Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jason tim Podcast. Thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for taking time out of your Wednesday to hang
Speaker 1: out with me. I'm super happy today because I know
Speaker 1: for a fact that the WiFi, I although I'm jinxing
Speaker 1: myself here, that the WiFi is gonna hang in with
Speaker 1: me through this podcast. Because I am no longer at
Speaker 1: the house that I was trying to record at the
Speaker 1: last few weeks until I can get that situation remedied.
Speaker 1: I am at the place where I grew up. I'm
Speaker 1: in my old childhood bedroom, so there's some nostalgia here,
Speaker 1: but I've got I just set up a brand new
Speaker 1: mesh WiFi network um for my parents here, so I
Speaker 1: could take advantage of that just to kind of float
Speaker 1: me until I can get the WiFi situation fixed out
Speaker 1: where I'm living right now. Um, but I was super excited.
Speaker 1: Tommy is really busy with work this week, so he
Speaker 1: was unable to record with me this week. UM, So
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna be going solo today and then Rog
Speaker 1: and I are gonna be going on Friday morning. And
Speaker 1: then Rog and I talked about maybe doing one of
Speaker 1: those locker room chats after the Clippers Lakers game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: which is exciting. I'm excited to try that out because
Speaker 1: I haven't done the locker room thing before, but I
Speaker 1: think it'll be interesting. And then we can give some
Speaker 1: of you guys a chance to hop in and actually
Speaker 1: ask us questions directly. Um. But so today I just
Speaker 1: wanna kind of stay really macarrol. I'm not gonna die
Speaker 1: too much into analysis and just talk about some macro
Speaker 1: NBA topics. I wanted to talk about for like two
Speaker 1: seconds about the this JJ Reddick thing because I think
Speaker 1: it's super interesting. And then uh um uh the I
Speaker 1: want to talk about this thing with Katie and the
Speaker 1: nets and just some of the discourse surrounding, you know,
Speaker 1: people getting really upset about him being on a really
Speaker 1: good team, how I feel about that. And then I
Speaker 1: want to talk about a couple of these buyout candidates.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do that at the beginning, the little bit
Speaker 1: of analysis type stuff, um, and then at the end
Speaker 1: I wanted to respond to a little conversation that was
Speaker 1: bouncing around Twitter today because of the Dan Lebotard show, uh,
Speaker 1: surrounding just some of the differences between Lebron and Steph. Um.
Speaker 1: But I want to start with the buyout stuff. So
Speaker 1: because the story just came down from Shams that uh,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are expecting to umu, the Lakers are expecting
Speaker 1: to play Andre Drummond upwards of thirty minutes at night,
Speaker 1: and that it might end up sending Marc Gasol out
Speaker 1: of the rotation. And it's interesting for a bunch of
Speaker 1: different reasons, uh for starters, you know, when the Lakers
Speaker 1: got to the playoffs last year, because Andre Drummond kind
Speaker 1: of fits more of that JaVale McGhee, uh Dwight Howard
Speaker 1: type of role. He's not your uh when the Lakers
Speaker 1: wanted to be more versatile, they played a lot of
Speaker 1: Marquis Morris last year, and they played a lot of
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis at the five. So even if Marcosol was
Speaker 1: entirely out of the rotation, the idea of playing uh
Speaker 1: Drummond thirty minutes and it doesn't really make a ton
Speaker 1: of sense to me. But I think, you know, first
Speaker 1: of all, in this stage where where uh Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is not playing, I still expect to see a lot
Speaker 1: of Marcusol. And I would imagine that because Marcosol has
Speaker 1: been playing so well. As I pointed, out the other day.
Speaker 1: He's still shooting over from three in his last I
Speaker 1: can't remember exactly something like his like a dozen games
Speaker 1: on like four attempts per game, So he's still shooting
Speaker 1: really well. He's a really high i Q defender. He
Speaker 1: always ends up in the right spot. And then he
Speaker 1: adds all of that, you know, uh, playmaking ability from
Speaker 1: the top of the key. It's one of the biggest
Speaker 1: things that allows the Lakers to run their off ball
Speaker 1: actions is having somebody like uh Marcosol at the top
Speaker 1: of the key to make post entry passes to Montrese,
Speaker 1: to allow batcuts from the guards who are usually not
Speaker 1: that great at creating their own shots. So getting them
Speaker 1: off the off the ball and on the move is
Speaker 1: a is a way to kind of unlock them. Um.
Speaker 1: So I still think Marcusol has to play um, but
Speaker 1: it'll just be interesting to see. And it all comes
Speaker 1: down to attitude. You know. There was something a little
Speaker 1: weird about what Frank Vocal said in that press or
Speaker 1: you know, just about how like everyone in the locker
Speaker 1: room loves Mark and we he's such a pro and
Speaker 1: all this other stuff. There wasn't anything where he directly
Speaker 1: came out and said Marcosol is okay with the fact
Speaker 1: that his minutes might be cut. Um, So I hope
Speaker 1: it's not something that he dislikes. And if it costs
Speaker 1: the Lakers, Marcusol, if he ends up getting bought out,
Speaker 1: that would make me really sad, because I do think
Speaker 1: that he brings some versatility in the playoffs for them. Um.
Speaker 1: But I I also that doesn't change the fact that
Speaker 1: I think Andrew Drummond's gonna be really effective, and I've
Speaker 1: been watching a lot of tape on him as of late,
Speaker 1: and I'm really really excited to watch tonight's game because
Speaker 1: I think, you know, he's he's infusion of talent on
Speaker 1: a team that, without Lebron and a D, is at
Speaker 1: a talent disadvantage, and so getting him in a situation
Speaker 1: like this where you know, in this first couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: I do think there will be some sloppiness. You're gonna
Speaker 1: see a little bit of that calvs Andre Drummond, him
Speaker 1: throwing up crazy shots. You're gonna see a little bit
Speaker 1: of that until Lebron and a D get back. But
Speaker 1: the infusion of talent is unmistakable and and gives them
Speaker 1: a little bit better chance of stealing games that are
Speaker 1: in that fringe. You know, it's easy for them to
Speaker 1: beat Orlando when they're as shorthanded as they are. They're
Speaker 1: it's easy for them to beat Cleveland with as bad
Speaker 1: as Cleveland is. But a team like Toronto's slumping and
Speaker 1: has traded some guys, but they are still a well
Speaker 1: coached team that plays extremely hard and has a certain
Speaker 1: amount of talent. That's a fringe game that with Andre Drummond,
Speaker 1: the Lakers have a chance to steal. And another example
Speaker 1: of a game like that is like the New York
Speaker 1: Knicks in years past, the New York Knicks, that's a win,
Speaker 1: but with this year, with as well as they've been playing,
Speaker 1: that's not an easy win. And my guest is without
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond, that's a game the Lakers would lose. And
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond, the infusion of town, it gives them a
Speaker 1: better chance of winning that particular game. And when you
Speaker 1: look at the standings, as crazy as things have been, thankfully,
Speaker 1: because the Bucks keep losing games and the Clippers keep
Speaker 1: losing games and ky you know, the Nets lost the
Speaker 1: game the other day because when Kyrie was out, like
Speaker 1: the there's still some inconsistency at the top of the
Speaker 1: Lakers at the top of the NBA standings, and the
Speaker 1: Lakers are only two and a half games out of
Speaker 1: the number two overall seed, which is insane. Two and
Speaker 1: a half games out of the number one overall seed.
