Speaker 1: Mmmm, welcome to the Stay of the Lakers Show and
Speaker 1: DASH Radio. Thank you guys so much for coming to
Speaker 1: hang out. Um, to be clear up front, we're not
Speaker 1: going to spend too much time talking about this particular
Speaker 1: game because there's just not a ton to learn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was a little stretch there in the second quarter
Speaker 1: where you know, Reeves and Bradley and Baysmore were able
Speaker 1: to get some stops and and and keep the game
Speaker 1: looking somewhat interesting, but not really anything that's gonna translate
Speaker 1: because uh, you know, Anthony Davis and Lebron will be
Speaker 1: in the picture at some point and uh, and then
Speaker 1: other than that, I mean, yeah, Sico Numboya looked a
Speaker 1: little more active at the end. Sure, but he's not
Speaker 1: going to fix these problems. So not really too much
Speaker 1: to talk about from this particular game. But Roger and
Speaker 1: I want to focus on two particular topics tonight having
Speaker 1: to do with what ails this team, and that is injuries,
Speaker 1: of course, and then also the conundrum surrounding Frank Vogel,
Speaker 1: which we'll get to, But I wanted to start with
Speaker 1: this injuryes thing. Roj you had told me that you
Speaker 1: had something you wanted to say about just how depleted
Speaker 1: this team is and what it means. So I'll give
Speaker 1: you the floor for right now. Yeah, So I wanted
Speaker 1: to start with the idea that this team is too
Speaker 1: injured to compete, right, I've seen that a lot um.
Speaker 1: We're both on Lakers Twitter, both active on it. You
Speaker 1: can kind of take the pulse that's pretty much to
Speaker 1: take that a lot of people have, and I think
Speaker 1: like just me and a lot of people, not speaking
Speaker 1: for everyone, but are kind of just tired of speaking
Speaker 1: about a hypothetical team, right, or a team that's theoretical
Speaker 1: in that way. So last year, just the season before
Speaker 1: the Lakers won the title, and then they had a
Speaker 1: whole new team to start the year. Eight wasn't himself,
Speaker 1: but that is what it is. They went twenty one
Speaker 1: and six, and then A d goes out, I believe,
Speaker 1: on February February fourteen, with an achilles injury. Right a
Speaker 1: month later, Lebron goes out March twenty with the ankle injury.
Speaker 1: Since then, we've kind of been speaking about Since since then,
Speaker 1: we've kind of been speaking about the team in hypothetical terms, right,
Speaker 1: and like, oh, when Lebron gets back, Oh when a
Speaker 1: D gets back, and then in the playoffs we've got
Speaker 1: a few games of it, and then again a D
Speaker 1: went down in Game four or something. I forgot which
Speaker 1: exact game it was, but he went down, and then
Speaker 1: from there again that the season was kind of over
Speaker 1: from there. Again this year, again we start this season,
Speaker 1: they start slow, and again people say, oh, wait for
Speaker 1: Kendrick None to get back, wait for t H to
Speaker 1: get back, way for a reason to get back. Now,
Speaker 1: wait for Lebron to get back. And that might all
Speaker 1: be true, like the team might be fine once they're healthy.
Speaker 1: I just think like all we can do kind of
Speaker 1: is analyzed the team now right now and analyze the
Speaker 1: players that are on the floor, the lineups that Vogal
Speaker 1: is putting out, the execution that the players are doing.
Speaker 1: I think we can still talk about that without just
Speaker 1: continuing saying like, Okay, yeah, the team is gonna be
Speaker 1: fine once they become healthy. Do you do you canin
Speaker 1: understand what I mean there? I just feel like there's
Speaker 1: this like need to just push everything forward, and I
Speaker 1: think there are things, there are issues right now. That's
Speaker 1: that's where in the team, which is why we're going
Speaker 1: to speak I guess on voco after this, But like,
Speaker 1: do you see my point there? So there are separate
Speaker 1: issues here. The there's an issue surrounding you know, um
Speaker 1: injuries and the fact that just strictly from a personnel standpoint,
Speaker 1: there's not a whole lot that the Lakers can do
Speaker 1: that normal basketball teams are doing right now. That is fact. However,
Speaker 1: the team also has no identity that they don't have
Speaker 1: anything that doesn't rely on their talent. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: Like the reason why your team is a number one
Speaker 1: defense when Lebron and a d are down is because,
Speaker 1: aside from talent, there was an identity on the team
Speaker 1: that manifested in focus and effort on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: everybody doing their jobs. Okay, that doesn't rely on talent. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you can We're gonna talk here in second about
Speaker 1: how the absence of four words on this roster makes
Speaker 1: kind of the the five man lineups, those concoctions that
Speaker 1: they put out there and not make sense most of
Speaker 1: the time because there's just nobody that's over six five
Speaker 1: that's not either a center or Carmelo Anthony who's got
Speaker 1: cement for shoes, you know. So there there's that's a
Speaker 1: real problem. However, the lineups that are getting on the
Speaker 1: floor are not competing. That is also a fact. So
Speaker 1: you have to address those things separately. And so that's
Speaker 1: kind of what's going to piggyback into the Frank Vogel
Speaker 1: thing is you know, for whatever reason, this group is
Speaker 1: not buying in the way that previous groups did. And
Speaker 1: I want to save the Frank bit for later, But
Speaker 1: to me, that is a separate problem from the personnel.
Speaker 1: Now getting to the personnel, it's really simple because I
Speaker 1: got an argument with somebody today about how you could
Speaker 1: lose the Oklahoma City a second time, you know, right,
Speaker 1: because the first time you might be able to look
Speaker 1: at it and go, hey, efforts, right, this is an
Speaker 1: effort problem. But that second half against Oklahoma City the
Speaker 1: other night, you're only up four at halftime. I think
Speaker 1: it's eight if I remember correctly. So there's no sneaking
Speaker 1: up on you at that point. You know Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: is good. You know it's going to be a battle.
Speaker 1: So how do you go about winning that game. You're
Speaker 1: gonna you're gonna approach it with urgency, You're gonna play hard,
Speaker 1: You're gonna try not to get shown up on your
Speaker 1: home floor or by by sl just Alexander, You're gonna try.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, they still couldn't get it done.
Speaker 1: And the reason why was personnel started to become a problem.
Speaker 1: That's a real that that's that's worth bringing up here.
Speaker 1: When they would play small with Anthony Davis at the five,
Speaker 1: which is what they have to do with Ruts because Russ,
Speaker 1: as you shot tonight, cannot play that. You know, let
Speaker 1: me make all the decisions with a rim running big
Speaker 1: thing anymore just doesn't work. He's not athletic enough anymore
Speaker 1: in his decision making is nowhere near good enough to
Speaker 1: succeed like that. So he has to play with a
Speaker 1: D at the five. But the only way a D
Speaker 1: at the five works is if you have somebody that
Speaker 1: can play on the back line, that has some size
Speaker 1: and athleticism and good defensive instincts. We saw a quote,
Speaker 1: I think it was today from Frank where he said,
Speaker 1: I like playing a D alongside another big because I
Speaker 1: want him on the back line. That's what he's referring to.
Speaker 1: If a D is the only five, the only big
Speaker 1: man on the floor, and everyone else is six five
Speaker 1: or shorter, and he's defending screen and roll actions against
Speaker 1: people who can shoot like s g A, like Dame,
Speaker 1: and he's out on the perimeter. All you have is
Speaker 1: little six three six, four six, five guys running around
Speaker 1: on the back line, trying to stop somebody rolling to rim,
Speaker 1: trying to rotate and cover space and blow up stuff
Speaker 1: in passing lanes and all that stuff. So there is
Speaker 1: at the core of this a personnel problem. No matter
Speaker 1: what they did the off season, whether they had signed
Speaker 1: Rudy Gay instead of Kendrick Nunn, which was something I wanted,
Speaker 1: or whether they had gotten Healed instead of Russ and
Speaker 1: managed and managed to keep one of either k c
Speaker 1: p or Kuzman. I think, if I remember correctly, had
Speaker 1: they done the Healed trade, they would have kept one
Speaker 1: of those guys. I can't remember which one, but it's irrelevant.
Speaker 1: So the point is, even if all of that was right,
Speaker 1: if three of those four words get hurt, the team
Speaker 1: is not going to be good because at a certain
Speaker 1: point you need you need personnel to play basketball, and
Speaker 1: so I do That to me, is absolutely one of
Speaker 1: the issues. But you are correct Raj and pointing out
Speaker 1: that it's not the only issue and it can't be
Speaker 1: solely blamed you have to confront the obvious, glaring stuff
Speaker 1: that goes beyond personnel. Right. So I know you said
Speaker 1: you didn't want to talk about tonight, but I mean,
Speaker 1: we do these spaces after every game, uh, and we
Speaker 1: take notes. I'd take we both take notes on it
Speaker 1: and try to figure out what happened. So tonight, I
Speaker 1: understand what Vogel saying he wants a D on the
Speaker 1: back side, but that's just like tonight. I was pretty
Speaker 1: sure a D was going to start at the five.
Speaker 1: The Blazers start Robert Comington at the four right, which
Speaker 1: means you have nerd K as the only big and
Speaker 1: you have Damon c J running all around all these screens.
