Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast, this
Speaker 1: time on a Monday instead of a Friday. Ross, how
Speaker 1: was your weekend? Man? It was good. It was good.
Speaker 1: The Lakers picked up two games, so they went a
Speaker 1: little two game win straight here look out the rest
Speaker 1: of the league. But yeah, it was good. Trade deadline
Speaker 1: went and past, and now we're onto the to the
Speaker 1: second half of the season, and I think for the
Speaker 1: most part, with the Drummond signing that the UH the
Speaker 1: team is more or less what they're going to be.
Speaker 1: There's still an opportunity potentially to pick up somebody with
Speaker 1: UH with this last remaining UM roster spot that they
Speaker 1: have available, although I think they do have to cut
Speaker 1: somebody for that. But more or less, this is that
Speaker 1: time of year where things get fun because there's less
Speaker 1: conjecture about what teams can be and more just talking
Speaker 1: about what they are, which is more fun. But thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much for being patient about what happened
Speaker 1: last Friday. Like I'm a man of my routine and
Speaker 1: I know Rogers too, and we were looking forward to
Speaker 1: talking on Friday, just I had something come up. I
Speaker 1: have a job that has a lot of random stuff
Speaker 1: that can pop up on short notice. So I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys being patient, but we're gonna talk about everything today.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Andre Drummond and uh and what
Speaker 1: he is going to be able to bring to the
Speaker 1: Lakers and just some of the dishonest discourse that has
Speaker 1: surrounded him in his career. UH. And then we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about Raj disagreed with me uh vehemently about
Speaker 1: the Kyle Lowry uh saka rounding the trade deadline, and
Speaker 1: I'm really interested. We deliberately did not talk about it
Speaker 1: over the last four days so that we could hash
Speaker 1: it out on here. I have my thoughts, he has his.
Speaker 1: We'll see where that goes. And then we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about just you know, what the team looks like right now, uh,
Speaker 1: in this stretch without Lebron and a D because we're
Speaker 1: looking at probably another at least another two weeks, uh,
Speaker 1: if not a little bit more before we get either
Speaker 1: lebronoor a D back. So there is a significant chunk
Speaker 1: of basketball here to analyze, and we'll dig into that
Speaker 1: at the end. Um. So, but let's start, tim And
Speaker 1: so to be clear, you know, uh, Andre Drummond, there
Speaker 1: are facts that surround him, and then there's like the unknown,
Speaker 1: and we all seem to kind of disagree about the unknown.
Speaker 1: The facts are, he's the best like uh, physical specimen, defensive, rebounding, uh,
Speaker 1: finishing around the basket, getting a type that you could
Speaker 1: that you have in the league right now. He just
Speaker 1: has a really inconsistent motor. He can pop in and
Speaker 1: out of games. You talk to anybody who's watched him extensively,
Speaker 1: whether it's Cavs fans or Pistons fans, they'll tell you
Speaker 1: that just watched because of his inconsistency. That's what they'll
Speaker 1: tell you. Now. The flip side of that, though, is
Speaker 1: is when he's on, when he's actually giving you the effort,
Speaker 1: he is unbelievably physically dominant, and there's something to be
Speaker 1: said about that. However, one of the things that I
Speaker 1: think is consistently glossed over with him in his story
Speaker 1: is the fact that he's always been on bad basketball teams. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're trying to evaluate him as a star, I
Speaker 1: think that's worthy criticism because now you're saying, like, he
Speaker 1: as a star is not capable of elevating a team
Speaker 1: to sincere relevance. That's that's true, that would be fair criticism.
Speaker 1: But within the context of him joining the Lakers were
Speaker 1: not evaluating him as a star. We're evaluating him as
Speaker 1: arguably what the fourth most important player on this team
Speaker 1: now at the highest like if maybe fifth, if you're
Speaker 1: counting like a Kuzmas or somebody over over, he's not
Speaker 1: in anywhere near the role that he was in. And
Speaker 1: if you look at the two best teams he was on,
Speaker 1: he was on a team with a broken down Blake Griffin,
Speaker 1: and then he was on a team with like Stanley
Speaker 1: Johnson and Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson and and and
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, he was bad in those two seasons
Speaker 1: when they made it to the playoffs, but the context
Speaker 1: areas they were eight seeds, they were going against the
Speaker 1: best team in the UH in the Eastern Conference, the
Speaker 1: future champion in two thousand sixteen, and then that Jugger
Speaker 1: not regular season team in the Bucks in UH. So
Speaker 1: there So the point is is like everybody like that's
Speaker 1: that's setting a guy up for failure. And that's not
Speaker 1: to say, like I said that he's going to be
Speaker 1: some Acculus night guy with the Lakers, but I think
Speaker 1: we need to adjust our expectations in the sense that
Speaker 1: what he's going to be doing for the Lakers doesn't
Speaker 1: resemble anything anywhere else. And there's no point in trying
Speaker 1: to project because none of us know. He might go
Speaker 1: into the Lakers and be terrible. He might go in
Speaker 1: there and be great. We don't know, because we've been
Speaker 1: in a situation like this. So I don't like the
Speaker 1: people profoundly making proclamations that he's gonna suck or that
Speaker 1: he's gonna be great. We just don't know. If that
Speaker 1: makes sense, Yeah, for sure. And if you remember when
Speaker 1: the Lakers got Dwight last year when some home run
Speaker 1: like signing as well, people are from people who watched
Speaker 1: the few games that he was in Washington were saying
Speaker 1: the same things. He was, you know, not bought in.
Speaker 1: He wasn't going to um play with the right type
Speaker 1: of style. Is he gonna is he just gonna be
Speaker 1: a roll man? Is he gonna make sure that you
Speaker 1: know he's just a finisher at the rim? Is he
Speaker 1: gonna ask for post steps? All the same kind of
Speaker 1: questions are the same ones we're getting here with Andre Drummond.
Speaker 1: And you know I saw that stad yesterday that the
Speaker 1: that what the Pistons were like negative forty two or
Speaker 1: something better, or forty two points better per hundred possessions
Speaker 1: in that playoff series. That was a one eight series
Speaker 1: of a Bucks team that literally ran through the regular season,
Speaker 1: and I looked at Blake. I hurt right in the
Speaker 1: middle of the series, the beginning of the series of
Speaker 1: thin right right. The wild part about that is Blake
Speaker 1: Griffin played two games. So Blake and Andre Andrew Drummond
Speaker 1: played both games. They were plus nine when those two
Speaker 1: were on the floor, which I mean, when you think
Speaker 1: about it, those games were thirty forty point blowouts, because
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the Detroit team, it
Speaker 1: was Drummond, Reggie Jackson or the NBA players on there,
Speaker 1: and then from there, that just drops considerably from just
Speaker 1: a talent standpoint, and people say is inconsistent, But what
Speaker 1: he is consistently is a rebounder, right, He's a dominant
Speaker 1: reband He's averaging thirteen rebounds a game in Cleveland this year,
Speaker 1: like just just in that season. This season, a long
Speaker 1: A's averaging thirteen rebounds a game. He led the He's
Speaker 1: led the league in offensive rebounding for like seven straight
Speaker 1: years at one point, and we we looked at Mark
Speaker 1: is like the Javail replacement kind of um over the
Speaker 1: off season. I don't look at Drummond as like the
Speaker 1: Dwight replacement, but he's obviously going to fill that role
Speaker 1: in some sense. I don't think he has the same
Speaker 1: like basketball i Q the defensive player of the Year
Speaker 1: i Q Dwight has, but he can do some of
Speaker 1: the same things. He can still jump. He has great
Speaker 1: hands like when he gets I was watching a lot
Speaker 1: of his place yesterday. He can keep catches lobs with
Speaker 1: one hands and jams. It just a different total talent
Speaker 1: level from bigs that we've had. And um, yeah, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna you know, he does a lot of weird
Speaker 1: things in Cleveland. He like it's very Javail Like he'll
Speaker 1: try to do dribble in and out dribbles and trying
Speaker 1: to finish at the rim. And that's why his percentage
Speaker 1: at the rim is so low. He takes these like
Speaker 1: flip layup finger roles for no reason, which I think
Speaker 1: should be schemed out how when he plays here. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a he's the most talented guy on the buyo
Speaker 1: market in my opinion, Like he was the biggest guy.
Speaker 1: There's a reason all these guys are bought out. They're
Speaker 1: not perfect players, and expecting any of them to be
Speaker 1: a you know, lead player on the team just doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense. He's going to fill a role in the
Speaker 1: Lakers got on versatility. Um, I don't know if you'll
Speaker 1: start or not, but you know, he he complained. Now
Speaker 1: they're like huge again, right they have they have drumming
Speaker 1: uh Anthony Davis gasol and now they're just massive once again.
Speaker 1: So we'll we'll see how how he plays. But I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna fit in perfectly to this team. Well
Speaker 1: that's part was the part that I think it's most interesting,
Speaker 1: Like they kind of regained some of that massive physical
Speaker 1: identity that they had last year. Just this we are
Speaker 1: going to physically beat the hell out of you for
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes, that kind of identity which had been
Speaker 1: lost a little bit just because Mark's a little more
Speaker 1: finesse and and Montrese Harald's a little small and so
Speaker 1: they've kind of regained that, which which is good. But
Speaker 1: I think, like you know, for the record, just just
Speaker 1: up front, and you know, there's no point even talking
Speaker 1: about this too long, but I preferred LaMarcus Aldridge, and
Speaker 1: I told I'm pretty sure I told you that I
Speaker 1: may may or may not have covered that, but I
Speaker 1: just thought the Lakers had a spacing problem and and
Speaker 1: you're more or less going to be writing a D
Speaker 1: at the five when things get really serious. So in
Speaker 1: your bench lineups, liked the flexibility of having a perimeter shooter,
Speaker 1: really elite offensive player, uh to kind of just open
Speaker 1: things up for your bench lineups, which if historically struggled
Speaker 1: to score. Uh. But that said, like the drumming is
Speaker 1: going to be fine, and he absolutely makes the Lakers better.
Speaker 1: It just was the you know, differing, But it's no
Speaker 1: different than talking about before the season whether or not
Speaker 1: you wanted Dennis Shrewder Spencer Dinwoodie. They were both going
Speaker 1: to make the Lakers better. It was just kind of
Speaker 1: a stylistic difference that you were talking about. Um. But
Speaker 1: as far as far as Drumming goes in in his impact,
Speaker 1: I like the example you brought up of last year
Speaker 1: with all the players at the Lakers signed, because with
Speaker 1: every single one of them, there was similar skepticism, you know,
Speaker 1: like Clipper fans were absolutely uh like uh, just making
Speaker 1: endless jokes and slandering likeker fans for being excited about
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley because they're like, oh, Avery Bradley is completely washed.
Speaker 1: You know, we watched him last year. We know he sucks.
