Speaker 1: Mmmm, Welcome to the State of the Lakers Show on
Speaker 1: Dad's Radio. What's up? Everybody's excited to be back for
Speaker 1: a postgame show finally at long last. It's been a
Speaker 1: very long time, ros. What's since game since Game five
Speaker 1: of the Phoenix series, since that debacle? Yep, yep. Good
Speaker 1: to be back on over over reaction season, I think
Speaker 1: is what it is. But we got a lot of
Speaker 1: I think, actually things we can take from this game
Speaker 1: so we can get into it. Yeah. Agree, it felt
Speaker 1: like a UM kind of like a mix of a
Speaker 1: regular season type of vibe with that little bit of UH,
Speaker 1: with that little bit of preseason flair, if that sense
Speaker 1: right right. It definitely felt like they chose, like it's
Speaker 1: in parts of the game to give a crap, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like you could totally tell when
Speaker 1: the gas got off the pedal UM during the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I tweeted out that link of the UM. I actually
Speaker 1: really like that that little line graph, just a basic
Speaker 1: line graph of time and points that ESPN has because
Speaker 1: it kind of it does a good job of capturing
Speaker 1: the flow of a game, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: and UM, and you could just literally see that there
Speaker 1: were these stretches where they were engaged and where they cared,
Speaker 1: and when they did the Kings couldn't score even with
Speaker 1: their starters, um, but when when they like out of
Speaker 1: the rope, it was like it looked like a black diamond.
Speaker 1: If you're a ski if you're a skier, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So it's just it's one of those
Speaker 1: things where you know, in the preseason, and you and
Speaker 1: I talked about this a lot over the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, specifically with the preseason, I'm more concerned about
Speaker 1: process than results. And when you see I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: give another shout out to the l A Film Room
Speaker 1: podcast here. I think it was Mr Darius Oriana who
Speaker 1: brought this up yesterday, but he was talking about how
Speaker 1: like when you're trying to test a scheme, when you're
Speaker 1: trying to test to see if something works, whether it's
Speaker 1: a lineup or a scheme or an offensive system or
Speaker 1: defensive kick and roll coverage or whatever it is, in
Speaker 1: order to really get a read on whether or not
Speaker 1: it actually works, the guys have to try so so
Speaker 1: sometimes it's it's hard to even really get a read
Speaker 1: on what lineups work and what systems work when people
Speaker 1: are mailing it in, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: I did think that we saw enough bits and pieces
Speaker 1: in this preseason of stretches where they tried that. I
Speaker 1: do believe in the core of this group. What about you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure? I guess we can kind of start with
Speaker 1: like the Big Three, right, because this is our second game,
Speaker 1: in our second game with the full Big Three playing,
Speaker 1: or is the third I'm losing track, but the start second, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then DeAndre Jordan's obviously started with them, so I'm
Speaker 1: kind of eating you on this. DeAndre Jordan is gonna
Speaker 1: start thing. It feels like that's gonna I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: correct on that. But I thought the starters at least
Speaker 1: looked fine. Um, we could start with Russ. This is
Speaker 1: the best I've seen Russ look and I like him
Speaker 1: better as this aggressiveness as a score, right, even if
Speaker 1: it leads some bad shots, even some like layups that
Speaker 1: he missed, just him attacking the basket as a score,
Speaker 1: I think it's what that starting lineup needs. Even with
Speaker 1: DJ clogging the pain, he could still get to the
Speaker 1: basket like he was bullying Darren Fox, pulling some of
Speaker 1: the other defenders to the rim, and I thought that's
Speaker 1: what they need. A D missed everything. I still thought
Speaker 1: he said a lot. But what do you see from
Speaker 1: that starting unit, because I thought they were fine defensively
Speaker 1: as well. You saw what Vogel sees, right, I know
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan gets a lot of flak. And I've said
Speaker 1: before I don't want DeAndre Jordan playing any minutes that
Speaker 1: are not next to a D and frankly not next
Speaker 1: to Lebron either. I just don't think he can cover
Speaker 1: up when he's not next to those two guys. But
Speaker 1: when he's next to them, you could see his size
Speaker 1: actually be a problem. Dn Fox had to second guess
Speaker 1: himself getting too the rack right, Tyler's how tyres Halibur
Speaker 1: and when he got to the room he was second
Speaker 1: guessing himself. Like that, size I think matters. And I
Speaker 1: thought the starting lineup is fine, and I just thought
Speaker 1: our second units were got awful. And I'm worried about
Speaker 1: that going to the season with all our depth injured,
Speaker 1: all are under thirty guys injured. But what did you
Speaker 1: see I guess from the starters in that first to
Speaker 1: start the game and then to start the third quarter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you're absolutely right. We're gonna talk You and I
Speaker 1: have harpedne this all preseason and we're going to continue
Speaker 1: to talk about it throughout the season. There is a
Speaker 1: kind of like a baseline of what works for defensive
Speaker 1: talent on the floor. Yeah, if you're gonna put DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan in, Malik Monk, and Wayne Ellington all on the
Speaker 1: floor at the same time, all three of them are
Speaker 1: gonna look bad. But as long as the as long
Speaker 1: as the totality of the group works, these players, when
Speaker 1: you shrink their responsibilities defensively, they can do their job.
Speaker 1: Like you said, DeAndre Jordan's size looks like a problem
Speaker 1: alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis, right, But if you
Speaker 1: put him out there as a five man with Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony at the four, all of a sudden, his size
Speaker 1: and mobility, when you're asking him to cover more ground
Speaker 1: and you're asking him to clean up more mistakes, it's
Speaker 1: going to be a problem. And so both those stretches
Speaker 1: to start the third and to start the first with
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan on the floor, they defended extremely well. Have
Speaker 1: to wait for the NBA Advanced Stats to update later tonight,
Speaker 1: but My guess is when we look at DeAndre Jordan's
Speaker 1: defensive rating from this game, that it's going to be
Speaker 1: outstanding because because that's what happened while he was on
Speaker 1: the floor with that group of guys, searge Russ goes
Speaker 1: same thing. It was, you know. It was a great
Speaker 1: example of what I'm willing to put up with with
Speaker 1: Russ because there were some defensive breakdowns. There were some
Speaker 1: poor shots, like there was an early transition pull up
Speaker 1: banking jump shot that he actually made that I was
Speaker 1: like why that. I was like, why in the world
Speaker 1: are we taking this shot? You know, And there was
Speaker 1: another pull up transition three later on that he missed.
Speaker 1: Those kinds of things in small doses we can handle
Speaker 1: as long as the totality has that Russ impact. He
Speaker 1: had lots of plays where he drove into the lane
Speaker 1: and dropped off for dunks, either Anthony Davis or DeAndre Jordan's.
