WEBVTT - Monday Mailbag 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.480 All right, welcome to the State of the Lakers on 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.000 DASH Radio. Thank you guys for coming to hang out 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.000 on a Monday. I hope you had a good holiday weekend. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:24.720 I hope you got to spend some time with your 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:27.160 loved ones. I hope if you did have to work 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.560 for whatever reason, I hope it was a nice, easy weekend. Uh. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:32.880 We're gonna hit a couple of mail back questions today, 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.960 and I also want to talk briefly about Russell Westbrooks 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.040 press conference today. UM, you know, we have a bunch 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.120 of games coming up over the next week. I think 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.919 we play four times in the next six nights if 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.159 I remember correctly, because I think we played Tuesday, Wednesday, 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.280 Thursday off, play Friday, Saturday off, and then play Sunday. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.160 There's gonna be a lot of Laker basketball over the 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.040 course of the next week, a lot of postgame shows. 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.279 So I wanted to take a second today to hit 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.560 some of your guys questions, and you guys ask some 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.560 really good questions and I appreciate that. Um, we're gonna 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.320 talk a lot of Russell westbrook We're gonna talk a 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.280 lot about the trade deadline and what this roster specifically 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:12.120 is going to be looking like moving forward. But let's 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:17.039 start with Russ. So uh, Basically, in the press conference today, 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.640 he seemed defiant would be the word that I would 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.319 use to describe the way he was acting in the 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.680 press conference, talking about how he's tired of people, you know, 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.840 tired of paying attention to what people think he should 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:36.920 be and just try to be himself, and pointing out 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:38.240 that he's not gonna be able to put up the 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.520 same statistical numbers that he used to put up in 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.600 years past, which I think is interesting for a couple 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.120 of reasons, because I think it's kind of lack of 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:50.320 situational awareness. It doesn't seem like he understands what this 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:55.040 team needs from him, and they do. The team needs 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.640 Russ to be Russ. That goes without saying I think 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.280 there's a there's a ton of positivity that comes with 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.800 his brand of chaos. The amount of rim pressure that 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:10.280 he generates is always good for a basketball team in 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.920 one shape or the other, whether it's him finishing, or 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.560 whether it's guys coming in behind for offensive rebounds off 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.000 of the attention he draws, or him kicking out the 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.760 three point shooters, or just a general effect he can 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.040 have when a guy is putting his head down and 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.400 getting to the rim all the time, and what it 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:29.720 does to collapse defenses and the types of openings that 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.080 it creates for everyone else that goes without saying, and 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.040 that to me is Russ being Russ. Yes, we need 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.680 Russ to be Russ in the sense that we need 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:43.400 him to continue to be that relentless basket attacker that 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:48.040 goes without saying. However, there's another side to Russ being 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.040 Russ that he absolutely has to try to rein in 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.520 and it will forever be the thing that will rear 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.680 its ugly head for us in big moments until he 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.280 learns that lesson, And that, to me is what frustrates 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.720 me about that lack of situation situational awareness. Again, Rus, 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.720 we want you to do all of those things that 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.119 you do so well. It's just a matter of taking 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.200 the extra effort necessary to fight against your own weaknesses. 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.680 You have a weakness that manifests in a desire to 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.799 ball watch when you're off the ball, whether it's because 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:29.600 you want rebounds or whether it's because you're saving your legs. There, 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.720 I understand the motivation behind you doing that, but it 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:38.240 hurts your team, specifically at the end of close games, 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.960 So you have to fight your own human nature to 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.560 put in effort that goes against what your natural instincts are. 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.520 You have to pay attention to a shooter off the 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.760 ball when he's made seven threes in an NBA basketball game. 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.000 That is your job on any given play. When you 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:03.040 get un focused and start focusing on things that are 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:07.480 outside of the team concept, like your own individual rebounding numbers, 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.720 or I want to take a rest possession here, when 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.440 you do that, especially at the end of games, it 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.800 hurts the team. That's what we're talking about us. We 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.400 don't care about your style of play. I from the 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:25.600 very beginning, from the moment this trade took place, I 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:29.359 never cared about his style of play in the way 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.120 that would fit with what the Lakers were trying to do. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.719 That never mattered to me, you know, because they're smart 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:39.240 basketball players. Lebron is arguably the smartest basketball player to 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.400 ever play the game. So I never worried about them 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.920 figuring out a way to make Russ useful. Over the 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.520 course of a hundred possessions or a thousand possessions or 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:54.200 ten thousand possessions. What I've always worried about is the possession. 