Speaker 1: And then Avery Bradley ended up being, you know, arguably
Speaker 1: one of the most important players for the Lakers last
Speaker 1: year because of his point of attack defense. And you know,
Speaker 1: thankfully Dennis Shruter was able to replace that, but Avery
Speaker 1: Bradley was immensely important. Uh, same thing goes for Dwight Howard,
Speaker 1: you know, JaVale McGee and Rondo. We had a little
Speaker 1: bit more exposure to leading into it, but there were
Speaker 1: a lot of players last year that uh that we
Speaker 1: were that people were led to believe that they, in
Speaker 1: previous destinations had been inferior players that when plugged into
Speaker 1: a system with a dominant persona like Lebron to hold
Speaker 1: them accountable, and then these much smaller roles where they
Speaker 1: could kind of devote their limited talents towards the specific
Speaker 1: thing that they're being asked to do, that they excelled
Speaker 1: And to me that that, to me, that's kind of
Speaker 1: a proven metho. It. Now you need all of those
Speaker 1: things you need the coaching, you need, the environment, you
Speaker 1: need the star you know, persona, you need the specific
Speaker 1: role that they can slide into. But when you have
Speaker 1: those things, there are tons of examples in basketball history
Speaker 1: of that actually working out really, really well. And so
Speaker 1: you know, when we look at what Andre Drummond does,
Speaker 1: and I think you should trust the people that uh,
Speaker 1: you should trust the people that watched these games. Um,
Speaker 1: if you talk to any Pistons fan or any CAS fan,
Speaker 1: they tell you when he was locked in, he was
Speaker 1: an elite defensive player, not just good, but an elite
Speaker 1: defensive player. But then they'll tell you that he faded in, out,
Speaker 1: in out of games from a focus standpoint. So then
Speaker 1: what you tell yourself is that won't be allowed with
Speaker 1: the Lakers that focus slipping in and out in consistent
Speaker 1: effort thing. He'll get caught up in the contagious effort
Speaker 1: of the Lakers, who have been the most consistent defensive
Speaker 1: effort team in the league this year. And then uh,
Speaker 1: in terms of of his specific skill set, size, rebounding,
Speaker 1: protecting the rim, that sort of thing, that is an
Speaker 1: absolutely perfect shoe and fit for what the Lakers need
Speaker 1: out of the five position when they play more like
Speaker 1: last year where they sacrifice spacing for defense. It's a
Speaker 1: clean fit and so I personally predict that it will
Speaker 1: go really well. Um, but I just I just have
Speaker 1: a problem with anybody being like, did you watch any
Speaker 1: of drumming last year? He sucks. It's like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't think Colin Sexton was the guy to unlock what
Speaker 1: he could do offensively, and and and and you're right,
Speaker 1: like if he's if he's driving into the lane and
Speaker 1: throwing up crazy finger rolls, that's a problem. But guess
Speaker 1: what's going to happen Like a dirty look from Lebron
Speaker 1: and and and probably a conversation behind the scenes where
Speaker 1: he tells him to cut that ship out. So I
Speaker 1: just am not worried about that. Yeah, and we would
Speaker 1: see Jabil do that like once or twice a game, right,
Speaker 1: But I mean that was pretty much it. He would
Speaker 1: get his leeway to do it once it would be
Speaker 1: out of the way. That's kind of how I see
Speaker 1: it here. And it's crazy because you see people say that,
Speaker 1: you know, he's been bad and cleanland, but they say,
Speaker 1: like before the Jared Allen trade, he was great, you know,
Speaker 1: like he was really consistent in the calves where people
Speaker 1: forget I'm the seasons along, but the calves were like
Speaker 1: winning when he was playing that for that first few games.
Speaker 1: I believe Pistons fans kind of really um try to
Speaker 1: back him up as well. So he was a lot
Speaker 1: better than uh than they say he was. So I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna be fine, um and and really fit
Speaker 1: into what we're doing here. And he's not gonna get
Speaker 1: thirty minutes a game here, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like he there's just no time for him to um,
Speaker 1: you know, be lack of days ago on the court
Speaker 1: because he's not gonna get the minutes. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: a few he's gonna have like fifteen and twenty minutes
Speaker 1: a game to try to dominate. This is a contract
Speaker 1: year for him as well. He's trying to get paid,
Speaker 1: so the only thing he can do is try to
Speaker 1: buy in because if he doesn't buy in here, then
Speaker 1: I mean that's probably his final real big shot at
Speaker 1: a big contract. Well I can get another one year deal, um,
Speaker 1: I guess. Uh. I don't really quick touch on all
Speaker 1: drews because I see a lot of people who were
Speaker 1: kind of attacking his name, and I remember you were
Speaker 1: really high on LaMarcus Aldridge. Um, you really wanted the
Speaker 1: Lakers to kind of go after him. Um, he's gonna
Speaker 1: be great on that Miami team. I'm sorry, on that
Speaker 1: Brooklyn team, he's gonna get open looks. It's just weird
Speaker 1: seeing people like saying that he's he's washed or whatever.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be great. Back to Drummond, so, Um,
Speaker 1: one last thing with Drummond, as as it retains to
Speaker 1: his minutes, that I think is interesting. He the potential
Speaker 1: is there for him to play as much as he wants.
Speaker 1: It's about him maintaining that impact on the game, and
Speaker 1: his impact on the game is going to be relative
Speaker 1: to what he does in the minutes that he's available.
Speaker 1: And you know, with the motivation of it being a
Speaker 1: contract year, with the motivation of minutes being available, I
Speaker 1: think the opportunity is there for him to show that
Speaker 1: everything we've seen in the last nine years was wrong.
Speaker 1: That that is on him now. As far as like
Speaker 1: you know that what could get ugly is if it
Speaker 1: goes south and then he falls out of the rotation.
Speaker 1: But the Lakers always have the flexibility to waive him
Speaker 1: if something like what happens um, But I mean that
Speaker 1: would be that would be a nightmare scenario, be it
Speaker 1: would be very much to his detriment to allow something
Speaker 1: like that to happen. Then he's looking at being on
Speaker 1: veteran minimums for the rest of his career, because if
Speaker 1: it's like, if you can't succeed here, you know where
Speaker 1: you're going to succeed. The Dwight the Dwight Howard models
Speaker 1: as a classic example in Dwight by the Way is
Speaker 1: over and Philly getting ejected from every single game because
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the star accountability that he had when
Speaker 1: he was under Lebron. So I I remain optimistic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this isn't Cleveland. I mean, this isn't like a
Speaker 1: place to do that with. I mean that you know
Speaker 1: who the leadership here is on this team, and this
Speaker 1: is Lebron's team and the Davis's team, and then everyone
Speaker 1: else kind of falls in line. And I think it
Speaker 1: says a lot to those two. I think it was
Speaker 1: reported by Woes that those two have been recruiting him
Speaker 1: pretty heavily throughout this I don't know how like how
Speaker 1: true that is what I mean, that's what the report is.
Speaker 1: And I don't think those two are just gonna recruit anybody.
Speaker 1: I mean, they kind of understand the talent at least
Speaker 1: that's there and they can try to tap into that.
Speaker 1: And then another like kind of wrinkled of this is
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel. Right, He's gonna put him in a great
Speaker 1: position to succeed here. I mean, if anyone can get
Speaker 1: him to, you know, play the correct coverages to be
Speaker 1: in a drop coverage or I was watching like in
Speaker 1: Cleveland did a lot of the drop coverage and he
Speaker 1: was good in that. Like he was he was able
Speaker 1: to take away the rim and take away the law.
Speaker 1: At the same time, the Lakers guards are so much
Speaker 1: better defensively in my opinion, those those guys have over there,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna give him space to kind of he's
Speaker 1: not too much of a shot blocker, but I mean
Speaker 1: he really does detest the rim, and I think he's
Speaker 1: been great here. Him and A d are going to
Speaker 1: be in a crazy offensive rebound Harold as well. All
Speaker 1: three of those are crazy offensive rebound rates that teams
Speaker 1: are gonna have to deal with. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that I think he'll be fine here. And yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like a low risk high reward situation, because if he's
Speaker 1: not playing well, he just won't play. That's just how
Speaker 1: it will go. The Lakers have a three center rotation,
Speaker 1: maybe four or even when you go into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: so he's gonna have to fit in and play well
Speaker 1: in his minutes to earn time here. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see too. The thing that gets
Speaker 1: tricky with bringing him on at this point in the
Speaker 1: sea reason is the way that the injuries to Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D will cause him to be, you know,
Speaker 1: exposed to a different role to start, because my guesses
Speaker 1: they will give it to him a little bit in
Speaker 1: the post. My guess is he will be a little
Speaker 1: more offensively, uh, you know, utilize, and that he will
Speaker 1: be under less accountability because Lebron and a D are
Speaker 1: going to be over on the sideline as opposed to
Speaker 1: out on the floor with him yelling and screaming at
Speaker 1: him to do the right things. So that's where it
Speaker 1: gets a little tricky, and I think I think we
Speaker 1: need to all mentally prepare ourselves for like an initial
Speaker 1: phase of this process that could get ugly where he's
Speaker 1: gonna look like he's not a good fit and uh,
Speaker 1: kind of similar to what we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: later today as it pertains to Alex Crusoe and some
Speaker 1: of these other role players who have looked a little
Speaker 1: bit overmatched in this last week. So I think I
Speaker 1: think we need to prepare ourselves to look ugly, for
Speaker 1: it to look ugly, and remember that there's a larger
Speaker 1: vision here that that that will present a better opportunity
Speaker 1: to analyze what he brings to the table. And it's
Speaker 1: going to be in a few weeks when Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D come back and not you know, when he plays,
Speaker 1: you know, on Tuesday, if that makes sense. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it was pretty ugly last night, So I mean
Speaker 1: he can't can't get that. I can't get that much
Speaker 1: more ugly, exactly, exactly exactly. Um, So let's let's move
Speaker 1: on to this trade deadline thing. So, uh, to be clear,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna like very quickly lay out my case for
Speaker 1: for why I thought the Lakers should have traded for
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry. So we have pretty good intel at this
Speaker 1: point that, uh that had they included talent Horton Tucker
Speaker 1: in the trade, they would have gotten Kyle Lowry. The
Speaker 1: framework of the trade was there. It was Contagious Callbo Pope,
Speaker 1: Dennis Shooter Town Horton Tucker for a straight up swap
Speaker 1: for Kyle Lowry. So here here's this is my philosophy
Speaker 1: on that. First of all, we've talked about talent Horton
Speaker 1: Tucker in his long term potential with the Lakers at length. Uh,
Speaker 1: we think that we see him as like somewhere between
Speaker 1: an Aaron Gordon and maybe a little bit better defensive,
Speaker 1: uh two way player version of Aaron Gordon. But that's
Speaker 1: gonna be somewhere around like five years down the line.
Speaker 1: And we have concerns about whether or not, you know,
Speaker 1: lebronze age will eventually become a factor to where uh,
Speaker 1: you'll never be able to capitalize in all of those things.
Speaker 1: At the same time, however, you know, the trick is
Speaker 1: the counter. The one thing that I did understand as
Speaker 1: a negative of that trade, and I would imagine you'll
Speaker 1: bring this up, is that the Lakers have guard depth.
Speaker 1: It's something that has always been something that uh, they've
Speaker 1: leaned on. This year, Wesley Matthews goes down with an
Speaker 1: ankle injury, They've got depth. Contavious called a poke goes
Speaker 1: down they've got depth. Same thing even when Dennis Shorter,
Speaker 1: mind you, they needed they were lacking offensive creation, but
Speaker 1: they had four guards that they could fall back on.
Speaker 1: One shot went out for a week. So if you
Speaker 1: trade three of them for one, now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: your five guard core becomes a three guard core, and
Speaker 1: there's a depth problem. However, you know, especially given the
Speaker 1: fact that the Lakers asked their guards to play really
Speaker 1: limited roles, you allways had the fallback of the buyout market.
Speaker 1: So I always thought that, you know, a guy like
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley would be available. You know, maybe you could
Speaker 1: get a Wayne Ellington or something along those lines who
Speaker 1: could slide into that role on the cheap and give
Speaker 1: you back, get you back to a four guard role.