Speaker 1: He had at least three that I counted where he
Speaker 1: played physical bullyball on the smaller King's guards and for
Speaker 1: layups that all of that, and then he pushed the
Speaker 1: ball in transition really well. When when that scale is
Speaker 1: tipped to where good Russ is outweighing bad Russ. This
Speaker 1: is gonna work. Yeah, It's just it's just about keeping
Speaker 1: that scale balance properly, if that makes sense. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I like that he makes Lebron be a finisher right
Speaker 1: in transition a lot. You could see how he's gonna
Speaker 1: help kind of be an inning seater for Lebron in
Speaker 1: that way where Lebron doesn't have to be the full
Speaker 1: time creator. He gets the rebound a lot and he's
Speaker 1: able to outlet it and push it ahead to Lebron
Speaker 1: who's trying to cut in transition. It's crazy seeing Lebron
Speaker 1: in transition this much as the guy that doesn't have
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands, right, Lebron is usually when
Speaker 1: he's in transition, he's pushing and he's making the decisions
Speaker 1: to who he passes too in the corner or who's
Speaker 1: cutting to the rim instead, he's the one kind of
Speaker 1: cutting into the basket. I thought that was good. Russy
Speaker 1: looks like he's a lot more comfortable now as well
Speaker 1: as a pastor, Like he seems like he's kind of
Speaker 1: finding out where guys like the basketball. He found bays
Speaker 1: More a bunch of times in the corner, found Reeves
Speaker 1: in the corner. He's still getting his time right with
Speaker 1: a D. A D had a bunch of shot at
Speaker 1: the rim that he missed. I thought Russ found him.
Speaker 1: So you can see him getting more and more comfortable.
Speaker 1: And hopefully when we start on Tuesday, UM, he'll be
Speaker 1: he'll be at the best day he's been. But I
Speaker 1: thought this was a good start for him. You could
Speaker 1: see what he does for the team just pushing it
Speaker 1: in transition. The pace was insane actually from tonight. Um,
Speaker 1: it was pretty up and down. The Lakers went down
Speaker 1: by like fourteen in that first court and then kind
Speaker 1: of got back into it um later on in the game.
Speaker 1: But I just thought that pace, um, and you see
Speaker 1: how that how they want to play it right, this
Speaker 1: really fast paced basketball for Russ or Lebron. You can
Speaker 1: outlet too and they're gone. So I thought that was
Speaker 1: a good thing that we saw from tonight. Did you
Speaker 1: listen to uh? Pete described what he found out when
Speaker 1: he charted the transition possessions for the Lakers in their
Speaker 1: last name, Oh oh yeah, where their past half court
Speaker 1: after twenty seconds for almost every possession, the starting group
Speaker 1: had six possessions that they played together and on forty
Speaker 1: three of them. They were across half court with uh
Speaker 1: with twenty seconds on shot clock, and you could just
Speaker 1: see that today on every miss and every make, it's
Speaker 1: just pushed the ball up the floor. But there was
Speaker 1: even that like chaotic stretch there. And I think it
Speaker 1: was in the second quarter where um where it almost
Speaker 1: got a little bit out of control and and teams
Speaker 1: are just no one was scoring, and it's just Almo
Speaker 1: like direct league ball. But that's the thing. It's like,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like creating chaos through transition pressure, which
Speaker 1: is going to open things up for them offensively. But
Speaker 1: the key there is they have to defend. And that's
Speaker 1: that's the big thing that I'm gonna be watching because
Speaker 1: you know, this is something that I have been very
Speaker 1: separate from many Laker people since the off season, this
Speaker 1: idea that the Lakers traded out all of their defensive talent,
Speaker 1: especially around Lebron in a D And I've always disagreed
Speaker 1: at that premise because I just thought the Lakers had
Speaker 1: a ton of defensive depth in the past, and I
Speaker 1: thought they traded some of that defensive depth for offensive versatility.
Speaker 1: And all I cared about was would they have lineups
Speaker 1: where maybe it's a rock fight type of game and
Speaker 1: they just need to get some sort of uh lineup
Speaker 1: out there that's gonna tend to that style of play.
Speaker 1: They absolutely can do that. But if they're playing against
Speaker 1: a team and like it's a little bit more up
Speaker 1: and down and Lebron and a d Are are having
Speaker 1: trouble you creating and finding driving lanes, then they can
Speaker 1: go with lineups with more shooting. I always looked at
Speaker 1: it as a versatility thing, and so the big thing
Speaker 1: is going to be, like those stretches to start the first, second,
Speaker 1: and third quarters tonight, can they do that more consistently?
Speaker 1: And that's why I like the defensive rating metric over
Speaker 1: the course of the regular season, because all NBA teams
Speaker 1: struggle with effort night in and night out in the
Speaker 1: regular season. That's just part of the game. You play
Speaker 1: a two games, of course you're gonna have issues with
Speaker 1: effort and consistency. So that metric is just a good
Speaker 1: indicator of the average of your effort, and so that's
Speaker 1: what we need to this year. If it's dipping below,
Speaker 1: then that that that that goes to show you that
Speaker 1: their effort is not consistent enough. You know, you can
Speaker 1: handle stretches where they're like go with the rope, they
Speaker 1: just need to be few and far between, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. Yeah. And I guess before we get to
Speaker 1: the beast stuff, because I thought the second unit really
Speaker 1: struggled and there's some defensive issues, what do you think
Speaker 1: of Lebron? Because I thought Lebron looked like himself, like
Speaker 1: he looked ready to go for the season, And you
Speaker 1: always talk about this on the part and we were
Speaker 1: talking about this on the last one. I think as well,
Speaker 1: the most important thing for the season is Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D are still Lebron in a D. Right, That's
Speaker 1: what covers up a lot of the gaps here, And
Speaker 1: like you were saying, they can cover up for some
Speaker 1: of the things that Westbrook does, some of the like
Speaker 1: bad shots he takes, that can all be covered up
Speaker 1: with Lebron and a D are still themselves. And then
Speaker 1: you can add or Russ does to that. But I
Speaker 1: thought Lebron looked good in transition. Um he was finishing
Speaker 1: inside his jumper looked good as well. He's getting a
Speaker 1: lot of spot up threes, which is which is different
Speaker 1: for him. He got some corner threes as well. But
Speaker 1: would you see a fu Lebron? Because I thought Lebron
Speaker 1: looked like himself. He looks ready to go. He felt
Speaker 1: asleep on defense a few times, which is expected, like
Speaker 1: he's not going to try to play hard on defense.
