Speaker 1: M m all right, Welcome to the State of the
Speaker 1: Lakers Thanksgiving Day Special. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you're
Speaker 1: I hope you got to work out in this morning
Speaker 1: so you don't feel too guilty about all the food
Speaker 1: you're about to eat. UM. I hope everybody gets to
Speaker 1: rest up and spend some time with their family. UM.
Speaker 1: I Roger and I are doing his spaces because obviously
Speaker 1: I missed the game last night. I had my first
Speaker 1: game as a high school coach, which was a ton
Speaker 1: of fun, roller coaster ride of emotions, very different from
Speaker 1: anything that I've ever experienced in the game of basketball
Speaker 1: because you're so emotionally invested in the outcome, but there's
Speaker 1: really really nothing you can do. Uh, you know of
Speaker 1: an offer, slighted vice here and there, and a little
Speaker 1: bit of game planning, but the truth of the matter
Speaker 1: is is it's kind of out of your control. So
Speaker 1: it's a totally different type of experience. But also just
Speaker 1: every bit is satisfying from a competitive standpoint getting a win,
Speaker 1: as it is when you're a player. UM. So that
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun. But that said, I got
Speaker 1: to enjoy the game this morning. Uh, take my time
Speaker 1: with it. Pause and rewind and rewatch stuff and get
Speaker 1: a really good feel, um, you know, for the flow
Speaker 1: of that game and a really really interesting game. The
Speaker 1: lack of Anthony Davis forced Frank to go to some
Speaker 1: lineups that you know, he never in a million years
Speaker 1: would play, and it kind of forced him to put
Speaker 1: his eyes on some some modern basketball. And I thought
Speaker 1: it was I thought it was really interesting. But first
Speaker 1: of all, before we get too much further in ROZs,
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving to you, man. I hope you're doing really well.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you holding it down for me last
Speaker 1: night while I was indisposed, and and I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to get to the bottom of this
Speaker 1: with you. Yeah, I mean too, man. This is this
Speaker 1: is a strange and happy Thanksgiving to you as well.
Speaker 1: And everyone in here M surprised as many people on
Speaker 1: a on a Thanksgiving morning. Uh yeah, it's a little
Speaker 1: weird doing it the next day, right, because I'm so
Speaker 1: used to just you know, jotting all this stuff down
Speaker 1: and then trying to formulate thoughts that makes sense right
Speaker 1: after where you're still kind of emotionally invested in the game,
Speaker 1: and this is hours later and now I've been able
Speaker 1: to sit with it. Your thoughts kind of changed a
Speaker 1: little bit in terms of like how you see the game,
Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask your thoughts. So what was
Speaker 1: your your big takeaway from it? We didn't get to
Speaker 1: hear you. You popped in while driving, but you had
Speaker 1: you had not seen a minute of the game yet.
Speaker 1: You said your game went to overtime too, right last night?
Speaker 1: Your your high school game. Kind of twice you guys
Speaker 1: went double overtime. The Lakers went into overtime. It was
Speaker 1: just an overtime type of night. What was your what
Speaker 1: was your was your takeaways from from that game? So,
Speaker 1: you know, I thought I thought the Lebron at the
Speaker 1: center stuff was the most interesting part of the game,
Speaker 1: mainly for a couple of reasons. One not only what
Speaker 1: it brought out of them offensively, but also, uh, they
Speaker 1: leaned heavily into switching with that lineup. They did a
Speaker 1: handful of different they were handful of coverages were like,
Speaker 1: uh they What I liked about it is they didn't
Speaker 1: switch indiscriminately, Like, for instance, there were a bunch of
Speaker 1: plays out on the perimeter where they would do dribble
Speaker 1: handoffs and a little quick exchanges where if the Lakers
Speaker 1: were feeling lazy, they could have switched, but they fought
Speaker 1: through those and then they would they would basically switch
Speaker 1: on any real screening action, like a screening action that
Speaker 1: was designed to gain an advantage. And obviously one of
Speaker 1: the one of the other that the core of that
Speaker 1: lineup in the fourth quarter not O T was th
Speaker 1: h T with Lebron and Mellow and Monk and ellington
Speaker 1: Um and then obviously an OT you swap out th
Speaker 1: HT for Russ. But one of the keys there I
Speaker 1: thought was Lebron, th HT, Russ and Mellow all have
Speaker 1: a really low center of gravity and they're all really strong.
Speaker 1: And so what's that What that means is as long
Speaker 1: as you you know, with those those particular switches, they
Speaker 1: don't give up too much around the basket in terms
Speaker 1: of post position. And with a team like with a
Speaker 1: team like Indiana, you have your guys like Malcolm Brockdn
Speaker 1: who can put their head down and get to the rim.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of like you know, Carris Lavert
Speaker 1: really likes to mix you up and try to take
Speaker 1: jump shots, and there's a lot of jump shooting from
Speaker 1: Duarte and and then obviously they love to attack in
Speaker 1: the post with their two with their two big guys.
Speaker 1: So having those guys that are strong enough that they're
Speaker 1: actually decent post up defenders kind of allows that switching
Speaker 1: defense to work. And then honestly, it's just a lot
Speaker 1: of commitment to the work. You know, Russ and Lebron
Speaker 1: in particular, we're both amazing defensively at the end of
Speaker 1: that game. Obviously they weren't throughout the whole game, but
Speaker 1: that that only works when the guys out there are
Speaker 1: willing to work, you know what I mean, And so
Speaker 1: especially the stars, and so it was, and then obviously
Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor it became really easy.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of rim pressure. Um th h
Speaker 1: t obviously had a tough night again finishing around the rim,
Speaker 1: but there were several times where he got into the
Speaker 1: rim and missed the layup and guys were available for
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds because he caved in the defense. There was
Speaker 1: a play where he dove as a cutter and did
Speaker 1: a quick seal, caught it in the paint and quick
Speaker 1: swung it out the corner to Ellington for three that
Speaker 1: he made. So he generated some rim pressure and then
Speaker 1: obviously Russ and Lebron just driving the basket and and
Speaker 1: just making easy kickouts to great shooters. It was good process.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a flukey that wasn't a flukey offensive performance
Speaker 1: that a lot of that was replicable and something that
Speaker 1: they can apply moving forward. And it's a shift we're seeing, right.
Speaker 1: It's uh. Last night, I think I talked a lot
Speaker 1: about how Vogel is trying to, you know, play kind
Speaker 1: of both sides of this offensive offensive thing. But I
Speaker 1: thought last night we saw a really good shift. Like
Speaker 1: Lebron at the five is probably something that he doesn't
Speaker 1: really like to go to. I said yesterday too. He's
Speaker 1: a guy that he's a big believer in having big
Speaker 1: athletic dudes um at the rim, Like that's his base
Speaker 1: type of defense as he likes to play. That's the
Speaker 1: reason DeAndre Jordan's starts. That's why every Bradley starts to me,
Speaker 1: because you have to play that base coverage. But last night,
Speaker 1: so we don't get the stats right after the game,
Speaker 1: So it's nice to be able to go back and
Speaker 1: look at look at lineup data, so that that lineup
Speaker 1: that you talked about, the Lebron mellow Westbrook, Ellington and
Speaker 1: mug They played five minutes in the fourth quarter and
Speaker 1: then three minutes in overtime. And again net rating is
Speaker 1: is tough for a small sample, but they were sixty
Speaker 1: one point four. There were plus sixty one point four
Speaker 1: net offensive rating one forty defensive seventy eight point six.
Speaker 1: And I only bring up those numbers because I think
Speaker 1: that's where they have to kind of win. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: defense isn't gonna be that low, the offense isn't gonna
Speaker 1: be that high, but I think that's kind of where
Speaker 1: they need to fit. They need to be a super
Speaker 1: really good offensive team and then kind of just defend enough.
Speaker 1: And I saw that last night. Monk and Ellington are
Speaker 1: never gonna be great as switching, like you talked about it,
Speaker 1: but there's they have, Like Monk has a speed to
Speaker 1: him that I think you can use. Right. He was
Speaker 1: like last night, and you talked about effort as well.
Speaker 1: I saw him put it in, uh Lebron as Lebron,
Speaker 1: I thought at the five, his effort was so different
Speaker 1: than at the four. I want to ask you about
Speaker 1: that as well, because did you see that kind of shift.
Speaker 1: I thought when Lebron went to center. He definitely picked
Speaker 1: up his effort um. He was involved in every play,
Speaker 1: and I think that's part of it. I feel like
Speaker 1: when he's at the four, uh, it induces him to load,
Speaker 1: manage or you know, just relaxed defensively in a way
Speaker 1: that him being at the center doesn't. What do you
Speaker 1: what do you think about that kind of that kind
Speaker 1: of take, because I feel like he does when he
Speaker 1: was the main RAM protector last night, I thought he
Speaker 1: was much more engaged defensively when he's at the four.
