Speaker 1: M m all right, welcome to the State of the
Speaker 1: Lakers locker room post game film breakdown whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call. It's first time we're doing it, so we'll
Speaker 1: see how it goes. Um. I will post the full
Speaker 1: length recording of this in the State of the Lakers
Speaker 1: podcast feed later today. Um, not even that later today,
Speaker 1: probably like twenty minutes after I'm done. Uh So, Roger
Speaker 1: and I, you know, we talked a lot about how
Speaker 1: we wanted to, you know, kind of find areas and
Speaker 1: and Lakers coverage that haven't already been done or aren't
Speaker 1: already being done to a great extent, and that's why
Speaker 1: we've been doing our postgame shows and things along those lines.
Speaker 1: Uh And I wanted to just kind of taking a
Speaker 1: take this opportunity to try some of this film breakdown
Speaker 1: stuff to see what you guys think if it's something
Speaker 1: you guys are interested in, you know how it is.
Speaker 1: We're just kind of rolling with the punches, and we
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys feedback and anything that you guys can
Speaker 1: let us know about how we can provide better content
Speaker 1: for you guys, if you guys could just let us know.
Speaker 1: But anyway, I wanted to focus on the second half
Speaker 1: last night. I've always been you know, when you watch
Speaker 1: games like this, I feel like you learn the most
Speaker 1: when the game is decided. That's why I focused on
Speaker 1: the second half. Um, that run there in the middle
Speaker 1: of the in the middle of the third quarter is
Speaker 1: where everything went off the rails. That's when the game
Speaker 1: was decided. Everything leading up to that it's just teams
Speaker 1: kind of feeling each other out. But then when the
Speaker 1: team kind of gains their advantage and goes on their run,
Speaker 1: that's when the game has decided. So that's when I
Speaker 1: focused on it. There were a bunch of interesting things
Speaker 1: that I noticed from the film and you can see
Speaker 1: them on my Twitter page. I put the handle in
Speaker 1: the name of the of the locker room here. Um
Speaker 1: that underscore Jason LT. If you guys follow that, you'll
Speaker 1: see the full thread where I broke down not every play,
Speaker 1: but just about every play and in that run to
Speaker 1: start the third quarter. Um, you can kind of get
Speaker 1: appeal for what I was noticing, you know. So I
Speaker 1: want to start with uh with Drummond's defense, because that
Speaker 1: was the big talking point last night, and you know,
Speaker 1: one of the big things that that stood out to
Speaker 1: me First of all, when you look at the numbers,
Speaker 1: the Lakers defend extremely well with everybody on the roster.
Speaker 1: To this point in the season, with exception of Andre Drummond,
Speaker 1: every single player on the team has a defensive rating
Speaker 1: sub one ten except for Andre Drummond, who's almost one thirteen. Now,
Speaker 1: it's important to understand that defensive rating is a team
Speaker 1: related stat. Drummond has only played eleven games. In the
Speaker 1: last five games, the Lakers defensive rating is up over
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, right around one third team. So
Speaker 1: as a team, they haven't been playing great defensively. I
Speaker 1: think that's important context there, because roughly half of drummonds
Speaker 1: games they haven't been defending. Well, that's gonna throw off
Speaker 1: some of his stats. But then the question becomes how
Speaker 1: much of a roles drum into playing that? And when
Speaker 1: we watched the film, the big thing that stands out
Speaker 1: to me is just awareness. You know, drummonds criticism throughout
Speaker 1: his career has always been inconsistent awareness and inconsistent effort.
Speaker 1: Talk to anybody you watched him in Detroit, anybody who
Speaker 1: watched him in Cleveland. You know, once every four or
Speaker 1: five games he would look like Bill Russell where he's
Speaker 1: just flying around everywhere, he's breaking everything up, and then
Speaker 1: the next four games he would just be a shell
Speaker 1: of that type of impact. And in my opinion, it
Speaker 1: comes down to a couple of different things. It's not
Speaker 1: just playing art, it's paying attention. And if you look
Speaker 1: in that read that I that I put out, you
Speaker 1: can see so many examples of him just being a
Speaker 1: step slow in his reactions and not being really aware
Speaker 1: of what's happening around him. And Russell Westbrook is basically
Speaker 1: careening down the floor and uh, keeping his eye on
Speaker 1: Drummond and just waiting for him to stop paying attention
Speaker 1: for a second and then firing the ball to Alex
Speaker 1: Lynn whoever it is that he ends up for another
Speaker 1: layup or for another dunk. And you know, uh, if
Speaker 1: you look at the Lakers defensive scheme in general, you
Speaker 1: know there's all this There's always been this idea that
Speaker 1: they defend teams by being huge. That kind of started
Speaker 1: last year with with Dwight Howard and with JaVale McGee.
Speaker 1: This idea that you know, we're just so big, we're
Speaker 1: gonna block a million shots. Teams can't score on us
Speaker 1: because we're so big, And the truth of the matter
Speaker 1: is is that was never the reason why they were
Speaker 1: so good defensively. They were so good defensively because Frank
Speaker 1: is an amazing XS and those defensive coach, and they
Speaker 1: have unbelievable effort and focus from their perimeter players defensively,
Speaker 1: that is the reason why their defense actually went up
Speaker 1: a level without Dwight and Javail, And that is the
Speaker 1: reason why their defense still looks so elite. When Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d are out, they just fly around on
Speaker 1: the perimeter, chasing guys off the three point line, flying
Speaker 1: around in rotations to help each other off the double
Speaker 1: teams and things along those lines. That's what makes their
Speaker 1: defense so intimidating and so productive. And so you know,
Speaker 1: it's easy to think like, oh, we bring Drummond back
Speaker 1: and we're just gonna be like we were last year.
