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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume.

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Speaker 2: Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had

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Speaker 2: an incredible weekend. We have a jam paged today for

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Speaker 2: the show later on today, we got a video coming

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Speaker 2: out with our power rankings as well as a mailbag.

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Speaker 2: We do power rankings every Monday, as you guys know.

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Speaker 2: But for this video, we're gonna be bringing on my

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Speaker 2: friend Jovann Buja from the Athletic who was with the

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Speaker 2: Lakers in Las Vegas as they hoist the first ever

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Speaker 2: NBA In Season Tournament trophy. He's got a lot of

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Speaker 2: information from boots on the ground that he's going to

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Speaker 2: give us, and we have a lot of interesting basketball

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Speaker 2: to dive into as well, and that's where I want

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Speaker 2: to start, Yovan. So obviously there's a trophy waiting here,

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Speaker 2: but there's another trophy coming in June. And what I

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Speaker 2: liked about this n Season Tournament was it was kind

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Speaker 2: of like a miniature, less important version of the playoffs,

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Speaker 2: in the sense that the high stakes environment, the intensity,

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Speaker 2: the good teams, like four of the consensus contenders to

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Speaker 2: start the season, the Suns, the Lakers, the Bucks, and

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Speaker 2: the Celtics were in this single elimination field. All of

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Speaker 2: that kind of, you know, showed us a little bit

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Speaker 2: of like a playoff lens through everything so that we

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Speaker 2: could kind of examine all of these teams.

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Speaker 3: A little bit.

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Speaker 2: So my question for you is what did we learn

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Speaker 2: about the Lakers from winning the NBA's first n Season Tournament.

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Speaker 1: I think we learned that this group can win a championship,

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Speaker 1: and maybe learn is the wrong term there. I would

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Speaker 1: go with confirmation that this group could win a championship,

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Speaker 1: because I think you and I both had them in

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Speaker 1: our inner circle of contenders entering the season. But with

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Speaker 1: that up and down start, you know, we've talked about

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Speaker 1: it several times on here.

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Speaker 3: I think I.

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Speaker 1: Don't want to say there was doubt, but I think

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Speaker 1: they're a little concern with just you know, I want

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Speaker 1: to see them win in high st in high stakes environments.

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Speaker 3: I want to see them beat good teams.

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Speaker 1: I want to see dominant performances from Lebron and AD

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Speaker 1: and we got all of that in the knockout stage

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Speaker 1: and Austin Reeves returned to for him. Anthony Davis had

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Speaker 1: one of the best games of his career in that

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Speaker 1: championship game. Lebron had one of the most efficient games

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Speaker 1: of his career in that blowout against New Orleans, and

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Speaker 1: then I think arguably the most impressive win of them

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Speaker 1: all was the Phoenix one, considering that's a team that

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Speaker 1: they most likely will have to face at some point

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Speaker 1: in the Western Conference playoffs, and that's you know, all

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Speaker 1: three games have gone into crunch time, all three games

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Speaker 1: have gone really to single possession basketball, and Lakers have

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Speaker 1: won all three of them. And I think their defense

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Speaker 1: against Phoenix, like you've kind of seen the strengths of

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Speaker 1: both of those teams, and LA has come out on

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Speaker 1: top in all three matchups. So to me, I think again,

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Speaker 1: I was already high on the Lakers, and I think

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Speaker 1: they've been playing better. They've won twelve of their last

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Speaker 1: sixteen if you include that championship game. But this to

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Speaker 1: me was when the stakes are high and this team

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Speaker 1: is playing for something they can lock in, they have

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Speaker 1: a level of focus, a level of engagement, a level

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Speaker 1: of awareness that we hadn't seen necessarily consistently through the

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Speaker 1: first twenty games or so. But with the money on

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Speaker 1: the line, with the trophy on the line, they really

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Speaker 1: stepped up. And of course a lot of it was

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Speaker 1: Lebron and Ad but again, I thought Austin Reeves looked

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Speaker 1: really well. I thought the Wings played amazing defense. Darvin

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Speaker 1: Ham deserves a lot of credit for his schemes and

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Speaker 1: his game plan. So to me, this was just confirmation

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Speaker 1: that the Lakers are in that inner circle and might

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Speaker 1: even be a little bit higher than we had initially expected.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I love that part right there at the end, because

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Speaker 2: that was my big takeaway. I had the Lakers coming

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Speaker 2: into the season as my fourth best championship contender behind Denver, Boston,

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Speaker 2: and Milwaukee, and I'm going to put them above Milwaukee now.

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Speaker 2: I think that perimeter defense issue that Tyrese Halliburton just

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Speaker 2: shined a gigantic spotlight on was just a great example

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Speaker 2: of like a glaring flaw that they need to deal with.

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Speaker 2: You know, the emergence of Cam Reddish and Max Christy

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Speaker 2: as like not just capable point of attack weapons, but

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Speaker 2: like good point of attack weapons has put them in

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Speaker 2: a situation where, even within the context of the regular season,

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Speaker 2: they're more well equipped for that specific problem, which really

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Speaker 2: isn't even a problem now because now it's like when

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Speaker 2: we talk about the Lakers point of attack defense, it's

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Speaker 2: like you're getting Cam off the jump with Torrian guarding

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Speaker 2: your second best perimeter player, right, and then it's like

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Speaker 2: here comes Max and Van though and and Max is

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Speaker 2: gonna take that or Jared can take that top end assignment,

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Speaker 2: and Max is gonna be an excellent option for the

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Speaker 2: second best perimeter initiator and a bench group. And so

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Speaker 2: like now the Lakers I think we can say are

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Speaker 2: legitimately good at the point of attack, which is kind

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Speaker 2: of like a bizarre situation to be in, yeah, considering

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Speaker 2: where we were to start this season, And so I

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Speaker 2: kind of move the Lakers above the Bucks into that

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Speaker 2: tier were like just in terms of sheer fire power

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Speaker 2: and kind of factoring in everything that all those teams

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Speaker 2: can do on both ends of the floor, I still

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Speaker 2: put Denver and Boston ahead of them, and as we're

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Speaker 2: going to talk about later on in the show. I

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Speaker 2: still think like this the upgrade of that specific rotation

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Speaker 2: position they're getting to, like asking yourself the fundamental question,

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Speaker 2: is Cam Reddish good enough to be the starting player

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Speaker 2: on a team that can win a championship in a

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Speaker 2: feel this stacked with teams like Boston and Denver at

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Speaker 2: the top. Those are other questions that the Lakers need

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Speaker 2: to address, but I do think they've proven that they

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Speaker 2: belong in this inner circle tier of contenders. And like specifically,

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Speaker 2: it's the latest example of the of the simple basketball

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Speaker 2: concept that is fueled Lakers optimism for three years despite

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Speaker 2: mediocre regular season results. And that is in a real

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Speaker 2: basketball game, when the shit's on the line, if Lebron

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Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis are on the floor and they're playing hard,

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Speaker 2: it is like a huge pain in the ass to

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Speaker 2: deal with because of everything that they can do as

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Speaker 2: athletes on both ends of the floor. And that Indiana

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Speaker 2: Pacers game was such a great example of that because,

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Speaker 2: like you know, the Bucks had all sorts of bullyball options,

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Speaker 2: they weren't able to inflict that on the Pacers. The

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Speaker 2: Celtics had all sorts of size mismatches on the perimeter

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Speaker 2: against various guys, they weren't able to inflict that. It

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Speaker 2: was the Lakers that when the Chips for down, were

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Speaker 2: able to just pay bound the ball inside on the

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Speaker 2: pacers and just obliterate them on the offensive glass and

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Speaker 2: make everything happen with their size. The other thing that

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Speaker 2: I thought was clear from this tournament that stood out,

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Speaker 2: and I want to hear your take on it. A

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Speaker 2: big shock. This has been the case for this entire era.