Speaker 1: So what happens? They start DJ and he starts. He's
Speaker 1: the only back line guy. A D is sitting next
Speaker 1: to Robert Covington. They're just pulling up whoever DJ's is
Speaker 1: guarding Dame. I wrote it down here. First play of
Speaker 1: the game, Dame comes off a little breast screen. They
Speaker 1: involved DJ's man wide open three switch. Next play again,
Speaker 1: DJ comes, Dame comes off another wide open three switch.
Speaker 1: I think he started three for three. Those are layups
Speaker 1: for him. I don't care what his percentages are like,
Speaker 1: those things are the type of stuff that has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with Kendrick Nunn being out, th HT being out.
Speaker 1: That's just stuff that's like that doesn't make sense for
Speaker 1: the type of game we're playing. And I totally understand
Speaker 1: this is a long play, but like I think the
Speaker 1: l f R people said it as well, we're in
Speaker 1: survival mode right now. We can't just blow games like
Speaker 1: did I think they were gonna win tonight? No, But
Speaker 1: the game shouldn't be older within five minutes to a
Speaker 1: Blazers team, you know what I mean. I know that
Speaker 1: a D went out with a D went out with
Speaker 1: stomach pains, and that's a whole another issue. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened their stomach illness or whatever. That
Speaker 1: he was kind of fifty fifty two play anyway, but
Speaker 1: we are already down. I think like twelve or thirteen
Speaker 1: when he went out of the game. I don't remember
Speaker 1: the amount they are already kicking our but I think
Speaker 1: it was like nineteen to ten when he went out.
Speaker 1: He had Robert coming up, Robert Covington on him taking
Speaker 1: a way to fade away jumpers. Joan J. Jordan's health
Speaker 1: defense is terrible staring at defensive rebounds like those just
Speaker 1: type of stuff, like you can clean up the margins,
Speaker 1: and then Russell Westbrook still just playing in an absolute
Speaker 1: phone booth. And again like if your defense can do
Speaker 1: enough to where you're playing two bigs and it matters,
Speaker 1: then that makes sense. And we just can't score. Though.
Speaker 1: That's why I thought like we should have just went
Speaker 1: Russ a D three shooters, And then when a D
Speaker 1: went out just to Russ with one center and three shooters,
Speaker 1: and I thought we looked at least competent. We still
Speaker 1: got kind of ran off the floor a ton with
Speaker 1: Russ's decision making. But that's kind of our only chance here,
Speaker 1: Like we had fifty points with I think the third
Speaker 1: quarter almost ending with a team full of guys. We
Speaker 1: supposedly switched defense for offense for right, and I think,
Speaker 1: like that's my issue here, Like I understand we're missing
Speaker 1: guys and all that, but like even I think you
Speaker 1: still kind of have to look at things game by
Speaker 1: game and just look at what's going on. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: just the execution, maybe it's the game plan, maybe they've
Speaker 1: tuned him out. I don't know. I don't really want
Speaker 1: to go to that. Really, I know we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that next, but like, that's where I'm kind of frustrated with,
Speaker 1: is that, like this non adjustment that we're doing here.
Speaker 1: Like tonight, I thought it was clear eight should have
Speaker 1: started at the five, even though he came out in
Speaker 1: the first quarter. But he didn't, and the game wasn't
Speaker 1: exactly how it thought it would. Dame got three wide
Speaker 1: open looks, put himself in rhythm, and then he was
Speaker 1: starting to take those fu three's and the game was
Speaker 1: gone by the first quarter. Really, like, do you know
Speaker 1: what I'm meaning there? Like, it's just I feel like
Speaker 1: we're not seeing I get the roster has its issues,
Speaker 1: it's just we're not maximizing the talent that we have.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that's just a long play
Speaker 1: of keeping these two bigs together. This is just another
Speaker 1: larger issue. So this is a perfect segue into into
Speaker 1: the Frank stuff, because you know, I think you and
Speaker 1: I are both big Frank apologists. Um, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest problems that I bring up to
Speaker 1: people who advocate for firing Frank is they don't understand
Speaker 1: that you're not going to find somebody better than Frank
Speaker 1: right now, you might be able to find some young
Speaker 1: coach with a lot of potential who's got you know,
Speaker 1: good uh, you know, brilliant, offensive mind or something like that,
Speaker 1: somebody who could one day potentially be that guy. But
Speaker 1: with this situation, with his veteran locker room with Lebron
Speaker 1: and maybe there's just no better option than Frank in
Speaker 1: terms of the totality of what he brings to the
Speaker 1: table in a vacuum. However, what Frank is doing right
Speaker 1: now that is undercutting this to some extent and putting
Speaker 1: himself in danger in terms of his job security, is
Speaker 1: he's being stubborn. You know what, what Frank has tried
Speaker 1: to do with this group is more or less the
Speaker 1: same than what he's done with previous groups. And the
Speaker 1: bottom line is that he doesn't have that personnel anymore.
Speaker 1: And and that that to me is one of the
Speaker 1: biggest indicators of of stubbornness, is trying to force your
Speaker 1: system on players instead of choosing a system based on
Speaker 1: your players. If that makes sense, and so you're absolutely right,
Speaker 1: you cannot do anything with Russ on the floor with
Speaker 1: two bigs. It's hard enough with Anthony Davis, with how
Speaker 1: poorly he's shooting. We talked a lot in the last
Speaker 1: pot about how he's nowhere near as good as he
Speaker 1: was in the bubble, so that already has an impact
Speaker 1: on spacing. We talked about that baseline spacing that you
Speaker 1: need for dribble creators to operate, and it's already hard
Speaker 1: enough with how poor Ad is shooting. Guys are leaving
Speaker 1: him open on the perimeter. So when you couple that
Speaker 1: with the second big it's just to poleet disaster. You
Speaker 1: look at the Rondo situation, and then even forget about
Speaker 1: second Day for a second, DeAndre Jordan's just should not
Speaker 1: be that guy that's there with Dwight Howard and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis healthy. There's absolutely no excuse in the entire world
Speaker 1: to let DeAndre Jordan see the floor, which is what
Speaker 1: we talked about all damn summer. The same thing goes
Speaker 1: with Rondo. With this group, you went bigger on offensive creation.
Speaker 1: You brought in Russell Westbrook, you brought in Malik Monk,
Speaker 1: you brought in guys like Wayne Ellington that you can
Speaker 1: run off of screens as a mix up in your offense.
Speaker 1: You don't need Rondo like you did in when nobody
Speaker 1: could put the ball on the floor other than Lebron.
Speaker 1: That was a different need with that group. And so
Speaker 1: continuing to force Rondo into these lineups and continuing to
Speaker 1: force DeAndre Jordan in the into these lineups is an
Speaker 1: indication that he's too stubborn and that he's not willing
Speaker 1: to adapt to what his current circumstances are. So that's
Speaker 1: a legitimate criticism. And then secondly, a team not buying
Speaker 1: into what he's doing, a team not attempting to run
Speaker 1: his scheme full bore, with energy and with focus, is
Speaker 1: evidence that there's possibly and I'm not saying this is happening,
Speaker 1: but there's possibly a little bit of a mental checking
Speaker 1: out sort of thing going on here. And to be clear,
Speaker 1: it is once that train gets off the tracks, it's
Speaker 1: almost impossible to get it back on the tracks. If
Speaker 1: these guys, these veteran guys in that locker room have
Speaker 1: quit on Frank, it's over. There is no version of
Speaker 1: this where it all just comes back together and it's
Speaker 1: hunky dory. If Anthony Davis has decided Frank is the
Speaker 1: bad coach for this team and it doesn't work, and
Speaker 1: he prefers David Fizdale. Then even if David Fizdale is
Speaker 1: a lesser coach in totality of what he brings to
Speaker 1: the table, he would be better for this team because
Speaker 1: as the guys would play for him. That's where it
Speaker 1: gets really delicate, because Frank is the best coach for
Speaker 1: this team, But it seems like the guys don't want it.
Speaker 1: That's just what I'm picking up too early. I think
Speaker 1: they'll wait several more games before they make that call.
Speaker 1: But that's kind of the vibe I'm picking up. So
Speaker 1: I guess my question for you, Rogers, am I coming
Speaker 1: way out of left field here? Or does that seem
Speaker 1: like something that you're picking up as well. I don't
Speaker 1: think you're way out of left field. I just am
Speaker 1: not there yet. Like there's just too many things going
Speaker 1: wrong on the basketball floor, too many line up situations
Speaker 1: that are wrong for to me to even judge if
Speaker 1: they're buying in or not, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like again, like when you have guards who don't stick
Speaker 1: with Dame coming off these screens and then you have
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan's in a dropback coverage, Like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what them buying into it more is gonna do like c. J.
Speaker 1: McCollum is gonna eat off that Damion Litter is gonna
Speaker 1: eat off that nurked uh nurked scoring on like Malik
Speaker 1: Monk because the help guy. Like to me, that's where
Speaker 1: I don't really understand it. And and know people calling
Speaker 1: for you know, Frank, some people calling for Frank's job,
Speaker 1: Like I was. I remember when you fire a coach,
Speaker 1: like in between a season, that's really tough, like to
Speaker 1: to go there is a line that I'm not there
Speaker 1: to cross yet like to go there it means like
Speaker 1: everything you did in training camp, you don't have to
Speaker 1: cross all of it out. But I mean you have
Speaker 1: a head coach that was running his system, that putting
Speaker 1: putting his philosophies, not just this year the last few years, right,
Speaker 1: I know the roster has turned over, but the core
Speaker 1: has been the same. I mean, Vogel's won a title
Speaker 1: with the team, went through this couple of training camps.
