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Speaker 1: M m all right. Welcome to the State of the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: presented by Dash Radio. Thank you guys so much for

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Speaker 1: coming to hang out on a Sunday consecutive Laker wins,

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Speaker 1: which is something that has happened only six times this season.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna need you guys to bear with me a

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Speaker 1: little bit. I'm currently in my truck hurdling on the

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Speaker 1: road down towards Tucson from a weekend of skiing with

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Speaker 1: my wife and some friends up in Flagstaff. But I

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Speaker 1: was fortunately able to catch the game and its entirety. Um,

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Speaker 1: I'm a little more optimistic than most, but we'll get

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Speaker 1: into that rog. How you doing, buddy, how's your weekend been.

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Speaker 1: It's good, It's good. I appreciate you know you coming

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Speaker 1: for me and Jason Maple is coming on on Friday.

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Speaker 1: Although it did get cut short. I saw there with

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Speaker 1: some technical difficulties. But yeah, man, two days of partying, dancing,

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Speaker 1: you know, and to music and stuff will get you exhausted.

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Speaker 1: So I'm back though, ready to talk to some Lakers

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Speaker 1: basketball here. Yeah, you do sound like you're in a

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Speaker 1: truck or some pink so I was gonna let you know,

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Speaker 1: I hear some background noise there. Okay, I'll do I'll

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Speaker 1: do the best I can to keep when I'm not

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Speaker 1: talking for that effect. Um, knew, your buddy, It's good

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Speaker 1: to have you back. So again, I'm I'm a little

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Speaker 1: more optimistic than most. You know, Minnesota's young and athletic,

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Speaker 1: and they played really good defense tonight, playoff style defense

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Speaker 1: with really a lot of like adjustments that have been

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Speaker 1: made from previous matchups between these two teams. You saw

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Speaker 1: a lot of packing the paint, ignoring Russell Westbrook, putting

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Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on Lebron both on the ball

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Speaker 1: and off the ball. I thought that was a big

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Speaker 1: part of why his shot attempts were down, um relative

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Speaker 1: to the way he's been shooting the ball throughout the game,

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Speaker 1: making Lebron into a passer, and little stretches of impressive

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Speaker 1: shot making from Minnesota at various points in the game.

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Speaker 1: And you know, to get a bad game out of

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Speaker 1: Russ like a just horrendous, terrific, horrible I saw of

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Speaker 1: a basketball game from Russell westbrooken to get a win

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Speaker 1: with no Anthony Davis, I'm gonna go positive here. How

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Speaker 1: are you feeling right now? Yeah, I do feel a

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Speaker 1: little bit more positive. I think, you know, we're not

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Speaker 1: in any position to be picky about wins right now.

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Speaker 1: It's a team that's under five, a game under five

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Speaker 1: or something, no position to be picky. Man, A win

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Speaker 1: is a win. We're starting to get guys back at least.

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Speaker 1: I thought the wing rotation is a lot better. I

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Speaker 1: would still like to see Dwight Howard play the backup

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Speaker 1: center role, especially with a guy like nas Ree just

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Speaker 1: killing us. I would like the rotation to be a

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Speaker 1: little less rigid, but again that's kind of nitpicking. Um.

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Speaker 1: I feel like they're going to the small ball thing

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Speaker 1: and going to try to make it work. I thought

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Speaker 1: Russell was really bad in the first half. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot better than the second half. You have five three

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Speaker 1: point attempts in the first half, it was over five,

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Speaker 1: didn't take one in the second half. Um, I think

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Speaker 1: only two turn I think he had nine turnovers on

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Speaker 1: the game or something, but I think only like two

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Speaker 1: or three were in the second half. So he did

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Speaker 1: pick his spot a little bit better. And Lebron just

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Speaker 1: continues to be incredible. He didn't score thirty tonight, ending

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Speaker 1: his seventh straight I believe it, seven straight thirty point games. Um.

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Speaker 1: He ended that street tonight, finishing I think with twenty

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Speaker 1: six or something. But he was incredible in the fourth

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Speaker 1: on defense as well. He looked tired to uh just

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Speaker 1: be having to cover all that ground at the five,

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Speaker 1: but had a lot of strip balls away. And then

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Speaker 1: tonight lake Mont Carmelo. We'll get into it, but those

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Speaker 1: guys kind of saved us. Every Bradley as well, who

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Speaker 1: I think we could talk about who's been kind of consistent,

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Speaker 1: who's been consistent, um, a little bit low key, but

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Speaker 1: has been consistently playing well. So that's kind of what

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Speaker 1: I thought from tonight. Man, two straight wins, uh, two

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Speaker 1: teams that aren't very good right Portland I think is

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Speaker 1: on a slide, even though they have a bunch of

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Speaker 1: players back. And then tonight Minnesota obviously missing call Anthony

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Speaker 1: Towns and D'Angelo Russell. But now you get a win.

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Speaker 1: I thought the So ESPN came out with the spread

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Speaker 1: today the Lakers were eight points favorites tonight, I thought

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Speaker 1: that was insanity, even with the people that even with

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Speaker 1: the people that Minnesota was getting back. Um, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: I thought was a good win. Man, we can we

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Speaker 1: can kind of pick pick up on this one, but

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Speaker 1: at least it's something to build off. T straight wins

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Speaker 1: is at least something to kind of get the thing

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Speaker 1: rolling here because we're getting guys bad again. You can't

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Speaker 1: ever take a game at face value. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: easy to look at it from the surface and be like, oh,

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Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns didn't play. You know, D'Angel Russell didn't play. No,

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Speaker 1: that was a big athletic basketball team that has seen

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Speaker 1: the Lakers play a couple of times this year. That

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Speaker 1: has made into adjustments. Like I said, the game resembled

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Speaker 1: the playoff game in a lot of ways. That's what

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Speaker 1: playoff basketball feels like when they take away everything that

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Speaker 1: you want to do and force you to adapt. And

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Speaker 1: that's important because you know, we look at these games recently,

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Speaker 1: like beating the heck out of Portland's two nights ago

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Speaker 1: or winning that game in Houston, like that game important,

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Speaker 1: that's not real basketball. Did you see some of the

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Speaker 1: defensive breakdowns that Portland was having in that game. That's

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Speaker 1: not what playoff defenses look like. So as much, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they were awful. So as much as it feels good,

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Speaker 1: as much as it's exciting and fun to watch, and

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Speaker 1: you're watching Lebron dunk on everybody, and yeah, that's fun

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Speaker 1: and that's cool, but that doesn't translate to what they

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Speaker 1: need in order to succeed when they get to the

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Speaker 1: end of the season, when they're playing against playoff quality

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Speaker 1: teams time after time, when they can make adjustments. And

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Speaker 1: what you saw tonight was a playoff type of defensive strategy.

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Speaker 1: And again, I know that seems laughable to say about

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Speaker 1: that specific team, but watch the games. If you watch

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Speaker 1: the games and you see what they're doing, the type

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Speaker 1: of athletes they have on the floor, the way their

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Speaker 1: help defense was set up, the way they were packing

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Speaker 1: the paint, that's what playoff basketball looks like. And you

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Speaker 1: know what happens in situations like that, You have to adapt,

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Speaker 1: and I thought, you know, some guys didn't do a

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Speaker 1: good job of that, Like Russ really struggled with it tonight.

