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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: I am Jason Tim Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all
Speaker 1: of you guys are having a great start to your week. Well,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, you know, took us all for a ride yesterday.
Speaker 1: I think we did have a feeling this was gonna
Speaker 1: go this way, thankfully, because we were almost victims of
Speaker 1: the NonStop NBA free agency news cycle. Uh. Fortunately, we
Speaker 1: had a feeling that he would end up staying with Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: So our series or excuse me, offseason previews for both
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and l A. The Lakers were framed within the
Speaker 1: context of Kyrie returning to Brooklyn. We're gonna get into
Speaker 1: that briefly, stick around for later in the show. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit on um uh complete offseason preview for Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: as well as a complete offseason preview for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: some of the things I expect from them from their stars,
Speaker 1: as well as some pieces that they can target this
Speaker 1: offseason just try to round out their rosters, and then
Speaker 1: stick around for the very end, we're gonna touch on
Speaker 1: some of this new media beef between Draymond Green and
Speaker 1: some of the establishment guys in the media. I had
Speaker 1: some thoughts there. I was listening briefly to the Crossover
Speaker 1: podcast today between Draymond Green and J. J. Reddick, which
Speaker 1: was fantastic, as you could guess. We will get deeper
Speaker 1: into some of the topics that they touched on tomorrow,
Speaker 1: including a juicy one from Draymond today saying that he
Speaker 1: believed the two thousand seventeen Warriors would lose UH to
Speaker 1: Lebron and the Calves had they not got Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: which I think is pretty obvious, but I think Warriors
Speaker 1: fans probably disagree. We will dive into that concept a
Speaker 1: little bit more tomorrow, uh, But today we're gonna start
Speaker 1: with Kyrie, and I want to briefly touch on John
Speaker 1: Wall by getting bought out by the Rockets and getting
Speaker 1: back uh to the Clippers. Before we get started, remember
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss
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Speaker 1: at Underscore Jason lt S. You guys can see show
Speaker 1: announcements as all as any video content that I released.
Speaker 1: Unlast but not least for whatever reason, you miss one
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Speaker 1: to finish it, we do release them in audio form
Speaker 1: on our podcast feed, which for the time being is
Speaker 1: under Lakers tonight. But let's start with Kyrie. So we
Speaker 1: all knew Kyrie was coming back, right, you know, It
Speaker 1: just didn't make any sense after everything that he had
Speaker 1: said about his partnership with Kevin Durant and how much
Speaker 1: he wanted to be with him, that he would suddenly
Speaker 1: change his mind over the obvious fact that the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Nets would be stingy about potentially extending him for five
Speaker 1: years after he was a Flake for two years now,
Speaker 1: we always needed to keep our minds open to the
Speaker 1: possibility that he would leave, right because Kyrie, like I
Speaker 1: said yesterday, is not wired the same way that most
Speaker 1: people are. His priorities are different, and he if you're
Speaker 1: thinking rationally with Kyrie, it's not necessarily the best indicator
Speaker 1: of what his actual decision making processes. But we did
Speaker 1: guess that he would return, and the main reason why
Speaker 1: is in this specific case, we did expect him to
Speaker 1: act more normally, and that's what happened. I thought it
Speaker 1: was hilarious when he released that quote, you know, basically
Speaker 1: saying that he's one of the different people out there
Speaker 1: that's gonna lead us into tomorrow. Even though what he
Speaker 1: did was basically what all of us would have done.
Speaker 1: He tried to leverage another offer, another situation to try
Speaker 1: to get a long term, you know, financially rewarding contracts
Speaker 1: for him his boss, who after he was very unreliable
Speaker 1: for two seasons. His boss said no, we're not doing that.
Speaker 1: And then he said, well, I might leave and go
Speaker 1: to the Lakers and play for six million, and oh,
Speaker 1: if I leave, Kevin Durant might go with me. And
Speaker 1: Josiah and Sean Marks were like, fine, do it go.
Speaker 1: First of all, we know you won't. Second of all,
Speaker 1: this kind of crap is exactly why we don't like
Speaker 1: partnering with you to begin with, and we have feel
Speaker 1: like we can probably do something better with Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: or rebuilding with what we can get from him, then
Speaker 1: trying to deal with this crap for for another five years,
Speaker 1: which is what you want. So Kyrie, faced with his
Speaker 1: options running out, took the guaranteed money, the guaranteed max
Speaker 1: contract that he had for one more season in the
Speaker 1: form of his player option. So he did the normal thing.
Speaker 1: He took the best financial option for him that was available,
Speaker 1: and he tried to leverage some things around that. It
Speaker 1: was a very normal thing to do. But classic Kyrie
Speaker 1: with this complete lack of self awareness to try to
Speaker 1: make us feel like he was trailblazing or doing something
Speaker 1: you know, unique or different, or or trying to change
Speaker 1: the way things work. No, dude, you did a classic
Speaker 1: business businessman thing and it didn't work for you, and
Speaker 1: as it turned out, you had a great backup plan,
Speaker 1: which was your player option. Um that said, the last
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to hit on with the nets for
Speaker 1: this particularly and again stick around here. In a minute,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get much deeper into the rest of the roster,
Speaker 1: things having to do with um, what kind of free
Speaker 1: agents they can target the basketball fit with Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: and Kyrie. But if you are Josiah and Sean Marks
Speaker 1: and this saga is just the final shot for you
Speaker 1: and you're done with Kyrie, it's still is advantageous for
Speaker 1: you to bring him back, because, as we'll get into
Speaker 1: here in just a few minutes, it doesn't it doesn't
Speaker 1: get any worse than this in terms of trade value
Speaker 1: for Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons. Kyrie has destroyed his
Speaker 1: trade value to the point where when he tried to
Speaker 1: leverage this situation, twenty eight teams in the NBA were like,
Speaker 1: no thanks and told Woa Jadrian Morzanowski from ESPN, no thanks.
Speaker 1: You can tell everybody we're not interested. It ended up
Speaker 1: only being the Lakers that were there. And then Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: obviously because of his and his back issue, his mental
Speaker 1: health issues, what happened against the Atlanta Hawks, his trade
Speaker 1: values at an all time low. So you bring everybody
Speaker 1: back and you let them play basketball next year, they
Speaker 1: probably will be a good regular season team at least
Speaker 1: it's a good chance that that's the case. Then around
Speaker 1: the deadline, you can trade Kyrie and get something in
Speaker 1: return for him if you see this partnership going south,
Speaker 1: which I believe it will. Like we've talked about at
Speaker 1: length that don't think the Nets or the Lakers really
Speaker 1: but the Nets in particular for this case, have nearly
Speaker 1: enough talent to be a top tier contender in this league.
