WEBVTT - 170. Lakers get embarrassed (again) 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:07.560 The volume Lakers Tonight is presented by Fan Duel Sports Book. 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:10.879 There's no better place to make every moment more than 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.000 with Fan Duel. It's a great place to bet on 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.760 the NBA. It's America's number one sports book, and you 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.560 get winnings delivered in as quick as two hours. Plus. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.840 It's fun to combine multiple bets from the same game 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.640 into a same game parlay. If you are new, just 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:26.599 download Fan Duel sports Book app to get started. Now 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.080 sign up with promo co Jason T so they know 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:34.600 I sent you. 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Gambling problem called one eight hundred, next step 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:58.320 or text next step to five three three four two 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.320 in Arizona one a date eight seven eight nine seven 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.160 seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat. 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.640 In Connecticut one eight hundred Gambler or visit FanDuel dot 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:15.520 com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, in Virginia 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:20.480 one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.360 one eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.800 for confidential help. In Michigan one eight seven seven eight 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.880 hope and why, or text hope and why to four 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.399 six seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:40.840 redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.800 eight nine in Tennessee visit www one eight dot one 0:01:44.840 --> 0:02:12.920 eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. You know, 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:14.520 I wish I could sit up here with you guys 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:19.440 and say, hey, this is why they lost from the 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.239 standpoint of x xs and ohs, Like, here's this coverage 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:26.800 that wasn't working, here's this specific matchup that wasn't working. 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.360 But I can't. I can't do that because they weren't 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:34.840 even thinkers were disinterested and even the fundamental actions that 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.160 have to take place on a basketball court in order 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.400 for your team to win. So how can I talk 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:43.720 about schemes or matchups or personnel or anything like that 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.520 when they don't care. There was a play in the 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.640 in the first quarter shot goes up, Malik Monk and 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.519 Russell Westbrook are both standing kind of right around the block, 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.640 and both Houston Rockets players dive in and crash and 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.120 they get an offensive rebound putback, just going right around 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.280 Malik and Russ. They were just kind of watching there, waiting, 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.119 just kind of hoping the ball would fall in your lap. 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.560 Now again, if you're a championship caliber team with championship 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:10.920 caliber talent, you know the kind of team that if 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.040 you push the gas down on a team like the Rockets, 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.680 you're gonna win by forty. That kind of team. They 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:19.200 can give up an extra ten offensive rebounds that they 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:23.280 normally wouldn't give up. They can fail to make out 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:25.720 of out of area plays, they can fail to make 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.280 extra efforts and get away with it. They can shoot 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.040 poorly and get away with it. But when you don't 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.880 have that amount of talent, you can't. But what's disappointing 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.120 is that even with that talent gap, there was still 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.080 enough with what the Lakers put on the floor tonight 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.120 to go out there and win that game by ten 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.520 or fifteen points. But instead it was close. And what 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.400 happens when the game is close, When the game is close. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.680 It can go either way. The Lakers should have won 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.440 that game. Still, they had some great looks at the end. 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.680 You know, there's played Lebron's coming off that left wing, 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.120 there's a screen. Defender gets caught on the screen, the 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.760 big sitting way low. Lebron's wide open from the left wing. 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.440 You love that shot, right, but it's not a hundred 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.720 percent shot. It might miss, and he did. Last possession 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:16.280 of the game, Lebron does what all of us have 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.160 been begging for him to do. Don't settle for a 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.520 jump shot, put your head down and go to the rim. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.479 He does. He puts his head down, he goes to 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.000 the rim. The Rockets did an amazing job at the 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.000 end of that game, end in overtime of sending multiple 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.760 bodies at Lebron and making his teammates beat them, which 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.080 they weren't able to do. But Lebron does what you 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.320 ask him to do. He drives into the paint, He 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:41.479 draws multiple defenders, he hits Carmelo Anthony, Carmelo Anthony pump fakes. 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.320 It's a wide open two fter on the right wing, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.880 and he misses it. Because that's what happens in games 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.919 like this. And you know, I don't know if you 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.919 believe in the basketball gods are not. I tend to 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.080 just in general, it's a general philosophy of life. Call 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:57.840 it karma, call it whatever you want to call it. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.160 But I tend to believe that when you are being 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:03.080 a brand of basketball that doesn't deserve to win, those 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.919 kinds of shots don't go in. And then meanwhile, on 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.000 the other end, you might see Jalen Green makes some 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:12.240 crazy step back three as the basketball god's reward him 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.200 for playing hard on a night like tonight. But you know, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.360 if this was a team with championship character, they come 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.400 into this game, even if they're down a bunch of players, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.520 and they play with the requisite effort, and they're up 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.640 by ten at the end of the game, and it 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.400 doesn't come down to one or two shots. Nooke not 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.400 going in. That's the that's the game that they played. 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:34.919 And then in overtime it was like a tidal wave. 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.960 You know, we've talked a lot this season. I've been 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.680 talking about it since the summer about the idea of 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.760 Russell Westbrooken, what he the problem that he presents in 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.560 clutch situations because of the fact that teams are inevitably 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.320 going to leave him open. He doesn't necessarily want to 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.280 shoot open three. So it presents this weird conundrum. If 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.760 he's not cutting and being really active off the ball, 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.719 he can really hurt you in late game situations. And 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.799 it really really hurt the acres tonight. Russ was getting 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.600 consistently ignored. He was the first man that his defender 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.200 was offering help on all of these Lebron possessions. Now, again, 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.480 I can't blame just that for a game like this 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.400 where the Lakers barely played you know, coherent basketball. But 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.760 that's an issue that's been rearing its ugly head all season, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.359 and it reared its ugly head again tonight. When you 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.320 play a guy in the fourth quarter that's not a 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.480 scoring threat got and he's not, he better be just 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:30.120 an unbelievable defensive weapon that's giving you a ton on 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.760 the other end of the floor, or chances are he's 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.839 actually gonna be a net negative in those situations. Russ 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.960 is playing pretty decent basketball as of late, but those 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:40.919 are the kinds of problems that you're going to run into. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.840 You know. The overall tone of this game I think 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.120 derives from Lebron and Russ. This is something that has 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.239 been a consistent theme since the All Star Break. Lebron 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.960 and Russ, their effort on both ends of the floor 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.880 has not represented has not been representative of a team 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:03.040 that cares, and as a result, that percolates down the roster. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:05.920 You know, I talked a lot about the young guys 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:07.880 over the All Star Break and how important they are 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.080 to this team's success. The young guys are starting to 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.120 experience some dip in effort. I was seeing Malik Monk 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.480 and Stanley Johnson start to let up in some of 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.840 the effort areas of the game. And I don't blame them. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.560 Why wouldn't they Their leaders are doing the same thing 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:27.760 and that and that's the confusing part in all this. 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:29.800 That's why I kept saying, like the Lakers got to 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:31.960 decide what they want here. They got to decide what 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.720 they want to do, because I've seen Lebron try hard 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.560 for one half since the All Star Break, and that 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.640 was the second half against Golden State. On both ends 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.400 of the floor, He's been trying on offense, he's getting 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.480 his points, he's going after Kareem, but he's put together 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.520 one good defensive half, and god knows how many tries 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.160 since the All Star break. Of course, that's gonna percolate 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.000 down the roster. That's why when you roll up into 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.040 Houston in a game that your team sperainly needs to win, 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.240 you can't get stops. You give up a hundred and 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.200 forty points, and over time it looked like a pickup 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.760 game with the Rockets shooting wide open shots. And so, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.360 I mean, I don't We've all just kind of understood 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.760 that Lebron's gonna keep doing this. He wants to chase Corene, 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.520 but this is the product. So we all as Laker fans, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.880 have to understand that's going to be the rest of 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.680 the journey. The rest of this season is gonna be 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.280 Lebron mailing in the defensive end of the ball, but 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.200 trying like crazy on offense to put up numbers. He's 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.400 not gonna care what happens in the wind lost column, 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.040 and I would venture to guess that a lot of 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.840 you aren't gonna be very happy about that, which is 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.640 what I said was the risk all along. The risk 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.559 here is you have to maintain some basketball integrity to 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.400 build on for next season, and instead it looks like 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.520 it's just going to continue to get uglier and uglier. 