Speaker 1: Now with the team, Like if you let him go
Speaker 1: in the middle of the season, you better make damn
Speaker 1: sure you're right of that because that's a huge kind
Speaker 1: of decision to do. You put a whole new coach.
Speaker 1: I know he has assistance that probably share some of
Speaker 1: the same kind of values, Like I said, philosophies, you know,
Speaker 1: play structures, all that stuff. But once you just once
Speaker 1: you release a coach your mid season, it's a brand
Speaker 1: new kind of system now, and again you can have
Speaker 1: that excuse as well that oh, now they have to
Speaker 1: adjust to a new system. I think I think Vogel
Speaker 1: can say here. I think there are decisions and lineups
Speaker 1: and tweaks he can do that are on the basketball
Speaker 1: court that he can still switch. And again the mentally
Speaker 1: checked out thing, that's something that I just can't get
Speaker 1: to yet, Like there's just not enough. Like again, like
Speaker 1: the lineups that we're pushing out here. I understand injuries,
Speaker 1: but still like the roster, the Westbrook RHNDO lineups to
Speaker 1: me just makes zero sense at all. And I thought
Speaker 1: the Blazers, So I don't know, were you listening on
Speaker 1: Spectrum or did you hear the Blazers kind of broadcast?
Speaker 1: I had the Blazers broadcast, Okay, So I thought they
Speaker 1: were actually really great, actually kind of explaining a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff, and they made that I almost tweeted it out.
Speaker 1: They they were very fair to not like jump on
Speaker 1: the Lakers because they understood the injuries right, and I
Speaker 1: thought they made something that's pretty clear. And it's not
Speaker 1: like they said something that you know was attacked in
Speaker 1: the Lakers, but they said that the Lakers don't run
Speaker 1: a complicated system right there, They're gonna beat you with
Speaker 1: brute force and they can. They They kind of use
Speaker 1: the example of like a lebron A d pick and
Speaker 1: roll right, like you kind of know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the way vol kind of plays.
Speaker 1: He has a small set of stuff that wants to
Speaker 1: run and I think for that to work, the lineups
Speaker 1: have to fit kind of what you want to do there.
Speaker 1: And the Blazer of broadcast is saying, if they're going
Speaker 1: to keep having Russ, you know, be screened by DeAndre Jordan's,
Speaker 1: then the Blazer players are just gonna keep flying into
Speaker 1: the paint. Rust is going downhill. There's zero help that's come.
Speaker 1: You saw all these people. I think it was one
Speaker 1: for thirteen tonight. I don't know exactly what he finished
Speaker 1: with a bunch of turnovers, but again, like that's this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff that I just don't understand that I
Speaker 1: think it's still fixable. So no, I'm not there yet
Speaker 1: on that has the team tune, you know, Frank vocal out.
Speaker 1: I just can't get there yet, but I can see
Speaker 1: how you how other people have, so you're You're right.
Speaker 1: It's it's a very dark path because it does get ugly,
Speaker 1: and for there are examples of it working. I mean,
Speaker 1: no different than Lebron in two thousand and sixteen. I mean,
Speaker 1: I my the first time I paid to go see
Speaker 1: Lebron in person was in two thousand sixteen, in December
Speaker 1: in Phoenix, and I spent there money on good seats
Speaker 1: and I was sitting in the tenth row and for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, he never came out of the locker room
Speaker 1: and warm ups, and I'm like, what in the world
Speaker 1: is going on? And he ends up running out like
Speaker 1: right before the opening tip and just kind of bs
Speaker 1: is his way through. The game ends with like fourteen points.
Speaker 1: Kyrie ends up having a big game and they win,
Speaker 1: and I remember sitting there thinking like that was really weird,
Speaker 1: not just the fact that he didn't come out for warmups,
Speaker 1: but the fact that he didn't play particularly well and
Speaker 1: didn't seem to care much. And I read in Brian
Speaker 1: Windhor's book after the fact that he had gotten in
Speaker 1: an argument with David Blatt and was basically pouting in
Speaker 1: the locker room. And and that's how that all played
Speaker 1: out on that night. And it was really ugly there,
Speaker 1: and it seemed like everything was off the rails. But
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, when they fired David Blatt, everybody bought
Speaker 1: into what Tyler wanted to do. And when they did,
Speaker 1: the team took off and they won the championship. And
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna what I'm gonna do right now is
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make the case for what that would look
Speaker 1: like and why it could work. But to be clear,
Speaker 1: if it didn't go exactly like this, I think it
Speaker 1: would be a disastrous mistake. If Fizdale could do three things. One,
Speaker 1: get the guys to buy in, meaning they commit on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor, night in and night out
Speaker 1: in a way that they haven't done for Frank, if
Speaker 1: you can do that, And then too, if he can
Speaker 1: play a d at the five only and spell him
Speaker 1: with Dwight Howard in the minutes where he's off the floor,
Speaker 1: and play DeAndre Jordan only when either Anthony Davis or
Speaker 1: d White Howard misses a game. And then three, if
Speaker 1: they implemented some more modern defensive tactics, a lot more switching,
Speaker 1: particularly with lineups like the starters, like if you have
Speaker 1: russ In Baysmore and a Reza and Lebron and a
Speaker 1: d do some switching forced team to do a lot
Speaker 1: more isolation attack things along those lines. Be One of
Speaker 1: the problems with Frank here is he's trying to run
Speaker 1: this like you know, drop coverage, with guys tagging in
Speaker 1: from the outside and covering and rotating for each other.
Speaker 1: But the problem is none of these guys want to
Speaker 1: rotate and recover. So what Brooklyn did, that's so smart
Speaker 1: as they understood they had lazy defenders, and so they
Speaker 1: put a defensive scheme in that kind of caters to laziness.
Speaker 1: Switching kind of caters to laziness. In some ways. You
Speaker 1: don't have to fight through screens. You can actually make
Speaker 1: up for physical effort with mental effort. If you communicate
Speaker 1: every switch just by talking and paying attention, the physical
Speaker 1: where of the defense is lighter and easier, And it
Speaker 1: bizarrely works really well in the playoffs because it stagnates teams.
Speaker 1: It forces teams to isolate you and pick somebody on
Speaker 1: the court to try to attack one on one, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, you're choosing between Russ Bays more lebron
Speaker 1: Aresa in a d good luck like, there's no good
Speaker 1: option there for you to isolate. So if they would
Speaker 1: do that, if they would run some more modern defensive principles,
Speaker 1: if they only played single big lineups, and if they
Speaker 1: bought in all of a sudden, the Fizdale think could work,
Speaker 1: even though Fizzdale is not as good as a coach
Speaker 1: as Frank. But if it's not going to be those things,
Speaker 1: if they're gonna go to Fizzdale and do more of
Speaker 1: the same crap tons of Rondo more DJ next day
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, it will be the move that torpedoes the
Speaker 1: season because at least with Frank, you know there's a
Speaker 1: method to his madness, and I'm not sure the same
Speaker 1: could be said with Fizzdale. And and so that's kind
Speaker 1: of the delicate rope there. It could torpedo this season
Speaker 1: with chemistry. It could cause a ton of drama, and
Speaker 1: if it doesn't break perfectly right, it could go ugly.
Speaker 1: It's no, there's no guarantee. It could be the Tiler situation.
Speaker 1: If that makes sense, Yeah, for sure. Look it's been
Speaker 1: what ten games, they're what five and five now? Like
Speaker 1: just to give a little break here, for we don't
Speaker 1: even know if it's fisteal right, who who the hell knows?
Speaker 1: Like they can go on their own kind of thing
Speaker 1: and hide whoever they want. Bobel descerns some like benefit
Speaker 1: of the doubt when you win a title, when you
Speaker 1: have a proven kind of thing that works. And I
Speaker 1: got I talked about this a whole bunch, like Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel has his philosophy. He ran it, it won him
Speaker 1: a championship. But a year ago, like less barely a year,
Speaker 1: a calendar year ago, Like who's gonna go Like why
Speaker 1: why should it be him that has to change? You know,
Speaker 1: like you should be able to It's probably personnel that's
Speaker 1: the key here. He's trying to run the same system
Speaker 1: with personnel that doesn't cater to it. I totally get that,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying from his mind, like he's thinking, no,
Speaker 1: these players like your Malik Monk, you're athletic, you know,
Speaker 1: camp Baysmore, your athletic Gavey Bradley. You know you can
Speaker 1: stick on to players. We're gonna run this system. DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan you're gonna fit the archetype until we get you know,
Speaker 1: fully healthy here. Maybe when the reason starts are like
Speaker 1: that's something like I can kind of given the benefit
Speaker 1: of the doubt. I still think it's the wrong move.
