Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops to Night Here
Speaker 1: at the Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of
Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week so far. Covers
Speaker 1: of the NBA Playoffs Here at Hoops Tonight is brought
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Speaker 1: I should actually say Happy Friday, because I think this
Speaker 1: is going up on Friday morning. But today we're just
Speaker 1: gonna be doing an obituary on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 1: It took several hours on Thursday morning to just kind
Speaker 1: of stare at everything about this season, kind of recapturing
Speaker 1: what I thought was a really interesting and up and
Speaker 1: down Lakers season. We're gonna talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: Rob Polinka and some of the narratives surrounding him in
Speaker 1: this season, and then we're gonna go into the roster
Speaker 1: and what I think are strengths and weaknesses and the
Speaker 1: way that I would go about addressing this offseason. You
Speaker 1: guys know the joke before we get started. To subscribe
Speaker 1: to the Volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
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Speaker 1: Under Hoops Tonight, all right, let's talk some basketball. So
Speaker 1: I want to quick do it like a little review
Speaker 1: of this Laker season, because I think, even in the
Speaker 1: disappointment of losing in the conference finals, I think it
Speaker 1: was undeniably a success, certainly relative to expectations. I tend
Speaker 1: to disagree with the Jannis idea that there's no such
Speaker 1: thing as failure. I would argue any season with Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis on the roster that ends without
Speaker 1: a championship is a failure, and I believe that Lebron
Speaker 1: and Ad probably feel that way, and I think some
Speaker 1: of the reporting coming out of the demeanor of those
Speaker 1: guys after the game probably solidifies that. That said, if
Speaker 1: you really look at the roster that they came into
Speaker 1: the season with, there was no chance in hell they
Speaker 1: were winning an NBA championship. Everything was based on a
Speaker 1: potential trade. Everybody knew it had to be an absolute
Speaker 1: home run. We knew a million things had to go right,
Speaker 1: and it's just really hard to have a million things
Speaker 1: go right in a season, and so I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a failure relative to expectations, but obviously anytime you
Speaker 1: have that type of talent, top end talent on the roster, technically,
Speaker 1: it's a failure relative to your goals of winning a championship.
Speaker 1: They started two and ten in large part because of
Speaker 1: the front office. That was their toughest part of the schedule.
Speaker 1: Just go look at the Lakers' first twelve games and
Speaker 1: look at their opponents, and when you really factor in
Speaker 1: that they had no shooting on the roster, no perimeter size,
Speaker 1: and the jank russfit, it was just gonna be really
Speaker 1: difficult for them to win those games. They dig themselves
Speaker 1: in a two to ten hole. Now, one of the
Speaker 1: most underdiscussed stretches of the Lakers season was everything that
Speaker 1: happened from then to the trades, because there must have
Speaker 1: been some sort of a message that was communicated from
Speaker 1: the top down to Lebron James and Anthony Davis that
Speaker 1: they were going to make a trade because there was
Speaker 1: a level of effort and give a shit, so to speak,
Speaker 1: from Lebron James and Anthony Davis that didn't really match
Speaker 1: up with what their roster was and what their capabilities
Speaker 1: were to start the season. And both of those guys
Speaker 1: had independent stretches where where the other was injured, and
Speaker 1: they floated the ship just well enough to keep them
Speaker 1: alive until the trade deadline. So everyone knew they had
Speaker 1: to make a trade. But they knew that. We all
Speaker 1: figured they were gonna wait till the deadline. It was
Speaker 1: known before the season, but it is what it is.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in a little bit. But they
Speaker 1: had to stay alive from the day the Lakers woke
Speaker 1: up to and ten to the day they started playing
Speaker 1: the players that came back in the rush trade. The
Speaker 1: Lakers went twenty three and twenty one, so over five
Speaker 1: hundred over a forty four game sample size doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like much, but when you factor in the russfit, the imbalances,
Speaker 1: and the roster, the lack of perimeter size, Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis both missing significant chunks of that stretch.
Speaker 1: Going twenty three and twenty one is a slam dunk
Speaker 1: home run. And again then there was a stretch where
Speaker 1: Lebron was out with a groin injury. Anthony Davis kind
Speaker 1: of kickstarted the run. That's when he had that fifty
Speaker 1: point game in Washington. He was incredible. Then Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: gets hurt and Lebron James and even Russell Westbrook, as
Speaker 1: critical as I was of him over the course of
Speaker 1: the year and a half, he was a Laker that
Speaker 1: stretch there when Anthony Davis was hurt, russ was pretty
Speaker 1: good and that was a big part of why they
Speaker 1: won as many games as they did. And they just
Speaker 1: stayed enough in reach for the trade to give them
Speaker 1: a chance. So then they make the trade. Lebron misses
Speaker 1: the first two games, they go one and one, they
Speaker 1: beat the Warriors in Oklahoma City or they beat the
Speaker 1: Warriors in Golden State, and then they lose to the
Speaker 1: Portland Trailblazers. Then Lebron comes back and they go three
Speaker 1: and oho in three games, including that big comeback win
Speaker 1: against Dallas. But Lebron hurts his foot and misses the
Speaker 1: next thirteen games. During that thirteen game stretch, Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: goes for twenty seven and thirteen on fifty six percent
Speaker 1: shooting with two blocks per game, and the team goes
Speaker 1: eight and five without Lebron and that was with a
Speaker 1: couple of games in there that they basically tossed away,
Speaker 1: the one to the Mavericks with the game winner from
Speaker 1: Mexic Kiba and the game where Anthony Davis sat out
Speaker 1: on the road in Houston. Then Lebron returns for the
Speaker 1: final eight games of the season. They go six and
Speaker 1: two and improbably after their two to ten start. They
Speaker 1: finished the year at forty three and thirty nine get
Speaker 1: the seventh seat. They beat the Timberwolves in the play in.
