WEBVTT - Lakers/Nets Postgame Spaces 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:17.880 M all right. Welcome to the State of the Lakers 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.759 as Ny by dask Raandio. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Thanks for 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.640 coming to hang out. Reinvigorated is the word that I 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.160 would use to describe tonight. By the way, No Roj tonight. 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.240 He's still out of town on a work trip, although 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:32.559 he should be back for the back to back on 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.800 Thursday and Friday this week. Um so Ryan solo tonight, 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.159 but I appreciate you guys coming to hang out. Um. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.400 Like I said, reinvigorated. This is a team that has 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.920 struggled with belief and a willingness to do the job 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.239 all season. Now. To be clear, a lot of that 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.040 struggle happened with Anthony Davis on the court. But I'm 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:55.040 hopeful that with the combination of that infusion of talent 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.200 with Anthony Davis and just the reality of the situation, 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.600 the predicament, and the urgency that is presented by their 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.360 place and the standings, I'm hopeful that effort will be 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.959 less of a problem moving forward, at least as long 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.240 as guys to help you and Frank continues to play 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.360 the right guys, which I liked most of the groups 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.560 that he went with tonight, he started Stanley Johnson, which 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.120 I thought was really interesting. Trevor Reason has really been 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.040 struggling of late on both ends of the floor, and 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.959 there's a certain, you know, balance that has to be 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.440 taken there because you wonder if if Trevor Reason can 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.000 be useful in the long run, and the only way 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.520 to find out is to give him a long runway, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.200 a long distance, and a lot of time for him 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.000 to figure out if, if, if his body is going 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.640 to be up to the task. And for whatever reason, 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.520 tonight was the end of that rope and ended up 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.920 being Stanley Johnson. But one of my concerns coming into 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.280 this game was gonna be Bowl trouble and because just 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:52.960 typically when you've got a guy like Stanley is super aggressive, 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.560 tons of ball pressure draped all over James Harden like that, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:58.480 and you've got a guy like James Harden, who's probably 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.760 the most gifted, you know, a foul grifter in the 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.240 history of the NBA. Those two things, it was inevitable 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.160 that Stanley would get in trouble, which you did, but 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:09.320 it didn't matter because the Lakers played a really good 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.200 basketball team in one now to be to be clear, 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.080 because of injuries, uh and the Kyrie Irvan situation that 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.640 Brooklyn Nets team is not very good right now. A 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.919 lot of that is, you know, I would have picked 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.239 them the Lakers. I would have picked the Lakers to 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.720 win tonight even if Um Anthony Davis had not played, 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:30.520 just because this is a this is a team that 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.440 is beatabule right now. They're going through a similar stretch 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.520 to what the Lakers were going to going through about 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.120 a month and a half ago. They just don't have 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.880 a ton of talent. They're playing a lot of basketball 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.079 lineups that are not functional. Um that said, it was 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.480 a good win. Like Bras always says, we can't be 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.440 picking with the team like this that has struggled to 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.320 win as often as they have now. Looking at the 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.480 Anthony Davis thing, what what is so interesting is that 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:58.480 when you plug him into the line up, the entire 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.400 team just becomes that much more functional because he can 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.560 actually do the job of a starting NBA center in 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:08.400 this league. You know, we talked a lot about how 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.000 Lebron is. He is a center in the sense that 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.560 he can be in that position and you won't get 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.839 absolutely destroyed. But he's not a traditional center in any 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.600 sense of the other word, and then Dwight Howard is 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.280 a backup NBA center, so plugging someone in there that 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.799 is functional already just makes everything work so much. I 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.120 thought it was super interesting that they didn't just force 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.280 feed him in the post. They kind of used him 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.160 the way that they've been using Lebron in these small 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.400 ball lineups, where they're using him as a screener and 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.080 rolling to the basket. And yeah, he got a handful of, 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:43.280 you know, face up touches on the wing. I think 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:44.920 he made a pull up jumper on one of them 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:46.600 and drove to the baseline on the other. But he 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.520 wasn't as we were hoping, they didn't spam that the 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.160 way they did at the beginning of the year. Things 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.440 stayed free flowing and it just worked. And one of 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:59.200 the big reasons for that is Anthony Davis is the 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.000 best defense player in basketball. And I know that's a 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:07.480 complicated topic because there are guys that play better defense 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.560 in the NBA throughout the day in, day out grind 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.680 of the