Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers Show on
Speaker 1: dash Radio. This is part two of our postgame show
Speaker 1: from the lakers last preseason game against the Kings uh
Speaker 1: and this one we had Mr Jason Maples and Mr
Speaker 1: Venette Killer Whala coming on to bounce around some of
Speaker 1: the more important topics from the Lakers preseason. As always,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you guys to support. This one will air
Speaker 1: on Monday morning at seven a m. Pacific Standard time
Speaker 1: on DASH Radio. Thank you guys as always, and enjoy.
Speaker 1: How's it going, man, We're going on with John. That's
Speaker 1: going on. We're doing good. We're happy to be talking
Speaker 1: to you. What's going on? Man? Hey, So I have
Speaker 1: a question, Jackson. I saw a couple of tweets you
Speaker 1: put out about how do you think the Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna start out super fast? And I'm kind of feeling
Speaker 1: the other way. I think they might go on to
Speaker 1: the player I'm gonna pick them come out of the West.
Speaker 1: I think they might end up being like a fourth
Speaker 1: seat to curb the note because it's gonna just take
Speaker 1: a lot of time to jail with all the new
Speaker 1: movement pieces. Okay, let me let me plead my case
Speaker 1: here and then you can tell me. Okay, So in
Speaker 1: their first twenty three games, they play six teams that
Speaker 1: I think are gonna end up outside of the play
Speaker 1: in and I'm gonna try to rip them, rip them
Speaker 1: off the top of my head. And I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: but it was Golden State, Phoenix, Miami, Portland's and then
Speaker 1: the Celtics and the Bucks. Okay, but the other what's
Speaker 1: that six out of three? What's at seventeen other games?
Speaker 1: There are? Other? Seventeen are all against playing teams, including
Speaker 1: against several several games against teams like Houston and San
Speaker 1: Antonio and Oklahoma City who are going to be intentionally
Speaker 1: losing games or maybe not intentionally on the floor, but
Speaker 1: at least in terms of their upper upper management. So
Speaker 1: the case for the Lakers winning sixty something games and
Speaker 1: getting the one seat is really simple. Kinks that have
Speaker 1: to do with them kind of figuring out how to
Speaker 1: play with each other are going to be resolved by
Speaker 1: their super easy early schedule. They could literally lose to
Speaker 1: all six of those teams, drop an additional two, and
Speaker 1: go fifteen and eight, and over that time they have
Speaker 1: lots of time to kind of find their rhythm figure
Speaker 1: out how to use for us, get more adapted to
Speaker 1: the defensive scheme, get guys a little bit more acclimated.
Speaker 1: Then outside of that, there's one basic stat that is
Speaker 1: the is the whole foundation of this type of of optimism.
Speaker 1: When Lebron and the d are on the floor, they've
Speaker 1: won seventy percent of their regular season games and seventy
Speaker 1: of their playoff games. So there's just a and that's
Speaker 1: based on I think almost a hundred and twenty games
Speaker 1: of evidence. So when Lebron and a D are healthy
Speaker 1: and they're playing, the Lakers just win almost all the time.
Speaker 1: And anything that might undercut that they have such an
Speaker 1: easy schedule to start the season that their records should
Speaker 1: still be okay. Yes, after that things are gonna get
Speaker 1: really tough, but hopefully at that point they have a
Speaker 1: little bit better rhythm, in a little bit better understanding
Speaker 1: of how to win with this particular group. So what
Speaker 1: do you think, Am I being too optimistic or does
Speaker 1: that make sense? It makes sense of the vacuum, but
Speaker 1: I just think it's just, um, it's a lot has
Speaker 1: to go right for that that happen. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm one of the people who was on the mess
Speaker 1: side of the Westbrook edition, just because of the funky
Speaker 1: fit um. I just think I think last year I
Speaker 1: called Utah being a number one. I never would think
Speaker 1: Utah to come out to the the west but I think
Speaker 1: to be a number one seed. I think to be
Speaker 1: a number one seed because of their continuity. I think
Speaker 1: that that has a lot of I think I think
Speaker 1: Utah and Phoenix are going to be the top two
Speaker 1: seeds because they're just they barely changed their rosters, right,
Speaker 1: and then everything coming back there there's are off at
Speaker 1: a just square run, keep everything going from last year.
Speaker 1: Like That's why I think that those are will be
Speaker 1: the top two seeds. I'm still picking the Lakers to
Speaker 1: come out the webs. I think they'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: But sixty something wins with a beat your roster, like
Speaker 1: I'm factoring in, you know, probably ten or sold games
Speaker 1: missed by Lebron and a d each at minimum. Other
Speaker 1: guys are a little older, they are injuries backed up,
Speaker 1: So I think I just I can't see sifty something games,
Speaker 1: you know. I think like low fifties is a good
Speaker 1: a good point and then be healthy for the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and I think that's where they should go from there.
