Speaker 1: Welcome to the State of the Lakers post game show
Speaker 1: versus The King's Jason is out tonight. Uh, he was
Speaker 1: a game time decision, but he's on a ski trip
Speaker 1: and so he decided to take this one off. So
Speaker 1: I'll be solo here, so kind of bear with me.
Speaker 1: This was a tough one. Of course, I was, you know,
Speaker 1: lower on the Memphis loss and others. I didn't really
Speaker 1: think it was that big of a deal, like as
Speaker 1: big a deal as people thought. I have. Memphis kind
Speaker 1: of been closer to the Utah Phoenix tier than the
Speaker 1: one the bundle up of the West with us to MAVs, Clippers,
Speaker 1: et cetera. So I wasn't really mad at that we went.
Speaker 1: We won our last at least six games other than
Speaker 1: the two Memphis losses, but tonight was definitely a step back.
Speaker 1: We'll get into it. Russ obviously is again the poster story.
Speaker 1: His players will be plastered everywhere, and I'll definitely get
Speaker 1: into him. We scored sixty seven points in that first half,
Speaker 1: so this game was definitely winnable. You're up six. Honestly,
Speaker 1: to me, this game was lost on the defensive end here.
Speaker 1: The King's really ran simple actions and you know, you
Speaker 1: can blame continuity, you can blame effort. I think all
Speaker 1: those things are kind of intertwined. And I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: to kind of put some clips up here of stuff
Speaker 1: that I'm talking about, so again, people listening on the
Speaker 1: pod or on dash radio tomorrow, I'll kind of explain
Speaker 1: the player. It's pretty simple. So the first player is
Speaker 1: kind of up there, and I'm gonna try to, you know,
Speaker 1: integrate basketball players into the you know, into the podcast
Speaker 1: a little bit here so I can kind of have
Speaker 1: a little bit more visuals so it's a little easier
Speaker 1: to see. But the first tweet is up there now.
Speaker 1: So the Kings run this double draft screen, and it's
Speaker 1: pretty simple here. They runned it, and they ran this
Speaker 1: all night, right, It's basically just two screens for their
Speaker 1: guard against whoever's defending whoever's against Leek Monk or every
Speaker 1: Bradley or someone that we can't switch against, right, And
Speaker 1: it was lay up after layup, or corner three after
Speaker 1: corner three. It was and look, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know how to like start this, but we lost this
Speaker 1: game defensively, and the rustuff is super frustrating obviously, and
Speaker 1: he ended a lot of our big runs, but I
Speaker 1: thought Lebron wasn't engaged on that end. And I don't
Speaker 1: blame Lebron for and that's my kind of first point.
Speaker 1: I don't blame Lebron for not being engaged defensively every
Speaker 1: single night, right because he has a huge scoring load,
Speaker 1: Like that's just what he has on his on his
Speaker 1: plate every night. He has to score thirty thirty points
Speaker 1: for us to be competitive. But when you go small ball,
Speaker 1: you're big has to be engaged. And on these plays
Speaker 1: we have no clue who the help guy is supposed
Speaker 1: to be. And again I'm not sure where that responsibility lies.
Speaker 1: But Stanley or Russ have to kind of step in here,
Speaker 1: or Lebron has to show and recover back to Bagley.
Speaker 1: And this is I just picked one play. This was
Speaker 1: one of the first players of the game, and we
Speaker 1: never really even adjusted to this. The King scored every
Speaker 1: single point pretty much in the paint. There were four
Speaker 1: for fourteen from three in the first half and still
Speaker 1: put up sixty something points um. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I want to start with this, because eight is
Speaker 1: gonna be out a little bit longer as well, and
Speaker 1: we can't just go into a nose dive here. I
Speaker 1: would have liked to see Dwight Howard play a little bit,
Speaker 1: play a little bit more, but there has to be
Speaker 1: an identity to go along with the small ball where
Speaker 1: we have a defensive identity as well. And this is
Speaker 1: stuff that I just saw all night. I could have picked,
Speaker 1: you know, five more plays of that. Darren Fox got
Speaker 1: right to the basket. I thought Austin Reeves was our
Speaker 1: you know, best defender on him tonight. I'll get into
Speaker 1: Austin Um a little bit later and kind of why
Speaker 1: I think he needs to play more. But d n
Speaker 1: Fox got lay up after lay up. Looking at the
Speaker 1: you know, plus minus always isn't always the best, you
Speaker 1: know barometer for things like that, but Dwight Howard was
Speaker 1: a plus nine tonight in fifteen minutes. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's an accident. The Kings went up big twice. Actually,
Speaker 1: I thought both our runs came from playing Dwight. And
Speaker 1: I understand we want to move our identity and I
Speaker 1: want to keep you know, I'm trying to keep this
Speaker 1: podcast a little bit more on tonight. That's what happens
Speaker 1: when you do a post game show every day. But
Speaker 1: we're trying to move to this small ball identity, but
Speaker 1: it can't be this rigid, right Like, there has to
Speaker 1: be some leeway for versatility here because if Lebron is
Speaker 1: not going to be engaged, and again I don't blame
Speaker 1: him for that because of his scoring though, like I
Speaker 1: talked about, but you have to kind of switch up here.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Dwight Howard should have played more.
Speaker 1: Now does that change the outcome of this game? Who knows? Right?
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, the offensive stuff is our
Speaker 1: issues as well. I think the defense has to get better. Man,
Speaker 1: there has to be some kind of identity there because
Speaker 1: we gave way too many points in the paint, and
Speaker 1: we came back out of the second half of the
Speaker 1: same energy, with the same effort, and it really felt
Speaker 1: like we could outscore the Kings tonight, right Like, That's
Speaker 1: kind of what I felt that, That's kind of how
Speaker 1: we operated this whole game. We were scoring at ease,
Speaker 1: our jumpers were going down, and once those didn't go down,
Speaker 1: the Kings, you know, just continued to score at the basket.
Speaker 1: At the Darren Fox got lay up after lay up,
Speaker 1: and again that double drags King is just one kind
Speaker 1: of operation of them, if you could see it up there.
Speaker 1: For wherever just came in, Kings ran that they ran
Speaker 1: a just a simple ball screen, and our rotations were
Speaker 1: so off, which is so against what a vocal team is. UM.
Speaker 1: If you remember last year Lebron and a d went down,
Speaker 1: but our defense stayed number one, and I don't expect
Speaker 1: this team's defensive state number one. Of course, the you know,
Speaker 1: the personnel is totally different, but the scheme still it
Speaker 1: just feels like it's off a little bit. And we
Speaker 1: have guys who help in different places, and we definitely
Speaker 1: have people that players go at. I talked about they
Speaker 1: went out Lake Monk and every badly a ton of
Speaker 1: because they know that we're not going to switch those actions, right,
Speaker 1: So when when the Kings run this double drag, they
Speaker 1: make you operating more of a drop type of coverage,
Speaker 1: UM and and we really got destroyed with that. And
Speaker 1: I just didn't see enough adjustments there. I thought, why
Speaker 1: Howard was just a nice player to put in there
Speaker 1: just to get just to change it up. And I
Speaker 1: love that they kind of he kind of mirrored his
Speaker 1: minutes with Alex Land. I just wish we closed with that.
Speaker 1: I wish we closed the half with that as well, right,
Speaker 1: because I thought, darn Fox just got to the basket.
Speaker 1: The Kings weren't even hitting their outschild outside shots tonight.
Speaker 1: Like I talked about four for four team from three,
Speaker 1: they got little bit hot in the third quarter, but
Speaker 1: when he scored sixty of the points like that, you
Speaker 1: should be up more at halftime, And you know I was.