Speaker 1: And what that means is like, you know, if you
Speaker 1: can steal like game against the Raptors, if you can
Speaker 1: steal that game against the New York Knicks, now all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you have an opportunity to bring Lebron
Speaker 1: in a d back, you know, like in a month
Speaker 1: and still be potentially within you know, four games of
Speaker 1: the number two overall seed. That that is at least
Speaker 1: within you know, that gives you a puncher's chance at
Speaker 1: making a run to get back up near the top
Speaker 1: of the standings, to hopefully get yourself in a position
Speaker 1: where you don't have to play a Utah or Phoenix
Speaker 1: or the Clippers are Denver in the first round, which
Speaker 1: to me would be ideal. Obviously, I still would pick
Speaker 1: the Lakers out of the West as long as they're healthy,
Speaker 1: regardless of what their seed is. But you know, uh,
Speaker 1: they have a chance here to to kind of to
Speaker 1: to kind of rectify some of that. A question in
Speaker 1: the comments is what's the biggest strength Andre Drummond brings
Speaker 1: to the Lakers. To me, it's size and physicality. It's
Speaker 1: really that simple. The biggest thing that the Lakers brought
Speaker 1: to the table last year was just ridiculous size and physicality.
Speaker 1: They traded some of that out when they let go
Speaker 1: of Javail and Dwight in favor of some more skill,
Speaker 1: you know, bringing in Marcus Solo, who is a much
Speaker 1: more skilled big. Montrese Harrold is not as physically imposing
Speaker 1: as a big, but that is more skilled in isolation,
Speaker 1: a guy that could actually attack mismatches and score, a
Speaker 1: guy who's a really really good offensive rebounder. Now you
Speaker 1: bring in uh, Andre Drummond, and you're kind of getting
Speaker 1: a better version of Dwight to bring back that physicality
Speaker 1: while still having the marcusol and Montrese Harold on the
Speaker 1: roster for the more skilled options in the front court.
Speaker 1: And you know, this is what I think is super
Speaker 1: interesting about the LaMarcus Aldridge signing. Uh. When you're in
Speaker 1: a playoff series, it helps to just have other options.
Speaker 1: It helps to just have you know, other cards in
Speaker 1: your deck that you can go to when things aren't
Speaker 1: working out. It's counters, it's audible. So that's the way
Speaker 1: these playoffs series works. You move a guy in and
Speaker 1: out of the starting lineup, you move a guy in
Speaker 1: and out of the rotation, You shrink your rotation, you
Speaker 1: simplify things, you overcomplicate things, You do whatever it takes
Speaker 1: to try to regain control of a series that's slipping
Speaker 1: out of your grasp. And even though, yeah, LaMarcus Aldres
Speaker 1: is not a great defensive player, yeah, and there switching scheme,
Speaker 1: he's gonna get attacked a lot, but the same could
Speaker 1: be said about a lot of the guys on that roster,
Speaker 1: especially in that fifth starter position alongside you know, uh,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, UH, James Harden and and uh
Speaker 1: and Joe Harris. So that fifth guy is is gonna
Speaker 1: be flawed no matter what. And having a guy like
Speaker 1: LaMarcus Aldridge on your roster, that just gives you another
Speaker 1: angle that you can go to. Okay, Blake's knee is
Speaker 1: swelling and he's not gonna be able to play in
Speaker 1: the first round, we can go to LaMarcus. Jeff Green
Speaker 1: goes super cold and he's not making shots the way
Speaker 1: he used to. We can go to LaMarcus. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: Game one and two of the series are bench line
Speaker 1: up to start the second quarter, can't score, We're gonna go.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go to LaMarcus Aldridge. Having that just options
Speaker 1: in the deck is the best way to give yourself
Speaker 1: a chance to adjust over the course of the playoff series.
Speaker 1: I thought LaMarcus Aldridge was the best buyout guy available.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. As a Laker fan, you should
Speaker 1: be stoked to have Andre Drummond, and I do think
Speaker 1: he's gonna do a lot for the Lakers. However, I
Speaker 1: thought on Aldridge was clearly the most talented player in
Speaker 1: that set. But that sort of versatility is the same
Speaker 1: thing that the Lakers gain with Andre Drummond. It's just
Speaker 1: an option. They can go huge, and they can play
Speaker 1: you know, uh, Lebron and Alex Crusoe and Can Davids
Speaker 1: Cobble Pope and Anthony Davis Andre Drummond and just have
Speaker 1: a ridiculously big, versatile defensive lineup that just swallows teams up.
Speaker 1: Or they can go small with a d at the
Speaker 1: five and Lebron at the four. Or they can go big,
Speaker 1: but more skill oriented. With like a guy like uh
Speaker 1: Dennis Shrewder at the point and with Marcusol at the five,
Speaker 1: they have all this versatility that they can go to now.
Speaker 1: And I don't think you can have enough of that.
Speaker 1: And so I hope that Marcusol doesn't get too upset
Speaker 1: about the role that he's in and that he hangs
Speaker 1: in there, because I do think that he can be
Speaker 1: a real advantage for the for the Lakers moving forward.
Speaker 1: I saw the Clippers signed to Marcus Cousins and and
Speaker 1: it's interesting to me because you know, if you if
Speaker 1: you were to jokingly build a list of the guys
Speaker 1: and the moves that you would hope the Clippers would
Speaker 1: make as a Laker fan and uh in hopes that
Speaker 1: they would not maximize their talent, you would have said
Speaker 1: Region Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins. Which is funny because DeMarcus Cousins.