Speaker 1: But I thought he looked good. He looks he looks
Speaker 1: comfortable with this team. So what do you see from
Speaker 1: Lebron tonight? I've seen everything that I need to see
Speaker 1: from him in this preseason. Um, you know, there was
Speaker 1: that I was pretty much settled down as soon as
Speaker 1: I saw that stretch on Tuesday night where he just
Speaker 1: was like, I'm gonna put my head down and get
Speaker 1: to the rim, you know, because like I think, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the things that I think people who need
Speaker 1: to keep an eye out here for Um, I think
Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis the more has to do with his
Speaker 1: jump shot. But I think Lebron is going to have
Speaker 1: one of the more efficient years of his career. I
Speaker 1: can't remember off the top of my head, but if
Speaker 1: you actually went and looked at Lebron's efficiency last season,
Speaker 1: it was one of the better seasons of his career,
Speaker 1: and that was coming off of a playoff run where
Speaker 1: he was every bit as offensively dominant as he had
Speaker 1: been in his career. And I don't know if part
Speaker 1: of that is his you know, his his brain is
Speaker 1: just so advanced at this stage in his career. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, this season, he's gonna have more
Speaker 1: space to operate than he's ever had before in trying
Speaker 1: position where the byron has always been deadly, He's gonna
Speaker 1: have more opportunities. And so just by virtue of that
Speaker 1: sort of thing, I think you could see Lebron hit
Speaker 1: some efficiency numbers that he hasn't hit, you know, since Miami,
Speaker 1: that that remains to be seen. Health is a big
Speaker 1: part of that, you know, not just for him, but
Speaker 1: for the rest of the roster, because like we saw tonight,
Speaker 1: you know, I was you know, I was, I was joking. Um,
Speaker 1: I was laughing on Twitter because I was reading people
Speaker 1: talking about how the Lakers added shooting. The Lakers added shooting,
Speaker 1: and it's like if they did, but they're all hurt.
Speaker 1: Everybody that we added for the purpose of spacing the
Speaker 1: floor and making things easier for the stars was wearing
Speaker 1: a suit on the sideline tonight, you know. And so
Speaker 1: you know, as over the course of the season, it's
Speaker 1: important for the health to stay above a certain threshold
Speaker 1: so that the talent is there for all those guys
Speaker 1: to succeed. But Lebron looks great physically, and his feel
Speaker 1: for the game at this phase in his career is
Speaker 1: better than you know ever, So I as long as
Speaker 1: he stays healthy, which is more worried about impact injuries
Speaker 1: at this point, like Sullivan Hill, as long as he
Speaker 1: stays healthy, I'm not worried about him. I'm more worried
Speaker 1: about Anthony Davis and Russ. You know, like if if
Speaker 1: the Lebron of all the guys on this roster is
Speaker 1: the one that people don't need to worry about, because
Speaker 1: even even if he does suffer some physical decline, he's
Speaker 1: just gonna find a way to impact the game with
Speaker 1: his brain, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. And
Speaker 1: and for him it feels like him playing in transition
Speaker 1: actually feels like it makes the game easier for him, right,
Speaker 1: Like he's not doing too much in the app corps
Speaker 1: like he used to. He's able to playoff for us,
Speaker 1: play off the ball him and Russ and kind of
Speaker 1: trade off who's who's kind of starting in the corner
Speaker 1: on actions, running ball screams through a D. And I
Speaker 1: would like to see a D kind of get more
Speaker 1: of the offense, go attacking the rim a little bit more.
Speaker 1: I still feel like he's settling too much. And again,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's just part of what a
Speaker 1: part of preseason and he's waiting to do that when
Speaker 1: the real game started. I just even with DeAndre there,
Speaker 1: I know that, like it's very easy to just blame
Speaker 1: the spacing, just blame because someone's in the dunker spot.
Speaker 1: But I still feel like there's ways that he can
Speaker 1: go at him, like get more heartless on him a
Speaker 1: bunch of times tonight where I just feel like he
Speaker 1: can go through him rather than fading away from him.
Speaker 1: So I'd like to see a D kind of get
Speaker 1: more but that, and I'm sure he will. What do
Speaker 1: you what do you kind of see from a D?
Speaker 1: Because I feel like his jump shot he's relying on it.
Speaker 1: I understand that, like he's trying to get in rhythm
Speaker 1: through his jump shot, but I feel like he should
Speaker 1: be attacking the rim to get to get going. This
Speaker 1: is a question We've had a ad the last few years,
Speaker 1: but this is probably his worst game. The pretesting I
Speaker 1: guess just in totality, and I think his defense is
Speaker 1: still fine. But what do you see from a D
Speaker 1: I guess tonight, Well, I think I think is looking
Speaker 1: at the bigger picture with his jump shot. This is
Speaker 1: something another thing that I'm kind of on an island
Speaker 1: with most people who follow a D. Most people think
Speaker 1: a D's bubble shooting performance was a fluke. I disagree.
Speaker 1: I I think that's he shot really well before the
Speaker 1: bubble for about a month, and he shot really well
Speaker 1: after the bubble for about a month to start the season.
Speaker 1: And so the way I always looked at it was,
Speaker 1: if you looked at his shot selection early with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: it looked like a guy who had been working on
Speaker 1: adding an element to his game and he was implementing
Speaker 1: it into a game setting, and so was a bit sloppy.
Speaker 1: He missed a lot of those Katie type of jump
Speaker 1: shots early in that season. Then it started to go,
Speaker 1: which is what happens. You know, you're connecting a practice
Speaker 1: result with a game result. There's a transition period there,
Speaker 1: and he got to go in and he was He
Speaker 1: looked deadly from that distance, and then he started the
Speaker 1: next season deadly, and then he got hurt, and so
Speaker 1: I I believe that that kind of wrench got thrown
Speaker 1: in there and kind of messed with his confidence. This
Speaker 1: is something I've talked about a lot on the Pod two.
Speaker 1: Just jump shooting is kind of a it's it's really
Speaker 1: hard mentally on people because even the best shooters in
Speaker 1: the world will usually miss more shots than they take.
Speaker 1: So when you get into a cold spell, it can
Speaker 1: be really hard to deal with mentally. And I really
Speaker 1: believe that A D is looking at that and and saying,
Speaker 1: I just need to find my rhythm. I need to
Speaker 1: find my rhythm, and so I see him taking a
Speaker 1: lot of these more finesse type of shots just to
Speaker 1: try to kind of build that again. But as you
Speaker 1: and I have discussed, in my opinion, it's better to
Speaker 1: that rhythm through the confidence you gain by dominating at
Speaker 1: the rim. Like getting to the basket and getting easy
Speaker 1: shots is a really easy way to make yourself feel
Speaker 1: like you're playing really well. We're just going to translate
Speaker 1: into more confidence with your jump shots. So I disagree
Speaker 1: with the method that A D is using to try
Speaker 1: to get his jumper back, but I do understand what
Speaker 1: he's doing, Like he's His thing is like they gotta
Speaker 1: go and eventually, so I'm just gonna keep shooting, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I think I think that's his
Speaker 1: his approach here. Yeah, And we're always like thinking, how
Speaker 1: preseason we never really look at wins, right, we don't.