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Speaker 2: But defense is the identity of this team that they

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Speaker 2: need to lean into, and so I had to take that.

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Speaker 2: I was bouncing off of Logan Sway, my mutual friend

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Speaker 2: head of content here at the volume, about this defense

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Speaker 2: versus twenty twenty defense. Now, hear me out, because the

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty Lakers defense was incredible, certainly better at the

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Speaker 2: center position in terms of what Dwight and Javail brought

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Speaker 2: to the table, and obviously better at the guard position

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Speaker 2: defensively because of Crusoe and Contavious Cabbo Pope, two of

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Speaker 2: the best guard defenders in the league. But that team

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Speaker 2: did not have wing athleticism like Danny Green I thought

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Speaker 2: was slow that year. He was a good help defender,

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Speaker 2: did a decent job in some lock and trail assignments,

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Speaker 2: but he was not the best perimeter defensive option. Kyle

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Speaker 2: Kuzma more like a Ruey Hotcha Mura type, kind of

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Speaker 2: like a top heavy big forward that was good in help,

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Speaker 2: good in rebounding, but not an excellent on ball weapon.

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Speaker 2: They didn't have guys like Cam Reddish six ' eight

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Speaker 2: freek athlete Jared Vanderbilt six ' nine freek athlete that

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Speaker 2: they could put at the point of attack, And like

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Speaker 2: I think, I'm I'm still on the fence about it,

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Speaker 2: So I want to hear your take, but I think

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Speaker 2: that that specific wing athleticism dynamic gives this Laker defense

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Speaker 2: a dime like kind of a punch that it didn't

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Speaker 2: have in twenty twenty in a different way. And so

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Speaker 2: I actually think it's pretty close.

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Speaker 3: To that level.

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Speaker 2: Would you agree or do you still think there's a

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Speaker 2: gap between the twenty twenty defense in this year.

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Speaker 3: I think at their peaks they're close.

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Speaker 1: I still think there's a consistency gap there where like

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Speaker 1: that twenty twenty team was just dominant from the jump

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Speaker 1: and they had a clear identity, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: think part of it was Lebron and ad coming together

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Speaker 1: for the first time, and you know, several of those

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Speaker 1: role players had either won championships or gotten close, and

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Speaker 1: you know there was a focus there. I think from

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Speaker 1: I mean what they had like a twenty and three

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Speaker 1: starter or something like that to the regular season.

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Speaker 3: So I think for me, I.

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Speaker 1: Totally agree with you, like the wing defense is the

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Speaker 1: big thing, and really like this is where Cam Reddish

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Speaker 1: and Max Christy breaking out the way that they've broken out.

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Speaker 1: It has been such an X factor for this team

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Speaker 1: because we were kind of penciling those guys in as

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Speaker 1: like fringe rotation guys, and Cam has become a starter.

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Speaker 1: Max has played some crucial minutes in fourth quarters. Like

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Speaker 1: I thought it was really telling that Darvin went to

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Speaker 1: him as often as he did in that fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: against Indiana, you know, before ultimately closing with Cam, Austin

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Speaker 1: and Dilo and as the three perimeter guys. But like

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Speaker 1: Darvin has shown he trusts Max and those two guys

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Speaker 1: taking the leaps that they've taken defensively and just in

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Speaker 1: terms of their point of attack defense, their screen navigation.

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Speaker 3: I think Cam, you know, he's done the Jose Alvarado.

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Speaker 1: You know, just he'll pretend like he's running back and

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Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, he's like a cat and

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Speaker 1: he springs and you know, tips the ball or gets

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Speaker 1: a steal and like it's just his ball pressure has

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Speaker 1: been incredible, and that was I think a huge reason

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Speaker 1: why the Lakers were able to limit Indiana to just

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Speaker 1: one hundred and nine points in the championship game was

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Speaker 1: because Cam Reddish was able to howd Tyree Halbert in

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Speaker 1: a way that Boston and Milwaukee just weren't able to do.

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Speaker 1: So I would say the wing defense is better. I

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Speaker 1: agree with you. I do think though the guard defense

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Speaker 1: was better for the twenty twenty team, and obviously the

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Speaker 1: interior defense, in my opinion, was better. With you still

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Speaker 1: had Ad playing at similar level, he might even be

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Speaker 1: better now. I think it's close. You could probably make

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Speaker 1: the case either way. But throwing in Javail and Dwight

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Speaker 1: like that was a dominant, really really dominant interior defense.

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Speaker 1: And they had a game against Detroit where they had

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Speaker 1: twenty blocks and it was just like you could not

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Speaker 1: sc or on that team inside. And like we've seen

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Speaker 1: shades of that with Jackson Hayes can block some shots

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Speaker 1: from the weak side, and like christian Wood has had

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Speaker 1: some solid moments defensively, but for the most part, as

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Speaker 1: we saw the Lakers kind of shift more to a

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Speaker 1: playoff rotation, Jackson was barely playing and christian Wood was

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Speaker 1: out of the rotation altogether. And that was my initial

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Speaker 1: fear heading into the season was just when the games

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Speaker 1: actually matter, I don't trust Jackson, Hayes, or Christian Wood

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Speaker 1: in big moments, and I think Darvin has kind of

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Speaker 1: confirmed that with phasing those guys out of the rotation

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Speaker 1: for the most part. So I do think that at

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Speaker 1: the point of attack, like they do have that perimeter

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Speaker 1: defense with some of the wings, but I think some

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Speaker 1: of the speedier guards like Daron Fox is a really

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Speaker 1: tough matchup for them, for example, and of course he's

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Speaker 1: a tough matchup for most of the league, but I

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Speaker 1: think that twenty twenty team would match up better with him.

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Speaker 1: And then we saw Jokic wasn't at the same level obviously,

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Speaker 1: but we saw how Dwight matched up with the Jokich.

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Speaker 1: We saw you know, eighty and Javail on the weak

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Speaker 1: side and what they can kind of do with that strategy.

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Speaker 1: So I think they were better at defending centers and

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Speaker 1: they're better at defending point guards. Now two through four

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Speaker 1: I would probably lean this group. So it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: interesting to see how they I mean, right now, they're

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Speaker 1: they're seventh in defense. You know, maybe they end up

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Speaker 1: in the top three, top one, you know what we'll see.

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Speaker 1: But I think overall, peak wise, they're similar, but I

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Speaker 1: would still give the edge to twenty twenty overall as

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Speaker 1: well as with their consistency.

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Speaker 2: That's about where I landed to from the standpoint of

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Speaker 2: like the consistency, I think this team can reach the

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Speaker 2: same ceiling as the twenty twenty Lakers. I just think

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Speaker 2: the length and athleticism is different on this team on

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Speaker 2: the wing in particular. But yeah, like that twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: Laker team in a night out, night night and night

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Speaker 2: out way was just kicking everybody's ass. Now that Kings

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Speaker 2: matchup in particular is one I would love to see

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Speaker 2: again because the last time they played, they were still

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Speaker 2: down a bunch of their wings, and the first time

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Speaker 2: they played was right at the start of the season.