NBA regular season, but they're not capable of 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:18.480 the defensive ceiling that Anthony Davis is capable of. This 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.039 is something that I talked about a lot with Lebron 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:25.040 James like, if I'm if we're ranking basketball players and 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.640 who the best players in the world are, I don't 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.919 think I'd take anybody over Nice for a regular season 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.839 because the guy just has the motor and the youthful 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:37.599 exuberance to be what he is at his very best 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.080 night in and night out in the regular season. In 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.480 a way that someone like Lebron who can go through 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.480 the lethargy of just he's been in the league forever 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.920 and he's concerned about saving his legs and he's not 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.520 hyped up by big crowds anymore. Like it's you're not 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.120 going to get that same you know, effort out of 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.320 Lebron night in and night out in the regular season. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.440 That's set when things get really important, when the basketball 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.320 games become more meaningful, when the stakes get higher, all 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.920 of a sudden, Lebron can tap into something that Janice can't. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.760 He is an unbelievable defensive player. He can be like 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.880 Draymond Green when he's dialed in on that end, and 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.160 then on the offensive end. He has that unique combination 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:23.799 of extreme high end, elite offensive creation on the ball 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.440 as a score mixed with that elite high end playmaking 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.400 which only a few men of only a few players 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.440 in the league are capable of, and so Lebron can 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.680 hit this ceiling that Janice just can't hit. And it's 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:39.600 kind of like that with the Anthony Davis in the 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.920 regular season. It's unfortunate and it's kind of an indictment 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.080 of his motor that, for whatever reason, he hasn't been 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.279 able to win a Defensive Player of the Year award 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:53.560 or consistently be in the top of that conversation because 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:57.719 he struggles with that. But man, when Anthony Davis dials 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:00.240 it up, there's just nobody that can stay with him there. 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.839 In that first quarter, I think he had three blocks 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.839 in his first seven minute shift and was actively disrupting 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.440 everything Brooklyn was trying to do. And there was an 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.239 isolation possession there at the end of eighties first shift 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.479 or try to shoot a step back over the top 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.800 and eight partially blocked it. I think he got another 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:18.880 block there in the fourth quarter on Patty Mills. He's 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:23.160 just a devastating defensive weapon. And if they can combine 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.880 some of the you know, new influx of athletic talent 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.520 with guys like Austin Reeves and Stanley Johnson with a 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:34.520 more consistent motor, with a more engaged Lebron, and with 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.239 Anthony Davis being back on the floor, all of a sudden, 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.440 we're talking about a good basketball team here, and I 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.680 think that is something to get excited about. The most 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.680 important part about bringing Anthony Davis back has to do 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:51.200 with slotting. This idea is is all. It's when you 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.200 send a group of guys out onto the floor to 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.919 play basketball. Each of them has a job list of 0:06:55.960 --> 0:07:00.440 responsibilities that they have to fill, and any five man unit, 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.359 in order to succeed, has to be able to check 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.800 a bunch of boxes on the court. But because Anthony 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:12.040 Davis checks so many boxes, it shrinks what everybody else 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.480 has to do, even Lebron, And by virtue of that, 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.520 you get everybody back into a more natural position. Now, 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.559 instead of Malik Monk doing a ton of isolating, he's 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.480 attacking closeouts. Now. Instead of a ton of Carmelo Anthony 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.200 post ups, it's Carmelo Anthony spotting up. You know, we're 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.360 gonna get into Russell Westbrook in a minute and how 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.720 that all works. But the point is is everyone just 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.680 kind of slots in properly now, Lebron James can not 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:41.640 have to be the back line defender all the time. 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.800 You can play passing lanes more. And you saw that 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.080 there in that fourth quarter where he got back to 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.480 back steals for for run out dunks. That's just all 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.480 part of the process of adding Anthony Davis to the 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.560 equation to make everyone else's job so much easier. And 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.160 I think that will hopefully lead to a lot of 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.400 guys who have struck gold in their specific role to 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.680 playing better. And as far as that slotting concept goes, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.480 that goes to an even greater extent when you add 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.880 in whoever it is that the Lakers bring in at 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.040 the trade deadline. Now we're gonna talk more about the 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.800 trade deadline later. There's a bunch of you know, reporting 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.040 that has been done from various sources over the course 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.560 of the last week that are ranging from the Lakers 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.280 have a chance to get everybody to the Lakers aren't 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.440 going to make any moves, and we'll see what ends 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.920 up happening. But if you can bring in someone like 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.920 Eric Gordon, if you can bring in someone like Harrison Barnes, 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.280 and those are just two random names, but if you 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.440 can bring somebody like that in that helps the slotting 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.520 even more because guys like that are just capable of 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.360 accomplishing so much more on the court than a very 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:48.160 young Taylor Horton Tucker, very young Stanley Johnson or Austin Reeves. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.720 And it just slots everybody even further into a better 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.120 position on the floor for them to succeed, for them 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.360 to play that their best, to have fewer bad nights, 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.080 and for this team to getting a real rhythm. Now 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:03.719 as far as slotting goes, this is where it gets 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:08.040 really interesting with Russell Westbrook because with Anthony Davis out 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.560 there was a different kind of slotting that took place. 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:15.559 Russell Westbrook was forced to do more, and it exposed 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.000 him as somebody who wasn't capable of doing it anymore 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.720 at this level. This is something I talked about a 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.600 ton on the show as a blate, This idea that 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.520 you know, Russell Westbrook because he can't shoot, and because 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.680 he's not a fantastic ball handler, and because he doesn't 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.440 have great finishing moves around the rim. There short finishing 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.760 moves you know, as far as floaters and scoop shots 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.040 and stuff like that before he gets to the rim, 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.080 and because as a playmaker, he's kind of more just 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.760 a drive into the chaos and kick it out to 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.400 the corner and hope for the best kind of guy. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.199 It was only a matter of time as his athleticism 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.800 declined that he would struggle with this kind of stuff. 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.280 And you saw that to a significant extent, you know, 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.920 in this stretch without Anthony Davis. But now what you're 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:03.080 seeing now and Anthony Davis's back is Russ kind of 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.720 seems useless. The metaphora uses like it's like if you know, 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.280 some random trumpet player hopped on stage for a rock concert, 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.080 like he's just kind of out of place. It's not 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.719 that he's bad necessarily, but it's like, when you look 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.680 at all those responsibilities that I'm talking about, the stuff 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.160 that the team needs to do, all of a sudden, 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.200 Russ doesn't make a ton of sense. You know, they 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.240 don't need him to create off the dribble anymore because 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.200 in this five out system, they're just getting tons of 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.199 rim pressure just from all these guys that can put 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:34.920 the ball on the floor. Stanley Johnson can put the 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:36.840 ball on the floor and go to the rim. Austin 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:38.760 Reaves can put the ball on the floor, a very 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.040 Bradley actually is in a pretty good offensive rhythm as 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.040 of right now. There's there's just there's no need to 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.920 have this other guy that can stand at the top 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.280 of the key and and create offense. They don't need 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.440 that anymore. So now he's being relegated off the ball, 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.800 and when you relegate him off the ball, you're seeing 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.800 teams just completely and utterly ignored. And it didn't hurt 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:05.000 the Lakers tonight, but Brooklyn was basically not paying any 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:06.720 attention to him even when he had the ball in 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.440 his hands. There was a sequence of post up touches 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.080 in that second half where Lebron is turning and catching 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.440 on the wing and turning and facing and Russ has 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.160 the like kick out. Russ has the ball and James 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.320 is just like James Harden's like, I'm not going out there. 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.400 And James knows best. He literally went through this in 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:30.400 the Bubble Payoffs. He was on the floor getting doubled 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.079 out at half court while Russell Westbrook was standing on 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.400 the quarter in the corner and the Lakers were completely 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.360 ignoring him. James Harden knows this very well, so of 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.720 course he was willing to implement that same strategy against 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.480 the Lakers. We haven't seen it a ton this year 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.400 because it's the regular season and you're not going to 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:51.800 see some super high level, you know, uh, crazy adventurous 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.520 scheming in a regular season, But you saw it tonight 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.160 from Brooklyn, and what you saw there is something you're 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.240 gonna see in a large dose when we get to 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.960 the postseason. You're going to see every good defensive team 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.320 put a big, physical forward, just like the Lakers did 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.640 with Anthony Davis on Russell Westbrook. They're gonna like Phoenix, 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.679 for instance. Phoenix is probably gonna put someone like you know, 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.160 Jay Crowder on Lebron and then they're gonna put McHale 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.120 Bridges on Russell Westbrook and sit his ass in the paint, 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.240 having jump passing lanes, double team post ups, double team 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.760 guys drive into the basket, and it's gonna look a 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:32.120 heck of a lot worse than this version where the 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.880 Brooklyn Nets for doing it with Patty Mills James Harden 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.880 at a bunch of JE