Speaker 1: I was a little bit worried about that. And again,
Speaker 1: like I, I don't agree to the fact that, you know,
Speaker 1: the loss to Memphis or even the lost of the Kings,
Speaker 1: and I throws away the stuff we've kind of built
Speaker 1: up in our small ball identity, because again, this is
Speaker 1: a new team. It's a new new, non new team,
Speaker 1: but a whole new identity that we're moving towards. Right,
Speaker 1: We've moved towards this small ball thing, and it's a
Speaker 1: all new continuity. And we talked about how, you know,
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan is not in the rotation anymore, but you
Speaker 1: know this is stuff you'll see with You'll see you'll
Speaker 1: see us give us a big, big up, give give up,
Speaker 1: big leads and stuff like that. But I just want
Speaker 1: to see a little bit more, little less rigid in
Speaker 1: our rotations here, and I thought, you know, Frank kind
Speaker 1: of pushed the wrong buttons uh tonight, And it's kind
Speaker 1: of nitpicking as well. At again, like I talked about,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how much we're gonna win when Lebron
Speaker 1: has that kind of effort, But I would just like
Speaker 1: to see, like us to play a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a traditional game there with with d why Howard,
Speaker 1: because when we're small like that, and we're and when
Speaker 1: you're small and not switching everything, that means your help
Speaker 1: has to be insane or you have physical guards that
Speaker 1: can protect the rim, right, Like, that's what happens when
Speaker 1: you go small. The point of going small is to
Speaker 1: be able to have a bunch of life size guys
Speaker 1: that can defend. But again, when you're going small and
Speaker 1: it's League Monk and every Bradley out there, and you
Speaker 1: have Lebron who's just engaged as the back line center,
Speaker 1: and again I'll keep using this caveat. I don't blame him,
Speaker 1: just this is what happened tonight. And again at the end,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of plays where you know he's
Speaker 1: jogging back in transition and the Kings get open three
Speaker 1: in the corner. But when you have that type of play,
Speaker 1: I would have loved to see kind of dry Howard play.
Speaker 1: And this is not just about Duy Howard. I just
Speaker 1: mean like just from a sense of just changing it
Speaker 1: up a little bit, play a little bit more traditional defense. Uh.
Speaker 1: The King's again are bad team. They came in tonight
Speaker 1: eleven games under five hundred, and they have some talent
Speaker 1: on that roster, but there's no way they should be
Speaker 1: scoring at will like they were in the paint. I
Speaker 1: would just like to make a couple of different decisions, right,
Speaker 1: show that Marvin Bagley can catch and swing to the
Speaker 1: corner on the week side corner, right, and show that
Speaker 1: you know met you can catch in the paint and
Speaker 1: swing to the corner like that stuff that I feel
Speaker 1: like we should have at least made them go into
Speaker 1: and really did, and they caught it float after floating
Speaker 1: after floating in the rim, and we just kind of
Speaker 1: gave them baskets in that way. And it's just it's
Speaker 1: tough because I feel like we are in such wind
Speaker 1: collection mode now we're weak. Like obviously you're experimenting with
Speaker 1: small ball lineups, but you have to kind of play
Speaker 1: with the game is going as well. Uh, And I
Speaker 1: really just didn't think we did that. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: thought tonight felt very similar to Memphis in a way.
Speaker 1: Obviously Memphis does it on a higher level. They execute
Speaker 1: at a higher level, but the way that Jaw just
Speaker 1: put his head down right and got to the basket
Speaker 1: on us, Darren Fox did that tonight. Darren Fox average
Speaker 1: is twenty seven a game against us on pretty high efficiency.
Speaker 1: I was seeing too when there when the King's excuse me,
Speaker 1: when the King's posted his numbers against us, and that's
Speaker 1: just tough. It felt like a layup line. And when
Speaker 1: Lebron is not engaged in that way, I think you
Speaker 1: have to kind of find other ways. Our small ball
Speaker 1: has a breaking point right defensively like that's and when
Speaker 1: it has that kind of breaking point, you have to
Speaker 1: kind of switch up there. And if Lebron is not
Speaker 1: in the Draymond role, and it's just gonna be tough
Speaker 1: for us to kind of survived these type of games,
Speaker 1: especially when Russ is playing the way he was. And
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, and I guess I can kind
Speaker 1: of move on to Russ because I'm sure that's what
Speaker 1: everyone pretty much wants to hear about well before I
Speaker 1: get into that, Like, I'm tired of the four million
Speaker 1: dollar conversation. Like I think that's you know, been extended
Speaker 1: as much as it has um. I think bringing up
Speaker 1: how much Russ makes it's pretty negligent to the season.
Speaker 1: That's an offseason conversation, right, Like Russ as whatever you
Speaker 1: want to if you want to call it. And I
Speaker 1: don't like using the word asset, but you know, that's
Speaker 1: how UH people talk when they talk about transactions and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. That's for the that's for the off
Speaker 1: season here. Like there's stuff that Russ does. But my
Speaker 1: expectations of him, and I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: have discussed as well, are not to be a score
Speaker 1: or even the second option. And I think you're seeing
Speaker 1: that in these last few weeks, right. And he's had
Speaker 1: a bunch of low turnover games and I think tonight,
Speaker 1: let me check how many turnovers he had, he had
Speaker 1: one turnover tonight, Right, And you're starting to see him
Speaker 1: in his head a little bit kind of decide shot past,
Speaker 1: you know, and those decisions that he just never had
Speaker 1: to really be as cognizant of when he was the
Speaker 1: main guy. Right, And you're seeing this transition. And I've
Speaker 1: talked about Russ in terms of this is a season
Speaker 1: where he's facing his own mortality, right, and every player
Speaker 1: kind of gets to that that point. And a player
Speaker 1: like Russ who's been, you know, not just the number
Speaker 1: one an option, like the only option right on a
Speaker 1: lot of teams like where in the last few years,
Speaker 1: like with Washington, right, he was the number one ball
Speaker 1: handley option on that team. Bradley Beale was more of
Speaker 1: a come off, you know, downscreen type of offense guy.
Speaker 1: Russ Westbrook was running pick and roll, you know, with
Speaker 1: Daniel Gafford, you know, and all those guys and the
Speaker 1: bigs to make their run. But that's not how I
Speaker 1: see him on this team. And I think tonight in
Speaker 1: that first half was probably the most off the ball
Speaker 1: I've seen Russ uh and I've seen Lebron be turned
Speaker 1: into a full time screener. And if you go reway
Speaker 1: that first have it was just all it was Malik
Speaker 1: Monk Lebron screen reactions. It was Avery, Bradley Lebron screen
Speaker 1: actions like and Lebron full time screenal Like I talked about,
Speaker 1: he's the full time finisher. Um, that's kind of why
Speaker 1: I'm seeing with Russ and these you know, these switches
Speaker 1: from player. It's never pretty, right, and uh, I think
Speaker 1: people have also compared it kind of to Carmelo Anthony, right,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't pretty when Carmelo Anthony went through an okay, see,
Speaker 1: which is you know, it's kind of funny how you know,
Speaker 1: these things kind of intertwined because they played together in
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City. But when it was Russ, Paul George and
Speaker 1: Carmelo as the third option when one of those when
Speaker 1: one of those guys sat out, Carmelo couldn't just fill
Speaker 1: into the second option, right like he just he was
Speaker 1: just not at that point in his career. And that's
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing with Russ as well. And obviously those
Speaker 1: laking decision makings are always tough. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what that late possession was. We were down, I believe
Speaker 1: for Lebron had just hit a lay up. Russ comes
Speaker 1: up the left side of the floor, Lebron doesn't go
Speaker 1: get the basketball. Malik Monk decides to set a little
Speaker 1: brush screen. Lebron sets a little flare screen from the
Speaker 1: league Monk and he just goes stands on the other
Speaker 1: side and rust the sides, Harrison Barnes goes under the
Speaker 1: pick like every player in the league will do when
Speaker 1: defending him, and he gets, you know, an open three
Speaker 1: that doesn't go. But I think it was interesting in
Speaker 1: this game to kind of keep it tonight. So Russ
Speaker 1: started this game with Darren Fox on him right, and
Speaker 1: he took him to the basket almost every single time,
Speaker 1: or even when it was Haliburton or anyone. And in
Speaker 1: the second half, the Kings switched Harrison Barnes onto him right,
Speaker 1: and that really just switched his whole flow of the game.
Speaker 1: And when that happens, there has to be an adjustment
Speaker 1: there where Russ has to be like, Okay, I have
Speaker 1: Harrison Barnes on me. Now, that's not a guy I
Speaker 1: can overpower the rim. That's not a guy I can
Speaker 1: you know, get to the basket finish, you know, rock
Speaker 1: the rock the baby like you did tonight, like on
Speaker 1: one play. But that's just not a guy you can
Speaker 1: go through, right, And teams are gonna try to throw
Speaker 1: guys that Russ can't go through. And we always discussed
Speaker 1: the Lakers Houston playoff series. The Lakers had Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: on Russ. They have some you know, Joe Schlow guarding him,
Speaker 1: or they didn't have even our good defenders and Alex
Speaker 1: Gruso and Kyle Kosma and DCP because he was just
Speaker 1: too strong so he would be able to bully to
Speaker 1: the basket. And we had Anthony Davis to throw on him.
