1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:18,360
Speaker 1: Mmmm, Welcome to the State of the Lakers postgame show

2
00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,319
Speaker 1: my Dad's radio guys, thank you so much for coming

3
00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,319
Speaker 1: to hang out. A special shout out to RAJ for

4
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,720
Speaker 1: holding it down for me on Sunday night. Just was

5
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,560
Speaker 1: a really long weekend. UM. And then tonight I had

6
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,360
Speaker 1: a crazy sequence where one of my dogs I'm pretty

7
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,120
Speaker 1: sure got bit by a rattlesnake. So I had had

8
00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:40,400
Speaker 1: I had that going on, but it turned out my

9
00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,639
Speaker 1: dogs ended up being okay because the rattlesnake, I think

10
00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,760
Speaker 1: was too small to do any real damage. And then

11
00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,279
Speaker 1: I had basketball practice at the high school with I'm

12
00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:50,280
Speaker 1: coaching out that ran a little late, so I missed

13
00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,320
Speaker 1: a portion of this game, but I was able to

14
00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,200
Speaker 1: watch most of the important stuff at the end, and

15
00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,640
Speaker 1: obviously I saw the entire game on Sunday. We do

16
00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:00,760
Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about, but I'm thankful because

17
00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,080
Speaker 1: uh RODJ is my partner in crime here has been

18
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,240
Speaker 1: able to be a little bit more attentive. But this

19
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,880
Speaker 1: is to me a classic example of UM. You know,

20
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,039
Speaker 1: this type of game is just something that happens in

21
00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,240
Speaker 1: the NBA regular season when you're playing in eight two,

22
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,399
Speaker 1: especially as an older veteran team. UM, I think it

23
00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,360
Speaker 1: was too much to ask for them to have too

24
00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:33,360
Speaker 1: defensive performances like Sunday Night against the team of this caliber. UM.

25
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,240
Speaker 1: That said, and I'm interested to hear your take on this, Like,

26
00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,400
Speaker 1: I feel like I'd be a little less annoyed if

27
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,360
Speaker 1: this hasn't been such a theme from this season. You know,

28
00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:45,960
Speaker 1: like if you if you saw a game like this

29
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:50,280
Speaker 1: from the Lakers, Lakers, you just chalk it up to

30
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,120
Speaker 1: the dregs of the NBA regular season. But when we

31
00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,640
Speaker 1: really start to break down the games of this season

32
00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,680
Speaker 1: so far, it's like, Okay, Golden State they were really

33
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,560
Speaker 1: good for about two and a half quarters and then

34
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,080
Speaker 1: they completely fell apart defensively. Phoenix they were good for

35
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,679
Speaker 1: about one quarter and then they completely fell apart defensively.

36
00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,520
Speaker 1: Memphis they got a bunch of stops in the fourth

37
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:14,640
Speaker 1: quarter and they got a win, But for the most

38
00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,640
Speaker 1: part that game, they were bad defensively. I think John

39
00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,600
Speaker 1: Morant had forty in that game, right. San Antonio complete

40
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,560
Speaker 1: ship show defensively, they just happened to outscore them. And

41
00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,200
Speaker 1: then Oklahoma City they lose because it's a ship show defensively,

42
00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,720
Speaker 1: and then they have a good defensive performance against Cleveland

43
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,720
Speaker 1: and a good defensive performance against Houston, and then tonight,

44
00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,560
Speaker 1: so we're talking about what's that? What do They played

45
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,400
Speaker 1: eight games and six of them have been bad defensive performances.

46
00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,240
Speaker 1: So I think I do care a little bit more

47
00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,399
Speaker 1: than I normally would, just because it kind of goes

48
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,560
Speaker 1: to the conversation we had last week on Friday having

49
00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,040
Speaker 1: to do with identities and like what the like what

50
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,160
Speaker 1: what the mental makeup of the team is? Like to me,

51
00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,600
Speaker 1: this is a little more annoying because it's a part

52
00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,200
Speaker 1: of a larger theme. What do you think? Yeah, like

53
00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:10,320
Speaker 1: we talked about it. I believe on Friday, I was

54
00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 1: worried about the bad habits that would start being created

55
00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,320
Speaker 1: by playing all these bad teams, and I thought tonight

56
00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,760
Speaker 1: was just the accumulation of that. This is another bad team,

57
00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,120
Speaker 1: another young team, and I don't think this team can survive,

58
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 1: Like there has to be a baseline level of defense

59
00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,200
Speaker 1: that you play, Like they can't play hard defense every

60
00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,640
Speaker 1: single night. And I don't really like blaming defense on

61
00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,200
Speaker 1: pure effort every time because I think that's kind of

62
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,560
Speaker 1: unfair as well to the other team. Like Jalen Green

63
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:37,920
Speaker 1: was incredible tonight, and I thought in that first quarter

64
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,400
Speaker 1: he had a bunch of tough threes that got him going.

65
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,000
Speaker 1: He got to attack the rim. But definitely brought any

66
00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,120
Speaker 1: D another game where I felt like they really just

67
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: walked through. And I feel like on those previous teams

68
00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 1: they could do that and we had the defensive kind

69
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,560
Speaker 1: of talent there to make up for about on this team,

70
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,480
Speaker 1: it just doesn't you see when Lebron's kind of not

71
00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:57,560
Speaker 1: not being all into it as the help guy, a

72
00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 1: d not all into it defensively as the help guy.

73
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,000
Speaker 1: It's just straight line drives right to the basket. Every

74
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,400
Speaker 1: Bradley did what he could, Austin Reads did what he could.

75
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,280
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook got thought played hard, but still you know

76
00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,360
Speaker 1: a lot of gambling, a lot of getting beat off

77
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,200
Speaker 1: the dribble, just one move right to the basket. Guys

78
00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:15,960
Speaker 1: like Kevin Porter Jr. Are really dynamic in that way

79
00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 1: going off the dribble. I talked about Jillen Green as well.

80
00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:20,480
Speaker 1: But yeah, and that third so in that first half

81
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,320
Speaker 1: used to towards seventy points and a lot of that

82
00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,840
Speaker 1: was in the paint as well, like and that to

83
00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:32,160
Speaker 1: me just telling on exactly yeah. But then in that

84
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,000
Speaker 1: third quarter, and so in the second half, they had

85
00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,680
Speaker 1: around thirty four points with four minutes left, and four

86
00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:40,840
Speaker 1: minutes left is when I really thought the Lakers had

87
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:42,640
Speaker 1: the game in the bag. I think they were up eight.

88
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 1: And I want to ask you about this. Have you

89
00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,479
Speaker 1: ever seen so did you see where they took the

90
00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,440
Speaker 1: two points away from base? Have you ever seen I

91
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,320
Speaker 1: have never seen that for something like a couple of

92
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,599
Speaker 1: minutes away. I get like, right away, maybe they figure

93
00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,320
Speaker 1: out like, hey, he's not supposed to be at the line,

94
00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,280
Speaker 1: they're actually at four files. But minutes away. Not only

95
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:01,720
Speaker 1: does it take the points away, it takes a possession away, right,

96
00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,279
Speaker 1: so they basically throw that whole offense was Have you

97
00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 1: ever seen that? No, So I thought that I have

98
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:08,960
Speaker 1: a feeling the NBA is going to come out, the

99
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000
Speaker 1: officials are going to come out and release a statement

100
00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 1: that they screwed up. Because so I had a huge

101
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,719
Speaker 1: problem with that because even okay, let's call it what

102
00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,479
Speaker 1: it was, the officials made a mistake. Okay, boo freaking

103
00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,440
Speaker 1: who whatever. You move on officials and make mistakes all

104
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,960
Speaker 1: over the place in the game, Okay, Like that's just

105
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,640
Speaker 1: part of basketball. However, what they don't understand. The problem

106
00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:36,600
Speaker 1: with taking points away after the fact several possessions later

107
00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,600
Speaker 1: is you never are properly accounting for the way basketball

108
00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,080
Speaker 1: changes based on the scoring margin. So, for instance, if

109
00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:49,080
Speaker 1: you're up five instead of up seven, the game feels

110
00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,920
Speaker 1: a little closer, right, Like we're talking about two possessions,

111
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,359
Speaker 1: three possessions. So maybe on defense you give a little

112
00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,479
Speaker 1: bit more effort. Maybe on offense you're a little less

113
00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,880
Speaker 1: willing to settle because the game feels closer. So I

114
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,200
Speaker 1: had a huge problem with taking that basket of those

115
00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:09,040
Speaker 1: two free throws away because it fails to account for

116
00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:15,960
Speaker 1: the way that the basketball um the like the tone

117
00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,279
Speaker 1: of the game, it is different based on the scoring margin,

118
00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:21,599
Speaker 1: and so I had a huge problem with that. But

119
00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,640
Speaker 1: I have a feeling they're gonna end up, um, I

120
00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:26,599
Speaker 1: have a feeling they're gonna end up coming out with

121
00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:28,960
Speaker 1: some statement like we probably shouldn't have done that, because

122
00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,640
Speaker 1: you're right, like, if if it was just a team foul,

123
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,719
Speaker 1: they would have had a side out of bounds in

124
00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,480
Speaker 1: another possession. So you didn't just take two points away.