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Speaker 1: You could tell he just didn't really understand when he

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Speaker 1: would get into the paint what to do because they

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Speaker 1: were taking away his easy reads. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: as the game progressed, you saw Lebron kind of make adjustments,

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Speaker 1: right because they're at the end of the game, especially

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Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter, he was magnificent defensively, and he

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Speaker 1: saw that even though Lebron wasn't able to score at

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Speaker 1: the rate that he's been scoring in recent weeks, he

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Speaker 1: impacted the game all over the floor as a defensive player.

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Speaker 1: And then, yeah, I don't know if you noticed this too.

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Speaker 1: We had a lot of hockey assists in that fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: plays where he would generate an advantage, collapse the defense,

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Speaker 1: kick out to a guy, but because Minnesota was so

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Speaker 1: good in their health rotation, they would take away that

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Speaker 1: first option with the rotation. With the rotation, but there'd

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Speaker 1: be swing swing or cutter here, cutter there, and they

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Speaker 1: get a really good shot. And that, to me is

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Speaker 1: the kind of stuff that does translate to the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: And in games like that against teams that are really

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Speaker 1: really good in their health defense and against teams that

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Speaker 1: take away what you like to do easily, that's more

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Speaker 1: supreme talent becomes such a factor, and that's why you

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Speaker 1: need guys like Anthony Davis on the floor with you

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Speaker 1: with Lebron to succeed in that environment. But I could

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Speaker 1: take this another direction, and this is where I get

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Speaker 1: concerned with Russ because one of the things I fear

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Speaker 1: with Russ is against teams that do this to him,

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Speaker 1: completely ignore him off the ball and then pack the

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Speaker 1: paint on him when he has the ball and try

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Speaker 1: to turn him into a jump shooter. It could look

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Speaker 1: like this a lot in that setting, and that concerns

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Speaker 1: me and I'd like to see you know, he used

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Speaker 1: to watch some Avery Bradley tape and look at the

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Speaker 1: way that Avery Bradley is stayed a threat even when

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Speaker 1: he's not at the three point line. But you know,

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Speaker 1: so I look at it. There's pros and cons, and

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Speaker 1: you look at it and you say, Okay, they solved

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Speaker 1: the puzzle. Lebron played great, but I'm concerned about the

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Speaker 1: rust thing, and I'm I'm tonight. It was just another

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Speaker 1: example of how that fit gets clunky when you play

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Speaker 1: against teams that take away all of the easy things

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Speaker 1: that you like to do on the basketball court. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, Russ definitely struggled, and again I thought he

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Speaker 1: played a lot better um in the second half than

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Speaker 1: that first half. Rust to me, though, what he does

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Speaker 1: is he likes to pass to areas right instead of players,

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Speaker 1: So that's kind of what he does. He'll drive and

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Speaker 1: like look for the corner, look for the wing or

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Speaker 1: look for the top of the key, and when players

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Speaker 1: aren't there, that's when he gets in trouble. Right, he

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Speaker 1: gets in the air and he'll do passively like what

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Speaker 1: are you looking for? But I think that's where he's

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Speaker 1: going for And he's always going like a step faster

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Speaker 1: than I think what his body and his mind aren't

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Speaker 1: like connected in a way where he's going faster than

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Speaker 1: his mind lots to go, where his mind is going

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Speaker 1: faster than his body wants to go, and he's in

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Speaker 1: transition and players aren't catching up with him. But again,

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Speaker 1: second half, I thought it was a lot better. Was

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Speaker 1: seeing some stuff kind of progress now where he's become

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Speaker 1: a screener for for Lebron, or he's really the only

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Speaker 1: non shooter because since we've gone small full time, he's

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Speaker 1: pretty much the only non shooter on the floor, And

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Speaker 1: I like that th HD now comes in for him

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Speaker 1: as the first sub where again now th h T

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Speaker 1: is the only non shooter on the floor. But yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: then I've always said with with Russ and this is

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Speaker 1: something that we've talked about all season and we're probably

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Speaker 1: going to continue to talk about, like this is just

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Speaker 1: what you're gonna get when you up his ships like this,

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Speaker 1: like you have a d now off the floor, which

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Speaker 1: means he's the full second time offensive possession guy who's

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Speaker 1: taking up all these possessions, and your turnovers are going

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Speaker 1: to go up. Nine turnovers, of course is way too much,

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Speaker 1: but again, you're gonna put the ball in his hands

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Speaker 1: this much like that's what you're gonna get. You're just

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Speaker 1: gonna have him have super high turnover games. I think

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Speaker 1: it's great that they were able to win in a

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Speaker 1: game where he couldn't hit a shot at all, again

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Speaker 1: over five from three but didn't take one in the

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Speaker 1: second half. Those mid range full ups are what they are.

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Speaker 1: Hit a few of them him get a big one,

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Speaker 1: lad to get an an one and uh to me, like,

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Speaker 1: you can't temper down Russ. You just lower his uses

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Speaker 1: and possessions. And you talked about that's where Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: comes in. And I think that second unit is super

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Speaker 1: interesting too. We have like Russ Reeves, a Resa Mellow

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Speaker 1: and THHT and I think a d can kind of

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Speaker 1: subb in for Mellow or th HT whoever. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's an interesting second unit. There Reeves and Reeves

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Speaker 1: and a reason. I like that combination. But yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: that's just what you're gonna get with Russ right now.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have up and down games. I think he's,

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Speaker 1: you know, starting to find his rhythm a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: He's still getting into the basket a ton, even though

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Speaker 1: even if he's not finishing all that well and he's

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Speaker 1: getting to the line. He hit his free throws tonight.

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Speaker 1: To turnovers were too much, but again only like I

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Speaker 1: think two or three turnovers in the second half really

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Speaker 1: improved his game. Minnesota a team again that packs the paint.

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Speaker 1: They're super athletic. Vanderbilt as well. Um, Vanderbilt is a

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Speaker 1: guy who defends Lebron really well. I feel like, but yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: Russ is gonna be like this all season. We're just

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Speaker 1: kind to kind of live with that until a d

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Speaker 1: gets back. But I think having all our wings back

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Speaker 1: has really helped, especially helped him as well. But that's

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Speaker 1: where we gonna see it from now. I think it's

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Speaker 1: been interesting to see the way that Frank has stayed

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Speaker 1: away from Dwight with the second unit, because this is

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Speaker 1: something that I personally have disagreed with leading into this,

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Speaker 1: because Dwight is a quality NBA center, especially as a

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Speaker 1: bench center, and so it doesn't make sense to leave

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Speaker 1: a quality NBA player on the bench when as a

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Speaker 1: team you've kind of struggled with talent throughout the season.

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Speaker 1: But I think there's an interesting strategy that Frank is

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Speaker 1: going with there. I think he's leaning into this five

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Speaker 1: out concept and trying to make it so that all

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Speaker 1: of his lineups are playing that style and so that

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Speaker 1: they can get good at it. Now, there's a flip

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Speaker 1: side to that, like versatility is part of the game.

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Speaker 1: You'd like to have an opportunity to change your game

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Speaker 1: plan if something is not working, But then you can

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Speaker 1: look at it from the other side and look at

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Speaker 1: the end of the game, they ended up taking nas

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Speaker 1: Read out, So as much as nos Read was punishing

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Speaker 1: them in those smaller lineups, they went away from him late.

