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Speaker 1: M m all right, welcome to the State of the

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Speaker 1: Lakers locker room post game film breakdown whatever you want

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Speaker 1: to call. It's first time we're doing it, so we'll

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Speaker 1: see how it goes. Um. I will post the full

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Speaker 1: length recording of this in the State of the Lakers

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Speaker 1: podcast feed later today. Um, not even that later today,

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Speaker 1: probably like twenty minutes after I'm done. Uh So, Roger

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Speaker 1: and I, you know, we talked a lot about how

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Speaker 1: we wanted to, you know, kind of find areas and

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Speaker 1: and Lakers coverage that haven't already been done or aren't

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Speaker 1: already being done to a great extent, and that's why

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Speaker 1: we've been doing our postgame shows and things along those lines.

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Speaker 1: Uh And I wanted to just kind of taking a

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Speaker 1: take this opportunity to try some of this film breakdown

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Speaker 1: stuff to see what you guys think if it's something

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Speaker 1: you guys are interested in, you know how it is.

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Speaker 1: We're just kind of rolling with the punches, and we

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Speaker 1: appreciate you guys feedback and anything that you guys can

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Speaker 1: let us know about how we can provide better content

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Speaker 1: for you guys, if you guys could just let us know.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, I wanted to focus on the second half

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Speaker 1: last night. I've always been you know, when you watch

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Speaker 1: games like this, I feel like you learn the most

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Speaker 1: when the game is decided. That's why I focused on

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Speaker 1: the second half. Um, that run there in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the in the middle of the third quarter is

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Speaker 1: where everything went off the rails. That's when the game

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Speaker 1: was decided. Everything leading up to that it's just teams

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Speaker 1: kind of feeling each other out. But then when the

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Speaker 1: team kind of gains their advantage and goes on their run,

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Speaker 1: that's when the game has decided. So that's when I

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Speaker 1: focused on it. There were a bunch of interesting things

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Speaker 1: that I noticed from the film and you can see

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Speaker 1: them on my Twitter page. I put the handle in

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Speaker 1: the name of the of the locker room here. Um

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Speaker 1: that underscore Jason LT. If you guys follow that, you'll

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Speaker 1: see the full thread where I broke down not every play,

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Speaker 1: but just about every play and in that run to

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Speaker 1: start the third quarter. Um, you can kind of get

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Speaker 1: appeal for what I was noticing, you know. So I

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Speaker 1: want to start with uh with Drummond's defense, because that

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Speaker 1: was the big talking point last night, and you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the big things that that stood out to

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Speaker 1: me First of all, when you look at the numbers,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers defend extremely well with everybody on the roster.

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Speaker 1: To this point in the season, with exception of Andre Drummond,

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Speaker 1: every single player on the team has a defensive rating

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Speaker 1: sub one ten except for Andre Drummond, who's almost one thirteen. Now,

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Speaker 1: it's important to understand that defensive rating is a team

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Speaker 1: related stat. Drummond has only played eleven games. In the

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Speaker 1: last five games, the Lakers defensive rating is up over

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Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, right around one third team. So

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Speaker 1: as a team, they haven't been playing great defensively. I

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Speaker 1: think that's important context there, because roughly half of drummonds

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Speaker 1: games they haven't been defending. Well, that's gonna throw off

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Speaker 1: some of his stats. But then the question becomes how

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Speaker 1: much of a roles drum into playing that? And when

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Speaker 1: we watched the film, the big thing that stands out

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Speaker 1: to me is just awareness. You know, drummonds criticism throughout

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Speaker 1: his career has always been inconsistent awareness and inconsistent effort.

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Speaker 1: Talk to anybody you watched him in Detroit, anybody who

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Speaker 1: watched him in Cleveland. You know, once every four or

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Speaker 1: five games he would look like Bill Russell where he's

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Speaker 1: just flying around everywhere, he's breaking everything up, and then

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Speaker 1: the next four games he would just be a shell

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Speaker 1: of that type of impact. And in my opinion, it

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Speaker 1: comes down to a couple of different things. It's not

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Speaker 1: just playing art, it's paying attention. And if you look

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Speaker 1: in that read that I that I put out, you

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Speaker 1: can see so many examples of him just being a

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Speaker 1: step slow in his reactions and not being really aware

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Speaker 1: of what's happening around him. And Russell Westbrook is basically

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Speaker 1: careening down the floor and uh, keeping his eye on

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Speaker 1: Drummond and just waiting for him to stop paying attention

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Speaker 1: for a second and then firing the ball to Alex

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Speaker 1: Lynn whoever it is that he ends up for another

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Speaker 1: layup or for another dunk. And you know, uh, if

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Speaker 1: you look at the Lakers defensive scheme in general, you

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Speaker 1: know there's all this There's always been this idea that

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Speaker 1: they defend teams by being huge. That kind of started

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Speaker 1: last year with with Dwight Howard and with JaVale McGee.

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Speaker 1: This idea that you know, we're just so big, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna block a million shots. Teams can't score on us

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Speaker 1: because we're so big, And the truth of the matter

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Speaker 1: is is that was never the reason why they were

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Speaker 1: so good defensively. They were so good defensively because Frank

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Speaker 1: is an amazing XS and those defensive coach, and they

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Speaker 1: have unbelievable effort and focus from their perimeter players defensively,

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Speaker 1: that is the reason why their defense actually went up

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Speaker 1: a level without Dwight and Javail, And that is the

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Speaker 1: reason why their defense still looks so elite. When Lebron

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Speaker 1: and a d are out, they just fly around on

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Speaker 1: the perimeter, chasing guys off the three point line, flying

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Speaker 1: around in rotations to help each other off the double

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Speaker 1: teams and things along those lines. That's what makes their

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Speaker 1: defense so intimidating and so productive. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: it's easy to think like, oh, we bring Drummond back

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Speaker 1: and we're just gonna be like we were last year.

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Speaker 1: But the truth of the matter is the only reason

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Speaker 1: that last year is the only real impact that those

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Speaker 1: bigs had on last year's defense with shop walking, Lakers

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Speaker 1: led the league in shop blocking last year. But shot

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Speaker 1: blocking is just a small part of defense, and that's

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Speaker 1: been proven right this year without successful they've been without

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Speaker 1: those two guys, But had Drummond, a guy who is

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Speaker 1: essentially a weak link in their focus chain, a weak

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Speaker 1: link in their effort chain, a weak link in their

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Speaker 1: awareness chain. On defense, it just causes these breakdowns that

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Speaker 1: lead to wide open dunks and wide open layups and

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Speaker 1: things along those lines. And so if you look in

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Speaker 1: that thread, you'll see three or four examples where you

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Speaker 1: know he's kind of paying attention, Like here comes across

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Speaker 1: screen for brad Lewton, for Bradley Beale, and he's aware

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Speaker 1: of the screen is happening, but like he's not really

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Speaker 1: paying attention to what his responsibilities are there. Like guess what,

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Speaker 1: Like you're you're you've already got separation from Alex Lennon.