Speaker 1: And maybe I said this too, there's just some negative
Speaker 1: energy with that starting lineup. There's some like counterintuitive to
Speaker 1: how this team's identity should be. Like they walk the
Speaker 1: ball up the floor with Russ with that starting lineup,
Speaker 1: and it's so against how he wants to play. And
Speaker 1: you posted that that that video today of like they
Speaker 1: got to stop and then like Russ and it's like
Speaker 1: an outlet to Russ from bron He's flying down the
Speaker 1: floor and he finds Malik Monk as the trailer from three,
Speaker 1: Like that's that's the kind of pace they need to
Speaker 1: play at. And I feel like a starting lineup goes
Speaker 1: against so much of it. But what do you think
Speaker 1: about that about Lebron's effort kind of going up when
Speaker 1: he's the center, when he's the main kind of defensive cog,
Speaker 1: rather than when he's playing at the floor. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's overly complicated. I think Lebron is burdened by
Speaker 1: what he's expected to do offensively. I think it sits
Speaker 1: in the back of his mind at the time. I
Speaker 1: think he knows that, like in some of that is
Speaker 1: something he needs to get over, in particular when everyone's healthy.
Speaker 1: This is something that I've been critical of him with,
Speaker 1: is like, hey, like you don't have the same offensive
Speaker 1: responsibilities when everyone's healthy, so you can devote more energy
Speaker 1: to that side of the ball. But I think I
Speaker 1: think when Lebron is at the four or at the three,
Speaker 1: his thefensive responsibilities become more labor intensive in terms of
Speaker 1: how much ground he has to cover on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: and that just takes a lot of energy, especially for
Speaker 1: a guy who weighs as much as he does. It's
Speaker 1: just a lot to do a lot of starting and
Speaker 1: stopping physically with his frame, and so at the center position,
Speaker 1: it kind of offloads a bunch of it. It off
Speaker 1: floads a bunch of the movement responsibilities to his brain
Speaker 1: and to his strength. So for instance, it's less about
Speaker 1: covering ground and it's more about banging, you know, like
Speaker 1: fighting for defensive position, especially on the on the glass.
Speaker 1: And then obviously exactly and he can make up for
Speaker 1: some of his unwillingness to be mobile on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: you know, in the dregs of the regular season, by
Speaker 1: transferring that into can you communicate, tell guy, tell other
Speaker 1: guys where to go, help dictate coverages and blow up
Speaker 1: plays with your brain um and then lastly with his hands.
Speaker 1: There's a handful of plays in the in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and overtime where he blew up plays without having
Speaker 1: to jump, just by reading a play, seeing it coming
Speaker 1: in advance, knowing what the big guy is gonna do
Speaker 1: when he catches getting in the way and disrupting with
Speaker 1: a swipe down or or just by knocking him off balance,
Speaker 1: things along those lines. That's his defensive job as a
Speaker 1: back line guy is easier for him to do in
Speaker 1: the regular season, in particular because it's not as physically demanding,
Speaker 1: and little things like boxing out. Lebron likes that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff well, but every single time that shot went up.
Speaker 1: He was he was textbook box out low squatting, pushing
Speaker 1: Sabonis and Turner out of the lane, and that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Again, He's not that that kind of thing
Speaker 1: to Lebron is is easier than asking him to fly
Speaker 1: around in rotations and chase guys off the line. So
Speaker 1: I think that's the big reason why the the Lebron
Speaker 1: at the five lineups look so good defensively. And then
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, uh that this is where I wanted
Speaker 1: to kind of transition into Russ for a second, because
Speaker 1: the whole, the whole concept of this team is starting
Speaker 1: to make more sense offensively when you watch him, um,
Speaker 1: at least in terms of the flow of decision making.
Speaker 1: So for instance, like you can kind of see like Mellow,
Speaker 1: Mellow just knows where his shots come from. Now. He
Speaker 1: knows like, hey, when I got a little guy on me,
Speaker 1: they're gonna throw to me in the post and I
Speaker 1: get kind of free rein to do whatever I want
Speaker 1: down there, and then I have this like blazing green
Speaker 1: light from the three point line. He knows that, and
Speaker 1: so as a result, you can kind of just see
Speaker 1: in the offense, everyone kind of understands where Mellow is
Speaker 1: going to be aggressive, and they understand how to play
Speaker 1: off of that. The same goes for Lebron and Russ,
Speaker 1: and it's so cool to see Russ kind of figuring
Speaker 1: that out because I thought one of the pivotal stretches
Speaker 1: of the game was the end of the third quarter
Speaker 1: where Lebron goes to the bench. They're actually down ten
Speaker 1: and Lebron Lebron engaged into the game defensively really in
Speaker 1: that third quarter and he played well, but Indiana is
Speaker 1: a good team at home, and they made some shots
Speaker 1: and they kept the game kind of at arms distance
Speaker 1: at ten points, and you could tell Lebron was frustrated.
Speaker 1: There was a stretch there right before he stubbed out
Speaker 1: of the game where Malik Monk in THHD both took
Speaker 1: bad shots driving to the basket and missed, and his
Speaker 1: body language got a little a little crappy, and you
Speaker 1: can tell he was just annoyed and frustrated. And Lebron
Speaker 1: as a tendency to, you know, when the game is achievable,
Speaker 1: he's really dialed in, and sometimes when it's going off
Speaker 1: the rails, he can kind of back out of the
Speaker 1: game a little bit. And I thought it was so
Speaker 1: critical that at the end of the third quarter, Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook just put his head down and got to the
Speaker 1: ring and there was a stretch right to end the
Speaker 1: quarter where it was he drove up to the basket,
Speaker 1: made a layup. Then he on the very next possession,
Speaker 1: drove to the basket, kicked out to the leak Monk
Speaker 1: and Molik Monk used that close out from the defender
Speaker 1: to get a little bit of a step uh to
Speaker 1: make a pull up three to score fifth point. And
Speaker 1: then obviously he could went right back down, drove to
Speaker 1: the bast get, drew a foul, made two free throws,
Speaker 1: and it's like bam seven, Oh run, we just turned
Speaker 1: this ten point deficit into a three point deficit. Now,
Speaker 1: Lebron's checking into the fourth quarter believing that that his
Speaker 1: team could win, you know, and having that with Russ
Speaker 1: is such a huge advantage because like he he has
Speaker 1: looked so good over these last few weeks. And I
Speaker 1: think and I think it's hard to you know, especially
Speaker 1: with the NBA fans at large, non Laker fans, they
Speaker 1: have a tendency because they don't watch the team enough
Speaker 1: that Russell Westbrook just becomes the punching bag, you know.
Speaker 1: And we saw that with we saw that with Kendrick
Speaker 1: Perkins yesterday with that asinine take that he had on
Speaker 1: on TV that kind of was making the rounds. But
Speaker 1: Russ has been fantastic in the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and like even with his game tonight five or fifteen,
Speaker 1: just took a ton of rim pressure and what that
Speaker 1: does to generate quality looks for the rest of the team.
Speaker 1: And you could see the pathway. The pathway is Russ
Speaker 1: just putting his head down and get into the room
Speaker 1: when Lebron's off the floor. Um there and for the
Speaker 1: most part in crunch time deferring back to Lebron and
Speaker 1: it works. You can see that. And obviously Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: has to find a way to fit into that too.
Speaker 1: But I was really really impressed with that offensive give
Speaker 1: and take throughout the game. Yeah, and I've been saying
Speaker 1: Russ has been having these like nuclear type of quarters
Speaker 1: right where he just it's a nuclear tidal wave and
Speaker 1: I would like to see a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a consistent effort, consistent attack through it. But he picks
Speaker 1: his spots and he's been much better, like you said,
Speaker 1: the last few games. I think on the road trip
Speaker 1: he's been pretty much the only one playing with the
Speaker 1: type of urgency. I think he's been one of the
Speaker 1: few guys and he's really picked them up. He's been huge.
Speaker 1: His room attack was great last night. I think Lebron
Speaker 1: like not to pick this back onto Lebron at the five.
Speaker 1: But the reason we had to play Lebron at the five,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is because we have one serviceable center
Speaker 1: on the on the roster right now, right especially last
Speaker 1: night without a D is pretty much just why Howard,
Speaker 1: which I think is why you know, Vogel was searching
Speaker 1: and he found this Bron at the five lineup. But
Speaker 1: I think it just it opens things up for Russ too.
