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Speaker 1: Mmmmm, all right, welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast.

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Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday, everybody. As Roger and I were just saying, uh,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers somehow build their whole team in like two days.

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Speaker 1: That was a pretty wild sequence of events. ROJ, how

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Speaker 1: you doing on this Wednesday morning? How's your week going

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Speaker 1: so far? Doing great? Doing great? A busy weekend. Um,

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Speaker 1: I went to like a musical festival, got burned. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's weird. I don't know about it. Before we get

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Speaker 1: to basketball. Do you get sunburned easily? Because like, when

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Speaker 1: I get sunburned, it doesn't hurt though, And I feel

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Speaker 1: like most people they tell me when they get sunburned,

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Speaker 1: air hurts, but like I got kind of burned on

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Speaker 1: my face, Um, I didn't really feel it. I was

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Speaker 1: gonna ask you, do you get sunburned pretty easily? Well?

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Speaker 1: For us white folk, there are there are two different

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Speaker 1: types of of skin. There are the ones that tan

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Speaker 1: and the ones that burn. I'm lucky. I tan, um,

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Speaker 1: but I would say that I'm probably too tan to

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Speaker 1: the point where I get even made fun of by

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Speaker 1: a lot of my friends. Um, but yeah, I'm I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm lucky. But for for most of us. It can be,

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Speaker 1: it can be trouble. Um, So really quickly, before we

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Speaker 1: get started, I wanted to vent about something for just

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Speaker 1: a second, because you and I are going to be

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Speaker 1: overwhelmingly positive today, because because the Lakers had a great

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Speaker 1: off season and they've had they've I agree with the

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Speaker 1: vast majority of the signings they made, and I think

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be really good, and we have lots of

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Speaker 1: reasons to be very positive. Um. However, they're gonna be

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Speaker 1: handful of things today that I'm gonna tell you that

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Speaker 1: I disagree with or that I would have done differently.

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Speaker 1: And uh, for some reason, that has become such a

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Speaker 1: big fat, hairy deal on on Twitter in the last

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Speaker 1: couple of days, which is insane to me, because like

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Speaker 1: I feel like you and I have always done this

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Speaker 1: were objective observers. We're not. We're not yes men. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, our willingness to criticize when we disagree with

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Speaker 1: something is what makes it meaningful. When we tell you

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Speaker 1: that we like a free agent signing or that we

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Speaker 1: like the way a player is playing in in his

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Speaker 1: specific role, you know, we give ourselves credibility by doing that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you're if you're if you're a yes

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Speaker 1: man and you go and say yes again, then everyone

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Speaker 1: around you is gonna dismiss it out of hand because

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Speaker 1: they know what you're doing. You know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: And so today when you and I are occasionally being negative,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't mean we're being haters. It just means we're

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Speaker 1: being honest. So that's one thing I wanted to to

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Speaker 1: frame everything with. But that said, overall, just overarching, I

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Speaker 1: thought it was a really good couple of days for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. Um. I still think they need like one

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Speaker 1: more forward. We'll talk more about that. And I didn't

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Speaker 1: love the Alex Crusoe thing, which we'll dive into in

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Speaker 1: a little bit. But overall, I thought it was a

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Speaker 1: great couple of days. How are you feeling, kind of

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Speaker 1: looking from the thirty feet Yeah, that didn't love. The

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Speaker 1: Alex cruser thing felt like an actual moment in like history, right.

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Speaker 1: It felt like the whole world kind of just stopped

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Speaker 1: once he signed with the Chicago Bulls. I felt like, um,

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Speaker 1: Twitter kind of just um shut down. I was in

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Speaker 1: this kind of same vein just looking at the roster.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like they that was their backup

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Speaker 1: plan and get a bunch of guards that can kind

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Speaker 1: of shoot off the dribble, can kind of create that's

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Speaker 1: like my world, kind of like outside view of this.

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Speaker 1: A lot of guards with a lot of a lot

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Speaker 1: of handle that can shoot, take it to the basket, um,

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Speaker 1: can get hot, can really kind of play make can

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Speaker 1: dribble um. That's really what they've kind of done. I

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Speaker 1: don't ask you this because this is kind of interesting

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Speaker 1: to me. I always said that I didn't really believe

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis when he said he would play the five more.

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Speaker 1: But you look at this roster. It's thirty six year

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Speaker 1: old Marcasol and it's thirty five year old Dwight Howard.

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Speaker 1: He's one of the he's in his mid thirties at least.

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Speaker 1: So that's basically your two centers on the roster with

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. Everyone else is a forward. I mean Carmelo

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Speaker 1: can play. There is probably a four in this situation.

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Speaker 1: I don't think Melos a five. So that's an interesting

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Speaker 1: thing to me. It's like they've really built this kind

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Speaker 1: of around um the idea because he's gonna have to

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Speaker 1: play more five. I don't see Dwight and Mark kind

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Speaker 1: of taking the full center rotation in the regular season. Um,

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Speaker 1: those were kind of my big views. What else did

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Speaker 1: you kind of see from the roster makeup as a whole?

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Speaker 1: I guess before we kind of break this down in

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Speaker 1: individual parts, Um, what do you see as like the

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Speaker 1: ethos of this roster? So let's talk about the total

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Speaker 1: identity change that the Lakers have undergone in the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years, because there are two primary identity changes

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Speaker 1: that I believe they underwent. First of all, it's very

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Speaker 1: clear that a D is going to play at least

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Speaker 1: half of his minutes at the five. Otherwise they would

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Speaker 1: have devoted more resources to bigger, bruising, rebounding type of

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Speaker 1: forwards that can play small ball five and things along

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Speaker 1: those lines. They would have kept Mark Keith Morris probably

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Speaker 1: if they intended to play a D at the four lots.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's very clear that a D fully intends

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Speaker 1: to play at least half of his minutes at the five,

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Speaker 1: which is very good if we were if we remember

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Speaker 1: in the championship season he played about of his minutes

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Speaker 1: at the five, and then last season he only played

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Speaker 1: about ten of his minutes at the five, So they

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Speaker 1: clearly are planning on shifting back to that um. The

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Speaker 1: other big identity change that I noticed, as I felt,

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Speaker 1: and you and I talked a lot about this right

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Speaker 1: after the Sun series, I thought the Lakers were a

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Speaker 1: little too heavy on on on really simplified offensive role players,

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Speaker 1: guys who could hit an open shot occasionally and maybe

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Speaker 1: rip through and get to the rim, but that was

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Speaker 1: about it. Like their best close out guy was probably

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Speaker 1: k C. P And like you said, like he could

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Speaker 1: do that one dribble pull up, he could hit an

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Speaker 1: open three, and he could get all the way to

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Speaker 1: the rim. But there wasn't really a whole lot else,

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Speaker 1: while the Phoenix Suns had all these guys like Cam

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Speaker 1: Johnson and Michael Bridges and and campaign, these guys that

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Speaker 1: could make these really complex reads out of closeouts, Like

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Speaker 1: they could rip through the right, do a counter move,

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Speaker 1: you know, hit of ten foot, you know, leaning face,

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Speaker 1: eating shot, floaters, all this this these these this more

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Speaker 1: intricate shot making from the role players. Well, it seems

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Speaker 1: like the Lakers very clearly addressed to that need in

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Speaker 1: this offseason because guys like Malik Monk, guys like Kendrick Nunn,

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Speaker 1: these are guys that are capable of far more complex, uh,

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Speaker 1: read and react type of clothes out attacking and when

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Speaker 1: you've got guys like Russ and Lebron and a d

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Speaker 1: they're gonna put so much pressure on the rim and

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Speaker 1: draw so much attention. Having guys that can do that

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Speaker 1: more complex decision making is a huge advantage. And we

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Speaker 1: saw that with Devin Booker and Chris Paul drawing attention

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Speaker 1: and the Son's young role players making reads off of that.

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Speaker 1: And so I think that the Lakers clearly shifted their

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Speaker 1: identity in that direction on both of those fronts. And

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Speaker 1: and I actually like the idea, and I believe that

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Speaker 1: the ceiling of this team is considerably higher than it

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Speaker 1: was in the last couple of years. What about you, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: for sure. And I think they really just it's just

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Speaker 1: like which from defense to offense, right, these these kind

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Speaker 1: of role players that are really defensive minded, um Alex

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Speaker 1: Alex Crusoe being the kind of main one of this,

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Speaker 1: and they went towards this like now we're gonna score

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Speaker 1: a bunch of points. You know, the second unit is

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Speaker 1: gonna come in have a lot of firepower. Watching Kendrick Nunn,

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Speaker 1: He's a really explosive guard, Like we don't really even

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Speaker 1: have that. Last year, Dennis Shrewder I was kind of

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Speaker 1: saying that, like we lost. We only had like one

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Speaker 1: guy who could dribble as a guard last year and

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Speaker 1: kind of shoot off the dribble, and that's Dennis Shrewder.