Speaker 1: But the truth of the matter is the only reason
Speaker 1: that last year is the only real impact that those
Speaker 1: bigs had on last year's defense with shop walking, Lakers
Speaker 1: led the league in shop blocking last year. But shot
Speaker 1: blocking is just a small part of defense, and that's
Speaker 1: been proven right this year without successful they've been without
Speaker 1: those two guys, But had Drummond, a guy who is
Speaker 1: essentially a weak link in their focus chain, a weak
Speaker 1: link in their effort chain, a weak link in their
Speaker 1: awareness chain. On defense, it just causes these breakdowns that
Speaker 1: lead to wide open dunks and wide open layups and
Speaker 1: things along those lines. And so if you look in
Speaker 1: that thread, you'll see three or four examples where you
Speaker 1: know he's kind of paying attention, Like here comes across
Speaker 1: screen for brad Lewton, for Bradley Beale, and he's aware
Speaker 1: of the screen is happening, but like he's not really
Speaker 1: paying attention to what his responsibilities are there. Like guess what,
Speaker 1: Like you're you're you've already got separation from Alex Lennon.
Speaker 1: You've made a gap. They call it opening up um
Speaker 1: in making an opening for k CP to run through,
Speaker 1: And you've made that opening. But then you run with
Speaker 1: Beal anyway, So you're you've basically defended as though you're
Speaker 1: expecting KCP to follow Bill, but then you follow Bill anyway.
Speaker 1: Alex Lynn is wide open, Russ throws it to him
Speaker 1: for a dunk. That's just that's like it's like you're trying,
Speaker 1: but you're not paying attention. You're not putting the brain
Speaker 1: work into it. And there was another one in there
Speaker 1: where in transition, alex Lynn just goes and sets a
Speaker 1: pin down for Bradley Beal coming out of the corner
Speaker 1: and on a sequence like that, which you prefer to
Speaker 1: do as a big is show on the screen so
Speaker 1: that Beale can't just curl it and fire away wide open,
Speaker 1: which is the right way, the right way to defend
Speaker 1: that play. However, he's slow to get there on the
Speaker 1: pin down, so if be able to come off, he
Speaker 1: would have been open anyway. And then when alex Lenn
Speaker 1: slipped the screen, he was slow to recover back to
Speaker 1: alex Lynn, And so essentially he's again trying on defense,
Speaker 1: he's just not paying attention well enough for his athletic
Speaker 1: tools to really be impactful. And I think that that's
Speaker 1: been a recurring theme so far from him defensively. That's
Speaker 1: why if you look at highlights, you'll see these moments
Speaker 1: where you know he looks like he's a deeply impactful
Speaker 1: I mean, look at that first sequence in his first
Speaker 1: game when he came back, when he when he blocked
Speaker 1: that shot on that second jump, you know, along the
Speaker 1: baseline in that first game, it's like, oh, man, like
Speaker 1: we haven't had this since last year. That's awesome, But
Speaker 1: the actual totality of the product in all of the
Speaker 1: plays together, um, there's a lot of mistakes mixed in there,
Speaker 1: and that's where that's where it's really really hurting them.
Speaker 1: And then you know, shifting towards him on the offensive end,
Speaker 1: you know it's there's again a ton of good and bad.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of like the theme with the Drummond
Speaker 1: experienced so far. You look at uh in that film
Speaker 1: threat I did, there are a couple of really really
Speaker 1: awesome sequences of the chess match of the Drummond Davis
Speaker 1: offensive experience. That first play of the of the second
Speaker 1: half and that thread that I put out Drummond is
Speaker 1: kind of standing in the dunk your spot. The Lakers
Speaker 1: try to run pick and roll with Dennis Shuder and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. They just switch it and then they have
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook front Anthony Davis because they know Alex Land
Speaker 1: is right behind him because he doesn't have to guard Drummond.
Speaker 1: And so what do they do. They flash Andre Drummond
Speaker 1: to the free throw line. They throw it to the
Speaker 1: free throw line, forces Alex Land to step up on Drummond,
Speaker 1: which then leaves Anthony Davis open over the top for
Speaker 1: a for a foul. Rust ends up having to foul
Speaker 1: and to stop him from laying it in. Then they
Speaker 1: run these cross screen actions where they basically just have
Speaker 1: Drummond screen for a D so he can kind of
Speaker 1: flash to the semi circle and take a little jumper,
Speaker 1: a little floater or whatever it is that he takes
Speaker 1: from from up there. First time they run it, the
Speaker 1: Wizards switch, but they're a little slow. It's a wide
Speaker 1: open shop for a D. He makes it. Second time
Speaker 1: they run it, the Wizards switch. They switch it more aggressively.
Speaker 1: Now Ruy Hatchamura is on Drummond, Drummond just ducks in
Speaker 1: and Kuzma throws it um to Drummond for an easy
Speaker 1: layup and one. These are all examples of the good
Speaker 1: of having this kind of size advantage. You know. Again,
Speaker 1: it's the Wizards switch everything. That was one of the
Speaker 1: big things I noticed in that second half. And the
Speaker 1: Lakers are gonna face some teams that switch everything along
Speaker 1: the way, namely the Clippers and the Nets and those
Speaker 1: specific teams. There's a tendency for teams to try to
Speaker 1: force the ball to the big man against the small man,
Speaker 1: and they think that's how you beat a switching defense,
Speaker 1: and there's some truth to that, but it has to
Speaker 1: be the way the Lakers were doing it with Drummond,
Speaker 1: which is a deep seal where he can just catch
Speaker 1: and go up. Because rests allowed so much physical contact
Speaker 1: from smaller players against post players in those matchups that
Speaker 1: if you throw it down to the post and he's
Speaker 1: ten feet away from the rim and he has to
Speaker 1: back him down and make a play, it makes all
Speaker 1: of this opportunity for defensive help to come in and
Speaker 1: for the small man to you know, shove his knee
Speaker 1: up as his asked or whatever it is he's got
Speaker 1: to do to push him out of the lane where
Speaker 1: the refs aren't going to call anything. There's all these
Speaker 1: ways where it can go wrong. Well, that kind of thing,
Speaker 1: that a deep seal from Andre Drummond. That's a really
Speaker 1: interesting way to attack a switching defense. Because ruy Hatchamura
Speaker 1: is a big, strong wing. I mean, he's the guy
Speaker 1: who guarded Lebron for the most part in their matchup
Speaker 1: earlier when when a d was out and when that happened,
Speaker 1: Ruyama was every bit is you know, big and physical
Speaker 1: and imposing as any defensive wing that Lebron had went
Speaker 1: up against and actually had some success against. Lebron. Well,
Speaker 1: he can't guard Andre Drummond when he gets that deep
Speaker 1: under the basket, and you saw that in those sequences
Speaker 1: when he would get a deep seal uh lay up.