Speaker 1: I feel terrible for the guy. He said he's been
Speaker 1: dealt a really shitty hand cards, But the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is is he doesn't really bring anything on
Speaker 1: either end of the floor. He's nowhere near mobile enough
Speaker 1: to do anything other than spot up shoot on offense
Speaker 1: and on defense. He's absolute barbecue chicken. So I I
Speaker 1: don't think he helps anything for them. Uh. Any minute
Speaker 1: that they don't play Zoobach at the five or or
Speaker 1: Surgebaka at the five to me, feels like a win
Speaker 1: for the opponent. Um. And then you know, the Rondo
Speaker 1: thing has been super interesting because you're get seeing a
Speaker 1: mixed opinions from everybody I've seen. You know, about half
Speaker 1: of the analysts that I trust say, you know, this
Speaker 1: is hilarious. You know, Rondo's been garbage. There's nothing good
Speaker 1: that he brings to the table. This is going to
Speaker 1: hurt them. And then really people that I really respected,
Speaker 1: like for instance, Zack Low waxed eloquent and his most
Speaker 1: recent podcast about how Region Rondo undeniably uh fit a
Speaker 1: need that the Clippers had, And I think that's interesting.
Speaker 1: You know. My take on it is like, uh, there
Speaker 1: were a lot of really really big plays and big
Speaker 1: shots and big games that Region Rondo had last year
Speaker 1: in the Laker Jersey, uh, four or five of which
Speaker 1: took place in the playoffs where he played really, really
Speaker 1: well and it helped the Lakers get over the top.
Speaker 1: But the entire experience with Region Rondo was never about
Speaker 1: the good. Uh, it was about the bad that got
Speaker 1: mixed into it. It's all relative. It's like the talent
Speaker 1: Horton Tucker experience. It's the same reason why talent Horton Tucker,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, will fall out of the rotation. It's
Speaker 1: not about the good. It looks great when it looks great, uh.
Speaker 1: And he attacks the close out and makes one of
Speaker 1: his crazy behind the layups or gets a steal with
Speaker 1: his ridiculously long arms and strong hands, and and and
Speaker 1: and gets out on the break and makes a play.
Speaker 1: It looks great when it looks great. But because he's
Speaker 1: young and he's in consistent, he makes these mistakes. And
Speaker 1: the most important thing, alongside Lebron and n a D
Speaker 1: is consistency and getting guys that are gonna uh do
Speaker 1: a kind of like toe, a line of more consistent
Speaker 1: average play than the chaotic up and down that can
Speaker 1: throw your team off. There were games in the playoffs
Speaker 1: last year that I thought the Lakers lost not because
Speaker 1: of Rondo, but largely because of Rondo, Like where he
Speaker 1: where his turnovers, inability to make shots, in ability to
Speaker 1: take shots because he loses his confidence and stops shooting,
Speaker 1: and then defensively, he's one of He's one of those
Speaker 1: guys that when he's actually caring and giving a ship
Speaker 1: on on defense, he looks great. But in the entire
Speaker 1: playoff games, he would go crazy and gamble and get
Speaker 1: out of position and it would hurt the entire defense.
Speaker 1: And so I don't necessarily view him as a as
Speaker 1: a guy who really helps uh the Clipper offense. So
Speaker 1: what the Clippers would tell you is that Region Rondo
Speaker 1: is a playmaker that will help set up Kauai and
Speaker 1: Paul George and get people in the right spots. But
Speaker 1: I actually disagree with that because I don't think of
Speaker 1: Rondo as your stereotypical playmaker to get guys in the
Speaker 1: right spots in terms of stars where Rondo is good
Speaker 1: because Rondo is an assist hunter. And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is he's that guy that dribble dribble dribble
Speaker 1: dribbles waiting for someone to cut, and he loves to
Speaker 1: throw that pass at the basket for layups or or
Speaker 1: to an open shooter on the wing. He's not a
Speaker 1: he's not a like a run the offense kind of guy.
Speaker 1: He's I Am the offense kind of guy. And when
Speaker 1: it when he is creating shots and he is kicking
Speaker 1: out the shooters and he's hitting guys under the basket,
Speaker 1: it looks great. But when he's not getting as much
Speaker 1: separation and when he's not able to draw the defense
Speaker 1: towards him, which is what happened to him a lot
Speaker 1: in the playoffs last year, he doesn't look great. I
Speaker 1: always thought that a guy like Ricky Rubio made more
Speaker 1: sense for the Clippers because he's a run the offense guy.
Speaker 1: He's the we're looking for a Kauai post up here,
Speaker 1: but we were on a we want to run the
Speaker 1: Qui post up when he has a mismatch, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna get everybody to the right spot. I'm gonna call
Speaker 1: this guy to go run a pin down instead of
Speaker 1: really hard screen on kwais Man to try to force
Speaker 1: the switch, and then we're gonna clear out, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna go down to Kuai in the post and
Speaker 1: now he's gonna attack. That was always something that I like.
Speaker 1: There's a difference between assist hunting, in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: like true point guard play, and that difference is why
Speaker 1: I was never super stoked about what Rondo would bring
Speaker 1: to the table for any team, and uh, and why
Speaker 1: I don't think he'll be great for the Clippers. I
Speaker 1: could end up being very wrong. And like I said,
Speaker 1: I really really respect Zach Low and he seems to
Speaker 1: disagree with me. So if if I end up being wrong,
Speaker 1: I'll happily admit that I'm wrong. Um, but I I
Speaker 1: don't think Rondo is gonna really help them. Question from
Speaker 1: the comments says, do you think Rondo gets major minutes
Speaker 1: on the clips? I think his role is gonna look
Speaker 1: really similar to what it did on the Lakers. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: could you believe how much Rondo play? He played a lot.
Speaker 1: There were stretches where Rondo would play thirteen fourteen straight
Speaker 1: minutes and cruise. I wouldn't see the floor, and so
Speaker 1: that that's where it gets tricky. I would imagine that
Speaker 1: it will be a very a very similar role. Um.
Speaker 1: Someone in the comments says he was able to do
Speaker 1: that in Boston in my opinion, but as he's grown,
Speaker 1: he's become less of a true point guard in that regard. Well,
Speaker 1: in in Boston, for starters, he was a lot more athletic,
Speaker 1: and and then secondly, he was around such a huge
Speaker 1: set of egos that he wasn't allowed to dribble drible,
Speaker 1: drible drib dribble, dribble, dribble. But the truth of the
Speaker 1: matter is, if you look back, that was part of
Speaker 1: the reason why Boston got rid of Rondo was because
Speaker 1: he kind of transitioned into that phase there in like
Speaker 1: two thousand ten, two thousand eleven, two thousand twelve. Rondo
Speaker 1: got out of that, uh, that kind of a style,
Speaker 1: that that kind of behind the scenes type of style
Speaker 1: that he had in two thousands and seven, two thousand
Speaker 1: two or two thousand and eight, thousand nine, thou ten,
Speaker 1: And that was part of the reason why that broke
Speaker 1: up and ended up being a problem with him everywhere
Speaker 1: he went. It's the reason why he didn't get along
Speaker 1: with Rick Carlyle. It's just this he's he's kind of
Speaker 1: like he overcontrols things in the beauty full thing about
Speaker 1: what a point guard does. A good point guard is
Speaker 1: there's he toes that line because the point guard has
Speaker 1: the ball in their hands all the time. And so
Speaker 1: a point guard that understands that even though I have
Speaker 1: the ball in my hands, I'm actually not in control.
