Speaker 1: Hmmm here it was popping. What's up man? You are
Speaker 1: officially locker room episil Oh, John, dude, We're good. We're
Speaker 1: just we're trying not to dive too deep in anything,
Speaker 1: so so we could wait for you to get on board.
Speaker 1: But first of all, thank you all for coming to
Speaker 1: hang out and join. I'm super stoked to have Mr
Speaker 1: Jason Maples joining us tonight, one of my favorite Lakers guys.
Speaker 1: I'm not afraid to tell the blunt and honest truth,
Speaker 1: which I think is what is needed from time to time.
Speaker 1: But I thought that was a super interesting game. Uh.
Speaker 1: Rogers just asked, and Jason, I think we could start
Speaker 1: with you. Uh. You know, I've been kind of onto
Speaker 1: this for a while, but Dallas is a lot better
Speaker 1: than their record shows, and they've been winning about sixty
Speaker 1: five percent of their games for a while now, um,
Speaker 1: and they're more or less kind of more on the
Speaker 1: tier of what you know, Denver has been most of
Speaker 1: the season if you look at them through the lens
Speaker 1: of what they've been lately. So I think people have
Speaker 1: a little bit of a twisted interpretation how good they are.
Speaker 1: What's your thought on Dallas? How good do you think
Speaker 1: they are um and do you think that they pose
Speaker 1: a threat to anybody? Uh? Yeah, I agree. Actually tweeted
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, I was like, what is what
Speaker 1: is Dallas missing to get to the next level? So
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot better They started off
Speaker 1: really slow. I think a lot of you have to
Speaker 1: do with Lucas conditioning. You know, he kind of used
Speaker 1: their engine and Porzingis was out also, Yeah, exactly, so
Speaker 1: once Luca got in NBA game shape just kind of
Speaker 1: took off. He's their engine. He's probably one of the
Speaker 1: five best offensive players basketball as far as carrying team.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, but I just I don't think, well,
Speaker 1: my I think they're gonna lose in the first round.
Speaker 1: But that is more of a not to how good
Speaker 1: the West is, not how bad their team is. Just
Speaker 1: it's just so deep in the West. Those top four
Speaker 1: teams are just you know, either any one of the
Speaker 1: four teams, you know, you could get to the finals.
Speaker 1: So it's just tough for Dallas to break into that,
Speaker 1: uh top four. The missing something I don't know whether
Speaker 1: it's a wing, uh, a reliable second option of the
Speaker 1: size sports he gets, but they're missing something to break
Speaker 1: into that. You know, top four a lot of teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they need like another ball handler right to go with Luca.
Speaker 1: He's pretty much created everything. But man, they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a tough cover I was saying it before you got
Speaker 1: in here. I have to say Maples now because there's
Speaker 1: two Jason's in here, Maples. But yeah, they're tough cover man.
Speaker 1: The way that they space the floor right if their
Speaker 1: shooters are going, and then the way that Luca he
Speaker 1: gets the calls so you can't even really touch him,
Speaker 1: and then he just controls off ball strings, pick and roll,
Speaker 1: be dry as he knows exactly where everyone is on
Speaker 1: the floor. That they're tough cover man. There's a reason
Speaker 1: why they took that Clippers team to I think six
Speaker 1: last year without porzingis Um. I feel like they could
Speaker 1: do the same again this year if those two teams
Speaker 1: are matched up like I think, they're just a really tough,
Speaker 1: tough team. And lucas a superstar already. What two It's crazy.
Speaker 1: He's incredible that he'd even scored the first quarter and finish. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he came in and controlled the game. He also poses
Speaker 1: yet another one of those examples of like the bigger,
Speaker 1: stronger win, like Cruso did a really good job with
Speaker 1: him at the end of the fourth quarter, but there
Speaker 1: were quite a few times in that game where he
Speaker 1: got him into that ten fifteen foot zone and there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of that Lebron effect where like you
Speaker 1: can't help because Luca is just gonna burn you every
Speaker 1: time if you do, and he would just kind of
Speaker 1: bump Cruso and get to his little like one like
Speaker 1: fade away or turn around a little push shot, and
Speaker 1: like that's the kind of problem. That's the one week
Speaker 1: spot and then otherwise super elite Laker defense is just
Speaker 1: those bigger, like those bigger ball handlers that can take
Speaker 1: advantage of the fact that the Lakers have kind of
Speaker 1: prioritized quickness and effort in a little bit less size
Speaker 1: on the perimeter as opposed to kind of a Clippers
Speaker 1: esque you know, all wings everyone's six eight and above
Speaker 1: kind of kind of yeah, but you know what, you
Speaker 1: know what I know, and I tweeted at the end
Speaker 1: of the game, you know the defensive issues that that
Speaker 1: were raised, they get they get a race with with
Speaker 1: a d at the five about it just he's just
Speaker 1: able to switch and Lucas not able to body him. Okay,
Speaker 1: the same bout of space, and he just makes Luca's
Speaker 1: life a living hill off the switch in my opinion
Speaker 1: when it matters. So I don't think they'll be seeing
Speaker 1: like Luca just rose to the Lakers drop coverage. But
Speaker 1: that's all you can do with jumping the trails out there.
Speaker 1: You know they're not gonna get up his switch. But
Speaker 1: A d is going to give the Lakers a switching
Speaker 1: option in a chappion option as well. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the way the Lakers defend those type of
Speaker 1: actions completely changes in the playoffs. You're right, And I
Speaker 1: want I want to pay Denver Dallas a quick compliment
Speaker 1: here because, like I think there are a couple of
Speaker 1: teams recently that have made the you know, trades in
Speaker 1: the off season that we're obviously going to hurt them
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but that we're going to make
Speaker 1: them better in the long run. Like Dallas kind of
Speaker 1: overwent like an identity change, like hey, we're gonna trade
Speaker 1: Curry for Josh Richardson because we know we couldn't defend
Speaker 1: well enough in the postseason to compete, you know, And
Speaker 1: they understood that there was going to be growing pains
Speaker 1: because the the overall offensive, you know, identity of the
Speaker 1: team changes with that. Casteth Curry is one of the
Speaker 1: best shooters in the league, you know. And then it's
Speaker 1: no different than Milwaukee trading all those all their depth
Speaker 1: for Drew Holiday. Like they knew that was going to
Speaker 1: hurt them in the regular season because they thrived on
Speaker 1: their depth. But both of those teams now are starting
Speaker 1: to peak because their identity is kind of built to
Speaker 1: succeed at this phase of the season when the teams
Speaker 1: all really know who they are and and they're going
Speaker 1: for more of a postseason type of identity. Yeah, what
Speaker 1: do you guys think of how they started the game,
Speaker 1: because we kind of got a peak right into how
Speaker 1: Bogo thinks about defending them. He put KCP on Perzingis
Speaker 1: right to start, and then they just trapped Luca and
Speaker 1: then had a d Like you said, Maple is kind
Speaker 1: of free roaming around and be able to He got
Speaker 1: some steals in the beginning, and then Luca kind of
Speaker 1: was able to take over after that. But I thought
Speaker 1: like that was a really good force quarter when they started.
Speaker 1: They defended well to open. I think they went up
Speaker 1: like fourteen or six or something like that. So what
Speaker 1: do you guys think about their kind of putting a
Speaker 1: KCP on perzine is and then kind of trying to
Speaker 1: scheme him out that way, um, trying to just trap
Speaker 1: him every time. Uh well, I'll say a lot of
Speaker 1: teams do that with Ports because then they don't think
Speaker 1: he's the toughest guy. So a lot of teams go
Speaker 1: small against it. I think it's kind of standard, but
Speaker 1: I agree that that, you know, that's probably what it's
Speaker 1: probably a smart thing to do, this smart small home
Speaker 1: Ports gift his post up. I got a double check,
Speaker 1: but it's I don't know how good it's post up,
Speaker 1: you know, p P P is. So I think that
Speaker 1: might have been trying to you know, force that action.
Speaker 1: It bakes them be in the posting up because it's
Speaker 1: not a strong sort of lagers are really good about,
Speaker 1: you know, making you do things that you're not comfortable with.