Speaker 1: It just it opens all the good stuff for us
Speaker 1: when you have the amount of spacing that Braun at
Speaker 1: the five gifts, plus adds another playmaker to that right
Speaker 1: even when it's rust with a D at the five
Speaker 1: eighties not the type where you can throw throw the
Speaker 1: ball to him at the top of the key and
Speaker 1: he play makes out of it. And I think it's
Speaker 1: just nice for us to have that. I think lak
Speaker 1: Monk next to it to another guy you can give
Speaker 1: the ball to Russ does a lot of this drive
Speaker 1: where he just touches the paint, like his whole goal
Speaker 1: is to just touch the paint, right, and he collapsed
Speaker 1: with the defense in whatever way. Kick it out and
Speaker 1: Fee has all these guys around him. Uh, it really works.
Speaker 1: I thought Wayne Ellington was a big part of last night.
Speaker 1: To Wayne Ellington, I think went five for seven from
Speaker 1: three last night. Uh. And I was so huge on
Speaker 1: him in the summer, and I thought we really used
Speaker 1: him and Malik Monk straints UH to our advantage. And
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about this because they went
Speaker 1: to the Uh, they went to the inverted guard screens, right,
Speaker 1: And I've been asking for this with Allington with Monk,
Speaker 1: and we saw that with Braun at the five. What
Speaker 1: did you think about that, because I think that's something
Speaker 1: we really should keep going forward. I harped on in
Speaker 1: a lot last night how much I hope stays in
Speaker 1: the rotation. And I don't think I know you said
Speaker 1: like Lebron likes to have more of a physical toll
Speaker 1: on him rather than having to move around. But I
Speaker 1: still think it's a lot for him to play center
Speaker 1: in a huge, huge amount of minutes. But I think
Speaker 1: it's something we can go to with our second units,
Speaker 1: like the rust bron led units. If you can have
Speaker 1: Lebron at the five and those units, I think that's
Speaker 1: somewhere we where we can something we can use to
Speaker 1: our advantage when eighties off the floor, because I don't
Speaker 1: think I think we only have one service will center
Speaker 1: and we'll see dwhy Howard has these up and down games.
Speaker 1: But what do you think about that? Because I thought
Speaker 1: that was a huge part of last night too. It
Speaker 1: looked like Lebron ball, right, and this is something Lebron
Speaker 1: has done all his career. He did it with k
Speaker 1: C P A lot. I think Ellington is a better shooter.
Speaker 1: Ellington might have even more gravity. There was a bunch
Speaker 1: of ghost screens where he'd faked the screen, but and
Speaker 1: then League Monk coming and set the screen. Just having
Speaker 1: shooters with gravity around. But what do you think about
Speaker 1: that action? Because I think that's something important we can
Speaker 1: take into into the games here. Yeah, brown ball is
Speaker 1: the is the phrase that came to my mind as
Speaker 1: I was watching the tape, because it's he feels most comfortable.
Speaker 1: It's his style of play. But the irony is that's
Speaker 1: the kind of his Russ's style too, And one of
Speaker 1: the downsides of lebron ball is you know, when he
Speaker 1: can get fatigued when you really wear them out by
Speaker 1: having him consistently make decisions at the top of the key.
Speaker 1: So having Russ as another option there, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of like a second side creator is huge. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: especially since this season he's shooting like on wide open threes.
Speaker 1: I think he's actually he's right around thirty that can
Speaker 1: remember if it's thirty four or thirty six, but it's
Speaker 1: right around He's shooting wide open threes this year, which
Speaker 1: is well enough that it's not going to kill you,
Speaker 1: um if he if he continues to get good looks
Speaker 1: out of it. But you know, the thing with the
Speaker 1: guard the inverted guard screens is really interesting because the
Speaker 1: reality of it is it's such an uncommon basketball play
Speaker 1: that guards don't really know how to defend it. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't they don't want to switch on the lebron
Speaker 1: So you know, there's a tendency it confuses defenses. You know,
Speaker 1: like obviously, when coaches are practicing pick and roll coverages,
Speaker 1: are talking about pick and roll coverages before a game,
Speaker 1: they're envisioning Lebron and Russ running screening actions with DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan and Dwight Howard, or maybe they're prepping for Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis because they don't think he's going to stay in
Speaker 1: his hotel room. So the point is is like it's
Speaker 1: a confusing action because it's not something that you're necessarily
Speaker 1: prepared for, and they're gonna they're gonna, in all likelihood,
Speaker 1: want to switch it eventually, especially in like a playoff series.
Speaker 1: You know, when they can scout it a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But that's a switch you don't want to give up
Speaker 1: because now you've got Lebron going against a smaller, smaller defender.
Speaker 1: But then the flip side of that is more often
Speaker 1: than not, with the switch like that, guys are gonna
Speaker 1: botch it. And when they do, they're going to overplay
Speaker 1: Lebron because you, if you're obviously your instinct is to
Speaker 1: go to the better players. So there were a ton
Speaker 1: of those sequences. Uh two of them I think that
Speaker 1: I can remember in the fourth quarter in particular, where
Speaker 1: Ellington and Monk, like you call them goo screens, come
Speaker 1: inside the screen and then just quickly slip it. But
Speaker 1: guys stay with Lebron is just an easy swing pass
Speaker 1: and you're getting a wide open look out of it,
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm with you. It's a it's a it's
Speaker 1: a really really interesting wrinkle. And you know, obviously, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is the guy who's going to play the five
Speaker 1: the vast majority of the time, as it should be. Um,
Speaker 1: but in a playoff series, eight is gonna play forty
Speaker 1: two minutes. I don't see why not at all in
Speaker 1: specific matchups at least, um that you couldn't go to
Speaker 1: Lebron at the five for for a five six minute
Speaker 1: stretch or to three minute stretch a couple of times
Speaker 1: during the game. UM, it's a it's a really really
Speaker 1: interesting wrinkle. And this is the last thing I wanted
Speaker 1: to say about Lebron at the five. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: he's he's like Draymond when he's dialed in. He's that
Speaker 1: level of defensive player when he's dialed in. Obviously, it's
Speaker 1: completely irrational and unrealistic to ask him to do that
Speaker 1: full time, especially with what we need from him elsewhere
Speaker 1: on the floor. But it's a really really interesting example
Speaker 1: of modern basketball because you know, Anthony Davis, as great
Speaker 1: as he is, and all of the good that comes
Speaker 1: with him vastly outweighs that these issues. But he's a
Speaker 1: little bit slow and straight line speed, so in transition
Speaker 1: he can get lost sometimes um and his center of
Speaker 1: gravity is high, so he can be pushed off of
Speaker 1: his base really easily. We saw that with the Pistons.
Speaker 1: With Isaiah Stewart, he just in box out situations as
Speaker 1: a tendency to get beat and some of that is
Speaker 1: his own physical wilting away from the confrontation, but a
Speaker 1: lot of it is also just his high center of
Speaker 1: gravity and the fact that he's very top heavy and
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a very strong base, so it's easy
Speaker 1: to push him off of his spot. Lebron in a
Speaker 1: weird way, is such a perfect modern center because it
Speaker 1: when you play him at the center, the overall foot
Speaker 1: speed of the lineup is so good that they really
Speaker 1: really excel in the foot speed areas of defense, which
Speaker 1: are transition and then in rotation when you're covering for
Speaker 1: each other and the and it's really really interesting to
Speaker 1: see that line up defend and defend well because all
Speaker 1: it is is mobility. It's a ship ton of mobility
Speaker 1: and guys not getting beat down the floor and transition
Speaker 1: and guys being able to cover a lot of ground
Speaker 1: in rotation to cover for each other, and obviously you're
Speaker 1: not going to do that full time. And Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: brings so much good to the table that he still
Speaker 1: is the best option at center for the Lakers, as
Speaker 1: you should be. But that's a great example of why
Speaker 1: Lebron at center is such an interesting wrinkle slash curveball
Speaker 1: that the Lakers should go too more often. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I say he's like a Swiss army knife, but that's
Speaker 1: probably that's probably underrating that the Swiss arm knife with
Speaker 1: all the separate specialties of every knife or whatever. But yeah,
Speaker 1: him defensively man like at the center. I just like
Speaker 1: that look. It gives us some speed when I think
Speaker 1: like Volos trying to make us a slowdown type of defense,
Speaker 1: and I just don't think that's what this team is.
Speaker 1: In the video you posted, I think is perfect with that.