Speaker 1: I think right now we are in again, like I
Speaker 1: said before survival, just need to win games here. Lebron
Speaker 1: said he's gonna be out a week. We'll see. I
Speaker 1: think there were some quotes today that like THHT and
Speaker 1: none aren't really that close, right, I think, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw that as well. I think there
Speaker 1: are clothes that they said like, yeah, they were hoping
Speaker 1: they come back soon, but they're not really that close
Speaker 1: as we thought they would be. Like this is gonna
Speaker 1: be the team for a little while. Like I think
Speaker 1: there's adjustments that have to be made. It we're gonna
Speaker 1: play a whole bunch more good teams if you think
Speaker 1: Portland's good, Like wait till we play in Miami, you know,
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, or you know all these other better teams
Speaker 1: that are coming up here. Yeah, just to give Vogel,
Speaker 1: like I think there's a little bit of benefit of
Speaker 1: the doubt you have to give. Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's fair for his first like hit of adversity to
Speaker 1: where you let him go, do you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like the first hit of like not winning, you just
Speaker 1: you just right away just put him to the side
Speaker 1: in place his replacement. That's what like bad organizations do.
Speaker 1: Right there in constant flux Lakers Lakers before they switched
Speaker 1: to this, you know, Polinka management, they went through a
Speaker 1: bunch of coaches, Mike Brown, Mike D'Antoni, uh whoever, the
Speaker 1: other coaches where they went through a roll a deck
Speaker 1: of coaches before kind of settling on Vogel and he's
Speaker 1: been the coach for a while. Like, but that's what
Speaker 1: bad organizations do. They react really quickly. They I react
Speaker 1: emotionally to you know, records or outside noise or all
Speaker 1: that stuff, and they let go of stuff. So if
Speaker 1: you're gonna let go of Frank, what would better be
Speaker 1: a damn good reason, Because I think he's still a
Speaker 1: really good coach even if the line up stuff isn't good.
Speaker 1: Right now, Like that's where I'm at with this. I'm
Speaker 1: not ready to kind of pull the plug on him.
Speaker 1: And again, like we're outside the locker room, we don't
Speaker 1: know if they're boughtened or not. All we can do
Speaker 1: is look at on the floor. It hasn't been great,
Speaker 1: But I want to give him more than ten games
Speaker 1: before I, you know, pull the plug on the on
Speaker 1: the head coach. I want to see some more fighting
Speaker 1: the players. I want to see a little bit more
Speaker 1: lineup changes as well. Like I don't want to just
Speaker 1: you know, cut the head off and then you just
Speaker 1: pretty much pulled the fire alarm if you if that happens.
Speaker 1: So what worries me with Frank in particular is that
Speaker 1: that he's not saying the right things, which makes him
Speaker 1: sound more like an insane person than than than someone
Speaker 1: who's dealing with some trouble. Like so for instance, like
Speaker 1: like if he was coming out after these games and
Speaker 1: he's like, look, guys, like I have no forwards, so
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to Jerry rig Yeah I know. But
Speaker 1: like my my point is is like him coming out
Speaker 1: and saying, uh, you know, him coming out and saying like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I know eighty at the five. You know,
Speaker 1: is comes with its benefits, but I I just prefer
Speaker 1: having him on the back line as a defender. So
Speaker 1: I I want to play with him with another big.
Speaker 1: That to me is the equivalent of being like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know she sliced my tires and egged my car,
Speaker 1: but she's super hot. Like it's like, dude, you literally
Speaker 1: sound like you literally sound like you're trying to rationalize
Speaker 1: a really bad decision. And the in the bottom line
Speaker 1: is is with the with Russ, when you made the
Speaker 1: decision to go the route of Russ, you had to
Speaker 1: immediately understand that the give and take with taking spacing
Speaker 1: away from him and to try to compensate for defensive
Speaker 1: shortcomings was gonna come with such a huge downgrade on
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball that it was gonna
Speaker 1: be an issue. And and that that, to me, is
Speaker 1: the the insanity here. Like the insanity is like how
Speaker 1: like this dude watches a lot of tape. We know
Speaker 1: he does. We know preparation is not a Frank weakness.
Speaker 1: He's not lazy. That's not his thing. Now he's watching
Speaker 1: this film and he has to see like there was
Speaker 1: another one of those places tonight where Russ got a
Speaker 1: head of scheme going to the rim is in the
Speaker 1: first half. I don't know if you remember, but he
Speaker 1: took off his left leg tried to you know, go
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and fourteen, he'd still be hanging
Speaker 1: on the rim, but he was like way short and
Speaker 1: tried to do a finger roll and left it short
Speaker 1: and missed. It's like Russ is not the level of
Speaker 1: explosive finisher that can finish in traffic anymore. That's that
Speaker 1: is gone. It's it's not going to be here anymore.
Speaker 1: He needs he needs to. When you decided to go
Speaker 1: this route, you had to understand the fact that the
Speaker 1: most you can hope for from him is that he
Speaker 1: can beat his point of attack defender and from there,
Speaker 1: from that point, you have to make the game easy
Speaker 1: for him. You have to either make it simple. Reads
Speaker 1: like I either have a layup or I'm passing to
Speaker 1: this guy at the three point line, or I have
Speaker 1: a layup or I'm throwing this lob. He's he's not
Speaker 1: even seeing the floor well enough to hit the lot
Speaker 1: passes anymore. Like tonight, he was out of control with
Speaker 1: his lot passes. It's like for every dunk because there's
Speaker 1: two turnovers, and so I guess, I guess. What I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say here is like, what's bothering me with
Speaker 1: Frank is he doesn't seem to get it like it's see,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem to me like he's guys stuck in
Speaker 1: a tough position who's forced to do things he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to do. To me, it's it strikes says, I'm uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: This situation isn't really working for me. So I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna fall back on my habits, which are this specific system,
Speaker 1: with this pacific type of personnel choice, and I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna hope for the best. That's what it kind of
Speaker 1: feels like to me. And and and that to me
Speaker 1: is is concerning. And I mean and and to be clear,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying yet, I'm not saying this should happen yet.
Speaker 1: But what I am saying is like, only the guys
Speaker 1: in that locker room, no right, My My guess is
Speaker 1: Lebron and A D and Russ probably have a group
Speaker 1: chat going, and they are they're either're either talking in
Speaker 1: a hotel room or they've exchanged a few text messages
Speaker 1: and they're either saying we're fine, just need to get
Speaker 1: guys healthy, or those three guys are looking at each
Speaker 1: other like Frank's not the one, and I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know what that is but if it's option too,
Speaker 1: if it's Frank's not the one, then make the move.
Speaker 1: What's the point in waiting, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And so that's that's where it gets tricky. Is I'm
Speaker 1: really curious, and we'll never know until the move is made.
Speaker 1: This is gonna come as a Organowski tweet, you know.
Speaker 1: But but we'll never know until the decision is made.
Speaker 1: But I just I'm cure you SA at this point
Speaker 1: as too, as to what they are thinking. And you
Speaker 1: you said, like this is you mentioned, this is really sketchy,
Speaker 1: This is really uncomfortable, right, But this is kind of
Speaker 1: this is kind of the Lebron experience. Like Lebron Is
Speaker 1: thrives in this kind of drama. He thrives it. Like
Speaker 1: almost every good season of his career comes with all
Speaker 1: this weird old drama. Two thousand eighteen, it's like, weirdly
Speaker 1: quits in January and has like an awful stretch where
Speaker 1: he barely averages like twenty two points a game on
Speaker 1: horrible shooting, and then all of a sudden, as soon
Speaker 1: as the trades happened, he just starts playing hard again,
Speaker 1: you know, And then they go all the way to
Speaker 1: the finals. Or two thousand and sixteen, you've got a
Speaker 1: coach fired. There's you know, uh in Miami in two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven, there was drama. There was drama in two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen about how he had beef with pat Riley
Speaker 1: for being cheap on on on the luxury tax. Like
Speaker 1: the Lebron thrives in drama. So like, I promise you
Speaker 1: they're not going to hold off on that decision because
Speaker 1: they think it's uncomfortable. Lebron is like, we're gonna be
Speaker 1: uncomfortable because it's gonna make us better. That's the way
Speaker 1: he looks at it, you know what I mean. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, look like I'm not saying it shouldn't get uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: If the losses start to pile up here, it's gonna
Speaker 1: get uncomfortable anyway, right, Like that's just what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Like a team that was uncomfortable, Yeah tonight, oh man
Speaker 1: down the game was over within five minutes. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like if they're like five and nine, it's gonna get uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start, you know you like these holes are
Speaker 1: tough to get out of, Like the Pelicans are one
Speaker 1: and nine, and that's probably the end of the season, right,
Speaker 1: Like just realistically, if you look at like the schedule,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna roll off enough wins to kind of
Speaker 1: catch up there. I mean you could Washington did it,
Speaker 1: but like I'm just saying last year, but like still
Speaker 1: like if the loss of Pilo up here is gonna
Speaker 1: get uncomfortable. But for me, like you were talking about
Speaker 1: like Frank Vogel's post game kind of quotes and stuff
Speaker 1: to me that like coaches know what to say in
Speaker 1: the media. To me, it's like for coaches it's more
Speaker 1: actions over their words. I've seen an enough from Vogel
Speaker 1: like this is not like I said earlier in a
Speaker 1: pod with us, like this is offering Vogels first radio,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like with the Lakers and
Speaker 1: with the media, and he knows how things they construed
Speaker 1: all the time. But like in the playoffs, I saw
Speaker 1: enough there where like I know he'll make the adjustments
Speaker 1: when they matter, and maybe he believes right now it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, and I disagree with that. I think this
Speaker 1: is a time, like this season matters. Like we traded
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff for us, We've gone in, We've
Speaker 1: gone all in into this year and as you should.