125
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,080
Speaker 1: You took two points away, and you took away the

126
00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,719
Speaker 1: opportunity to potentially score a basket, So it was like

127
00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,400
Speaker 1: completely nonsensical on so many levels that a problem with it,

128
00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:51,440
Speaker 1: yeah for sure, And I just thought that was weird.

129
00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:53,560
Speaker 1: But yeah with the defense, like again, this is a

130
00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:55,400
Speaker 1: Houston team that's not going to really be able to

131
00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,960
Speaker 1: punish you. They're super young. The game kind of went

132
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,240
Speaker 1: how I thought I would, But yeah, third quarter they

133
00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:02,359
Speaker 1: completely shut it down and they had something like again,

134
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,680
Speaker 1: like we talked about it, they go on these defensive runs,

135
00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,960
Speaker 1: and I thought they had that tonight. When Lebron and

136
00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,120
Speaker 1: a d are engaged defensively, like it becomes a scary team.

137
00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:11,960
Speaker 1: There are a few moments where Houston can't even get

138
00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:13,520
Speaker 1: a shot off. I think one of them ended with

139
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,240
Speaker 1: a D blocking one of Jalen Green's three's and he

140
00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,480
Speaker 1: was late. But just like, they can't do that every quarter.

141
00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:22,000
Speaker 1: But there has to be like a level where you

142
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,800
Speaker 1: don't just become this like the worst defensive team in

143
00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:26,360
Speaker 1: the league. And I thought that's what they looked like

144
00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,960
Speaker 1: in that first first half, or just straight line drives

145
00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,760
Speaker 1: right to the basket, Sangoon just in christian Wood, just

146
00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,840
Speaker 1: blowing their way to the rim, looking like super dominant

147
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,440
Speaker 1: um inside paint players. Yeah, but are you worried about

148
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,000
Speaker 1: the defense? I guess as a whole going forward, just

149
00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,160
Speaker 1: larger picture because tonight they did turn it on and

150
00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,680
Speaker 1: they showed they can shut down this Houston team. I

151
00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:47,720
Speaker 1: think we play Oklahoma City next so again and just

152
00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,240
Speaker 1: another bad team. I know we lost to them. We'll

153
00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,720
Speaker 1: see if that changes how they how they react to it.

154
00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:54,640
Speaker 1: But I feel like we're gonna get another one of

155
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,120
Speaker 1: these just lack of days ago first halfs turned on

156
00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,560
Speaker 1: in the second half type of games. So it's all

157
00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:05,640
Speaker 1: about what the totality of their identity, So what what

158
00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,360
Speaker 1: they're what they tend to do when they're in those situations.

159
00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:11,480
Speaker 1: So for instance, if they go have a really nice

160
00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,280
Speaker 1: defensive game against Oklahoma City and then they go and

161
00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,280
Speaker 1: have a really nice defensive performance on Saturday night in

162
00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,520
Speaker 1: Portland and beat the Trailblazers, then we can look back

163
00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,960
Speaker 1: at tonight and be like, hey, four of the last

164
00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,800
Speaker 1: five games the Lakers looked great defensively. They're turning a

165
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,120
Speaker 1: defensive corner. This is becoming their new identity. That's the

166
00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,000
Speaker 1: way you can look at it. But if they go

167
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,040
Speaker 1: up to Oklahoma City or they stay home for Oklahoma

168
00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,080
Speaker 1: City on Thursday and don't defend well, and then they

169
00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,160
Speaker 1: go up to Portland and get beat and look sloppy

170
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,559
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. Now we're looking at that thing

171
00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,320
Speaker 1: I was talking about earlier where now eight of the

172
00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,440
Speaker 1: ten games they've played, they've looked bad defensively, right, so

173
00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,040
Speaker 1: you know, they it's up to them to show us

174
00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,360
Speaker 1: whether or not it's a blip or a trend. You

175
00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,680
Speaker 1: know what I mean now? And you're you are right

176
00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,680
Speaker 1: that like defense can't solely be put down to effort.

177
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,600
Speaker 1: That that is a good point that that needs to

178
00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,000
Speaker 1: be emphasized here. However, I think when Lebron checked out

179
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,560
Speaker 1: of the game, they had already allowed twenty two or

180
00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:12,920
Speaker 1: twenty three points by the four minute market the first quarter.

181
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,520
Speaker 1: So the starters they do have enough defensive talent to

182
00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,480
Speaker 1: get stops. So the effort was not good enough with

183
00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,360
Speaker 1: that group. And so that's what's disappointing to me, is, like,

184
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,720
Speaker 1: you know, there was that photo that went that was

185
00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,600
Speaker 1: on social media from the Sunday night game where Lebron

186
00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:30,880
Speaker 1: and A d were sitting on the bench right before

187
00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,760
Speaker 1: tip off and they both just had that angry like

188
00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,520
Speaker 1: scowl look on their face like they were just ready

189
00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:38,600
Speaker 1: to rip the throat out of the Rockets, and they

190
00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:40,800
Speaker 1: went out and did that. That was a tone that

191
00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,920
Speaker 1: they set from the beginning. I shared a video yesterday

192
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,440
Speaker 1: showing just how active Lebron was on the back line,

193
00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,080
Speaker 1: blowing up plays around the rim as that helped defender,

194
00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,760
Speaker 1: Like Lebron set a tone and it extended through the

195
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,480
Speaker 1: whole game, and they held the Rockets to points in

196
00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:03,120
Speaker 1: that game. That same attitude was just missing tonight. And again,

197
00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:06,200
Speaker 1: it's all about the trends. If it's one of those

198
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,920
Speaker 1: things where one out of every four or five games

199
00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:11,200
Speaker 1: when they play a bad team that come with some

200
00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:14,280
Speaker 1: weak defensive effort, then you can just attribute it to

201
00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,240
Speaker 1: the normal things that happened in an NBA regular season.

202
00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:21,000
Speaker 1: But if it's something that becomes recurring, now we're talking

203
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: about we're talking about an identity problem. So that's that's

204
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,000
Speaker 1: the way I would look at it. Is like tonight

205
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,840
Speaker 1: the Lakers. If the Lakers have the opportunity this weekend

206
00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,920
Speaker 1: to make tonight look like a blip and not a trend, yeah,

207
00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:35,559
Speaker 1: for sure. And this is definitely like a part in

208
00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,079
Speaker 1: the schedule where you want to just rack up rack

209
00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,400
Speaker 1: up as many wins as you can against these really

210
00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 1: inferior teams. I just kind of want to move on

211
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,240
Speaker 1: to I guess again the guy we're gonna talk about mainly,

212
00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,920
Speaker 1: I think what this season revolves around. I thought Russell

213
00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,400
Speaker 1: Westbroog is starting to kind of get more and more comfortable,

214
00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,880
Speaker 1: not even just tonight, but even against Houston. I believe

215
00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: on Friday whenever they played them, I thought you looked good.

216
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,439
Speaker 1: Then to tonight only three turnovers, um didn't hit it

217
00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,800
Speaker 1: three twenty seven, seven and nine. I know his numbers

218
00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,400
Speaker 1: don't always kind of equate to if you're winning the

219
00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,160
Speaker 1: game or not, but I just thought he picked his

220
00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,480
Speaker 1: spots pretty well, his shot selection. It still can be

221
00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:12,920
Speaker 1: where he at times, but I thought it's getting better

222
00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,600
Speaker 1: and better. Not and Tonight's only game six of the

223
00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,040
Speaker 1: Lebron A D and Russ trio, and it just feels

224
00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,439
Speaker 1: like a lot more just the way that we consume media.

225
00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:23,760
Speaker 1: Just feels like they've been playing together a lot more

226
00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:25,640
Speaker 1: than they did. But I thought he's he's starting to

227
00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,240
Speaker 1: find his way to Teammates are starting to figure him

228
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,559
Speaker 1: out as well. He's starting to figure them out. He's

229
00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:31,959
Speaker 1: doing a lot of this like, he still does a

230
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,000
Speaker 1: lot of this. He just drives in the paint recklessly

231
00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,880
Speaker 1: and then kicks it out, but it does kind of collapse.