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Speaker 1: It was like it was waiting to see who would blink,

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Speaker 1: and the Timberwolves blinked first, if that makes sense. They

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Speaker 1: came down to our style and played five out at

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Speaker 1: the end. And you know, early on in the game,

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Speaker 1: you know that tug of war was happening, and Frank

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Speaker 1: did not blink. And I think part of the reason

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Speaker 1: why what I thought was interesting, especially as we got

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Speaker 1: to the fourth quarter. I thought we were a bad

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Speaker 1: help team to start this game. There were a lot

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Speaker 1: of plays where we could give up dribble penetration or

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Speaker 1: a cunt or something and there would either be no

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Speaker 1: help at all, or if the first helper would come over,

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Speaker 1: we'd do a really poor job of helping the helper

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Speaker 1: and then everyone would be kind of standing around staring

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Speaker 1: at each other. And they really they really turned that

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Speaker 1: up in that fourth quarter to take away all of

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Speaker 1: those easy reads that that Minnesota was attacking early in

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Speaker 1: the game. And that was where, you know, I saw

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Speaker 1: a lot of people on Twitter because I'm kind of

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Speaker 1: coming around to this five out concept as you know,

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Speaker 1: just from you know, following the show. But like I

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Speaker 1: thought it was I thought it was really interesting to

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Speaker 1: see as that game progressed, people Laker fans getting a

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Speaker 1: little upset that Dwight wasn't out there because they don't

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Speaker 1: see the overall picture. They just see one thing. They'll

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Speaker 1: see an offensive rebound put back, or they'll see Nasri

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Speaker 1: doing a power dribble into a guard in him bouncing

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Speaker 1: off and laying the ball up and they think, oh,

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Speaker 1: we're getting killed by size, but they don't see all

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Speaker 1: of the other benefits that come from being small. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, if a team like Minnesota is utterly packing

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Speaker 1: the pain and completely ignoring Russell Westbrook, having Dwhite out

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Speaker 1: there in that lineup only compounds that problem. So even

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Speaker 1: if you do keep nas Read off the glass, even

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Speaker 1: if you do secure a few more defensive rebounds, you

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Speaker 1: suffer in a lot of the other areas of the game.

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Speaker 1: And so that that's what I thought was really interesting

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Speaker 1: about that idea ideology is when you go small, you

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Speaker 1: understand that you're giving up something to get something. And

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Speaker 1: I'm coming around to that ideology. And I was impressed

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Speaker 1: by Frank tonight because he had an easy trigger he

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Speaker 1: could pull at any point in that game. He could

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Speaker 1: have gone to Dwight, put him on nas Read and

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Speaker 1: tried to fight him off the glass a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: But he's stuck with the game plan. And at the

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Speaker 1: end of that game, you had two teams playing five out,

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Speaker 1: nas Read on the bench, and one of the teams

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Speaker 1: playing five out had Lebron freaking James at the top

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Speaker 1: of the key, calling for screens from guards and making

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Speaker 1: reads and and and generating quality shots, while on the

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Speaker 1: other end, you had lesser basketball players trying to do

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Speaker 1: the same thing. So I think I think it's interesting

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Speaker 1: to see where that that direction, that the direction this

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Speaker 1: takes the team moving forward, and especially with Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: coming back kind of you know, I've seen a couple

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Speaker 1: of people say this, like, that's why it's so important

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Speaker 1: when Anthony Davis comes back, that we don't just start

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Speaker 1: force feeding him in the post NonStop, because we need

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Speaker 1: to try to maintain this style of play, almost using

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis as a wing, you know that, and posting

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Speaker 1: him when it makes sense, but not getting out of

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Speaker 1: this style of basketball, because I am a believer in

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Speaker 1: this style, and I think it could work, especially now

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Speaker 1: that we have some of our wings back, because it's

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Speaker 1: easy to look at the schedule and say, Okay, you

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Speaker 1: played Portland's, Okay, you played Minnesota without their you know,

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Speaker 1: two of their better three players. But the flip side

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Speaker 1: of that is we also got Trevor Rees back and

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Speaker 1: Austin Reaves back, and we're much more functional small ball

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Speaker 1: basketball team now because we have more wings. So I'm

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Speaker 1: curious to see over the next few weeks if this

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Speaker 1: translates to wins against better teams. That will be a

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Speaker 1: good indicator of whether or not the style will work.

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Speaker 1: Um moving forward with me, he was coming back. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And I think the Dwight thing is super interesting because

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Speaker 1: obviously they lean fully into the small ball, and you'd

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Speaker 1: rather have it be this way right, rather than be

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Speaker 1: fully into the small ball. And maybe they don't, or

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Speaker 1: they do go into a few bigs rather than on

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Speaker 1: their way around that. It was when we started the season,

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Speaker 1: when we were starting with two bigs. The Dwight thing

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Speaker 1: to me is only I would like him out there

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Speaker 1: just when it's like Carmelo at the five and we're

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Speaker 1: kind of filling out Carmelo with Stanley Johnson or Carmelo

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Speaker 1: with Trevor Reza. Trevor's only played twelve minutes tonight, Carmelo

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Speaker 1: getting hit a bunch of huge shots. I still think

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Speaker 1: thirty minutes though it's too much for him, but I

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Speaker 1: just don't think he doesn't have it doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: be as rigid. I think Dwight can still play ten

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Speaker 1: to twelve minutes just to give them a break, because

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Speaker 1: you can tell having Lebron be the guy who has

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Speaker 1: to pick up nas Read full time and then we've

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Speaker 1: gone into the you know how it's easier for him

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Speaker 1: to play more physical rather than being on the perimeter.

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Speaker 1: All that's true, he still look kind of tired to

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Speaker 1: me at the end there. You could see him kind

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Speaker 1: of hands on his knees. Having to be the guy

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Speaker 1: who rotates every time, also be the physical matchup guy

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Speaker 1: who wins the physical battles right on the boards, have

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Speaker 1: to box out nas Read. All that stuff is tough

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Speaker 1: for him to do, especially when he's playing forty minutes tonight,

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Speaker 1: forty minutes like he did tonight. And that's where I

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Speaker 1: think just sprinkling in Dwight for a little bit, let

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Speaker 1: him kind of battle, let him kind of battle, uh windows,

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Speaker 1: physical battles against guys Black Nosfreed, who was having a

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Speaker 1: career game. He had like twenty one and seven. I think,

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it was the middle of the

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Speaker 1: third or by halftime something like that. He was having

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Speaker 1: a crazy battle. They were winning the points in opinion

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Speaker 1: as well, fifty two to thirty eight or fifty two

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Speaker 1: to twenty eight at one point. That's the only thing

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Speaker 1: I would like to see Dwight put a little bit.

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Speaker 1: But I understand it, Like, again, this is nitpicking to me.

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Speaker 1: They've gone all into the small ball. I think once

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Speaker 1: the reasons minutes come up a little bit, I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, twelve minutes because he was out for COVID,

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Speaker 1: so maybe that's maybe that's why they're still kind of

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Speaker 1: uh sprinkling his minutes down for now. But I just

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Speaker 1: would like to see Dwight maybe play a little bit.

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Speaker 1: But you're right leaning all the way into the small ball.

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Speaker 1: I think it's great. I think it's helped the offense

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Speaker 1: as well. We have a bunch of shooters out there,

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Speaker 1: we're really only playing like one non shooter at the time.

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Speaker 1: I've talked about Russ is the nonshooter really in the

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Speaker 1: starting lineup, and then you have THHC coming in for

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Speaker 1: him as a non shooter there, and then I think

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Speaker 1: Dwight and kind of come in for maybe tich He

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Speaker 1: or something, just keeping that as one non shooter on

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Speaker 1: the floor. But yeah, they've leave it to it. I

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Speaker 1: love the randomly they went to both HD at Russ

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Speaker 1: at the same time in the middle of the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter in the offense completely fell apart almost immediately right right.