Speaker 1: And so that those are the interesting good parts of
Speaker 1: having Drummond on the floor as a way to attack
Speaker 1: around the rim against the switching defense. But there was
Speaker 1: a lot of bad from Drummond, and as you could
Speaker 1: probably imagine, has to do with spacing. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: we've we've talked about this all at length another podcasts,
Speaker 1: but yes, you know, Anthony Davis is clearly extremely intent
Speaker 1: on plane with the center. He has made that abundantly
Speaker 1: clear and every single one of his interviews that it's
Speaker 1: very important to him that somebody next to him is
Speaker 1: banging around with bodies and taking all of the physical
Speaker 1: punishment while he gets to focus on being mainly a
Speaker 1: perimeter player. That's that's all uh, Anthony Davis cares about.
Speaker 1: He has also said I'm only to play the five
Speaker 1: when I have to, and that's great. However it it
Speaker 1: became really clear after those comments from a d yesterday
Speaker 1: when he said that um that that he is really
Speaker 1: invested in that Andre Drummond partnership. It's very clear that
Speaker 1: the Andre Drummond signing was probably a reaction to the
Speaker 1: fact that Anthony Davis didn't really get the feeling that
Speaker 1: Marcus al was accomplishing that goal, which we all disagree with.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I would imagine if I told you guys,
Speaker 1: you all would say that you prefer Marcosol, But uh,
Speaker 1: right now, Anthony Davis is calling the shots. It would
Speaker 1: seem with that specific rotation decision, And all we can
Speaker 1: hope is that when push comes to shove that Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel will, for lack of a better term, have the
Speaker 1: stones to to step up to everybody in the room
Speaker 1: and be like, hey, it's time for us to put
Speaker 1: Marcusol out there. But you can see it really interestingly
Speaker 1: with the with the spacing. So this is something I
Speaker 1: noticed for the first time in that Mavericks matchup. Actually
Speaker 1: it was the Orlando Magic matchup at the end of
Speaker 1: the game when they started spamming Dennis Shrewder and Andre
Speaker 1: Drummond kick and roll with Anthony Davis in the corner
Speaker 1: and Shrewder just picked them apart. When they use Andre
Speaker 1: Drummond as the screener, it allows the uh the Lakers
Speaker 1: to generate enough space for Dennis Shorter to gain an
Speaker 1: advantage which he can then use to pick apart the defense.
Speaker 1: When they use Anthony Davis as the screener, Andre Drummond's
Speaker 1: man just camps in the paints, completely shutting down any
Speaker 1: driving lane and clogs up the entire action. And that's
Speaker 1: been the story of the Laker offense for two years.
Speaker 1: When it wasn't Drummond, it was Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee.
Speaker 1: But and there were even some moments early this year
Speaker 1: where they would for whatever reason, use Marcusolo in the
Speaker 1: dunker spot, which was a huge waste of what he
Speaker 1: does offensively, especially at his age. But I really think
Speaker 1: that's interesting because you know, think about the Warriors. For example,
Speaker 1: the Warriors know that teams don't want to guard Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: but if they use Draymond Green as the screener, it
Speaker 1: makes it harder for you to ignore Draymond Green, because
Speaker 1: if you ignore Draymond Green, he can pick you apart
Speaker 1: in that short role where he sets the screen, they
Speaker 1: double steph Curry. He just kind of pops about ten
Speaker 1: ft away so step can loop it over the top
Speaker 1: and he catches it barreling down the lane to either
Speaker 1: lay the ball in or kick it out to a shooter.
Speaker 1: Where Draymond Green becomes completely useless on the offensive end
Speaker 1: is when he's not involved in the screening action and
Speaker 1: he's standing somewhere else on the floor and they can
Speaker 1: completely ignore him. Well, that's what the Lakers have a
Speaker 1: problem with with Andre Drummond, if they put him off
Speaker 1: the ball at all whatsoever, that he just gets completely ignored.
Speaker 1: And that would be fine if he was like montrez
Speaker 1: as a finisher, because that's the same problem to have
Speaker 1: with Montrese. The difference is Mantres is such a monster
Speaker 1: finisher around the basket. If he catches it, he's gonna
Speaker 1: make it or he's gonna get fouled. Well, Drummond will
Speaker 1: miss every easy layup he takes and then make a
Speaker 1: handful of these crazy chaotic layups, and his finishing percentage
Speaker 1: will be crazy low and he'll have a you know, like,
Speaker 1: I think his field goal percentage this year is right
Speaker 1: around I think so he doesn't make you pay enough
Speaker 1: in the dunker spot to bring value, and then they
Speaker 1: completely ignore him anywhere else on the floor, which is
Speaker 1: making it so that any action they run with Drummond
Speaker 1: out of the screening action is just easy to shut down.
Speaker 1: That makes Anthony Davis one of the best pick and
Speaker 1: role players in the league useless, are more useless than
Speaker 1: he should be with that poor spacing. Then they take
Speaker 1: Drummond put him as the screener and everything opens up.
Speaker 1: And if you look in that thread, you'll see a
Speaker 1: lot of examples of Dennis Shrewder getting separation, getting to
Speaker 1: the rim, dropping to dropping to Drummond kicking out the
Speaker 1: shooters when Anthony Davis was spotting up at the three
Speaker 1: point line and Andre Drummond was the screener. Enrollment, it's
Speaker 1: obviously the best way to use him when he's in
Speaker 1: the lineup, which for the record, there's some advantage there,
Speaker 1: especially when Lebron comes back, because Lebron is just a
Speaker 1: little bit better and all of the things that Dennis
Speaker 1: does and as so much better as a score um.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, like you know,
Speaker 1: the Lakers went on a huge run in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter with a D at the five. And it's really
Speaker 1: simple why, because you lose all of those defensive mistakes
Speaker 1: that Drummond made, all of his slow defensive awareness. You're
Speaker 1: taking that weak link in their defensive chain and you're
Speaker 1: swapping it out for another guard who is a strong
Speaker 1: link in their defensive chain. And and then on the
Speaker 1: other end, you're getting that same spacing they were getting
Speaker 1: with Drummond as the screener, except now Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: the screener, and you've got the same amount of shooting
Speaker 1: around that, and it's just a much more devastating attack.