Speaker 1: Just guys flying around at that THHD a big part
Speaker 1: of it as well, and it's cool to see Lebron,
Speaker 1: you know, have one of those performances. I thought last
Speaker 1: night was probably one of the first of the season
Speaker 1: where it was just he looked like one of the
Speaker 1: He looked like the best player in the world. And
Speaker 1: he saw him hunt the bonus as well. On those
Speaker 1: switches you talked about, teams will probably want to switch that,
Speaker 1: and he he put up Carmelo's man and gets a
Speaker 1: bonus on him. Took a bunch of step back threes
Speaker 1: that went in, got to the basket a few times.
Speaker 1: Just good process stuff, stuff that he's starting to get
Speaker 1: more comfortable with this team. Russ trying to get more
Speaker 1: comfortable with this team. I hope hopefully, like we said
Speaker 1: after Detroit win, hopefully that was something to build off of.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go I'm not gonna go on to
Speaker 1: go and say that about this one yet, but it's
Speaker 1: it can be. I thought that was a good win
Speaker 1: last night without a d our pick three has only
Speaker 1: played eight games together, which is which just sounds so
Speaker 1: weird when you say it out loud. Uh. And this
Speaker 1: is game twenty. There's stuff to really build off of
Speaker 1: from from this win? Uh? And did you have anything
Speaker 1: else from last night's win? Last night's wine over? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Too too quick notes. I wanted to talk about Lebron
Speaker 1: and then I wanted to talk about th HD in
Speaker 1: his process tonight, because I about th HD had better
Speaker 1: process tonight, even though he didn't necessarily shoot the ball
Speaker 1: really well. So, first of all, with Lebron, you know
Speaker 1: what's interesting is it's uh the way he's aged the
Speaker 1: the addition of high end shot making has allowed him
Speaker 1: to continue his impact in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1: Because it's funnycause we always get into debates with people
Speaker 1: about the best version of Lebron right Like, we argue,
Speaker 1: we argue, you know, it was the two thousand thirteen
Speaker 1: Lebron the best. Here's two thousand eight team Lebron the best.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've always favored the older version of players,
Speaker 1: like I think Steph right now is better than he
Speaker 1: was in two thousand and sixteen, because I do think
Speaker 1: that your i Q can be your greatest weapon as
Speaker 1: a basketball player. You know, it's funny, Like I when
Speaker 1: I was, when I was twenty one, I had a
Speaker 1: I could put my elbows above them, I could, I
Speaker 1: was way faster. I you know, I had this you know,
Speaker 1: this quick which like lightning speed and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: But I was not even a tiny afection of as
Speaker 1: good of a basketball player as I am now, not
Speaker 1: even because of this the skill stuff, but just because
Speaker 1: of my understanding of of when to be aggressive when
Speaker 1: not to, you know, understanding pivotal moments of the game,
Speaker 1: how key, how important this rebound is, how important this
Speaker 1: extra possessions Like okay, on this particular possession, we get
Speaker 1: a basket, this team might fold mentally. So this is
Speaker 1: the one where I really have to make sure we
Speaker 1: get a good shot. Like that kind of stuff is
Speaker 1: the stuff that you get when you're later in your career,
Speaker 1: and that with Lebron is better than ever. His understanding
Speaker 1: of when to put his imprint on a game is
Speaker 1: at an all time high. And when you couple that
Speaker 1: with his improved shot making, his ability, his ability to
Speaker 1: knock down those fadeaways, his ability to knock down those
Speaker 1: off the dribble threes, he has turned himself into a hell,
Speaker 1: like a hell of a different version of himself, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And the same thing goes to
Speaker 1: pensibly you think of, you know, late Calves Lebron, you
Speaker 1: know first Stint Caves Lebron and Miami Lebron is like
Speaker 1: this unbelievable down the floor athlete who's eracing shots around
Speaker 1: the rim as a as a jumper, and now he's
Speaker 1: blowing up plays around the rim under the rim as
Speaker 1: more of a Draymond style verticality not guys off balance
Speaker 1: and stripped them below the basket type of defender. And
Speaker 1: it's really interesting to see that evolution. And you know,
Speaker 1: and then here's the reality. He he didn't have a
Speaker 1: great game from an athleticism standpoint last night. There were
Speaker 1: several plays that he usually dunks where he didn't. There
Speaker 1: was one where he went up for a dunk and
Speaker 1: the bounce wasn't there and he had to divert to
Speaker 1: a finger roll right at the end. There was a
Speaker 1: play at the end of the fourth quarter where he
Speaker 1: made a left handed layup in transition where you know,
Speaker 1: before his abdominal injury, he's probably still hanging on the rim.
Speaker 1: The point being is he's going to continue to get
Speaker 1: his legs underneath him. And I still think he has
Speaker 1: a season left of that a all of that package
Speaker 1: put together, including some of that nuclear athleticism that makes
Speaker 1: him so good. But the exciting part, the reason why
Speaker 1: I brought it up, is that shot making and that
Speaker 1: i Q piece and that strength piece and that back
Speaker 1: line defense piece really opens the door to a late
Speaker 1: prime for Lebron when he's thirty eight thirty nine, where
Speaker 1: he can become your second best player, where he can
Speaker 1: become your third best player and still be a serious
Speaker 1: impact on winning. And that should excite Laker fans because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of worry about this window, right and
Speaker 1: how long it's gonna last. But the reality is is
Speaker 1: if Lebron is this good of a shooter and he's
Speaker 1: this smart, and he's this capable of a blow the
Speaker 1: rim defender, then he's going to be really good when
Speaker 1: he's thirty eight and thirty nine, And that's exciting and
Speaker 1: it extends the window. Yeah, and uh, I think his
Speaker 1: jumper looks great to start this season, shooting like shooting
Speaker 1: like thirty of them percent from three. But it just
Speaker 1: just looks good. He looks comfortable. Uh, he's shooting when
Speaker 1: teams go under um and they need his jump shot
Speaker 1: the way that we're playing right now, with the spacing
Speaker 1: that we have. But you're right, he looks great. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you will. You'll do this every night defensively.
Speaker 1: The team needs it. And I keep saying it's probably
Speaker 1: unfair to have to rely on him this much. Defensively
Speaker 1: in your nineteen. But if we can put them are
Speaker 1: at center, if that's a little bit less taxing on
Speaker 1: his body, just being that final room protector instead of
Speaker 1: flying all around where he has to rotate a million times,
Speaker 1: I mean we can go to that because I think
Speaker 1: having just one center on the on the team, like
Speaker 1: having DeAndre Jordan as your own as and DeAndre Jordan
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard as your only centers and only one of
Speaker 1: them as serviceable, like I would love to go more
Speaker 1: to this Braun at the five lineups and and he
Speaker 1: took over last night like that's that's what what last
Speaker 1: night was like. In that fourth quarter, late game offense
Speaker 1: has pretty much just been him with the ball. I
Speaker 1: think when we talked about over the summer, we thought
Speaker 1: it would be like a shared kind of thing between
Speaker 1: Russ and Lebron, and it really hasn't. Um right, It's
Speaker 1: pretty much just been Lebron with the basketball and him
Speaker 1: deciding where to go. Russ is in the dunker spot
Speaker 1: or spaced out. It's been Lebron taking over any of
Speaker 1: the close games we had. And again he's only played
Speaker 1: in nine games this year, but we've kind of seen
Speaker 1: what the what like last night looked like what we
Speaker 1: would do in the playoffs. Right, of course a D
Speaker 1: wasn't there, but it's that's what my picture was for
Speaker 1: this for last night. And the theme for me last
Speaker 1: night was there's a good team in here somewhere, right,
Speaker 1: there's a good team in here somewhere, whether you know
Speaker 1: this coach finds it, the next coach front whatever, there's
Speaker 1: a good team in here somewhere. And I thought last
Speaker 1: night was a picture of playoff kind of playoff basketball.
Speaker 1: What we would do be Lebron at the top, have
Speaker 1: have incredible shooters that we can use as screeners. A
Speaker 1: D obviously would be on the floor as well. Just
Speaker 1: that that was my theme for last night. Would you
Speaker 1: agree with as like, there's a good team somewhere in here?
Speaker 1: And uh, I think I hope we can find it
Speaker 1: pretty soon. There's a great team in here somewhere with
Speaker 1: you there. I mean, you know this is obviously we
Speaker 1: haven't had enough data to really go on here. But
Speaker 1: the truth of the matter is, you know a lot
Speaker 1: of these losses have been with a team that doesn't
Speaker 1: remotely resemble what we're going to be depending on when
Speaker 1: things matter and so it's hard. You gotta you gotta always,
Speaker 1: you know, compartmentalize that you can still get frustrated with
Speaker 1: the identity, right like it sucks when you know you
Speaker 1: lose in a game that you have less talent than
Speaker 1: you expect, but your process also sucks, Like of course
Speaker 1: you can be upset about that. And this team has
Speaker 1: been frankly not fun to watch, and and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people who were saying that last night agree.