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Speaker 1: But I like him not playing with all three right,

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Speaker 1: all three of Lebron. Uh, well it's not Lebron rust

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Speaker 1: uh and t HD on the floor. I think that

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Speaker 1: does help Tylon and Taylan still kind of in his head.

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Speaker 1: I was happy he was able to see a step

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Speaker 1: back jumper go. He get some nice defensive plays as

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Speaker 1: well in the fourth. I think he'll eventually get his

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Speaker 1: rhythm going. But yeah, man, that's where I'm at with

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Speaker 1: the Dwight thing. I would like him to play at

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Speaker 1: least like maybe if it's not like it doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to play twenty minutes of game, ten minutes a game,

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Speaker 1: just to give a little bit break on the physical

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Speaker 1: battle rare Carmelo or Lebron don't have to be the

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Speaker 1: only one down there. But you know, going to small ball,

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Speaker 1: I think it's great. I think it's something we're gonna

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Speaker 1: do until a d gets back in February. Yeah. Again,

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Speaker 1: there's a good argument for it. It's the same argument

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Speaker 1: I've been making over the course of the last couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks on here. I just I'm coming around to

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Speaker 1: see what Frank's ideology is. You can see how if

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Speaker 1: you played five out for forty eight minutes, but then

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Speaker 1: randomly turned eight of those minutes into Dwight Howard springing

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Speaker 1: roll basketball with you know, totally different vibe guy in

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Speaker 1: the dunker spot, that kind of thing that you can

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Speaker 1: see how that could disrupt the rhythm and flow of

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Speaker 1: a five out attack over the course of the game.

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Speaker 1: So I all I'm saying is because I tend to

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Speaker 1: be with you, especially since I would imagine that you'll

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Speaker 1: replicate some of the defensive schemes that you'll use with

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Speaker 1: a D with Dwight, so you want to continue to

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Speaker 1: practice those, So I get it. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: I see where Frank is coming from, so that that's

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Speaker 1: kind of my perspective with it. I think th HD

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Speaker 1: s trending in the right direction. I thought you saw

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Speaker 1: a different vibe out of him in terms of his

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Speaker 1: confidence tonight. You know, we talked a lot about how

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Speaker 1: in recent weeks he hasn't been trying to bully people

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Speaker 1: as often as he used to, and early in the

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Speaker 1: end just just drove I can't remember who was guarding him,

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Speaker 1: and just drove it in cave someone's chest in and

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Speaker 1: it had that little extension right handed layup. He has

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Speaker 1: had quite a few defensive moments in recent games as well.

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Speaker 1: I'm coming around on the th HT thing now that

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Speaker 1: he's back in the lineup and he's not dealing with

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Speaker 1: the COVID has mentioned. He's getting his rhythm back, he's

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Speaker 1: getting his legs back. The jump shot, I mean, it

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Speaker 1: is what it is at this point. He's going to

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Speaker 1: to to make some eventually. Um, he's not this bad

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Speaker 1: of a shooter, but it could forever be a problem

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Speaker 1: again with these kind of guys, with t h T

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Speaker 1: and Russ, there's a fine line between what will work

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Speaker 1: on the day to day basis of the regular season

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Speaker 1: and how this could change come playoff time. And I

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Speaker 1: do think it's a legitimate concern and it's something to

430
00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,639
Speaker 1: keep in mind, Like what works against the Houston's and

431
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,840
Speaker 1: the Portland's of the world doesn't necessarily work against teams

432
00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,320
Speaker 1: that are game planning for you, that have seen you

433
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,600
Speaker 1: multiple times, that have seen what makes you comfortable. Like

434
00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:47,840
Speaker 1: you said earlier, Russ likes to pass the spaces. That's

435
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,440
Speaker 1: exactly what something that's exactly the type of thing that

436
00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,439
Speaker 1: can be game planned for. There's a reason why Russ

437
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,480
Speaker 1: likes to pass to the week side corner or the

438
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:57,680
Speaker 1: strong side corner when he's driving to the basket. It's

439
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,040
Speaker 1: because it's the easiest past to make when you have

440
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,280
Speaker 1: had his team going to the rim, It's very difficult

441
00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,960
Speaker 1: to make passes across your body. So as a defense,

442
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:06,880
Speaker 1: if you can game plan for that and you can

443
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,800
Speaker 1: pre rotate to the corners, that's gonna take away. He's

444
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,880
Speaker 1: easy to read and put Russ in a position where

445
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,040
Speaker 1: he's throwing the ball over the court and turning the

446
00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:16,240
Speaker 1: ball over. So those are the kinds of things that

447
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,760
Speaker 1: are just are worth keeping an eye on as far

448
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,720
Speaker 1: as things that could rear their ugly head at some

449
00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:26,240
Speaker 1: point in the future this season. But I wanted to

450
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,479
Speaker 1: talk about Malik Monk for a second because he has

451
00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:35,240
Speaker 1: become he started tonight right, I wasn't hallucinating that, so okay,

452
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,879
Speaker 1: So he uh, in a weird way, he's become our

453
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,960
Speaker 1: green light guy off the bench as a guy that

454
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:43,520
Speaker 1: I mean, Melo kind of has a green light too,

455
00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:45,320
Speaker 1: but it's more of like in a closeout attacking kind

456
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,000
Speaker 1: of way, like we give him the green light on

457
00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:49,680
Speaker 1: catch and shoot situations. But both Malik Monk is playing

458
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,320
Speaker 1: with a ton of confidence right now, and even when

459
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: he's taken some of these tougher step back shots and

460
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: things along those lines. I just feel like they're going

461
00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:01,280
Speaker 1: in and so especially getting in with Frank back from

462
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,200
Speaker 1: COVID and getting him back on the right track defensively,

463
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,840
Speaker 1: I think he's trending in a way that really makes

464
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,520
Speaker 1: me excited from and he's another guy who's really thriving

465
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,359
Speaker 1: in this five out attack too. By the way. It

466
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,520
Speaker 1: just consistently driving and kicking and creating an advantage or

467
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 1: attacking when he already has an advantage. But I'm really

468
00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:20,200
Speaker 1: excited about how good the week looks, and I think

469
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:25,440
Speaker 1: it is a potential ceiling Razor. Yeah, for sure. Him

470
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: and Lebron definitely have a chemistry that just pops off

471
00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,159
Speaker 1: the screen right, and that's been pretty much since the

472
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,639
Speaker 1: season started. I think we really missed him when he

473
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,720
Speaker 1: was out. I believe in COVID protocols as well. Him

474
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 1: and Reeves together. I like them as well. Just both

475
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,320
Speaker 1: guys who cut really nicely, and there were kind of

476
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,400
Speaker 1: two guys that looks like they were born to play

477
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 1: next to Lebron James. Just guys you know how to cut,

478
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,439
Speaker 1: you know how to relocate on threes as well. I

479
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,359
Speaker 1: feel like when he gets because he when he takes

480
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:51,120
Speaker 1: when he like takes his spot up threes, he gets

481
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 1: into a dip before he shoot him. Every time he

482
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 1: gets into that, I feel like the shots going in.

483
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,440
Speaker 1: You're right, he has a freedom, he has a green light.

484
00:20:57,720 --> 00:20:59,359
Speaker 1: He's a guy who knows who he is, right like,

485
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,560
Speaker 1: he knows exactly what he does. He's there to score.

