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Speaker 1: Mmmm, welcome to the State of the Life was posting

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Speaker 1: show on Desk Radio. Thank you guys so much for

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Speaker 1: coming to hang out with Roger and I. We have

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Speaker 1: Roger back. He has finally returned from his journey to

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Speaker 1: god knows where in the E. D M universe. Yes, um,

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Speaker 1: but it's good to have you back. But it's good

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Speaker 1: to be back. I appreciate you holding it down. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Vegas was fun. It's also a place that you shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be for more than four days, so that's uh, four

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Speaker 1: days is a long time. But it's good to be back.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate you holding it down. Appreciative and a for coming

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Speaker 1: on as well, I believe on the first show. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be back. Man, it's not it's not fun

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Speaker 1: watching games on box scores or when you can't find internet,

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Speaker 1: going and asking around people with Laker jerseys did the

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Speaker 1: Lakers to win or not? So that's not fun. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's good. It's good to be back. And this was

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Speaker 1: a fun one to come back to you. It was

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Speaker 1: a fun one. We are going to spend a good

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Speaker 1: amount of time talking about the other two games that

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Speaker 1: you missed, just because there's a bore just on the

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Speaker 1: season in general, just because we haven't heard from you

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Speaker 1: a long time and we want to get your two cents.

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Speaker 1: But this was it turned into a really interesting game

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Speaker 1: there when they fell down by I think it was

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Speaker 1: did they get down by ten or was it just eight?

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Speaker 1: I can't remember, But there there, when the wheel started

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Speaker 1: to come off, it just seems like your stereotypical like

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Speaker 1: old team looking really old, looking like they don't care

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Speaker 1: getting you know, run off the floor by the gun,

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Speaker 1: you know, uh enthusiastic uh Spurs team. But they fought back,

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Speaker 1: and uh I thought I thought Russe and a d

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Speaker 1: were both fantastic tonight. Neither of them were great defensively,

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Speaker 1: but with what they were asked to do offensively tonight,

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Speaker 1: you know, you gotta give them a little bit of slack.

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Speaker 1: You know, having Lebron to take some of that weight

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Speaker 1: off kind of makes it easier for the two of

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Speaker 1: them to focus on the defensive end. But you know what,

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Speaker 1: they both they both did what you needed them to

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Speaker 1: do tonight, which was get a win so that Lebron

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Speaker 1: could get his ankle right so that he can come

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Speaker 1: back and help you guys later on down the schedule.

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Speaker 1: So um, it was, it was, it was. It was

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Speaker 1: definitely what I would call a very very important win

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Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of the eighty two game season. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this was definitely Russ Is Like I guess we can

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Speaker 1: start with Russ because every single night I feel like

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be him being the first talking point. But

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Speaker 1: he was attacking the rim I thought, at a pretty

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Speaker 1: aggressive level, and when Lebron was out, it just felt

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Speaker 1: like he played more free. I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: saw that as well. And again, the focus of a

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Speaker 1: lot of the talk has been DeAndre Jordan's starting, and

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Speaker 1: I think I may have been even wrong, Like I

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Speaker 1: thought he could play at a baseline level that he

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Speaker 1: can't even reach that even though the ball is kind

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Speaker 1: of low, he might be washed. But just seeing Russ

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Speaker 1: in transition get to the basket, and like my big

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Speaker 1: key for tonight was they ran a lot of Russ

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Speaker 1: in eight screen and roll right with the splore for

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Speaker 1: Fred and even when there was Dwight on the floor,

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Speaker 1: it just continually went to that and I thought we

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Speaker 1: found like some good things out of that. Russ got

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Speaker 1: to the basket, and the Spurs don't really have a

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Speaker 1: great kind of inside game as well to defend the

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Speaker 1: rim of Jacob Jacob Pearle at the rim so Rusk

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Speaker 1: and kind of go through him, but we saw that

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Speaker 1: kind of aggressiveness and getting to the rim, scoring at

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Speaker 1: the basket, kicking out to the corners for three. Is

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Speaker 1: like I thought, Russ really really good, really looked good tonight.

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Speaker 1: What do you see from him? Because I thought he

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Speaker 1: was pretty much the key, along with of course a

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Speaker 1: D looking like himself. But I guess we can kind

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Speaker 1: of start with Russ, like what do you see from him?

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Speaker 1: What was his game like tonight? So it was interesting

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Speaker 1: because as the game was getting ready to start, I

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Speaker 1: was kind of bummed out that Lebron didn't try to play.

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Speaker 1: The reason why is I kind of saw this specific

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Speaker 1: game as somewhat of a must win, not actually a

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Speaker 1: must win, but somewhat of a must win. The reason

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Speaker 1: why is They're about to head into a stretch of

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Speaker 1: here I think four of their next five games or

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Speaker 1: against Houston and Oklahoma City, so those are games that

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Speaker 1: they should win, um even if even if Lebron has

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Speaker 1: to miss. So my thing was like I kind of

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Speaker 1: wanted him to push through and try to get this

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Speaker 1: one and saying Antonio because it was a little tougher

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Speaker 1: and then they could go, uh, you know, then he

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Speaker 1: could rest as he needed after that. But the silver

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Speaker 1: lining when Lebron decided to call it a night was

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Speaker 1: what I thought to myself was this is a great

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Speaker 1: example of a great opportunity for Russ to not have

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Speaker 1: to worry about fitting in with Lebron. It was an

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Speaker 1: example of you know, like he it took out the

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Speaker 1: guesswork for him. It took out some of that decision making,

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Speaker 1: some of that some of that self control that he

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Speaker 1: would need to have if he was playing with Lebron,

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Speaker 1: which gave him an opportunity to just put his head down,

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Speaker 1: to go to the rim every time, like you said,

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Speaker 1: and almost everything uh involved. Like I was shocked at

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Speaker 1: how often he got to the rim in their big lineup. Now,

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Speaker 1: some of that has to do with a young Spurs

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Speaker 1: team that's going to make a lot of defensive mistakes.

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Speaker 1: Clear Um, I don't think you can get away with

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Speaker 1: the DJ at the five lineup against really good teams.

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Speaker 1: I think that this was a textbook example of uh,

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Speaker 1: what Frank probably intens in terms of innings eating, because

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Speaker 1: this is the type of game we're having DJ at

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Speaker 1: the five when you're injured, when you're dealing with a

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Speaker 1: bunch of injuries, and you defend well enough with that

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Speaker 1: group that you can hopefully just squeeze out a win

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Speaker 1: out of the eight two, right. But I was so

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Speaker 1: blown away by how good Russ was getting to the

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Speaker 1: rim in those lineups. That's just not what we saw

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Speaker 1: in the first three games. He struggled to find driving

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Speaker 1: lanes in those lineups. Again, I don't want to take

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Speaker 1: too much from it, because I don't think it will

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Speaker 1: work against good teams. But I thought Russ was just

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Speaker 1: fantastic tonight because they took out the guesswork. You just

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Speaker 1: got to put his head down and go to the rim,

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Speaker 1: and you saw his best game as a Laker, right,

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Speaker 1: And thirty three points eight is his ten rebounds, Like,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of the guy they traded for. Writing you

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Speaker 1: won't see this all the time, especially next to Lebron.

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Speaker 1: Lebron will share a lot of that usage, but I

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Speaker 1: think he still kind of has to play this way.

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Speaker 1: They traded for a guy that's going to relentlessly attack

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Speaker 1: the rim, right and not try to do this where

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Speaker 1: he tries not to step on each other, someone's toes

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Speaker 1: or they want him to be Russ. You when you

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Speaker 1: trade for a guy like Russell Westbrook, you trade for

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Speaker 1: him for him to be himself and try not to

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Speaker 1: just work on other people. And I thought he did

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Speaker 1: that tonight. And again no Lebron playing. He knows that

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Speaker 1: he has to be the main ball handler. And again

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Speaker 1: it looks ugly sometimes, especially when they have two bigs

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Speaker 1: out there. But when they made that run in the

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Speaker 1: fourth so on the fourth quarter they won the four seventeen,

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Speaker 1: and that run was basically made with Dwight and a

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Speaker 1: D I believe on the floor next to Austin Reeves,

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Speaker 1: I think, and I think link Monk maybe as well

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Speaker 1: been on the floor. But that's when they made that run.

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Speaker 1: Russ was still getting to the basket. Him and a

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Speaker 1: D were having some nice actions. Like I was kind

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Speaker 1: of frustrated. They had Rondo kind of throwing those entry

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Speaker 1: passes to a D and they would just double one

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Speaker 1: pass away and they had Russ doing it too. But

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Speaker 1: Russ would kind of when they would double one pass away,

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Speaker 1: he would use that space and just attack the rim

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Speaker 1: and in transition on any like one on one matchup, right.

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Speaker 1: So if he's had like Deante Murray back or just

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Speaker 1: any one on one matchup, it's just a quick left

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Speaker 1: or right crossover, get to the basket, overpower him, and

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Speaker 1: that stuff he can do even with like I understand,

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Speaker 1: with two bigs on the floor, but in transition, that

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Speaker 1: stuff he can do even when Lebron's back, just that

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Speaker 1: relentless rim attack and that really breaks down the defense.

