Speaker 1: M m all right, welcome to the State of the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and then a boy Dash Radio. Happy study everybody. I
Speaker 1: hope you had a good week. I hope you had
Speaker 1: a good weekend, whether it was productive or relaxing, depending
Speaker 1: on what you needed. We are going to talk about
Speaker 1: that somewhat predictable Laker game tonight, but before we get
Speaker 1: down to that, we're gonna welcome our special guests, Mr
Speaker 1: Vannikila Wall, one of my favorite basketball minds on Twitter.
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to come hang
Speaker 1: out with us tonight, Sir. How are you doing. I
Speaker 1: am doing good. Did a lot of housework today and
Speaker 1: uh tempered my expectations as to what we were going
Speaker 1: to see tonight from from this uh, from this Laker team,
Speaker 1: considering how many and so I had playing in the background. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then as soon as they went down super early
Speaker 1: in the game, by like twenty, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, that's kind of expected. We're in Miami, a
Speaker 1: bunch of that guys. I'm sure they're not taking it seriously.
Speaker 1: And then so how we got a pretty exciting finish.
Speaker 1: So that was that was kind of interesting, But you know,
Speaker 1: too little, too late. I guess it's sort of the
Speaker 1: theme of today. Yeah, we've seen that kind of game
Speaker 1: a couple of times this season that we come out
Speaker 1: overmatched and the fight comes, but the fight comes way
Speaker 1: too late, and at that point the other team is
Speaker 1: kind of like go of the rope, and at that
Speaker 1: point you basically have to play perfect basketball, and no
Speaker 1: one can play perfect basketball. So that's why you only
Speaker 1: see that kind of come back once every several thousand tries. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, I thought the Lakers were outclassed and
Speaker 1: outmatched in a lot of ways. It was interesting. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, gravity is a concept that we became familiar
Speaker 1: with as a result of Steph Curry having to do
Speaker 1: with the idea of panic chasing shooters around the perimeter
Speaker 1: and giving up things around the rib. And since you've
Speaker 1: kind of seen a similar effect from a bunch of
Speaker 1: really high level shooters that have come into the league,
Speaker 1: and Duncan Robinson is one of them. And I thought
Speaker 1: the story at the beginning of the game was the
Speaker 1: Lakers because they're an undisciplined team, because they're a team
Speaker 1: that has had to change defensive schemes a half dozen
Speaker 1: times this year, because they have personnel groups that all
Speaker 1: have to have specific defensive schemes ran for them. They
Speaker 1: botched coverages uh NonStop to start the game, mostly sending
Speaker 1: multiple players that Duncan Robinson and then sending multiple players
Speaker 1: at the role man, which is a recipe for wide
Speaker 1: open dunks and layups and threes on the back end. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it was sloppy and Miami controlled it throughout, and
Speaker 1: even when we came back at the end, I thought
Speaker 1: it was more product of Miami letting up in us
Speaker 1: just simply playing harder. So I didn't really take too
Speaker 1: much from that. But before we, you know, get into
Speaker 1: some of the larger scope stuff, because I do want
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about just how we move
Speaker 1: forward from here. But what was your initial takeaway or
Speaker 1: just your overhead takeaway from the game today? Yeah, so, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I thought we started off really lax, like
Speaker 1: just kind of the the attitude of the team. You know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because it's we're starting so
Speaker 1: many vets, like the whole starting rosters, like not really
Speaker 1: any young guys, and probably the two guys with the
Speaker 1: most energy are are gonna be are gonna be brawn
Speaker 1: and like Russ um. But but I thought they started
Speaker 1: off really flat. Um. You know, we beat Miami already, right,
Speaker 1: like we beat him in ane overtime game in in
Speaker 1: Staples Center at the time, and that was actually without
Speaker 1: Braun uh and that was of a d But like
Speaker 1: this was a game where for sure, like playing small
Speaker 1: ball probably doesn't work because Eric Spoelster sitting there saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna play small ball, like watch this uh.
Speaker 1: And and he just kept you know, kind of using
Speaker 1: his bigs uh, finding ways to to get to the rim,
Speaker 1: to to get the Lakers to collapse and stuff like that. Um,
Speaker 1: I thought we look slow, like really slow compared compared
Speaker 1: to my and and you know, Miami is not one
Speaker 1: of those teams like it. You know, they didn't have
Speaker 1: Tyler Harrow, they didn't have Kyle Lowry, but they have
Speaker 1: like their their offensive principles are in place. They're like
Speaker 1: a I don't want to call them a system team
Speaker 1: because I feel like sometimes the de values like what
Speaker 1: the players do, but like they know what they want
Speaker 1: to run and they know what they want to do. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, make the extra play, collapse the paint, get
Speaker 1: somebody to come come over, find the three point shooter,
Speaker 1: and I mean they ran it to perfection, like the
Speaker 1: reason they went up twenty. We were chasing like constantly
Speaker 1: the entire game. And then, um, I think I don't
Speaker 1: know if you watch the local broadcast, but yeah, on
Speaker 1: the local broadcast or sorry, the l A broadcast. Um,
Speaker 1: what's it called stud lance? He was just saying like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: the the entire goal is to take Dwight Howard away
Speaker 1: from the paint because they know that nobody's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to come and help, you know, at the rim
Speaker 1: and stuff like that once they get it. So it's
Speaker 1: just you know, I think they Miami came in well
Speaker 1: prepared with the game plan. They knew what the Lakers
Speaker 1: small ball was. Um, and you know, credit to Erik
Speaker 1: Spoelstra and and and those guys for executing it. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And for the record, you know, going in like talent
Speaker 1: is a huge issue year. I kind of pointed this
Speaker 1: out before before for the last game against the Magic.