Speaker 1: His office. That's why they're one of the you know,
Speaker 1: the best defensive the NBA. So I think that's what,
Speaker 1: you know, the latter thing he was there. He's been
Speaker 1: a little bit better posting up this season. Zach What
Speaker 1: was talking about it on one of his podcasts recently. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's not in a ton of volume, but he's
Speaker 1: been relatively efficient compared like last year he was absolutely horrible.
Speaker 1: But I mean you're right, like it's it's perception versus reality,
Speaker 1: Like everybody on the floor, even though it may be
Speaker 1: a successful play in the limited times that they actually
Speaker 1: do it, you'd rather have that Dallas offense, which is
Speaker 1: so difficult to guard when Lucas, you know, doing all
Speaker 1: his wizardry. You'd rather have kp you know, posting up
Speaker 1: with everyone else just kind of standing around and watching him.
Speaker 1: It's like a stagnation kind of thing. Um. One of
Speaker 1: the things that I thought was interesting and I'm interested
Speaker 1: to hear you guys just take is like there was
Speaker 1: a little bit of that vibe from the season opener
Speaker 1: last year where it was like they just throw the
Speaker 1: ball down to a D and everybody kind of kind
Speaker 1: of stands around and and I don't understand why you
Speaker 1: would ever do that with like Drummond on the floor,
Speaker 1: because there's just no space for him to be physically aggressive.
Speaker 1: And it's been it's been the most frustrating thing about
Speaker 1: that for the last two years is when they post
Speaker 1: up a D because we all want him to post
Speaker 1: up a D, but they seem seemingly do it strategically
Speaker 1: at the worst times. Well, I think tonight it was
Speaker 1: more so. There was an emphasis on getting just Anthony's
Speaker 1: legs back. Yeah, getting a D back into the flow.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that's gonna be a thing when
Speaker 1: it when it when a history fan. But as you said,
Speaker 1: it has been, let's just cross our figure. I thought
Speaker 1: him going through for ten it was super predictable, like
Speaker 1: and I don't mean that as like an eighties garbage
Speaker 1: kind of thing. I just mean like he's a very
Speaker 1: rhythm oriented type of player, and like you just gotta
Speaker 1: let him get out there and get his reps until
Speaker 1: it feels comfortable and confident. Again, absolutely agree with I
Speaker 1: think I think they were just trying to get him,
Speaker 1: like you said, Maples his legs under him right and
Speaker 1: just try to get try to get a couple of
Speaker 1: jump shots up. Um. I would like to him to
Speaker 1: run a little bit more screen roll action with shooter,
Speaker 1: but I think they will come as we go here.
Speaker 1: But it was good to see him just move around.
Speaker 1: He had like a shot big drive on Willie Calli
Speaker 1: Stein where I think showed like he was pretty comfortable
Speaker 1: moving around today, So I think that's all that really
Speaker 1: mattered today that he looked. He looked okay and didn't
Speaker 1: get getting get hurt again, So he looked good. So
Speaker 1: I got a question for you guys, So uh with
Speaker 1: if you I, I personally have been super impressed by uh,
Speaker 1: Dennis and KCP lately. And what I think is good
Speaker 1: about that is the fact that you know, we've seen
Speaker 1: th HTV up and down. We've seen Treads once again
Speaker 1: kind of have a rough night tonight. You know, Drummond
Speaker 1: has been up and down. But like I would argue,
Speaker 1: and I'm interesting here, what you guys think, I would
Speaker 1: argue that those guys are way less important for the
Speaker 1: postseason run than Dennis and KCP. Those are two guys
Speaker 1: is that they're absolutely gonna have to lean on in
Speaker 1: all of their best lineups and and wins or losses.
Speaker 1: At this point, seeing those two guys both peaking is like,
Speaker 1: absolutely amazingly encouraging. So what have you guys thought about
Speaker 1: what you've seen from Dennis during the stretch will serve
Speaker 1: with Jason um Dennis. You know, James, we've talked before.
Speaker 1: I've always been super high on Dennis, even through the
Speaker 1: rough offensive uh stretch he went through. I just think
Speaker 1: having somebody aside from Lebron who can put pressure pressure
Speaker 1: of the rim constantly. I just think there's no there's
Speaker 1: no way that's a negative, you know, regardless of sometimes
Speaker 1: the turnovers or the you know, the tough finishing. I
Speaker 1: just think have somebody besides the Brown who can do
Speaker 1: that is good and it makes the non Lebron minutes
Speaker 1: more manageable. Having somebody who could break down the defensive
Speaker 1: of always gonna be teen Dennis's especially good to see
Speaker 1: the jump shot come around lately. That's just actually going
Speaker 1: to the cake, you know, that's just you know, keeping
Speaker 1: the floor spread. It makes his speed that much more,
Speaker 1: you know, of a factor, because you can't just sack
Speaker 1: off because he's making jump shots in k P. It's
Speaker 1: just we'll see which one we get. Man. It's just
Speaker 1: he's had his cold. He's had his cold. Hopefully, just
Speaker 1: you have the playoffs, we get the just the correct
Speaker 1: you know, tide volume version, the good version. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: speaking at the right time, right like the playoffs are
Speaker 1: coming with like a month away. I think this is
Speaker 1: his third strade game with I think at least five threes,
Speaker 1: so that's really so he's really starting to pick it up.
Speaker 1: And then Dennis Man, he just he looks tired though
Speaker 1: at the end of the end of games, kind of
Speaker 1: because he's kind of running everything. But yeah, when the
Speaker 1: brunt and he gets eight, you get back and you
Speaker 1: have all the attention on them, and then he can
Speaker 1: run high screening screen action and be able to get
Speaker 1: to his mid range pull up. He looks a lot
Speaker 1: more aggressive nowadays. Right. He was really trying to get
Speaker 1: the team going, and he got them back in it
Speaker 1: after they could have really let that let that game away.
Speaker 1: So he's playing good, both of them. They got like
Speaker 1: what fifties fifty five points out of the backcourt tonight,
Speaker 1: which should have been enough, but they just didn't get
Speaker 1: enough shooting around them. But yeah, Dennis looked good going
Speaker 1: into the going into the playoffs too, So we get it.
Speaker 1: Getting our back layer starting back layer going as the
Speaker 1: two stars come back should be good. I thought you
Speaker 1: played really well today, do you guys? What's what's the
Speaker 1: timetable for Labron coming back? Is there anything? Officially? It
Speaker 1: was just all speculation. So he said that they had
Speaker 1: that report that came out that said he's doing light shooting. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know that anybody has an official timeline, but
Speaker 1: like the thing is is that like things kind of
Speaker 1: broke absolutely perfectly for the Lakers. And and I know
Speaker 1: it sounds crazy to say, because I feel we obviously
Speaker 1: you'd like to be the one seed, you'd like that
Speaker 1: homeboard advantage, all that good stuff, But to catch Denver
Speaker 1: in the first round, which it looks like the Lakers
Speaker 1: should be able to control that because there's enough of
Speaker 1: a gap between them and uh in Dallas in Portland
Speaker 1: that even if it got a little closer, they could
Speaker 1: put their foot on the gas and kind of build
Speaker 1: that gap back up. They're going to catch Denver without
Speaker 1: Murray in the first round, then they're going to get
Speaker 1: one of the x Utah teams in the second round,
Speaker 1: and they'll be able to play the Clippers late in
Speaker 1: a series where they're basically gonna have home court advantage
Speaker 1: the whole time. And like, and they're generally speaking, you
Speaker 1: trust Lebron on the road, so like they basically sacrificed
Speaker 1: home court advantage as a result of these injuries. I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily see the point. I think we would have
Speaker 1: already seen Lebron if the situation is more dire, I
Speaker 1: think if they were in the plan, he would have
Speaker 1: been already playing. That's my opinion on it. And I
Speaker 1: think I think that like the example i'd us is
Speaker 1: like Clay Thompson, Like Clay Thompson had a high ankle
Speaker 1: sprain in the finals and played two nights later. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that Lebron's wasn't a little worse than that,
Speaker 1: But I mean, he's pushing what like six weeks now,
Speaker 1: like I think, I think, I think, I think he's
Speaker 1: really been Like I think, I think they they've been
Speaker 1: reading the situation in the standings, and they like where
Speaker 1: they are, and I think they realize now that like,
Speaker 1: why the hell not take it a little easy here
Speaker 1: and bring back almost like you know, you know, Maple's.