Speaker 1: And that's how Anthony Davis got going in isolation. You
Speaker 1: just have more room to work with. That's how Dennis
Speaker 1: got going. Everything about the way that that lineup works
Speaker 1: is better, and the only silver lining if you're a
Speaker 1: Lakers fan, the only thing that should make you feel
Speaker 1: good about this is last year in the postseason, the
Speaker 1: Lakers played about six of their minutes with a D
Speaker 1: at the five. So if there's one now, a lot
Speaker 1: of that was uh, markis Morris at the five, But
Speaker 1: technically a D is the five in that case, and
Speaker 1: uh and Markief is just a better player this year
Speaker 1: than he was last year, although he's in a little
Speaker 1: bit of a cold spell right now. But if there's
Speaker 1: one silver lining, that obvious advantage of the gain with
Speaker 1: a D at the five, we can be relatively certain
Speaker 1: that the Lakers are going to use that and use
Speaker 1: it often when they get to the postseason. I just
Speaker 1: think it's it's really jarring because you know, it seems like, really,
Speaker 1: you know, it seems like really uh simple and easy
Speaker 1: to be like, oh, the Lakers are better with a
Speaker 1: D at the five. The Lakers are better with a
Speaker 1: D at the five. You know, Drummonds bad, Drummonds bad.
Speaker 1: But then you watch the film and it's like, really
Speaker 1: really easy to see how that impacts things when Drummond
Speaker 1: is off the ball. Ever, a two man action becomes
Speaker 1: two on three. You had russ on Dennis, you had
Speaker 1: Rudy hatch Mura on a D and Alex Len just
Speaker 1: playing free safety behind them. Then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: when they would move Drumming into the screener position, Alex Len,
Speaker 1: the slow footed center is now directly involved in the
Speaker 1: screening action. Rudy hatcher Mura is off the ball trying
Speaker 1: to guard Anthony Davis, who is a shooter and Dennis
Speaker 1: Shooter now has the ability to attack and get into
Speaker 1: the lane and make things happen. It really is that simple. Um,
Speaker 1: let's see, I had a couple other things I wanted
Speaker 1: to hit on. I want to hit on Anthony Davis's
Speaker 1: offense and then talent talent Horton Tucker And when I
Speaker 1: thought about him last night again, UM, if you guys
Speaker 1: have any questions, drop him into the comments and I'll
Speaker 1: hit him at the end. And as usual with this
Speaker 1: locker room stuff, if you want to hop in and talk,
Speaker 1: all you gotta do is drop a speaker request. That's
Speaker 1: the whole point of me doing these And I would
Speaker 1: love to have you hop in, okay offensively with Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: So you know, when he's coming back from this injury,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of people talking about how great
Speaker 1: he looks physically. Um, I think he looks great in
Speaker 1: the sense that he's healthy, which is all that really matters.
Speaker 1: But he does I think have quite a ways to
Speaker 1: go in terms of really, uh getting his athleticism back.
Speaker 1: And the dead giveaway to me was there was a
Speaker 1: play late in the fourth quarter where if you remember,
Speaker 1: he tried to do a um. He tried to do
Speaker 1: like a a put back dunk, then he missed it,
Speaker 1: got the offensive rebound like power dribble, went back up
Speaker 1: for another put back dunk, and he missed them both
Speaker 1: off the back of the rim a d from the
Speaker 1: bubbles dunking both of those, And I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a concern. I just think it goes to
Speaker 1: show you that he still has a level he can
Speaker 1: get to in his conditioning and his life strength where
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a more athletic center around the basket. Uh.
Speaker 1: The example, the example I would give is right before
Speaker 1: my sophomore year, I broke my foot and I was
Speaker 1: fully healed when I got into training camp, but I
Speaker 1: just didn't trust that foot to jump off of. I
Speaker 1: didn't quite have that confidence in it to to really
Speaker 1: take off. And I was really a bad player for
Speaker 1: the first half of that season. And then I kind
Speaker 1: of regained my confidence in that foot in conference play
Speaker 1: and I ended up making the All Conference team because
Speaker 1: I was much much better in conference play. It just
Speaker 1: too there's a health phase, but then there's the confidence phase.
Speaker 1: And this was literally a d s Achilles like he's
Speaker 1: at that health phase. But he has to regain the
Speaker 1: confidence in his achilles to really trust it when he
Speaker 1: plants off of it. And ironically, it's one of the
Speaker 1: big concerns I had for Lebron because he you know,
Speaker 1: he had his growing thing, but other than that growing thing,
Speaker 1: he hasn't really had an extensive lower body injury at
Speaker 1: all in his career, and so this is the first
Speaker 1: time that he's going to be getting back on the
Speaker 1: floor and not really trusting one of his feet to
Speaker 1: plant on when he's elevating in the lane. And so
Speaker 1: I hope that he doesn't go through a similar phase
Speaker 1: where he's healthy but not confident and has to regain
Speaker 1: that confident confidence in the limb in his leg. Now,
Speaker 1: the one thing that makes me feel a little better
Speaker 1: is I think, if I remember correctly, it's his right ankle,
Speaker 1: and uh, he's always been a left leg jumper. When
Speaker 1: he gets into the lane. He can't go off two
Speaker 1: ft when he needs to, but he's left foot jumper
Speaker 1: type of player. Um, And so I'm less worried about
Speaker 1: him regaining his confidence as far as a d Offensively, though,
Speaker 1: I thought it was good to see him regain his
Speaker 1: confidence in his jumper He's been a bad jump shooter
Speaker 1: for most of the season. That's the thing that's kind
Speaker 1: of frustrating. He came back from the Bubble in December
Speaker 1: and had like a little five to ten games stretch
Speaker 1: where he was from three and still making some mid
Speaker 1: range jump shots. But then he tanked. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: just injury related, like for literally like thirty games or
Speaker 1: whatever it was that he played there, and he played
Speaker 1: twenty seven games, called like called like twenty games. You know,
Speaker 1: after its hot start, he just couldn't make a jumper.