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Speaker 1: And still he doesn't get the kind of separation that

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Speaker 1: you kind of need. You saw it in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Kendrick Dunna is the guy that explodes off pick and

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Speaker 1: rolls Mollek Monk comes off and can fire from three

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Speaker 1: very easily, has a quick release. Um, it's kind of

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Speaker 1: hard to get to. So those are kind of kind

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Speaker 1: of interesting things that they've they've kind of done with this.

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Speaker 1: One guy that's kind of getting hidden because he got

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Speaker 1: down the first he went on the first day was

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Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington. I love the Wayne Ellton siding. A guy

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Speaker 1: who could shoot off the move. He's not Buddy Healed obviously,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of like a Buddy Healed light as as

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Speaker 1: a shooter. Um, he's not as dynamic as a playmaker

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Speaker 1: and all that, but he can really shoot off the move,

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Speaker 1: come off screens. Um. I'm excited to see that kind

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Speaker 1: of wrinkle in the offense. We haven't really had a

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Speaker 1: guy that could run like from the paint outside office

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Speaker 1: screen and shoot. So those are kind of interesting things

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Speaker 1: to me. Um and the non Lebron minutes are so

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Speaker 1: interesting and fascinating to me because you also have Carmelo

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Speaker 1: Anthony on this team. And I totally get he's study seven.

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Speaker 1: I totally did. Yeah, he's adjusted his game in Portland's

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Speaker 1: I totally get. He stood in the corner and took

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Speaker 1: a bunch of threes. Still Carmelo freaking Anthony, Like that's

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Speaker 1: that's a guy on this team. Um So I'm so

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Speaker 1: interested to see how that will work. I guess him

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Speaker 1: and a D kind of play four and five backup, Like,

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Speaker 1: how do you think that kind of bench unit works there?

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Speaker 1: What kind of kind of lineups do you think they

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Speaker 1: kind of go with? Because I'm that's where I'm fascinated with.

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Speaker 1: Is it Russell, Westbrook, Mellow and a D manning second units?

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Speaker 1: Like what? How does? How does? How do you think

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Speaker 1: this kind of shapes out? So there are a million

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Speaker 1: different directions this thing can go, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: the most exciting part. There's a versatility, particularly on the

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Speaker 1: offensive end with this team that ever existed over the

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Speaker 1: last couple of years. You know, Uh, Carmelo Anthony uh

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Speaker 1: is you know, he he diminished his role in the

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Speaker 1: last couple of seasons as a spot up shooter and

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Speaker 1: kind of a stretch for type of deal. But you know,

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Speaker 1: he still is actually super adept at attacking mismatches um

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Speaker 1: particularly against smaller players in the post. And so I

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Speaker 1: think he's capable of a little bit more than people realize.

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Speaker 1: I think that whether or not he ends up being

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Speaker 1: that big of a of a contributor is going to

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Speaker 1: come down to what he does defensively in Frank's system.

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Speaker 1: But he's gonna be asked to do more defensively than

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Speaker 1: he has in the last and probably in his entire career.

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Speaker 1: He'll be asked to do more defensively this year in

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Speaker 1: terms of what is expected from him from the coaching staff,

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Speaker 1: because even when he was in his physical athletic prime,

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Speaker 1: you know, he kind of coasted on that end to

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Speaker 1: devote his energy on the offensive end. But just in general,

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Speaker 1: there are so many different directions they can go. They

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Speaker 1: can go, you know, uh, they can go really athletic

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Speaker 1: with lineups like you know Russ and Kent, Baysmore and

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Speaker 1: Lebron a D and uh, or they can go really

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Speaker 1: heavy on shot making and go with lineups like Malik

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Speaker 1: Monk and and Wayne Ellington next to you know, lebron

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Speaker 1: at the four and Dwight Howard at the five and

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Speaker 1: run screen and roll and have all the shooting on

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Speaker 1: the floor. They have all these different directions that they

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Speaker 1: can go and honestly, like we we need to marinate

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Speaker 1: on this for for months to really kind of come

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Speaker 1: to two grips with all of the different options that

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Speaker 1: they have. What I would like to do, if it's

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Speaker 1: okay with you, is just kind of go down the list,

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Speaker 1: player by player and just talk about what excites us

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Speaker 1: the most about them. Um So, from from that standpoint,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about Uh, Let's let's start with Malik Monk

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Speaker 1: because I think he's the one that has everybody the

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Speaker 1: most excited over the last couple of days. Malik Monk

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Speaker 1: to me, you had mentioned Wayne Ellington is kind of

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Speaker 1: like a poor man's buddy healed. I kind of think

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Speaker 1: of Molik Monk as the poor man's buddy held for

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Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. First of all, I think he'll

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Speaker 1: get more minutes Ellington and two, Uh, Molik Monk is

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Speaker 1: just better off the dribble. He's better at creating things. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know when things break, you know, when when he

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Speaker 1: has to break down the defense rather than when he's

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Speaker 1: waiting on someone else to break down the defense the

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Speaker 1: way that Wayne Ellington will need to. For the most part,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff we talked about with Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis off ball and having Buddy Healed setting down screens,

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Speaker 1: having Buddy Healed fly off of pin downs, having Buddy

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Speaker 1: Healed us a screen and roll and force the defender

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Speaker 1: to go over the top. Molik Monk accomplishes a lot

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Speaker 1: of that. Uh. He's underrated as a passer. He got

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Speaker 1: off to a rough start in his career as a shooter,

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Speaker 1: but his three point shot has come along in the

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Speaker 1: last season. I'm really excited about Malik Monk as a

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Speaker 1: player that can be kind of what we wanted Buddy

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Speaker 1: Healed to be. What did you think of the Malik

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Speaker 1: Monk acquisition? Yeah, I love I also love like a

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Speaker 1: day pushed towards a little bit younger as well. I

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Speaker 1: think he's what twenty three years old. I believe Link

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Speaker 1: Monk getting him for the minimum is kind of crazy.

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Speaker 1: Those guys don't come from the minimum. Here's what top

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Speaker 1: He's like the eleven pick and a couple of drafts ago.

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Speaker 1: Um yeah, I love his game. I love that he

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Speaker 1: can kind of come off the dribble. He's a guy

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Speaker 1: that can get hot very easily. Right. He's a guy

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Speaker 1: that's streaky, like if he gits won three, um, he'll

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Speaker 1: kind of pull up and take a couple more. He's

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Speaker 1: nicely sized as well. Just a lot of athleticism. Um.

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Speaker 1: I love the like explosiveness of him. Thht none. All

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Speaker 1: those guys are really fast and really power throw it

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Speaker 1: down on you. Um yeah. It's just like this team

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Speaker 1: is really big, really old, kind of in the front court, right,

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Speaker 1: other than a D it's kind of a resa. Um.

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Speaker 1: All these other guys a little bit in their thirties.

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Speaker 1: I like that the cards are pretty young. So I

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Speaker 1: haven't watched too much from Leak Monk. I watched them

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Speaker 1: like his tape um yesterday. Um, just a really fun player,

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Speaker 1: it looks like, and um yeah, getting him on the

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Speaker 1: minimum is kind of it's kind of crazy. Yeah, I'm

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Speaker 1: with you that if you're if you're looking at uh,

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Speaker 1: the biggest weakness and what Rob put together it's in

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Speaker 1: my opinion front court depth and age. I'd like to

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Speaker 1: see one more four word in there, preferably one that's

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Speaker 1: a little more athletic. Um, just because of what you're

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Speaker 1: gonna be asking from. From the way I look at

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Speaker 1: it is like, imagine a back to back in Utah

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Speaker 1: and Denver and you have like just an absolute crazy

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Speaker 1: game in Denver that goes, you know, where Lebron is

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Speaker 1: to play forty two minutes and Trevor Reason plays forty

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Speaker 1: minutes and Carmelo plays thirty four minutes or whatever it is.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're asking those old forwards to play again

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Speaker 1: the next night in Utah. You know, you'd like to

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Speaker 1: have a little bit more depth there for that specific need.