Speaker 1: You and I talked right before the bubble, if you remember,
Speaker 1: we talked about that ramp up in those seeding games
Speaker 1: and were worried about whether or not Lebron would be
Speaker 1: able to do it because we said, he's never done
Speaker 1: this before, if you remember, And ironically, it's basically shaping
Speaker 1: up to be more or less the same thing Lebron
Speaker 1: is gonna come back with eight or nine games left
Speaker 1: in the season. He's gonna do this blitz end of
Speaker 1: a regular season style and then drop right into a
Speaker 1: postseason run. And weirdly he just did that. So like
Speaker 1: it's almost perfect. But I think that's I think he's healthy.
Speaker 1: I think he's just been taking his time for those reasons.
Speaker 1: The standing's breaking out and the fact that he knows
Speaker 1: he can do this type of physical ramp up timeline. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I agree with that. It's just I had
Speaker 1: the same thing with the Nets. I just like at
Speaker 1: some point there's you know, your touring online between continuity
Speaker 1: and rest that they're only concerned like you got like
Speaker 1: drumming is a big piece, Like he's only big piece
Speaker 1: because you brought him in the start, so you have
Speaker 1: to get there's gonna be an adjustment period with him
Speaker 1: and Lebron and a D playing together. I'm a little
Speaker 1: bit concerned with the space and you can aspected that
Speaker 1: usually when there's a big another big in there, a
Speaker 1: D tis to settle a little more for for some times.
Speaker 1: So that's like one of the concerns I have. Also,
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron lefs to put pressure on the rim,
Speaker 1: so I think, you know, drummondeds and learn how to
Speaker 1: work around that. So I think that's you know, the
Speaker 1: things I need to the thing to you know, kind
Speaker 1: of practice with with live bullets, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: speak before we uh, you know, going right to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's my only concern. This is everything I happened, And
Speaker 1: I think it's why the netural toast actually because they
Speaker 1: only played seven years their guys at least the Lakers
Speaker 1: haven't playoff last year to bank on where their main
Speaker 1: guys played together. And you still got KCP, who's Caruso.
Speaker 1: You know, a bunch of guys who have been there,
Speaker 1: so they have more of a found dation. So you know,
Speaker 1: try this you know late push thing. Yeah, I'm with
Speaker 1: I'm in Maples there. I feel like there's a continuity
Speaker 1: that you have to try to build um with this
Speaker 1: new team. And also Jason timp I know, yeah, there
Speaker 1: you go. Lebron doesn't look like a guy who's gonna
Speaker 1: just sit out if he's healthy, right, Like, I'm sure
Speaker 1: they're being really careful. I'm sure they're really careful with it,
Speaker 1: but I feel like he's a guy that wants to
Speaker 1: play if you can. Um. I guess the good thing
Speaker 1: about Lebron and a D is they build up all
Speaker 1: their continuity last year. Right. We had a Charles Barkley
Speaker 1: go on and say he picked the Blazers in Denver
Speaker 1: to beat them. No cons no kind of there's no continuity.
Speaker 1: But I mean they had a season's worth of it
Speaker 1: last year, right, so that's what they can bank on
Speaker 1: going forward. That's a difference to me to the Nets,
Speaker 1: who I know you said they're cooked, but I still
Speaker 1: think they make the finals. They're just too much talent there.
Speaker 1: But like, at least the Lakers have that continuity they
Speaker 1: built from a last season that the Nets don't really have, right,
Speaker 1: I think they played like seven games together or something.
Speaker 1: But deal man that that talent go ahead, it's just
Speaker 1: so more or less. I I think that there's a
Speaker 1: difference between offensive continuity and defensive continuity. Like you know,
Speaker 1: the Lakers already defend I checked right before the game
Speaker 1: their fourth and defense since Lebron went down, and that's
Speaker 1: with a couple of recent not so great performances. They
Speaker 1: already defend. Lebron and Nadi are already high i Q
Speaker 1: defenders that can slot in and then Lebron is a
Speaker 1: really high i Q player that can slot in and
Speaker 1: solve all of their problems. Like think, look at the
Speaker 1: post or the pick and roll passing. Tonight it was
Speaker 1: mostly horrible, like like Shrewder does an okay job, but
Speaker 1: there's balls flying off a knees, there's balls flying off
Speaker 1: a noses, like like Caruso sometimes doesn't know what to
Speaker 1: do when he gets in there. They're gonna be switching
Speaker 1: from that to arguably one of the top two or
Speaker 1: three pick and roll passers of all time. Like literally,
Speaker 1: so the the i Q fit is going to be
Speaker 1: such an aatur fit. When I look at the nets,
Speaker 1: I think that think about it the same way. And
Speaker 1: Katie said this on the on that podcast that he
Speaker 1: did UH recently with with Banski. He basically said like, like,
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about our fit because we're all high
Speaker 1: Q players, And I agree with him, I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't worry about their ability to get it to go offensively.
Speaker 1: It's just defensively, Like they that group because their core lineups,
Speaker 1: when they're all paying playing forty minutes at night, their
Speaker 1: core lineups are all gonna have harden kyree kd that
Speaker 1: trio has to learn how to guard and how to
Speaker 1: get stops, and they have that. That takes, like, dude,
Speaker 1: that takes frustration. That takes you getting scored on a lot.
Speaker 1: Before guys started looking at each other and holding each
Speaker 1: other accountable and starting to anticipate things and being in
Speaker 1: the right spot at the right time, extra effort, plays,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Like, there's gonna be some growing pains there.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what ends up getting them beat
Speaker 1: in the postseason is just extremely sloppy defense from the
Speaker 1: guys who haven't been playing much in this stretch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now you gotta be on a string man, and that
Speaker 1: takes time. So that's why I think they're Their downfall
Speaker 1: would be you know, people are laughing at me, but
Speaker 1: I just take it with Philly Bath. I got a
Speaker 1: real quick question for you there at Maples. So, like,
Speaker 1: we already know what Ben Simmons degenerates into in the postseason,
Speaker 1: which is basically a dunker spot guy and a guy
Speaker 1: who can score in transition against bad teams in the
Speaker 1: first round, but um, their other star is really really
Speaker 1: dependent on getting to the free throw line, and like
Speaker 1: you watch him when he gets a step on the dude,
Speaker 1: he's not trying to bump you off to go up.
Speaker 1: He's trying to get into you, extend his arms, trying
Speaker 1: to like do that crazy you know hard, and he's
Speaker 1: like post up hard and trying to do that like
Speaker 1: kind of ripped up, moved with both arms, trying to
Speaker 1: draw fouls, and like, we just have so much evidence
Speaker 1: of that ship just not working in the postseason. And
Speaker 1: so I do wonder if you if you see between
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons limitations and and be it's leaning on fouling,
Speaker 1: if their offense is just gonna come to a halt
Speaker 1: in the postseason. Well, you know, I said this earlier.
Speaker 1: I was like, you can find a fatal, potentially fatal
Speaker 1: flaw in any team, right, And I get Phillies a
Speaker 1: little different because there's happened to be one of their
Speaker 1: core guys, one of the guys that they kind of
Speaker 1: build everything around. But I just like it beat it.
Speaker 1: It's a little different this year. Man. It's just he's
Speaker 1: his post up you know, p p P. He's best
Speaker 1: in the league. His isolation p p P, he's best
Speaker 1: in the league. So it's not even just a free
Speaker 1: throws thing. Like when he scores, he like he scores. Man,
Speaker 1: It's like it's it's it's just different. This year he
Speaker 1: took a jump in all those areas, which I think
Speaker 1: is why he's you know, if it wasn't for injuries,
Speaker 1: he bet the m v P. I think Joe just
Speaker 1: kind of run away with it. But yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: think it's a little different with with where and beat
Speaker 1: is this year compared to last year as far as
Speaker 1: you know, being more efficient it what he has the
Speaker 1: ball is in. I guess more shooting than usual too.
Speaker 1: That's also true. Shooting is definitely helped in that regard.