Speaker 1: It's bad from three, bad from mid range. He was
Speaker 1: just a shell shell of himself from the same point
Speaker 1: of confidence in his jump shot. And he actually, I
Speaker 1: want to say he at one stretch missed thirty two
Speaker 1: out of thirty six three point shots. That's like something
Speaker 1: crazy like eleven or something along those lines. Um, So
Speaker 1: it was good last night to see him really have
Speaker 1: a shot chart that resembled what he did in the bumble.
Speaker 1: In the bubble, which is just three level scoring, scoring
Speaker 1: at the rim, making shots in isolation at a mid range,
Speaker 1: and he made two threes and putting a big one
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. I mean that the Lakers weren't
Speaker 1: really in a position to win the game. But it
Speaker 1: was absolutely a a uh somewhat meaningful shot in the
Speaker 1: sense that it got the game back to nine points
Speaker 1: with you know, roughly five minutes left, and and it
Speaker 1: was just good to see. And he stepped into it.
Speaker 1: He's a little bit behind the line, was on the
Speaker 1: right wing. He's probably like seven ft and just and
Speaker 1: just nailed it. So I think he looks good and confident.
Speaker 1: The jump shot is the most important thing to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. It looks healthy, but I think people
Speaker 1: forget just how good he is as an athlete and uh,
Speaker 1: and he's so spindily and long, and we see him
Speaker 1: get dunks anyway that we think he's healthy. But I
Speaker 1: think he still has a long way to go in
Speaker 1: a good way. But I think he has a long
Speaker 1: way to go to recovering um how good he was
Speaker 1: as a as a as an athlete from before the injury.
Speaker 1: The last thing I wanted to touch on before I
Speaker 1: get you guys out of here is uh um is
Speaker 1: talent hornon talk. So uh, he had a really bad
Speaker 1: stretch uh there at the end of that Wizard's run.
Speaker 1: So the Wizards got it to ten on a on
Speaker 1: a play where Drummond lost alex landon transition again for
Speaker 1: the third time in the third quarter, and alex Land
Speaker 1: ended up getting a uh like a little hook shot
Speaker 1: that he made in Kuzma came over the top of
Speaker 1: him and fouled him. And it was like seventy eight
Speaker 1: to sixty eight or something along those lines. And so
Speaker 1: incomes Montrez Harold for Andre Drummond, and then they brought
Speaker 1: in Tell Horton Tucker for Dennis Shooter. That was the
Speaker 1: sub pattern, and uh, you know, Washington, for the record
Speaker 1: is an is absolutely a much better defense than we
Speaker 1: all think. Uh. Then we all think they are based
Speaker 1: on what they were early in the season. In their
Speaker 1: last I think it's like a month or so month
Speaker 1: and a half if you throw out garbage time, they've
Speaker 1: actually been the top ten defense in the league. And
Speaker 1: a big part of that has to do with them
Speaker 1: playing more athleticism, you know, with with Chandler Hutchinson and
Speaker 1: and uh with Ruey Hotching Murra, who has been playing
Speaker 1: all season, but he's just the channel. Like Rudy hutch
Speaker 1: Mura is developing into like a really really good three
Speaker 1: four forward defender. And then you know, Russell Westbrook has
Speaker 1: regained most of his athleticism after looking pretty washed to
Speaker 1: start the season. And Alex lim Is, you know, every
Speaker 1: bit as good as any starting level, middle of the
Speaker 1: pact type of center that you'll find in the league.
Speaker 1: And Bradley Beals Okay, I thought he was pretty sloppy
Speaker 1: defensively last night, but they're a good defensive team. And
Speaker 1: town Warton Tucker really didn't know what to do with
Speaker 1: the Robinetto and and Ish Smith. We're putting a ton
Speaker 1: of ball pressure on him, and the ball pressure really
Speaker 1: seems to throw him off, which is crazy because he
Speaker 1: has a distinct advantage in the sense that he's stronger,
Speaker 1: and he's taller, and he's longer than most of these
Speaker 1: little guards he's gonna go against. So he has a
Speaker 1: physical advantage that he can use. But he seems to
Speaker 1: be a little bit discombobulated by ball pressure, and it
Speaker 1: ball preusser. One of the one of the big reasons
Speaker 1: why teams like to employ ball pressure is not to
Speaker 1: force turnovers necessarily, but just too fatigue players and to
Speaker 1: accelerate that make them make decisions faster than they want to.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of guards want to see the
Speaker 1: floor slowly because that's how they can pick a defense apart.
Speaker 1: But if you ball pressure a guy and force him
Speaker 1: to drive past you, now he's kind of going at
Speaker 1: a faster pace than he wants to and it could
Speaker 1: force him to make some mistakes. And there was a
Speaker 1: sequence they're right at the end of my thread that
Speaker 1: I did where you know in uh, He's handling the
Speaker 1: ball top of key against ball pressure and Montress a
Speaker 1: deep seal and he throws the ball over the top
Speaker 1: of Montres, believes it way short, and they steal it
Speaker 1: and run the other way. Then the next possession is
Speaker 1: Smith is ball pressuring him again just like I said,
Speaker 1: got on his backside and forced him into the paint,
Speaker 1: drives right into Alex Lynn, has absolutely no angle and
Speaker 1: just does some like crazy scooping flip shot over his
Speaker 1: right shoulder that's not remotely open, and I think it
Speaker 1: ended up like hitting the corner of the backboarder or something.
Speaker 1: And then the very next possession um the Lakers end
Speaker 1: up getting a kick out three to Ben McLamore and
Speaker 1: talent Horton. Tucker runs back on defense and gets into
Speaker 1: the painted area, which is what you're supposed to do
Speaker 1: for the record, when you're the first man back, you
Speaker 1: r under the basket. But Ben mclimore uh later in
Speaker 1: the sequence is screaming at th H team, pointing at
Speaker 1: Bradley Beale in the in the right corner for him
Speaker 1: to get out to the shooter. Th HT is way
Speaker 1: way way way too slow to react is and paying
Speaker 1: attention even though other Lakers at this point had already
Speaker 1: gotten back. And bradleybial makes a three and just like
Speaker 1: that fifteen point game and you know, once you once
Speaker 1: you get up to the you know few team plus
Speaker 1: type of margin, the game takes on a completely different
Speaker 1: feel because now you damn you have to play perfect.