Speaker 1: We don't really care about the end result. You are
Speaker 1: looking more at the process. And I did think we
Speaker 1: saw some good process stuff, Like they're really looking for
Speaker 1: him in transition, right, so like when rust and Lebron
Speaker 1: get the ball, he runs down the floor and he's
Speaker 1: immediately under the basket. There's a lot of times where
Speaker 1: he thinks he gets bowed or he doesn't finish. But
Speaker 1: I think that's also a good process. Those are ways
Speaker 1: for a d to pick up easy points. And I
Speaker 1: think we both talked about it. We said that he
Speaker 1: should probably lead the team in scoring as all right,
Speaker 1: if everything, if everything we're out correctly, he should be
Speaker 1: the one leading the team and scoring and he's could
Speaker 1: be able to get easy baskets in transition. And you know,
Speaker 1: the big divide on like Lakers Twitter, if he's he's
Speaker 1: gonna play center, if he's gonna say power forward. Look,
Speaker 1: it just feels like with like you talked about they
Speaker 1: traded their defense for offensive versatility. Well, the point of
Speaker 1: that is to have the offensive versatility. And like you said,
Speaker 1: those guys are all injured. Leek Monk uh link Monk,
Speaker 1: who's the other thhds out as well? Right, so, and
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nune is out as well. So like now, Wayne
Speaker 1: Allington out as well, even though Wayne Allington might have
Speaker 1: lost his spot to Austin Reeves kind of discussed that,
Speaker 1: kind of discussed that later with his defense. But yeah,
Speaker 1: all our kind of offense guys are out, so you're playing.
Speaker 1: Like I talked about, I wanted Carmelo Anthony probably played
Speaker 1: ten minutes a game. But right now, when a D
Speaker 1: plays the five, the power forward is Carmelo Anthony, not
Speaker 1: Lebron James. And we saw kind of the struggle of that.
Speaker 1: I also don't really like those Rondo Westbrook Carmelo lineups
Speaker 1: with a D at the five. He's got destroyed. Those
Speaker 1: guys actually destroyed inside. And again I'm really worried about
Speaker 1: this because when our starting lineup goes off the floor,
Speaker 1: so you're starting King camp Bays more, then like on
Speaker 1: the bed on the second unit, it's Rondo and usually
Speaker 1: it's Westbrook trying to lead it. And like, Westbrook can
Speaker 1: be a good defender, but you know what he does
Speaker 1: on defense. He likes to gamble, he likes that, you know,
Speaker 1: he falls asleep off ball and that's just stuff you
Speaker 1: have to live with. He's not going to be on
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes a game being a hard nosed defender.
Speaker 1: That's just what you get with Russell Westbrook. And you
Speaker 1: have like when dude slip a screen and eighties on
Speaker 1: the perimeter. You have Tristan Thompson down low being defended
Speaker 1: by Rondo or you know, or Westbrook or any of
Speaker 1: other small guards. So that's my worry here. What do
Speaker 1: you think about the second unit, because that's my biggest worry.
Speaker 1: I guess going into the regular season, I think our
Speaker 1: starting line is fine, whether we start DeAndre or where
Speaker 1: the eighties starts of the five, I think there's enough
Speaker 1: defense there. I'm really worried about our second units because
Speaker 1: we got ran off the floor again tonight, and I
Speaker 1: feel like that's been the theme of preseason. We've just
Speaker 1: been ran off the floor. When when our second units
Speaker 1: come in, I do I I think that some of
Speaker 1: these guys that are sitting out with injuries or guys
Speaker 1: that would be available if the games mattered. So I
Speaker 1: think I think Frank is dealing with a little bit
Speaker 1: of like, I'm just trying to get through these games,
Speaker 1: kind of the I'm with you for whatever reason. And
Speaker 1: this has just been the case since he came here.
Speaker 1: The Lebron lineups too fun. It's when he goes to
Speaker 1: the bench that there are problems. It's the end of
Speaker 1: the first quarter, it's the middle of the second quarter
Speaker 1: when Lebron takes that second rest, Like, those are the
Speaker 1: times when the wheels come off, and You're right, those
Speaker 1: are the lineups where I would be. I would be
Speaker 1: a little bit more willing to play big. That's where
Speaker 1: I'd like to see a a D with a center
Speaker 1: and uh and play some more defensive minded players because
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, the offensive i Q
Speaker 1: just falls off of a cliff at that point, and
Speaker 1: so I'm a little bit more willing for the game
Speaker 1: to turn into a rock fight in that sense. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, as we see, as we've seen so many
Speaker 1: times over the last couple of years, when you play
Speaker 1: a D with a vertical threat center, it just overwhelms
Speaker 1: teams with length to the point where they all get
Speaker 1: super hesitant to drive for the basket even when they
Speaker 1: get separation from a defense, or they start to have
Speaker 1: second thoughts about that second that secondary attack, you know,
Speaker 1: like what am I supposed to do here? I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna go in there and get blocked and and so
Speaker 1: I would like to see some of that. I'm with you,
Speaker 1: like Rondo. Rondo had a really good preseason with his
Speaker 1: energy level pushing the ball in transition, but he's been
Speaker 1: horrific defensively, which is what he was in the regular
Speaker 1: season when he was a Laker. So I just have
Speaker 1: to if I'm looking for a silver lining, something to
Speaker 1: to make myself feel more comfortable with those lineups, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna trust Frank the idea they're being Frank historically has
Speaker 1: favored defense when the games start mattering and the guys
Speaker 1: are and you know, some of these guys who are
Speaker 1: nursing these little nagging injuries are available. I really do
Speaker 1: think Frank is going to prioritize defense in those lineups,
Speaker 1: um specifically when Lebron's off the floor, because he has
Speaker 1: to expect a certain amount of defensive fall or just
Speaker 1: the offensive fall off and and to try to find
Speaker 1: a way to win those minutes. You know, ever since
Speaker 1: lebron came here, they've lost the lebron Off minutes every
Speaker 1: single year, including the first year before a D got there,
Speaker 1: and including the postseasons. And so it'll be really interesting
Speaker 1: to see. Everyone said Russ was going to come in
Speaker 1: and fix that, and I'm not so concerned about Russ
Speaker 1: and what he does offensively in those minutes. It's they've
Speaker 1: got to like you said, you can't have Rondo and
Speaker 1: and Carmelo Anthony in those lineups are just asking to
Speaker 1: get picked apart, you know, they they need to find
Speaker 1: they need to discover where that baseline is a defensive
Speaker 1: talent and make sure that those lineups have enough of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you can cover for one bad defender right even
Speaker 1: to when you have three bad defense on the floor,
Speaker 1: it's really tough. And again we always talked about we
Speaker 1: want a D at the five, but like I said,
Speaker 1: there are detriments to that defensively because even though even
Speaker 1: though how good he is, he can't cover up like
Speaker 1: when he's switching up top, like that's why we get
Speaker 1: killed on offensive rebounds. And I think I think our
Speaker 1: bench I know these are preseasons. Dads for our bench
Speaker 1: got outscored like fifty to twenty two, I think tonight
Speaker 1: or something like that. You just you just can't win
Speaker 1: that way. And that's where I'm worried about. And like
Speaker 1: Bogo has to look for defensive linus, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he has them right now, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like you saw the rotation tonight
Speaker 1: unless you see like John d Ndy Brown or you
Speaker 1: know some of the two way guys. And again, this
Speaker 1: is why I pushed Frost and Reves mint is because
Speaker 1: I think he just looks like a glue guy up there.