Speaker 1: And it's been something that I've complained about all year,
Speaker 1: and I hope they fix those things. But the reality
Speaker 1: is is their six and three with Lebron uh five
Speaker 1: and three when Lebron and a D both play. My
Speaker 1: guess is that by the time we get to the
Speaker 1: All Star Game, All Star Break with Lebron and a
Speaker 1: D on the floor will be hovering right around that
Speaker 1: sixty win pace. That's that's what I expect in the
Speaker 1: games that Lebron and a D play, which is where
Speaker 1: it's always been. Um, you know, this is just it's
Speaker 1: just been frustrating because even within these games you're watching,
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, we're trailing by ten to Cleveland in
Speaker 1: the third quarter before we finally turn it up and
Speaker 1: make some stuff happen. We screw around with the Houston
Speaker 1: Rockets the entire game before Lebron and everybody dials it
Speaker 1: up and we get our process has been sitting, for
Speaker 1: lack of a better word, but the it's all in
Speaker 1: there still somewhere that you just have to be careful
Speaker 1: because if you don't establish those good habits, he may
Speaker 1: not be able to flip that switch, you know, when
Speaker 1: the time comes. But the last thing I wanted to say,
Speaker 1: as far as t HD goes, I just I thought
Speaker 1: his process was way better. Um, you know, he wasn't.
Speaker 1: He missed a lot of layups, but there were layups
Speaker 1: that he usually makes, and they were layups when he
Speaker 1: had an advantage. So it wasn't like what he had
Speaker 1: been doing in the previous three games where it was
Speaker 1: a lot of like here's a boatload of bodies and
Speaker 1: I'm just flying into people, into the crowd with no
Speaker 1: real opportunity to to generate anything good, and here's a turnover,
Speaker 1: here's a bad miss shot. It was significantly better process
Speaker 1: from th HD had a couple of tough jump shots
Speaker 1: that he took, but they were both late clock. Um,
Speaker 1: so I'm not terribly concerned with Um. You know, late clock,
Speaker 1: I want pht to to try to make make anything happen.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, I thought his shot quality
Speaker 1: was better, and I I there the main stuff with
Speaker 1: him is he got lost off ball a few times
Speaker 1: on defense. That's the stuff he's got to continue to
Speaker 1: work on. But th HD I still think makes sense
Speaker 1: um as a guy who can be a core piece
Speaker 1: of this rotation. Yeah, and I really like they used
Speaker 1: him as a screener last night as well. It just
Speaker 1: gives him a chance, especially with Lebron, to be a
Speaker 1: ball handler going downhill instead of him just having to
Speaker 1: get the ball at the top of the key. Like
Speaker 1: I keep seeing, like every time he gets the ball,
Speaker 1: it's this, it's this, like, oh, it's my turn now
Speaker 1: to go um And last night again on the rewatch,
Speaker 1: it looked a lot better, you write, his process looked
Speaker 1: much better. He's still not shooting as much as I'd
Speaker 1: like him to, like, I think he's being left open.
Speaker 1: I think there's shots there for him. But yeah, again,
Speaker 1: another guy that used as a screener. Where if they
Speaker 1: traped Lebron on you have THHD now in a four
Speaker 1: on five situation, with the ball handling he has and
Speaker 1: the playmaking ability has. I think that's something we can
Speaker 1: really go to. And I think going away from the zone, uh,
Speaker 1: we really yeah, yeah, I'm really against it, and we
Speaker 1: went away from that in the second half. On the
Speaker 1: first half, we went to it a ton and th
Speaker 1: ht Mileague Monk like those guys were just getting lost. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the point of the zone, right, it is just
Speaker 1: to stop the gibile penetration, the point of attack defense.
Speaker 1: But we gave up so many corner threes. And I
Speaker 1: thought THHD really fit into that. You talked about the
Speaker 1: stronger issue, the stronger lineups that we have and teach
Speaker 1: you fits into that right where he can switch. I
Speaker 1: thought he did a nice job boxing outance the bonus.
Speaker 1: You give him just a straight, straight scheme, a lot
Speaker 1: of switching um, and I thought he played a lot
Speaker 1: better the zone. He looked lost in that zone, and
Speaker 1: it looked like they didn't know what they were running
Speaker 1: A two three three two. It looked really confusing at times,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I thought it looked I thought he was
Speaker 1: much better man. He's he turned twenty one today, actually,
Speaker 1: I think so. I'm not sure today yesterday, but today. Okay,
Speaker 1: I have birthday t but but yeah, I thought he
Speaker 1: looked a lot better and he's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: part of this rotation. He's I thought he was great
Speaker 1: defensively he was part of those lineups and over time
Speaker 1: as well. But yeah, he's he's growing. We'll see you
Speaker 1: going forward. He's still not putting up the numbers he
Speaker 1: did when he came back the first three games back,
Speaker 1: but he's getting more comfortable in his role and I
Speaker 1: think he has to. He has to be an off
Speaker 1: ball player on this team, right, He's not gonna get
Speaker 1: the on ball uh possessions if he was on another team,
Speaker 1: another bad team. He's going to be playing next to
Speaker 1: us or Lebron. And I think you've seen him get
Speaker 1: more and more comfortable. Uh, And yeah, that was a better,
Speaker 1: better process game from him. Ye are all right, guys.
Speaker 1: So here's the deal. So we uh rodged it a
Speaker 1: spaces last night. I'm going to combine the two of those.
Speaker 1: For any of you who missed any part of those two,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna combine the two of them and and put
Speaker 1: pot out here probably in about an hour, um, so
Speaker 1: you'll be able to listen to that. There we will both,
Speaker 1: I believe. So I have a game tomorrow at seven
Speaker 1: thirty pm, but it's high school games, so it should
Speaker 1: be over in about an hour and a half. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss maybe the first quarter, but I'll be
Speaker 1: able to watch the vast majority of tomorrow's game. So
Speaker 1: we will for sure be doing a spaces tomorrow night. Um,
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: know we We've said this several times, but I know
Speaker 1: Rog and I are incredibly thankful for you guys and
Speaker 1: for supporting us. Um. We continue to just be completely
Speaker 1: blown away that as many of you guys do come
Speaker 1: and support us and hang out with us after the game,
Speaker 1: and it and it encourages us to you know, put
Speaker 1: the work in and to continue to watch and try
Speaker 1: to learn about this team and give our two cents.
Speaker 1: And and you know, obviously I appreciate you as well,
Speaker 1: Raj for being alone for this ride. It's been a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Ronningho came out.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Yeah, I think he's giving to you
Speaker 1: as well. Man. Appreciate you as well. Going on this
Speaker 1: journey with me, and I feel like we're going something here,
Speaker 1: and it's been cool to see the support every single game.
Speaker 1: The support on the podcast has been just great and
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, we're really really thankful for it. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Thanks everyone. All right, everybody, enjoy the
Speaker 1: rest of your day, and we will see you tomorrow night. Alright, guys.
Speaker 1: Part two of the pot is going to be the
Speaker 1: opening monologue that Roj had after the game last night.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to rog for holding it down while I
Speaker 1: was gone. I hope you guys enjoy it and we
Speaker 1: will see you tomorrow night. Welcome to the State of
Speaker 1: the Lakers podcast presented by DASH Radio. Jason is out tonight,
Speaker 1: at least for now. He's on molding the minds of
Speaker 1: younger basketball players coaching a high school basketball game. He'll
Speaker 1: join us later, so I'll be solo for a little while.
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk too long. I don't want
Speaker 1: to ramble, So I want to do this one where
Speaker 1: I get a bunch of you up here. I just
Speaker 1: have a few things I want to get to and
Speaker 1: then we'll move on. But man, I think we have
Speaker 1: to start with Lebron closing this one. This season has
Speaker 1: been annoying. It's been a roller coaster. It's been up
Speaker 1: and down. It's been the Russell Westbrook experience has been
Speaker 1: fitting Russell Westbrook. But none of that matters if Lebron
Speaker 1: is not Lebron, Right, if Lebron is still not a
Speaker 1: top five arguably the best player in the world. I
Speaker 1: think those are all marginal kind of areas when you
Speaker 1: get to Steph Lebron, Janice, whatever. But if he's in
Speaker 1: that conversation, he needs to be for this team. And
Speaker 1: that's that's probably the biggest thing that we have to
Speaker 1: see here. And Lebron's missed a whole bunch of games.