486
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: There's no you know, there's no qualms about what he's

487
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: gonna do on the floor. He's not really looking to

488
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 1: create as well. He's just going to the basket. He

489
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 1: has all these moves at the rim too, but his

490
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,680
Speaker 1: jumper is just on. I think he started like six

491
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 1: for six tonight or something like that. But he looks good,

492
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,160
Speaker 1: looks in the rhythm, looks confident as well. It doesn't

493
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,080
Speaker 1: look you know, shy ors here at the moment at all.

494
00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,159
Speaker 1: Um even a big time situations has big shots for

495
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:23,359
Speaker 1: this team. He's been awesome. Man, he's been starting. I

496
00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:25,879
Speaker 1: think it's been great. I think putting him in for

497
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,280
Speaker 1: th h T and the starters has been really nice.

498
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:30,919
Speaker 1: Just it just gives the offense a little bit more flow.

499
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,920
Speaker 1: Has has enough ball handling as well, can attack close

500
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,960
Speaker 1: out He's just been really good at their stunning run

501
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,560
Speaker 1: actions for him as well, comes off screens. He's aggressive

502
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 1: off screens, So he's been just good man. I love

503
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: the chemistry him and Lebron have. I think human reeves

504
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:45,959
Speaker 1: like I talked about, are really interesting combination. Even if

505
00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 1: those two don't start when the team is fully healthy.

506
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,400
Speaker 1: I think off the bench too, just two guys who

507
00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,120
Speaker 1: know how to play, who cut really nice, to relocate

508
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,360
Speaker 1: really nicely all over the floor, just can play off

509
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: each other. But he's been great, man, He's been a savior.

510
00:21:57,560 --> 00:21:59,399
Speaker 1: Him and Melow as well. Mellow hit a bunch of

511
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 1: big leak as well, hit a big three tonight to

512
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,320
Speaker 1: get to get us a lead, I believe. But yeah,

513
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,680
Speaker 1: it was good, and him and Lebron are definitely kind

514
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:08,640
Speaker 1: of growing, and we're starting to see a lot more

515
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,720
Speaker 1: like Malik screening for Lebron as well. Lee goes in

516
00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 1: the short role and he's able to score off that.

517
00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:16,080
Speaker 1: Those two really like to play with each other, it

518
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,280
Speaker 1: looks like. And he's been good. Yeah. The last guy

519
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:20,600
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about that I had on my

520
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:23,560
Speaker 1: list was Stanley Johnson because I think he presents an

521
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 1: interesting alternative to Carmelo, and I know they're totally different archetypes,

522
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,720
Speaker 1: so I get that, but just the type of damage

523
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,679
Speaker 1: that he can cause with his eyes and athleticism, and

524
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,360
Speaker 1: we we haven't really had a chance to see him

525
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:38,879
Speaker 1: aside from the Christmas Day game. Get to do it

526
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,919
Speaker 1: in crunch time, where where I think that kind of

527
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,160
Speaker 1: thing can be very valuable because of how how physical

528
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,359
Speaker 1: the refs allowed the games be played at that point.

529
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,439
Speaker 1: Like that dude just makes plays like they're in that

530
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 1: first quarter. There was just he had a big offensive

531
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,240
Speaker 1: rebound that led to Lebron's first three. There was a

532
00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 1: play where Malik Monk got to run out dunk where

533
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,439
Speaker 1: Stanley John some kind of trapped screen and roll with

534
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards on the opposite wing and just jumped and

535
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,320
Speaker 1: put some ball pressure as Anthony Edwards was throwing the

536
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,679
Speaker 1: cross court pass, so it forced Anthony Edwards thrown higher

537
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,280
Speaker 1: in the air and Nasri fumbled the pass and Lickmunk

538
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 1: got a dunk. And then he had another play that

539
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 1: led to a Lebron run out where he got to

540
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 1: steal on the other wing. Like he just is so

541
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:27,399
Speaker 1: physically gifted and specifically in environments where physicality is allowed,

542
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,200
Speaker 1: that becomes so much more valuable. And mellow Melos shot

543
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,479
Speaker 1: the ball well over the last couple of games, but

544
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 1: over the course of the last month he hasn't shot

545
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,640
Speaker 1: the ball well. And I think it's an interesting thing

546
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:39,600
Speaker 1: to and if we talked about it earlier, you did

547
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 1: in relation to his minutes and whether or not those

548
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,880
Speaker 1: two things are directly related, and I'm pretty sure they are,

549
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:51,200
Speaker 1: but that it's an interesting idea to consider potentially going

550
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,879
Speaker 1: with someone like Stanley a little bit more and someone

551
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,880
Speaker 1: like Carmelo a little bit less, understanding that it does

552
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,560
Speaker 1: impact your offense slightly, but he does a lot of

553
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,639
Speaker 1: impact plays, like Stanley Johnson was over three tonight, so

554
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 1: it's not like he was impacting the game offensively, but

555
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 1: he directly led to offense for us with plays he

556
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: was making with the size and athleticism. And to your point,

557
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: to take a little bit more off on Carmelo's plate,

558
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: maybe he goes back to shooting the way he did

559
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: to start the season, and that, you know, carries a

560
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 1: certain amount of value there. But I I'd like to

561
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,439
Speaker 1: see just a little bit more Stanley and I there

562
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 1: was that weird comment from Frank Vogel before last night's

563
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: or before the Portland's game on Ear's Eve, where he

564
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 1: basically was like, all, we're gonna evaluate him for the

565
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 1: entirety of the ten days and then we'll make the decision.

566
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,359
Speaker 1: And you know, Frank is very keep things to the chest.

567
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 1: That's very his ideology. He's he's very very professional in

568
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: that way, and I respect that. But I'm hoping that

569
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,479
Speaker 1: they see what I see and what all of you

570
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,440
Speaker 1: guys see with Stanley because he's like like a drink

571
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,119
Speaker 1: of water in the middle of the desert. He's something

572
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:59,680
Speaker 1: this team has desperately needed um and lacked this entire season,

573
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,600
Speaker 1: and I'm hoping that he'll stick around and the big role. Yeah,

574
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 1: I feel like the Rondo you know, the Rondo trade

575
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 1: that I don't think he's officially but that kind of

576
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 1: uh stood out to me as they're gonna keep Stanley

577
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,120
Speaker 1: Johnson and Darren Collinson. I think this was the last

578
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 1: day of his ten day and he was inactive for

579
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: the last two games, so that can kind of tell

580
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:19,879
Speaker 1: you where this is going. But yeah, Stanley Johnson started tonight.

581
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,359
Speaker 1: I mean players don't usually go from starting to our cut,

582
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 1: So like I think he's gonna stay on the team.

583
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,360
Speaker 1: He's been great, big physical wing, right, big defensive wing.

584
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 1: Just feels a need that this that this team desperately

585
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,399
Speaker 1: needed on the defensive ent as well. And he just

586
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 1: plays super hard falls minutes. And that's a skill to me.

587
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: I think, you know, playing hard is just seemed like

588
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:40,880
Speaker 1: as something that every player can do, and I don't.

589
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: I don't really believe in that. I think guys who

590
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 1: play super hard all the time, that's a skill to me.

591
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson is on this team because of his offensive deficiencies.