Speaker 1: That's a great point for sure. But like my question is,
Speaker 1: I feel like you need a perimeter ball handler, right,
Speaker 1: I can shock create in the playoffs, like I think
Speaker 1: in bid has been awesome, but I feel like it's
Speaker 1: it's easier to trap him in the playoffs and like
Speaker 1: a perimeter wing ball handler. My question do you trust
Speaker 1: like Tobias Hairs to kind of be in that role?
Speaker 1: He had a game winner on the Lakers I seek
Speaker 1: this year actually, but like do you trust him in
Speaker 1: that role to uh to create enough for Philly, especially
Speaker 1: when Ben sim is obviously in the half court in
Speaker 1: the playoffs is going to become a dunker spot guy
Speaker 1: and then pretty much it's indeed creating shots primarily, right,
Speaker 1: I guess helps with that as well. But that's my question,
Speaker 1: like do you think Tobias Hairs can kind of fit
Speaker 1: into that role which they'll need him, right, they'll need
Speaker 1: him to Chris Hilton or Tobias Harris or christ I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like it's kind of like like a give to share,
Speaker 1: you know, if you just you know, I have to
Speaker 1: shout out first of all, shout out Tim and you know,
Speaker 1: be ball your decks, like it's well worth the five
Speaker 1: hours about every mindy's listening, you know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: to get access to all this information. But just Tobias
Speaker 1: is just having a career year like as well. And
Speaker 1: there Doc Rivers, that's with Philly. Is Doc Rivers worth anything, Jason,
Speaker 1: because I think what's hell Doc back is the same
Speaker 1: thing that's hell Dan pony Back. It's just they don't adjust.
Speaker 1: It's like they're gonna do what they're gonna do. And
Speaker 1: if you messing up, they're so old school, they're just
Speaker 1: like we execute. Will you to change? You think you
Speaker 1: gotta do with your job, right. So it's like, I
Speaker 1: think that's my issue with with Philly and it's why,
Speaker 1: you know, the one time he worked out for Doc.
Speaker 1: You know they want a championship, but you know the Lakers,
Speaker 1: he doesn't play rashid well until he has to, you know,
Speaker 1: and they lose it seven, right, So it's like he's
Speaker 1: not a a jester. I think in the playoffs you
Speaker 1: gotta adjust. A Western talent gap is super high if
Speaker 1: Philly's is not. So that's my one concern about the
Speaker 1: seventy six years more so open their own court talent.
Speaker 1: I think Tobias is gonna be, you know big. The
Speaker 1: big thing for me is Sef Curry, like that Lea,
Speaker 1: that's a guy you can't because usually they've had guys
Speaker 1: like coving Ted or J. J. Reddick who've been played
Speaker 1: off the floor or they don't come through in those
Speaker 1: situations because you know, coving team streaky, Reddick can't bid.
Speaker 1: You know, Seth can stay on the floor. So I
Speaker 1: think that it's gonna be big for them going for
Speaker 1: I said, this is all conjecture. There are somebody. Every
Speaker 1: team has a flaw man, every team is. It's just
Speaker 1: gonna be a great playoffs in general for me, they do.
Speaker 1: You're right, I mean, it's important to put that together.
Speaker 1: And I mean, you know, the Lakers had a flaw
Speaker 1: going into last season as well. It was just a
Speaker 1: flaw that no teams were able to exploit, and it
Speaker 1: mainly had to do with them being a bad offense
Speaker 1: and a half court and the main reason why was
Speaker 1: because they're shooting was inconsistent and more often than not,
Speaker 1: the game to generated into a lot of Lebron and
Speaker 1: I D. A D isolations with a center on the floor,
Speaker 1: and it caused them to stagnate and to Lebron and
Speaker 1: A D got passive because they weren't able to get
Speaker 1: to the ram with ports facing and it was just
Speaker 1: kind of like a you know, a waterfall effect that
Speaker 1: led to that half court offense. But it all changed
Speaker 1: when they got to the postseason. They dropped the center
Speaker 1: for for the most part. And then God has just
Speaker 1: made shots like the Lakers just more and more often
Speaker 1: than that when it came down to it, Guys that
Speaker 1: everybody would say on TV like, oh, they're gonna make crews,
Speaker 1: so make shots. So they're gonna make k CP makes shots,
Speaker 1: Well they did. You know and but but they but
Speaker 1: they might not have. And that's the point is like
Speaker 1: the flaw, the fatal flaw in the Laker design didn't
Speaker 1: show its ugly head when the time came. And so
Speaker 1: that's what it's going to be for all all of
Speaker 1: these crews. Like for for both of those teams, for
Speaker 1: the Sixers and the Clippers, I worry about their decision
Speaker 1: making because, you know, even like it's the same problem
Speaker 1: Boston has been having all year. It's like they have
Speaker 1: these super elite wings, right Tatum and Brown. They're so good,
Speaker 1: they're so skilled, but they're not great decision makers. And
Speaker 1: so that offense has sputtered a lot this year, mainly
Speaker 1: under the fact that you know, Tatum might be one
Speaker 1: of the best, you know, dribble creation wings in the league,
Speaker 1: but he's not a guy that understands the possession by
Speaker 1: possession flow of a game well enough to pick his
Speaker 1: spots and to know when to be passive and want
Speaker 1: to be aggressive and so on and so forth. And
Speaker 1: those are the big group weaknesses that I see with
Speaker 1: Philly in with the Clippers, as they just they have
Speaker 1: these like super supernova talents and embat in Kauai and
Speaker 1: guys who can make shots around them, like Paul George
Speaker 1: liked byas Harris, but they just they lacked a like
Speaker 1: super high i Q decision making And that's why, like
Speaker 1: if Rondo you know, more or less ends up being
Speaker 1: what he's been as of late, which is weird because
Speaker 1: we watched for two years. But if he's like that,
Speaker 1: then that's a that's a game changer. Like he he
Speaker 1: was the net rating like nightmare. Last year. He was
Speaker 1: the worst guy in the Lakers rotation that played legitimate minutes,
Speaker 1: and this year all of the Clipper lineups are better
Speaker 1: with it. And well, I'll say that the difference is
Speaker 1: is that with Lebron James on the court, he's the
Speaker 1: point guard and not into a spot he's not comfortable
Speaker 1: with like the Clippers Kauai and Paul George. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't mind him doing the traffic cop you know thing.
Speaker 1: You know he's not gonna you know, hold the ball
Speaker 1: direct traffer. They don't mind that. You know, Gwai wants
Speaker 1: to go fifty in the basket, get the ball and
Speaker 1: face up, the same thing with Paul George. So they
Speaker 1: don't mind Rondo playing you know, traffic cop Also, the
Speaker 1: Clippers are going to break an NBA record for three
Speaker 1: points shooting, so they're facing on the floor that's basically
Speaker 1: on the floor. Is just absolutely ridiculous, right, they spread
Speaker 1: you out and the shooting gang of threes they shoot
Speaker 1: almost if I think they're at three for the season,
Speaker 1: which is equivalent to like six, Just ridiculous what they're
Speaker 1: doing from three point line. I don't know if it's sustainable,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously we will find out, but it's just
Speaker 1: Rondo fits exactly what they do and what they need.
Speaker 1: Like in the Lakers, he did not and I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers, did you know Babe was playing Rondo with
Speaker 1: Lebron opposed to just le Venus. Lebron sat so a
Speaker 1: lip kind of choppy when he was in there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not just that he was playing with like the other
Speaker 1: center on the floor exactly. There's no spacing. And he
Speaker 1: looks he looks happy to be out of Atlanta, to
Speaker 1: be honest, like like looks happy to be on the
Speaker 1: championship level team, right, Like he looks like he's playing
Speaker 1: hard every night, which is like, why couldn't we get
Speaker 1: this round? Right? But yeah, I think he helps them
Speaker 1: because Paul George and Kauai can get really mid range happy, right,
Speaker 1: even with all the threes that they that they that
Speaker 1: they create, when teams just you know, go isolation against them,
Speaker 1: they can get really happy taking like really bad contested shots.
Speaker 1: I think j T you say this a lot. You
Speaker 1: say they take a lot of tough shots, right, like
Speaker 1: the Clippers. Um, they'll take a lot of tough shot,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs when the jump shots don't go
Speaker 1: down like they do in the regular season. Um, that
Speaker 1: that air that airspace is a little bit tighter, right.