Speaker 1: They beat the Memphis Grizzlies, who had the fifth best
Speaker 1: record in the league, without home court. They beat the
Speaker 1: defending champion Warriors without home court. And that's the same
Speaker 1: core seven players that hoisted the trophy last year. And
Speaker 1: then they lose to the Nuggets. Now they got swept,
Speaker 1: but all four games were relatively close, Like it was
Speaker 1: clear that the Nuggets were the better team, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't like a complete outclassing, you know, within the confines
Speaker 1: of the series, every game was competitive. The Nuggets just
Speaker 1: pulled it out. As a matter of fact, the only
Speaker 1: game that didn't include a clutch situation, which is within
Speaker 1: five with less than five minutes left, was Game two
Speaker 1: when the Lakers held a double digit lead in the
Speaker 1: second half. It was just that crazy shooting spurt that
Speaker 1: put it away. So the Lakers were right there. So
Speaker 1: the way I'd look at it is it was an
Speaker 1: absolute success relative to their expectations. They were one of
Speaker 1: the final four team standing. That's not nothing. That's top
Speaker 1: four out of thirty NBA teams. But they also clearly
Speaker 1: need to get better if they're going to beat Denver.
Speaker 1: Denver has all five starters coming back next season under contract,
Speaker 1: and they will probably lose Bruce Brown just because he
Speaker 1: played so well that he'll probably get an offer, but
Speaker 1: who knows, maybe they can retain him. And no matter what,
Speaker 1: if they win the championship, which I believe they will,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be able to bring back a couple of
Speaker 1: solid bench players at discounts like you typically see alongside
Speaker 1: an unselfish playmaking superstar with a team that actually has
Speaker 1: a chance to win a championship. They'll struggle a little
Speaker 1: bit with it being Denver, but I have a feeling
Speaker 1: they're gonna be able to bolster their bench a little bit.
Speaker 1: So not to mention, when you have the confidence of
Speaker 1: being a champion, you play better so Denver's better and
Speaker 1: the Lakers are gonna have to figure that out. So
Speaker 1: the question is, how do the Lakers improve their roster
Speaker 1: enough to knock off the Nuggets and win a championship
Speaker 1: next season. We're gonna look at every single position group
Speaker 1: and take a look at how I would approach this offseason.
Speaker 1: Before we get there there, I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about Rob Polinka. So Rob Polinka got a
Speaker 1: ton of praise after the deadline. The phrase executive the
Speaker 1: year of the year was thrown around a lot, even
Speaker 1: by some people that I respect a great deal, But
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people looked at that whole
Speaker 1: situation with rose colored glasses in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: So I want to try to give a fair encapsulation
Speaker 1: of this season for Rob Polinka. Here's the good thing.
Speaker 1: They managed to pull off a relatively successful Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: trade with only one first round draft pick. That's very good. Also,
Speaker 1: Rob Polinka straight up stole Ruy Hachimura from the Washington Wizards,
Speaker 1: who is a pivotal top four kind of like pillar
Speaker 1: of the team. And so that's an absolute home run
Speaker 1: for Rob Polinka. And again, as we shift over to
Speaker 1: the details, a couple of things I want to kind
Speaker 1: of establish. First of all, Rob Polinka was supposed to
Speaker 1: block the Russell Westbrook trade. At the time of the trade,
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma and KCP were both better players. I said
Speaker 1: that at the time, most Laker fans felt similarly, most
Speaker 1: Laker fans were targeting more of a kind of a
Speaker 1: one for one type deal where it was going to
Speaker 1: be Kyle Kuzma and Montrez Harral for Buddy Healed, where
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma obviously was a very good player, but the
Speaker 1: Lakers just needed a little bit more shooting. So it
Speaker 1: was like flipping one role player for one role player.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers were kind of done with Montrez's hair anyway,
Speaker 1: because he didn't really fit into their playoff rotation right.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, I'm sure there was a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure from Lebron James and I'm sure there was
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure from Anthony Davis. But as the
Speaker 1: executive of the team, it's your job to filter through
Speaker 1: that and stop that from happening. He did not, and
Speaker 1: he shipped off all the team's depth in the process
Speaker 1: undercut the team's championship ceiling. So that is an important
Speaker 1: part of the story. But even then, even just forgetting
Speaker 1: that coming into this season, there was risk in waiting
Speaker 1: to trade Russell Westbrook on a bunch of different levels.