Speaker 1: But Stacy stuff wins. I respect the I have to
Speaker 1: miss brother. I like the glass. That's the way to
Speaker 1: attack life. Man, What do you think? I think there's
Speaker 1: like a middle ground from like where you are, Jason,
Speaker 1: I have to say, Jason timp Now we have two
Speaker 1: Jason's up here. Um. But but like I think there's
Speaker 1: like a middle ground between where you're at and we're
Speaker 1: Like you saw the five thirty eight projections, did you
Speaker 1: guys both see that they have us like they have
Speaker 1: us like at forty two and forty That's that that
Speaker 1: that was that was to just strictly get clicks, that's all. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's some middle ground between there. I don't think this
Speaker 1: team is gonna row like sixty five wins or something
Speaker 1: like that. I think like a fifty five win season
Speaker 1: is probably what we're looking at. I kind of agree
Speaker 1: with Maple. There's gonna be some games where Lebron sits.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be seeing some games probably wh rust sits,
Speaker 1: you know, so we'll see. But they should be able
Speaker 1: to start off greade. They have a really really easy
Speaker 1: skeldule early, so they should be able to have like
Speaker 1: a good kind of lead on the on the first
Speaker 1: seed if if they can. But I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: much home cooreps matters to this team. But me and
Speaker 1: J and g JT always talked about it like they
Speaker 1: were they were twenty one and six last year with
Speaker 1: a D kind of not being a D for for
Speaker 1: that whole stretch, right, and I think and they were
Speaker 1: still behind Utah right even Yeah, there like a game
Speaker 1: by I think. I just think, like Utah that's a
Speaker 1: regular season machine. Like nobody really game plans for Gobarton
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. He's like, he's a top five defense
Speaker 1: by himself. You just put him in there. He just recks.
Speaker 1: He recks the rim in a regular season. Um. I
Speaker 1: think Phoenix is just like I said, things bringing everybody back.
Speaker 1: I just like I think I think the third of
Speaker 1: fourth seed, the negagent third and seed and healthy. I'm
Speaker 1: comfortable with where they are in the playoffs. Like I
Speaker 1: also think the Warriors are a dark horse. I think
Speaker 1: it's the conference planals depending on matchup. So I think
Speaker 1: I just think the West at the top is really
Speaker 1: gonna have really good teams, that's all. But I'm still
Speaker 1: picking the Lakers come out through. I just don't know
Speaker 1: if it will be a number one seed. But I
Speaker 1: want to ask you, guys, Jason one one more uh.
Speaker 1: I heard you guys kind of like he didn't go
Speaker 1: into it too deeply, but where where are you with
Speaker 1: with Westbrook thus far? I heard you say some good,
Speaker 1: some bad. Where where are you guys, like just overall
Speaker 1: with with him? I'm super low on Westbrook right now,
Speaker 1: to be clear, To be clear, I was with I
Speaker 1: was with you Raples, uh from the start. I remember
Speaker 1: I work in real estate. I was holding an open house,
Speaker 1: and I was scrolling through my phone and and would
Speaker 1: would came out with that tweet with the uh, with
Speaker 1: the I think it was Montrez Harrold opting in if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, And then he said, you know we uh,
Speaker 1: this clears the way for the buddy heeled trade. And
Speaker 1: I was starting to get super optimistic. I thought it
Speaker 1: was such an obvious basketball fit, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: just like a like almost a one man person that
Speaker 1: could come in and and change that offensive versatility that
Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier. And then when the Shams,
Speaker 1: when the Shams tweet came in about Westbrook, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, frankly a little bit like shocked. I could,
Speaker 1: I like, but in a bad way. I just couldn't.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe that the obvious answer was right there
Speaker 1: in front of them, and they went in this other direction.
Speaker 1: And then I tried to kind of talk myself into
Speaker 1: how it could work, you know, for you know, hey,
Speaker 1: Lebron is Lebron is this different level of player that
Speaker 1: might be able to, you know, with his resume, almost
Speaker 1: flex r us into changing in some way reason. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe this Frank Vogel culture can reinvigorate his defensive attention
Speaker 1: and all of that. But here's the reality of the situation.
Speaker 1: Man Like, he he has absolutely horrid shot selection to
Speaker 1: the point where it's like actually throwing away possessions. And
Speaker 1: while I don't think it will hurt them necessarily in
Speaker 1: the regular season, because there's so much better than most
Speaker 1: of the teams are gonna play night in and night out,
Speaker 1: like man like, like, look at that Buck soun series,
Speaker 1: Like if like how close it was. So let's say
Speaker 1: let's say the Bucks had a player on their team
Speaker 1: that tricked off eight possessions in each game, Like the
Speaker 1: Bucks are gonna lose that series? Like you're both those
Speaker 1: games are decided by the razor thin margins. And when
Speaker 1: you go back through Russell Westbrook's career, there are so
Speaker 1: many examples of that. I was literally just watching the
Speaker 1: other day the two thousand and fourteen Western Conference Finals
Speaker 1: Game six, Spurs Thunder and in Westbrook trick that him
Speaker 1: off with just a handful of mistakes in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Um that that that blue and opportunity to send that
Speaker 1: series to a game seven. And you you might look
Speaker 1: at the end and be like, oh, Katie missed this
Speaker 1: open three at the top of the key, but it's like, actually,
Speaker 1: they should have been up by eight. So if there
Speaker 1: were these handful of mistakes and like, and it's one
Speaker 1: of those things where like man like I I worry
Speaker 1: about the hemorrhaged possessions from Westbrook and the impact that
Speaker 1: can have on a razor fin series with a healthy
Speaker 1: Golden State team or a Brooklyn team that quite frankly,
Speaker 1: the Lakers need to play absolutely at their peak. That
Speaker 1: makes sense. Yeah, So he's kind of, uh what I
Speaker 1: was thinking. So at first I'm with you. I'm like,
Speaker 1: hell though, this makes so I'm all the way there.