592
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 1: But I think you're seeing players all around the league

593
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,239
Speaker 1: that are able to make an impact that are you know,

594
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 1: offensive liabilities, even at times like GP two as well

595
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,040
Speaker 1: as on the Warriors. You're seeing a lot of teams

596
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: like that kind of pick up where you have stars

597
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,359
Speaker 1: who can handle the offensive load and you have guys

598
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:05,719
Speaker 1: like Stanley Johnson who can you know, just screen and

599
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 1: cut and uh he takes he takes open shots. But

600
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 1: I think, which I think is important, he's not a

601
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: guy that passes up shots. Even if he's not gonna

602
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 1: hit at a high percentage, he's at least shootsing up

603
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 1: to where he's respected and he can attack closeouts and

604
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,879
Speaker 1: we saw a little bit of this during his tenure.

605
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: He attacks clothes outs, he can find guys. He has

606
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: a little bit of a passing skill as well. He

607
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 1: has enough ball handling to where like in that starting lineup,

608
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:28,760
Speaker 1: you can rotate the ball to him and he can

609
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: attack off the bounce or even take that spot up three.

610
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 1: But he's been good man, he's been a breath of

611
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 1: fresh shair, like you talked about, guy who just plays

612
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,679
Speaker 1: hard and he just looks huge on the floor. Him

613
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 1: Lebron stands stand next to each other and they almost

614
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 1: look like like size. And having those two guys where

615
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,439
Speaker 1: you can switch actions, he's pretty much the power forward

616
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup. We're playing him as pretty much

617
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 1: the backup five next to Melow. Those two kind of

618
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,160
Speaker 1: switch off, switch off and on and again. I would

619
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 1: like Dwight to kind of fill in a little bit

620
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:57,959
Speaker 1: on those lineus. But he's been good man. He's been

621
00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,640
Speaker 1: a really nice fit on this team, and I think

622
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:01,879
Speaker 1: he's going to stay for a while. Now. Um I

623
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 1: might ask you, do you think Darren Colinson stage after

624
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 1: after these ten days, do you think he's gonna stay

625
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:11,359
Speaker 1: on the roster. I doubt it, just simply because of

626
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: what we know about the Lakers and the way they

627
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: manage their money. But now that Rondo's gone, I'd certainly

628
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 1: like for them to keep him at least until they

629
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 1: need someone else. But you know, us Laker fans, we

630
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 1: think about this in a in a way that doesn't

631
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: factor in what the ownership group is thinking. I think

632
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,440
Speaker 1: if I think if this was you know, Steve Ballmer,

633
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: I think he'd be keeping Callison in a heartbeat. But

634
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 1: it's it's the Lakers, and it's Junie Buss and I

635
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 1: my guess is that he'll end up being like at

636
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:42,120
Speaker 1: the end of the the contract. What do you think? Yeah,

637
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:45,200
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I'm really not sure, because I do think

638
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan is probably gone sooner than later, just the

639
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 1: way it's kind of matched up here. He's not getting

640
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 1: any minutes, and we haven't We've gone to no bigs,

641
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: and I think the next big is Dwight Howard, so

642
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 1: I think he's gone. I would like to see Darren

643
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,239
Speaker 1: Colinson kind of get more than ten days. I think

644
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 1: when you're off for three years, like ten days to

645
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,919
Speaker 1: kind of get your rhythm, to get back to you

646
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:09,399
Speaker 1: know basketball shape, a regular shape brother alone basketball NBA shape.

647
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,399
Speaker 1: I think that takes time, like we talked about, and

648
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,160
Speaker 1: I think he has enough basketball like you to where

649
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,720
Speaker 1: he's made somewhat of impact. His jumper hasn't been there.

650
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,119
Speaker 1: Just a smart, uh, grown up basketball player. I like

651
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,240
Speaker 1: like the term we hear from Wayne Allington as well.

652
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,359
Speaker 1: I think that kind of fits up Darren Coulson just

653
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:26,919
Speaker 1: in control point guard. But you know, his time might

654
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:28,919
Speaker 1: be up. I just would like to see it a

655
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 1: little bit longer, at least until Kendrick Nunne at least

656
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,359
Speaker 1: gets back. And we really had no news on Kendrick Gunne,

657
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 1: so I would like to have at least one more

658
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,280
Speaker 1: just you know, solid backup point guard where he can

659
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: just go on the floor and kind of control things.

660
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: But yeah, his time might be up. But yeah, Stanley

661
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,080
Speaker 1: Johnson I think isn't going anywhere. I don't think Avery

662
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: Bradley is going anywhere either. I think the Lakers have

663
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: until like until a couple more days to decide whether

664
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 1: his contract is guaranteed for a full year. I think

665
00:28:54,760 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: that is already done again. He's starting as well, So yeah,

666
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: I think the Spectrum said he's should from three since

667
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: December two or something. Um, and he's missed a few

668
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 1: games within that. But yeah, he's been solid, plays his role,

669
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: plays hard, hits his open threes. I don't know what

670
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,320
Speaker 1: more you can ask. Has been a good cutter as

671
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 1: well on this team, so I think he gets guaranteed

672
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 1: as well. Um, but yeah, I think Stanley Johnson and

673
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,120
Speaker 1: Enable badly as well. Stay on the team. Jarren Coulston,

674
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 1: We'll see you for sure. So the I shared a

675
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: tweet in the in the space, you guys should be

676
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 1: able to look at it if I did it right,

677
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 1: But who knows. Spaces can be a little jankie sometimes.

678
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 1: But Frank Vogel, this is from Lakers Nation. Frank Vogel

679
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 1: says he had to resist the urge to go big

680
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: when they were getting killed on the glass. He feels

681
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves are a great perimeter crashing team, so going

682
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,520
Speaker 1: with a bigger lineup would it have changed much? Um?

683
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: Super interesting because that's exactly what we were talking about

684
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,480
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the pod, and this idea that

685
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 1: these teams come into these battles with differing styles and

686
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,720
Speaker 1: it's kind of about who blinks first. And this is

687
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 1: really interesting when it when it comes playoff time, because

688
00:29:58,280 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 1: you gotta keep in mind when you have two teams

689
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 1: coming to play each other, especially when they play each

690
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 1: other multiple times, each of them have a point of advantage.

691
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: This is something you and I talked a lot about

692
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 1: in the season, like, when you're looking at a team

693
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 1: and playing them seven times, what are the clear and

694
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: distinct advantages you have? And obviously Lebron and Anthony Davis

695
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 1: present two massive advantages that the Lakers have going into

696
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: playoff series. Is and that's what we always used to

697
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 1: derive confidence in the team and their ability to beat

698
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: somebody four times out of seven is there's no adjustment

699
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: for the fact that Lebron is probably a hell of

700
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 1: a lot better than your small forward or your power forward,

701
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis is a hell of a lot better

702
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,400
Speaker 1: than your big man. And and so what's interesting is

703
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: you get into these situations. You know, this happened a

704
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:42,880
Speaker 1: lot at the beginning of the year, especially when we

705
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: go big, and it's like, Okay, we have our advantage, right,

706
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: We're huge all over the place. But they have their advantage.

707
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: They're smaller and they're quicker. But each team is giving

708
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: up something, and both coaching stabs are looking at the

709
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: game and they're like, man, this is frustrating. We keep

710
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 1: giving up this, or this is frustrating, we keep giving

711
00:30:58,640 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 1: up that. But at the same time, they have to

712
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: stink advantages from those same lineups, and it's all about

713
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: who blinks first, because whoever blinks first the other team

714
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: is going to be the team that controls the style

715
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: of the game. And you saw that tonight. The Lakers

716
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: stayed small when Minnesota played big for much of the night,

717
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,960
Speaker 1: and then Minnesota blinked and they went small, and then

718
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: we got to play our style. And even though we're

719
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 1: not perfect at this style yet and we're probably far

720
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: from what we're going to be at the end of

721
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: the season, it's cool to see that Frank is committed

722
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: to it enough to look at all the bad things

723
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 1: that come with that style but appreciate the good things

724
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: that come with the style and stick with it so

725
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: that we can use that to our advantage in specific matchups.