Speaker 1: If you guys remember I said before the season, I said,
Speaker 1: I am sure that Rob Polinka can get twenty percent
Speaker 1: better return on a Russell Westbrook trade if he waits
Speaker 1: to the deadline. But those of you guys have been
Speaker 1: listening to the show for a while, you remember I said,
Speaker 1: but I view a great deal of value in training
Speaker 1: camp to establish continuity that you used during the regular season,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was going to dig them a
Speaker 1: hole in the standings. And where Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis out, all of those things came true. They dug
Speaker 1: a massive hole in the standings. They had to play
Speaker 1: playoff intensity basketball for the last third of the season,
Speaker 1: and Lebron James in particular had to play through a
Speaker 1: foot injury and it absolutely impact him in this playoff runt.
Speaker 1: Before the injury, Lebron James averaged thirty points, eight rebounds,
Speaker 1: and seven assists on fifty percent shooting. After the injury,
Speaker 1: in the regular season, he averaged twenty five points, eight rebounds,
Speaker 1: and six assists. On forty nine percent shooting. Then in
Speaker 1: the playoffs he averaged twenty five points again, ten rebounds,
Speaker 1: seven assists on fifty percent shooting. So clearly a thirty
Speaker 1: point per game guy before the injury, a twenty five
Speaker 1: point per game guy after the injury. It undeniably took
Speaker 1: a level off of what Lebron James was capable of.
Speaker 1: At the time that he injured his foot. He was
Speaker 1: dealing with a stress injury in his left foot. As
Speaker 1: many of you guys know, when you have an injury
Speaker 1: in one of your feet, you compensate by putting a
Speaker 1: lot more force and impact absorption and all those things
Speaker 1: on the other side of your body as an attempt
Speaker 1: to save your bad foot from taking contact. And literally
Speaker 1: his right foot gave up on it. And so had
Speaker 1: they made a trade before the season, I think it's
Speaker 1: far more likely that they end up in a situation
Speaker 1: where they can take it easy throughout the season and
Speaker 1: Lebron James can take a little bit more time on
Speaker 1: any one of those injuries, Anthony Davis can take a
Speaker 1: little bit more time, and they have a better chance
Speaker 1: to go into the postseason with a healthy Lebron James.
Speaker 1: That's an important part of this story. So they absolutely
Speaker 1: saved a pick, but in the process they hurt themselves
Speaker 1: in the standings, forced their stars to play their injuries,
Speaker 1: and you had to play three consecutive really good opponents
Speaker 1: on the road in the playoffs. So, for instance, the
Speaker 1: Lakers had to play Not only did they have to
Speaker 1: try the end of the regular season, they had to
Speaker 1: play a playing game against a very good Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaker 1: team that was a knockdown, drag out fistfight. Then they
Speaker 1: had to play a top five team in the league
Speaker 1: in the first round without home court. Then they had
Speaker 1: to play the defending champions without home court. Then they
Speaker 1: had to play Denver. What did Denver have to do?
Speaker 1: They coasted the last third of the season. They played
Speaker 1: the worst team in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves,
Speaker 1: Then they played a Phoenix Suns team that was a
Speaker 1: middle seed that had some flaws, and then they got
Speaker 1: to play the Lakers. So Denver, even though I do
Speaker 1: believe they were better, they were also fresher. So again,
Speaker 1: as we talk about the the trade from Rob Polinka
Speaker 1: this summer and the job that he did, it's undeniable
Speaker 1: that there's a lot of good to it. But there's
Speaker 1: another side to the story, and it was another side
Speaker 1: of the story that we all knew was the case
Speaker 1: before the season and was really under discussed for a while. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to just pretend for a reason, just as
Speaker 1: an exercise. Let's pretend that before the season, the Lakers
Speaker 1: make the Buddy Heeled in the Miles Turner trade. Now
Speaker 1: you have to remember, the real reason the Lakers made
Speaker 1: a long playoff run was they got Russell Westbrook off
Speaker 1: the roster, which kind of invigorated the team and helped
Speaker 1: them with their chemistry and with their on court chemistry
Speaker 1: and off court chemistry. Also, Lebron James and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: were legitimately healthy and locked in. At least Lebron James
Speaker 1: was the level below, but the two of them were healthy.