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.000 For those of you who are just joining us, this 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.760 is Lakers Tonight, presented by f go Here at the volume, 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.920 I was just talking about the poor Laker effort throughout 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:06.679 the season. I wanted to talk about a little bit 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:11.680 about when you and Gabriel and his appearance tonight. Vandel 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.200 sports Book is an official sports betting partner of the NBA, 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.679 and with FanDuel same game parlays, you can turn little 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.240 bets into big pay days. Vandel is my favorite sports 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.839 betting app because it is so incredibly user friendly and 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.920 easy to navigate, make every game feel like the finals 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.959 all season long. Download the Fandel sports Book Gap or 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.120 head to Fandel dot com and sign up using promo 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.400 co Jason t to bet the NBA today and get 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:42.400 your first bet risk free twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana. 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.640 Permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:50.240 or West Virginia. First online real money wager only, refund 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:54.280 issued as non withdrawalable site credit that expires in fourteen days. 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:58.200 Restrictions apply see terms at sports book dot FanDuel dot 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.800 com gambling problem called one it hundred next step or 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.960 text next step to five three three four two in 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:10.240 Arizona one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.880 seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.439 Connecticut one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot com 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:23.720 slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey. In Virginia one 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:28.520 eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.240 eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven for 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:37.080 confidential help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight hope 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.880 and why or text hope and Why to four six 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.439 seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee redline 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.640 dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.880 nine in Tennessee visit www one dot one eight hundred 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:58.080 gambler dot net. In West Virginia. I've been begging for 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.920 Gabriel to get minutes because of the obvious fact that 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:05.040 the Lakers lack NBA athleticism all over the floor and 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.360 a group that has been utterly destroyed since the All 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.200 Star break. This group is basically the four bench guards 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.360 and Carmelo Anthony at center. That group has been getting 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.480 completely run over by everybody. They've played since the All 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.240 Star break. I think they've only had one or two 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:23.160 shifts where they've even held their own. And the reason 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.520 why is they lack the requisite amount of NBA athleticism 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.720 to hang in an NBA game. Even that Houston Rockets 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:34.520 team that limited injured Houston Rockets team has significantly more 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.080 size and athleticism all over the floor. Yeah, can Lebron 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.360 bully Alpern Seguin, Yeah, absolutely, But the rest of the 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.480 roster there's a lot of a gap there in size 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.640 and athleticism. Just seeing when you in Gabriel down there, 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.480 flying up and down the floor. He's not getting caught 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:51.959 in the foot race, He's not having trouble keeping up 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.199 with the pace of the game. He's crashing divorce. He 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.280 got two foul calls underneath the basket, just battling for 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.320 offensive rebounds. And the biggest and mo important part of 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.280 those minutes and the reason why, I think when you 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.480 has to keep playing moving forward, look at Russ, Go 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.200 back and watch Russ at the end of the third quarter, 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.160 when when you Gabriel was on the floor, when you 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.920 Gabriel is the only player on the Lakers roster right 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:20.040 now not named Anthony Davis, who is a legitimate vertical 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.520 threat and a guy who can knock down threes. There 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.240 were handful of possessions where he went to the corner. 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:26.679 They were handful of possessions where he hung out on 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.320 the wing. There were handful possessions that he hung out 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.679 in the dunker spot. And every time he was in 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.400 those spots, because he's a real athlete with real vertical 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.280 pop and because he can knock down threes, there was 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.960 just that little bit of extra space for us to 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.640 get going. And Russ was putting his head down and 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.600 he was getting to the rim NonStop at the end 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.080 of the third quarter, because that's what happens when you 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.800 run a functional NBA lineup. That lineup was plus four 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:53.680 in those minutes to end the third quarter. So that 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.000 same lineup that was getting utterly destroyed and all these 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.840 other games was plus four tonight. And that's a huge part, 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.400 a huge lard of that is just what when you 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.000 and Gabriel brings to the table as a functional vertical, 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.959 you know, skilled forward, which is something that we haven't 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.880 had this entire season. So I'm hopeful that when Frank 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.760 watches the tape tomorrow that he sees that, and he 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.280 sees particularly the way that Russ was playing in those lineups, 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.920 and understands that that's something he's gonna have to lean 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.520 into moving forward. He can play mellow with them too. 