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Speaker 1: But again we're kind of nitpicking here because every team

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Speaker 1: has flaws and I really like what they put together. Um. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: let's move on to to Kendrick Nunn. So Kendrick Nunn

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Speaker 1: is an interesting case because you know, one of the

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Speaker 1: first things I do when the Lakers sign anybody is

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Speaker 1: I reach out to somebody that I'm friendly with on

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Speaker 1: Twitter who's a fan of that team that he was

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Speaker 1: previously on, and I asked them for their honest opinion.

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Speaker 1: And so I talked to a couple of Heat fans

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Speaker 1: yesterday and the big thing that stood out to me

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Speaker 1: as uh. They said that he's a little bit frustrating

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Speaker 1: from time to time, but that overall he was one

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Speaker 1: of their most talented offensive players. And it shows in

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Speaker 1: the numbers. He scored at a rate of eighteen points

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Speaker 1: per thirty six minutes last year. Incredibly efficient. He had

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Speaker 1: a sixty true shooting percentage. Like for a guard to

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Speaker 1: have that type of efficiency in the NBA right now,

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Speaker 1: you're in a rare class there. Now he's doing it

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Speaker 1: on lower volume than those top tier guys, but that

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Speaker 1: just goes to show you that higher end shot making,

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Speaker 1: that higher end offensive ability to react to what kind

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Speaker 1: of attention Lebron and a d are drawing. That's the

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Speaker 1: kind of exciting stuff that Kendrick Nunn brings. The table

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Speaker 1: you brought up that he's explosive off the dribble, that's

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Speaker 1: another big one. He's more, he's built well, he's built

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Speaker 1: like a tank. He's got a lot going for him

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Speaker 1: physically and adds a different element to that backcourt that

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Speaker 1: we hadn't had offensively in the last couple of years

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Speaker 1: and that's something that I think is really exciting. Are

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Speaker 1: you excited about Kendrick Gunn as well? Oh yeah, And

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Speaker 1: he kind of fits the like Russell Westbrook style of play.

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Speaker 1: He's obviously not as good as Russell Westbrook, but he's

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Speaker 1: not the guy that kind of goes through you. Right

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Speaker 1: with his athleticism. Um, he can pull up from three,

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Speaker 1: He's very comfortable with that. He takes long threes to

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Speaker 1: like even on his spot ups, he's comfortable pulling from long.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, like I love how he goes through guys

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Speaker 1: really athletic, just a different type of guard than we

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Speaker 1: have and we've had, you know, Dennis shooters and is

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Speaker 1: it like a quick point guard. But he's not like athletic.

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Speaker 1: He's not gonna go through. He's not gonna jump over you,

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Speaker 1: Kendry gun If you give him a lane, he'll dunk

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Speaker 1: on you. Like that's the type of guard. He is

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Speaker 1: very similar to Westbrook. Um, I think that's a perfect

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Speaker 1: guy from him to learn from, just how to get

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Speaker 1: to the rim, um, how to attack and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: So um, I'm I'm I'm really excited for him as well.

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Speaker 1: I've again, like I remember he had like get a

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Speaker 1: good finals against US. If I remember the finals correctly,

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Speaker 1: he had like a pretty good game, wonder game to

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Speaker 1: a guy that we had we had trouble stopping. Um.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I get another younger. I think he's twenty six,

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Speaker 1: a little bit older than I thought, but but still

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Speaker 1: just again a guy his mid twenties. I think it's

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Speaker 1: good to have those guys mixed in with the vets

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Speaker 1: and our guards and the really quick, really quick, really fast,

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Speaker 1: um explosive guards that we heard that that we've signed.

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Speaker 1: He's got a good arsenal of little floaters and midrange

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Speaker 1: shots too. Uh that I think gives him that versatility

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Speaker 1: and punch offensively. He's your textbook late bloomer type of

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Speaker 1: guard who ended up going to a small school and

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Speaker 1: was an alpha dog. Um, and you know that kind

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Speaker 1: of that kind of guy is the kind of guy

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Speaker 1: that you know, uh, NBA teams typically stay away from

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Speaker 1: because they view him as guys that succeed on bad teams,

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Speaker 1: that type of vibe. Um. But the truth is is

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Speaker 1: like that alpha dog mentality is what has turned him

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Speaker 1: into such a confident offensive player in the NBA. Like

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Speaker 1: and again, I'm gonna hammer this home a lot over

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Speaker 1: the next couple few weeks. But it's not easy to

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Speaker 1: be that efficient as a guard score and that is

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Speaker 1: something that I'm really excited to see if it translates

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Speaker 1: in this specific offensive system. Um okay, so next, let's

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Speaker 1: talk about camp bays Moore. So I reached out to

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Speaker 1: some people that I trust to follow the Warriors, and

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Speaker 1: they basically said that the uh that he was asked

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Speaker 1: to do too much in their system, that that was

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Speaker 1: the primary, uh you know, reasoning behind some of his

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Speaker 1: struggles because he did have, uh, you know, a season

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Speaker 1: that was full of ups and downs. And you know,

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Speaker 1: from a distance from our perspective, we watched them complain

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Speaker 1: and we watched him struggle, and we're very quickly, we're

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Speaker 1: very we're very quick to just be like, oh, Kempaysmore

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Speaker 1: sucks or Kemp Besmore had a rough season. Well, the

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Speaker 1: people within the Warriors fan base who were watching objectively

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Speaker 1: would tell you that he was asked to do too much.

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Speaker 1: He was he was basically their second best perimeter initiator.

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Speaker 1: That's that's a lot to ask for a player with

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Speaker 1: his specific talent. The big, huge, glaring positive with Golden

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Speaker 1: State was he shot the seams off the basketball. I

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Speaker 1: tweeted it out after he signed. He was forty six

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Speaker 1: on wide open threes. That's something you know, the Warriors

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Speaker 1: fans will tell you that he's likely to come back

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Speaker 1: to Earth in that regard. However, if there is some

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Speaker 1: sort of hot streak that he's on, he's going to

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Speaker 1: continue to get very good shot quality on this team. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They said that he was good at ball pressure, he

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Speaker 1: was good at the point of attack, but that he

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Speaker 1: could be hands he sometimes commit some silly fouls, get

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Speaker 1: a little bit out of control, but that in general,

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Speaker 1: they liked to pick up for the Lakers. And you know,

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Speaker 1: that was kind of my initial thought as well, and

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Speaker 1: it felt good to hear that from Warriors fans as well.

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Speaker 1: What was your take on the Baysmore pickup? So, Bisimore,

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Speaker 1: he's another one of those guys that's a returning Laker, right,

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Speaker 1: You've seen the memes and jokes that, um, we're kind

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Speaker 1: of only high, We're only getting guys for retraining Lakers.

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Speaker 1: He's the guy I wanted them to keep back then.

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Speaker 1: Back then, obviously the Lakers were terrible. Um, they were

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Speaker 1: in the beginning of the rebuild, I think, and he

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Speaker 1: left to the Hawks where he signed. He's one of

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Speaker 1: those guys that kind of went through this. He was underrated,

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Speaker 1: then overrated, and underrated again. I feel like he went

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Speaker 1: to the Hawks for like the minimum and then they

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Speaker 1: paid him I think four years eighty or some thing

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Speaker 1: like that to either starting to guard on a team

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Speaker 1: that was winning sixty, you know, sixty games a year. Um.

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Speaker 1: I like the camp Baisemore signing. He's a like traditional

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Speaker 1: three and d um. I'm not sure if he's as

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Speaker 1: good a shooter as he showed last year, like as that,

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Speaker 1: but he's a good shooter. He's a smart basketball player

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Speaker 1: who knows like what he's doing. He knows how to

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Speaker 1: play on a winning team. I don't think he's that

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Speaker 1: old either. I think he's like thirty two if I

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Speaker 1: remember right for Kemp Baisemore, um and can he's probably

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Speaker 1: our best like other than the Reza guy we can

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Speaker 1: throw on wings. I think he's a good defender, um,

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Speaker 1: smart defender and yeah the word Warriors fans were obviously

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Speaker 1: tough on a lot of players last year, but I

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Speaker 1: thought Baisemore was a good player fit next to steph Um.