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Speaker 1: You've made a gap. They call it opening up um

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Speaker 1: in making an opening for k CP to run through,

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Speaker 1: And you've made that opening. But then you run with

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Speaker 1: Beal anyway, So you're you've basically defended as though you're

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Speaker 1: expecting KCP to follow Bill, but then you follow Bill anyway.

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Speaker 1: Alex Lynn is wide open, Russ throws it to him

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Speaker 1: for a dunk. That's just that's like it's like you're trying,

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Speaker 1: but you're not paying attention. You're not putting the brain

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Speaker 1: work into it. And there was another one in there

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Speaker 1: where in transition, alex Lynn just goes and sets a

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Speaker 1: pin down for Bradley Beal coming out of the corner

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Speaker 1: and on a sequence like that, which you prefer to

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Speaker 1: do as a big is show on the screen so

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Speaker 1: that Beale can't just curl it and fire away wide open,

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Speaker 1: which is the right way, the right way to defend

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Speaker 1: that play. However, he's slow to get there on the

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Speaker 1: pin down, so if be able to come off, he

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Speaker 1: would have been open anyway. And then when alex Lenn

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Speaker 1: slipped the screen, he was slow to recover back to

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Speaker 1: alex Lynn, And so essentially he's again trying on defense,

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Speaker 1: he's just not paying attention well enough for his athletic

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Speaker 1: tools to really be impactful. And I think that that's

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Speaker 1: been a recurring theme so far from him defensively. That's

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Speaker 1: why if you look at highlights, you'll see these moments

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Speaker 1: where you know he looks like he's a deeply impactful

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Speaker 1: I mean, look at that first sequence in his first

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Speaker 1: game when he came back, when he when he blocked

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Speaker 1: that shot on that second jump, you know, along the

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Speaker 1: baseline in that first game, it's like, oh, man, like

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Speaker 1: we haven't had this since last year. That's awesome, But

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Speaker 1: the actual totality of the product in all of the

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Speaker 1: plays together, um, there's a lot of mistakes mixed in there,

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Speaker 1: and that's where that's where it's really really hurting them.

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Speaker 1: And then you know, shifting towards him on the offensive end,

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Speaker 1: you know it's there's again a ton of good and bad.

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Speaker 1: And that's kind of like the theme with the Drummond

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Speaker 1: experienced so far. You look at uh in that film

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Speaker 1: threat I did, there are a couple of really really

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Speaker 1: awesome sequences of the chess match of the Drummond Davis

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Speaker 1: offensive experience. That first play of the of the second

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Speaker 1: half and that thread that I put out Drummond is

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Speaker 1: kind of standing in the dunk your spot. The Lakers

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Speaker 1: try to run pick and roll with Dennis Shuder and

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. They just switch it and then they have

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Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook front Anthony Davis because they know Alex Land

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Speaker 1: is right behind him because he doesn't have to guard Drummond.

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Speaker 1: And so what do they do. They flash Andre Drummond

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Speaker 1: to the free throw line. They throw it to the

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Speaker 1: free throw line, forces Alex Land to step up on Drummond,

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Speaker 1: which then leaves Anthony Davis open over the top for

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Speaker 1: a for a foul. Rust ends up having to foul

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Speaker 1: and to stop him from laying it in. Then they

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Speaker 1: run these cross screen actions where they basically just have

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Speaker 1: Drummond screen for a D so he can kind of

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Speaker 1: flash to the semi circle and take a little jumper,

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Speaker 1: a little floater or whatever it is that he takes

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Speaker 1: from from up there. First time they run it, the

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Speaker 1: Wizards switch, but they're a little slow. It's a wide

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Speaker 1: open shop for a D. He makes it. Second time

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Speaker 1: they run it, the Wizards switch. They switch it more aggressively.

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Speaker 1: Now Ruy Hatchamura is on Drummond, Drummond just ducks in

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Speaker 1: and Kuzma throws it um to Drummond for an easy

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Speaker 1: layup and one. These are all examples of the good

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Speaker 1: of having this kind of size advantage. You know. Again,

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Speaker 1: it's the Wizards switch everything. That was one of the

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Speaker 1: big things I noticed in that second half. And the

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Speaker 1: Lakers are gonna face some teams that switch everything along

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Speaker 1: the way, namely the Clippers and the Nets and those

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Speaker 1: specific teams. There's a tendency for teams to try to

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Speaker 1: force the ball to the big man against the small man,

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Speaker 1: and they think that's how you beat a switching defense,

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Speaker 1: and there's some truth to that, but it has to

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Speaker 1: be the way the Lakers were doing it with Drummond,

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Speaker 1: which is a deep seal where he can just catch

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Speaker 1: and go up. Because rests allowed so much physical contact

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Speaker 1: from smaller players against post players in those matchups that

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Speaker 1: if you throw it down to the post and he's

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Speaker 1: ten feet away from the rim and he has to

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Speaker 1: back him down and make a play, it makes all

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Speaker 1: of this opportunity for defensive help to come in and

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Speaker 1: for the small man to you know, shove his knee

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Speaker 1: up as his asked or whatever it is he's got

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Speaker 1: to do to push him out of the lane where

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Speaker 1: the refs aren't going to call anything. There's all these

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Speaker 1: ways where it can go wrong. Well, that kind of thing,

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Speaker 1: that a deep seal from Andre Drummond. That's a really

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Speaker 1: interesting way to attack a switching defense. Because ruy Hatchamura

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Speaker 1: is a big, strong wing. I mean, he's the guy

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Speaker 1: who guarded Lebron for the most part in their matchup

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Speaker 1: earlier when when a d was out and when that happened,

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Speaker 1: Ruyama was every bit is you know, big and physical

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Speaker 1: and imposing as any defensive wing that Lebron had went

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Speaker 1: up against and actually had some success against. Lebron. Well,

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Speaker 1: he can't guard Andre Drummond when he gets that deep

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Speaker 1: under the basket, and you saw that in those sequences

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Speaker 1: when he would get a deep seal uh lay up.