Speaker 1: And that changed the complexion of that series. And I
Speaker 1: thought throwing Harrison Barnes on him, Uh, tonight changed the
Speaker 1: complexion of tonight for us. He was kind of getting
Speaker 1: to the basket. Uh, he was. Again, he's not gonna
Speaker 1: make a lot of those, and he misses a lot more,
Speaker 1: it feels like, and he makes at the rim. I
Speaker 1: think I was seeing he was shooting at the rim
Speaker 1: on layups and stuff like that, but just his pressure
Speaker 1: at the basket and intertwme. It intertwines to me why
Speaker 1: I would like to see Dwight Howard Um play a
Speaker 1: little bit and let me see if I can kind
Speaker 1: of share this share this plane, bear with me, all right,
Speaker 1: if you guys can see the play here. So Russ,
Speaker 1: this is what Russ does though, right, He's gonna attack
Speaker 1: the rim, so yeah, Haliburton on him. But when however,
Speaker 1: and gets to the basket, and this is why I
Speaker 1: want him to like, especially but when Anthony Davis isn't
Speaker 1: bad because this would be a D right, and a
Speaker 1: d can kind of feel the Dwight role. Obviously he
Speaker 1: can feel the Dwight role, but he can feel that
Speaker 1: offensive rebound role. And I think that's so important when
Speaker 1: Russ is playing, especially without Lebron, when he's gonna have
Speaker 1: the ball more at the top of the key. So
Speaker 1: Russ drives on this play right, and alex Land has
Speaker 1: to come over, and the big will mostly come over
Speaker 1: on a rush dry Ruskin. If Russ gets his his
Speaker 1: shoulder passed the guard, the big will come over, and
Speaker 1: then you have I believe that's Harrison Barnes trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, take away Dwight from the offensive rebounds. And
Speaker 1: I like, to me, that's just stuff that's important right
Speaker 1: now when adies out. I don't like when, you know,
Speaker 1: especially when Russ plays without Lebron and no centers. So
Speaker 1: when it's like Trevor reesa Carmelo, if our shooter is
Speaker 1: not Inferno there, it's like layups at the rim a reason. Still,
Speaker 1: I thought this was the best of reason looks, but
Speaker 1: he's still kind of slow right when he's when he's
Speaker 1: moving around, he's still not quick um and Stanley Johnson
Speaker 1: is good but still sana Johnson's and underst center. So
Speaker 1: like those are just three points that you can kind
Speaker 1: of pick up so that every you know, Russ lay
Speaker 1: up miss at the rim, isn't the team going the
Speaker 1: other way? And transition, you know, you can kind of
Speaker 1: you can kind of pick off some of these easier
Speaker 1: points there with what Dwight Howard in the game, and
Speaker 1: that's another reason I'd kind of like him to get
Speaker 1: more minutes, especially until eighties get eight gets back. I
Speaker 1: just think a backup center is important. I think again,
Speaker 1: our offense was great tonight and Lebron not being engaged
Speaker 1: defensively was was part of the reason I think we lost.
Speaker 1: But that's just stuff. And you know, this season has
Speaker 1: kind of I said that from like the fifth game
Speaker 1: of this year, like the season has become about acquescing
Speaker 1: to Russell Westbrook, and I think that I think that's
Speaker 1: magnified one of one of our stars gets out, And
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you to change your expectations because like
Speaker 1: that's just what it is. The contract to me, is
Speaker 1: just negligent for what the season asked for right, and
Speaker 1: this is the season we're trying to win a championship,
Speaker 1: Like that's the whole point of this year. So what
Speaker 1: can we do to put rust in better positions to
Speaker 1: where we're successful when he's on the floor, right, his
Speaker 1: contract means nothing once that ball tips up because he's
Speaker 1: on the team, like, and he's gonna be on the
Speaker 1: team after I don't remember when the trade deadline is
Speaker 1: February something, for the fifteenth, I think, but he's gonna
Speaker 1: be on the team after that. I promise you. The
Speaker 1: best is not going anywhere for this whole season, So
Speaker 1: trying to find out places that we can kind of
Speaker 1: put them, And I think when Adie gets back, it
Speaker 1: does slot him in a little bit better position. But
Speaker 1: this is not excusing his play, right, Like he can't
Speaker 1: be missing layups, he can't be taking these awful jumpers.
Speaker 1: And again I thought tonight it was just another terrible,
Speaker 1: I guess decision making game from him in terms of
Speaker 1: when to shoot, when to pass. And I'm sorry if
Speaker 1: I'm rambling here, but I feel like there's places on
Speaker 1: the floor you have to put them. And I did
Speaker 1: a video on the you know, when we beat the Kings,
Speaker 1: the last time we went to Lebron Malik Monk two
Speaker 1: man game every single time down the floor, and I
Speaker 1: don't know why we went away from it tonight. We
Speaker 1: didn't pick on Buddy Healed at all, we didn't pick
Speaker 1: on Darren Fox as a defender at all. We didn't
Speaker 1: force the Kings to do anything any of those actions.
Speaker 1: Lebron took. Uh, he took twelve threes tonight, which I
Speaker 1: think is just a little too high. And again maybe
Speaker 1: that's part of the that might be intertwined as well
Speaker 1: into the load managing stuff. Not wanting to drive to
Speaker 1: the rim, But twelve threes to me, just get twenty
Speaker 1: nine shot attempts to total for Lebron. So I can't
Speaker 1: you know, Betwo nippicky, but you know, twelve threes is
Speaker 1: a lot three or twelve from three from Lebron and
Speaker 1: and all that's kind of intertwined. But there's places we
Speaker 1: have to kind of put Russ there, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's just tough to watch him. I guess in a
Speaker 1: role that I don't think he was supposed to. I
Speaker 1: guess b for this team, and I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: that's the role that they imagine for him, but this
Speaker 1: is just not the role that his skill set now
Speaker 1: asked for, right. He needs to be a guy that's
Speaker 1: attacking and already compromise defense. He can't be the guy
Speaker 1: at the top of the key running a pick and
Speaker 1: roll and trying to make decisions out of that, especially
Speaker 1: in late game. And I think he's gonna transition. We do.
Speaker 1: We do a nice job, you know, setting some brush
Speaker 1: screens for him where he can attack a defender that
Speaker 1: he likes, like meant to was a guy that I
Speaker 1: thought he liked in transition. He got a few baskets
Speaker 1: off that, but there's just stuff we have to kind
Speaker 1: of find for him, uh, and that we're really not doing.