Speaker 1: That's why they blew three games against Denver because the
Speaker 1: jump shot just went away. They went up with like
Speaker 1: eighteen every game one of those. So I think that's
Speaker 1: why Rondo really helps them. Um, and their defense is
Speaker 1: starting to pick up as well. They're they're juggernaut. I
Speaker 1: feel like they were talking. We talk about them a
Speaker 1: lot more if we didn't see what happened in Orlando, Right,
Speaker 1: nobody Georgian doc Rivers were like imagine being in heaven, right,
Speaker 1: Like they blame everyone but themselves. So it's like a
Speaker 1: perfect like it's a really InSync fit. But he's he's
Speaker 1: killing the league. I can't even be like Paul George
Speaker 1: is having a career another career year. But yeah, he's not.
Speaker 1: He's not a completely strange to late season, late regular
Speaker 1: season runs where he's super efficient and it looks like
Speaker 1: he's poised to finally break through in the posts and
Speaker 1: it's not uncommon for him. You will see and I say,
Speaker 1: man ty lou Man, like I was like it were
Speaker 1: made but just remade bafflely to me why he couldn't
Speaker 1: get ahead coaching job. Man, he's just an offensive man.
Speaker 1: He just knows how to get guys in the best positions,
Speaker 1: you know, to succeed. So that's you know that people
Speaker 1: were you know, I understand that, you know, coaching Lebron,
Speaker 1: he's gonna get a joint our credit as he should
Speaker 1: that Dave, you know, the best player on every team
Speaker 1: he's played for. And I'm just saying, like lose kind
Speaker 1: of beauties, got kind of lost and official what happened
Speaker 1: at the and of the Cleveland tender. Man, But he
Speaker 1: absolutely knows how to coach themselves of offense, you know,
Speaker 1: as you can see, man, the I think I think
Speaker 1: it's actually interesting what you brought up about Rondo and
Speaker 1: Lebron and the way they fit. I've been watching through that.
Speaker 1: I think his name is Ben Taylor, but that thinking
Speaker 1: Basketball series, um and what he did as like greatest
Speaker 1: Peak series. And I've made it through i want to say,
Speaker 1: like four or five of the players, and then I've
Speaker 1: made it through his you know synopsis at the end.
Speaker 1: And one of the big things that he frequently tackles,
Speaker 1: and you can see it a lot in the Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant video, which is the one I actually watched today,
Speaker 1: but the one that he frequently tackles is the difference
Speaker 1: between like a heliocentric offensive creator and then like a specialist,
Speaker 1: you know, which is basically what Hadie was and and
Speaker 1: the difference in their value is what people argue about,
Speaker 1: like which one would you rather have? And the truth
Speaker 1: is it entirely depends on what's on the roster, you know.
Speaker 1: Like Rondo is such a seamless fit with Kawai and
Speaker 1: Paul George because he does what they don't do, and
Speaker 1: and with with the Lakers. It always was strange when
Speaker 1: Lebron and Nydie were ear Lebron and Rondo were on
Speaker 1: the floor together because because of the fact that it
Speaker 1: kind of seemed like a redundancy of what they brought
Speaker 1: to the table. And again, it doesn't mean I think
Speaker 1: I think the difference between which player is more valuable
Speaker 1: is entirely dependent on the roster. But I do I
Speaker 1: do think that's an interesting point. And I think the
Speaker 1: Rondo uh renaissance here with the Clippers is a is
Speaker 1: the latest example of how that that may very well
Speaker 1: be the way that this all works. Um, So let's
Speaker 1: let's hit one last Lakers topic before we started asking
Speaker 1: if anybody wants to hop in here and and and
Speaker 1: talk with us. So at this point, eight s back.
Speaker 1: He's gonna probably up it up to you know, twenty
Speaker 1: minutes the next night, the next whatever it is, work
Speaker 1: his way back. Ron will be back in a week
Speaker 1: or so. Um. In this stretch, the Lakers did what
Speaker 1: they needed to do, which was avoid catastrophe in the standings. Um,
Speaker 1: they're in a position, like we mentioned earlier, which is
Speaker 1: arguably the best possible situation they could be in under
Speaker 1: the circumstances, with a viable path to get through the West.
Speaker 1: So plainly put, and we'll start with you, Rod, how
Speaker 1: do you feel about the Lakers right now as currently
Speaker 1: constructed with Lebron and maybe coming back in their chances
Speaker 1: to go on and run. I think I feel good
Speaker 1: like they They've stayed at the best defense of the league. Right,
Speaker 1: they're still number one, they've been top four since Lebron
Speaker 1: and Eady were both down. They added size and Andre Drummond.
Speaker 1: I think they're deeper than last year. Um, just like
Speaker 1: as a full roster, right, especially with the Marcus Alston
Speaker 1: on the bench treads, you have shooters, shock treating, and man,
Speaker 1: those two are healthy. I think I think they're going
Speaker 1: to be fine. I feel like that first round matchup,
Speaker 1: especially with Denver, um is gonna be kind of like
Speaker 1: a test run for both of them. Denver is a
Speaker 1: tough team, but at least it's a it's a series
Speaker 1: where Lebron and d can like really about their intensity, right,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to play Utah or one of
Speaker 1: those fully healthy, healthy teams that I feel like that's
Speaker 1: where they'll have the advantage in that first round and
Speaker 1: then kind of build from there. So, yeah, if they're
Speaker 1: both healthy, I feel like we'll be We'll be fine. Maples,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I said before the season, this team is
Speaker 1: clearly better then the last year. My thing was just
Speaker 1: a mentioned earlier in the show here about the connuity.
Speaker 1: Are they able to hit any type of rhythm? They're
Speaker 1: the favorite to me. I just I think the team
Speaker 1: is too deep. Lebron was playing, you know, way too
Speaker 1: well in ad with the code part. They were so
Speaker 1: dominant and a D wasn't even in shape yet. So
Speaker 1: just you said, Shank, do you get Lebron back? They
Speaker 1: catch a brother? I don't think thet beats them, you know,
Speaker 1: four times out of seven. Yeah. So I always say
Speaker 1: that you need to be able to win in multiple
Speaker 1: ways because things rarely go as planned when you get
Speaker 1: into these these situations, like no one in the world
Speaker 1: was planning on Jamal Murray turning into like, you know,
Speaker 1: literally Devin Booker on steroids in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to kind of adjust on
Speaker 1: the fly, Like if you can only defend one way
Speaker 1: uh cough cough from Milwaukee Bucks, you're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: have a problem when a team attacks you and you
Speaker 1: don't have an audible that you can go to. And
Speaker 1: what I love about this Laker team is I know
Speaker 1: they can win in so many different ways. Like Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: uh could go on a run like he did in
Speaker 1: the second and third round last year in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: where he's all of a sudden Kevin durant Um. But
Speaker 1: he can also fall into a subsidiary role like he
Speaker 1: did against Miami, where he's just this complete defensive nightmare
Speaker 1: for the other team and he's nowhere near as effective
Speaker 1: as an isolation score just because of the way the
Speaker 1: spacing worked out and they could audible out of that.