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Speaker 1: And so that those are the interesting good parts of

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Speaker 1: having Drummond on the floor as a way to attack

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Speaker 1: around the rim against the switching defense. But there was

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Speaker 1: a lot of bad from Drummond, and as you could

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Speaker 1: probably imagine, has to do with spacing. So, I mean,

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Speaker 1: we've we've talked about this all at length another podcasts,

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Speaker 1: but yes, you know, Anthony Davis is clearly extremely intent

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Speaker 1: on plane with the center. He has made that abundantly

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Speaker 1: clear and every single one of his interviews that it's

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Speaker 1: very important to him that somebody next to him is

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Speaker 1: banging around with bodies and taking all of the physical

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Speaker 1: punishment while he gets to focus on being mainly a

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Speaker 1: perimeter player. That's that's all uh, Anthony Davis cares about.

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Speaker 1: He has also said I'm only to play the five

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Speaker 1: when I have to, and that's great. However it it

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Speaker 1: became really clear after those comments from a d yesterday

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Speaker 1: when he said that um that that he is really

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Speaker 1: invested in that Andre Drummond partnership. It's very clear that

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Speaker 1: the Andre Drummond signing was probably a reaction to the

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Speaker 1: fact that Anthony Davis didn't really get the feeling that

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Speaker 1: Marcus al was accomplishing that goal, which we all disagree with.

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I would imagine if I told you guys,

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Speaker 1: you all would say that you prefer Marcosol, But uh,

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Speaker 1: right now, Anthony Davis is calling the shots. It would

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Speaker 1: seem with that specific rotation decision, And all we can

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Speaker 1: hope is that when push comes to shove that Frank

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Speaker 1: Vogel will, for lack of a better term, have the

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Speaker 1: stones to to step up to everybody in the room

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Speaker 1: and be like, hey, it's time for us to put

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Speaker 1: Marcusol out there. But you can see it really interestingly

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Speaker 1: with the with the spacing. So this is something I

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Speaker 1: noticed for the first time in that Mavericks matchup. Actually

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Speaker 1: it was the Orlando Magic matchup at the end of

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Speaker 1: the game when they started spamming Dennis Shrewder and Andre

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Speaker 1: Drummond kick and roll with Anthony Davis in the corner

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Speaker 1: and Shrewder just picked them apart. When they use Andre

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Speaker 1: Drummond as the screener, it allows the uh the Lakers

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Speaker 1: to generate enough space for Dennis Shorter to gain an

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Speaker 1: advantage which he can then use to pick apart the defense.

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Speaker 1: When they use Anthony Davis as the screener, Andre Drummond's

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Speaker 1: man just camps in the paints, completely shutting down any

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Speaker 1: driving lane and clogs up the entire action. And that's

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Speaker 1: been the story of the Laker offense for two years.

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Speaker 1: When it wasn't Drummond, it was Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee.

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Speaker 1: But and there were even some moments early this year

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Speaker 1: where they would for whatever reason, use Marcusolo in the

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Speaker 1: dunker spot, which was a huge waste of what he

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Speaker 1: does offensively, especially at his age. But I really think

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Speaker 1: that's interesting because you know, think about the Warriors. For example,

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Speaker 1: the Warriors know that teams don't want to guard Draymond Green,

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Speaker 1: but if they use Draymond Green as the screener, it

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Speaker 1: makes it harder for you to ignore Draymond Green, because

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Speaker 1: if you ignore Draymond Green, he can pick you apart

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Speaker 1: in that short role where he sets the screen, they

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Speaker 1: double steph Curry. He just kind of pops about ten

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Speaker 1: ft away so step can loop it over the top

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Speaker 1: and he catches it barreling down the lane to either

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Speaker 1: lay the ball in or kick it out to a shooter.

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Speaker 1: Where Draymond Green becomes completely useless on the offensive end

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Speaker 1: is when he's not involved in the screening action and

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Speaker 1: he's standing somewhere else on the floor and they can

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Speaker 1: completely ignore him. Well, that's what the Lakers have a

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Speaker 1: problem with with Andre Drummond, if they put him off

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Speaker 1: the ball at all whatsoever, that he just gets completely ignored.

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Speaker 1: And that would be fine if he was like montrez

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Speaker 1: as a finisher, because that's the same problem to have

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Speaker 1: with Montrese. The difference is Mantres is such a monster

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Speaker 1: finisher around the basket. If he catches it, he's gonna

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Speaker 1: make it or he's gonna get fouled. Well, Drummond will

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Speaker 1: miss every easy layup he takes and then make a

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Speaker 1: handful of these crazy chaotic layups, and his finishing percentage

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Speaker 1: will be crazy low and he'll have a you know, like,

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Speaker 1: I think his field goal percentage this year is right

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Speaker 1: around I think so he doesn't make you pay enough

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Speaker 1: in the dunker spot to bring value, and then they

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Speaker 1: completely ignore him anywhere else on the floor, which is

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Speaker 1: making it so that any action they run with Drummond

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Speaker 1: out of the screening action is just easy to shut down.

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Speaker 1: That makes Anthony Davis one of the best pick and

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Speaker 1: role players in the league useless, are more useless than

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Speaker 1: he should be with that poor spacing. Then they take

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Speaker 1: Drummond put him as the screener and everything opens up.

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Speaker 1: And if you look in that thread, you'll see a

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Speaker 1: lot of examples of Dennis Shrewder getting separation, getting to

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Speaker 1: the rim, dropping to dropping to Drummond kicking out the

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Speaker 1: shooters when Anthony Davis was spotting up at the three

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Speaker 1: point line and Andre Drummond was the screener. Enrollment, it's

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Speaker 1: obviously the best way to use him when he's in

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Speaker 1: the lineup, which for the record, there's some advantage there,

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Speaker 1: especially when Lebron comes back, because Lebron is just a

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Speaker 1: little bit better and all of the things that Dennis

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Speaker 1: does and as so much better as a score um.

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, like you know,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers went on a huge run in the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter with a D at the five. And it's really

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Speaker 1: simple why, because you lose all of those defensive mistakes

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Speaker 1: that Drummond made, all of his slow defensive awareness. You're

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Speaker 1: taking that weak link in their defensive chain and you're

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Speaker 1: swapping it out for another guard who is a strong

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Speaker 1: link in their defensive chain. And and then on the

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Speaker 1: other end, you're getting that same spacing they were getting

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Speaker 1: with Drummond as the screener, except now Anthony Davis is

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Speaker 1: the screener, and you've got the same amount of shooting

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Speaker 1: around that, and it's just a much more devastating attack.