Speaker 1: When you have the superstars that you have, you're supposed
Speaker 1: to go all in. And I've seen him make enough
Speaker 1: of the adjustments. A D started at the five for
Speaker 1: a lot of the playoffs. He played the five for
Speaker 1: a lot of the playoffs. That's not I guess what
Speaker 1: I'm worried about here. It's just like the game to
Speaker 1: game adjustments aren't there, And maybe the team just isn't worried,
Speaker 1: like you said. Maybe Russ, A D and Lebron are
Speaker 1: in these group chats are like, yeah, we're cool, like
Speaker 1: this is the beginning of the season. We won't get
Speaker 1: our footing until January. Maybe that's what they feel, and
Speaker 1: us fans just kind of have to go through this, uh,
Speaker 1: go through this roller coaster season in that way while
Speaker 1: they're all chill on the other side. I don't really know,
Speaker 1: but I don't think. I don't think the losing, if
Speaker 1: it catches up, it's gonna be okay with the team.
Speaker 1: I don't think if they're five and nine after these
Speaker 1: next four games, because they very well could. Charlotte's good
Speaker 1: that we play on Monday. The Miami Heat are good.
Speaker 1: I think we play Milwaukee soon. We play these good teams.
Speaker 1: We could be like six and eleven and it's gonna
Speaker 1: get uncomfortable. Of these conversations are gonna be had. I
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about the Vogel being let go,
Speaker 1: but that stuff is gonna be run on ESPN, on
Speaker 1: Sports Center. All that stuff is gonna start if these
Speaker 1: games to game adjustments don't happen. But I see enough
Speaker 1: there where there can be adjustments to where you can
Speaker 1: start at least being more competitive in these games. The
Speaker 1: Lakers don't have a great roster out of their big three,
Speaker 1: but it's not enough to where you should be. You know,
Speaker 1: thirty five piece by Portland. They could have beat us
Speaker 1: by fifty tonight, to be honest, if they wanted to.
Speaker 1: Um if if game and c J kind of wanted
Speaker 1: to play tonight to the extent that they could have,
Speaker 1: But that shouldn't happen. We don't have a roster where
Speaker 1: that should happen. Even if eighties out. You shouldn't be
Speaker 1: losing by potentially fifty two like a Blazer team, or
Speaker 1: lose leaves consistingly. Okay, see or you know all those
Speaker 1: things that wrapped up not just tonight, the games before
Speaker 1: this as well, I'm just not seeing enough game to
Speaker 1: game adjustments. But like you said, maybe maybe the team's lost.
Speaker 1: I'm just not there yet. And you know, there's a
Speaker 1: great way to circle back to your original point, which
Speaker 1: is like you can only blame personnel for so much
Speaker 1: if if like to your point there, No, I didn't
Speaker 1: think they could come up to Portland and win tonight.
Speaker 1: I think that I didn't. I tweeted that yesterday. I
Speaker 1: thought it was pointless to even have Anthony Davis stress.
Speaker 1: You know, if this thumb is hurting, like why why
Speaker 1: give ner gets a chance to slap down on it
Speaker 1: and potentially make it worse? Like this game they can't win,
Speaker 1: Just just wave the white flag. That's what I would
Speaker 1: have done. However, they should have been able to be
Speaker 1: at least slightly more competitive than than we were, right Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, like what what do underdogs usually do in
Speaker 1: a game like that on the road, which the Lakers
Speaker 1: were an underdog, you know, without Anthony Davis. Usually they'll
Speaker 1: go in there and no compete, you know, like you're
Speaker 1: gonna win, but you're gonna have to beat us, you know,
Speaker 1: like we're gonna linger around ten fifteen points, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to put us away at some point. And
Speaker 1: that just wasn't the way this was. It just looked
Speaker 1: it was laughable. And so you know that that that's
Speaker 1: that's where it gets tricky. But I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: to the one one other note about the personnel and everybody,
Speaker 1: if you have a request, get a man. We're gonna um.
Speaker 1: As soon as I'm done with this, I'll let Rod's
Speaker 1: quick respond and then we'll start taking callers. But like
Speaker 1: you know, so you're one of the most common little
Speaker 1: one liners I've heard in the last week is this
Speaker 1: idea like, hey, how is none th hd and aresa
Speaker 1: gonna make this better? And it kind of to me
Speaker 1: that statement shows a lack of understanding of of the
Speaker 1: way basketball works. Like there when you when you actually
Speaker 1: break down the responsibilities that need to take place on
Speaker 1: the court. There's a certain amount of shock creation, there's
Speaker 1: a certain amount of isole lation scoring. There's a certain
Speaker 1: amount of perimeter defensive responsibility. There's a certain amount of
Speaker 1: rotational defensive responsibility, there's defensive rebounding responsibility. There's a bunch
Speaker 1: of jobs that need to get done on the floor.
Speaker 1: And you know, the whole point of the Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d experiment is that when the two of them
Speaker 1: are on the floor, those jobs actually become relatively easily easy.
Speaker 1: That's why going into the first season, everyone was like, oh,
Speaker 1: Danny Green, good he's watched David Bradley has washed Like cool,
Speaker 1: k CP, you know, he took this bad shot when
Speaker 1: Kobe was sitting courtside, like that was the way it
Speaker 1: was discussed. But then all of a sudden they got
Speaker 1: into the simplified roles playing alongside two stars, and they
Speaker 1: all became stars in those roles, and the and the
Speaker 1: team succeeded, and so you know that right now everything
Speaker 1: is massively compounded by the fact that Lebron's out because
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, those jobs on the periphery have
Speaker 1: become big jobs. Okay, but when Lebron comes back, everything
Speaker 1: goes back to being small jobs. And so then at
Speaker 1: that point, you know, upgrading from Wayne Ellington to th
Speaker 1: HT a guy who's actually kind of problematic at the
Speaker 1: point of attack, like good luck trying to dribble in
Speaker 1: front of him. You know, yeah, he can get lost
Speaker 1: off the ball, but he's gotten better at that as
Speaker 1: of late, and and he can provide point of attack
Speaker 1: defense like Trevor Reason like one of the better wing
Speaker 1: veteran savvy wing defensive players that we have in the league,
Speaker 1: as evidenced by the fact that everywhere he goes, he
Speaker 1: plays like twenty eight minutes a game because coaches just
Speaker 1: trust him to be in the right spot and to
Speaker 1: do the right things. That's a significant upgrade. Kendrick Nunn.
Speaker 1: Good luck ever seeing Rason Rondo on a court again,
Speaker 1: because Kendrick Nunn is getting all of those minutes. Molik
Speaker 1: Monk has really struggled offensively because he's kind of a gunner.
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn is a little bit more of a guy
Speaker 1: who can make reads out of pick and roll, and
Speaker 1: he's a little bit more savvy with his offense. That's
Speaker 1: a bit of an upgrade. So when you take all
Speaker 1: those jobs on the periphery and you put guys who
Speaker 1: are better in those spots, even if they're just a
Speaker 1: little bit better, Yeah, the reason is not an all star.
Speaker 1: T HD is not an All star. Nun's not an
Speaker 1: All star. But when Lebron comes back and those roles
Speaker 1: need to be filled and those jobs need to be done,
Speaker 1: and you get competent players in those spots. I really
Speaker 1: do think this can look a lot better. So the
Speaker 1: question if the question is whether none, th, H, T
Speaker 1: and or reason can fix this team. Yeah, if Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D are back, if Lebron and a D
Speaker 1: are playing like Lebron and a D, I absolutely think
Speaker 1: those guys are enough to make this team a championship contender.
Speaker 1: I really do think it's that simple. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I would agree with that. And again, like I think
Speaker 1: there's just it doesn't have to be two extremes right,
Speaker 1: Like it's not like they don't have to come and
Speaker 1: fix everything. And then also it's also like that's not
Speaker 1: the total issue right now as well, they definitely can
Speaker 1: fix a lot, Like it's not just those three coming back.
Speaker 1: It's also like you said, they're going to be replacing
Speaker 1: a lot of kind of negative players right now, right
Speaker 1: so you're not just kind of lose, You're not just
Speaker 1: adding three players also losing three other players, which kind
Speaker 1: of add that too much, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: in my mother, But again, like there's just a limit
Speaker 1: to here where there has to be a baseline level
Speaker 1: where you could be at least competitive, Like I'm not
Speaker 1: asking to win on the road in Portland, like you said,
Speaker 1: but I'm asking like to not get blown out by
Speaker 1: the first quarter. Like that's where like none th HD, none,
Speaker 1: th h D and a reason make a big difference
Speaker 1: in terms of rotation, Like I talked about, we're gonna
Speaker 1: get a whole new five man lineups. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: a bunch of new rotations coming, and a bunch of
Speaker 1: lineups data we're gonna get. But that that's a separate
Speaker 1: kind of issue to me than like just getting blown
Speaker 1: out by thirty in the first quarter. Like that's that's different.