Speaker 1: And without a doubt, in my opinion, Kyle Lowry is
Speaker 1: a better player than Dennis Shooter by some discernible amount,
Speaker 1: especially in a playoff series. And so I just saw
Speaker 1: that as an opportunity to kind of push your chips
Speaker 1: in the middle and forego. You know, if Tyler Harrow
Speaker 1: to me did not make sense because Tyler Harrow, like
Speaker 1: right now, is already a contributor. He's not as good
Speaker 1: as heat fans think he is, but he's a contributor
Speaker 1: and he had success in late round playoff series last year.
Speaker 1: He made a lot of big shots against the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and he uh had the game against the Celtics where
Speaker 1: he just went absolutely berserk and that arguably swung that series.
Speaker 1: And so so my point was is like, at least
Speaker 1: with Miami, they're looking at this like like Tyler Harrow
Speaker 1: plays for us right now and right now is impactful
Speaker 1: in in our championship pursuit. Telling Horton Tucker is a
Speaker 1: is a fringe rotation guy, like he's in the rotation now,
Speaker 1: but there's a question as to whether or not he
Speaker 1: will be in the rotation when the playoffs come, and
Speaker 1: there are nights where he looks like I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if he's ready for this. So there, so I see that.
Speaker 1: I I viewed it as a as the Lakers passing
Speaker 1: on an opportunity to increase their chances right now at
Speaker 1: the expense of of of some future piece that may
Speaker 1: or may not materialize into something. And I just saw
Speaker 1: it as a potential missed opportunity. And I'm worried that
Speaker 1: there will be a late round playoff series, whether whether
Speaker 1: it's against the Clippers or the nets where you're gonna
Speaker 1: be looking at it like man like Kyle Lowry might
Speaker 1: have been enough to get this done and and that's
Speaker 1: that that would be my concern. Yeah, to be clear, like,
Speaker 1: I don't hate Kyle Lowry. I think he's an awesome,
Speaker 1: you know, basketball player. I think he's really good, even
Speaker 1: at his age at thirty five, is a super effective
Speaker 1: point guard, um all defense type point guard, hits threes,
Speaker 1: can attack the basketball. That I just I don't like
Speaker 1: the framing of it as the Lakers picked th HT
Speaker 1: over Kyle Lowry, because I just don't think that's the case.
Speaker 1: Th HD to me is the like straw that broke
Speaker 1: the camel's back kind of thing. He's not the he's
Speaker 1: not the actual weight that was put onto this trade, right,
Speaker 1: But it's being frame that way. I mean credit to
Speaker 1: whoever is framing it out there, because that is what
Speaker 1: the framing has become. It's because oh my god, Lakers
Speaker 1: picked t HD over Kyle Lowry. They must really believe, well,
Speaker 1: they do believe in them. Lebron belives in them, Clutch
Speaker 1: believes in them. But that wasn't the point of this
Speaker 1: point is that the Lakers would have had to give up.
Speaker 1: Because Kyle Lowry makes thirty million dollars a year. Lakers
Speaker 1: don't have some trade exceptions, so they have to match
Speaker 1: up to like some eighty or eighty percent of the salary.
Speaker 1: They had to give up Dennis Shrewder who the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I know the Lakers have their calms with Danny Green,
Speaker 1: but they give up a starter, a finals level starter,
Speaker 1: a first round pick for Dennis Shrewder who they're looking
Speaker 1: to keep. Right this year, it was twenty seven young
Speaker 1: point guard who's played really well next to the two
Speaker 1: superstars k C. P Again, I know he's struggling right now,
Speaker 1: but this is I'm gonna use your Tyler hero theory
Speaker 1: right Like, he was really good in the playoffs. He
Speaker 1: hit big shots. He was also a starter. So you
Speaker 1: get to final start two starters who started on a
Speaker 1: championship team plus and then you you throw in the
Speaker 1: Lakers pretty much most prized. I don't like to call
Speaker 1: players assets and possessions or whatever, but the Lakers the
Speaker 1: most biggest trade piece right as Taylor Nord Tucker. There's
Speaker 1: no qualms about that. That that's pretty clear. The Lakers
Speaker 1: don't have many first round picks going forward. Th HD
Speaker 1: has shown enough potential to even being thrown into Tyler
Speaker 1: hero type talks shows a lot to me, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's play he hasn't even played. He doesn't even played
Speaker 1: forty games in a season yet, you know, and his
Speaker 1: entire career, I don't think so um to show him
Speaker 1: to be able to be in that is is a
Speaker 1: big deal. And like, you throw Kyle Lowry on this
Speaker 1: team right now, and you throw away you take those
Speaker 1: three guards away, It's it's gonna be a really big struggle.
Speaker 1: I mean. And and also you don't know when Lebron
Speaker 1: is coming back. You don't know if eighties coming back,
Speaker 1: knock on, would they come back this year? But let's
Speaker 1: say they don't come back healthy. Now, you gave you know,
Speaker 1: all that up for Kyle Lowry to content with Marcusol
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe an unhealthy team around. It's just
Speaker 1: I just don't think he bridges the gap between them
Speaker 1: and like Brooklyn, because that's what who we're talking about here, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think anyway anyone else in the
Speaker 1: West really scares it with Clippers maybe, But and then
Speaker 1: also those moves by Brooklyn. I mean, Blake Griffin, marcusology
Speaker 1: are great. They're gonna be great for them. I just
Speaker 1: don't think they pushed the margin of air enough or
Speaker 1: you had to throw all these chips for Kyle Lowry,
Speaker 1: who again, he's a great player, but he's thirty five, right,
Speaker 1: he's gonna turn thirty six going forward. Do you want
Speaker 1: to pay him because he wants an extension? Did you
Speaker 1: want to pay him another two years fifty million? Which
Speaker 1: was gonna you were gonna have to do to keep him.
Speaker 1: So I think all those factors into it. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: glad they stayed. They stayed. Still, I feel like they
Speaker 1: asking asking price was a little high. Maybe if it
Speaker 1: was just Shrewder and KCP, then maybe, you know, we
Speaker 1: can talk about it. But you know, I think that's
Speaker 1: a that was a really tough thing for the Lakers
Speaker 1: to throw in. And again, if they made the trade,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have him at Kyle is an amazing player.
Speaker 1: He pushes your ceiling up. I disagree how much higher
Speaker 1: he pushes the ceiling up, but he does sush the
Speaker 1: ceiling up a little bit. But in this season, with
Speaker 1: no teams practicing, all this chaos of you know Covid
Speaker 1: and you know Lebron and a d are out and
Speaker 1: all this stuff. It's just hard to throw another ranch.
Speaker 1: And I think this team deserves to show because in
Speaker 1: the off season, if you remember, we talked about how
Speaker 1: talented this roster was, right, and I just feel like
Speaker 1: they should get a chance to kind of show that.
Speaker 1: And I would have been sad if if they you know,
Speaker 1: mortgage all that not mortgage, but if they just, you know,
Speaker 1: decided to throw away that that chance of potential that
Speaker 1: that we saw in the off season for for a
Speaker 1: mid season for Kyle Lowry. So that's that's my case
Speaker 1: on it. So again, I I understand where you're coming
Speaker 1: from in the sense that if you frame it as
Speaker 1: two final starters of first round draft pick and talent
Speaker 1: Horton Truck Tucker for UH for Kyle Lowry, it seems
Speaker 1: like an overpay. I get that. However, the way that
Speaker 1: I would I would UH qualify all of that is
Speaker 1: that a lot of time times, you know, like guys
Speaker 1: who would be considered starters that UH in other situations
Speaker 1: would be less valuable. So for instance, Danny Green and
Speaker 1: Contavious Caldwell Pope succeed because they play next to Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D. In large part, k CP was, you know,
Speaker 1: a non impactful player for the Lakers before Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D came aboard. Danny Green was kind of floundering
Speaker 1: a bit in San Antonio before he ended up in
Speaker 1: Toronto in that awesome role in in the Lakers, in
Speaker 1: that awesome role. And I'm not trying to undercut what
Speaker 1: they do. I'm just saying like it's not as clear
Speaker 1: cut as like, you know, as a more more like
Speaker 1: significant starting role piece. Um kind of like the way
Speaker 1: Dennis Shutter is now where like he's a legitimate you know, uh,
Speaker 1: the starting point guard in the NBA type of talent.
Speaker 1: Now as far as the uh, the trade goes, you know,
Speaker 1: when when we're quantifying Kyle Lowry's value, I think it's
Speaker 1: it's more complicated than just Kyle Lowry is a little
Speaker 1: bit better than Dennis Shooter. So but what that that
Speaker 1: small gap that exists between Lebron and Dennis Shooter is
Speaker 1: more magnified when you get into the playoffs. And the
Speaker 1: way that I quantify that is like, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: Dennis shrewder um uh type of player has kind of
Speaker 1: middled around on various teams that have made it to
Speaker 1: the first round of the playoffs and things along those lines.
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry was you know, the best player on a
Speaker 1: Toronto Raptors team that had a couple of deep playoff
Speaker 1: runs and has made a lot of of really really
Speaker 1: big playoffs shots and uh, you know, for example, like
Speaker 1: when you think about Kyle Lowry, you think about, you know,
Speaker 1: the shop that he hit over. Gosh, who was it
Speaker 1: that he made it over? I think it was Kemba
Speaker 1: Walker to to extend the series against the Celtics to
Speaker 1: Game seven last year. You think about, you know, the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals Game six, him coming down and just going
Speaker 1: like crazy in the first quarter and making a bunch
Speaker 1: of shots to to get that a series off to
Speaker 1: such a great start, or that game off to such
Speaker 1: a great start. That's the kind of thing that happens
Speaker 1: when you're that level of talent, even even though it's
Speaker 1: just it's like tears. If you're setting up tears, you know,
Speaker 1: you're putting your superstars in one tier, and then you're
Speaker 1: putting your stars in the next tier, and then there's
Speaker 1: like this third tier of like fringe stars, and then
Speaker 1: there's like the Dennis Shrewder types, which are like in
Speaker 1: that fourth tier, which is like above average starting NBA players,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like a guy who on
Speaker 1: any given night might go for but he's more of
Speaker 1: just like a he's really good at specific things, but
Speaker 1: he has these like clear flaws like Kyle Lowry is
Speaker 1: in that next tier. And to me, those tears don't
Speaker 1: mean as much in a regular season they seem weird
Speaker 1: when you're talking about contract values and how much you
Speaker 1: might pay somebody, but they make a significant difference in
Speaker 1: a playoff series that that kind of thing is the
Speaker 1: margin that might make up the difference between you, you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, beating a team that you might be
Speaker 1: overmatched against, like a Brooklyn Nets type of team. And
Speaker 1: so my thing is like, it'll just be it'll be
Speaker 1: sad in my opinion, if they get to Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: they end up losing because there's a talent app and
Speaker 1: then th HD develops into a borderline star, but then
Speaker 1: Lebron ages out and you know, maybe a DS health
Speaker 1: problems and then you're sitting there in the future and
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, we got th HT, but you know
Speaker 1: this didn't work out like you're betting. Like, to me,
Speaker 1: the bigger gamble is gambling on a young player's success
Speaker 1: rather than gambling in the moment on the potential, the
Speaker 1: potential to win a title. And I mean we're like, uh,
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of optimism surrounding the Laker fan base,
Speaker 1: this idea that you know, they have enough to win two,
Speaker 1: three more with a D and I'm one of those guys.
