker 1: who was kind enough to hop in for RAJ who
Speaker 1: is celebrating elsewhere tonight. You deserve a much deserved night
Speaker 1: off since he's been working his butt off all season. Um,
Speaker 1: but Mr Maple's, how you doing, man? I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: you taking the time to come hang out tonight. That's
Speaker 1: all good, you know. And I'm not going on for
Speaker 1: New Year's man to West COVID out there, So I'm
Speaker 1: telling what's going on with I'm doing. I'm doing good.
Speaker 1: I'm wa get up, wa, get up at four o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning to drive up to Flagstaff to go skiing.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited about that. But it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: funky that's for sure. That said, I feel good. I'm
Speaker 1: excited to talk to the Lakers, but I'm gonna come
Speaker 1: at you with the curveball to start. So, so I
Speaker 1: am aware of the fact that the Blazers have been
Speaker 1: dealing with a lot of unfortunate circumstances. They've been hit
Speaker 1: by COVID recently, the CJ McCollum injury is weird. Dame's
Speaker 1: clearly been dealing with something. He doesn't look like himself.
Speaker 1: That said, they look like every time I've seen them
Speaker 1: play this year, which maybe a half dozen times, they
Speaker 1: look like an extremely poorly coached, an extremely poorly organized
Speaker 1: team that doesn't have any sort of buy into what
Speaker 1: they're trying to accomplish and no feasible way to get better.
Speaker 1: So so my question for you is this, what is what?
Speaker 1: What what is your opinion on the Blazers and and
Speaker 1: what in the world would you do if you were
Speaker 1: running that team? What was hard and right? You know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to throw that all on the coach, honest.
Speaker 1: A lot of that is, you know, Billips walked into
Speaker 1: a bad situation. Um. You know, Dame pretty much called
Speaker 1: the season and failure if you remember his comments before
Speaker 1: going any pretty much set free agency and the draft
Speaker 1: was a failure before they even got to train again.
Speaker 1: So that's hardy and everybody's head from the jump. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that, they're already not that good
Speaker 1: day and came out struggling. It's just it's just that
Speaker 1: the worst thing that happened that team was making that
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen Western Conference Finals. That's the worst thing
Speaker 1: that happened to that team because it gave them a
Speaker 1: false sense of reality and like where they were as
Speaker 1: a franchise, which it really should have been blown up
Speaker 1: two years ago. Um Dame keeps saying he wont the
Speaker 1: ass out. We give reminded every two weeks that he's
Speaker 1: not running from the grind. I mean, it sounds great
Speaker 1: for a loyalty story, but that team is not. It's
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. That's the worst. The worst place to
Speaker 1: be in the NBA's in the middle because you're never
Speaker 1: gonna be bad enough to get that marquee player. You're
Speaker 1: never gonna be good to compete. Is just they got
Speaker 1: to blow it up man like C. Why isn't C
Speaker 1: C should have been trained two years ago for a win.
Speaker 1: The fact that the biggest failure to means they never
Speaker 1: got game a feasible wing in all his entire danger
Speaker 1: there never got a win. And it's the most important
Speaker 1: position in the n b A you could argue, and
Speaker 1: they never got to a wink in ten plus in
Speaker 1: ten years, never had this. This is a good win
Speaker 1: for him to play with, not to mention the fact
Speaker 1: that c J, because of this long situation and because
Speaker 1: of the underachieving, his value is probably the lowest that
Speaker 1: has been in a long time in terms of in
Speaker 1: terms of on the trade market. But I look at
Speaker 1: it from two perspectives. Because from from Dame's perspective, the
Speaker 1: part that's confusing to me is the weird game he's
Speaker 1: playing in the media, because because he's like, he's saying
Speaker 1: all the right stuff about this loyalty, but there's also
Speaker 1: like all these leaks, and then there's that really weird
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes piece where he basically talked about how he
Speaker 1: flirted with the the Lakers this summer. So and I
Speaker 1: actually got in big trouble with Blazers fans earlier this
Speaker 1: year because I just pointed out the obvious, like, look, man,
Speaker 1: if this guy is clearly looking elsewhere and this is
Speaker 1: clearly not a good situation for him, why don't we
Speaker 1: just cut the bs and just skip ahead to the
Speaker 1: part where everybody's happier, now, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: That that was what was frustrating. And then from the
Speaker 1: team's perspective, I I look at it as as simply
Speaker 1: as this, Like I I saw the Bucks throw the
Speaker 1: chicken sinc excuse me, the kitchen sink to try to
Speaker 1: get to try to get Drew Holiday, even though they
Speaker 1: overpaid for him. I look at what the Bulls did
Speaker 1: last summer, you know, I look at I look at
Speaker 1: these teams doing everything in their power to try to
Speaker 1: put talent around the guy they perceived to be the one.