232
00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,720
Speaker 1: The defense brings like a compromise defense and then they

233
00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,680
Speaker 1: can attack. What are you kind of seeing from Russ?

234
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,080
Speaker 1: Not just tonight the last game as well. I feel

235
00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:46,960
Speaker 1: like he is starting to find his bearings a little bit. Again,

236
00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,400
Speaker 1: it's not great, it's not clean, but I think the

237
00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,720
Speaker 1: a d at the five stuff like, it's no coincidence.

238
00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,240
Speaker 1: And again DeAndre Jordan looked absolutely awful tonight, uh in

239
00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,040
Speaker 1: his minutes, But I don't think it's coincidence. The one

240
00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,880
Speaker 1: center lineup has just opened things for Russ and he

241
00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,320
Speaker 1: lived a lot more comfortable being able to attack. He

242
00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,040
Speaker 1: attacked in one on one situations in transition. He he

243
00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:09,640
Speaker 1: bullied his way to the rim. He got to the

244
00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,760
Speaker 1: line I believe ten times uh tonight, which which is

245
00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,080
Speaker 1: good for him. What do you what are you kind

246
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:15,800
Speaker 1: of seeing from Russ? Because I feel like he's starting

247
00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,400
Speaker 1: to starting to put fit down a little bit. Well,

248
00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,800
Speaker 1: He's starting to understand that with this group he can

249
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,720
Speaker 1: impact the game in all of the Russell Westbrook ways

250
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,200
Speaker 1: that he's always impact the game while trimming back on

251
00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,079
Speaker 1: some of his aggressiveness, which is going to increase his efficiency.

252
00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:34,000
Speaker 1: Will have to look when the when the stats get

253
00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,720
Speaker 1: updated later tonight, but his fewer goal percentage has taken

254
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:42,079
Speaker 1: a significant take up in the last week um which

255
00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,920
Speaker 1: is probably a big part of Lebron coming back and

256
00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,720
Speaker 1: the way that he just allows Russ to kind of

257
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,800
Speaker 1: rain in some of his aggression. I tweet I tweeted

258
00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,760
Speaker 1: out earlier today the the Lebron Russ a d with

259
00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,400
Speaker 1: no center lineups coming into tonight. This information will not

260
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,160
Speaker 1: have been up aided on the NBA dot com website

261
00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,760
Speaker 1: until tomorrow morning or later tonight. But before tonight they

262
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,640
Speaker 1: had only played forty five minutes together with no center,

263
00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,480
Speaker 1: and they were plus seventeen in those minutes, which comes

264
00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,959
Speaker 1: out to plus fifteen point eight net rating, so plus

265
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,480
Speaker 1: five team point eight points per one enter possessions, and

266
00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,280
Speaker 1: they were dominant on both ends of the floor in

267
00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,160
Speaker 1: those minutes. Now there, they have not looked good when

268
00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,760
Speaker 1: they've played with a big which is the most predictable

269
00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,760
Speaker 1: outcome in the history of basketball. However, the reason why

270
00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:35,040
Speaker 1: I would use that as a huge sign of optimism

271
00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,160
Speaker 1: or a driving force behind optimism is like they haven't

272
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,440
Speaker 1: played well. This is this is a basketball team that

273
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,160
Speaker 1: is that is playing like a middle of the pack

274
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,800
Speaker 1: Western Conference team right now when we when we all

275
00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,440
Speaker 1: know that when this thing really gets going, they're going

276
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,280
Speaker 1: to be a team that is in contention for a championship,

277
00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:58,560
Speaker 1: one of the top two three four teams in the league.

278
00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,760
Speaker 1: And so that's exciting for me because you know, when

279
00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,200
Speaker 1: we envisioned this coming in, it was like we were

280
00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,840
Speaker 1: just thinking Dennis Shrewder on steroids, right and and we

281
00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,120
Speaker 1: knew last year that when Dennis Shredder and Lebron and

282
00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:11,920
Speaker 1: a d were on the floor of the Lakers dominated

283
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,079
Speaker 1: that was just a fact that manifested on the scoreboard.

284
00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,520
Speaker 1: And so we had a feeling that if r Us

285
00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,240
Speaker 1: could kind of replicate what Dennis Shredder did on the

286
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,520
Speaker 1: team in terms of usage, which when you look at

287
00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:27,360
Speaker 1: the roster, the when Lebron is on the floor with Russ,

288
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,400
Speaker 1: he doesn't take a ton of shots. I think it's

289
00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,280
Speaker 1: hovering right around like like twelve or thirteen shots per

290
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,320
Speaker 1: one of per thirty six minutes, I think, if I

291
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,880
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, So what that means is Russ

292
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,080
Speaker 1: is really reining it in and taking on that Dennis

293
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:47,240
Speaker 1: Shredder type of role, guy who's trying to attack when

294
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,040
Speaker 1: it kind of makes sense along to superior players, you

295
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,520
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And so that there's a lot

296
00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,360
Speaker 1: to be optimistic about looking forward with that group because

297
00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,280
Speaker 1: they're gonna start playing better basketball. There will be a point,

298
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,640
Speaker 1: especially when they go and play some of these better teams,

299
00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,120
Speaker 1: like they've got a road trip coming up. I think

300
00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,600
Speaker 1: it's in just over a week where they're gonna be

301
00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,400
Speaker 1: playing like Boston and Milwaukee. Like you're they're gonna have

302
00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,600
Speaker 1: to to elevate their level of play. And I do

303
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,440
Speaker 1: think that that we've seen enough, even with as bad

304
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:23,040
Speaker 1: as they've been playing, that this can work. And you know,

305
00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,200
Speaker 1: I loved that Russ is. I love that when Lebron

306
00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:26,600
Speaker 1: shot that fade away at the end of the game,

307
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,800
Speaker 1: Russ came flying in and tried to tip dunk it

308
00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,200
Speaker 1: even if you missed it, because that's the example of like,

309
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:36,920
Speaker 1: that's just that, you know, uh, it's he's overqualified for

310
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,280
Speaker 1: what you're asking to do. He's so athletic, he's so strong,

311
00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,800
Speaker 1: he's got such a high motor that asking him to

312
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,560
Speaker 1: be that tertiary player alongside these two better players should

313
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,040
Speaker 1: manifest in all of this like positive chaos, and I

314
00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:51,840
Speaker 1: think we are starting to see that a little bit.

315
00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,960
Speaker 1: Like I again from the beginning, didn't love the move,

316
00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,480
Speaker 1: but I saw that it could work. I knew that

317
00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 1: there was potential for it to work, and we have

318
00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,800
Speaker 1: seen some flashes of that so far through eight games

319
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,280
Speaker 1: and in minutes is nothing think about them, like that's

320
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,560
Speaker 1: nothing they have. They're gonna have a whole lot more

321
00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,520
Speaker 1: opportunity over the course of the season to figure out

322
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,480
Speaker 1: how to make this work even better. Yeah, and this

323
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,840
Speaker 1: is the third straight game I really like. Well, the

324
00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:20,680
Speaker 1: A D two files kind of messed it up in

325
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,160
Speaker 1: this game, which might take on it. I wish he

326
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,000
Speaker 1: would just stayed out there with the two files. But

327
00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,160
Speaker 1: like they've been doing this second unit kind of thing

328
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,720
Speaker 1: where Lebron comes out I believe around the three or

329
00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:31,960
Speaker 1: four minute mark of the first quarter and they do

330
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,200
Speaker 1: Russ A D with just three spacing shooters, one of

331
00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,800
Speaker 1: them is Mellow and they'll have reeves out there. And

332
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,480
Speaker 1: then tonight it was Monk in that situation. Um, it

333
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:42,680
Speaker 1: was Bradley A couple of times. I think it can

334
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,440
Speaker 1: be Ellington when he comes back, Kedron or whatever. But

335
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,840
Speaker 1: I'd like that they've kind of stuck RUSS and a

336
00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,280
Speaker 1: D together in those and then they let like you

337
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,560
Speaker 1: talked about, they started let Lebron running those DeAndre Jordan's

338
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:55,960
Speaker 1: lineups or whoever is the backup center lineup. But I

339
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,240
Speaker 1: think that, like second unit is something they can stick with.

340
00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,960
Speaker 1: They started it in the third quarter against Cleveland, Uh,

341
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:02,760
Speaker 1: they were down ten, they went to that. They went

342
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:04,760
Speaker 1: on a big run with Lebron off on the bench.