Speaker 1: Last thing I want to kind of get into Rust
Speaker 1: is passing here because I think I think it's an
Speaker 1: interesting kind of Russ passes to areas not players, right
Speaker 1: and and having a new team, it's kind of hard
Speaker 1: to find, I guess, uh, it's kind of hard to
Speaker 1: how too hard to find players tendencies when you're not
Speaker 1: playing much together, right. And I posted a statue night
Speaker 1: that Lebron and Russ with a d at center of
Speaker 1: only played minutes together, which is absolutely nothing in the
Speaker 1: season Stanley Johnson, Lebron and Russ have already played eighty
Speaker 1: eight minutes together over almost half of that time, right,
Speaker 1: And it's just tough to kind of find stuff. But
Speaker 1: Rust is a guy, so when he drives, he does
Speaker 1: around two to three reads, right, so his first read
Speaker 1: will be the cutter, then he'll look for the opposite corner, right,
Speaker 1: And that's just that's every time he drives, and it's
Speaker 1: a rigid kind of decision making for him. So you'll drive,
Speaker 1: look for a cutter, or look for the opposite wing
Speaker 1: or the top of the key, right, it's all areas
Speaker 1: he's not looking for. A player is on the floor
Speaker 1: is not like looking at players, So when the floor
Speaker 1: is not space that way, it becomes really difficult. It's
Speaker 1: why you see those high turnover games. Right. So let
Speaker 1: me see if I can kind of throw another play
Speaker 1: up here at the top again bear with me. Is
Speaker 1: second here. Okay, so this is one on this play
Speaker 1: here if you can kind of see it at the top. Um,
Speaker 1: if you can kind of see the play at the
Speaker 1: top peering and people listening on the podcast or dos
Speaker 1: Rio tomorrow, it's basically just Russ kind of drives from
Speaker 1: the corner right into isolation. So what he does his
Speaker 1: first thread is always that corner. But a Reason cuts right,
Speaker 1: a Reason cuts from the wing as his guy turns
Speaker 1: his head and he's able to find he's able to
Speaker 1: find him the basket. That stuff that Avery Bradley has
Speaker 1: picked up, but just stuff that I think the team
Speaker 1: has to find out because when Russ is driving, it's
Speaker 1: very rarely just to score. He's looking. He's a he's
Speaker 1: a past first guy and and people kind of use
Speaker 1: that against him as a triple double, you know, hunter
Speaker 1: or or however want to call it, but that's just
Speaker 1: what he is. He he's the past first guard, which
Speaker 1: is weird to say for a guy who avers like
Speaker 1: twenty something for his for his game, but like that's
Speaker 1: kind of what he is on this team. And I
Speaker 1: think this is the kind of stuff that you have
Speaker 1: to find. And that's why I would like Austin to
Speaker 1: play a little more. If you watch that play again,
Speaker 1: it's called fill and replaced, right, So when when Aresa cuts,
Speaker 1: Austin feels his his spot Austin. That's why Austin got
Speaker 1: a bunch of threest in that as well. They were
Speaker 1: all for us with Westbrook passes because Austin is very
Speaker 1: good at, you know, giving guys passing wings, passing angles
Speaker 1: to get open threes. And I would like him to
Speaker 1: kind of play more with us as well. But that's
Speaker 1: just kind of stuff that Russ does. That's the positive
Speaker 1: stuff that he does. And and looking at him as
Speaker 1: the forty four million dollars star player, like, that's not
Speaker 1: the guy you have. That's not the guy on the roster,
Speaker 1: that's not the guy who's gonna be playing in the the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Like this is the guy you have. This is his
Speaker 1: skill set, and you have to kind of mold the
Speaker 1: team around that. And I think, you know, moving this
Speaker 1: on to like Anthony Davis coming back, that's that's the
Speaker 1: key here, right because it's so and it's not really
Speaker 1: fair to keep saying, you know, we can't judge this
Speaker 1: scene until this guy gets back. We said about the
Speaker 1: reason we said about Kendrick Nunn. But this team is
Speaker 1: going to be revolved around eight now. And I think
Speaker 1: we've we've played forty one games. Russ has played in
Speaker 1: all forty one. I think it's extremely care clear what
Speaker 1: his skills are and what they aren't. And I'm kind
Speaker 1: of again rambling here on Russell Westbrook. But I think
Speaker 1: it's important because I've just seen the conversation that it's
Speaker 1: tilted to, like comparing Russ to the combined numbers of
Speaker 1: k CP, kusbun Harrold's just very misguided, right, Like, that's
Speaker 1: just that's just not the way to kind of I
Speaker 1: think think about this team and think about Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: and it's super frustrating. Of course, I just think you're
Speaker 1: seeing him in the oversized role that he's not supposed
Speaker 1: to be in, and I like, that's that's the main
Speaker 1: point I want to get across here. And it's not
Speaker 1: about you know, changing the expectations for him to minimize them.
Speaker 1: It's just putting them where they are. We have a
Speaker 1: team that's built around Lebron and a D, and Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook needs to fit into that. It's nine team built
Speaker 1: around Russ, LEBRONO a D. Right, It's Lebron and a
Speaker 1: D surrounded by guys that are supposed to support them.
Speaker 1: And then Russell Westbrook is a supporting player to them.
Speaker 1: And again that sounds strange for a guy with his contract.
Speaker 1: But again I keep saying the contract and vigible this
Speaker 1: season to me, he's on the team, like there's there's
Speaker 1: no there's no reason to you know, continue to uh
Speaker 1: to calm about about that, in my opinion, So there's
Speaker 1: places to put him. And I keep talking about I
Speaker 1: don't think that you know, four game winstry grieving tonight
Speaker 1: because you lose to the Kings, like it throws away
Speaker 1: what we've kind of built on. We're in a small
Speaker 1: ball team. We found that putting Russ in the dunker
Speaker 1: spot is the place he can be effective. Putting him
Speaker 1: in the stretch baseline where he can attack for offensive
Speaker 1: rebounds and those are points that up take his skill
Speaker 1: right and and that's that's the place we kind of
Speaker 1: have to place him there. I think that's you know
Speaker 1: enough about Russ. A couple of few things here and
Speaker 1: I guess, uh, you know, I kind of wrap this
Speaker 1: one up. So Lebron and Monk I've continued to kind
Speaker 1: of have a palpable chemistry to them, right, And I
Speaker 1: think again without a d you want to find and
Speaker 1: stuff that translates when he comes back. And I think
Speaker 1: those two have definitely found a synergy and I think
Speaker 1: they've had it since the beginning of the season. But
Speaker 1: I think the Monk Lebron screen role, and I talked
Speaker 1: about how this is the most you know, Lebron has
Speaker 1: been a screener in his whole career. Like in my opinion,
Speaker 1: like tonight, go watch that first half. Every single almost
Speaker 1: offensive possession he was screening, which is just something you
Speaker 1: don't see from Lebron, right, It's just it's it's incredible
Speaker 1: to watch him kind of transformed into that. And again
Speaker 1: that's part of with Russell Westbrook on the team, Like
Speaker 1: that's kind of what just this team needs and needs,
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron to be a score It needs to
Speaker 1: him to be the finisher a lot of times, right
Speaker 1: because you have the ball in Russe's hands on even
Speaker 1: closeouts on and Malik Monk as well as the ball hangler.
Speaker 1: So Lebron is kind of transformed into this center who's
Speaker 1: a screener and can score off that. And I think
Speaker 1: it's been incredible to watch him, you know, move into
Speaker 1: that transition of his career. But I think Leake Monk,
Speaker 1: you know, he had a bad game against Memphis, and
Speaker 1: like in the words of Russell Westbrook, he's to have
Speaker 1: a bad game, right, Like I think Malik Munk fills
Speaker 1: into that just another crazy, crazy offensive game. I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to kind of find ways where we
Speaker 1: can put him in better defensive spots because again I
Speaker 1: thought the King's picked on him, and our you know
Speaker 1: effort wasn't great with that. But you know, just the
Speaker 1: even the not just the double screen actions, but the
Speaker 1: regular screen actions where we just can't switch. And again,
Speaker 1: if our lebron or our centers not engaged in that way,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna get picked on. But I thought mink
Speaker 1: Monk again just an incredible night for him, at least offensively.
Speaker 1: Struggled a little bit in the second half, but six
Speaker 1: for nine from three, like seven for thirteen from the field. Uh.
Speaker 1: He was a minus FOURT team, which is interesting. But
Speaker 1: again I don't think plus minuses is to tell all.
Speaker 1: But I thought he was just again just a great
Speaker 1: offensive punch, and we're starting to run you know actions
Speaker 1: for him to uh as well. We ran this, We
Speaker 1: ran a couple of like dummy plays where it was
Speaker 1: like Stanley fake like coming off the screen and then
Speaker 1: he re screened from Leak Monk. He got open three are.
Speaker 1: Our first play of the game was actually an elevator
Speaker 1: doors uh option for link Bunk, which something you I
Speaker 1: think they put in probably the last few days. It
Speaker 1: looked like US where Monk comes off a double screen
Speaker 1: work and then it closes at the end of it.
Speaker 1: It was it was kind of nice to see them
Speaker 1: kind of move into more offensive options here, and I
Speaker 1: think that's the important thing. And we're not winning anything though,
Speaker 1: obviously with our defense looking like it did tonight, I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to look at stuff that we can kind
Speaker 1: of take take forward here. And I guess the you know,
Speaker 1: last thing I'll kind of get into is, uh, Austin Reeves. Right,
Speaker 1: Austin Man just an incredible player that they found undrafted right,
Speaker 1: and again tonight kind of showed why. I think he
Speaker 1: just needs more minutes man in a in a revolutionary
Speaker 1: move to small ball. I think it's important to have
Speaker 1: players who are not only good and and and try
Speaker 1: hard on defense, but know what they're doing right. And
Speaker 1: I think that's extremely important And looks expecting like a
Speaker 1: month to be that kind of defender isn't fair. That's
Speaker 1: not what he's here's not what he's paid to do.