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Speaker 2: And like, one of the things that's been really interesting

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Speaker 2: with the Kings is they are zero to five against

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Speaker 2: New Orleans and Houston, two teams that have excellent, long,

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Speaker 2: athletic point of attack defenders, and they held them below

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Speaker 2: one hundred points three of those five games. And so

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Speaker 2: I'd love to see a Lakers Kings rematch where it's

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Speaker 2: actually Cam Reddish and Torrian Prince and then Max Christine

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Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt where it's like forty eight minutes of the

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Speaker 2: Lakers ball pressure that we know they're capable of putting

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Speaker 2: on them. But unfortunately they're not going to see the

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Speaker 2: Kings for a few months, so I guess we'll have

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Speaker 2: to wait to see that one.

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Speaker 4: The last note that.

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Speaker 2: I put on what I learned from this tournament before

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Speaker 2: we move on really quick. It's just at Austin Reeves

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Speaker 2: is a dependable third star in big games, and like

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Speaker 2: you and I were all over this throughout the season,

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Speaker 2: this stupid narrative that started to form around like, oh,

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Speaker 2: like you know, teams are game planning more for Austin Now.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm like he's in the exact same slot

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Speaker 2: that he was last year during the postseason. Like I

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Speaker 2: literally didn't understand it. It's like it made no sense

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Speaker 2: the way he was discussed at the start of the year.

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Speaker 2: He was so dependently dependent great even in crunch time

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Speaker 2: when he was playing poorly, and he was just awesome

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Speaker 2: in this tournament. Twenty two points per game, twenty eight

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Speaker 2: in the closeout game seventeen against the Pelicans, who cares,

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Speaker 2: they got their butts kicked like it just I thought

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Speaker 2: it was a really impressive showing from usin Reeves is

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Speaker 2: just the latest example of like, they don't need another

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Speaker 2: ball handler. They need if they were to make some

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Speaker 2: sort of upgrade something at the point of attack. But

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Speaker 2: we have another guard for the Lakers that is going

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Speaker 2: to be returning soon. Your colleague Sean Serrania reported today

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Speaker 2: that he's going to be returning probably in about a week.

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Speaker 2: My question for you is Gabe Vincent's return, how will

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Speaker 2: it affect the rotation.

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Speaker 1: It's a great question, and I think it's something the

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Speaker 1: Lakers are still figuring out right now.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: I think there's what I think should happen, and what

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Speaker 1: some people think should happen, and what probably will happen.

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Speaker 1: Because for me, I think there probably should be a

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Speaker 1: trickle down effect where you potentially reconsider the star lineup

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Speaker 1: now that you have Gabe Vincent available because if you

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Speaker 1: went back to the Austin de Lo backcourt, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's obviously some problems with that didn't work earlier in

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Speaker 1: the season, but you don't have a backup guard who

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Speaker 1: can handle the ball right now, and I think bringing

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Speaker 1: in Gabe, while he's not necessarily a traditional point guard

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Speaker 1: or primary ball handler, he can give you some of that.

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Speaker 1: He had given them some of that in the first

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Speaker 1: few games off the bench. So I would I would

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Speaker 1: like to see the Lakers revisit, you know, and we've

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Speaker 1: talked about it, potentially the Van do Oh Austin Delo

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Speaker 1: starting group. I think, you know, that group was so

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Speaker 1: dominant in the regular season last season. I think they

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Speaker 1: were effective in the playoffs until they ran into the

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Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets, and you know, I don't know if it's

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Speaker 1: sustainable throughout the whole postseason, and you probably have to

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Speaker 1: reevaluate some things, and of course we'll see what they

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Speaker 1: do with the trade deadline, but I would like to

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Speaker 1: see them, you know, potentially go back to that group,

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Speaker 1: just because again Austin remains their third best player, and

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Speaker 1: I think by virtue of you know, while he's still

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Speaker 1: closing games more often than not by virtue of bringing

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Speaker 1: him off the bench. There have been plenty of games

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Speaker 1: where he's played fewer minutes than d Lo just because

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Speaker 1: of the way that Darvin likes to have the rotation

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Speaker 1: and keeping the starters together for a certain amount of time.

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Speaker 1: So even in certain games where Austin is closing over

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Speaker 1: del he's still playing fewer minutes just because of kind

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Speaker 1: of the starter bench dynamics.

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Speaker 3: So for me, I would like to see the Lakers

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Speaker 3: go back to that.

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Speaker 1: Now, what I think is going to happen is it's

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Speaker 1: probably going to cost Max Christy his spot in the

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Speaker 1: rotation or at least reduced minutes, just because Gabe Benson

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Speaker 1: is the sixth highest paid player on this team. He

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Speaker 1: was the primary offseason addition in terms of free agency,

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Speaker 1: and I just don't see a way he's not playing

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Speaker 1: sixteen to twenty minutes, if not a little bit more

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Speaker 1: off the bench. But it just put it puts the

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Speaker 1: Lakers in a little bit of a bind here because

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Speaker 1: you kind of have the blueprint now of skill guard

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Speaker 1: at the point with Delo or Austin, a bunch of wings,

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Speaker 1: and then you have Ady and Lebron as the center pieces.

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Speaker 1: Either together, or you know, one of them is on

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Speaker 1: the bench and you're you're going with multiple wings. You

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Speaker 1: put Gay Vincent in there. Now all of a sudden

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Speaker 1: you have a lot more Delo and Gabe, Austin and Gabe,

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Speaker 1: and you know, it's just it changes the dynamic, It

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Speaker 1: changes the perimeter defense, you know, potentially, I think he

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Speaker 1: regains the shooting and that's something that helps. But and

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Speaker 1: Gabe is a plus defender, but he's also six foot

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Speaker 1: two and that you know the difference between him at

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Speaker 1: the point of attack versus Max Christi or Cam Reddish

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Speaker 1: or Toryan Prince, like, those guys are just bigger. And

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Speaker 1: that's been the Lakers identity over these last few weeks

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Speaker 1: as they've had success. So for me, I think there

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Speaker 1: is a trickle down effect of Max Christi probably plays either.

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Speaker 3: A lot less or at least a little less.

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Speaker 1: Toryan Prince probably plays a little bit less camp Like

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Speaker 1: just those guys that are playing the two are probably

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Speaker 1: going to play a little bit less just by ru

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Speaker 1: of more Gabe and Austin there. But I mean, I

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Speaker 1: don't know what to do because the Lakers haven't really

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Speaker 1: needed Gay Vincent, right, Like, I think that they've had

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Speaker 1: this identity now, and it's tough to tell a guy

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Speaker 1: you're paying double digit millions, like we're not going to

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Speaker 1: play you, or you know you're gonna be a fringe guy.

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Speaker 3: But I think he kind of has to earn that spot.

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Speaker 1: So I'm interested to see how Darvin handles it, because

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Speaker 1: unless there's an injury within the next week, which you know,

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Speaker 1: knock on wood, I don't see how he just comes

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Speaker 1: into the rotation and plays like twenty minutes without it

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Speaker 1: really affecting their perimeter defense. And some of these wings

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Speaker 1: that we've been talking about having so much success recently.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like Gabe can guard at the point of attack.