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Speaker 1: I think he'll fit right next to Lebron too, So

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Speaker 1: just another solid signing for for the minimum. I agree

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Speaker 1: they went from you know, they went from a obvious

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Speaker 1: lack of guard depth after the West Book Trade West

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Speaker 1: Book Trade. That concerned people because we knew, we knew

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Speaker 1: only the veteran minimum was available, and we just were

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Speaker 1: concerned about whether or not to be able to put

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Speaker 1: together some decent that the guard position. And you know,

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Speaker 1: routinely in Lebron's career, and this is something that is

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Speaker 1: a testament to uh, you know, the reputation he's built

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Speaker 1: amongst his peers, but consistently in Lebron's career, he's been

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Speaker 1: able to convince players to take discounts to come play

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Speaker 1: with him, and uh, because of the fact that they

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Speaker 1: know they're going to get good shots, and they know

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Speaker 1: they're gonna have a chance to compete for a championship

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Speaker 1: and all that good stuff. And I'm sure the Laker

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Speaker 1: brand also plays a significant role. But I wanted the

427
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:33,600
Speaker 1: ability to get Kendrick Nunn, bays More and uh, Molik

428
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,360
Speaker 1: Monk and every one of those guys could have made

429
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,560
Speaker 1: more elsewhere, but Kendrick Nunn had a deal bigger than

430
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,679
Speaker 1: the mid level exception offered to him by the Knicks

431
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 1: that he turned down. Bays Moore had more, more years,

432
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,359
Speaker 1: more money from the Warriors that he turned down, and

433
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,200
Speaker 1: we all know Molik Monk probably could have got a

434
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,040
Speaker 1: mid level exception somewhere out there. So very clearly, you know,

435
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,360
Speaker 1: the Lakers were able to take advantage of their their

436
00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,800
Speaker 1: the perks of of of being the lay Kers and

437
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,679
Speaker 1: parlay that into guard depth that they desperately needed, and

438
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 1: so that that was exciting. Um. So the next guy

439
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:08,879
Speaker 1: that I wanted to talk about was Trevor Reza because

440
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,280
Speaker 1: he's a really interesting case because he's your textbook like

441
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,760
Speaker 1: outside of Lakers Twitter, there's a lot of pessimism like

442
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:19,600
Speaker 1: about that that pick, like ha ha, they had to

443
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,120
Speaker 1: settle for Trevor Reza. They're old, Trevor Reas is washed,

444
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,440
Speaker 1: he hasn't mattered in two years, blah blah blah blah.

445
00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,000
Speaker 1: So again I reached out to some Miami he people

446
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,480
Speaker 1: that that were watching him last year and they said, look,

447
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 1: he didn't shoot particularly well, but he's still every bit

448
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,879
Speaker 1: as good defensively as he's been in the last few years.

449
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:40,960
Speaker 1: They said he was the one that they would stick

450
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,880
Speaker 1: on all the big tough defensive matchups. Then Tim Cranches

451
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 1: from UH from I can't remember the name of his

452
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,400
Speaker 1: site all of a sudden at the second, but anyway,

453
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: Crane just came out with his statistical model of his

454
00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,800
Speaker 1: UH perimeter defense and he was one of the best

455
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,760
Speaker 1: perimeter defensive players in the league last year. And I

456
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,120
Speaker 1: remember him most vividly in two thousand eight team doing

457
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:06,760
Speaker 1: such an incredible job on Kevin Durant in the Western

458
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,440
Speaker 1: Conference finals. And I hadn't watched too much of him

459
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: in the year since, mainly because he had been on

460
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,200
Speaker 1: mainly irrelevant teams. But I'm really excited about Trevor Reasa.

461
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,679
Speaker 1: He's a wing defender that the Lakers haven't had in

462
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:20,920
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. And for the most part,

463
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,000
Speaker 1: what I think about is half court NBA playoff basketball,

464
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 1: you know, against the team like Phoenix, against the team

465
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:29,919
Speaker 1: like the Clippers, against the team like the Warriors, and

466
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,680
Speaker 1: having your front court be Trevor reason Lebron and Anthony Davis.

467
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,920
Speaker 1: To me, that's very exciting that the prospect of that

468
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 1: level of athleticism and length and savvy veteran savvy defensive

469
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,720
Speaker 1: ability from those guys, and then when you couple that

470
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,160
Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis, full bore, full health, it's it's really

471
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,360
Speaker 1: exciting to me. So I actually really liked the Areasa pickup.

472
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,120
Speaker 1: I would have preferred him as a bench a guy.

473
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 1: I would have preferred somebody younger in front of but

474
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 1: I actually think he might end up starting. But either way,

475
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 1: regardless of what his role as, I really liked to

476
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: pick up. What did you think about A reason? Yeah?

477
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,680
Speaker 1: I like him too. It's funny he kind of has

478
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 1: the uh in O eight. He helped the Lakers kind

479
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: of win the oh nine. Sorry, he helped the Lakers

480
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,840
Speaker 1: win the title, and he left for kind of for

481
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,640
Speaker 1: money reasons, and the fan base was kind of upsets,

482
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 1: very eerily similar to how Carusoe kind of walked. Very

483
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,920
Speaker 1: similar to that. Um similar type of player. He wasn't

484
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 1: a good shooter when he was younger, but he's really

485
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 1: made himself into like a really nice spot up shooter.

486
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: Um that's kind of shots he'll get here. I don't

487
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 1: know if he'll play big minutes. He might start, but

488
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 1: I mean at thirty six or whatever he is, I

489
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 1: don't think they want to have him, you know, in

490
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 1: the thirty minute range. But yeah, just another smart player,

491
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: another dude who's been on a bunch of winning teams. Um,

492
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:48,720
Speaker 1: that Houston team just let him walk, which I thought

493
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 1: was a mistake when at the time it happened. I

494
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: think he went to Sacramento for uh yeah, I think

495
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 1: he went to like the Kings or something. Obviously Sacramento

496
00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,439
Speaker 1: was irrelevant at the time. Um, but but yeah, Like,

497
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 1: I love his game. I've always had. I wish he

498
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 1: was back here at a little younger age. But but

499
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,160
Speaker 1: even at this age, UM, he's still, like you said,

500
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,879
Speaker 1: a really great perimeter defender and he's gonna get wide

501
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,640
Speaker 1: open shots here. And he's been a knockdown three point

502
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 1: shooter for a long time. Um, he's been a spot

503
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 1: up shooter for the last few years as well, next

504
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,159
Speaker 1: to James harden Um, especially on those Rocket teams. So

505
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:23,679
Speaker 1: I'm excited about him as well. I worry about his

506
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,200
Speaker 1: age and all that, and his durability at that age

507
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: being a wing defender on this team. But in front

508
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,159
Speaker 1: of a d I'm interested to see how Vogel kind

509
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,399
Speaker 1: of puts the scheme out. They were very heavy in

510
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,680
Speaker 1: terms of ball pressure last year. I don't think it

511
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 1: will be that this year. I think it'll be more physical,

512
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,240
Speaker 1: a little bit more switching, maybe a little more dropback defense.

513
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,399
Speaker 1: But yeah, the reason is a smart dude and he's

514
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 1: a good player on the on the minimum. Yeah, you know,

515
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,359
Speaker 1: it'll be really that that part you just brought up

516
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: about the defense is super interesting. It'll be I would

517
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: imagine in training camp he's going to gauge the guard corps.

518
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: That's gonna be the key because you know, there's actually

519
00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 1: they actually had a quite a bit of athleticism in

520
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,360
Speaker 1: the guard core. When you think about Russell Westbrook, Camp

521
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 1: bays Moore, Malik Monk and uh Kendrick Nunn, like there's

522
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 1: quite a bit a shifty athleticism and strength. Uh they

523
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,760
Speaker 1: can go. They can throw out lineups like None and

524
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,919
Speaker 1: Westbrook next to each other. Like you've got two stocky

525
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,199
Speaker 1: six three guards there that that are going to be

526
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: difficult to bully physically and that are very athletic. So

527
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,360
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see, I'm with you. It'll be

528
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: a question of whether or not they're capable of applying

529
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,400
Speaker 1: the level of ball pressure that guys like k CP

530
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,199
Speaker 1: and Dennis Shrewder were able to. But it'll it'll be

531
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: interesting to see, but we know Frank, like, Frank's gonna adjust,

532
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,879
Speaker 1: He's gonna figure out what works with that guard corps

533
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 1: and and build everything around that. They do have a

534
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 1: switchier set of forwards than they've ever had. Uh, that's

535
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,879
Speaker 1: gonna be the most exciting part is that idea that

536
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: you can throw out. You could throw out a lineup

537
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: of Westbrook, Bays More a Reason, Lebron a d and

538
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 1: or let's say they bring in westmath Us, which is

539
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 1: something we're gonna talk about later. He's a guy I'd

540
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 1: like to see them add as just like a low

541
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 1: like a low ceiling, high floor type of option to

542
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,880
Speaker 1: throw out. There is a fifth man, but lineups like

543
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 1: that where every player has some girth to them, you know,

544
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: some strength, and none of them are are easy to

545
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: physically bully, and they can kind of switch everything. So

546
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 1: I'm excited to kind of see what they build around there.

