Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast. All
Speaker 1: officially rebranded, all nice and special and official with the
Speaker 1: new logo of Rogers on board. Now moving forward with everything.
Speaker 1: He's got the keys to the car and everything moving forward.
Speaker 1: I'm super stoked about that. Thank you guys for coming
Speaker 1: to hang out with us on a Friday morning to
Speaker 1: talk to some Lakers and some other NBA stuff. Rog
Speaker 1: How you doing this morning, man dood well Man, beautiful
Speaker 1: Friday morning. Yeah, stay to the Lakers now all new
Speaker 1: branded and we got fans back. We got people in
Speaker 1: the building. So um, new brand new fans a d
Speaker 1: coming back. This is a a good week. Things are
Speaker 1: going up. Yeah, exactly, they got we got to uh,
Speaker 1: we've got to have fans in the building to watch
Speaker 1: the Lakers get Humilia at It by Jalen Brown last night. Um,
Speaker 1: so uh, you and I both watched the game last
Speaker 1: night there. It was interesting in the sense that you know,
Speaker 1: it was the classic archetype of a basketball team that
Speaker 1: gives the Lakers problems that the big range e Wings,
Speaker 1: because the Lakers kind of forego dies and athleticism on
Speaker 1: the perimeter and favor of quickness and effort and guards
Speaker 1: that are like kind of dirty work, blue collar type
Speaker 1: of guards, usually kind of averaging around like six four
Speaker 1: or six five type of size frame. And so you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of what Jalen Brown did last night, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, was more kind of head esteem getting to
Speaker 1: the rim kind of thing, which is easier to shut
Speaker 1: off just by getting back in transition and building a wall.
Speaker 1: So some of that I thought was effort in focus.
Speaker 1: But there were a handful of plays where he got
Speaker 1: into the into that mid range area and shot little
Speaker 1: push shots and floaters and scoop shots that you know,
Speaker 1: shorter offensive players can't necessarily get off against the Laker defense,
Speaker 1: and it is a good example all of where where
Speaker 1: you can find some holes in that defense. Having a
Speaker 1: lebron and Anthony Davis really helps that. Uh that said,
Speaker 1: you would you would assume that in a playoff series
Speaker 1: they kind of put them on different players so they
Speaker 1: can roam around and save energy anyway. So it still
Speaker 1: is something to keep an eye on. But what did
Speaker 1: you think about the Laker defense in their attempt to
Speaker 1: stop Tatum and Brown? Yeah, Like last night I thought
Speaker 1: was a night for Drummond basically, like I know he
Speaker 1: was out, but I thought that would have been a
Speaker 1: perfect matchup for him. Uh with Boston, they run up,
Speaker 1: They run a lot of places to get their guys
Speaker 1: mid range pull ups. I think we talked about that
Speaker 1: a lot. Jalen Brown hit a bunch in the beginning.
Speaker 1: He had like three that rolled in. Tatum also looked
Speaker 1: for that shot. Kemba looked for that shot, and we
Speaker 1: had Marcosol dropping back because Mark can't switch onto those
Speaker 1: wings um and then on the other on the other
Speaker 1: end that we weren't attacking them either, so they were
Speaker 1: just attacking us getting to the rim. We had no
Speaker 1: rim protection. Really, Marcosol was the only one back there,
Speaker 1: and they just kept hitting their shots. And you gotta
Speaker 1: give Jalen Brown what nine for ten in the first half.
Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, he got to the rim
Speaker 1: a few times, but I thought a lot of them
Speaker 1: were the mid range kind of pull up variety. Kemba
Speaker 1: hit some tough pull up threes even when we switched
Speaker 1: on him, and then Tatum had like a slow start
Speaker 1: I think in the first half, and then he got
Speaker 1: it going, So I got a credit to them. They
Speaker 1: had everything going. I think they shot like fift like
Speaker 1: the whole game, I think until that fourth quarter kind
Speaker 1: of melt down. But yeah, I think the whole game
Speaker 1: they pretty much dominated. Jalen Brown had like forty on
Speaker 1: like twenty shots or some ridiculous efficiency number last night,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I thought they played well. I thought last night,
Speaker 1: again with a perfect time for Drummond, I would like
Speaker 1: them to switch a lot more. I think Boston the
Speaker 1: team got to switch against, but we just couldn't do that,
Speaker 1: wouldn't have the personnel for it last night. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree switching is a little bit better in the sense
Speaker 1: that for that specific team, just because of the fact that,
Speaker 1: you know, I talked about this a lot before the
Speaker 1: season in my Eastern Conference preview that I did with Tommy.
Speaker 1: But like, the biggest concern that I had for the
Speaker 1: Celtics moving forward is they were kind of going through
Speaker 1: a transition period. You know, UH had been offloading a
Speaker 1: lot of the playmaking and decision making to Kemba Walker
Speaker 1: and to Gordon Hayward. And then basically what happened was
Speaker 1: is Gordon got UH signed by Charlotte, and Kemba had
Speaker 1: some knee issues to start the year, and I actually
Speaker 1: predicted them to struggle this year, just because Tatum and
Speaker 1: Brown are kind of always attacking in isolation, kind of
Speaker 1: tunnel vision type of guys, and that that kind of
Speaker 1: thing doesn't necessarily work unless you have someone that can
Speaker 1: help you make decisions alongside them. And so predictably, they
Speaker 1: struggled a lot this year, and then even when Kemba
Speaker 1: came back, he wasn't really himself, But I expected them
Speaker 1: to kind of go on a late season run when
Speaker 1: Kemba kind of got his legs back underneath them, and
Speaker 1: when Marcus Smart got his legs back underneath them. I
Speaker 1: think they're every bit as good as as Milwaukee or
Speaker 1: some of the other teams at the top of these
Speaker 1: not as good as Philly and Brooklyn, but I think
Speaker 1: they're every bit as good as Miami or or or
Speaker 1: Milwaukee or some of those more flawed teams. Um, and
Speaker 1: there their team that's gonna be a pain in the
Speaker 1: butt to knock out in the playoff series, and good challenge.
Speaker 1: I expected them to beat the Lakers last night, um
Speaker 1: under the circumstances, But you're right. I mean, with with Marcusol,
Speaker 1: like the with the with Marcusol is the only guy
Speaker 1: around the rim, it was just driving lens all day long.
Speaker 1: They uh and Marcusol. You know, he's a good positional defender,
Speaker 1: but it only works when all of the other guys
Speaker 1: are kind of on a string and if you can
Speaker 1: continue to run head up into him. He just doesn't
Speaker 1: have the athleticism anymore to to really protect the rim.
Speaker 1: And so I thought I thought they did uh uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I thought that it was kind of easy,
Speaker 1: easy stuff around the rim for Boston to take advantage
Speaker 1: of um as far as like you know, and it's
Speaker 1: it's it's funny to just really quickly like the the
Speaker 1: you you saw a lot last night too of Montrese
Speaker 1: Harrold's weaknesses around the rim in the sense that he
Speaker 1: just doesn't he just doesn't bother guys down there when
Speaker 1: he's in any sort of like drop coverage around there.
Speaker 1: And I think with a team like Boston, what you
Speaker 1: have to do is really make them feel like they're
Speaker 1: playing in a crowd and make them kick out the
Speaker 1: shooters and make them live outside. I think is a
Speaker 1: better option in that particular matchup. Yeah, I thought they
Speaker 1: missed Keith last night too, And we kind of started small, right.
Speaker 1: We had shrewder K c P West and Kuzma as
Speaker 1: our front line along with Marc Gasol, and that they
Speaker 1: really picked on that. Jayson Tatum got switches with Shrewder
Speaker 1: and they had a trap double Jaylen Brown as well,
Speaker 1: and then Tres He's just not equipped to take I mean,
Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum are two of the top
Speaker 1: like what eight six wings in the league, Like they're
Speaker 1: all star Wings, star level Wings, so that's not really
Speaker 1: a matchup for him to play against as well. So
Speaker 1: I thought they really took advantage of that. And again
Speaker 1: on the other side, like Shooter does not look right,
Speaker 1: like I don't know what I think his foot still
Speaker 1: bothering or I think Vogo talked about that as well.
Speaker 1: So we just didn't have him a hundred percent. He
Speaker 1: wasn't able to defend at the level that he would
Speaker 1: usually be able to and our side just wasn't there.
Speaker 1: And they got to the room. J Len Brown got
Speaker 1: comfortable early. You could tell once the first few jumpers
Speaker 1: got down. He just had it going. You couldn't stop him.
Speaker 1: And then Tatum started hitting step back threes, Marcus spark
Speaker 1: pull up threes. They get like three pull up threes
Speaker 1: as well. Um, I want to ask you if they're
Speaker 1: like bench, I mean their third string is just not
Speaker 1: or their second and third string is just not good.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, like I feel like that's where they're
Speaker 1: gonna have trouble beating a team like Milwaukee, because like
Speaker 1: they have a really good top six, and then from there,
Speaker 1: I feel like it really craters. Um. They go from
Speaker 1: like Marcus Bart to the rookie that they play forgot
Speaker 1: his name the kid? Yeah, yeah, pin picture. They go
Speaker 1: to him and he had a good like he had
Speaker 1: he had a few shots. But I feel like from
Speaker 1: there that's when they kind of get hurt with their
Speaker 1: talent level. They have like Nie Smith that's in the
Speaker 1: rotation as well, So I think that's where their struggle.
Speaker 1: They have a really good top six, I mean Smart,
Speaker 1: Tatum Brown, UH can't compete with anyone including UH, including
Speaker 1: Philly in my opinion, I mean, they swept Billy last year.
Speaker 1: Even I know Ben Simons gonna play, but I mean
Speaker 1: still like that's that's something that happened. So so they're
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough out for sure. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: they there. If you listen to anybody who watches the
Speaker 1: Celtics a lot, your your stereotypical Boston fans. The bench
Speaker 1: is what what they've complained about the most this year.
Speaker 1: They trust their starting Yeah, you know been when Kemba
Speaker 1: was struggling. They talk a lot about how uh they
Speaker 1: counted on it on him to eventually be able to contribute,
Speaker 1: and he's he's kind of slid down into a lesser role.
Speaker 1: I thought he had it going pretty good last night
Speaker 1: and he only took like I think he only took
Speaker 1: like twelve shots or something like that. So it's not
Speaker 1: like he's super aggressive anymore. Um. But their bench has
Speaker 1: been super inconsistent, always has been. That's been their weakness.
Speaker 1: The thing that I always say is that, though, is
Speaker 1: that the bench is much less important in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I mean, they think about the Clippers last year. People
Speaker 1: were obsessed with their bench and and what they did,
Speaker 1: and then literally they in the playoffs, they just, uh,
Speaker 1: the bench was meaningless and if anything was was their
Speaker 1: weak point just because of the fact that a team
Speaker 1: shrink their rotation and all of a sudden, your bench
Speaker 1: lineups aren't going against bench lineups are gonna be going
Speaker 1: against starters more often and and they're just gonna get beat. Um.
Speaker 1: But Yeah, Like I think I thought it was an
Speaker 1: interesting test for them, just because it goes to show you.
Speaker 1: It's it's an example of how they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: be the Clippers, which is you. You you have to
Speaker 1: make them feel like they're playing in a crowd, you know,
Speaker 1: like Jalen Brown was too comfortable yesterday. Jalen Brown is
Speaker 1: a decent ball handler. He had that behind the back
Speaker 1: dribble going like crazy last night in the second half
Speaker 1: he had too unbelievably nasty behind the back dribbles. But
Speaker 1: he's not like a really really high level ball handler.
Speaker 1: If you make him feel like he's playing in traffic,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be sloppy, he's gonna make mistakes, You're gonna
Speaker 1: get steals, you're gonna be able to to turn them over.
Speaker 1: And the same goes for Tatum, who's generally considered, like
Speaker 1: as far as wings go, an average to below average
Speaker 1: ball handlers. So bottom line, like, I thought it was
Speaker 1: a good challenge for them. I expected them to get beat.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like if they if they
Speaker 1: have the eighties and the Lebrons to kind of add
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a switching element, a little
Speaker 1: bit more athleticism around the rim. It makes them significantly
Speaker 1: better and ma more capable of making them play in
Speaker 1: a crowd and making them struggle. I wouldn't worry about
Speaker 1: that matchup. Boston's not coming out of the East anyway,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't worry about them in that matchup. I
Speaker 1: just think it's an interesting like they're the Clippers of
Speaker 1: the East, and it's an interesting just challenge for them
Speaker 1: to kind of figure out, because that's what it's gonna be. Like,
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of Paul George coming off
Speaker 1: screens and and and Alex Caruzo is not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to bother him as much. And I think West
Speaker 1: is really the only one of the smaller guards that
Speaker 1: can really give some of those guys some trouble, particularly Kauai,
Speaker 1: just because he tries to play so much with strength.
Speaker 1: But it's just an interesting matchup for them. But I
Speaker 1: wanted to transition to the injuries, so just so obviously
Speaker 1: last night, Marc Gasol basically breaks his pinky on his
Speaker 1: left hand. Uh. Andre Drummond gets his foot stomped on.
Speaker 1: Uh Uh. Dennistrator has a foot infection, which I'm wondering
Speaker 1: what that is. It could be a number of different things. Uh,
Speaker 1: my guess is that it might be something like along
Speaker 1: the lines of an ingrown ton ail kind of deal.
Speaker 1: A basketball players deal with that a lot, where like
Speaker 1: your toe just like so many times gets rammed into
Speaker 1: the front of your shoe that that area just kind
Speaker 1: of like swells up, and then when if there's any
Speaker 1: sort of break in the skin, it just can get
Speaker 1: infected um and that can be super painful. And then
Speaker 1: obviously a d is gonna be dealing with minutes restrictions
Speaker 1: when he comes back at some point in the next
Speaker 1: few days. And then Lebron appears to still be a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks out. So just what is your overall
Speaker 1: like outlook on the Lakers in their health and what
Speaker 1: it means for them moving forward. Yeah, so I feel like, again,
Speaker 1: I feel like they're playing with house money right now
Speaker 1: because they went went four and three on the road trip, right, Like, like,
Speaker 1: if you do that, you can kind of go through
Speaker 1: these games. I mean, Boston wasn't really winnable. These next
Speaker 1: two against Utah are probably not very winnable, right, and
Speaker 1: like if you can split these great and then you
Speaker 1: have it. I think you have two games against Dallas
Speaker 1: as well coming up, So if you can just get
Speaker 1: a split in any of that, I think they're fine.
Speaker 1: Their injuries that are starting to pile up, it is
Speaker 1: kind of crazy, um, everyone who coming. Drummond's been here
Speaker 1: like three weeks and he's already had two injuries is
Speaker 1: just pretty insane. Markie Morris is out. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I forgot what he's out for, um, but yeah, he's
Speaker 1: also out. He was a big part of why they're
Speaker 1: four and three on that road trip, Like, he was
Speaker 1: a big part of their offense, be able to give
Speaker 1: it to him, scoring the post and things like that.
Speaker 1: So like it's tough. I feel like I feel like
Speaker 1: when Adi gets back though, it'll really put everyone in
Speaker 1: the correct role, like no matter who was there, I
Speaker 1: guess because he can play the five, play the four,
Speaker 1: even when the minutes of restriction, it gives like a
Speaker 1: it gives a clarity to the offense where the ball
Speaker 1: should go. Um and just give them some more structured
Speaker 1: you could tell last night even like there's just no structure,
Speaker 1: especially because the team like Boston, who has the capability
Speaker 1: to be a good defensive team, they really took them
Speaker 1: out of their their place. KCP really struggled. I think
Speaker 1: the four starters not including Gasoul were like three for
Speaker 1: nineteen in the first half, and that's just because of
Speaker 1: the shot selection they were taking. It was awful shots.
Speaker 1: Kuzma shooter, all taking contested three pointers trying to get
Speaker 1: those to go. So that, like the injuries, that's part
Speaker 1: of the season. But again, you have like a month
Speaker 1: to get healthy here. I feel like these are all
Speaker 1: pretty minor, right. I think the market Saul one is
Speaker 1: like a week for his pinky um the drum, and
Speaker 1: one I think the toe is just pain management. He
Speaker 1: said he got stepped on again. Markis Morris doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like he'll be out too long. And then a d
Speaker 1: obviously it should be back by Monday or something like that.
Speaker 1: So they're not huge injuries, but they do pile up
Speaker 1: on a team was already shorthanded already, you know, playing
Speaker 1: all these games in a short amount of time. I
Speaker 1: think they played like I think the broadcast said they
Speaker 1: played thirty five games in like sixty days, which is
Speaker 1: just insane for the schedule that's going on. So like
Speaker 1: that's where they I am with the injuries. How about
Speaker 1: you what do you what do you feel about? Yeah,
Speaker 1: none of them are major, which is significant in the
Speaker 1: sense that like a d and in his shoot around
Speaker 1: stuff that I see, he looks more or less like
Speaker 1: he used to. I mean, I expect him to have
Speaker 1: a slow start as he kind of gets to see
Speaker 1: legs in basketball shape kind of thing. And then Lebron
Speaker 1: same exactly the same exact type of vibe. But the
Speaker 1: bottom line is, like any you can attribute a lot
Speaker 1: of these injuries to wear and tear, right, like a
Speaker 1: lot of I mean, some of them are just bad luck,
Speaker 1: like the drumm and getting his tonnailed ripped off, that's
Speaker 1: bad luck. Marcosol breaking his pinky, that's bad luck. Like
Speaker 1: Lebron ankle injury, that's bad luck. Some of the stuff
Speaker 1: that was wear and tear. Anthony Davis, that's wear and
Speaker 1: tearor injury like Dennis Shrewder. I know we don't really
Speaker 1: know the details, but I would he's been kind of
Speaker 1: banged up lately. I would imagine that that's probably wear
Speaker 1: and tear. You know, you can tribute it to that.
Speaker 1: So the question then becomes like in a playoff series,
Speaker 1: when the schedule gets stretched out, you're never playing it
Speaker 1: back to back. Anytime you travel, usually they give you
Speaker 1: a second day off in that travel day. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: going to be more of a traditional playoff schedule. You're
Speaker 1: never in any city for more than three or four
Speaker 1: days at a time. You're always you're getting to go
Speaker 1: back home. And then just just in general, it's a
Speaker 1: much more manageable basketball schedule. And so as long as
Speaker 1: as long as everybody gets healthy by then, I have
Speaker 1: I generally believe that they're going to be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, uh like kind of do a better job
Speaker 1: of just maintaining and avoiding the wear and tear type
Speaker 1: of injuries that can cause them problems moving forward. But
Speaker 1: it's just that this is where their depth is an advantage. Like,
Speaker 1: the truth of the matter is is the Lakers have
Speaker 1: never really been this season. They've never really been a
Speaker 1: rim protection team. Last year they were in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: are going to be but this year, because of Drummond
Speaker 1: not being here for the most part, you know, Marcosol
Speaker 1: basically being their only center because Anthony Davis has been out,
Speaker 1: they've been thriving defending without that size. So I they
Speaker 1: should be able to do a better job than they
Speaker 1: did last night. I just thought it wasn't their best
Speaker 1: defensive effort. I thought they let Jalen get too comfortable
Speaker 1: and then he just started taking off on them. But theoretically, uh,
Speaker 1: they they their depth is an advantage here. They should
Speaker 1: be able to Like Mark Keith is out, you don't
Speaker 1: even really notice in the rotation because there's just so
Speaker 1: many guys that can play. You know, the Drummond's out,
Speaker 1: you don't even notice because there's so many guys that
Speaker 1: can play. So their depth is an asset. You take
Speaker 1: their they should take their Like Dennis should not have
Speaker 1: played last night. That's kind of my opinion on it.
Speaker 1: Like he's got a foot infection. What's he doing out there?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Right? Yeah, some someone told me,
Speaker 1: like I think I was critical of Dennis, and they
Speaker 1: said he has an injury. I was like, well, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're playing, I'm gonna treat you as if you're playing,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, I understand people are hurt,
Speaker 1: but like, if we're gonna play, I expect a certain
Speaker 1: standard of play, like or just sit out. I'd rather
Speaker 1: him sit out than look how we did last night,
Speaker 1: at least like he looked really slow. He couldn't get
Speaker 1: by Tristan Thompson on switches. Boston was switching a lot,
Speaker 1: and he just could not get by him. So I'd
Speaker 1: rather those guys just take out and rest. And you
Speaker 1: can never be too careful. I mean, we saw what
Speaker 1: happened with Jamal Murray recently, right I'm drewing Murray just
Speaker 1: like towards his a c L that, which is really sad,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you could see what could happen if you
Speaker 1: rush back. So I would like those guys to kind
Speaker 1: of sit out now. People say that injury isn't really
Speaker 1: connected to anything, but like I feel like some kind
Speaker 1: of wear and tear or over compensation of his I
Speaker 1: think he had his right knee hurting and then he
Speaker 1: tore his left knee a c L or you know.
Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, but I feel like those two
Speaker 1: things are kind of connected. So you want people to
Speaker 1: sit out and wait until they're good enough to come back,
Speaker 1: so right now they can fight through it. In Dallas,
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, Luca just hit a ridiculous shot
Speaker 1: I think recently to give Dallas a win, but they're
Speaker 1: not waiting at an incredible pace right now. I think
Speaker 1: the three games back, Um, Denver, I think you're expecting
Speaker 1: them to fall a little bit. So I feel like
Speaker 1: the Lakers are pretty pretty much gonna be locked into
Speaker 1: that five seed in my opinion. Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: Portland's catching them. I don't think Dallas is catching them.
Speaker 1: Denver might fall, but I think the top three is
Speaker 1: pretty clearly gonna be Utah, Clippers and Phoenix. On this
Speaker 1: something miraculous happened. So I don't think they have to
Speaker 1: worry about standings anymore. I'm tired of standing watching. It
Speaker 1: is not fun, Like it is not fun to have
Speaker 1: to root against all these West teams every night. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I don't want to do that anymore.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Like I think they'll be fine. I don't
Speaker 1: think the injuries, uh will stop anything like that. And
Speaker 1: they're all minors, so all these guys can get back
Speaker 1: in time and be ready for the playoffs. Their schedule
Speaker 1: two gets like ridiculous, a crowded here. Over the next month,
Speaker 1: there's like, if I remember correctly, there's like four stretches
Speaker 1: of back to backs in their next like twelve games.
Speaker 1: So it's like even if Lebron came back in a
Speaker 1: week you're still looking at uh like a d on
Speaker 1: a minutes restriction. Lebron will probably be on some kind
Speaker 1: of minutes restriction. They probably will take a bunch of
Speaker 1: these games off and back to back. So it's not
Speaker 1: like they're really cute up to go on some crazy
Speaker 1: run in the standings anyway, because they're dealing with the
Speaker 1: simple fact that they that the schedule is working against them. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I agree with you, like Portland, Portland's not
Speaker 1: good enough to to let them drop back past number
Speaker 1: six in my opinion, And and the Lakers always have
Speaker 1: that extra gear they can get to playing guys. If
Speaker 1: it push comes to shove and it's like we're one
Speaker 1: game back of of getting to lock down this particular seed,
Speaker 1: they can go on a run in the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks of the season. My guess is they will anyway,
Speaker 1: just for the simple fact of trying to build some
Speaker 1: sort of rhythm and consistency going into the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: I think they're I think they're in good shape. I mean, we, uh,
Speaker 1: what were the things that we really were looking forward
Speaker 1: during this run. We wanted to see if they could
Speaker 1: still defend. We wanted to see if they could rediscover
Speaker 1: their jump shooting. We wanted to see, you know, if
Speaker 1: there was any other uh guys that could kind of
Speaker 1: find their sea legs in the middle of the season.
Speaker 1: Guess what, Dennis, even though he struggled, as you know,
Speaker 1: the guy who was receiving the vast majority of the
Speaker 1: defensive attention, he succeeded in the sense that he did
Speaker 1: so in a way that allowed the Lakers to win games.
Speaker 1: They won six of these games. That's awesome. They he
Speaker 1: defended extremely well. He did show against specific matchups that
Speaker 1: he can still attack the rim against centers and do
Speaker 1: the things that the Lakers will need him to do
Speaker 1: in a playoff series. Kyle Kuzman had a few moments,
Speaker 1: which is impressive because he has been dealing with some
Speaker 1: nagging stuff with his calf. Mark Kith Morris is legitimately
Speaker 1: better than he was last year. He's a better basketball
Speaker 1: player than he was last year. He's more thin, he's
Speaker 1: more mobile, He's got a lot more of an in
Speaker 1: between game. Last year he was kind of more of
Speaker 1: just a spot up shooter. He's a guy you can
Speaker 1: throw down to on the block and he can make plays.
Speaker 1: Alex Cruso's jump shot is like a revelation that's a
Speaker 1: huge deal. And and and there's and then and then
Speaker 1: Ben McLamore, even though he's been dealing with the lack
Speaker 1: of shot quality, is still an incredible option for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So they're they're in a really good shape. And and
Speaker 1: you know, the most important thing to keep in mind
Speaker 1: is the Lakers have fallback lineups they can go to
Speaker 1: if things don't work, Like if Lebron and n A
Speaker 1: D come back and the drum and fit just isn't
Speaker 1: really there and and you know, for whatever reason, like
Speaker 1: the shooter is not vibein with Lebron and a D.
Speaker 1: They all always hint can go to a lineup that
Speaker 1: consists of A D at the five, Lebron at the four,
Speaker 1: and KCP and Alex Crusoe and you know, Wesley Nazis
Speaker 1: or something, and they'll have chemistry that they've built up
Speaker 1: over a year and a half. And so they have
Speaker 1: like backup lineups so they can go to. I I
Speaker 1: would say that this stretch without Lebron and a D
Speaker 1: has been revealing in a good way. And as long
Speaker 1: as Lebron and a D are healthy, I would be
Speaker 1: just as optimistic as I was before the season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I feel like this, uh, if there's any silver
Speaker 1: lining to the Drummond injury, it kind of got Marcus
Speaker 1: Salt going as well. You could tell it like lit
Speaker 1: a fire under him. Um. I always call him a
Speaker 1: release valve, like when shooter has nowhere to go. He
Speaker 1: got a kick to him and he was taking the threes.
Speaker 1: I think he had like five threes last night or something,
Speaker 1: and he was aggressive. Um, he was even rolling to
Speaker 1: the ram shooting that little mid range shot. I want
Speaker 1: him to shoot more like. I don't think he ever
Speaker 1: shoots enough. Um, he'll never be that kind of like,
Speaker 1: uh selfish kind of player. Will he'll shoot like crazy.
Speaker 1: But I just he just needs to on this team
Speaker 1: for right now. And I love that he's aggressive. He's
Speaker 1: in a rhythm. You a tell, Um, it sucks that
Speaker 1: he broke his pinky or dislocated or however, however painful
Speaker 1: that must have felt. But how he it's great that
Speaker 1: he's kind of he's kind of gotten going and hopefully
Speaker 1: this doesn't kill his rhythm because he was willing playing well.
Speaker 1: Um he was. He was playing okay defensively, Again, that's
Speaker 1: not a game for him. To be playing out there
Speaker 1: and switching. But it's just good to see him in
Speaker 1: a rhythm offensively. Looked like the old Marcusol. You know,
Speaker 1: he gets to the rim, he finishes at the basket,
Speaker 1: he's taking his little midrange. I think the Lakers first
Speaker 1: points last night was a post up to him and
Speaker 1: he hit like a fade away jumper. Um. I think
Speaker 1: that got them going. And again he just kept pulling
Speaker 1: from three because they left him open. That's exactly what
Speaker 1: they did in the playoffs as well. If you talked
Speaker 1: to any um Toronto Raptors fan, they'll tell you that
Speaker 1: Marcusol kind of got played off the floor against Boston
Speaker 1: because he wouldn't shoot, he wouldn't take that three, and
Speaker 1: they would play off him. And they did the same
Speaker 1: thing last night. Now you can see his defensive problems
Speaker 1: as well, but he's gonna need to take that shot,
Speaker 1: especially even when a d gets back, Like I need
Speaker 1: him pulling from there because he's too good a shooter
Speaker 1: to pass these up and try to find guys in
Speaker 1: back cuts when the centers already in the paint, like
Speaker 1: it's really tough to kind of create from there. He
Speaker 1: had a couple of wild passes last night, but he
Speaker 1: was pretty much the point guard because Shrewder couldn't do
Speaker 1: anything yesterday, so he was the one orchestrating getting guys
Speaker 1: around screen. So if there's only Super lining to uh
Speaker 1: Drummond's toe being uh have pulled off or whatever you
Speaker 1: wanna call it, I think it's Marcus All getting going
Speaker 1: and including all those guys you listed. I thought Alec
Speaker 1: Cruso was really good last night. He was probably the
Speaker 1: best player other than th Ht in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: But I thought Crusoe was awesome. I thought him he
Speaker 1: kind of changed the game. The game was getting out
Speaker 1: of hand and he brought it back close again, and
Speaker 1: then the Celtics went on another run before the half.
Speaker 1: But those two guys I think really had to go
Speaker 1: in last night, and then all those other dudes really
Speaker 1: played well during the road trip. Um, So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: I mean, all these guys seemed to be going at
Speaker 1: the right time, right, the team seems to be rolling
Speaker 1: at the right time, and then when the stars get
Speaker 1: back you can kind of get a full picture. But
Speaker 1: right now you're just trying to see guys play well.
Speaker 1: On the scoreboard. To me, isn't really important in these
Speaker 1: next few games, Utah is destroying teams. Utah we played
Speaker 1: them twice and then Dallas again twice, So if you
Speaker 1: can just split any of those games, I think that's
Speaker 1: a win. But yeah, Boston was m be a tough
Speaker 1: one yesterday. Yeah, I don't think Marcus All is gonna
Speaker 1: sit out that long. It's his non shooting hand, it's
Speaker 1: his pinky um. You know, generally speaking, when it comes
Speaker 1: to him throwing his passes, his like a little bounced
Speaker 1: passes on backdoors and his lobs over the top, he
Speaker 1: generally uses his right hand and he palms the ball
Speaker 1: a lot of the time, and so I don't necessarily
Speaker 1: think it's going to impact him all that much. Um. Also,
Speaker 1: I think, like as Drummond's dealing with his toe thing,
Speaker 1: that I think he's gonna want to play. Like, my
Speaker 1: guess is he's gonna be lobbying with the training staff
Speaker 1: to play. Um. A big part of it's gonna be pain.
Speaker 1: I mean, if it's just so incredibly painful, then yeah,
Speaker 1: it might be a problem. But but we'll see. UM.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean you're right, like they're going into
Speaker 1: a ridiculously tough stretch of their schedule. If they get
Speaker 1: like one or two of these, that's nice. And guess what,
Speaker 1: like Anthony Davis playing fifteen minutes in a game isn't
Speaker 1: going to be enough to really swing the tide of
Speaker 1: these games in my opinion. And it's not like they're
Speaker 1: gonna be playing him in crunch time anyway. Generally speaking,
Speaker 1: when coaches have players on on minutes restrictions, they don't
Speaker 1: play him in crunch time specifically because they don't want
Speaker 1: them to play in the most intense basketball to start.
Speaker 1: Like I think it would be if he started playing
Speaker 1: in their next game, I think he'd probably be another
Speaker 1: week or two before they start playing him in crunch time. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think I think. I think, like you said,
Speaker 1: they're in they're in good shape, and Brown and a
Speaker 1: d should be really easy plug ins because no one
Speaker 1: really got too far outside of their role. Like all
Speaker 1: of them did a little bit more than they used to,
Speaker 1: but it was a lot of shrewder, it was a
Speaker 1: lot of Kuzma. And guess what, those guys are going
Speaker 1: to still be relatively aggressive when Lebron and they d
Speaker 1: come back anyway, So I think I think it's an
Speaker 1: easy natural fit. Did you have any other Laker stuff
Speaker 1: that you wanted to touch on before we move into
Speaker 1: some of the league wide stuff. Uh, not really. I
Speaker 1: think that was pretty good. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people think last night you can just top up to
Speaker 1: the starters just played awful. I mean they were three
Speaker 1: for nineteen the first half. I don't know what you
Speaker 1: can do with then. Jay Len Brown just had a
Speaker 1: pretty awesome night. So I think I think that pretty
Speaker 1: much covers the Lakers week. I guess they played was
Speaker 1: they beat Charlotte, And I think I don't know if
Speaker 1: we talk since then, but yeah, I think that was it. Well,
Speaker 1: they had a big Brooklyn one, right, but we talked.
Speaker 1: We talked about that one in the Monday. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that was it. Yeah. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: and uh one of the other things I was thinking
Speaker 1: about is what I think would be fun to try
Speaker 1: and we can you and I can talk about this
Speaker 1: a little bit more off the air, but um, I
Speaker 1: was thinking about last night for you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think we'd relea sit as a podcast, but it'd be
Speaker 1: fun to do. You know, how you have access to
Speaker 1: that spaces that's on your Twitter, y, it'd be fun
Speaker 1: to do one of those just during a game and
Speaker 1: just happen where we just talked through the game. I
Speaker 1: think that'd be fun to try it and at least
Speaker 1: give it a shot. Really stupid. We could never do
Speaker 1: it again, but it's worth they be talking about anyway.
Speaker 1: So I recorded so they wouldn't have no one would Yeah,
Speaker 1: we can totally butcher and it would be Yeah. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to touch on a few um league wide things.
Speaker 1: The first thing I was gonna talk about was this
Speaker 1: markets all dredge thing, and I was curious to see
Speaker 1: what you thought. So the the alert came across my
Speaker 1: phone and Sham's. You know, I like Sham's He's my guy,
Speaker 1: have his tweet notifications on It's It's fine, but he
Speaker 1: did something that was pretty messed up yesterday. He uh quote,
Speaker 1: he didn't quote tweet. He just tweeted out news that
Speaker 1: had already been broken literally by the Marcus Aldridge himself
Speaker 1: provided no context. And my first thought that came My
Speaker 1: first thought that came to my mind when I saw
Speaker 1: shams tweet when it came across my phone was like,
Speaker 1: I wonder if it was kind of like a Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony with the Houston rockets thing where like like he
Speaker 1: started playing there had some big offensive games, but then
Speaker 1: clearly Darryl Morey like sat down with him and was like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna stop playing you. And then and then he
Speaker 1: was just like, well, I'm I'm leaving the team, you know.
Speaker 1: I was one that was that was where my wine
Speaker 1: my mind went first was like, I wonder if like
Speaker 1: he's been so bad defensively in his first few games
Speaker 1: that like the staff or the front office basically was
Speaker 1: like we're done with you. Uh, and maybe that was why.
Speaker 1: And then imediately after it comes the hard stuff and
Speaker 1: which is really sad. It's it's sad because my guess
Speaker 1: is he picked Brooklyn because he wanted to win the title,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's it's it's a shame that he's not
Speaker 1: going to get his chance. Um. But it's the actual
Speaker 1: condition itself that's really interesting to me. And the reason
Speaker 1: why is because I personally have dealt with this on
Speaker 1: a couple of occasions. It's been a while, um, but
Speaker 1: there were a couple of occasions. Once at a Pima practice,
Speaker 1: which was the first junior college that I played at,
Speaker 1: and then there was a time in Charlotte more recently
Speaker 1: in like two thousand and seventeen, where I was playing
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, like my heartbeat shifted and
Speaker 1: it went from you know, like usually when I'm playing hard,
Speaker 1: it will beat it about a hundred and seventy beats
Speaker 1: per minute. It's like my I'm really playing hard type
Speaker 1: of heart rate, which is pretty typical, um, but it's
Speaker 1: like it's a strong heartbeat that just happens to be
Speaker 1: going fast. Well, there were these in these random occasions,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like it was like a lumpy
Speaker 1: like there was like a distinct lumpiness to the heart rate.
Speaker 1: It was inconsistent. It would go super fast and then
Speaker 1: it would like skip a beat. It was doing all
Speaker 1: this really funky stuff. And at one point, I remember
Speaker 1: I was just playing pick up in Charlotte when it happened.
Speaker 1: But I like sat on the floor in between games,
Speaker 1: and I remember just sitting thinking to myself like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna like drop dead here any second. Like I remember
Speaker 1: sitting there, I was literally thinking because it was I mean,
Speaker 1: like I could tell that my my my body was
Speaker 1: was weird. I was almost in like a little bit
Speaker 1: of shock. And I remember just sitting on the floor
Speaker 1: like any minute now, like it's gonna happen. But I
Speaker 1: was in like so much shock that I like, I
Speaker 1: like stayed. I stayed for like one more game and
Speaker 1: it still felt weird. And I went home and I
Speaker 1: was sitting on the couch and my my hearpie was
Speaker 1: still going crazy. So I've been like twenty five minutes
Speaker 1: and like I was completely cooled down in my hearpeet
Speaker 1: was going like a hundred and thirty beats per minute,
Speaker 1: just like pounding, and it was super weird. And then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like almost like a reset, like
Speaker 1: like a click, my heart reaches. Heart rate just restored
Speaker 1: to normal. And I was super freaked out about it,
Speaker 1: and so I talked to my doctor and remember he
Speaker 1: said to me, he goes like, he's like almost every
Speaker 1: patient that I have, at some point in their life
Speaker 1: brings up something along these lines, whether it's associated with
Speaker 1: working out, or it's, uh, you know, you're just sleeping
Speaker 1: and you feel like your heart rates a little lumpy
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. And he goes, he was like, basically,
Speaker 1: your heart has a built in defibrillator. It's an electrical
Speaker 1: system that's in your heart that's already there, and basically
Speaker 1: it takes a while for your body to become aware
Speaker 1: of the fact that that your heart is out of rhythm.
Speaker 1: But when it is, when it finally identifies that, it
Speaker 1: just shocks it with like its own little personal defibrillator
Speaker 1: and resets the heart rate. And he's like, so, what
Speaker 1: will happen is you'll have like some sort of lumpy
Speaker 1: thing going on and then uh and then uh, it'll
Speaker 1: it'll eventually reset and it's weird when it happens, and
Speaker 1: it can be scary. He's like, but don't be scared.
Speaker 1: He's like, if you went to a cardiologist, I'd be concerned,
Speaker 1: because he was like, the one thing that's actually concerning
Speaker 1: with cardiac stuff is fatigue, like if you just can't
Speaker 1: get your energy up, like if you just go to
Speaker 1: exercise and there's just nothing there. That's usually has to
Speaker 1: do with a problem with your circulation and the fact
Speaker 1: that you're just not getting enough oxygen to your muscles.
Speaker 1: And so what's funny about that is he said in
Speaker 1: his tweet, his little message, he said, I'm fine now.
Speaker 1: So I wonder if the doctor's told him, like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is normal, You're fine. We ran any KG, everything
Speaker 1: looks fine, and he just doesn't want to do it,
Speaker 1: and which is his decision. He's a grown man and
Speaker 1: I get that, and I can relate to how scary
Speaker 1: that moment was. But I'm curious to see if he's
Speaker 1: actually healthy and he's just spooked, or if the doctors
Speaker 1: looked at him and said, like, your high risk for
Speaker 1: X y Z. You know what I mean. What was
Speaker 1: your takeaway from that whole thing? Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: I mean I don't think I've ever had any regular heartbeat.
Speaker 1: That sounds like just just looking at that, that sounds
Speaker 1: very pain full, you know. I mean just the word
Speaker 1: of irregular heartbeat. You never want to have an irregular
Speaker 1: or anything, let alone a heartbeat. So I thought that
Speaker 1: was kind of scary. I think my favorite thing about
Speaker 1: the SHAMS like part of this is like go to
Speaker 1: any shams tweet, right, and then my favorite thing is
Speaker 1: someone replying with like the press release that comes out
Speaker 1: like a minute before his tweet, right, So like he'll
Speaker 1: he'll like say this person signed on a two way
Speaker 1: or whatever, and someone will just reply with the press
Speaker 1: release from the actual team. So I think that that's
Speaker 1: kind of funny. But shams. His shams is not in
Speaker 1: chamses in the business of scoops, right, That's his business
Speaker 1: is being first. That's what he's paid for. And I
Speaker 1: mean he's also a really good reporter and all that,
Speaker 1: but he's paid to be first. That's what he's paid for. So,
Speaker 1: I mean it's not surprising when this is kind of
Speaker 1: the out The outlook of that is that you get
Speaker 1: a guy who's trying to be first and everything. So, um,
Speaker 1: he didn't lie. He said Alge was retiring, which is
Speaker 1: a fact. He just didn't give the context of it.
Speaker 1: So that's part of the Chances part. Yeah, the Algres part.
Speaker 1: It's sad. You want to see players go out on
Speaker 1: their own terms, right, You want to see players decide
Speaker 1: when they leave. You don't want to see them like
Speaker 1: have to leave because of a health condition in or
Speaker 1: and all. Just you know, he played a great career
Speaker 1: fifteen years. Um. I think it's funny you had the
Speaker 1: Carmelo kind of comparison because I think those two are
Speaker 1: really similar. Um, their their leagues are kind of their
Speaker 1: games are kind of outdated today, right, two guys want
Speaker 1: to shoot fade away mid range jumpers when that shot
Speaker 1: is pretty much being taken out of the league, especially
Speaker 1: when you're not a superstar like all Drogen Carmelo are
Speaker 1: right now, But they still take that kind of shot
Speaker 1: and it can drive their teams crazy. And he was
Speaker 1: on a winning team. I don't think he would have
Speaker 1: left if it wasn't something that he was really traumatized by.
Speaker 1: Obviously he was. Um, So, I guess my question to
Speaker 1: you is that, like, how what kind of pain is that?
Speaker 1: Is that like a chest Do you feel like a
Speaker 1: chest pain with that or is it just you could
Speaker 1: you you knew right away it was your heart or
Speaker 1: like my chuestion? What kind of pain is that? Is
Speaker 1: my question because I get chest pains all the time,
Speaker 1: but I like I don't I don't associate that with
Speaker 1: like a regular heartbeat. I just associate that would like
Speaker 1: fatigue or um, you know, things happened in your body
Speaker 1: and you just get tired or whatever. So, like my
Speaker 1: question is, like, what kind of pain is as like
Speaker 1: really painful where you can't sit kind of thing, or
Speaker 1: is it just like you just feel yourself in a
Speaker 1: rush even though you're not doing anything. Your your your
Speaker 1: body has like a high amount of energy, your stamina
Speaker 1: what does that pain feel? Like, It's not a pain,
Speaker 1: to be honest, And and I don't think he he
Speaker 1: didn't say it was painful in his thing, like it's
Speaker 1: you just know something's wrong, Like you feel your heart
Speaker 1: beat like going crazy, and like like I would like
Speaker 1: feel my pulse and my pulse would just be outrageously
Speaker 1: fast and then and uh, and I just remember like
Speaker 1: being unsettled just because you know something's wrong, Like you
Speaker 1: just you just know something's wrong, and uh, and like
Speaker 1: like it's it's I can just I relate to that
Speaker 1: feeling because like in those situations, for in college, it
Speaker 1: was at a practice and then the other time it
Speaker 1: was pick up, but like the game had no stakes,
Speaker 1: so I would I could kind of like I could
Speaker 1: kind of like float around in the sense that like
Speaker 1: I knew something was up and it didn't matter if
Speaker 1: I didn't get back on defense once because I was
Speaker 1: just kind of like feeling out what was going on
Speaker 1: with my body. But like I feel bad for LaMarcus
Speaker 1: because he's in like this nationally televised huge game where
Speaker 1: the Lakers are kind of taking it to him, Drummonds
Speaker 1: pounding it down his throat and literally like he's getting
Speaker 1: slandered on Twitter. Meanwhile, in his head, he's completely preoccupied
Speaker 1: by the fact that his heart is acting up. And
Speaker 1: so I can see how that would have been kind
Speaker 1: of a jarring experience. And and that's the other thing too,
Speaker 1: is like, you know, at the time, I didn't have
Speaker 1: a wife or or really a family, so like other
Speaker 1: than my you know, my immediate family that I grew
Speaker 1: up in, and so like it just was I can
Speaker 1: imagine he just had a fear like what if I
Speaker 1: don't get to go home to my kids, you know,
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's sketchy. But I'm I'm happy for
Speaker 1: him that he's retiring. I wouldn't be completely shocked if
Speaker 1: he came back at some point, because I think he's
Speaker 1: still I said before that I thought he was the
Speaker 1: best buyout guy that was available, and I was like
Speaker 1: upset that the Lakers didn't get him. And the truth
Speaker 1: of the matter is that he like he's got good
Speaker 1: basketball remaining. And if his heart is clean, if there's
Speaker 1: a good clean bill of health, if they do e
Speaker 1: kgs and and uh and look at his heart and
Speaker 1: it appears to be in good health, my guess is
Speaker 1: the fear will fade at some point, And if the
Speaker 1: fear fades, then I could see him coming back next
Speaker 1: year and playing basketball again, because but I would just
Speaker 1: be interested. Like I said, I don't have any intel
Speaker 1: on this. My heart thing that I experienced could be
Speaker 1: completely different than what LaMarcus experienced. But I do wonder
Speaker 1: if I do wonder what happened in that meeting, and
Speaker 1: if it was one of those things where the doctors like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're fine, like this happens to people and then you're
Speaker 1: and then you just calm down and you're good, or
Speaker 1: or if it was if it was a little bit
Speaker 1: of an issue. And the other thing too, is it
Speaker 1: is contact related. So he claims that he got bumped,
Speaker 1: and when he when he got bumped is when it happened.
Speaker 1: Well that the it happened the same way to me,
Speaker 1: Like I did like a really aggressive drive to the
Speaker 1: basket and dude kind of like knocked me down and
Speaker 1: that's when it started. And like if you think of
Speaker 1: your heart as like this muscle that's kind of like
Speaker 1: going in rhythm, and if there's a bump that knocks
Speaker 1: it out of rhythm and then suddenly it's just kind
Speaker 1: of going at a different pace. It requires a full
Speaker 1: reset for it to kind of get back into into gear.
Speaker 1: But like, dude, it's not like your heart's not beating,
Speaker 1: because if it's stopped beating, you die, Like your your
Speaker 1: heart's just your heart's just out of rhythm. And and
Speaker 1: and that's the thing. Like la Marcus was still playing
Speaker 1: an NBA basketball game, so it's not like his his
Speaker 1: heart was completely not functioning, you know. Like it anyway,
Speaker 1: it's super interesting And I'm not a doctor. I just
Speaker 1: think this stuff is super fascinating. And I just remembered
Speaker 1: when he said when I read his thing, I was like, dude,
Speaker 1: I know exactly how you felt in that moment. And
Speaker 1: I did think that's interesting. But the only thing is
Speaker 1: he's like thirty five, right, so I'm guessing you were
Speaker 1: a lot younger when that when that happens so or
Speaker 1: something like that. Yeah, And also he's probably more at
Speaker 1: peace with his career his life, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think retiring is easy for any player, right,
Speaker 1: That's that's like a huge decision, that's to put away
Speaker 1: what you've been doing for the last forget NBA twenty
Speaker 1: what since he was fifteen, probably was playing basketball. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a tough decision. I don't think he would get
Speaker 1: to retirement without you know, weighing all the options there.
Speaker 1: He's also giving up a good sum of money as
Speaker 1: well that he already gave up like seven million to
Speaker 1: get go to Brooklyn from San Antonio. Right, that wasn't
Speaker 1: an easy I think gave back like six million or
Speaker 1: something like that. Whatever it was um to be bought
Speaker 1: out and go to Brooklyn. So it's a big decision
Speaker 1: for him to stop playing and and to retire. So
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a big decision. Maybe he comes
Speaker 1: back next year, you never know, but he seems at
Speaker 1: peace with it. So I'm happy for him, and uh,
Speaker 1: I hope his careers, remember, because he's one of the
Speaker 1: old old school dudes that uh isn't really uh played
Speaker 1: like the modern game is now. It's kind of again
Speaker 1: like the Carmelo Anthony comparison. I like that one. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I hope he's I hope he's fine. But if he
Speaker 1: wants to come back next year, that'd be that'd be great.
Speaker 1: I think he'll be welcome. He will have a lot
Speaker 1: of suitors. Um, But yeah, that's it's it's interesting. You're right, like,
Speaker 1: it's a really scary thing, especially but when you put
Speaker 1: it that way, I guess because you make a sound
Speaker 1: at least a lot more calm. But I feel like
Speaker 1: in that moment it was probably a little bit more,
Speaker 1: a little bit more shaky, a little bit more nervous.
Speaker 1: But yeah, hopefully he uh he, he feels better about it,
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe he can come back. Who knows. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he should come back. I'm just saying like, like,
Speaker 1: if if his doctors told him what he told me,
Speaker 1: then there's a chance that like the fear will fade,
Speaker 1: because I would imagine like in the immediate future it's
Speaker 1: still like a little sketchy and like he's still a
Speaker 1: little scared. Um. So let's move on to this MVP stuff.
Speaker 1: So basically, you know, uh, Tim Bontemps does the straw pole,
Speaker 1: he does it twice a year. He doesn't you know
Speaker 1: a third of the way through the season that he
Speaker 1: does it two thirds of the way through the season,
Speaker 1: pulls actual voters. They do an actual m VP vote
Speaker 1: gives you a really good idea of what the you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of the status of that debate is and
Speaker 1: I think I think we all expected Yogis to be
Speaker 1: the favorite. He's definitely more of a favorite than he thought.
Speaker 1: But I happen to be one of the people who
Speaker 1: thinks that Embia deserves it. And the reason why I
Speaker 1: think can Be deserves it is really simple. I just
Speaker 1: think that I would rather punish or not punish, but
Speaker 1: I would rather error on the side of rewarding a
Speaker 1: guy who's in a top seed, and the Sixers are
Speaker 1: going to be most likely the top seed in the
Speaker 1: East when it's all said and done, and you know,
Speaker 1: as great as has been and he's been amazing, I
Speaker 1: don't you know. I I look back at the Westbrook
Speaker 1: MVP as a mistake. And so basically wind to Horse
Speaker 1: gets into debate with with bon Temps and they get
Speaker 1: arguing and there's some cursing and there's some other stuff,
Speaker 1: but basically win to Horse was saying like, I don't
Speaker 1: understand why Embad who basically missed a handful of games
Speaker 1: before and then missed six games with a with a
Speaker 1: knee issue or whatever it was, that I don't understand
Speaker 1: why he's disqualified, just like outright disqualified even though he's
Speaker 1: been on a better team. Than every bit as good
Speaker 1: offensively and Arguabli even better, significantly better defensively. Um and
Speaker 1: so my I I guess like my question to you
Speaker 1: is off the bat is, do you think it's just
Speaker 1: over and the m v P do you think and
Speaker 1: bead has a chance? How much should we weigh injuries
Speaker 1: in this debate? Yeah? So this is kind of a
Speaker 1: strange season. And I think like they were talking about
Speaker 1: the previous kind of winners, right, and I ever stand
Speaker 1: in all those dudes who won while missing a bunch
Speaker 1: of games. But this year, with the amount of players
Speaker 1: that rests that take out right, Like the whole league
Speaker 1: is starting to do resting. I'm trying to take care
Speaker 1: of the players, trying not to make them play every game. Um,
Speaker 1: the schedules really compacted. I feel like at least this year,
Speaker 1: the amount of games miss shouldn't be as big of
Speaker 1: a like criteria that would take you out. Especially this
Speaker 1: is like Lebron probably he missed too many games, Like
Speaker 1: that's that's not gonna happen. Lebron is not doing an
Speaker 1: m v P. But Yo Kitchen and beat, I feel
Speaker 1: like I think Yokich has missed one like three games
Speaker 1: or something like that. I don't think he's missed very
Speaker 1: many and beads missed ten already. Actually, oh, maybe he's
Speaker 1: not missed any Okay, so in beads missed and beads
Speaker 1: missed ten, he's gonna miss a few more. I'm guessing
Speaker 1: going down, going down the line here. I just I
Speaker 1: feel like that shouldn't be taken too much into account.
Speaker 1: Like maybe if you want to give Yokich like the
Speaker 1: if there, if it's a tie, give it to Yo
Speaker 1: Kitchen that kind of way, but I wouldn't really look
Speaker 1: at it from that way. I feel like it beats
Speaker 1: still right there. I feel like those two Denver is
Speaker 1: only three games back of the Sixers, Like, so I
Speaker 1: know the Sixers have the one seed I guess technically
Speaker 1: in the East, but I mean Denver is only three
Speaker 1: games back, and plus yr Kich is gonna play without
Speaker 1: Murray and all that. So I feel like if he
Speaker 1: can get a few wins here, he would probably be
Speaker 1: my he's still my lead m VP. But and he's
Speaker 1: not out of it at all for me, Like I
Speaker 1: know what they're arguing about, Like when I think Wendy
Speaker 1: is saying that the game's missed is probably too much
Speaker 1: for embeid, right, I think that was his argument. But
Speaker 1: I wouldn't take it into this type of season where
Speaker 1: everybody's resting guys, everybody's trying to take care of the
Speaker 1: legs for the playoffs. Um, this isn't that kind of way. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's that would be my take on it.
Speaker 1: How about you. Yeah, So there are a couple of
Speaker 1: things that I think are interesting to this, Like, you're right, then,
Speaker 1: gets theoretically are not um that far behind in the standings.
Speaker 1: But my thing is, you know, if the if the
Speaker 1: Nuggets end up with the let's call it the eighth
Speaker 1: best record in basketball, and the Sixers end up with
Speaker 1: the third best record in basketball, why shouldn't we count
Speaker 1: that regardless of the gap. You know, the goal isn't
Speaker 1: to finish close to the top, It's to finish at
Speaker 1: the top. You know, Like it's a there's a that
Speaker 1: would be like the akins of saying that you know,
Speaker 1: just because you lost the basketball game by one point,
Speaker 1: you deserve like a bigger participation trophy and and for
Speaker 1: the record, like if you know, if Yoki finishes, you know,
Speaker 1: third in the standings, I feel like it's a little
Speaker 1: bit more of a of a you know, clean cut
Speaker 1: finish because he is so available. But my thing is
Speaker 1: availability is just one small part of the story. And
Speaker 1: you know, this the huge thing with Yoki's case that
Speaker 1: gets pounded pounded down everybody is this idea that he's
Speaker 1: having this historic offensive season. And to me, if there's
Speaker 1: one year to maybe not weigh that so much, it's
Speaker 1: this year because this year defenses are struggling at a
Speaker 1: historic level. This year. Uh uh, this year you're seeing
Speaker 1: like outlier offensive production from everybody. You know, like like
Speaker 1: the big Yokich thing is like always averaging eleven and
Speaker 1: eight or whatever it is, and it's like, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: But Zach Levine has giving me twenty eight you know,
Speaker 1: like you know, just pick pick pick a star on
Speaker 1: a team. They're giving you twenty five plus and they're
Speaker 1: doing it pretty efficiently. That's just kind of the nature
Speaker 1: of the way basketball. This year is this year because
Speaker 1: there's a ton of inconsistency in lineups, which has caused
Speaker 1: defensive problems, and there's a lack of practice time and
Speaker 1: there's there were shorter training camps and all of these
Speaker 1: different things that are leading into that. So that's not
Speaker 1: to say that yokich isn't still incredibly impressive offensively. I
Speaker 1: just think you when you're doing these sorts of things,
Speaker 1: you have to weigh all of the cases. And to me,
Speaker 1: a big thing that's in Yoki's favor is his playmaking
Speaker 1: and his availability. But but his scoring is right about
Speaker 1: where embiad is, and if I look at him beat
Speaker 1: his edge is his team is better and he's significantly
Speaker 1: better defensively. So to me, the cases are a little
Speaker 1: bit closer when you actually start to weigh them against
Speaker 1: each other. And if embiid plays the majority of the
Speaker 1: rest of the game, and if they convincingly get the
Speaker 1: one seed, and if Yokis finishes in the you know,
Speaker 1: the fourth or the fifth seed, my guess is they'll
Speaker 1: finish fifth or sixth because they do have a little
Speaker 1: bit of a talent disadvantage now in some of these
Speaker 1: games coming up. Um, but I think that embead should
Speaker 1: should have a chance. And unfortunately, with the way that
Speaker 1: this works, as you saw with a straw poll, everybody
Speaker 1: seemingly has already kind of turned in their award. It's
Speaker 1: hard turning their ballot for young Ki. So it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to imagine him getting to turn it around quickly enough,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, he said, Levine also
Speaker 1: gives you twenty eight, but that's a different kind of
Speaker 1: twenty eight, right, I mean, Yoki is winning at an
Speaker 1: incredibly higher rate than Levine is, and all the all
Speaker 1: of Denver's often goes through Yokis, right, Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not just like one play, every single thing runs
Speaker 1: through him. I mean it was it was still Murray
Speaker 1: and Yoki, but it was pretty much a Yoki style offense.
Speaker 1: That he's running point guard and he's playmaking the whole time,
Speaker 1: I think, and Beat is more going to the post.
Speaker 1: His playmaking is not as much of a factor for Philly,
Speaker 1: and I think exactly a team's double team him and
Speaker 1: he can't create the same kind of way. And like,
Speaker 1: he definitely anchors their defense, no doubt, But he has
Speaker 1: another defensive Player of the Year candidate rennext to him, right,
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons might win Defensive Player of the Year. So
Speaker 1: I know Joe b has been great defensively, but I
Speaker 1: mean Ben Simmons is right right there next to him, Yoki. Obviously,
Speaker 1: his defense isn't a you know, positive for him, But
Speaker 1: I feel like those two are right there though, Like
Speaker 1: I think the game's missed uh Like, I think Yoki
Speaker 1: has an advantage on that obviously, But I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a huge kind of waving thing that should decide
Speaker 1: the m v P race. I think you should see
Speaker 1: who's you know, whose team played better. I think Yokich
Speaker 1: has Murray out and if he wins still with this,
Speaker 1: I don't know how you can't give it to him.
Speaker 1: The narrative is obviously has already taken over Yoki m VP.
Speaker 1: You could see everywhere in the d and all that
Speaker 1: is already casting him as NAMVP. But e beat is
Speaker 1: right there for sure. At ten games is nothing to
Speaker 1: me in a season where everybody's resting, everybody's getting letting
Speaker 1: people stay out, not play back to bags um, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: So I don't think it's a huge deal. But I
Speaker 1: think if it's a tie, then yeah, tie goes to
Speaker 1: the guy who played the more games. I think that's
Speaker 1: just how how it will go. That's fair for this season.
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with him getting the award,
Speaker 1: to be clear, I just as I consistently have complained
Speaker 1: about over the years. I just hate this it's over
Speaker 1: type of attitude. That's that's always that's always been an
Speaker 1: issue for me. One last thing with the thing before
Speaker 1: we move on to he speaking of narratives, he kind
Speaker 1: of took on this narrative this year that he was
Speaker 1: kind of doing it by himself. Yeah, And and that
Speaker 1: was because Murray got off to a slow start, which
Speaker 1: had a lot to do with the bubble, and then
Speaker 1: historically he's gotten off to a slow start in these seasons.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure why. There's there's no real point getting
Speaker 1: into why. Um, but the truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: for the last half of the season, Uh, Murray's actually
Speaker 1: been better than he was in the bubble, like literally
Speaker 1: unbelievably just every bit as good as as as Yoki.
Speaker 1: That's how good offensively he was. Basically was like a
Speaker 1: fifty five forty ninety five type of guy here over
Speaker 1: the over the last half of the season, averaging like
Speaker 1: twenty nine points a game. I don't know the exact numbers,
Speaker 1: I have to look it up, but he's been Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray has been incredible here the last half of the season.
Speaker 1: And if you look at the Denver Nuggets, and the standings.
Speaker 1: In the first half of the season, when Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: was struggling, they were roughly a five hundred team. And
Speaker 1: then when Jamal Murray got it going, suddenly they started
Speaker 1: to crawl up the standings and get into the into
Speaker 1: the uh, the mix of things. And so the point
Speaker 1: is is the way that the Yoki story needs to
Speaker 1: be told, because the way you'll always see is like
Speaker 1: Lebron has Anthony Davis, even though Anthony David has been
Speaker 1: outmost of the r E Bead had Ben Simmons or
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you're you're painting the you know,
Speaker 1: James harden At, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Well, the
Speaker 1: reality is is no one out here is playing without
Speaker 1: star help. I mean, if anybody, it's Dame. And even
Speaker 1: c J is really really good. And before his injury
Speaker 1: here c J was every bit as good as name,
Speaker 1: if if not better. So the point is is that,
Speaker 1: like everyone is, that there's such a depth of talent
Speaker 1: in the league right now that to me, that supporting
Speaker 1: cast argument gets a little fuzzy. Uh And and and
Speaker 1: that narrative with Yokich kind of just kind of took
Speaker 1: on a mind of its own. The truth of the
Speaker 1: matter is is Yokich is also on a very good team,
Speaker 1: and Yokich is very good team hasn't been as successful
Speaker 1: as some of the other really good teams even with
Speaker 1: him being more available, and so to me, it just
Speaker 1: shouldn't be as big of a gap as it is.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean he can't get the award, doesn't mean he
Speaker 1: won't deserve it if he gets it, but I think
Speaker 1: it should be a little bit closer and a little
Speaker 1: bit more competitive. Yeah, and he can be. It's all contextual, right,
Speaker 1: this is not black and white at all. You can
Speaker 1: also say Yo plays in the West, right, and and
Speaker 1: Philly plays in the East, and they play a lot
Speaker 1: of more tougher opponents, right, the US is a dog fight. Well, um,
Speaker 1: the East is gonna have some five team make a
Speaker 1: five seed. I mean, it's just that you can even
Speaker 1: go with that as well. There's a lot of things
Speaker 1: to go with that. But again, like the the argument
Speaker 1: that Windy and Bontamps were having about like, oh is
Speaker 1: this right criteria? I mean again, it's all contextual. Like
Speaker 1: you think the rest of Westbrook um m VP was
Speaker 1: a mistake, right, I mean I feel like it was
Speaker 1: the first time we saw someone, you know, average trouble double. Like,
Speaker 1: I think that was a big deal. Plus the story,
Speaker 1: right m VPS about the story about the narrative. Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant left, Westbrook had this awesome season, Like, I think
Speaker 1: it was fine for him to win it that year.
Speaker 1: I I don't remember who the other m v P
Speaker 1: kind of cases, it was quite okay. Yeah, So I mean, like,
Speaker 1: I think it was fine. Like, I mean, the average
Speaker 1: triple double. That was something we haven't seen right now.
Speaker 1: It's just ordinary Westbrook. Westbrook does that everywhere, even if
Speaker 1: he's not winning. So but yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: it was fine. And then the story, obviously with Katie leaving,
Speaker 1: it really pushed up that narrative. I think he won
Speaker 1: the MVP as the four seed that year, I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: and then they got out of the first they got
Speaker 1: out on the first round or something like that. They
Speaker 1: lost to Houston. I think it was. I think they
Speaker 1: were the five I've seen. I don't I don't remember,
Speaker 1: but they were. They were roughly in the same position
Speaker 1: of the standings as Yeah, exactly so, but I think
Speaker 1: that was understanding. Every year has its own kind of story.
Speaker 1: Every year has its own kind of narrative thing that
Speaker 1: goes into the m v p UM And I just
Speaker 1: don't think the game's miss should be that big a
Speaker 1: deal in the season. Again that we talked about that
Speaker 1: everybody's kind of uh not really priority prioritizing the regular season, right,
Speaker 1: This is a playoff This is a get ready for
Speaker 1: the playoffs type of season. And you could tell teams
Speaker 1: like Utah they're blowing through teams because they obviously cared
Speaker 1: about the regulaty. They obviously went through it with a
Speaker 1: mindset that we're gonna try every try hard, every single night.
Speaker 1: You see these other teams, especially the ones that were
Speaker 1: late in the bubble kind of thing, really starts slow
Speaker 1: and really worked themselves through this season and start to
Speaker 1: pick it up now. So I don't mind the miss
Speaker 1: games thing. It could be a part of it. It It
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be the whole conversation. I think we
Speaker 1: both kind of agree on that. Yeah, for sure that
Speaker 1: we do. And and I mean the end at the
Speaker 1: end of the day is gonna end up winning and
Speaker 1: it'll be fine. It's just I'm just you know, com
Speaker 1: anding about the process um so real quickly before we
Speaker 1: get you guys out of here. I wanted to get
Speaker 1: your opinion on this Steph Curry thing because I so basically, Uh,
Speaker 1: Steph recently lit up a couple of bad defenses. He
Speaker 1: lit up the Rockets in the Thunder who are bottom
Speaker 1: half defenses, and then he lit up the Nuggets, who
Speaker 1: are a below average to average defense on any given
Speaker 1: night depending on when you catch him right now. There
Speaker 1: I think sixteenth or seventeen the defensive rating in the
Speaker 1: league if if I remember correctly, Um, but I mean
Speaker 1: step has been dominant all season, and if if you
Speaker 1: go back to what I said in my Western Conference
Speaker 1: preview podcast, which is in this same feed, I said
Speaker 1: before the season that Steph season was going to go
Speaker 1: one of two ways. That he was either going to
Speaker 1: be like two thousand eighteen Lebron or like two thousand
Speaker 1: nineteen Lebron. Uh. You know, a team a season where
Speaker 1: he is dominant and they don't really have any real
Speaker 1: chance to win, or a season where he gets hurt
Speaker 1: and he's really good when he plays, but you know
Speaker 1: it ends up and cost them a playoff run. And
Speaker 1: I was right because he's been healthy for the most part,
Speaker 1: and in his healthiness he's been extremely dominant individually and
Speaker 1: the team is not very good now. The difference in
Speaker 1: the standings between that team and the UH the two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen Calves is that the two eighteen Calves played
Speaker 1: in a week at Eastern Conference. They were able to
Speaker 1: go on some crazy wind streaks and wind streaks playing
Speaker 1: against a week Eastern Conference schedule, and Lebron was able
Speaker 1: to parlay that into a finals run based on the
Speaker 1: fact that they He played some inferior opponents in the
Speaker 1: in the in the in the playoffs, but he never
Speaker 1: really had any real chance of winning the title that year.
Speaker 1: I mean, even if Houston had gotten through a full
Speaker 1: strength I think they would have gotten beat. But the
Speaker 1: debate has become what version of Steph is the best
Speaker 1: version of Steph, whether it's two thousand sixteen staff or
Speaker 1: two thousand one Staff. And I think this is an
Speaker 1: interesting debate regardless of any you know, private machinations going
Speaker 1: on with this fan base, because I actually think it's
Speaker 1: really fascinating to talk about when you know, a physical
Speaker 1: prime matches up with a mental prime, when you start
Speaker 1: to see the game at an extremely high level, but
Speaker 1: you still have something in the tank athletically. I've always
Speaker 1: thought that's super fascinating. It's why I think two thousand
Speaker 1: eighteen Lebron was the better version of Lebron than two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen Lebron because he was most of the same
Speaker 1: athlete that he was, and he was this incredible basketball
Speaker 1: savant just with his brain and what he was able
Speaker 1: to do the game. So I think Steph in the
Speaker 1: version is the best version of Steph. Now, most Warriors
Speaker 1: fans that you talked to would tell you that it's
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen stuff. And the reason is is because
Speaker 1: they set up some rules. They set up some rules
Speaker 1: for how we evaluate basketball players, and these rules were
Speaker 1: basically Steph's winning. So Steph is the best because Steph
Speaker 1: fans think Steph is the best player in the world.
Speaker 1: Now I disagree. You can make a case I would
Speaker 1: disagree with you, but that's their case. Their cases. Mainly
Speaker 1: we won and because we on step is the best.
Speaker 1: Now all of us critical thinking, you know, honest, people
Speaker 1: could have been like, like, there's some context. They're like
Speaker 1: the guy you were trying to pass, he had passed
Speaker 1: him by adding the dude who's also everything as good
Speaker 1: as you guys. Yeah, like there's some obvious context there.
Speaker 1: But the problem is that Steff is now not winning,
Speaker 1: you know, even with as amazing as he is, He's
Speaker 1: a fringe playoff guy. Like if the season ended today,
Speaker 1: the Warriors would be out of the playoffs. So they're
Speaker 1: having kind of a reckoning with their own rules that
Speaker 1: they set up, you know, And so it makes more
Speaker 1: sense for them to push this narrative that Steph used
Speaker 1: to be better and that this is some different phase
Speaker 1: of his career because it's how they can rationalize the
Speaker 1: difference between the two outcomes, when the reality is is
Speaker 1: basketball is a team sport and the only reason the
Speaker 1: Warriors are struggling right now is because their team is worse,
Speaker 1: which is basically just a product of injuries, which is
Speaker 1: just really bad luck, and it doesn't have anything to
Speaker 1: do with Steph. In my opinion, if this version of
Speaker 1: Steph was swapped for the two thousand sixteen version of
Speaker 1: Steph and played that NBA Finals, even with the same
Speaker 1: knee issues, he would have won that series because he
Speaker 1: has such a better command of the game now, He
Speaker 1: sees the floor so much better, he has such a
Speaker 1: better feel for the moment when to be aggressive when
Speaker 1: not to be aggressive, how to better take care of
Speaker 1: the basketball. Steph just is better now. And I think
Speaker 1: it's just been really funny to watch that fan base
Speaker 1: kind of like reckon with their own, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of bad logic that they used for so long, and
Speaker 1: and to see how they kind of put they kind
Speaker 1: of tied themselves into this into this not yeah, they're
Speaker 1: they're reckoning with mortality, right, That's basically what's happening here,
Speaker 1: Like after you win so much and then you're reckoning
Speaker 1: with like, hey, it's not that easy, right, you don't
Speaker 1: just win sixty games every year. The Warriors reminded me
Speaker 1: so much of the Lakers after their three pt where
Speaker 1: it was just Kobe, right and then it was Kobe
Speaker 1: and like oh five oh six, and Kobe was averaging
Speaker 1: thirty five at night, he was having like thirty five
Speaker 1: and like eight assists. But they were a fringe play
Speaker 1: off team similar to the Warriors right now. They were
Speaker 1: finishing at five hundred. Kobe was never going to touch
Speaker 1: an m v P in those years, but he was
Speaker 1: just going off. And Steph is kind of in that
Speaker 1: mode to me right now. It's where like he's mastered
Speaker 1: the game. At a level where his teammates just can't
Speaker 1: catch up. I mean, his teammates just aren't at that
Speaker 1: level right now. It's kind of where Kobe was after
Speaker 1: the three P and obviously Kobe wasn't. Uh, Kobe was
Speaker 1: better during that time. Just because Kobe was winning titles
Speaker 1: during the three P doesn't mean he was better than
Speaker 1: where he was in his later career when he turned Like,
Speaker 1: I know, STEP's thirty three, but Steph also came into
Speaker 1: the league later, right, So I'm kind of using that
Speaker 1: progression as well. So when Kobe was like thirty three
Speaker 1: step when Steff is thirty three, Kobe was like thirty
Speaker 1: or something, some kind of comparison when they got into
Speaker 1: the league. Steve step state a lot. Steff went to
Speaker 1: college obviously, so he just looks like he has a
Speaker 1: master of the game. He's averaging thirty and night on
Speaker 1: two from three. It's absolutely ridiculous. Um And Yeah, like
Speaker 1: that comparison just keeps going to me. Like James Wiseman
Speaker 1: reminds me of Andrew buying him when the Lakers Japan.
Speaker 1: Andrew buying him at like two thousand seven. Draymond reminds
Speaker 1: me of like Lamar Odom who like stayed over. Um
Speaker 1: Shack left, He's like Kevin Durant. I'm kind of I'm
Speaker 1: not saying Kevin Duran is Shack, but you know, Kevin
Speaker 1: Duran has a dominant player, similar like when Shag left,
Speaker 1: and now Steph is kind of trying to carry that.
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson is like Clay Tops a lot better. But
Speaker 1: he reminds me of like that Derek Fisher, like, hey,
Speaker 1: we want titles together, Like, we gotta keep fighting this
Speaker 1: and I think they'll eventually come back. But again, they're
Speaker 1: fighting mortality right now. It's just like when the Lakers,
Speaker 1: you know, went through their terrible stretch and then now
Speaker 1: we're getting used to winning and getting you know back.
Speaker 1: It's just a circle of it. And now I think
Speaker 1: steps better right now, Like in my opinion, his athleticism
Speaker 1: isn't there, but he's still finishing at the rim um.
Speaker 1: His layout package is still just insane. He gets to
Speaker 1: the basket um and no one can guard him. I mean,
Speaker 1: the defense is only guarding him. And let's be honest,
Speaker 1: there's Andrew Wiggins on the floor. Um Juantiscanna answer is
Speaker 1: a nice player, but they're not guarding him. They're doubly
Speaker 1: tripling Step and he's still averaging thirty shitting for two
Speaker 1: percent from three on all the whole defense gear to him.
Speaker 1: So I think he's better now. I think it's a
Speaker 1: disservice that the Warriors just decided to punt this season
Speaker 1: is as well. I know Clay to Upson's injury like
Speaker 1: really impacted that, but I mean still it's it's really
Speaker 1: sucks that we're gonna get I mean, STEP's probably gonna
Speaker 1: go into play in tournament. They're probably gonna be out
Speaker 1: in the first round. So but no, I think he's
Speaker 1: better now. And if that's the debate, I think he's
Speaker 1: better now. But I mean, you have a unitis MVP season.
Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to top that with your fans.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think he's definitely. Uh, he's
Speaker 1: mastered the game to a level you could just tell
Speaker 1: he's comfortable. There's no defense that bothers him. He knows
Speaker 1: every coverage, every zone, how to play every screen, and
Speaker 1: he defended how they're how they're chasing him. He knows
Speaker 1: how to get him off him. That's that's how I
Speaker 1: see it. There's you know, first of all, like I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think he's lost a step even really athletically.
Speaker 1: I think he looks more or less the same from
Speaker 1: a quickness. Same point, you know, you make a good point, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: how do you rationalize the fact that he wanted unamous
Speaker 1: m VP? Well, the same way I rationalized the fact
Speaker 1: that Lebron won back to back m vps and back
Speaker 1: to back finals MVPs. And I don't think he was
Speaker 1: as good as two thousand and eighteen Lebron. It's all
Speaker 1: about circumstance. The two thousand and sixteen Warriors were very good,
Speaker 1: you know, even though Clay wasn't quite what Clay was
Speaker 1: later on, Draymond was apt reolutely at his peak because
Speaker 1: he was every bit as good as he was defensively,
Speaker 1: but he was actually a decent offensive player that year,
Speaker 1: Like he shot the three really well. He you know,
Speaker 1: was capable of these playoffs, you know, the scoring outbursts.
Speaker 1: And then their bench was incredible, like the Warriors bench
Speaker 1: in two thousands sixteen with le Andrew Barboza and uh uh,
Speaker 1: Sean Livingston and Andre Guadalad. They were literally unbelievably good.
Speaker 1: And so the funny part is, like, you know, as
Speaker 1: as we look as we look back, it's it's circumstance.