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Speaker 1: And that's how Anthony Davis got going in isolation. You

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Speaker 1: just have more room to work with. That's how Dennis

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Speaker 1: got going. Everything about the way that that lineup works

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Speaker 1: is better, and the only silver lining if you're a

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Speaker 1: Lakers fan, the only thing that should make you feel

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Speaker 1: good about this is last year in the postseason, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers played about six of their minutes with a D

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Speaker 1: at the five. So if there's one now, a lot

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Speaker 1: of that was uh, markis Morris at the five, But

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Speaker 1: technically a D is the five in that case, and

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Speaker 1: uh and Markief is just a better player this year

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Speaker 1: than he was last year, although he's in a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a cold spell right now. But if there's

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Speaker 1: one silver lining, that obvious advantage of the gain with

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Speaker 1: a D at the five, we can be relatively certain

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Speaker 1: that the Lakers are going to use that and use

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Speaker 1: it often when they get to the postseason. I just

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Speaker 1: think it's it's really jarring because you know, it seems like, really,

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Speaker 1: you know, it seems like really uh simple and easy

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Speaker 1: to be like, oh, the Lakers are better with a

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Speaker 1: D at the five. The Lakers are better with a

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Speaker 1: D at the five. You know, Drummonds bad, Drummonds bad.

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Speaker 1: But then you watch the film and it's like, really

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Speaker 1: really easy to see how that impacts things when Drummond

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Speaker 1: is off the ball. Ever, a two man action becomes

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Speaker 1: two on three. You had russ on Dennis, you had

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Speaker 1: Rudy hatch Mura on a D and Alex Len just

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Speaker 1: playing free safety behind them. Then all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: when they would move Drumming into the screener position, Alex Len,

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Speaker 1: the slow footed center is now directly involved in the

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Speaker 1: screening action. Rudy hatcher Mura is off the ball trying

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Speaker 1: to guard Anthony Davis, who is a shooter and Dennis

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Speaker 1: Shooter now has the ability to attack and get into

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Speaker 1: the lane and make things happen. It really is that simple. Um,

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Speaker 1: let's see, I had a couple other things I wanted

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Speaker 1: to hit on. I want to hit on Anthony Davis's

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Speaker 1: offense and then talent talent Horton Tucker And when I

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Speaker 1: thought about him last night again, UM, if you guys

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Speaker 1: have any questions, drop him into the comments and I'll

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Speaker 1: hit him at the end. And as usual with this

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Speaker 1: locker room stuff, if you want to hop in and talk,

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Speaker 1: all you gotta do is drop a speaker request. That's

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Speaker 1: the whole point of me doing these And I would

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Speaker 1: love to have you hop in, okay offensively with Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: So you know, when he's coming back from this injury,

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Speaker 1: there's been a lot of people talking about how great

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Speaker 1: he looks physically. Um, I think he looks great in

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Speaker 1: the sense that he's healthy, which is all that really matters.

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Speaker 1: But he does I think have quite a ways to

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Speaker 1: go in terms of really, uh getting his athleticism back.

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Speaker 1: And the dead giveaway to me was there was a

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Speaker 1: play late in the fourth quarter where if you remember,

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Speaker 1: he tried to do a um. He tried to do

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Speaker 1: like a a put back dunk, then he missed it,

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Speaker 1: got the offensive rebound like power dribble, went back up

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Speaker 1: for another put back dunk, and he missed them both

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Speaker 1: off the back of the rim a d from the

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Speaker 1: bubbles dunking both of those, And I don't I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's a concern. I just think it goes to

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Speaker 1: show you that he still has a level he can

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Speaker 1: get to in his conditioning and his life strength where

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be a more athletic center around the basket. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The example, the example I would give is right before

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Speaker 1: my sophomore year, I broke my foot and I was

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Speaker 1: fully healed when I got into training camp, but I

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Speaker 1: just didn't trust that foot to jump off of. I

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Speaker 1: didn't quite have that confidence in it to to really

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Speaker 1: take off. And I was really a bad player for

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Speaker 1: the first half of that season. And then I kind

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Speaker 1: of regained my confidence in that foot in conference play

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Speaker 1: and I ended up making the All Conference team because

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Speaker 1: I was much much better in conference play. It just

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Speaker 1: too there's a health phase, but then there's the confidence phase.

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Speaker 1: And this was literally a d s Achilles like he's

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Speaker 1: at that health phase. But he has to regain the

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Speaker 1: confidence in his achilles to really trust it when he

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Speaker 1: plants off of it. And ironically, it's one of the

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Speaker 1: big concerns I had for Lebron because he you know,

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Speaker 1: he had his growing thing, but other than that growing thing,

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Speaker 1: he hasn't really had an extensive lower body injury at

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Speaker 1: all in his career, and so this is the first

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Speaker 1: time that he's going to be getting back on the

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Speaker 1: floor and not really trusting one of his feet to

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Speaker 1: plant on when he's elevating in the lane. And so

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Speaker 1: I hope that he doesn't go through a similar phase

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Speaker 1: where he's healthy but not confident and has to regain

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Speaker 1: that confident confidence in the limb in his leg. Now,

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Speaker 1: the one thing that makes me feel a little better

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Speaker 1: is I think, if I remember correctly, it's his right ankle,

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Speaker 1: and uh, he's always been a left leg jumper. When

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Speaker 1: he gets into the lane. He can't go off two

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Speaker 1: ft when he needs to, but he's left foot jumper

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Speaker 1: type of player. Um, And so I'm less worried about

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Speaker 1: him regaining his confidence as far as a d Offensively, though,

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Speaker 1: I thought it was good to see him regain his

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Speaker 1: confidence in his jumper He's been a bad jump shooter

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Speaker 1: for most of the season. That's the thing that's kind

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Speaker 1: of frustrating. He came back from the Bubble in December

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Speaker 1: and had like a little five to ten games stretch

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Speaker 1: where he was from three and still making some mid

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Speaker 1: range jump shots. But then he tanked. And it wasn't

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Speaker 1: just injury related, like for literally like thirty games or

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Speaker 1: whatever it was that he played there, and he played

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Speaker 1: twenty seven games, called like called like twenty games. You know,

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Speaker 1: after its hot start, he just couldn't make a jumper.

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Speaker 1: It's bad from three, bad from mid range. He was

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Speaker 1: just a shell shell of himself from the same point

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Speaker 1: of confidence in his jump shot. And he actually, I

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Speaker 1: want to say he at one stretch missed thirty two

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Speaker 1: out of thirty six three point shots. That's like something

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Speaker 1: crazy like eleven or something along those lines. Um, So

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Speaker 1: it was good last night to see him really have

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Speaker 1: a shot chart that resembled what he did in the bumble.