Speaker 1: I think our guy Bene said it uh today and
Speaker 1: on Twitter he said he has that connective like energy
Speaker 1: where he kind of like puts everything together. Because when
Speaker 1: you're playing with stars, I feel like you just I
Speaker 1: want you to not make mistakes more than I want
Speaker 1: you to make plays, if that makes any sense, Like
Speaker 1: the players on that lineup like, just don't make mistakes,
Speaker 1: don't hurt the team on the floor, even if you're
Speaker 1: missing shots, if you're taking the right shots, I think
Speaker 1: that's fine. And again not to bring up because cru so,
Speaker 1: but that's where that comps kind of come from when
Speaker 1: you have guys who are good guys who can play
Speaker 1: with stars. Um, what else do you see from tonight?
Speaker 1: I guess our overall in uh in preseason. Well, let's
Speaker 1: let's let's touch on Reeves and then let's start getting
Speaker 1: some guests up here. First of all, thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for listening in. You know how this goes.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the game for you know, twenty
Speaker 1: thirty minutes or so, and then we're gonna start letting
Speaker 1: you guys come up and complain and give your two
Speaker 1: cents and and then talk some basketball with us. We'll
Speaker 1: touch on Austin Reeves and then we'll start getting you
Speaker 1: guys up here. Um. You know, it's easy to comp
Speaker 1: to Caruso, you know, middle size white guy role player
Speaker 1: the Lakers, but they're they're they're actually very different in
Speaker 1: so many different ways. But I liked what you had
Speaker 1: mentioned about the UM, you know, that connective tissue. I
Speaker 1: would equate Austin Reeves two more of like a Wesley
Speaker 1: Matthews type of role in that you're you're giving up
Speaker 1: the offensive ceiling that comes from a player that can
Speaker 1: create more for for himself in favor of someone who's
Speaker 1: going to make very few mistakes and who's going to
Speaker 1: capitalize on the advantages created by better players. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, specifically, you know, it's kind of like the
Speaker 1: opposite of the Westbrook effect. You know, I joked earlier
Speaker 1: about how Westbrook takes some shots sometimes where you're like,
Speaker 1: honest to God, don't know what he's thinking. There's no advantage,
Speaker 1: it's it's a low percentage shot for the best shooters
Speaker 1: in the world, and there's twenty two seconds on the
Speaker 1: shock block. I just don't understand what he's doing. Well,
Speaker 1: austin Us has the opposite effect of that, Like if
Speaker 1: you kick it to him in the corner and someone's
Speaker 1: closing out, he just won't take like he'll unless unless
Speaker 1: the shock box running down, he won't take it. He'll
Speaker 1: you know, pump fake, maybe do a quick rip through,
Speaker 1: and then he's gonna swing it back out and reset.
Speaker 1: He understands that he's not out there to be a gunner.
Speaker 1: He understands that his job is to when the really
Speaker 1: easy opportunities present themselves, to capitalize on them. And then
Speaker 1: he also understands that his only hope of sticking in
Speaker 1: this league is to be the guy that consistently tries
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. And I mean I joked earlier
Speaker 1: on Twitter that he's been the most impressive guard on
Speaker 1: the Lakers this year so far in the preseason. That's
Speaker 1: that comes with a caveat that he's the only one
Speaker 1: who's really trying, so he kind of he kind of
Speaker 1: like wins the award by default. But the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is, is is like for a guy like Frank
Speaker 1: who's trying to fight that that little bit of of
Speaker 1: you know, veteran lacks of daisical nature that's going to
Speaker 1: kind of hang over this team. He's going to value that.
Speaker 1: He's going to value that guy that brings that in.
Speaker 1: And you know, last year with Wesley Matthews never blew
Speaker 1: the doors off with his shooting, never did, but he
Speaker 1: was the most consistent effort guy other than Crusoe. He
Speaker 1: was the most consistent effort guy from those wings. And
Speaker 1: so he became a really safe option for Frank throughout
Speaker 1: various lineups and groups that he needed on the floor.
Speaker 1: And that's what Reeves is going to become because you're
Speaker 1: gonna see with some of these other guys like Monk,
Speaker 1: and with None, you're gonna see some inconsistency. You're gonna
Speaker 1: see nights where Monk looks like prime j R. Smith
Speaker 1: and the dudes hitting seven threes and he looks like,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the best bench players in the league.
Speaker 1: And then you're gonna see the same thing out of
Speaker 1: None from time to time as off the dribble, create
Speaker 1: it or but they're also going to have knights where
Speaker 1: they're not making anything and they're getting burned on the
Speaker 1: other end, and for whatever reason, they're just not putting
Speaker 1: it together. And reads is going to be an option four. Frank,
Speaker 1: That is like West was last year, just a little
Speaker 1: bit lower ceiling, higher floor. And I thought, I think
Speaker 1: he would like to to Lebron's point, he's a real
Speaker 1: NBA player, I think he's I think he has has
Speaker 1: found a niche there that he can fit into that's
Speaker 1: going to help him stick in this league. Right, And
Speaker 1: he played four years of college, so he's a rookie,
Speaker 1: but he's played a lot of basketball. You can kind
Speaker 1: of see that in his game. Um, his his reads
Speaker 1: are instant, right, Like you know that you have to
Speaker 1: like read if you can dribble, pass, or attack right
Speaker 1: and he knows that right away. Um, so he makes
Speaker 1: those reads really well. I guess I'm off the dribble
Speaker 1: kind of creation. That's really nice, being like a secondary
Speaker 1: or third kind of playmaker where Russ or Lebron already
Speaker 1: break down the defense. And we talked about this a
Speaker 1: lot with th HD, where we like th HD as
Speaker 1: that like third or secondary playmaker, and th HD is
Speaker 1: obviously Lee more of a highlight maker right he can
Speaker 1: more get to the rim score. But re just does
Speaker 1: a nice job. He comes off picking rolls, he makes
Speaker 1: passes that are on point. You know, he found a
Speaker 1: D and DeAndre I thought nicely tonight. That's all you
Speaker 1: need for him. He knows that he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: do too many things too complicated. And I think he
Speaker 1: still leaves the team in three point attempts for the
Speaker 1: preseason he did before this game. I'm not sure about tonight.
Speaker 1: I think he only hit one tonight. But he knows
Speaker 1: where his shots come from and he knows how to
Speaker 1: get them up. He has a quick release as well.
Speaker 1: He just knows how to play like. It's it's very
Speaker 1: clear that I feel like he'll be in the rotation eventually.