343
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,000
Speaker 1: They did again in the first game against Houston, did

344
00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,640
Speaker 1: again tonight. I just like that as something they can

345
00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,280
Speaker 1: go to when Lebron's on the bench. I have to

346
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,480
Speaker 1: check the numbers. Um if they're winning, those those lineup

347
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,679
Speaker 1: spy a lot or not, but like even if they're not,

348
00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:18,639
Speaker 1: I just like how that looks. Austin Reeves as a

349
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:20,919
Speaker 1: connector there. He's a guy that probably stayed. But I

350
00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:22,840
Speaker 1: just like that they're finding units that work. And I

351
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:25,439
Speaker 1: thought Vogel has found something there with the RUSS A

352
00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:27,800
Speaker 1: D kind of spacing line up where they can just

353
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:30,040
Speaker 1: spam that RUSS a D pick and roll. It's just

354
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,240
Speaker 1: a really tough cover. You can't. You can't switch it.

355
00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,200
Speaker 1: You get a D with a small Russ gets to

356
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:36,960
Speaker 1: get a load to the rim. He can run to

357
00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,159
Speaker 1: the rim I big under or he can find shooters

358
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,200
Speaker 1: and you can find Carmelo, who has been an absolute flamethrower. Um.

359
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:43,760
Speaker 1: I know we didn't get to talk about that first

360
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,240
Speaker 1: Houston game together, but what do you think of Camelo

361
00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:48,159
Speaker 1: just can't miss right now? It's kind of crazy. I

362
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:50,639
Speaker 1: did not think he'd be shooting this. Well, what are

363
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:52,760
Speaker 1: you seeing from Carmelo? Because I feel like it's kind

364
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:54,240
Speaker 1: of crazy what he's shooting. I think it was like

365
00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,960
Speaker 1: seventy at home and eight percent on the road, and

366
00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,080
Speaker 1: I think those numbers will kind of even out a

367
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,440
Speaker 1: little bit. But he's been just amazing as a knockdown guy.

368
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,399
Speaker 1: And I think they found lineups for him too. I

369
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,160
Speaker 1: like him next to a D about tonight, even on defense.

370
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,160
Speaker 1: It kind of shows that he can survive out there.

371
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,000
Speaker 1: Do you do you like we're kind of seeing from

372
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,720
Speaker 1: Carmelo because I feel like he's kind of outplaying his

373
00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 1: contract already. Yeah, I do, so. I have I have

374
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,000
Speaker 1: a lot of thoughts about Carmelo, and really really quickly

375
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,960
Speaker 1: before you before we get to that. Just to tie

376
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,080
Speaker 1: off what you were just saying, agree with you, Like,

377
00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 1: in terms of the Lebron off minutes, I would stack

378
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,119
Speaker 1: talent in those minutes because Lebron just has a history

379
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,439
Speaker 1: throughout his career of just figuring out how to be

380
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:39,600
Speaker 1: positive with limited players, especially against bench lineup. So you know,

381
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:41,720
Speaker 1: obviously I'd prefer that to be Dwight, and it will

382
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,840
Speaker 1: be Dwight when he gets healthy. But it putting Lebron

383
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,399
Speaker 1: with a Dwight, putting Lebron with a uh, you know,

384
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,359
Speaker 1: with an Austin Reeves, putting him with the players that

385
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,520
Speaker 1: are a little bit more limited, I think makes the

386
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,560
Speaker 1: most sense because he is the most capable of keeping

387
00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:01,119
Speaker 1: those minutes positive. And I really do think that having

388
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,280
Speaker 1: this team be the first team in the Lebron era

389
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,560
Speaker 1: that could stay positive in the Lebron off minutes would

390
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,480
Speaker 1: be such a huge boost to this team, not only

391
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 1: in uh, in those specific minutes, but that that kind

392
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: of thing will help them in the standings over the

393
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,640
Speaker 1: course of an eight two game season. Like think about

394
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,280
Speaker 1: how crazy it is to win at a sixty four

395
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,120
Speaker 1: get win pace like they did in the last two

396
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,560
Speaker 1: seasons when Lebron and a d were healthy while losing

397
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,800
Speaker 1: every single minute you play without without Laban Like, that's crazy, right,

398
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,439
Speaker 1: So you know, I kind of like organizing it in

399
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,399
Speaker 1: that way, and chances are that that's the way to

400
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,919
Speaker 1: use it, as like like innings eating, because by the

401
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,719
Speaker 1: time you get to the postseason, all these guys are

402
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,840
Speaker 1: playing forty two minutes anyway, and if you won't have

403
00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,920
Speaker 1: this much of a problem trying to to get through

404
00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,399
Speaker 1: the these extended stretches of of you know, a d

405
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,439
Speaker 1: Off and russ Off minutes. Now, as far as Tormentlo

406
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:59,199
Speaker 1: Anthony goes, he's the guy in the early going that

407
00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: I've been advocated it as the perfect fifth guy to

408
00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,440
Speaker 1: throw in with Lebron, ross a D and in Baysmore

409
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,840
Speaker 1: or Reeves or Bradley whoever is that they put out there.

410
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,920
Speaker 1: The reason why is like he provides you. And I

411
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:12,679
Speaker 1: talked a lot about the difference between a guy who

412
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,080
Speaker 1: can make shots at high percentage and the guy that

413
00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,080
Speaker 1: teams are terrified of and guard in a specific manner,

414
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,719
Speaker 1: because the truth of the manner is, even if Rondo

415
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: hits his threes, he's being he's being left wide open.

416
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,680
Speaker 1: And so it has an impact on every other possession

417
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,679
Speaker 1: that doesn't end in him making a three just because

418
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,840
Speaker 1: of congestion, And like, what what was so interesting to

419
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,840
Speaker 1: me in that in the Cleveland game and then in

420
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,840
Speaker 1: that in the last Houston game. You know, Carmelo he

421
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:47,840
Speaker 1: because he is taller and because he's so good at

422
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,639
Speaker 1: elevating and releasing quickly at the top of his shot.

423
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,520
Speaker 1: You if you close out on him, he's kind of

424
00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,560
Speaker 1: still open. The only way he's not going to feel

425
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,720
Speaker 1: comfortable bulling his shot is if you're in his shorts,

426
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,480
Speaker 1: like literally just like up in his airspace. That's the

427
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 1: only way you're going to bother Carmelo Anthony spot up attempt.

428
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,400
Speaker 1: What that means is you have two choices as the defense.

429
00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,320
Speaker 1: You can either take him away, in which case you're

430
00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 1: letting Lebron, A D and Russ play four on four,

431
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,080
Speaker 1: which I'm here to tell you as a battle you're

432
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:24,240
Speaker 1: probably gonna lose. Or you can keep that fifth defender

433
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,080
Speaker 1: and in a traditional help side you know, split the

434
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,640
Speaker 1: difference type of spacing to try to bother Lebron resc

435
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,199
Speaker 1: and A D and Carmelo Anthony is gonna shoot like

436
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,560
Speaker 1: from three this year because because that's the that's the

437
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,320
Speaker 1: gamble that you have here. These guys put so much

438
00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,399
Speaker 1: pressure on the rim in a different way than than

439
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard and c. J. McCollum did that he's just

440
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 1: going to continue to either get amazing looks that he's

441
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,359
Speaker 1: going to hit at an extremely high percentage, or he's

442
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,680
Speaker 1: going to uh pull the defender out and allow your

443
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: ours to be more comfortable. It's like he's he's one

444
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:07,640
Speaker 1: of those he's made himself into almost like a Duncan Robinson,

445
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,679
Speaker 1: you know, Joe Harris level spacing threat. Obviously he's not

446
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,320
Speaker 1: shooting on the move like those guys are, but he

447
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 1: has he's building that kind of fear. And then, as

448
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,560
Speaker 1: we've seen with the really really good defensive lineups that

449
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: the Lakers put out there, he can hold his own

450
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,000
Speaker 1: defensively as long as he's surrounded by all that size

451
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,120
Speaker 1: and athleticism. So I, you know, it's funny because I

452
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:33,719
Speaker 1: I was really down on the signing when it first happened.

453
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,080
Speaker 1: Not down, but just not as excited as other Laker

454
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: fans were. And I've been proven wrong because he's just

455
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,600
Speaker 1: turned himself into such a deadly spot up threat that

456
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 1: you absolutely have to account for him and that and

457
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,679
Speaker 1: that that helps that spacing equation with Russ, you know,

458
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 1: like with Russ on the floor, Yeah, he's gonna be helped.