726
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: And so I thought I thought that quote was interesting.

727
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: It means that what we're seeing is what Frank is seeing,

728
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: and I think I think it's an interesting thing to

729
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 1: watch moving forward. Yeah, and just adding on to that,

730
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: Kyle Doon, who also um covers the Lakers. Uh. He

731
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 1: had a quote today from Frank as well on the

732
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 1: small bond and staying staying small, not playing Dwight Howard. Uh.

733
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: He said, the Lakers want to adapt to competing on

734
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 1: the boards in their small units. If we're gonna explore

735
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 1: this style player, we're gonna have to learn how to

736
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 1: deal with this. So again, what you talked about as

737
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 1: well staying small, you gotta learn how to rebound. I

738
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 1: guess without bigs on the floor wanting the guards to

739
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: come crash. I thought a lot of times as well

740
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: tonight our guards kind of stayed out on the perimeter,

741
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: leaving you know, lebron Or or Carmelo or whatever to

742
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,880
Speaker 1: battle naz Reid whoever was going down, who was crashing

743
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,280
Speaker 1: to get offensive rebounds. He talked about in Minnesota's the

744
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 1: athletic you know rebounding team Patrick Beverley as well as

745
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 1: a guy who crashed his offensive rebounds. Vanderbil I talked

746
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 1: about he's an athletic big wing. Uh and the nozz

747
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,200
Speaker 1: Red as well as the center for them did a

748
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 1: really nice job crashing down. So I'm with Frank there again,

749
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: I don't think it has to be so rigid, but

750
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 1: I understand what he's going for. He's trying to If

751
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: they're gonna lean into small ball, they're gonna lean into

752
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 1: it all the way, right, And I think that's the

753
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 1: correct identity of this team, even though I think we

754
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 1: can kind of fill out a little bit more with

755
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 1: a couple of bigs with just one big plane. But

756
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 1: I understand what he's going for, and it makes sense,

757
00:32:57,800 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 1: especially with a d out for so long, we have

758
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: to kind of stick to the style of play and

759
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: we have to see if it works against the better team.

760
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,200
Speaker 1: But I think getting our wings back is great. Having

761
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,000
Speaker 1: a Resa Reeves all in the rotation now, I think

762
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 1: in the reason only twelve minutes tonight, but I think

763
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,440
Speaker 1: that will pick up with his conditioning kind of coming

764
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 1: back from from the COVID protocols. But having our wings back,

765
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 1: it just looks so much better. Man, We're not just

766
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 1: playing these super small guards. Having a wing rotation has

767
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: been nice. Karl Mello played thirty minutes tonight, but you

768
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,600
Speaker 1: got to play next to other wings as Stanley Johnson

769
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: as well. It feels like we added three players to

770
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 1: the team. Honestly with with Stanley and the Resa coming back,

771
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,520
Speaker 1: and then Reeves as well, who we missed. Like, that's

772
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: three full rotation players that we've kind of added, and

773
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: it just looks a lot better. The rotation looks a

774
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: lot more clean. Minnesota had a couple of big runs tonight,

775
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 1: you expect that with how how we played, and Lebron

776
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,959
Speaker 1: again just played great in that fourth quarter defense as well.

777
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 1: But yeah, man's it looks like we're kind of hopefully

778
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 1: going in a better direction here. I think we have

779
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,959
Speaker 1: four more home games to kind of pick up some

780
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 1: steam in the standings. Well, you know, it's kind of

781
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 1: like we're in the old new season right Like we

782
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:05,360
Speaker 1: were starting the season with Kent Baysmore and DeAndre Jordan

783
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:07,240
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup. Those guys are both still on

784
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: the roster, but completely out of the rotation now and

785
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: and and we've added Stanley Johnson and Austin Reeves has

786
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:17,680
Speaker 1: come out of nowhere to be a bona fide rotation piece.

787
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,759
Speaker 1: You know, Avery Bradley was added literally on the last

788
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 1: day of training camp. So in a lot of ways,

789
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,680
Speaker 1: the team is completely different than what we expected. And

790
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,320
Speaker 1: now we're playing a completely different style than we expected.

791
00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 1: So a lot, a lot of the stuff that happened

792
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 1: early in the season now is utterly and completely irrelevant.

793
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:37,760
Speaker 1: And then I like that Frank used the word explore

794
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 1: because that's kind of what it is when you don't

795
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 1: have a training camp to implement a system and now

796
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 1: on the fly, in the middle of a pretty crazy

797
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 1: NBA schedule, like they just played their fourth game in

798
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 1: six nights, in the middle of this wild schedule, we're

799
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,400
Speaker 1: trying to learn to play a new a new style

800
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 1: of basketball. And so there's going like you said, there's

801
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 1: gonna be runs, there's gonna be stretches where it looks bad.

802
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 1: But the exciting part about that is that means that

803
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,399
Speaker 1: there's a lot more room for improvement. When you look

804
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,200
Speaker 1: at teams like Phoenix and teams like Utah who have

805
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:13,239
Speaker 1: been playing the same style for a while, what you

806
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 1: see right now is what you get. There's not an

807
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 1: extra gear that they can get to in the playoffs,

808
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: because what you're seeing right now is the peak. It's

809
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: the peak iteration of what they do on a basketball court.

810
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: What you're seeing from the Lakers right now is explore it.

811
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:28,360
Speaker 1: It's exploration. They're learning how to play a new style

812
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: with new players, And the exciting part is they're gonna

813
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: be playing, even when Anthony Davis comes back, a completely

814
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: different style of basketball than they did in previous years.

815
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 1: So even the Lakers in the playoffs that went to

816
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 1: primarily Anthony Davis at center, that style of basketball with

817
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 1: Lebron and Nady at the four and five is gonna

818
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: look very different than what we're gonna see this year

819
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,640
Speaker 1: with Lebron and Navy at the four and five when

820
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 1: we head into the postseason. So the exciting part there

821
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,440
Speaker 1: is there's just a ton of room for improvement. As

822
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 1: long as health remains solid, as as long as you know,

823
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: you don't see any unforeseen circumstances, and as long as

824
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,439
Speaker 1: the team kind of stays bought in, there's a very

825
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 1: good chance that they're gonna be a heck of a

826
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 1: lot better come April or May than they are now,

827
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,800
Speaker 1: which is not something that can be said about their

828
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 1: competitors in the West. And so that that that to

829
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: me is something to get really excited about and and

830
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,239
Speaker 1: it's cool to see them really really buy into that

831
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 1: identity shift so much so that in a game like tonight,

832
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 1: when it started to go south. They just stuck with it, Yeah,

833
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,400
Speaker 1: for sure, And to be fair like Phoenix, like I understand,

834
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,839
Speaker 1: they're probably not going to peak a lot higher than

835
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:37,680
Speaker 1: they are, but it's they're still at a very high

836
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: level that we have to at least still get to write.