430
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,080
Speaker 1: In the bubble, which is just three level scoring, scoring

431
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: at the rim, making shots in isolation at a mid range,

432
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: and he made two threes and putting a big one

433
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. I mean that the Lakers weren't

434
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:05,920
Speaker 1: really in a position to win the game. But it

435
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: was absolutely a a uh somewhat meaningful shot in the

436
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 1: sense that it got the game back to nine points

437
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,919
Speaker 1: with you know, roughly five minutes left, and and it

438
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,439
Speaker 1: was just good to see. And he stepped into it.

439
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:18,720
Speaker 1: He's a little bit behind the line, was on the

440
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: right wing. He's probably like seven ft and just and

441
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: just nailed it. So I think he looks good and confident.

442
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:26,880
Speaker 1: The jump shot is the most important thing to keep

443
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 1: an eye on. It looks healthy, but I think people

444
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 1: forget just how good he is as an athlete and uh,

445
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,119
Speaker 1: and he's so spindily and long, and we see him

446
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,399
Speaker 1: get dunks anyway that we think he's healthy. But I

447
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,159
Speaker 1: think he still has a long way to go in

448
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 1: a good way. But I think he has a long

449
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,399
Speaker 1: way to go to recovering um how good he was

450
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 1: as a as a as an athlete from before the injury.

451
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:55,159
Speaker 1: The last thing I wanted to touch on before I

452
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,200
Speaker 1: get you guys out of here is uh um is

453
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 1: talent hornon talk. So uh, he had a really bad

454
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 1: stretch uh there at the end of that Wizard's run.

455
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:13,760
Speaker 1: So the Wizards got it to ten on a on

456
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 1: a play where Drummond lost alex landon transition again for

457
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 1: the third time in the third quarter, and alex Land

458
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: ended up getting a uh like a little hook shot

459
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: that he made in Kuzma came over the top of

460
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,040
Speaker 1: him and fouled him. And it was like seventy eight

461
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,159
Speaker 1: to sixty eight or something along those lines. And so

462
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: incomes Montrez Harold for Andre Drummond, and then they brought

463
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: in Tell Horton Tucker for Dennis Shooter. That was the

464
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 1: sub pattern, and uh, you know, Washington, for the record

465
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 1: is an is absolutely a much better defense than we

466
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 1: all think. Uh. Then we all think they are based

467
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 1: on what they were early in the season. In their

468
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: last I think it's like a month or so month

469
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,200
Speaker 1: and a half if you throw out garbage time, they've

470
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 1: actually been the top ten defense in the league. And

471
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 1: a big part of that has to do with them

472
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,680
Speaker 1: playing more athleticism, you know, with with Chandler Hutchinson and

473
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,880
Speaker 1: and uh with Ruey Hotching Murra, who has been playing

474
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 1: all season, but he's just the channel. Like Rudy hutch

475
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,879
Speaker 1: Mura is developing into like a really really good three

476
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: four forward defender. And then you know, Russell Westbrook has

477
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: regained most of his athleticism after looking pretty washed to

478
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 1: start the season. And Alex lim Is, you know, every

479
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: bit as good as any starting level, middle of the

480
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,879
Speaker 1: pact type of center that you'll find in the league.

481
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 1: And Bradley Beals Okay, I thought he was pretty sloppy

482
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,919
Speaker 1: defensively last night, but they're a good defensive team. And

483
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 1: town Warton Tucker really didn't know what to do with

484
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: the Robinetto and and Ish Smith. We're putting a ton

485
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 1: of ball pressure on him, and the ball pressure really

486
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: seems to throw him off, which is crazy because he

487
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: has a distinct advantage in the sense that he's stronger,

488
00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:59,440
Speaker 1: and he's taller, and he's longer than most of these

489
00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,119
Speaker 1: little guards he's gonna go against. So he has a

490
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 1: physical advantage that he can use. But he seems to

491
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 1: be a little bit discombobulated by ball pressure, and it

492
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: ball preusser. One of the one of the big reasons

493
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 1: why teams like to employ ball pressure is not to

494
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: force turnovers necessarily, but just too fatigue players and to

495
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: accelerate that make them make decisions faster than they want to.

496
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of guards want to see the

497
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,959
Speaker 1: floor slowly because that's how they can pick a defense apart.

498
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 1: But if you ball pressure a guy and force him

499
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 1: to drive past you, now he's kind of going at

500
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: a faster pace than he wants to and it could

501
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,679
Speaker 1: force him to make some mistakes. And there was a

502
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:41,679
Speaker 1: sequence they're right at the end of my thread that

503
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: I did where you know in uh, He's handling the

504
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,119
Speaker 1: ball top of key against ball pressure and Montress a

505
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: deep seal and he throws the ball over the top

506
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: of Montres, believes it way short, and they steal it

507
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,439
Speaker 1: and run the other way. Then the next possession is

508
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 1: Smith is ball pressuring him again just like I said,

509
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 1: got on his backside and forced him into the paint,

510
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 1: drives right into Alex Lynn, has absolutely no angle and

511
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 1: just does some like crazy scooping flip shot over his

512
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: right shoulder that's not remotely open, and I think it

513
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: ended up like hitting the corner of the backboarder or something.

514
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:22,919
Speaker 1: And then the very next possession um the Lakers end

515
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 1: up getting a kick out three to Ben McLamore and

516
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 1: talent Horton. Tucker runs back on defense and gets into

517
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: the painted area, which is what you're supposed to do

518
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:33,600
Speaker 1: for the record, when you're the first man back, you

519
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: r under the basket. But Ben mclimore uh later in

520
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: the sequence is screaming at th H team, pointing at

521
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 1: Bradley Beale in the in the right corner for him

522
00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: to get out to the shooter. Th HT is way

523
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: way way way too slow to react is and paying

524
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 1: attention even though other Lakers at this point had already

525
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: gotten back. And bradleybial makes a three and just like

526
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: that fifteen point game and you know, once you once

527
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 1: you get up to the you know few team plus

528
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 1: type of margin, the game takes on a completely different

529
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: feel because now you damn you have to play perfect.

