Speaker 1: Mmmm, Welcome to the State of the Lakers postgame show
Speaker 1: my Dad's radio guys, thank you so much for coming
Speaker 1: to hang out. A special shout out to RAJ for
Speaker 1: holding it down for me on Sunday night. Just was
Speaker 1: a really long weekend. UM. And then tonight I had
Speaker 1: a crazy sequence where one of my dogs I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure got bit by a rattlesnake. So I had had
Speaker 1: I had that going on, but it turned out my
Speaker 1: dogs ended up being okay because the rattlesnake, I think
Speaker 1: was too small to do any real damage. And then
Speaker 1: I had basketball practice at the high school with I'm
Speaker 1: coaching out that ran a little late, so I missed
Speaker 1: a portion of this game, but I was able to
Speaker 1: watch most of the important stuff at the end, and
Speaker 1: obviously I saw the entire game on Sunday. We do
Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about, but I'm thankful because
Speaker 1: uh RODJ is my partner in crime here has been
Speaker 1: able to be a little bit more attentive. But this
Speaker 1: is to me a classic example of UM. You know,
Speaker 1: this type of game is just something that happens in
Speaker 1: the NBA regular season when you're playing in eight two,
Speaker 1: especially as an older veteran team. UM, I think it
Speaker 1: was too much to ask for them to have too
Speaker 1: defensive performances like Sunday Night against the team of this caliber. UM.
Speaker 1: That said, and I'm interested to hear your take on this, Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'd be a little less annoyed if
Speaker 1: this hasn't been such a theme from this season. You know,
Speaker 1: like if you if you saw a game like this
Speaker 1: from the Lakers, Lakers, you just chalk it up to
Speaker 1: the dregs of the NBA regular season. But when we
Speaker 1: really start to break down the games of this season
Speaker 1: so far, it's like, Okay, Golden State they were really
Speaker 1: good for about two and a half quarters and then
Speaker 1: they completely fell apart defensively. Phoenix they were good for
Speaker 1: about one quarter and then they completely fell apart defensively.
Speaker 1: Memphis they got a bunch of stops in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and they got a win, But for the most
Speaker 1: part that game, they were bad defensively. I think John
Speaker 1: Morant had forty in that game, right. San Antonio complete
Speaker 1: ship show defensively, they just happened to outscore them. And
Speaker 1: then Oklahoma City they lose because it's a ship show defensively,
Speaker 1: and then they have a good defensive performance against Cleveland
Speaker 1: and a good defensive performance against Houston, and then tonight,
Speaker 1: so we're talking about what's that? What do They played
Speaker 1: eight games and six of them have been bad defensive performances.
Speaker 1: So I think I do care a little bit more
Speaker 1: than I normally would, just because it kind of goes
Speaker 1: to the conversation we had last week on Friday having
Speaker 1: to do with identities and like what the like what
Speaker 1: what the mental makeup of the team is? Like to me,
Speaker 1: this is a little more annoying because it's a part
Speaker 1: of a larger theme. What do you think? Yeah, like
Speaker 1: we talked about it. I believe on Friday, I was
Speaker 1: worried about the bad habits that would start being created
Speaker 1: by playing all these bad teams, and I thought tonight
Speaker 1: was just the accumulation of that. This is another bad team,
Speaker 1: another young team, and I don't think this team can survive,
Speaker 1: Like there has to be a baseline level of defense
Speaker 1: that you play, Like they can't play hard defense every
Speaker 1: single night. And I don't really like blaming defense on
Speaker 1: pure effort every time because I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: unfair as well to the other team. Like Jalen Green
Speaker 1: was incredible tonight, and I thought in that first quarter
Speaker 1: he had a bunch of tough threes that got him going.
Speaker 1: He got to attack the rim. But definitely brought any
Speaker 1: D another game where I felt like they really just
Speaker 1: walked through. And I feel like on those previous teams
Speaker 1: they could do that and we had the defensive kind
Speaker 1: of talent there to make up for about on this team,
Speaker 1: it just doesn't you see when Lebron's kind of not
Speaker 1: not being all into it as the help guy, a
Speaker 1: d not all into it defensively as the help guy.
Speaker 1: It's just straight line drives right to the basket. Every
Speaker 1: Bradley did what he could, Austin Reads did what he could.
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook got thought played hard, but still you know
Speaker 1: a lot of gambling, a lot of getting beat off
Speaker 1: the dribble, just one move right to the basket. Guys
Speaker 1: like Kevin Porter Jr. Are really dynamic in that way
Speaker 1: going off the dribble. I talked about Jillen Green as well.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and that third so in that first half
Speaker 1: used to towards seventy points and a lot of that
Speaker 1: was in the paint as well, like and that to
Speaker 1: me just telling on exactly yeah. But then in that
Speaker 1: third quarter, and so in the second half, they had
Speaker 1: around thirty four points with four minutes left, and four
Speaker 1: minutes left is when I really thought the Lakers had
Speaker 1: the game in the bag. I think they were up eight.
Speaker 1: And I want to ask you about this. Have you
Speaker 1: ever seen so did you see where they took the
Speaker 1: two points away from base? Have you ever seen I
Speaker 1: have never seen that for something like a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes away. I get like, right away, maybe they figure
Speaker 1: out like, hey, he's not supposed to be at the line,
Speaker 1: they're actually at four files. But minutes away. Not only
Speaker 1: does it take the points away, it takes a possession away, right,
Speaker 1: so they basically throw that whole offense was Have you
Speaker 1: ever seen that? No, So I thought that I have
Speaker 1: a feeling the NBA is going to come out, the
Speaker 1: officials are going to come out and release a statement
Speaker 1: that they screwed up. Because so I had a huge
Speaker 1: problem with that because even okay, let's call it what
Speaker 1: it was, the officials made a mistake. Okay, boo freaking
Speaker 1: who whatever. You move on officials and make mistakes all
Speaker 1: over the place in the game, Okay, Like that's just
Speaker 1: part of basketball. However, what they don't understand. The problem
Speaker 1: with taking points away after the fact several possessions later
Speaker 1: is you never are properly accounting for the way basketball
Speaker 1: changes based on the scoring margin. So, for instance, if
Speaker 1: you're up five instead of up seven, the game feels
Speaker 1: a little closer, right, Like we're talking about two possessions,
Speaker 1: three possessions. So maybe on defense you give a little
Speaker 1: bit more effort. Maybe on offense you're a little less
Speaker 1: willing to settle because the game feels closer. So I
Speaker 1: had a huge problem with taking that basket of those
Speaker 1: two free throws away because it fails to account for
Speaker 1: the way that the basketball um the like the tone
Speaker 1: of the game, it is different based on the scoring margin,
Speaker 1: and so I had a huge problem with that. But
Speaker 1: I have a feeling they're gonna end up, um, I
Speaker 1: have a feeling they're gonna end up coming out with
Speaker 1: some statement like we probably shouldn't have done that, because
Speaker 1: you're right, like, if if it was just a team foul,
Speaker 1: they would have had a side out of bounds in
Speaker 1: another possession. So you didn't just take two points away.
Speaker 1: You took two points away, and you took away the
Speaker 1: opportunity to potentially score a basket, So it was like
Speaker 1: completely nonsensical on so many levels that a problem with it,
Speaker 1: yeah for sure, And I just thought that was weird.