Speaker 1: But having two way guys and you know, we prop
Speaker 1: up two way guys for a reason because guys who
Speaker 1: can you know, in Austin is such a he's such
Speaker 1: a smart player, and the Carusoe coms are you know, uncanny,
Speaker 1: and they obviously fit because they're two white dubes that
Speaker 1: play basketball but in the NBA. But it's kind of fitting.
Speaker 1: He's a super in high i Q. We throw that
Speaker 1: around a lot as well. But just knows how to
Speaker 1: play off Lebron James, and I think that's important. A
Speaker 1: guy who knows how to play off your best player
Speaker 1: and even knows how to play off for Russ as well.
Speaker 1: He's the guy again I talked about earlier. He knows
Speaker 1: how to find the open spaces and just defensively, I
Speaker 1: thought he was our best guy on Darren Fox, which
Speaker 1: is interesting with this is his first player, first, you know,
Speaker 1: year in the league. I just thought he was good
Speaker 1: and I'll play that kind of I thought signified it.
Speaker 1: And again it's kind of simple stuff here as well.
Speaker 1: But let's see if I can share this one in here.
Speaker 1: So you know Reeves on this play, So Taylan Horn
Speaker 1: Tucker is so again people listening on the podcast or
Speaker 1: dash radio later, So on this play here you have
Speaker 1: Taylan Horn Tucker defending Darren Fox. Right, and if you
Speaker 1: watch this play, and I should have slowed it down
Speaker 1: a little bit more, but Darren Fox kicks it to
Speaker 1: alex Land and watched, you know, Austin Reaves this whole possession.
Speaker 1: So when Dwight Howard comes over to help on the
Speaker 1: Fox drive, Reeves is ready to drop down on alex Land.
Speaker 1: He closes out to Deer and Fox. He then picks
Speaker 1: off Fox who's in a close out position attacking at
Speaker 1: full speed. Like that's just like, that's stuff you can't
Speaker 1: you know, teach in a like in a just general sense, right,
Speaker 1: like that type of instincts and stuff. It's not like
Speaker 1: a big deal. It's not flashy, it's not huge, but
Speaker 1: it's just stuff that he does on a regular basis
Speaker 1: that you don't see. It doesn't even obviously, the steal
Speaker 1: this time goes up in the in the in the
Speaker 1: box score, but that stuff that doesn't really even show up.
Speaker 1: He'll you know, be vertical at the ram and the
Speaker 1: guy will miss and he gets zero. You know, he
Speaker 1: gets zero credit for those type of plays. But that's
Speaker 1: why I mean, when I think he needs to play more,
Speaker 1: and he was a plus zero tonight, um, And I
Speaker 1: think he came back when we were down like thirteen
Speaker 1: and brought us all the way back before Russ had
Speaker 1: those tough moments to to kind of that put the
Speaker 1: lead back. But I thought he was great. I thought
Speaker 1: this was the you know, third or fourth game where
Speaker 1: like he was the main positive. Obviously had the game
Speaker 1: winner against Dallas. But he's just lookit good man, and
Speaker 1: I'm I just wanted to give him a shout out here.
Speaker 1: He has legit defensive and offensive instincts that fit perfectly
Speaker 1: on a team that's you know, plays with a lot
Speaker 1: of players that are very helo centric. Anthony Davis post ups,
Speaker 1: Lebron James isolation at the top, Russell Westbrook driving off
Speaker 1: isolations like uniqu players that know how to move, and
Speaker 1: Phil opens faces. Uh and he's really good at that. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's pretty much all I have for tonight.
Speaker 1: There's no way to sugarcoat this. Another loss to a
Speaker 1: very team ten games under five. D um, That's that's
Speaker 1: not going to be easy. But I see my man
Speaker 1: rush is requesting, I'll see if I can get to
Speaker 1: a few people here. I think I have like twenty
Speaker 1: twenty minutes left I'll bring Rush up here. But man,
Speaker 1: like that's just a it's a it's a tough night,
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's interesting to kind of try
Speaker 1: to break break down instead of just going straight into
Speaker 1: trade everybody right, Like, it's that's not happening. So our
Speaker 1: trade pieces are Kendrick done and THHD. The rest of
Speaker 1: the team pretty much gonna stay the stay intact to
Speaker 1: my opinion, So what can we do to kind of
Speaker 1: for that? But Rouge, are you there? Man? Can you
Speaker 1: hear me? I don't think I can hear Rush, But yeah,
Speaker 1: like that's kind of, uh, that's kind of the way
Speaker 1: that I would kind of frame this, I guess, because
Speaker 1: it's it's come full circle into just Russell Westbrook contract.
Speaker 1: But Ruge, can you hear me? Okay, I don't think
Speaker 1: I can. I can hear him, but yeah, the conversation
Speaker 1: devolving into you know, rest is contract and that makes
Speaker 1: sense for assets and stuff. It's just I just think
Speaker 1: that that's not the way this team is going to
Speaker 1: be built. And we're in a title connection mode and
Speaker 1: Russell Wepper it's going to be on the team when
Speaker 1: that happens. So I want to try to find out
Speaker 1: ways that we can kind of build that instead of
Speaker 1: instead of instead of just focusing on that. I guess
Speaker 1: that's the last chance. I'll ask if Ruge can hear me,
Speaker 1: and if not, and I'll kind of move up to
Speaker 1: a few people here. You have like ten or fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: and then I'll call it a day. Yo, Desmon, can
Speaker 1: you here? What's going on? Much? I just got a
Speaker 1: few comments. Um, I mean, I agree with you everything
Speaker 1: you said about rest of mean, we're stuck with rest Of.
Speaker 1: As much as people want to trade him, and you know, nobody,
Speaker 1: we can't get enough players to meet that contract with
Speaker 1: the teams that even want Rest, I mean, we're just
Speaker 1: stick with Rest. I think I think a lot of
Speaker 1: these things to be put on Frank as well. I
Speaker 1: mean we Frank needs to get back into um playoff
Speaker 1: mode with his adjustments. UM. I mean, we got to
Speaker 1: start looking at lineups that actually work. We gotta start
Speaker 1: looking at at positions of players on the offensive andem.
Speaker 1: But we can't stick Rest in the corner. But we
Speaker 1: stick rest of the corps are playing five or four
Speaker 1: basketball with three fourths of the floor. Um, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's not Pacha taker over there. People actually respect p J.
Speaker 1: Tiker in the corner. You put Rusts over there. They're
Speaker 1: just they're wanting in the shoot. They want that type
Speaker 1: of offense from the Lakers. They want rust to go
Speaker 1: one on one. They want Rests to do that little
Speaker 1: pull up bake shot. They want Russ to do whatever
Speaker 1: they on the offensive and to keep the ball out
Speaker 1: of Monk Braun mellow and then eighty when he comes back.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what the defense wants. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: I think it's easy for anybody to see. Um. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I agree with you. We have to find
Speaker 1: something to do with wrestling offensive vent because he's not
Speaker 1: he just hasn't been a positive on the offensive end.
Speaker 1: He has been a positive on the defensive ended. We
Speaker 1: obviously can't sit somebody who's making forty four million dollars.
Speaker 1: So I mean, there's just something and that has to
Speaker 1: be has to be done with the Russ to where
Speaker 1: he he even becomes some sort of a plus or
Speaker 1: some sort of just an even to where you know,
Speaker 1: we feel like we can we can win, because I
Speaker 1: think I don't think anybody thinks right now that if
Speaker 1: Russ is pulling, Russ is shooting fifteen shots a game.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody is comfortable with that. And just
Speaker 1: the way he's been shooting, what the shots he has
Speaker 1: been shooting, the decisions, it's just it's just all confusing
Speaker 1: to a lot of fans to what Frank is doing
Speaker 1: and what this coaching staff is doing. You know, it's uh,
Speaker 1: get off and let you discuss that. Sure, And I
Speaker 1: think you know, Ruche, are you up there? I don't
Speaker 1: know if you can hear me now? Uh yeah, yeah?
Speaker 1: Can you can you hear me now? I can? But
Speaker 1: really quickly on your point, does me like I think
Speaker 1: you know Russ is going through a transition, right, And
Speaker 1: it's again I talked about like the zero assist stuff
Speaker 1: is what we've been I mean, sorry, not sure it
Speaker 1: says zero turnover stuff is what we've been asking for.