Speaker 1: Even if it's not on Opening night, and maybe it
Speaker 1: will just do the injuries. But just a guy that
Speaker 1: knows what he's doing on the floor, and like I said,
Speaker 1: I need you to not hurt me more than help me,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense, just playing next to these these
Speaker 1: star guys. So I thought he looks good. He was
Speaker 1: probably the star of preseason with how much our guys
Speaker 1: kind of sat out and didn't really try for much
Speaker 1: of these games. He feels like the positive story of
Speaker 1: coming out of preseason. So it looks like he'll be
Speaker 1: in the rotation going forward. You you absolutely, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna follow up on this if Roger, if you want
Speaker 1: to go ahead and get our first guest up here,
Speaker 1: you can. Um. Also, I believe Maples was planning on
Speaker 1: joining us as well. Um. You know, at the at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, when you're a team that's
Speaker 1: cap strapped because you have three guys that are making
Speaker 1: forty million dollars a year, you need to hit on
Speaker 1: some of these And this is where the Lakers scouting
Speaker 1: department has been such a huge value add uh inh
Speaker 1: for this particular franchise, because you know, when you're you've
Speaker 1: got your the star driven franchise that needs to rely
Speaker 1: on these huge contracts, you're always gonna have to work
Speaker 1: on the margins and you're gonna have to nail some
Speaker 1: of these. And you know, it's interesting about the Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves thing. If you actually look at his college stats,
Speaker 1: he's a really good three point shooter at Which Taught
Speaker 1: State in the mid in the mid forties on like
Speaker 1: I think three attempts per game, and I think he
Speaker 1: was like in his last two seasons at Oklahoma after
Speaker 1: he transferred, and that's probably a big part of why
Speaker 1: he slipped. And credits credits to the Lakers scouting for
Speaker 1: digging into the film, and they, for the record, I
Speaker 1: have not looked at this film, so I'm not uh,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking uh you know, with certainty here, but
Speaker 1: I'd be willing to bet that at Which Toss State
Speaker 1: he was in a role similar to what he's doing
Speaker 1: right now, and he looked fantastic as an off ball threat.
Speaker 1: And I'm guessing that he at Oklahoma was forced to
Speaker 1: take a completely different shot profile on and it probably
Speaker 1: threw him out through out of his confidence a little
Speaker 1: bit with his jump shot, and you know, his loss,
Speaker 1: so to speak, ended up being his and the Lakers
Speaker 1: game because he slipped to to the extent that he
Speaker 1: was able to to follow the Lakers. And you know,
Speaker 1: now he looks at it looks like out there, like
Speaker 1: the kind of player that you know every team is
Speaker 1: looking for, that's a contender, a guy that they can
Speaker 1: go out and trust to not make mistakes and to
Speaker 1: knock down open shots and not turn the ball over
Speaker 1: and and make simple basic reads off of the attention
Speaker 1: that the starters grabbed. Yeah, exactly. And last thing on
Speaker 1: the Lakers scouting department, they've definitely been hitting it how
Speaker 1: the park for the last few years. Um, sad part.
Speaker 1: And I bet they feel this way. They put all
Speaker 1: this you know, film work into drafting a guy and
Speaker 1: then you develop him and then you watch him go
Speaker 1: flourish elsewhere, right, And that's part of being the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I guess you get Anthony Davidson return, but we also
Speaker 1: watch these guys kind of floors. You see Lonzo Ball,
Speaker 1: Alic Crusoe are the kind of big names you see
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram as well. Um, I know those are high
Speaker 1: lottery picks, but still those are really great players that
Speaker 1: they've drafted in. Then David Naba as well, another undrafted guy.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it looks like they've done in again. We'll
Speaker 1: have to see if Austin can do this in the
Speaker 1: regular season. Preseason is what it is. We saw a
Speaker 1: PhD have a huge preseason last year, and he had
Speaker 1: a good year last year, but not not up to
Speaker 1: the hype that it was in freezing So we'll see.
Speaker 1: Rugget first guest up here. Appreciate everyone who's listening here.
Speaker 1: I appreciate everyone listening on dash radio. Um let's let
Speaker 1: me see. I think uh Toddy was the first one,
Speaker 1: and I see Maples in here as well. So if
Speaker 1: Maple's you wanna hit a request, I'll get you up
Speaker 1: here too. I forgot how spaces works been a while.
Speaker 1: Rusty this is preseason says it's connecting when you see
Speaker 1: I get your request in. If you want to come
Speaker 1: up and just share anything, share about preseason. Your overall
Speaker 1: actions are overrating Rogers, what's your Are you still thinking
Speaker 1: that the Lakers are gonna lose the Golden State on Tuesday?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay with that prediction, and I'm not sure
Speaker 1: anything I've seen in preseason kind of changed that. And
Speaker 1: again I had them losing that game, but I still
Speaker 1: have them going in like fifteen and three or something
Speaker 1: to start the season. But yeah, Golden State just looks ready,
Speaker 1: more ready to me to go. They just like they
Speaker 1: have a little bit more continuity as well, and they
Speaker 1: look like they're playing a system that fits curse style,
Speaker 1: especially with Wiseman hurt as well, which is unfortunate, but
Speaker 1: it just feels like they know what they're doing. It
Speaker 1: looks like, yeah, it looks it looks to me like
Speaker 1: a team that has much better habits right now. And
Speaker 1: in addition to that, they're kind of like specifically built
Speaker 1: in a way right now that will lose some problems
Speaker 1: for the Lakers as a matchup because of their their
Speaker 1: guards and what they're capable of. And so I I
Speaker 1: think there's a the Lakers could very easily win because
Speaker 1: they're at home and because they're huge, and they could
Speaker 1: just physically Anthony Davison, Dwight Howard could have you know,
Speaker 1: seven offensive rebounds and Lebron could have you know, eight
Speaker 1: made field goals in the paint, and it could be
Speaker 1: it could be a Laker win. But I'm I'm leaning
Speaker 1: that direction as well. I think I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: are gonna lose on opening night just because they've got
Speaker 1: a bunch of bad habits that they need to work out,
Speaker 1: and then I think they'll hit a little winning streak there.