547
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: But just in general, with the reason, and one last

548
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: note on the reason with his shooting, you know, you

549
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: and I talked a lot about how Russell Westbrook, even

550
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: if he went out next year and shot in the

551
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 1: first month of the season, teams still aren't gonna guard

552
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,120
Speaker 1: him because just there's a huge difference between three point

553
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: percentage and three point gravity. Three point gravity more has

554
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 1: to do with how scared teams are of you, And

555
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: it really takes a large sample size of doing something

556
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: different for you to start adjusting your your your strategy

557
00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: with something like that. Trevor Reasa, even if he shoots

558
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 1: again from three next year, teams are gonna at least

559
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 1: guard him, you know what I mean. There's a at

560
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,080
Speaker 1: the very least, if you're guarding Trevor Reesa, you're scared

561
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 1: that he's gonna make you pay if you leave him open.

562
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,160
Speaker 1: So I I do like, I do like his fit

563
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 1: in terms of the natural spacing of everything. Um so

564
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 1: I guess let's see the I guess the last guy

565
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,920
Speaker 1: that we should touch on his Mellow because I don't

566
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 1: I don't think Ellington's gonna play all that much. Uh.

567
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: And then you know the center's Mark and Dwight. You

568
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,200
Speaker 1: and I have talked about at length over the last

569
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,960
Speaker 1: two years. So you know, I'll let you start on

570
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 1: this one. What are you are you expecting Mellow to

571
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: play that much of a role this year? Yeah, that's

572
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: so tough. Like I understand car mellows here on a minimum,

573
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,879
Speaker 1: but he played for Portland's It's it's not like he

574
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: was an end of the bench guy on Portland play.

575
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 1: I don't know if how much he started, I really

576
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: don't remember. I think he did start a few games,

577
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 1: but it's a big part of the rotation. Um he

578
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 1: was the or on that team. UM. I still like

579
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: him as a shock creator for the second unit. He's

580
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,640
Speaker 1: started seven though, so like, can you defend well enough

581
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,919
Speaker 1: to play that? Those are the questions to me. UM.

582
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 1: I think Frank Vogel does have a like he doesn't

583
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 1: like to play his vets, does like to play the Vets.

584
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: We saw Rondo play a bunch um in the regular

585
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: seven season, even though he was bad um that first year.

586
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 1: I see similar things with Carmelo. Um. I reached out

587
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,120
Speaker 1: to my Portland Travelers a friend and I was like, hey, like,

588
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,440
Speaker 1: what do you think of Karmelo on the Lakers? And

589
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:33,680
Speaker 1: he's like, uh, Carmelo, Uh. He can be frustrating at

590
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 1: times because he's gonna, you know, I want to say,

591
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 1: hijack the offense. But I mean when you have Carmelo Anthony,

592
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: give him the ball, that possession is his, Like that's

593
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 1: just just what happens when you give Carmelo the ball

594
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: in the post, that possession is his now like he's

595
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bully ball my way into the post. I'm

596
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 1: gonna take a mid range fade away jumper. You know.

597
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: If it goes in, I'm gonna, you know, talk my ship,

598
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: or if it doesn't go in, I'm just going with

599
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,640
Speaker 1: the other way. But but but yeah, that's that's the

600
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: kind of thing with Karmelo Anthony is the talents there

601
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 1: obviously in him and Lebron wanted to play together. I

602
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: think that's a big part of this. I do see

603
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 1: him buying in Um. I think this is a maybe

604
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 1: his first like championship kind of chance, you know, in

605
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: a long time, maybe since those Denver teams. Um, I

606
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,560
Speaker 1: don't think those next teams were really close to a title,

607
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: and those Portland's teams are are what they are. So

608
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 1: I can see him buying him behind him as well.

609
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 1: But yeah, that he's the most like question mark to

610
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: me in terms of minutes UM him and and th

611
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 1: h T. I guess if if you want to touch

612
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,720
Speaker 1: on him, but like Carmelo's minutes are the ones I'm

613
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: most interested to see how that goes. Is he just

614
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,720
Speaker 1: a spot kind of play here and there? I see

615
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: him fully in the rotation, though I don't know about you,

616
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,800
Speaker 1: like I think he's not. He's not gonna come here

617
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:40,480
Speaker 1: and stay on the bench for a bunch of games.

618
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: What about you? What do you think about Karmelo? So,

619
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 1: I think the easiest way to contextualize Carmelo Anthony's fit

620
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: minutes role. You know what they asked him to do,

621
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: whatever you wanna call it, is just an upgrade of

622
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:54,680
Speaker 1: Mark Kith Morris. If you remember, like I asked you

623
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 1: to describe what Mark Keith Morris was to the Lakers,

624
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,120
Speaker 1: you would say he was a spot off show er

625
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: and they would occasionally, especially late in the season, try

626
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: to go to him in the post because they lacked

627
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 1: offensive creation without Lebron and a D, so they feed

628
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: him to try to score in the post. And then

629
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 1: he was a below average perimeter defensive player who was

630
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 1: below average in rotations, but he was good as a

631
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: post up defender. That was what we remember about Marquis Well.

632
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 1: That's pretty much exactly what they're gonna need from Carmelo.

633
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: Like Carmelo is going to be a below average perimeter

634
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: defensive player, he's going to be below below average covering

635
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: ground in rotations, but he's gonna be above average as

636
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: a post up defender. Teams aren't teams aren't gonna be

637
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 1: able to physically dominate him underneath the basket. And then

638
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a guy who's gonna be a spot

639
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: up shooter at a higher level than Markief. And he's

640
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 1: gonna be a guy you can throw it to the

641
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: post against inferior defenders and you're gonna get more out

642
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: of him than you did out of Markief. So just

643
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 1: simply that's that's how I see the role shaking out.

644
00:30:57,080 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: As far as minutes go, if you think about it

645
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 1: as like a there's kind of two ways to look

646
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 1: at it. There's the depth chart approach, which is if

647
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 1: a d s you're five and Lebron's you're four, and

648
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 1: you can get them to do uh, you know, thirty

649
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: two minutes a night, you know, if you're trying to

650
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: keep their minutes down because the age that means there's

651
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,520
Speaker 1: sixteen minutes there for Dwight at the center position, and

652
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: there's sixteen minutes there for Mellow at the four uh.

653
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 1: And then when you factor in load management, and things

654
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 1: along those lines. During the season, there will be even

655
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: more minutes available for marcusol or for Dwight to play more,

656
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: or for Carmelo Anthony to to play more. So from

657
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: that perspective, like, that's how I look at it. From

658
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 1: as far as his role goes, Like whether or not

659
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: Lebron is willing to play more three and to have

660
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: Mellow play more fork, that's all about fit and whether

661
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 1: or not Melo really pans out as a defensive player. Look,

662
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 1: if Mello comes in and he shoots from three and

663
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: is killing it on the block and defending pretty well,

664
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,040
Speaker 1: then yeah, you're gonna shift up and play lab On

665
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,239
Speaker 1: at the threesome and and and and put Carmelo at

666
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: the floor. But again, this is about flexibility and versatility,

667
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 1: and the Lakers have options. Uh, they're in this regard

668
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: and so I think I think it's uh something to

669
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,719
Speaker 1: be excited about. I love the market. Market Moore's kind

670
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 1: of like comparison there. But Carmelo was an excellent shooter

671
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 1: last year too. Yeah, I think he shot forty percent

672
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: from three from the corners too. He's a guy. Also,

673
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: like when you compared to Mark Morris teams double Carmelo

674
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,200
Speaker 1: Anthony still like they send help. Like even if the

675
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 1: numbers say whatever they are, the spreadsheet, basketball still says

676
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 1: whatever that that's a bad shot to you know, take

677
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: teams still come and send doubles on Carmelo Anthony with

678
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 1: Damian Little on the floor like that. That's something that

679
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: really happens in Portland's. Um, so it's funny. So that's

680
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 1: a that's another wrinkled thing that I like. And Markey

681
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: Moore's another guy that likes to post up, take and

682
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 1: manage mismatches. I think Carmelo's a little bit better at

683
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 1: that too. Um He's a guy can create more help

684
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 1: better pastor I think than Markey Morris as well. I'm

685
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: really interested in those like Mellow with the other star lineups,

686
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: Like I'm really fascinated by that Melo really. I mean, yeah,

687
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: Dame and c J are what they are, but like

688
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 1: the type of paint presence that like run a d

689
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 1: could provide. I'm just curious how Mellow can kind of

690
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 1: fit his way into that. I think you get Carmelo

691
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: in a bunch of one on one matchups. I think

692
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 1: that's favorable even at his age. He's a guy that

693
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 1: really knows how to score. He's a professional score one

694
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: of the best ever. UM. So that's why I'm interested

695
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 1: to him. Just that kind of interesting linkol to it. Um.