Speaker 1: Lebron can can go through these stretches where he's one
Speaker 1: of the best off the dribble shooters in the league
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, and then he can go cold. And
Speaker 1: when he goes cold, when he goes cold, he can
Speaker 1: impact the game as a as a defensive player like
Speaker 1: he did in that Houston Rockets game that I tweeted
Speaker 1: out the other day where he had like thirty in
Speaker 1: the first half and then couldn't hit the side of
Speaker 1: the backboard if he tried in the second half, but
Speaker 1: then just became Dennis Rodman around the rim, you know,
Speaker 1: Like he can audible into those different things. And then
Speaker 1: as far as their team identity goes, they have all
Speaker 1: these different matchups they can attack with Montrez and within
Speaker 1: a Schroeder. They defended an extremely high level. They can
Speaker 1: go big, they can go small. They have all of
Speaker 1: these different audibles that they can hit, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: they have different defensive schemes that they repeatedly go to
Speaker 1: throughout throughout the regular season. They can trap and recover
Speaker 1: in the existing rotation. They can play like a drop
Speaker 1: coverage with the Drummond type of guy. They can do
Speaker 1: um you know kind catchheads thing that that Cranees uh
Speaker 1: Tim is always talking about on on his podcast, where
Speaker 1: they basically it's kind of like in between a drop
Speaker 1: and a trap. But they have all these different things
Speaker 1: that they can do and all these different audibles that
Speaker 1: they can go to. And then Frank Vogel, you know,
Speaker 1: you say what you wanted about him. Offensively, the way
Speaker 1: this team is put together makes sense. Lebron is basically
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator and and Frank is basically the defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: And he is arguably one of the best defensive coordinators
Speaker 1: in the league. And and I just I like all
Speaker 1: the different ways that they can win, and I think
Speaker 1: that gives him versatility to go through different playoff matchups
Speaker 1: because they're gonna face so many different archetypes of teams
Speaker 1: here along this stretch, and if anybody is equipped to
Speaker 1: do it, it's them. And then lasting not least physicality
Speaker 1: wins in the playoffs. It always has. It's the guys
Speaker 1: that have the legs at the end of the series.
Speaker 1: It's the guy that have the guys that have the
Speaker 1: legs late third round, late fourth round. They're just they're
Speaker 1: less banged up, they're more able to handle all the
Speaker 1: physical reality. And I just I think Lebron is built
Speaker 1: for that. And so I think I think right now,
Speaker 1: although I think Brokelyn presents a super unique challenge and
Speaker 1: certainly a different type of a certain different archetype of contender,
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers are a safe bet because of
Speaker 1: all of those things. Yeah, I think next year is
Speaker 1: the next year. Like I don't buy it this year,
Speaker 1: And like everybody else's, man, it's just it's too many
Speaker 1: moving parts, man, too many moving parts, and just they
Speaker 1: would just break the concept of team building and kind
Speaker 1: of doing in chemistry. I just I don't see it.
Speaker 1: Seven games played with your the low. Before that, it
Speaker 1: was like forty that was a Michael Jordan, Scotty and
Speaker 1: Rabbin Forty games play that was in the third year
Speaker 1: of a three peak, so they had a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of experience. So they're gonna play seven games together and
Speaker 1: didn't participating in high leverage games and go to the finals. Man,
Speaker 1: that's the that's a lat we'll see, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: And Lakers still have that trump card, right, which is
Speaker 1: a D at the I might be even with the
Speaker 1: matchup against the Nets, like, that's their trump card that
Speaker 1: no team has really got to figure out yet. So
Speaker 1: it's still that in their back pocket that they haven't
Speaker 1: really used this year very much. Right, I think a
Speaker 1: D has like less than a hundred minutes or something
Speaker 1: at the five this year. He's played so much with
Speaker 1: Marcusol and even with Tres another non spacer, right, Um,
Speaker 1: so they'll go to that and then Lebron A D
Speaker 1: is still like plus fifteen on the year, which is
Speaker 1: around all the other superstars that are they are playing
Speaker 1: the league. So yeah, I think I think that would
Speaker 1: be the matchup. Labels like, I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think the Nest need continuity, But I just don't see
Speaker 1: a team that maybe Philly yet or Milwalking, but I
Speaker 1: just don't see I feel like we're gonna get that
Speaker 1: star matchup in the finals going going over here, and
Speaker 1: I'd like to see it. I would. I would like
Speaker 1: to see it like Lebron Katie a D. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe you're not high on hardened though none of us
Speaker 1: are really in the in the playoffs, but ill we'll
Speaker 1: see how it goes. I don't think The last thing
Speaker 1: I want to say about it is just I don't
Speaker 1: think you will value enough what it's like having two
Speaker 1: defensive weapons like Lebron in a D and what that does,
Speaker 1: what that does to what the other team can do
Speaker 1: to attack, because like theoretically, what you'd like to do
Speaker 1: all the time is you want to get the other
Speaker 1: team's worst offender on you, and so you'll run like
Speaker 1: a screening action to try to get a switch so
Speaker 1: that you can attack. But the problem is as most
Speaker 1: elite defenses like the Lakers are going to trap you
Speaker 1: in that case, and so you actually don't want to
Speaker 1: call up your worst offensive player to get to set
Speaker 1: the screen because now he's the guy that has to
Speaker 1: make the read out of the trap. He's the guy
Speaker 1: that has to be your Draymond Green roll into the
Speaker 1: basket like like the Warriors used to do. And so
Speaker 1: what the Lakers can do by putting, and they don't
Speaker 1: do it often because they don't want to waste their legs.
Speaker 1: But when when when the ship hits the fan, they
Speaker 1: can put Lebron and a d on your two best
Speaker 1: players and put you in a situation where they can
Speaker 1: switch that. And now any screen and roll action that
Speaker 1: you do where they can trap, you're gonna be putting
Speaker 1: a lesser offensive player having to make decisions. And that's
Speaker 1: gonna exactly and make it. You're gonna make. You're gonna
Speaker 1: make like a uh gosh, I'm blanking on his name?
Speaker 1: What's that wing for the Mavericks? Not not the Hardaway,
Speaker 1: not Hardaway, not Richardson the taller one, Bennie Smith, Jimmy Smith,
Speaker 1: Like you're gonna make Dorian Fonny Smith make decisions because
Speaker 1: he's going to be the guy that you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to call up to set the screen because Lebron and
Speaker 1: maybe you are going to be in a situation where
Speaker 1: they can guard your two best players and you can't
Speaker 1: run the screening actions with them because they'll just immediately
Speaker 1: switch it and blow the action up. It's like such
Speaker 1: a huge weapon to having a playoff series and the
Speaker 1: Lakers used it relentlessly on Denver. At the end, he
Speaker 1: took up Murray and Yoki chout go ahead and Roger
Speaker 1: makes me most by the way, if you want to
Speaker 1: start bringing people in, oh for sure, but yeah on
Speaker 1: on Denver. Yeah, Lebron went eventually had to decide to
Speaker 1: defend Jamal Murray right when he started just cooking all
Speaker 1: of our guards. He was hitting like step back jumpers
Speaker 1: and sidestep pull ups, and then Lebron just like I
Speaker 1: got him. And then they tried to screen a your
Speaker 1: kitchen Murray and just it didn't work because he put
Speaker 1: Lebron on the Murray and a D on your kitchen. Um,
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's something they could do. And I think
Speaker 1: they'll do something similar with like the nets, right, may
Speaker 1: put like Lebron on Kyrie and a D on a
Speaker 1: k D or something so that they can't switch or
Speaker 1: or anything like that. But yeah, Well, if anyone wants
Speaker 1: to come up and uh comment, ask questions, give ideas, uh,
Speaker 1: read through the chat for now as well. Um, y'all,
Speaker 1: do you guys think the Lakers are locked into playing
Speaker 1: Denver in the first round? I think we discussed that right.
Speaker 1: I feel like they are pretty much there are two
Speaker 1: games up on Dallas, so they lose the next one
Speaker 1: to kind of get tough. But I think they're like
Speaker 1: there are three games up on Portland's and two games
Speaker 1: up on Dallas. It feels like they're gonna be pretty
Speaker 1: locked into that, to that five seed or four seed
Speaker 1: if they're able to pass Denver. When you get this
Speaker 1: far along uh into the season, like do you remember,
Speaker 1: do you guys remember two years ago when the Lakers
Speaker 1: were like three games back at the eighth seed, but
Speaker 1: they were like twenty games left. Yet Vegas at them
Speaker 1: is like a sieve underdog to make the playoffs. It's because,
Speaker 1: like I know, two or three games seems like a
Speaker 1: small gap, but with this few games left, it actually
Speaker 1: is a huge gap, and so chances are they're going
Speaker 1: to end up as the five seed. It would take
Speaker 1: a rather spectacular collapse at this point. I agree. See
Speaker 1: it says Kape is mostly likely out Saturday, so we
Speaker 1: probably that's mostly likely a win. I'm not really sure.