Speaker 1: But when you're looking at the starting lineup and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I've got Lebron James, but I've got Russell Westbrook who
Speaker 1: is mostly a shell of his former self, and we'll
Speaker 1: discuss that a little bit more later. But you've got
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, who was literally cut by the Golden State
Speaker 1: Warriors earlier this year when buying for the fifteenth roster
Speaker 1: spot and is an extremely I would call him like
Speaker 1: a one dimensional basketball player, Like he has one elite skill,
Speaker 1: which is strictly ball pressure, and even that you know,
Speaker 1: comes with a bunch of downsides, and and obviously offensively,
Speaker 1: he's he's very hot and cold. And then you got
Speaker 1: Trevor Reza, who I actually, this is one of the
Speaker 1: big things I've been wrong about this year. I thought
Speaker 1: he'd be better than he's been, and he's been and
Speaker 1: he's been really bad. And if you watch him now,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna get too far into him, but he
Speaker 1: is actively hurting the team on both ends of the
Speaker 1: ploor right now. And then you have Dwight Howard, who's
Speaker 1: a backup sent uh, you know, a guy who definitely
Speaker 1: belongs in the league, definitely can play that backup center
Speaker 1: role in a championship level team. He's definitely not over
Speaker 1: underqualified for that, but he is overqualified underqualified to be
Speaker 1: a actual, you know, um starting NBA center on a
Speaker 1: good team. So you're looking at that starting lineup and
Speaker 1: it's it's basically four really limited basketball players and Lebron James.
Speaker 1: And then you go to the bench and it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we we've been advocating for the young guys
Speaker 1: a lot, but it's like Austin Reeves, undrafted free agents,
Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson was out of the league. Molikue Monk Lakers
Speaker 1: were the only team that offered him a contract th
Speaker 1: ht second round pick. You're looking at this and there's
Speaker 1: just not a lot of talent on the roster, so
Speaker 1: you have to cut the team some slack in the
Speaker 1: sense that you're not going to go on the road
Speaker 1: into Miami and just beat the Miami Heat like that.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, we also functionally look like
Speaker 1: a disorganized, bad basketball team. So I think that, like
Speaker 1: I think even if with our adjusted expectations, they're not
Speaker 1: performing up to that level, if that makes sense. So
Speaker 1: what do you make so even even the Orlando game, right,
Speaker 1: like, like like you already mentioned that, you know we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into rust a little bit later, um so so um,
Speaker 1: we can do that. And but like you know, the
Speaker 1: general theme of some of these losses and a lot
Speaker 1: of the conversation about the losses to the playoff team.
Speaker 1: The teams has been you know, the the up and
Speaker 1: down on Russell Westbrook, what version do you get and
Speaker 1: so like the last two games he's been okay, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: but the defense has been so bad. What what do
Speaker 1: you make of that? What do you make of Like, so,
Speaker 1: how did we go from being a super terrible defensive
Speaker 1: team even though Braun and Rust shot well in the
Speaker 1: first half of that Orlando game. We figure it out
Speaker 1: in the second half of that game, and then we
Speaker 1: show up in this Miami game and they were completely
Speaker 1: lost yet again at the start of this game. What
Speaker 1: what do you make of that? What do you think
Speaker 1: that is? Is it? Is it just talent? Do you
Speaker 1: think it's preparation? What are your thoughts on that? So
Speaker 1: it's I think it's a bunch of things. But like,
Speaker 1: for instance, if you've got a team, like a really
Speaker 1: smart defensive team, a team like the Miami eat, I
Speaker 1: think you can run really advanced schemes, Like I think
Speaker 1: you can do things where you're switching certain actions which
Speaker 1: are also you know, running traditional traditional pick and roll
Speaker 1: coverages on other actions, or maybe you might keep a
Speaker 1: lock and trail defender on a shooter and not which
Speaker 1: those screens like, you can mix all of that up
Speaker 1: when you've got personnel that kind of fits into that
Speaker 1: identity of a smart defensive team. But we certainly don't
Speaker 1: have that. Like when you look at the personnel down
Speaker 1: the roster, we have too many guys where defense has
Speaker 1: been on the back burner during their career. Doesn't mean
Speaker 1: they can't play defense, it just means you have to
Speaker 1: simplify things for them. I think that's really important. So
Speaker 1: for instance, like what did the Brooklyn Nets do last year?
Speaker 1: Were they asking Kyrie Irving and James Harden and Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant even who's a player who has been lacks of
Speaker 1: days go on the defensive end for a lot of
Speaker 1: his career. You know you're not gonna ask those guys
Speaker 1: to do anything super advanced, And so they broke it
Speaker 1: down to something outrageously simple. Guys just switch everything and
Speaker 1: if they beat us one on one attacking a specific
Speaker 1: matchup will live with the results. But that way it's
Speaker 1: super easy. There's it's it's it's a there's no like
Speaker 1: having to decide what coverage you're running when something gets
Speaker 1: run your way. It's just we're switching everything and when
Speaker 1: and if you lean into that the way they did
Speaker 1: for the entire season, then you get good at it.
Speaker 1: You get pretty good at it, and you know, and
Speaker 1: one of the biggest things of switching is communicating. This
Speaker 1: is one of the big things that fell apart today
Speaker 1: as you see multiple Laker defenders run to an open
Speaker 1: three point shooter or to an open roll man instead
Speaker 1: of just one guy going in that direction. And that's
Speaker 1: just fundamental sloppiness. You're not talking starting from the basic
Speaker 1: like entry levels of basketball. When you're educating like a
Speaker 1: six or seven year old and how to play defense,
Speaker 1: you teach them to talk. When you're on the ball,
Speaker 1: you yell ball, why so that everybody around you knows
Speaker 1: that you're guarding the ball. When you're one pass away,
Speaker 1: you yelled deny, Why so that everybody on the court
Speaker 1: knows that you're guarding one pass away. If you're in
Speaker 1: help site underneath the basket, you always yell midline or
Speaker 1: help or depending on the program. It's it's those kinds
Speaker 1: of things. Those are basic basketball things that the Lakers
Speaker 1: just aren't doing right now. They're not talking, they're not
Speaker 1: even like letting each other know what they're doing while
Speaker 1: they're on the floor. So it's it's a combination of
Speaker 1: sloppiness and an over complicated scheme in my opinion. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's that's been like the biggest thing, you know, Like, um,
Speaker 1: I think if you follow, if you follow the Lakers
Speaker 1: on the on the timeline and stuff like that, especially
Speaker 1: without lost is obviously are low lights? Are are what
Speaker 1: gets the individual low lights? You know, rush shooting the
Speaker 1: ball off the top of the backboard and stuff. I
Speaker 1: got that stuff will be highlighted and you'll just think
Speaker 1: to yourself, like, oh man, this team just sucks. But
Speaker 1: there's like a fundamental issue I feel like with this
Speaker 1: team when it comes to not just efforts, but it's
Speaker 1: just like what do we do? Like sometimes I just
Speaker 1: sit there and watch what are we doing? Like I'm
Speaker 1: so confused as to why is it that we switched
Speaker 1: on this time but then on this time we didn't switch?
Speaker 1: When were we in dropped? Like why did why did
Speaker 1: we spend the entire possessions switching every single thing and
Speaker 1: then at the very last moment we dropped? Like it
Speaker 1: is that? Is that a player thing? Is that a
Speaker 1: coverage thing, you know, what is it? And so I
Speaker 1: think that's been sort of the sign Like I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know how to kind of explain it um
Speaker 1: going from game to game, but you know, the talent
Speaker 1: disparity is definitely one of those things. The you know,
Speaker 1: even more than the talent disparity, the athleticism disparity crazy
Speaker 1: for this team, like there like consistently, if we play
Speaker 1: a young team, a young physical team at like that
Speaker 1: wants to like even even Orlando that wants to get
Speaker 1: into your space and stuff like even the Indiana game,
Speaker 1: like Tory Craig is trying to press Lebron the second
Speaker 1: half of that game from full so that he can't
Speaker 1: get his rhythm or anything like that. If we play
Speaker 1: against teams that are athletic and and just kind of
Speaker 1: want to press us and stuff like that, this team
Speaker 1: seems to like basically bold, like pretty much like it
Speaker 1: just allows itself to get out of rhythm and stuff
Speaker 1: I got. And I don't know if that's because we
Speaker 1: got a bunch of old guys that you know, they're
Speaker 1: just not gonna do that kind of effort in the
Speaker 1: regular season, or if it's because that's just kind of
Speaker 1: what we are, like, we can't keep up with these
Speaker 1: sort of teams, maybe at least not until the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And so that's why we're seeing this sort of thing
Speaker 1: happen over and over again. It's it's it's mind boggling
Speaker 1: to see the inconsistency um game the game when when
Speaker 1: it comes to these situations. Yeah, you know what, It's
Speaker 1: interesting because the name over the course of the summer,
Speaker 1: the entire Laker fan base was on the same page,
Speaker 1: like when are they going to sign someone who's taller
Speaker 1: than six four? Like like that was the thing because
Speaker 1: you look at you look at a team, like you
Speaker 1: look at a team like Miami and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's Max Struss. He's six ft six two fifteen pounds
Speaker 1: and built like a truck. And you're like, you're like,
Speaker 1: that's not even what a top seven or eight player
Speaker 1: on their team, but like he's just a big athletic player.
Speaker 1: So guess what, Like if you're running a smart defensive
Speaker 1: scheme and the guy knows how to do his job,
Speaker 1: like he's not an easy guy to run over and
Speaker 1: get to the basket. And we used to have a
Speaker 1: bunch of those guys and you know, this is where
Speaker 1: you know that when I when I talked about the
Speaker 1: rush trade, which we're gonna get to into more detail later,
Speaker 1: I talked a lot about what was lost in the process,
Speaker 1: Like you know, because of the mismatching salaries, you know,
Speaker 1: there was more money coming in, so that had directly
Speaker 1: affected the Alex Caruso thing, which then you're talking about
Speaker 1: losing Kyle Kuzma, Alex Crusoe and KCP like three really
Speaker 1: high level NBA athletes with size you know at their
Speaker 1: position that went out the door. But like a lot
Speaker 1: of that have been undone. A lot of that damage
Speaker 1: could have been undone with if with the veteran minimums
Speaker 1: our general manager actually approached that replacing those specific archetypes
Speaker 1: like that was we we literally brought in because Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony is tall, guys, but he's really like Carmelo Anthony
Speaker 1: is a lot more Shanning Fry at this phase of
Speaker 1: his career than Carmelo Anthony. So yeah, his his lateral
Speaker 1: like there there should be even even this is this
Speaker 1: has been an issue with even also like like Arizona
Speaker 1: since he's been back, like to his mobility, like the
Speaker 1: mobility from some of our wings, specifically Carmelo specifically, like
Speaker 1: Aresa has been really really bad, like like there must
Speaker 1: have been at least two I'm trying to remember off
Speaker 1: the time, maybe two times where a Reason almost like god,
Speaker 1: his ankles broken just off of the jab step, like
Speaker 1: because he was trying to trying to guess which way,
Speaker 1: like Caleb Martin, which Cody Martican, I don't know what
Speaker 1: joint is, Like you could tell like he was he
Speaker 1: was gonna be in trouble, like he didn't know what
Speaker 1: was going to happen. And it's purely because the guy
Speaker 1: that he's going to go close out on is much
Speaker 1: more athletic, much more aggressive, and these guys know, like
Speaker 1: the opposing team knows, Hey, if you make you know,
Speaker 1: a misdirection cut, if if you jab right and go left,
Speaker 1: or if you jab left and go right, Carmel is
Speaker 1: gonna bite. He's gonna put it in one of these
Speaker 1: plays and you're gonna get a lane or Reason is
Speaker 1: gonna bite and you're gonna get one of the things.
Speaker 1: And that that's the part that like, um, that's the
Speaker 1: part that kind of concerns me. You know, like they're
Speaker 1: minimum players, so we should probably not be uh, you know,
Speaker 1: putting them under such a microscope, because that's why they're
Speaker 1: minimum players. But the part that bothers me, jays, is
Speaker 1: why are we putting minimum players in this position? Like
Speaker 1: it seems almost unfair to those guys. It's like, why
Speaker 1: are we asking these guys to guard athletes and then
Speaker 1: getting mad at them for not being able to guard athletes?
Speaker 1: Like there should be some some foresight or some just
Speaker 1: kind of common sense from from our front office that
Speaker 1: these guys just can't do it. Like Carmel is a
Speaker 1: great specialist, Like if you just stick them in a
Speaker 1: corner or you have them doing the trailing the trailing three,
Speaker 1: he's like he did like towards the towards the end
Speaker 1: of this game. It's great, but he can't be like
Speaker 1: a core. I gotta make four rotations or four coverages
Speaker 1: in a single defensive possession, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like you're not gonna you're gonna get more breakdowns and
Speaker 1: you're gonna get um, you know, positive stuff out of it.
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's very interesting to see this kind
Speaker 1: of what happens and and um, you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's putting a lot of pressure on even guys like Braun,
Speaker 1: even guys like Russ. At least, I ant Davis comes back.
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping he comes back next game so we
Speaker 1: can see how things sort of work out. It will
Speaker 1: certainly help with slotting, although it'll be frustrating at the
Speaker 1: beginning because of the fact that he's probably not gonna
Speaker 1: play a ton of minutes. But this is a perfect
Speaker 1: setup for the question I'm gonna ask you, because, like,
Speaker 1: I think that that, like that fundamental approach to the
Speaker 1: off season was where this went off the road. Even again,
Speaker 1: looking accepting the Rush trade for what it is, because
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into rust later, then looking at the
Speaker 1: moves they made around that, I fundamentally disagree with the approach.
Speaker 1: So I'll give you. I'll give you two examples. So
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn, so you, from what I heard, Rudy Gay
Speaker 1: would have signed with the Lakers had they offered him
Speaker 1: the mL E. They absolutely would have done. So that
Speaker 1: was in the works. Then I guess Rob was like, no, actually,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be the veteran minimum, and then the Jazz
Speaker 1: swooped in and got him under some pressure from Mike Conley.
Speaker 1: That's what I've heard, So essentially you fundamentally decided that
Speaker 1: you thought Kendrick Nunne because I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: it's because he fits the archetype of guard that Frank
Speaker 1: likes or because you underestimate what Rudy does offensively, but
Speaker 1: that is that basic approach, like instead of getting this
Speaker 1: versatile wing that can guard multiple positions and do things
Speaker 1: with the basketball offensively, We're gonna go for this versatile
Speaker 1: guard who can defend a little bit at his position
Speaker 1: and uh and uh, you know, do some things with
Speaker 1: the basketball. But that size difference that kind of went
Speaker 1: down the line with all of the signings. So for instance,
Speaker 1: like instead of getting guys like Wayne Ellington, you know,
Speaker 1: or Malik Monk's actually worked out okay, But in said
Speaker 1: of that archetype, like why wasn't it more guys like
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews, who everybody in late in the Laker fan
Speaker 1: base was clamoring for. Why wasn't it guys like James Ennis.
Speaker 1: Why wasn't you know that that archetype of Stanley Johnson,
Speaker 1: that type of player who's a fringe NBA player but
Speaker 1: brings an elite skill in the form of their athleticism.
Speaker 1: Like that is where the Lakers went off the rails.
Speaker 1: Now you could argue that we could argue when it
Speaker 1: comes to Russ as to that trade off and whether
Speaker 1: that was worth it. But even with the Rush trade,
Speaker 1: they had the ability to be bigger and more athletic
Speaker 1: than they are and they chose not to be because,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, they told themselves that Carmelo, Anthony and
Speaker 1: Trevor Rizzo was enough, which is which is outrageous. So
Speaker 1: so yeah, it's it's it's it's sorry saying I don't
Speaker 1: want to you're good, They're good. Well, I was just
Speaker 1: gonna tee you up. I was gonna say, so accepting
Speaker 1: that this is the reality, what would you do if
Speaker 1: you were robbed at this headline? What would you do? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So so my biggest my biggest thing about the team is, um,
Speaker 1: there's like they have to raise the athletic profile of
Speaker 1: this team, like especially on the wings, Like there's there's
Speaker 1: should be no confusion from any Laker fans about the
Speaker 1: lack of size when it comes to just the perimeter
Speaker 1: and wing guys that we have. It's very clear that
Speaker 1: Carmelo and Trevor Reaso are not are not the guys
Speaker 1: that that can consistently say active on the wings for
Speaker 1: this team. And they're not even if you put them
Speaker 1: in just three and D roles, they're not even doing
Speaker 1: the D part, you know what I mean, Like they're
Speaker 1: they're just they're just like it's not consistently good, like
Speaker 1: at least with Avery Bradley, Like and I know we
Speaker 1: don't like it, but at least with Bradley. You see
Speaker 1: the effort with Bradley and and and he's trying. Even
Speaker 1: how our Lando game the second half of that game,
Speaker 1: he got a bunch of deflections, he got a couple
Speaker 1: of dig dig plays where he just kind of pulled
Speaker 1: the ball out of the post of guy's head and
Speaker 1: stuff I got. So it's just like that, like you
Speaker 1: could see the effort and stuff I got when it
Speaker 1: comes to this team. Are certain players on the team,
Speaker 1: but on the wings outside of Lebron, especially without Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: like we have no size whatsoever to match up. So
Speaker 1: you know, like the cascading effect of you know, trading
Speaker 1: for us and all that sort of stuff. I'm acent
Speaker 1: and agree with you, like I went on, um, you know,
Speaker 1: with our our fellow friends like at Temple of Hoop
Speaker 1: Jason and and Cage like I went preseason, I went
Speaker 1: on a on a had a conversation with him where
Speaker 1: we talked about, you know, who the Lakers should try
Speaker 1: and get and what moves they should make and should
Speaker 1: they trade for us? And I was just like, look,
Speaker 1: if the only trade you could ever make was to
Speaker 1: get Russ, then that's fine, but that shouldn't like be
Speaker 1: like our first move because he costs and he costs
Speaker 1: a lot of money, and be we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: trade a lot of players away likes mos cruises and
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. But I mean, Russ is here.
Speaker 1: You know, you and I are not Rob and Kurt,
Speaker 1: so we're not the ones making the decisions. We don't
Speaker 1: know how that how that went on the back end,
Speaker 1: but it's like very clearly if I'm robbed, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the wings on this team and I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 1: DC guys can't keep up with like the like the
Speaker 1: best teams in the league. Like even if we just
Speaker 1: go down the list, you have the Warriors who have Wiggins,
Speaker 1: they have the young kids, Jonathan Flamingo, They're gonna have
Speaker 1: Draymond if he's healthy. They're gonna have Andrea Goodala if
Speaker 1: he's healthy. Uh. For the Jazz, you're gonna have Royce O'Neil.
Speaker 1: They have Rudy Gay two as well. They have Eric Pascal,
Speaker 1: another young guy that they just kind of added last
Speaker 1: second that's been getting minutes for them too as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then you go to the Suns, they have Michael Bridges,
Speaker 1: they have Cam Johnson. Uh, they have Jay Crowder. Like
Speaker 1: if you take our two wings outside of Braun, like
Speaker 1: you're assuming Braun's playing the floor, where do our guys
Speaker 1: even rank up? You know? And then in the top three,
Speaker 1: I could argue that when are the wings that we're
Speaker 1: relying on. They don't even like they may not even
Speaker 1: have roster spots on some of these teams that are
Speaker 1: on the Western Conference. And and and I think it's
Speaker 1: really really difficult for me to put two and two
Speaker 1: three two together when it comes to this team, Like
Speaker 1: what was the logic behind going super small on the
Speaker 1: on the perimeter and then going super slow you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like with the guys that we would
Speaker 1: have used as in small ball situations. And that's that's
Speaker 1: the part um that that just doesn't match up. So
Speaker 1: it's like that's what they have to do. Like they
Speaker 1: really really have to find guys that are six six
Speaker 1: six seven, six eight, and we need those guys to
Speaker 1: be able to be athletic. You know, if if they can't,
Speaker 1: if they can hit the occasional three, great, but we
Speaker 1: need guys that can defend badly or else. What you're
Speaker 1: gonna have is is teams do exactly what something like
Speaker 1: Eric Sposa's did. They'll take a D or they'll see
Speaker 1: a D at the five and they'll put a put
Speaker 1: a floor spacing shooter or something like that. They'll drag
Speaker 1: them out all the way to the top of the key,
Speaker 1: the top of the perimeter, and they'll say, all right,
Speaker 1: it's a free run. You get by your guy, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get a lay up because no one's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to help you on the backside. And that's just
Speaker 1: not gonna work. I don't care, I don't care any
Speaker 1: excuses anybody's making about them being vets in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That is going to be the go to strategy. Every
Speaker 1: playoff team has done this civilators. And look, whether it's
Speaker 1: because of the players or because it's Frank Vogel, we
Speaker 1: have no counter sport even with a D. We don't
Speaker 1: have counter sport because we don't have size on the wings.
Speaker 1: So I can't keep getting mad at Malik Monk or
Speaker 1: Tayleen Horton Tucker for not being able or even Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook for not being able to guys because there are
Speaker 1: four inches five inches shorter than everybody, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like they're just getting the ball shot over them.
Speaker 1: So it's it's gotta be we have to balance that out.
Speaker 1: We have to get size, We have to get athleticism
Speaker 1: on the wings um because I don't think he's realistic
Speaker 1: to expect Broun to have to do it like this
Speaker 1: the way he has in the regular season. Well, what
Speaker 1: Frank asks guards to do is extremely difficult, and I
Speaker 1: think the idea coming into the season it was kind
Speaker 1: of the same idea that that was functionally what happened
Speaker 1: in Like, we have all this size, so if we
Speaker 1: get guys that are willing to scram around on the
Speaker 1: perimeter and chase guys over the top of screens and stuff,
Speaker 1: then our size will clean everything up on the back end.
Speaker 1: But they I think where they fundamentally uh misread the
Speaker 1: room so to speak, was the fact that we did
Speaker 1: have so much size on the wing and at the
Speaker 1: guard position in and yes, on that initial action when
Speaker 1: the guys chasing over the top of the screen, like
Speaker 1: it helps to have a little pest like Avery Bradley
Speaker 1: in that spot or and and I think Frank probably
Speaker 1: convinced himself like, hey, I can convince Malik Monk to
Speaker 1: run over the top of screens, or I can convince
Speaker 1: Wayne Ellington to do this. And I think he underestimated
Speaker 1: just how difficult that job is and you know, to
Speaker 1: consistently do And one of the things that was the
Speaker 1: strength of the Lakers was that flying around in rotation
Speaker 1: because the Lakers, especially in that postseason run, they would
Speaker 1: flat out trap pick and rolls a lot of times,
Speaker 1: especially with James Harden and with Damian Lillard and even
Speaker 1: with Jamal Murray in that series. So like what was
Speaker 1: really happening there was you were asking three guys to
Speaker 1: guard four, and when you're asking three guard guys to
Speaker 1: guard four, it just is it helps when the smallest
Speaker 1: guy on that back line is Alex Crusoe and he's
Speaker 1: six six and put his elbow above the rim, like
Speaker 1: he can just cover more ground. Kyle Kuzma could just
Speaker 1: cover more ground, KCP could just cover more ground. There
Speaker 1: was just that overall length and athleticism is what allows
Speaker 1: you to clean up messes. Because this is the dirty
Speaker 1: little secret. There's no such thing as a perfect defense.
Speaker 1: You're not going to just shut down that first action,
Speaker 1: and then the possessions over Chances are they're they're gonna
Speaker 1: move the ball around and someone's gonna get beat off
Speaker 1: the dribble. And it's really about how you cover for
Speaker 1: each other. And you can't cover for each other when
Speaker 1: everybody on the floor is small, and I think I
Speaker 1: think that's just where they went wrong. Now I'm a
Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive about this than you um in
Speaker 1: terms of what I would do this deadline, because I
Speaker 1: would trade everybody that I could not name, Lebron and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. I think fundamentally the culture in the locker
Speaker 1: room is got this weird, stale like, kind of nasty
Speaker 1: like nature to it that I don't think can be
Speaker 1: fixed by moving one player or moving two players. I
Speaker 1: think that was the beautiful thing about the teen like
Speaker 1: Calves is when they made that trade to kind of
Speaker 1: just change the area of the locker room, and that's
Speaker 1: why I keep using in that as an example is
Speaker 1: like sometimes you send out guys. Now, the big the
Speaker 1: big thing that that Cavstin did is bringing athleticism. You know,
Speaker 1: you turn Jay Crowder into Rodney Hood. That's just a
Speaker 1: more athletic version. Even though JAD think Larson athletic and
Speaker 1: then Larry Nz and Larry N's looks so good in
Speaker 1: that regular season, he basically took Trisan Thompson's job in
Speaker 1: that stretch. So but the point is is like, like
Speaker 1: the point is there are going to be teams in
Speaker 1: the league that are willing to do trades because they're
Speaker 1: in a similar situation. They don't like the guys that
Speaker 1: they have in their lockerm and they want to mix
Speaker 1: things up, right. And so the way I look at
Speaker 1: it is like I would I would I would move Russ,
Speaker 1: which we're gonna talk about later, so I'm gonna save that,
Speaker 1: but I would trade Russ for basically anything other than
Speaker 1: John Ball. But then when it comes to the veteran
Speaker 1: minimum contracts and when it comes to th h T
Speaker 1: and Kendrick Nunn, I'd flip t H T and Kendrick
Speaker 1: Nunn for somebody that is in that classic wing archetype,
Speaker 1: and I would even be willing to take Eric Gordon,
Speaker 1: but I would also be start looking at flipping some
Speaker 1: of these veteran minimum contracts for other veteran minim contracts
Speaker 1: around the league that better fit what we need. Better attitudes,
Speaker 1: better effort guys, if that makes sense. Yeah, And the
Speaker 1: thing with you know, one of the things when the
Speaker 1: Lakers sent out that first that first rounder to Washington
Speaker 1: Um for that Russell Westrop trade, like you know a
Speaker 1: lot of people are like, oh, why we give it up? Well,
Speaker 1: in return, we've got three second rounders. And this is
Speaker 1: kind of where those second rounders sort of helped, because
Speaker 1: you need more picks to be able to move incentivize
Speaker 1: moving certain guys as opposed to just that one first
Speaker 1: round pick um when it when it comes to that
Speaker 1: sort of situation. So now, if you have a guy
Speaker 1: like let's say down to Jordan that you can't play well,
Speaker 1: you can attach a second rounder to him and then
Speaker 1: look at a better minimum guy that may be around,
Speaker 1: you know, on another team somewhere, who the Lakers can
Speaker 1: actually use and then offer that second round pick because
Speaker 1: the other team, it's really all they're getting is the
Speaker 1: second round pick. That's what they want. They don't really
Speaker 1: care about the vetman because it's a vetman, so they
Speaker 1: don't think much of it. So when you have two
Speaker 1: or three of those, and we have three of those
Speaker 1: from the Washington trade, um, you can move some of
Speaker 1: those guys at the very back end of the roster around, uh,
Speaker 1: using those second round picks. Um. So I look, I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not against. I think people get it very
Speaker 1: confused when they're when they're on my timeline and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. Anybody who wears the Laker Laker jersey, whether
Speaker 1: it's the Prown James or former Celtic Region Rondo, U
Speaker 1: root for them to be successful because they're wearing the
Speaker 1: Laker jersey. So my thing is I only can be positive,
Speaker 1: right and so, um, but you have to also be realistic.
Speaker 1: If the only way for this roster to improve is
Speaker 1: to move Russ because of a salary, and there's a
Speaker 1: team out there that says, hey, I'll send you these
Speaker 1: three guys who are role players that we don't want,
Speaker 1: and um, you know you can have them, you know,
Speaker 1: and this is just hypothetical, like I'll send you Harrison
Speaker 1: Barnes and Buddy healed and Damian Jones, um, because I
Speaker 1: don't want their you know, I don't want their contracts
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. Um And yeah, sure send me
Speaker 1: those second round picks. Uh. And you can swap Damien
Speaker 1: Jones for Deando Jordan, you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers kind of add a little bit more athleticism.
Speaker 1: They add a little bit more, you know, um, youth
Speaker 1: to the roster because that's all that matters. Russell gets
Speaker 1: ring anyways, it doesn't matter, you know what. Like we
Speaker 1: gave a ring to DeMarcus Cousins. He never played a
Speaker 1: single minute for the Lakers. He came up, showed up
Speaker 1: to camp, got hurt, and then he never played. But
Speaker 1: he still gotta ring. So I'm not I'm not worried
Speaker 1: about anything. You know. Obviously, we want the Lakers to
Speaker 1: win the championship. That's that's the entire goal to begin with,
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So it's it's it has to
Speaker 1: be something that adds depth, because I genuinely think guys
Speaker 1: like Carmelo, guys like Trevor, they need to be the fourteen,
Speaker 1: like the twelve, fourteenth and fifteen guys on our bench.
Speaker 1: They can't be the sixth, seventh, and eight most most
Speaker 1: important guys on our teams, because I think that's putting
Speaker 1: us in a position we're we're going to be very
Speaker 1: unsuccessful because teams are going to look to attack those
Speaker 1: guys um over and over again. And that that's kind
Speaker 1: of what my idea is. My thing with THHD is,
Speaker 1: UM I have a bit of a conspiracy theory about
Speaker 1: this situation. UM. I think Kendrick Nunn was brought in.
Speaker 1: He is hurt. I don't think that he's not hurt,
Speaker 1: but I think he was brought in to replace th
Speaker 1: HDS role if th HD got moved for somebody else. Uh,
Speaker 1: sort of that sixth because he's been a six man before, right,
Speaker 1: he understands that role and stuff like that. And we
Speaker 1: kind of tried to shoehorn tailing into the starting lineup
Speaker 1: and then eventually we moved him on the starting lineup.
Speaker 1: And now we're playing him with with the you know,
Speaker 1: the he's our what fourth highest paid guy, but he's
Speaker 1: coming on the bench and he's kind of been up
Speaker 1: and down himself. Um, he had a nice stretch of
Speaker 1: basketball and now he's kind of had like a you know,
Speaker 1: blah kind of stretch. Of basketball and stuff like yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and so um that that's been my running conspiracy theory.
Speaker 1: Um none also switched to clutch. I think he switched
Speaker 1: a Rich Baul right before the season started to after
Speaker 1: he joined the Lakers. So that's you know, that's just
Speaker 1: me being conspiratorial. But I would move this. That explains
Speaker 1: why they wanted him over Rudy Gay. Yeah yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I would move up. To be honest, I would
Speaker 1: really move him for wings. Like I've floated the idea
Speaker 1: of like if you can, if you can trade th
Speaker 1: HT for like two wings on a team, like right,
Speaker 1: So the example I gave is like to Indiana, Like
Speaker 1: we just played Indiana. They had justin holiday six six
Speaker 1: um three and the kind of guy, same same kind
Speaker 1: of role that k CP sort of played. He runs
Speaker 1: a lot of the same sets that come off the
Speaker 1: d H O and and just kind of pull up
Speaker 1: sort of sets that you know KCP would run or
Speaker 1: or you know Allington would run or and and then
Speaker 1: they have another guy, Tory Craig, another six six nine
Speaker 1: wing guy likes the hustle, will scrap. Uh, we don't
Speaker 1: have to ask bron to do that. He was the
Speaker 1: one who was guarding Lebron in our last Indiana matchup
Speaker 1: that entire second half, pressing Braun to make sure that
Speaker 1: he couldn't get involved. Like if you can, like financially,
Speaker 1: you can trade just th hd and and maybe a
Speaker 1: second round pick or two second round picks, and you
Speaker 1: can add those guys. I'm not saying that's what we
Speaker 1: should do, but there's ways to go about improving the
Speaker 1: depth on this roster. That's that's a great example of
Speaker 1: a less flashy trade that finally improves the team, right Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then and then you know, like if if we're
Speaker 1: trying to slot guys down, now you can change Mellow's rotation.
Speaker 1: Now you can play maybe Melow and Tory Craig, you know,
Speaker 1: hypothetically together. Um, and and now it's not as much
Speaker 1: of an issue because you have a guy who's in
Speaker 1: isolation score can shoot the three kind of like you know,
Speaker 1: in that Bron role, and then you have a dedicated
Speaker 1: three and D defensive guy will get pushed the pace
Speaker 1: like you see Stanley Johns like we haven't, we haven't
Speaker 1: mentioned it before. Look at Stanley Johnson, like, look at
Speaker 1: how much of an impact he has just with his
Speaker 1: energy at times like that Orlando game we couldn't score
Speaker 1: for crap, and then he's just grabbing the rebound and running.
Speaker 1: You know, he's just running down the floor, putting pressure
Speaker 1: on on the Magic defenders and stuff like that. Like
Speaker 1: we need energy, we need youth, and and that I
Speaker 1: really really think that's the direction of this team has
Speaker 1: to go in because these other teams they're not going
Speaker 1: to look to outskill us. They're just gonna try to
Speaker 1: beat us up. You know, they're gonna try to out athletes,
Speaker 1: and that that just that needs to be the general approach. Um.
Speaker 1: And I would have a kind of an order of operations,
Speaker 1: right like I think I'd look, I'd throw everything at
Speaker 1: Jeremy Grant, and then what I would do is I'd
Speaker 1: set up backup of like backup deals, you know, of
Speaker 1: the of the Yoka you just described that, there's one
Speaker 1: that Crane just has thrown out that I actually like
Speaker 1: with ken Ridge Williams, where you you just basically throw
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn at and get to bring back Mike Mistal
Speaker 1: and Kendrick Williams. Even though I'm not as big on
Speaker 1: Mescal as he is. Kendrick Williams is another one of
Speaker 1: those guys just big and athletic and plays really hard
Speaker 1: and you can put him in that situation and it
Speaker 1: can be better. I think that, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of to put a bow on the on the trade
Speaker 1: deadline concept. The idea of of resetting this season, I
Speaker 1: think is is really important. There is, like I said before,
Speaker 1: there's an energy around this team that isn't good. They
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of like saying the right things
Speaker 1: to the press um you know, from specific characters that
Speaker 1: think Mello did a good job of that the other
Speaker 1: night to try to cool off the Russell Westbrook thing.
Speaker 1: And everyone's been handling well. Even Lebron, who has had
Speaker 1: a history of being super passive aggressive in moments like this,
Speaker 1: has been pretty good in terms of his overall even
Speaker 1: his body language, when always had some bad moments, hasn't
Speaker 1: been that bad. So like everything everything looks good. But
Speaker 1: like as we know as as fans who have watched
Speaker 1: this team every night, that lack of consistent energy to
Speaker 1: me is like indicative of of a fundamental flaw within
Speaker 1: the chemistry of the roster. So the way I'd look
Speaker 1: at it is like, you know, Anthony Davis is coming
Speaker 1: back obviously a big deal. But if you can somehow,
Speaker 1: you know, use the men in Black, you know, flashstick
Speaker 1: things to just kind of like to just kind of
Speaker 1: like reset everybody's psyche going into this last stretch where
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, look we got Lebron Anthony Davis back,
Speaker 1: and here's all these new players. Even if they keep us,
Speaker 1: just by resetting everything around the situation, you might be
Speaker 1: able to trigger just kind of like that. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like that new It's it's that New Year's resolution
Speaker 1: type of mentality, like be we trick ourselves because it's
Speaker 1: January one, that things are new, when really it's just
Speaker 1: more of the same. You know. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: idea that I would go with here is like that
Speaker 1: this team just needs to hit the reset button. Obviously,
Speaker 1: this concoction of players isn't working. Even if you kept
Speaker 1: a baseline talent level but just brought in different talent,
Speaker 1: you might have a better chance of reinvigorating this because
Speaker 1: effort has been an issue this season. Obviously it's one
Speaker 1: of many issues, but this consistent lack of effort coming
Speaker 1: in like guys not communicating on switches, just not being
Speaker 1: willing to do their job on defense. Guys, you know
Speaker 1: that like that, that's not something that that's that that's
Speaker 1: not something that is an outlier experience. In this season,
Speaker 1: it's been like the opposite of the Lakers. When you
Speaker 1: see them have a lackadaisical night, you look at it
Speaker 1: and you'd be like, that's strange, and then they come
Speaker 1: then they come out the next night, whoop someone's ass.
Speaker 1: Whereas like this team, this team, this team has been
Speaker 1: the exact opposite. We we have these unusual games like
Speaker 1: the Utah game where it's like, man, I don't even
Speaker 1: recognize these guys, But more often than not, it's like tonight,
Speaker 1: or like it was against the Nuggets, or even like
Speaker 1: that Magic game, which was a travesty of a basketball
Speaker 1: game in a lot of ways. But I just think
Speaker 1: I would go with a reset. Yeah, no that I'm
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with you, like I think anything is
Speaker 1: really on the table right now. The well, I guess
Speaker 1: the only reason why I do I do give a
Speaker 1: little pushback on the Rust thing is because I think
Speaker 1: Braun and a d maybe um advocating to keep him
Speaker 1: like kind of behind the scenes because a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, it's been well documented that they're the ones
Speaker 1: who had the conversation with them about telling them how
Speaker 1: things would work and stuff. I say, if they move him,
Speaker 1: you know, that kind of looked bad on them, um
Speaker 1: and and you know, obviously we we juxtaposed that with
Speaker 1: the conversation they had with Damian Lillard Um earlier in
Speaker 1: the season too as well, where they you know, like
Speaker 1: they basically told Dame this is what it would be like,
Speaker 1: this is what it's like playing for the Lakers, and
Speaker 1: then he basically said, you know no, and then he basically,
Speaker 1: this is one of my things where I was trying
Speaker 1: to explain the liquor fans, like Dame had a conversation
Speaker 1: with with Russ and a d Sorr with with on
Speaker 1: in a d and then he you know, obviously he
Speaker 1: was thinking about it, but when the going got tough,
Speaker 1: per Dame, he turned around and used that conversation as
Speaker 1: like pr spin like you I mean like and so
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that that's that's that we should give
Speaker 1: Russ more credit, but we should kind of give Russ
Speaker 1: a little bit of credit, Like if anything goes wrong
Speaker 1: with the scene, he could shoot fift the entire season.
Speaker 1: But if we don't win a championship, it's obviously a failure,
Speaker 1: right like that that's the way Laker fans look at
Speaker 1: this sort of thing, um and and that's my thing,
Speaker 1: Like if we look at if if, our measurement is
Speaker 1: just are we going to win a championship or not,
Speaker 1: regardless of how much depth we have, how much talent
Speaker 1: we have, how well as specific player is playing versus
Speaker 1: some other player. And obviously as analysts, we want to
Speaker 1: see some kind of consistency like we saw with the
Speaker 1: championship teams that we can at least look at and say, okay,
Speaker 1: you know what, I can at least count on this
Speaker 1: team to be consistently good defensively. We can figure out
Speaker 1: the offensive stuff, you know, like hey, when Rondo comes
Speaker 1: in that the offense goes to crap, you know, like
Speaker 1: hopefully that can get fixed in the playoffs, and they did.
Speaker 1: We won a championship, but there's no consistency with this
Speaker 1: team anywhere. Like like Jason, there was a stretch of
Speaker 1: basketball where it was where it was Russ and a
Speaker 1: D and Lebron was out and the Lakers were like
Speaker 1: a top ten defensive team and a D goes out
Speaker 1: and Lebron comes back, and all of a sudden, we're like,
Speaker 1: I forgot what we saw that we were like a
Speaker 1: number five offensive team, but our defense is super garbage.
Speaker 1: So it's just like, what is going on with this team?
Speaker 1: There's no consistency anywhere, and and that's I think that's
Speaker 1: we have to find some sort of consistency if we're
Speaker 1: if we're gonna be making any trades. That that's just
Speaker 1: what that's just what we need. Yeah, there hasn't been
Speaker 1: one thing this year that they've consistently done well. Um,
Speaker 1: I would say if I had to choose someone to say,
Speaker 1: maybe Lebron's offense, you know, he's been he's been unbelievable
Speaker 1: like that. If nothing else, Lebron has been out of
Speaker 1: his mind. I even I didn't think like I thought,
Speaker 1: I knew he would be good like Evan and seven good,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like, but not not. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm about to win the scoring title and and we
Speaker 1: don't have Anthony Davis, but we're still basically a five
Speaker 1: team with a bunch of you know me rush and
Speaker 1: a bunch of minimum contracts basically, so that that's that's
Speaker 1: been kind of nuts. Alright, guys, that's the end of
Speaker 1: part one, Part two of this podcast. I'm going to
Speaker 1: post on Monday at five o'clock Mountain Standard time in
Speaker 1: the afternoon. Thank you guys again as always for your support.
Speaker 1: We will be back with our normal postgame show on
Speaker 1: Tuesday after the Brooklyn Nets game as well