Speaker 1: I think they really want to beat Phoenix. But I
Speaker 1: was just curious to get your two cents. We got
Speaker 1: somebody up. I think we do. Uh, what's going on
Speaker 1: in manking? You okar it leaking? Are you okay? I
Speaker 1: had a question? So you know how we h we
Speaker 1: all like are debating a V at the five? Or
Speaker 1: is DeAndre are gonna start all u um under the
Speaker 1: scenario that a D starts at the four, which I
Speaker 1: think is most realistic in my opinion. Do you think
Speaker 1: they still trot out more even though he's not the
Speaker 1: best shooter, or do they go with like a monk
Speaker 1: or a linked for that go ahead first rush? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think base Moore still starts. I think he's the
Speaker 1: best like defender out of that. Like he's our best
Speaker 1: point of attack defender. When we were playing Phoenix, he
Speaker 1: was our best guy on Chris Paul like he was
Speaker 1: able to chase around screens. I think we talked about
Speaker 1: this a lot on the pod. But our guards have
Speaker 1: the tendency to die on screens a lot, and it
Speaker 1: leads to our big defending the guard a lot on
Speaker 1: drop coverage one on one or got our guard is
Speaker 1: giving no back pressure. And I think Baisemore is the
Speaker 1: best at that is shooting is up and down. I
Speaker 1: think he is a good shooter. He takes some shots
Speaker 1: where like I'm not sure, like those transition corner threes
Speaker 1: where he's running full speed, I'm not sure that are
Speaker 1: great shots. But I think he's the shooter that we
Speaker 1: have to play right now that we don't really have
Speaker 1: many options, don't really have that many wings. After Baisemore,
Speaker 1: it goes to like Carmelo, and then from Carmelo you
Speaker 1: go down to like our two way guys. So I
Speaker 1: still think Baisemore would start. What about you, Jason? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I agree, And it's interesting that you brought the transition
Speaker 1: three is up because it feels like on some of
Speaker 1: them he has more time to get set and you know,
Speaker 1: and get more batters and take the shot, but he's
Speaker 1: it feels like he's kind of rushing it. Rogers percent right.
Speaker 1: The Lakers runn a drop coverage and they have three
Speaker 1: bigs that are vertical threats that defend in the drop coverage,
Speaker 1: and so the guards that are willing to fight over
Speaker 1: the top of the screen and apply back pressure are
Speaker 1: the ones that are going to play the most. So
Speaker 1: I think I think Baysmore is gonna play a ton.
Speaker 1: Kendrick nun is gonna play a ton. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: Reeves is another guy who's done a good job of
Speaker 1: fighting over the top of screens so far this preseason.
Speaker 1: They're gonna I would imagine that they're not going to
Speaker 1: have more than one of that Molik monk Ellington type
Speaker 1: of guard on the floor at the same time, the
Speaker 1: type of guard that's going to die on screens because
Speaker 1: then their entire defensive scheme balls apart um. Roger and
Speaker 1: I talked about this a lot after the first preseason
Speaker 1: game because they kept having to switch pick and rolls
Speaker 1: against Brooklyn because the guards just kept dying on the screen.
Speaker 1: And so that that that's the thing, like if Frank
Speaker 1: has a scheme, and a scheme doesn't work unless the
Speaker 1: guys do their job in baseball right now, regardless of
Speaker 1: missing you know, open jump shots, is doing his job
Speaker 1: in the defensive scheme better than some of the other options,
Speaker 1: So I think he's gonna have to play. And the
Speaker 1: last thing I'll say is to the eight at the
Speaker 1: five thing, Roger is gonna end up winning by default
Speaker 1: because of the injuries here, because the injuries, but I
Speaker 1: still think when the Lakers are at full strength, that
Speaker 1: eight is gonna end up starting at the five more
Speaker 1: often than not. But we'll see that could be wrong.
Speaker 1: You got your textbook DeAndre Jordans and the JaVale McGee
Speaker 1: roll tonight where he played start the first quarter, start
Speaker 1: the third quarter, and that was it. So, I mean
Speaker 1: that looks very to me. Looked at that mark score,
Speaker 1: that's that looked really fake. At first, it was like
Speaker 1: twelve and eleven for DeAndre and everyone was killing him.
Speaker 1: Was like, damn, bro, he did good. He did good
Speaker 1: with the starters. Well, we've talked about that earlier in
Speaker 1: the show. When when when he's on the floor with
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d there's just so much size around
Speaker 1: him that his size becomes imposing. It's just when you
Speaker 1: play him with Carmen Anthony or a bunch of guards
Speaker 1: where he's gonna look limited because you're he's just not
Speaker 1: at a phase in his career where he can be
Speaker 1: a backboint defender with that type of talent. Yeah, do
Speaker 1: you see any request on your end? I don't see
Speaker 1: anyone else requesting, but just to speak on the DeAndre point,
Speaker 1: like Jason and I become the face of DeAndre Jordan propaganda.
Speaker 1: It has been really strange. But like again, like five
Speaker 1: minutes a game to started, I think he's fine in
Speaker 1: that role. Anymore than that, I think it gets troubling.
Speaker 1: Like him on the bench. There was that first game
Speaker 1: I think against Brooklyn he played next to Carmelo, and
Speaker 1: like Carmelo and DJ as the four or five, you're
Speaker 1: just gonna get You're gonna get murdered defensively, and expecting
Speaker 1: him to be this like switch out while again going
Speaker 1: back covering the rim, it's just not realistic to me.
Speaker 1: I always thought he could play the Javel role in
Speaker 1: his sense, and Javel might be the best, probably the
Speaker 1: better player, and got paid, just got paid as such.
Speaker 1: So that's all I see with DeAndre. I think he's
Speaker 1: been fine with the stars. As you said, when you
Speaker 1: have Lebron and a d out there covering for him
Speaker 1: with base more as well as our guard defender, I
Speaker 1: think he'll be fine, thanks for coming on, man, we
Speaker 1: appreciate you. We're gonna get our next speaker up here. Hello,
Speaker 1: I can hear you. What's up, Hey, what's up? What's good? Well?
Speaker 1: Good good? Yeah? So, um, you know, but watching uh
Speaker 1: Lakers playing preseason and we're all in six, which doesn't
Speaker 1: bother me too much, but like, um, a few things,
Speaker 1: a few things kind of bothered me. Like a few things,
Speaker 1: Like I like, um, what they were talking about earlier
Speaker 1: in terms of shock quality, I feel like, um, I
Speaker 1: feel like Lebron's gonna get like a lot of great
Speaker 1: shots this year, considering, um, considering Russ and eighty, I
Speaker 1: just feel like he's gonna get a lot of And
Speaker 1: we saw like two, we saw that transition bucket when
Speaker 1: Russ was like, um, he was in, he was in.
Speaker 1: I guess he was in a using transition and he
Speaker 1: was attacking the fast break and I know he passed
Speaker 1: it to le Brown and Roger thunk the ball. Um
Speaker 1: yeah and um um. Honestly, I don't want to see
Speaker 1: too many more possessions of Mellow at thirty six years old,
Speaker 1: trying to you know, trying to beat someone off the
Speaker 1: dribble and I'm pulling up for a midrain shot like
Speaker 1: we've seen a lot of already seen too many too
Speaker 1: many air balls from them. So um and yeah, honestly, um,
Speaker 1: I said, I really don't like the DeAndre Jordan's and
Speaker 1: eighty lineups f like with because it doesn't I don't know,
Speaker 1: it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me
Speaker 1: with with Russ Brown and eighty and having DeAndre Jordan
Speaker 1: in terms of like, I feel like it's going to
Speaker 1: make um like Lebron shoot Lebron eighty like just to
Speaker 1: the perimedent shoot one. Too many jump shots for me.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's so I'm gonna try to hit all
Speaker 1: three really quick because I think you brought up a
Speaker 1: couple of interesting things. Um, that something that we've already
Speaker 1: touched on, but we can really quick bounce back to.