530
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 1: And that's literally what happened. The Lakers went to the

531
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,080
Speaker 1: eighty at the five, and they really uh got stuff

532
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 1: going offensively and started playing better defense. But if you watch,

533
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 1: there's just some crazy shots that get made. Brad the

534
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: deal after time out shoots a little step back over

535
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: case be tough, contested shot makes it, you know, Ruby

536
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 1: Hatchmurra and a close out does like a step back

537
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: I think it was on Kyle Kuzma, but contested step

538
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 1: back shot makes it. And then another play Russell Westbrooke

539
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 1: in and semi transition attacks Kyle Kuzma. Kind of a

540
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 1: questionable call, probably not a foul, but it gets called

541
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: and Russ makes it anyway, And you know, those seven

542
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: points there completely uh closed the door on you because

543
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 1: you're down fifteen and you have to play perfect. And

544
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: all they have to do is even if they played

545
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 1: bad basketball, they just have to make a few shots

546
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 1: and they're gonna win at that point. Um. So, as

547
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 1: far as th HT goes, you know, I think I

548
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: think I've been pretty consistent about this all year. I

549
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: I think he has all all All Star type potential,

550
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:15,480
Speaker 1: and especially on the defensive end. He's been one of

551
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: the best defenders on the Lakers this year when he's engaged.

552
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: But he has two fatal flaws. He can't shoot, which

553
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 1: directly impacts the Lakers spacing, which is not just about

554
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: him in his percentages, it's about everybody. It affects the

555
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 1: Bronze ability to get in the lane, and impacts Anthony

556
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: Davis's ability to get in the lane, and it impacts

557
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:39,720
Speaker 1: Dennis Shuter's ability to get in the lane. Everybody hurts

558
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 1: when you have one non shooter on the floor and

559
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 1: then on the defensive end, he oh, by the way,

560
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: that stuff which th h T is shooting that just

561
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,480
Speaker 1: gets exaggerated in the postseason, like everybody takes those same

562
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: defensive principles they employed in the regular season and just

563
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: exaggerates the hell out of him to take away stars.

564
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 1: Then on the defensive end and he's engaged. He's one

565
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 1: of their best defensive players. But it's the lapses. You know,

566
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 1: if you think of we think about um defense in

567
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 1: terms of points per one hundred possessions, right, like what

568
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: essentially just scoreboard? How many points are you giving up?

569
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: And you know th HD can play really good defense

570
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 1: on three possessions, but make a catastrophic mistake where he's

571
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 1: not paying attention that leaves a shooter open. And let's

572
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:25,280
Speaker 1: say they make a tough shot on one of the

573
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 1: other possessions. Now all of a sudden, they've scored five

574
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 1: points in four possessions. That's a defensive rating of a

575
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty. Like that's how bad at a catastrophic

576
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: mistake can be on the scoreboard, even if you do

577
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,160
Speaker 1: your job on other possessions. Whereas let's say a lesser defender,

578
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: someone like Ben Macklemore. For instance, Let's say Ben Maclimore

579
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 1: is not as impactful when he's engaged, but he doesn't

580
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 1: make the catastrophic mistake. Maybe they'd make, you know, two

581
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,880
Speaker 1: tougher shots, and they're both two pointers, and now they've

582
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 1: scored four points in four possessions. That's the one defensive rating. Essentially,

583
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is you would rather have a lesser

584
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: defensive player who doesn't have mental apses than a th

585
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 1: ht who's got like Mini Kawhi Leonard type potential but

586
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 1: has these like brain farts that give up wide open

587
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: shots to fantastic shooters that can swing games. And we've

588
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: seen a lot of examples of that this year, starting

589
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,640
Speaker 1: with that Toronto Raptors game earlier this year where he

590
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 1: let Gary Trent Jr. Get going, all right, I am

591
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 1: almost that. I'm just gonna check the questions real quick

592
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 1: to see if you guys have any questions. I've got

593
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 1: one in here already. If you guys have any other questions,

594
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: just drop him in the comments and I'll hit him

595
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: before I get out of here. What are your thoughts?

596
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: This is from Vankotech. What are your thoughts on Wes

597
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 1: Matthew's absence from the rotation recently outside of drum and

598
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: Gets and Gassol in eighty at the five lineups, what

599
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: do you think will be the odd man out to

600
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: get squeeze out of the rotation in the playoffs. So

601
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,520
Speaker 1: as far as far as West Matthews goes, you know,

602
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 1: I think I think the Lakers have gone all in

603
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: on a couple of things. One, they're really trying to

604
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 1: get um Ben mcamore acclimated and try to get a

605
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,120
Speaker 1: feel for what he brings to the table as a shooter.

606
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: Um Ben mcamore has shot okay, not great. I think

607
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 1: he was three for ten last night, and I think

608
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 1: he's up to I think he's like thirty seven percent

609
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 1: or something like that on the season. Um, if he's

610
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: only going to shoot thirty seven percent from three, the

611
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 1: trade op doesn't make sense and you end up going

612
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: with someone like West. Um. But if Lebron comes back

613
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:39,480
Speaker 1: and he ends up being a thirty eight percent UH

614
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: contested shooter and forty five percent wide open shooter, just

615
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: like a really really effective shooter, then he does he

616
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,360
Speaker 1: does bring value, and then you are better off playing

617
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,400
Speaker 1: Ben mcimore because he is an okay defensive player. In

618
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,520
Speaker 1: their scheme. He did pretty well running around in rotations

619
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 1: last night. UM, But as far as West goes, like

620
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 1: if if the shooting isn't there for for Mcamore, he's

621
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: just a much better defensive option. And it's all matched

622
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 1: up dependent. Like I think the Lakers are gonna play

623
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:11,320
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of Wesley Matthews against Brooklyn

624
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,399
Speaker 1: and against the Clippers because of the fact that they

625
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 1: need his strength on the wing to guard bigger wing

626
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 1: offensive players, to take that responsibility away from Lebron and

627
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 1: a D so they can focus on being back line

628
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 1: defenders and and being effective offensive players. So I mean,

629
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: it's all it's all gonna be matchup dependent. Let's see,

630
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,400
Speaker 1: outside of Drummond cassolve in a D at the five lineups,

631
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:36,960
Speaker 1: who do you think will be the odd man out

632
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: they can squeeze in the rotation the playoffs. So let's

633
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,959
Speaker 1: say let's say the Lakers drop centers entirely. We're looking

634
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:47,360
Speaker 1: at in the front court Anthony Davis, Lebron, Kyle Kuzma,

635
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: Markis Morris, and UM. In that case, I would say

636
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 1: that Montrez would probably be benched as well. So you've

637
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 1: got four forwards there in Kuzma, lebron A d and Morris.