Speaker 1: But again that has a domino effect to it. And
Speaker 1: I've always said tempering Russ's aggression to me was never
Speaker 1: the answer, right, And you can see he's kind of
Speaker 1: in his head even more now than he was before, right,
Speaker 1: And and some of that, you know, convoluted with a
Speaker 1: d being out, But you can see the past shoot
Speaker 1: decisions have become just so more magnified for him, and
Speaker 1: he's trying not to turn the ball over, which to
Speaker 1: me has tempered his aggression in a way. So like,
Speaker 1: I think there's a fine line to it that you
Speaker 1: have to kind of fine. And I'm okay with some
Speaker 1: of the turnovers if you know, if if, if they're
Speaker 1: in aggression, I think that's the mine we have to
Speaker 1: feel there. But Ruch, what's going on? Man? Yeah? Man,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. I always like to come and
Speaker 1: talk rust with you guys, because I think you and
Speaker 1: I have talked about Russ with the Lakers for I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know, we've done it a lot. Basically, we
Speaker 1: did a whole podcast on it, a lot of it, honestly,
Speaker 1: a lot of exact go back and go back and
Speaker 1: listen to that State of the Lakers podcast for yourself,
Speaker 1: Lakers fans and something what you think if if we
Speaker 1: nailed it, if we were on point or what. But um,
Speaker 1: as much as people you know don't want to talk
Speaker 1: about it, I feel like it's it's really inevitable, right,
Speaker 1: Like salary aside, like you said, that's irrelevant to the season.
Speaker 1: But his role, he was brought in to fill a
Speaker 1: role and that role is not being fulfilled and it's
Speaker 1: resulting in Lebron over extending himself right, Like, we've been
Speaker 1: getting vintage Lebron performances and the Lakers are still not
Speaker 1: getting over the hump. They had that stretch where they
Speaker 1: want to forget you know, four in a row whatever
Speaker 1: it was, um, you know, albeit against worst competition, and
Speaker 1: then they ran into the Grizzlies and got beat and
Speaker 1: you know again, they're losing tonight, and now they're back
Speaker 1: to five. We can talk about offense all day, but
Speaker 1: I think defense is really where it's at. Um, Lebron
Speaker 1: has been at his best, man, and you guys know
Speaker 1: this better than me, but Lebron's at his best when
Speaker 1: with the Lakers, when he's got a D and then
Speaker 1: just three guys that can spread the floor and switch
Speaker 1: and defend and and and who know how to play
Speaker 1: off of him. I think you've really found something with
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves. Um, it's kind of incredible how he's like
Speaker 1: filling the Crusoe road is white boy whopin, But you
Speaker 1: got him. I think Malik Monk has looked really good
Speaker 1: as well. Um, and then once the rotation kind of
Speaker 1: slims down, I think you just got a phone in
Speaker 1: and find like I almost hesitate to say that you'd
Speaker 1: be better assuming a D comes back, but you'd be
Speaker 1: better with a D Lebron and just three shooters, um,
Speaker 1: because those guys shoot and then they defend. And like
Speaker 1: that formula has proven that it works for the Lakers
Speaker 1: and for Lebron specifically, and and Rust's issues as as
Speaker 1: many issues as he has on offense because he can't shoot.
Speaker 1: His turnovers are down, but he can't finish at the
Speaker 1: rim anymore. And you know, just when you need him
Speaker 1: to make a smart play, he does something like he
Speaker 1: did tonight when it was sixteen and then he brick
Speaker 1: that three. But as much as he does that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, he just ball watches so much on defense,
Speaker 1: and it kills the connectivity of a defensive scheme right,
Speaker 1: Like there's no defense is all about communication and moving
Speaker 1: on a rope, guys filling in for other guys, guys,
Speaker 1: anticipating where the action is going to be, and people,
Speaker 1: you know, stepping where they need to step and then
Speaker 1: and then getting back to where they need to get back.
Speaker 1: I think Austin Reaves does an incredible job of it.
Speaker 1: You guys have clipped a lot of kind of clips
Speaker 1: where he's like, you know, switching and chasing people off
Speaker 1: the ball and then getting back and playing incredible defense.
Speaker 1: But too often man rust just kind of sits there
Speaker 1: and watches, And I think that's the biggest issue. You know,
Speaker 1: as basketball fans, we love to focus on offense because
Speaker 1: that's the easiest way we can think of, you know,
Speaker 1: to kind of conceive of the game and like hey this,
Speaker 1: you know, you do X, y Z, and that's how
Speaker 1: you win. But I think you're scoring, you know, and
Speaker 1: I think Lebron is proven that you guys can score
Speaker 1: in the league. Monk has stepped in in a huge
Speaker 1: way and he's scoring and shooting well and hitting big
Speaker 1: shots too. But defensively, like that, it's going to collapse.
Speaker 1: And I really wonder, So that's defensively, then I wonder
Speaker 1: when a D gets back, does the rust fit get
Speaker 1: even funnier because a D doesn't trust the floor, you know,
Speaker 1: not out to the three and not the way that
Speaker 1: you need him to for for the whole rust thing
Speaker 1: to work. And so it's just kind of crazy to
Speaker 1: see how much like obviously I'm spurned as a Rockets
Speaker 1: fan with you know, the Russ experiment and how that
Speaker 1: kind of turned turned out and basically imploded the franchise.
Speaker 1: That's a different story, but I pay attention to how
Speaker 1: he performs and how teams perform as he hops around
Speaker 1: and skips around. And it seemed like the Wizards was
Speaker 1: was the type of team for him, right, not high aspirations,
Speaker 1: just happy to make the play in he could get
Speaker 1: the ball, get the rock, do his thing, and just
Speaker 1: play Russ basketball, you know, great stats, kind of turns over,
Speaker 1: turns the ball over done, played good defense, not winning basketball.
Speaker 1: And so now now he's with Lakers and the expectations
Speaker 1: are higher, and he was brought in to kind of
Speaker 1: carry the carry the load so the Lebron could show.
Speaker 1: But that's all gotten messed up with a d out
Speaker 1: and Russ isn't carrying the load. So now Lebron has
Speaker 1: to step in and be be like Lebron that the
Speaker 1: guy that just spokes that Frank needs to get into
Speaker 1: playoff um adjustment mode. But I think that's a lot
Speaker 1: to ask halfway through the season to you know, be
Speaker 1: making like playoff intensive adjustments with the roster that's simply
Speaker 1: not defending to the caliber that you need and I
Speaker 1: think it it bodes poorly on on the other end
Speaker 1: of that spectrum, though, I will say, as long as
Speaker 1: you guys limp into the playoffs and everyone is healthy,
Speaker 1: anything can still happen. Um, you know. But but I
Speaker 1: just don't know how you solve it. Defensively is my
Speaker 1: only issue. Like, offensively, I really think you could bench
Speaker 1: for us. Well maybe that maybe that's all the defensively
Speaker 1: if you bench for us. But but offensively, I think
Speaker 1: you could just go Lebron a D or even like
Speaker 1: Lebron and Dwight and just three shooters and you could
Speaker 1: win some regular season games. But then on defense, man
Speaker 1: is where it all falls apart from me. So I
Speaker 1: guess you guys are gonna be faced with the question
Speaker 1: do you bench him? Um? And if you do, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you see that plane? Now? Is that even
Speaker 1: a possibility for you? It's not for me. I don't
Speaker 1: think you can mention him. He's not Montrez Harold right,
Speaker 1: Like you can't just see him on the bench, Like
Speaker 1: that's just not how this works. And you said, you
Speaker 1: know you can just put three players, you know, Lebron
Speaker 1: a D with three shoots and defenders, like you're probably right,
Speaker 1: Like that's been a proven formula. I think that they
Speaker 1: have to be a certain you know, level of three
Speaker 1: and D guys to at least to at least make
Speaker 1: that work. But you're probably right. This is a brand
Speaker 1: new thing to me. And my whole thing was it's
Speaker 1: obviously been ugly, and there's enough people rage tweeting and
Speaker 1: rage podcasting where I don't really need to feel that void, right,
Speaker 1: I think that void is there and it's understandable why
Speaker 1: it's there, and I don't just I don't think those
Speaker 1: people are necessarily necessarily wrong. I just think like putting
Speaker 1: energy into that it's very you know, it doesn't really
Speaker 1: make sense to me, Like it's very clear what Russ
Speaker 1: is to me forty forty one games, ruce of watching
Speaker 1: every single some of these games twice, right, watching Russell
Speaker 1: Westbroog and watching what his skills are and aren't and
Speaker 1: what his tendencies are. And it's tough because you know,
Speaker 1: this season started and we kind of had both and
Speaker 1: then Lebron went out, right, he was out for like
Speaker 1: two weeks, and then a D went out, a D
Speaker 1: was in and out, and then a D went out
Speaker 1: full time. A couple of weeks ago, so now you
Speaker 1: don't really have those three. And even when they were together,
Speaker 1: we didn't have any of our wings, right, So we
Speaker 1: were playing like week one with Avery Bradley, you know,
Speaker 1: with them, and we had no wing players that to
Speaker 1: throw on the floor, so it was never really a
Speaker 1: full team. And now you get this, which is probably
Speaker 1: the most maximized version of him, right, it's super charge.