Speaker 1: Like the reason why Lebron won back to back m
Speaker 1: vps and made it to the UH to the finals
Speaker 1: and won twice was because Kobe had kind of fallen
Speaker 1: off a little bit, not necessarily, but his team had,
Speaker 1: and Dirk lost Tyson Chandler and his team kind of
Speaker 1: fell apart. Derrick Rose tore up his knee. Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: was still too young, like all like kind of the
Speaker 1: Red Sea just kind of parted there at the same
Speaker 1: time that Lebron was peaking, you know, and so he
Speaker 1: kind of just slotted in there as this like like
Speaker 1: not default, but just he was way better than every buddy,
Speaker 1: Like he was on a tier and then there was
Speaker 1: like nobody on the next tier, and then the rest
Speaker 1: of everybody was like on tier three. Well you fast forward,
Speaker 1: it's not like Lebron's declined. It's just Kevin Durank got
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot better. Steph Curry got a
Speaker 1: hell of a lot better. James Harden, Kawhi, Leonard Yea,
Speaker 1: all these guys are now like climbing climbing climbing because
Speaker 1: the league is just so good that gets what in
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, even though he's every bit as good
Speaker 1: as he was, if not better than he was in
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen, his team isn't as good as he
Speaker 1: had when he was playing with Ray Allen and Dwayne
Speaker 1: Wade and Chris Bosh and all those guys. He's playing
Speaker 1: with Kevin Love and then a bunch of role players,
Speaker 1: and the rest of the league is completely you know,
Speaker 1: like like you know, retooled into all of these really
Speaker 1: really competitive basketball teams and a bunch of these alpha
Speaker 1: dog superstars are peaking, and so you know, these more
Speaker 1: often than not, it's the circumstances. Like, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a huge Lebron fan. I think he's the best player
Speaker 1: in the world. But you want to know why he
Speaker 1: won the title last year. He won the title last
Speaker 1: year because he was playing with one of the best
Speaker 1: defenses ever and Anthony Davis in the playoff run ascended
Speaker 1: to being one of the top three or four players
Speaker 1: in the world. Like that's part of the story. And
Speaker 1: you you never want to you never want to go
Speaker 1: too far. You never want to make it so that
Speaker 1: you know, winning doesn't matter because that's too far. But
Speaker 1: winning is only part of the story. There's a larger
Speaker 1: story to all of these players experiences and usually in
Speaker 1: their career, if they are a winner, they will win.
Speaker 1: Usually so at some point in their career you'll see
Speaker 1: where the things broke right and their impact on winning
Speaker 1: was enough to put a team over the top. It's
Speaker 1: not perfect. There are players who were on the short
Speaker 1: end of the stick there. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: winning is the best indicator, but there are other indicators
Speaker 1: of what a player does to impact winning. Chris Paul
Speaker 1: is a fantastic example that dude flat out impacts winning.
Speaker 1: But the stuff just hasn't broken right. And when you
Speaker 1: look at it, he's historically played with Blake Griffin, who's
Speaker 1: a bad playoff player, like just a bad playoff player
Speaker 1: who in addition to that has struggled with health. And
Speaker 1: then he played with James Harden, who might be the
Speaker 1: worst playoff player relative to his regular season success ever.
Speaker 1: And then he played with guil Just Alexander and so
Speaker 1: like there, the Chris Paul's story is more complicated than
Speaker 1: hasn't won a championship And I just this is just
Speaker 1: a downside of the way basketball this course has changed.
Speaker 1: But I I do think that that that that is
Speaker 1: it is important to tell the whole story of what
Speaker 1: it takes to win a championship. And it's not just
Speaker 1: my alpha dog is better than your alpha dog. It's
Speaker 1: there's so many other things that go into it, right,
Speaker 1: And there's no one who watches Chris Paul, at least
Speaker 1: for me, Like, I don't know how you watch to
Speaker 1: watch Chris Paul and think like he's the reason his
Speaker 1: teams aren't winning. Like even in the playoffs, he's a
Speaker 1: killer playoff performer. You have just like twenty five and
Speaker 1: ten in the playoffs. He's just ridiculous. So that's part
Speaker 1: of the story as well. And winning is hard. I mean,
Speaker 1: unless you have Lebron or Curry or you know, one
Speaker 1: of those all time greats on your team, you're not
Speaker 1: like winning. I mean, look at the titles in the
Speaker 1: last decade. Lebron has been to what ten straight finals.
Speaker 1: I mean that's not an accident. That's because he's one
Speaker 1: of the greatest of all times. It's not by you know,
Speaker 1: it's not by coincidence that teams win titles. Kauai is
Speaker 1: one of you. I think his game kind of translates
Speaker 1: as well pretty well to the playoffs. But you look
Speaker 1: at that, if you don't have like one of the
Speaker 1: all time or a couple of superstars, probably not gonna win.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just how it works in today's league.
Speaker 1: And I like the Chris Paul analogy. He's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players ever. I think he's the second best
Speaker 1: point guard ever, um, and and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But again, like his team just aren't good enough. And
Speaker 1: if you watch him and you watch the context of
Speaker 1: his game, you're not gonna say he's the reason or
Speaker 1: give him rings culture or anything like that. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I think winning is all part of the
Speaker 1: context of it. And I don't know how you watch
Speaker 1: Steff this year and just not be still amazed at
Speaker 1: what he can do no matter what his team is doing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's if you look at his cast two
Speaker 1: characters there, I mean, he's the only one really being
Speaker 1: able to do anything so and still averaging thirty and
Speaker 1: you know, be able to be this efficient, this good
Speaker 1: um and still at this m v P level, which
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure the Warriors knew step was still
Speaker 1: going to be at this level. I mean he was
Speaker 1: coming off an injury I think to his hand or
Speaker 1: something like that. So, and he's had like a tailbone
Speaker 1: injury recently, but he's he's been great, and he's obviously
Speaker 1: still at that top level. And I think the Warriors
Speaker 1: will kind of conduct their off season that way. I
Speaker 1: think they'll be able to build around him a little
Speaker 1: better than than last year. And they know what they
Speaker 1: have in all their players. So yeah, I mean the
Speaker 1: Steph conversation is is funny. I I think you kind
Speaker 1: of agree with that he's probably the second best player
Speaker 1: in the game. I mean, I get I get framed
Speaker 1: as a staff hitter. It's the most ridiculous. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's all. Like again, I think we talked about this.
Speaker 1: When you get to the top five, you're splitting hairs. Really,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to Lebron's, deaph Katie, all those
Speaker 1: dudes impact waiting at such a high level. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can kind of split hairs on the top three.
Speaker 1: But um, going with that saying Steff is in that conversation,
Speaker 1: there's no disc to him. I mean, it's just he's
Speaker 1: one of the best in the whole game, and no
Speaker 1: matter what his cast is, he's going to impact winning
Speaker 1: at a at a super high level, so that I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't think. I don't think that debate
Speaker 1: really wins anything. The Warrior fans obviously wants Steff to
Speaker 1: get a Foules m VP at some point, I'm sure,
Speaker 1: um so I feel like that's that's part of it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that that's where I either debate is I
Speaker 1: think I think he'll win one if the team is right,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if they'll be able to build
Speaker 1: the talent with them, so we'll see they're they're in
Speaker 1: good shape. I mean what, your fans got way too
Speaker 1: attached to the season in a way that they shouldn't have.
Speaker 1: They should have just understood what it was from the beginning.
Speaker 1: I mean, like even even like your fans got two
Speaker 1: attached last year. And don't get me wrong, like I
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think they would have made a
Speaker 1: deep playoff run had they been healthy. Um, but I
Speaker 1: mean they just they were How many times do you
Speaker 1: know where a bunch of young players can go win
Speaker 1: a championship which doesn't happen very often, and like Lebron
Speaker 1: can only do so much to to overcome that specific disadvantage.
Speaker 1: But the truth is they have two extremely good assets
Speaker 1: and James Wiseman, and in this draft pick that they
Speaker 1: have next year, they have Clay Thompson coming back, and
Speaker 1: they have the second best player in the world under
Speaker 1: contract who's still playing really, really well. So they're going
Speaker 1: to have a much better chance next year and they
Speaker 1: just need to relax. Um. But I my my phone
Speaker 1: is blowing up with some work stuff that I gotta
Speaker 1: deal with, So I've got to to cut it off
Speaker 1: at this point. But does there any thing else you
Speaker 1: wanted to add quickly before we get out of here.
Speaker 1: I think that's it. Uh. I think the only thing
Speaker 1: we didn't really touch on is that Jamal Murray got hurt.
Speaker 1: I think that kind of really changes this whole, uh,
Speaker 1: this whole playoff picture. We don't have to really go
Speaker 1: along on it. But that's really sad that he got
Speaker 1: kind of hurt because I think we both of us
Speaker 1: really like Denver write their new team with Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: kind of putting everyone in the correct role and kind
Speaker 1: of sucks. And people are saying that a c L
Speaker 1: tear probably keeps them out until a lot of next
Speaker 1: season as well, so probably impactual, decent chunk. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's just really tough and it's sad. So hopefully he
Speaker 1: gets rested up, but it's still Denver is a tough team.
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna be an easy out, but
Speaker 1: obviously without Murray it it's gonna be really tough for
Speaker 1: them to really make a lot of noise. So I
Speaker 1: guess that's the only thing is that's that's really sad
Speaker 1: to see around the league that he got hurt and
Speaker 1: that's why we're seeing Lebron and Adi take their time,
Speaker 1: Like that's that's why you don't want freak injuries like this,
Speaker 1: especially in this kind of compact. I think Denver played
Speaker 1: like six games and nine days or something something like that,
Speaker 1: So I yeah, that's that's the only thing. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty much it pretty much. Probably some of it's
Speaker 1: bad luck, like like Murray missed some time before that,
Speaker 1: Like it's not he wasn't actually one of the guys
Speaker 1: who've been playing all that much. It's just dude, like
Speaker 1: like people get a little bit over attached. Like don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, the schedule has been really hard and
Speaker 1: it's been tough, but like a lot of people are
Speaker 1: too critical of Adam Silver, too critical of the understanding
Speaker 1: the situation. The players did agree to this. Guess what
Speaker 1: you can rest if you need to rest, and uh,
Speaker 1: statistics show that injuries are more or less what they've
Speaker 1: been in the last five years, and actually lower than
Speaker 1: they were last year. It's just perception is different from reality.
Speaker 1: We we panic anytime we see anything. It's no different
Speaker 1: than like, you know, one person dies from a blood
Speaker 1: clot from the vaccine, even though seven million people got
Speaker 1: the shot and we don't even know if the blood
Speaker 1: clot is what caused it. But you know, the perception
Speaker 1: is is it just causes that. That's just how it works.
Speaker 1: And you know, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like it sucks because I actually thought the Nuggets were
Speaker 1: the second best team in the West behind the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I thought they were going I thought they were going
Speaker 1: to beat the Clippers like they were just if they
Speaker 1: saw the Clippers in the first or second round, like
Speaker 1: it was going to be the bet of the century
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and and and they and they lost
Speaker 1: that chance, which is which is really unfortunate. But um, anyway, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna put the podcast version of this up shortly.
Speaker 1: Roche thank you as always, and we'll talk about maybe
Speaker 1: doing a locker room sometime next week. Yep, let's do it.
Speaker 1: Hi buddy, have a good weekend. I'll talk to you later.
Speaker 1: See everybody,