Speaker 1: So on Venet's point about shock quality, You're absolutely right,
Speaker 1: and I actually mentioned earlier in the show, I expect
Speaker 1: Lebron to have one of his more efficient seasons of
Speaker 1: his career, um, just by virtue of that shock quality.
Speaker 1: Like Roger and I were talking about this with Russ
Speaker 1: the other day, there are two ways to improve your efficiency.
Speaker 1: To take better shots and to get better at making
Speaker 1: those shots. And you know, Lebron's, for better or worse,
Speaker 1: what he's going to be as a basketball player, but
Speaker 1: there's going to be a huge improvement in his shot
Speaker 1: quality this season, and so it will improve his efficiency.
Speaker 1: Moving on to the DeAndre jordan thing. You know, it's
Speaker 1: so similar to the JaVale McGee thing from two years
Speaker 1: ago because if you actually look, if you go into
Speaker 1: the NBA dot Com stats website and you look at
Speaker 1: how the Lakers played with JaVale McGee on the floor,
Speaker 1: they played great, but it was because he was with
Speaker 1: the starters and with that starting group, because he would
Speaker 1: always start the first quarter and then start the third quarter,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs. You've got a few more minutes
Speaker 1: in the regular season. But when you put it, when
Speaker 1: you put a player that has limitations, and Javaal obviously
Speaker 1: has limitations, and so does DeAndre Jordan's, if you put
Speaker 1: them next to great basketball players, their job, their role,
Speaker 1: what you're asking them to do, gets very easy, and
Speaker 1: suddenly they're one thing that they're really good at. In
Speaker 1: this case, being gigantic becomes a problem for other teams.
Speaker 1: And so the truth is is as ugly as the
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan's minutes may have looked tonight the Lakers won
Speaker 1: those minutes. I can't remember exactly off top of my head,
Speaker 1: but I know they were plus eight in the first half. Um.
Speaker 1: So the point is, like with DeAndre Jordan on the
Speaker 1: floor with that group of guys, he can work. It's
Speaker 1: when you put him out there with you know, limited
Speaker 1: line ups where he's gonna struggle. And then lastly with
Speaker 1: the Carmelo Anthony thing, the same exact concept. He just
Speaker 1: needs to be in a position where he uh is
Speaker 1: turned into more of a spot up shooter who occasionally,
Speaker 1: at the end of a shot clock has to make
Speaker 1: something happen at and nothing, or is attacking guard mismatches.
Speaker 1: You'll notice tonight he had a really nice, easy one
Speaker 1: leg fade away that he took I think against Davion Mitchell.
Speaker 1: Uh Davion Mitchell that he made all preseason, he's looked
Speaker 1: great posting up little guards, and he's looked bad posting
Speaker 1: up wings because at this phase in his career, he
Speaker 1: just can't get the physical advantage he needs against wings
Speaker 1: to score. But against cards he's gonna be just fine.
Speaker 1: So again, for him, it's just about shrinking him down
Speaker 1: into a role that makes sense with as much talent
Speaker 1: as he's playing around. But in the preseason, because of injuries,
Speaker 1: the Lakers were asking him to do a ton and
Speaker 1: so it was kind of bound to get ugly from
Speaker 1: time to time. So I'm not terribly concerned about Melo
Speaker 1: just yet. I think that's the call that we can
Speaker 1: make later on what about you rog, Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: I'll just you hit on the DJ stuff, but I'll
Speaker 1: just continue the point on Carmelo Um. Like I think
Speaker 1: I said on our pod, like if you're expecting Carmelo
Speaker 1: to come in and be a defender, that's not what
Speaker 1: he is. But he's also kind of outsized in this role, right,
Speaker 1: Like I wanted him to be playing like fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: and I talked about how basketball is not played on
Speaker 1: like a spreadsheet, Right, you can't just tell Carmelo go
Speaker 1: sit in the corner for everyone in here minutes and
Speaker 1: sit through corner three. He's like he's Carmelo freaking Anthony,
Speaker 1: Like he's gonna go in the post and once he
Speaker 1: gets to switch, he's gonna try to bully him to
Speaker 1: the basket. And he's done a good job. Like you
Speaker 1: talked about getting hitting his fade away jumpers and his
Speaker 1: jab step kind of pull ups. I think he's hit
Speaker 1: him at a pretty good percentage. You just want those
Speaker 1: a little bit tweaking down. But like I think he's
Speaker 1: he's been fine. He's gonna be a microwave scorer off
Speaker 1: the bench, that's his role when the team is healthy.
Speaker 1: It's just they're relying on right now, Like he's the
Speaker 1: only real power forward on the team besides a d really,
Speaker 1: so he has to play big minutes right now, which
Speaker 1: is going to hurt the heard the defense. So I
Speaker 1: think a few jobs that jumpers here and they're not
Speaker 1: gonna hurt. He's still hitting his shots. He's still been
Speaker 1: like he's been really like pushing these momentum for us,
Speaker 1: Like he's been pretty building momentum for us when we're
Speaker 1: down in these games, Like his his threes are and
Speaker 1: he puts like the three to the dome and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, like it kind of helps the team. And
Speaker 1: I think he's been fine. Like expecting him to run
Speaker 1: off screens and stuff defending is just not It's just
Speaker 1: not what he's gonna do. Yep, I agree. Thanks, We
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on man, thank you, thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I think we have one more else, see if we'll
Speaker 1: do one more and then close this out. Appreciate everyone
Speaker 1: that stayed up with us. He was connecting here. We'll
Speaker 1: do another one of these Tuesday after after the first game. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: I think we got enough. We went long enough tonight
Speaker 1: that I'll probably split this into two separate shows, and
Speaker 1: then we'll do a postgame show on Tuesday to hopefully
Speaker 1: not a Laker's loss, but something that you and I
Speaker 1: are both predicting will be a Laker's loss. A couple
Speaker 1: of optimists over here, we gotta speak her up. It
Speaker 1: doesn't look like it's connecting, so I guess we can
Speaker 1: kind of po this one out. All right, guys, Hey,
Speaker 1: thank you all so much for supporting us and UH
Speaker 1: and hanging out for the last couple of hours. We
Speaker 1: are very excited. This is going to be the routine
Speaker 1: every Laker game, UM, at least unless rog and I
Speaker 1: are out of town. We're planning on doing a postgame
Speaker 1: show just like this. Come armed with questions and complaints
Speaker 1: and venting and whatever it is you guys want to do. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is gonna air on Dash Radio. Tomorrow morning at
Speaker 1: seven a m. Pacific Standard time, and then like I said,
Speaker 1: I will post it on our podcast feed as well.
Speaker 1: But like we just appreciate you guys a support and
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to what's going to be a really
Speaker 1: fun season, hopefully with a happy ending. Appreciate everyone that
Speaker 1: stayed up, stay late, and I will see