Speaker 1: It's Lebron in the Clint Capella role, like you would
Speaker 1: in the you know, in the PJ. Tucker role. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry on Houston, and you know, you can kind of
Speaker 1: feel a d back into that. But like I'm at
Speaker 1: the point where and like we talked about this on
Speaker 1: the preview pod, but like I'm at the point where,
Speaker 1: like Russ to me is now a complementary piece to
Speaker 1: the two stars, right, And I think that's the way
Speaker 1: I look at it. And it's kind of less than
Speaker 1: the frustration I guess by me for you know, for
Speaker 1: the season, because I kind of understand how I would
Speaker 1: view him, Like I don't expect rust, you know, make
Speaker 1: his open threes, and I think, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: better decision for him not to take those. And I
Speaker 1: think that's something we can kind of work towards. But
Speaker 1: you can see it in his head man. It's obviously
Speaker 1: like no turnover games are super rare for him, and
Speaker 1: he's had two in the last like four games. You
Speaker 1: can see him in his head even more. And I
Speaker 1: don't think that's the place we need to get that
Speaker 1: there has to be a fine line here. I think
Speaker 1: we found positive stuff like him him in the dunker spot,
Speaker 1: him as the center um in a lot of actions
Speaker 1: where they invert stuff him and Lebron screen role. I
Speaker 1: think it's something we can kind of build on. But
Speaker 1: you're right, man, it's gonna be tough. But I don't
Speaker 1: think he's vengeable in the defense. Obviously, he's a he's
Speaker 1: a ball watching like turnover creating chaos creating defender, right,
Speaker 1: And that's doesn't really fit a defensive scheme, right. So
Speaker 1: like Vogel, Vogel loves to where Vogel loves to run
Speaker 1: like a drop coverage type of scheme, and Rust is
Speaker 1: more of a gambling type where like he'll play off
Speaker 1: his guy. And that's why I don't like him on
Speaker 1: guys like Buddy yield Um and guys like that, because
Speaker 1: you know you have to kind of be You can't
Speaker 1: look away. You have to be focused, you have to
Speaker 1: be attached. You have the top log those type of guys,
Speaker 1: and the rest is the guy who will cheat over
Speaker 1: Desmond Band got a bunch of threes on him that
Speaker 1: way on our last game, So like it's interesting kind
Speaker 1: of fitting, Like even though he's a complimentary player, you
Speaker 1: have to fit his skills around with stars, which is
Speaker 1: a weird way to kind of put that, But I
Speaker 1: think that's where we are. Does that make sense, Rucie,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying there? Yeah, no, I think
Speaker 1: it makes a lot of sense. Um. Last thing I
Speaker 1: just wanted to say real quick is I just want
Speaker 1: to caution people because I saw the Lakers fans talking
Speaker 1: about it. I know his rackets fans, we talked about it,
Speaker 1: and you know, to rust his credit, he does try
Speaker 1: to change, and he deserves credit for trying to change
Speaker 1: his game and fit but I just want to caution people. Man,
Speaker 1: when you've got a guy that's, you know, in his way.
Speaker 1: He's thirty three now, one of the m v P
Speaker 1: has been playing the way he's been playing, you know,
Speaker 1: fantasizing or theorizing about ways he can change his game
Speaker 1: to like fit the perfect scheme for a team is
Speaker 1: often fools gold or at least in some to some extent, ruche.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you say he's facing his mortality though? Now, like
Speaker 1: I see it even more than I think. I Like,
Speaker 1: you watched him every day for Houston, but like I
Speaker 1: feel like he's or am I being like hopeful? I
Speaker 1: guess here because I feel like he's facing at least
Speaker 1: somewhat mortality. I feel like the low turnover kind of
Speaker 1: switch there is a product of that. Or is that? Well? No, No,
Speaker 1: he is facing his mortality, but the low turnovers have
Speaker 1: been a very recent thing prior to I mean, he's
Speaker 1: still averaging four and a half turnovers the game I'm
Speaker 1: talking about recently. Yeah, for sure. But but no, he's
Speaker 1: faith I mean, look, he's You're right, he's trying. He's
Speaker 1: like taking off. He has no lift, right, he can't
Speaker 1: finish around the rim um in the ways that he
Speaker 1: used to. He's like getting hung on the rim sometimes
Speaker 1: it's just like he'll he'll make the move to the
Speaker 1: basket and just straight up lose the ball, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's going through it. But I think they go
Speaker 1: hand in hand. You know, like he's still trying to
Speaker 1: play like the guy he knows how to play like,
Speaker 1: because that's what he made his career off of. You know,
Speaker 1: this this deep end and I'm just saying, turning that
Speaker 1: switches is hard. It's never pretty either. It's not a
Speaker 1: pretty like switch when people turn it. It's not especially
Speaker 1: when your game is predicated on athleticism. His whole game
Speaker 1: was burst in thunder, you know, and there was the finesse.
Speaker 1: He had some finesse at the rim. People remember and
Speaker 1: kind of talk about, like, oh, you used to have
Speaker 1: that elbow jumper. Yeah he did, but not at the
Speaker 1: rate that like you'd really if you go back and
Speaker 1: look at the numbers, he doesn't really hit it the
Speaker 1: way that we kind of think he used to hit
Speaker 1: it in like two thousand, thirteen and fourteen, and now
Speaker 1: it's completely gone. So when you don't have any skill
Speaker 1: to polish, you know, when you lose your burst and
Speaker 1: when you lose that thunder, this is kind of what
Speaker 1: you're seeing, Like some nights he's got it, but some
Speaker 1: nice man it's just ugly. And also credits to Mellow
Speaker 1: because Mellow really polished his game to kind of you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't like a deadly three point shooter. He was
Speaker 1: a capable three point shooter. But he but he's made
Speaker 1: his career last by really getting his touch and his
Speaker 1: skill refined to the point where you know he can
Speaker 1: still hoop like that, um, or at least like a
Speaker 1: lesser version of himself. But but yeah, with Russ, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have gonna have to hope that like dunker
Speaker 1: spot or cutting off the corner or something like that
Speaker 1: really works. Um. But that's why we all scratched our
Speaker 1: heads when the move was made. Man Lebron needs three
Speaker 1: in d Lebron, these guys that catch and shoot from
Speaker 1: the corners, guys that catching shoot from the wings, or
Speaker 1: guys that catch and close out with efficiency, and and
Speaker 1: you know that's really not Russ's game. So it's kind
Speaker 1: of sad to see him facing his mortality. Um. And
Speaker 1: it's you know, I think the hardest part to watch
Speaker 1: is like on a night where he's two of twelve
Speaker 1: Lakers on an eight eight to two run to cut
Speaker 1: the lead eight oh run to cut the lead to two.
Speaker 1: Then Darren Fox hits the bucket, game point, game minute left,
Speaker 1: and then he just stares his mortality in the fucking
Speaker 1: face and just bricks the ship out of that three.
Speaker 1: It's it's sad to see um, but there. I just
Speaker 1: think there are ways around it. He just you might
Speaker 1: have to just minimize his role. He played thirty seven
Speaker 1: minutes tonight. Obviously there's injuries, but I feel like if
Speaker 1: you if you decrease his minutes, or maybe if you
Speaker 1: get something from like a Kendrick nun or if a
Speaker 1: reason can get kind of back to form, then maybe
Speaker 1: you just spread those minutes out throughout the regular season.