Speaker 1: So the more I watched, but I'll say this, this
Speaker 1: is before Westbrook even became a Laker. Um. I was
Speaker 1: tweeting about how like the more I watched them actually
Speaker 1: gave some respect for him. I think the pendulum have
Speaker 1: swung too far to that it upon him because you know,
Speaker 1: just the playoff foibles. So I got you mentioned. But
Speaker 1: what I say, he brings his hard hat every night,
Speaker 1: has an incredible motor. I think the Lakers could use
Speaker 1: something like that regular team because his team does to
Speaker 1: to get lazy during regular season games. I think in
Speaker 1: that aspect, Westbrook will help. And I was just trying
Speaker 1: to think how offensively you make it fit. So to me,
Speaker 1: step Steph Curry is is a It is a mount
Speaker 1: reshmore offensive player in NBA history. Like they just based
Speaker 1: on what I saw, Um, and teams are gonna guard Rest.
Speaker 1: They're already Guardady Restbrook like they guard Draymond right, So
Speaker 1: I'm thinking to try to maximize Rest like you gotta
Speaker 1: put him in a lot of like use him as
Speaker 1: a cut I think Riser Benet mentioned it tonight about
Speaker 1: how they did a better job of using him as
Speaker 1: a cutter. Um not because they're just got guarding him
Speaker 1: off ball, so they gotta move them around They're not
Speaker 1: gonna guard him, and I think just have him initiated
Speaker 1: a lot of gimble hand off action with like Lebron
Speaker 1: or even a D to get them going downhill, just
Speaker 1: like stuff like that, to to like minimize the spacing. Also,
Speaker 1: it's happy because I thought that, Okay, Westbrook, this is
Speaker 1: for sure E's going I think Davis is going to
Speaker 1: percent center. You know, it looks like that is not
Speaker 1: gonna happen, And that is kind of what worries me,
Speaker 1: Like this has no chance of working if a D
Speaker 1: does not play center the majority of the time. I
Speaker 1: cannot fathom DeAndre Jordan's uh, what's the rest? Brook and
Speaker 1: a D on the floor at the same time offensive,
Speaker 1: But it's just teams are gonna zone, uh like pay
Speaker 1: a pack line defense and not guard rest. Right, Maybe
Speaker 1: do you feel differently with how many people players are injured?
Speaker 1: Don't now, like who would you start? I guess if
Speaker 1: you're starting a D at the five, like who's your
Speaker 1: who are you playing just with all the guys injured,
Speaker 1: because I'm wondering if that's part of this as well.
Speaker 1: And you guys are spot on about rust. We had
Speaker 1: rush on our part. Who covers the rockets, and and
Speaker 1: like and and pretty much everything he's saying is kind
Speaker 1: of coming true, right, Like everything he talked about the
Speaker 1: negatives and the positives, Like obviously he brought up both,
Speaker 1: and Russ has negatives and they're they're very loud, right,
Speaker 1: Russ doesn't go quietly into the night, Like this game
Speaker 1: is loud. It's gonna pop up the screen, like he
Speaker 1: misses layup sometimes, Like that's just what you have to
Speaker 1: kind of give. And we've we've all been watching basketball
Speaker 1: log times, like we know Russell Westbrook is as a
Speaker 1: basketball player, and you're trying to fit those skills that
Speaker 1: he brings that are positives into a championship corps in
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d And that's what's fascinating about this,
Speaker 1: Like Anthony Davis is probably the best big he's ever
Speaker 1: played with. Right, Lebron is other than Katie, Lebron is
Speaker 1: the best player he's played with the like it it's
Speaker 1: interesting to see him try to work as a third
Speaker 1: option while still trying to be himself. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if it words, but I think we're in the
Speaker 1: really early stages of this. Veneta, what's up, run, I
Speaker 1: see you up? Here. Uh, what's up? What's up? What's up?
Speaker 1: J both Jason's Uh. I got an alert on my
Speaker 1: phone from the Why Not Foundation that you guys are
Speaker 1: talking about Russ uh and the Defender's honor. No, but
Speaker 1: um not. I think you guys are bringing up some
Speaker 1: some pretty good points. UM. I thought he looked really
Speaker 1: good at the start of the game today. It almost
Speaker 1: seemed as though, you know, maybe they watched some film
Speaker 1: from the past couple of games and they saw how
Speaker 1: people how teams were starting off games playing off of him,
Speaker 1: and so he was attacking a little bit earlier. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then they started kind of not doing that anymore.