League guys. That it's only 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:41.200 going to get harder and harder to try to make 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.400 this work as we get further along and as better 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.560 teams are involved and I don't understand, you know, how 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.720 you can make this work with Russ on the floor 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.160 knowing that that's going to happen. Now what you saw, 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.679 there was a counter that the Lakers used when when 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.560 Russ was getting north like that, they put him in 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:03.480 the dunker spot and he actually got an and one 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.760 out of it. Here's the issue with that, though. That's 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:11.280 what Bruce Brown is doing for the Brooklyn Nets. He's basically, uh, 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.040 you know, kind of like a Swiss army knife type 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:18.560 of basketball player who's not super big, not super athletic, 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.920 but he just plays super super hard and does all 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:22.880 this dirty work for the Nets, right, and they use 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.320 him as a guy who sets ball screens and you know, 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.280 short rolls to the basket to make reads and crashes 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.280 the glass and he'll sit in the dunker spot. But 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.400 the differences is Bruce Brown doesn't take defensive possessions off. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:41.080 Bruce Brown doesn't have inconsistent and volatile decision making. So 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.560 what's the point of using Russ as Bruce Brown when 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:48.040 he doesn't do Bruce Brown stuff well enough for it 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.480 to be worth it in the tradeoff. You know, there 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.880 were several plays today where you have a sloppy turnover 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.360 and he jogged back on defense and not really pay 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.400 attention and get burned. And that's not stuff that Bruce 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.520 Brown does. There's Bruce Brown can be functional in the 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.680 offense as a guy who hangs around, hangs out around 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.600 the dunker spot, but he is on the floor because 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:11.520 of all the dirty work he does and Russ just 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.600 doesn't do that stuff. And so because of that, the 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.280 Lakers are actually better off going with another wing. Take 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.320 whatever you're thirty two minutes or whatever it is you're 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.320 getting from Russ, and distribute them among guys who, rather 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.320 than sitting in the dunker spot, will be on the wing, 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.080 attacking close outs, be a threat from the three point line, 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:32.680 be a threat to put the ball on the floor, 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:38.880 and also fulfill their defensive responsibilities every single possession, do 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:44.200 their job. That is a more tenable option. Now, again, 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:49.680 it's complicated because of the situation surrounding RUSS. We saw 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:54.440 this article come out today from Ramona Shelburn. It's absolutely wild, 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.640 basically talking about how the Lakers have kind of made 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.240 their bed and there's not a whole lot they can do. 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.920 But there were some interesting bits of information in there. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.080 For instance, apparently Russ doesn't take very kindly to you 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.240 criticizing him in a film session, which was a wild 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.240 thing to read. I mean, as someone I've sat in 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.880 these film sessions when I was playing in college, and 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.200 I mean, you're in front of your whole team, you're 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:21.200 in front of your coaching staff, there's video footage on 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:25.040 the wall of what you did wrong. I can't even 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.480 imagine standing up and being like, no, I didn't do 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.400 anything wrong there. That's just like one of the most 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.560 outrageous displays of ego that I can even imagine. And again, 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.960 that's not entirely uncommon in the NBA. Guys have big egos. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.160 Lebron has a history of you know, Shaquille O'Neil said 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:47.320 once that in two thousand ten Lebron wasn't super responsive 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.200 in film sessions. But a couple of differents there. One, 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.640 Lebron is a kid, he's still like four years old too. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.920 He was Lebron James, he was the MVP of the league. 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.560 There's a certain amount of leeway or willingness to put 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.000 up with b s because it was Lebron James at 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.840 the peak of his powers defending m v P and 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:08.720 so you you just kind of went with it. And 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.240 but again, at the same time, Lebron over the course 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.120 of his career has become more mature and cable of 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.840 handling that stuff because he grew up. And for whatever reason, 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.120 with Russ, you're getting that type of attitude, You're getting 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.400 that top of the league, top of the world type 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:29.160 of ego without any of the on court production. And 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.840 this is why I think it's so important to do 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.200 whatever it takes to try to get him off the 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:40.200 roster before the deadline, because the general manager and the 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.520 ownership group has given Frank Vogal the right to mention 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.760 as we saw last week in that fourth quarter. But 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.560 one of the problems is is he didn't handle it well. 