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Speaker 2: He's a good ball pressure player, can get up underneath players,

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Speaker 2: got like a little bit like seventy percent of that

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Speaker 2: Dennis Schroeder type of vibe. But like Max is just

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Speaker 2: better perimeter defender than him. And if we look at

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Speaker 2: the ten man rotation they used, now obviously I say

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Speaker 2: ten man rotation loosely because some of these guys barely played,

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Speaker 2: but it was basically Dlo and Austin at the point

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Speaker 2: Ham as the starting two with Max as his sub.

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Speaker 2: Torrian is the starting three. With van Do as a sub.

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Speaker 2: Lebron is the starting four, with ruy as a sub,

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Speaker 2: Ad as the starting five, with Jackson as a sub.

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Speaker 2: So the simple answer here is Max is out of

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Speaker 2: the rotation and Games takes a spot like that, that's

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Speaker 2: what's most likely going to happen, And I think I

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Speaker 2: don't think it'll have any sort of meaningful effect overall

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Speaker 2: on on the way the team is performing, just because

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Speaker 2: Cam is still going to get significant rotation minutes and

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to make too much of

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Speaker 2: a difference. But there's a simple question to be asked of, like,

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Speaker 2: right now, out of that role, what do you like

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Speaker 2: Max actually has been an aggressive shooter. He's knocked down

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Speaker 2: some big shots, He's had the ability to put the

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Speaker 2: ball on the floor and attack close out. So I

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Speaker 2: think there's a little bit of a give and take there.

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Speaker 2: To me, it just is a gigantic spotlight on the

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Speaker 2: roster imbalances here. And what I mean by that is like, ideally,

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Speaker 2: like you'd want that same mold you referenced skill guard,

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Speaker 2: point of attack defender, taller point of attack defender Lebron

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Speaker 2: or ruy Ad or Jackson right like, essentially that was

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Speaker 2: where the turning point of the season was. Now, we

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Speaker 2: disagreed about Austin being essentially the tool with which to

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Speaker 2: make this happen, but the Lakers went from playing two

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Speaker 2: skill guard lineups to one skill guard lineup in the

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Speaker 2: season turned around the defense. In their last fifteen games,

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Speaker 2: they have the third best defense in the league and

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Speaker 2: the second best record in the league. That's right around

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Speaker 2: the time this change took place. It's been basically where

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Speaker 2: things turned around for the Lakers. And so my thing

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Speaker 2: would be Ruey Hotchemura played nine minutes in the Pacers game,

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Speaker 2: because he's basically viewed now as the guy who plays

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Speaker 2: when Lebron's off the floor, and that's it. I played

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Speaker 2: twenty one minutes each in the Suns and Pelicans games,

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Speaker 2: so he's not even playing half the games.

434
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,800
Speaker 4: And Ruey's good. Ruey's really good.

435
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,239
Speaker 2: And you just don't have room for him, especially in

436
00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,639
Speaker 2: a big, winner, take all game like that Pacers game,

437
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 2: he plays nine minutes. So like that to me is

438
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,600
Speaker 2: like when you look at this situation, You've got a

439
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,640
Speaker 2: surplus at a couple of key position groups. You've got

440
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,000
Speaker 2: three skill guards when you only need two, and like,

441
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,400
Speaker 2: really you could imagine a bench lineup in.

442
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 4: The future that features Gabe at.

443
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 2: The one with Max and Van Doh and a third

444
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 2: like if you brought in an upgraded two for Cam Reddish,

445
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,439
Speaker 2: Cam would be a really good option there in that

446
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 2: bench group, right, And so, like the way I look

447
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 2: at it, to me, this is just a gigantic indicator

448
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:32,080
Speaker 2: of the fact that this team has to make a

449
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:35,040
Speaker 2: consolidation trade at some point, because this is a team,

450
00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:36,960
Speaker 2: like we said, that has a legitimate chance to win

451
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 2: the championship, but is clearly a level below Boston and

452
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,959
Speaker 2: Denver in my opinion, So how do you rectify that

453
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,159
Speaker 2: by making a better use of your resources? And so,

454
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 2: in my opinion, like Gabe is like the perfect example

455
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 2: of a guy that could take a Delo's spot in

456
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,680
Speaker 2: the rotation. If you can imagine if if Delo got

457
00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 2: traded and Austin became the starter and Gabe actually based

458
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 2: took over Austin's role on this team as the guy

459
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:04,919
Speaker 2: off the bench, and then if you were to bring

460
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:09,200
Speaker 2: in an upgraded version of Cam for that two spot,

461
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:12,760
Speaker 2: right or somebody along those lines, then essentially now you're

462
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 2: much more balanced and you don't have a guy in

463
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:16,760
Speaker 2: d Lo that you're not going to ever play in

464
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 2: crunch time.

465
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 4: And look, Delo.

466
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 2: We've spoken very highly of him in his attitude and

467
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 2: his professionalism this season, but once again, looked a little

468
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 2: shaky in that Sun's game. Looked a little shaky in

469
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,000
Speaker 2: that Pacers game. I know he's talking lots of shit

470
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,640
Speaker 2: to Bruce Brown, but I think he was like five

471
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,640
Speaker 2: for sixteen from the field, you know. So like it's

472
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,399
Speaker 2: one of those things where, like, I think all signs

473
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 2: are pointing in that direction. So I think that's the

474
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 2: perfect segue into this. Do you think the success of

475
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 2: the defense in the nd season tournament will have any

476
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 2: impact on the team's strategy at the trade deadline?

477
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 3: I think marginally. Like I do.

478
00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,119
Speaker 1: I think that we've talked about the need for or

479
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 1: you know, potentially a Greendy upgrade and what that would

480
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 1: look like and who they'd have to give up and

481
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 1: all that stuff. I think they're confident in Cam and

482
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,640
Speaker 1: Torrion and Max and Vando of what those four can

483
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 1: do on the wings when healthy. Of course, there's the

484
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: offensive end where I think all four of those guys

485
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,120
Speaker 1: have some level of question marks in terms of their

486
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: shooting and you know, Toryan has been shooting the ball

487
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,160
Speaker 1: much better recently and I think played better, but overall

488
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,879
Speaker 1: just sort of like those four. I don't know if

489
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 1: you want ideally any one of the four starting on

490
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: a championship team, like I think they're all probably better

491
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: suited coming off the bench, although Vando, I think with

492
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,359
Speaker 1: his body of work, especially last season, like you know,

493
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 1: you can make the case he's at least a good

494
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,439
Speaker 1: regular season sort of placeholder starter. But I think the

495
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 1: other three ideally probably want them coming off the bench

496
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,479
Speaker 1: with an ideal lineup. So I think it's gonna come

497
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,120
Speaker 1: down to how they perform, honestly, like the next four

498
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,439
Speaker 1: to six weeks, and what that looks like, because I

499
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna really change their strategy at the

500
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 1: trade deadline, holding on to well, we won the n

501
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: season tournament with these guys, so that means we're gonna

502
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 1: win the playoffs, Like I think it's gonna be how

503
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 1: do we build off of this? What does it look

504
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 1: like now that we're fully healthy? We ad Gabe in,

505
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,359
Speaker 1: how is he adjusting? Do we have the confidence? I

506
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,120
Speaker 1: think to your point, you know, if you end up

507
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,560
Speaker 1: trading d LO plus something else. You can't go back

508
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 1: to starting Austin at the one. You can have Gabe

509
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 1: as the backup, and then you plug that new player

510
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 1: or players potentially to the starting lineup and then somewhere

511
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 1: you know, off the bench, depending on what.