Speaker 1: Like then then the lane opened up for Braun a
Speaker 1: little bit more and stuff like that. So, UM, I
Speaker 1: think I think everybody's conversation about Russ as a player
Speaker 1: and his deficiencies are fair. UM. But I think one
Speaker 1: of the things, um, that's sort of a silver lining
Speaker 1: that I've and you guys know, my glass have full
Speaker 1: guy pretty much anything. UM, I think one of the
Speaker 1: silver linings of the injuries have come to like Taylor Horton, Tucker,
Speaker 1: mom Ken, Ellington and into none is it's actually forcing
Speaker 1: him to have to play with bron and A d
Speaker 1: And and dj And and Dwight and this wonky lineup
Speaker 1: that he's got with Rondo, and it's actually it's forcing
Speaker 1: him to get into a groove because if we were
Speaker 1: playing some of those other guys, he probably doesn't get
Speaker 1: as many minutes UM in the preseason, and I think
Speaker 1: he'll figure it out. Um. I think one of the
Speaker 1: things that I've been tracking just just watching is the
Speaker 1: like when he takes his shots like that was that
Speaker 1: was the thing, Like with Russ when he plays with
Speaker 1: like a very prolific score like Kadi or Paul George,
Speaker 1: like he'll just keep giving him the ball, like he's
Speaker 1: not gonna shoot the ball. He's not gonna he's not
Speaker 1: gonna try and um, you know, Carlton banks it or whatever.
Speaker 1: But like when things start falling apart is when he
Speaker 1: starts trying to force things, and that's when things look
Speaker 1: really really bad because you know, he's not that great
Speaker 1: of a shooter and stuff like that. So I think
Speaker 1: he hasn't seemed like he's really forced too much outside
Speaker 1: of those turnovers that he's been forcing, like trying to
Speaker 1: figure out where people want to capture the ball and
Speaker 1: pass it. So I think there's still a part of
Speaker 1: him that's sort of figuring stuff out. UM, but it's
Speaker 1: gradually gotten better. Uh. And I my one prediction was
Speaker 1: um for this season, and I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 1: Russ takes the least amount of shots per game then
Speaker 1: he has in his entire career. This season with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: that matter. No, but no, you don't speaking to what
Speaker 1: to what Vane just said. I thought the preseason adjustment
Speaker 1: that Breast made from game the game is the first
Speaker 1: few games he was attacking with the specific intent to
Speaker 1: pass and people were guarding him with scored. I think
Speaker 1: they're just went tonight was he was like, I'm gonna score.
Speaker 1: This just made him much more effectus. I will say
Speaker 1: that like the game, that's the adjustment he's made that
Speaker 1: I've seen just in two preseason games. I think that's
Speaker 1: a good thing. He had a couple of possessions where
Speaker 1: he followed his way all the way to the rim
Speaker 1: early and got lay up. So that's that's that matchup
Speaker 1: attacking mentality that I'd like to see him weaponize against
Speaker 1: teams like Golden State in Brooklyn. You know, in those
Speaker 1: specific matchups Maples. You had mentioned, and this is something
Speaker 1: you've been harping on this entire season about how you
Speaker 1: know with Westbrook you need a D at the five
Speaker 1: in order to have the the space for him to
Speaker 1: be able to operate. I think you could say that
Speaker 1: about a bunch of these specific lineups. Like I think
Speaker 1: Russ's minutes should be in single big lineups. You know,
Speaker 1: either put him with just Dwight and Lebron or put
Speaker 1: him with Anthony Davis, but never with both Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and Dwight or Anthony Davis and Deondre Jordan. And the
Speaker 1: same goes for a lot of these guys in these
Speaker 1: different roles, right, Like I like Anthony Davis. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna play Anthony Davis by himself, I'd rather have him
Speaker 1: play with a big because at that point, you know,
Speaker 1: the without Russ and Lebron, I almost want to just
Speaker 1: be this big, physically freakish, you know, imposing team. Or
Speaker 1: with Carmelo Anthony. Like I don't think Carmelo Anthony should
Speaker 1: ever play with Dwight or with Lebron as the only
Speaker 1: front court partner. I would only play Carmelo Anthony with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. So that the total defensive floor of the
Speaker 1: lineup is high enough to kind of compensate for some
Speaker 1: of those shortcomings. Like those are the kinds of things
Speaker 1: that I would look at, Like I'd like to see
Speaker 1: a lot more Wayne Ellington in monk in minutes with Lebron,
Speaker 1: someone who's gonna actively hunt them, you know, as a
Speaker 1: as a passer, Like those are those little intricacies of
Speaker 1: the lineups in the way they mix. Those are the
Speaker 1: things that I'd like to see because Roger and I
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you feel the same way Maple's and
Speaker 1: Venet like we were never like eight should only play
Speaker 1: the five. That's never what our opinion was. It was
Speaker 1: that the you you haven't you haven't seen the great
Speaker 1: chat Maples, I join you continue a real quick, real quick.