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.560 Made a scene, left the floor, left the arena, didn't 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.320 even hang out for the Lakers postgame meeting. So the 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.440 thing is, if he's not taking to this whole concert, 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.200 this whole city situation very well, then you run into 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.359 the dangerous situation where you might have to do this 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.120 again in a postseason series. And now you've got Russell 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.520 Westbrook still on the roster, and however that reaction goes 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.040 surrounding that and it could get ugly and so my 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.080 thing is like, get ahead of it. If you know 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.240 Russ is going to be a problem from a matchup 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.360 perspective in a playoff series, and if you know he's 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:23.960 not going to handle it well when you have to 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.639 take him out of the lineup, then what's the point. 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.320 And that's where, you know, kind of like when I 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.080 start to look at potential trades, it's not just about 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.080 what you might get back, It's about the concept of 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.159 dealing with what could go down with Russ, you know, 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:43.120 and essentially, you know, is there a is there a 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.919 absolute perfect outcome where maybe Russ has some sort of 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.440 dramatic wake up call and he embraces the dirty work, 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.280 He changes his attitude, he becomes what I wanted him 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.520 to be, which was this team's Drew Holiday. You know, 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:04.320 the guy that plays off of two superior offensive players, 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.680 primarily focuses on being a power guard on offense, trying 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:09.920 to get to the rim, but on the defensive and 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:15.600 takes that responsibility personally understands that that's his biggest contribution 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.080 to the team. That's what you're getting from ju Holiday. 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.520 That's what I was hoping for in terms of my 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.800 attempt to rationalize how this could work before the season, 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.000 but Russ has never embraced that. Now, is there a 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.280 small chance, like I said, that he might embrace that. Yeah, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.240 But if you're trying to project forward with this team 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.359 and you're trying to make decisions around the deadline, what's 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.280 more likely to happen? Guys? Is it more likely that 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.120 Russ continues to be this guy or is it more 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.640 likely that he becomes an issue down the line? And 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.680 that That's why I stand where I stand with the 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.359 concept of of getting him off the roster. It's about 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.119 getting ahead of the potential problem, get ahead of the 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.119 idea that teams won't be able to you know that 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:02.800 teams will ignore him and you won't be able to 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:06.520 functionally run your offense in a playoff series, and get 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:10.240 ahead of the potential attitude problem that can come with it. 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.879 It's a it's a problem, and I'm hopeful that the 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:14.919 Lakers will do something about it as far as that 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.960 trade goes. I wanted to talk about this John waltrade 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.879 a little bit more because I kind of laughed it 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.720 off last week when I initially heard of it in 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.760 the mark Stein report. But it's kind of picking up steam. 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.480 There are a bunch of factors at play here that 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:33.920 make it a little bit more realistic than people think. 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:39.280 For starters, John Wallas with clutch and clutches really trying 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:43.960 hard to get John out of Houston. Um, the guys 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.800 on the Hoop Collective did a big thing today talking 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.920 about how he's a much better catching shoot shooter. He's 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:52.800 over thirty seven percent on catching shoot threes in his 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.639 last two seasons that he actually played, and that he 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.560 in theory, is a less volatile, a little bit more 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:04.399 controlled playing. And most importantly, he is actually amenable to 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.200 the idea of not being used or being taken out 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.280 of the rotation as we've seen in Houston. Now, I'm 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:14.040 not saying that I would make that move. I'm just 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.639 saying it's something that Laker fans need to at least 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.479 start to mentally prepare themselves for, because there are a 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.760 few things working in favor of that that make it 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.560 a possibility. Now, so much has to go right, like 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.560 Russ would have to continue to struggle the way he 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.879 has been, the Rockets would have to be amenable to 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:35.840 taking second round picks instead of a first round pick, 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:38.920 because that would be like ditching the first round pick. 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:40.800 To get off a rust for John Wall would be 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.880 an absolute travesty. I think Laker fans need to be 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:47.639 more open to spending that pick, but certainly not on 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.760 someone like John Wall. But like I said, the Lakers, 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:52.679 just Laker fans just need to be prepared for the 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.960 fact that that is a realistic outcome. And should John 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.359 Wall come back, you know it could it certainly couldn't 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.800 be any war than what we're getting from Ross. I 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.560 think Russ is a much better athlete than John at 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:06.600 this point in his career, but I think John is 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.800 a potentially a little bit more capable of of fitting in. Again, 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.320 don't want to see that, but it's just something like 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:17.159 your fans have to potentially be prepared for now as 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.840 far as this first round pick goes, because I've seen this. 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.000