512
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 3: Role they fill.

513
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: But I think the kind of an audition mode right

514
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 1: now of how does Gabe fit off the bench?

515
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 3: Can he help run the offense?

516
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,240
Speaker 1: Like what does it look like if he's the primary

517
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,080
Speaker 1: ball handler and d Lo and Austin or off the

518
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 1: floor and it's just maybe Gabe and Lebron with a

519
00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,680
Speaker 1: bunch of wings and Jackson. So I think right now

520
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 1: they're kind of in that evaluation mode of trying to

521
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 1: see what this roster actually looks like now that they're

522
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: fully healthy.

523
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 3: A lot has changed.

524
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: I think that's really the interesting thing too with the

525
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 1: game situation is like him, he's coming back to a

526
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: completely different team, like Cam starting, Max is in the rotation,

527
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 1: you know, van Do's back, and it's just all of

528
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:20,359
Speaker 1: a sudden, they have all this depth that they didn't

529
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:20,879
Speaker 1: have before.

530
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 3: So to me, I think it's certainly a factor.

531
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,400
Speaker 1: I think it's it's certainly a positive for them that

532
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: they now all of a sudden have this kind of

533
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: wing competition of who's going to shoot the best, who's

534
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,159
Speaker 1: going to defend the best, who's going to be the

535
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 1: best on the boards. That's that's another area where I

536
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 1: think potentially benching Max they lose that. Like to me,

537
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,919
Speaker 1: he's a better rebounder than torrim Prints and Cam Reddish,

538
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: Like that is one area I give Max the edge

539
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 1: over those two guys, you know, despite I think overall

540
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: that them probably playing slightly better than him. I think

541
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,240
Speaker 1: his rebounding has been an underrated part of his games,

542
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,360
Speaker 1: so like you lose a little bit of that. That's

543
00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 1: been something that the Lakers have actually excelled in over

544
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 1: the last few weeks, has been their defensive rebounding, no

545
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 1: longer having some of those second chance points woes that

546
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: they had earlier in the season. So I think there's

547
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:09,399
Speaker 1: a lot of questions right now. We're not really going

548
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: to have an answer until we see what this group

549
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:15,399
Speaker 1: looks like fully healthy. But I think their recent success

550
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 1: with these wings is a factor for them. But I

551
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to necessarily be We're just satisfied

552
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 1: with with Cam and Vanda and Torrian. I think they're

553
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 1: still going to be aggressive of trying to get that

554
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,919
Speaker 1: type of guy, but I think they do have a

555
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 1: level of if we stay put or at least, you know,

556
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 1: look to fill a different role, we're confident that these

557
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 1: guys can rise to a certain level and play well

558
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,199
Speaker 1: in big games as they just did in the end

559
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: season tournament.

560
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, that to me is is kind of where this

561
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 2: gets into a complicated situation. It feels really weird talking

562
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,760
Speaker 2: about being aggressive as at the deadline when I'm talking

563
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 2: about a team that I genuinely believe is the third

564
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,680
Speaker 2: best championship contender right now, like so like it feels

565
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,679
Speaker 2: it feels like a miss placed kind of look to

566
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 2: the future, right But at the end of the day,

567
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 2: I want to just put it this simply for Laker fans,

568
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 2: if you end up in the Western Conference Finals against Denver,

569
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,120
Speaker 2: it's Jamal Murray, like literally one of the top twenty

570
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 2: players in the league. It's KCP one of the best

571
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 2: starting role player guards in the league. It's Michael Porter

572
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 2: Junior one of the best starting role player wings in

573
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 2: the league. It's Aaron Gordon one of the best starting

574
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:28,640
Speaker 2: power forward players role players in the league. And Nicole

575
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,679
Speaker 2: Joki is the best player in the league. If you

576
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 2: play Boston, it's Derek Quite a above average NBA starter,

577
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,760
Speaker 2: a damn good player. It's Drew Holliday and above average,

578
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 2: like literally a fringe star. It's Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum.

579
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 2: It's gonna be Chris tops porzingis. Like the point is is,

580
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 2: like when you're talking about the top levels. Now, now

581
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 2: let me pretend the Lakers are going to start Cam Reddish.

582
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 2: And Cam Reddish has been a really like a really

583
00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 2: a feel good story in a lot of ways, because

584
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 2: this is a guy who like legitimately has been very

585
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 2: good this regular season. He's been a very good point

586
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 2: of attack defender, and like this is three three NBA

587
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 2: franchises wanted nothing to do with this guy, like straight

588
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,360
Speaker 2: up wanted nothing to do with him. Let him go

589
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 2: for nothing, and the Lakers have gotten real use and

590
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 2: value out of him, revitalized his career. He will be

591
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 2: on an NBA deal next year somewhere, and he's gonna

592
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 2: be a guy who's viewed as like a three and

593
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 2: D wing based or a D in three wing, I

594
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,959
Speaker 2: should say. But like the reality is is stack yourself

595
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 2: against Denver and stack yourself against Boston and ask yourself

596
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 2: if cam Andrean is going to be a legitimate week

597
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 2: point in a series like that, And the answer, in

598
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 2: my opinion is a pretty clear yes. You're you're going

599
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,240
Speaker 2: to be giving a significant advantage up in those situations

600
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 2: at the highest levels. Again, to win four series, you're

601
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 2: probably gonna have to go through Denver. You're probably gonna

602
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 2: have to go through Boston or somebody who beat Boston,

603
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 2: or somebody who beat Denver. And so again, like I

604
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 2: just I look at it when you have that problem,

605
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,040
Speaker 2: and then an internal problem, which is ruey literally is

606
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 2: this incredible player that you can't play because Lebron's on

607
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 2: your team and he plays the same position, and so

608
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,120
Speaker 2: he barely plays Indiangelo Russell a guy who you cannot

609
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 2: play alongside your other skill guard, Austin Reeves at least

610
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 2: not often. They did it a little git against Indie

611
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 2: down the stretch, but like, for the most part, he's

612
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 2: a redundancy with a better version of him that's on

613
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 2: the bench, and for the most part he's going to

614
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 2: be on the bench in big moments, and so like

615
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 2: to me, it's just a simple question of resource management

616
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 2: and trying to give yourself the best chance to win,

617
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 2: especially when you got a thirty nine year old Lebron James.

618
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,360
Speaker 2: But I'll get off my soapbox now, So before we

619
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 2: get out of here, bo, I guess we have two

620
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 2: more things I don't want to hit before we get

621
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 2: out of here, do you. Let's actually start with the

622
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 2: legacy talk. So obviously we are not a ESPN first

623
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 2: take here, we are not a debate show. But I

624
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 2: am curious just to hear your personal experience as a

625
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 2: basketball fan. What does winning this tournament and winning this

626
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 2: tournament MVP mean for you in your fan experience watching

627
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 2: Lebron James.

628
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,520
Speaker 1: Ah, it's a good question, I asked.

629
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't.