Speaker 1: And that's literally what happened. The Lakers went to the
Speaker 1: eighty at the five, and they really uh got stuff
Speaker 1: going offensively and started playing better defense. But if you watch,
Speaker 1: there's just some crazy shots that get made. Brad the
Speaker 1: deal after time out shoots a little step back over
Speaker 1: case be tough, contested shot makes it, you know, Ruby
Speaker 1: Hatchmurra and a close out does like a step back
Speaker 1: I think it was on Kyle Kuzma, but contested step
Speaker 1: back shot makes it. And then another play Russell Westbrooke
Speaker 1: in and semi transition attacks Kyle Kuzma. Kind of a
Speaker 1: questionable call, probably not a foul, but it gets called
Speaker 1: and Russ makes it anyway, And you know, those seven
Speaker 1: points there completely uh closed the door on you because
Speaker 1: you're down fifteen and you have to play perfect. And
Speaker 1: all they have to do is even if they played
Speaker 1: bad basketball, they just have to make a few shots
Speaker 1: and they're gonna win at that point. Um. So, as
Speaker 1: far as th HT goes, you know, I think I
Speaker 1: think I've been pretty consistent about this all year. I
Speaker 1: I think he has all all All Star type potential,
Speaker 1: and especially on the defensive end. He's been one of
Speaker 1: the best defenders on the Lakers this year when he's engaged.
Speaker 1: But he has two fatal flaws. He can't shoot, which
Speaker 1: directly impacts the Lakers spacing, which is not just about
Speaker 1: him in his percentages, it's about everybody. It affects the
Speaker 1: Bronze ability to get in the lane, and impacts Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis's ability to get in the lane, and it impacts
Speaker 1: Dennis Shuter's ability to get in the lane. Everybody hurts
Speaker 1: when you have one non shooter on the floor and
Speaker 1: then on the defensive end, he oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: that stuff which th h T is shooting that just
Speaker 1: gets exaggerated in the postseason, like everybody takes those same
Speaker 1: defensive principles they employed in the regular season and just
Speaker 1: exaggerates the hell out of him to take away stars.
Speaker 1: Then on the defensive end and he's engaged. He's one
Speaker 1: of their best defensive players. But it's the lapses. You know,
Speaker 1: if you think of we think about um defense in
Speaker 1: terms of points per one hundred possessions, right, like what
Speaker 1: essentially just scoreboard? How many points are you giving up?
Speaker 1: And you know th HD can play really good defense
Speaker 1: on three possessions, but make a catastrophic mistake where he's
Speaker 1: not paying attention that leaves a shooter open. And let's
Speaker 1: say they make a tough shot on one of the
Speaker 1: other possessions. Now all of a sudden, they've scored five
Speaker 1: points in four possessions. That's a defensive rating of a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty. Like that's how bad at a catastrophic
Speaker 1: mistake can be on the scoreboard, even if you do
Speaker 1: your job on other possessions. Whereas let's say a lesser defender,
Speaker 1: someone like Ben Macklemore. For instance, Let's say Ben Maclimore
Speaker 1: is not as impactful when he's engaged, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: make the catastrophic mistake. Maybe they'd make, you know, two
Speaker 1: tougher shots, and they're both two pointers, and now they've
Speaker 1: scored four points in four possessions. That's the one defensive rating. Essentially,
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is you would rather have a lesser
Speaker 1: defensive player who doesn't have mental apses than a th
Speaker 1: ht who's got like Mini Kawhi Leonard type potential but
Speaker 1: has these like brain farts that give up wide open
Speaker 1: shots to fantastic shooters that can swing games. And we've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of examples of that this year, starting
Speaker 1: with that Toronto Raptors game earlier this year where he
Speaker 1: let Gary Trent Jr. Get going, all right, I am
Speaker 1: almost that. I'm just gonna check the questions real quick
Speaker 1: to see if you guys have any questions. I've got
Speaker 1: one in here already. If you guys have any other questions,
Speaker 1: just drop him in the comments and I'll hit him
Speaker 1: before I get out of here. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1: This is from Vankotech. What are your thoughts on Wes
Speaker 1: Matthew's absence from the rotation recently outside of drum and
Speaker 1: Gets and Gassol in eighty at the five lineups, what
Speaker 1: do you think will be the odd man out to
Speaker 1: get squeeze out of the rotation in the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: as far as far as West Matthews goes, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I think the Lakers have gone all in
Speaker 1: on a couple of things. One, they're really trying to
Speaker 1: get um Ben mcamore acclimated and try to get a
Speaker 1: feel for what he brings to the table as a shooter.
Speaker 1: Um Ben mcamore has shot okay, not great. I think
Speaker 1: he was three for ten last night, and I think
Speaker 1: he's up to I think he's like thirty seven percent
Speaker 1: or something like that on the season. Um, if he's
Speaker 1: only going to shoot thirty seven percent from three, the
Speaker 1: trade op doesn't make sense and you end up going
Speaker 1: with someone like West. Um. But if Lebron comes back
Speaker 1: and he ends up being a thirty eight percent UH
Speaker 1: contested shooter and forty five percent wide open shooter, just
Speaker 1: like a really really effective shooter, then he does he
Speaker 1: does bring value, and then you are better off playing
Speaker 1: Ben mcimore because he is an okay defensive player. In
Speaker 1: their scheme. He did pretty well running around in rotations
Speaker 1: last night. UM, But as far as West goes, like
Speaker 1: if if the shooting isn't there for for Mcamore, he's
Speaker 1: just a much better defensive option. And it's all matched
Speaker 1: up dependent. Like I think the Lakers are gonna play
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of Wesley Matthews against Brooklyn
Speaker 1: and against the Clippers because of the fact that they
Speaker 1: need his strength on the wing to guard bigger wing
Speaker 1: offensive players, to take that responsibility away from Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D so they can focus on being back line
Speaker 1: defenders and and being effective offensive players. So I mean,
Speaker 1: it's all it's all gonna be matchup dependent. Let's see,
Speaker 1: outside of Drummond cassolve in a D at the five lineups,
Speaker 1: who do you think will be the odd man out
Speaker 1: they can squeeze in the rotation the playoffs. So let's
Speaker 1: say let's say the Lakers drop centers entirely. We're looking
Speaker 1: at in the front court Anthony Davis, Lebron, Kyle Kuzma,
Speaker 1: Markis Morris, and UM. In that case, I would say
Speaker 1: that Montrez would probably be benched as well. So you've
Speaker 1: got four forwards there in Kuzma, lebron A d and Morris.
