Speaker 1: M m all right, welcome to the State of the
Speaker 1: Lake Girls on DASK Radio. Thank you guys so much
Speaker 1: for coming to hang out on a Sunday. It is
Speaker 1: good to be back, Rods. I haven't heard your voice
Speaker 1: in a week. Well, I guess technically i've heard your voice.
Speaker 1: I've heard your voice listening to the podcast. But it
Speaker 1: is good to be back with you. Sincerely, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you covering for me during what was an absolutely crazy week.
Speaker 1: I was complaining yesterday that, like, as much as I
Speaker 1: love the holidays and getting to be around all my
Speaker 1: loved ones and you know, getting to really just step
Speaker 1: away from being so busy on work related stuff and
Speaker 1: kind of focus on family. It's it's great, but man,
Speaker 1: it can it be stressful when it's just one thing
Speaker 1: after the other after the other. And obviously with my
Speaker 1: grandfather's funeral, you're being able to cover for me meant
Speaker 1: a lot. I sincerely appreciate it. But it is good
Speaker 1: to be back. Um and I we have a lot
Speaker 1: to talk about tonight, my friend mm hmm, yeah for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good to have you back, man. I hope the holiday
Speaker 1: party was good. I hope it was a safe travels
Speaker 1: up to where you were going. Um, we were kind
Speaker 1: of going back and back and forth doing kind of
Speaker 1: solo stuff. But yeah, good to have you back, man.
Speaker 1: How are you, Man, I haven't I haven't. Haven't been
Speaker 1: able to talk to you for a while. I'm doing good.
Speaker 1: It's been you know, the Lakers have certainly kept things interesting.
Speaker 1: This has been a bizarre week. I was talking with
Speaker 1: Eddie Gonzalez from the E t c S this morning
Speaker 1: on a space that I did with him, just kind
Speaker 1: of about just how crazy this COVID stuff is and
Speaker 1: how bizarre it is in the short term and in
Speaker 1: the long term to kind of think about how it
Speaker 1: impacts things. And you know, one of the big things
Speaker 1: that I was saying this morning was, you know, they're
Speaker 1: not going to pause the season. There's no reason. There's
Speaker 1: absolutely no reason for on a bunch of different fronts.
Speaker 1: They're not going to pose it because of the money, obviously,
Speaker 1: but they're also not going to pose it because it
Speaker 1: doesn't actually solve the problem. Like these guys aren't gonna
Speaker 1: go lock themselves in their houses. They're gonna go do
Speaker 1: stuff that rich people do, like they're gonna go, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, hang around other people and and and have
Speaker 1: fun and that it just was never it was never
Speaker 1: an actual solution to the problem. Um and logistically trying
Speaker 1: to reschedule a ton of games that's already going to
Speaker 1: be complicated enough for them to reschedule the games that
Speaker 1: they have to reschedule. So, you know, I was just saying,
Speaker 1: you know, to Eddy, I was like, it's just gonna
Speaker 1: be a weird couple of weeks. You know, they stopped
Speaker 1: testing for a while, so a bunch of guys got
Speaker 1: infected because they had guys that were carrying the virus
Speaker 1: around walking around the team when they didn't know. And
Speaker 1: now they're testing. So over the course of the next
Speaker 1: few weeks, this is going to really die down, I think,
Speaker 1: and things will get back to normal. But right now,
Speaker 1: in this little stretch of time, it's gonna be weird.
Speaker 1: And you just watched a really really weird basketball game
Speaker 1: Rock that was it was really weird. Like we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about a lot of the some stuff that's relevance,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of stuff that we saw tonight
Speaker 1: that's just irrelevant to what this Laker team is going
Speaker 1: to be it through without Anthony David Siro, without any
Speaker 1: of these circumstances. It's just there's a lot of unusual stuff,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Yeah, the rough part about tonight
Speaker 1: and it's one game, and we're gonna be out, you know,
Speaker 1: without a D for like four to six weeks. People
Speaker 1: think four weeks. I think that's on the lor end.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be closer to around six. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And my thing with this game is like you would
Speaker 1: hope when you play this hard you're rewarded with a win, right,
Speaker 1: Like that would have been nice, Like this was a
Speaker 1: game they actually did try. Everyone seemed to want this one.
Speaker 1: They all played. You missed the Minnesota game. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you got back, you got to rewatch that
Speaker 1: one fully. Yeah, that was just an ugly effort game.
Speaker 1: I mean, Minnesota came out and punched just round the
Speaker 1: mouth Carl Anthony Towns did. But just from effort, body
Speaker 1: language standpoint, that was bad. Um even before a D
Speaker 1: obviously went down. And then you talked about how when
Speaker 1: a D went down, our spirits just died with him, right,
Speaker 1: Like our spirits just went into the locker room kind
Speaker 1: of with him. That's why I kind of saw from
Speaker 1: from tonight as well a lot of weird lineups. Obviously,
Speaker 1: not of stuff you can really take in terms of process,
Speaker 1: but I think in these four to six weeks, this
Speaker 1: is kind of what the center lineup will kind of
Speaker 1: look right like, especially if they don't go and get
Speaker 1: us another center. And I'm sure we'll touch on that later,
Speaker 1: but Lebron was mostly the center for a lot of this.
Speaker 1: Tobiasa played center. DeAndre Jordan's still looks unplayable even in
Speaker 1: his minutes. That's why I saw from tonight. Obviously, Isaiah Thomas,
Speaker 1: I think we both agree that he's not probably long
Speaker 1: for this team. But yeah, it's just it's just tough
Speaker 1: to have a loss where the players really did try
Speaker 1: like you would like to be awarded with the win
Speaker 1: with the type of effort they displayed tonight, and they
Speaker 1: weren't a lot of fouls. Twenty two turnovers is something.
Speaker 1: A lot of them were just lackluster, just you know,
Speaker 1: high risk, low reward type passes from our main playmakers.
Speaker 1: It was a rough night that Jamorrow Derosen lived at
Speaker 1: the free the line. He also hit a bunch of
Speaker 1: clutch shots. You have to give it to him. Tough loss, though,
Speaker 1: and this is the one you wanted to get because
Speaker 1: you played Fenix next and I think they got Devin
Speaker 1: Booker back tonight. Just just a tough one to move
Speaker 1: on from. Yeah, you know, and like when it comes
Speaker 1: to looking at what it can take away from tonight,
Speaker 1: because like you know, you mentioned Isaiah Thomas, he's not
Speaker 1: long for the team. I was so impressed by his
Speaker 1: competitiveness tonight. I love that dude as a player and
Speaker 1: compete and try to impact winning in really a difficult
Speaker 1: situation if you think about what his circumstances are. A
Speaker 1: guy who didn't go through training, cramp, didn't go through anything,
Speaker 1: was literally just jammed into this situation under the COVID
Speaker 1: circumstances and is playing with basically a fake basketball team
Speaker 1: with the with the with a bunch of the guys
Speaker 1: that are out there. It's like for him to come
Speaker 1: out and to compete the way he did and to
Speaker 1: help this team the way that he has is really impressive.