630
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,280
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too hot take you with it,

631
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:20,960
Speaker 1: but I think it's just an incredible testament to how

632
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 1: great he remains. And you know, I said, my biggest

633
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: takeaway from Las Vegas was the confirmation that the Lakers

634
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: are in the inner circle of title contenders. If not,

635
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: you know, I'm with you right now. I'd put them

636
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: behind Denver and Boston at number three. But the biggest

637
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 1: reason for that is because when Lebron James wants to

638
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 1: be the best player on the floor, he is the

639
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: best player on the floor. And the fact that we're

640
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 1: still saying that in year twenty one at you know,

641
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 1: he's what less than three weeks away from being thirty

642
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 1: nine turning thirty nine, Like that's just insane. And the

643
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 1: way that he just eviscerated the New Orleans Pelicans with

644
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: an assassin like efficiency of just I'm gonna put this

645
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 1: game away. I'm gonna hit three straight threes, I'm gonna

646
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 1: be playing to the crowd, the you know, getting the

647
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: pro LA crowd into this as kind of turning it

648
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 1: into a home court advantage.

649
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,480
Speaker 3: Like it's just it's incredible.

650
00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: And I think Lebron has mastered the game to the

651
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: point where, like we've seen it like he'll have, you know,

652
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 1: sixteen points through the first three quarters and then he'll

653
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 1: have a big fourth quarter. And you know, sometimes I

654
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 1: feel like his numbers don't always reflect the impact he

655
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: had over the full forty eight minutes or however minute

656
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 1: many minutes he played, but like in a single elimination format,

657
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,239
Speaker 1: and we've seen it in crunch time too, Like you

658
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: put Lebron in a situation where he's like, I have

659
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:55,400
Speaker 1: three to five minutes to manipulate this game, extract all

660
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: the juice offensively out of our you know, our sets

661
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 1: and run the lebron ady pick and roll and find

662
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 1: mismatches and hey, Austin's got you know, Austin's got to

663
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 1: go and give the ball to Austin or you know

664
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 1: they're overplaying this, like let's you know, Cam reddish you

665
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: cut here?

666
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 3: Or are you spot up here?

667
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,760
Speaker 1: Like he just knows how to manipulate the game offensively,

668
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 1: and then I think defensively really has stepped up, where

669
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 1: earlier in the season there were times where I felt

670
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: he was a little lackadaisical defensively, to put it kindly,

671
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 1: and with his box outs and his rotations and just

672
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,360
Speaker 1: his general defensive effort. But I thought he was great

673
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,000
Speaker 1: in the tournament and a big part of the reason

674
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: why the Lakers were able to stifle the Pacers the

675
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,840
Speaker 1: way that they did was not just Anthony Davis and

676
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:41,240
Speaker 1: his incredible defensive dominance, and not just the point of

677
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,240
Speaker 1: attack defense with guys like Torrian and Cam, but it

678
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: was also Lebron playing that middle linebacker role and intercepting passes,

679
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 1: deflecting passes, making really smart low man rotations and like,

680
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,840
Speaker 1: there just aren't many guys who could do what he

681
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 1: does on both ends of the floor when he's fully engaged,

682
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 1: and we've seen now he can still get to that

683
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 1: level when it really matters. So to me, this is

684
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,959
Speaker 1: just confirmation that Lebron can still be the best player

685
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 1: on a championship team, and not only that, he can

686
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: really be the best player on the floor against just

687
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 1: about anyone. Like I think, with the exception of maybe Jokic,

688
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,280
Speaker 1: that's the one guy who his peak is still higher

689
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:24,080
Speaker 1: than Lebron's. But otherwise, Lebron is as good as anyone

690
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,560
Speaker 1: when he's playing his best right now. And to say

691
00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,919
Speaker 1: that in year twenty one, about to be age thirty nine,

692
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: like it's just it's ridiculous.

693
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, last year I thought was the first year in

694
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 2: Lebron's career outside of maybe his rookie year where like

695
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 2: you're like, okay, he's not in that top tier of superstars,

696
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,319
Speaker 2: Like he's probably in that tier right beneath that.

697
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 4: And like even when he was.

698
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 2: Healthier, but like before the foot injury to start the year,

699
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,800
Speaker 2: his scoring volume was there and he had his moments,

700
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 2: but he just his jump shot wasn't consistent. He was

701
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,360
Speaker 2: at his impactful. To fact, it just wasn't as good

702
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 2: last year, I thought, And so the obvious kind of

703
00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 2: response there is like, oh, Lebron's thirty eight, like he's

704
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:04,839
Speaker 2: starting to decline a little bit, you know that kind

705
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:06,879
Speaker 2: of thing. And it's like, no, he just comes back

706
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 2: with a vengeance this year, and he's just like literally

707
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,080
Speaker 2: not just better than last year, but probably better than

708
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:12,879
Speaker 2: the year before as well. Like, this is the best

709
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:14,800
Speaker 2: version of Lebron I've seen since when he won the

710
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:19,439
Speaker 2: title in twenty twenty. He's having the a career year

711
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,840
Speaker 2: from two point range, a career year from three point range.

712
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 2: He's been incredible in crunch time. I thought this week

713
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 2: was kind of a perfect encapsulation of, like of all

714
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:32,319
Speaker 2: the levels you need to hit in order to be

715
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 2: like a top tier superstar, which is like Tuesday against

716
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 2: the Suns, it's like shootout dual in crunch time against

717
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:43,640
Speaker 2: Kevin freaking Durant, and he literally does better and wins,

718
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:46,520
Speaker 2: like and he was so incredible down the stretch of

719
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:46,879
Speaker 2: that game.

720
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 3: And then it's Thursday in its time season.

721
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 2: And for the third time the season, and then we

722
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 2: go to Thursday and it's like, Okay, well, can he

723
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 2: like snatch a team's heart from the opening tip, And

724
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 2: it's like, yeah, he could still do that, Like he's

725
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 2: like right up made everybody on the Pelicans have no

726
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 2: belief in their ability to win the game with like

727
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 2: early in the second quarter, which is crazy. And then

728
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 2: we go to the Saturday game, which I thought was

729
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 2: another interesting type of game where it's like literally Rick

730
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,839
Speaker 2: Carlisle's just having Aaron Ese Smith play a pest all

731
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,439
Speaker 2: game long, just up underneath him the entire game, foul

732
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,719
Speaker 2: in the hell out of him, super physical everywhere, and

733
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 2: he just does a bunch of little things and impacts

734
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,280
Speaker 2: the game and leads them along the way, and also

735
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 2: a lot of deferring and force feeding Anthony Davis who

736
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 2: kind of had the best advantages in that game. And

737
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 2: so to me, that was like all of the little

738
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 2: checkboxes that you want to see from a top tier superstar. Now,

739
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 2: as far as like an accomplishment here, it's really hard

740
00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:44,880
Speaker 2: to measure this to other championships simply from the standpoint

741
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 2: that it's never happened before. But let's just lay it

742
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,840
Speaker 2: down as a simple matter of fact. It was a

743
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:53,400
Speaker 2: single elimination tournament that every team in the league, had

744
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,040
Speaker 2: an opportunity to qualify for with a clear cash prize

745
00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 2: of five hundred thousand dollars per player, which is a

746
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,400
Speaker 2: lot of freaking money, right, and a big old trophy

747
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,879
Speaker 2: at the end of it, right, And four of our

748
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:07,640
Speaker 2: top contenders were in there. Boston was in there, Milwaukee

749
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:09,840
Speaker 2: was in there, and Phoenix was in there, and the

750
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 2: Lakers were in there, and the Lakers ended up comfortably winning,

751
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:15,680
Speaker 2: and Lebron was the best player in the tournament.