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Speaker 1: It wears them down. And I thought you saw that tonight.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I thought Russ was really good. Um, this

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Speaker 1: was his best game and we kind of need more

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Speaker 1: more of that, Yeah, exactly. And you know the reason

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Speaker 1: why I like the big lineups tonight in particular was

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Speaker 1: because of what you're what you can expect from a

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Speaker 1: team like the Spurs, right, because a really smart basketball

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Speaker 1: team is going to find a way to make you

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Speaker 1: pay for being too slow, whether it's off all actions

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Speaker 1: or a really good point guard someone along the lines

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Speaker 1: of Steph Who or you know, John Moran did a

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Speaker 1: great job of this too. Who's gonna make you look

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Speaker 1: slow trying to cover in space like that? Right? But

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Speaker 1: this young, this young Spurs team is kind of like

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Speaker 1: they're just taking threes and they're going all the way

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Speaker 1: from the rim, right, so if you have to, if

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Speaker 1: you have two big guys on the floor that can

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Speaker 1: clog things up around the paint, a young team like

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Speaker 1: that is going to struggle countering that by by making

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Speaker 1: you pay for being slow. They're just gonna perpetually as

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Speaker 1: long as you can chase them off the three point line,

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Speaker 1: They're just gonna perpetually drive right into your side. And

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Speaker 1: so I'm really curious. I'm gonna look at the advanced

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Speaker 1: metrics after everything uploads later tonight. But I bet you

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Speaker 1: that Dwight and DeAndre Jordan's lineups tonight were fantastic, um,

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Speaker 1: but just because of their ability to defend the Spurs

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Speaker 1: at the rim and their inability to make them pay

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Speaker 1: for that. But you're right, the Rondo stuff is just

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Speaker 1: it's it's really hard for me right now, because you know,

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Speaker 1: I was the truth or I was the Rondo truther

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Speaker 1: during the playoff run. I was the one that, you know,

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Speaker 1: when when most of the Laker fan base was was

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Speaker 1: kind of getting behind the good games he was having.

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Speaker 1: I still struggle with with the bad that Rondo brings

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Speaker 1: and how much it can hurt the team and when

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Speaker 1: you put him out there. Um it just it just

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Speaker 1: everything gets so much clunkier and and I'm hoping that

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Speaker 1: this is not something we're gonna have to see for

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Speaker 1: much longer. You know. Darius Oriano called this out on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: and I thought it was interesting the Frank basically had

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Speaker 1: ten guys you could go to him. He had six guards,

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Speaker 1: he had three centers, Any had Carmelo Anthony, and so

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Speaker 1: he was in this really awkward position where he had

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Speaker 1: to basically just mix and match combinations of guards that

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Speaker 1: aren't great defensively with bigs, you know, they have their

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Speaker 1: own limitations in terms of Dwight and in DeAndre Jordan's

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Speaker 1: and again, you're just trying to survive in a game

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Speaker 1: like that. And so I liked that. I liked that

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Speaker 1: Frank just was like, Hey, let's go big and see

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Speaker 1: if they can make enough threes to beat us, and

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Speaker 1: they just couldn't. And especially down there in overtime in

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Speaker 1: the end of the fourth quarter, they just couldn't make

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Speaker 1: enough jump shots, um to to get that way. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I would have liked to see Rondo and Westbrook

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Speaker 1: minutes a little more staggered, right, and like we're all

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Speaker 1: frustrated sometimes with vocals ros tape rotations. But I try

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Speaker 1: to see what he's seeing, and I think he just

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Speaker 1: wants an extra playmaker out there right in that second unit.

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Speaker 1: But those zenas just can't survive defensively and the offensively.

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Speaker 1: It's still just too clunky, too clunky to be out

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Speaker 1: there like those Rondo Westbrook with mellow lineups, and I think,

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Speaker 1: like maybe one more guard, they'll just get destroyed. And

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Speaker 1: the Spurs run a lot of ball screens and I

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Speaker 1: knew like tonight would be tough. Greg Popovish teams play

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Speaker 1: at a baseline level, right, They're not gonna place too

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Speaker 1: poorly to get tone out every night. Like I think

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Speaker 1: they'll have a baseline level of effort and scheme that

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Speaker 1: they're going to run to where you have to play

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Speaker 1: above that um and I thought they did. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: like those Rhondo Westbrook minutes, I just would like those gone.

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Speaker 1: And I think with him trying to get another playmaker

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Speaker 1: out there, I think Monk like passes enough as a

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Speaker 1: shot creation shot creator where he can create where you

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Speaker 1: don't need those lineups out there. But you're right, it's

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Speaker 1: it's really tough. There's no one really you can go

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Speaker 1: to like it's just trade off that you have to

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Speaker 1: keep going to. Like I saw him subout Dwight for

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Speaker 1: Mellow for offense, and then right away you had Yaka

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Speaker 1: Pearle just go off, right because when Adi helped, it's

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Speaker 1: the guards dog to kind of recover and and tag

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Speaker 1: on him, and that's Moligue Monk down there, and those

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Speaker 1: are layups. Um, you saw Monks saying like what am

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Speaker 1: I supposed to do going into the time out one time?

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Speaker 1: But you can see his hands up and it's like

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Speaker 1: it's his job to kind of rotate there, but he's

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Speaker 1: not really used to that, right, That's not his role

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Speaker 1: a lot of times. So, um, you could see kind

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Speaker 1: of the things that Vogel is wrestling with and it's

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Speaker 1: a tough decision. I know, it's very easy to just

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Speaker 1: say a D at the five and that's that's obviously

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Speaker 1: the Lakers best lineups, but he kind of has to

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Speaker 1: play the bigs, like you talked about, because the rotation

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Speaker 1: is so short. We're missing three rotation guys who really

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Speaker 1: are our three better defenders right in th hd Lebron Right,

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Speaker 1: I'm just speaking on the second unit basically. Um, but

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Speaker 1: but but yeah, assuming Lebron's kind of play pretty soon.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, with the second unit, the th HD, Monk

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Speaker 1: and Theresa are better defenders. So I think he has

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Speaker 1: a tough job trying to figure out. I think he's

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Speaker 1: gonna kind of stick with this D J A D lineup,

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Speaker 1: um as we go onto these with these bad teams. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so at the end of the game they went back

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Speaker 1: to A D and five And I thought it was

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Speaker 1: interesting because you were talking about when a D would

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Speaker 1: get they would get a D involved in the action,

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Speaker 1: and a D would inevitably end up guarding Jon Murray

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Speaker 1: or or Eric White or one of the guards on

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Speaker 1: the perimeter off of like a switch. And in the

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Speaker 1: normal Laker lineups, your three and four are gonna be,

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Speaker 1: you know, either Basmore and Lebron, or if the reason

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Speaker 1: gets healthy, it's gonna be a reason Lebron. And so

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Speaker 1: you've got Lebron coming to you, you're throwing into Yaka Purdo.

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Speaker 1: Lebron is probably just gonna take it away from him

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Speaker 1: half the time, and and Yaka is not gonna feel

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Speaker 1: comfortable enough to go up to the basket with Lebron

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Speaker 1: there most of the time, right, So, but instead because

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Speaker 1: of Frank's predicament. Now you basically have Baize Moore as

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Speaker 1: your second biggest player on the floor there and that

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Speaker 1: counched time lineup and and most of the time it

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Speaker 1: ended up being one of the other smaller guards that

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Speaker 1: had to fill that Lebron role of of picking up

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Speaker 1: the that guy on the short role. And so it's

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Speaker 1: just again like this is where you just have to

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Speaker 1: look at it as you're surviving the NBA regular season.

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Speaker 1: You're down four rotation players, you're down your best player. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you have to just find a way to survive. And

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Speaker 1: and they did it tonight. And this is where this

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Speaker 1: is where we saw Russ's value coming in the season. Right.

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Speaker 1: The idea was, we need something to make it so

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Speaker 1: that when Lebron James isn't on the floor, the wheels

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Speaker 1: don't just come, you know, because because Anthony Davis is

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Speaker 1: not a perimeter initiator, he's not a guy that's gonna

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Speaker 1: break the defense down at the point of attack by himself.

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Speaker 1: He needs someone He's a he's a devastating offensive weapon,

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Speaker 1: but he needs to be alongside someone who can make decisions.

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Speaker 1: And what you saw tonight, it was a game that

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Speaker 1: Laker teams of old would have lost without Lebron. That

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Speaker 1: they won because of Russ's ability. And the biggest thing

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Speaker 1: they got to try to channel from this is try

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Speaker 1: to figure out how you can get Russ to play

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Speaker 1: with the same mentality when he staggered with Lebron, because

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Speaker 1: and Frank has done a good job at this the

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Speaker 1: season when the with the way they split the lineups,

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Speaker 1: they take Russ out first. Lebron has been playing deeper

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Speaker 1: into the first quarter than he has in recent years.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of Lebron Russ staggering going on. So

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Speaker 1: this is where you just gotta get into Russ's ear,

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Speaker 1: show him take from this game and be like, this

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Speaker 1: is how relent lists, and this is how persistent you

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Speaker 1: have to be attacking the rim when Lebron's off the flour.