Speaker 1: I think Dallas actually looked really good. Maybe he really
Speaker 1: like Bronson, right, I feel like Bronson came in and
Speaker 1: just match Luca's kind of outbursts right, Like he came
Speaker 1: in and he was really good, just you know, not
Speaker 1: that he's eight, but the bigger role working working, he
Speaker 1: was killing us. We'll see, man, I just you know, hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know, the lake of shooting can stick all the
Speaker 1: way through. I'll be big. So I think they can
Speaker 1: defend better than they did tonight. I didn't like I said,
Speaker 1: if Dallas is like the Lakers when they played with
Speaker 1: dropping and transplay the pigger roll companies automatically a drop
Speaker 1: and the Lakers like to rotate out and that's real
Speaker 1: tough with Luca Dunks, man, it's just he's so good.
Speaker 1: You saw do the thing when it comes off screens,
Speaker 1: and with the defender and drop he puts the guy
Speaker 1: in jail behind him. It just kind of like waste
Speaker 1: the playoffs to see what opens up. It's just hard
Speaker 1: to play drop coverage and be successful going against Luca
Speaker 1: and he tears that up and then the best man
Speaker 1: is to make up coverages. But a consistent drop, look,
Speaker 1: he's just gonna eat every every every time. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: try to trap him, right, and then uh, they got
Speaker 1: a bunch of Dunks tonight. I felt like the beverage
Speaker 1: has got a bunch of ducks at the rim because
Speaker 1: they were scared to tag right the rollman because Luca
Speaker 1: is so good at that cross core pass. So like
Speaker 1: once they tag even a second, that balls out to
Speaker 1: Phinney Smith to uh Hardaway Jr. To all those guys.
Speaker 1: But I feel like you still can't give up dunks,
Speaker 1: like you gotta. Like they were leaving like kcp on
Speaker 1: Willie Calli Stein and stuff like that. It was just easy.
Speaker 1: It was like easy dunce uh all night for the maps.
Speaker 1: Let's see, you know what was king Lakers figure teams
Speaker 1: out defensively a series get deeper, said Gareman. That's kind
Speaker 1: of that's true, right, they lost a game once twice, um,
Speaker 1: I think against Houston and Portland's and then I can
Speaker 1: kind of build out that um going forward to do
Speaker 1: you agree with that? Maybe like the Lakers kind of
Speaker 1: like figure teams out as they go in a series,
Speaker 1: and Lebron does that too, right, he'll kind of just
Speaker 1: relax and get not relaxed. We'll kind of like just
Speaker 1: feel a team out in game one and they kind
Speaker 1: of go from there. I think Frank has learned, you know,
Speaker 1: he uh he adjusts now you know, he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that that stick with whatever you got them there.
Speaker 1: He's going to adjust, you know, as far as you
Speaker 1: know what coverage is going. So I think he's better.
Speaker 1: You know, he's better Coaster was and he was with
Speaker 1: Indiana and Orlando is going to adjust. So yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: that's the part of the figures teams out, you know.
Speaker 1: And and on the Lebron and I tweeted this out
Speaker 1: the other day, another one of those thinking basketball um
Speaker 1: things that I that I was watching. He uh he
Speaker 1: it always is. Well, you know, it's funny, like we
Speaker 1: always talking about with analytics that you wanted to match
Speaker 1: up with the eye test, you know, you never want
Speaker 1: to trust them kind of outright. And it always was
Speaker 1: interesting to me that Lebron seemed to peak at the
Speaker 1: end of playoff series, you know, like he always just
Speaker 1: seemed to play his best games in game five, six,
Speaker 1: and seven of a series for whatever reason. And I think,
Speaker 1: I think I think you can attribute it to his
Speaker 1: his physicality and then also his brain. But then in
Speaker 1: that thinking basketball thing, they showed the clip and like
Speaker 1: his his scoring and efficiency goes up at the end
Speaker 1: of playoff series throughout his entire career. It's like the
Speaker 1: craziest thing Game five, six, and seven. He's just a
Speaker 1: better player than he is in the first in the
Speaker 1: first four and I think I think part of that is,
Speaker 1: like you have to be willing to make mistakes and
Speaker 1: see the grander vision. You know. It's one of the
Speaker 1: biggest problems that I always had with James harden Um
Speaker 1: was James harden his offensive attack, especially at the beginning
Speaker 1: of games, seems predicated at at getting baskets at the
Speaker 1: expense of of playing into the defense's hands in the
Speaker 1: long run, whereas Lebron will go through passive stretches to
Speaker 1: have stretches where he has turnovers. He he always turns
Speaker 1: the ball over a lot in game one a game
Speaker 1: two because he's just kind of poking and prodding at
Speaker 1: the defense and getting a feel for what their tendencies are,
Speaker 1: what they like to do, and then he just makes
Speaker 1: all those adjustments at the right time. And there's just
Speaker 1: that someone's rooted for him for his whole career. You
Speaker 1: don't want anybody else as captain of the ship in
Speaker 1: a playoff series because you can just trust him to
Speaker 1: eventually come up with the best possible strategy to attack
Speaker 1: the other team, and that's how to guarantee he's gonna win.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's lost a lot, but that that is his
Speaker 1: strength in my opinion. And yeah, and I'm really interested
Speaker 1: in this one because I thought Tres had like an
Speaker 1: interesting game tonight. I think he had a few baskets,
Speaker 1: but I thought he really struggled on defense, and uh
Speaker 1: we see ah'man shout out, h'm on, he says, do
Speaker 1: you guys see trads getting bench alot in the playoffs? Exa?
Speaker 1: I think the devail level, But I kind of agree
Speaker 1: with that, Like, I just think Dallas is also not
Speaker 1: a great team for him, right, They really take advantage
Speaker 1: of the low threat more than a lot of teams do.
Speaker 1: And tread just had a really tough time trying to
Speaker 1: help and then recover back and he had a lot
Speaker 1: of miscommunication with the Wings. But yeah, do you think
Speaker 1: he gets benched? And he doesn't. He's a regular season guy, man,
Speaker 1: I said, just what he acquired him. I was like,
Speaker 1: I wasn't big on it because of the playoff inflation.
Speaker 1: He's just not gonna play. So let's take a look
Speaker 1: at it at the top four teams, Like in the West,
Speaker 1: like against Utah, can't play against go Bear can keep
Speaker 1: him up the glass. They play Ford shooters out space.
Speaker 1: You know that's not a strength of his right you talk,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be big minutes. You go down to
Speaker 1: the second seed Phoenix again, four out one in a
Speaker 1: lot of high pick a role. He's gonna be against
Speaker 1: you know, Bridges or kimber Jonason, you know, Jake Crowder
Speaker 1: out space, lads who played the four there defending pick
Speaker 1: a role, having a rotate camp, sit and dropped because
Speaker 1: Chris Paul and Booker are gonna tear you up. Can't
Speaker 1: play against you know, Phoenix, you go Clippers, you know,
Speaker 1: four out one in you know old Marcus Morris read
Speaker 1: you out plays before. What I'm saying, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of hot a lot of them. Not not as much
Speaker 1: pick a role, but a lot of you know, I
Speaker 1: so and you know, being out space against certain guys
Speaker 1: who can attack the rims not strength. He's a regular
Speaker 1: season guy, which is good that you got. Like those
Speaker 1: guys have a role. His energy is one of the
Speaker 1: lakers a lot of games this season, you know, just
Speaker 1: keep keeping us alive and uh, you know with the
Speaker 1: games are getting, you know, the the drag of the season.
Speaker 1: He brings his hard had every night, and I respect
Speaker 1: that so much, But the playoffs scenario, I just I
Speaker 1: don't see maybe minutes for him. Let's give him credit
Speaker 1: where credits due. He did exactly what we wanted him
Speaker 1: to do, exactly exactly. He came in and he ate
Speaker 1: innings all year long and was an average to above
Speaker 1: average forward in every match up. And and when and
Speaker 1: we we predicted that Lebron and maybe he would miss
Speaker 1: a lot of games now came in a different manner
Speaker 1: than we thought. We thought Lebron would just be resting
Speaker 1: all the time, but he ended up getting hurt, and
Speaker 1: and then they he ended up getting hurt, and what
Speaker 1: do you know, he ended up being like an absolute
Speaker 1: cornerstone of this stretch. And so he deserves credit. But
Speaker 1: but to me, it's even simpler than that. Like, like
Speaker 1: you in the postseason, Lebron, and maybe you're gonna be
Speaker 1: playing a lot of four and five not all the time.