Speaker 1: It was good to see him be able to get
Speaker 1: to this though, right, like, be able to channel this
Speaker 1: even if it won't be in every game, even if quarters,
Speaker 1: even if you'll take off quarters. I thought it was
Speaker 1: just great to at least see that again. I think
Speaker 1: it was thirty nine points that he finished with big
Speaker 1: time three's. The late game offense was pretty much all
Speaker 1: just him, right. I'm pretty surprised how in all pretty
Speaker 1: much a late game it hasn't been this sharing with Russ.
Speaker 1: It's been pretty much just Lebron basketball, which is mismatch hunt,
Speaker 1: switch hunt attacks of Bonus. He really picked on him.
Speaker 1: I thought, vogo it. I don't want to go deep
Speaker 1: into Vogel. We did a lot of that on our podcast.
Speaker 1: You can listen to the last few, but I do
Speaker 1: see him adjusting. I think the Lebron at the five
Speaker 1: thing is another thing that goes really against his ideas
Speaker 1: and what he likes to do as a coach. Right.
Speaker 1: Vogels is a very protect the rim with big athletic
Speaker 1: or at least seemingly athletic, with the DeAndre Jordan's type
Speaker 1: of players, where guards kind of fight over. He saw
Speaker 1: him in that second half, man go to Lebron at
Speaker 1: the five. I've been preaching this, to play Lebron with
Speaker 1: shooters like Wayne Ellington, like malikue Monk, used them as screeners,
Speaker 1: use their gravity, and that's switching. In the end, there
Speaker 1: was a lot they mixed it up, right, But I
Speaker 1: thought that defense was so much better. We held Indiana
Speaker 1: to thirty six points in that second half until two
Speaker 1: minutes left, where the Pacers really just went nuts. I
Speaker 1: think I forgot who forgot who hit the three in
Speaker 1: the corner and then Duarte hit that ridiculous three. Brogden
Speaker 1: hit a few, but I thought the defense in the
Speaker 1: second half was much better. Lebron's effort when he plays
Speaker 1: the five seems to be much much better as well.
Speaker 1: His commitment to when he plays the four next to DJ,
Speaker 1: it's just ugly and defensively, they went to zones, and
Speaker 1: I personally don't like the zone. I feel like players
Speaker 1: don't commit to it as they would a man or
Speaker 1: or a switching scheme, and I thought you saw that
Speaker 1: in the second half, especially with all these small guards.
Speaker 1: It's tough in a zone. You're basically predetermining where you're
Speaker 1: gonna be, right Like, that's the whole point of a zone,
Speaker 1: and a defense is already a reactionary position. So like,
Speaker 1: if you're already predetermining where you're gonna be and in
Speaker 1: a reaction in position, which is why his zone is
Speaker 1: not something you can use as your base defense, right
Speaker 1: It's why none of the thirty teams use it as
Speaker 1: their base defense. It's a switch up that you can
Speaker 1: go to once in a while. But I thought Lebron's
Speaker 1: effort defensively in that second half was big time. He
Speaker 1: was huge. He was in the defensive stands pretty much
Speaker 1: the whole time, shutting off Brockden a lot of times
Speaker 1: when he got him on a switch. I talked about
Speaker 1: this team needs his commitment on defense, and it's not
Speaker 1: fair for him. You're nine ten, it's probably not fair
Speaker 1: for him to, you know, have the offensive load as
Speaker 1: well that he has, but still on defense, this team
Speaker 1: needs him to be committed, especially playing the center, and
Speaker 1: I feel like he feels that when he's the five
Speaker 1: um as well. So I wanted to start with that.
Speaker 1: Just a huge Lebron game. I'm not gonna say this
Speaker 1: is a turning point game because it's I said that
Speaker 1: after the Detroit game and that's not what happened at all.
Speaker 1: Today was another super slow start. I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: it is just the starters have something where there's just
Speaker 1: there's no juice, there's no energy. Something about that starting lineup,
Speaker 1: and you know every Bradley and Johndrey Jordan gets scapegoating
Speaker 1: into it, but something about it just reflects some negative
Speaker 1: energy on the team. Where we walk the ball up.
Speaker 1: You know, Russ is walking the ball up and it's
Speaker 1: just so counterintuitive to way the way he plays when
Speaker 1: he's energized Lebron as well, and he's at the four
Speaker 1: it's a lot more roaming, which I think induces him
Speaker 1: to to kind of load manage as well. I don't
Speaker 1: know something about that starting lineup. Uh, it's just really
Speaker 1: not out working, even though it fits like this archetype
Speaker 1: of a Voga likes. But man, in that second half,
Speaker 1: I thought it was huge to see Vogel switch up.
Speaker 1: People have asking him to, you know, try to switch
Speaker 1: his lineups, and in all the three guard lineup with
Speaker 1: guards who can't defend next to Rust and Braun is
Speaker 1: so against what Vogel wants to do. It was cool
Speaker 1: to uh to see him go to that. I remember
Speaker 1: when Luke Walton was the coach, we choked about Lebron
Speaker 1: at the five right and Lebron posted that kind of
Speaker 1: meme of him all buff and all that. But we
Speaker 1: need it on this team with these guards. We saw
Speaker 1: league Monk Wayne Ellington's hold their own right. And Indiana
Speaker 1: is not a great team. I think they came in
Speaker 1: at like eight and eleven. They're kind of middle of
Speaker 1: the pack and a lot of places, but Sa Bonus
Speaker 1: Brogden are really good players. Lever is a good player.
Speaker 1: They're the middle of the pack. They're a good team, right,
Speaker 1: they play at a baseline level where you have to
Speaker 1: match that baseline to win against them, and that's kind
Speaker 1: of what a five team is, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: where we're at now. But I thought this is really
Speaker 1: good in the second half. Another don't the tough night
Speaker 1: for Taylor as well, but hopefully he he'll pick it up.
Speaker 1: He needs to be a shooter as well. But I
Speaker 1: want to kind of stick to that Lebron point. In
Speaker 1: that second half, I thought we really found something with
Speaker 1: the inverted ball screens, right, and this is all h
Speaker 1: this is all a process. Vogo's trying to find stuff,
Speaker 1: Lebron is trying to find stuff, Russ is trying to
Speaker 1: find stuff. But that inverted ball screen where we use
Speaker 1: Ellington or Monk as a screener, who got so much
Speaker 1: out of that, and I thought that kind of carried
Speaker 1: us for most of the most of that game. Lebron's
Speaker 1: family again be able to pick out some bonus, and
Speaker 1: he can't do that if he's playing next to another center, right,
Speaker 1: like he's playing next to DeAndre Jordan's, if he's playing
Speaker 1: next to Dwight Howard, it's harder to mismatch Hunt because
Speaker 1: teams would just stick their big man right in the center,
Speaker 1: and it's tougher for Lebron to get driving lanes. It's
Speaker 1: tougher for us to find driving lanes. And it was
Speaker 1: just great to see the offense moving that way and
Speaker 1: our defense really picked up. I don't think Link Monk
Speaker 1: and Wayne Ellington are gonna be able to defend that
Speaker 1: way every night. It but just they just can't get beat.
Speaker 1: And we got beat a lot by t J McConnell.
Speaker 1: I thought he killed us early on. But we just
Speaker 1: can't get beat at the point of attack that we
Speaker 1: are And that's the point of the zone as well, right,
Speaker 1: The whole point of the zone is to take away
Speaker 1: that point of attack defense so that you have two
Speaker 1: guards basically shutting off driving lanes. Right, That's the point
Speaker 1: of the zone. But the issue to me with that
Speaker 1: is we're just giving up too many corner threes. And
Speaker 1: I thought we saw that in the first half. But
Speaker 1: this is a good game. I want to kind of
Speaker 1: stay positive here. A lot of again coaching rumors and
Speaker 1: all that, and another game tech tonight. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people are ready for Vogel to be canned,
Speaker 1: and and I understand that even though I'm not there.
Speaker 1: I just think firing a coach in the middle of
Speaker 1: the year, and I've I've stayed in my claims on
Speaker 1: why I think that's true. But i another game like tonight,
Speaker 1: like I can see Vogels searching. He's a guy that
Speaker 1: lives in the film room. Right, And again, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna go too much longer. I feel like I'm rambling here,
Speaker 1: But what was the guy that lives in the film room.
Speaker 1: And he's not dumb. He sees I rewatched these games.