Speaker 1: Those two are two separate kind of I guess they
Speaker 1: can be connected connected in some way, but there's still
Speaker 1: kind of different to me in a where like there
Speaker 1: has to be a competitiveness game night, game by game,
Speaker 1: situation by situation where you can still compete even until
Speaker 1: those guys get back because like I said, a reason,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure probably December um none in th HD,
Speaker 1: they haven't really put a concrete timetable on that. Maybe
Speaker 1: another couple of weeks, and we're gonna play a bunch
Speaker 1: of good teams here where you can't just lay down
Speaker 1: and get dog walked just because you know you're waiting
Speaker 1: for your rotation to settle in. So like that's where
Speaker 1: I'm at here, Like, I totally agree with you. Though
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a better team with those guys, I'm
Speaker 1: still not down on the team. I don't think either
Speaker 1: of us are in terms of like what they're end
Speaker 1: kind of situation can be. What they're end goal is
Speaker 1: when Lebron and a d come back. Definitely this team
Speaker 1: can still kind of win at the high level we
Speaker 1: thought it could. It's just that, like I need to
Speaker 1: see a little bit more competitiveness here. There's like not
Speaker 1: this extreme where okay, until none THHD and the Reason
Speaker 1: get back, we're just gonna get destroyed by thirty against
Speaker 1: every team like that. There has to be a middle
Speaker 1: ground there. Yeah, I know, I totally agree. Get the
Speaker 1: first color on. I'm gonna make a football analogy. Like
Speaker 1: the way I look at it, the injuries right now
Speaker 1: are like being down in the entire position group. And
Speaker 1: you know, with football, you have these skill players right
Speaker 1: like you've got your quarterback, you've got your receivers, and
Speaker 1: you've got your running back. They're the ones that make
Speaker 1: all the flashy stuff happen, but none of it works.
Speaker 1: If the offensive line can't block and so like, for instance,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys this weekend without Tyrone Smith, he's their best
Speaker 1: left tackle, and that's a huge deal. It changes everything
Speaker 1: about the way their offense works because their blind side
Speaker 1: isn't going to be protected as well. That's kind of
Speaker 1: the way I look at it for the Lakers being
Speaker 1: down all their forwards, It's like they have all their
Speaker 1: skill players, but all the guys that do the little things,
Speaker 1: the dirty work that make this whole thing function, are
Speaker 1: wearing suits, and so now instead you're relying on these
Speaker 1: players that aren't as particularly good at those things. And
Speaker 1: so it's kind of predictable that that, you know, the
Speaker 1: even though you have these talented players on the floor,
Speaker 1: people ask me today, how, how like, how is okay
Speaker 1: See more talented than the Lakers when they have Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis and Russell Westburg, And I say, people for starters,
Speaker 1: Russ isn't very good and too, you know, there's just
Speaker 1: not anybody around them that's capable of doing all the
Speaker 1: things that they need to do in order for this
Speaker 1: whole thing to work, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: let's get let's let's get a caller for sure, there.
Speaker 1: I'm here, man, I don't even know where to begin.
Speaker 1: I'll start with I'll start with I'll start with vogo
Speaker 1: um injuries. Obviously I played a big part, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean we know that. And obviously they would be
Speaker 1: better if we had the entire squad somewhat healthy. They're
Speaker 1: not even somewhat healthy. They're just they're just not healthy.
Speaker 1: My problem is with with Vogel is he's not putting
Speaker 1: players in their best positions or their best position to succeed,
Speaker 1: like Westbrook was absolute trash tonight. He's been to me,
Speaker 1: he's he's been okay um this season, but he's not
Speaker 1: being put in his and the best position to succeed.
Speaker 1: And why to me is DeAndre Jordan's The dude is cooked.
Speaker 1: Like the dude should be selling steaks in the back
Speaker 1: of this trunk at Costco. Like he's cooked. He should
Speaker 1: be done in the league. If he was cut today,
Speaker 1: nobody would pick him up. Like he's done. Alright, lob
Speaker 1: City was a great time for him. I'm glad, but
Speaker 1: he's done. Um and right now, I guess you know.
Speaker 1: Vogeo is hell bent on going big, right, He's going.
Speaker 1: He's just that's what he wants, but it's not working.
Speaker 1: It is not working at all. And you know, unfortunately
Speaker 1: brons out, We're just kind of he's just trying to
Speaker 1: make things work. But eighty after five is the answer,
Speaker 1: period And as far as we know, that was the
Speaker 1: plan up until now and and this is what we
Speaker 1: get DeAndre Jordians starting up to five and it's been
Speaker 1: an absolute trend wreck. Um. You know, another thing on
Speaker 1: Westbrook tonight, if you go to my timeline, I was
Speaker 1: pretty rough on him. I was really rough on him. Actually, Um,
Speaker 1: what I'm disappointed in the most is the fact that
Speaker 1: he tonight was an opportunity for him with a d
Speaker 1: out most of the game and Lebron out to show
Speaker 1: why this you know, the famous thing on on Lakers
Speaker 1: Twitter is that this is why they brought rust in, right,
Speaker 1: this is why they brought him in here. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: He was awful tonight. I mean, there's no there's no
Speaker 1: excuses for how he plays. And he was disengaged. It
Speaker 1: looked like he just didn't care. And tonight was disappointing
Speaker 1: because this is the night even if we lost, right,
Speaker 1: I mean whatever, it wasn't even competitive. Um, he he
Speaker 1: could have showed up tonight and and really got the
Speaker 1: team together, put some for it out there, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Instead, he regretsed he he did. He
Speaker 1: did what a normal Russell Westbrook game. He did what
Speaker 1: he did. He he is who he is, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like, I don't think he'll ever change.
Speaker 1: And I made a point to some of the homies earlier,
Speaker 1: I don't think there's been a coach that he's been
Speaker 1: under who's been able to actually get the best out
Speaker 1: of him. Maybe Dan Tony if if I'm being honest,
Speaker 1: I don't know who else has has been able to
Speaker 1: actually get the best out of rest Um. And I
Speaker 1: don't think Vogel is that guy either, And so we're
Speaker 1: kind of just stuck with Westbrook. This is this is
Speaker 1: who he is. He'll never change. And I'm really hoping
Speaker 1: once Braun gets back, you know, obviously Bronze are closer.
Speaker 1: He's going to have the ball when it matters Um.
Speaker 1: But at this point, you know, all we can all
Speaker 1: we can hope for now is just every but he
Speaker 1: gets healthy and see what we can do. But and
Speaker 1: the looking great, guys, It's all I gotta say. And
Speaker 1: we need some wings desperately, desperately, they're on the way.
Speaker 1: First of all, the most important thing that the most
Speaker 1: interesting thing you said is the guy who's selling steaks
Speaker 1: out of his trunk at Costco. That's genius. This is
Speaker 1: all I'm saying. To sell them in five packs, and
Speaker 1: no one wants to spend you know, no one wants
Speaker 1: to spend like eighty bucks on a pack of steaks.
Speaker 1: But what if the dude out front was selling single
Speaker 1: stakes for like four team bucks. Now now we're talking,
Speaker 1: So this is this is a genius idea anyway, you know,
Speaker 1: as far as the rust thing goes, this is what
Speaker 1: I was talking about earlier. Make the game easy for him.
Speaker 1: You know, he he was kind of as bad as
Speaker 1: he looked tonight, and he was utterly horrible. Um, putting
Speaker 1: Russ out there with bad basketball players is just gonna
Speaker 1: look ugly. So you know, we talked earlier in the
Speaker 1: show about simplifying Russ's job. So Russ offensively can't finish
Speaker 1: in traffic anymore. He's not a good enough passer because
Speaker 1: he's too reckless to allow him to make thirty forty
Speaker 1: of those type of you know, driving kick type of passes.
Speaker 1: Per games, you need to try to simplify the game form.
Speaker 1: If you put a D at the five and you
Speaker 1: try to play him along a D alongside a D
Speaker 1: the whole game, like mirror his minutes all minutes almost,
Speaker 1: and you put him in a situation where he's playing
Speaker 1: with a devastating rim roller and three shooters all the time,
Speaker 1: then his job can be simplified down to all I
Speaker 1: have to do is beat this guy at the point
Speaker 1: of attack, and I can either lay the ball in
Speaker 1: or kick to a shooter, like make his job easy.
Speaker 1: If you do that, I do think he can succeed,
Speaker 1: especially over the course of the season when he starts
Speaker 1: to understand what this team needs from him defensively. But
Speaker 1: it's just, you know, as much as I don't like
Speaker 1: the Russ move, which I've talked about ad nauseum on
Speaker 1: this platform, it's this isn't exactly the situation that would
Speaker 1: show us what he could do anyway. Um. I know
Speaker 1: people say like, oh, like, you get Russ to carry
Speaker 1: you and Lebron's out. There's some truth to that, but
Speaker 1: the reality is is Russ just isn't that good anymore.
Speaker 1: But in there is value in being the third best
Speaker 1: offensive player on the floor being guarded by the third
Speaker 1: best defensive player and having the ability to beat that
Speaker 1: guy off the dribble and have your team make easy
Speaker 1: plays out of that. That's you know, It's what Eric
Speaker 1: Gordon did for the Rockets for a long time. It's
Speaker 1: what Dennis Shrewder did for this team last year. Hell,
Speaker 1: it's what Rondo did for this team last or two
Speaker 1: years ago and did actually decently well, not because Rondo
Speaker 1: is very good, but just because that team was healthy
Speaker 1: and made sense on paper with their personnel, and so
Speaker 1: when you put Rondo in there in high leverage moments,
Speaker 1: he didn't have to do anything too crazy. He was
Speaker 1: attacking bench lineups. All he had to do was beat
Speaker 1: some bench guard off the dribble. And there was Danny Green,
Speaker 1: or there was Kyle Kuzmer, there was you know, Dwight Howard, whoever.