Speaker 1: Then at the guard words, you're choosing between Dennis and KCP,
Speaker 1: Caruso and th H T Wes Matthews and uh and
Speaker 1: Ben McLamore. So that's a ten man rotation, you know.
Speaker 1: I think given the way that the Lakers play, it's
Speaker 1: not completely unfathomable that all ten of those guys could
Speaker 1: play in that circumstance, especially given the fact that they're
Speaker 1: gonna start against Denver and deal with high elevation and
Speaker 1: all the impacts that can have on fatigue. But I mean,
Speaker 1: when push comes to shove, I I personally think that
Speaker 1: you're gonna see talent Horton Tucker get squeezed, and then
Speaker 1: you'll see some combination of You're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of Dennis, KCP, Alex Caruso, and then um, I think
Speaker 1: you'll see West or Ben macalmore based on matchups whether
Speaker 1: they need a wing defender or they need more shooting.
Speaker 1: And then in the front court, the I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna see Kuzma take more from markis Morris and reason
Speaker 1: why is Kuzma And this this is the last thing
Speaker 1: I'll say, because I don't have any more questions in
Speaker 1: the thread. Uh, Kuzma has turned into a really, really,
Speaker 1: really solid role player. This is something that's been talked
Speaker 1: about at length. Last night again, he had eight assists
Speaker 1: and was just making excellent reads everywhere that he caught
Speaker 1: the ball on the floor. He's turned into a better
Speaker 1: He is a better defensive player than Markis. I think
Speaker 1: I take Markis as a post defender. So it just depends,
Speaker 1: like maybe you want, you know, Mark Kief in a
Speaker 1: in a matchup against uh, someone that's trying to bully you.
Speaker 1: But outside of that specific matchup, I think Kuzma is
Speaker 1: a better defensive player. He's better in rotations, he's better
Speaker 1: as a help defender, He's got a little bit more length,
Speaker 1: um and I actually like him better on the perimeter
Speaker 1: than Marquis, although neither of them are fantastic in that
Speaker 1: in that role, UM, but Kuzma has turned into a
Speaker 1: really really solid player. He's that thirty six percent from
Speaker 1: three now on the season. Marquee, by the way, is lower.
Speaker 1: He's at like thirty two on the season. A lot
Speaker 1: of that has to do with his recent cold streak,
Speaker 1: but I would imagine that if things really got squeezed
Speaker 1: and they dropped the dropped. Playing any of their fives,
Speaker 1: you'd see a lot of You'd see Kuzma, Lebron in
Speaker 1: a D basically play all the four five minutes, and
Speaker 1: then like let's say, let's say a D plays you know,
Speaker 1: thirty eight minutes in the postseason or forty minutes. You
Speaker 1: might see eight minutes of Montrez in that in that
Speaker 1: five role, just because he's a little bit better flying
Speaker 1: around in rotations. Um, but you're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of Kuzma, and then my guess as the Keith gets squeezed,
Speaker 1: and then they'll play UH, they won't play t HD
Speaker 1: and they'll choose between West and uh Ben mckamore based
Speaker 1: on the matchups already, let's see any of the questions,
Speaker 1: should Schroder close every series or there are situations where
Speaker 1: he shouldn't? I think you should. I think Schroeder is
Speaker 1: the one guy you have to play. And the main
Speaker 1: reason why is because it's a He's become flat out
Speaker 1: a really good playmaker and talked about that in the
Speaker 1: thread to that. You can see a couple of examples
Speaker 1: of that. He's one of their best defensive players at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, and he's a serviceable I think
Speaker 1: he's at thirty four percent from three on the season.
Speaker 1: He's gonna he's gonna make enough threes that that you
Speaker 1: have to guard him. And he's a confident shooter from
Speaker 1: the three point line, a confident and consistently aggressive shooter
Speaker 1: from three point line in the sense that he doesn't
Speaker 1: hurt your spacing. UM. The only thing that would be
Speaker 1: interesting with Schroeder is if the Clippers just like really
Speaker 1: got good at posting him up on switches with with
Speaker 1: Kauai or PG, and then they started finding a way
Speaker 1: to capitalize on Laker double teams out of that and
Speaker 1: consistently get good looks, and they wanted to find a
Speaker 1: way to um to stop double teaming. Then I could
Speaker 1: see them going with, you know, some crazy line like
Speaker 1: West Matthews, Alex Crusoe, Kyle Kuzma, Lebron a D where
Speaker 1: you feel a little more comfortable with any of those
Speaker 1: guys on an island in the post. It's rather than
Speaker 1: that I would I would have shorter clothes in every game.
Speaker 1: I would rather run Gassot with a D off the
Speaker 1: bench with Braun out agreed. We talked about that a
Speaker 1: lot earlier in the show, I'm gonna I'm gonna release
Speaker 1: the the full length version of this on the podcast
Speaker 1: feed here in about twenty minutes, and you can see
Speaker 1: everything I said about that a D and a D
Speaker 1: should play together as little as possible. Same thing, Marlon.
Speaker 1: We talked about that a lot. I talked about the
Speaker 1: differences in the way they guard pick and roll with
Speaker 1: a D and a D on the floor. Um, just
Speaker 1: stay tuned for the podcast feed and you'll see all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Do you think Mark is going to get
Speaker 1: the bulk of the five minutes in a Denver series?