Speaker 1: He probably rewatches these games five five times, right, it's
Speaker 1: probably just replaying his head all the time. He sees
Speaker 1: what DeAndre Jordan is doing. But there's like a given
Speaker 1: a pull, there's a given a poll there, right, And
Speaker 1: that's the reason he starts Avery Bradley, That's the reason
Speaker 1: he starts DeAndre Jordan, just to just to have the
Speaker 1: archetype of a defense, try to instill than identity. And
Speaker 1: tonight without a D I thought it was super impressive
Speaker 1: in that second half. Lebron turned into defensive player type
Speaker 1: of year type Lebron with the offense. He can't do
Speaker 1: that every night, but we need his commitment on that end.
Speaker 1: But again, Vogeo adjusting. These are positive signs to me
Speaker 1: to take from tonight. And we're still a bad team
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. We still have a ways
Speaker 1: to go. The rest of it's still isn't pretty. I
Speaker 1: was thinking about this. Uh Rust does a lot of
Speaker 1: his attacks in this like nuclear wave. Right, it's this,
Speaker 1: it's this nuclear title hit. It's this nuclear title wave.
Speaker 1: And we need some more like consistent waves, you know,
Speaker 1: we need a little bit more of a consistent attack.
Speaker 1: But again, tonight, I thought his his ball control was
Speaker 1: a lot better. He had a few plays like I
Speaker 1: think the miss dunk that he had or some of
Speaker 1: the turnovers that you'll get. But his energy I thought helped.
Speaker 1: We saw how him and Broun can kind of work.
Speaker 1: I really like that Braun at the five lineup that
Speaker 1: I talked about earlier, with Russ kind of as the
Speaker 1: center there. Like even though Braun is the five, Russ
Speaker 1: is the Russ is the five on offense because he's
Speaker 1: the non shooter in the lineup, right, So you'll have
Speaker 1: you'll have Mellow out there, or maybe you'll Mellow or
Speaker 1: Ellington and Monk, and I just think this team has
Speaker 1: to lean in to that and we saw how they
Speaker 1: can be effective defensively. I love that they went away
Speaker 1: from the zone. I love that they just stuck to
Speaker 1: a traditional switching with a little bit of drop coverage
Speaker 1: or Lebron's the you know guy at the rim that
Speaker 1: you have to that you have to attack. So I
Speaker 1: thought that was great. Um, let's see if I have
Speaker 1: anything else in my notes here. Uh yeah, I guess
Speaker 1: last thing just on Taylor Horton Tucker. He's gonna play
Speaker 1: man Like I saw people, you know, pining for him
Speaker 1: too to be benched or to just not play, or
Speaker 1: Taylor has to play like twenty years old. That these
Speaker 1: are the growing pains you're gonna get. I've been saying,
Speaker 1: he's probably not the player that we saw the first
Speaker 1: three games right where he's averaging twenty five or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. And he's probably not this player who's missing
Speaker 1: layups at the rim and uh you can't score a
Speaker 1: basket or missing all his shots. He's somewhere in between there.
Speaker 1: I think he'll find his rhythm. He's such a rhythm
Speaker 1: player anyway, Like he's such a need the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands. And when you're next to Lebron, next to
Speaker 1: Rus you're just not going to get those type of touches.
Speaker 1: And you can see when he gets the ball, it's
Speaker 1: kind of like, oh, this is my time now, like
Speaker 1: this is my chance to run something. And he was
Speaker 1: in those small lineups that I liked um and they
Speaker 1: used him as a screener as well. I think that's
Speaker 1: a way to get him going. But he has to
Speaker 1: shoot to me like this. They had Miles Turner on
Speaker 1: him a lot where Miles was giving him the jumper,
Speaker 1: and he's too good of a shooter at least what
Speaker 1: his jumper looks like. I think he's putting in too
Speaker 1: much work for him to be passing up um open
Speaker 1: threes like that. But yeah, so I think that's enough
Speaker 1: of me rambling. You guys have thanks, give me and
Speaker 1: get to I'm gonna get to callers, so if you
Speaker 1: want to, you want to come up requesting. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to get to a bunch of people tonight because
Speaker 1: I don't really like just talking to myself. It's kind
Speaker 1: of strange. Uh so let me see here again. Thanks
Speaker 1: everyone for coming out on Thanksgiving Eve. At least they
Speaker 1: would say, you guys have probably family and all to
Speaker 1: talk to and stuff. While I go and rewatch this game.
Speaker 1: But let's see yo, Uh, Jonathan, are you there? Can
Speaker 1: you hear me? I can hear you. What's going on? Bro?
Speaker 1: That's up big homie rides man? What's up that much?
Speaker 1: A man? Uh? The thht thing? Bro? I think he
Speaker 1: got to do a better job at taking advantage of
Speaker 1: his tattooes right when he gets the ball. I think
Speaker 1: he'd be settling up with the jumper a lot more.
Speaker 1: I think he should attack more. I've seen a play
Speaker 1: where like he ain't got the switch, he had a
Speaker 1: turner on him right, and he didn't take the three.
Speaker 1: He got a screen and he got out who was
Speaker 1: at Broaden on or somebody had somebody smallering him, But
Speaker 1: he took the three over him and it was like
Speaker 1: he was gonna take the three. You could have just
Speaker 1: took that over turner like right, like why you can
Speaker 1: pass that? But yeah, No, it was good to see
Speaker 1: Lebrian take over. I told him, when uh le Bron
Speaker 1: is out there, rust won't have a ball so that
Speaker 1: turnovers won't matter. So that was a good thing to
Speaker 1: see see Lebrian take over like that, because that's what
Speaker 1: I'll be on a d to do, but he seems
Speaker 1: to just let Russ Win get instead of taking over
Speaker 1: and taking the last shots. But I don't know that
Speaker 1: was a good win. I'll be in the house Friday.
Speaker 1: Hopefully they do the same thing for sure. Yeah, on
Speaker 1: your tailing point, like he definitely does. He's still in
Speaker 1: this like he's a rim seeker. I think, as they
Speaker 1: call him, he's a guy that just you know, he's attack, attack, attack,
Speaker 1: or he's like, uh he he's like one legged fadeaways.
Speaker 1: Look that looked really pretty when when they go in,
Speaker 1: But lately they've been airballs. I'd like him to like
Speaker 1: play the three and D role a little bit more.
Speaker 1: I think he's a better spot up shooter than he thinks.
Speaker 1: He passes up a lot of shots, but when he
Speaker 1: does get the ball, you're right he should be attacking.
Speaker 1: It's just tough. He's been playing in two big lineups
Speaker 1: as well, next to Rus, next to Lebron. Teams just
Speaker 1: play off him, you know, they play him as a driver,
Speaker 1: they're scouting him. I think I posted a video Alec
Speaker 1: Burke's like closed out super short on him, basically daring
Speaker 1: him to shoot, and then he drove in and threw
Speaker 1: up some wild shot and I think it was like
Speaker 1: over eight against the Knicks or something like that. But
Speaker 1: but yeah, but he's young. I think he turned twenty
Speaker 1: one today or something like that. But yeah, I have
Speaker 1: birthday TSD. But but yeah, it's growing pains for him.
Speaker 1: But you're right, man, seeing Lebron takeover was was huge
Speaker 1: and it's the most important part of the season to me,
Speaker 1: Like that's Lebron's not Lebron all this is a waste,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, the thing is we
Speaker 1: just we gotta buy time. TSC just be thinking too much.
Speaker 1: But I think that's gonna have I've been with all
Speaker 1: the little lineup changes, Like when the Reason come back,
Speaker 1: it's gonna we're gonna you know, I mean, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be funny thinking out there again. They're gonna be out
Speaker 1: there looking, you know, crazy when none come back. The
Speaker 1: same thing. But we should have a star power. We
Speaker 1: should have enough to you know, overcome that and let
Speaker 1: everybody find a rhythm wherever they gotta you know, kick
Speaker 1: in at like right, yeah, we're shifting as a team
Speaker 1: like this, this is a team that goes against pretty
Speaker 1: much everything our coach wants to do. And then we have, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, star players that don't fit perfectly, so it's
Speaker 1: gonna take time. It's looked ugly early on, but I
Speaker 1: think they're trying to find a little bit. I think
Speaker 1: Russ is starting to find his spots. Lebron is trying
Speaker 1: to find his spots. And hopefully, you know, we haven't
Speaker 1: got too many games with the Big three either, so
Speaker 1: hopefully when when a D comes back, we can start
Speaker 1: building that rhythm and this road trips over. I think
Speaker 1: we're like what two and three or something, but but yeah,
Speaker 1: hopefully we can we can start a win streak here,
Speaker 1: because this was a good win. To me, The second
Speaker 1: half was good. I said that in the Detroit win,
Speaker 1: so I'm not gonna be too too hopefully here, but
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was good to see Lebron take over
Speaker 1: for sure, before we even convey with what kind of
Speaker 1: team we are? That's so funny. Yep, for sure, man,
Speaker 1: Uh my guy, I appreciate you coming up right on. Bro.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you of course. Alright, Joe are you there, hey, Rod?