Speaker 1: But yeah with the defense, like again, this is a
Speaker 1: Houston team that's not going to really be able to
Speaker 1: punish you. They're super young. The game kind of went
Speaker 1: how I thought I would, But yeah, third quarter they
Speaker 1: completely shut it down and they had something like again,
Speaker 1: like we talked about it, they go on these defensive runs,
Speaker 1: and I thought they had that tonight. When Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d are engaged defensively, like it becomes a scary team.
Speaker 1: There are a few moments where Houston can't even get
Speaker 1: a shot off. I think one of them ended with
Speaker 1: a D blocking one of Jalen Green's three's and he
Speaker 1: was late. But just like, they can't do that every quarter.
Speaker 1: But there has to be like a level where you
Speaker 1: don't just become this like the worst defensive team in
Speaker 1: the league. And I thought that's what they looked like
Speaker 1: in that first first half, or just straight line drives
Speaker 1: right to the basket, Sangoon just in christian Wood, just
Speaker 1: blowing their way to the rim, looking like super dominant
Speaker 1: um inside paint players. Yeah, but are you worried about
Speaker 1: the defense? I guess as a whole going forward, just
Speaker 1: larger picture because tonight they did turn it on and
Speaker 1: they showed they can shut down this Houston team. I
Speaker 1: think we play Oklahoma City next so again and just
Speaker 1: another bad team. I know we lost to them. We'll
Speaker 1: see if that changes how they how they react to it.
Speaker 1: But I feel like we're gonna get another one of
Speaker 1: these just lack of days ago first halfs turned on
Speaker 1: in the second half type of games. So it's all
Speaker 1: about what the totality of their identity, So what what
Speaker 1: they're what they tend to do when they're in those situations.
Speaker 1: So for instance, if they go have a really nice
Speaker 1: defensive game against Oklahoma City and then they go and
Speaker 1: have a really nice defensive performance on Saturday night in
Speaker 1: Portland and beat the Trailblazers, then we can look back
Speaker 1: at tonight and be like, hey, four of the last
Speaker 1: five games the Lakers looked great defensively. They're turning a
Speaker 1: defensive corner. This is becoming their new identity. That's the
Speaker 1: way you can look at it. But if they go
Speaker 1: up to Oklahoma City or they stay home for Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City on Thursday and don't defend well, and then they
Speaker 1: go up to Portland and get beat and look sloppy
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. Now we're looking at that thing
Speaker 1: I was talking about earlier where now eight of the
Speaker 1: ten games they've played, they've looked bad defensively, right, so
Speaker 1: you know, they it's up to them to show us
Speaker 1: whether or not it's a blip or a trend. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean now? And you're you are right
Speaker 1: that like defense can't solely be put down to effort.
Speaker 1: That that is a good point that that needs to
Speaker 1: be emphasized here. However, I think when Lebron checked out
Speaker 1: of the game, they had already allowed twenty two or
Speaker 1: twenty three points by the four minute market the first quarter.
Speaker 1: So the starters they do have enough defensive talent to
Speaker 1: get stops. So the effort was not good enough with
Speaker 1: that group. And so that's what's disappointing to me, is, like,
Speaker 1: you know, there was that photo that went that was
Speaker 1: on social media from the Sunday night game where Lebron
Speaker 1: and A d were sitting on the bench right before
Speaker 1: tip off and they both just had that angry like
Speaker 1: scowl look on their face like they were just ready
Speaker 1: to rip the throat out of the Rockets, and they
Speaker 1: went out and did that. That was a tone that
Speaker 1: they set from the beginning. I shared a video yesterday
Speaker 1: showing just how active Lebron was on the back line,
Speaker 1: blowing up plays around the rim as that helped defender,
Speaker 1: Like Lebron set a tone and it extended through the
Speaker 1: whole game, and they held the Rockets to points in
Speaker 1: that game. That same attitude was just missing tonight. And again,
Speaker 1: it's all about the trends. If it's one of those
Speaker 1: things where one out of every four or five games
Speaker 1: when they play a bad team that come with some
Speaker 1: weak defensive effort, then you can just attribute it to
Speaker 1: the normal things that happened in an NBA regular season.
Speaker 1: But if it's something that becomes recurring, now we're talking
Speaker 1: about we're talking about an identity problem. So that's that's
Speaker 1: the way I would look at it. Is like tonight
Speaker 1: the Lakers. If the Lakers have the opportunity this weekend
Speaker 1: to make tonight look like a blip and not a trend, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. And this is definitely like a part in
Speaker 1: the schedule where you want to just rack up rack
Speaker 1: up as many wins as you can against these really
Speaker 1: inferior teams. I just kind of want to move on
Speaker 1: to I guess again the guy we're gonna talk about mainly,
Speaker 1: I think what this season revolves around. I thought Russell
Speaker 1: Westbroog is starting to kind of get more and more comfortable,
Speaker 1: not even just tonight, but even against Houston. I believe
Speaker 1: on Friday whenever they played them, I thought you looked good.
Speaker 1: Then to tonight only three turnovers, um didn't hit it
Speaker 1: three twenty seven, seven and nine. I know his numbers
Speaker 1: don't always kind of equate to if you're winning the
Speaker 1: game or not, but I just thought he picked his
Speaker 1: spots pretty well, his shot selection. It still can be
Speaker 1: where he at times, but I thought it's getting better
Speaker 1: and better. Not and Tonight's only game six of the
Speaker 1: Lebron A D and Russ trio, and it just feels
Speaker 1: like a lot more just the way that we consume media.
Speaker 1: Just feels like they've been playing together a lot more
Speaker 1: than they did. But I thought he's he's starting to
Speaker 1: find his way to Teammates are starting to figure him
Speaker 1: out as well. He's starting to figure them out. He's
Speaker 1: doing a lot of this like, he still does a
Speaker 1: lot of this. He just drives in the paint recklessly
Speaker 1: and then kicks it out, but it does kind of collapse.
Speaker 1: The defense brings like a compromise defense and then they
Speaker 1: can attack. What are you kind of seeing from Russ?
Speaker 1: Not just tonight the last game as well. I feel
Speaker 1: like he is starting to find his bearings a little bit. Again,
Speaker 1: it's not great, it's not clean, but I think the
Speaker 1: a d at the five stuff like, it's no coincidence.
Speaker 1: And again DeAndre Jordan looked absolutely awful tonight, uh in
Speaker 1: his minutes, But I don't think it's coincidence. The one
Speaker 1: center lineup has just opened things for Russ and he
Speaker 1: lived a lot more comfortable being able to attack. He
Speaker 1: attacked in one on one situations in transition. He he
Speaker 1: bullied his way to the rim. He got to the
Speaker 1: line I believe ten times uh tonight, which which is
Speaker 1: good for him. What do you what are you kind
Speaker 1: of seeing from Russ? Because I feel like he's starting
Speaker 1: to starting to put fit down a little bit. Well,
Speaker 1: He's starting to understand that with this group he can
Speaker 1: impact the game in all of the Russell Westbrook ways
Speaker 1: that he's always impact the game while trimming back on
Speaker 1: some of his aggressiveness, which is going to increase his efficiency.