Speaker 1: But but I don't know. Look in a playoff game,
Speaker 1: in the playoff series, you guys know this better than anyone,
Speaker 1: and you you hit on it with the fact that
Speaker 1: the Lakers had Caruso kind of bodying him and then
Speaker 1: you had a D. Everything funneled into a D. So
Speaker 1: it's not like you'll necessarily face that. But let's say
Speaker 1: you face like a DeAndre at and in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: for example, you know the Phoenix is just gonna be
Speaker 1: funneling rust into the middle and then living with the results. Um,
Speaker 1: and I think that's gonna be the biggest thing to
Speaker 1: get around. I still don't think it's impossible I still
Speaker 1: think the Lakers have a chance. I'll never count Lebron
Speaker 1: out and a D hasn't been playing, so obviously that's
Speaker 1: going to change the results here. But um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. But defensively, man, that's that's where it's all
Speaker 1: that for me. Defensively, No, yeah, no, I totally agree
Speaker 1: with that. And like I don't think you know, putting
Speaker 1: him in the dunker's but it sounds like some you know,
Speaker 1: demotion or something like that, or you know, regulating him there.
Speaker 1: I just think, like, to me, it was never about
Speaker 1: like tempering him, because that's what's happening right now, right like,
Speaker 1: because you could see him just decide less, Like that's
Speaker 1: why I think the jumpers are coming, because he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is my time to attack. I need to score here.
Speaker 1: Instead of being like okay, let me read like what
Speaker 1: am I supposed to do? Do? I drive Like, it's
Speaker 1: more like, oh, I need to shoot this because I
Speaker 1: haven't got a shot in a while, right, And then
Speaker 1: he'll take like three straight jumpers because he hasn't had
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands for like five to six
Speaker 1: minutes straight. Because we run offense through league Monk, Now,
Speaker 1: we run offense even uh to th HT like when
Speaker 1: th HD and Russ share the floor. Now THHD has
Speaker 1: the basketball like Russ has put on the week side
Speaker 1: and he just stands there and I'm sure that's such
Speaker 1: a just spent for him. And you know, he had
Speaker 1: that press conference as well where Dave mcmonimum asked him
Speaker 1: like as a point guard and he laughed like, you know,
Speaker 1: like that's funny, Like I'm essentially like saying like he's
Speaker 1: not really up in a point guard's role right now.
Speaker 1: And again that you know this, I don't. You know,
Speaker 1: Russ after a loss is always you know, an interesting
Speaker 1: press conference, but like he's definitely going through that adjustment.
Speaker 1: I never thought that adjustment would be pretty um and
Speaker 1: it's better to happen in January than in eighth mid March.
Speaker 1: I guess, um, I just would like to see it
Speaker 1: with a D back, of course. But nothing you said
Speaker 1: there is wrong, man, It's just this is a new thing.
Speaker 1: I guess, like the lebron a D and three three
Speaker 1: and D players has worked. It's just this is brand new.
Speaker 1: Like I don't know if it works. I just know
Speaker 1: that this is not what the team is. And this
Speaker 1: is like Judging this team right now is tough because
Speaker 1: I don't think they have their central peace based on
Speaker 1: how tapped in you are. Is there any chance that
Speaker 1: the Lakers look to move him because obviously I think
Speaker 1: the only realistic no destination is you know, you can
Speaker 1: bring in a good old on the wall who I
Speaker 1: actually think would fit a little bit better. But is
Speaker 1: that realistic whatsoever from the worker's perspective. Absolutely not. Man,
Speaker 1: there's just there's just no way. And it's not even
Speaker 1: just the outside stuff, right. He he was brought in
Speaker 1: as an l A guy who was you know, l
Speaker 1: a roots. That was you know, a huge marketing point
Speaker 1: from the Laker team. And they're not saying they were
Speaker 1: wrong to do that because of course Russ is and
Speaker 1: l A guy. You're gonna bring that stuff up, right
Speaker 1: and the kid coming home right? Is the stuff that
Speaker 1: it was kind of uh put in, you know, exclamation
Speaker 1: points and stuff like that. And it's not just that
Speaker 1: you don't you're not going to get anything close like
Speaker 1: that's going to help you win this year. Trading Russ
Speaker 1: like that. It just doesn't get you anything. And some
Speaker 1: people have asked, Jason asked me on the last podcast,
Speaker 1: is the team better if you just take Russ off
Speaker 1: it and you get nothing back. And I disagree with that.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's true either, and that's just not
Speaker 1: how you know it works. I don't think you can
Speaker 1: take off Russ from this team and they're better. I
Speaker 1: think we've seen what our guards are like, you know,
Speaker 1: when when he's when him and Lebron aren't aren't there.
Speaker 1: But it's interesting though, But no, I don't think he's
Speaker 1: going anywhere, man, Like, There's just no way. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that's the so interesting because we used to
Speaker 1: see we used to think the same thing, right Like,
Speaker 1: there were times where it took Russe a minute to
Speaker 1: fit to fit in Houston, and for a minute it
Speaker 1: looked really good. But everything other than that was very inconsistent,
Speaker 1: and up and down there were there were super high
Speaker 1: highs and super low lows, and a lot of rackets.
Speaker 1: Fans really thought like, man, let's just just give me
Speaker 1: James Harden and four guys that can hustle and shoot um.
Speaker 1: And we didn't have the luxury of Anthony Davis. But
Speaker 1: obviously Lebron, James and Anthony Davis, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: you won a championship with you know, role players. So
Speaker 1: I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility.
Speaker 1: I really don't. And it's drastic like the optics, he's
Speaker 1: a high level role player. Like that's what Russell Westfork
Speaker 1: is like take away the contract, take away, you know,
Speaker 1: the star, the fashion, but the substance in the context
Speaker 1: of the role he played, Like I said, you need shooters.
Speaker 1: I mean, playing at simple you just need guys that
Speaker 1: hit threes, you know, and defend right like his role
Speaker 1: he he's a role player, but not by choice and
Speaker 1: not by you know, I don't know how to word it,
Speaker 1: but he his game him isn't playing a role right.
Speaker 1: His game is he's playing superstar basketball. But it's just
Speaker 1: not working right now. Sometimes it works right some nights,
Speaker 1: like earlier in the season he had he had some
Speaker 1: nights where it really works. But then you have the
Speaker 1: nights where he's just like two or thirteen or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. Um, yeah, and I do. I don't know
Speaker 1: the outsider perspective, but I do think it actively makes
Speaker 1: the Lakers less just less scary, like against bad teams
Speaker 1: like Bruss went off against the rock As he killed us,
Speaker 1: so you know, against bad teams that will work. But
Speaker 1: I feel like when you get to those good teams
Speaker 1: warrior sons, maybe you can feed uh utah, you know,
Speaker 1: it'll it'll just be an issue. But but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you let me speak to me, so thank
Speaker 1: you for sure. For sure. Yeah, And and and those good
Speaker 1: teams are never going to like go go over on
Speaker 1: a Russ screen, right like you saw some bad teams
Speaker 1: do that. They're always going to play off him, They're
Speaker 1: going to go to his tendency. It's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: I don't have the correct answer. I just like, and
Speaker 1: people are saying, you know, I'm giving Russ excuses, but like,
Speaker 1: I just don't think that's the player he is right now.
Speaker 1: He is not a second star type of guy who
Speaker 1: can carry you, and he might even be lower than
Speaker 1: that right now, he might even be he's probably playing
Speaker 1: lower than a third star, you know, quote unquote. But
Speaker 1: to me, he's not a star. He's a you know,
Speaker 1: he's a high functioning role, content, complimentary piece on this team.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's just a problem in terms of roster construction.
Speaker 1: We can speak on that later, but just him as
Speaker 1: a basketball player and his skill set he's like the
Speaker 1: fourth option on offense and on defense. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of players where he goes for steals and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and that works. And I honestly, I think going small
Speaker 1: you kind of lend towards being more of a chaos
Speaker 1: turnover turnover creating defense. But that's just where we are
Speaker 1: right now with the rest experience, and when Adi gets back,
Speaker 1: we'll get a full, more full picture here. It's just
Speaker 1: I think we're looking at, you know, half the screen
Speaker 1: before we get him back. But Rouche, I appreciate you
Speaker 1: coming up. I'm gonna close this out. I think I've
Speaker 1: been going for like an hour now. Thanks to everyone
Speaker 1: for listening. Uh this has been the State of Lakers
Speaker 1: podcast and uh I'll catch you guys next time.