Speaker 1: Can you hear me? Man? I can hear you? What's
Speaker 1: going on? Man? Hey? Nothing much? Man, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what Man, that was exciting, bro. Just you're right man,
Speaker 1: just seeing Lebron, uh, you know do this thing taking
Speaker 1: over and all that good stuff. I think for Vogel, man,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the classic. What I watched was Lebron's
Speaker 1: body language with some of the clunky lineups. Man. And
Speaker 1: I think Vogel really needs to because light wind Horse
Speaker 1: said he's not gonna tell you what it is, but
Speaker 1: I think he's giving Vogel kind of the answers to
Speaker 1: the test based on how he kind of perked up
Speaker 1: when he was at the five and he had, you know,
Speaker 1: those guys out there with the spacing, so hopefully well
Speaker 1: was been kind of keying on that. But uh, I
Speaker 1: was super excited to see the way Ellerton and Monk
Speaker 1: battled man like for rebounds and things like that with
Speaker 1: those guys being small. So it's good to see that man.
Speaker 1: And was that the first time. I mean it's the
Speaker 1: first time I saw where he did the silencer in
Speaker 1: the Laker uniform. Man, I I made some kind of
Speaker 1: noise in my living room there. My daughter looked at
Speaker 1: me like I was crazy, bro, because I was just excited.
Speaker 1: But uh enjoyed the win. I know, we got a
Speaker 1: lot to you know, we got a long way to go, man,
Speaker 1: but just enjoyed that win. Man and everybody on the air.
Speaker 1: Have a great Thanksgiving. Man. I appreciate it, Joe, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Yeah. Maybe, I mean I can't imagine what
Speaker 1: you would have to because of the amount of ship
Speaker 1: I bet Lebron here is on a game the game basis,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what you'd have to say for him
Speaker 1: to come and point you out to a ref to
Speaker 1: escort you out, like I just can't as you. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's seem to get him going fired up. He had
Speaker 1: two big time threes. He was just he just looked
Speaker 1: like the best player in the world tonight. And that
Speaker 1: was cool, cool to see him kind of step back
Speaker 1: into that. At least we can see that it's still there.
Speaker 1: Uh and maybe John Hollider can drop some more articles here,
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, it was it was a good win. Uh.
Speaker 1: And like the Lebron sending you know, uh mixed messages
Speaker 1: to Vogel, I can't get there, like Lebron's played like
Speaker 1: eight what this this is what tender eleventh game? Like,
Speaker 1: I just can't get to the Lebrons sending messages to Vogel.
Speaker 1: They've been through a war, they've been through a bubble,
Speaker 1: they went through a championship. I just I can't get there,
Speaker 1: but but yeah, a good win. Man, it was cool
Speaker 1: to see Lebron hype after hitting some big shots on
Speaker 1: the road. Absolutely, thanks man, appreciate it. Appreciate you. Uh
Speaker 1: Vladimir either is it lamoid lammid dere all right, I'm
Speaker 1: not ready yo, Yeah, I can hear you. What's going on? Man? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to go on Joe's point. Man, shout
Speaker 1: out to my leak Monk and Winne Ellington. Uh, they're
Speaker 1: they're shooting. Was great from three and I think the
Speaker 1: league Monk had like eight boards, which is huge. And
Speaker 1: I know we talked about point of a tag pavans
Speaker 1: a lot and to me and my leak Monk didn't
Speaker 1: really show that tonight. You know, he wasn't really getting
Speaker 1: bet off one drip or one moves. I think I
Speaker 1: saw that more from Ellington, but I just want to
Speaker 1: give him a huge shout out. You know, Lebron looked amazing.
Speaker 1: You know, this is how we optimize our lineups. Just
Speaker 1: go back to give them shooting and let them go
Speaker 1: to work. Yeah, I agree. And if they can defend
Speaker 1: like this, uh and I think you know that late
Speaker 1: game kind of just switching everything, I think it tends
Speaker 1: to help them a little bit more. They're very quick.
Speaker 1: Our starting lineup is so slow, and when we play
Speaker 1: with two bigs, we just look so slow. And even
Speaker 1: if Ellington or Monk are guys who get picked on
Speaker 1: and targeted. And I thought Monk got targeted a little
Speaker 1: bit in the first half by t J McConnell. He
Speaker 1: really went at him. But in that second half, man,
Speaker 1: he really he stepped up. I thought on both ends
Speaker 1: league Monk was huge offensively. He's a big time shotmaker.
Speaker 1: He's a he's a guy you can just give the
Speaker 1: ball to. I thought in the third quarter a lot
Speaker 1: of our offense was just here in the league Monk
Speaker 1: create and he did. He was like step back, you know,
Speaker 1: dribble through the legs, one leg floaters. Um. He had
Speaker 1: huge threes off of Lebron screen off of screening for Lebron.
Speaker 1: He was big time man and Ellington and Ellington I
Speaker 1: think is a is a guy. He's not a good defender,
Speaker 1: but he's a guy who's in the right places. Like
Speaker 1: he doesn't get he doesn't get beat off like where
Speaker 1: he's supposed to be as much. Monk gets beat off
Speaker 1: like he's too small or uh, like he missed his
Speaker 1: box outs and that stuff that's gonna happen. But to me,
Speaker 1: like this team needs both of their offenses and I've
Speaker 1: been pining for Mellington to get more minutes. Um. I
Speaker 1: liked the Monk and Ellington next to Braun at the five.
Speaker 1: I think their speed is something we can use defensively,
Speaker 1: like we just feel so slow we play these big,
Speaker 1: trotting out lineups. But you're right, man, Monks stepped up huge.
Speaker 1: It was cool to see. It was cool to see
Speaker 1: him have another big game on the road. This is
Speaker 1: probably his like second game he's like helped us win
Speaker 1: in a in a big time way just with his
Speaker 1: scoring with a d out. It was it was cool, man,
Speaker 1: And I think we're progressing here. Every game you see
Speaker 1: a little little small process things that are that are
Speaker 1: hopefully training up. Yeah, definitely. And you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think we win this game without Lebron hitting you know,
Speaker 1: crazy step back threes. But it's just nice to see
Speaker 1: that we have a closer you know. I know people
Speaker 1: like to harp on a d and you know, being
Speaker 1: that superstar. But you know, I feel like we just
Speaker 1: with just Lebron, you always have a chance. And um,
Speaker 1: I like to see Vocal adjusting to like I'm kind
Speaker 1: of in and out on you know, whether he's the
Speaker 1: right guy for our team. But to see him kind
Speaker 1: of go away from his philosophy and just working with
Speaker 1: what he has in front of him, I think it
Speaker 1: does show some progress. Yeah, man, that's why I'm don't
Speaker 1: I've said this a lot, but I just think firing
Speaker 1: Franklogo opens up a whole kind of learns a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of unintended consequences that you have no idea. Who
Speaker 1: is replaced him is if he can instill what he wants.
Speaker 1: This is a tough basketball team to coach, though, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like the Rust fit just isn't pretty,
Speaker 1: and even tonight it's still ugly in a lot of places.
Speaker 1: It's still Lebron and Rust still have issues trying to
Speaker 1: attack at the same time, uh turnovers where they're both
Speaker 1: kind of drying. It's a tough team to coach, and
Speaker 1: you're a guy who leans on defense, even if the
Speaker 1: numbers don't match that starting lineup. It matches his eyes
Speaker 1: in a way, it matches his philosophies. Is that ideal
Speaker 1: ideologies as a defensive minded guy, and you're gonna keep
Speaker 1: seeing this man. But the small adjustments I think are happening.
Speaker 1: I think Lebron at the five is a point to that, uh,
Speaker 1: a point to that direction. So hopefully we see that
Speaker 1: more going forward. It takes a lot out of Lebron, though.
Speaker 1: I think those step factories were uh, kind of a
Speaker 1: show that he was fatigued because the Bonus is a
Speaker 1: guy he likes to attack off the basket, like off
Speaker 1: the dribble, Like the Bonus is just a guy he
Speaker 1: likes to go at, you know as a off the dribble,
Speaker 1: and he really stopped doing that. He took the step
Speaker 1: bac threes they went in. He was he was incredible though.
Speaker 1: To close, you're right, all right, that's it for today, guys,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Night