Speaker 1: Will have to look when the when the stats get
Speaker 1: updated later tonight, but his fewer goal percentage has taken
Speaker 1: a significant take up in the last week um which
Speaker 1: is probably a big part of Lebron coming back and
Speaker 1: the way that he just allows Russ to kind of
Speaker 1: rain in some of his aggression. I tweet I tweeted
Speaker 1: out earlier today the the Lebron Russ a d with
Speaker 1: no center lineups coming into tonight. This information will not
Speaker 1: have been up aided on the NBA dot com website
Speaker 1: until tomorrow morning or later tonight. But before tonight they
Speaker 1: had only played forty five minutes together with no center,
Speaker 1: and they were plus seventeen in those minutes, which comes
Speaker 1: out to plus fifteen point eight net rating, so plus
Speaker 1: five team point eight points per one enter possessions, and
Speaker 1: they were dominant on both ends of the floor in
Speaker 1: those minutes. Now there, they have not looked good when
Speaker 1: they've played with a big which is the most predictable
Speaker 1: outcome in the history of basketball. However, the reason why
Speaker 1: I would use that as a huge sign of optimism
Speaker 1: or a driving force behind optimism is like they haven't
Speaker 1: played well. This is this is a basketball team that
Speaker 1: is that is playing like a middle of the pack
Speaker 1: Western Conference team right now when we when we all
Speaker 1: know that when this thing really gets going, they're going
Speaker 1: to be a team that is in contention for a championship,
Speaker 1: one of the top two three four teams in the league.
Speaker 1: And so that's exciting for me because you know, when
Speaker 1: we envisioned this coming in, it was like we were
Speaker 1: just thinking Dennis Shrewder on steroids, right and and we
Speaker 1: knew last year that when Dennis Shredder and Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d were on the floor of the Lakers dominated
Speaker 1: that was just a fact that manifested on the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: And so we had a feeling that if r Us
Speaker 1: could kind of replicate what Dennis Shredder did on the
Speaker 1: team in terms of usage, which when you look at
Speaker 1: the roster, the when Lebron is on the floor with Russ,
Speaker 1: he doesn't take a ton of shots. I think it's
Speaker 1: hovering right around like like twelve or thirteen shots per
Speaker 1: one of per thirty six minutes, I think, if I
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, So what that means is Russ
Speaker 1: is really reining it in and taking on that Dennis
Speaker 1: Shredder type of role, guy who's trying to attack when
Speaker 1: it kind of makes sense along to superior players, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And so that there's a lot
Speaker 1: to be optimistic about looking forward with that group because
Speaker 1: they're gonna start playing better basketball. There will be a point,
Speaker 1: especially when they go and play some of these better teams,
Speaker 1: like they've got a road trip coming up. I think
Speaker 1: it's in just over a week where they're gonna be
Speaker 1: playing like Boston and Milwaukee. Like you're they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to to elevate their level of play. And I do
Speaker 1: think that that we've seen enough, even with as bad
Speaker 1: as they've been playing, that this can work. And you know,
Speaker 1: I loved that Russ is. I love that when Lebron
Speaker 1: shot that fade away at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: Russ came flying in and tried to tip dunk it
Speaker 1: even if you missed it, because that's the example of like,
Speaker 1: that's just that, you know, uh, it's he's overqualified for
Speaker 1: what you're asking to do. He's so athletic, he's so strong,
Speaker 1: he's got such a high motor that asking him to
Speaker 1: be that tertiary player alongside these two better players should
Speaker 1: manifest in all of this like positive chaos, and I
Speaker 1: think we are starting to see that a little bit.
Speaker 1: Like I again from the beginning, didn't love the move,
Speaker 1: but I saw that it could work. I knew that
Speaker 1: there was potential for it to work, and we have
Speaker 1: seen some flashes of that so far through eight games
Speaker 1: and in minutes is nothing think about them, like that's
Speaker 1: nothing they have. They're gonna have a whole lot more
Speaker 1: opportunity over the course of the season to figure out
Speaker 1: how to make this work even better. Yeah, and this
Speaker 1: is the third straight game I really like. Well, the
Speaker 1: A D two files kind of messed it up in
Speaker 1: this game, which might take on it. I wish he
Speaker 1: would just stayed out there with the two files. But
Speaker 1: like they've been doing this second unit kind of thing
Speaker 1: where Lebron comes out I believe around the three or
Speaker 1: four minute mark of the first quarter and they do
Speaker 1: Russ A D with just three spacing shooters, one of
Speaker 1: them is Mellow and they'll have reeves out there. And
Speaker 1: then tonight it was Monk in that situation. Um, it
Speaker 1: was Bradley A couple of times. I think it can
Speaker 1: be Ellington when he comes back, Kedron or whatever. But
Speaker 1: I'd like that they've kind of stuck RUSS and a
Speaker 1: D together in those and then they let like you
Speaker 1: talked about, they started let Lebron running those DeAndre Jordan's
Speaker 1: lineups or whoever is the backup center lineup. But I
Speaker 1: think that, like second unit is something they can stick with.
Speaker 1: They started it in the third quarter against Cleveland, Uh,
Speaker 1: they were down ten, they went to that. They went
Speaker 1: on a big run with Lebron off on the bench.
Speaker 1: They did again in the first game against Houston, did
Speaker 1: again tonight. I just like that as something they can
Speaker 1: go to when Lebron's on the bench. I have to
Speaker 1: check the numbers. Um if they're winning, those those lineup
Speaker 1: spy a lot or not, but like even if they're not,
Speaker 1: I just like how that looks. Austin Reeves as a
Speaker 1: connector there. He's a guy that probably stayed. But I
Speaker 1: just like that they're finding units that work. And I
Speaker 1: thought Vogel has found something there with the RUSS A
Speaker 1: D kind of spacing line up where they can just
Speaker 1: spam that RUSS a D pick and roll. It's just
Speaker 1: a really tough cover. You can't. You can't switch it.
Speaker 1: You get a D with a small Russ gets to
Speaker 1: get a load to the rim. He can run to
Speaker 1: the rim I big under or he can find shooters
Speaker 1: and you can find Carmelo, who has been an absolute flamethrower. Um.
Speaker 1: I know we didn't get to talk about that first
Speaker 1: Houston game together, but what do you think of Camelo
Speaker 1: just can't miss right now? It's kind of crazy. I
Speaker 1: did not think he'd be shooting this. Well, what are
Speaker 1: you seeing from Carmelo? Because I feel like it's kind
Speaker 1: of crazy what he's shooting. I think it was like
Speaker 1: seventy at home and eight percent on the road, and
Speaker 1: I think those numbers will kind of even out a
Speaker 1: little bit. But he's been just amazing as a knockdown guy.
Speaker 1: And I think they found lineups for him too. I
Speaker 1: like him next to a D about tonight, even on defense.
Speaker 1: It kind of shows that he can survive out there.