Speaker 1: It's me. It's about me seeding control to other people
Speaker 1: strategically at specific points. This guy hasn't had a shot
Speaker 1: in a while. We got to get him in a rhythm, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: Lebron has missed a few shots in a row, or
Speaker 1: Kauai has missed a few shots in a row. How
Speaker 1: do I get Kauai in a position where he can
Speaker 1: shoot again but have a better chance of succeeding so
Speaker 1: that he can get his rhythm going. Um So, but
Speaker 1: I mean, I've talked too much about it already, but
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think that he's gonna change much. Al right,
Speaker 1: So next I wanted to really quickly talk about J
Speaker 1: J Reddick. So this is super interesting to me. The
Speaker 1: report comes out, it wasn't even reported, came out on
Speaker 1: his podcast. You guys have seen it on the feed
Speaker 1: if you haven't looked already. Um basically came out and
Speaker 1: said I was. I had requested to trade before the season,
Speaker 1: right after the Drew Holiday trade, and I contacted the
Speaker 1: front office and said I wanted to be traded. They said,
Speaker 1: why don't you come down to the team for a
Speaker 1: month and if you if you like it, then you
Speaker 1: can stay. If not, then we'll get you somewhere. Where
Speaker 1: you want to go or either buy you out or
Speaker 1: we'll trade you to somewhere in the Northeast. And he
Speaker 1: talked about how because of the pandemic, anytime he goes
Speaker 1: into anytime his family moves across the state line and
Speaker 1: they come back, they have to deal with this like
Speaker 1: quarantine stuff, and so he felt like, um, the front
Speaker 1: office was dishonest. Now there there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: slander throne at JJ Reddick since this podcast came out,
Speaker 1: talking about how he doesn't dictate that type of special treatment.
Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: mean I would have liked JJ Reddick as a buyout
Speaker 1: guy with the with the Lakers, and I still think
Speaker 1: he's a good eighth or nine demand in your rotation.
Speaker 1: But I agree in the sense that he doesn't dictate
Speaker 1: what a star dictates. But people always forget about the
Speaker 1: human element in business. It's always easy to to act
Speaker 1: as though everything is a business only relationship. I work
Speaker 1: in real estate, so like when I sell a house,
Speaker 1: I make a lot of money, but there is a difference.
Speaker 1: There's a fine line with whether or not someone is
Speaker 1: worth the trouble. And it's only happened to me a
Speaker 1: couple of times since I've been in the business, but
Speaker 1: I have worked with people before where even though it
Speaker 1: is a big fat paycheck, I would never work with
Speaker 1: that person again because of how miserable they were to
Speaker 1: work with. There's a human element to all of this stuff.
Speaker 1: So you might pretend as though J. J. Reddick doesn't
Speaker 1: dictate this. However, dishonesty from a front office that builds
Speaker 1: a reputation and that absolutely can hurt you in the
Speaker 1: In the back end, JJ Reddick never would have given
Speaker 1: a damn if he went to them and said, Hey,
Speaker 1: I want to be up in Brooklyn and then, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, David Griffin looked back at him and said,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, j J. I am obligated per my job
Speaker 1: description to do what's best for the team, and that
Speaker 1: means I might trade you somewhere else. I'm just letting
Speaker 1: you know up front, it's part of my job description.
Speaker 1: It would be wrong for me to this franchise to
Speaker 1: do anything else. At least then in that case J. J.
Speaker 1: Reddick will be like, well, this sucks, but I signed
Speaker 1: a contract to be here and this guy is just
Speaker 1: doing his job. When you break that barrier, when you
Speaker 1: cross the line into being dishonest, you start to build
Speaker 1: that reputation, and that kind of thing gets to the
Speaker 1: point where people are gonna be like, I would rather
Speaker 1: not work with you. And that's where it gets to
Speaker 1: the point where you're trying to sign a shooter to
Speaker 1: play with Zion, and and the shooter maybe you offer
Speaker 1: just as much money as some other team elsewhere in
Speaker 1: the league, but that little bit of dishonest reputation that
Speaker 1: you build um ends up being a deal breaker, and
Speaker 1: then that and you end up missing out on deals
Speaker 1: down the line. And so what I think is interesting
Speaker 1: about that is like you've got You've got Zion, who
Speaker 1: foolishly all of these media companies are talking about how
Speaker 1: he should get out and go to a big market,
Speaker 1: which we've all agreed as stupid. There's every every single
Speaker 1: truly great basketball player ever has been able to build
Speaker 1: a brand, whether they live in Oklahoma City or where
Speaker 1: they whether they lived in Cleveland or anything. Because they
Speaker 1: all live in l A during the summer and they
Speaker 1: all are touring for shoot with shoe companies around the globe,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. But you're you're already struggling with this
Speaker 1: concept that Zion may eventually uh want to leave New
Speaker 1: Orleans and now and we all heard like Zion loves
Speaker 1: playing with j J. Zion went on JJ's podcast earlier
Speaker 1: this year and they talked at length about how much
Speaker 1: they enjoy playing with each other and the extensive stretches
Speaker 1: this year where they had success running dribble handoff actions
Speaker 1: where Zion would be a ball handler and all this
Speaker 1: other stuff, like you mean to tell me Zion is
Speaker 1: not gonna have a phone conversation with j J and
Speaker 1: be like, hey, j J, what happened? And and JJ
Speaker 1: is gonna tell him what happened? And so I think,
Speaker 1: like I think, you know David Griffin. David Griffin has
Speaker 1: a reputation as a great GM strictly because of something
Speaker 1: that Braun did with with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and a
Speaker 1: lot of the stuff he's been is non done. His
Speaker 1: nonsensical didn't make any sense to sign stay in van Gundi.