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Speaker 1: This is what we brought you here for. This is

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Speaker 1: what raises our ceiling um. And so that's that's the

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Speaker 1: thing that they got to try to bottle up from

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Speaker 1: this game and and and take into the future. But

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Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you, so we have had what

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Speaker 1: three games since you last were on the pod, So

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Speaker 1: I asked you to come with the one thing that

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Speaker 1: you're most concerned about and the one thing that you're

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Speaker 1: most optimistic about from the first four games, So why

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Speaker 1: don't you start by telling me about the thing that

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Speaker 1: you're most optimistic about from the first I guess, like

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Speaker 1: just watching again this like this season kind of revolves

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Speaker 1: to me around the Russell Westbrook fit around the team, right,

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Speaker 1: And I feel like every game he's gotten more and

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Speaker 1: more a little bit more comfortable. He's still not like

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Speaker 1: super efficient, but that's like what I've seen been most

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Speaker 1: optimistic about. Like watching the last two games, kind of

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Speaker 1: not not watching them live, you kind of watched them

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Speaker 1: with less emotions, so you kind of look at things

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Speaker 1: a little bit differently. And I thought, like, he's getting

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Speaker 1: to the rim a little bit or and I thought

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Speaker 1: today it was kind of today it was kind of

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Speaker 1: leading up from those from those games, right, So like

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Speaker 1: he's getting to the basket, and I think his chemistry

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Speaker 1: with a D is starting to work. Like watching that

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Speaker 1: Phoenix game that I missed, I kind of thought they

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Speaker 1: would lose to Phoenix. That just watching us play Phoenix

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Speaker 1: in the preseason as well, they just look way more

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Speaker 1: ahead of ahead than we are. They're very they're well

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Speaker 1: oiled system, right now running I just thought we wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be able to beat that, and but then on the

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Speaker 1: comeback and the fourth, Like I really like what I saw,

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Speaker 1: like those eighty at the five with Rust. I think

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Speaker 1: it was like Austin Reeves as well, when they were

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Speaker 1: making their run and you just saw him kind of

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Speaker 1: get a little bit more and more comfortable. And against

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Speaker 1: Memphis as well, I thought you saw him getting more comfortable.

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Speaker 1: So that's kind of what I'm optimistic about. How about you?

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Speaker 1: Do you see that as well? I feel like the

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Speaker 1: Rust fit it's still clunky again with the two big

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Speaker 1: that's never gonna be clean, Like it's just not you

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Speaker 1: have two bigs in the paint and Lebron's there. People

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Speaker 1: are still gonna play off him. It's gonna be ugly.

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Speaker 1: But I feel like in transition there's things he can

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Speaker 1: do and he's starting to find his spots, starting to

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Speaker 1: find shooters. I thought he found Malik Monk a bunch

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Speaker 1: of times tonight. Um obviously got Austin Reeves some buckets,

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Speaker 1: Like that's the Russell Westbrook they kind of signed for

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Speaker 1: the law passes as well. Like, I think he's a

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Speaker 1: really good law pastor. He just makes bad decisions with

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Speaker 1: it that makes sense, like that that law pass to

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Speaker 1: a D two end over time fourth in the fourth courter.

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Speaker 1: I thought was it was absolutely terrible. I thought that

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Speaker 1: was a terrible past But I do think he's a

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Speaker 1: good law pastor when he combines that with good decision making.

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Speaker 1: But um so, yeah, that's what I'm kind of seeing.

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Speaker 1: That's what I'm not going to knowing about. Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: the it's it's funny about it. B Reeves, Like I

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Speaker 1: talked a lot with you in the off season about

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Speaker 1: how I liked the versatility of this new Laker roster,

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Speaker 1: the idea that they could go with more shooting an

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Speaker 1: offense or they could kind of default to old school

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Speaker 1: Laker lineups that were better defensively, and Austin Austin Reeves

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Speaker 1: has kind of solidified that for me because in the

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Speaker 1: Russell Lebron A D lineups to go vintage old school Lakers,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna lock your ass up and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna lean on Lebron and a D. On the other end,

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Speaker 1: you needed that fourth and fifth guy in that lineup

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Speaker 1: to be someone that you could count on to play

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Speaker 1: that old school frank vote real style of basketball, and

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Speaker 1: I liked Theresa for that. I liked Pays more for that.

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Speaker 1: I liked th HT potentially for that if you can

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Speaker 1: figure out some of his off ball stuff. But it's

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Speaker 1: still a little bit thin in that regard. Well, Reeves

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Speaker 1: now to me, solves that problem. Reeves is like, you're

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Speaker 1: perfect fifth dude that you could throw into those kinds

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Speaker 1: of lineup. So now I'm more optimistic about the versatility

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Speaker 1: that they can play with. You know, there are a

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Speaker 1: lot there was a lot of pessimism floating around Twitter

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Speaker 1: when the wheel started to come off tonight, and you

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Speaker 1: have to remember, like this, Yes, the Laker roster looks

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Speaker 1: clunky and flawed right now, but it was never intended

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Speaker 1: to look like this. This is not what Rob Blinka

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Speaker 1: signed up for. Okay, Like the way Rob Blinka saw this,

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Speaker 1: they would have more size on the wing, they would

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Speaker 1: have better point of attack defenders like Kendrick Gunn, who's

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Speaker 1: shown a propensity in his career to fight over the

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Speaker 1: top of screens and do his job and pick and

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Speaker 1: roll coverage or th h t s. You know, I've

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Speaker 1: called him Mini Kauai a bunch of times with his

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Speaker 1: ability to disrupt guys on the ball like that. There's

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Speaker 1: a there's there was a version of this that would

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Speaker 1: have looked a lot better to start the season that

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Speaker 1: got derailed by injuries. But let's see, let's hear what

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Speaker 1: your thing that as you most concerned. Yeah, so it's

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Speaker 1: definitely still the defensive end. Like I'm a little worried.

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Speaker 1: Like again, I know, like I said before, we're missing

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Speaker 1: our best three defenders, but we're gonna even be missing

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Speaker 1: them for a while, right, I think THHD is not

407
00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,240
Speaker 1: gonna be back for a while. None still out for

408
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Speaker 1: a few weeks. So that's where I'm a little bit

409
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Speaker 1: worried and tonight against the same thing. These really ball

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Speaker 1: screen heavy teams, like the spurs Um they have, they

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Speaker 1: have a lot of guards that live in the mid range, right,

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Speaker 1: so they might be a little unique to this. So

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Speaker 1: they run a lot of ball screen actions and without

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Speaker 1: drop coverage, Like it's very important for the guards to

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Speaker 1: be able to fight over these screens and kind of

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Speaker 1: stay attached. And our guards are just getting destroyed by it.

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Speaker 1: And I've seen that every game. I don't think it's

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Speaker 1: a coincidence that, like John Moran went off for forty

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Speaker 1: John Moran is very special, but I mean, I don't

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Speaker 1: think that's coincident he did that against us, because our

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Speaker 1: guard defenders just just can't stay up to a baseline

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Speaker 1: level that it needs to to where you can play

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Speaker 1: these big lineups, because that's where Frain's gonna play. He

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Speaker 1: has three, he has two centers plus eight on the team.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna be playing these big lineups. And it's important

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Speaker 1: where the guards have to play at a Baselin level

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Speaker 1: of defense. I just have not seen that yet. Basemar

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Speaker 1: is probably the only one. And that's why Austin Reeves

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Speaker 1: is getting all these minutes um. He's played what I

430
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,760
Speaker 1: think almost thirty minutes tonight or maybe like twenty five

431
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,600
Speaker 1: minutes tonight. Yeah, he played. He played tonight a rookie

432
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,399
Speaker 1: just coming around a rookie because he can at least

433
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 1: play like at a Baselin level of defense. Plus his

434
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,760
Speaker 1: shooting um plus the shooting out there was huge as well.

435
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:30,280
Speaker 1: But that's where I'm a little bit concerned about. And again,

436
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,640
Speaker 1: I don't know if none th HD and Theresa are

437
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,879
Speaker 1: just you plug those in and that's your answer. Like

438
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:36,960
Speaker 1: I think that's a little dangerous think about with the

439
00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,880
Speaker 1: thirty six year old Areza Thhd is still a young player,

440
00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,679
Speaker 1: and none is a good defender. He's not a great defender,

441
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:44,640
Speaker 1: but he's a good defender. Was still that's that's my

442
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 1: biggest concern with this team, because I think you saw

443
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,360
Speaker 1: tonight as well, like Deanto Murray was walking into those

444
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,200
Speaker 1: jumpers um pretty easily, and I think you'll see a

445
00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,760
Speaker 1: lot of guards do that against us with our with

446
00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:00,520
Speaker 1: our guard defense. Yeah, tonight was the worst for the

447
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,560
Speaker 1: Laker guard corps defensively by by a mile. And I

448
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,640
Speaker 1: thought it was mostly effort. Um. You know, the the Lakers,

449
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,200
Speaker 1: especially after the hot start, kind of just expected san

450
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 1: Antonio to fold and they did it. You know, young kids,

451
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,000
Speaker 1: they're just gonna keep feeding off the crowd and continue

452
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,399
Speaker 1: to put shots up and God, for a bit, two

453
00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 1: or three of them go in, Like what happened with

454
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,359
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker, like he can all of a sudden, the

455
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,280
Speaker 1: dude just gets our ageous confidence and he's feeding on

456
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:27,959
Speaker 1: it and he's gonna keep going to work, you know.

457
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:31,520
Speaker 1: And Um that said, like it's all about options, right,

458
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,840
Speaker 1: Like Frank could have gone to Avery Bradley tonight. I

459
00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:39,440
Speaker 1: wanted to, um, but but he couldn't because Avery Bradley

460
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,399
Speaker 1: ever since his little spurt at the end of the

461
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,280
Speaker 1: Golden State game has actually been pretty bad. Uh, not

462
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:48,760
Speaker 1: just in you know, we all saw the meme that

463
00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,919
Speaker 1: went by roll with the uh you know, the twenty

464
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,560
Speaker 1: seven minutes and zero points and zero rebounds and zero

465
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,720
Speaker 1: systs or whatever. But the truth is he was just

466
00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: he was just bad when he checked into the game

467
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,120
Speaker 1: to guard John Murad have lost him on the first

468
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:03,880
Speaker 1: possession and just not paying attention like like he was bad.