Speaker 1: Do you do you like we're kind of seeing from
Speaker 1: Carmelo because I feel like he's kind of outplaying his
Speaker 1: contract already. Yeah, I do, so. I have I have
Speaker 1: a lot of thoughts about Carmelo, and really really quickly
Speaker 1: before you before we get to that. Just to tie
Speaker 1: off what you were just saying, agree with you, Like,
Speaker 1: in terms of the Lebron off minutes, I would stack
Speaker 1: talent in those minutes because Lebron just has a history
Speaker 1: throughout his career of just figuring out how to be
Speaker 1: positive with limited players, especially against bench lineup. So you know,
Speaker 1: obviously I'd prefer that to be Dwight, and it will
Speaker 1: be Dwight when he gets healthy. But it putting Lebron
Speaker 1: with a Dwight, putting Lebron with a uh, you know,
Speaker 1: with an Austin Reeves, putting him with the players that
Speaker 1: are a little bit more limited, I think makes the
Speaker 1: most sense because he is the most capable of keeping
Speaker 1: those minutes positive. And I really do think that having
Speaker 1: this team be the first team in the Lebron era
Speaker 1: that could stay positive in the Lebron off minutes would
Speaker 1: be such a huge boost to this team, not only
Speaker 1: in uh, in those specific minutes, but that that kind
Speaker 1: of thing will help them in the standings over the
Speaker 1: course of an eight two game season. Like think about
Speaker 1: how crazy it is to win at a sixty four
Speaker 1: get win pace like they did in the last two
Speaker 1: seasons when Lebron and a d were healthy while losing
Speaker 1: every single minute you play without without Laban Like, that's crazy, right,
Speaker 1: So you know, I kind of like organizing it in
Speaker 1: that way, and chances are that that's the way to
Speaker 1: use it, as like like innings eating, because by the
Speaker 1: time you get to the postseason, all these guys are
Speaker 1: playing forty two minutes anyway, and if you won't have
Speaker 1: this much of a problem trying to to get through
Speaker 1: the these extended stretches of of you know, a d
Speaker 1: Off and russ Off minutes. Now, as far as Tormentlo
Speaker 1: Anthony goes, he's the guy in the early going that
Speaker 1: I've been advocated it as the perfect fifth guy to
Speaker 1: throw in with Lebron, ross a D and in Baysmore
Speaker 1: or Reeves or Bradley whoever is that they put out there.
Speaker 1: The reason why is like he provides you. And I
Speaker 1: talked a lot about the difference between a guy who
Speaker 1: can make shots at high percentage and the guy that
Speaker 1: teams are terrified of and guard in a specific manner,
Speaker 1: because the truth of the manner is, even if Rondo
Speaker 1: hits his threes, he's being he's being left wide open.
Speaker 1: And so it has an impact on every other possession
Speaker 1: that doesn't end in him making a three just because
Speaker 1: of congestion, And like, what what was so interesting to
Speaker 1: me in that in the Cleveland game and then in
Speaker 1: that in the last Houston game. You know, Carmelo he
Speaker 1: because he is taller and because he's so good at
Speaker 1: elevating and releasing quickly at the top of his shot.
Speaker 1: You if you close out on him, he's kind of
Speaker 1: still open. The only way he's not going to feel
Speaker 1: comfortable bulling his shot is if you're in his shorts,
Speaker 1: like literally just like up in his airspace. That's the
Speaker 1: only way you're going to bother Carmelo Anthony spot up attempt.
Speaker 1: What that means is you have two choices as the defense.
Speaker 1: You can either take him away, in which case you're
Speaker 1: letting Lebron, A D and Russ play four on four,
Speaker 1: which I'm here to tell you as a battle you're
Speaker 1: probably gonna lose. Or you can keep that fifth defender
Speaker 1: and in a traditional help side you know, split the
Speaker 1: difference type of spacing to try to bother Lebron resc
Speaker 1: and A D and Carmelo Anthony is gonna shoot like
Speaker 1: from three this year because because that's the that's the
Speaker 1: gamble that you have here. These guys put so much
Speaker 1: pressure on the rim in a different way than than
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard and c. J. McCollum did that he's just
Speaker 1: going to continue to either get amazing looks that he's
Speaker 1: going to hit at an extremely high percentage, or he's
Speaker 1: going to uh pull the defender out and allow your
Speaker 1: ours to be more comfortable. It's like he's he's one
Speaker 1: of those he's made himself into almost like a Duncan Robinson,
Speaker 1: you know, Joe Harris level spacing threat. Obviously he's not
Speaker 1: shooting on the move like those guys are, but he
Speaker 1: has he's building that kind of fear. And then, as
Speaker 1: we've seen with the really really good defensive lineups that
Speaker 1: the Lakers put out there, he can hold his own
Speaker 1: defensively as long as he's surrounded by all that size
Speaker 1: and athleticism. So I, you know, it's funny because I
Speaker 1: I was really down on the signing when it first happened.
Speaker 1: Not down, but just not as excited as other Laker
Speaker 1: fans were. And I've been proven wrong because he's just
Speaker 1: turned himself into such a deadly spot up threat that
Speaker 1: you absolutely have to account for him and that and
Speaker 1: that that helps that spacing equation with Russ, you know,
Speaker 1: like with Russ on the floor, Yeah, he's gonna be helped.
Speaker 1: This guy is gonna be helping off. But Carmelo's spacing
Speaker 1: kind of counteracts that a bit. It helps the whole
Speaker 1: formula work better. Right, And I looked up today, so
Speaker 1: he was shooting six almost sixty nine percent on his
Speaker 1: wide open threes, and the NBA kind of classifies that
Speaker 1: as when you're defenders six plus feet away. It was
Speaker 1: almost like when the defenders when it's just open with
Speaker 1: the defenders less than six ft. But yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know if those numbers will stay. But he's just been
Speaker 1: an incredible spot up guy. Like he's just he's gonna
Speaker 1: be himself, right, unapology, unapologetically, Like he's kind of what
Speaker 1: I thought Russ would be here. Russ has kind of
Speaker 1: done this more trying to fit in stuff. Carmelo is
Speaker 1: like I'm coming here to be Carmelo Anthony and like
Speaker 1: some of that you get some of those really bad
Speaker 1: kind of midrange shots. But I tweeted tonight, he must
Speaker 1: be in heaven, like he gets he gets every team
Speaker 1: he gets every team's third worst defender. You know, he
Speaker 1: had like Kevin Porter Junor on him in the post
Speaker 1: and it's just a little one leg fade away that
Speaker 1: you know he's done a bunch of times and yeah,
Speaker 1: put him put us up, I think like four or something.
Speaker 1: But yeah, just as a catch and shoot guy. Like
Speaker 1: that's why I like him in that second unit as well.
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be a stand and stay
Speaker 1: as we go here. Um, just russ a d mellow
Speaker 1: with two if you can get two defensive guys, I guess,
Speaker 1: And that's kind of where I wanted to go with
Speaker 1: this task you next, because it looks like th HD
Speaker 1: is kind of getting healthy, Wayne Ellington's kind of getting
Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington seems to getting healthy, Andndrick Gun should be
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks. Like there's three new dudes
Speaker 1: coming to the rotation. Um, I know that they barely
Speaker 1: beat the Rockets these few times, and it's really tough
Speaker 1: to kind of take from these young teams, but like,
Speaker 1: how do you see I guess the rotation people are
Speaker 1: asking about my league Monk, Like I thought Mileage Monk
Speaker 1: looked bad tonight, but you know he's gonna have games
Speaker 1: like that, he's still kind of getting destroyed defensively. But
Speaker 1: how do you see the rotation? I guess just big
Speaker 1: picture here. We get th HD back hopefully pretty soon.