Speaker 1: The previous seasons, Lebron and Ady could not even play
Speaker 1: to end the season, right. Lebron couldn't finish last season,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis couldn't finish the season before. So this year
Speaker 1: both guys were actually available to play in the postseason,
Speaker 1: even though Lebron was somewhat limited. And then the third
Speaker 1: big reason was Austin Reeves in the absence of Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves got moved into the starting lineup, became a
Speaker 1: primary ball handler and was awesome. Okay, that's why the
Speaker 1: Lakers made a long playoff run. Malik Peasley was completely
Speaker 1: out of the rotation by the end. D'angela Russell had
Speaker 1: some playoff moments, but he also was unplayable for stretches,
Speaker 1: and the same could be said about Jared Vanderbilt. So again,
Speaker 1: did the trade help, Yes, not as much as people
Speaker 1: were leading you to believe. So now let's pretend as
Speaker 1: this exercise that they make the Buddy Heel the Miles
Speaker 1: Turner trade in the offseason. Now you have a legitimate
Speaker 1: backup center that allows you to be more functional when
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis rest's games, gives you a bench big so
Speaker 1: Lebron doesn't have to play center in the bench groups
Speaker 1: and gives you a two big look because Miles Turner
Speaker 1: could shoot, So you had this other identity that you
Speaker 1: could have had with two centers on the floor like
Speaker 1: they did in the twenty twenty season. It's also a
Speaker 1: more complimentary roster was shooting around Lebron James because you're
Speaker 1: gonna have Buddy Heeled and Austin Reeves in the backcourt,
Speaker 1: and they could still make the Hatchamura trade using the
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn salary right. As a result of that, from
Speaker 1: the start of the season, they would have had a
Speaker 1: more talented roster that was more complimentary and ready to
Speaker 1: go from day one, which would have given the Lakers
Speaker 1: the ability to ease their way through the season. So
Speaker 1: I just think as we're talking about Rob Polinka, he
Speaker 1: still has, in my opinion, a lot of work to
Speaker 1: do to make up for the damage that he did
Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty roster, which was a bonafide championship roster.
Speaker 1: And so as we're talking about Rob Polinka, I think
Speaker 1: it's inaccurate to just say that it was an executive
Speaker 1: the Year type of season where he solved all the Lakers' problems. No,
Speaker 1: he dug the Lakers in a really big hole. He
Speaker 1: made some progress getting them out. He still has a
Speaker 1: lot of work to do, and so this summer is
Speaker 1: going to be a great opportunity for Rob Polinka to
Speaker 1: establish himself as a respected GM in this league, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, because what he has is he's got a
Speaker 1: bonafide pairing of stars in Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: He's got a couple of really good start and Austin
Speaker 1: reason in Rueyachimura, and he's got a boatload of options
Speaker 1: this offseason, a bunch of middling salaries we'll talk about.
Speaker 1: He's got a couple of draft picks he can use
Speaker 1: he has, He's got a really good hand of cards here,
Speaker 1: and if he plays these cards right, the Lakers have
Speaker 1: a chance to win a championship next year. And so
Speaker 1: the opportunity is there for Rob to kind of flip
Speaker 1: the narrative about himself. So let's go by position group here.
Speaker 1: I want to start with the stars and then we'll
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Speaker 1: a NGI dot com. So with the Stars, Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: got his ass kicked by ass kicked by Nikola Jokich,
Speaker 1: but he still proved he's a top ten player in
Speaker 1: the league in my opinion, clearly was the very best
Speaker 1: defensive player in the entire playoff field and is probably
Speaker 1: the most devastating defensive weapon in the entire league when
Speaker 1: he's healthy again. The only time I've ever discussed trading
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was during his times when he couldn't stay
Speaker 1: on the floor healthy. He demonstrated that he could finish
Speaker 1: the season strong and stay healthy throughout. And so at
Speaker 1: this point, there's no point in trading Anthony Davis. As
Speaker 1: soon as you trade him, you immediately lose your championship
Speaker 1: ceiling because of what he does with rim protection and
Speaker 1: all the defensive versatility that he brings to the table,
Speaker 1: and his ability to be complimentary with your ball handlers
Speaker 1: and pick and roll and to score effectively in pick
Speaker 1: and roll, which is where most of his scoring comes
Speaker 1: these days. So like when we're talking about Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: trades like it's just it's a non starter for me,
Speaker 1: unless AD just has a serious injury again, at which
Speaker 1: point that's something that you have to start thinking about.
Speaker 1: But he's healthy, he's gonna have a full offseason to
Speaker 1: work on his game. You have to continue to build
Speaker 1: around AD. The big thing that I want to see
Speaker 1: from him this offseason is he needs to polish up
Speaker 1: his perimeter game. He does not need to be what
Speaker 1: he was in the bubble. I also think that was
Speaker 1: an outlier. But he doesn't need to be a liability either.
Speaker 1: He needs to be an effective knockdown jump shooter, and
Speaker 1: he needs to be in a situation where you can
Speaker 1: toss him the ball in the block or in a
Speaker 1: face up situation. And he could score close to a
Speaker 1: point per possession in this postseason run and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: post up or ISO including passes was good for only
Speaker 1: zero points. Seven to eight points per possession. Just not
Speaker 1: good enough for a player of his caliber. He's capable
Speaker 1: of much better. Needs to get in the gym this
Speaker 1: summer and round all of that stuff out. Lebron James,
Speaker 1: first of all, no, I don't think he's gonna retire.
Speaker 1: I think that I think that Lebron, like most competitors,
Speaker 1: can look discouraged and kind of succumb to the fatigue
Speaker 1: of it all after a season. There was a moment
Speaker 1: after the twenty fourteen finals when they lost to the
Speaker 1: Spurs where Lebron had some similar comments where he was
Speaker 1: like or no, it was in twenty fifteen after they
Speaker 1: lost to the Warriors. So he loses in heartbreak to
Speaker 1: the Spurs, and he loses in heartbreak to the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and in the postgame presser, he's basically like, this is
Speaker 1: really hard. And I can't remember the exact words, but
Speaker 1: basically he said, is like to get this close and
Speaker 1: to come up short as like devastating to his body
Speaker 1: and to his mental Like it was just really really
Speaker 1: hard for him, right, And I think that that's probably
Speaker 1: what happened. He gave it all, risked his body literally
Speaker 1: because of the foot injury, to try to make this happen,
Speaker 1: and it didn't work. So I think he was just discouraged.