469
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:05,879
Speaker 1: So for the way Frank is looking at this is

470
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:09,400
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, Rondo's dying on screens, monks doing

471
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,680
Speaker 1: some swappy clothes outs for us, is kind of floating around.

472
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 1: He's losing his man off the ball, but I don't

473
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,200
Speaker 1: really have options, and so what what what? What fixes

474
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:20,919
Speaker 1: the problem is the accountability brought by the fact that

475
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,800
Speaker 1: you could lose your minutes, you know, and having him

476
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,119
Speaker 1: having options like none, like th ht like a reason

477
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 1: in the future gives Frank more, you know, more ammunition

478
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:36,880
Speaker 1: to sit down with some of these guys and be like, look,

479
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,160
Speaker 1: if you don't do this better, you're just not gonna play,

480
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,800
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And the one thing that

481
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,080
Speaker 1: has me a little bit concerned is I and I

482
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: mentioned this on the pod on on Sunday night, but

483
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 1: I I have a feeling that Reeves is going to

484
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 1: fall entirely out of the rotation. Uh. And it's not

485
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,000
Speaker 1: by any of his doing, It's just by virtue of

486
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 1: the fact that Nune's coming back. Um. You know, if

487
00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: you look at the way this kind of broke out

488
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:03,520
Speaker 1: this season, they brought in Rondo to basically run the

489
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,879
Speaker 1: bench lineups, right, and they you know, put him in

490
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 1: that weird lineup with with Russ a lot, especially in

491
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: the Golden State game and then tonight. Well, the truth

492
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:12,440
Speaker 1: of the matter is, as those minutes are going to nothing,

493
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,880
Speaker 1: right and in between, in between the Golden State game

494
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,960
Speaker 1: and tonight, UH, they kind of used Rondo tonight a

495
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:20,639
Speaker 1: is like Lebron. They kind of played him in the

496
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 1: Lebron benchman's because they're so because those lineups are so

497
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:26,359
Speaker 1: used to having a playmaker on the floor, you know

498
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,879
Speaker 1: what I mean. And Franks just trying to replicate that.

499
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 1: But in the previous two games against Phoenix and and

500
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:37,080
Speaker 1: UH and UH Memphis, they put Reeves in in the

501
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 1: Rondo minutes and basically played him alongside Russ And and

502
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 1: that was where he got the majority of his burns.

503
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,680
Speaker 1: So Kendrick Nunn is pretty much gonna slot right into

504
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:51,239
Speaker 1: that spot. And he's your mid level exception guy. So

505
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,440
Speaker 1: even though his salaries only like five point six million

506
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 1: or whatever, Genie is effectively paying fifteen million if the

507
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 1: luxury attacks to keep him on the roster. So it's

508
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 1: just hard for me to believe the rookie, undrafted kid

509
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,199
Speaker 1: just playing over Kendrick now, and that feels to me

510
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 1: like something that's not going to happen. So I I

511
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,040
Speaker 1: think you're gonna see Reeves kind of fall onto the

512
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:13,919
Speaker 1: back burner here. But at the same time, the thing

513
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,679
Speaker 1: to be optimistic about there is he's uh, they already

514
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 1: converted him from the two way into a guaranteed contract.

515
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: I think it's guaranteed for two years, So like he

516
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,679
Speaker 1: Lakers have him under control, they have him for depth,

517
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,320
Speaker 1: and hopefully um at some point during the season Frank

518
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,199
Speaker 1: will kind of see the value there and give him

519
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: his opportunity. But I am worried about him falling out

520
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 1: of the room. I'm not too worried about that because

521
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,200
Speaker 1: I think Frank even sometimes to his detriment, will fall

522
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 1: back on the better defender. Like I think that's who

523
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 1: he's going to play. And I think if Reeves is

524
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 1: the better defender, and then I think he'll play. And Rondo,

525
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: I think he was brought in not to be Jared Dudley,

526
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: but I don't think he was meant to play this much.

527
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 1: At least that's what they told us at the media day,

528
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,160
Speaker 1: which was I think three years ago now. But yeah,

529
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,120
Speaker 1: like I think like media Day, they talked about Ronda

530
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,240
Speaker 1: not playing much. And again I'm not sure if that's sure.

531
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 1: Will never really know until we get the full rotation.

532
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 1: But I feel like when we get the full rotation,

533
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: he should be the one kind of sitting out. I

534
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 1: would like to see Reeves stay in the rotation. I

535
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 1: think he's too good of a shooter to not play. Um.

536
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,880
Speaker 1: I think that just fits next to three stars who

537
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 1: want to get to the basket. Basically, like you need

538
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 1: knockdown guys, which is why I thought Ellington would play.

539
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: But his defense again just can't get to a baseline

540
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,639
Speaker 1: level that it needs to, and that's where Reeves comes in.

541
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 1: He's a rookie, he makes rookie mistakes. He gets out muscled.

542
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:28,639
Speaker 1: I thought Lonnie Walker try to pick on him tonight.

543
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 1: You saw him kind of use his whoever he was

544
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: going to kind of use him as a screener and

545
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: go at him. But he makes the right decision even

546
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 1: if he gets out muscled, and I think that's all

547
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 1: you can ask. He makes the right play. And those

548
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: are all cliches, but does matter when you're playing as

549
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,479
Speaker 1: the superstar guys who take all these uses. If you're

550
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:46,359
Speaker 1: in the right spot, take the right shots. Like that

551
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 1: one shot he took where like the guy was running

552
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 1: at him, he faked, got right into the mid range

553
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 1: jumper wide open. I think it was a huge shot.

554
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:54,200
Speaker 1: I think it put us up one or something like that.

555
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 1: Like those aren't rookie plays, you know what I mean.

556
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,639
Speaker 1: Those aren't guys who aren't who are who are super

557
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: poised and can take those kind of looks. So I

558
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,439
Speaker 1: think he'll stay in the rotation. Maybe I'm just being optimistic,

559
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:04,920
Speaker 1: but that's kind of how I see it. I think

560
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 1: Vogel will go with a better defender, and he's been

561
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 1: playing pretty good defense. The numbers with Lebron and a

562
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 1: D on the floor I think are great. His plus

563
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,440
Speaker 1: minus is good, which is another ode to Crusoe, I guess,

564
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 1: but but yeah, I think I think he'll stay in

565
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 1: the rotation. So our guy Jason Maples just tweeted and said,

566
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,640
Speaker 1: uh that there's no way, there's no way reason leaves

567
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: the rotation. Don't put that in the air. I'm not

568
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: putting that in the air as if to say that

569
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 1: I wanted to happen or that it should happen. I'm

570
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,680
Speaker 1: just saying it's what I predict, and to be clear,

571
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:37,919
Speaker 1: I do not want it to happen. Like I you

572
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,880
Speaker 1: mentioned his clothes that attacking he he is like this

573
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: is not just within the lens of a rookie. He

574
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: is one of the best close out attackers I've ever

575
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 1: seen in terms of not the flashy seeing of the

576
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: you know, like like what you know, what you might

577
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: see from someone like cam read is, for instance. What

578
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,719
Speaker 1: I'm more referring to is just the like never a misteak,

579
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,080
Speaker 1: never tries to do too much, like very rarely tries

580
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 1: him it very rarely makes a mistake. I should say,

581
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,679
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say something that's kind of borderline blasphemo. This year.

582
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: It kind of reminds me of Andrea Gudala, Like when

583
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 1: Andrea Gudala taxi close out. He's always under control. He

584
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: never does something stupid. He always makes that like advanced

585
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: level read like looking guy off to the corner to

586
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: hit the guy on the wing or vice versa, or

587
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,400
Speaker 1: that little extra pass fake or wrap around to make

588
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 1: sure the past actually gets where it's going so it

589
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 1: doesn't get tipped. Like he's so savvy attacking those clothes outs.

590
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 1: And when you actually add in that he's a rookie,

591
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 1: it's completely mind blowing to me. Like when he catches

592
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 1: on the wing and puts the ball on the floor,

593
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: don't you just feel like safe in terms of like

594
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 1: he's not gonna do something stupid, you know what I mean?