Speaker 1: It was like, again, that's the way you gotta look
Speaker 1: at Russ is not the third star, but rather the
Speaker 1: best role player, the guy that that that you don't
Speaker 1: lean on as this like heavy, heavy, heavy workload guy,
Speaker 1: but rather somebody that can succeed alongside really good players.
Speaker 1: That's the way. That's the way I see Russ actually
Speaker 1: working out in the long run. Yeah, and and A
Speaker 1: j you said tonight was an opportunity for Like, Russ
Speaker 1: has been in the league a pretty long time, and
Speaker 1: when we traded for us, we knew what we were getting, right,
Speaker 1: and this is part of the experience with it. It's
Speaker 1: going to be some bad shot selection. This is why
Speaker 1: I think last game, after the space in the last one,
Speaker 1: I said to just lean into the rust ball. And
Speaker 1: you know, Jason, you were saying people are saying that,
Speaker 1: you know you get Russ to carry the Lebron minutes,
Speaker 1: Well it's supposed to be Russ and a D carrying
Speaker 1: the non Lebron minutes, right, Russ by himself, Like tonight
Speaker 1: was probably the worst of it. Six turnovers, one for thirteen,
Speaker 1: I tweeted tonight he took thirteen shots, and I feel
Speaker 1: like two of them were like ones I would like
Speaker 1: him taking. It was a lot of just reckless forays
Speaker 1: to the rim um there flying under the screen so
Speaker 1: disrespectfully where I kind of understand it in a way
Speaker 1: right where it's like so disrespectfully how they go under
Speaker 1: that pick and he's like, I'm wide open. I kind
Speaker 1: of have to shoot those stuff. That's just gonna happen
Speaker 1: when it's rust by himself as a shock creator. But again,
Speaker 1: that's why I want to just lean into this, Like
Speaker 1: he can't play in a phone booth. He's already so
Speaker 1: already limited in terms of like his strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Like putting him in a phone booth with two centers
Speaker 1: is it just exasperates the issue with him. And you
Speaker 1: get and you're gonna get nights like tonight the way
Speaker 1: he started. Um and if it's jumpers going some nights, great,
Speaker 1: but like that's not going to be the norm. That's
Speaker 1: the exception with Russell Westbrook. That's just how it is.
Speaker 1: So hopefully, Like I thought with Lebron, it was they
Speaker 1: were starting to grow this little chemistry and which is
Speaker 1: why I said the Lebron kind of injury was so
Speaker 1: unfortunate that I thought they were kind of building a
Speaker 1: little bit to where he was kind of understanding his role,
Speaker 1: especially in late game situations where like he's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't have the ball. You know, the balls in
Speaker 1: Lebron's hands, But once Lebron's out, it's all free flowing,
Speaker 1: like it's it's Russell Westbrooks kind of. I know he's
Speaker 1: the third best player, but you know he has the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands, he's gonna be the first option, uh,
Speaker 1: when Lebron's out. So that's kind of how I saw
Speaker 1: tonight going. I wasn't really expecting him to play, you know,
Speaker 1: a crazy great game tonight. Once went out and it's
Speaker 1: just what you're gonna get with Lebron. It does look
Speaker 1: different and hopefully that's what we see. Thanks for coming
Speaker 1: on and we really appreciate it, man, Yeah, man, thank
Speaker 1: you appreciate it. Appreciate it. Man. We've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of requests here, so we try to go through these
Speaker 1: ones a little a little quicker. All right, Alan is connecting.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get a few people up here so
Speaker 1: that we don't have to wait. Appreciate everyone coming out
Speaker 1: on a on a Saturday night to hang out after
Speaker 1: that game. I'm disgusted. Are you there? Yo? What's up?
Speaker 1: What's going on? Man? I'm chilling. I'm chilling. Um. Basically, Jason,
Speaker 1: everything you said about Westbrook is like he's just a
Speaker 1: tough watch man. Like It's like, to me, the way
Speaker 1: I look at basketball is, at some point your guards
Speaker 1: have to have a base line of shop making ability, right,
Speaker 1: mm hmm, that's outside of the restricted area because like
Speaker 1: Westbrook is a power guard, but he's six three, right,
Speaker 1: Like Janice he's six and eleven. He could get away
Speaker 1: with that Lebron six nine, he could get away with that,
Speaker 1: like wings could get away with being subpar shooters. But
Speaker 1: I don't think guards can. And that's why I'm down
Speaker 1: on Westbrook and his game, and I feel like his
Speaker 1: contract doesn't match the impact, and I'm worried that that
Speaker 1: would make it harder for us to build a contending team.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's all I gotta say. You know, it's
Speaker 1: you're not wrong about anything, especially the stuff about guards
Speaker 1: being able to make stuff outside of the pain, at
Speaker 1: least as it pertains to being considered a start. This
Speaker 1: is why I look at Rus as a role player.
Speaker 1: It's something Roger and I talked a lot about on
Speaker 1: the Thursday Show, This idea that like, you know, if
Speaker 1: if something has to be catered completely to somebody and
Speaker 1: their strengths and weaknesses, and they're probably not very good,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like that I shouldn't say
Speaker 1: that very good, but that just means that's a huge
Speaker 1: differentiator between them and those that are above them. The
Speaker 1: guys that are above them can succeed in different types
Speaker 1: of circumstances. So, for instance, in that Oklahoma City game,
Speaker 1: you put Derek Favors on Anthony Davis, who Anthony Davis, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, has a tendency to rely on jump shooting
Speaker 1: at the end of games. Now maybe that was his thumb.
Speaker 1: I don't want to really dive in to it. But
Speaker 1: you put Lou Dort on Russell Westbrook, and a guy
Speaker 1: like lu Dort is so big and so strong, so
Speaker 1: athletic that Russ can't beat him one on one. And
Speaker 1: in addition to that, in screen and roll, even if
Speaker 1: you try to let him get ahead of team, he
Speaker 1: just goes underneath the screen because Russ has no ability
Speaker 1: to threaten you from the perimeter, and all he has
Speaker 1: to do is just kind of beat Russ to the
Speaker 1: spot somewhere around the rim and he can shut him down.
Speaker 1: Now let's change that scenario. Let's say Lebron's plane and
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, it's lu Dort on Lebron
Speaker 1: and Favors on Anthony Davis, and it's s g A
Speaker 1: guarding Russ s g A can't guard Russ in a
Speaker 1: one on one situation. Now he can guard him if
Speaker 1: there's six bodies in the paint, but he s A
Speaker 1: can't guard Russ one on one. That's a that's a
Speaker 1: bad matchup broke on the city. Because of how strong
Speaker 1: Russ is, he's gonna be able to basically just put
Speaker 1: his head down and go to the rim. That's the
Speaker 1: difference between being that guy who's like Gordon was to
Speaker 1: James Harden and Chris Paul as opposed to here's one
Speaker 1: of our big three. The way you got to look
Speaker 1: at it is like your job is within the context
Speaker 1: of our whole team when it's put together and healthy,
Speaker 1: is to attack lesser defenders with great spacing. And he
Speaker 1: can do that no different than any of these, you know,
Speaker 1: other tertiary offensive players do around the league, like Jordan Clarkson.
Speaker 1: You know, like Jordan Clarkson succeeds in Utah because he's
Speaker 1: primarily attacking bench players and because they set him up
Speaker 1: with fantastic spacing. Even though Jordan Clarkson is kind of
Speaker 1: a bowl in the china shop too, he's got a
Speaker 1: lot more perimeter shop making ability than Russ. But you
Speaker 1: kind of get the comparison there. That's the way that
Speaker 1: that that to me is where Russ was miscast. As
Speaker 1: you know. To me, Russ is not this is another
Speaker 1: Lebron to have out there that's gonna just just be
Speaker 1: Mr do it all on every given night. I don't
Speaker 1: see it that way. I see him as this tertiary
Speaker 1: offensive player who has superstar traits like crazy motor, the
Speaker 1: ability to impact the game as a offensive rebounder, and
Speaker 1: just as a ball of fire and energy. But at
Speaker 1: at his core role on the team, he's only going
Speaker 1: to succeed when he's attacking lesser defensive players with great space.
Speaker 1: So the only way to do that is to have
Speaker 1: your team healthy and to play single big lineups. And
Speaker 1: so I do think if they do that, the routs
Speaker 1: experiment could work in the long run, right, Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think he's wrong at all either.
Speaker 1: The contract thing is what it is, Like he's not
Speaker 1: a superstar anymore, or at least he if he if
Speaker 1: he was one, maybe in Oklahoma City, but yeah, he's
Speaker 1: definitely not that and the but the contract is what
Speaker 1: it is. I don't want to think about that for now.
Speaker 1: Like this is the thing that we had, this is
Speaker 1: the this is the team that we have. I still
Speaker 1: think there's things they can do, like like they did
Speaker 1: in Houston. I thought they did. They did lot of
Speaker 1: like where they inverted the offense where p J. Tucker
Speaker 1: was the five to where like Rusking where p J.
Speaker 1: Tucker kind of switched Russ his position where Uss can
Speaker 1: be in the dunker spot and stuff like that and
Speaker 1: you can run. They did stuff in the Memphis game
Speaker 1: that I thought was good process or Russ was the
Speaker 1: screener for Lebron, Like, I think there's things that you
Speaker 1: can do. But you're right, he's no longer the superstar,
Speaker 1: you know, who makes the forty million dollars, who's supposed
Speaker 1: to carry the team. That's just not who he is anymore.