696
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: That kind of talent is what it is, and I

697
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: think the coaching staff will try to try to work

698
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: with that. But yeah, I love the Marquis Moore is

699
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: kind of comparison there. Yeah. Well, and if you think

700
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: about it, like he gives you a matchup attacking option

701
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 1: at the end of your lineup. So if you run

702
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 1: a lineup that has a d at the five, Mellow

703
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 1: at the four, Lebron at the three, you know, th

704
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: h T at the two, and Russ at the one,

705
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: every single one of those guys can destroy a week matchup.

706
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: If you get th h T on a skinny guard

707
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: that can't really defend, he's just gonna bully him all

708
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 1: the way to the basket. Same goes for us Lebron

709
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 1: on a weaker wing, Carmelo Anthony had a weaker wing

710
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,400
Speaker 1: or a slow forward, and then Anthony Davis. That is

711
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:15,440
Speaker 1: a nightmare lineup for attacking mismatches. And and that's like,

712
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 1: that's something that that could be really really exciting. UM.

713
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,000
Speaker 1: So we got about ten more minutes before you gotta

714
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 1: get out of here, and we're gonna dive even more

715
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 1: into a lot of this stuff as the summer progresses. Um,

716
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:26,640
Speaker 1: But I wanted to talk about Caruso for a second.

717
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: So you know, first of all, I think that, uh,

718
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,840
Speaker 1: there are two separate topics with this Crusoe thing. There's

719
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:40,759
Speaker 1: the topic did the Lakers need Caruso? Obviously not that

720
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,959
Speaker 1: that that goes without saying they're gonna be fine without him.

721
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 1: That that that that was that The negativity that I

722
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 1: have about this topic isn't dedicated to my optimism about

723
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,360
Speaker 1: the Lakers as a whole. Okay, However, it's important to

724
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,840
Speaker 1: say that with respect to that roster spot, there was

725
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 1: no reason to let Alex go except for money. It

726
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 1: only had to do with the amount of money that

727
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 1: Jennie would have to pay. So in general, I don't

728
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,760
Speaker 1: I don't. In general, I don't love the idea of

729
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,279
Speaker 1: protecting the wallet of a hundred millionaire or a billionaire.

730
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 1: That's one of the first opinions that I have about it.

731
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:25,040
Speaker 1: But secondly, there was the opportunity lost that comes with

732
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 1: Alex Crusoe's contract. So this summer you have added some

733
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,680
Speaker 1: legitimate assets that teams are gonna want. Malik Monk on

734
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:37,799
Speaker 1: a minimum contract, that's a great deal. Kendrick Nunne at

735
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,239
Speaker 1: five point seven million a year or whatever, that's a

736
00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:43,680
Speaker 1: great deal. But adding those salaries up is useless to

737
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:48,319
Speaker 1: amount to anything. However, if I've got Caruso at nine

738
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:51,280
Speaker 1: million and there's a player out there that I really

739
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 1: want that's a seventeen million dollar salary, I can go bam,

740
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:58,719
Speaker 1: you know, Monk, none at Crusoe for this guard that's

741
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: out there, whoever it is. And I'm just providing an example.

742
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: They they they and I'm not even saying they would

743
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 1: make a trade this year. I'm just saying if you

744
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: wanted that flexibility, having that intermediate salary and that nine

745
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,160
Speaker 1: million dollar range attached to a player like Cruso that

746
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: teams want makes your minimum contracts more valuable because they

747
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,400
Speaker 1: can actually amount to more salary. The point being is

748
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 1: that whether it's guard depth, or whether you think Alex

749
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,160
Speaker 1: Cruso should be in your closing lineup, or whether you

750
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 1: want to use him as a trade piece, there were

751
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 1: so many positives that come with Alex Crusoe on the

752
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: team and letting him slip purely as a result of

753
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 1: counting Genie Busses money. In my opinion, was a mistake. Uh,

754
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,359
Speaker 1: that was just how I felt about it. Doesn't mean

755
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,800
Speaker 1: I dislike the offseason. Doesn't mean I think the Lakers

756
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,719
Speaker 1: are gonna suck. That was just one of my complaints

757
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,240
Speaker 1: from the last couple of days. What was your opinion

758
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:55,719
Speaker 1: on the Alex cruise? I think Okay, So like first, Uh, well,

759
00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: I guess, like it's no secret I love Alex Cruso.

760
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,080
Speaker 1: Like you can type my Twitter name out screw, so

761
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:01,879
Speaker 1: you'll find a bunch of videos, You'll find a bunch

762
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 1: of stats that you know, people are like, you're you know,

763
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 1: you're kind of nit nitpicking stats whatever. But there's no

764
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 1: secret I love al Scruso that I knew what he

765
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 1: meant to this team. Um, I think this team went

766
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: with the identity shift they wanted on ball shot creation.

767
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,840
Speaker 1: Go look at what THHC just got three years, thirty

768
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 1: two million dollars for th h T. However you feel

769
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,400
Speaker 1: about THHC, they obviously feel a way about him. My

770
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,720
Speaker 1: only wish issue with this, I'm not keeping for Genie

771
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 1: buzz I have no reason to, you know, I don't

772
00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 1: know her personally at all, like what they do. I

773
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: think there's a difference between being cheap, right, because I

774
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 1: see saw that word thrown a lot, a lot thrown

775
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 1: around a lot pretty way too loosely called the Lakers cheap.

776
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:45,120
Speaker 1: That's totally different than not wanting to you know, payout

777
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 1: screwso whatever it costs fifty whatever man in luxury tax.

778
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,320
Speaker 1: Those are two different things. Being cheap is not is

779
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: trading James Harden before he hits his max players spot, Like,

780
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: that's that's being cheap to me. This is this is

781
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 1: a little bit different. So that's the kind of like

782
00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 1: difference that I want to make with this. Like to me, logically,

783
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: how I was kind of explained this, you don't make

784
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,479
Speaker 1: the trade for Russell Westbrook and then think you're gonna

785
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: be cheap, right, Like, those things can't coincide. To me,

786
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 1: you can't trade for the second highest paid player in

787
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,799
Speaker 1: the game while also having two max guys, while also

788
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: being a franchise that's going to be cheap on the margins.

789
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:22,799
Speaker 1: So when the crew something happened, I said, yes, this

790
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:24,839
Speaker 1: is terrible, but I'm gonna give them a little bit

791
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:26,959
Speaker 1: of a benefit of the doubt because It just makes

792
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,280
Speaker 1: no sense to me to go trade for a forty

793
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 1: three million dollar player, have three guys make one thirty million,

794
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 1: and then say we're gonna be cheaper on the margins.

795
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,320
Speaker 1: That makes zero sense. You could have just did the buddy,

796
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 1: he'll trade and then filled the roster route, you know, evenly,

797
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,160
Speaker 1: and you know, paid a little bit of luxury whatever.

798
00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 1: They're still gonna have a huge tax bill. This is

799
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,839
Speaker 1: the highest tax billing Lakers history, you know what I mean.

800
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 1: So that's that's the only thing I don't like about this.

801
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 1: I hate that Crusoe has gone. I think he billed

802
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 1: himself into a great player. He earned every penny of

803
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 1: this new deal. Lakers obviously didn't feel that, you know,

804
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 1: they wanted to go in a different direction, and I

805
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,399
Speaker 1: don't like it. I can understand it, but I think

806
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 1: the word cheap is the one that I have the

807
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,359
Speaker 1: most kind of issue with because, like, that doesn't make

808
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,480
Speaker 1: logic sense to me that they went and dealt for

809
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 1: a guy making that much money and then you know,

810
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,120
Speaker 1: call them cheap for this is that's the communiany part

811
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 1: of me. What do you what do you think about that? Yeah,

812
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,040
Speaker 1: I like, I don't think Genie is being cheap, like

813
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,399
Speaker 1: you said they have, they're about to have a huge

814
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 1: luxury tax bill. Um. The thing that I always thought

815
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 1: about it was just like, you know, so let's say,

816
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,200
Speaker 1: first of all, blaming Alex crusoe salary for the big

817
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,759
Speaker 1: fat luxury tax bill is stupid because his salary is

818
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:34,320
Speaker 1: not the reason why there were be a giant luxury

819
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 1: tax bill. That that would be unfair to Alex. Uh. Secondly,

820
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:41,439
Speaker 1: you know, the the way I look at it, Let's

821
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 1: say you're you're you are paying Alex effectively thirty million

822
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: or something because you're paying him nine and there's twenty

823
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,479
Speaker 1: one million in luxury tax or something like that. Uh yeah,

824
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:52,439
Speaker 1: that's a lot of money. But you're in a two

825
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:55,520
Speaker 1: year window here where you're contending for the title. You

826
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 1: can regroup financially because all these are one year deals

827
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 1: and th h T s the only long term deal

828
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 1: they signed or or Kendrick Nunn and Kendrick Nunns is

829
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:05,759
Speaker 1: a player option that will probably opt out of if

830
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 1: he has a good season. So the thing is is

831
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:11,239
Speaker 1: like you've got cat flexibility moving forward. Russ even only

832
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:13,040
Speaker 1: has one more year on his deal, and then you

833
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 1: can kind of restructure everything. So the point is is

834
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,719
Speaker 1: why not pony up now for this one or two

835
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:23,920
Speaker 1: year window and understand that built continuing to build that

836
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 1: Lakers brand of dominance is what allows you to charge

837
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 1: what you do for tickets, and charge and sell as

838
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 1: much merchandise as you do, and charge as much as

839
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: you do for a TV deal and things along those lines.