Speaker 1: So what I expect is things to all look hunky
Speaker 1: dory and for them to go into next season and
Speaker 1: to actually look pretty decent. But I think behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: Sean and Joe are just ready to be done with
Speaker 1: this guy, and I think they're gonna do everything they
Speaker 1: can to get off of him as soon as they can. So, uh,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Clippers for a second. John Whal
Speaker 1: reaching Aboiot with the Rockets that was to be expected.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a bunch of offseason previews, like today
Speaker 1: we're doing Brooklyn and the Lakers um, but later this
Speaker 1: week we're gonna hit the Warriors, We're gonnat the Celtics,
Speaker 1: We're gonna have the Bucks, We're gonna get a bunch
Speaker 1: of other uh, top teams. Around the league. Um, but
Speaker 1: the Clippers, I'm not gonna do a full length preview
Speaker 1: on the main reason why is I think they're pretty
Speaker 1: well rounded out. They did the one thing they absolutely
Speaker 1: had to do this season, which was not blow it
Speaker 1: up Kyrie Irving. A trade for Kyrie Irving would have
Speaker 1: sacrificed a lot of their depth. If they could have
Speaker 1: got him like the Lakers for that six million dollar
Speaker 1: uh you know, mid level exception, then great, but that
Speaker 1: was never gonna happen, right, They stayed away from Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: They kept their depth. As I've talked about a lot
Speaker 1: on this show, the Clippers to me are a better
Speaker 1: version of the Celtics when they're healthy. They've got a
Speaker 1: better version of Jayson Tatum and Kawhi Leonard, a better
Speaker 1: version of Jalen Brown in Paul George. And then they
Speaker 1: have the same type of perimiti versatility in depth on
Speaker 1: the wing with all of those guys like Nicolas Nicholas
Speaker 1: Patum and Marcus Morris Sr. And Terence Man and Reggie Jackson.
Speaker 1: They just have a million guys that can guard multiple
Speaker 1: positions up and down the roster. They can switch everything.
Speaker 1: They have really good spacing concepts. That's the way they
Speaker 1: almost beat the Sun's last year, and the way they
Speaker 1: did beat the Utah Jazz last year, I should say
Speaker 1: two years ago. It was because they were the consummate
Speaker 1: modern basketball team. They did a ton of things like
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics did and that's why they were so successful.
Speaker 1: They needed to run that back. They had an injury
Speaker 1: issue last year. They had a Paul George issue and
Speaker 1: a Kwhi Leonard issue with not being on the court.
Speaker 1: It was not a roster construction issue or anything else
Speaker 1: around those lines. The last thing they did that I
Speaker 1: thought was important was they re signed Zuba. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they got it for three years, thirty three million.
Speaker 1: They had him under bird rights, so there was absolutely
Speaker 1: no reason to let him go as long as he
Speaker 1: had an owner who's willing to pay, and Steve Bomber
Speaker 1: is willing to pay. So the Clippers are in good shape.
Speaker 1: So how does John Wall fit into this? Well, the
Speaker 1: Clippers are a classic driving kick basketball team. We have
Speaker 1: no idea what John Wall is gonna look like. If
Speaker 1: you think you know, you don't because we've never seen
Speaker 1: him play against real NBA talent, not for years, right,
Speaker 1: It's been years since we've seen John Wall play against
Speaker 1: real NBA talent for real and real high stakes games,
Speaker 1: not playing with the Rockets who are actively trying to tank, right,
Speaker 1: so we don't know what to expect. Here's what I
Speaker 1: do know, though. The Clippers are the best situation for
Speaker 1: a player to step in to succeed in a driving
Speaker 1: kick situation. He's going to have good spacing, He's gonna
Speaker 1: have great shooters to drive and kick too. He's gonna
Speaker 1: have lots of opportunity against weaker defensive matchups to try
Speaker 1: to create advantages if he is still capable of doing
Speaker 1: so at an NBA level, we will know with this
Speaker 1: Clippers team, this is the peak situation for him to
Speaker 1: attempt to regain some of the success he had earlier
Speaker 1: in his career. John Wall used to be a really
Speaker 1: inconsistent ump shooter. Towards the end of his career, he's
Speaker 1: actually been better as a jump shooter, so, especially in
Speaker 1: spot up situation. So I think he'll be fine there.
Speaker 1: And he's always been an underrated pass or it's something
Speaker 1: he does really really well. The hardest thing he's gonna
Speaker 1: have to do to really fit in and get get
Speaker 1: a significant chunk of rotation minutes with this Clippers team
Speaker 1: is defend because just like the Clippers are gonna put
Speaker 1: you in space and make you guard on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: other good teams will do that to the Clippers, and
Speaker 1: if you have a weak link in there, it can
Speaker 1: be a problem. So it'll be mostly important for John
Speaker 1: Wall to hold his own hold his own on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: I that was a smart move for the Clippers because again,
Speaker 1: it's a it's he's probably gonna be signing on a
Speaker 1: veteran minimum contract. It's a low risk play for them.
Speaker 1: John Wall is already getting his money. He'll only sacrifice
Speaker 1: six million dollars in the buyout, so it kind of
Speaker 1: makes sense for both sides. And I'm actually really genuinely
Speaker 1: curious to see what happens. But we're not doing a
Speaker 1: full series, full offseason preview for the Clippers because I
Speaker 1: already kind of view them as a finished product. They
Speaker 1: just need to get healthy and get everybody back out
Speaker 1: on the court. I would imagine they'll target one or
Speaker 1: two addition the wings in the in the mid level
Speaker 1: exception market, the veteran minimum market, but those are just
Speaker 1: cherries on top for them. Their core lineup is already
Speaker 1: put together. Their team that knows exactly who they are
Speaker 1: and exactly how they're supposed to play, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: be really dangerous. As I've said before, I think the
Speaker 1: Warriors are the runaway favorite next year, but I think
Speaker 1: the Clippers are right there behind them in the West.
Speaker 1: All right, here, just a couple of minutes, we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into our full offseason preview for the Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: and the Lakers. It's important to understand to get a
Speaker 1: better feel for why this situation is going the way
Speaker 1: it's going. To remember what went wrong in Cleveland and
Speaker 1: what went wrong in Boston. Because let's go back to
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen. Everything was hunky. Door team was great, really,
Speaker 1: everything outside of the awful NBA Finals where they got,
Speaker 1: you know, gentlemen swept by the best basketball team I've
Speaker 1: ever seen the two thousand seventeen Warriors. Outside of that,
Speaker 1: it was a very good season. They had some ups
Speaker 1: and downs in the regular season, but it's because they
Speaker 1: just had general malaise. They didn't respect their opponents in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. And when you pay when you play
Speaker 1: fifty of your thirty two games, um against the your
Speaker 1: own conference. You're just generally going to have, especially in
Speaker 1: the East around that time, a relatively easy schedule, and
Speaker 1: that team sleep, sliptwalk for most of the season. But
Speaker 1: then they got into the playoffs and they just destroyed everybody.
Speaker 1: They didn't lose a single playoff game in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference until the Eastern Conference Finals, when they blew like
Speaker 1: a twenty point lead late against the Celtics and then
Speaker 1: promptly destroyed them the next two times they played. So
Speaker 1: that team was a great team. And after they lost
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals, after they got gentlemen swept, Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving I went to the press conference table and basically said,
Speaker 1: you know, I cherished these moments that I can't I'm
Speaker 1: paraphrasing here, but like cherish these moments playing with Lebron.