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic that they can. But that is not guaranteed,
Speaker 1: and just as easily it could end up being, you know,
Speaker 1: a failure looking back and going like, man, the only
Speaker 1: one one And that could be health related. That could be,
Speaker 1: but it could also be based on stuff like this,
Speaker 1: like not making the aggressive moves that you need to
Speaker 1: in order to put them there. But I I for
Speaker 1: the record, I see where you're coming from, and there's
Speaker 1: there's also no guarantee that you could get a buyout guy.
Speaker 1: And I would have been concerned if they only had
Speaker 1: three guards. So I see, I see where you're coming from. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it looks like I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: the bio market, I mean, guards are just not you know,
Speaker 1: you don't just get guards, and the bio market the
Speaker 1: bio markets more a lot of centers and bigs, you
Speaker 1: know that that get bought out, and I'm that very
Speaker 1: much guards and that's just really tough to go into
Speaker 1: the playoffs with that low of a guard rotation and
Speaker 1: a shrewder. He's not as good as Kyle Awry. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's pretty clear. I feel like he's a He's an
Speaker 1: above average starter. Kyle Lowry is probably an all all
Speaker 1: star level kind of point guard, especially in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But you know, Kyle Alredy had his playoffs struggles as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not trying to attack on Kyle Lollery,
Speaker 1: but like you know, there's a long time where he
Speaker 1: was seen as a guy that doesn't play well in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and then obviously he broke through that barrier.
Speaker 1: Um after a couple of years he ran into a
Speaker 1: lebron A lot to be honest with just kind d
Speaker 1: of ironic there, But yeah, I see where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: I think I think the trade would have been fine.
Speaker 1: I think they would have won, and still I just
Speaker 1: don't think their margin would have increased as much. Um
Speaker 1: with Kyle Lowry. Um. He's also a different type of player,
Speaker 1: is a guy who picks up for Cord. He's a
Speaker 1: kind of more speed used attack, isolation ball handleyer type
Speaker 1: of point guard. Um, Kyle Lowry is more still, I believe,
Speaker 1: more of an off ball guard. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you would agree with that. Um, he's okay, he's a
Speaker 1: decent ploytmaker and he's a Kyler. Is a really good shooter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the part that he's a lot better. He's a
Speaker 1: lot better shooter. Um, but I mean people come here
Speaker 1: and can't shoot, so I'd be worried. I'd be worried
Speaker 1: about that. But but yeah, no, he would have been great.
Speaker 1: It's just again, the age kind of mean Lebron's a cyborg.
Speaker 1: I mean people are like, oh but Lebron's thirty five. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean using Lebron for you know, comparison metrics just
Speaker 1: don't really match. That Guy's a guy's like a one
Speaker 1: in a million kind of universe type of developer at
Speaker 1: that age. You know, most cards at that age start
Speaker 1: to fall. Chris Paul is not the same. And Chris
Speaker 1: Paul is still amazing, but he's not what he was
Speaker 1: that now He's at like dirty five, three six, and
Speaker 1: I'd worry about that with Lowry as well. But I
Speaker 1: think you've been fine. They got him, but I was
Speaker 1: really against it, and I'm glad that they that they stayed.
Speaker 1: They still stay still. Yeah, And like like we said
Speaker 1: at the very beginning, there's no point in dwelling on
Speaker 1: it for too long. I mean, the reality is is
Speaker 1: that the Lakers decided not to make the move, So
Speaker 1: now they're committed to Dinner Shooter. Shooter is probably gonna
Speaker 1: be here for the next four years after this one.
Speaker 1: Th HD is probably gonna sign uh his second deal
Speaker 1: this summer, and he's probably gonna be around for a
Speaker 1: long time. So this is what it is. And so
Speaker 1: that means that you can, um uh, you can do
Speaker 1: a better job of projecting this team forward because we
Speaker 1: know what they are. And the nice thing is is
Speaker 1: they're gonna have a bunch of these tradeable contracts now
Speaker 1: in the future because th HD is probably gonna sign,
Speaker 1: you know, somewhere in that ten to fifteen million dollar range,
Speaker 1: Alex Crusoe is probably gonna sign somewhere in the seven
Speaker 1: to ten million dollar range. You know, Dinner Shooter is
Speaker 1: probably gonna sign in the twenty to twenty two million
Speaker 1: dollar range. So the Lakers in a way that they
Speaker 1: haven't in the past, are gonna have a bunch more
Speaker 1: of these like tradeable type of salaries that are at
Speaker 1: these middle um you know, middle ground areas, and that's
Speaker 1: going to give the Lakers more flexibility in the future
Speaker 1: to be able to make trades that they weren't able
Speaker 1: to make, uh this year. So you're not always tied down.
Speaker 1: It just but but you're right. And and Dennis Shooter
Speaker 1: he's different than Kyle Lowry, but he brings a lot
Speaker 1: to the table that that that really helps his team.
Speaker 1: And I still like their chances. I just you know,
Speaker 1: part of this comes from the Brooklyn nets looks so
Speaker 1: good man, Like they look so good. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was so taken aback by the LaMarcus Aldridge signing
Speaker 1: because I thought he was the best of these big men,
Speaker 1: that the best of these buyout guys that were available.
Speaker 1: Because when you looked at all of the guys and
Speaker 1: what they brought to the table, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: Blake Griffin I thought was bad on both ends. Like
Speaker 1: I think he's a weak defensive player and a below
Speaker 1: average offensive player. You know, LaMarcus Aldridge, I think, uh,
Speaker 1: or excuse me, uh, you know, Andre Drummond, he had
Speaker 1: his effort issues and and and there's some concern as
Speaker 1: to whether or not, you know, he's one of the
Speaker 1: worst finishers around the room and league and all this
Speaker 1: other stuff. And LaMarcus Aldridge fell out of the rotation
Speaker 1: in San Antonio because he couldn't defend. He was a
Speaker 1: bad defensive player. But LaMarcus all and also because they're
Speaker 1: kind of going in on some youth, you know, but
Speaker 1: LaMarcus Aldridge is still like one of the best pick
Speaker 1: and pop bigs in the league. And he literally terrifies
Speaker 1: defenses when he pops and he's open, and he can
Speaker 1: win your basketball games. And so I saw him as
Speaker 1: as a as a huge pickup. And so when Brooklyn
Speaker 1: got LaMarcus Aldridge, and they're already whooping everybody's ass without KD.
Speaker 1: Like literally, the the games that are close involved Kyrie
Speaker 1: out and just hardened. And even then they're winning most
Speaker 1: of those. I think they've won all of them but
Speaker 1: one or two. So the Brooklyn Nets are out here
Speaker 1: whooping everybody's ass. And you know, it's one thing to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, well, we're bigger, we're more physical, we're
Speaker 1: we're gonna beat him. And don't get me wrong, like
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers have a chance to beat them,
Speaker 1: I really do. But you need every advantage and that's
Speaker 1: and that's why I kind of was was pro that move.
Speaker 1: But we've talked about it enough and and I think
Speaker 1: we respect each other's opinions. We just disagree, which is fine. Um,
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about where the Lakers are
Speaker 1: at right now, so we you know, the Shame's reported
Speaker 1: after the trade deadline that a D is about two
Speaker 1: weeks out, so that would put him about a week
Speaker 1: from this Thursday, and that Lebron was at that point
Speaker 1: three to five weeks out. So best case scenario, Lebron
Speaker 1: in three weeks, Lebron in a D and two weeks. Uh.
Speaker 1: My guess is that if Lebron is feeling better, they
Speaker 1: may try to bring them both back together. We'll see
Speaker 1: what ends up happening. Um yeah, you got a lot
Speaker 1: of black for that. You got a lot of black
Speaker 1: for that. I remember you said I would bring both
Speaker 1: of them together. I just and my my whole thought
Speaker 1: proces behind that was really simple. I just wanted them
Speaker 1: to have it easy. I didn't like to me coming
Speaker 1: back from an injury. You you have, like the the
Speaker 1: reason why people get hurt, you know, for the most part,
Speaker 1: is they know their body has a limitation, whether it's
Speaker 1: you know, me putting on weight because I didn't play
Speaker 1: for two weeks and then I came back, and then
Speaker 1: you know, you're in a game, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you're like, I want to win this game, so you
Speaker 1: push yourself a little bit further than you probably would
Speaker 1: have if there weren't steaks, and then you end up
Speaker 1: getting yourself hurt. And that's why I worry about with
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d S. They come back anyway, you uh,
Speaker 1: you find yourself in a situation where your competitive nature
Speaker 1: kicks in and you end up and you end up
Speaker 1: pushing yourself too hard and you get hurt. That was
Speaker 1: the only the only reason behind that. But anyway, they're
Speaker 1: gonna absolute bare minimum two more weeks without these guys.
Speaker 1: A couple of things that I think are interesting. One,
Speaker 1: they're still they're fifth in the league in defense since
Speaker 1: Lebron went out. Can you believe that? Uh? Now, a
Speaker 1: little bit of context there. They have played two really
Speaker 1: bad teams as of late. Um, but the flip side
Speaker 1: of that is who is that they played that they
Speaker 1: almost beat the other day, the one Philly, Like they
Speaker 1: played really good defense against Philly, especially in the second half. Um.
Speaker 1: So my, the the defense is still there, which is
Speaker 1: what we expected. Uh. They're absolute dead last in offense
Speaker 1: since Lebron went out, averaging just over one points per
Speaker 1: one possessions. Uh. But there is there is a distinct
Speaker 1: thing that they still bring to the table, which is
Speaker 1: the compete on the defensive end of the floor. Um.
Speaker 1: But there's a couple of games that they could potentially
Speaker 1: steal here on the Rise and as well, there's that
Speaker 1: game against the Raptors and then there's a game against
Speaker 1: the Kings. But it's like with them, with their inability
Speaker 1: to score, I think it could get really ugly. But
Speaker 1: what has been your big takeaway from watching them in
Speaker 1: the last week without Lebron and Nydi? Yeah, So, like
Speaker 1: I said before, like I'm trying to look for things
Speaker 1: that we can take into the playoffs, right because right now,
Speaker 1: looking at the scoreboard, to me doesn't really matter except
Speaker 1: for these last two games that you needed to win
Speaker 1: against the Kelvs and the Magic. However, ugly and however
Speaker 1: close it was, you need to get those. But going forward,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of his bucks. I think Clippers,
Speaker 1: um heat all coming up, and those are just I mean,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna be favorite even close to any of these. So, uh,
Speaker 1: the things I want to look at is like, the
Speaker 1: defense is still there. They're still defending like hell, the
Speaker 1: guards are really going after it. I thought, like Alex Ruzo,
Speaker 1: he got a lot of black last night, but I
Speaker 1: thought he domin They did that second quarter like his
Speaker 1: defense was insane. He got a deflection on almost every play.
Speaker 1: He was driving, kicking and all that. So the defense
Speaker 1: is still there. Um. But the main thing I want
Speaker 1: to look at the Shrewder Harold kind of to Matt game,
Speaker 1: because I think that's the thing that we can take
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. Right, that's the main part. All this
Speaker 1: other stuff is gonna be moving all those other to
Speaker 1: All those other players pretty much play specifically off Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d right, even the shooters KCP, all those
Speaker 1: dudes are gonna be playing off them. Shrewder and Harold,
Speaker 1: the two guys that in a playoff series have to
Speaker 1: be able to create offense together. They just they just
Speaker 1: are I know Lebron and d are gonna be playing
Speaker 1: most of the game, but just to have those two
Speaker 1: start to build chemistry. We talked about it earlier that UM,
Speaker 1: since Shrewder was starting and Harold was coming off the bench,
Speaker 1: their minutes weren't really colliding right because they were a
Speaker 1: Shooter was playing more with just Lebron on the floor,
Speaker 1: and we we got into that. But now those two
Speaker 1: are closing games. Last night they went to their treys
Speaker 1: sugar pick and roll like four straight possessions. Um. They
Speaker 1: have Shooter coming off like Iverson's cuts to to Harold,
Speaker 1: uh Carold coming and screening and getting him on the role.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing that I can see building every game,
Speaker 1: like their chemistry with it. They're strying to understand where
Speaker 1: each other wants the ball, where to find him. And
Speaker 1: I think that's my main takeaway from this whole stretches.