Speaker 1: You can't finish at the rims as he used to.
Speaker 1: He doesn't get the same type of lift he does
Speaker 1: on attacks. But there's more than I think we've seen,
Speaker 1: and I think there's stuff that look actus to Russ
Speaker 1: kind of is what this season is about to me now,
Speaker 1: like that you've traded for him, you have to have
Speaker 1: him fit, Like that's what this season revolves around. Like
Speaker 1: that's not the greatest. That's not ideal, like you want
Speaker 1: to kind of fit everything around Lebron in a D.
Speaker 1: But that's just what the season we have now is
Speaker 1: that we have to fit around him, and these two
Speaker 1: big lineups I think is the first thing that has
Speaker 1: to go fit playing him a lot of minutes next
Speaker 1: to a D like there shouldn't. I don't like these
Speaker 1: line ups either, where it's like Russ in one center
Speaker 1: that's not a D, like running our second units. I
Speaker 1: don't think that's enough either. But you're right, like Russ
Speaker 1: isn't this is what you're gonna get, especially when it's
Speaker 1: without Lebrons. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with you said there.
Speaker 1: I just still think there's ways it can work that
Speaker 1: we haven't seen yet. All Right, I appreciate y'all for
Speaker 1: letting me on podcast. Are we really appreciate you and
Speaker 1: your support man. We'll be back on Monday night. All right,
Speaker 1: let's see h D Are you there? Yes, sir? What's
Speaker 1: going on? From them? What's going on? So? My thing
Speaker 1: is basically we're like you know, looking at like basically
Speaker 1: every other like elite point guard in the league, like
Speaker 1: they like everybody has a floater and like that's like
Speaker 1: absent and was Bruce game like the whole like like
Speaker 1: the whole thing, And like, I mean obviously Was has
Speaker 1: been playing for a while and like he he knows
Speaker 1: he like he knows how to play, but like when
Speaker 1: he gets out there, it seems like he just forgets everything,
Speaker 1: like everything's out the window. Yeah, So it's just it's
Speaker 1: just kind of hard to watch, like just him just
Speaker 1: constantly getting outplayed by guards that he's basically paid to
Speaker 1: play better than, or ship or he's portrayed better there
Speaker 1: type of thing. So do you think Was stays for
Speaker 1: the season. Oh? Man, I don't think there's any chance
Speaker 1: he's gone. Uh. I mean, I like his trade value
Speaker 1: is lower right this moment than it's ever been. So
Speaker 1: your best your best case scenario would be finding some
Speaker 1: team in the off season that has a ton of
Speaker 1: cap space but can't get a free agent and would
Speaker 1: be willing to fill up their tax space or their
Speaker 1: cap space to throw you, like to just to throw
Speaker 1: you a bone, but you're you're probably not gonna get
Speaker 1: player is back. Like, why in the world would you
Speaker 1: want to trade you know, a bunch of movable contracts
Speaker 1: for one that's immovable unless you're literally you know, it's
Speaker 1: just there's no way like Russ is here for better
Speaker 1: or worse. That's the reality. That's the reality. And you know,
Speaker 1: I thought the part the point you made about him
Speaker 1: not really having a lot of the polish that his
Speaker 1: peers at the position have is really interesting because like,
Speaker 1: the bottom line with Russ is like he's always been this.
Speaker 1: The difference is he at one point was so unbelievably
Speaker 1: nuclearly athletic that all of the you know, it's always
Speaker 1: been a trade off of good and bad with Russ, right,
Speaker 1: like here's all the good place, here's all the bad place.
Speaker 1: But in the past he was so unbelievably athletic that
Speaker 1: there were more good plays than there were bad plays.
Speaker 1: But the bad was always there, even at his absolute peak.
Speaker 1: If you watch for us in the playoffs in two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen and two thousand fourteen, even in two thousand twelve,
Speaker 1: it's all running around like a chicken with his head
Speaker 1: cut off. It's just pure, unrelenting ball of energy just
Speaker 1: being fired at the opponent, and sometimes it hurts your
Speaker 1: own team. That's always been the way he is. But
Speaker 1: now he's regressed so much as an athlete that when
Speaker 1: you have him as the focal point, the bad outweighs
Speaker 1: the good. But like that, all those things you're talking about,
Speaker 1: like floaters and in between game and slowing down and
Speaker 1: making reads and stuff like that, that was never his game.
Speaker 1: He's always been He's never been like a read and
Speaker 1: react guy. He's always been a just react guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was never his game. But I thought there was
Speaker 1: more finesse in his game than I've seen, and maybe
Speaker 1: just wasn't watching Okay See or Houston as close enough.
Speaker 1: But he used to be a better jump shooter. But
Speaker 1: that's pretty much it. That's pretty much. There was no
Speaker 1: floater or anything like that. Yeah, and that mid range
Speaker 1: pull up used to be his shot. I remember when
Speaker 1: we played them in the playoffs that like transition, just
Speaker 1: pull up around the mid range, jump high as hell
Speaker 1: on that jump shot. Now it's all off. His form
Speaker 1: looks all weird. Um. But we talked earlier in the
Speaker 1: show about like how you know, firing Olga will be
Speaker 1: the fire alarm, right, Trading Russ would be the house
Speaker 1: burned down. Like that's that's what that's what Trading Russ
Speaker 1: would be for this season. And like I don't know
Speaker 1: if you get I don't know if you got to
Speaker 1: catch um Shanning Fry Before the game, he was on
Speaker 1: NBA TV and he was saying that in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: you know, they should, you know, have Russ come off
Speaker 1: the bench. I'm telling you right now that's not happening either.
Speaker 1: Like the rust is gonna be starting. Um, he's gonna
Speaker 1: starting all these playoffs, all the playoff games, like we
Speaker 1: have to make this work. There's no trading Russ. Maybe
Speaker 1: in the off season. Again, that's not something I want
Speaker 1: to even entertain right now, Like I kind of want
Speaker 1: to live in this season still. But yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: why I don't see happening. But you're right, there's no
Speaker 1: mid range game. There's like it's either a mid range
Speaker 1: pull up or it's you know a three when it's
Speaker 1: a bad transition three, or it's like trying to get
Speaker 1: to the rim finish around three people with less finesse
Speaker 1: than I feel like he's had. I know, you said
Speaker 1: he didn't have a float or but he used to
Speaker 1: have these like finishes at the rim where you get
Speaker 1: to the basket, jump in the air, still be able
Speaker 1: to get contact finished at the basking in a way
Speaker 1: that was like efficient enough, and it's because he was
Speaker 1: getting higher Rod still Like I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: feel like when I was watching, when I would when
Speaker 1: the Lakers would play Russell Westbrook before, there was times
Speaker 1: where he would come out of our bigs and just
Speaker 1: score on us at will. And right now Nurs he
Speaker 1: had nothing for him. Like you try to finish the
Speaker 1: left it looked all ugly. He's he's staring, he's screaming
Speaker 1: at the ref every time like it just like it
Speaker 1: hasn't looked pretty there. Maybe the finishing gets better hopefully
Speaker 1: as we go on. Maybe that's just mean being an optimist,
Speaker 1: but yeah, Russ isn't going anywhere for sure, and it's
Speaker 1: really quickly. My theory with his poor jump shooting is
Speaker 1: like I he obviously doesn't work as hard at it
Speaker 1: as some of his peers. That goes without saying you
Speaker 1: just simply would be better. However, I think I think
Speaker 1: like jump shooting for anybody out there who who who
Speaker 1: has had some success in the past Nike making shots
Speaker 1: and basketball games, jump shooting is all about like taking
Speaker 1: the chaos and slowing it down for a second for
Speaker 1: you to get balanced and and try to repeat a
Speaker 1: muscle memory thing. And so that kind of thing just
Speaker 1: doesn't cater into a skill set because he's so bull
Speaker 1: in a China China shop. Everything is a hundred miles
Speaker 1: an hour all the time. That kind of thing just
Speaker 1: doesn't mesh well with jump shooting. Jump shooting is all
Speaker 1: about trying to control yourself. You're trying to go straight
Speaker 1: up and down, you're trying to be balanced, You're trying
Speaker 1: to slow yourself down in a lot of ways. And
Speaker 1: so I think that's that's my theory as to why
Speaker 1: he's never been a really good jump shooter at the
Speaker 1: guard position for sure. Yeah, and hopefully that that picks
Speaker 1: up here. And we haven't done him a lot of
Speaker 1: favors either, Like I keep talking about, like I don't
Speaker 1: think we can start these two bigs. He's playing in
Speaker 1: a phone booth, and that's tough for any player. It's
Speaker 1: tough for Lebron sometimes. Even right, we talked about how
Speaker 1: Lebron becomes a jump shooter when we start too big,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, that just exasperates his issue. But d I
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming up man, Alright, everybody. That's the end
Speaker 1: of part one. Of this podcast again. This is gonna
Speaker 1: air on DASH Radio on Monday morning at seven am.
Speaker 1: Part two. You will be Mr Rouche from Houston Rockets Twitter.
Speaker 1: Come and hang out with Roger and I at the
Speaker 1: end of the show. Thank you guys so much for
Speaker 1: listening and we will see you on Monday