Speaker 1: He was a coach that was from a bygone era
Speaker 1: in the and and was gonna naturally struggle with defensive
Speaker 1: schemes and stuff that work and this era. And then
Speaker 1: and then you go and sign you trade for Steven
Speaker 1: Adams which whatever, but then you extend him and and
Speaker 1: that made absolutely no sense given the fact that he
Speaker 1: doesn't shoot the ball well and Zion Zion Zion is
Speaker 1: literally running the best offense in the league over this
Speaker 1: most recent span. I can't remember the exact number of games,
Speaker 1: but the Pelicans are number one in offense and he's
Speaker 1: doing that with terrible spacing, in large part because of
Speaker 1: of the decisions that David Griffin has made. So I
Speaker 1: I think that that that whole thing is off to
Speaker 1: a really bad start in the in the Zion experiment,
Speaker 1: all right, So I wanted to talk about this Kevin Duranting,
Speaker 1: so I myself sent out a tweet shortly after the
Speaker 1: LaMarcus Aldrige thing, um, foolishly comparing them to the to
Speaker 1: the two thousand seventeen Warriers. And I was stupid. I
Speaker 1: was just overreacting, um, But I just where that came from.
Speaker 1: The place that that came from was the simple fact
Speaker 1: that the that the UH the Brooklyn Nets for beating
Speaker 1: the ship out of everybody, They're beating the ship out
Speaker 1: of everybody easily limited without UH, without Kevin Durant, and
Speaker 1: even in a lot of games without Kyrie Irving because
Speaker 1: they because James Harden is extremely good, he's one of
Speaker 1: the best, He's probably the best regular season player of
Speaker 1: this era, and they're switching defensive scheme is completely throwing
Speaker 1: everybody off because it's it's difficult to handle in one
Speaker 1: game sample sizes when you can't scheme for it tonight
Speaker 1: after night, and uhum, a lot of the role players
Speaker 1: are playing better than we expected. Jeff Green and I,
Speaker 1: as I've said at length, is like the best veteran
Speaker 1: minimum guy in the entire league. He's consistently on veteran
Speaker 1: minimums and then every team that he's on, he's plays
Speaker 1: like a fifteen million dollar a year player. Doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense to me that a guy like Danilo Gallinari
Speaker 1: can go out and get twenty something million a year,
Speaker 1: but Jeff Green is gonna get two point seven, Like,
Speaker 1: someone please explain that to me. And then Joe Harris
Speaker 1: is just one of the best spot up shooters in
Speaker 1: the league who can also make shots on the move
Speaker 1: and is an average two above average defensive players. So
Speaker 1: they're just way better than I thought. And so my
Speaker 1: tweet was strictly just like man and then I talked
Speaker 1: about at length earlier about why I thought LaMarcus Aldridge
Speaker 1: was the best buyout candidate available. So I was just
Speaker 1: you know, getting off my chest the fact that I
Speaker 1: thought it was crazy. I talented this team is. And
Speaker 1: then Kevin Duran's coming back, you know, the guy who
Speaker 1: I don't think is the best player in the league,
Speaker 1: but the guy that a lot of people think is
Speaker 1: the best player in basketball is coming back and joining
Speaker 1: all of this. And so, you know, obviously there's a
Speaker 1: lot of crazy people, particularly and in the in uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the Lebron James fan base, which is seven
Speaker 1: and has a lot of crazies. In the fringes. They
Speaker 1: were constantly saying about how this is unfair, and you know,
Speaker 1: Katie's always stack in the deck and blah blah, blah blah.
Speaker 1: And there are a couple of things that I think
Speaker 1: are interesting about that. First of all, as I've said
Speaker 1: at length, Lebron also tries to stack the deck. He's
Speaker 1: just not as good at it like Kevin Durant. If
Speaker 1: he has a talent, it's that he's he's good at
Speaker 1: putting this sort of thing together. And he's done it
Speaker 1: in two different ways. Now. He did it by straight
Speaker 1: up signing with the Golden State Warriors because of a
Speaker 1: cap spike, uh and a team that had already won
Speaker 1: seventy three games and came within a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: of winning the title the previous year, and then he
Speaker 1: did a different version of it here in Brooklyn. He's
Speaker 1: absolutely better at building that type of team. However, the
Speaker 1: flip side of that is, like, you know, there is
Speaker 1: there is a reality, a harsh reality to the way
Speaker 1: that we discussed basketball. It's a team sport, right, It's
Speaker 1: a It's not like comparing, uh, you know, Jimmy Johnson
Speaker 1: to Jeff Gordon when you're strictly talking about a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys in identical vehicles racing in a circle under
Speaker 1: identical circumstances, and you have and there's only one person involved,
Speaker 1: and it's very clear cut who the winner is. It's
Speaker 1: a team sport and the only result that we have
Speaker 1: his team results. So all of us, myself included, and
Speaker 1: every single one of the millions of people on Twitter,
Speaker 1: they come up with their own opinion about how this
Speaker 1: one individual plays a role in the larger scheme of
Speaker 1: what the team is trying to do, and all of
Speaker 1: that is subjective. We do our best to try to
Speaker 1: build all of that together into a story of why
Speaker 1: we think player A is better than player B. But
Speaker 1: no matter what it's subjective, it is up for debate.
Speaker 1: And the problem with Kevin Durant being so good at
Speaker 1: putting himself in situations where the team is so incredible,
Speaker 1: he makes it easy for the people who don't like
Speaker 1: him to undercut what he does on the basketball court.
Speaker 1: And and that's the thing that's funny, is like Lebron,
Speaker 1: you know, because he's less good at it. He joined
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat team, you know, and didn't properly account
Speaker 1: for the fact that Dwyane Wade, as a chaotic, driving,
Speaker 1: slashing guard, was probably going to break down, and that
Speaker 1: had already experienced health issues in a previous season where
Speaker 1: his shoulder came out because he was falling on the
Speaker 1: ground like crazy. The uh, he didn't properly account for that,
Speaker 1: and then the Miami Heat broke down, and so he
Speaker 1: even though he won two titles there, there's a perception
Speaker 1: that surrounds what he did in Miami that made it
Speaker 1: look difficult and the stakes in like Game six, after
Speaker 1: Chris Bosh tore his abdominal muscle, and they're about to
Speaker 1: lose to the Boston Celtics. The circumstances of the Wheels
Speaker 1: coming off of what he tried to build in Miami
Speaker 1: forced him to play so incredibly well to save that
Speaker 1: team that now the entire perception surrounding that team is
Speaker 1: Lebron was amazing and that's the only reason why they
Speaker 1: one go on to two thousand thirteen, same thing. They
Speaker 1: go to Game seven against the Pacers. They go to
Speaker 1: Game seven against the Spurs. They're down ten in Game six.
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter, Lebron goes crazy. This is the game.