752
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,920
Speaker 4: He was so like, you, guys, tell me what you

753
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:20,720
Speaker 4: think that's worth.

754
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,279
Speaker 2: It's not worth the championship, that's for sure, but it's

755
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 2: not worth nothing either, that's certainly. It's certainly, in my opinion,

756
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,880
Speaker 2: an impressive accomplishment and to me, like in terms of

757
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 2: trying to quantify it, really, all it is to me

758
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,680
Speaker 2: is just the latest and a long line of examples

759
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:39,880
Speaker 2: of what makes Lebron a guy who's in the conversation

760
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 2: for the greatest basketball player of all time, which is

761
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,799
Speaker 2: simply put, he wanted to win the damn thing, and

762
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 2: then when he did, he was able to and that

763
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:48,440
Speaker 2: to me is.

764
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 4: Just like an encapsulation of the freak.

765
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 2: Competitor that Lebron is. That's, in my opinion, one of

766
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 2: the most underdiscussed elements of him in his career is

767
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,319
Speaker 2: that he is a freak competitor because people are so

768
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 2: dissuaded by smiles and instead of scowls that they can't

769
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 2: like understand the difference between the two. But I I

770
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,800
Speaker 2: just as a Lebron fan, I had a ton of

771
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 2: fun watching in this week. It was just like another

772
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 2: cool Lebron moment, for lack of a better way of

773
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 2: describing it. But before we get out of here, you

774
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,879
Speaker 2: had mentioned that you had some anecdotes that you wanted

775
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 2: to share from your time at on the ground at

776
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:22,920
Speaker 2: the tournament, So I wanted to give you the floor

777
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:24,840
Speaker 2: to share those stories for us.

778
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:25,919
Speaker 3: Yeah.

779
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:30,279
Speaker 1: Well, I think along the lines of discussing Lebron and

780
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 1: how much he cared about this, how much he gave

781
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,280
Speaker 1: to win this, and you know, just all the effort

782
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 1: that I think you know kind of goes in behind

783
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,160
Speaker 1: the scenes, like being in the locker room after they

784
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:49,400
Speaker 1: won the championship. It was just it was kind of

785
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:53,799
Speaker 1: this anytime there's a championship situation, it's surreal and like

786
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 1: the T Mobile arena is not really designed like a

787
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,720
Speaker 1: traditional NBA arena, typically things are kind of on one

788
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: side of the arena where you can go back and

789
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 1: forth between the locker room or the press room or

790
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: everything's within a pretty close walking distance. This was the

791
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:12,719
Speaker 1: exact opposite, where you know, you had the media room

792
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 1: on one side of the arena, you had the press

793
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,239
Speaker 1: conference room on the other side of the arena, then

794
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 1: you had the.

795
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 3: Lakers' locker room.

796
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 1: So it was almost like a triangle of trying to

797
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 1: go back and forth. And you know, for me, I'm hobbled.

798
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get around try to be there for

799
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:28,320
Speaker 1: the press conferences.

800
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:29,239
Speaker 3: So it was a lot.

801
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,880
Speaker 1: But once I got to the Laker's locker room and

802
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:36,480
Speaker 1: Lebron had already spoken, He's just sitting there with his

803
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:39,719
Speaker 1: shirt off, just just in shorts, and he's got ice

804
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,160
Speaker 1: on his knees and he's just kind of staring and

805
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,759
Speaker 1: you could just tell like the guy was exhausted, and

806
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 1: he even said it.

807
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:49,480
Speaker 3: He was kind of like talking to himself a.

808
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 1: Little bit, and he's just like, man, like, I'm so

809
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 1: fucking tired, Like this was so fucking tiring, And it

810
00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 1: was just like he's just sitting and you're just like,

811
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: this is arguably the you greatest player, second greatest player

812
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: of all time. Who you know, they invent this new

813
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 1: tournament that he didn't have to care about, and you know,

814
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:11,879
Speaker 1: easily could have they could have lost the Phoenix and

815
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:16,840
Speaker 1: had themselves a nice few days off before playing Dallas

816
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:19,800
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and he was like, no, I'm going to

817
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:21,840
Speaker 1: go for this. I'm gonna give it my all. And

818
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 1: like again we're talking like trying on defense and and

819
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 1: doing things that is you know, sounds simple, but for

820
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 1: a guy who has played more minutes than anyone in

821
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: NBA history, like, he really gave it his all in

822
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:37,399
Speaker 1: that game and really throughout the tournament. And I thought

823
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:40,359
Speaker 1: that was just like, you know because at that point,

824
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 1: there was there's sort of like a security line around Lebron,

825
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 1: like he wasn't doing media, uh, so you could kind

826
00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 1: of just focus on him. There was no one within

827
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 1: a good five to six feet of him, and I

828
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 1: was just watching him. Uh And then I love the

829
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: little joke that he threw in. He'll always kind of

830
00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:58,799
Speaker 1: throw in some some subtle like MJ.

831
00:40:58,960 --> 00:40:59,360
Speaker 4: Barbs.

832
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 1: So when Austin was doing his media for a second

833
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,440
Speaker 1: time in the locker room, Lebron just yells out.

834
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:09,719
Speaker 3: Who had the better flu game? Ar MJ.

835
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 1: It's up for debate, and like you can just tell,

836
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:17,799
Speaker 1: like he was sitting on something like that. So I thought, like, overall,

837
00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:22,320
Speaker 1: you know, he he was in your pretty positive spirits.

838
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:25,319
Speaker 1: But like there was also a business like element to

839
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,000
Speaker 1: the Lakers, where yeah, they celebrated that there was a

840
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:30,520
Speaker 1: champagne room, like you know you're gonna do that after

841
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 1: you win. They're excited they won the Cup, they got

842
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:36,360
Speaker 1: this money. But I thought Lebron and Ad at the

843
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:40,120
Speaker 1: podium were very It was very much like Kobe, like

844
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 1: job's not finished, and for them it was just like, yeah,

845
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,080
Speaker 1: this was nice, but it's early December. We've got another

846
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:50,799
Speaker 1: six months until where we want to be. Like a

847
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:53,399
Speaker 1: lot has to happen for us to get back here

848
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:58,800
Speaker 1: in a championship setting. Another thing I thought was quite

849
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,840
Speaker 1: telling was I don't think people realize how close Lebron

850
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,839
Speaker 1: and Ad actually are. And of course, you know they're

851
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,160
Speaker 1: both that clutch and they've been teammates now for five years,

852
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:12,240
Speaker 1: but after the podium, you know they always typically go together.