840
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:38,160
Speaker 1: And you know, like I I use this example earlier,

841
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 1: but let's say let's say Trevor Reasa doesn't pan out

842
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 1: like he just has washed, and let's say Sam goes

843
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: for Carmelo and the Lakers are playing small, and it's like, man,

844
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 1: we really need a wing, and the buyout markets crap um.

845
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:58,640
Speaker 1: But you know, Jimmy Butler gets hurt and the Heat

846
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,120
Speaker 1: are tanking, and all of a sudden, p J. Tucker

847
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:05,279
Speaker 1: is available and his salary is ten million a year

848
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 1: or whatever, and it's like, man, we call up Miami

849
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:14,440
Speaker 1: and they'll take Caruso and Monk for for p J. Tucker. Bam,

850
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,319
Speaker 1: Now we have our front court depth back. You know,

851
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:21,000
Speaker 1: that kind of flexibility is gone without those intermediate salaries.

852
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 1: And I'm just that's just a complete fabrication that I

853
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: came up with But I'm just giving you an example

854
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:29,799
Speaker 1: of It was never as cut and dry as we

855
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: don't need Alex because we have guards already coming. It

856
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 1: was never as cutting dry as that's too much money

857
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,440
Speaker 1: for Alex. It was it was always bring him back,

858
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 1: keep the asset. Alex is a great player. Even if

859
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:47,520
Speaker 1: he doesn't fit, you can move him and improve the team.

860
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 1: Oh and if you're concerned about Genie Buss's money, she

861
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,000
Speaker 1: just paid the luxury attacks for the first time in

862
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,120
Speaker 1: like a decade. Uh you know they are not a decade,

863
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 1: but in in several years last year, and and and

864
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 1: she's in a two year championship window here. You know

865
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 1: she can do this, you know what I mean. So

866
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,520
Speaker 1: that that that kind of was was the part that

867
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:09,000
Speaker 1: I that got lost in it. And once again, you've

868
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:11,520
Speaker 1: got these yes men out there that are like, God

869
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 1: forbid you say anything negative about Lebron or Rob Polinka

870
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:17,840
Speaker 1: or or Genie Buss. You're being a hater. You're being negative.

871
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:20,400
Speaker 1: And it's like, no, man, Like, we're just being objective,

872
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 1: objective observers. And and that that the whole thing kind

873
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 1: of bothered me. Did you, uh go ahead? I was

874
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,359
Speaker 1: gonna say, like Yeah, it's allfu to lose him for nothing,

875
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:32,920
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. If it feels like a

876
00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 1: guy that's grown here, a guy that we've developed, like

877
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:38,680
Speaker 1: you know, from the G League to you know, being

878
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:41,040
Speaker 1: able to place Bob minutes to being a starter on

879
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 1: the last game in the finals, I think they knew

880
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:45,400
Speaker 1: what he meant. Like, I like that you said it's

881
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 1: not as cut as dry as either of those, because

882
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:49,440
Speaker 1: I think it's somewhere in the middle, right, Like they

883
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,879
Speaker 1: kind of they kind of looked at both sides here

884
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:54,720
Speaker 1: and they said that we can kind of they probably

885
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:57,000
Speaker 1: had these cards in their hand. You know, I'm not

886
00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,200
Speaker 1: to get tampering rules or anything, but they probably had

887
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:01,799
Speaker 1: some idea of like what kind of players they would

888
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:03,839
Speaker 1: get and kind of weighed that against you know, what

889
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:06,480
Speaker 1: Crusoe is gonna get with with Chicago and kind of

890
00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 1: made their decision. I disagree with it, vmn A like

891
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:11,799
Speaker 1: I would have. I wanted Cruso back. Um. I think

892
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:13,920
Speaker 1: he would be the best defensive guard on the team

893
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: right now, Like just that's just how it would be.

894
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,239
Speaker 1: He's been big in closing lineup. But that's just how

895
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:22,040
Speaker 1: they fell. And it sucks that that happened, but that

896
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:23,719
Speaker 1: that is what it is. I would love him back.

897
00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:25,680
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna I think he needs to be

898
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:27,879
Speaker 1: with other shot creators. I think him to Rosen and

899
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,320
Speaker 1: Levine is a really interesting kind of fit there. But

900
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 1: but yeah, like that's that's the tough part of it.

901
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,680
Speaker 1: Doing the salary and the luxury tech stuff. It's all,

902
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 1: you know, that's all outside of kind of what I

903
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 1: can kind of comment on. I could just see that.

904
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 1: I'm just going from the basketball fit and and just

905
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,560
Speaker 1: with the way they built their roster at the time,

906
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,759
Speaker 1: the kind of team they had. They went with these

907
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 1: scoring guards, you know, and that's the fit that they

908
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:51,960
Speaker 1: want to do, and we'll see if it works. It

909
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,000
Speaker 1: remains to be seen. You know, Laker Sweeter is pretty

910
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: high on all the moves here, but um, yeah, it

911
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:57,840
Speaker 1: was still remains to be seen if this was the

912
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,879
Speaker 1: right decision. For sure, I'll Cruso is gonna be great

913
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:02,880
Speaker 1: in Chicago because they're not going to need him to

914
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,040
Speaker 1: create because of all the offensive talent they have on

915
00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: the roster. He's basically going to be your fifth starter,

916
00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,560
Speaker 1: kind of like he was on the Lakers in Game

917
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,040
Speaker 1: six of the Finals. Who's just asked to guard the

918
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:14,799
Speaker 1: other team's best player and do all of those things.

919
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna he's gonna be great there. Um.

920
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:19,439
Speaker 1: And you know, this is the last thing I'll say

921
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:23,480
Speaker 1: about the Alex Cruzo thing, and then we could be done. Um.

922
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:27,120
Speaker 1: The rewriting of history of what he was in a

923
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:30,360
Speaker 1: Laker jersey has been absurd, and that has been the

924
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 1: worst part of this whole saga. You've got these people

925
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,640
Speaker 1: out there that are trying like it's like, now, now,

926
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:40,880
Speaker 1: he wasn't good, really like he wasn't he wasn't good,

927
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 1: like it just it bothers me like that you'd kick

928
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,279
Speaker 1: someone like that out the door just as a fan,

929
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:50,880
Speaker 1: you know, in general, especially for a player like that

930
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: who was so you know, immensely important, like the Lakers

931
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 1: best lineups over the last two years or anything involving

932
00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,800
Speaker 1: lebron A d and Alex Cruzo, Like it was literally

933
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: that simple in terms of the way that, uh, they

934
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:05,840
Speaker 1: performed on the scoreboard in those minutes. Um. But anyway,

935
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:07,319
Speaker 1: I know, I know you need to get out of here.

936
00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:10,799
Speaker 1: We're gonna we're gonna do another one of these here

937
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:12,840
Speaker 1: in a couple of days where we touch on a

938
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,840
Speaker 1: couple more Laker topics after we've kind of marinated on

939
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: things a little bit longer, and then we're also going

940
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:20,839
Speaker 1: to touch on some league wide stuff and things that

941
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 1: we liked, uh from the rest of free agency. Is

942
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:26,279
Speaker 1: there anything else you wanted to hit on today, ros Uh?