Speaker 1: He loses his head band, and then he scores an
Speaker 1: assists on every point in overtime, and then he goes
Speaker 1: off for thirty seven or whatever in Game seven to
Speaker 1: barely beat the Spurs. Again, the perception around that team
Speaker 1: is Lebron was amazing and that's why they won. But
Speaker 1: because Kevin Durant has put himself in these situations where
Speaker 1: the team is so so good, he hasn't had to
Speaker 1: be that good for the team to win. So now
Speaker 1: you can point to, oh, he made he made a
Speaker 1: shot over Lebron in Game three of a series that
Speaker 1: the Warriors probably would have swept if they tried hard
Speaker 1: in Game four, and they probably would have gone undefeated
Speaker 1: in the entire playoff run. And then the following year,
Speaker 1: they literally b s through the entire season and they
Speaker 1: still uh win the title, not defending nearly as well
Speaker 1: as they had in years past. Kevin Durant basically broke
Speaker 1: away from the offense and started doing crazy isolation stuff
Speaker 1: all the time. It is a problem that started to
Speaker 1: build between him and kerr And and literally the even
Speaker 1: though they were nowhere near as good as they were
Speaker 1: the previous here, they didn't play nearly as well as
Speaker 1: they did the previous here, they still won. And so
Speaker 1: the perception surrounding that team once again is that they
Speaker 1: didn't need Kevin Durant. And then what do you know,
Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen, Draymond basically says that to Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant while calling him a bit, and it continues to
Speaker 1: build that narrative, and now he finds himself in that
Speaker 1: situation again. Here he is in Brooklyn and the team
Speaker 1: appears to be a championship contender without Kevin Durant. I
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that I'd picked them over Philly but
Speaker 1: there's a chance that I might pick them over Philly
Speaker 1: even if Kevin Durant never plays again. That's how good
Speaker 1: the team is. And so the downside to him being
Speaker 1: so good at building these types of teams is that
Speaker 1: he puts himself in this situation where that subjective analysis
Speaker 1: of what he brings individual individually to the team is different,
Speaker 1: and it's clouded because now it just looks like he's
Speaker 1: kind of out there just doing k D stuff and
Speaker 1: the team's winning. Anyway, Whereas you look back at two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen Lebron, in two thousand and twelve, two thousand
Speaker 1: and thirteen Lebron, it's like, man, if he wasn't every
Speaker 1: single bit of the best version of what he could be,
Speaker 1: they would have lost. Literally, they would have lost in
Speaker 1: the Conference uh Finals against the Boston Celtics in two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve. If he wasn't amazing, they would have lost
Speaker 1: in the in the in the finals against the Spurs
Speaker 1: in two thousand thirteen. If he wasn't amazing, they would
Speaker 1: have lost to the to the to the Warriors, if
Speaker 1: he wasn't amazing. Even this Lakers season in when when
Speaker 1: they were favored throughout, but there was still a great
Speaker 1: deal of pessimism surrounding that team because the rest of
Speaker 1: the roster after lebron Na d wasn't that talented. There
Speaker 1: was this perception like, oh, they might lose to Portland,
Speaker 1: they might lose to Houston, they might lose to Denver.
Speaker 1: Denver just beat the Clippers. Oh, like a third of
Speaker 1: the analysis UH analysts picked the Miami Heat to beat
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Now, that perception is, they overcame a lot
Speaker 1: of this stuff, even though that was probably the weakest
Speaker 1: of his four championships. And that's all it is, is
Speaker 1: like you know, if you were if you're a simple
Speaker 1: man in terms of the way you feel about the public,
Speaker 1: like Steph Curry is a great example of this. Steph
Speaker 1: Curry doesn't give a damn when any of you guys
Speaker 1: think that's why he had Kevin Durant come on board
Speaker 1: in the first place. Steph Curry doesn't give a damn.
Speaker 1: He just likes winning basketball games. So he's more than
Speaker 1: happy not caring about your subjective analysis. Any subjective person
Speaker 1: who's in analyzing, and we're gona talking about Steph Lebrown
Speaker 1: here in a second, any subjective person looking at the
Speaker 1: Steph Lebron. Thing is like, yeah, you went three and
Speaker 1: one against him, but you added Kevin Durant for those
Speaker 1: last two. So it's not exactly an even playing field.
Speaker 1: So whatever the differences between you and Lebron, it's certainly
Speaker 1: not three to one finals. It's some other sort of analysis.
Speaker 1: And he subjective person is going to say that. However,
Speaker 1: Steph doesn't care because he doesn't care what you think,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't care what I think. He's happy. He
Speaker 1: just likes winning. Kevin duran is different. That's why he
Speaker 1: left the Warriors to begin with. He does care about
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. He might tell you he doesn't.
Speaker 1: He might come on Twitter and and act a certain way,
Speaker 1: but he obviously cares about that stuff. Otherwise he never
Speaker 1: would have left Golden State to begin with. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's just unfortunate because now he's because he's so
Speaker 1: good at this, picking a situation and maximizing it. Because
Speaker 1: he's so good at this, he's put himself in a
Speaker 1: situation where if he wins the title again this year
Speaker 1: and James Harden and Kyrie play great, and Lamark Saldiers
Speaker 1: helps him off the bench and all this other stuff,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be another trophy sitting in his trophy case
Speaker 1: and another Finals MVP in another series where he maybe
Speaker 1: outplayed Lebron, even though people oversimplify that as well, There's
Speaker 1: gonna be another one there where the vast majority of
Speaker 1: basketball twitters gonna be like, all right, fine, you want
Speaker 1: again with a ridiculously good team. That's the unfortunate part.
Speaker 1: And you know, again this is shallow, but just as
Speaker 1: a basketball fan, I want to see Kevin Durant have
Speaker 1: his two thousand, twelve Lebron games sixth moment. I want
Speaker 1: to see Kevin Durant back against the wall, going to
Speaker 1: lose unless he rises to the absolute peak of what
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant can be as a basketball player and he
Speaker 1: brings a team over the top. That's what we want
Speaker 1: to see. And it because that that that is what
Speaker 1: brings the best out of you. Like that, that that
Speaker 1: performing performance from Lebron in that game thirty in the
Speaker 1: first half. Lebron never does that. He's never that aggressive
Speaker 1: as of a of a score. He strictly did that
Speaker 1: out of necessity. The necessity, the steaks, the fear of
Speaker 1: loss is what brings the best out of these guys
Speaker 1: and So that's the thing, like, just as a basketball fan,
Speaker 1: you'd prefer to see in for the record, I might
Speaker 1: still pick the Lakers against this next team. I might.