Speaker 1: It depends on the match up, you know, Like if
Speaker 1: they end up playing Yokich, I think they'll throw a
Speaker 1: lot of Marcosol and drama Dad him and uh Go
Speaker 1: Bart depends, but like the reality is, it's like it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of Lebron at the four and
Speaker 1: a d at the five. And if Lebron is playing
Speaker 1: forty two minutes a night, and maybe he's playing thirty
Speaker 1: eight minutes a night, there's just not a lot of
Speaker 1: center minutes available. And my guess is that that Treads
Speaker 1: is going to be the one who gets squeezed in
Speaker 1: a lot of those cases. Yeah. Yeah. The only thing
Speaker 1: with Treads I feel like he does have defensive talent.
Speaker 1: Like me and A. JT have have said this a lot,
Speaker 1: we don't like Treads and drop coverage because it feels
Speaker 1: like it takes the worst of both of what he does. Right,
Speaker 1: Like when he goes and drop covers, he's already not aggressive,
Speaker 1: he's already backing up, and then he's not a rim
Speaker 1: protector anyway, so he's not stopping the guard from getting
Speaker 1: the basket, and he's not stopping the baby if he
Speaker 1: gets the ball, he's not blocking that shot. So I'd
Speaker 1: rather him switch more, try to like trap. I like
Speaker 1: him in a trapping scheme. I feel like you can
Speaker 1: eat against second units right in the playoffs, like when
Speaker 1: Gobert is sitting or you know, if Aten's not in
Speaker 1: the game, just just those backup fives. I feel like
Speaker 1: he can really get in there change the energy of
Speaker 1: a game, right, just like he did in the regular season.
Speaker 1: I just don't see him bench like I just can't
Speaker 1: see them fully benching in full games. I think his
Speaker 1: minutes will be cut though they've already have been, right
Speaker 1: when drums with drumming here, his minutes already down to
Speaker 1: like fifteen and eighteen a game. They're probably gillows. But
Speaker 1: I do think he has some Like the way Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers used him, I thought just didn't make any sense.
Speaker 1: They had him in drop coverage against Nicola Yogis, which
Speaker 1: just he just he's asking to be destroyed. Um. But uh,
Speaker 1: we'll keep going here. Uh, Maples, really quick, what have
Speaker 1: you found a drum in so far? I haven't asked
Speaker 1: you yet. It's a bit's bad man, you know, so good,
Speaker 1: it's so bad, you know, overall death positive. But he's
Speaker 1: just he's just he's it's a mixed bag, like his
Speaker 1: whole career pretty much. You know, it's not really interesting
Speaker 1: to see how he fits when Lebron and Age together.
Speaker 1: I have a little worried about the spacing, but you know,
Speaker 1: I get the vision. They just really would have control
Speaker 1: the glass and maximize possessions. So I've seen the vision,
Speaker 1: but I just have to see. I'm a little worried
Speaker 1: about the space with all those three on the floor,
Speaker 1: you know, I like that. Know Lebron likes to work
Speaker 1: out the post sometimes it really likes to drive it.
Speaker 1: The jump shot. Is it going down? And I know
Speaker 1: your kind of you know, puts a cap on going now,
Speaker 1: freakent that could be used. So we'll see. I'm interested
Speaker 1: to see how Lebron tries to use him, because he's
Speaker 1: gonna try, he's gonna try to find some way to
Speaker 1: make him into a useful basketball player. I'm interested to
Speaker 1: see what he does. He has the loudest misses, right,
Speaker 1: I feel like it was he was he was four
Speaker 1: for seven tonight, but those three misses just felt like,
Speaker 1: like what are you doing? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like so like when I saw the four percent, I
Speaker 1: was like, wow, that's not terrible. But he misses like
Speaker 1: jump hooks in the lane, like he gets it exactly
Speaker 1: to the right spot. He's just a really weird player.
Speaker 1: He tries for like one hand dunks for no reason
Speaker 1: like that one on that I do not persius whoever
Speaker 1: he tried to down con I think it was Willie
Speaker 1: Calli Stein, But yeah, that was. He has some really
Speaker 1: weird shot selection, so hopefully those post ups are gone.
Speaker 1: When Lebron and Ned held back, Um, he's a he's
Speaker 1: a he's a strange player. Uh, who wants who wants
Speaker 1: to hop in here and talk with us? I got
Speaker 1: about ten more minutes before I gotta go to bed.
Speaker 1: I'm waking up at four twenty to go play basketball,
Speaker 1: so I got about ten minutes. Guys, Jason is a
Speaker 1: real person that actually plays basketball. So it's not not
Speaker 1: a caffe guy actually plays basketball, so is Maples. Man,
Speaker 1: don't worry about don't don't sleep on Maple's Uh. And
Speaker 1: I'm not a five year old or a ten year
Speaker 1: old kid or whatever age I am there. Uh. Do
Speaker 1: you guys see th HD playing in the playoffs. I'm
Speaker 1: just a Maple's ill. Go. Do do you think THH
Speaker 1: gets I've talked about this a hundred times. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let Maples take this one. I think. So as long
Speaker 1: as he at least becomes possible or his passable defense.
Speaker 1: I think he will be uh, particularly the you know
Speaker 1: eight eight or eight to ten minutes lebron Sits just
Speaker 1: having somebody who can create offense. I think that's the
Speaker 1: aveolue for him to play. Not too much more than that,
Speaker 1: but definitely. I see you get a bird in the playoffs, Jason.
Speaker 1: I think so almost said he did request, but I
Speaker 1: don't see here. Maybe it's on your end. Do you
Speaker 1: see a speaker request? I do not, But the room
Speaker 1: has been pretty frozen for me. Did I make you
Speaker 1: the host? I'm not sure. Let's try it again. That's
Speaker 1: really strange that it's not letting me do that. You're
Speaker 1: still getting updated stuff from the chat. I haven't even
Speaker 1: been getting so I keep reading the chat from here. Um,
Speaker 1: how confident with y'all being playing the Clippers in the
Speaker 1: first round? I would, you know, just they need some
Speaker 1: time to build up to that, in my opinion, And
Speaker 1: I know the funny of the joking, the joking you
Speaker 1: do brag with the Clippers, but when I'm watching, that's
Speaker 1: not something you want to deal with in the first
Speaker 1: round when you just got you know, star players coming
Speaker 1: back and trying to try to find themselves, so you know,
Speaker 1: I do. It's a running joke, but just honestly speaking,
Speaker 1: that's that's not something you want in the first round.
Speaker 1: The black picking, Yeah, I watched them more than any
Speaker 1: other team other than the Lakers, and they're legit good team,
Speaker 1: Like they run teams off the floor when they have
Speaker 1: it going right there, shooting can really just running out
Speaker 1: the gym. And then they really moved the ball and
Speaker 1: the defensive lot better. I think like zobach is going
Speaker 1: to start. Even when Ibaka comes back, he's putting out
Speaker 1: of his mind. He's playing out of his mind. Man,
Speaker 1: we gave him to him. I still parted if you
Speaker 1: keep Yeah, I'm saying there's no center problem with the
Speaker 1: Lakers right there. That's uh, it cannot be. It cannot
Speaker 1: be overstated how bad Duddy Johnson was. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: I know he's built up cloud with the franchise. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, uh, alright, guys, this is where I had
Speaker 1: the technical difficulties where I couldn't get people to join
Speaker 1: the room. So I did go ahead and split this
Speaker 1: up into a second podcast that I will be releasing
Speaker 1: tomorrow um in which we did all of the guests
Speaker 1: that hopped in and we bounced around a bunch of
Speaker 1: other topics for almost a whole other hour, and then
Speaker 1: Rusche came to join us for a while as well.
Speaker 1: From from Houston Rockets Twitter, but I want to thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much for listening. As usual, these locker
Speaker 1: rooms are so much fun. Roger and I are planning
Speaker 1: on doing those at least once a week, and it's
Speaker 1: always great having the great Jason Maples on, So again,
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys with the sport. Stay tuned for tomorrow
Speaker 1: for the second half of this