459
00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 1: This guy is gonna be helping off. But Carmelo's spacing

460
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 1: kind of counteracts that a bit. It helps the whole

461
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,399
Speaker 1: formula work better. Right, And I looked up today, so

462
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,359
Speaker 1: he was shooting six almost sixty nine percent on his

463
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 1: wide open threes, and the NBA kind of classifies that

464
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 1: as when you're defenders six plus feet away. It was

465
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,840
Speaker 1: almost like when the defenders when it's just open with

466
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: the defenders less than six ft. But yeah, I don't

467
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: know if those numbers will stay. But he's just been

468
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,120
Speaker 1: an incredible spot up guy. Like he's just he's gonna

469
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,879
Speaker 1: be himself, right, unapology, unapologetically, Like he's kind of what

470
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 1: I thought Russ would be here. Russ has kind of

471
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 1: done this more trying to fit in stuff. Carmelo is

472
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 1: like I'm coming here to be Carmelo Anthony and like

473
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 1: some of that you get some of those really bad

474
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 1: kind of midrange shots. But I tweeted tonight, he must

475
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 1: be in heaven, like he gets he gets every team

476
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: he gets every team's third worst defender. You know, he

477
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,240
Speaker 1: had like Kevin Porter Junor on him in the post

478
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,119
Speaker 1: and it's just a little one leg fade away that

479
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,200
Speaker 1: you know he's done a bunch of times and yeah,

480
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,399
Speaker 1: put him put us up, I think like four or something.

481
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 1: But yeah, just as a catch and shoot guy. Like

482
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,720
Speaker 1: that's why I like him in that second unit as well.

483
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:00,360
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be a stand and stay

484
00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 1: as we go here. Um, just russ a d mellow

485
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 1: with two if you can get two defensive guys, I guess,

486
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 1: And that's kind of where I wanted to go with

487
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,640
Speaker 1: this task you next, because it looks like th HD

488
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 1: is kind of getting healthy, Wayne Ellington's kind of getting

489
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,440
Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington seems to getting healthy, Andndrick Gun should be

490
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks. Like there's three new dudes

491
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 1: coming to the rotation. Um, I know that they barely

492
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: beat the Rockets these few times, and it's really tough

493
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 1: to kind of take from these young teams, but like,

494
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,479
Speaker 1: how do you see I guess the rotation people are

495
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 1: asking about my league Monk, Like I thought Mileage Monk

496
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,359
Speaker 1: looked bad tonight, but you know he's gonna have games

497
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,639
Speaker 1: like that, he's still kind of getting destroyed defensively. But

498
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:35,960
Speaker 1: how do you see the rotation? I guess just big

499
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: picture here. We get th HD back hopefully pretty soon.

500
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 1: Does he just slide right into there for monk or like,

501
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 1: how do you see this kind of playing out? It's funny.

502
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 1: I actually got actively excited about th HT the other

503
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 1: day when I saw that that little video of him

504
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 1: doing the left handed workout with with Yeah, gosh, now

505
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,920
Speaker 1: I'm planking on his name like it's so funny too,

506
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: because like I feel like every person in their wife

507
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,440
Speaker 1: is to suffer an injury to their dominant hand at

508
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: some point so that they can polish up things with

509
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 1: their left hand. That injury never happened to me, by

510
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,480
Speaker 1: the way, so I have absolutely no left hand. But

511
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 1: the uh, it's funny because with with T T H

512
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 1: T two is is hilarious because he's so dominant right hand,

513
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 1: Like he's that guy that will have you pinned on

514
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:21,679
Speaker 1: the left side of the rim and still go up

515
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,439
Speaker 1: with his right hand. You know. But I got excited

516
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: about him because I have so much uh you know,

517
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,880
Speaker 1: I'm so excited for what his defensive potential is as

518
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 1: a ball pressure guard. You know, the truth is is

519
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: like Avery Bradley is not super good right now. He's

520
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,399
Speaker 1: not super good compared to what he used to be,

521
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,119
Speaker 1: but he looks really good right now because what Frank

522
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 1: needs out of that position is pretty simple. Fight over

523
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: the top of screens, apply ball pressure. It's okay if

524
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,440
Speaker 1: you get beat off the dribble, because if you get

525
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,159
Speaker 1: beat off the dribble, that is a uh in the

526
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 1: in a ball pressure sense, that is a predictable outcome

527
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 1: that the defense has built to absorb. Okay, we talked

528
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 1: about We talked about this all the time, Like when

529
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 1: you're playing against the five, when you're playing against the

530
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets in the finals, I don't care if I've

531
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: got Ben Freakin Simmons guarding the dude at the point

532
00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: of attack, Kyrie is probably going to beat him off

533
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 1: the dribble. You know, to your defensive scheme is designed

534
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 1: to absorb that, and so it just needs to be

535
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 1: a predictable outcome, which you can't have is blatant defensive

536
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 1: breakdowns where guys don't do their jobs and then everything

537
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: falls apart. That's where it gets more complicated. Well, th

538
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 1: h T as we've seen is actually a better on

539
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 1: ball defender than Avery Bradley at this point. He's got

540
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 1: a lot to learn about those multiple effort plays within

541
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,199
Speaker 1: the defense in his off ball stuff, and we'll see

542
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: if he has enough of that together. He did get

543
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:50,959
Speaker 1: better at that as the season progressed last year, by

544
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 1: the way, But that and that's gonna be the big

545
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,440
Speaker 1: thing for him. But I think th HD is gonna

546
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 1: come in and play a big role right away. I

547
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:03,399
Speaker 1: expect him to imediately jumped into that Avery Bradley type

548
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:07,439
Speaker 1: of role where he's playing minutes um and being the

549
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 1: guy that's that's fighting over the top of every single

550
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,960
Speaker 1: ball screen. That's gonna be something really exciting. Kendrick nunn

551
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: Is is going to be, I think a little bit

552
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,119
Speaker 1: more in the Link Monk type of of role. And

553
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is like I think his

554
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: minutes a Wax and Wayne based on how well he's playing,

555
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: because while he is a good defensive player compared to

556
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: someone like Molik Monk, he does not have that high

557
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 1: ceiling type of ball pressure effect that you get from

558
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: an Avery Bradley or from a Campaigns more from a

559
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,600
Speaker 1: th HT. So from that standpoint, I think you'll see

560
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 1: moments where None plays a big role, especially if he's

561
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 1: got it going offensively, kind of like Monk, but I

562
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,399
Speaker 1: could see him kind of drifting in and out. I

563
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 1: mean the perfect I know, I know this is completely

564
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,959
Speaker 1: out of left field, but like, if the Lakers are

565
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:55,440
Speaker 1: in a position where they need to make a trade

566
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:59,680
Speaker 1: at the deadline, the the the emergence of Avery Bradley

567
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: and in the emergence of Austin Reeves immediately makes Malik,

568
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: Monk and Kendrick unexpendable. Now that I who knows, they

569
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 1: could all pan out really well and the Lakers could

570
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 1: stand pad at the deadline. I'm not here advocating for

571
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 1: a trade by any means, but the the advantage of

572
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: having Reeves breakout and having Bradley show that he can

573
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: work in this system is if you're sitting down and

574
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, guys, a Reza's ankle is screwed. He

575
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: cannot play this here. We need a wing. Well, you've

576
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 1: got two contracts there in Monk and None, who add

577
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:34,879
Speaker 1: up to you know, eight nine million dollars that you

578
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: can trade for ten eleven million dollars, And there are

579
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: guys that are replaceable in because of all your guard depth,

580
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: and so I think what will be really interesting to

581
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 1: see is, you know, because we've seen Monk fall out

582
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: of the rotation several times already and it's confusing to

583
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,960
Speaker 1: even wonder how Kendrick Nunne fits with this group right now.

584
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 1: So it'll be really interesting to see over the course

585
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,800
Speaker 1: of the next couple of months how much those guys

586
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 1: are used, because they could become your primary trade pieces,

587
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: uh come February. Yeah, I've been thinking about this, Like

588
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,960
Speaker 1: th HD, I think feels the desperate need we have

589
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 1: for a wing, right we just don't have anyone's like

590
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: six eight six seven. Kendred Nonne kind of should feel

591
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: like they he was there. These are what fourth or

592
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 1: fifth highest paid player. They gave him the tax player

593
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,959
Speaker 1: mL E. He should fit into that Avery Bradley roll

594
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 1: right with more offense, and we'll see if every Raley

595
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,920
Speaker 1: goes to the bench talking about him and Vogel having

596
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 1: this like and you talked about as well, like there's

597
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 1: defensive coach connection where he's a super high pressure UH

598
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 1: point of attack defender that fits the scheme that Bogo

599
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: wants to run. Even if it was like I don't

600
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 1: know if you didn't get to see that first half.