Speaker 1: Does he just slide right into there for monk or like,
Speaker 1: how do you see this kind of playing out? It's funny.
Speaker 1: I actually got actively excited about th HT the other
Speaker 1: day when I saw that that little video of him
Speaker 1: doing the left handed workout with with Yeah, gosh, now
Speaker 1: I'm planking on his name like it's so funny too,
Speaker 1: because like I feel like every person in their wife
Speaker 1: is to suffer an injury to their dominant hand at
Speaker 1: some point so that they can polish up things with
Speaker 1: their left hand. That injury never happened to me, by
Speaker 1: the way, so I have absolutely no left hand. But
Speaker 1: the uh, it's funny because with with T T H
Speaker 1: T two is is hilarious because he's so dominant right hand,
Speaker 1: Like he's that guy that will have you pinned on
Speaker 1: the left side of the rim and still go up
Speaker 1: with his right hand. You know. But I got excited
Speaker 1: about him because I have so much uh you know,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited for what his defensive potential is as
Speaker 1: a ball pressure guard. You know, the truth is is
Speaker 1: like Avery Bradley is not super good right now. He's
Speaker 1: not super good compared to what he used to be,
Speaker 1: but he looks really good right now because what Frank
Speaker 1: needs out of that position is pretty simple. Fight over
Speaker 1: the top of screens, apply ball pressure. It's okay if
Speaker 1: you get beat off the dribble, because if you get
Speaker 1: beat off the dribble, that is a uh in the
Speaker 1: in a ball pressure sense, that is a predictable outcome
Speaker 1: that the defense has built to absorb. Okay, we talked
Speaker 1: about We talked about this all the time, Like when
Speaker 1: you're playing against the five, when you're playing against the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets in the finals, I don't care if I've
Speaker 1: got Ben Freakin Simmons guarding the dude at the point
Speaker 1: of attack, Kyrie is probably going to beat him off
Speaker 1: the dribble. You know, to your defensive scheme is designed
Speaker 1: to absorb that, and so it just needs to be
Speaker 1: a predictable outcome, which you can't have is blatant defensive
Speaker 1: breakdowns where guys don't do their jobs and then everything
Speaker 1: falls apart. That's where it gets more complicated. Well, th
Speaker 1: h T as we've seen is actually a better on
Speaker 1: ball defender than Avery Bradley at this point. He's got
Speaker 1: a lot to learn about those multiple effort plays within
Speaker 1: the defense in his off ball stuff, and we'll see
Speaker 1: if he has enough of that together. He did get
Speaker 1: better at that as the season progressed last year, by
Speaker 1: the way, But that and that's gonna be the big
Speaker 1: thing for him. But I think th HD is gonna
Speaker 1: come in and play a big role right away. I
Speaker 1: expect him to imediately jumped into that Avery Bradley type
Speaker 1: of role where he's playing minutes um and being the
Speaker 1: guy that's that's fighting over the top of every single
Speaker 1: ball screen. That's gonna be something really exciting. Kendrick nunn
Speaker 1: Is is going to be, I think a little bit
Speaker 1: more in the Link Monk type of of role. And
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is like I think his
Speaker 1: minutes a Wax and Wayne based on how well he's playing,
Speaker 1: because while he is a good defensive player compared to
Speaker 1: someone like Molik Monk, he does not have that high
Speaker 1: ceiling type of ball pressure effect that you get from
Speaker 1: an Avery Bradley or from a Campaigns more from a
Speaker 1: th HT. So from that standpoint, I think you'll see
Speaker 1: moments where None plays a big role, especially if he's
Speaker 1: got it going offensively, kind of like Monk, but I
Speaker 1: could see him kind of drifting in and out. I
Speaker 1: mean the perfect I know, I know this is completely
Speaker 1: out of left field, but like, if the Lakers are
Speaker 1: in a position where they need to make a trade
Speaker 1: at the deadline, the the the emergence of Avery Bradley
Speaker 1: and in the emergence of Austin Reeves immediately makes Malik,
Speaker 1: Monk and Kendrick unexpendable. Now that I who knows, they
Speaker 1: could all pan out really well and the Lakers could
Speaker 1: stand pad at the deadline. I'm not here advocating for
Speaker 1: a trade by any means, but the the advantage of
Speaker 1: having Reeves breakout and having Bradley show that he can
Speaker 1: work in this system is if you're sitting down and
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, guys, a Reza's ankle is screwed. He
Speaker 1: cannot play this here. We need a wing. Well, you've
Speaker 1: got two contracts there in Monk and None, who add
Speaker 1: up to you know, eight nine million dollars that you
Speaker 1: can trade for ten eleven million dollars, And there are
Speaker 1: guys that are replaceable in because of all your guard depth,
Speaker 1: and so I think what will be really interesting to
Speaker 1: see is, you know, because we've seen Monk fall out
Speaker 1: of the rotation several times already and it's confusing to
Speaker 1: even wonder how Kendrick Nunne fits with this group right now.
Speaker 1: So it'll be really interesting to see over the course
Speaker 1: of the next couple of months how much those guys
Speaker 1: are used, because they could become your primary trade pieces,
Speaker 1: uh come February. Yeah, I've been thinking about this, Like
Speaker 1: th HD, I think feels the desperate need we have
Speaker 1: for a wing, right we just don't have anyone's like
Speaker 1: six eight six seven. Kendred Nonne kind of should feel
Speaker 1: like they he was there. These are what fourth or
Speaker 1: fifth highest paid player. They gave him the tax player
Speaker 1: mL E. He should fit into that Avery Bradley roll
Speaker 1: right with more offense, and we'll see if every Raley
Speaker 1: goes to the bench talking about him and Vogel having
Speaker 1: this like and you talked about as well, like there's
Speaker 1: defensive coach connection where he's a super high pressure UH
Speaker 1: point of attack defender that fits the scheme that Bogo
Speaker 1: wants to run. Even if it was like I don't
Speaker 1: know if you didn't get to see that first half.
Speaker 1: But they did a lot of switching tonight because they
Speaker 1: started a d at the five, and there's still some
Speaker 1: miscommunication with that as well. I think Avery Bradley is
Speaker 1: not as good and just like a total switching scheme
Speaker 1: like you could tell U. I think some of the
Speaker 1: bigges kind of went at him. But yeah, like with
Speaker 1: let me ask you this quick. They switching because they
Speaker 1: were dying on screens or were they switching because it
Speaker 1: was by designing? In that first quarter I thought it
Speaker 1: was by did not by design. It felt like they
Speaker 1: were trying to really switch everything. And then they kind
Speaker 1: of switched when Mellow got into the game. Mellow came in,
Speaker 1: he started kind of trapping a little bit more. But
Speaker 1: in that first quarter they really were trying to just
Speaker 1: switch everything. I think one play even where Bradley went
Speaker 1: over the top and eight, he told him like we're switching,
Speaker 1: and then I think Houston just threw the ball out
Speaker 1: of bounds but it wasn't open dunk for things sing
Speaker 1: goun or something like that. But I thought they were
Speaker 1: trying to switch everything. But that's what I want to see.