638
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:03,360
Speaker 1: Then at the guard words, you're choosing between Dennis and KCP,

639
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,359
Speaker 1: Caruso and th H T Wes Matthews and uh and

640
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 1: Ben McLamore. So that's a ten man rotation, you know.

641
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 1: I think given the way that the Lakers play, it's

642
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 1: not completely unfathomable that all ten of those guys could

643
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 1: play in that circumstance, especially given the fact that they're

644
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 1: gonna start against Denver and deal with high elevation and

645
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: all the impacts that can have on fatigue. But I mean,

646
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 1: when push comes to shove, I I personally think that

647
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 1: you're gonna see talent Horton Tucker get squeezed, and then

648
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,319
Speaker 1: you'll see some combination of You're gonna see a lot

649
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 1: of Dennis, KCP, Alex Caruso, and then um, I think

650
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 1: you'll see West or Ben macalmore based on matchups whether

651
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 1: they need a wing defender or they need more shooting.

652
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 1: And then in the front court, the I think you're

653
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:00,319
Speaker 1: gonna see Kuzma take more from markis Morris and reason

654
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 1: why is Kuzma And this this is the last thing

655
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:04,800
Speaker 1: I'll say, because I don't have any more questions in

656
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 1: the thread. Uh, Kuzma has turned into a really, really,

657
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,479
Speaker 1: really solid role player. This is something that's been talked

658
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 1: about at length. Last night again, he had eight assists

659
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 1: and was just making excellent reads everywhere that he caught

660
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,760
Speaker 1: the ball on the floor. He's turned into a better

661
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: He is a better defensive player than Markis. I think

662
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 1: I take Markis as a post defender. So it just depends,

663
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 1: like maybe you want, you know, Mark Kief in a

664
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: in a matchup against uh, someone that's trying to bully you.

665
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 1: But outside of that specific matchup, I think Kuzma is

666
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: a better defensive player. He's better in rotations, he's better

667
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:46,760
Speaker 1: as a help defender, He's got a little bit more length,

668
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:49,360
Speaker 1: um and I actually like him better on the perimeter

669
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 1: than Marquis, although neither of them are fantastic in that

670
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,400
Speaker 1: in that role, UM, but Kuzma has turned into a

671
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 1: really really solid player. He's that thirty six percent from

672
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:03,439
Speaker 1: three now on the season. Marquee, by the way, is lower.

673
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 1: He's at like thirty two on the season. A lot

674
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:07,800
Speaker 1: of that has to do with his recent cold streak,

675
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 1: but I would imagine that if things really got squeezed

676
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 1: and they dropped the dropped. Playing any of their fives,

677
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: you'd see a lot of You'd see Kuzma, Lebron in

678
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:21,319
Speaker 1: a D basically play all the four five minutes, and

679
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: then like let's say, let's say a D plays you know,

680
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 1: thirty eight minutes in the postseason or forty minutes. You

681
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 1: might see eight minutes of Montrez in that in that

682
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 1: five role, just because he's a little bit better flying

683
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 1: around in rotations. Um, but you're gonna see a lot

684
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,160
Speaker 1: of Kuzma, and then my guess as the Keith gets squeezed,

685
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:44,280
Speaker 1: and then they'll play UH, they won't play t HD

686
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 1: and they'll choose between West and uh Ben mckamore based

687
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,320
Speaker 1: on the matchups already, let's see any of the questions,

688
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:58,759
Speaker 1: should Schroder close every series or there are situations where

689
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 1: he shouldn't? I think you should. I think Schroeder is

690
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:02,920
Speaker 1: the one guy you have to play. And the main

691
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:07,359
Speaker 1: reason why is because it's a He's become flat out

692
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: a really good playmaker and talked about that in the

693
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:10,760
Speaker 1: thread to that. You can see a couple of examples

694
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 1: of that. He's one of their best defensive players at

695
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,719
Speaker 1: the point of attack, and he's a serviceable I think

696
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:18,760
Speaker 1: he's at thirty four percent from three on the season.

697
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: He's gonna he's gonna make enough threes that that you

698
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 1: have to guard him. And he's a confident shooter from

699
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:28,480
Speaker 1: the three point line, a confident and consistently aggressive shooter

700
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:30,800
Speaker 1: from three point line in the sense that he doesn't

701
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 1: hurt your spacing. UM. The only thing that would be

702
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 1: interesting with Schroeder is if the Clippers just like really

703
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 1: got good at posting him up on switches with with

704
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 1: Kauai or PG, and then they started finding a way

705
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,839
Speaker 1: to capitalize on Laker double teams out of that and

706
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,960
Speaker 1: consistently get good looks, and they wanted to find a

707
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 1: way to um to stop double teaming. Then I could

708
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:00,200
Speaker 1: see them going with, you know, some crazy line like

709
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 1: West Matthews, Alex Crusoe, Kyle Kuzma, Lebron a D where

710
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 1: you feel a little more comfortable with any of those

711
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,680
Speaker 1: guys on an island in the post. It's rather than

712
00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 1: that I would I would have shorter clothes in every game.

713
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:16,759
Speaker 1: I would rather run Gassot with a D off the

714
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,440
Speaker 1: bench with Braun out agreed. We talked about that a

715
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: lot earlier in the show, I'm gonna I'm gonna release

716
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:25,520
Speaker 1: the the full length version of this on the podcast

717
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 1: feed here in about twenty minutes, and you can see

718
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:31,400
Speaker 1: everything I said about that a D and a D

719
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,800
Speaker 1: should play together as little as possible. Same thing, Marlon.

720
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,680
Speaker 1: We talked about that a lot. I talked about the

721
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,719
Speaker 1: differences in the way they guard pick and roll with

722
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 1: a D and a D on the floor. Um, just

723
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 1: stay tuned for the podcast feed and you'll see all

724
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: that stuff. Do you think Mark is going to get

725
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:50,719
Speaker 1: the bulk of the five minutes in a Denver series?

726
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:52,879
Speaker 1: Do you think they start with Drummond? My guesses are

727
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 1: gonna start with Drummond. Um, And if Drummond really, you know,

728
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 1: gets barbecued that I think that they will go to

729
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: Mark as an audible. But there there there's no way

730
00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 1: they're not going to start with Drummond just as a

731
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 1: result of the favor he has from the stars in

732
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:10,719
Speaker 1: the locker room, which isn't fair. I think we all

733
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,520
Speaker 1: agree Marks better, but it's just the nature of the business.