Speaker 1: Need to get learned as much from him while I
Speaker 1: have a chance. Very positive, right. And then almost immediately
Speaker 1: after that, things went south and we started hearing about
Speaker 1: the reports of Kyrie wanting a trade. And now we
Speaker 1: learned in retrospect the reporting that one throughout the two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen playoff run, Kyrie Irving started to emotionally pull
Speaker 1: away from the team. He has now since admitted to
Speaker 1: this in uh and I think I think it was
Speaker 1: when he was on with Eddie Gonzalez with the Etcs,
Speaker 1: But he has now since admitted to the fact that
Speaker 1: he pulled away from that team for no particular reason
Speaker 1: to He said it was just something he was going through. Okay.
Speaker 1: We also learned after the fact that he was very
Speaker 1: upset that the Cavaliers were considering trading him. He took
Speaker 1: that personally. Now we know in retrospect it had a
Speaker 1: lot to do with the fact that he was emotionally
Speaker 1: pulling away from the team. They're like, I just imagine
Speaker 1: a veteran group of guys in pursuit of a championship
Speaker 1: and one of your best players, your second best players,
Speaker 1: just kind of pulling away, sitting over there quiet by
Speaker 1: his locker, by himself. It started to internally cause some concern,
Speaker 1: which is why they considered shopping him. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: like they were shopping him for bums. They were potentially
Speaker 1: shopping him for Paul George and Lebron ended up mixing
Speaker 1: the deal because he would not commit long term to
Speaker 1: the Lakers. But for whatever reason, that's saga. The trade
Speaker 1: plus whatever was going on with him during the playoff
Speaker 1: run convinced Kyrie all of a sudden that the Calves
Speaker 1: were against him. And as soon as he got to
Speaker 1: that point, it was like Bridges burned. And we we've
Speaker 1: learned after the fact that Lebron was on vacation when
Speaker 1: he heard about this trade rumor, and Lebron was freaking
Speaker 1: out doing everything you can trying to call Kyrie to
Speaker 1: try to fix the thing, and he couldn't even get
Speaker 1: in contact with him. Kyrie as soon as he decided
Speaker 1: he was done with Cleveland. He was done with Cleveland.
Speaker 1: There was no chance. He even told them, if you
Speaker 1: bring me back next year, I will get knee surgery.
Speaker 1: That's how nuclear he went with the Caps. Now he
Speaker 1: fast forward to Boston. In Boston, he does that weird
Speaker 1: thing at the beginning of the season where he gets
Speaker 1: on the microphone in front of the crowd and says,
Speaker 1: if you guys will have me, I'll come back next year.
Speaker 1: He does that commercial with his father where he talks
Speaker 1: about potentially having his jersey hung in the rafters. Every
Speaker 1: Things good, but the Boston Celtics fan base started to
Speaker 1: get frustrated with Kyrie. Some of the passive aggressive way
Speaker 1: that he talked to his teammates, his lack of commitment
Speaker 1: to the defensive end of the floor, his struggles in
Speaker 1: the playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks, and Kyrie built
Speaker 1: a vendetta of some sort, some sort of personal beef
Speaker 1: between him and the Celtics fan base, and he was
Speaker 1: done with them. Jayson Tatum was one of his best friends.
Speaker 1: He had no issues inside the locker room. He obviously
Speaker 1: the young guys were sick of Kyrie talking about them
Speaker 1: that way, but there was no basketball reason for him
Speaker 1: to leave the Celtics. It was a personal beef between
Speaker 1: him and the fan base that pushed him out the door.
Speaker 1: The point being here is in the two previous situations,
Speaker 1: there was no rational reason for Kyrie to leave. His
Speaker 1: best chance to win was to stay in Cleveland and
Speaker 1: after two thousand seventeen run it back with the two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen Calves, who went to the finals without him.
Speaker 1: That was his best chance. He didn't want that. He
Speaker 1: wanted to get out because of a personal beat. His
Speaker 1: best bet was to stay with the Boston Celtics, who
Speaker 1: were up and coming with all of the talent they had,
Speaker 1: and Jayson Tatum and Jylen Brown and Marcus Smart. He
Speaker 1: didn't want anything to do with that because of his
Speaker 1: own personal feelings about the situation, and he left. So
Speaker 1: whatever rationale you have for this Net situation, if you
Speaker 1: think it has to do with basketball, it doesn't. If
Speaker 1: you think it has to do with money, it doesn't.
Speaker 1: He burnt the bridge with Nike when he was making
Speaker 1: all that money. So, like as you guys can see,
Speaker 1: this is irrelevant to Kyrie, whatever thought process you have
Speaker 1: about the way this is supposed to go, He's operating
Speaker 1: under a different a different thought process, and it's not
Speaker 1: entirely unusual. People have different priorities. Some people are more
Speaker 1: money motivated and some people are not. Kyrie strikes me
Speaker 1: as the kind of guy who doesn't care about that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. But I do genuinely believe that he
Speaker 1: loves Kevin Durant. I actually know this for a fact,
Speaker 1: that Kevin Durant, Kratt Kyrie are way closer than any
Speaker 1: of you guys even realize. But that said, that wasn't
Speaker 1: enough for Kyrie for all of the bridge that was
Speaker 1: burnt between him and the in the Nets franchise. And
Speaker 1: I think it's both ways at this point too. I
Speaker 1: think the Nets are sick of them too, for obvious
Speaker 1: reasons that we don't have to get into, having to
Speaker 1: do with Kyrie being a flake, like a factually repeated
Speaker 1: offender flake. Okay, like there's just no other way around.
Speaker 1: So the question is why have the Lakers emerged as
Speaker 1: a partner because what was Also Adrian Originowski also reported
Speaker 1: this morning that the other twenty eight teams are just
Speaker 1: hard passed, like we're not doing it right. So why
Speaker 1: have the Lakers emerged as a partner? Well, a couple
Speaker 1: of different reasons. First of all, it's a little bit
Speaker 1: easier to to understand or accept the idea of taking
Speaker 1: a guy that says volatile as Kyrie on when you
Speaker 1: have a personality like Lebron James in the locker room,
Speaker 1: especially one that's dealt with Kyrie in the past. Also,
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Lebron have since patched things up from what
Speaker 1: happened in Cleveland. I think that partnership makes it a
Speaker 1: little bit less, a little it less dangerous than it
Speaker 1: would be in other situations there. But most importantly, the
Speaker 1: Lakers are desperate. The Lakers this year, as it turned out,
Speaker 1: didn't have nearly enough talent and a lot came down
Speaker 1: a bunch of different things, lebron aging to the point
Speaker 1: where he started to break down physically, so now he
Speaker 1: doesn't play in eight two games anymore. It came down
Speaker 1: to Anthony Davis's rapid decline from being a guy who
Speaker 1: was a surefire top five player in the league to
Speaker 1: a guy that might not even be top fifteen right now.
Speaker 1: That's the type of decline that he experienced. So those
Speaker 1: two things, in addition to gutting the roster for Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: who is a bad basketball player in the role that
Speaker 1: he wants to play, that gutted this team of talent,
Speaker 1: and so they don't have the luxury of turning around
Speaker 1: turning down talent for the sake of whatever off court
Speaker 1: concerns that you might have. You know, I worked in
Speaker 1: real estate before I got into this business, and one
Speaker 1: of the people that that trained me, uh used to say, generate,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to tolerate. Essentially, the idea was
Speaker 1: is if you generate a a a long list of
Speaker 1: clients that are loyal to you, then you can be
Speaker 1: nitpicky about which people you want to work with. Working
Speaker 1: with the general public as hard as you can imagine. Now,
Speaker 1: just imagine there's half a million dollars on the table,
Speaker 1: or a quarter of a million dollars on the table.
Speaker 1: As you can imagine, people get very sensitive, people get
Speaker 1: very emotional. It gets intense. And so when you're dealing
Speaker 1: with the general public at the beginning of your career,
Speaker 1: you kind of have to you know, you have to
Speaker 1: take whatever you can get because you're trying to get
Speaker 1: a footing in the business. But your goal is to
Speaker 1: get to a point where you can turn people away.
Speaker 1: Oh you're a jerk, You're an asshole. I don't want
Speaker 1: to deal with you. Oh you're dishonest, you know. Oh
Speaker 1: you're a scumbag. Okay, no thanks, I don't care if
Speaker 1: you're gonna pay me ten thousand dollars to help you
Speaker 1: facilitate this transaction, I just don't want to work with you.
Speaker 1: You have to generate enough business so that you don't
Speaker 1: have to tolerate the downsides. The Lakers do not have
Speaker 1: enough talent to be able to turn away Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: They absolutely must take him if he comes now, maybe
Speaker 1: they'll get lucky and they'll get him for that six
Speaker 1: million dollar. Uh traded player exception. We'll get into that
Speaker 1: a little bit further when we talked about the Lakers
Speaker 1: as as a free agency preview. But the bottom line
Speaker 1: is is the Lakers in their current predicament, with year
Speaker 1: twenty Lebron and with Anthony Davis, and with their lack
Speaker 1: of future assets, they have no choice but to take
Speaker 1: the talent that is available to them, and in this
Speaker 1: case it's Kyrie Irving, and that means that there's risk.
Speaker 1: It's very like if Kyrie Irving halfway through the season
Speaker 1: decides he needs a two week emotional break, you can't
Speaker 1: be upset about that if you're the Lakers. He did
Speaker 1: it two years in a row, basically, right did twice
Speaker 1: two years ago, and then he had the COVID stuff
Speaker 1: this year. Like Kyrie, it's it's essentially more likely than
Speaker 1: not that he'll do some weird stuff during the season
Speaker 1: next year. He'll probably leave you hanging a few times.
Speaker 1: But again, you don't have the luxury of turning that away. Now,
Speaker 1: all of that said, what do I actually expect to happen.
Speaker 1: I think that cooler heads will prevail, particularly with Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant in the nets, and they'll end up the resigning
Speaker 1: Kyrie to some sort of midrange max contract, Like I
Speaker 1: think they'll ditch the qualifiers like that sixty five game
Speaker 1: limit that they wanted. I think it'll be more like
Speaker 1: a three year max something like that that's fully guaranteed.
Speaker 1: That's just my guess and the reason why it's simple,
Speaker 1: And we're gonna get to it a little bit deeper
Speaker 1: here in just a minute when we talked about the
Speaker 1: Nets free agency preview. But there's no advantage to Brooklyn
Speaker 1: letting him go, and it's a terrible case of asset management.
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving right now have lower trade
Speaker 1: value than they've ever had for obvious reasons. We don't
Speaker 1: have to get into them, so trading them now, even
Speaker 1: if you think this is an absolute disaster, you're better
Speaker 1: off waiting. And even if halfway through the season, if
Speaker 1: Kyrie can just put up thirty points twice in a week,
Speaker 1: it might trick some GM into thinking it's a good
Speaker 1: option again and maybe you can move him for some
Speaker 1: quality pieces. So the Nets as a smart, well run organization,
Speaker 1: I expect Sean Marks and for for Joe Side to
Speaker 1: come to the table and be like, okay, we really
Speaker 1: don't want to do this, but we gotta pay him
Speaker 1: because if we lose him, we basically have to blow
Speaker 1: this whole thing up. And if we blow this whole
Speaker 1: thing up, why not blow it up in a year
Speaker 1: when Katie and or Kyrie and and Ben Simmons have
Speaker 1: more trade value because they've actually played some more basketball.
Speaker 1: So that that's what I expect to happen. But I
Speaker 1: just wanted you guys to understand, like, this is not
Speaker 1: exactly the first time Kyrie has had this type of
Speaker 1: emotional disconnect from another NBA team, And it's important for
Speaker 1: us to discard any of our normal logical progression of
Speaker 1: thinking because Kyrie doesn't follow that path. He is a
Speaker 1: very different thinker. He's very nontraditional in the way he
Speaker 1: sees the world and the way he sees money and
Speaker 1: the way he sees everything. So whatever you think he
Speaker 1: should think, he's not going to think. So we need
Speaker 1: to change our expectations. So let's talk. Let's let's dive
Speaker 1: into this Brooklyn next thing for their UH free agency previews.
Speaker 1: So again, like I said earlier, that Simmons didn't play
Speaker 1: basketball at all last year and had injury concerns right,
Speaker 1: bad back and mental health stuff and straight up just
Speaker 1: didn't play basketball. So and then the last time he
Speaker 1: played basketball was him looking utterly useless in an NBA
Speaker 1: playoff series against a pretty mediocre team in the Atlanta Hawks. Right, So,
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons trade value is at an all time low.
Speaker 1: It will never be lower than it is right now,
Speaker 1: because even if you went and played basketball next year
Speaker 1: in shrug Gold, he would at least be playing basketball,
Speaker 1: which would automatically increase his trade value. Kyrie Irvin, you
Speaker 1: know what Boston did to Brooklyn wasn't all Kyrie's fault.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, there's an argument I wouldn't
Speaker 1: make it, but there's an argument that Kyrie out played
Speaker 1: KD in that series. Again, I wouldn't make that argument.
Speaker 1: But my point is is Kyrie was not to blame
Speaker 1: for this latest Brooklyn Nets collapse. In terms of what
Speaker 1: happened in the playoff series. You could say maybe continuity
Speaker 1: for him not being in and out of the line
Speaker 1: up and stuff. The point is is Kyrie is still
Speaker 1: damn good at the game of basketball. What has nuked
Speaker 1: his value is his flakiness. What happened two years ago
Speaker 1: when he repeatedly was taking leave of absences from the team.