595
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 1: Like it's kind of crazy. And that that blow by

596
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,119
Speaker 1: play you brought you you you've uh said, is the

597
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,720
Speaker 1: perfect example. Just completely under control. Pump bake, wait for

598
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,679
Speaker 1: the guy to go by one dribble, completely balanced, just

599
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 1: just everything is is so under control with him. And

600
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 1: that that's me. If it's up to me, I put

601
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,680
Speaker 1: him in over bays more as a as a guy

602
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: in the closing lineup. That's that's how much I think

603
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:15,359
Speaker 1: that guy is the perfect fifth player. But that said,

604
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,879
Speaker 1: it's not going to happen. And what's problem. I actually

605
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,120
Speaker 1: do predict he'll fall out of the rotation, as unfortunate

606
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,359
Speaker 1: as that is, I just I do think the politics

607
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 1: matter here, and we've seen in the last couple of

608
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: years with Frank that the politics do matter, like with Drummond,

609
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,479
Speaker 1: like with JaVale McGee, even like with DeAndre Jordan here

610
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,439
Speaker 1: to start the season, Like there's just there's there's a

611
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 1: little bit of decision making here that goes beyond just

612
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,920
Speaker 1: purely XS and knows if that makes yes, that's fair,

613
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 1: I mean that that could be right. I just think

614
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: he's playing too well and we just don't have enough

615
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 1: guys who can, Like he's not even a super two

616
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,639
Speaker 1: way player, but it's enough to where like it stands

617
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,680
Speaker 1: out on a team with so many guards who are

618
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,879
Speaker 1: blow low blow average defenders, like just him on the

619
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 1: floor not making mistakes, it stands out. I just think

620
00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:59,399
Speaker 1: that can't be ignored on the film, I think his

621
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 1: numbers can be ignored. I know it's only been what

622
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: four games, I think, but I think those numbers can't

623
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 1: be ignored. I wanted to ask you this though, because

624
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 1: I thought it was important they came back tonight, like

625
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: I think too. I know it's I know it's early,

626
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 1: the season just started, whatever, but I think, uh, one

627
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:15,679
Speaker 1: in three is is a lot different than two and

628
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,439
Speaker 1: two just from the just from a mental xiety of

629
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: a team. And they got punched in the mouth like

630
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: they could have easily just you know, got punched and

631
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:24,399
Speaker 1: just let it keep bleeding. And I honestly that's what

632
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 1: I thought was going to happen, Like at Spurs in

633
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:28,639
Speaker 1: the fourth, we're kind of gonna We're kind of going

634
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 1: to run away with it. I think they ended the

635
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: ended the third on like a twelve to three run

636
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, had like nine straight I

637
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: think points by himself and nine and run by himself.

638
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: But I thought them coming back was important, even if

639
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: it is early. I think just for the team overall,

640
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 1: Like you can't get blown out like that, especially going

641
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: on to a road trip here. So I thought it

642
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:53,959
Speaker 1: was apportant to you think the same thing. Yeah, So

643
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 1: when you and I broke down the first sixteen games

644
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,479
Speaker 1: of the schedule, you know, we were both kind of

645
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 1: just hopeful to get one of the Phoenix Golden State Stretch,

646
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: especially after that preseason, we were like, if they got

647
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 1: one of those, we were going to be thrilled. And

648
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: um uh. It was interesting too because in both games

649
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 1: they had stretches, particularly at the beginning where they looked

650
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,400
Speaker 1: pretty good. It's just the wheels fell off in both

651
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: of those games. But the way I looked at it,

652
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 1: the Memphis in San Antonio games were the big ones

653
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 1: and the reason why it's like, like I said, for

654
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: the next five are are like really easy games with

655
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: Houston and okay see, and then the fifth one in

656
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 1: there is Cleveland, who just came off beating Denver and

657
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:35,840
Speaker 1: who's the other team they beat? They beat Denver and

658
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: then they beat somebody else good. I can't remember exactly,

659
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: but they Cleveland is a little dangerous and a little frisky,

660
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: so that's not a super easy one. But I knew

661
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: that these two the San Antonio game in the Memphis game,

662
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,640
Speaker 1: if they could get those two wins, they have the

663
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 1: potential to go up to Portland. At what's that that

664
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: would make them if they if they win these next five,

665
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,200
Speaker 1: which are all very winnable, they'll be They'll be favorites

666
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 1: in Vegas by at least five points. In every one

667
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 1: of those games. Um uh, they could go up to

668
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: Portland's seven and two and have an opportunity to get

669
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 1: a signature when early season signature win up in Portland's

670
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: come back eight and two, no one will even remember

671
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: Dwight Nade getting an altercation. No one will even remember

672
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: the uh, the nasty uh, you know, ugly finish to

673
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: that Golden State game or the blowout against Phoenix, Like

674
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,640
Speaker 1: all that stuff disappears if you just win. Winning here's everything.

675
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 1: And they needed to get a couple here and now

676
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Lebron getting that ankle rest with

677
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: the win in San Antonio feels super valuable. I was

678
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 1: just I was just worried that they would lose tonight

679
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: without Lebron, just because of how poorly did Yeah, and

680
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: I guess like we can talk a little about a

681
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,959
Speaker 1: little bit about a D like his start to the season,

682
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: that thought has been great, like he's come again. We

683
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: always try to talk about like the process um over

684
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: results thing, and I think the process is a D

685
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 1: and Lebron looking amazing, right like sometimes that's just that's

686
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 1: just the process. And I think he looked great again tonight.

687
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,959
Speaker 1: And the Spurs are a bad matchup for him. They

688
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: have a lot of smaller, kind of undersized guys on him.

689
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 1: Docom Peartle is probably the main big guy they throw

690
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 1: on him. But I thought he was really good dominated

691
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 1: the offensive boards. Um, even when like Baysmore, russ Leak

692
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 1: Monk when they attacked, when they just attacked the basket

693
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 1: and get the big to help over. He's able to

694
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: get offensive rebounds, and that's just stuff we missed last year.

695
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: And I think last year kind of hit the fact

696
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: of how kind of special a d is as a player.

697
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,720
Speaker 1: And it's good to see him throwing those numbers up again.

698
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 1: At thirty five points, seventeen rebounds tonight, four assist Um,

699
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: he had the one player where he like got the rebound,

700
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,600
Speaker 1: he blocked pearl at the rim, got the rebound, drove

701
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: down in and out, dribble, attacked the basket and one.

702
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: I believe that's just stuff that he could do and

703
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,000
Speaker 1: we didn't see. We didn't get to see much of

704
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: it last year. So hopefully I think I saw on

705
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: the timeline that it was he knocked knees with somebody.

706
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,320
Speaker 1: So hopefully, um, he's okay and he's able to play.

707
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 1: Maybe he'll probably rest tomorrow. But what you see from

708
00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: a D because I thought he looked good tonight. Again,

709
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 1: the offensive looks still monkey. That store running a lot

710
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 1: of io post up for him, and maybe that's just

711
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 1: a product of not having Lebron on the floor, but

712
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 1: but I thought he looked good in his minutes. So

713
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: I love a D. But he's an extremely frustrating player

714
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: to to reform sometimes, um, just because just because the

715
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 1: silly things like his absolute uh like unending desire to

716
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: turn every post up into the most complicated jump shot

717
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 1: in the history of man kind, that gets frustrating, the

718
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: incessant following, the constant injury scares, it gets difficult to reform.

719
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 1: But my one big knit pick with him tonight was

720
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,120
Speaker 1: the glass And this is a problem that he had

721
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 1: a little bit uh in the Phoenix game. Um, A

722
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 1: D has a tendency when he gets locked with a

723
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 1: big to not fight for position. So like, once he's

724
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 1: already bodied body with somebody, he kind of is just

725
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:58,720
Speaker 1: where he is, and if the other big decides to

726
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: push on him or or or seal him, uh, he

727
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: just kind of gives that ground. And and he really

728
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:10,560
Speaker 1: struggled against eight and around the rim uh with just

729
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,400
Speaker 1: giving up his base, like getting shoved off of his spot, uh,

730
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 1: always losing balance like in that physical altercation. He was

731
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 1: the loser in most of those matchups, and tonight he

732
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: got like, especially in the second half, he really got

733
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: manhandled on the boards by Yaka Purdle. And again, the

734
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: way you got to look at it is the team

735
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 1: is not going to rebound very well without Lebron and

736
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,560
Speaker 1: without you know, uh the rest of their uh their

737
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 1: depth out on the wing like Areza um or even

738
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: th Htu who has a has a tendency to be

739
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 1: a good off ball remounder. You can count on that

740
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: working better in the long run. But it just I

741
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 1: do I wish that A D was a little bit

742
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,240
Speaker 1: more willing to be the guy who wins the physical battles,

743
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 1: you know, to be the guy that you look back

744
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 1: because because he can't. Like Game two, in Game three

745
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:08,879
Speaker 1: against Phoenix, Key bullied Aten and he wasn't shooting well,

746
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: he wasn't even winning in isolation. He just beat up

747
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 1: Eighten on the glass offensive rebail, pushed the putbacks defensively.

748
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: He just manhandled Aden in those games. And he just

749
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 1: that's the one thing that's inconsistent with him that I'd

750
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: like to see become more consistent. It's just take the

751
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 1: physical challenge. Be the guy who be the guy who

752
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,799
Speaker 1: the other guys scared to hit you and not the

753
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 1: other way around, you know what I mean That that

754
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: that's what I'd like to see from in the long run.

755
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,359
Speaker 1: But again we're just I'm just knit picking. Uh. This

756
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: was he had a lot on his plate night, He

757
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 1: had a lot that he had to do. His responsibilities

758
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 1: were far more extensive tonight than they were in his

759
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: previous games. I'm not gonna harp on it too much,

760
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 1: but that was just that was my one little, uh

761
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,600
Speaker 1: negative takeaway from the night. Yeah, for sure. I mean

762
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: I thought a lot of those also were kind of

763
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 1: long rebound. But you're right, Yacopola did win a lot

764
00:34:58,480 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 1: of those. And I don't know if that's just him

765
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 1: trying to just save his energy, um and whatnot, but

766
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 1: I thought like they found something with like him catching

767
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,840
Speaker 1: the ball on the move, especially with rust and he

768
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:09,839
Speaker 1: gets to those floaters and stuff, and again, like it's

769
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: frustrating seeing him sometimes you'll like bully a guy at

770
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 1: the rim, like post move spin done at the rim

771
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:17,839
Speaker 1: and the next posessially gona take a fade away jumper

772
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,279
Speaker 1: for just for for no reason. So those kind of

773
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: things are frustrating. But again, like I tweeted it tonight,

774
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: like when he gets the ball, like or even if

775
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,800
Speaker 1: it's just an isolation, it's like momentum going to towards

776
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 1: the basket, Like he's so good at those, like flip shots,

777
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:32,760
Speaker 1: or like he gets a little contact he can finish,

778
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:34,799
Speaker 1: Like those are shots he should be getting a whole

779
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: bunch of, especially with Rust and Braun kind of feeding him.