Speaker 1: I feel like that'd be lying in the face of
Speaker 1: tons of evidence because of how good this Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: team has been. But we might see how how difficult
Speaker 1: it is for the Nets, and we might earn that
Speaker 1: respect for Kevin Durant this year. But but if it
Speaker 1: does look really easy, that's where you're gonna have all
Speaker 1: that doubt creep in from all the people. But but
Speaker 1: if you're stuff, it's the reason why step doesn't care
Speaker 1: is he's like, y'all aren't gonna like me anyway. And
Speaker 1: that's the mentality that I would have. KD is like,
Speaker 1: you guys aren't gonna like me anyway. So I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna win easy championships and who cares what you guys think.
Speaker 1: I'm happy and now I have three rings. That that's
Speaker 1: the way that he should look at it. I just
Speaker 1: don't think he's necessarily wired that way. One last thing
Speaker 1: before we're out of here, alrighty um, so the uh
Speaker 1: I saw a tweet from um This is from the
Speaker 1: Lebertard Show. So I haven't actually listened to it yet.
Speaker 1: I've just seen you guys talking about it. But there's
Speaker 1: apparently somebody on the Dan Lambertard Show said that if
Speaker 1: Lebron was swapped for Steph on this year's Warriors team,
Speaker 1: that they could win an NBA championship. That's obviously completely ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And this is the most frustrating thing about the Lebron
Speaker 1: and Steph conversation is everything everybody says is completely ridiculous.
Speaker 1: The other day, the Warriors literally won a game against
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bowls, who are working in new pieces and
Speaker 1: our a bottom tier playoff team in the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: and everybody in Warrior's Twitter was on the timeline saying
Speaker 1: that Steph Curry's the best player in basketball. Again, it's
Speaker 1: like they're operating from a complete uh you know, asinine
Speaker 1: plays themselves. But you've got all these other people on
Speaker 1: the other side that say equally crazy things about what
Speaker 1: step can't do, and and it and it ruins what
Speaker 1: should be a really interesting conversation, which is the difference
Speaker 1: between Lebron and Steph. For the record, coming into the season,
Speaker 1: I said Steph was the second best player in basketball.
Speaker 1: I said that because I also see the value that
Speaker 1: he brings offensively to a basket team, the amount of
Speaker 1: attention he gave Gardners, the the ability for other players
Speaker 1: around him to play an easier form of basketball because
Speaker 1: of what he does off the ball. All of those
Speaker 1: things I believe in, and I do think he's arguably
Speaker 1: the best offensive player in basketball. I think him and
Speaker 1: Lebron and Nicol Yogi is another guy like this who
Speaker 1: are are so unbelievably good offensively that you can build
Speaker 1: an entire system around them, and I would put them
Speaker 1: all on the same tier. The reason why I think
Speaker 1: Lebron is better and it's a scene shallow again, and
Speaker 1: it's something that you will never be able to argue
Speaker 1: with Steph fans about because they love that he's small.
Speaker 1: It's like part of his likability to them. But Lebron
Speaker 1: has this physical gear that he can hit in these
Speaker 1: playoffs series that Steph can't hit. And it's the reason
Speaker 1: why there's always been this discernible gap between the two
Speaker 1: of them. For me, even when Steph is at his
Speaker 1: absolute peak, I think there's a gap between what he
Speaker 1: does and what Lebron does. And it's that physicality. I'll
Speaker 1: give you just a random example, fourth quarter against the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets in Game five, the Nuggets almost come back
Speaker 1: there to start the fourth quarter, Lebron goes on his
Speaker 1: crazy run. In that crazy run, there's a play where
Speaker 1: he gets Jamal Murray on the switch and he does
Speaker 1: an aggressive driving move to the right, and he does
Speaker 1: a really really hard physical spin move, and in the
Speaker 1: spin move, he covers a ridiculous amount of ground. He
Speaker 1: starts outside the right side of the block and finishes
Speaker 1: outside the left side of the block on the spin move,
Speaker 1: and he knocks down this turnaround jump shot over the top.
Speaker 1: It was one of several jump shots that he hit
Speaker 1: at the end of that game. And that is the
Speaker 1: physical gear that Lebron can hit that Steph is incapable
Speaker 1: of hitting, and it's the reason why I give him
Speaker 1: an edge over step in a lot of those cases.
Speaker 1: I'm not even talking about defense. There's a whole other
Speaker 1: conversation we can add about what Lebron brings defensively to
Speaker 1: the table. The most iconic play of his career is
Speaker 1: him hitting an extra gear physically to block his shot
Speaker 1: from Andrea Guadala that literally change the ends at the
Speaker 1: end of an NBA finals championship series. So that's a
Speaker 1: whole other conversation. I'm not even gonna get into that
Speaker 1: because I don't even think it's worth debate. There's a
Speaker 1: massive chasm between the two defensively, but even offensively, that
Speaker 1: physical gear matters because also at the end of the
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen finals, Steph couldn't get separation. Now people
Speaker 1: will tell you it's because of his knee, but for
Speaker 1: some reason he was having no trouble getting separation against
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder, and he did have success in
Speaker 1: late round playoff series getting separation against in two thousand
Speaker 1: seventeen and two thousand eighteen, but he had this whole
Speaker 1: other release Valve and Kevin Duranted that made it so
Speaker 1: that his physical wear and tear what he was asked
Speaker 1: to do offensively wasn't the same. But you saw it
Speaker 1: again against Toronto in the two thousand nineteen finals. He
Speaker 1: just wasn't quite as good at generating that separation in
Speaker 1: a really physical playoff series that wore down on him
Speaker 1: when he had a lot of playmaking responsibility. Meanwhile, Lebron James,
Speaker 1: you know he's playing with the post player who also
Speaker 1: it's a lot of touches. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: Lebron was their primary offensive initiator on almost every possession,
Speaker 1: yet he was able to hit a physical gear to
Speaker 1: create shots off the dribble that Steph isn't able to hit.
Speaker 1: And to me, that physical gear, I know it's superficial.
Speaker 1: I know it bothers people because you you're dying for
Speaker 1: this like small guy hero that you can have as
Speaker 1: your your go to uh you know, uh guy to
Speaker 1: root for because you can be like him. Okay, that's great,
Speaker 1: but I'm sorry that physicality does matter. I am six
Speaker 1: ft six, I wait two and seven pounds. I have
Speaker 1: a six ten wingspan. My ability to get separation against
Speaker 1: people on the perimeter is unparalleled compared to any small
Speaker 1: guard that I run into. I I like my chances
Speaker 1: to generate a high quality shot over any of those
Speaker 1: guys because I've put the work in to have that
Speaker 1: polish out there. But at the same time, I have
Speaker 1: these zical tools and I'm not even in the same
Speaker 1: universe physically as what Lebron does. But I have five
Speaker 1: times the physical tools that Steph Curry has, and that
Speaker 1: sort of thing does matter in a in a physical
Speaker 1: playoff series. That wears people down in by game six.