Speaker 1: In this case, Dame, and the Blazers just haven't. Like
Speaker 1: I mean, I like Larry Nants it's a good player,
Speaker 1: and I also like child like Normant, but you and
Speaker 1: I both know that those it was all about the
Speaker 1: fact that c J, as much as I like c J,
Speaker 1: is overqualifiy it is a number two unless you have
Speaker 1: an unbelievable defensive front line, which they've never had. So
Speaker 1: I just I look at it like the Blazers are
Speaker 1: clearly incapable of putting Dame in a position to succeed,
Speaker 1: and Dame is beating around the bush and it's a
Speaker 1: waste he's capable of, especially as he's getting to the
Speaker 1: age where you know he's in his crime right now.
Speaker 1: But you know, small guards, they get to the parties,
Speaker 1: you know, it becomes you know, a matter of time
Speaker 1: at that point. I just always felt people got credit.
Speaker 1: The trade that most makes sense was the c J
Speaker 1: for Dame and then you know, kind of make it
Speaker 1: work with picks and stuff to make it even on
Speaker 1: one side. But I thought that, yeah, c J for
Speaker 1: Ben Simon jc J as I said that it felt
Speaker 1: like it was feasible for both chains and served the interest,
Speaker 1: like the feeling like really needed shot making in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Si this guy who can score from all three levels.
Speaker 1: The Blazers need somebody who can play some defense, it
Speaker 1: can play make and put game off the ball sometimes
Speaker 1: and that like it just felt like it felt like
Speaker 1: too perfect of a trade to happen. But more feels like,
Speaker 1: you know, Beta is going off for for a franchise
Speaker 1: player at this point, and we'll see what happens. But
Speaker 1: the appointing gotta do something, man, just you can't waste
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard's prime like like this, you gotta do something
Speaker 1: or free him. I think Ultimateple Images they kind of
Speaker 1: do what Minnesota did with Kevin Garnett I after twelve
Speaker 1: years and like all right, man, we we kind of
Speaker 1: failed you here, Uh tell us where you want to go.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of just give it. Just give us
Speaker 1: a list. We'll do the best we can what offer
Speaker 1: we get. I think that's what the end game is eventually.
Speaker 1: But it's time for something to happen. Yeah, I could
Speaker 1: see them trying to be aggressive at the deadline to
Speaker 1: build a round Dame, But unless they find traction or
Speaker 1: something like that, then Dame like knocking on the front
Speaker 1: office door and being like once the next time, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Um, So okay, So let's move
Speaker 1: on to the Lakers. So, you know, I wanted to
Speaker 1: touch base of you about the Rust the rust fit
Speaker 1: in particular, and I know tonight it's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a tricky night for that because he played so well.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, that was kind
Speaker 1: of more like a pickup game that involved Lakers players
Speaker 1: than it was a real nbas Some of the defensive
Speaker 1: breakdowns I'm seeing from the Blazers tonight were worse than
Speaker 1: in l a fitness. But anyway, so so let's just
Speaker 1: cut to this point. So after the crazy game against Memphis,
Speaker 1: I was just as frustrated as you because I thought
Speaker 1: there were a couple of pivotal mistakes down the stretch
Speaker 1: of that rusts made and admittedly, coming up front before
Speaker 1: we even talked about this, I didn't like to move
Speaker 1: to begin with, and so it's taken the better part
Speaker 1: of my being to try to force myself to see
Speaker 1: the things that he does well, to try to remain
Speaker 1: as open minded to it as I could. Um. But
Speaker 1: and there have been stretches this year where he looked
Speaker 1: really good. Actually, i'd say that he looked good most
Speaker 1: of the season. I'll even clarified to their but I've
Speaker 1: been pretty frustrated. After the Memphis game, you tweeted out
Speaker 1: that the Lakers needed to get off of him and
Speaker 1: trade in this deadline because they can't beat good teams
Speaker 1: with him, was what you had said in the tweets.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to give you an opportunity to clarify
Speaker 1: that and to elaborate it on a little bit and
Speaker 1: then I'll give you my two cents. All right, So
Speaker 1: this is what this this, this is where I'm coming.
Speaker 1: So I kind of, like rog as explained before, like
Speaker 1: I saw the Lakers vision as far as like why
Speaker 1: they wanted this, while Lebron kind of pushed for it,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think it was to try to
Speaker 1: bring his workload down a bunch, which which it hasn't.
Speaker 1: Now if you look at it, which you know it hasn't,
Speaker 1: which is five is lebron Is is a tank. So whatever. Um.
Speaker 1: The other thing was just um, you know, lebron Is
Speaker 1: always wanted more playmaking around him, like he's always pushed
Speaker 1: for not being the main guy to make decisions him
Speaker 1: and I understood it from that standpoint, But dude, just
Speaker 1: and I was to I was like, I'm against it.