Speaker 1: And what happened last year with the COVID nineteen shot right,
Speaker 1: it was not basketball related. So it's never gonna get
Speaker 1: lower than this. Because if he goes to training camp
Speaker 1: next year, finish his training camp, plays in a few
Speaker 1: preseason games, and then plays fifteen of the first twenty
Speaker 1: games of the regular season and looks like Kyrie and
Speaker 1: puts up twenty three points per game on six true shooting,
Speaker 1: that's Kyrie irving, and almost over just in that fifteen
Speaker 1: game stretch or twenty games stretch, he will massively resuscitate
Speaker 1: his own trade value. So you know, I I I
Speaker 1: You guys know how I feel. I'm I'm. I just
Speaker 1: did a whole thing about this last week. You have
Speaker 1: to acknowledge reality, and the reality is as this Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Nets team is not a top tier contender. So that
Speaker 1: automatically gears me towards rebuild because I just don't think
Speaker 1: they have the pieces that they need to win the trophy.
Speaker 1: That said, timing is everything here. Usually you want to
Speaker 1: blow things up sooner. Why because guy's age, right, and
Speaker 1: maybe if you trade KG Kevin Garnett one year earlier
Speaker 1: than one year later, you can get one additional first
Speaker 1: round pick or one additional quality player, versus if it's
Speaker 1: a year later, teams will be bless willing to view
Speaker 1: him as some value. Right, that's usually the thought process.
Speaker 1: The difference here is Ben and Kyrie are far more
Speaker 1: likely to increase their trade value even just by next
Speaker 1: year's trade deadline. So in this case, even if internally,
Speaker 1: if Sean Marks is looking at if Sean Marks and
Speaker 1: josih are looking at each other and they're like, hey,
Speaker 1: this thing is over, it's not gonna work. Even then
Speaker 1: you have to bring everybody back because you stand to
Speaker 1: gain so much more by playing more basketball with these
Speaker 1: guys to raise their trade value. And who knows, maybe
Speaker 1: you put this together and there's some sort of organic
Speaker 1: amazing Ben Kyrie Kevin fit and it all works, and
Speaker 1: that's great that you have nothing to lose there. But
Speaker 1: if it's a disaster in February, when it's the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: you're in the exact same predicament you were in this summer,
Speaker 1: which is Katie and Kyrie and Ben Simmons have no
Speaker 1: trade value. Okay, great, that's what we were already dealing with.
Speaker 1: So it's it's one of those things where I I
Speaker 1: I might be leaning towards blowing things up if I'm Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: but there's literally no reason to do it right now. Now.
Speaker 1: Kyrie might literally force you to do that. If Kyrie
Speaker 1: opts out, and just because he's like, screw you, guys,
Speaker 1: I'm done with you. If he opts out, which like
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, Jake Fisher has reported, is likely,
Speaker 1: if he does that, then you have to press self
Speaker 1: destruct because if if Kyrie, Katie and Ben Simmons is
Speaker 1: not enough, Katie and Ben Simmons is definitely not enough.
Speaker 1: And I have and this is coming from someone who
Speaker 1: has the utmost respect for Kevin Durant. So the way
Speaker 1: I look at it in this specific case, if you
Speaker 1: if you lose Kyrie, you blow it up. But if
Speaker 1: Kyrie ends up agreeing to terms with you to come
Speaker 1: back on a contract, you keep everybody, and you ride
Speaker 1: this thing out at least until the trade deadline, and
Speaker 1: if it doesn't look good, then you can at least
Speaker 1: move them because Kyrie and Ben will at least have
Speaker 1: been playing basketball at that point. So now let's fast
Speaker 1: forward to the most likely scenario, which I talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons is back, Kyrie Irving is back, Kevin Duran
Speaker 1: is back. I actually like the basketball fit there. The
Speaker 1: Kyrie k De fit, as we've seen in the last
Speaker 1: two years, has been amazing. On the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor, there have been no issues there. Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: in theory, is a fantastic basketball fit. With that he
Speaker 1: could take primary defensive assist assignments on the perimeter as
Speaker 1: well as anybody in the league. Ben Simmons in his prime,
Speaker 1: healthy on the basketball court, guarding a perimeter player is
Speaker 1: a sight to behold. One of my favorite things was
Speaker 1: last or two years ago, the last year Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: actually played, was watching him play in a regular season
Speaker 1: game against Dame Lillard, and I watched him utterly swallow
Speaker 1: up Dame Lillard. Couldn't even get shots off. He's struggling,
Speaker 1: struggling mightily just to get clean looks at the rim.
Speaker 1: That's that's Dame freaking Lillard. That's the type of talent
Speaker 1: that Ben Simmons is on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: When you fill that in with his playmaking and his
Speaker 1: ability to get the grab a rebound and push the
Speaker 1: Brake as a as a ball handler to allow Katie
Speaker 1: and Kyrie to fill the wings the shooters. What he
Speaker 1: can do as a screen and roll big man is
Speaker 1: basically a short roller, kind of like what Draymond Green well,
Speaker 1: really what Bruce Brown was doing for them last year
Speaker 1: and in his Again we talked about this in our
Speaker 1: season wrap up pod. But size and athleticism from a
Speaker 1: perimeter player, in my opinion, is the most valuable thing
Speaker 1: in the league right now. Ben Simmons is a massive
Speaker 1: a arguably one of the one of the best examples
Speaker 1: of that for a role player, which is what Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons is at this point. He obviously has to make
Speaker 1: monumental improvements elsewhere an his game to become a star.
Speaker 1: So I love the original basketball fit there. We have
Speaker 1: Joe Harris coming back. I got it. Took as much
Speaker 1: time as he needed off last year, got the surgery
Speaker 1: that he needed. Joe Harris should be back and should
Speaker 1: look good next year. He's a solid defensive player, could
Speaker 1: do lock and trail stuff and guarden because he's big
Speaker 1: and strong. He's not overly tall, but he's trunky. He's
Speaker 1: like got a low, a big a low center of gravity.
Speaker 1: And he's strong, so he can hold his own. It
Speaker 1: gets bigger, stronger wings, and he could shoot. He can
Speaker 1: shoot the ship out of the basketball. So I like
Speaker 1: to Joe Harris fit Patty Mills is most likely going
Speaker 1: to opt in. That's just what I expect we'll see.
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown is a free agent, but they have his
Speaker 1: bird right so they'll probably retain him. But they have
Speaker 1: no draft picks. So that's basically your ten guys right there.
Speaker 1: And so from that standpoint, they're going to have to
Speaker 1: fill in some things on the the periphery there. And
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say the same thing that I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: about the Lakers soon. You have plenty of offense, you
Speaker 1: have plenty of shooting, but your biggest weakness is Boston
Speaker 1: was so much bigger than you the perimeter, and you
Speaker 1: have too many minutes for Seth Curry, too many minutes
Speaker 1: for Patty Mills, too many minutes for uh Gore and Rages.
Speaker 1: Too many small perimeter players that got man handled by
Speaker 1: the bigger, stronger Boston perimeter players. So you need to
Speaker 1: target bigger role players. Now, I was looking at I
Speaker 1: was looking into this this morning, just trying to find
Speaker 1: some examples, and I'll give you some because and I
Speaker 1: don't feel particularly passionate about any of these, because there
Speaker 1: are a lot of them. There are dozens of players
Speaker 1: available this summer that fit this mold that you can
Speaker 1: have somewhere between the veteran minimum and the mid level
Speaker 1: mid level exception, that are between six five and six eight,
Speaker 1: that can guard multiple positions and can do basic things
Speaker 1: on offense. A couple of them off top of my head,
Speaker 1: DeAndre Bembrey, Daniel House who looks great this year, Josh Jackson,
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews, Auto Porter Jrs. Like it could potentially be
Speaker 1: available if the Warriors can't resign him. Those are just
Speaker 1: a handful of examples, but there's a there are dozens more.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I'm not overly picky about who
Speaker 1: is because these are small roles we're asking to fill.