Speaker 1: But a couple of things. He's way too competitive to
Speaker 1: give it up, especially since the Lakers have a legitimate
Speaker 1: championship roster to work with next year too. He's gonna
Speaker 1: make fifty million a year the next two years, so like,
Speaker 1: I think Lebron's gonna play at least one more year,
Speaker 1: if not too. Even with the foot injury, he was
Speaker 1: still a top ten player in this postseason. I know
Speaker 1: he joked after the loss to the Nuggets. He goes,
Speaker 1: I'm better than ninety percent of the league, or maybe
Speaker 1: ninety five. It's more like ninety eight, because he's clearly
Speaker 1: one of the top ten players in the league. I'll
Speaker 1: ask you guys this, and if you disagree with me,
Speaker 1: I want to see it in the comments. How many
Speaker 1: players in this playoff field were definitively better than Lebron,
Speaker 1: not maybe better, definitively better. I had four Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 1: nikolea Jokicic, Steph Curry, and Anthony Davis. Those are the
Speaker 1: four guys that I thought were better than Lebron James
Speaker 1: in this postseason run. Everyone else same level or worse
Speaker 1: like Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Jason Tatum. If you really
Speaker 1: look at the impact that they had on winning on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. Lebron was right there with
Speaker 1: those guys. So even if you put him at the
Speaker 1: bottom of that list, he was the eighth best player
Speaker 1: in the league in this postseason run, and I'd say
Speaker 1: he's probably closer to that five to six area right
Speaker 1: even when he's injured. He had the defensive versatility to
Speaker 1: be able to help on the back line, to be
Speaker 1: able to have some success guarding nikolea jokicch He was
Speaker 1: an incredible playmaker in the Denver series and throughout the
Speaker 1: playoff run. He rebounded at the high level when they
Speaker 1: needed to he applied its hunt of rim pressure. Lebron
Speaker 1: James ran a one hundred and thirty post ups in
Speaker 1: ISOs in this postseason run, including passes, and scored one
Speaker 1: hundred and forty two points. It's well over a point
Speaker 1: per possession, and we were just talking about how Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis couldn't do that. So he's still a bona fide
Speaker 1: top ten player in the league in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: probably closer to top five when he's healthy, because I
Speaker 1: just broke down how he's the top eight player in
Speaker 1: this postseason run when he was clearly hampered by a
Speaker 1: foot injury. So you are starting from a very good
Speaker 1: starting point with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Just these
Speaker 1: versions of these guys are both top ten players, and
Speaker 1: I think both of them have an opportunity to get
Speaker 1: much better this offseason, just in the sense that they
Speaker 1: need to fix their jump shots. Lebron James has been
Speaker 1: a great jump shooter his entire tail end of his
Speaker 1: career except for two seasonsy fifteen in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: My guess is he comes back next season a good
Speaker 1: jump shooter. Anthony Davis, my guess is he comes back
Speaker 1: a functional jump shooter. So if that's the case, they're
Speaker 1: clearly one of the best duos in the league, if
Speaker 1: not the best, right Like, I had a lot of
Speaker 1: Nuggets fans being like, oh, Jamal Murray was better than Lebron. No,
Speaker 1: he wasn't. Jamal Murray is a great pull up jump
Speaker 1: shooter who hit a lot of shots. In Denver's offense,
Speaker 1: he was in absolute defensive liability and the Lakers attacked
Speaker 1: him NonStop and Denver had to do a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff to hide him. Jamal Murray's moved up a lot,
Speaker 1: and when we rank players this summer, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if he's top fifteen. But he's not better than
Speaker 1: Lebron James, and he's not better than Anthony Davis. And
Speaker 1: so you have as your starting point for the Lakers
Speaker 1: the best duo in the league in my opinion, because
Speaker 1: I think they're better than Jaylebron and Jason Tatum too.
Speaker 1: So that's a great foundation. Let's look at the position groups. Center.
Speaker 1: Lebron is too old to keep playing backup center, you know,
Speaker 1: unless you're playing against a team that doesn't have a
Speaker 1: backup center, which just doesn't happen frequently enough. So that's
Speaker 1: a position of great need this summer for three reasons. One,
Speaker 1: it allows you to play functional basketball when Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: sits out games instead of trying to play small ball
Speaker 1: all game. Run some traditional pick and roll coverages and
Speaker 1: kind of maintain the same identity you had with Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: even if you won't be as good. You need a
Speaker 1: backup center to be able to do that. You want
Speaker 1: to have a two big look. A two big look
Speaker 1: would have been really interesting to unleash against Denver. They
Speaker 1: unleashed it against Denver almost NonStop in the twenty twenty bubble,
Speaker 1: and they didn't have that look this year and then last.
Speaker 1: It prevents Lebron from having to take on those sorts
Speaker 1: of responsibilities even when Anthony Davis is available but is
Speaker 1: on the bench. So I think they need to get
Speaker 1: a backup center now. I don't think Mobamba is that
Speaker 1: guy for the postseason, but I think he can eat
Speaker 1: those innings during the regular season. I also would consider
Speaker 1: bringing Tristan Thompson to camp. I thought he looked decent
Speaker 1: in that game against Denver. Just bring him to camp
Speaker 1: doesn't hurt anything. He's not gonna get an offer anywhere else,
Speaker 1: bring him to camp, let him see if he comes
Speaker 1: into camp and shape see if he can help your team.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting option. You can look at the veteran
Speaker 1: minimum market. I would see if you could poach a
Speaker 1: guy like Brook Lopez from Milwaukee for the taxpayer mid
Speaker 1: level exception, or you could be aggressive in the trade
Speaker 1: market for someone like Miles Turner. But no matter what,
Speaker 1: but you can't finish next season going into the playoffs
Speaker 1: without a solid backup center. I think they can get
Speaker 1: away with a less than solid backup center during the
Speaker 1: regular season, but during the playoffs, are gonna need a
Speaker 1: solid backup center. Looks look at the forward position. I
Speaker 1: think Lebron James, Jared Vanderbilt, Ruy hot Chamura is about
Speaker 1: as good a group as you can find there around
Speaker 1: the league. It's a really good group of forwards. The
Speaker 1: only downside is Ruey has some defensive limitations depending on
Speaker 1: the matchup, but really only against super small teams. I
Speaker 1: thought he was effective in two of the three playoffs
Speaker 1: series that they had, and even in the Warrior series. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it sucks when you're asking him to chase a guard
Speaker 1: around screens and stuff, but I still think that he
Speaker 1: could have played more in that series had they needed
Speaker 1: him too. And then Jared Vanderbilt obviously had some issues
Speaker 1: in the offense with teams ignoring him and conceding corner threes.
Speaker 1: So a couple things ruy working another summer with Phil
Speaker 1: Handy getting better as a score. I thought he made
Speaker 1: huge strides just in one half season with Phil Handy.
Speaker 1: I would imagine Wizards fans are devastated to see where
Speaker 1: we look as good as he did. So one more
Speaker 1: summer with Phil Handy goes a long way. Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: just shooting a million corner threes this summer would go
Speaker 1: a long way towards helping him be playable, and then
Speaker 1: Lebron James fixing his jump shot. So I think they're
Speaker 1: already a really good group of forwards and it's only
Speaker 1: gonna get better this season as the guys get in
Speaker 1: the gym. I think the Lakers are in good shape.
Speaker 1: There were things get interesting is than the guards, So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna split it into two groups. On ballguards and
Speaker 1: more like second side, you know, off ball guards. So
Speaker 1: the only on ball guard that they're most likely gonna
Speaker 1: have back next year is Austin Reeves, who knows if
Speaker 1: someone's gonna offer him a giant contract and the Lakers
Speaker 1: have to match. Hopefully the Lakers can get him for
Speaker 1: that four years, fifty million or whatever that they're hoping for,
Speaker 1: but we'll see either way. I expect Austin Reeves to
Speaker 1: be a Laker on next year. He was incredible in
Speaker 1: this first playoff run. He averaged one point two to
Speaker 1: one points per possession in spot up situation, still one
Speaker 1: of the best shooters and close out attackers in the league.
Speaker 1: He shot sixty nine percent effect did field goal percentage
Speaker 1: on catch and shoot jumpers in the playoffs, forty nine
Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers.
Speaker 1: In this postseason run, he was solid and pick and
Speaker 1: roll just under a point per possession. He was over
Speaker 1: a point per possession in isolation. He averaged seventeen points
Speaker 1: per game on sixty two percent true shooting, averaged five
Speaker 1: assists per game, and had a two point nine assist
Speaker 1: to turnover ratio. And I thought he held up really
Speaker 1: well defensively. So that's like five stars for a young
Speaker 1: undrafted guard in his first playoff run. I think he's
Speaker 1: the perfect starting guard starting two guard, probably to have
Speaker 1: next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis off ball guards.
Speaker 1: And again I'm not talking about the guys that they
Speaker 1: could retain. I'm going to focus on who they are
Speaker 1: for sure going to have for now. So the only
Speaker 1: guy I think they'll for sure have back is Max
Speaker 1: Christy as an off ball guard. I think he's going
Speaker 1: to be a big rotation piece for the Laker next
Speaker 1: Lakers next year. Allegedly he's grown a little bit closer
Speaker 1: to six to seven. He was a knockdown three point
Speaker 1: shooter this year. He shot forty two percent from three.
Speaker 1: He's very good defensive players, got good length, quick feet,
Speaker 1: navigates screens well. I expect him to play a lot
Speaker 1: next year. Wouldn't even be surprised if he played some
Speaker 1: small forward for them, if the if the muscle mass
Speaker 1: that he's gained in his length has improved as much
Speaker 1: as it has. So couple of really good options there.