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.319 As a matter of fact, I think that's really interesting 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.560 to have Melo and when youan together together because uh, 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.000 Carmelo is actually a really good rebounder, and with the 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.040 two of them together on the interior, I think they 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.840 can run a semi competent NBA defense. So I hope 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:41.959 that they'll continue to lean into that moving forward. So 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.120 I wanted to really quickly before we move on. I 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.560 wanted to expand a little bit on the comments that 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.520 I made about Russell Westbrook in the video that I 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.200 shared yesterday in the evening, because there have been, as 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.679 is typically the case with Twitter, there are a lot 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:59.600 of people who kind of tried to twist it into 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.520 something that it wasn't. You know, the Twitter has a 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.640 limit and and how long you're allowed to talk when 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.920 you record those videos two minutes and twenty seconds. So 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.839 as you can see as you watch the video, I'm 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:13.480 hustling through a bunch of stuff. I'm trying to make 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.559 some points, trying to get some stuff across, and people 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.440 want to try to jump to conclusions and make it 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.800 about something that it's not, and I wanted to clarify that. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.000 You know, I can't believe this has to be said. 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.560 But of course death threats are a huge problem. There 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.840 an ugly, ugly side of this experience that we have 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.200 on the internet. In so many ways, Twitter has been 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.960 so much fun for me as a place for me 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.320 to talk about basketball when my wife and my friends 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.080 are not really into basketball, and it's like an outlet 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.720 for me. I've made friends on Twitter. I've made friends 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.240 with so many of you Laker fans. I'm thankful for 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:50.320 all those interactions and all of the good that comes 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.120 from that. I can thank Twitter for this opportunity that 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.080 I've received at the volume. It's how I built my 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.960 platform to the point where I had this opportunity. Twitter 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.480 has been so good. But one of the war things 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.200 about it is the negativity in the way that we 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:08.160 as as as with with the anonymity, with the ability 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.240 of people to say things without their identity attached to 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:14.920 it gives them this weird courage to say things that 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.560 no normal human being would ever say, and that's awful, 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.720 and I don't know what the fixes and and I 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.840 feel terrible that Russ's family has had to deal with that, 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.880 and I am thankful that they have the resources to 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.720 at least attempt to handle it better than a lot 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.800 of people out there do not have access to. That 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.160 doesn't mean I don't sympathize with the way he's feeling. 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.160 That doesn't mean I don't feel terrible. I literally received 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.200 a death threat responding to the video that I've released. 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.960 Like I and again, I'm not experiencing anything like what 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.840 Russell Westbrook is experiencing, But I'm just saying this is 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.320 a part of what that experience is like. It's an 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.680 awful place the internet, and I'm not sure that it 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.120 can be fixed. It's a part of the deal, and 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.120 we all need to sympathize with each other and be 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.200 for it would be there for each other in these situations. 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.080 I was just trying to with the video, and I 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.560 hope that this is clear now. I was trying to 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:14.120 differentiate between fans who are frustrated with Russ's play and 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:18.200 his attitude and the crazy ass people on any on 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.360 the Internet that are hiding behind fake avatars and that 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.000 are saying awful, awful things that deserve to have them 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:30.640 thrown in prison. Those are two different things, you know. Literally, 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.360 Russ came into this season and had a meeting with 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:40.760 Lebron and Anthony Davis and said, I'm gonna change, I'm 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.080 going to fit alongside you guys, and I'm gonna do 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.360 whatever it takes to win the title. When he said that, 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.520 Laker fans had a certain expectation that was attached to that. 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.720 As we went into the season. Even me, I was 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.360 I have watched lots of Russell westbrook In previously, so 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.040 I was very pessimistic about the fit. But when he 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.440 came into the Lakers, even I tried to talk myself 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.800 into how it might work. I said things like, hey, 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.719 he's a third option now, maybe that will lead him 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.080 to be more willing to embrace the little details of 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.400 the game. I thought about matchups and the fact that 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.639 when he's playing against teams like Brooklyn or Golden State, 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.080 he might be able to present some physical advantages that 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.959 the Lakers can capitalize on. I thought, I thought, you know, hey, 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.360 in the past, before he was with these bad teams, 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.240 he actually had some success on the defensive end. I 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.720 talked myself into it too. But just like all you 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:47.720 Laker fans, I watched the games this year and as 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.720 immediately from the start, it looked like the old Russ 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.240 from the start. It was stubbornness from the start. It 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.480 was an unwillingness to embrace the Drew Holli a type 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.760 of role, that defensive minded power guard type of role, 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:07.560 the obvious role that the Lakers desperately needed him to fill. 