943
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 1: I think like Dennis costing himself eighty million, that's a

944
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: really weird one. Though the music is about to stop,

945
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,480
Speaker 1: man and he needs a chair like that, there's no

946
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:37,320
Speaker 1: seat yet for Dennis. We're just really fascinating. I'm interested

947
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:40,239
Speaker 1: to see where that kind of goes here. Is there

948
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 1: any teams with caps face left? Nick signed up? Nobody,

949
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: The Knicks took Kemba. I think the Spurs have cap space.

950
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:48,000
Speaker 1: But I don't know why they would want Dennis because

951
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,879
Speaker 1: they went all in on young guys Dallas maybe, I mean,

952
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:54,480
Speaker 1: I don't know. They're kind of getting go on tragic.

953
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,040
Speaker 1: I get like that. It's it's definitely weird. Would you

954
00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 1: want him back as a six man? I guess we'll

955
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: close with that. Would you want to back as the

956
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 1: sixth man? I think that's a bad look to lose Caruso.

957
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 1: I guess I think I'm bringing Dennis back. But like,

958
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 1: what do you think of Dennis coming back as a

959
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:11,560
Speaker 1: sixth man, which is probably probably awkward, probably really awkward,

960
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:13,840
Speaker 1: But um, what do you think of that as an option?

961
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,279
Speaker 1: Because the Lakers can we sign him, they have his

962
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 1: I think bird rights correctly, so they can um go

963
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 1: over the captain sign. What do you think of him

964
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:23,600
Speaker 1: as a backup point guard? I guess we can. We

965
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 1: can close with that. If they bring him back, they'd

966
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 1: have to trade him because there's gonna be some bitterness

967
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,360
Speaker 1: involved here because of the fact that he had this

968
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:34,280
Speaker 1: eight four million dollar offer that he turned down. Also,

969
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,080
Speaker 1: the Lakers do not need him anymore. They flat out

970
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 1: do not need him playing Aulness. Yeah, exactly. But here's

971
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 1: the thing Dennis shrewder on like a three year thirty

972
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,839
Speaker 1: million dollar contract is a huge asset. Or a two year,

973
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,759
Speaker 1: two year twenty million dollar contract to year twenty five

974
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,400
Speaker 1: million dollar contracts something along those lines. So you know,

975
00:46:56,640 --> 00:47:00,320
Speaker 1: if you're Dennis, you have two options. You can sign

976
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,280
Speaker 1: with someone like the Warriors on a mid level exception

977
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:06,479
Speaker 1: on like basically a prove it deal and and hope

978
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:08,759
Speaker 1: that you just have a great season and that it

979
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:11,319
Speaker 1: allows you to recalibrate in a year where there's more

980
00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 1: cap space, or two you sign with the Lakers on

981
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,480
Speaker 1: some sort of three year, thirty million type of deal

982
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:22,040
Speaker 1: and then essentially have an under the table agreement that

983
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 1: you're gonna get traded because the Lakers should not bring

984
00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 1: him back to use him. There's no real point there.

985
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: It clashes with their current identity. And quite frankly, I

986
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,760
Speaker 1: want to see more Monk and and and none running

987
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:38,880
Speaker 1: those backup guard lineup. So I don't in talent Horton Tucker.

988
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,280
Speaker 1: We didn't talk too much about talent Horton Tucker today,

989
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:43,520
Speaker 1: but like I think he could end up starting uh

990
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:46,200
Speaker 1: and or being a sixth man. And so there's just

991
00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:49,319
Speaker 1: no real purpose to Dennis on this team other than

992
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:53,000
Speaker 1: as an asset. And so there's a mutual relationship there

993
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:56,040
Speaker 1: where it's like, we'll give you some money to make

994
00:47:56,120 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: up for this money that you lost, but we're gonna

995
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:02,160
Speaker 1: trade you too. Maybe we'll trade you to where you

996
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 1: want to go, if that's the deal or whatever it is,

997
00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:06,759
Speaker 1: but that that would be the only kind of real

998
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,360
Speaker 1: resolution here. For I don't think there's any chance he

999
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,439
Speaker 1: gets close to what he was originally asking for. Yeah,

1000
00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:14,759
Speaker 1: probably not. You talked about a lot about you talked

1001
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 1: about how like people were kind of not lying, but

1002
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:21,799
Speaker 1: like saying what Crusoe wasn't I guess or was? I

1003
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 1: think Shooter is going through that as well, kind of

1004
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 1: this kick out the door. He was better than Like,

1005
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:29,400
Speaker 1: he was not a bad player on the team this year. Like,

1006
00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 1: we don't need to do that. Like he struggled in

1007
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:34,000
Speaker 1: the playoffs, he had some the end of the year

1008
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: wasn't good, but he was a solid player on a

1009
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:38,680
Speaker 1: team that was when they offered him eighty four. He

1010
00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:41,719
Speaker 1: deserved it at that time, exactly. Yeah, So that's the

1011
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:43,279
Speaker 1: that's the part that we don't need to do. He

1012
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:45,200
Speaker 1: had a better season than we thought. He's not a

1013
00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:47,719
Speaker 1: bad player at all. He's a serviceable point guard. He's

1014
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:51,480
Speaker 1: probably a backup who's you know, underqualified starter. Like that's

1015
00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 1: how I would say Dennis Shrewter is. And that's fine.

1016
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 1: That's a good player. That's a ten million dollar player,

1017
00:48:55,719 --> 00:48:58,000
Speaker 1: that's timm lead player that all of that, maybe even

1018
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:00,640
Speaker 1: twenty million on a team that can you know, keep him,

1019
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 1: that can afford him. But um, yeah, that's where I'm

1020
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:05,360
Speaker 1: kind of with him. It's interesting that this has played

1021
00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 1: out kind of kind of this way. I forgot who

1022
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 1: else also is unsigned? Um, not the guy, but but yeah,

1023
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:14,279
Speaker 1: an audio drama obviously went for the minimum. Kelly Kelly

1024
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:18,280
Speaker 1: uber Is another guy was leaving left is basically looking

1025
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:20,960
Speaker 1: for money and roll out there that none of the

1026
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:24,080
Speaker 1: NBA teams are willing to offer him. But you brought

1027
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:27,000
Speaker 1: up musical chairs, which is an interesting comparison because Bill

1028
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:29,000
Speaker 1: Simmons said this on his podcast a few days ago.

1029
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:31,680
Speaker 1: It's like there were five really good point guards I

1030
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:33,880
Speaker 1: wanted to get paid this summer, and two teams looking

1031
00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 1: for point guards at that price range, the Miami Heat

1032
00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:41,239
Speaker 1: and the Chicago Bulls. And so guess what, Lonzo Ball

1033
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:44,360
Speaker 1: and Kyle Lowry got the money and everyone else is screwed.

1034
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:46,239
Speaker 1: And that's just kind of how it goes. Like even

1035
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:49,280
Speaker 1: Kemba Walker we can safely assume signed for like seven

1036
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:53,959
Speaker 1: million because of the uh that's how much cap space

1037
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:55,799
Speaker 1: the Knicks had. I don't know how. I haven't seen

1038
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:58,080
Speaker 1: the details yet, but I'll be interested to see what

1039
00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:00,000
Speaker 1: it is. But anyway, I'm with you. I think Dennis

1040
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 1: it was a lot better than people remember, and I

1041
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:04,839
Speaker 1: genuinely feel bad for him, but he got some bad

1042
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:07,680
Speaker 1: advice when he got that eighty four million dollar contract.

1043
00:50:07,719 --> 00:50:09,399
Speaker 1: He should have jumped on that so fast. It wasn't

1044
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,319
Speaker 1: even not even funny and uh, and I feel bad

1045
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:13,880
Speaker 1: for him, but it is what it is. And and

1046
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:15,960
Speaker 1: hopefully he goes out next year and has a great

1047
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 1: year and gets himself paid the next summer, just not

1048
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,520
Speaker 1: as a Laker, because I don't think he makes any

1049
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 1: more sense there. But anyway, thank you guys so much

1050
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,160
Speaker 1: for hanging out with us today. Um, Like I said, uh,

1051
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:27,759
Speaker 1: Roger and I just wanted to give our kind of

1052
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:30,719
Speaker 1: thirty foot view of all this stuff because there's still

1053
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 1: a lot of tape to watch and a lot of

1054
00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:34,879
Speaker 1: lineups to consider and a lot of details to really

1055
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 1: marinate on. Uh. And then we want to talk about

1056
00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:39,160
Speaker 1: some league wide stuff, so we'll touch base maybe either

1057
00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:42,160
Speaker 1: Friday or early next week. But thanks again guys for

1058
00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 1: your support as always, and we will see you next time.

1059
00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:46,800
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone,