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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume.
Speaker 2: Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had
Speaker 2: an incredible weekend. We have a jam paged today for
Speaker 2: the show later on today, we got a video coming
Speaker 2: out with our power rankings as well as a mailbag.
Speaker 2: We do power rankings every Monday, as you guys know.
Speaker 2: But for this video, we're gonna be bringing on my
Speaker 2: friend Jovann Buja from the Athletic who was with the
Speaker 2: Lakers in Las Vegas as they hoist the first ever
Speaker 2: NBA In Season Tournament trophy. He's got a lot of
Speaker 2: information from boots on the ground that he's going to
Speaker 2: give us, and we have a lot of interesting basketball
Speaker 2: to dive into as well, and that's where I want
Speaker 2: to start, Yovan. So obviously there's a trophy waiting here,
Speaker 2: but there's another trophy coming in June. And what I
Speaker 2: liked about this n Season Tournament was it was kind
Speaker 2: of like a miniature, less important version of the playoffs,
Speaker 2: in the sense that the high stakes environment, the intensity,
Speaker 2: the good teams, like four of the consensus contenders to
Speaker 2: start the season, the Suns, the Lakers, the Bucks, and
Speaker 2: the Celtics were in this single elimination field. All of
Speaker 2: that kind of, you know, showed us a little bit
Speaker 2: of like a playoff lens through everything so that we
Speaker 2: could kind of examine all of these teams.
Speaker 3: A little bit.
Speaker 2: So my question for you is what did we learn
Speaker 2: about the Lakers from winning the NBA's first n Season Tournament.
Speaker 1: I think we learned that this group can win a championship,
Speaker 1: and maybe learn is the wrong term there. I would
Speaker 1: go with confirmation that this group could win a championship,
Speaker 1: because I think you and I both had them in
Speaker 1: our inner circle of contenders entering the season. But with
Speaker 1: that up and down start, you know, we've talked about
Speaker 1: it several times on here.
Speaker 3: I think I.
Speaker 1: Don't want to say there was doubt, but I think
Speaker 1: they're a little concern with just you know, I want
Speaker 1: to see them win in high st in high stakes environments.
Speaker 3: I want to see them beat good teams.
Speaker 1: I want to see dominant performances from Lebron and AD
Speaker 1: and we got all of that in the knockout stage
Speaker 1: and Austin Reeves returned to for him. Anthony Davis had
Speaker 1: one of the best games of his career in that
Speaker 1: championship game. Lebron had one of the most efficient games
Speaker 1: of his career in that blowout against New Orleans, and
Speaker 1: then I think arguably the most impressive win of them
Speaker 1: all was the Phoenix one, considering that's a team that
Speaker 1: they most likely will have to face at some point
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference playoffs, and that's you know, all
Speaker 1: three games have gone into crunch time, all three games
Speaker 1: have gone really to single possession basketball, and Lakers have
Speaker 1: won all three of them. And I think their defense
Speaker 1: against Phoenix, like you've kind of seen the strengths of
Speaker 1: both of those teams, and LA has come out on
Speaker 1: top in all three matchups. So to me, I think again,
Speaker 1: I was already high on the Lakers, and I think
Speaker 1: they've been playing better. They've won twelve of their last
Speaker 1: sixteen if you include that championship game. But this to
Speaker 1: me was when the stakes are high and this team
Speaker 1: is playing for something they can lock in, they have
Speaker 1: a level of focus, a level of engagement, a level
Speaker 1: of awareness that we hadn't seen necessarily consistently through the
Speaker 1: first twenty games or so. But with the money on
Speaker 1: the line, with the trophy on the line, they really
Speaker 1: stepped up. And of course a lot of it was
Speaker 1: Lebron and Ad but again, I thought Austin Reeves looked
Speaker 1: really well. I thought the Wings played amazing defense. Darvin
Speaker 1: Ham deserves a lot of credit for his schemes and
Speaker 1: his game plan. So to me, this was just confirmation
Speaker 1: that the Lakers are in that inner circle and might
Speaker 1: even be a little bit higher than we had initially expected.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love that part right there at the end, because
Speaker 2: that was my big takeaway. I had the Lakers coming
Speaker 2: into the season as my fourth best championship contender behind Denver, Boston,
Speaker 2: and Milwaukee, and I'm going to put them above Milwaukee now.
Speaker 2: I think that perimeter defense issue that Tyrese Halliburton just
Speaker 2: shined a gigantic spotlight on was just a great example
Speaker 2: of like a glaring flaw that they need to deal with.
Speaker 2: You know, the emergence of Cam Reddish and Max Christy
Speaker 2: as like not just capable point of attack weapons, but
Speaker 2: like good point of attack weapons has put them in
Speaker 2: a situation where, even within the context of the regular season,
Speaker 2: they're more well equipped for that specific problem, which really
Speaker 2: isn't even a problem now because now it's like when
Speaker 2: we talk about the Lakers point of attack defense, it's
Speaker 2: like you're getting Cam off the jump with Torrian guarding
Speaker 2: your second best perimeter player, right, and then it's like
Speaker 2: here comes Max and Van though and and Max is
Speaker 2: gonna take that or Jared can take that top end assignment,
Speaker 2: and Max is gonna be an excellent option for the
Speaker 2: second best perimeter initiator and a bench group. And so
Speaker 2: like now the Lakers I think we can say are
Speaker 2: legitimately good at the point of attack, which is kind
Speaker 2: of like a bizarre situation to be in, yeah, considering
Speaker 2: where we were to start this season, And so I
Speaker 2: kind of move the Lakers above the Bucks into that
Speaker 2: tier were like just in terms of sheer fire power
Speaker 2: and kind of factoring in everything that all those teams
Speaker 2: can do on both ends of the floor, I still
Speaker 2: put Denver and Boston ahead of them, and as we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about later on in the show. I
Speaker 2: still think like this the upgrade of that specific rotation
Speaker 2: position they're getting to, like asking yourself the fundamental question,
Speaker 2: is Cam Reddish good enough to be the starting player
Speaker 2: on a team that can win a championship in a
Speaker 2: feel this stacked with teams like Boston and Denver at
Speaker 2: the top. Those are other questions that the Lakers need
Speaker 2: to address, but I do think they've proven that they
Speaker 2: belong in this inner circle tier of contenders. And like specifically,
Speaker 2: it's the latest example of the of the simple basketball
Speaker 2: concept that is fueled Lakers optimism for three years despite
Speaker 2: mediocre regular season results. And that is in a real
Speaker 2: basketball game, when the shit's on the line, if Lebron
Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis are on the floor and they're playing hard,
Speaker 2: it is like a huge pain in the ass to
Speaker 2: deal with because of everything that they can do as
Speaker 2: athletes on both ends of the floor. And that Indiana
Speaker 2: Pacers game was such a great example of that because,
Speaker 2: like you know, the Bucks had all sorts of bullyball options,
Speaker 2: they weren't able to inflict that on the Pacers. The
Speaker 2: Celtics had all sorts of size mismatches on the perimeter
Speaker 2: against various guys, they weren't able to inflict that. It
Speaker 2: was the Lakers that when the Chips for down, were
Speaker 2: able to just pay bound the ball inside on the
Speaker 2: pacers and just obliterate them on the offensive glass and
Speaker 2: make everything happen with their size. The other thing that
Speaker 2: I thought was clear from this tournament that stood out,
Speaker 2: and I want to hear your take on it. A
Speaker 2: big shock. This has been the case for this entire era.
Speaker 2: But defense is the identity of this team that they
Speaker 2: need to lean into, and so I had to take that.
Speaker 2: I was bouncing off of Logan Sway, my mutual friend
Speaker 2: head of content here at the volume, about this defense
Speaker 2: versus twenty twenty defense. Now, hear me out, because the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty Lakers defense was incredible, certainly better at the
Speaker 2: center position in terms of what Dwight and Javail brought
Speaker 2: to the table, and obviously better at the guard position
Speaker 2: defensively because of Crusoe and Contavious Cabbo Pope, two of
Speaker 2: the best guard defenders in the league. But that team
Speaker 2: did not have wing athleticism like Danny Green I thought
Speaker 2: was slow that year. He was a good help defender,
Speaker 2: did a decent job in some lock and trail assignments,
Speaker 2: but he was not the best perimeter defensive option. Kyle
Speaker 2: Kuzma more like a Ruey Hotcha Mura type, kind of
Speaker 2: like a top heavy big forward that was good in help,
Speaker 2: good in rebounding, but not an excellent on ball weapon.
Speaker 2: They didn't have guys like Cam Reddish six ' eight
Speaker 2: freek athlete Jared Vanderbilt six ' nine freek athlete that
Speaker 2: they could put at the point of attack, And like
Speaker 2: I think, I'm I'm still on the fence about it,
Speaker 2: So I want to hear your take, but I think
Speaker 2: that that specific wing athleticism dynamic gives this Laker defense
Speaker 2: a dime like kind of a punch that it didn't
Speaker 2: have in twenty twenty in a different way. And so
Speaker 2: I actually think it's pretty close.
Speaker 3: To that level.
Speaker 2: Would you agree or do you still think there's a
Speaker 2: gap between the twenty twenty defense in this year.
Speaker 3: I think at their peaks they're close.
Speaker 1: I still think there's a consistency gap there where like
Speaker 1: that twenty twenty team was just dominant from the jump
Speaker 1: and they had a clear identity, and you know, I
Speaker 1: think part of it was Lebron and ad coming together
Speaker 1: for the first time, and you know, several of those
Speaker 1: role players had either won championships or gotten close, and
Speaker 1: you know there was a focus there. I think from
Speaker 1: I mean what they had like a twenty and three
Speaker 1: starter or something like that to the regular season.
Speaker 3: So I think for me, I.
Speaker 1: Totally agree with you, like the wing defense is the
Speaker 1: big thing, and really like this is where Cam Reddish
Speaker 1: and Max Christy breaking out the way that they've broken out.
Speaker 1: It has been such an X factor for this team
Speaker 1: because we were kind of penciling those guys in as
Speaker 1: like fringe rotation guys, and Cam has become a starter.
Speaker 1: Max has played some crucial minutes in fourth quarters. Like
Speaker 1: I thought it was really telling that Darvin went to
Speaker 1: him as often as he did in that fourth quarter
Speaker 1: against Indiana, you know, before ultimately closing with Cam, Austin
Speaker 1: and Dilo and as the three perimeter guys. But like
Speaker 1: Darvin has shown he trusts Max and those two guys
Speaker 1: taking the leaps that they've taken defensively and just in
Speaker 1: terms of their point of attack defense, their screen navigation.
Speaker 3: I think Cam, you know, he's done the Jose Alvarado.
Speaker 1: You know, just he'll pretend like he's running back and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, he's like a cat and
Speaker 1: he springs and you know, tips the ball or gets
Speaker 1: a steal and like it's just his ball pressure has
Speaker 1: been incredible, and that was I think a huge reason
Speaker 1: why the Lakers were able to limit Indiana to just
Speaker 1: one hundred and nine points in the championship game was
Speaker 1: because Cam Reddish was able to howd Tyree Halbert in
Speaker 1: a way that Boston and Milwaukee just weren't able to do.
Speaker 1: So I would say the wing defense is better. I
Speaker 1: agree with you. I do think though the guard defense
Speaker 1: was better for the twenty twenty team, and obviously the
Speaker 1: interior defense, in my opinion, was better. With you still
Speaker 1: had Ad playing at similar level, he might even be
Speaker 1: better now. I think it's close. You could probably make
Speaker 1: the case either way. But throwing in Javail and Dwight
Speaker 1: like that was a dominant, really really dominant interior defense.
Speaker 1: And they had a game against Detroit where they had
Speaker 1: twenty blocks and it was just like you could not
Speaker 1: sc or on that team inside. And like we've seen
Speaker 1: shades of that with Jackson Hayes can block some shots
Speaker 1: from the weak side, and like christian Wood has had
Speaker 1: some solid moments defensively, but for the most part, as
Speaker 1: we saw the Lakers kind of shift more to a
Speaker 1: playoff rotation, Jackson was barely playing and christian Wood was
Speaker 1: out of the rotation altogether. And that was my initial
Speaker 1: fear heading into the season was just when the games
Speaker 1: actually matter, I don't trust Jackson, Hayes, or Christian Wood
Speaker 1: in big moments, and I think Darvin has kind of
Speaker 1: confirmed that with phasing those guys out of the rotation
Speaker 1: for the most part. So I do think that at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, like they do have that perimeter
Speaker 1: defense with some of the wings, but I think some
Speaker 1: of the speedier guards like Daron Fox is a really
Speaker 1: tough matchup for them, for example, and of course he's
Speaker 1: a tough matchup for most of the league, but I
Speaker 1: think that twenty twenty team would match up better with him.
Speaker 1: And then we saw Jokic wasn't at the same level obviously,
Speaker 1: but we saw how Dwight matched up with the Jokich.
Speaker 1: We saw you know, eighty and Javail on the weak
Speaker 1: side and what they can kind of do with that strategy.
Speaker 1: So I think they were better at defending centers and
Speaker 1: they're better at defending point guards. Now two through four
Speaker 1: I would probably lean this group. So it's gonna be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how they I mean, right now, they're
Speaker 1: they're seventh in defense. You know, maybe they end up
Speaker 1: in the top three, top one, you know what we'll see.
Speaker 1: But I think overall, peak wise, they're similar, but I
Speaker 1: would still give the edge to twenty twenty overall as
Speaker 1: well as with their consistency.
Speaker 2: That's about where I landed to from the standpoint of
Speaker 2: like the consistency, I think this team can reach the
Speaker 2: same ceiling as the twenty twenty Lakers. I just think
Speaker 2: the length and athleticism is different on this team on
Speaker 2: the wing in particular. But yeah, like that twenty twenty
Speaker 2: Laker team in a night out, night night and night
Speaker 2: out way was just kicking everybody's ass. Now that Kings
Speaker 2: matchup in particular is one I would love to see
Speaker 2: again because the last time they played, they were still
Speaker 2: down a bunch of their wings, and the first time
Speaker 2: they played was right at the start of the season.
Speaker 2: And like, one of the things that's been really interesting
Speaker 2: with the Kings is they are zero to five against
Speaker 2: New Orleans and Houston, two teams that have excellent, long,
Speaker 2: athletic point of attack defenders, and they held them below
Speaker 2: one hundred points three of those five games. And so
Speaker 2: I'd love to see a Lakers Kings rematch where it's
Speaker 2: actually Cam Reddish and Torrian Prince and then Max Christine
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt where it's like forty eight minutes of the
Speaker 2: Lakers ball pressure that we know they're capable of putting
Speaker 2: on them. But unfortunately they're not going to see the
Speaker 2: Kings for a few months, so I guess we'll have
Speaker 2: to wait to see that one.
Speaker 4: The last note that.
Speaker 2: I put on what I learned from this tournament before
Speaker 2: we move on really quick. It's just at Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: is a dependable third star in big games, and like
Speaker 2: you and I were all over this throughout the season,
Speaker 2: this stupid narrative that started to form around like, oh,
Speaker 2: like you know, teams are game planning more for Austin Now.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm like he's in the exact same slot
Speaker 2: that he was last year during the postseason. Like I
Speaker 2: literally didn't understand it. It's like it made no sense
Speaker 2: the way he was discussed at the start of the year.
Speaker 2: He was so dependently dependent great even in crunch time
Speaker 2: when he was playing poorly, and he was just awesome
Speaker 2: in this tournament. Twenty two points per game, twenty eight
Speaker 2: in the closeout game seventeen against the Pelicans, who cares,
Speaker 2: they got their butts kicked like it just I thought
Speaker 2: it was a really impressive showing from usin Reeves is
Speaker 2: just the latest example of like, they don't need another
Speaker 2: ball handler. They need if they were to make some
Speaker 2: sort of upgrade something at the point of attack. But
Speaker 2: we have another guard for the Lakers that is going
Speaker 2: to be returning soon. Your colleague Sean Serrania reported today
Speaker 2: that he's going to be returning probably in about a week.
Speaker 2: My question for you is Gabe Vincent's return, how will
Speaker 2: it affect the rotation.
Speaker 1: It's a great question, and I think it's something the
Speaker 1: Lakers are still figuring out right now.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I think there's what I think should happen, and what
Speaker 1: some people think should happen, and what probably will happen.
Speaker 1: Because for me, I think there probably should be a
Speaker 1: trickle down effect where you potentially reconsider the star lineup
Speaker 1: now that you have Gabe Vincent available because if you
Speaker 1: went back to the Austin de Lo backcourt, you know,
Speaker 1: there's obviously some problems with that didn't work earlier in
Speaker 1: the season, but you don't have a backup guard who
Speaker 1: can handle the ball right now, and I think bringing
Speaker 1: in Gabe, while he's not necessarily a traditional point guard
Speaker 1: or primary ball handler, he can give you some of that.
Speaker 1: He had given them some of that in the first
Speaker 1: few games off the bench. So I would I would
Speaker 1: like to see the Lakers revisit, you know, and we've
Speaker 1: talked about it, potentially the Van do Oh Austin Delo
Speaker 1: starting group. I think, you know, that group was so
Speaker 1: dominant in the regular season last season. I think they
Speaker 1: were effective in the playoffs until they ran into the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets, and you know, I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: sustainable throughout the whole postseason, and you probably have to
Speaker 1: reevaluate some things, and of course we'll see what they
Speaker 1: do with the trade deadline, but I would like to
Speaker 1: see them, you know, potentially go back to that group,
Speaker 1: just because again Austin remains their third best player, and
Speaker 1: I think by virtue of you know, while he's still
Speaker 1: closing games more often than not by virtue of bringing
Speaker 1: him off the bench. There have been plenty of games
Speaker 1: where he's played fewer minutes than d Lo just because
Speaker 1: of the way that Darvin likes to have the rotation
Speaker 1: and keeping the starters together for a certain amount of time.
Speaker 1: So even in certain games where Austin is closing over
Speaker 1: del he's still playing fewer minutes just because of kind
Speaker 1: of the starter bench dynamics.
Speaker 3: So for me, I would like to see the Lakers
Speaker 3: go back to that.
Speaker 1: Now, what I think is going to happen is it's
Speaker 1: probably going to cost Max Christy his spot in the
Speaker 1: rotation or at least reduced minutes, just because Gabe Benson
Speaker 1: is the sixth highest paid player on this team. He
Speaker 1: was the primary offseason addition in terms of free agency,
Speaker 1: and I just don't see a way he's not playing
Speaker 1: sixteen to twenty minutes, if not a little bit more
Speaker 1: off the bench. But it just put it puts the
Speaker 1: Lakers in a little bit of a bind here because
Speaker 1: you kind of have the blueprint now of skill guard
Speaker 1: at the point with Delo or Austin, a bunch of wings,
Speaker 1: and then you have Ady and Lebron as the center pieces.
Speaker 1: Either together, or you know, one of them is on
Speaker 1: the bench and you're you're going with multiple wings. You
Speaker 1: put Gay Vincent in there. Now all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you have a lot more Delo and Gabe, Austin and Gabe,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's just it changes the dynamic, It
Speaker 1: changes the perimeter defense, you know, potentially, I think he
Speaker 1: regains the shooting and that's something that helps. But and
Speaker 1: Gabe is a plus defender, but he's also six foot
Speaker 1: two and that you know the difference between him at
Speaker 1: the point of attack versus Max Christi or Cam Reddish
Speaker 1: or Toryan Prince, like, those guys are just bigger. And
Speaker 1: that's been the Lakers identity over these last few weeks
Speaker 1: as they've had success. So for me, I think there
Speaker 1: is a trickle down effect of Max Christi probably plays either.
Speaker 3: A lot less or at least a little less.
Speaker 1: Toryan Prince probably plays a little bit less camp Like
Speaker 1: just those guys that are playing the two are probably
Speaker 1: going to play a little bit less just by ru
Speaker 1: of more Gabe and Austin there. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know what to do because the Lakers haven't really
Speaker 1: needed Gay Vincent, right, Like, I think that they've had
Speaker 1: this identity now, and it's tough to tell a guy
Speaker 1: you're paying double digit millions, like we're not going to
Speaker 1: play you, or you know you're gonna be a fringe guy.
Speaker 3: But I think he kind of has to earn that spot.
Speaker 1: So I'm interested to see how Darvin handles it, because
Speaker 1: unless there's an injury within the next week, which you know,
Speaker 1: knock on wood, I don't see how he just comes
Speaker 1: into the rotation and plays like twenty minutes without it
Speaker 1: really affecting their perimeter defense. And some of these wings
Speaker 1: that we've been talking about having so much success recently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like Gabe can guard at the point of attack.
Speaker 2: He's a good ball pressure player, can get up underneath players,
Speaker 2: got like a little bit like seventy percent of that
Speaker 2: Dennis Schroeder type of vibe. But like Max is just
Speaker 2: better perimeter defender than him. And if we look at
Speaker 2: the ten man rotation they used, now obviously I say
Speaker 2: ten man rotation loosely because some of these guys barely played,
Speaker 2: but it was basically Dlo and Austin at the point
Speaker 2: Ham as the starting two with Max as his sub.
Speaker 2: Torrian is the starting three. With van Do as a sub.
Speaker 2: Lebron is the starting four, with ruy as a sub,
Speaker 2: Ad as the starting five, with Jackson as a sub.
Speaker 2: So the simple answer here is Max is out of
Speaker 2: the rotation and Games takes a spot like that, that's
Speaker 2: what's most likely going to happen, And I think I
Speaker 2: don't think it'll have any sort of meaningful effect overall
Speaker 2: on on the way the team is performing, just because
Speaker 2: Cam is still going to get significant rotation minutes and
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to make too much of
Speaker 2: a difference. But there's a simple question to be asked of, like,
Speaker 2: right now, out of that role, what do you like
Speaker 2: Max actually has been an aggressive shooter. He's knocked down
Speaker 2: some big shots, He's had the ability to put the
Speaker 2: ball on the floor and attack close out. So I
Speaker 2: think there's a little bit of a give and take there.
Speaker 2: To me, it just is a gigantic spotlight on the
Speaker 2: roster imbalances here. And what I mean by that is like, ideally,
Speaker 2: like you'd want that same mold you referenced skill guard,
Speaker 2: point of attack defender, taller point of attack defender Lebron
Speaker 2: or ruy Ad or Jackson right like, essentially that was
Speaker 2: where the turning point of the season was. Now, we
Speaker 2: disagreed about Austin being essentially the tool with which to
Speaker 2: make this happen, but the Lakers went from playing two
Speaker 2: skill guard lineups to one skill guard lineup in the
Speaker 2: season turned around the defense. In their last fifteen games,
Speaker 2: they have the third best defense in the league and
Speaker 2: the second best record in the league. That's right around
Speaker 2: the time this change took place. It's been basically where
Speaker 2: things turned around for the Lakers. And so my thing
Speaker 2: would be Ruey Hotchemura played nine minutes in the Pacers game,
Speaker 2: because he's basically viewed now as the guy who plays
Speaker 2: when Lebron's off the floor, and that's it. I played
Speaker 2: twenty one minutes each in the Suns and Pelicans games,
Speaker 2: so he's not even playing half the games.
Speaker 4: And Ruey's good. Ruey's really good.
Speaker 2: And you just don't have room for him, especially in
Speaker 2: a big, winner, take all game like that Pacers game,
Speaker 2: he plays nine minutes. So like that to me is
Speaker 2: like when you look at this situation, You've got a
Speaker 2: surplus at a couple of key position groups. You've got
Speaker 2: three skill guards when you only need two, and like,
Speaker 2: really you could imagine a bench lineup in.
Speaker 4: The future that features Gabe at.
Speaker 2: The one with Max and Van Doh and a third
Speaker 2: like if you brought in an upgraded two for Cam Reddish,
Speaker 2: Cam would be a really good option there in that
Speaker 2: bench group, right, And so, like the way I look
Speaker 2: at it, to me, this is just a gigantic indicator
Speaker 2: of the fact that this team has to make a
Speaker 2: consolidation trade at some point, because this is a team,
Speaker 2: like we said, that has a legitimate chance to win
Speaker 2: the championship, but is clearly a level below Boston and
Speaker 2: Denver in my opinion, So how do you rectify that
Speaker 2: by making a better use of your resources? And so,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, like Gabe is like the perfect example
Speaker 2: of a guy that could take a Delo's spot in
Speaker 2: the rotation. If you can imagine if if Delo got
Speaker 2: traded and Austin became the starter and Gabe actually based
Speaker 2: took over Austin's role on this team as the guy
Speaker 2: off the bench, and then if you were to bring
Speaker 2: in an upgraded version of Cam for that two spot,
Speaker 2: right or somebody along those lines, then essentially now you're
Speaker 2: much more balanced and you don't have a guy in
Speaker 2: d Lo that you're not going to ever play in
Speaker 2: crunch time.
Speaker 4: And look, Delo.
Speaker 2: We've spoken very highly of him in his attitude and
Speaker 2: his professionalism this season, but once again, looked a little
Speaker 2: shaky in that Sun's game. Looked a little shaky in
Speaker 2: that Pacers game. I know he's talking lots of shit
Speaker 2: to Bruce Brown, but I think he was like five
Speaker 2: for sixteen from the field, you know. So like it's
Speaker 2: one of those things where, like, I think all signs
Speaker 2: are pointing in that direction. So I think that's the
Speaker 2: perfect segue into this. Do you think the success of
Speaker 2: the defense in the nd season tournament will have any
Speaker 2: impact on the team's strategy at the trade deadline?
Speaker 3: I think marginally. Like I do.
Speaker 1: I think that we've talked about the need for or
Speaker 1: you know, potentially a Greendy upgrade and what that would
Speaker 1: look like and who they'd have to give up and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. I think they're confident in Cam and
Speaker 1: Torrion and Max and Vando of what those four can
Speaker 1: do on the wings when healthy. Of course, there's the
Speaker 1: offensive end where I think all four of those guys
Speaker 1: have some level of question marks in terms of their
Speaker 1: shooting and you know, Toryan has been shooting the ball
Speaker 1: much better recently and I think played better, but overall
Speaker 1: just sort of like those four. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you want ideally any one of the four starting on
Speaker 1: a championship team, like I think they're all probably better
Speaker 1: suited coming off the bench, although Vando, I think with
Speaker 1: his body of work, especially last season, like you know,
Speaker 1: you can make the case he's at least a good
Speaker 1: regular season sort of placeholder starter. But I think the
Speaker 1: other three ideally probably want them coming off the bench
Speaker 1: with an ideal lineup. So I think it's gonna come
Speaker 1: down to how they perform, honestly, like the next four
Speaker 1: to six weeks, and what that looks like, because I
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna really change their strategy at the
Speaker 1: trade deadline, holding on to well, we won the n
Speaker 1: season tournament with these guys, so that means we're gonna
Speaker 1: win the playoffs, Like I think it's gonna be how
Speaker 1: do we build off of this? What does it look
Speaker 1: like now that we're fully healthy? We ad Gabe in,
Speaker 1: how is he adjusting? Do we have the confidence? I
Speaker 1: think to your point, you know, if you end up
Speaker 1: trading d LO plus something else. You can't go back
Speaker 1: to starting Austin at the one. You can have Gabe
Speaker 1: as the backup, and then you plug that new player
Speaker 1: or players potentially to the starting lineup and then somewhere
Speaker 1: you know, off the bench, depending on what.
Speaker 3: Role they fill.
Speaker 1: But I think the kind of an audition mode right
Speaker 1: now of how does Gabe fit off the bench?
Speaker 3: Can he help run the offense?
Speaker 1: Like what does it look like if he's the primary
Speaker 1: ball handler and d Lo and Austin or off the
Speaker 1: floor and it's just maybe Gabe and Lebron with a
Speaker 1: bunch of wings and Jackson. So I think right now
Speaker 1: they're kind of in that evaluation mode of trying to
Speaker 1: see what this roster actually looks like now that they're
Speaker 1: fully healthy.
Speaker 3: A lot has changed.
Speaker 1: I think that's really the interesting thing too with the
Speaker 1: game situation is like him, he's coming back to a
Speaker 1: completely different team, like Cam starting, Max is in the rotation,
Speaker 1: you know, van Do's back, and it's just all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, they have all this depth that they didn't
Speaker 1: have before.
Speaker 3: So to me, I think it's certainly a factor.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's certainly a positive for them that
Speaker 1: they now all of a sudden have this kind of
Speaker 1: wing competition of who's going to shoot the best, who's
Speaker 1: going to defend the best, who's going to be the
Speaker 1: best on the boards. That's that's another area where I
Speaker 1: think potentially benching Max they lose that. Like to me,
Speaker 1: he's a better rebounder than torrim Prints and Cam Reddish,
Speaker 1: Like that is one area I give Max the edge
Speaker 1: over those two guys, you know, despite I think overall
Speaker 1: that them probably playing slightly better than him. I think
Speaker 1: his rebounding has been an underrated part of his games,
Speaker 1: so like you lose a little bit of that. That's
Speaker 1: been something that the Lakers have actually excelled in over
Speaker 1: the last few weeks, has been their defensive rebounding, no
Speaker 1: longer having some of those second chance points woes that
Speaker 1: they had earlier in the season. So I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of questions right now. We're not really going
Speaker 1: to have an answer until we see what this group
Speaker 1: looks like fully healthy. But I think their recent success
Speaker 1: with these wings is a factor for them. But I
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to necessarily be We're just satisfied
Speaker 1: with with Cam and Vanda and Torrian. I think they're
Speaker 1: still going to be aggressive of trying to get that
Speaker 1: type of guy, but I think they do have a
Speaker 1: level of if we stay put or at least, you know,
Speaker 1: look to fill a different role, we're confident that these
Speaker 1: guys can rise to a certain level and play well
Speaker 1: in big games as they just did in the end
Speaker 1: season tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that to me is is kind of where this
Speaker 2: gets into a complicated situation. It feels really weird talking
Speaker 2: about being aggressive as at the deadline when I'm talking
Speaker 2: about a team that I genuinely believe is the third
Speaker 2: best championship contender right now, like so like it feels
Speaker 2: it feels like a miss placed kind of look to
Speaker 2: the future, right But at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: I want to just put it this simply for Laker fans,
Speaker 2: if you end up in the Western Conference Finals against Denver,
Speaker 2: it's Jamal Murray, like literally one of the top twenty
Speaker 2: players in the league. It's KCP one of the best
Speaker 2: starting role player guards in the league. It's Michael Porter
Speaker 2: Junior one of the best starting role player wings in
Speaker 2: the league. It's Aaron Gordon one of the best starting
Speaker 2: power forward players role players in the league. And Nicole
Speaker 2: Joki is the best player in the league. If you
Speaker 2: play Boston, it's Derek Quite a above average NBA starter,
Speaker 2: a damn good player. It's Drew Holliday and above average,
Speaker 2: like literally a fringe star. It's Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be Chris tops porzingis. Like the point is is,
Speaker 2: like when you're talking about the top levels. Now, now
Speaker 2: let me pretend the Lakers are going to start Cam Reddish.
Speaker 2: And Cam Reddish has been a really like a really
Speaker 2: a feel good story in a lot of ways, because
Speaker 2: this is a guy who like legitimately has been very
Speaker 2: good this regular season. He's been a very good point
Speaker 2: of attack defender, and like this is three three NBA
Speaker 2: franchises wanted nothing to do with this guy, like straight
Speaker 2: up wanted nothing to do with him. Let him go
Speaker 2: for nothing, and the Lakers have gotten real use and
Speaker 2: value out of him, revitalized his career. He will be
Speaker 2: on an NBA deal next year somewhere, and he's gonna
Speaker 2: be a guy who's viewed as like a three and
Speaker 2: D wing based or a D in three wing, I
Speaker 2: should say. But like the reality is is stack yourself
Speaker 2: against Denver and stack yourself against Boston and ask yourself
Speaker 2: if cam Andrean is going to be a legitimate week
Speaker 2: point in a series like that, And the answer, in
Speaker 2: my opinion is a pretty clear yes. You're you're going
Speaker 2: to be giving a significant advantage up in those situations
Speaker 2: at the highest levels. Again, to win four series, you're
Speaker 2: probably gonna have to go through Denver. You're probably gonna
Speaker 2: have to go through Boston or somebody who beat Boston,
Speaker 2: or somebody who beat Denver. And so again, like I
Speaker 2: just I look at it when you have that problem,
Speaker 2: and then an internal problem, which is ruey literally is
Speaker 2: this incredible player that you can't play because Lebron's on
Speaker 2: your team and he plays the same position, and so
Speaker 2: he barely plays Indiangelo Russell a guy who you cannot
Speaker 2: play alongside your other skill guard, Austin Reeves at least
Speaker 2: not often. They did it a little git against Indie
Speaker 2: down the stretch, but like, for the most part, he's
Speaker 2: a redundancy with a better version of him that's on
Speaker 2: the bench, and for the most part he's going to
Speaker 2: be on the bench in big moments, and so like
Speaker 2: to me, it's just a simple question of resource management
Speaker 2: and trying to give yourself the best chance to win,
Speaker 2: especially when you got a thirty nine year old Lebron James.
Speaker 2: But I'll get off my soapbox now, So before we
Speaker 2: get out of here, bo, I guess we have two
Speaker 2: more things I don't want to hit before we get
Speaker 2: out of here, do you. Let's actually start with the
Speaker 2: legacy talk. So obviously we are not a ESPN first
Speaker 2: take here, we are not a debate show. But I
Speaker 2: am curious just to hear your personal experience as a
Speaker 2: basketball fan. What does winning this tournament and winning this
Speaker 2: tournament MVP mean for you in your fan experience watching
Speaker 2: Lebron James.
Speaker 1: Ah, it's a good question, I asked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too hot take you with it,
Speaker 1: but I think it's just an incredible testament to how
Speaker 1: great he remains. And you know, I said, my biggest
Speaker 1: takeaway from Las Vegas was the confirmation that the Lakers
Speaker 1: are in the inner circle of title contenders. If not,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm with you right now. I'd put them
Speaker 1: behind Denver and Boston at number three. But the biggest
Speaker 1: reason for that is because when Lebron James wants to
Speaker 1: be the best player on the floor, he is the
Speaker 1: best player on the floor. And the fact that we're
Speaker 1: still saying that in year twenty one at you know,
Speaker 1: he's what less than three weeks away from being thirty
Speaker 1: nine turning thirty nine, Like that's just insane. And the
Speaker 1: way that he just eviscerated the New Orleans Pelicans with
Speaker 1: an assassin like efficiency of just I'm gonna put this
Speaker 1: game away. I'm gonna hit three straight threes, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be playing to the crowd, the you know, getting the
Speaker 1: pro LA crowd into this as kind of turning it
Speaker 1: into a home court advantage.
Speaker 3: Like it's just it's incredible.
Speaker 1: And I think Lebron has mastered the game to the
Speaker 1: point where, like we've seen it like he'll have, you know,
Speaker 1: sixteen points through the first three quarters and then he'll
Speaker 1: have a big fourth quarter. And you know, sometimes I
Speaker 1: feel like his numbers don't always reflect the impact he
Speaker 1: had over the full forty eight minutes or however minute
Speaker 1: many minutes he played, but like in a single elimination format,
Speaker 1: and we've seen it in crunch time too, Like you
Speaker 1: put Lebron in a situation where he's like, I have
Speaker 1: three to five minutes to manipulate this game, extract all
Speaker 1: the juice offensively out of our you know, our sets
Speaker 1: and run the lebron ady pick and roll and find
Speaker 1: mismatches and hey, Austin's got you know, Austin's got to
Speaker 1: go and give the ball to Austin or you know
Speaker 1: they're overplaying this, like let's you know, Cam reddish you
Speaker 1: cut here?
Speaker 3: Or are you spot up here?
Speaker 1: Like he just knows how to manipulate the game offensively,
Speaker 1: and then I think defensively really has stepped up, where
Speaker 1: earlier in the season there were times where I felt
Speaker 1: he was a little lackadaisical defensively, to put it kindly,
Speaker 1: and with his box outs and his rotations and just
Speaker 1: his general defensive effort. But I thought he was great
Speaker 1: in the tournament and a big part of the reason
Speaker 1: why the Lakers were able to stifle the Pacers the
Speaker 1: way that they did was not just Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: his incredible defensive dominance, and not just the point of
Speaker 1: attack defense with guys like Torrian and Cam, but it
Speaker 1: was also Lebron playing that middle linebacker role and intercepting passes,
Speaker 1: deflecting passes, making really smart low man rotations and like,
Speaker 1: there just aren't many guys who could do what he
Speaker 1: does on both ends of the floor when he's fully engaged,
Speaker 1: and we've seen now he can still get to that
Speaker 1: level when it really matters. So to me, this is
Speaker 1: just confirmation that Lebron can still be the best player
Speaker 1: on a championship team, and not only that, he can
Speaker 1: really be the best player on the floor against just
Speaker 1: about anyone. Like I think, with the exception of maybe Jokic,
Speaker 1: that's the one guy who his peak is still higher
Speaker 1: than Lebron's. But otherwise, Lebron is as good as anyone
Speaker 1: when he's playing his best right now. And to say
Speaker 1: that in year twenty one, about to be age thirty nine,
Speaker 1: like it's just it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last year I thought was the first year in
Speaker 2: Lebron's career outside of maybe his rookie year where like
Speaker 2: you're like, okay, he's not in that top tier of superstars,
Speaker 2: Like he's probably in that tier right beneath that.
Speaker 4: And like even when he was.
Speaker 2: Healthier, but like before the foot injury to start the year,
Speaker 2: his scoring volume was there and he had his moments,
Speaker 2: but he just his jump shot wasn't consistent. He was
Speaker 2: at his impactful. To fact, it just wasn't as good
Speaker 2: last year, I thought, And so the obvious kind of
Speaker 2: response there is like, oh, Lebron's thirty eight, like he's
Speaker 2: starting to decline a little bit, you know that kind
Speaker 2: of thing. And it's like, no, he just comes back
Speaker 2: with a vengeance this year, and he's just like literally
Speaker 2: not just better than last year, but probably better than
Speaker 2: the year before as well. Like, this is the best
Speaker 2: version of Lebron I've seen since when he won the
Speaker 2: title in twenty twenty. He's having the a career year
Speaker 2: from two point range, a career year from three point range.
Speaker 2: He's been incredible in crunch time. I thought this week
Speaker 2: was kind of a perfect encapsulation of, like of all
Speaker 2: the levels you need to hit in order to be
Speaker 2: like a top tier superstar, which is like Tuesday against
Speaker 2: the Suns, it's like shootout dual in crunch time against
Speaker 2: Kevin freaking Durant, and he literally does better and wins,
Speaker 2: like and he was so incredible down the stretch of
Speaker 2: that game.
Speaker 3: And then it's Thursday in its time season.
Speaker 2: And for the third time the season, and then we
Speaker 2: go to Thursday and it's like, Okay, well, can he
Speaker 2: like snatch a team's heart from the opening tip, And
Speaker 2: it's like, yeah, he could still do that, Like he's
Speaker 2: like right up made everybody on the Pelicans have no
Speaker 2: belief in their ability to win the game with like
Speaker 2: early in the second quarter, which is crazy. And then
Speaker 2: we go to the Saturday game, which I thought was
Speaker 2: another interesting type of game where it's like literally Rick
Speaker 2: Carlisle's just having Aaron Ese Smith play a pest all
Speaker 2: game long, just up underneath him the entire game, foul
Speaker 2: in the hell out of him, super physical everywhere, and
Speaker 2: he just does a bunch of little things and impacts
Speaker 2: the game and leads them along the way, and also
Speaker 2: a lot of deferring and force feeding Anthony Davis who
Speaker 2: kind of had the best advantages in that game. And
Speaker 2: so to me, that was like all of the little
Speaker 2: checkboxes that you want to see from a top tier superstar. Now,
Speaker 2: as far as like an accomplishment here, it's really hard
Speaker 2: to measure this to other championships simply from the standpoint
Speaker 2: that it's never happened before. But let's just lay it
Speaker 2: down as a simple matter of fact. It was a
Speaker 2: single elimination tournament that every team in the league, had
Speaker 2: an opportunity to qualify for with a clear cash prize
Speaker 2: of five hundred thousand dollars per player, which is a
Speaker 2: lot of freaking money, right, and a big old trophy
Speaker 2: at the end of it, right, And four of our
Speaker 2: top contenders were in there. Boston was in there, Milwaukee
Speaker 2: was in there, and Phoenix was in there, and the
Speaker 2: Lakers were in there, and the Lakers ended up comfortably winning,
Speaker 2: and Lebron was the best player in the tournament.
Speaker 4: He was so like, you, guys, tell me what you
Speaker 4: think that's worth.
Speaker 2: It's not worth the championship, that's for sure, but it's
Speaker 2: not worth nothing either, that's certainly. It's certainly, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: an impressive accomplishment and to me, like in terms of
Speaker 2: trying to quantify it, really, all it is to me
Speaker 2: is just the latest and a long line of examples
Speaker 2: of what makes Lebron a guy who's in the conversation
Speaker 2: for the greatest basketball player of all time, which is
Speaker 2: simply put, he wanted to win the damn thing, and
Speaker 2: then when he did, he was able to and that
Speaker 2: to me is.
Speaker 4: Just like an encapsulation of the freak.
Speaker 2: Competitor that Lebron is. That's, in my opinion, one of
Speaker 2: the most underdiscussed elements of him in his career is
Speaker 2: that he is a freak competitor because people are so
Speaker 2: dissuaded by smiles and instead of scowls that they can't
Speaker 2: like understand the difference between the two. But I I
Speaker 2: just as a Lebron fan, I had a ton of
Speaker 2: fun watching in this week. It was just like another
Speaker 2: cool Lebron moment, for lack of a better way of
Speaker 2: describing it. But before we get out of here, you
Speaker 2: had mentioned that you had some anecdotes that you wanted
Speaker 2: to share from your time at on the ground at
Speaker 2: the tournament, So I wanted to give you the floor
Speaker 2: to share those stories for us.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I think along the lines of discussing Lebron and
Speaker 1: how much he cared about this, how much he gave
Speaker 1: to win this, and you know, just all the effort
Speaker 1: that I think you know kind of goes in behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, like being in the locker room after they
Speaker 1: won the championship. It was just it was kind of
Speaker 1: this anytime there's a championship situation, it's surreal and like
Speaker 1: the T Mobile arena is not really designed like a
Speaker 1: traditional NBA arena, typically things are kind of on one
Speaker 1: side of the arena where you can go back and
Speaker 1: forth between the locker room or the press room or
Speaker 1: everything's within a pretty close walking distance. This was the
Speaker 1: exact opposite, where you know, you had the media room
Speaker 1: on one side of the arena, you had the press
Speaker 1: conference room on the other side of the arena, then
Speaker 1: you had the.
Speaker 3: Lakers' locker room.
Speaker 1: So it was almost like a triangle of trying to
Speaker 1: go back and forth. And you know, for me, I'm hobbled.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get around try to be there for
Speaker 1: the press conferences.
Speaker 3: So it was a lot.
Speaker 1: But once I got to the Laker's locker room and
Speaker 1: Lebron had already spoken, He's just sitting there with his
Speaker 1: shirt off, just just in shorts, and he's got ice
Speaker 1: on his knees and he's just kind of staring and
Speaker 1: you could just tell like the guy was exhausted, and
Speaker 1: he even said it.
Speaker 3: He was kind of like talking to himself a.
Speaker 1: Little bit, and he's just like, man, like, I'm so
Speaker 1: fucking tired, Like this was so fucking tiring, And it
Speaker 1: was just like he's just sitting and you're just like,
Speaker 1: this is arguably the you greatest player, second greatest player
Speaker 1: of all time. Who you know, they invent this new
Speaker 1: tournament that he didn't have to care about, and you know,
Speaker 1: easily could have they could have lost the Phoenix and
Speaker 1: had themselves a nice few days off before playing Dallas
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and he was like, no, I'm going to
Speaker 1: go for this. I'm gonna give it my all. And
Speaker 1: like again we're talking like trying on defense and and
Speaker 1: doing things that is you know, sounds simple, but for
Speaker 1: a guy who has played more minutes than anyone in
Speaker 1: NBA history, like, he really gave it his all in
Speaker 1: that game and really throughout the tournament. And I thought
Speaker 1: that was just like, you know because at that point,
Speaker 1: there was there's sort of like a security line around Lebron,
Speaker 1: like he wasn't doing media, uh, so you could kind
Speaker 1: of just focus on him. There was no one within
Speaker 1: a good five to six feet of him, and I
Speaker 1: was just watching him. Uh And then I love the
Speaker 1: little joke that he threw in. He'll always kind of
Speaker 1: throw in some some subtle like MJ.
Speaker 4: Barbs.
Speaker 1: So when Austin was doing his media for a second
Speaker 1: time in the locker room, Lebron just yells out.
Speaker 3: Who had the better flu game? Ar MJ.
Speaker 1: It's up for debate, and like you can just tell,
Speaker 1: like he was sitting on something like that. So I thought, like, overall,
Speaker 1: you know, he he was in your pretty positive spirits.
Speaker 1: But like there was also a business like element to
Speaker 1: the Lakers, where yeah, they celebrated that there was a
Speaker 1: champagne room, like you know you're gonna do that after
Speaker 1: you win. They're excited they won the Cup, they got
Speaker 1: this money. But I thought Lebron and Ad at the
Speaker 1: podium were very It was very much like Kobe, like
Speaker 1: job's not finished, and for them it was just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this was nice, but it's early December. We've got another
Speaker 1: six months until where we want to be. Like a
Speaker 1: lot has to happen for us to get back here
Speaker 1: in a championship setting. Another thing I thought was quite
Speaker 1: telling was I don't think people realize how close Lebron
Speaker 1: and Ad actually are. And of course, you know they're
Speaker 1: both that clutch and they've been teammates now for five years,
Speaker 1: but after the podium, you know they always typically go together.
Speaker 1: Post game, they're kind of stepping to the side and
Speaker 1: there's some NBA PR people there and some Lakers people there,
Speaker 1: and so they're kind of waiting for the traffic to clear,
Speaker 1: and Lebron just leans in and tells him, I love you, bro,
Speaker 1: like I love you. And he had just been asked
Speaker 1: the question about what Ad has meant to his career
Speaker 1: of you know, he's now played with Ad longer than
Speaker 1: Dwayne Wade, longer than Kyrie, longer than Kevin Love, longer
Speaker 1: than Chris Bosh. This is his longest tenured Superstar teammate,
Speaker 1: and he said, like it's meant everything, Like it's it's
Speaker 1: been nice to have an alpha male who can take
Speaker 1: over games and like help me at this point in
Speaker 1: my career, like not have to do everything and and
Speaker 1: really kind of be my equal. And you know, for
Speaker 1: I think just that bond that they have h and
Speaker 1: just the way that those two guys mesh, Like I
Speaker 1: think for a duo that's only won one championship, like
Speaker 1: they have to be in that conversation for her greatest
Speaker 1: duos ever that have only won one championship, Like it's
Speaker 1: getting to that point now where like they are such
Speaker 1: a special duo in the way that they compliment each
Speaker 1: other and just give your team, you know, in this
Speaker 1: case the Lakers, and a clear physical advantage against basically
Speaker 1: anybody where Like when when Lebron and eight are healthy,
Speaker 1: they're gonna play smash mouth basketball. They're going to live
Speaker 1: in the paint, they're gonna live at the free throw line,
Speaker 1: and defensively, they're going to be physically imposing and they're
Speaker 1: gonna play a certain style.
Speaker 3: So to me, I think it was just a culmination.
Speaker 1: Of sort of the last five years of Lebron and eight,
Speaker 1: what their relationship means to each other, and sort of
Speaker 1: just them showing each other once again, like when we
Speaker 1: really lock in, we can win. We can win the
Speaker 1: you know, the title in twenty twenty, we could win
Speaker 1: the Ncason Tournament, and we're going to try and win
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four title as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those guys have been through some battles, man, and
Speaker 2: a lot of really big moments. It's funny because like,
Speaker 2: like Lebron saying he's tired in the locker room is
Speaker 2: not a surprise to me, because man, is that pa
Speaker 2: That Pacers team just looks like a royal pain in
Speaker 2: this craziestcast, Like like, oh good god, It's like it's
Speaker 2: like you can't even turn your back for a second
Speaker 2: before like TJ. McConnell's coming flying in for a deal.
Speaker 2: They like the way they run on made baskets. But
Speaker 2: like the funny thing is is dealing with Lebron James
Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis on the other end is a different
Speaker 2: kind of pain in the ass for teams to deal with,
Speaker 2: and I think that's been a big part of their
Speaker 2: kind of like identity in this era is like probably
Speaker 2: the most physically imposing one two punch that has been
Speaker 2: in the NBA in recent history.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 2: I thought it was really good for the league the
Speaker 2: way that Lebron went in and popped the champagne and
Speaker 2: had a little bit of fun because he's like one
Speaker 2: of a few guys who could do that without looking
Speaker 2: corny because he's Lebron, because he has four Larry O'Brien's,
Speaker 2: And to put it simply, in my opinion, the best
Speaker 2: case scenario for the league long term is that guys
Speaker 2: really want to win this tournament every year. Ideally, you'd have,
Speaker 2: you know, your big playoffs and then you'd have your
Speaker 2: small playoffs, and every year there'd be these two kind
Speaker 2: of like you know, you know, kind of like focal
Speaker 2: points where everybody kind of coalesces around these as kind
Speaker 2: of iconic NBA moments, and like, you know what helps
Speaker 2: is if the second or first best player of all
Speaker 2: time runs in there and starts popping bottles and really
Speaker 2: really wants to win the damn thing.
Speaker 4: And I thought that was really really cool for the league.
Speaker 2: So before we get out of here, Yovonn, you want
Speaker 2: to just shout out tell us where we can find
Speaker 2: some of the stuff you've been working on lately.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can find me on all social platforms at
Speaker 1: yovonn Buja, jov an b u ha, and you can
Speaker 1: read my work at The Athletic recently just wrote about
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis's dominant performance. We didn't really get into it,
Speaker 1: but like one of the games, in my opinion of
Speaker 1: his career, possibly his best game as a Laker. I
Speaker 1: do think given Indiana's weaknesses in terms of just like
Speaker 1: once they got Miles Turner in foul trouble, they basically
Speaker 1: let no one that can protect the rim or provide
Speaker 1: any deterrence in the paint. Like, you know, maybe not
Speaker 1: as impressive as some of the games in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty run. But to me, just eighty, like this is
Speaker 1: peak eighty, and sometimes people need to be reminded of it.
Speaker 1: And I know that we see it, We see the
Speaker 1: nuances within his game when we watch the Lakers. But
Speaker 1: a lot of people still, you know, every game, really
Speaker 1: every quarter is a reassessment of Anthony Davis's legacy, of
Speaker 1: his standing in the league, and you know, he's really
Speaker 1: become kind of the superstar punching bag for a lot
Speaker 1: of people of just you know, his best games are
Speaker 1: held against him for whatever reason of just why can't
Speaker 1: you do this every night? And I don't think you know,
Speaker 1: there plenty of stars who have their own inconsistencies or
Speaker 1: weaknesses or shortcomings that don't get held to that standard
Speaker 1: of this is your best game ever? Do this every
Speaker 1: single night. So for me, I wrote about that and
Speaker 1: just the reminder that eighty is a special player and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe he's not as consistent offensively as people want.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the big forty twenty game every other game,
Speaker 1: but he still is one locked in really as great
Speaker 1: as anybody, and there's I don't know who else on
Speaker 1: planet Earth can do the things that he does defensively.
Speaker 1: And then go out and score forty points as well.
Speaker 1: It's just it's a really short list if there's anyone
Speaker 1: else at all. So wrote about that and you can
Speaker 1: check that out on the Athletic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've wrongfully did not draw enough attention to the
Speaker 2: forty twenty game from Anthony Davis against the Pacers. It
Speaker 2: truly was one of the more dominant individual performances, especially
Speaker 2: given the stakes that we've seen. All right, guys, that
Speaker 2: is all we have for this part of today. I
Speaker 2: will see you guys later on this afternoon for our
Speaker 2: Power Rankings video and a mail bag you guys heard
Speaker 2: from Yovam where you can find his stuff. As always,
Speaker 2: we appreciate you guys, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1: The volume