Speaker 1: I want to see if like Kendrick Nunn comes in
Speaker 1: and can take that, you know, take the minutes from
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, because he should be this offensive kind of player,
Speaker 1: right That was the whole point of getting Kendrick Kunn
Speaker 1: be like that backup guard um. But like he is,
Speaker 1: he is kind of small. He's six too, so we'll
Speaker 1: see if he can defend well enough. But like, I
Speaker 1: want to see Kendrick Nunn play first before I put
Speaker 1: him in some trades, put him in a put in
Speaker 1: the trade machine. But I'm really interested to see if
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn comes back and takes every Bradley minutes. I
Speaker 1: think TH's gonna play right away. Though we need a
Speaker 1: wing even if she's not great. It's just we need
Speaker 1: more size out there and he should be able to
Speaker 1: feel that. But we'll see it when he comes back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I I Kendrick Nunn in particular is a
Speaker 1: guy I'd like to see playing some of those lineups
Speaker 1: you were talking about where Russ and a d Are
Speaker 1: are together with a bunch of shooting, but Lebron is
Speaker 1: kind of with the rest. I would think Kendrick Nun
Speaker 1: would be a really interesting guy to put out there
Speaker 1: with Lebron and and because you know, Lebron likes to Hey,
Speaker 1: I run this possession. Hey, I run this possession. Hey
Speaker 1: I run this possession. But this possession I want to
Speaker 1: go stand you know, ft on the right wing, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I have have to kick it to me. I'll shoot the
Speaker 1: three and I'll make him. But like I want you
Speaker 1: to try to create something like Kendrick Nunn is like
Speaker 1: the perfect guy to throw into something like that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, as a as a secondary ball handler. And
Speaker 1: you're right, it's something that's missing with this particular group
Speaker 1: is like, you know, because Frank has gone the way
Speaker 1: of defense and Monk has kind of slipped in and
Speaker 1: out of the rotation. It's kind of like Lebron and
Speaker 1: Russ are staggered. But when they don't, you know, when
Speaker 1: they're not either throwing it into the to the block
Speaker 1: the a d or or running action. With Lebron and
Speaker 1: Russ's initiators, it's a lot of like, oh, here's a
Speaker 1: random Baysmore drive, you know, or like like here's a
Speaker 1: here's our dribble handoff action for Avery Bradley coming off
Speaker 1: of the two bigs at the high post. Like there's
Speaker 1: a lot of like random actions like that that works sometimes, right,
Speaker 1: Like we've seen Bradley do that. Baisemore had a huge
Speaker 1: driving layup in the fourth quarter. It's like those are
Speaker 1: those are fine, But it's like, what if that was
Speaker 1: a more savvy balling handler, someone along the lines of
Speaker 1: the Kendrick Nunn Or what if that was th h
Speaker 1: t attacking the fourth best defender in your lineup? You know,
Speaker 1: like those are the kinds of things where I'd like
Speaker 1: to see. You know, you're gonna get an influence of
Speaker 1: or uh, an infusion of more offensive talent there that
Speaker 1: could make a lot of this look easier, right for sure,
Speaker 1: And we'll see when those guys come back that they
Speaker 1: should be coming back pretty soon. But I guess, like
Speaker 1: we haven't even talked really about Lebron and a Dy tonight.
Speaker 1: Like a D I feel like could have had forty
Speaker 1: tonight if he wanted to. And again, I know he
Speaker 1: didn't really catch that first half, but like they had
Speaker 1: nothing for him. I think he had like twelve in
Speaker 1: the first quarter or something. He can get that jump
Speaker 1: hook whenever he wants. I don't think he hit it
Speaker 1: three tonight either. He had a couple of mid range jumpers,
Speaker 1: but I thought he was himself for most of that.
Speaker 1: He kind of walked through that first half. Lebron as well.
Speaker 1: I tweeted, don't take Lebron for granted. I thought he
Speaker 1: was awesome in the fourth quarter. I feel like this
Speaker 1: is the kind of stuff we're gonna get from them though,
Speaker 1: Like I talked about it, I think on Saturday or
Speaker 1: whatever or whatever that was that I thought like the
Speaker 1: rust kind of transfer of energy would be a little
Speaker 1: bit more than it has been. It's kind of been
Speaker 1: just rust this like energetic ball and a D and
Speaker 1: Lebron are still kind of going out their pace. Um,
Speaker 1: do you kind of agree with that that I feel
Speaker 1: like we're gonna just continue to get these like as
Speaker 1: long as we keep playing bad teams, we're gonna play
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City next, or just keep seeing Lebron and eight
Speaker 1: kind of walked through these first halfs and then turn
Speaker 1: it on in the third quarter. That that's the kind
Speaker 1: of trend. I guess I'm saying you talked about defensive
Speaker 1: identity trend as a trend. I'm saying, like, we're gonna
Speaker 1: see these guys just walked through until these like third
Speaker 1: and second half start I mean, I hope not. I
Speaker 1: hope it's not like that. I mean, you know, you've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of talk probably around the League of parody.
Speaker 1: It's probably it's it's been one of the you know,
Speaker 1: common topics that's been brought up on Twitter in recent weeks,
Speaker 1: the idea that like every team is good and you
Speaker 1: can get beat on any given night. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Memphis beat Golden State only cow or like Denver just
Speaker 1: went into who do Denver lose to last night? I
Speaker 1: can't remember, but like Denver went lost last night. It's
Speaker 1: like Phoenix started the year two and three. There's just
Speaker 1: this you can get beat on any given night. And
Speaker 1: the Lakers, you know, lost Okay, they've played what they
Speaker 1: played San Antonio, and then they played Oklahoma City and
Speaker 1: then they play Houston twice. They one, they won three
Speaker 1: of those games, but they almost lost three of them.
Speaker 1: Like that's what's crazy. Like the San Antonio game went
Speaker 1: to overtime, they lost to Oklahoma City, and then they
Speaker 1: like literally were trailing by double digits in the second
Speaker 1: half against Houston tonight. Like the truth of the matter
Speaker 1: is is when they get into the tougher parts of
Speaker 1: their schedule, like they're about to You're about to go
Speaker 1: into a stretch here where they play Portland. They're gonna
Speaker 1: play Miami at home. That's like your textbook Kyle Lowry
Speaker 1: and Staples Center for some reason turns into Alan iverson game.
Speaker 1: And then and then you have Charlotte coming to town.
Speaker 1: Charlotte's good, Charlotte is a very talented basketball team. Then
Speaker 1: you're gonna go play Milwaukee. Then you're gonna go play Boston.