Speaker 1: But it's irrelevant to to looking forward with this team
Speaker 1: because they're just you would even if they wanted to
Speaker 1: use that last roster spot right now, if the team
Speaker 1: was healthy, they would never use it. On on on
Speaker 1: on Isaiah Thomas it was just it was a stop
Speaker 1: gap because Russell went into COVID protocols and they thought
Speaker 1: he might be gone, and the leak monk was gone,
Speaker 1: and all their guards started dropping. They had to do
Speaker 1: what they had to do. But the so for me, Raj,
Speaker 1: the couple of the handful of things that I saw
Speaker 1: tonight that I thought were actually relevant is one, Lebron
Speaker 1: continues to look great, especially around spacing, and Lebron is
Speaker 1: synically putting together a couple of weeks stretch here where
Speaker 1: he's been obviously the Minnesota game being kind of outlier.
Speaker 1: His he just his his energy wasn't really with it
Speaker 1: that night. Um, and we're not going to get too
Speaker 1: far into that, but you know, Lebron still looks great.
Speaker 1: That helps project well for this team. Like if Lebron
Speaker 1: can stay healthy and he plays at this level, then
Speaker 1: now we're now we're talking about how if a d
Speaker 1: comes back after this injury and he's you know, healthy
Speaker 1: and mobile and looking good, that we're going to be
Speaker 1: in good shape. So the Lebron thing is good. And
Speaker 1: then the second thing is and this is the thing
Speaker 1: I think you wanted to hit on, right, complained a
Speaker 1: lot early in the season that we had all these
Speaker 1: lineups out there that weren't really functional basketball lineups because
Speaker 1: when Lebron was off the floor, which was almost all
Speaker 1: the time as a result of his injury, we would
Speaker 1: have an assortment of small guards and then usually two
Speaker 1: bigs on the floor at any given moment, or maybe
Speaker 1: even sometimes when Lebron was out one one big you know,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis at center or to what howard its center
Speaker 1: and four guards, and those just aren't functional lineups, especially
Speaker 1: when you factor in all of the things you have
Speaker 1: to accomplish outside of that, like defensive rebounding, like that
Speaker 1: play tonight where Lebron, you know, blocks the DeMar diversion
Speaker 1: at the rim. There's just no other big guys on
Speaker 1: the floor to go get the rebounds. That's a huge
Speaker 1: part of how to mark got the ball back, you know.
Speaker 1: So the thing is is Trevor Resa gives us another
Speaker 1: one of those guys, those guys that are in between
Speaker 1: the guys that can are the jack of all trades
Speaker 1: types of athletes on the floor, and when you see
Speaker 1: him out there, the basketball lineups just make more sense.
Speaker 1: And that's exciting to think about. When this team kind
Speaker 1: of comes back to having all of their players is
Speaker 1: having a reason plugged into a spot that has normally
Speaker 1: been occupied by a guard. This year makes us a
Speaker 1: team that is all of a sudden way more athletic,
Speaker 1: way longer better with defensive rebounding, fewer misnatches in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, if we're switching and and getting you know,
Speaker 1: other guys from the other team on an island, Like
Speaker 1: he just he just functionally makes so much of our
Speaker 1: lineups makes so much, so much more sense. Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: before like I get too deep into Trevor MS, because
Speaker 1: I think he was a big part of this. I
Speaker 1: think he's he's been like the positive news. I just
Speaker 1: want to push back on the Isaiah Thomas stuff. Is
Speaker 1: is not relevant. I think it's relevant in terms of
Speaker 1: I see Kendrick Nun's role in Isaiah Thomas right, And
Speaker 1: I think I texted you I wanted to kind of
Speaker 1: get into that because I think that's an interesting kind
Speaker 1: of thing. I think they're similar. Isaiah Thomas might be
Speaker 1: the better three point shoot, like the better pull up
Speaker 1: three point shooter, but Kendrick Dunn plays that kind of
Speaker 1: play style, right, And I talked about this. I think
Speaker 1: the last one. We don't have very many mid range scorers,
Speaker 1: and Isaiah Thomas being a guy who can come off
Speaker 1: a screen roll and pull up in the mid range
Speaker 1: just gives us another look. He also has the floater game,
Speaker 1: and I think Kendrick Nunn kind of can fit into that,
Speaker 1: and Kendrick Nuns a little taller as well, not by much,
Speaker 1: but at least. I think it's significant in terms of
Speaker 1: those two in terms of how they're attacked defensively. You
Speaker 1: see how teams go at Isaiah Thomas, even Cruz, so
Speaker 1: I'll try to go at him. But Kendrick Nunn is
Speaker 1: at least, if he's not a good defenders, at least
Speaker 1: an average defender. And that's where I see Isaiah Thomas
Speaker 1: is his scoring and stuff as relevant. I think it
Speaker 1: fits right into what Kendrick Nunn is. Uh, do you
Speaker 1: agree with that? Only to ask you about that, because
Speaker 1: I think that's just an interesting kind of way to
Speaker 1: look at it. I think they score in similar ways, right,
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nuns are very off the pick and roll, get
Speaker 1: into the mid range, floater game, get to the basket,
Speaker 1: a little bit more athletic as well, finishing at the rim.
Speaker 1: Thomas has been grey, he's been competitive. But I just
Speaker 1: think that's where like, that's where you can compare, and
Speaker 1: that's what you can take I guess from the Isaiah
Speaker 1: Thomas role here. And look, I say Thomas may sit
Speaker 1: fit with the team, I just don't think you will.
Speaker 1: You don't think you will either. WRIT think Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: fitting in Frisaiah. They do a lot of similar things.
Speaker 1: And it also helps having another ball handler out there
Speaker 1: right Lebron Russ and just one more ball handler that
Speaker 1: can do something with it and hugely important exactly and
Speaker 1: just giving another guy with's with a little bit of
Speaker 1: handle and shot and a guy that defense has to respect.
Speaker 1: And even if I t gets killed defensively, our offense
Speaker 1: you can tell, just has a big boost having another
Speaker 1: ball handlers. I want to ask you about that. Do
Speaker 1: you see that comparison as well, that Kendrick Nunn kind
Speaker 1: Isaiah Thomas uh player archetype. I guess they're not the
Speaker 1: exact same player, but I think they just kind of
Speaker 1: fit and do similar things offensively. So I do agree
Speaker 1: with you in principle about you know, the archetype of
Speaker 1: player in the way that it works well. One of
Speaker 1: the big differences between Isaiah Thomas and a guy like
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn, and the reason why it's a little less
Speaker 1: functional is Isaiah Thomas shoots at the top of an
Speaker 1: elevated kicks off, gets up into a shot, and shoots
Speaker 1: at the top. So he's really good when he's coming
Speaker 1: off of the screen at making people pay with a quick,
Speaker 1: high release, even at his height. Kendrick Nunn is a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a set shooter, so he's not
Speaker 1: as good at those dynamic pull up jump shots that
Speaker 1: Isaiah Thomas takes. And I'm specifically talking about jump shots
Speaker 1: when we get into the paint, all those the assortment
Speaker 1: of little floaters and push shots and things like that.