Speaker 1: I want those two to build as much chemistry as
Speaker 1: they can together, and I think you're starting to see it.
Speaker 1: They're trying to go to it. Shrewder looked as comfortable
Speaker 1: as I've seen him last night, like he understood he
Speaker 1: was the lead guy that he was going to be
Speaker 1: able to just get any shot he wants. He did
Speaker 1: enforced anything early. He started to take shots late and
Speaker 1: got to the line. And you know, if you want
Speaker 1: to command twenty two million dollars a year, this is
Speaker 1: where you make your money from. You need to show
Speaker 1: that you can win these type of games. And he
Speaker 1: showed it last night that he was able to get comfortable.
Speaker 1: But what are you seeing from from the from this stretch.
Speaker 1: That's a good point. The uh, the the spamming of
Speaker 1: actions that you could run when Lebron and a d
Speaker 1: come back, that's a because that kind of thing just
Speaker 1: takes time. Like I, I just you know, I'll give
Speaker 1: you an example, like one of my duds in my wedding.
Speaker 1: One of my good friends we played high school basketball together.
Speaker 1: He ended up playing at the University of Arizona's name
Speaker 1: is Matt and uh. Him and I, you know, after college,
Speaker 1: we started playing in these men's leagues together and you
Speaker 1: just we at first when we started playing together, we
Speaker 1: just had no chemistry. We couldn't figure anything out. I
Speaker 1: was I was a primary ball handler. He was like
Speaker 1: a screen and roll guy, screening pop guy. Over the
Speaker 1: course of years, him and I built a certain amount
Speaker 1: of chemistry, and now it's like one of our most
Speaker 1: sure fire plays that we can run. It's just getting
Speaker 1: him an eye together and screening. That is the fact
Speaker 1: that in any sort of unorganized basketball environment, they can't
Speaker 1: guard screen and roll because you have to get to practice,
Speaker 1: you have to practice guarding screen and roll. But the
Speaker 1: point is is like you give Kuzma and and Trees
Speaker 1: a bunch of reps, you give Shrewder and Tries a
Speaker 1: bunch of reps, you get Hey, get Drummond in there,
Speaker 1: have Drummond run a ton of reps with Dennis Shrewder.
Speaker 1: Getting them to run uh tons and tons of reps
Speaker 1: together even in losses, is it just builds that chemistry
Speaker 1: to where, you know, in minutes where you know, Lebron's
Speaker 1: running the bench lineups, but he's kind of resting on
Speaker 1: the floor because he just ran three straight actions. And
Speaker 1: so now Shrewder's gonna run a pick and roll with
Speaker 1: Tres makes at a higher percentage play. You know, we
Speaker 1: saw that with Treads and Lou Williams over the years
Speaker 1: that they played together, they built that chemistry to make
Speaker 1: that a really dominant play. And so I I'm with you,
Speaker 1: there's a lot to gain in the sense that they
Speaker 1: can practice uh specific actions. I just hope my number
Speaker 1: one thing is do all that all you want, Just
Speaker 1: don't lose your identity, continue to defend and compete on
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the ball. And for the
Speaker 1: record they have, which is which is to me really
Speaker 1: impressive because they don't have, you know, so much of
Speaker 1: what they do defensively is unlocked by having these two
Speaker 1: ridiculously versatile forwards in Lebron and Anthony Davis that can
Speaker 1: switch everything, that can shut down specific actions and can
Speaker 1: guard the back line, and and they're out right now
Speaker 1: and they're still defending at extremely high level, which I
Speaker 1: think is really impressive. Um as far ahead, I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask you about this because like I know, everyone's
Speaker 1: saying we're waiting for Lebron and e D to come
Speaker 1: back and all that, but like just watching these games,
Speaker 1: like watching them break open three, the open three, that
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with lemarn and Anthony Davis, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's just a mental Like KCP is shooting twenty
Speaker 1: five on his open three since Lebron and a D
Speaker 1: went out, Like what that has nothing to do with
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D. That's him missing wide open shots.
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering what you're taking on that, because I
Speaker 1: think he's just in a mental kind of hurdle right now.
Speaker 1: I thought the All Star break would fix it, really hasn't.
Speaker 1: He looks healthy now though, Like he doesn't look like
Speaker 1: he's tired. He looks like he's running. He looks he's
Speaker 1: still like disengaged on defense on a lot of possessions.
Speaker 1: But I think that will come. It's just do you
Speaker 1: think that fixes when Lebron and Dy goes back? Like
Speaker 1: what do you what do you see from there? Because
Speaker 1: I'm I'm starting to get a little worried, Like his
Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt is big, right, you know, when
Speaker 1: you play that well in the playoff series, your rope
Speaker 1: is long from there. But it's starting to like really cut,
Speaker 1: like I could see like the first stations are really
Speaker 1: starting to build. So do where do you see from there?
Speaker 1: Because I don't know how that's a Lebron and a
Speaker 1: d problem. Like I guess Lebron gets you the ball
Speaker 1: in a little better situation. You're you know, he gets
Speaker 1: in the pocket past a little more. But I'm watching
Speaker 1: these games and the passes he's getting are perfectly fine.
Speaker 1: He's in rhythm, he's shooting it in rhythm. Is just
Speaker 1: not going in. So it's just like a slumpy think
Speaker 1: you'll get out of it, because you know, shooters usually
Speaker 1: hit their open looks. I don't expect KCP to like
Speaker 1: run ball stream actions and hit pull up mid rangers,
Speaker 1: but you know, hit your open threes. That's That's what
Speaker 1: I'm wondering. So I agree that that they're in a
Speaker 1: phone click, don't get me wrong. And this kind of
Speaker 1: thing is this kind of thing is contagious. It just is. However,
Speaker 1: as I tweeted out this morning, the Lakers are shooting
Speaker 1: about thirty eight percent when both Lebron and e d
Speaker 1: are on the floor from three seven percent with just Lebron, uh,
Speaker 1: and then without both of them, they're shooting about thirty
Speaker 1: and a half, so just below from three. Uh. Now,
Speaker 1: you're right, like you can kind of disseminate that down
Speaker 1: into like open looks and and different like off the
Speaker 1: dribble shots and defended like heavily contested shots and so
Speaker 1: on and so forth. And don't get me wrong, those
Speaker 1: numbers are concerning. But as you and I have discussed before,
Speaker 1: like No. Two open shots are the same either. You know,
Speaker 1: when when you're in a game where you're not getting
Speaker 1: as many high quality looks to build your rhythm and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you end up open, that
Speaker 1: open shot is different than I'm playing with Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D. I'm consistently getting open looks to build my rhythm.
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D are feeding my confidence. Our team
Speaker 1: is winning and we're playing well. All of that plays
Speaker 1: into the way that shooting works like and you know,
Speaker 1: there there are so many you know, analytics guys that
Speaker 1: get involved with shooting and they and they run numbers
Speaker 1: and they go like, oh, there's no such thing as
Speaker 1: the hot hand there, there's no such thing as as
Speaker 1: this or that or this or that. It's just simple
Speaker 1: defender this far away. You can break it down in
Speaker 1: two percentage. I disagree. If you've ever played basketball, you
Speaker 1: can feel the momentum shift of shooting like a pickup
Speaker 1: games are a great example of it because they're small
Speaker 1: sample sizes like I play. When I play with my
Speaker 1: group of guys that I play within the mornings, we
Speaker 1: played in nine twos and threes, so the games end
Speaker 1: super fast, and we do that on purpose because it
Speaker 1: breeds really high quality basketball because if you trick off
Speaker 1: one or two possessions, it will cost you the game.
Speaker 1: And you can feel that flow where where you're missing
Speaker 1: your open shots and other guys are making more contested
Speaker 1: shots on the other team because of that momentum shift.
Speaker 1: It's a team wide confidence. It is a team wide uh.
Speaker 1: It's it's a team wide um uh like like like
Speaker 1: momentum as and when it comes to making when it
Speaker 1: comes to making shots, and you can feel that with
Speaker 1: the Lakers when Lebron's on the floor, then they're generating
Speaker 1: higher quality shots. They just tend to go in. And
Speaker 1: then you can feel it when they're off the floor.
Speaker 1: It just it's almost like this like a cloud hanging
Speaker 1: over the team where you can sense you can sense
Speaker 1: it from the fan base too. They're like, oh, we
Speaker 1: can't shoot, we can't shoot. And you almost see k C.
Speaker 1: P Thinking like I can't shoot, I can't shoot, like
Speaker 1: and it's like and it's like, no, dude, you're fine.
Speaker 1: You're just you're not getting as many open shots. And
Speaker 1: now you're in your own head and the team is
Speaker 1: not very good right now. So like even with as
Speaker 1: good as they played defensively there two and three without
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d so uh in this recent stretch.
Speaker 1: So there's just my thing is like I of all
Speaker 1: of the things that I worry about with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: they're shooting is pretty far down on that list. I
Speaker 1: just we've seen so many times over the last two
Speaker 1: years then go cold for stretches, and it's usually related
Speaker 1: to something funky and and the and the reality is
Speaker 1: as they end up being just fine when the playoffs come.
Speaker 1: Lebron and Nadie are super locked in. Like another big
Speaker 1: thing is one of the most popular forms of three
Speaker 1: point shooting is the offensive rebound kickback because the defense
Speaker 1: is always out of position. Uh, they're all, you know,
Speaker 1: they're maybe they're running the floor and transition or something.
Speaker 1: They're out of position. But yeah, that's true. He's gonna
Speaker 1: help a lot with that. And but it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: we we played like you know, when the ball moves
Speaker 1: and it hits like three different people than it hits
Speaker 1: that last shooter, that ball is likely to go in. Right,
Speaker 1: we have these clisses to say, like the ball finds energy.
Speaker 1: That's how surprise last night the Lakers had a few
Speaker 1: players where like they drive kick drive kick move move
Speaker 1: and then like it gets to that corner shooter wide
Speaker 1: open beautiful ball movement and it just clanks. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: that is really shocking. That really shows that like there's
Speaker 1: some kind of mental herter they're going on here. I
Speaker 1: think they'll be fine. It's just interesting when you look
Speaker 1: at the numbers. Man th HD is shooting like fourteen
Speaker 1: on wide open threes in this in this stretch, like
Speaker 1: he's really fallen off. He's hitting that like that rookie
Speaker 1: shooting wall. I guess he's still playing okay, still getting
Speaker 1: to the rim. But yeah, I think I think they're
Speaker 1: shooting will be fine. It's just right now. They're obviously
Speaker 1: in the slump, but their margin for error is so low,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like it's so small that
Speaker 1: when your best shooter is not hitting open threes, it
Speaker 1: just puts pressure on everyone else to score. I saw
Speaker 1: a number from I Think I pick up Hoop tweeted it.