Speaker 1: Do you think they start with Drummond? My guesses are
Speaker 1: gonna start with Drummond. Um, And if Drummond really, you know,
Speaker 1: gets barbecued that I think that they will go to
Speaker 1: Mark as an audible. But there there there's no way
Speaker 1: they're not going to start with Drummond just as a
Speaker 1: result of the favor he has from the stars in
Speaker 1: the locker room, which isn't fair. I think we all
Speaker 1: agree Marks better, but it's just the nature of the business.
Speaker 1: Um A D, Gasol, Kus, Dennis and Crusoe would be
Speaker 1: nice off the bench in the playoffs, agree Um and
Speaker 1: he uh, I would run as much a D and
Speaker 1: Shrewder as you could with Lebron off the floor. And
Speaker 1: because Lebron is so good when you surround him by shooters.
Speaker 1: If you actually look at the line up data this year,
Speaker 1: Lebron on the floor without a D and Dennis is
Speaker 1: a net positive. Um. So I think an awesome strategy
Speaker 1: would be to stagger in a way that has Lebron
Speaker 1: run the bench lineups with shooting, and then have Dennis
Speaker 1: and a D run with more of the core guys
Speaker 1: because they need help. Um. If I'm not mistaken at
Speaker 1: Dennis and a D is actually a net negative this year,
Speaker 1: I'll have to look it up. Um. But you want
Speaker 1: to Your goal there is to always have an advantage
Speaker 1: when you're on the floor. I trust a D to
Speaker 1: do or excuse me, I trust Lebron to do more
Speaker 1: with less help. So I prefer to have him out
Speaker 1: there without a D and Shrewder and vice versa. Is
Speaker 1: Tread's playable verus Denver? Technically I don't think tres is
Speaker 1: much playable in any playoff matchup. The only reason why
Speaker 1: you might consider doing it is if you want to
Speaker 1: get really into a trap and recover type of defense
Speaker 1: against stars, meaning like you're double teaming yr Kich. Every
Speaker 1: time down the floor, you're double teaming uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Quai every time down the floor, you're double team. You're
Speaker 1: trapping every Chris Paul pick and roller, You're trapping every
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell pick and roll, and there's it's like living
Speaker 1: in a consistent state of chaos. I prefer Tred's running
Speaker 1: around in those rotations to one of those big, lumbering centers.
Speaker 1: But if they're gonna play straight up coverage, he's not
Speaker 1: good in any of those matchups. But he did his job.
Speaker 1: I've said this many times, like, you know, Treads deserves credit.
Speaker 1: He did everything the Lakers needed him to do. Lebron
Speaker 1: and maybe got hurt, and he just ate a ton
Speaker 1: of innings for them in the regular season. All right,
Speaker 1: That's all I got, guys, Um, Roger and I are
Speaker 1: gonna up doing something on Friday. I'm not sure exactly
Speaker 1: whether or not it'll be a morning podcast or a
Speaker 1: postgame podcast, but we'll figure something out. I think Lebron
Speaker 1: is gonna come back on Friday. That's just my guess
Speaker 1: based on just the nature of the situation. I think
Speaker 1: the next two games are absolute must wins against Sacramento
Speaker 1: in Toronto because they run into some tougher ones after
Speaker 1: that against Denver and the Clippers. Um and so, as
Speaker 1: I've said many times, I think the Lakers absolutely need
Speaker 1: the five seed for the sake of their playoff run
Speaker 1: being more manageable as they ramp up with Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D. And if you look at it, um the
Speaker 1: the uh, they're one game out of the sixth seed
Speaker 1: right now, and there are two games out of the
Speaker 1: seventh seed. That I could get even more complicated if
Speaker 1: if Denver passes the Clippers, which is a distinct possibility
Speaker 1: because they're one game back of the Clippers right now.
Speaker 1: I think it's two in the lost column, but it's
Speaker 1: a one game overall against against the Clippers. So if
Speaker 1: the if Denver left to them and got into the
Speaker 1: number three, then you'd actually rather be in the sixth seed.
Speaker 1: So it gets complicated. But the Lakers can kind of
Speaker 1: control their own destiny a little bit if they can
Speaker 1: beat Denver next week, because by winning, by beating Denver,
Speaker 1: you put yourself in a better position to to pass
Speaker 1: the Clippers. And uh, but anyway, those Clippers and Nuggets
Speaker 1: games are not guarantees, especially with the rusty Lebron. You'd
Speaker 1: prefer to have him have a few more reps going
Speaker 1: into those games. Anyway, your best bet bring him back
Speaker 1: on Friday. Let him get his sea legs against two
Speaker 1: lesser teams. Although Toronto is not bad and Sacramento is
Speaker 1: definitely capable. They just beat Dallas the other night. Um,
Speaker 1: but get to get a couple of wins that you
Speaker 1: absolutely need against those two teams and then turn around
Speaker 1: and beat Denver if you can. If you do though,
Speaker 1: if you do that, you put yourself in a really
Speaker 1: good position to get the five seed and to keep
Speaker 1: Denver at the four seed and give yourself a chance
Speaker 1: to have a manageable playoff run. I mean, I cannot
Speaker 1: say this enough without poorly they're playing. I don't know
Speaker 1: how they beat the Clippers if they catch them in
Speaker 1: the first round, or even you know, like if they
Speaker 1: catch them in the first round. I I'm not sure
Speaker 1: i'd take the Clippers, but man like that gets that
Speaker 1: gets a lot more complicated. Um. Anyway, thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for for hanging out and listening. Thank you
Speaker 1: guys so much for supporting the pod and for checking
Speaker 1: out the film Threat and all the good stuff. UM.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm looking for feedback. Roger and I
Speaker 1: are constantly looking for feedback and what you guys are
Speaker 1: looking for in terms of Laker content from us. UM,
Speaker 1: so don't hesitate to reach out on Twitter and let
Speaker 1: me know if you guys have any uh comments or
Speaker 1: anything like that. UM, and UH hang out about twenty
Speaker 1: minutes or so, I'll have the full length version of
Speaker 1: based on the podcast right. Al Right, guys, enjoy the
Speaker 1: rest of your day.