Speaker 1: The one season a d played majority signals seventy five games.
Speaker 1: I think he played like seventy five of his minutest
Speaker 1: center he was twenty nine. Some of my something ridiculous
Speaker 1: like that it was first team everything, And that was
Speaker 1: when the conversation started, Hey, this guy can be the
Speaker 1: best player in the world. Like that one year that
Speaker 1: it was just with Rondo. Yeah, that one year he
Speaker 1: plays it's a personnel thing for me though, because I
Speaker 1: agree that the majority of his minutes should be at center. However,
Speaker 1: I think Dwight and a D presents a really interesting
Speaker 1: matchup problems for other teams. So from that standpoint, as
Speaker 1: an audible, I like the idea of playing you know,
Speaker 1: if it're up to me, about a third of the minutes,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna end up being closer to half
Speaker 1: um with the way that Frank wants to play. But
Speaker 1: I would like the idea of third of the minutes
Speaker 1: putting a D with Dwight or a D with DeAndre,
Speaker 1: because it really does just scare the hell out of
Speaker 1: other teams in terms of the size, and it throws
Speaker 1: a weird wrench into the to the flow of the
Speaker 1: game that keeps teams off balance and keeps the out
Speaker 1: of rhythms, you know what I mean. I do like that.
Speaker 1: So here, So here's my thing with that, my father,
Speaker 1: here's my thing with that, Jason. I'm looking at a
Speaker 1: playoffs way and drive. So let's say second round of
Speaker 1: the playoffs, Like so Phoenix, they go like Aighten, Crowder, Bridges,
Speaker 1: then Booker and CP three right, So it's just like
Speaker 1: I don't know how you play the white or right,
Speaker 1: so or let's go even Warriors, like so you can go,
Speaker 1: they go, Let's say Clay comes back, keeps seventy percent
Speaker 1: of himself, right, so they go, you know, Draymond, Clay Pool,
Speaker 1: Steph you know in Wiggins, Right, It's like, how do
Speaker 1: you I'm saying, I'm just thinking, like deep into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: I just can't see how that line up over the season, Like, sure,
Speaker 1: go to against Orlando or wasn't that only NBA TV
Speaker 1: with the hell go for it? But against good teams,
Speaker 1: I just can't see how that lineup is viable. The
Speaker 1: way these teams played basketball, the way the good teams
Speaker 1: played just just one thing to just to add to
Speaker 1: Jason's points. So this is this is a discussion that
Speaker 1: we had in the off season with with Kings in
Speaker 1: a group chat like it it. So in today's game
Speaker 1: in Sacramento, you saw them run a three guard lineup,
Speaker 1: and like you know, obviously most of our guards are hurt,
Speaker 1: so we can't really run a three guard lineup like that,
Speaker 1: So we gotta run like Reeves, Russ and Rondo, So
Speaker 1: which is not ideal obviously, but I think I think
Speaker 1: the concerning trend for me for the as it relates
Speaker 1: to the Lakers, is that when teams see the Lakers
Speaker 1: go big um with with two big specifically eighty at
Speaker 1: the form and whoever at the five, they try to
Speaker 1: actually go in the opposite direction to speed the game
Speaker 1: up to a point where the Lakers have to eventually
Speaker 1: make a switch. And like, if you watch the Phoenix
Speaker 1: preseason game, there's a play where eighty makes a layup
Speaker 1: right at the rim, like they almost give it to him,
Speaker 1: like they're not going to stop him, but they outlet
Speaker 1: the ball so fast that eighty and the other big
Speaker 1: are are way behind the play. So they're sitting up
Speaker 1: an open corner three, which is what they like to
Speaker 1: do early in transition. And my concern is is that
Speaker 1: if the Lakers in the regular season fall in love
Speaker 1: with playing two bigs and they try to try to
Speaker 1: do that into the playoffs. In the playoffs, it's you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta win a game, and it's the best of
Speaker 1: best of four, sorry, best of seven and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: so our margin of error is not, hey, we can
Speaker 1: afford to punt the game, so like you can't wait
Speaker 1: a whole game to make that adjustment later. And my
Speaker 1: concern is that the Lakers, they try to do this
Speaker 1: two big thing, teams are going to keep doing that.
Speaker 1: They're gonna keep trying to speed the game up. And
Speaker 1: the only way that two big works against the speed
Speaker 1: lineup is if you're making layups every single time. And
Speaker 1: if it is not making layups or Dwight or or
Speaker 1: DC whoever it is, if they're not making lamps at
Speaker 1: the rim, there's no way that ball is getting stopped,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it's not it's not doing anything
Speaker 1: to the other team's defense. So that that's my concern.
Speaker 1: If it's a game of styles that I'm concerned about.