Speaker 1: They have like a ninety one point one offensive rating
Speaker 1: without tread's on the floor during this stretch, and with
Speaker 1: treads it's like one oh one or something, one oh two,
Speaker 1: just which is just ridiculous. It's not great either way.
Speaker 1: That's that's the worst offense in the league on both possessions,
Speaker 1: on both times. But that shows just how much of
Speaker 1: a struggle it is to generate offense. So and that's
Speaker 1: the thing, like like Montrez Harrold is a matchup nightmare
Speaker 1: for other teams and puts pressure on the rim and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Like I'm just basketball. It's such as
Speaker 1: such a natural flow. Like it's like it's like when
Speaker 1: we talk about free throw shooting, it's the the physically aggressive,
Speaker 1: the physically aggressive team is the one that actually shoots
Speaker 1: more free throws, which is counterintuitive because you think the
Speaker 1: team that's being more physically aggressive is committing more. There
Speaker 1: is a there is a natural like waterfall effect in basketball.
Speaker 1: When you are physically aggressive, you put more pressure on
Speaker 1: the rim, you generate higher quality shots, your guys start
Speaker 1: making shots, you start drawing fouls and getting the free
Speaker 1: throw line. It's just this like waterfall effect. And and
Speaker 1: I believe in the Lakers formula they were built in
Speaker 1: a very specific way. They didn't want a Reggie Jackson.
Speaker 1: They didn't they didn't want you know, Wayne Ellington or
Speaker 1: any of these guys that were offensive oriented players. They
Speaker 1: wanted guards and wings that fit very specific roles next
Speaker 1: to Lebron and Anton Davis. And so I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: hyper analyze or or or or you know, overthink what
Speaker 1: this basketball looks like right now. Uh. It just it
Speaker 1: just was never the point. And you know, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel catches a lot of slander these days for
Speaker 1: the offense. And I want to be like, you know,
Speaker 1: if they if the Lakers had signed Mike D'Antoni to
Speaker 1: be the head coach last year, I don't think there
Speaker 1: is good I really don't, because you know, the whole
Speaker 1: point of the Lebron experiences he can be your offensive
Speaker 1: head coach. And yeah, his style is a little bit unorthodox.
Speaker 1: So is the Steph Curry style. Like you don't you
Speaker 1: don't want to have Like there's there's not a roster
Speaker 1: in the league where you want another guy to be
Speaker 1: handling the ball and have your superstar just flying off
Speaker 1: the screens all day. That's that that that that works
Speaker 1: for the Warriors because the steps specific skill set and
Speaker 1: that's the way that the Lakers are built. They were like,
Speaker 1: we have this unbelievable role guy picking Popeye guy, picking
Speaker 1: roll guy, post up player, and we've got one of
Speaker 1: the smartest player is to ever play the game. So
Speaker 1: let's get a defensive minded head coach and a bunch
Speaker 1: of defensive minded role players and let's play into an identity.
Speaker 1: And that's what the Lakers have done. And you know, I,
Speaker 1: ironically I think that their defense might allow them to
Speaker 1: steal some of these games, because if they compete defensively,
Speaker 1: they might beat Sacramento. If they compete defensively, they might
Speaker 1: beat Toronto. Because the game is going to be a
Speaker 1: rock fight, and it is just about making a few
Speaker 1: shots here and there. And you've got enough with Montrez
Speaker 1: Harrold and Dennis Shrewder to take advantage of some specific
Speaker 1: matchups and get some shots made at the end. And
Speaker 1: you know, when you look at these other teams and
Speaker 1: the standings, like you know, the Clippers are resting players
Speaker 1: every once in a while, like the Mavericks are resting
Speaker 1: Luca every once in a while. The Spurs are heading
Speaker 1: into a ridiculous tough stretch of their schedule, winning four
Speaker 1: games like beaten uh, beating these last two two teams
Speaker 1: and then taking down Toronto and take down um uh, Sacramento,
Speaker 1: that might literally be enough to float you. If you
Speaker 1: go four and eleven, you know, that might be enough
Speaker 1: to keep you at the sixth seed, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, Lebron and a d come back and
Speaker 1: you're going to run to end the season. So I
Speaker 1: think it's immensely important that that you just try to
Speaker 1: get these these handful of games because you just need
Speaker 1: to that the difference between going four and eleven and
Speaker 1: going two and thirteen is a huge difference in the
Speaker 1: way that the standings will eventually shake out. So I
Speaker 1: think I think they have something that they can, uh
Speaker 1: you know, kind of make work for a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks there. And they've been in all these games. I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like they should have won the Philly one.
Speaker 1: Danny Green just turned into Ray Allen like he was
Speaker 1: he eight threes and like the last three were contested,
Speaker 1: just tough shots. So and then the Phoenix one too
Speaker 1: was close until the end. Devin Booker and Chris Paul
Speaker 1: took over at the end. So that's basically how they'll
Speaker 1: lose these games. But I think they'll fight in them.
Speaker 1: Their defense will hold them steady, and they don't have
Speaker 1: the star power to hold up. But if you make
Speaker 1: these teams have to, you know, play their stars and
Speaker 1: win it. That way, you have a chance. And that's
Speaker 1: all you asked. Where for eleven would be. I mean
Speaker 1: that's not great, but I mean that would probably keep
Speaker 1: you above water for now. There was I think they're
Speaker 1: like five games ahead right now of Dallas um in
Speaker 1: the standing, So I mean that's a lot of ground
Speaker 1: to try and make up. I mean, it just is,
Speaker 1: even with Lebron a D out, it seems not gonna
Speaker 1: lose like seven eight in a row. I don't think, like,
Speaker 1: I just don't. I know people are thinking, oh, they
Speaker 1: might lose eleven in a row. I just never saw that.
Speaker 1: That's just now we know that's not how basketball works. Really,
Speaker 1: Like teams are gonna skip skip get out wins and um, yeah,
Speaker 1: that that's kind of how I say. They'll they'll be fine.
Speaker 1: They'll stay above water. And if a D and Lebron
Speaker 1: can come back in two weeks, or Lebron can come
Speaker 1: back in three and a D come back in the
Speaker 1: next two weeks, a D at least push that talent
Speaker 1: level up right, and like he'll he'll match that talent
Speaker 1: level up if he can get on this team and
Speaker 1: they can start creating an Andre Drummond starts playing well,
Speaker 1: I think they'll get get a couple more wins. But
Speaker 1: this is a super tough stretch. They play Milwaukee next,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's probably gonna be a loss, and then
Speaker 1: from there just how to steal wins, like you said
Speaker 1: on Sacramento in Toronto. But that's that's basically your chance
Speaker 1: because after that, well, it's a game road trip. I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: that a game road trip is vicious. The interesting thing
Speaker 1: to do in terms of bringing a D back would
Speaker 1: be to, uh, you know, because I don't see Lebron
Speaker 1: doing a minutes limit. That just doesn't seem like it's
Speaker 1: programmed into him. Like when Lebron comes back, he's going
Speaker 1: to play thirty two minutes at least. So so what'll
Speaker 1: be interesting is a D. I do think they'll bring
Speaker 1: back on a minutes limit. So what would be interesting
Speaker 1: is to bring a D back a week early and
Speaker 1: have him play like fifteen minutes in the first game,
Speaker 1: twenty in the second game, twenty five in the third game,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth, and build him up. Um uh,
Speaker 1: that would be an interesting way to bring him back.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I know, I agree with you. You You made
Speaker 1: a good point, Like it's like the uh, this is
Speaker 1: a this is a really good team. Um, they have
Speaker 1: really good habits. They're not going to go on an
Speaker 1: eleven game losing streak. They just have to stick to
Speaker 1: their identity and try to squeeze him out. I do
Speaker 1: think that this this stretch here is an interesting case
Speaker 1: study for one of my long standing theories, which is
Speaker 1: like you can coach and scheme defense, but you can't
Speaker 1: coach and scheme elite offense in late round playoff series.
Speaker 1: And the example I'd use is like, if you look
Speaker 1: at the Laker roster right now, it's not a super
Speaker 1: talented defensive roster. Like marcusol is old and not very
Speaker 1: mobile anymore. Montrase, Harrold is kind of like a notoriously
Speaker 1: bad defensive player in his career. You know, Mark Keith
Speaker 1: Morris is okay. Kyle Kuzma has shown flashes, but he's
Speaker 1: not a guy that you'd call around the league and
Speaker 1: think is an all defense guy. Alex Crusoe's and all
Speaker 1: defense level talent, denishooters and all defense level talent. But
Speaker 1: like k c P has been okay on that end
Speaker 1: this year, Wesley Matthews has been okay on that end.
Speaker 1: This year. They have defended on almost almost solely on
Speaker 1: the strength of their effort and Frank Vogel scheming. And
Speaker 1: I think that's really really impressive, And it goes to
Speaker 1: show you that, you know, when you're bringing in a
Speaker 1: guy like Andre Drummond, like you're really just working on
Speaker 1: fitting him into the scheme and getting him to play hard.
Speaker 1: It's not even that like like from there his physical
Speaker 1: talents will just take over. But I just think it's
Speaker 1: an interesting case study in in in how we value
Speaker 1: players and the reason why, like I would value a
Speaker 1: guy like Lebron so much, a guy like Steph so much,
Speaker 1: a step in particular, even though he has defensive limitations,
Speaker 1: because you can scheme at defense, you can get guys
Speaker 1: to play hard and have that impact defense. But you
Speaker 1: can't tell this this Laker team tries really really hard
Speaker 1: and they can't score, so like that that's not something
Speaker 1: that can be fixed with effort and focus, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. Yeah, And and to your point, I mean,
Speaker 1: I love Damien Jones. I thought he was great. I
Speaker 1: thought he filled his role awesome. He was on ten
Speaker 1: days for a reason, right, there's a reason he's still
Speaker 1: not in the league right now. Um, that's because he's
Speaker 1: just not at that talent level. And they just fit
Speaker 1: him into the starting lineup. Gasol was out and they
Speaker 1: were fine on defense, they defended well. And then the
Speaker 1: talent gap though between him and Dubman is just so
Speaker 1: large that just gigantic time talent gaps. So when you
Speaker 1: feel a guy like that in plus the scheme, like
Speaker 1: you said, because the scheme is obviously what's winning them
Speaker 1: games right now, it's them and shrewder Crusoe, Casey Pee
Speaker 1: flying around these screens. That's how case you'd be picking
Speaker 1: up full core the Lakers who had the game in hand,
Speaker 1: and he had a dumbfoul at the end. Um, But
Speaker 1: I mean just that intensity right to play hard. Um,
Speaker 1: he's not shooting the ball well, but I thought he
Speaker 1: defended pretty well last night. And that's how they're winning
Speaker 1: these games. They're fun on these guys to the rim.
Speaker 1: Tras is doing a nice job in his coverages. He's
Speaker 1: been switching. Marcosol is a lot better than I think
Speaker 1: people think he is on defense as well. Um, during
Speaker 1: this during this stretch, and that's how they're defending, and
Speaker 1: uh that's how they have to win by defense because
Speaker 1: they are not going to score enough. Ronin who do
Speaker 1: you think it squeezed out of the rotation? What do
Speaker 1: you mean for like when Drummond comes back, there's you
Speaker 1: got Drummond, Marcosol, Anthony Davis, Leron, James Marquis for Morris
Speaker 1: all in the front court. Yeah, I get squeezed out.
Speaker 1: I think Marcusol probably gets for now the least in
Speaker 1: on the minutes because he's older. I don't think he
Speaker 1: minds as much. Um. I think the playoffs is gonna
Speaker 1: be super magic dependent, just like it was last year. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a lot of e D at the five.