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.040 What I've always worried about is the key moment at 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.479 the end of a big game, at end of a 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:05.880 playoff series, where he his worst attributes rear their ugly head. 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.400 Like I said, losing focus on a shooter off the ball, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.680 or making a poor read in half court offense or 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:17.280 in transition offense that wastes a possession, that hemorrhages an 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.640 opportunity for your team. That's always been my biggest worry. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.320 That the that that's the part that he has to 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.560 focus on. We want you to be Russ, We want 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.640 you to be all of the things that make you great, 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.960 But in the key moments of the biggest games, you 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.120 have to find a way to stay mentally aware of 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:40.400 what your job is. And on defense, if that's on 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.200 the ball, there's a responsibility that comes with it. If 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.839 it's off the ball, there's a responsibility that comes with 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.800 it depending on who you're guarding. Do the job. And 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.600 on offense, understand that if you're on a team with 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:57.159 Anthony Davis and Lebron, unless specifically in the flow of 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.240 the game, Lebron is asking you to make a play, 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:04.000 you need to make high percentage basketball plays. If it's 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.159 not there, kick it out if it's if you catch 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.480 the ball like on that deflection from Lebron, take a beat, 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.120 take a minute to pull it out and reset the offense. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:14.920 You don't have to be a bull in a china 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:19.080 shop all the time. Those are the specific moments where 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:23.800 Russ has to fight against his own nature, and that's 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:25.839 been my biggest fear with this the whole time. It 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.400 remains to be seen whether or not he'll ever be 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.840 able to conquer that, and I honestly, I honestly don't know. 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.840 That's like I said in the pod the other day. 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.400 He could look amazing for the rest of the season, 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.080 he could look amazing in the first round of the playoffs, 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.080 he could look amazing in the second round, and I 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.960 would still be terrified that he would lose sight of 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.920 that in the biggest moment. Why because we've just seen 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:49.800 him do that too many times in his career, and 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.200 so that's kind of where I'm at with us. He 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.000 his personality, he tends to kind of turn himself into 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.440 a little bit of a victim and kind of batting 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.520 up the hatches and be like, it's just me against 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.760 the world type of attitude. And again, like the Laker 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:05.760 fan base can be a lot, and not because they're 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:07.599 any worse than any fan base, just because there's a 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.600 lot of them in terms of their sheer numbers. But 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.480 the truth of the matter is is what they're asking 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:14.320 for you is not for you to stop being yourself. 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.520 They're just asking you, in the big moments of big 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.800 games two, not be our your own worst enemy, to 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.200 understand what your job is as the third most important 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.520 player on the team. All right, let's get to some 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:32.440 of these mail bad questions. So first question from Byron, 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:37.120 has th h t s trade value diminished? We actually 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.400 got a couple of th ht related questions in the 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.400 mail bag. There's that specific one, and then another one 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.920 asking does th ht need to be traded? And then 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.960 another one saying what gettable guys do the Lakers need 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.200 to trade for to capitalize on this window. So I 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:55.360 want to I want to hit on all of them 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.680 at at the same time. So, first of all, has 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.800 th ht s trade value diminished? I don't think so. Um. 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:02.800 The reason why it's pretty simple. If you look at 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.880 the way NBA g M s are valuing young prospects, 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.360 They're not looking for the same things that we're looking 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.600 for as a contending team, trying to decide where he 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.760 fits in our rotation. THHD is not playing well for 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.720 the Lakers right now. That goes without saying. However, if 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.800 you're looking at him from the outside, he's not in 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.200 a role right now that is beneficial to him on 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.160 a bunch of different levels. For for starters, he's a baby, 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.720 he's young, and he's playing with veterans that have a 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.760 championship expectation That in and of itself makes it so 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.080 that the timelines don't match up. That inherently is going 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.319 to put him in a situation where he looks over 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.160 his skis a lot of the time. Secondly, he is 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:49.680 a downhill driving guard and the Lakers have struggled with 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:54.000 establishing spacing this entire season. That We've talked a lot 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.120 over the course of the year about how Anthony Davis, 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.400 Lebron and Russell Westbrook are three of the best rim 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:03.560 pressure players at their position of all time, and they've 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:07.200 struggled on offense to make things look easy in the 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.120 system that we have a lot of that has to 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.680 do with Russ. By the way Russ makes it harder 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.360 for the other stars, and obviously, with Anthony Davis is 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.440 poor shooting, and then him playing alongside th HT a lot, 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.000 Russ has had it harder with his own spacing. This 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.760 team is kind of its own worst enemy in that regard. 