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn, so and I'm just I'm I guess I'm
Speaker 1: just paying a compliment to Wasaiah Thomas there. There's just
Speaker 1: not that many guys in the league that are that
Speaker 1: dynamic off the dribble as a jump shooter, and Kendrick
Speaker 1: Nunn is certainly not at that level. But yes, I
Speaker 1: agree with you in terms of the overall archetype of
Speaker 1: the player, especially as a guy who has all of
Speaker 1: those in between moves, which is something that is like
Speaker 1: utterly lacking from Russell Westbrooks game right, Like when when
Speaker 1: Russell westbrook gets in the lane and he takes anything
Speaker 1: that's not a layup, you just assume it's gonna miss,
Speaker 1: you know, and that having having somebody in the lineup,
Speaker 1: it's definitely exciting. So I definitely agree with you on
Speaker 1: that front, but I wanted to hear your opinion on
Speaker 1: the Trevor Reis and stuff. Yeah, he just fits right.
Speaker 1: He just knows where to be on defense, on offense.
Speaker 1: He's also a threat offensively to hit a three tonight
Speaker 1: as well. I think he puts all our players in
Speaker 1: the right spot and he's gonna be huge for the
Speaker 1: for the week we have without a d to me,
Speaker 1: and we played him at center tonight as well. There's
Speaker 1: a super versatile forward. And even when we're fully healthy,
Speaker 1: I said, we're lacking in versatile forwards and he's a
Speaker 1: guy that helps with that, you know, thirty six year old.
Speaker 1: I thought he moved well. Um, he did a nice job.
Speaker 1: I thought on de Rosen in the minutes he had.
Speaker 1: I think he was like a plus six or something
Speaker 1: for the night when I checked. He just fits with
Speaker 1: the team needs to do high basketball. I Q it's
Speaker 1: just nice to have a player that is in the
Speaker 1: right spots right and he's in the right spots and helping.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that's done this his whole career. He's
Speaker 1: been a role player kind of a lot of older
Speaker 1: players have been like the guy the other whole career
Speaker 1: and trying to are moving into role player kind of
Speaker 1: role player status. He's been a role player pretty much
Speaker 1: his whole career, so you can tell he just knows
Speaker 1: where to feel. He feels corners correctly, he screens and
Speaker 1: rolls really nicely, and he's a big part of our
Speaker 1: small ball I feel, and I think that's the key
Speaker 1: for him because I don't know if they'll pick up
Speaker 1: another center or not, but it looks like we're gonna
Speaker 1: go a lot of Lebron at the five, a lot
Speaker 1: of centerless lineups. They played a reason Carmelo at the
Speaker 1: four or five tonight, and I think he makes Carmelo's
Speaker 1: job a little easier as well. Carmelo likes all the
Speaker 1: responsive I don't think Carmelo likes the responsibilities that a
Speaker 1: four takes, let alone the five. And Trevor Reason does
Speaker 1: trev Reason guy that fights he gets into it right,
Speaker 1: He's not afraid to get hurt, not afraid to get
Speaker 1: get in there and get dirty a little bit on rebounds.
Speaker 1: I thought he was good. I thought he looked you know.
Speaker 1: I think he looked like Trevor Reason. And he's going
Speaker 1: to get in a better rhythm as we go here
Speaker 1: and as he plays more. I just think he fits well.
Speaker 1: I thought he fits as seamless as you could have
Speaker 1: for his first minutes, first minutes tonight, and he's gonna
Speaker 1: be a big key of this team. I'm worried about
Speaker 1: the load we're gonna put on him, because again, I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have to play big minutes. I thought
Speaker 1: they were. I was worried about that tonight. I was
Speaker 1: worried about that tonight. Yeah, and they didn't start. Did
Speaker 1: they start him to start the second half? I believe
Speaker 1: they did, right because I know, yeah, so they started,
Speaker 1: they started Trevor Reason. Honestly, I think if Trevor was healthy,
Speaker 1: you know, for the last few weeks, he probably starts
Speaker 1: tonight anyway. But yeah, I thought like he looked good.
Speaker 1: He looks like he fits. I was a little lower
Speaker 1: on him than you were over the over the summer.
Speaker 1: I was worried about the mile that he's had, but
Speaker 1: it looks like in five minute role, this is what
Speaker 1: this is what he can he can even it's it's
Speaker 1: so needed on this team. It jumps out. Yeah, agree,
Speaker 1: he's I'm I'm super super excited about a reason. We're
Speaker 1: not going to even really begin to get to understand
Speaker 1: how valuable he is until until we get more of
Speaker 1: our guys back. Like that's the crazy part with the reason,
Speaker 1: because he is a textbook like final piece of the
Speaker 1: other lineup grouping. You know, right now, he's more of
Speaker 1: like a like he's going to be the third, second
Speaker 1: or third best player on the floor, and a lot
Speaker 1: of these lineups just because of the weirdness with COVID,
Speaker 1: so you can't even like for him to look you know,
Speaker 1: serviceable now is even is very encouraging. But so, um,
Speaker 1: I wanted to get your opinion on this and and
Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear where you're at with this. So
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think A D is going to
Speaker 1: be out at least eight weeks. I think I think
Speaker 1: we're looking So the reason why is because if you
Speaker 1: really factor and ramp up, if you really factor in
Speaker 1: the fact that the Lakers more or less are not
Speaker 1: going to have an opportunity to get a top seed,
Speaker 1: just because of the reality of the situation. This is
Speaker 1: a team that at at this point it's just got
Speaker 1: to be thinking anywhere but seven. So they're just gonna
Speaker 1: be fighting for that sixth seed, right And and from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, you know, rushing a d back to try
Speaker 1: to make a blitz at the top of the top
Speaker 1: side of those standings doesn't really make sense. So I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be a little more cautious with him,
Speaker 1: especially since we've all seen plenty of examples in NBA
Speaker 1: history of guys spraining their knee, coming back to early
Speaker 1: and then something bad happening. So I'm a big believer
Speaker 1: in them probably taking their time with this. And so
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, we're looking at probably getting a d
Speaker 1: back in my opinion, and I could be wrong. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it's better, but probably around middle February. So you saw
Speaker 1: tonight a good example of how decimated our front courts.
Speaker 1: Obviously Dwight Howard makes it a little bit better, but
Speaker 1: ideally you don't want to Ideally you don't want to
Speaker 1: play DeAndre Jordan. It although right, so ideally it's gonna
Speaker 1: be if they didn't make any sort of moves, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be seeing a lot of Dwight Howard and Lebron
Speaker 1: James literally trading off playing center. So like we're decimated
Speaker 1: in the front court. That's just the reality of our situation.
Speaker 1: And I talked, I talked a lot with you over
Speaker 1: the course of the season that I thought th HT,
Speaker 1: you know, because I believe he's gonna be an All Star,
Speaker 1: I think you should hold on to him and only
Speaker 1: cash him in if you get to the point where
Speaker 1: you're near the deadline the team is trending in the
Speaker 1: right direction. Th HD isn't much of a part of that.
Speaker 1: It's a way to go all in on the season.
Speaker 1: And that was kind of my patient approach with that.
Speaker 1: I think under these circumstances with a d being out
Speaker 1: but not seriously out, and knowing that the season is
Speaker 1: not lost and there still is an opportunity to make
Speaker 1: a playoff run here, I would cash in th HD
Speaker 1: as soon as humanly possible with his contract to get
Speaker 1: something in the front court, preferably that you know, Kendrick
Speaker 1: Non th HT for Miles Turner type of deal because
Speaker 1: of the fact that I think you have to. The
Speaker 1: only way you're gonna float in the standings enough is
Speaker 1: going to be bringing in a legitimate center. And you
Speaker 1: saw tonight. You you talk, I think you might have
Speaker 1: been one of the people tweeting about this, But Lebron
Speaker 1: was unbelievable defensively on the back end. Tonight took a
Speaker 1: handful possessions off, but he was unbelievable. And he cannot
Speaker 1: do that for the next two months. I genuinely think
Speaker 1: that would be a terrible idea. I know he's physically
Speaker 1: capable of it. I just think it would be a
Speaker 1: terrible idea. And then over the course of these next
Speaker 1: two months you're gonna need so much out of him offensively.
Speaker 1: So I'm of the opinion that you have to absolutely
Speaker 1: have to bring in a legitimate center and put d
Speaker 1: White back in that backup center role. Do you agree
Speaker 1: with me? Are you taking the let's just wing it
Speaker 1: for the next two months approach? Well? First, so, um,
Speaker 1: I think his name is Jeff's thoughts, Uh? He he didn't.
Speaker 1: I think his Jeff thoughts. Yes, at in street clothes,
Speaker 1: he does a great job kind of uh doing injuries
Speaker 1: and NBA injuries, and I think he does other sports too.
Speaker 1: He said the average for for the a D injury
Speaker 1: is twenty two games, which is about six and a
Speaker 1: half weeks, right, which is which puts a D back
Speaker 1: February second. It's still you know, it's still a while
Speaker 1: is away. My issue with this conversation because I've seen
Speaker 1: this a lot and people are like, Okay, let's go
Speaker 1: trade for voles Turner, right, and I think that's the
Speaker 1: name that probably pops out up props up a lot.
Speaker 1: T HD isn't tradeable until January four, January, right, which
Speaker 1: is still like four weeks away, which is so long,
Speaker 1: and this center issue is an issue now. To me,
Speaker 1: I think during that time you can kind of assess
Speaker 1: what the record is. I feel like the the answer
Speaker 1: to this to me is I would like to see
Speaker 1: what our two way guy has, Like I would like
Speaker 1: to see what the Jayhuff guy has, and maybe he
Speaker 1: can't play, But I think the Lakers scouting department hasn't
Speaker 1: enough of you know, resume, yeah, enough credibility to where
Speaker 1: like try these guys out, try out the jhouse, see
Speaker 1: if he can play. There's no way he can be
Speaker 1: that much worse than what DeAndre Jordan's is, giving you
Speaker 1: a nine league basis and watching DeAndre tonight, man, it's
Speaker 1: just it's a it's a rough watch, and he got
Speaker 1: you know, Fisdale had twelve twelve minutes of it before
Speaker 1: he had enough and had to bench him in the
Speaker 1: second half. But that's where I would go with, You're right,
Speaker 1: Lebron can't play center like this every night. It's it's
Speaker 1: not possible. And it's why this loss hurts so much, because,
Speaker 1: like he he played that hard and you lose on
Speaker 1: amarg Rosen, you know, to fade aways and one foul
Speaker 1: on a fade away like that's a really tough way
Speaker 1: to lose. Lebron obviously wanted this one, but yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: he can't play center this much. I think that's the answer,
Speaker 1: and hopefully Dwight Howard comes back soon. Hopefully he's back
Speaker 1: in a couple of days. But I think that's the
Speaker 1: way they go with this. I don't think they're gonna
Speaker 1: make a trade right now because your only trade offer
Speaker 1: is THHC and you don't have four weeks. They can't, Jason.
Speaker 1: They can't just lose at a crazy pace, right The
Speaker 1: West is. It's not great, but it's still good enough
Speaker 1: to where you you don't want to be in the
Speaker 1: play in, right. I know you said that they're not
Speaker 1: going to try to fight for a to top seed,
Speaker 1: but you don't want to be in the play in Like,
Speaker 1: that's not where you want to be in this Uh.
Speaker 1: I think if they're like five hundred, if they can
Speaker 1: stay around there and they have eight of their next
Speaker 1: ten games at home, uh coming up here, So like
Speaker 1: it's a it's a tough thing, but I would try out.
Speaker 1: You know, Jay Health the other I believe he's on
Speaker 1: a two way, right, I believe like I would try
Speaker 1: him out, maybe see you maybe see if you can
Speaker 1: sign a minimum center somewhere. Um, But that's where I
Speaker 1: would go with this because I don't think trades are
Speaker 1: even a possibility yet. Your only trade your only trade
Speaker 1: pieces are THHD and Kendrick Nunne. D Nunn has not
Speaker 1: touched the floor this year and T is not tradeable
Speaker 1: for four weeks. So like, I don't know how we
Speaker 1: I don't know how we get into trade discussions to
Speaker 1: solve the eighties not here to play center when that's
Speaker 1: a when we can't trade our main piece until January.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. Yeah, so I do, so
Speaker 1: let me So this is a good discussion. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you're on the other side of this because this always
Speaker 1: makes it more interesting when you can get two people
Speaker 1: to kind of bounce the you know, counter examples off
Speaker 1: of each other. So I look at it from two perspectives.
Speaker 1: First of all, I think that a D on the
Speaker 1: injury spectrum is probably going to take a longer rather
Speaker 1: than shorter. Okay, um, that's just my personal belief there.
Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but I tend to think that
Speaker 1: if the average tells us uh, Anthony Davis is coming
Speaker 1: back in early February, then it's probably gonna be closer
Speaker 1: to late February. So I look at it. That's part
Speaker 1: of it. And then the second part of it is
Speaker 1: I look at it from functional basketball and the best
Speaker 1: possible strategy with which two float things until a D
Speaker 1: gets back. Right. So we just talked about how I
Speaker 1: think it's absurd to try to ask Lebron to be
Speaker 1: Draymond Green while also being m v P level offensive
Speaker 1: Lebron for the next two months. I don't think that
Speaker 1: that's a realistic expectation. So yeah, exactly, so my calendar.
Speaker 1: So so for instance, if we if we run, if
Speaker 1: we go all in on small ball and only use
Speaker 1: you know, like a lot of DeAndre Jordan in those
Speaker 1: other minutes, and we go heavy on switching, it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be complicated for Lebron in the short term to
Speaker 1: try to make that work. So if you bring in
Speaker 1: a legitimate center, then you can at least go back
Speaker 1: to something that benefits your limits patitions elsewhere. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: we have guards that can't defend at the point of attack.
Speaker 1: So it's so important when you have guards that can't
Speaker 1: defend at the point of attack to have size around
Speaker 1: the rim that can deter driving driving lanes. Right, And
Speaker 1: so I think like if you had to play fake
Speaker 1: basketball for two months to try to float things until
Speaker 1: you can lean into your true identity. When a d
Speaker 1: gets back, I think it makes more sense to play
Speaker 1: some bigger guys. That's just that's just my my take
Speaker 1: on it. And and again, like you you guys know
Speaker 1: how I feel in real life here, like when this
Speaker 1: team gets healthy, you guys know I preached switching all
Speaker 1: the time. I would go all in on ditching the centers.
Speaker 1: Having a d and Lebron play center switch everything, you know,
Speaker 1: especially when you got a reason out there. I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer in that style, especially when it comes playoff time.