601
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 1: But they did a lot of switching tonight because they

602
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: started a d at the five, and there's still some

603
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: miscommunication with that as well. I think Avery Bradley is

604
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,880
Speaker 1: not as good and just like a total switching scheme

605
00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 1: like you could tell U. I think some of the

606
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 1: bigges kind of went at him. But yeah, like with

607
00:29:57,800 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: let me ask you this quick. They switching because they

608
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 1: were dying on screens or were they switching because it

609
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 1: was by designing? In that first quarter I thought it

610
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 1: was by did not by design. It felt like they

611
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 1: were trying to really switch everything. And then they kind

612
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: of switched when Mellow got into the game. Mellow came in,

613
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: he started kind of trapping a little bit more. But

614
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 1: in that first quarter they really were trying to just

615
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: switch everything. I think one play even where Bradley went

616
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: over the top and eight, he told him like we're switching,

617
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: and then I think Houston just threw the ball out

618
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: of bounds but it wasn't open dunk for things sing

619
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: goun or something like that. But I thought they were

620
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 1: trying to switch everything. But that's what I want to see.

621
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 1: I want to see if like Kendrick Nunn comes in

622
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 1: and can take that, you know, take the minutes from

623
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, because he should be this offensive kind of player,

624
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: right That was the whole point of getting Kendrick Kunn

625
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: be like that backup guard um. But like he is,

626
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 1: he is kind of small. He's six too, so we'll

627
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:46,960
Speaker 1: see if he can defend well enough. But like, I

628
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 1: want to see Kendrick Nunn play first before I put

629
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: him in some trades, put him in a put in

630
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 1: the trade machine. But I'm really interested to see if

631
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,720
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn comes back and takes every Bradley minutes. I

632
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 1: think TH's gonna play right away. Though we need a

633
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: wing even if she's not great. It's just we need

634
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 1: more size out there and he should be able to

635
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 1: feel that. But we'll see it when he comes back. Yeah,

636
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 1: you know, I I Kendrick Nunn in particular is a

637
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: guy I'd like to see playing some of those lineups

638
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 1: you were talking about where Russ and a d Are

639
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 1: are together with a bunch of shooting, but Lebron is

640
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 1: kind of with the rest. I would think Kendrick Nun

641
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 1: would be a really interesting guy to put out there

642
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: with Lebron and and because you know, Lebron likes to Hey,

643
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 1: I run this possession. Hey, I run this possession. Hey

644
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: I run this possession. But this possession I want to

645
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: go stand you know, ft on the right wing, and yeah,

646
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 1: I have have to kick it to me. I'll shoot the

647
00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 1: three and I'll make him. But like I want you

648
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 1: to try to create something like Kendrick Nunn is like

649
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,160
Speaker 1: the perfect guy to throw into something like that, um,

650
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 1: you know, as a as a secondary ball handler. And

651
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: you're right, it's something that's missing with this particular group

652
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 1: is like, you know, because Frank has gone the way

653
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: of defense and Monk has kind of slipped in and

654
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: out of the rotation. It's kind of like Lebron and

655
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 1: Russ are staggered. But when they don't, you know, when

656
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: they're not either throwing it into the to the block

657
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 1: the a d or or running action. With Lebron and

658
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 1: Russ's initiators, it's a lot of like, oh, here's a

659
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,760
Speaker 1: random Baysmore drive, you know, or like like here's a

660
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,760
Speaker 1: here's our dribble handoff action for Avery Bradley coming off

661
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: of the two bigs at the high post. Like there's

662
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:29,000
Speaker 1: a lot of like random actions like that that works sometimes, right,

663
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: Like we've seen Bradley do that. Baisemore had a huge

664
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: driving layup in the fourth quarter. It's like those are

665
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: those are fine, But it's like, what if that was

666
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 1: a more savvy balling handler, someone along the lines of

667
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,920
Speaker 1: the Kendrick Nunn Or what if that was th h

668
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: t attacking the fourth best defender in your lineup? You know,

669
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,360
Speaker 1: like those are the kinds of things where I'd like

670
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 1: to see. You know, you're gonna get an influence of

671
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 1: or uh, an infusion of more offensive talent there that

672
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 1: could make a lot of this look easier, right for sure,

673
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 1: And we'll see when those guys come back that they

674
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,720
Speaker 1: should be coming back pretty soon. But I guess, like

675
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: we haven't even talked really about Lebron and a Dy tonight.

676
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 1: Like a D I feel like could have had forty

677
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: tonight if he wanted to. And again, I know he

678
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: didn't really catch that first half, but like they had

679
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 1: nothing for him. I think he had like twelve in

680
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: the first quarter or something. He can get that jump

681
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: hook whenever he wants. I don't think he hit it

682
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 1: three tonight either. He had a couple of mid range jumpers,

683
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: but I thought he was himself for most of that.

684
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 1: He kind of walked through that first half. Lebron as well.

685
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 1: I tweeted, don't take Lebron for granted. I thought he

686
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 1: was awesome in the fourth quarter. I feel like this

687
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: is the kind of stuff we're gonna get from them though,

688
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 1: Like I talked about it, I think on Saturday or

689
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,240
Speaker 1: whatever or whatever that was that I thought like the

690
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 1: rust kind of transfer of energy would be a little

691
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 1: bit more than it has been. It's kind of been

692
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 1: just rust this like energetic ball and a D and

693
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 1: Lebron are still kind of going out their pace. Um,

694
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: do you kind of agree with that that I feel

695
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 1: like we're gonna just continue to get these like as

696
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: long as we keep playing bad teams, we're gonna play

697
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City next, or just keep seeing Lebron and eight

698
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 1: kind of walked through these first halfs and then turn

699
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: it on in the third quarter. That that's the kind

700
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 1: of trend. I guess I'm saying you talked about defensive

701
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: identity trend as a trend. I'm saying, like, we're gonna

702
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,000
Speaker 1: see these guys just walked through until these like third

703
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 1: and second half start I mean, I hope not. I

704
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 1: hope it's not like that. I mean, you know, you've

705
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: heard a lot of talk probably around the League of parody.

706
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 1: It's probably it's it's been one of the you know,

707
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 1: common topics that's been brought up on Twitter in recent weeks,

708
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 1: the idea that like every team is good and you

709
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,879
Speaker 1: can get beat on any given night. It's like, oh,

710
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: Memphis beat Golden State only cow or like Denver just

711
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,840
Speaker 1: went into who do Denver lose to last night? I

712
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 1: can't remember, but like Denver went lost last night. It's

713
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 1: like Phoenix started the year two and three. There's just

714
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,279
Speaker 1: this you can get beat on any given night. And

715
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:55,160
Speaker 1: the Lakers, you know, lost Okay, they've played what they

716
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 1: played San Antonio, and then they played Oklahoma City and

717
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 1: then they play Houston twice. They one, they won three

718
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 1: of those games, but they almost lost three of them.

719
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 1: Like that's what's crazy. Like the San Antonio game went

720
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,319
Speaker 1: to overtime, they lost to Oklahoma City, and then they

721
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: like literally were trailing by double digits in the second

722
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,040
Speaker 1: half against Houston tonight. Like the truth of the matter

723
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 1: is is when they get into the tougher parts of

724
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: their schedule, like they're about to You're about to go

725
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,000
Speaker 1: into a stretch here where they play Portland. They're gonna

726
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: play Miami at home. That's like your textbook Kyle Lowry

727
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,279
Speaker 1: and Staples Center for some reason turns into Alan iverson game.

728
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 1: And then and then you have Charlotte coming to town.

729
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 1: Charlotte's good, Charlotte is a very talented basketball team. Then

730
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,800
Speaker 1: you're gonna go play Milwaukee. Then you're gonna go play Boston.