780
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 1: Those are shots I want him taking. I guess those

781
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,840
Speaker 1: fade away jumpers are kind of just I don't know.

782
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 1: Obviously he likes to take them, but those are kind

783
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:46,520
Speaker 1: of frustrating to watch frohim. But that's why I thought

784
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,800
Speaker 1: I saw from eight each night, and I don't expect

785
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,319
Speaker 1: him really to play tomorrow, so it was good to

786
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 1: see him kind of pull this from now and get

787
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,920
Speaker 1: to win for us. Well. The other thing about the

788
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: fade aways and stuff too, is like I would almost

789
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: treat it like mellow, Like if he needs to rescue

790
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: a possession with something like that, that's fine. You know,

791
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 1: Lebron will take the occasional fade away. He'll take two

792
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,760
Speaker 1: or three of them a game. They're usually they're usually like, okay,

793
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: there's only twelve seconds on the shot block. I'm with

794
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,839
Speaker 1: my bench line up, So Russ and a D aren't

795
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 1: even out here. They're leaving me on an island. They're

796
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:21,560
Speaker 1: not doubling. Here's a chance for me to save some

797
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:23,560
Speaker 1: legs and get a decent shot. But I practice a

798
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 1: lot that kind of thing for a D. He he

799
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 1: uses it too much as his bread and butter, you

800
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And and yeah, when it's when

801
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 1: it's when he's in the bubble and he's shooting on those,

802
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: then it looks fantastic. But I mean, there are like

803
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 1: two players in the league or three players in the

804
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 1: league that should turn around fade aways over. You know,

805
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,719
Speaker 1: you're talking like maybe Kwieline or maybe Kevin Durray, maybe

806
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,080
Speaker 1: Demardros you know what I mean, Like you're it's just

807
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 1: a it's an extremely difficult shot on your best day.

808
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: And so what I'd like to see is a little

809
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: bit more of like what they did on the shot

810
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,719
Speaker 1: where a D took the lead. Um, Yeah, they got

811
00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:57,239
Speaker 1: it back to one, and then a D took a

812
00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,120
Speaker 1: jumper at the top of the key that knocked down,

813
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:00,799
Speaker 1: just get him on a pick and pop. It's like

814
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:02,440
Speaker 1: a D you trying to save your legs and get

815
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 1: some more jump shots. Like let's just run a simple

816
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:06,879
Speaker 1: screen and roll or screen and pop and you pop

817
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 1: to where you want to go and you just catch

818
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,319
Speaker 1: him shoot your You can shoot ten of those a game.

819
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 1: Save your legs the same way you do with the

820
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 1: fade away. Lean more on the fade away when you've

821
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 1: got a significant size mismatch where there's help around and

822
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,279
Speaker 1: you know you can get an easy little turnaround, or

823
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, there's six seconds on the shot clock

824
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: and we just need to try to bail out this possession.

825
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:28,839
Speaker 1: You know. One of my other big takeaways from this

826
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 1: game with Russ has to do with his efficiency. Um,

827
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,359
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of relating this to the A D thing.

828
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,000
Speaker 1: So if Russ could just show a little bit of

829
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,520
Speaker 1: self control with his jump shot, he'd have the most

830
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 1: efficient season of his career. So, like, I bet you

831
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 1: he could get close to six shooting. The reason why

832
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 1: is he's going to get a lot of opportunities at

833
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: the rim with this group, and if he could just

834
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 1: cut out the stupid shots. He'd go eight for sixteen

835
00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:00,600
Speaker 1: every night, you know, And uh, I kind of feel

836
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:02,319
Speaker 1: that way with a D two, Like a D is

837
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 1: capable of having you know, almost you know, yokichen b

838
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 1: type of efficiency if he if he trimmed out some

839
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,239
Speaker 1: of the fat, you know what I mean, Like, like,

840
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,479
Speaker 1: just find a way to to take out a few

841
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,520
Speaker 1: of those per game and turn them into higher percentage shots.

842
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you can't take them, but trim the

843
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:23,879
Speaker 1: fat a little bit and you could end up having

844
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 1: one of the more efficient seasons of your career. And again,

845
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 1: read the room, like this roster has three star level creators,

846
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,319
Speaker 1: so you can trim the fat, you know, like if

847
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 1: you're if you're Kevin Durant in the Eastern Conference semifinals

848
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: and James Hardens on one hand string and Kyrie Irving's

849
00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:46,319
Speaker 1: in a suit, then yeah, you're gonna have to lean

850
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,479
Speaker 1: on a lot of tough shot to carry you through

851
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 1: the night. But with this specific group, with how much

852
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 1: talent they have, read the room, they don't need you

853
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: to take as many of those. Trim some fat, rush,

854
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,319
Speaker 1: trim some fat, Lebron, trim some fat and and it'll

855
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:05,480
Speaker 1: it'll show up in the longer and like I think it.

856
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,279
Speaker 1: I told you all summer that I predicted Lebron would

857
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:10,919
Speaker 1: have his best three point shooting season because I knew

858
00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,520
Speaker 1: that that was the way he'd look at the room.

859
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: He read the room with this group, I need to

860
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:18,960
Speaker 1: shoot better because that's how I can make sure my

861
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: game fits well with these guys. And I and I

862
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,520
Speaker 1: think that the way he saw it was I can

863
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,280
Speaker 1: be a high volume three point shooter this year and

864
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,560
Speaker 1: maintain my impact without stepping on people's toes and and

865
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,319
Speaker 1: so that's where that's where I'd like to see both

866
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,879
Speaker 1: Russ and a D improve. Is just trimm the fat

867
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:38,520
Speaker 1: in their shot selection, for sure, And I think like

868
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 1: expecting the Rust to that, like I want to expect it.

869
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 1: Rust has been in the league a long time, Like

870
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 1: he's gonna take those bad jumpers, and I think there's

871
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,720
Speaker 1: a difference, Like he had that one mid range jumper

872
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,799
Speaker 1: he hit where like you came off eighties, the main

873
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: the one where he came off a D I think,

874
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:55,800
Speaker 1: and it was wide open, just in rhythm, one dribble,

875
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 1: just in one wide oven, full up jumper and he

876
00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: switched it and then in trance in the net play down.

877
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 1: I think he got the rebound, came in transition and

878
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 1: just pulled up this heat check, um, this contested eat check,

879
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:08,719
Speaker 1: and those are the stuff you just kind of have

880
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:10,920
Speaker 1: to live with. I know they're bad shots or whatever,

881
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,280
Speaker 1: but that's just what comes with the package of Russell

882
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,760
Speaker 1: Westbrook if you can get this all this other stuff

883
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:17,880
Speaker 1: kind of mixing in. And we talked all summer about

884
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 1: how like it's about putting what Russ does in the

885
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:22,960
Speaker 1: mix of Lebron and a D to where it can

886
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,080
Speaker 1: kind of over overpower the other team. And I think

887
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:26,920
Speaker 1: that's what you need to get expecting him and kind

888
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 1: of trim off these bad shots. I just don't think

889
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 1: you're gonna really get that. And again, maybe two Bigs

890
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,200
Speaker 1: really plays into this. It kind of lulls him into

891
00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:37,160
Speaker 1: the jumpers, Like you'll see him guards go so far

892
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:38,879
Speaker 1: into the screen and the big will just sit back

893
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:40,879
Speaker 1: because there's another big in the paint and he's gonna

894
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:42,919
Speaker 1: take those Like it's tough for him to turn those

895
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:45,279
Speaker 1: wide open shots down, Like those are shots he's taking

896
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 1: his whole career, and I don't see that stopping in

897
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,520
Speaker 1: year thirteen or whatever year he is in. He's in,

898
00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: but you're right, he can be more efficient. Those decision

899
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 1: making has to get a little bit better, and it

900
00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 1: has to work with Lebron on the floor that we

901
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: have to see it with Lebron. I thought, now, he

902
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:01,239
Speaker 1: did play a lot more free. You could tell he

903
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 1: got the ball a lot more. You could tell he

904
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,360
Speaker 1: was just he played like himself. He feeled like Russell

905
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:07,799
Speaker 1: Westbrook doesn't. And there's a mix of bad and good

906
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 1: with that. But I think he can You're right, he

907
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: can get more efficient with it. And if Lebron is

908
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 1: gonna shoot this, well, you can put him off the ball.