837
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:41,719
Speaker 1: They're playing at a really high level. They execute really

838
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:43,880
Speaker 1: nice the Utah as well. They have some flaws that

839
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,120
Speaker 1: really show out in the postseason. But I think there's

840
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 1: still a really good team there. But when teams go small,

841
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,400
Speaker 1: obviously then they should. Yeah, and that's the hope at

842
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 1: least when a d comes back, he comes back to

843
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 1: a team that's kind of in rhythm, that's going in

844
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 1: an upward direction. Right. Hopefully, hopefully we can kind of

845
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,319
Speaker 1: move out of five hundred, out of the six h

846
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:03,680
Speaker 1: the seven spot, which I think is a plan. Maybe

847
00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 1: the four seed might be a little bit too high,

848
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 1: but I think there's still a chance they can get there,

849
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,759
Speaker 1: and that's the hope. I wonder if Adie comes back,

850
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: Lebron is still the center, I guess in a lot

851
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: of line up because I think that's something they've talked about,

852
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: which is something interesting and I think Vogel said the

853
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 1: other day as well, that you know, even when Adie

854
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: comes back, him and Lebron are going to be their

855
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,759
Speaker 1: primary centers and we'll see if they'll go pick out

856
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: another big But that's what it seems like, kids looking like.

857
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 1: That's what the roster's kind of geared towards. I think

858
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 1: the Stanley Johnson signing is a representation of things something

859
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 1: they obviously thought they needed on the team. And now

860
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:37,759
Speaker 1: we have a full We have a full rotation of

861
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,680
Speaker 1: wings now right we have the Johnson Orresa Reeves. I

862
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:43,279
Speaker 1: think that's a really good wing rotation to have, uh

863
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: and with Carmelo who can sprinkle in as well come

864
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,320
Speaker 1: playoff time. But that's the hope man. Hopefully when Adi

865
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,000
Speaker 1: gets back, this team is on a upward trajectory and

866
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunna if we can come back soon. Again, just

867
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:55,760
Speaker 1: no news on Kendrick nunn which is which is interesting.

868
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 1: Hopefully he's able to come back pretty soon because I

869
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,760
Speaker 1: think we need his play, especially at the guard spot,

870
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,959
Speaker 1: and we need a guard kind of score off screen

871
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
Speaker 1: of roles and stuff like that. But it's been nice, man,

872
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 1: Malik Monk has been saving us. Carmelo has hit some

873
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: big shots, every Badley has been consistent. We're getting stuff

874
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:11,600
Speaker 1: out of a roll guys Russ and Lebron. If they

875
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,719
Speaker 1: can continue to kind of build chemistry, we can go

876
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 1: into the playoffs with some positive energy with a d

877
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,800
Speaker 1: coming back as well. Yeah, Kendrick nun is going to

878
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: be a breath of fresh air to try to take

879
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:21,879
Speaker 1: the ball out of Russ his hands a little bit more.

880
00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: That's definitely something that excites me. You know, we talk

881
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,759
Speaker 1: a lot about Lebron's versatility on both ends of the

882
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:30,200
Speaker 1: floor and his ability to play multiple positions, but we

883
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,839
Speaker 1: don't give enough credit to Anthony Davis for being able

884
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,800
Speaker 1: to do the same thing defensively, Like how many centers

885
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,359
Speaker 1: could you be? Like, Hey, we want to make our

886
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,240
Speaker 1: power forward play all of our you know, back line

887
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,760
Speaker 1: drop coverage, you know, communication type roles on the defense,

888
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:45,720
Speaker 1: and we want you to go guard that, to guard

889
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,280
Speaker 1: over there, like Anthony Davis can do that. That's that's

890
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,839
Speaker 1: what makes him so devastating and in a weird way,

891
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 1: Like I said this to you, I think two games ago,

892
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: but the Lakers have kind of tripped and fallen into

893
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 1: modern basketball in a lot of ways by virtue of

894
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,840
Speaker 1: it was like Frank Vogel got dragged kicking and screaming

895
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 1: by positive COVID tests and pulled, you know, MCLs into

896
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:11,640
Speaker 1: playing a style of basketball that he never in a

897
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,600
Speaker 1: million years would have And it's kind of cool to

898
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: see that materialized. But Anthony Davis is going to be

899
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 1: an easy plug and play into that, and I think

900
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:22,560
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna work really well. But that's that's all

901
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:24,319
Speaker 1: I had for tonight, Rogers or anything else you had

902
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:26,520
Speaker 1: on your list that you wanted to touch. Well, just

903
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:28,799
Speaker 1: last thing on the thing you said where you said

904
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,000
Speaker 1: we kind of fell backwards into it. And I keep

905
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 1: bringing up the media the day thing, But I wonder,

906
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:36,000
Speaker 1: like the reason the injury is such an inflection point

907
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: on the season, right because that that's the injury that

908
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,320
Speaker 1: everyone's brought up has switched the identity of this team

909
00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:44,360
Speaker 1: from small ball eighty at the five to a redon

910
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,560
Speaker 1: Reason's injury to now then we went to DeAndre Jordan's

911
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,440
Speaker 1: starting for twenty games. Like that's a really interesting kind

912
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 1: of look back on the season. And we obviously can't

913
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,879
Speaker 1: go back in time and switch to games and find out,

914
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,120
Speaker 1: but I would just love to know how this team starts.

915
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,279
Speaker 1: Maybe Westbrook gets talk to a better start if if

916
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 1: we go straight to you know, instead of a reason,

917
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,279
Speaker 1: instead of going to DeAndre Jordan's, maybe you just fill

918
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 1: in you know, baysmore for a reason and try to

919
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:08,720
Speaker 1: have a fast simile of him in that starting lineup.

920
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting. But we're here now, which I

921
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,839
Speaker 1: think is important. There's enough games to kind of build

922
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 1: a rhythm for this team to build an identity. And again,

923
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,080
Speaker 1: I think getting to where Phoenix is is going to

924
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:19,799
Speaker 1: take a lot of work, is gonna take a lot

925
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 1: of games, is gonna take all the team being healthy

926
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,279
Speaker 1: as well. But yeah, that's the that's the hope here

927
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to find out. So Westbrook, Lebron and

928
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 1: a D have only played fifteen games together this season,

929
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:31,680
Speaker 1: which is kind of really interesting when you think about

930
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,479
Speaker 1: just how the other teams have continuity. You talked about Utah,

931
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,560
Speaker 1: they pretty much have the same lineup bringing in Rudy

932
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,879
Speaker 1: Gay from last season, and the Phoenix as well has

933
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:41,799
Speaker 1: had the same starting line up from last year. So

934
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 1: we're already kind of behind in there and our stars

935
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:46,920
Speaker 1: kind of only fifteen games played by a Stars, so

936
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,279
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to pick it up. Yeah, man, that's

937
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,319
Speaker 1: the hope. Hopefully Kendry No can come back and we

938
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: have our full team. We're getting close though everyone else's back,

939
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 1: A D and none are the only ones left, and

940
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 1: hopefully we can kind of build and when some wins

941
00:40:57,239 --> 00:41:01,080
Speaker 1: here going into the All Star break. All right, everybody,

942
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:02,600
Speaker 1: that's all we have for tonight. This is gonna air

943
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 1: on DASH Radio tomorrow morning at seven and Pacific Standard time.

944
00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 1: It will be on our podcast feed probably in about

945
00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,240
Speaker 1: an hour and a half, but we appreciate you guys.

946
00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: Support is always. Happy New Year from Roger and Night

947
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:15,520
Speaker 1: and we will see you for the game on Tuesday.

948
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,720
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone, Happy