853
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,359
Speaker 1: Post game, they're kind of stepping to the side and

854
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:19,000
Speaker 1: there's some NBA PR people there and some Lakers people there,

855
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 1: and so they're kind of waiting for the traffic to clear,

856
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: and Lebron just leans in and tells him, I love you, bro,

857
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:29,319
Speaker 1: like I love you. And he had just been asked

858
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 1: the question about what Ad has meant to his career

859
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 1: of you know, he's now played with Ad longer than

860
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,120
Speaker 1: Dwayne Wade, longer than Kyrie, longer than Kevin Love, longer

861
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 1: than Chris Bosh. This is his longest tenured Superstar teammate,

862
00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:46,040
Speaker 1: and he said, like it's meant everything, Like it's it's

863
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:48,520
Speaker 1: been nice to have an alpha male who can take

864
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 1: over games and like help me at this point in

865
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,880
Speaker 1: my career, like not have to do everything and and

866
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,840
Speaker 1: really kind of be my equal. And you know, for

867
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 1: I think just that bond that they have h and

868
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 1: just the way that those two guys mesh, Like I

869
00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 1: think for a duo that's only won one championship, like

870
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:10,880
Speaker 1: they have to be in that conversation for her greatest

871
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 1: duos ever that have only won one championship, Like it's

872
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,479
Speaker 1: getting to that point now where like they are such

873
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:18,560
Speaker 1: a special duo in the way that they compliment each

874
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:21,160
Speaker 1: other and just give your team, you know, in this

875
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:25,720
Speaker 1: case the Lakers, and a clear physical advantage against basically

876
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:28,840
Speaker 1: anybody where Like when when Lebron and eight are healthy,

877
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,160
Speaker 1: they're gonna play smash mouth basketball. They're going to live

878
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 1: in the paint, they're gonna live at the free throw line,

879
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 1: and defensively, they're going to be physically imposing and they're

880
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:36,880
Speaker 1: gonna play a certain style.

881
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 3: So to me, I think it was just a culmination.

882
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,879
Speaker 1: Of sort of the last five years of Lebron and eight,

883
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 1: what their relationship means to each other, and sort of

884
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:50,319
Speaker 1: just them showing each other once again, like when we

885
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:52,840
Speaker 1: really lock in, we can win. We can win the

886
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 1: you know, the title in twenty twenty, we could win

887
00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 1: the Ncason Tournament, and we're going to try and win

888
00:43:57,640 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four title as well.

889
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, those guys have been through some battles, man, and

890
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 2: a lot of really big moments. It's funny because like,

891
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 2: like Lebron saying he's tired in the locker room is

892
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:12,680
Speaker 2: not a surprise to me, because man, is that pa

893
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:15,960
Speaker 2: That Pacers team just looks like a royal pain in

894
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:20,040
Speaker 2: this craziestcast, Like like, oh good god, It's like it's

895
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:21,760
Speaker 2: like you can't even turn your back for a second

896
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:24,479
Speaker 2: before like TJ. McConnell's coming flying in for a deal.

897
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,560
Speaker 2: They like the way they run on made baskets. But

898
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,279
Speaker 2: like the funny thing is is dealing with Lebron James

899
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:32,040
Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis on the other end is a different

900
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,960
Speaker 2: kind of pain in the ass for teams to deal with,

901
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,560
Speaker 2: and I think that's been a big part of their

902
00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,400
Speaker 2: kind of like identity in this era is like probably

903
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,719
Speaker 2: the most physically imposing one two punch that has been

904
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 2: in the NBA in recent history.

905
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:46,680
Speaker 4: I think.

906
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 2: I thought it was really good for the league the

907
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:51,960
Speaker 2: way that Lebron went in and popped the champagne and

908
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:54,399
Speaker 2: had a little bit of fun because he's like one

909
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 2: of a few guys who could do that without looking

910
00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:01,480
Speaker 2: corny because he's Lebron, because he has four Larry O'Brien's,

911
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:04,480
Speaker 2: And to put it simply, in my opinion, the best

912
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:07,840
Speaker 2: case scenario for the league long term is that guys

913
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 2: really want to win this tournament every year. Ideally, you'd have,

914
00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 2: you know, your big playoffs and then you'd have your

915
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:16,359
Speaker 2: small playoffs, and every year there'd be these two kind

916
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:20,240
Speaker 2: of like you know, you know, kind of like focal

917
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 2: points where everybody kind of coalesces around these as kind

918
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,840
Speaker 2: of iconic NBA moments, and like, you know what helps

919
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 2: is if the second or first best player of all

920
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:33,240
Speaker 2: time runs in there and starts popping bottles and really

921
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 2: really wants to win the damn thing.

922
00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:37,440
Speaker 4: And I thought that was really really cool for the league.

923
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 2: So before we get out of here, Yovonn, you want

924
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 2: to just shout out tell us where we can find

925
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:42,920
Speaker 2: some of the stuff you've been working on lately.

926
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can find me on all social platforms at

927
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: yovonn Buja, jov an b u ha, and you can

928
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 1: read my work at The Athletic recently just wrote about

929
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:58,319
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis's dominant performance. We didn't really get into it,

930
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:01,040
Speaker 1: but like one of the games, in my opinion of

931
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:05,080
Speaker 1: his career, possibly his best game as a Laker. I

932
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:09,000
Speaker 1: do think given Indiana's weaknesses in terms of just like

933
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:11,880
Speaker 1: once they got Miles Turner in foul trouble, they basically

934
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,600
Speaker 1: let no one that can protect the rim or provide

935
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:17,719
Speaker 1: any deterrence in the paint. Like, you know, maybe not

936
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:20,720
Speaker 1: as impressive as some of the games in the twenty

937
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:24,560
Speaker 1: twenty run. But to me, just eighty, like this is

938
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:27,839
Speaker 1: peak eighty, and sometimes people need to be reminded of it.

939
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:30,840
Speaker 1: And I know that we see it, We see the

940
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,040
Speaker 1: nuances within his game when we watch the Lakers. But

941
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 1: a lot of people still, you know, every game, really

942
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:42,759
Speaker 1: every quarter is a reassessment of Anthony Davis's legacy, of

943
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:46,319
Speaker 1: his standing in the league, and you know, he's really

944
00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:49,719
Speaker 1: become kind of the superstar punching bag for a lot

945
00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:53,480
Speaker 1: of people of just you know, his best games are

946
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:56,799
Speaker 1: held against him for whatever reason of just why can't

947
00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:59,840
Speaker 1: you do this every night? And I don't think you know,

948
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 1: there plenty of stars who have their own inconsistencies or

949
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 1: weaknesses or shortcomings that don't get held to that standard

950
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:09,359
Speaker 1: of this is your best game ever? Do this every

951
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,839
Speaker 1: single night. So for me, I wrote about that and

952
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 1: just the reminder that eighty is a special player and

953
00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:19,439
Speaker 1: you know, maybe he's not as consistent offensively as people want.

954
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:23,760
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the big forty twenty game every other game,

955
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 1: but he still is one locked in really as great

956
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:31,040
Speaker 1: as anybody, and there's I don't know who else on

957
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,320
Speaker 1: planet Earth can do the things that he does defensively.

958
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:36,640
Speaker 1: And then go out and score forty points as well.

959
00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 1: It's just it's a really short list if there's anyone

960
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,400
Speaker 1: else at all. So wrote about that and you can

961
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:43,920
Speaker 1: check that out on the Athletic.

962
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:48,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've wrongfully did not draw enough attention to the

963
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:51,480
Speaker 2: forty twenty game from Anthony Davis against the Pacers. It

964
00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:55,160
Speaker 2: truly was one of the more dominant individual performances, especially

965
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:58,279
Speaker 2: given the stakes that we've seen. All right, guys, that

966
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:00,200
Speaker 2: is all we have for this part of today. I

967
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:02,960
Speaker 2: will see you guys later on this afternoon for our

968
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 2: Power Rankings video and a mail bag you guys heard

969
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:07,280
Speaker 2: from Yovam where you can find his stuff. As always,

970
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,040
Speaker 2: we appreciate you guys, and we'll see you next time.

971
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 1: The volume