734
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:19,279
Speaker 1: Um A D, Gasol, Kus, Dennis and Crusoe would be

735
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:25,800
Speaker 1: nice off the bench in the playoffs, agree Um and

736
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 1: he uh, I would run as much a D and

737
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: Shrewder as you could with Lebron off the floor. And

738
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: because Lebron is so good when you surround him by shooters.

739
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:38,799
Speaker 1: If you actually look at the line up data this year,

740
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,320
Speaker 1: Lebron on the floor without a D and Dennis is

741
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 1: a net positive. Um. So I think an awesome strategy

742
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:51,320
Speaker 1: would be to stagger in a way that has Lebron

743
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: run the bench lineups with shooting, and then have Dennis

744
00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:58,520
Speaker 1: and a D run with more of the core guys

745
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,759
Speaker 1: because they need help. Um. If I'm not mistaken at

746
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 1: Dennis and a D is actually a net negative this year,

747
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,680
Speaker 1: I'll have to look it up. Um. But you want

748
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 1: to Your goal there is to always have an advantage

749
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 1: when you're on the floor. I trust a D to

750
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:12,799
Speaker 1: do or excuse me, I trust Lebron to do more

751
00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: with less help. So I prefer to have him out

752
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:21,120
Speaker 1: there without a D and Shrewder and vice versa. Is

753
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 1: Tread's playable verus Denver? Technically I don't think tres is

754
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,960
Speaker 1: much playable in any playoff matchup. The only reason why

755
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: you might consider doing it is if you want to

756
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 1: get really into a trap and recover type of defense

757
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 1: against stars, meaning like you're double teaming yr Kich. Every

758
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,239
Speaker 1: time down the floor, you're double teaming uh, you know,

759
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,560
Speaker 1: Quai every time down the floor, you're double team. You're

760
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 1: trapping every Chris Paul pick and roller, You're trapping every

761
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:49,960
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell pick and roll, and there's it's like living

762
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:54,720
Speaker 1: in a consistent state of chaos. I prefer Tred's running

763
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: around in those rotations to one of those big, lumbering centers.

764
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,080
Speaker 1: But if they're gonna play straight up coverage, he's not

765
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,799
Speaker 1: good in any of those matchups. But he did his job.

766
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:08,760
Speaker 1: I've said this many times, like, you know, Treads deserves credit.

767
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:11,960
Speaker 1: He did everything the Lakers needed him to do. Lebron

768
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 1: and maybe got hurt, and he just ate a ton

769
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:18,560
Speaker 1: of innings for them in the regular season. All right,

770
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: That's all I got, guys, Um, Roger and I are

771
00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 1: gonna up doing something on Friday. I'm not sure exactly

772
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 1: whether or not it'll be a morning podcast or a

773
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 1: postgame podcast, but we'll figure something out. I think Lebron

774
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 1: is gonna come back on Friday. That's just my guess

775
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:35,839
Speaker 1: based on just the nature of the situation. I think

776
00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:40,680
Speaker 1: the next two games are absolute must wins against Sacramento

777
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,919
Speaker 1: in Toronto because they run into some tougher ones after

778
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:48,359
Speaker 1: that against Denver and the Clippers. Um and so, as

779
00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:51,319
Speaker 1: I've said many times, I think the Lakers absolutely need

780
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 1: the five seed for the sake of their playoff run

781
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:56,320
Speaker 1: being more manageable as they ramp up with Lebron and

782
00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:02,360
Speaker 1: a D. And if you look at it, um the

783
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,320
Speaker 1: the uh, they're one game out of the sixth seed

784
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:06,920
Speaker 1: right now, and there are two games out of the

785
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 1: seventh seed. That I could get even more complicated if

786
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,480
Speaker 1: if Denver passes the Clippers, which is a distinct possibility

787
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,040
Speaker 1: because they're one game back of the Clippers right now.

788
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: I think it's two in the lost column, but it's

789
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:25,319
Speaker 1: a one game overall against against the Clippers. So if

790
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 1: the if Denver left to them and got into the

791
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 1: number three, then you'd actually rather be in the sixth seed.

792
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,360
Speaker 1: So it gets complicated. But the Lakers can kind of

793
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,480
Speaker 1: control their own destiny a little bit if they can

794
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:39,040
Speaker 1: beat Denver next week, because by winning, by beating Denver,

795
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:41,399
Speaker 1: you put yourself in a better position to to pass

796
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 1: the Clippers. And uh, but anyway, those Clippers and Nuggets

797
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: games are not guarantees, especially with the rusty Lebron. You'd

798
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 1: prefer to have him have a few more reps going

799
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 1: into those games. Anyway, your best bet bring him back

800
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,279
Speaker 1: on Friday. Let him get his sea legs against two

801
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,440
Speaker 1: lesser teams. Although Toronto is not bad and Sacramento is

802
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,759
Speaker 1: definitely capable. They just beat Dallas the other night. Um,

803
00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: but get to get a couple of wins that you

804
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:11,000
Speaker 1: absolutely need against those two teams and then turn around

805
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,759
Speaker 1: and beat Denver if you can. If you do though,

806
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 1: if you do that, you put yourself in a really

807
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,879
Speaker 1: good position to get the five seed and to keep

808
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:21,799
Speaker 1: Denver at the four seed and give yourself a chance

809
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,800
Speaker 1: to have a manageable playoff run. I mean, I cannot

810
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 1: say this enough without poorly they're playing. I don't know

811
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:29,279
Speaker 1: how they beat the Clippers if they catch them in

812
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 1: the first round, or even you know, like if they

813
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 1: catch them in the first round. I I'm not sure

814
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 1: i'd take the Clippers, but man like that gets that

815
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,520
Speaker 1: gets a lot more complicated. Um. Anyway, thank you guys

816
00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 1: so much for for hanging out and listening. Thank you

817
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 1: guys so much for supporting the pod and for checking

818
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,640
Speaker 1: out the film Threat and all the good stuff. UM.

819
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:50,239
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm looking for feedback. Roger and I

820
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:52,359
Speaker 1: are constantly looking for feedback and what you guys are

821
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,560
Speaker 1: looking for in terms of Laker content from us. UM,

822
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:59,080
Speaker 1: so don't hesitate to reach out on Twitter and let

823
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:00,960
Speaker 1: me know if you guys have any uh comments or

824
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: anything like that. UM, and UH hang out about twenty

825
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:05,960
Speaker 1: minutes or so, I'll have the full length version of

826
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:07,719
Speaker 1: based on the podcast right. Al Right, guys, enjoy the

827
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:08,279
Speaker 1: rest of your day.