909
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: And because you were saying like, it's got to work

910
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: with Lebron, right, and I do think that, you know,

911
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:26,239
Speaker 1: Lebron in order to get his rhythm needs to have

912
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 1: extended stretches during the game where he kind of is

913
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:30,279
Speaker 1: the maestro, kind of like the beginning of the fourth

914
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:32,239
Speaker 1: quarter against Memphis. I'm not sure if you have a

915
00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: chance to watch the tape, but in that fourth quarter

916
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 1: against Memphis, Lebron just became the primary decision maker and

917
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 1: and a ton of good stuff happened. And you you

918
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: gotta have stretches like that, but you know if there's

919
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,520
Speaker 1: a specific point in the game where you need to

920
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:51,319
Speaker 1: get Russ going and and you know, like just take

921
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 1: Lebron off the ball because of how well he's been

922
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: shooting and asked him just to do what he did

923
00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:57,839
Speaker 1: tonight and see if you can't get something going there.

924
00:41:57,840 --> 00:41:59,320
Speaker 1: And I'm with you, like Russ is who he is,

925
00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:03,440
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. Get I do, I sincerely do, And

926
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:05,239
Speaker 1: I understand. I'm also a big believer. And you've got

927
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,600
Speaker 1: to play into people's personalities. Like if his personality is

928
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:12,520
Speaker 1: like I thrive on the the confidence that I get

929
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 1: from my green light, you know, kind of like the

930
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,800
Speaker 1: Draymond Green thing, Like you need him to be crazy

931
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:19,600
Speaker 1: because that's what fuels his defense. So you can't tell

932
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,120
Speaker 1: him to not yell at the refs, or stop yelling

933
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 1: a teammates, or just stop having blow ups with the

934
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,680
Speaker 1: coaching staff because like that you know, fervor that he has,

935
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,239
Speaker 1: that that's what drives his defensive motor. So you gotta

936
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,479
Speaker 1: you gotta feed into a guy's confidence, and you gotta

937
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 1: feed into what their personality is. But this is the

938
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 1: first time, literally in his whole career where he's been

939
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,759
Speaker 1: a third option, so at a certain point, like and

940
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:46,319
Speaker 1: I loved that Frank said it earlier in the year,

941
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,600
Speaker 1: Like it's like Russ has a green light on catching

942
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 1: shoes right, but when when he's off the dribbling need

943
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 1: to be more picky. And you brought a great point,

944
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:54,920
Speaker 1: like there was one jumper that he took in the

945
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,240
Speaker 1: pick and roll today. Um it was in the second half,

946
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:00,480
Speaker 1: and he shot it right about the right mos with

947
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:03,400
Speaker 1: an a d pick and roll and he was wide open.

948
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,320
Speaker 1: He had tons of time, he was in a rhythm

949
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,200
Speaker 1: because he had scored a couple of times previous. He

950
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 1: was comfortable and he stuck it and that was great.

951
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:13,399
Speaker 1: But there was one in crunch time. It was either

952
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 1: at the end of the fourth or end of overtime

953
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,960
Speaker 1: where he was walking to dude down into the lane

954
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:20,560
Speaker 1: off the dribble and pulled up like a ten footer

955
00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:23,680
Speaker 1: and left it way short. And it's like, that's that's

956
00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:25,840
Speaker 1: the one, that's the one you gotta you gotta, you

957
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,840
Speaker 1: gotta cut out with this group, you know, because that's

958
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:33,359
Speaker 1: like like we talked with in Maples, like that's the

959
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:37,480
Speaker 1: hemorrhage possession that if he does that six times a

960
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:39,799
Speaker 1: game in a critical playoff game, it could cost you.

961
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 1: So those are those are the ones that I'd like

962
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,319
Speaker 1: to see him cut out right, Those are those are

963
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 1: basically turnovers. I think that's how Maples calls him. But

964
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:49,040
Speaker 1: but and we didn't really get it. We really get

965
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,080
Speaker 1: to talk talk about like the Memphis game too much.

966
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,120
Speaker 1: But I like that they used him as a screen

967
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,000
Speaker 1: or a bunch right to close that game. I thought, like,

968
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:57,320
Speaker 1: I thought, that's something they found and again this season

969
00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 1: they just kind of had to find things as they

970
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,319
Speaker 1: go and if they can win while doing that, that's

971
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:03,480
Speaker 1: even better obviously. But I think that's kind of what

972
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:06,720
Speaker 1: this season about. Like to me watching all these games,

973
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,000
Speaker 1: like I might have been wrong. DeAndre Jordan might not

974
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,000
Speaker 1: be able to even start for five minutes, just the

975
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:14,799
Speaker 1: way that these games are going. Uh, Russ can't get

976
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: in any rhythm to start, And I maybe I have have

977
00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:20,359
Speaker 1: under value like where Russ, what Russ can do even

978
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,759
Speaker 1: with a super clock paint. Maybe he just can't get

979
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,920
Speaker 1: to the rim and anymore at at that level. But again,

980
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:27,680
Speaker 1: like trying to find things that they can they can

981
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:29,879
Speaker 1: go to lat in games, and I think Russ as

982
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,359
Speaker 1: a as a screener for Lebron is something that they

983
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,840
Speaker 1: did unlocked. Teams like to trap Lebron coming off these screens,

984
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 1: like when they used to run it with KCP, they

985
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,360
Speaker 1: would trapp and give the ball to Ksep and have

986
00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:41,399
Speaker 1: him kind of playoff that and Russ is a much

987
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: better player on those decisions, him getting to go downhill,

988
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:46,720
Speaker 1: and that's something I think they can use going forward.

989
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,320
Speaker 1: So that's like another thing that you can just unlock

990
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 1: as the season goes. Did you see that as well

991
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,239
Speaker 1: in the Memphis games, to seeing Russ just as a

992
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:56,439
Speaker 1: screener for Lebron something that they can go to. Yeah,

993
00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:58,040
Speaker 1: that was a big thing that we talked about. Is

994
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,279
Speaker 1: actually brought up by one of our callers. It was

995
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:04,680
Speaker 1: something that I uh made specific note of during the game.

996
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:09,640
Speaker 1: The It reminded me of Wade Lebron boss Um the

997
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,800
Speaker 1: particularly in the The Thunder series in the two thousands

998
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,839
Speaker 1: twelve finals, they did a lot of Lebron Wade pick

999
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: and roll with Wade becoming the short roll guy, and

1000
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,440
Speaker 1: they just got they just got fantastic stuff out of

1001
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,880
Speaker 1: it because it's just he's he's such a good playmaker.

1002
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:30,040
Speaker 1: Wade was, and obviously Russ's as well that that he

1003
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:32,480
Speaker 1: was so good in that four on three at picking

1004
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,359
Speaker 1: teams apart, and they got really good stuff out of that.

1005
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:38,319
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter again against Memphis, there was there

1006
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:39,920
Speaker 1: was actually a play that got blown up. Is the

1007
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 1: very next one after the one that Pete called out

1008
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:47,839
Speaker 1: like a film room um on Twitter today. The there

1009
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:51,799
Speaker 1: was the very next possession. Lebron actually rejected the screen

1010
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:55,760
Speaker 1: and roll and uh that they just used with Russ,

1011
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:57,640
Speaker 1: and he went to the right instead of going to

1012
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 1: the screen which is to the left, and it completely

1013
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 1: befuddled Memphis. Both guys jumped to Russ's side and then

1014
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:07,760
Speaker 1: immediately realized they made a mistake and sprinted to Lebron.

1015
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, Russ is like butt naked at

1016
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,920
Speaker 1: the top of the the key, and Lebron just throws the

1017
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:15,120
Speaker 1: little pocket pass and Russ came down the lane and

1018
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:19,200
Speaker 1: a d read it cut just on time, and honestly

1019
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:21,319
Speaker 1: I can't remember who it was from Memphis, but someone

1020
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:23,520
Speaker 1: ended up breaking up the past and it turned into

1021
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,520
Speaker 1: a turnover. But had Russ successfully competed a little completed

1022
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: the little shovel pass ad, he probably still be hanging

1023
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 1: on the rim like it was. It was one of those,

1024
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:34,000
Speaker 1: and I remember sitting there thinking like this is this

1025
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:38,880
Speaker 1: is one of the ways that you can use Russ's um,

1026
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:42,919
Speaker 1: you know, skills and weaknesses to your advantage in crunch time.

1027
00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: Make him a screen or turn him into Draymond, turn

1028
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,200
Speaker 1: him into Draymond, let him, let him make those kinds

1029
00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:51,120
Speaker 1: of plays. And in the most important facet of that

1030
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:55,680
Speaker 1: is the the the the like sizes element. So you know,

1031
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:57,839
Speaker 1: the reason why the Lakers can't just run Lebron ad

1032
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 1: pick and roll against like the Clippers or or some

1033
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 1: of the best teams in the league is they'll just

1034
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:06,320
Speaker 1: switch because chances are you've got two really big, strong

1035
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,400
Speaker 1: forward stuarding those two guys. And if a guy is

1036
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:12,080
Speaker 1: if a guy checks the box as quote unquote capable

1037
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 1: of guarding Lebron, he probably checks the box capable of

1038
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,919
Speaker 1: guarding a vice versa. So it's just it's it's really

1039
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 1: easy to switch it and then the action is blown

1040
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,600
Speaker 1: up and then you end up having to isolate anyway, Well,

1041
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:25,200
Speaker 1: Russ is almost always going to be guarded by a

1042
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,880
Speaker 1: someone in that six three or less type of size,

1043
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:32,680
Speaker 1: uh you know size frame. So from that standpoint, it

1044
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:37,319
Speaker 1: becomes extremely difficult to switch. And now you've got two

1045
00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:41,759
Speaker 1: incredibly gifted passers and ball handlers, UH with two defenders,

1046
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,640
Speaker 1: you know, having to run a traditional pick and roll coverage.