Speaker 1: I want to see if it works first, because this
Speaker 1: is the first time in the rest of his career
Speaker 1: that he was going to be asked to be a
Speaker 1: number three, you know, not number one. Got a number two,
Speaker 1: so that's what I was kind of hoping for. Maybe
Speaker 1: this time could possibly be different. But just the decision
Speaker 1: making Layton basketball games, I'll say that he has eliminated
Speaker 1: those little mirror range pull ups, the early shot talk
Speaker 1: pull ups that I hated to stop doing that. He
Speaker 1: he has become so much self aware, like I'll give
Speaker 1: him that much like the bad shots are are aren't
Speaker 1: there anymore. It's just the decision making, the dad turnovers. Um,
Speaker 1: He's got an adjust to maybe not being the same
Speaker 1: supreme athlete. He was as far as going to the basket,
Speaker 1: Like the bad lay piments against Memphis, I think he
Speaker 1: jumped from beyond the dotted line, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you're not You're not twenty four anymore. But like you said,
Speaker 1: it's been mostly good. I have to be honest, it's
Speaker 1: been mostly good. I just I don't see them. I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, six games against Phoenix, six games
Speaker 1: against Golden State, Um, even Utah like can rely on
Speaker 1: him to make good decisions in a long series like that,
Speaker 1: And I'm still leaning no on that. Just unfortunately, that's
Speaker 1: I'm being honest. I'm still leaning a note on all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Um, you know, he could prove me wrong.
Speaker 1: I'd be happy to be wrong, but I'm just it's
Speaker 1: this as a whole, you know, decade plus, like the
Speaker 1: playoff appearances and like recently it's been really bad. But
Speaker 1: the only my only hope is that Lebron and a
Speaker 1: D knocked him down to pick where he's the doctor's
Speaker 1: first or second. He's the third option. So maybe it's
Speaker 1: not that much on his plate where he's not in
Speaker 1: the position to possibly make those mistakes. Um, maybe he
Speaker 1: gets better. I'm guessing he gets better when a d
Speaker 1: gets back because then he's the ball doesn't find him
Speaker 1: late in his late game situations, like as much as
Speaker 1: it has, which is I think he's putting him in
Speaker 1: position to fail. That's not who he is anymore. But yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just you know, the my original do not trade
Speaker 1: for this guy? Like I'm feeling that bubble to the
Speaker 1: top right now, so me too. It hasn't bubbled. It
Speaker 1: hasn't bubbled over yet. And the main and the main
Speaker 1: reason why I would, I'm the main reason why I'm
Speaker 1: slow to reach that point is because of the total
Speaker 1: catastrophe that a Westbrook trade would be. So like, just
Speaker 1: thinking about that's the salary filler that the Lakers would
Speaker 1: get back, you would have to believe in that trade
Speaker 1: purely as an addition by subtraction to go that route.
Speaker 1: Now here's the deal. I when I when I was
Speaker 1: trying to talk myself into the Westbrook fit to start
Speaker 1: the season, I centered around the Dennis Schroeder Cup because
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, here's a relatively inconsistent shooting point guard
Speaker 1: who is very aggressive to the basket. And in theory,
Speaker 1: you know, Russ could replicate some of his on ball defense. Um,
Speaker 1: the big thing that I like completely miscalculated with that
Speaker 1: is Dennis for all of his flaws, and Dennis wasn't
Speaker 1: my favorite player that I've ever watched, But Dennis didn't
Speaker 1: make a ton of mistakes. He on the defensive end
Speaker 1: always did his job. You could count on him to
Speaker 1: be where he was supposed to be, whether it was
Speaker 1: on the ball or off the ball. And then on offense,
Speaker 1: he was very reserved to only attack in specific matchups,
Speaker 1: especially at the end of games, and just in general.
Speaker 1: Like I can't even think off the top of my
Speaker 1: head of a specific moment last year where he made
Speaker 1: a critical late games mistake, and I'm sure there were,
Speaker 1: but we already have several loud mistakes from Westbrook season
Speaker 1: in the situations, And so my my concern is, like
Speaker 1: I sent out a poll today and damn near, I'm
Speaker 1: just asking about the fit, and I think Brussel Westbrook
Speaker 1: is a much better basketball player than Dennis Schroeder was.