Speaker 1: I just don't think without Anthony Davis you can do
Speaker 1: that for two months right now. But that that's just
Speaker 1: my two cents on it. Well, like to me and
Speaker 1: also a solution to this, and I agree to me,
Speaker 1: I think you have to go small ball, go offensive,
Speaker 1: go offensive minded here. I think Austin Reeves, uh th
Speaker 1: h t Baysmore a big part of this because we
Speaker 1: saw some of the detriments to playing Lebron at the
Speaker 1: five is rebounding, right, That's an issue, and we have
Speaker 1: small guards. Russell Westbrooks the guy that doesn't box out either, right,
Speaker 1: He's a stand, try to get the ball by jumping
Speaker 1: type of rebounder, and I thought that we saw that tonight.
Speaker 1: Lebron as well, can't be the guy trying to go
Speaker 1: and rebound for for everyone. And Isaiah Thomas is too
Speaker 1: small as well, trying to get bored. So I think
Speaker 1: like getting Austin Reaves back, getting Kent Baysmore, who hopefully
Speaker 1: you know, can play as well he did in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: but getting those guys back, I think I think helps
Speaker 1: as well. Trevor Reason goes as well, We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to just try to fight through here, like and then
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard coming back to Like, I don't think there's
Speaker 1: a trade answer coming here. Maybe you can find a
Speaker 1: big on the minimum, but Jason, like a big on
Speaker 1: the minimum that can anchor a defense, Like I think
Speaker 1: that's tough to find right now. Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: those are out in the market, Like maybe you can
Speaker 1: try to find one, but maybe in the g LA
Speaker 1: you can find a center somewhere, like they did with
Speaker 1: Damian Jones last year. I think Damon Jones was in
Speaker 1: the G League last year. I don't remember, but he
Speaker 1: was a guy they found as well and he was
Speaker 1: able to play. But yeah, like that's the only issue.
Speaker 1: It's an issue that's going to be a problem for
Speaker 1: a long time, like at least for the next four
Speaker 1: to six weeks. And I don't think trade there's any
Speaker 1: trade option to find here. I just think try to
Speaker 1: find it if you're two way guy can play center, uh,
Speaker 1: and then try to buy some DeAndre Jordan, Like DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan can come and place what eight minutes a game maybe, like,
Speaker 1: can you do that? Like I think, I think twelve
Speaker 1: minutes in a full half shift is too much though,
Speaker 1: right you play twelve minutes at first half, that's too long,
Speaker 1: that's way too long of a shift. Um, he looks
Speaker 1: tired by like the six minute market. If you just
Speaker 1: watch him closely, you can see his legs go out
Speaker 1: from of him. He's already a guy that goes to
Speaker 1: the path at least resistance on every place, so it's
Speaker 1: just a bad mix for him. So that's where i'd go.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we get Austin Reeves Trevor Reasa back and you
Speaker 1: can play that switchy style if you get those guys.
Speaker 1: But right now we can't, and that's why it looks
Speaker 1: so so rough. But yeah, I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: a trade is coming man, like I know it would
Speaker 1: be if h was tradeable. Now, I think this is
Speaker 1: a different conversation, but he's not. He's not tradial for
Speaker 1: another four weeks. They can't even have those. They can
Speaker 1: have the conversations obviously, but they can't even think about
Speaker 1: that until then. So I think you have the minimum.
Speaker 1: You can get guys on the minimum or find if
Speaker 1: your two way guys can play, and right now I
Speaker 1: would try the two way guys can I think Isaiah
Speaker 1: Thomas is going to stay for at least his ten
Speaker 1: day contrary. Yeah, So I tend to think when you're
Speaker 1: talking about centers, because you make a good point, like, oh,
Speaker 1: go get a minimum center, maybe you can flip like
Speaker 1: a you know, a guy like Malik Monk who other
Speaker 1: teams are going to see as valuable for you know,
Speaker 1: a guy out there who's who's on the minimum. I
Speaker 1: get that. I think, you know, I'm a big believer
Speaker 1: in going cheap on centers in a in a perfect world,
Speaker 1: you know. For instance, like the reason why I was
Speaker 1: against the proposed Miles Turner trade is because I thought, like,
Speaker 1: what's the point like that, You're we don't we we
Speaker 1: don't expect much from that position. We're better off going
Speaker 1: for a position where we have a shortcoming, which is
Speaker 1: that on the wing. You know, when the guy like
Speaker 1: Jeremy Grant like that, that ex more sense to me, right,
Speaker 1: Like that was kind of my ideology there. But like
Speaker 1: when Anthony, a lot of that was because of the
Speaker 1: fact that Anthony Davis was on the team, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think I think, like a minimum center does
Speaker 1: a really nice job. When you're a team like Golden
Speaker 1: State and you know you're so stacked at the other
Speaker 1: positions that you know, Kevin Kavon Looney is is operating
Speaker 1: on a really limited role, and he can knock that
Speaker 1: limited roll out of the park. But I tend to
Speaker 1: think that over this stretch of games, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: asked to do a lot. Like I I whoever's in
Speaker 1: that position, whoever is playing that role on this team,
Speaker 1: is going to have a huge role. Unfortunately under the circumstances,
Speaker 1: So it would be beneficial to have a good player there.
Speaker 1: Will see, You're right, Like a lot can change by January.
Speaker 1: You could have reports come out that's say a D
Speaker 1: s N is doing better than expected. You could have
Speaker 1: like you said, like maybe they lean crazy into small
Speaker 1: ball and switching and just janket up on everybody the
Speaker 1: way that Brooklyn did last year, and maybe they just
Speaker 1: went a bunch of games. I mean, for the record,
Speaker 1: they had no business even being competitive tonight, Like they
Speaker 1: had no business being competitive with that Bulls team tonight.
Speaker 1: Like even with the guys that were out for the Bulls,
Speaker 1: they just had a far more functional basketball roster tonight
Speaker 1: than we did. And we competed because we spread the
Speaker 1: ship out of the floor and Lebron is an MVP,
Speaker 1: and and Rutts had his moments and Isaiah Thomas had
Speaker 1: his moments. Like that's kind of how we we faked
Speaker 1: it till we made it, if that made If that
Speaker 1: makes sense, So I I can I can see where
Speaker 1: you're coming from there. I'm just I'm just worried about
Speaker 1: like workload stuff and things along those lines. But the
Speaker 1: other the other thing I wanted to ask you and
Speaker 1: I talked about this yesterday as well. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: hopeful that Anthony Davis takes this opportunity to figure out
Speaker 1: what's going on with his body. And and it could
Speaker 1: be a couple of different things, right, Like he either
Speaker 1: was dealing with some sort of nagging injury that was
Speaker 1: limiting his mobile or he became overweight, not overweight from
Speaker 1: a fat perspective, but overweight in terms of the way
Speaker 1: he constructed his body over the course of the last
Speaker 1: couple of years in the weight room. And you know
Speaker 1: how that goes, Like when you we all know because
Speaker 1: we've all been there if you've ever lifted before, but
Speaker 1: you can drop that kind of thing relatively quickly by
Speaker 1: getting out Jim, And I wonder if it's if this
Speaker 1: time for a D is a good opportunity for him
Speaker 1: to either figure out what's going on with his um
Speaker 1: injuries that he's been coping with, or if this is
Speaker 1: a body weight issue for him to kind of get
Speaker 1: back down to an optimal body weight. And then you know,
Speaker 1: the idea there is is hey, like, if a D
Speaker 1: can come back mid February and just a perfect basketball
Speaker 1: machine version of himself in terms of his conditioning and
Speaker 1: just come back into a team that's desperate for him
Speaker 1: to slot right back into that role and just go
Speaker 1: on a run to end the season, like this could
Speaker 1: all work out just fine, because the dirty little secret
Speaker 1: is and you know, I don't think it's a comfortable
Speaker 1: topic because a D was hurt um, you know, and
Speaker 1: it's it's uncomfortable to be like, oh, you know, a
Speaker 1: D s waiting on Mr I results, Let's talk about
Speaker 1: how much he sucked tonight, you know, like that that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of an awkward topic. But man, he wasn't
Speaker 1: playing good basketball like he he was getting I mean,
Speaker 1: he got manhandled by Karl Anthony Towns a few times
Speaker 1: in that game, and and just in general looked. We
Speaker 1: complained all season about how he was getting beat on
Speaker 1: rebounding position even though he was super strong, that his
Speaker 1: mobility wasn't the same, that he didn't seem to have
Speaker 1: that ability to get a step on guys. And he's
Speaker 1: twenty eight years old, and the injuries he suffered in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years were not serious, you know,
Speaker 1: joint injuries that lead to you know, long term mobility concerns.