Speaker 1: This the league is tough enough that if Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d continue to bring this inconsistent effort, they're gonna
Speaker 1: start taking losses. And you know, eventually an urgency is
Speaker 1: gonna have to kick in with them. And I believe
Speaker 1: it will. I believe it will. Nobody we I've talked
Speaker 1: to you about this a lot in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. Nobody likes to sit down and get slapped
Speaker 1: in the face repeatedly. Eventually, you're gonna eventually you're gonna
Speaker 1: come back and and fights like remember squid games were
Speaker 1: like that when the dudes playing the paper game with
Speaker 1: him and slaps him in the face every time he loses. Like,
Speaker 1: you're only doing that to me like three times before
Speaker 1: we're fighting, you know what I mean, Like at a
Speaker 1: certain point, at a certain point, there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: natural response here when they get into a tougher part
Speaker 1: of their schedule where there where Lebron and they are
Speaker 1: gonna have to be like, hey, we gotta bring it
Speaker 1: every night or this this league is gonna chew us
Speaker 1: up and spit us out, you know what I mean, right,
Speaker 1: And it could be a lot worse. So it's just
Speaker 1: looking at the standing that there. I mean, standings really
Speaker 1: mean nothing. Right now. We're way too early. But they're
Speaker 1: five and three, and I honestly I'm not going to
Speaker 1: forget that OKC game, but they should be six and two. Um.
Speaker 1: The only teams would less than two losses are Utah
Speaker 1: and the Warriors were both Utah six and one, words
Speaker 1: or five and one. So they're right there after this win.
Speaker 1: They're the third seed, um, right right above Memphis. So
Speaker 1: they're right where there. I guess they're supposed to be.
Speaker 1: It just hasn't looked very pretty, and maybe it's not
Speaker 1: supposed to. We talked about it was going to be
Speaker 1: a process. It's all process over results, and I'm starting
Speaker 1: to see little things. Man, I just I can't wait
Speaker 1: to get the full team though, you know, like I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm watching an incomplete product. Like I saw
Speaker 1: I saw Trevor Reason standing up on the bench today
Speaker 1: and I forgot it was him. I was like, who's
Speaker 1: that on the bench, And I realized that was Trevor Reason,
Speaker 1: who who was like predicted to start on this team
Speaker 1: um earlier on media Day. So I'm that's why I'm
Speaker 1: excited about. We're starting to get into the point where
Speaker 1: guys should be coming back and we get a whole
Speaker 1: kind of new team here. Austin Reeves is averaging like
Speaker 1: twenty minutes of game, the undrafted rookie, Like who saw
Speaker 1: that coming? But I don't think his minutes are going anywhere,
Speaker 1: just the way he's defending. So it's just really fascinating
Speaker 1: to kind of see what the team will look like
Speaker 1: adding three full rotation guys. And I'm not even including
Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington in that, who I praised over the offseason
Speaker 1: but who might not even play. But yeah, that's why
Speaker 1: I'm excited on that We're going to a stretch here
Speaker 1: where we should be getting getting some guys back on
Speaker 1: these on these trips. Yeah, you know, we joked before
Speaker 1: the season that their schedule is so easy that it
Speaker 1: was kind of perfect because they were so bad in
Speaker 1: preseason and and this is kind of what I was
Speaker 1: talking about, right Like, I mean, they literally had been
Speaker 1: playing god awful basketball and they're and they're five and three,
Speaker 1: So that was the that was the blessing in disguise
Speaker 1: about the way that this this season kind of shaped out.
Speaker 1: Is this infery or products that they've been putting out,
Speaker 1: which again I'm just saying relative to what their expectations are,
Speaker 1: this is the team that is favored to win the
Speaker 1: Western Conference and has better title lot and I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if the odds are still this way, but before
Speaker 1: the season they had better title odds than the Milwaukee Bucks. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's what this team needs to be judged through
Speaker 1: as in terms of a lens. And the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter, is there a team right now that is
Speaker 1: would not great offensively and is bad defensively. So the
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is things have been ugly, but
Speaker 1: thankfully with the way the schedule broke out five and three.
Speaker 1: If you told me five and three with Lebron missing
Speaker 1: two games, I think I think you take that. So
Speaker 1: in terms of like a little eight game checkpoint, which
Speaker 1: is roughly ten percent of the season. Things have gone
Speaker 1: pretty well considering the way that they've played, But you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna find out really quickly. Like there have been
Speaker 1: a lot of people joking on Twitter today like, Oh,
Speaker 1: they're gonna go up to Portland and Dame's gonna regain form.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, yeah, if you defend like that. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: if you guys, if you guys give Dame a bunch
Speaker 1: of good looks, then yeah, it's probably gonna get going,
Speaker 1: you know. But um, you know, the truth of the
Speaker 1: matter is is I'm just ready for some of the
Speaker 1: good competition to show up on their schedule because I
Speaker 1: think this team needs it. I think this team needs
Speaker 1: to be slapped around a little bit um in order
Speaker 1: to to re engage on a more consistent basis. But
Speaker 1: we'll see, because, like I said, if they if they
Speaker 1: defend Oklahoma City really well on Thursday, and they go
Speaker 1: up and be Portland, then I can look at this
Speaker 1: through a lens and be like, hey, not only are
Speaker 1: they seven and three, but in four of their last
Speaker 1: five games they've had really good defensive efforts. That's when
Speaker 1: we start talking about we have a core identity of
Speaker 1: this team that's starting to form. That's when we can
Speaker 1: start to get excited about that. Um and and even
Speaker 1: with this game tonight, you could look at it and
Speaker 1: like you said, hey, there was a stretch in the
Speaker 1: second half, even in our bad defensive game, there was
Speaker 1: a stretch there in the second half where we strangled
Speaker 1: these guys for roughly for roughly twenty minutes of game clock. Yep, Man,
Speaker 1: I used the last thing in my notes, uh is
Speaker 1: just I wrote big three. So Lebron, A D and
Speaker 1: Russ combined for eighty four points tonight. Um And again,
Speaker 1: like you'ven klong with Russell Westbrook's numbers, but this is
Speaker 1: kind of what we talked about over the summer, right,
Speaker 1: like adding his production. Again, you could joke about numbers,
Speaker 1: but the numbers are what they are putting up twenty seven,
Speaker 1: seven and nine along when Lebron and need D have
Speaker 1: good games, they had good offensive games for the most part.
Speaker 1: Defense they kind of focus in the second half. But
Speaker 1: Lebron tennisis Russell Westbrook seven assists. Trying to see that
Speaker 1: kind of that combination of production, I guess, and that's
Speaker 1: why you go trade for Russell Westbrook, right, and you
Speaker 1: can kind of back and forth whether he's a superstar
Speaker 1: star whatever he is, he's still kind of the guy
Speaker 1: who produces at this who can produce at this level.
Speaker 1: And that's why you go get that. You see the
Speaker 1: Wizards players, the Laker Wizards prayer starting to get all
Speaker 1: this love. Now of course they're on another team. Kyle
Speaker 1: Kuzma contres Harrell KCP and the Wizards I think are
Speaker 1: five and one or some crazy kind of five and two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're playing really well. But again, like this is why
Speaker 1: you combine you know, three like BC players for you know,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. So that's my last kind of thing on this.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're starting to see Westbrook get comfortable.