1047
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:48,439
Speaker 1: So it's just it's it's definitely something that I think

1048
00:47:48,719 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 1: the Lakers can weaponize and and it makes me a

1049
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 1: lot more optimistic about that fit in crunch time. And

1050
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:56,600
Speaker 1: that was the key that everyone was missing with the

1051
00:47:56,640 --> 00:48:01,280
Speaker 1: Houston part, right, because like Houston was string pole specialists

1052
00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 1: alongside Harden and Russ, and so you know, it became

1053
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:10,839
Speaker 1: easier too, and it became easier to UH to make

1054
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:15,960
Speaker 1: Russ's inability to shoot a huge crippling effect on them.

1055
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,200
Speaker 1: But with this group, with Anthony Davis as the guy

1056
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:21,840
Speaker 1: who's gonna be cutting or in the roles are in

1057
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 1: the dunker spot, and with Lebron who quite frankly, and

1058
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:26,360
Speaker 1: I know people some people disagree with me, I just

1059
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:28,279
Speaker 1: think Lebron is way better than James Harden, Like he

1060
00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 1: just is. He's so much better as a pastor, is

1061
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,359
Speaker 1: so much bigger, so much more versatile. I think he's

1062
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:35,440
Speaker 1: just the kind of guy that those two Lebron and

1063
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,879
Speaker 1: a d just make Russ usable in a way that

1064
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 1: James Harden and that Houston Rockets team just couldn't in

1065
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 1: that respect. And obviously Russ has a long way to go.

1066
00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:46,920
Speaker 1: He's gotta be better defensively, he's gotta be more consistent,

1067
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:49,000
Speaker 1: he's got to stay healthy. There are a million ways

1068
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:52,600
Speaker 1: this can go south. And I still don't love the fit,

1069
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:57,680
Speaker 1: but I'm more optimistic about the potential ceiling now than

1070
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,160
Speaker 1: I was before the season. If that makes sure it's

1071
00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:01,719
Speaker 1: gonna be a clunky fit for a while. I think

1072
00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:03,640
Speaker 1: they're all going to try to figure each other out.

1073
00:49:03,640 --> 00:49:05,880
Speaker 1: We'll see if the starting lineup stay the same, and

1074
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:08,440
Speaker 1: it might just with the injuries that we have. But

1075
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:10,719
Speaker 1: I think today was a good like step forward. I

1076
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:12,680
Speaker 1: guess for Russ it's kind of what he has to be,

1077
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:14,560
Speaker 1: but he has to be it with Lebron on the

1078
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:16,719
Speaker 1: floor as well. Like he played a lot more free tonight.

1079
00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:18,799
Speaker 1: We'll see if he does when Lebron comes back. But

1080
00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:24,480
Speaker 1: just stuff he didn't transition that relent relentlessness, relentlessness attacking

1081
00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 1: the basket. That's who they traded for. Man like that,

1082
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:28,719
Speaker 1: that's the guy they traded for. They didn't trade him

1083
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,160
Speaker 1: to kind of, you know, walk around, kind of stand

1084
00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:33,600
Speaker 1: in the corner or you know, try to just feed

1085
00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:35,960
Speaker 1: a d every time, like they traded for us to

1086
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:37,400
Speaker 1: be Russ. That's what you do when you when you

1087
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 1: go get a player like this and they need him

1088
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 1: to be himself for this team to go anywhere that

1089
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:43,359
Speaker 1: they want. And I thought to stay is a good

1090
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:46,880
Speaker 1: step for that. Yeah, And this is the last thing

1091
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:49,160
Speaker 1: I gona say, guys, and we're gonna called to night. Uh,

1092
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 1: we're Roger and I are going again tomorrow night. And

1093
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:54,840
Speaker 1: I wanted to get Roger's thoughts and a bunch of

1094
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:57,080
Speaker 1: stuff just because I haven't heard from him in almost

1095
00:49:57,080 --> 00:49:59,279
Speaker 1: a week. But on tomorrow Night's show, we're gonna take

1096
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: a ton of call ours. So all of you who

1097
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:05,000
Speaker 1: made request tonight come back tomorrow night. The game starts

1098
00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 1: at five Pacific standards, right around seven thirty West Coast time.

1099
00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:10,719
Speaker 1: Just be ready to bring your questions, bring your thoughts.

1100
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,799
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a lot of colors. Um. But yeah,

1101
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:18,759
Speaker 1: like it with this, with this specific uh, with this

1102
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,600
Speaker 1: specific group. The main thing that I want to look

1103
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:25,239
Speaker 1: at in the long run, as as is usually the case,

1104
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:28,239
Speaker 1: it's going to be that defensive rating metric and not

1105
00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:31,080
Speaker 1: not because of what their defensive ceiling is not because

1106
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:34,359
Speaker 1: of what they're uh, you know, what this lineup does

1107
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:36,560
Speaker 1: or what that lineup does. I just think it's gonna

1108
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:39,440
Speaker 1: be the best indicator of this team's effort level. And

1109
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: and it's just it's just a great to me, just

1110
00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:44,919
Speaker 1: like a quick catch all type of metric that says

1111
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:48,160
Speaker 1: that does a good job of of gaining how hard

1112
00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 1: a team is playing. And you know, the effort has

1113
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:53,200
Speaker 1: been really inconsistent to start the year. Big part of

1114
00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 1: that to depth, a big part of that injuries. But

1115
00:50:55,880 --> 00:51:00,319
Speaker 1: I'm just I'd like to just see over the course

1116
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:02,600
Speaker 1: of the season than trend in the right direction and

1117
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:05,720
Speaker 1: get that closer to that top five, top ten, because

1118
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:07,320
Speaker 1: then that would just be an indicator to me that

1119
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:11,040
Speaker 1: they're giving the consistent effort to establish the habits that

1120
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:13,960
Speaker 1: they need that they're going to lean on when they

1121
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:16,879
Speaker 1: hit adversity in the playoffs. And so it's ugly so far.

1122
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:20,319
Speaker 1: That's definitely something you need to work on, but that's

1123
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:22,640
Speaker 1: something I definitely want to keep track of. I agree,

1124
00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:25,879
Speaker 1: and we'll see. We'll see it again tomorrow against they're

1125
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:29,319
Speaker 1: playing the Thunder play Okay, see tomorrow. Um So that's yeah,

1126
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:31,040
Speaker 1: I play ok see tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if

1127
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 1: both Lebron and a be sat out. But I hope

1128
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:34,920
Speaker 1: Lebron gives it a go. If yeah, I would, I

1129
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:36,920
Speaker 1: would think the same. You should be able to be okay,

1130
00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:40,319
Speaker 1: see without even maybe even without aiding Lebron, you still

1131
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:41,719
Speaker 1: be able to You should still be able to go

1132
00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:44,160
Speaker 1: in there and get a win. Boll see. Uh, this

1133
00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:45,879
Speaker 1: was a good win. Though I think it was ugly,

1134
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:49,960
Speaker 1: it was close, unnecessary clothes sometimes, but I thought it

1135
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:51,320
Speaker 1: was good to pull this one out. I thought it

1136
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,680
Speaker 1: was important to come back. You can't just you know.

1137
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:56,040
Speaker 1: They went down twelve in that third and it looks

1138
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:57,920
Speaker 1: it looks scary. I thought they were gonna lose. To

1139
00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:00,160
Speaker 1: be honest, I thought the Spurs, we're just gonna run

1140
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:01,440
Speaker 1: the score up. And I think it's a point that

1141
00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:05,399
Speaker 1: they came back and and they won. So that was good. Yeah,

1142
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:06,960
Speaker 1: it was an important game. A couple a couple of

1143
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:10,359
Speaker 1: important check marks, like the Memphis game, Lebron and Nady

1144
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:12,879
Speaker 1: both didn't play well and they won. That's a that's

1145
00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:15,960
Speaker 1: a big check mark, especially after the Sun's game or

1146
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: the Warriors game where Lebron and Nady were world beaters

1147
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:21,759
Speaker 1: and they lost like this, that was an important check mark.

1148
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,799
Speaker 1: And then tonight down a star on the road, young

1149
00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:26,799
Speaker 1: team playing a ton of energy. Just you just need

1150
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:28,719
Speaker 1: to get a win and they gotta win. So like

1151
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,600
Speaker 1: some of those like mental check boxes that we look

1152
00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:34,320
Speaker 1: for for like that championship and makeup, a couple of

1153
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:36,480
Speaker 1: those things got checked in the last couple of nights.

1154
00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:38,920
Speaker 1: So that's that's definitely encouraging. But yes, thank you guys

1155
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,320
Speaker 1: so much for hanging out. We sincerely appreciate it. Like

1156
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:43,360
Speaker 1: I said, I wanted to get Roger's thoughts on a

1157
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:44,880
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff, but we are going to take a

1158
00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:47,719
Speaker 1: ton of collars smart nights. So bring your questions, brain,

1159
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:50,239
Speaker 1: your whatever it is that you have to say, whatever

1160
00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:51,960
Speaker 1: did you want to vent about. We're gonna take a

1161
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,400
Speaker 1: ton of collars smart night. Hopefully another Laker win at

1162
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:56,040
Speaker 1: that point. But rog, it's good to have you back,

1163
00:52:56,120 --> 00:53:01,120
Speaker 1: my man, and I will see foo