Speaker 1: We're not asking for, you know, Mikhail Bridges here a
Speaker 1: guy to be defensive player of the Year for you
Speaker 1: and give you eighteen points a game. That's not what
Speaker 1: we're asking. These are small roles next to all star players.
Speaker 1: My favorite example of this is the Lakers, because Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis took so much of the workload
Speaker 1: off the table. It allowed guys like k C p
Speaker 1: who are pretty average NBA role players, to look great
Speaker 1: because they had small roles and they were able to
Speaker 1: hit those small roles out of the park. And so
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, if everything else pans out, if Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons is healthy, Kyrrving is available, Kevin Durant looks like
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, Joe Harris is back, Gatty Mills is in there.
Speaker 1: If you have all of those things, then that allows
Speaker 1: you to go up to Daniel House and be like,
Speaker 1: all I need you to do is guard this dude.
Speaker 1: Be be reliable in our help scheme and stand over
Speaker 1: there in the corner. And if you catch the ball
Speaker 1: and you're open, shoot it. And if they close out
Speaker 1: at you attack the clothes out and guess what, You'll
Speaker 1: have lots of space to operate because no one's gonna
Speaker 1: want to leave Kevin Durant, Patty Mills, and Kyrie Irving right. So,
Speaker 1: having that small role allows those types of players to succeed.
Speaker 1: Don't overthink it, don't look for a Malik Monk like
Speaker 1: the Lakers did. Lake Monk is awesome, but alongside Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis. It's actually more important for him
Speaker 1: to do little things than for him to go score.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense? So I I would target those
Speaker 1: types of players, defensive minded role players that are athletic
Speaker 1: on the perimeter and have a good amount of size
Speaker 1: because they will do the dirty work alongside your stars.
Speaker 1: And the last, but not least with Brooklyn, Kyrie and
Speaker 1: k D are uniquely immune to spacing concerns. So you like,
Speaker 1: let's say you're looking at a guy like a Josh
Speaker 1: Jackson or a Wesley Matthews, a bigger, more athletic wing
Speaker 1: all the Wesley's a little shorter, but he's a great
Speaker 1: defensive player for his position. Guys like that, you get concerned, like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's shooting percentage, He's only thirty percent on wide open
Speaker 1: threes or whatever it is. And you're right, like, guys
Speaker 1: are gonna ignore him often and sit in the paint.
Speaker 1: Just ask the Milwaukee Bucks. But Kyrie and a D
Speaker 1: are uniquely immune to spacing. Spacing concerns are a problem
Speaker 1: for slashers who rely on getting consistent rim pressure because
Speaker 1: the paint is clocked, but because those situations forced you
Speaker 1: to shoot over the top of the defender, But what
Speaker 1: if your specialty is to shoot over the top of
Speaker 1: the defender. Kyrie and k D their bread and butter
Speaker 1: is getting too off the dribble, jump shots, getting separation
Speaker 1: with step backs and side steps and crossovers and things
Speaker 1: along those lines. So they are comfortable shooting over the top.
Speaker 1: So you can do things like play non floor spacing
Speaker 1: role players and understand that Katie. Kyrie and Katie are
Speaker 1: going to still have a certain amount of success scoring
Speaker 1: the basketball because they're just comfortable in those situations. So again,
Speaker 1: who the heck knows what's gonna happen with the Nets
Speaker 1: this week. But that specific plan I just laid out
Speaker 1: is what I think is this best plan for Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: provided that Kyrie ends up resigning, which I still expect
Speaker 1: him to do. All right, let's move on to the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So I talked about this a little bit earlier, but
Speaker 1: I want to go over it really quickly one more time.
Speaker 1: There's a reason why they have to be the team
Speaker 1: that goes after Kyrie Irving. They do not have the
Speaker 1: luxury of turning around turning down talent in their current situation.
Speaker 1: Like we talked about, earlier, Anthony Davis declining from a
Speaker 1: top five player to a top fifteen player, Lebron James
Speaker 1: still being a top five player but being less available,
Speaker 1: and then trading all of your depth and talent on
Speaker 1: the wing for Russell Westbrook utterly gutted this team of talent,
Speaker 1: and they were at a talent disadvantage most nights in
Speaker 1: the NBA this year. So you don't have the luxury
Speaker 1: of turning down Kyrie Irving, even with all of his drama,
Speaker 1: even with all of the issues that come along with it.
Speaker 1: So I expect that that's why they had to put
Speaker 1: their name in this hat that said, like we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier, I don't actually expect that to happen. So
Speaker 1: for for the sake of this free agency preview, we're
Speaker 1: gonna go on the assumption that Kyrie Irving is not
Speaker 1: a Laker, and for whatever reason he ends up signing
Speaker 1: with the Akers. You guys know, will end up doing
Speaker 1: a separate video that kind of has a different type
Speaker 1: of outlook based on that outcome. So from the start,
Speaker 1: we know that we have the Lebron and Anthony Davis corps. Now,
Speaker 1: this used to be a cord that I believed in
Speaker 1: very strongly. Those of you guys who listened to me
Speaker 1: before this last season understood why, even despite everything that happened,
Speaker 1: even despite the Russell Westbrook trade, why I was so
Speaker 1: confident in that group. And the main reason why was
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. If you guys remember I
Speaker 1: said that in the previous two seasons, when Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis were actually available and on the court healthy,
Speaker 1: they won't almost of their games and never even never
Speaker 1: were even remotely threatened in that playoff run. Right, it
Speaker 1: was very similar to the playoff run that the Warriors
Speaker 1: just had. It was a dominant run to the title.
Speaker 1: And so I believed in that course so much that
Speaker 1: even with the Russell Westbrook trade and all of the
Speaker 1: negative that came with that, I was like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: if Lebron James and Anthony Davis are on the floor,
Speaker 1: they'll be fine. Here's the problem. Last year, the net
Speaker 1: rating with Lebron and Anthony Davis on the floor together
Speaker 1: was lower than it was the previous season with both
Speaker 1: of them off the floor. That's how bad they were
Speaker 1: last year. You know that win percentage they had the
Speaker 1: previous couple of years. They were eleven and ten last
Speaker 1: year when Lebron James and Anthony Davis played, And there's
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons for that. With with Lebron's obviously
Speaker 1: available here and so, and Lebron played like an m VP.
Speaker 1: So it's Lebron a little bit on the defensive end
Speaker 1: letting go of the rope, not being his bought into
Speaker 1: Frank vocals defensive scheme as he used to be. But
Speaker 1: a huge part of it with it was Anthony Davis's decline.