Speaker 1: He didn't tear as achilles, He didn't you know, have
Speaker 1: a severe you know, a knee injury now, like he
Speaker 1: pulled his groin, you know, and like he had some
Speaker 1: achilles tendon soreness that he waited out. Like he should,
Speaker 1: in theory be more mobile than he is right now,
Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, he hasn't been. And so I'm
Speaker 1: hopeful that this couple of months here is a chance
Speaker 1: for Anthony Davis to get his body right, whether that's
Speaker 1: healing injuries or getting back down to a more functional
Speaker 1: body weight. But that's kind of like another thing that
Speaker 1: I see as like a you know, pseudo silver lining here. Yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: Like we've been watching the full season It definitely looks
Speaker 1: like he's put on mass. He doesn't look as mobile
Speaker 1: as he did. I mean to put in context and
Speaker 1: we always try to, you know, put the human element
Speaker 1: as well. He has had a large low defensively, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about this because this is
Speaker 1: something that's tough too. It's tough to define. I guess
Speaker 1: it's just something you see when you watch every game.
Speaker 1: He's looked frustrated on most nights, right just just in
Speaker 1: general playing basketball. And I want to ask you this.
Speaker 1: He doesn't he doesn't look like as joyful playing ball.
Speaker 1: Like that's such a weird thing for like to look
Speaker 1: at with a D Would you agree with that? Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to put that in context. Not
Speaker 1: saying he's not enjoying playing basketball, It just it doesn't
Speaker 1: look as fun, I guess as it used to. It
Speaker 1: looks like he's super serious all the time. And hopefully, hopefully,
Speaker 1: I'm hopeful that this time off just gets him a
Speaker 1: little bit more, you know, en circle with himself, able
Speaker 1: to heal whatever was was hurting him. It definitely looked
Speaker 1: like he wasn't add percent. And again the numbers are
Speaker 1: all there though, all the leading in points, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: leading points in the pain, leading with dougs, leading, dunks
Speaker 1: and all that stuff is there. It's just when you
Speaker 1: watch it, it it just feels like, again we talked about
Speaker 1: this before, when he plays the five, it feels like
Speaker 1: he goes to into injury prevention mode. And maybe that's
Speaker 1: some of it. Is that, maybe some of it he
Speaker 1: feels like he has a lot of responsibilities. He just
Speaker 1: looks frustrated and looks like he's not as enjoyable on
Speaker 1: the floor. Would you agree with that? Or is that
Speaker 1: like me kind of stretching this out to somewhere where
Speaker 1: it's not there? Is that? Is that just me seeing things?
Speaker 1: Because I want to ask you about that as well. No,
Speaker 1: I think I don't think. I don't think that's in question.
Speaker 1: I think A D has very clearly been in some
Speaker 1: sort of mental funk this year in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's any sort of larger issue.
Speaker 1: I think it's just human nature. I mean, the reality,
Speaker 1: the reality of the situation is aside from those metrics
Speaker 1: which you mentioned, which are you know, we we've talked
Speaker 1: about E D is so freakishly talented that you know,
Speaker 1: twenty and ten for him isn't the same as twenty
Speaker 1: in ten for Clint Compella, Like twenty and ten for
Speaker 1: a guy like Anthony Davis is you know, if he's
Speaker 1: not engaged the way he usually is, is is not a
Speaker 1: great night, you know what I mean? Where whereas you
Speaker 1: be thrilled to the moon if if if Clint Compella
Speaker 1: did that for you, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: there's a different there's like a sliding scale with a
Speaker 1: lot of this stuff. Um, But that said, like I
Speaker 1: think he here's the thing. He's not playing as well
Speaker 1: as he knows he can and and the team is
Speaker 1: massively underachieving, and it's human nature, Like losing basketball games
Speaker 1: really sucks, Like it really sucks, especially when you're you know,
Speaker 1: with this core, the core of this group, you're used
Speaker 1: to win it, you know what I mean. Like we've
Speaker 1: talked about it the I've said this stat a million
Speaker 1: times on this pot. But coming into this season, when
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis suited up in the purple
Speaker 1: and gold for the Lakers, they won almost eight percent
Speaker 1: of their games that that would like counting the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's how dominant this group was. And so for them
Speaker 1: to be, you know, going into that Minnesota game sitting
Speaker 1: at sixteen and thirteen and to have been dealing with
Speaker 1: a bunch of injuries, like it has an impact on
Speaker 1: body language, even Lebron has had a couple of times
Speaker 1: this year. Actually I'm not we don't want to get
Speaker 1: into it tonight because it's kind off topic. But I
Speaker 1: thought Lebron has been surprisingly good with his leadership after
Speaker 1: in his history that's been a weak point for him
Speaker 1: when things get bad. I remember coming on here and
Speaker 1: talking about how I thought we might be going down
Speaker 1: a dark path on the Lebron front. You know, you
Speaker 1: remember that, Like, but it just ended up not It
Speaker 1: just ended up not happening. And that's a credit to Lebron.
Speaker 1: But the point is is it's been that kind of season.