Speaker 1: But we saw that line up, that lineup not play
Speaker 1: right when it mattered in the playoffs. I guess like
Speaker 1: Local is a counterpuncher. I think like he does like
Speaker 1: to kind of do with what he likes. In the
Speaker 1: first game, right, he's gonna go to that too big
Speaker 1: lineup in the regular season, like we're already have to
Speaker 1: be ready for it, and in the playoffs he's going
Speaker 1: to go to it a few times. That's just what
Speaker 1: he likes. His defensive philosophy is that he likes two
Speaker 1: bigs at the rim and and then he'll counter if
Speaker 1: he has to. And we saw that he will, right.
Speaker 1: We saw a D started the five a bunch. We
Speaker 1: saw Javelle get bunched to get banned, Dwight get benched.
Speaker 1: I think it works if you have a like do
Speaker 1: you guys agree it works if you have like a
Speaker 1: non shooting center, right, like I think it. DJ looked
Speaker 1: okay tonight a lot because Rashaun Holmes is kind of
Speaker 1: the center and Alex Land is the center and you
Speaker 1: can kind of get away with that. Aiden is a
Speaker 1: tough matchup. He's just kind of scoring big. But I
Speaker 1: think that's why it works. And I think those are
Speaker 1: the kind of games will go with it. Vane and Jason,
Speaker 1: I feel like we won't see it when it matters.
Speaker 1: I guess, like these are any eaters for a D
Speaker 1: and it is some kind of mental thing for him.
Speaker 1: It obviously matters to him. You could tell the way
Speaker 1: he talks about playing at five. You could tell the
Speaker 1: way he talks about it in a way like yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll do it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like you could tell he just you you can tell
Speaker 1: it's just it's not something that he prefers. And this
Speaker 1: is a superstar driven league. Superstars get what they want.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to play center for a majority of
Speaker 1: these minutes in the regular season. He's not going to,
Speaker 1: no matter what we think, no matter how wash. DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan is just what we're gonna see. And I think
Speaker 1: I think I think you'll see him play the five
Speaker 1: when it matters, and I think that's what's important here.
Speaker 1: Maples is gonna terrorize Lakers Twitter if he if he
Speaker 1: keeps playing the four all season, I think I think
Speaker 1: I'm not seriously, seriously, I've gotten much better with my chant.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to say I to be much more pleasant.
Speaker 1: I planned to be much more pleasant this year. Well,
Speaker 1: we we have we need, we need a little bit
Speaker 1: more Maple's optimism. I think we can all get get
Speaker 1: on the same page there. I'm just kidding anyway. I
Speaker 1: think it's matchup specific like you brought up to You
Speaker 1: brought up two teams, Maples that I think are interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, I disagree with you about Phoenix. I think
Speaker 1: I think Phoenix is a team you could occasionally do
Speaker 1: that to mix it up when they have Crowder and
Speaker 1: Eton on the floor because you have Dwight bang with
Speaker 1: Eton and then a d S guarding Crowder almost in
Speaker 1: a like a roaming role um, you know, giving more
Speaker 1: space and just kind of trying to disrupt stuff everywhere
Speaker 1: else on the floor. You know, I think this is
Speaker 1: one of those things not to get into revisionist history here,
Speaker 1: but like, like Dwight is, Dwight is so much better
Speaker 1: than Andre Drummond, like so much better than Andre Drummond.
Speaker 1: And and in retrospect, the Montrez Harrold move made absolutely
Speaker 1: no sense if you if you really look at it.
Speaker 1: And what I what I kind of look at with
Speaker 1: this group is returning to something that worked, because the
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is is in the playoff run,
Speaker 1: most of the Dwight minutes worked. There were devail minutes
Speaker 1: that where he got kind of attacked by Yo Kitchen
Speaker 1: had some problems, but you know, look at the way
Speaker 1: Frank Handle did. It was like, Okay, we're playing the
Speaker 1: Portland is throwing this weird double center line up at us,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna arride with Dwight Nade and we're just
Speaker 1: gonna kill him. Then we come into Houston and they're
Speaker 1: playing five guards and Dwight doesn't see the floor for
Speaker 1: most of the series. Then we go into the Denver
Speaker 1: series and all of a sudden, Dwight's back involved. And
Speaker 1: then Dwight actually started some games in the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: and no one really cared because the Lakers were basically
Speaker 1: in control of every single one of those series. But
Speaker 1: the reality is is in that playoff run, a d
Speaker 1: played the majority of his minutes at center, and the
Speaker 1: Dwight stuff was just a wrinkle. It was a curveball,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And so that's that's kind
Speaker 1: of the way that I look at it. Is like
Speaker 1: if it were up to me and Roger and I
Speaker 1: have been talking about this all summer, but DJ would
Speaker 1: never see the floor and Dwight would play his usual
Speaker 1: twenty something minutes, nineteen minutes, whatever it is, and most
Speaker 1: of those minutes would be without a D. But there
Speaker 1: would be a couple of stretches in each half where
Speaker 1: the two of them are on the floor and it
Speaker 1: just confuses the hell out of the other team because
Speaker 1: there's just so much length on the floor that they
Speaker 1: don't know what to do. The rim is basically shut off,
Speaker 1: and but you're right, Golden State Golden State would kill
Speaker 1: two big Laker lineup like that just is a terrible
Speaker 1: decision on any front, Like that makes absolutely no sense.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. Do you think that you think the
Speaker 1: line up rotation, the big line up rotation that they
Speaker 1: used against Golden Sat in that last preseason line up,
Speaker 1: So that that's what I think that they're going to do.