Speaker 1: This is something I've talked about on the show a lot.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was a bona fide top five player in
Speaker 1: the league. In the bubble. He was a dominant defensive force,
Speaker 1: right Rudy Gobert esque type of defensive force, arguably better
Speaker 1: depending on who you ask. He was hitting post fade
Speaker 1: aways like he was Kevin Durant, bullying mismatches, hitting game winners,
Speaker 1: and was just an all around dominant to a superstar.
Speaker 1: You know, Lebron James was the best player on that team.
Speaker 1: That's to me unsayable Bowl However, Anthony Davis was right there,
Speaker 1: like that's how good he was. He was right there
Speaker 1: with Lebron James and one of the most dominant playoff
Speaker 1: runs of his career. Who and he's the second best
Speaker 1: basketball player of all time in my opinion. So that's
Speaker 1: how good Anthony Davis was. He's not that good anymore.
Speaker 1: He put on weight, he lost foot speed as a result,
Speaker 1: he's his body is starting to fail him as a result,
Speaker 1: he hasn't been on the court long enough for him
Speaker 1: to keep his rhythm. As a result, his jump shot
Speaker 1: is completely fallen a party. He was one of the
Speaker 1: worst volume jump shooters in the league last year. And
Speaker 1: so Anthony Davis is arguably not even a top fifteen
Speaker 1: player anymore. I think when he's healthy now, even with
Speaker 1: all of his decline in terms of his skill, he's
Speaker 1: still right around the fourteen fifteenth best player in the league.
Speaker 1: But there's a case that he's even lower than that.
Speaker 1: And so that defensive lack of buy in from Lebron
Speaker 1: plus Anthony Davis's decline amounted to the Lebron and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis core going from being the most dominant pairing in
Speaker 1: the NBA too kind of underwhelming, you know, And so
Speaker 1: a couple of things really easy here. The number one
Speaker 1: thing that matters for the Lakers this summer. Forget about
Speaker 1: anything else I'm about to talk about. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about Russ. I'm gonna give you guys three potential Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook trades. I'm gonna talk about what they should do
Speaker 1: on the perimeter periphery, like different things that um, different
Speaker 1: moves that they should make to kind of polish off
Speaker 1: the rest of the roster. None of that even comes
Speaker 1: close to having nearly as much impact as Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: getting back to what he was. If he does that,
Speaker 1: it will completely transform the outlook for this roster. I'll
Speaker 1: give you guys an example. Jayson Tatum. We think he's
Speaker 1: probably right around the tenth best player in the league.
Speaker 1: Right well, Steph Curry was the second best player in
Speaker 1: the league in my opinion, right behind us, but arguably
Speaker 1: the best player in the league. Right that gap. Look
Speaker 1: back to the NBA Finals, Think about how much that
Speaker 1: gap mattered. Think about the difference and Tatum's impact on
Speaker 1: those games and Steph Curry's impact in those games. That's
Speaker 1: the difference between the best guy in the league and
Speaker 1: the tenth best guy in the league. That's the difference.
Speaker 1: There's a reason why Steph Curry and Lebron have won
Speaker 1: eight to the last eleven titles. There's a reason why
Speaker 1: Kauai and Janice have the other three. It's because that
Speaker 1: top tier of superstars is uniquely capable of impacting basketball
Speaker 1: games in a way that no other basketball player can.
Speaker 1: So once you get past Janice and Stephen Lebron and
Speaker 1: k D, there's a drop off, a big one. And
Speaker 1: so Anthony Davis being in that tier as opposed to
Speaker 1: being in the third tier down around the fifteenth best
Speaker 1: player in the league, that's the that's the best way
Speaker 1: that this Lakers team can experience an influx of talent. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm not optimistic about it. He went he went a
Speaker 1: couple of months without touching a basketball again, and then
Speaker 1: we see k D talking on Twitter. Uh I went
Speaker 1: on with the Eddie Gonzalez from the et Seas and
Speaker 1: he tweeted about it. KD goes two days without touching
Speaker 1: a basketball and is so aunty that he delays the
Speaker 1: recording of a podcast to go to the gym with
Speaker 1: his trainer because he's like, I was getting anxiety because
Speaker 1: just thinking about all how all the other players in
Speaker 1: the league are getting better and I'm not that that's
Speaker 1: the difference in the way those two guys are wired.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a coincidence that Anthony David shoddy
Speaker 1: team percent from three last year. Those two things are
Speaker 1: very closely related in my opinion. Some people disagree, but
Speaker 1: that's just the way I see the game. And so
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis getting back to what he was is the
Speaker 1: biggest swing factor for this Lakers team. And then secondly,
Speaker 1: getting Darvin Ham to get these guys to buy in again,
Speaker 1: because like I talked about earlier, Lebron's not off the
Speaker 1: hook here. Lebron average thirty had a magical offensive season,
Speaker 1: but he declined significantly on the defensive end, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't because of his athleticism, it was because of his commitment.
Speaker 1: And so if he can get, if Darvin Ham can
Speaker 1: get Lebron James and Anthony Davis bought in defensively to
Speaker 1: start this season, and Anthony Davis gets back to what
Speaker 1: he was right away, like the Lakers problems are fixed.
Speaker 1: Like that's simple. Even if it's when you and Gabriel
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves and Stanley Johnson alongside them, they will win
Speaker 1: a ship ton of basketball games. Because that's how good
Speaker 1: those two guys are when they are truly committed and
Speaker 1: healthy and dialed in on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: So that that's that's why we gotta keep an eye
Speaker 1: and a d Let's talk about Russell Westbrook though. So
Speaker 1: mark Stein yesterday said that he guesses if he had
Speaker 1: to guess, so it's not reporting, but if you had
Speaker 1: to guess, he guessed that Russell Westbrook would be on
Speaker 1: the roster for day one of training camp. His reasoning was,
Speaker 1: the Lakers have continued to shut down any attempts to
Speaker 1: get them to take back long term salary for US
Speaker 1: or to give out any assets like their two first
Speaker 1: round picks that they have available to They've been shutting
Speaker 1: all of that down, which I don't have to get
Speaker 1: into again. But to make a long story short, Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook is a bad contract. You have year twenty Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis on the roster. If you think
Speaker 1: the first round picks are more valuable than trying to
Speaker 1: win a championship with the second greatest basketball player ever
Speaker 1: and one of the best power forwards ever alive and
Speaker 1: ready to play right now, then you are punting that
Speaker 1: for the sake of of two guys, two players in
Speaker 1: twenty nine that have a very very very small chance
Speaker 1: of even getting close to as good as a d
Speaker 1: and Lebron are right. Now, that's how foolish that is.