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.320 As we've talked about a lot in terms of the 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:28.720 way that the direction that this team should be heading, 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.160 what that looks like. We've always said that with Russ, 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:35.960 if he's going to be a big part of your team, 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.200 you have to make some concessions. You probably can't play 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.440 Anthony Davis anywhere except for at the five. If he's 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:46.199 gonna be with Russ. You probably can't play another limited 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.080 shooting guard like th HT next to him because of 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.319 Russ and his limitations. Accepting the fact that Russ is 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.200 gonna be here in the long term, accepts the fact 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.079 that you have some lineup constraints and what you can 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:00.760 do with your guys. So I don't think it's a 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.600 big shock that th HT has struggled now if you're 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.320 looking at him from the outside looking in. Of course, 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:10.079 if he guys, if he was killing it for us, 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.760 then he'd be valued like a star because he's already 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.520 in all defense caliber type of player with what he 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.280 can do to disrupt guys on the ball. So if 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.040 you're a d M and you're watching th h T 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.840 and he's killing it, now we're talking about a guy 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.840 that has massive, massive trade value and probably would be 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:31.160 untouchable even for the Lakers. With him struggling, guys are 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.680 almost exclusively looking at his potential. They're looking at what 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.040 what kind of plays is he making every night that 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.280 demonstrates what his ceiling could be. You know, does he 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.840 project to be a good defensive player? Does he project 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.240 to be a good shooter? And I think in both 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.480 of those cases he does. Even though he has struggled 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.880 like hell to shoot the ball this year, he shoots 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.280 the ball really well from the free throw line, and 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.920 he's got great touch around the rim. Those are two 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:01.800 things that specifically portend to a player eventually becoming a 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.120 good shooter. And then defensively, it's off ball mistakes and 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.800 things like that. Those are things that naturally happen with 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.320 young players. But there's just this mountain of on ball 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.880 potential that already has a positive impact on games. So 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.640 if you're a team like the Detroit Pistons or like 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:19.880 the Minnesota Timber rules are like the Sacramento Kings of 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.720 your team that is limited right now and is looking 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.400 towards the future. When you're evaluating players, you don't care 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:31.160 that th HD is necessarily struggling right now. You're thinking 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.600 about what he can be. So I don't think his 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.280 potential has necessary or excuse me, his value has taken 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.160 any sort of dip around the league now looking at 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.280 them whether or not he should be traded. When we're 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.439 talking when we originally came up with this concept, when 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.520 the Jeremy Grant trade was originally floated around this is 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.800 about a month ago. I told you guys that it 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.640 should be kind of like the trade version of a 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.280 game time decision. As we get close to the deadline, 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:01.920 you make a read on the situation. If the season 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.840 is a total loss, and you know, let's say Anthony 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.120 Davis had suffered a serious injury that kept him out 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.599 for the season, then yeah, you hang onto th h T. 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.200 There's just no reason to flip him at that point, 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.199 certainly not for this season, so you might as well 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.640 give him another year to develop and make that call 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.440 again next season. If the team is just massively struggling, 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.760 if it looked so horrible and all the guys were healthy, 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.240 Like if Lebron and a D were all playing, if 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.439 all the role players were playing and they were still 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.560 hovering around five hundred and couldn't beat anybody, then you 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.120 might be like, hey, this is a lost cause. Let's 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.360 hang onto th HT. But if the team is trending 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.320 in the right direction, or if the potential is still 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.599 there and th HD isn't an integral part of that, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.120 I think you have to trade him. If th h 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.080 T was playing extremely well and filling a much needed 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.360 role on the team, and the team was trending in 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.880 the right direction all as part of that, then you 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.160 keep th HT because why would you trade th HT 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.079 for another player that's more or less going to be 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:01.280 doing the same thing that he's doing. But I think 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.800 we're trending towards the fourth option, which is the team 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.600 is still trending in the right direction. Obviously it's hard 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.040 to see right now with the five game losing streak, 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.000 but the team was playing well before the injuries. COVID 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:15.920 plays a huge part of that. I think in the 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.960 locker room there still is belief that this team can 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:21.280 make a run, and I personally believe that as well, 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.000 especially if Anthony Davis can come back and come back 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.800 healthy and come back mobile. But we are now in 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.960 the situation where th h T is clearly not a fit. 