Speaker 1: I think Marky Morris is gonna again play spot minutes
Speaker 1: where he's he can be effective. Same with Tread's. Same
Speaker 1: with Tread's probably gonna have a bigger role, but same
Speaker 1: with Drummond. All those guys are probably gonna be a
Speaker 1: match up depending. Just like last year, people worried about
Speaker 1: the Dwight situation. He didn't play for two rounds, Like
Speaker 1: just just that's what happened that he got mentioned. I
Speaker 1: believe in the Portland series. Also in in the Houston
Speaker 1: series as well, So that's how it will be, and
Speaker 1: then everyone understands that it's Lebron and a d are
Speaker 1: gonna get their minutes. Everyone else gets their spot minutes
Speaker 1: around that, and that's no different for the center rotation
Speaker 1: in my opinion. So it'll be interesting to see because
Speaker 1: like Houston, with the way that they schemed the Lakers,
Speaker 1: they had to bench Dwight Angeville right in the in.
Speaker 1: The team that could do that this year potentially would
Speaker 1: be Brooklyn, which would suck because you know, Drummond is
Speaker 1: such a weapon against Brooklyn as a physical price and
Speaker 1: speak because like a guy like Claxton might be able
Speaker 1: to compete more defensively on switches and guarding little guards
Speaker 1: and doing all these little things because he's got all
Speaker 1: this length. But if you've got a big body like
Speaker 1: Drummond that can bury him under the rim, you know
Speaker 1: that that's that's a weapon. So it's like, but you know,
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel has shown a tendency against these teams that
Speaker 1: do heavy switching to just go away from their centers altogether.
Speaker 1: But that's why I like having all those different matchups
Speaker 1: is Mark Keith Morris is a perfect guy to throw
Speaker 1: out for something like that, because then they go they
Speaker 1: do they switch something. Mark Keith can just run out
Speaker 1: to the corner and now you've got spacing for Lebron
Speaker 1: to attack the switch or for Anthony Davis to attack
Speaker 1: the switch. So it'll be interesting to see because you know,
Speaker 1: my guess is my guests on the rotation stuff, is
Speaker 1: that Drummond and Gasol, similar to Javail and Dwight, are
Speaker 1: going to play for the center minutes they're going. It's
Speaker 1: going to be based on who's playing better. If Marc
Speaker 1: Gasol has it going and Drummonds in his head and
Speaker 1: he's not playing his role, well, I think you're gonna
Speaker 1: see a lot of Gasol. But if Kasol looks washed
Speaker 1: and Drummond is being physically dominant, I think you're gonna
Speaker 1: see more Drummond. And then yeah, against specific matchups they
Speaker 1: go small and play a lot of Leron and a
Speaker 1: D and you know, maybe Kuzma at the foursome. It's
Speaker 1: a depth that they have. It's a depth problem, and
Speaker 1: they have a lot of depth, and it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: a problem. It's just someone's gonna get squeezed. And now
Speaker 1: one of the things that I think is super interesting
Speaker 1: about the Lakers. And it's so funny because you look
Speaker 1: back to like the way the Lakers were portrayed, you know,
Speaker 1: going into last season, it's this like dumpster fire unorganized
Speaker 1: basketball organization. Two now it's like they're so well run
Speaker 1: and and you look at uh, you look at Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel and he's like, yeah, Like, I just have really
Speaker 1: upfront conversations with all my players about how much they're
Speaker 1: gonna play. Like Frank Vogel will walk into locker room
Speaker 1: and be like, we're playing Sacramento tomorrow. They don't play
Speaker 1: a center, so you know, uh, Andre and Mark, you
Speaker 1: guys aren't playing tonight, and they'll just and and I
Speaker 1: I admire that because that's so much better than the
Speaker 1: alternative of like going into a game, doing a heavy
Speaker 1: warm up, getting all emotionally psyched for minutes, and then
Speaker 1: not playing and then now you're frustrated at the coach
Speaker 1: and it's brewing underneath the surface. Like the Lakers are
Speaker 1: handling this like pros and and I think that that's cool.
Speaker 1: And it's better to have more guys than you need
Speaker 1: than than to have the opposite effect, like a team
Speaker 1: like Boston who it doesn't know who to go to
Speaker 1: when they go to their bench. Yeah, and again that's
Speaker 1: you get that kind of cachet when you win a championship,
Speaker 1: right Like, that's that's what you get. And when you
Speaker 1: have Lebron on your team, who's gonna lead it. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's you can do things like that. Um, other places
Speaker 1: that might blow up, But we saw locker room issues
Speaker 1: with a lot of teams last year. Um, the Clippers,
Speaker 1: the Celtics still have some weird stuff going on in
Speaker 1: their locker rooms. So you can just kind of tell
Speaker 1: that when you have that kind of uh, those kind
Speaker 1: of players on your team, then then you can do that.
Speaker 1: But again, like right now, like I feel like this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a weird stretch, like we talked about
Speaker 1: because leron a Dye aren't playing right, So it's so
Speaker 1: it is a little different. Like guys are expecting shots,
Speaker 1: guys are expecting minutes. Um, who's much with fifteen threes
Speaker 1: last night? I mean, that's just just a ridiculous amount
Speaker 1: of shots for him. But he must be happy, he's
Speaker 1: comfortable he's gonna get those looks because there's no one
Speaker 1: else to take them. Right now, so that's kind of
Speaker 1: where we're at right now. There's just like middle ground
Speaker 1: of I feel like I'm watching the two thousand eighteen Lakers,
Speaker 1: where like we're developing all these dudes, except we're getting
Speaker 1: lebron a d back, right that's time. You were just
Speaker 1: developing for the next season. So you're developing brandon ingram Alonzo, Ball,
Speaker 1: Josh Hard, all these young guys with a bunch of
Speaker 1: talent who aren't gonna win a lot of games right now,
Speaker 1: but you know that in the future if you add
Speaker 1: a star, they'll play. Well, well, we have the stars.
Speaker 1: Now you're in that development mental mode again. So that's
Speaker 1: why I'm watching this this team right now, and I
Speaker 1: feel like that's how people should be watching this. The
Speaker 1: scoreboard is kind of not as relevant right now. You
Speaker 1: want to get wins as you can, but they're building
Speaker 1: towards stuff. And Vogel understands that people are mad at
Speaker 1: Vogol because he's not playing this guy or he's not
Speaker 1: running this offense. I mean, it's just not the point
Speaker 1: of these games right now. They it's just not They're
Speaker 1: trying to develop good habits and good process where the future,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the right approach and having Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D as the only things you have to
Speaker 1: plug in and ramp up are important because Ron Lebron
Speaker 1: is gonna have ramp up. Lebron is gonna have a
Speaker 1: phase where he's turned the ball over a lot, he's
Speaker 1: a little sloppy with his dribbles, his jumper is a
Speaker 1: little unpolished because he's coming back into the swing of things.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is gonna have like a physical ramp up
Speaker 1: that he has to get into. So from from from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, like you know, uh, having the guards already
Speaker 1: dialed into their defensive roles, having Shrewder and Tres already
Speaker 1: in a rhythm with what they can do with their
Speaker 1: actions that they run together. Having all of that set
Speaker 1: up and like humming out a hundred miles an hour
Speaker 1: and then just plugging in the Lebron and a D
Speaker 1: pieces is so much better than like, you know, if
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d were injured in the off season
Speaker 1: and they came back, you know, right at the start
Speaker 1: of the season or training camp and everybody's ramping up together,
Speaker 1: that I'd be a little bit more concerned about them,
Speaker 1: you know, looking good going into the playoffs, whereas now
Speaker 1: because they can just kind of handle Lebron and a
Speaker 1: dps separately, then I feel a little bit more confident.
Speaker 1: The thing that will get tricky is, you know, everybody
Speaker 1: uses the example of the bubble and how good they looked,
Speaker 1: uh in the bubble after taking a bunch of time off.
Speaker 1: But I have to remind people that they were playing
Speaker 1: a lot of basketball in the in that time off.
Speaker 1: And you know, Lebron and I D have actually been
Speaker 1: literally sitting in a hyperbaric chamber and icing and stretching,
Speaker 1: and and A D is just now starting to do
Speaker 1: like really minuscule court work. So there for them, I
Speaker 1: think the ramp up is important, and and give it
Speaker 1: putting them in a position where the rest of the
Speaker 1: team is humming along, so the ramp up is a
Speaker 1: little easier. I think it brings a lot of value. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talked about this before. I'm not saying like, obviously
Speaker 1: A D loves basketball, but you could tell like he
Speaker 1: wasn't enjoying like the beginning of the season, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear basketball is not a robotic game, right,
Speaker 1: It's not played on Excel spreadsheets, It's it's seen it's
Speaker 1: playing through like you can see people's emotions and faces,
Speaker 1: and he was just they was he was just not
Speaker 1: trying to do that early season and um, and he
Speaker 1: got hurt and now he's out for extended time. And
Speaker 1: so like you can see starting him him starting to
Speaker 1: post on I G like loading and hyperbolic chamber pictures
Speaker 1: and like just excited to get back on the court.
Speaker 1: And that's what you want to see, right, You want
Speaker 1: to see your stars like want to go out and play.
Speaker 1: And I feel like when he comes back, no matter
Speaker 1: the seating or Lebron's Lebron's, Lebron's played well the whole season,
Speaker 1: but you know, just to see a d trying to
Speaker 1: come back and be hyped up to play again, and
Speaker 1: you know he got a forced rest. I mean, I
Speaker 1: feel like this schedule was tough for anyone, but I mean,
Speaker 1: at least for those guys, they got a nice break
Speaker 1: from it. And I hope he comes back with a
Speaker 1: rejuvenation that we thought we'd see. Right, A twenty seven
Speaker 1: year old mega star just got paid in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: the one b you know, biggest biggest name in l
Speaker 1: A sports, new sports, uh sports basketball. So like I
Speaker 1: just want to see him come out with like a
Speaker 1: renewed sense of like, Okay, it's time to go. This
Speaker 1: is I'm about to take over. Because you know, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of conversations people are saying bed yr Kich
Speaker 1: are all m VP candidates, right, eight should be in
Speaker 1: that mix. That's the talent level that this guy has.
Speaker 1: So I want to see him come That's what I
Speaker 1: really want to see. That's my main thing. I'm not
Speaker 1: worried about Lebron like I think he's gonna come back
Speaker 1: and be Lebron James. That's what he is. Eighties the
Speaker 1: one I want to see come back. And you know,
Speaker 1: look not look like the bubble form, but just that
Speaker 1: aggressiveness getting to the basket, offensive, rebounding putbacks. That's when
Speaker 1: you know he's like engaged into a game. Um, the
Speaker 1: mid range jumpers are there, they look cool, they look
Speaker 1: pretty when they go in. But that's that's when I
Speaker 1: want to see come back. And I think we'll see
Speaker 1: a rejuvenated Anthony Davis um coming back coming back here.
Speaker 1: You can hear me. Yeah, So as far as Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis goes, I mean you made a good point, Like
Speaker 1: he came in. I think I think the criticism of
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis before his injury was legitimate. You know, Don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong. He had a stretch there right at
Speaker 1: the end where we all knew he was banged up.