Speaker 1: It's been a roller coaster and so you know, and
Speaker 1: look at it from Anthony Davis's perspective too, Like he
Speaker 1: went from playing with a group of guys who were
Speaker 1: devoted to the dirty work to suddenly playing with a
Speaker 1: group of guys where that's so far back on their
Speaker 1: list of of basketball priorities that he's caught cleaning up
Speaker 1: after them all the time. And now to to you know,
Speaker 1: to those guys defense like a D hasn't been that
Speaker 1: great either on on those areas of the game, but
Speaker 1: he's been a hell of a lot better than them,
Speaker 1: the rest of the guys on the roster, at least,
Speaker 1: you know, up until this last couple of weeks. And
Speaker 1: so I would imagine it's been extremely frustrating for him
Speaker 1: to constantly see the guards not helping on defensive rebounding
Speaker 1: when they used to when it was k CP and
Speaker 1: Kyle KU's not not boxing out, not you know, not
Speaker 1: offering some resistance on the back line, not rotating like
Speaker 1: I'm sure, I'm sure it was frustrating for him, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: and then and then obviously this is the last thing
Speaker 1: I'll say about it, Like integrating a basketball team is
Speaker 1: hard as well. This is something I talked about a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, when we're talking about team construction and you know,
Speaker 1: the give and take of ball handlers, like you know,
Speaker 1: it's when you go. It happens to me all the time,
Speaker 1: like I'll go play pick up and I'll run into
Speaker 1: a bunch of my buddies that used to play in
Speaker 1: college and from you know, every once in a while,
Speaker 1: I'll be like, oh, let's all play together today, and
Speaker 1: it always like ends up weirdly not working, you know,
Speaker 1: because like we're all used to having the ball in
Speaker 1: our hands and then suddenly you get in like a
Speaker 1: five man operation with that, and it just doesn't function
Speaker 1: in a single pickup game when the scores to eleven,
Speaker 1: you know, when you don't have weeks and weeks to
Speaker 1: figure it out, you know what I mean. Like that's
Speaker 1: the thing here, Like it's Lebron Russ and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: are figuring out kind of a new partnership and there
Speaker 1: are bumps that come with that, and it can be
Speaker 1: frustrating at times. And I'm sure I'm sure Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: has struggled with not being able to get off his
Speaker 1: isolation game the way that he usually has in the past,
Speaker 1: and a lot of its spacing, a lot of that's
Speaker 1: because of us, and a lot of that's because of
Speaker 1: Frank and and I'm sure I'm sure he's been frustrated
Speaker 1: by that stuff. And and but that said, like it's
Speaker 1: not an excuse for playing as poorly as he has been,
Speaker 1: and I would attribute most of this to his body.
Speaker 1: I just don't think he's anywhere near as and mobile
Speaker 1: as he used to be. And I think that him
Speaker 1: figuring that part out will be the quickest pathway to
Speaker 1: him getting back to where he was, you know, back
Speaker 1: in the bubble. Yeah, And I think him not being
Speaker 1: able to hit a jump shot has also kind of
Speaker 1: impacted him, right, You could tell like he's been frustrated
Speaker 1: with it. I think you posted it. I think you
Speaker 1: posted the three pointer that he airballed, right, you could
Speaker 1: just tell his jumpers not there. And I think that
Speaker 1: just that just translates to the rest of his game,
Speaker 1: the rest of his office and game. He could tell
Speaker 1: his aggression drops as well in that way. But you're right,
Speaker 1: he's just looked frustrated this season, man. And maybe that's
Speaker 1: the silver lining here if there is one, obviously, Like
Speaker 1: this team goes nowhere without healthy Anthony Davis. I think
Speaker 1: that's true. I think I think it's super unfortunate that,
Speaker 1: you know, he goes out. In the next game, we
Speaker 1: get Trevor Reason back, because we've been just waiting for
Speaker 1: Trevor Reason to get added to this team. And it's
Speaker 1: just a kind of sick circumstance that Trevor Reason comes
Speaker 1: back and a d goes right it out. But hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know, he takes his time, uh to kind of
Speaker 1: get back into the shape he could have been a
Speaker 1: little bit slimmer. Maybe just you know, finds a new
Speaker 1: way to kind of fit into this team. I think
Speaker 1: when you're not playing, you kind of see things that
Speaker 1: that you don't see when you're on the floor as well. Right,
Speaker 1: A lot of players talk about that they go on
Speaker 1: the injury and they come back and they kind of
Speaker 1: find their fit with the team a little bit better.
Speaker 1: But it was rough. This team hasn't had a lot
Speaker 1: of games where the big three can kind of work
Speaker 1: on things. You have guys in and out. Russ has
Speaker 1: played every game, e D I think has missed one,
Speaker 1: but Lebron was out for a long time. So hopefully
Speaker 1: like they can get back once he comes back. But
Speaker 1: this is a rough stretch man four to six weeks.
Speaker 1: Any team would go through a shock missing their second
Speaker 1: bus player, especially one that's so important defensively. But I
Speaker 1: just hope he finds a way to kind of navigate
Speaker 1: back to this team because I don't think we've gotten
Speaker 1: the full Anthony Davis yet that we thought we would
Speaker 1: over the summer. It just hasn't worked out that way,
Speaker 1: even though the numbers, even though the numbers, you know,
Speaker 1: paint the picture that it does us watching the game
Speaker 1: every night, just hasn't been and he's been frustrated. And
Speaker 1: I don't blame him. The guards are what they are,
Speaker 1: but I can't fully like, I can't fully give that
Speaker 1: up because he's been He's part of the roster construction.
Speaker 1: To me, him Lebron are part of this that you
Speaker 1: don't get to complain about it. And then also you
Speaker 1: know he's part of recruiting DeAndre Jordan's as well. I
Speaker 1: think he's been really open about that. So like that
Speaker 1: stuff that I can't there's both sides to it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's context and everything. But that's why I can't just
Speaker 1: blame like he's not allowed to just be upset at them.
Speaker 1: He's part of the roster and construction here, and they
Speaker 1: knew what they were getting when they came into It
Speaker 1: was going to be an offensive team. It was gonna
Speaker 1: be a struggle. And I think when a D goes out,
Speaker 1: it's just natural that Lebron is gonna have to pull
Speaker 1: a heavier load here, especially on defense. I don't think
Speaker 1: he can do what he did tonight every single night,
Speaker 1: but it has to be at least some baseline level,
Speaker 1: right like, because they can't just fall, you know, off
Speaker 1: a cliff here, and they have some easier games coming
Speaker 1: up as well, And with the COVID situation, you don't
Speaker 1: know what every team comes into every night with all
Speaker 1: these people going into protocols, So maybe you get a
Speaker 1: couple breaks here and there in terms of who you're
Speaker 1: playing every night. But yeah, man, four to six weeks,
Speaker 1: hopefully a E D comes back. I haven't checked how
Speaker 1: players come back from that type of injury. Obviously, any
Speaker 1: any injury that takes you out that long, it's going
Speaker 1: to have an impact on you. Just hopefully he's able
Speaker 1: to come back healthy and then we're gonna have it's
Speaker 1: gonna be an adjustment for the whole team to try
Speaker 1: to figure out what they do during that time. But
Speaker 1: I don't see like reinforcements coming anytime soon, you know,
Speaker 1: like because of our trade possibilities and what what we
Speaker 1: can trade. Everyone's on a minimum deal. You brought up
Speaker 1: Bleak Monk, you makes like what two three million dollars
Speaker 1: a year, Like there's just there's just no salaries that
Speaker 1: you can really um and any trade you trade them for,
Speaker 1: if it's like a minimum center, you're kind of losing
Speaker 1: on that deal because I think Monk has I'll played
Speaker 1: his contract, so I just yeah, so I just don't
Speaker 1: know where they go with this other than Lebron More
Speaker 1: at center, which is taxing on him. Trevor Reads at center.