Speaker 1: I think try and run. Yeah, but let me I
Speaker 1: want to ask you guys this because like I was
Speaker 1: trying to ask you guys before, So like right now
Speaker 1: with all our guards and wings hurt, Like I get
Speaker 1: you want to go eighty at the five? But who
Speaker 1: are you playing? I guess, so like once that starting
Speaker 1: lineup is done, so you start maybe bays Moore and
Speaker 1: who can you start? I guess if you want to
Speaker 1: start Austin Reeves or whoever you want to start, Like
Speaker 1: where do you go as a second unit? I guess,
Speaker 1: like once you have you're playing eighty at the five
Speaker 1: at the full time. It's basically Carmelo, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Like what are you? What are you doing defensively?
Speaker 1: Like that's what I worry about. There's there's not what
Speaker 1: So the lebron is your power for and then is
Speaker 1: he not. Yeah, absolutely right, that's that's something I mean,
Speaker 1: that's something that's his. He had a great gear to
Speaker 1: entery when he was healthy last year, just being that
Speaker 1: back sign roamer right playing play re safety. I think
Speaker 1: him at the four, it's like the optimal place to
Speaker 1: do that. But I understand what you're saying though, like
Speaker 1: all this is moved because of the injury. So I understand, Hey,
Speaker 1: he's gonna play a lot of power forward just because
Speaker 1: of the lack of bodies at this point. Because I
Speaker 1: was really looking forward to a Reason playing a lot
Speaker 1: of that Lebron playing a lot like how looking like
Speaker 1: just having super persontile and athletic, uh, you know, much
Speaker 1: more modern you know, basketball lineups at their disposal, and
Speaker 1: hopefully our Reason is able to come back. And then
Speaker 1: is there any uh ths out for a while, But
Speaker 1: is there any word on like month? Is there like
Speaker 1: a week or two? They said I'm fired better correctly,
Speaker 1: So believe he's gonna be ready shortly after the certain season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because as I know, he's not missing you know, too
Speaker 1: much time. So like when everybody's healthy, you know, I
Speaker 1: would love and you know, I'm to be honest, with you.
Speaker 1: I'm more worried about Bates more than I am about
Speaker 1: Westbrook at this point, Like we know who Westbrook is.
Speaker 1: Basemore was brought in for a specific skill set and
Speaker 1: we have been seeing any of that in preseason. He
Speaker 1: brought all his bad decision making from Golden State without
Speaker 1: the jump shot, and that's a little troublesome thus far.
Speaker 1: So hopefully that Yeah, I think I think the four
Speaker 1: has to be if you're gonna be playing a d
Speaker 1: at the five, like one of one of the most
Speaker 1: I think one of the most difficult parts for Vogel
Speaker 1: to figure out is if a plays at five. We
Speaker 1: know that he has a natural tendency just because he's
Speaker 1: a defensively inclined big, like he's gonna go after blocks,
Speaker 1: like he's gonna try and se shots and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So they're the vacuum. Like this is a basketball thing, right,
Speaker 1: Like when you're big man goes to block a shot,
Speaker 1: there's a vacuum of space behind them that has to
Speaker 1: be filled, whether it's a defensive rebound or whether it's
Speaker 1: just you know, just putting a body in boxing out
Speaker 1: on somebody. And I think that's something that the Lakers
Speaker 1: haven't yet figured out. I know it's been mitigated with
Speaker 1: like mellow um the game where he started I think
Speaker 1: Next Day a D I think it was. I think
Speaker 1: it was that Warriors game, Like he did a pretty
Speaker 1: good job, like just maving rebounds and stuff I got.
Speaker 1: Like my thing with Braun, you know, I'm doing air
Speaker 1: quotes being the four is I don't you know Bron
Speaker 1: if he wants to can go and grab ten rebounds
Speaker 1: a game? But is Bron going to grab ten rebounds
Speaker 1: a game? You know? Like that That's that's kind of
Speaker 1: where my head is at. So it's like if Russ
Speaker 1: is crashing the class and eighties, challenging shots like somebody
Speaker 1: you know, like bays Moore and whoever that fourth guy is,
Speaker 1: it has to be somebody who's gonna help him on
Speaker 1: the boards, help him do like some of that grunt
Speaker 1: work and stuff I got, And so Melos fit that
Speaker 1: role ideally. I think it would have to be a
Speaker 1: reason because that's kind of what he's that's been his
Speaker 1: like Hallmark, you know, and he's a guy who does
Speaker 1: some of that groundwork for you. So that that's the
Speaker 1: way I see it, Like it has to be somebody
Speaker 1: who covers up for stuff like the defensive rebounding or
Speaker 1: sports Vogo is not gonna He's not gonna play a
Speaker 1: D at the five. He's gonna play a D at
Speaker 1: four the entire season. If the defensive rebounding his suspect.