731
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 1: This the league is tough enough that if Lebron and

732
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,919
Speaker 1: a d continue to bring this inconsistent effort, they're gonna

733
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:58,480
Speaker 1: start taking losses. And you know, eventually an urgency is

734
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,360
Speaker 1: gonna have to kick in with them. And I believe

735
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 1: it will. I believe it will. Nobody we I've talked

736
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 1: to you about this a lot in the last couple

737
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 1: of years. Nobody likes to sit down and get slapped

738
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,359
Speaker 1: in the face repeatedly. Eventually, you're gonna eventually you're gonna

739
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,719
Speaker 1: come back and and fights like remember squid games were

740
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: like that when the dudes playing the paper game with

741
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,279
Speaker 1: him and slaps him in the face every time he loses. Like,

742
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 1: you're only doing that to me like three times before

743
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,040
Speaker 1: we're fighting, you know what I mean, Like at a

744
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:28,400
Speaker 1: certain point, at a certain point, there's gonna be a

745
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 1: natural response here when they get into a tougher part

746
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 1: of their schedule where there where Lebron and they are

747
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 1: gonna have to be like, hey, we gotta bring it

748
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 1: every night or this this league is gonna chew us

749
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,359
Speaker 1: up and spit us out, you know what I mean, right,

750
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 1: And it could be a lot worse. So it's just

751
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:45,399
Speaker 1: looking at the standing that there. I mean, standings really

752
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 1: mean nothing. Right now. We're way too early. But they're

753
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 1: five and three, and I honestly I'm not going to

754
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,000
Speaker 1: forget that OKC game, but they should be six and two. Um.

755
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,600
Speaker 1: The only teams would less than two losses are Utah

756
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 1: and the Warriors were both Utah six and one, words

757
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 1: or five and one. So they're right there after this win.

758
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:04,200
Speaker 1: They're the third seed, um, right right above Memphis. So

759
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: they're right where there. I guess they're supposed to be.

760
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 1: It just hasn't looked very pretty, and maybe it's not

761
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 1: supposed to. We talked about it was going to be

762
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 1: a process. It's all process over results, and I'm starting

763
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,279
Speaker 1: to see little things. Man, I just I can't wait

764
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 1: to get the full team though, you know, like I

765
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,759
Speaker 1: feel like I'm watching an incomplete product. Like I saw

766
00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:23,360
Speaker 1: I saw Trevor Reason standing up on the bench today

767
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:24,879
Speaker 1: and I forgot it was him. I was like, who's

768
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 1: that on the bench, And I realized that was Trevor Reason,

769
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: who who was like predicted to start on this team

770
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 1: um earlier on media Day. So I'm that's why I'm

771
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,479
Speaker 1: excited about. We're starting to get into the point where

772
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:37,959
Speaker 1: guys should be coming back and we get a whole

773
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 1: kind of new team here. Austin Reeves is averaging like

774
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,839
Speaker 1: twenty minutes of game, the undrafted rookie, Like who saw

775
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,760
Speaker 1: that coming? But I don't think his minutes are going anywhere,

776
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: just the way he's defending. So it's just really fascinating

777
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 1: to kind of see what the team will look like

778
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:54,240
Speaker 1: adding three full rotation guys. And I'm not even including

779
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,279
Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington in that, who I praised over the offseason

780
00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,880
Speaker 1: but who might not even play. But yeah, that's why

781
00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 1: I'm excited on that We're going to a stretch here

782
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 1: where we should be getting getting some guys back on

783
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 1: these on these trips. Yeah, you know, we joked before

784
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,840
Speaker 1: the season that their schedule is so easy that it

785
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,520
Speaker 1: was kind of perfect because they were so bad in

786
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:17,360
Speaker 1: preseason and and this is kind of what I was

787
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,879
Speaker 1: talking about, right Like, I mean, they literally had been

788
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:25,200
Speaker 1: playing god awful basketball and they're and they're five and three,

789
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: So that was the that was the blessing in disguise

790
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,879
Speaker 1: about the way that this this season kind of shaped out.

791
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 1: Is this infery or products that they've been putting out,

792
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,839
Speaker 1: which again I'm just saying relative to what their expectations are,

793
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,279
Speaker 1: this is the team that is favored to win the

794
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,320
Speaker 1: Western Conference and has better title lot and I'm not

795
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,200
Speaker 1: sure if the odds are still this way, but before

796
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:50,440
Speaker 1: the season they had better title odds than the Milwaukee Bucks. Okay,

797
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,720
Speaker 1: that's that's what this team needs to be judged through

798
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,680
Speaker 1: as in terms of a lens. And the truth of

799
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 1: the matter, is there a team right now that is

800
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:04,799
Speaker 1: would not great offensively and is bad defensively. So the

801
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is things have been ugly, but

802
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,799
Speaker 1: thankfully with the way the schedule broke out five and three.

803
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,320
Speaker 1: If you told me five and three with Lebron missing

804
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,799
Speaker 1: two games, I think I think you take that. So

805
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 1: in terms of like a little eight game checkpoint, which

806
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,360
Speaker 1: is roughly ten percent of the season. Things have gone

807
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:25,880
Speaker 1: pretty well considering the way that they've played, But you know,

808
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 1: we're gonna find out really quickly. Like there have been

809
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 1: a lot of people joking on Twitter today like, Oh,

810
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,160
Speaker 1: they're gonna go up to Portland and Dame's gonna regain form.

811
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:37,840
Speaker 1: It's like, well, yeah, if you defend like that. Yeah, Like,

812
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 1: if you guys, if you guys give Dame a bunch

813
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,319
Speaker 1: of good looks, then yeah, it's probably gonna get going,

814
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 1: you know. But um, you know, the truth of the

815
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:48,279
Speaker 1: matter is is I'm just ready for some of the

816
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 1: good competition to show up on their schedule because I

817
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 1: think this team needs it. I think this team needs

818
00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:56,919
Speaker 1: to be slapped around a little bit um in order

819
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: to to re engage on a more consistent basis. But

820
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:02,160
Speaker 1: we'll see, because, like I said, if they if they

821
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 1: defend Oklahoma City really well on Thursday, and they go

822
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: up and be Portland, then I can look at this

823
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 1: through a lens and be like, hey, not only are

824
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 1: they seven and three, but in four of their last

825
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,399
Speaker 1: five games they've had really good defensive efforts. That's when

826
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 1: we start talking about we have a core identity of

827
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,080
Speaker 1: this team that's starting to form. That's when we can

828
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: start to get excited about that. Um and and even

829
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 1: with this game tonight, you could look at it and

830
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:28,440
Speaker 1: like you said, hey, there was a stretch in the

831
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,360
Speaker 1: second half, even in our bad defensive game, there was

832
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 1: a stretch there in the second half where we strangled

833
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:38,839
Speaker 1: these guys for roughly for roughly twenty minutes of game clock. Yep, Man,

834
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 1: I used the last thing in my notes, uh is

835
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,680
Speaker 1: just I wrote big three. So Lebron, A D and

836
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:48,560
Speaker 1: Russ combined for eighty four points tonight. Um And again,

837
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:50,800
Speaker 1: like you'ven klong with Russell Westbrook's numbers, but this is

838
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: kind of what we talked about over the summer, right,

839
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,680
Speaker 1: like adding his production. Again, you could joke about numbers,

840
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 1: but the numbers are what they are putting up twenty seven,

841
00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:00,520
Speaker 1: seven and nine along when Lebron and need D have

842
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,239
Speaker 1: good games, they had good offensive games for the most part.

843
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:05,800
Speaker 1: Defense they kind of focus in the second half. But

844
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 1: Lebron tennisis Russell Westbrook seven assists. Trying to see that

845
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:13,080
Speaker 1: kind of that combination of production, I guess, and that's

846
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,440
Speaker 1: why you go trade for Russell Westbrook, right, and you

847
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 1: can kind of back and forth whether he's a superstar

848
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:20,839
Speaker 1: star whatever he is, he's still kind of the guy

849
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,839
Speaker 1: who produces at this who can produce at this level.

850
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 1: And that's why you go get that. You see the

851
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,200
Speaker 1: Wizards players, the Laker Wizards prayer starting to get all

852
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:30,919
Speaker 1: this love. Now of course they're on another team. Kyle

853
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 1: Kuzma contres Harrell KCP and the Wizards I think are

854
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,879
Speaker 1: five and one or some crazy kind of five and two. Yeah,

855
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 1: they're playing really well. But again, like this is why

856
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 1: you combine you know, three like BC players for you know,

857
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,880
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. So that's my last kind of thing on this.

858
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 1: I feel like we're starting to see Westbrook get comfortable.