Speaker 1: That was different. But at the start of the season
Speaker 1: he came out with less fervor than we were hoping,
Speaker 1: you know coming into the season that that is legitimate criticism. Um,
Speaker 1: But you're right between him struggling and the in the
Speaker 1: ascent of Joel Embiide and Nicola Yokich, Like, dude, you've
Speaker 1: got a big herod in front of you now, Like
Speaker 1: if we don't, if we don't see a physically aggressive,
Speaker 1: dominant Anthony Davis, like I'd be concerned a little bit
Speaker 1: in terms of just his mentality. Now, I think he
Speaker 1: will be I think I think he'll come back health permitting.
Speaker 1: I think he'll come back and try to take a
Speaker 1: league by storm. Um. But my thing is, like, you know,
Speaker 1: if you look at the way Lebron has been in
Speaker 1: his whole career, it's like Katie Rises, Janice Rises, Steph Rises.
Speaker 1: He always wants to meet and ascend above them. And
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, you know, like he we know the talents
Speaker 1: there what he did in the bubble is on the
Speaker 1: same level as what joe El Embiad has done in
Speaker 1: this regular season, and Anthony Davis does have that potentially
Speaker 1: you make a great point like he should be in
Speaker 1: that conversation. Okay, fine, you get a pass because of
Speaker 1: the quick turnaround, and you get a pass because of
Speaker 1: the injury. But in this playoff run, if you're healthy,
Speaker 1: and then going into next year, in a normal off season,
Speaker 1: in a normal UH training camp up and everything, this
Speaker 1: has to be what it is man UH and and
Speaker 1: Laker Nation is gonna hold you to that, and as
Speaker 1: I think they should, because they mortgage their entire future
Speaker 1: for it was worth it. They got a title. Don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong. It's not a failure by any stretch
Speaker 1: of the image imagination. But you have the physical talent
Speaker 1: and and all of the tools you need to do
Speaker 1: what Yokich is doing and to do what Joel Embiad
Speaker 1: is doing, so I think I think he needs to
Speaker 1: do it. And and you know, people in the in
Speaker 1: the solo pot I did last week, someone asked, like,
Speaker 1: you know, how many more titles do you see the
Speaker 1: Lakers winning or do you think they can win a
Speaker 1: couple more titles, and I absolutely do, but it depends
Speaker 1: on one thing. It depends on Anthony Davis's ascent to
Speaker 1: mirror Lebron's descent. For every chunk of elite, high end,
Speaker 1: star level NBA basketball that Lebron loses each summer, you know,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has to gain that and and if he doesn't,
Speaker 1: then you know that they won't be in the In
Speaker 1: these conversations, uh, you know, as teams that can compete
Speaker 1: for a title. But I'm just laying out, you know
Speaker 1: what the expectation is. But for the record, health permitting,
Speaker 1: I do expect him to succeed. And Lebron's skill set
Speaker 1: as he fades, still complements Anthony Davis really well. You
Speaker 1: can imagine a six ft nine, two seventy pound Jason
Speaker 1: Kidd at age thirty nine, you know, running running the offense,
Speaker 1: not not being the same physically dominant force, but just
Speaker 1: using his brain to unlock Anthony Davis, who at that
Speaker 1: phase hopefully is kind of like Joel Embiid is now
Speaker 1: just this unbelievable, unstoppable offensive force with Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year capability on the other end. That that that's
Speaker 1: the way that it has to look and I think
Speaker 1: it's one okay to hold those guys accountable to that.
Speaker 1: Like if if if a d s a ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen best player in the league, you can be a
Speaker 1: lot more relaxed about this kind of stuff. But you,
Speaker 1: I think you called him the second best player in
Speaker 1: the league this summer. I called him the fourth best
Speaker 1: player in the league this summer, and I was lower
Speaker 1: on him than a lot of Laker Nation, And so
Speaker 1: I think we we have vaulted him to the point
Speaker 1: where he should have that kind of expectation. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: talked about when you're when you go up to like
Speaker 1: top five, you're splitting hairs right between the top five players.
Speaker 1: I mean you're you're going through what Lebron, Katie h
Speaker 1: James Harden regular season, James Harden, um uh, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: Khi Leonard, all those dudes are, you know, insanely great players.
Speaker 1: I just and your kitchen people are putting him in
Speaker 1: there this season as well. You're splitting hairs on who
Speaker 1: you're picking on that. My thing is like Lebron still
Speaker 1: one pretty clearly. I mean I feel like if you
Speaker 1: pull anyone, he's still won. Um. I don't see him
Speaker 1: dropping like five spots and however you want to rank again,
Speaker 1: these rankings are so superficial that's it's hard to even
Speaker 1: like talk about it. But you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: if he's dropping like four or five, e d needs
Speaker 1: to stay in that top five level though, because I
Speaker 1: think that's the talent level he has. Because that's how
Speaker 1: the Lakers are gonna build their roster going forward. Right,
Speaker 1: they don't have all these um, you know, picks and
Speaker 1: all that stuff to trade that was all owned by
Speaker 1: New Orleans now, so they have to be smart around
Speaker 1: the margins which they have. They picked up, you know,
Speaker 1: a twenty seven year old point above average starting point guard.
Speaker 1: They picked up a twenty seven year old, you know,
Speaker 1: monstered score off the bench. All those dudes have faults,
Speaker 1: but you don't get them without faults, Like it's just
Speaker 1: how it would be. Um, people want shooter, you know,
Speaker 1: just to shoot forty pc from three and be a
Speaker 1: good passer and score at the rim. That's an all star.
Speaker 1: Like that's you're not you know, that's you're just not
Speaker 1: getting that any any time. Where they want Harold to
Speaker 1: be this lockdown defensive big and score twenty points a
Speaker 1: game like you that those are all star level talents.
Speaker 1: So Lakes go build the roster around the margins around
Speaker 1: those two guys being top five level players. And I
Speaker 1: think they can be and you have to be to
Speaker 1: beat some of the teams like the Nets and all
Speaker 1: that out here, and he has a capability to do it.
Speaker 1: We saw it with our own eyes. He was the
Speaker 1: best defensive player in the playoffs. I don't think that
Speaker 1: was a question. He logged shut down a Houston team
Speaker 1: that has, you know, two really strong ego dudes, and
Speaker 1: he shut down a Portland's team. And it's just like
Speaker 1: he has it in him. It's just that that has
Speaker 1: to come out during this this end of the season here, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that you make a great point, like it's it's like
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d are theoretically going to kind of
Speaker 1: trade spots over the a few years. Like Lebron is
Speaker 1: gonna descend from the best player in the league to
Speaker 1: like the fourth or fifth best player in the league,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis has to ascend to being, you know,
Speaker 1: the second or third best player in the league. And
Speaker 1: the Lakers are always going to be a destination for
Speaker 1: the Andre Drummonds and the best mid level exception guys
Speaker 1: and the best biennial exception guys, and the best uh
Speaker 1: you know, guys who forced their way out via trade,
Speaker 1: you know, and whatever it is. They they have that flexibility.
Speaker 1: And then you couple that with Frank Vogel and excellent
Speaker 1: defensive scheming and Lebron's brain on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor, like there is a pathway, even in Lebron's
Speaker 1: old age for them to succeed. And you know what, man,
Speaker 1: if they can somehow stretch this out, uh to where
Speaker 1: talent Horton Tucker can actually be a genuinely impactful uh
Speaker 1: NBA starter, then look out, man, Like it could be,
Speaker 1: it could get It could be really really good for
Speaker 1: a long time. But that's how it has to be.
Speaker 1: It's it's no different than what the Lakers did in
Speaker 1: the two thousand Tents with Kobe and Shack. You gotta
Speaker 1: find a way to bridge the gap, you know, like
Speaker 1: you ride Shack, and then when it's done with act,
Speaker 1: you gotta find a way to make sure that that
Speaker 1: Kobe can be the guy. And and who's going to
Speaker 1: be the guy that's next to Kobe? Okay, it's pow
Speaker 1: And you know, as Phil Jackson, the guy that can
Speaker 1: lead us from a strategic standpoint, like you've got to
Speaker 1: find a way to bridge the gap otherwise you're gonna
Speaker 1: end up in a situation like what happened earlier this
Speaker 1: decade where the wheels came off. So that to me
Speaker 1: is is that is that key and and you know,
Speaker 1: so much of that is gonna come down to health obviously,
Speaker 1: but also it's just about making those decisions on the
Speaker 1: margins and uh and uh a d s development because
Speaker 1: as good as Anthony Davis says, he can be so
Speaker 1: much better, you know, like there's significant opportunity for improvement.
Speaker 1: They're still even at his age, you know, and I
Speaker 1: think he's twenty eight, But there's a version of Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis that could be, uh, you know, an even more
Speaker 1: dynamic offensive player. And then his physical tools are going
Speaker 1: to stay with him for at least another four or
Speaker 1: five years. Exactly when you talked about slow with drumming,
Speaker 1: like Drummond, the first time he was on a good
Speaker 1: team really is this year, right, like them a competent team, right,
Speaker 1: like a championship competent level team. Well, Anthony David's first
Speaker 1: time on that was last year. Right, that was his
Speaker 1: first time on like a good title team, learning what
Speaker 1: it means to like have every single game is like
Speaker 1: a win lose. If you lose, it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's a panic situation for Laker fans kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So he's still learning that and like, I think he's
Speaker 1: learning how to play, like with the low motor and
Speaker 1: all that, like, because I feel like he went hard.
Speaker 1: He goes hard a lot, and now like this year,
Speaker 1: he was kind of learning how to, um, you know,
Speaker 1: walk through games and then try to go play at
Speaker 1: the end and and still stay in a rhythm like
Speaker 1: Lebron does. Lebron can kind of fall asleep for three
Speaker 1: quarters and have a twenty five point fourth quarter. Like
Speaker 1: it's just things he can do. And Anthony Davis just
Speaker 1: hasn't learned how to do that yet. And he'll pick
Speaker 1: that up as we goove on. And yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he'll be fine. And he's gonna have to be first
Speaker 1: to win for this to win this year, and the
Speaker 1: longer he spends around Lebron, the more he's going to
Speaker 1: pick up on those little tricks of the trade to
Speaker 1: being the best player in the league. And I think
Speaker 1: that's the that's the that's the added value of having
Speaker 1: Lebron around even as he gets older. And I I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm stoked because I feel bad that Kobe didn't
Speaker 1: get to have that experience, and the injury was to blame.
Speaker 1: But I'm sad that Kobe didn't get to have that
Speaker 1: experience like that late phase of his career where he's
Speaker 1: a fringe top ten fifteen player, but he can use
Speaker 1: his brain and his you know, aura, his persona to
Speaker 1: continue to add value. Chris Paul is right there, Chris
Speaker 1: Paul Man, we had him for three hours. I'll never
Speaker 1: forget those three hours. I talked way too much craft
Speaker 1: for three hours and then it was gone, So I'll
Speaker 1: never forget that. Yeah, we're sad we didn't get that.
Speaker 1: UM all right, everybody. I am so sincerely sorry about
Speaker 1: this WiFi situation. I have decided after this ship show,
Speaker 1: UM that I will not ever try to do this
Speaker 1: again in this house. I will figure out a temporary
Speaker 1: solution off site where I have better WiFi so I
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about this anymore. For the downloaded podcast,
Speaker 1: I will edit out those cuts so it'll flow a
Speaker 1: little bit more smooth. For the handful of you guys
Speaker 1: who stuck through that ship show. I sincerely appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys and UH and I appreciate your patience and understanding rage.
Speaker 1: I hope you have a good rest of your week.
Speaker 1: You want to go again on Friday, Let's do it,
Speaker 1: all right, man, I will see you then. Sounds good, alright,
Speaker 1: but