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right about that. That that's something that Frank
Speaker 1: has straight up told us, like, if we can't get rebounds,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to go bigger. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: think I look at the Roger's question about you know bench,
Speaker 1: there's to me, there's like two bench phases, right, Like
Speaker 1: there's the Lebron leaves at that first media of the
Speaker 1: first stoppage after the media time out in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be Russ and a D right, and
Speaker 1: then Lebron is going to come back in you know,
Speaker 1: very end of the first quarter. But for the majority
Speaker 1: of the stretches with the start the second quarter, and
Speaker 1: it's usually alongside Dwite. So you've got Lebron at the
Speaker 1: four and Dwight at the five in terms of who
Speaker 1: fills in the filler spots around that. The way I
Speaker 1: look at it is give Lebron the challenge, Like, if
Speaker 1: you like Lebron, will figure it out. So it's like
Speaker 1: you're trying, you're struggling, struggling how to figure out how
Speaker 1: Mellow is gonna fit. Like I'd like to see him
Speaker 1: with Lebron because they like they'll Lebron will find a
Speaker 1: way with that group to win. Those minutes with the
Speaker 1: Russ A D minutes at the middle of the excuse me,
Speaker 1: at the end of the first quarter and in the
Speaker 1: middle of the second quarter when Lebron takes the second rest,
Speaker 1: those are the minutes where we've got to start looking at.
Speaker 1: You know, us is initiating everything with some you know,
Speaker 1: pick and roll with a D and then some post
Speaker 1: ups for a D mixed in. So that's where I
Speaker 1: favored shooting. And in that case, I saw that at least,
Speaker 1: you know, if the wheels are going to come up
Speaker 1: with the defense, at least you're scoring to kind of
Speaker 1: keep up with that, you know, Um, I would that's
Speaker 1: where I would look to put you know, Monk and
Speaker 1: in Ellington, And yes, it'll be asking a lot for
Speaker 1: a D to clean up all the defensive mistakes that
Speaker 1: come from that group, But at that point I would
Speaker 1: just be like, at least we're scoring and Lebron, Like
Speaker 1: that's that second phase with Lebron. He's just going to
Speaker 1: figure it out. Like Lebron minutes are positive, they just
Speaker 1: always are going to be. So it's really just about
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do end of the first quarter,
Speaker 1: middle second quarter, you know, and same thing in the
Speaker 1: second half when when Russ and a D are on
Speaker 1: the floor. If that makes sense. Now that that that
Speaker 1: makes sense, So I just have WEX. I dont want
Speaker 1: to hug everybody. Make everybody listening to my voice, bring
Speaker 1: some other speakers up there. This is one thing that
Speaker 1: I want to say, Like the one thing I'm probably
Speaker 1: looking at with this Rust edition is the shock quality
Speaker 1: that A D and Braun get when Russ is on
Speaker 1: the floor. Like I know we've talked about spacing and
Speaker 1: stuff I got, but I think one of the things
Speaker 1: like Braun has been kind of messing around in the preseason.
Speaker 1: He's been like turning the ball over, like doing funny
Speaker 1: stuff like spring the ball in his hands and stuff
Speaker 1: I got. But his shock quality, like the way he's scoring,
Speaker 1: like how he's getting his points have been so easy
Speaker 1: to some degree, like he's just running down the court
Speaker 1: taking layups. He's like he's doing the midrange stuff a
Speaker 1: little bit, but it's like nothing seems like it's very
Speaker 1: difficult for him right now, and obviously that will change
Speaker 1: because it'll be a regular season. I'm with and and
Speaker 1: A D hasn't been making shots, but his shock quality
Speaker 1: has been really good. So I'm hoping that, like the
Speaker 1: ancillary effect or one of the biggest positives from this
Speaker 1: is that regardless of what Russ looks like and what
Speaker 1: his stats look like and stuff like that, as he
Speaker 1: figures it out, that the shock quality continues to remain
Speaker 1: high for those two guys. I think if you're a
Speaker 1: Lakers fan, that's probably the most important thing that we
Speaker 1: want to see because if our two stars can get
Speaker 1: really high shot quality, like, eventually those shots will start
Speaker 1: falling and then the offense will fix itself, um and
Speaker 1: everything will fall into place. So that's that's that's the
Speaker 1: last thing I got. Uh. You know you guys, keep
Speaker 1: it up. Man, It's wonderful space. Thanks for We appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Man is always Yeah, I'm out too, Man, appreciate Maples.
Speaker 1: Have a good night, brother. That's all we have for today, guys,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your support. As always, if
Speaker 1: you missed part of this show on dash radio, you
Speaker 1: can find it on our podcast feed under State of
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Our next show will be a postgame show
Speaker 1: after the season opener on Tuesday against Golden State. We're
Speaker 1: looking forward to it again. Thanks, as always for your support,
Speaker 1: and enjoy the rest of your weekend.