Speaker 1: He was seven for eight from the line tonight, Like
Speaker 1: that's I think that's a step forward for him as well,
Speaker 1: progress get into the basket. Um still didn't hit a
Speaker 1: three over four. I thought the three he took tonight,
Speaker 1: we're okay. Like they were ball moves. You know, our
Speaker 1: guy cheats sheets off him so badly on like a
Speaker 1: lebron and a pick and roll that like he has
Speaker 1: the whole world time to like stop, you know, get
Speaker 1: his feet right, try to hit in. I'm okay with
Speaker 1: those kind of shots. I feel like he's pretty much
Speaker 1: taken away the you know, bad kind of come down trouble,
Speaker 1: pull up contested three. But yeah, like the production there,
Speaker 1: I feel like we're starting to see it, even if
Speaker 1: it's against bad teams. This is what you play bad
Speaker 1: teams for though, right, is to get that kind of
Speaker 1: reps and to get all this you know, get all
Speaker 1: the bad habits, uh that you that you have out
Speaker 1: of your system. I guess. But yeah, that was my
Speaker 1: last thing. I guess if you had anything else from
Speaker 1: from this night or from the previous name, yeah, just
Speaker 1: I'll respond to that really quick, and you go ahead
Speaker 1: and get our first caller up here. Guys, we're gonna
Speaker 1: take callers for about ten minutes and we're gonna call
Speaker 1: let's do a hard stop at like uh So. The
Speaker 1: thing with rust that's funny is everyone wants to kind
Speaker 1: of undercut statistical production. And I actually I agree with
Speaker 1: like the underlying theme of what some of these people
Speaker 1: are talking about, but I don't. There is no such
Speaker 1: thing as an empty stat that to be to be clear, however,
Speaker 1: it stats without context. So for instance, like if Russ
Speaker 1: goes out and gives you and ten, but he also
Speaker 1: has eight turnovers and he shot from the field, then
Speaker 1: it's it's not and ten. It's and ten with a
Speaker 1: whole lot of wasted possessions. Right, So that that's your
Speaker 1: context there. But you look at it. You know, if
Speaker 1: Russ is gonna give you twenty three, eight and eight
Speaker 1: or whatever it is that he's going to give you
Speaker 1: per game this season, but he gets his efficiency up
Speaker 1: to where his skiegal percentage is close to instead of thirty,
Speaker 1: and his turnovers are closer to three or four instead
Speaker 1: of five or six, that's when we can start looking
Speaker 1: at this and go, this is a huge uh boost.
Speaker 1: You know. That's that That's the thing with with Russ
Speaker 1: is like you can't undercut what he's accomplishing on the cord.
Speaker 1: You just have to. He has to cut back on
Speaker 1: what he takes away. And for the record, since that
Speaker 1: uh Oklahoma City game, he's been better. In the last
Speaker 1: three He's done a pretty good job of cutting back
Speaker 1: on his mistakes and and trying to rein in some
Speaker 1: of the chaos. Yeah, there's like he's over four from
Speaker 1: three tonight. That's gonna happen. That's that's part of the
Speaker 1: rust experience. But he's ten of twenty one, so he
Speaker 1: was efficient enough that he wasn't taking away a bunch
Speaker 1: of possessions and uh, and there's just a lot of
Speaker 1: production there. So I don't want to undercut that, and
Speaker 1: I don't think people should undercut that. It's just with Russ,
Speaker 1: it's all about the negative place. If he can cut out,
Speaker 1: cut down on the negative plays, it becomes a hugely
Speaker 1: positive equation for the Lakers for sure. And I guess
Speaker 1: I only see one kind of caller appear, so I'll
Speaker 1: bring him up. But lasting on the turnovers things. So
Speaker 1: I know this is not really how stats work, but
Speaker 1: if you throw away the Okay See game where to me,
Speaker 1: everyone played terrible. Ron didn't even play in that game.
Speaker 1: But that's that's neither here in the I should be
Speaker 1: able to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder thirty, but yet
Speaker 1: ten turnovers that night. So ten turnovers really brings up
Speaker 1: your average of turnovers when it's only been with six
Speaker 1: or seven games. So on the season, he's averaging like
Speaker 1: five point I think he's having like five turnovers the game.
Speaker 1: But if you take that one out. It's he has
Speaker 1: twelve turnovers and I think like five or six games,
Speaker 1: which is around three turnovers the game, which you can
Speaker 1: kind of live with, right, You can live with three
Speaker 1: or four turnovers the game, with the amount of ball
Speaker 1: handling he does, the amount of just pushing and transition
Speaker 1: that he does in the usage like and I think
Speaker 1: it's okay the turnovers. Sometime some of them are super ugly.
Speaker 1: But to your point, if you just throw out that, okay,
Speaker 1: see game which was just a reckless game in itself,
Speaker 1: he's been he's been okay at that. Yeah, And the
Speaker 1: real punishment from from the Oklahoma City game is in
Speaker 1: the standings because no one's trying to evaluate this team.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, no one's trying to value with the team
Speaker 1: without Lebron. There's just there's just no point in doing that.
Speaker 1: The punishment is in the standings. And to your point,
Speaker 1: if he can keep his turnovers right around three per
Speaker 1: game in the in the games where Lebron plays, that's awesome,
Speaker 1: that's incredible because you're gonna get eight or nine assists
Speaker 1: from him. You might get eight or nine assistant the
Speaker 1: first quarter of one of these nights. You know, that's
Speaker 1: that's how explosive he can be. It's just about cutting
Speaker 1: back those negative players. Like in Oklahoma City, twelve miss
Speaker 1: shots and ten turnovers. That's twenty two possessions were Russ
Speaker 1: either through the ball to the other team or missed
Speaker 1: the shot. That's a lot, you know that. And again,
Speaker 1: that was a game in the context of Lebron not playing,
Speaker 1: But that's an example of the it's skewing too far
Speaker 1: in the other direction for sure. And I think that
Speaker 1: that just went down. So I don't have any callers here,
Speaker 1: um or do you have anything else from tonight? No,
Speaker 1: I think I think we're gonna have We're gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot more shows. Like I said, I appreciate you
Speaker 1: uh covering for me on Sunday, and I think we're
Speaker 1: both good to go for Thursday. So that'll be fun.
Speaker 1: And I'm hopeful that the Lakers will get some much
Speaker 1: needed revenge against Oklahoma City, right right, Hopefully they don't
Speaker 1: blow another dirty point lead or whatever it is. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I should get a win, get like what six and
Speaker 1: three on the season or whatever they are, whatever they
Speaker 1: would be if they'd be Okloma City. Yep, they'll get them.
Speaker 1: The six and three, and then then you get a
Speaker 1: real test on the road in Portland that will be
Speaker 1: a it's a team thats like directly attacks a specific
Speaker 1: weakness of the Lakers, which is guards that can shoot
Speaker 1: really well off the dribble um, you know. And it's
Speaker 1: a road a good road test, and it'll be a specific,
Speaker 1: specifically attest to the Laker defense. I'm actually really really
Speaker 1: excited for that one. My wife has an event that day,
Speaker 1: so she's working all day. I cannot wait to just
Speaker 1: park my happy ass in front of the TV and
Speaker 1: watch every minute of that of that game up in Portland.
Speaker 1: But guys, thank you all so much for your support.
Speaker 1: This will be airing on DASH Radio tomorrow morning at
Speaker 1: seven I right after get off the phone and go.
Speaker 1: Right after I get off the show, I'm going to
Speaker 1: um put this on our podcast feed as well. We
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate your guys to support and we will see
Speaker 1: you on Thursday night. Thanks everyonen. Ah m hm hm