Speaker 1: But you're gonna need three more guards, a couple of
Speaker 1: specific types that I'd look at. I think they need
Speaker 1: a really good athletic guard, and I mean with some
Speaker 1: real like strength to him. Lanni's a good athlete, but
Speaker 1: he just couldn't hold up again in the physicality against
Speaker 1: some of the bigger, stronger guards. Kind of like what
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown was for the Nuggets this year, or what
Speaker 1: Alex Crusoe was to the twenty twenty Lakers. A guard
Speaker 1: between six four and sixty six who's like a solid
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifteen pounds or more that can move
Speaker 1: his feet well and can just be a functional, smart
Speaker 1: offensive player. Both Bruce Brown and Alex Kruse are excellent cutters.
Speaker 1: That's kind of like more important than them knocking down
Speaker 1: spot up threes necessarily, although that obviously helps. Then I
Speaker 1: think they need another guy who can take on primary
Speaker 1: ball handling responsibilities. I'm talking about that in a second,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna pause there, and then they probably need
Speaker 1: a third guard just off the bench for depth, and
Speaker 1: that's probably gonna be a veteran minimum guy. So as
Speaker 1: we zoom out, I think they desperately need a backup
Speaker 1: center and they need to fill out that guard rotation. Now.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are talking about Kyrie Irving, and look,
Speaker 1: I agree, he's literally perfect. He fulfills the roster's biggest weakness,
Speaker 1: which is over the top shot making. He's great on
Speaker 1: and off the ball, super complimentary with Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, and when engaged, he's actually a solid defensive player.
Speaker 1: But it's just unbelievably unrealistic from the standpoint of obtaining
Speaker 1: him without giving up too much. So I think Laker
Speaker 1: fans need to move on from that idea, at least
Speaker 1: for the time being. So, yes, we'd love to see
Speaker 1: Kyrie in a Laker jersey, just don't think it's realistic.
Speaker 1: So what would I do if I was running the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I would just bring everybody back and I'd hang tight
Speaker 1: and I'd wait for the perfect trade. So let me
Speaker 1: break this down for you guys. I'd match any offers
Speaker 1: for Ruey Hatchamura and Austin Reeves. Hopefully, if you're lucky,
Speaker 1: you can get them both for about the threaty million
Speaker 1: a year combined. I'd pick up Michael Malik Beasley's option.
Speaker 1: I guarantee Obama's contract. I guarantee I'm having trouble talking today.
Speaker 1: I guarantee Jared Vanderbilt's contract, and I'd try to re
Speaker 1: sign D'angela Russell on some sort of team friendly deal,
Speaker 1: which I think you're gonna be able to do after
Speaker 1: how much he struggled in the postseason. So why because
Speaker 1: the shortcoming of this roster that we saw against Denver
Speaker 1: was over the top shot making, right, Yo Kitchen Murray
Speaker 1: beat them making jumpers over contests when Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis could not. That was the fundamental, biggest weakness
Speaker 1: in my opinion. Obviously, you want Anthony Davis to defend better.
Speaker 1: You'd like to have another body to throw at Yo Kicch. Obviously,
Speaker 1: when you get swept there's more than one reason, but
Speaker 1: the biggest reason in my opinion is the lack of
Speaker 1: over the top shot making for the Lakers. So that's
Speaker 1: not going to bother you in the regular season. That's
Speaker 1: a playoff problem. In the regular season, the Lakers is
Speaker 1: currently constructed, are gonna win a shit ton of games,
Speaker 1: So this is not a problem you need to solve
Speaker 1: this summer. If you bring back Dangel Russell, Malik Beasley, Mobamba,
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt, and you run the same group, you're gonna
Speaker 1: win a shit ton of regular season games. You're gonna
Speaker 1: be sitting at you know, thirty seven and twenty two
Speaker 1: or something at some point during the season you're gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of games, so that that's the route.
Speaker 1: Then you have all of this tradeable salary Mike Malik
Speaker 1: Beasley's contract sixteen million, Mobamba ten million, Jared Vanderbilt five million,
Speaker 1: Dangel Russell probably around twenty million dollars a year. Right,
Speaker 1: So even if you do, even if you don't get
Speaker 1: d Lo, that's thirty one million in tradable salary that's
Speaker 1: tradable immediately this summer, and then if you wait till
Speaker 1: the deadline, you get that plus whatever Dangel Russell makes.
Speaker 1: Let's just for the sake of making the math easy,
Speaker 1: let's call it fifty million in total tradable salaries. There.
Speaker 1: You can attach them there. That's a bunch of different sizes, right,
Speaker 1: I've got a twenty million salary slot, a sixteen million
Speaker 1: salary slot, a ten, and a five. You can piece
Speaker 1: those together in any combination to get any type of
Speaker 1: player that you need. You have two available first round
Speaker 1: draft picks as of draft night to trade, and a
Speaker 1: bunch of second round picks. So I would be patient.