Speaker 1: But what concerns me with this fit is I think
Speaker 1: when specifically, when you're the third guy, it's so much
Speaker 1: more critical that you don't screw things up. Then then
Speaker 1: in another position, And what scares me is like Maple's
Speaker 1: him losing him, him losing Patty Mills on Christmas Day
Speaker 1: at the end of that game. That's not related to
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and him being in a tertiary role. That's
Speaker 1: just him pushing the ball in transition against Memphis. That
Speaker 1: same play could happen in a clutch playoff game, even
Speaker 1: if a d and Lebron are on the floor, because
Speaker 1: you want Russ to push the ball in transition. I
Speaker 1: fear that his decision making could be fatal in that
Speaker 1: type of environment. And and that gets me to the
Speaker 1: point where where like if if he can't show strides
Speaker 1: in that specific department, where I would start to contemplate
Speaker 1: whether or not addition by subtraction would be sensical, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense. See I mean, and all this in
Speaker 1: my and all this in my opinions, I just blow
Speaker 1: the ad Rips because they're they're they're not going to
Speaker 1: trade it. I don't think they are. The only time
Speaker 1: on the reason I think they would trade him, as
Speaker 1: I gif, it was like the Simmons deal came up,
Speaker 1: but that like feel he's not trading at all the
Speaker 1: trades they turned down, feel he's not gonna take him
Speaker 1: for Russell Westbrook, right, So I don't think he's getting traded.
Speaker 1: So I think it's a matter of, you know, put
Speaker 1: in Westbrook in the best position to succeed. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of that is gonna have to a
Speaker 1: lot it's gonna be on you know, the five that
Speaker 1: Frank puts out there, Like you can't play him with
Speaker 1: th ht, you know what I mean. You can't play
Speaker 1: him with DeAndre and a D at the same time,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's like you got to
Speaker 1: really pay attention with who he's on the court with
Speaker 1: two to put him in the best to succeed. And
Speaker 1: I want to say that's Westbrook. He's still like even
Speaker 1: if with all the bad plays and or whatever, he's
Speaker 1: been a top five playmaker in basketball, like his high
Speaker 1: quality assists numbers and this shock creation, it's still at
Speaker 1: the tip top of the league. So I will give
Speaker 1: him credit for that. So like that that that's a
Speaker 1: good thing he's done. Like he's helped a lot of
Speaker 1: guys um get a lot of good looks. We just
Speaker 1: you know, we want that and then want to eliminate
Speaker 1: the crucial era. And I think we we've got something
Speaker 1: like that's feeds from playoff basketball. So I mean a
Speaker 1: lot of it is against his his nature, so it's
Speaker 1: kind of hoping against hope, But I just want to
Speaker 1: point out that that is something good that he's done.
Speaker 1: He's still one of the five best playmakers in basketball
Speaker 1: this season. Absolutely, you know. I think the way that
Speaker 1: I looked at it was so Pete from like a
Speaker 1: film room always talks about the idea of a responsible
Speaker 1: adults lineup. It's the line up, the lineup that you
Speaker 1: would go to in a moment where you need guys
Speaker 1: to execute. And the way I've kind of come around
Speaker 1: this way of describing Russ, I think he's a fantastic
Speaker 1: basketball player who is not a responsible adult. That's the
Speaker 1: way that I look at it, Because you're right, his
Speaker 1: his ability to pressure the rim and create high quality
Speaker 1: three point shots and drop offs and things like that
Speaker 1: are in the near if not the top tier, in
Speaker 1: the second tier that you'll find in the league. He's
Speaker 1: just flat out really good at that. So and then
Speaker 1: then you watch like a play like those two plays
Speaker 1: at the end of game against Memphis in isolation defense
Speaker 1: against John Morant, who has been lighting us on fire,
Speaker 1: all night and he gets too crucial stops and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that looks like one of the better guard defenders in
Speaker 1: the league. But that inability to trim the fat, that
Speaker 1: inability to you know, find a way to replicate what
Speaker 1: he does well and minimize what he does poorly, to me,
Speaker 1: is that lack of that responsible adult basketball character. And
Speaker 1: so what scares me is that big pivotal playoff moment
Speaker 1: where you've got four responsible adults on the floor. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got Lebron, Anthony Davis, Trevor Ariza and call it
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, and then you've got this one gigantic wild
Speaker 1: card in there that at any given moment could go
Speaker 1: rogue and do something silly. So that that's kind of
Speaker 1: the way that I would describe it. But you're right,
Speaker 1: it's very important to emphasize that there is a ton
Speaker 1: of good that comes with Russ. The wrinkle here is
Speaker 1: the bad and how do you how do you evaluate that,
Speaker 1: how do you plan for that, how do you prepare
Speaker 1: for that, and how do you try to coach him
Speaker 1: or help him to avoid that? If that makes sense? Alright, guys, So,
Speaker 1: unfortunately I have some bad news we had some technical
Speaker 1: difficulties with Mr Maple's phone. No fault of anybody, just
Speaker 1: some bad New Year's luck. So unfortunately this conversation got
Speaker 1: cut short, which is a bummer for me because Maple's
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite guys. I appreciate having him
Speaker 1: on and I love talking the game with him. But
Speaker 1: I hope you all have a happy New Year, and
Speaker 1: I apologize for the unfortunate circumstances, but we will be
Speaker 1: back with our normal postgame show on Sunday.