Speaker 1: I thought that looked okay tonight, uh, and and go
Speaker 1: from there. That's but it's a tough situation, man. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be you know, we were you know, even when
Speaker 1: we were fully healthy, A D and D and just
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard was already like a thin center rotation right
Speaker 1: like that was already kind of a thin center rotation
Speaker 1: with way the A D doesn't want to play center
Speaker 1: for full on minutes, and now without a D is
Speaker 1: just going to be It's gonna be rough. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna need Lebron a step up and like to talk
Speaker 1: about Trevor Resa hopefully Austin Reeves and Baysmore are you
Speaker 1: able to come back, because I think they kind of
Speaker 1: fit what we need right now. Going super small, uh
Speaker 1: super small here, Yeah, well, with us having to go
Speaker 1: super small, it'll be nice. It'll be nice to have
Speaker 1: a reason in that spot. But you know, no one
Speaker 1: feels no one's gonna feel sorry for the Lakers. And
Speaker 1: because everyone's going through stuff, and there's already the there's
Speaker 1: already the Laker aspect to this, you know, in terms
Speaker 1: of just the way fan base is outside of of
Speaker 1: of l a view the Lakers. And you know, when
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the human nature of it, that's I'm
Speaker 1: explaining why I think, you know, I'm explaining why I
Speaker 1: think Anthony Davis feels a certain way. But the truth is,
Speaker 1: none of this is an excuse, like you have to
Speaker 1: go out there and compete. That the Bulls have been
Speaker 1: dealing with COVID. They had a huge out break. I
Speaker 1: think tomarda rose and just got cleared. You know, the
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets have had an absolute nightmare of a season,
Speaker 1: and in terms of player availability and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: James Harden coming into the season way out of shape,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving having the vaccination issue, and you know what,
Speaker 1: that team just decided to play really good basketball and
Speaker 1: they're in their best player decided that he's going to
Speaker 1: play the best basketball of his career. And and I
Speaker 1: and I give them a lot of credit for that
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers have been trending in the right
Speaker 1: direction lately, and I love the fight that I saw
Speaker 1: out of the group tonight. So I don't want to
Speaker 1: dwell on the past in terms of the way basketball
Speaker 1: character that this team used to show at the start
Speaker 1: of the season. But you know, there are no excuses here,
Speaker 1: you know, And and I think because everybody on the
Speaker 1: team is vaccinated, I think you're going to see a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys come back sooner than later, and
Speaker 1: and hopefully they can put together, you know, the facade
Speaker 1: of a basketball team, you know, until until either January
Speaker 1: when you can move p HT or if things are
Speaker 1: serviceable enough and til Anthony Davis gets back. But is
Speaker 1: there anything else you want to do tonight before we
Speaker 1: call it a night. Well, I guess just the last thing.
Speaker 1: So did you watch the second half of that that
Speaker 1: Minnesota game? Right? I thought that, you know, it sucks
Speaker 1: because I thought in that third quarter it kind of
Speaker 1: showed what we were going to be. And Wayne Allington
Speaker 1: is starting to get starts, like and this is just
Speaker 1: the worst way from Wayne elling to get starts, But
Speaker 1: I thought like that showed a little bit of what
Speaker 1: we can be when we're healthy. I think we started Russ, Russ, Basemore, Ellington,
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D, and I thought they really found
Speaker 1: a rhythm. Kar Anthony Towns was killing us early, but
Speaker 1: a D started to win those physical matchups against him,
Speaker 1: and I thought, just that showed what we can be.
Speaker 1: And I think there's still a good team in here.
Speaker 1: It's just like we're gonna have to wait another four
Speaker 1: to six weeks to see it. So that was my
Speaker 1: last thing. I guess. I think I think we found
Speaker 1: a little bit of something. It's just we're about to
Speaker 1: go through a whole bunch more. I talked about how
Speaker 1: this team needs to go through trial and error to
Speaker 1: kind of figure out what's good and what's not, and
Speaker 1: we're about to go through a whole bunch more trials
Speaker 1: and errors. So I just hope people get ready because
Speaker 1: it's they're gonna be some of the basketball going know exactly,
Speaker 1: And and No, I I actually agree with you entirely
Speaker 1: about the the second half against Minnesota. I tweeted out
Speaker 1: the the little line graft thing that shows the team scores,
Speaker 1: and how basically right when the A D injury happened,
Speaker 1: those lines, you know, went opposite directions, and I tweeted
Speaker 1: that out and I had a lot of people, you know,
Speaker 1: in the mentions being like, ah, yeah, I don't we
Speaker 1: sucked anyway, Like this is I disagree? Like I thought,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I was like, first of all,
Speaker 1: it's it's normal to go on the road and get
Speaker 1: kind of punched in them out at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the game, and then to fight back and make it competitively.
Speaker 1: That's totally normal. And yeah, I get it Minnesota and
Speaker 1: the standings doesn't look great, but I'm pretty sure they're
Speaker 1: eleven and six when D'Angelo Russell, Karl Anthony Town's play
Speaker 1: and in Patrick Beverley play. I think that's the I
Speaker 1: saw that staff the other day. So they're not a
Speaker 1: bad team when they have their players available. So, you
Speaker 1: know what, it was a tough road game, and the
Speaker 1: Lakers got off to a bad start. They are two
Speaker 1: best players, both got off to really, really bad starts.
Speaker 1: And then in the third quarter things kind of started
Speaker 1: come together, and I thought they were gonna make a run,
Speaker 1: and I genuinely thought they were gonna win that game.
Speaker 1: And then Anthony Davis got hurt and we talked all
Speaker 1: about how how that can suck the life out of
Speaker 1: the team. But I'm with you. I thought we're trending
Speaker 1: in the right direction. This is an unfortunate circumstance. Uh,
Speaker 1: we should all just take a second to be thankful
Speaker 1: that it wasn't way worse, you know, in terms of
Speaker 1: the injury. So all things considered, you know, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be fine. And again, you know, and I said this
Speaker 1: today with with Eddie, this next couple of weeks, none
Speaker 1: of these teams should be judged like there's no judgment
Speaker 1: to make about the Lakers tonight. Even if the Bulls
Speaker 1: had lost at home to that depleted Lakers team, there
Speaker 1: shouldn't be any judgment there. All of these teams are playing,
Speaker 1: you know, I you know what kind of made me
Speaker 1: feel like it kind of made me feel like charity
Speaker 1: basketball games. Like it felt like a charity basketball game
Speaker 1: with big name NBA stars in it, mixed in with
Speaker 1: guys that would have no minutes in any normal and
Speaker 1: bea NBA scenario Like it's it just it's an unusual
Speaker 1: in vironment. This next couple of weeks is gonna be weird.
Speaker 1: We all just gotta suck it up. But it's gonna
Speaker 1: get back to normal now, because they're testing everybody now
Speaker 1: that this outbreak will be quelled and and things will
Speaker 1: go back to normal. But hey guys, that's all we
Speaker 1: have for tonight. So this is gonna be on dash
Speaker 1: Radio tomorrow morning at seven and Pacific Standard time. This
Speaker 1: will be on our podcast feed here in a couple
Speaker 1: of hours, and then next game is Tuesday night. I
Speaker 1: believe at home against the Sun's if I'm not mistaken, UM,
Speaker 1: and I believe that's an eight o'clock start. Roger and
Speaker 1: I will both be back for that one. UM. So
Speaker 1: we will see you guys all on Tuesday night and
Speaker 1: enjoy the rest of your Sunday. We'll see you in
Speaker 1: a couple of days. Happy holidays, Thanks everyone,