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.320 Regardless of how you feel about the potential for this season, 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.400 th HD doesn't factor much into that. He he's bringing 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.080 something defensively, but he still has some of those young 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.760 guy mistakes, and offensively, he just flat out isn't a fit. 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.719 He's not a good enough stationary shooter, and as a 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.920 guy who attacks the rim, we just have a redundancy 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.160 in that specific role. We have so many guys who 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.880 already do that for us that his value there isn't 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.480 as significant as it would be elsewhere. So I think 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:05.719 we are heavily trending towards th HT being traded. Now. 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.120 He can't be traded until January, so we still have 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:09.880 a little bit of time for that to change. He 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.360 could suddenly start shooting the laces off the basketball and 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.040 start playing great on both ends of the floor. Now 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.079 suddenly it's like you upgraded that position anyway, and then 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.160 you make a call at the time. But as as 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.000 the way things are trending right now, I think we're 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.960 trending towards trading him. Now to that last question about 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.320 who you trade him for, I think there's two directions 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.560 to go, and that again is something we're gonna learn 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.840 a lot about over the course of the next three weeks. 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.640 If we are trending as a team that seems to 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.960 be massively succeeding with small ball, So if Lebron at 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.040 center lineups as we get to January, if Lebron at 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:51.480 center lineups are still killing it, then at that point 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.400 I think we got to look back to the wing market. 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.720 That's where that Jeremy Grant trade makes a ton of sense. 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.520 If we're at January and Anthony Dave this is still 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:04.160 at least a month out from returning, and our Lebron 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.240 at center lineups are struggling, then we have to go 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:09.680 after a big At that point, that's where we look 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.080 more in the direction of Miles Turner. So again we 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.280 make the read when we get to that point in 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:16.920 the season. If we're trending as a small ball team, 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.960 we lean heavily into another wing. If we're struggling as 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.520 a small ball team, then we need to go back 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.520 to looking at the center market. A big part of 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.440 that is everybody getting healthy. I don't think we'll truly 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.400 see what the small ball Lakers are capable of until 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.240 Trevor Reason gets back in the lineup consistently. Until you 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.880 see lineups that are Trevor Reads, A Lebron, James Stanley Johnson, 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.720 Austin Reeves, Russell Westbrook, where you can switch all five 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.000 positions and you're athletic at all five positions, you can 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.200 run up and down the floor, everybody can put the 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:48.920 ball on the floor and attack a close out. That's 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.040 when you're really going to see that peak l A 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:56.680 crip l A Clipper, Ellie Crippers, Ellie Clippers style uh offense. 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.400 That's when we're gonna get to see that um and 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.880 really make an evaluation of what this team can do 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:14.000 in terms of a small ball team. Alright, moving on, Okay, 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.480 our next question right now, who do you guys want 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.400 out of the starting lineup? This is from our friend 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.800 George's th h t Or Dwight and who would you 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.360 replace him with? So this kind of goes back to 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.400 the basic set of lineup rules that I've been kind 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.880 of harping out all season, and I can't take credit 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.840 for the idea originally because this idea was conceptualized by 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.160 our friend Anthony Irwin over at Silver Screen and Roll. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.560 But essentially rule number one is you can't play Russ 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:46.880 with the traditional center that inherently crosses a threshold of 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.360 minimum spacing that the team can no longer function when 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.960 we go that route. So what that tells us is immediately, 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.320 if you had to choose between benching th h T 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.800 or Dwight, you have to bench Dwhite. And not only 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.080 at we're leaning heavily into this small ball in our 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:08.040 Lebron at center lineups are working. It's our Carmelo Anthony 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.520 at center lineups that are getting absolutely destroyed. So the 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.400 only way to avoid that is to stagger Lebron and Dwight. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.440 And the only way to do that is to bring 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.320 Dwight off the bench, So I would start Lebron at center, 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.960 in which case you have to go with wings. So 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.240 when healthy, the way that I'd like to see the 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:28.000 starters break out if you insist on starting th HT, 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.680 that's one thing I tend to think he should be 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.280 staggered in a similar way to the Dwight concept. Try 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.440 to keep him and Russ off the floor as much 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.000 as possible with each other. There's gonna be some overlap 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.720 because they're athletic and young. Excuse me, t h T 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.640 s young. They're both gonna play thirty something minutes. There's 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.960 gonna be some overlap. But preferably if you could have 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.280 those guys staggered, you would. But assuming that they're going 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.359 to start th HT because I just think that seems 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.840 to be the direction the team wants to go. You 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:57.760 got Russ at point guard, you got t h T 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.080 at the two, you have Lebron at the five. If 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.239 you have a reason at the four, now we need 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.679 someone to plug into that spot. To me, in my opinion, 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.000 with the limited shooting with that lineup, I think you 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:10.399 have to go with a guy like Wayne Ellington. Now, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:12.200 if you pull th h T out and you get 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.040 Ellington at the two, now we can bring another wing 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.919 in there. Go with someone like Austin Reeves or Stanley Johnson. 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.240 Now we can kind of keep that baseline athleticism while 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.760 also having the shooting there. But most importantly, you have 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:26.840 to take Dwight out of the starting lineup. It's the 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.080 only way to properly get our center rotation down to 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.880 where we always have a passable defensive center on the floor. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.880 Lebron for thirty thirty four minutes of the game. Dwight 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.159 for you know, fifteen twenty minutes of the game with 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.720 a little bit of overlap. That's the only way to 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.240 make this small ball thing work. If you lean into 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.600 that for three weeks with Lebron and Dwight playing center, 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.280 we can get a really good read on whether or 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.280 not the small ball thing works. And then at January 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.840 go we're good on small ball, let's go get another 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.879 wing or Okay, this isn't working, a d is going 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.840 to be out awhile, let's go get another center. That's 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.320 the easiest way for us to discover that is to 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.520 lean heavily into our best small ball rotation right now 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.000 and try to see what we can get out of it. Alright, 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.800 let's see, do you think we trade Russ or this 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:22.840 is our team come playoff times. So this has been 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.399 the most common thing that's been thrown around over the 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.280 course of the last couple of days. So I would 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:32.679 not trade Russ, And I think it's a lot sillier 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.680 than people think to even consider that route for a 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.480 couple of reasons. First of all, if you try to 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.240 trade Russ. All you're getting back is salary filler. Nobody 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.359 out there in the league is going to give up 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.680 anything of real value for Russ because Russ has no 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:51.600 true value. The reason why is because even with all 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.760 of the good that he brings to the table at 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:57.840 his contract number, he is absolutely a negative asset that 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.720 goes without saying. It was kind of prizing in in 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.760 my opinion, that we even had to give up a 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.159 first round pick to get Russ in the trade to 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.560 begin with. That was confusing to me. But bottom line, 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.520 Russ doesn't bring a lot of trade value, if at all, 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.240 So you're you're just hoping for some sort of partner 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.720 out there to throw salary filler at you. At that point, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:24.200 there's a massive there's a massive diminishing return. So let's 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.679 say we got three salaries a twenty million dollar guy, 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.040 a ten million dollar guy, and a seven million dollar guy. 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:34.159 Chances are those guys coming back are all considered overpaid, 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.719 otherwise that team wouldn't be giving them up. So then 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.760 you ask yourself, what really is the difference between a 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:45.600 Stanley Johnson, a Kendrick Nunn, and a Trevor Reza and 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.960 this random twenty million guy, this random ten million guy, 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:51.720 in this random seven million guy, that some team is 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.359 offloading and bringing back Russ, you know what I mean, Like, 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:57.639 that's what you gotta tell yourself, Like you're probably not 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.480 getting high quality role play years back for Russ. So 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.720 then what you have to tell yourself is Russ is 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.000 what he is at this point, and he certainly is 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:08.959 going to be around for the rest of this season. 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.520 When you accept that, the only the only proposed Russell 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.399 West Pork trade that I actually even considered to be 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.600 viable is if, for whatever reason, Joe l embad is 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.080 a huge fan of us, and Joel Embiad is going 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.239