Speaker 1: In game seven, everyone's banged up, everyone's tired. But that's
Speaker 1: two seventy pounds six nine guy, for whatever reason, can
Speaker 1: still get separation, and he can still get into your
Speaker 1: body and play bullyball and all those sorts of things.
Speaker 1: And I think that gap is significant, and that's the
Speaker 1: reason why, even at steps absolute best, I never thought
Speaker 1: he passed Lebron. Uh in terms of what he brings
Speaker 1: on a basketball court. Good luck telling anybody that from
Speaker 1: Warriors Twitter, there absolutely love with the guy, and I
Speaker 1: think that's great. That's fantastic part of of the basketball
Speaker 1: fan experience. However, the vast majority of people that you
Speaker 1: talk to outside of Warriors Twitter, I feel like agree
Speaker 1: with me in that regard. There's a difference. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: a difference, queen. You know, being a really really gifted
Speaker 1: offensive engine in the ability to hit that extra gear,
Speaker 1: that that extra that extra gear is the is the
Speaker 1: separation factor from the elite of the elite and the
Speaker 1: guys beneath them. Um, do you guys have any questions
Speaker 1: before I get you out of here, Let's see, are
Speaker 1: you worried Lebron might not be fully healthy? With his
Speaker 1: ankle spraying for the rest of the season. Yes, I
Speaker 1: am worried, just because of the fact that I don't
Speaker 1: love the idea of all these other guys peaking and
Speaker 1: getting in a rhythm, guys like Jannice, guys like Kauai
Speaker 1: and Kevin Duran is gonna be coming back here shortly
Speaker 1: and having a lot of time to get ready. And
Speaker 1: then apparently there's a report that came out this morning
Speaker 1: that Sham said that it might have been last night
Speaker 1: that Sham said that Lebron is gonna be out at
Speaker 1: least another three to five weeks. Like, I don't love
Speaker 1: the idea of Lebron getting ten regular season games and
Speaker 1: then jumping into a first round series where he's gotta
Speaker 1: play Steph Curry or he's got to play Loud or
Speaker 1: something along those lines. I don't love it. Uh. If
Speaker 1: there's one guy that can defy any sort of of uh,
Speaker 1: you know, basic common common sense type of approach to
Speaker 1: this sort of thing, it would be Lebron. Um. But
Speaker 1: I think we're all lying if we're acting like we're
Speaker 1: super optimistic about the way it's gonna go. This is
Speaker 1: so far from my deal. It's not even funny. It's
Speaker 1: an impact injury. It's a lower leg injury, which means
Speaker 1: he's literally not able to work out right now. Like that,
Speaker 1: all of that is just not good. I will completely
Speaker 1: change my take about that if he runs off a
Speaker 1: three or four game stretch where he just looks physically great. Um,
Speaker 1: when he comes back, I wouldn't look at all at
Speaker 1: the way his jump shot looks, or the way his
Speaker 1: handle looks, or any of that stuff. When he comes back,
Speaker 1: I would pay strict attention to just the way he's
Speaker 1: moving around in his mobility. Already, Let's see quick one
Speaker 1: on the last roster spot for the Lakers. Who's your pick?
Speaker 1: So I have a couple of names in mind. There.
Speaker 1: He say I would love to have Auto Porter, But
Speaker 1: it appears that he doesn't appeared to get it. Doesn't
Speaker 1: look like he's gonna get bought out. Um, I was
Speaker 1: super high on uh. Avery Bradley is a backup option,
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure he's necessarily gonna get bought out.
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley was the guy that I had in mind
Speaker 1: when I wanted the Lakers to make the Kyle the
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry trade. But it's I mean, honestly, at this point,
Speaker 1: you know, you've got you've got a guard core that's
Speaker 1: five deep, um and really really solid. You've got uh,
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzman and Lebron James on the wing, and you've
Speaker 1: got five forwards in Mark Kief, Marcus Markief, marcusol Montrez, Harrold,
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond, and uh and Anthony Davis. So you're the
Speaker 1: Lakers are twelve deep right now, so they don't really
Speaker 1: need anything. Uh. It's just if if auto Porter is
Speaker 1: just an absolute no brainer, UM, but I just don't
Speaker 1: think he'll get bought out. And for the record, if
Speaker 1: auto Porter gets bought out and the Lakers signed him,
Speaker 1: that's that would be the best buyout guy out of
Speaker 1: any of these guys. Auto Porters like a legitimate at
Speaker 1: three and D guy, um and like good on both
Speaker 1: ends too. So he'd be an example of someone that
Speaker 1: would kind of be similar in impact to what La
Speaker 1: Marcus Aldridge brings to the to the nets. All right,
Speaker 1: last question, I'll get you guys at here. How do
Speaker 1: you think Tres's robot is affected by Drummond getting thirty
Speaker 1: plus minutes? I don't know. I would imagine that Shred's
Speaker 1: is going to continue to play a lot of minutes
Speaker 1: at the power forward. The Lakers played a lot of
Speaker 1: Montrez Harrold at the four this year, Um they haven't
Speaker 1: played They played more at the five with Anthony Davis out,
Speaker 1: but I expect him to play a lot at the
Speaker 1: four the way he did to start the year. I
Speaker 1: think the guy that's gonna get squeezed as Marcus Al alright,
Speaker 1: guys again, thank you guys so much for just persevering
Speaker 1: with me through that ridiculous WiFi saga. I think from
Speaker 1: what I can tell on my end that there were
Speaker 1: no drops today, so that's good news. As crazy as
Speaker 1: it sounds. I was so discouraged in the middle of
Speaker 1: that podcast on Friday that I was like after I
Speaker 1: went back to listen too it just to see how
Speaker 1: bad it was, and I remember thinking, like, this is
Speaker 1: gonna be bad because I was so piste off. I
Speaker 1: was literally just sitting in the chair just like seething
Speaker 1: mad because I could not believe that this is still happening,
Speaker 1: because I thought I had it solved by doing the
Speaker 1: phone hotspot thing. Um. Anyway, even with that, over two
Speaker 1: hundred of you downloaded the uh the full length podcast
Speaker 1: that butchered up terrible podcast that Roger and I did
Speaker 1: on Friday. So I sincerely appreciate you guys continuing to
Speaker 1: support us through the through the chaos. But I will
Speaker 1: be here for every one of these recorded podcasts for
Speaker 1: so on, so I should have good infrastructure for this.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys supporting. I'll have the podcast version
Speaker 1: of this up here in about fifteen minutes and then
Speaker 1: I will see you guys on Friday. Enjoy the rest
Speaker 1: of your day.