Speaker 1: I've heard a lot of people mentioning guys like Fred
Speaker 1: van Vliet, for instance. I don't like that idea fred
Speaker 1: is a solid defensive player, but he's an inefficient score
Speaker 1: and he's small, so he doesn't help them in their
Speaker 1: contested rebound situations, which were a big problem in really
Speaker 1: in every playoff series. If they were to go the
Speaker 1: route of just getting some mid level guard, I'd go
Speaker 1: after a guy like Terry Rozier. But even then I'd wait.
Speaker 1: I'd wait. Unless you can easily get Kyrie Irving without
Speaker 1: sacrificing depth, I'd wait. So again, I think if you
Speaker 1: can float in the regular season, you just see what
Speaker 1: pops up over the course of the year. And I
Speaker 1: wrote down a couple of options. So let's say, for instance,
Speaker 1: somebody like let's say like the pacer struggle this year,
Speaker 1: and you can poach Miles Turner for Mobomba and you
Speaker 1: know Malik Beasley and three seconds, Like, that's a fantastic
Speaker 1: trade that gets you a backup center that costs you
Speaker 1: almost nothing and doesn't affect your rotation. Like, that's a
Speaker 1: really interesting deal that I look at for the Lakers
Speaker 1: during the season. Maybe it's a smaller move like that
Speaker 1: for a guard like Terry Rozier, like I talked about,
Speaker 1: Or maybe you get lucky and someone like Damian Lillard
Speaker 1: comes available, or someone like Bradley Beale becomes available, and
Speaker 1: then you can offer as the salary filler. But you
Speaker 1: can offer two first round draft picks and a second
Speaker 1: round pick, or three second round picks or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Whatever that option is that comes available over the course
Speaker 1: of the season, you are poised to jump on it
Speaker 1: when it arrives right that to me is the best route.
Speaker 1: You already are good enough for the regular season. That's
Speaker 1: a problem you just need to solve by February in
Speaker 1: terms of that top end shot creation. So just be patient,
Speaker 1: hang tight. You never know what's gonna happen during the
Speaker 1: regular season. Maybe some superstar gets hurt on a team
Speaker 1: that like, maybe Kawhi gets hurt again, and the Clippers
Speaker 1: are like, we're looking to get rid of Paul George.
Speaker 1: Maybe you can jump on Paul George, Like, you don't
Speaker 1: know what you'd You never know what's going to happen,
Speaker 1: and so I don't think they need to be super
Speaker 1: aggressive to make a big move this summer on some
Speaker 1: ancillary piece that's not gonna really move the needle. When
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Jared Vanderbilt ru Hatchmurr whoever it
Speaker 1: is that plays a three Lebron James, Anthony Davis with
Speaker 1: mobomb off the bench and and and Max Christy and
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley. You're gonna win enough regular season games, you
Speaker 1: just are. There's just there's no rush. So I would
Speaker 1: be really patient and just kind of look to pounce
Speaker 1: on the right move this summer, and I'd go big.
Speaker 1: I'd go for a really good shot creator that can
Speaker 1: be the guy that go toe to toe with Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray running spam and pick and roll at the end
Speaker 1: of a game with you know, Anthony Davis and the
Speaker 1: dunker spot and Lebron James Setton screens or Lebron spotting
Speaker 1: up in Anthony Davis Setton screens. That's the way that
Speaker 1: I would go. Or hell, Lebron James running pick and
Speaker 1: roll with whoever that star player you bring bring in
Speaker 1: as the screener. You can open up a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff there that Lakers had a lot of problems with
Speaker 1: the Nuggets hiding Jamal Murray on Denna Schroeder for instance,
Speaker 1: for that very reason. So I would be patient. So
Speaker 1: as we zoom out, the concept to the team is
Speaker 1: you have four core players right, Austin Reeves, Zurihach, Murray,
Speaker 1: Lebron James, Anthony Davis. You need a reliable fifth starter
Speaker 1: that you can run in closing groups, right. And you
Speaker 1: need a backup center to reach your eventual playoff ceiling. Right.
Speaker 1: But you have De'angela, Russell, Malik Beasley, Mobamba, maybe a
Speaker 1: guy like Tristan Thompson if he does well in camp
Speaker 1: to fulfill those responsibilities during the regular season. Eat the
Speaker 1: innings until the right move pops up. I just wouldn't
Speaker 1: cash in all the chips for an average player before then.
Speaker 1: I think this team is the clear number two to
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets head into next season. They have a
Speaker 1: bright future with a bunch of young players around their
Speaker 1: older Lebron James. I think Lebron still has two good
Speaker 1: years left. So it's it's an exciting time to be
Speaker 1: a Laker fan, and there's a lot of opportunity in
Speaker 1: the next calendar year for the Lakers to do some
Speaker 1: damage in the NBA. All right, guys, that's all I
Speaker 1: have for today. I will be back. Actually, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what we're good. I think we might be taking
Speaker 1: the weekend off. It just depends I'm recording this before
Speaker 1: Game five of Celtics Heat, so it might be Game
Speaker 1: six Celtics Heat, or it might be a weekend off
Speaker 1: before we get into NBA Finals stuff next week. As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys, and I'll see you. Then the
Speaker 1: volume