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.720 He immediately wasn't interested in doing that. And throughout the 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.359 entire season it was just this cascade of the next 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.399 story and the next thing that he did. It was 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:20.280 here he got benched in the fourth quarter, and he 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.280 walks off the floor before the final buzzer sounds. Here 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:26.080 he gets benched again. Now he's in the postgame presser 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.879 saying that his resume is why he should be in 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.440 the closing group. How did you think that was gonna 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.800 land with Laker fans? Laker fans don't care about Lebron's resume. 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.919 What makes you think they're gonna compare? They're gonna care 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.800 about yours. All they care about. These are hardworking people 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.840 that are just as passionate about this team as you players. 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.520 These are people that grew up with this team. These 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.479 are people that live and breathe for these games, and 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.880 they work hard all day and they sit on their 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:01.880 couch and they see a crap product, especially one that's 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:08.720 associated to self sabotage, an unwillingness to do the work, uh, 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:13.359 prideful nature, acting like you're too good for what the 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.400 team is asking you to do. Those are natural, Those 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:18.840 are those things are naturally going to turn a fan 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.080 base against you. I have no doubt in my mind 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.840 that had Russell Westbrook came into the Lakers and truly 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.640 embraced that culture that the Lakers built in the previous 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.400 two seasons, that none of these conversations would have happened. 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.800 Every single one of us would have vehemently defended him 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.080 to the end. I can't tell you how many times 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.000 over the course of the last year I came to 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.199 Kyle Kuzma's defense when people were saying he was a 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:47.080 bad basketball player, and I had to remind people that 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.840 he had turned himself into a very good role player 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.200 in the NBA. I can't tell you how many times 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.840 people said Alex Crusoe is only famous because he's a Laker, 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.480 and I had to go out of my way to explain, like, no, 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.080 he's a very very good basketball player because of X, 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.520 Y and Z. We all would have done the same 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.520 thing with Russ had he embraced that when he came 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.959 into the team. And it's the problem I have with 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.440 the way Russ approached that postgame presser and the way 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.040 his wife was acting on Twitter was it was very 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.960 directed at Laker fans. You guys did this to my family, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.200 and I don't think that's fair. The crazy people, they 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.440 deserve to be thrown in prison, the people who throw 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.920 the death threats out. I hope one day we find 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:34.359 a way to solve that problem. That's separate the Laker 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.520 fans who booed the product on the floor, the Laker 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.320 fans who tweeted you know, I can't believe this dude's 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:42.840 not boxing out, or here's this guy not running back 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.680 and transition, or stop complaining at the refs and get back, 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.840 or stop taking that stupid ass jump. That is just 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.400 fans being fans because they love their team and they're 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.199 not satisfied with the product on the floor. And you know, 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:57.320 I think I think Russ's wife said something along the 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.040 lines of like, hey, I hope this doesn't happen to 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.840 the next player that comes in here. I hope so too, 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.480 as it pertains to the death threats and the horrible 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.040 things that some of those people do. But as it 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:13.040 pertains to the fan base itself. They have seventeen championships, 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.680 They have expectations, and almost every player that has come 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.560 through this team has been held to that same standard. 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:24.200 I literally have been so critical of Lebron for his effort. 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:28.600 This is not about russ. This is just about standards. 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.879 If you put on the Purple and gold a seventeen 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.159 championship organization, you should be expected to play hard. You 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.400 should be expected to embrace your role. When the coach 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:41.400 looks to you at a film session and says, here's 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.200 the defensive responsibility you missed, you should be like, my bad, 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:48.560 I'll do better next time. Not defensive, not not obstinate, 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:52.240 not stubborn. I don't have any problem with the way 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.840 that Laker fans have handled this season within the realm 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.199 of what's reasonable, not counting the crazies. I have no 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:01.440 problem with Laker fans being upset. They should be. This 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.840 was an incredibly disappointing season from the Lakers, and so 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:07.360 much of it was self inflicted. They have every right 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:10.320 to be upset. That's all I have to say on that. 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:12.680