859
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: He was seven for eight from the line tonight, Like

860
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 1: that's I think that's a step forward for him as well,

861
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,520
Speaker 1: progress get into the basket. Um still didn't hit a

862
00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,240
Speaker 1: three over four. I thought the three he took tonight,

863
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 1: we're okay. Like they were ball moves. You know, our

864
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 1: guy cheats sheets off him so badly on like a

865
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 1: lebron and a pick and roll that like he has

866
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: the whole world time to like stop, you know, get

867
00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,160
Speaker 1: his feet right, try to hit in. I'm okay with

868
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:12,839
Speaker 1: those kind of shots. I feel like he's pretty much

869
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:16,240
Speaker 1: taken away the you know, bad kind of come down trouble,

870
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,160
Speaker 1: pull up contested three. But yeah, like the production there,

871
00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: I feel like we're starting to see it, even if

872
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:22,839
Speaker 1: it's against bad teams. This is what you play bad

873
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,719
Speaker 1: teams for though, right, is to get that kind of

874
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 1: reps and to get all this you know, get all

875
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: the bad habits, uh that you that you have out

876
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,759
Speaker 1: of your system. I guess. But yeah, that was my

877
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:33,840
Speaker 1: last thing. I guess if you had anything else from

878
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,360
Speaker 1: from this night or from the previous name, yeah, just

879
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:37,959
Speaker 1: I'll respond to that really quick, and you go ahead

880
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 1: and get our first caller up here. Guys, we're gonna

881
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 1: take callers for about ten minutes and we're gonna call

882
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:46,120
Speaker 1: let's do a hard stop at like uh So. The

883
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,719
Speaker 1: thing with rust that's funny is everyone wants to kind

884
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:53,560
Speaker 1: of undercut statistical production. And I actually I agree with

885
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,600
Speaker 1: like the underlying theme of what some of these people

886
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:58,759
Speaker 1: are talking about, but I don't. There is no such

887
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:02,480
Speaker 1: thing as an empty stat that to be to be clear, however,

888
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,080
Speaker 1: it stats without context. So for instance, like if Russ

889
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 1: goes out and gives you and ten, but he also

890
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:13,239
Speaker 1: has eight turnovers and he shot from the field, then

891
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:17,200
Speaker 1: it's it's not and ten. It's and ten with a

892
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 1: whole lot of wasted possessions. Right, So that that's your

893
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:22,880
Speaker 1: context there. But you look at it. You know, if

894
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,160
Speaker 1: Russ is gonna give you twenty three, eight and eight

895
00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:27,680
Speaker 1: or whatever it is that he's going to give you

896
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 1: per game this season, but he gets his efficiency up

897
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,880
Speaker 1: to where his skiegal percentage is close to instead of thirty,

898
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 1: and his turnovers are closer to three or four instead

899
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,520
Speaker 1: of five or six, that's when we can start looking

900
00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:45,640
Speaker 1: at this and go, this is a huge uh boost.

901
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:48,400
Speaker 1: You know. That's that That's the thing with with Russ

902
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,400
Speaker 1: is like you can't undercut what he's accomplishing on the cord.

903
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,799
Speaker 1: You just have to. He has to cut back on

904
00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 1: what he takes away. And for the record, since that

905
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 1: uh Oklahoma City game, he's been better. In the last

906
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 1: three He's done a pretty good job of cutting back

907
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 1: on his mistakes and and trying to rein in some

908
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,759
Speaker 1: of the chaos. Yeah, there's like he's over four from

909
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 1: three tonight. That's gonna happen. That's that's part of the

910
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:21,920
Speaker 1: rust experience. But he's ten of twenty one, so he

911
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,160
Speaker 1: was efficient enough that he wasn't taking away a bunch

912
00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: of possessions and uh, and there's just a lot of

913
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,440
Speaker 1: production there. So I don't want to undercut that, and

914
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 1: I don't think people should undercut that. It's just with Russ,

915
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:37,919
Speaker 1: it's all about the negative place. If he can cut out,

916
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,960
Speaker 1: cut down on the negative plays, it becomes a hugely

917
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 1: positive equation for the Lakers for sure. And I guess

918
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,279
Speaker 1: I only see one kind of caller appear, so I'll

919
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,880
Speaker 1: bring him up. But lasting on the turnovers things. So

920
00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:53,080
Speaker 1: I know this is not really how stats work, but

921
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,759
Speaker 1: if you throw away the Okay See game where to me,

922
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:58,560
Speaker 1: everyone played terrible. Ron didn't even play in that game.

923
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:00,360
Speaker 1: But that's that's neither here in the I should be

924
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,799
Speaker 1: able to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder thirty, but yet

925
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 1: ten turnovers that night. So ten turnovers really brings up

926
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:09,080
Speaker 1: your average of turnovers when it's only been with six

927
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 1: or seven games. So on the season, he's averaging like

928
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,200
Speaker 1: five point I think he's having like five turnovers the game.

929
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:16,160
Speaker 1: But if you take that one out. It's he has

930
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:18,879
Speaker 1: twelve turnovers and I think like five or six games,

931
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:21,359
Speaker 1: which is around three turnovers the game, which you can

932
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:23,239
Speaker 1: kind of live with, right, You can live with three

933
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,439
Speaker 1: or four turnovers the game, with the amount of ball

934
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:28,080
Speaker 1: handling he does, the amount of just pushing and transition

935
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,359
Speaker 1: that he does in the usage like and I think

936
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:32,959
Speaker 1: it's okay the turnovers. Sometime some of them are super ugly.

937
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,839
Speaker 1: But to your point, if you just throw out that, okay,

938
00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 1: see game which was just a reckless game in itself,

939
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:42,480
Speaker 1: he's been he's been okay at that. Yeah, And the

940
00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,160
Speaker 1: real punishment from from the Oklahoma City game is in

941
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:48,640
Speaker 1: the standings because no one's trying to evaluate this team.

942
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 1: Excuse me, no one's trying to value with the team

943
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,640
Speaker 1: without Lebron. There's just there's just no point in doing that.

944
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:56,160
Speaker 1: The punishment is in the standings. And to your point,

945
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,520
Speaker 1: if he can keep his turnovers right around three per

946
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:04,080
Speaker 1: game in the in the games where Lebron plays, that's awesome,

947
00:46:04,239 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 1: that's incredible because you're gonna get eight or nine assists

948
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:08,840
Speaker 1: from him. You might get eight or nine assistant the

949
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,000
Speaker 1: first quarter of one of these nights. You know, that's

950
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,360
Speaker 1: that's how explosive he can be. It's just about cutting

951
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 1: back those negative players. Like in Oklahoma City, twelve miss

952
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:20,760
Speaker 1: shots and ten turnovers. That's twenty two possessions were Russ

953
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,600
Speaker 1: either through the ball to the other team or missed

954
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:25,800
Speaker 1: the shot. That's a lot, you know that. And again,

955
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,760
Speaker 1: that was a game in the context of Lebron not playing,

956
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 1: But that's an example of the it's skewing too far

957
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 1: in the other direction for sure. And I think that

958
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,160
Speaker 1: that just went down. So I don't have any callers here,

959
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:41,719
Speaker 1: um or do you have anything else from tonight? No,

960
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,799
Speaker 1: I think I think we're gonna have We're gonna have

961
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 1: a lot more shows. Like I said, I appreciate you

962
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,359
Speaker 1: uh covering for me on Sunday, and I think we're

963
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:53,359
Speaker 1: both good to go for Thursday. So that'll be fun.

964
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:57,399
Speaker 1: And I'm hopeful that the Lakers will get some much

965
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:02,120
Speaker 1: needed revenge against Oklahoma City, right right, Hopefully they don't

966
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:05,000
Speaker 1: blow another dirty point lead or whatever it is. But yeah,

967
00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:07,400
Speaker 1: I should get a win, get like what six and

968
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 1: three on the season or whatever they are, whatever they

969
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:12,719
Speaker 1: would be if they'd be Okloma City. Yep, they'll get them.

970
00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:14,719
Speaker 1: The six and three, and then then you get a

971
00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:17,000
Speaker 1: real test on the road in Portland that will be

972
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:21,320
Speaker 1: a it's a team thats like directly attacks a specific

973
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:24,640
Speaker 1: weakness of the Lakers, which is guards that can shoot

974
00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:28,080
Speaker 1: really well off the dribble um, you know. And it's

975
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,640
Speaker 1: a road a good road test, and it'll be a specific,

976
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:34,799
Speaker 1: specifically attest to the Laker defense. I'm actually really really

977
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,600
Speaker 1: excited for that one. My wife has an event that day,

978
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 1: so she's working all day. I cannot wait to just

979
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 1: park my happy ass in front of the TV and

980
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:45,800
Speaker 1: watch every minute of that of that game up in Portland.

981
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:48,200
Speaker 1: But guys, thank you all so much for your support.

982
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:51,719
Speaker 1: This will be airing on DASH Radio tomorrow morning at

983
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:54,400
Speaker 1: seven I right after get off the phone and go.

984
00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:56,560
Speaker 1: Right after I get off the show, I'm going to

985
00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:00,400
Speaker 1: um put this on our podcast feed as well. We

986
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:03,279
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate your guys to support and we will see

987
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 1: you on Thursday night. Thanks everyonen. Ah m hm hm