Speaker 1: And if you're concerned about taking back long term salary, hey,
Speaker 1: guess what the Hornets were able to trade it. Let's
Speaker 1: let's pretend this happens. Let's say the Hornets trade, you know,
Speaker 1: Gordon Hayward in a deal for Russell Westbrook. Now the
Speaker 1: Lakers have Gordon Hayward, Well, you don't think you'd be
Speaker 1: able to trade him for a similar player like Russ
Speaker 1: in the future, a similar short term, huge contract that
Speaker 1: someone's trying to dump. That's how this stuff works. Yes,
Speaker 1: it sucks to take a long term salary, but you
Speaker 1: can deal with it. Yes it sucks to trade away
Speaker 1: two first round draft picks, but you also were able
Speaker 1: to get the number thirty five pick this year by
Speaker 1: trading a couple of future seconds. So the point is
Speaker 1: is that those are fixable problems. Draft picks, salary, those
Speaker 1: are fixable problems. What is not fixable is Lebron's getting older.
Speaker 1: What is not fixable is you have an opportunity right
Speaker 1: now with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. To win a title,
Speaker 1: you have to devote yourself to that right now, so
Speaker 1: that that that we don't I didn't even want to
Speaker 1: get back into that today, but it's just something that
Speaker 1: irritates me so much that I couldn't help myself. But
Speaker 1: if Mark Snein is right and they are more concerned
Speaker 1: about protecting those draft picks in their long term salary
Speaker 1: flexibility than committing to winning with on James and out
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, that's outrageous. If that's your approach, trade Lebron,
Speaker 1: get him out of here. There's there's absolutely no reason
Speaker 1: to subject him to this. You know, I I'm not
Speaker 1: a huge believer in in putting the priorities of a
Speaker 1: player over a franchise. You know, obviously, if you're the Lakers,
Speaker 1: you have a commitment to your own team. But if
Speaker 1: but why did you get into Lebron James business? Then
Speaker 1: why did you get into this business if this wasn't
Speaker 1: your ultimate goal to win the trophy? And I've always
Speaker 1: thought that so funny. Well what about this draft? You know,
Speaker 1: first round draft pick? How many first round draft picks
Speaker 1: become superstars. What are the what's the statistical probability that
Speaker 1: one of those guys will ever be as good as
Speaker 1: Lebron James is right now? It's it reminds me of
Speaker 1: that Peter Griffin thing. It's like from Family Guy. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: it's a mystery box that could even be a boat.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, the boat's right there, man, you can
Speaker 1: literally have the boat, and you're more concerned about the
Speaker 1: mystery box which might be a boat that that. I
Speaker 1: It's just such an ask backwards way of doing things.
Speaker 1: But so if we look at the roster, we know
Speaker 1: that we have Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and we
Speaker 1: know that we have whatever comes back for us. Because
Speaker 1: I'm going to, for the sake of this preview, make
Speaker 1: the assumption that Russ has gone, because I just I
Speaker 1: just can't even fathom why they would bring him back.
Speaker 1: To do that to Darvin Ham would be outrageous. So
Speaker 1: these are my three favorite rush trades. Now, to be clear,
Speaker 1: these are optimistic rush trades for the Lakers. So in
Speaker 1: all three cases they would have to attach a first
Speaker 1: round draft pick, and in all three cases they would
Speaker 1: probably have to bet on those teams not getting better
Speaker 1: offers from elsewhere in the Lake. There are variations of
Speaker 1: these offers that are less advantageous for the Lakers that
Speaker 1: they might end up having to take. But just these
Speaker 1: are very glass half full, rose colored glasses trades that
Speaker 1: the Lakers could potentially make this summer. So first, with
Speaker 1: the Charlotte Hornets, Kelly you Bray, Terry j Here is
Speaker 1: a really good guard that I like a lot, and
Speaker 1: p J Washington. P J Washington is a really good player.
Speaker 1: I don't think it necessarily fits into Charlotte's long term future,
Speaker 1: so I think that's why he could potentially be available.
Speaker 1: And but but he's good enough that the Lakers would
Speaker 1: absolutely have to include a first. But that trade allows
Speaker 1: you to bring back three quality role players, including two
Speaker 1: very athletic wings, to fill in some of the perimeter
Speaker 1: size deficiencies that the Lakers had in previous seasons. There's
Speaker 1: variations of that trade, right, Like you could swap in
Speaker 1: if they wanted to keep AJ Washington, you could take
Speaker 1: back Miles Plumbly. I really think the Lakers need one
Speaker 1: backup center. You guys know, I don't like traditional centers,
Speaker 1: but you've gotta have one on the roster for weird
Speaker 1: matchups or to eat innings in the regular season. Don't
Speaker 1: think they should be in the regular rotation, but you
Speaker 1: need them. Uh. Plumb Lee is a good example of one,
Speaker 1: or a guy like Dwight Howard if you brought him
Speaker 1: back at them at the minimum to be a guy
Speaker 1: who played, you know, twelve minutes of game as your
Speaker 1: backup center, and or for specific matchups against guys like
Speaker 1: Yo kich or Embiid. Right. So there's variations of that trade,
Speaker 1: including guys like Plumbly break glass in case of emergency.
Speaker 1: If they're like no, no, no, we're giving you Gordon Hayward.
Speaker 1: You take back Gordon Hayward if you have to, because
Speaker 1: again you're trading Russell Westbroke here. But I'd prefer to
Speaker 1: avoid Gordon Hayward because of his injury history. But that's
Speaker 1: trade option number one. Number two New York Knicks Alec
Speaker 1: Burke's Evan Fournier and Nerland's Noel Now, there's a couple
Speaker 1: of things here. You'd have to wait until after they
Speaker 1: finished the Jalen Brunson signing because in this particular case,
Speaker 1: they'd beat the Knicks would be taking back more money
Speaker 1: than they'd be sending out. But the big one here
Speaker 1: is they get off of long term money from Fournier,
Speaker 1: which if you're trying to build for the future and
Speaker 1: you see it as a Bronson Julius Randall thing, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really fit for you there. And you have them
Speaker 1: for three years left on his deal, it's a great
Speaker 1: way to generate some almost immediate flexibility going into the
Speaker 1: following season. Burkes and Noel each have two years left
Speaker 1: on their deal. I think they're both right around I
Speaker 1: think they combined for about sixteen million if I remember correctly.
Speaker 1: So in this case, you'll wait until after the Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson s I need you get back three quality perimeter
Speaker 1: role players to play alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: Again there, I think they'd have to include a first
Speaker 1: round pick and then last, but not least, Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 1: You guys have heard this one, but Malcolm Brogden and
Speaker 1: Buddy Heald again, this is betting on the Pacers wanting
Speaker 1: to rebuild. You absolutely would have to include a first
Speaker 1: year because Malcolm Brogden is that high quality of a player,
Speaker 1: But yield is kind of a mixed bag. Around the
Speaker 1: league because he's such a great offensive player, but he's
Speaker 1: limited defensively and he's had some health concerns in his
Speaker 1: career as well. But that's another two guys. I healed
Speaker 1: is not a great physical profile defensively on the wing,
Speaker 1: but Malcolm Brogden is And so you're getting back a
Speaker 1: good two way guard and then a good high end
Speaker 1: offensive guard that likely would fit really well alongside Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis. So, like I said, those are
Speaker 1: rose colored glasses types of trades there, you'll probably end
Speaker 1: up having to take something a little less than that.
Speaker 1: Those are just three examples of good outcome for the
Speaker 1: Lakers in a Russell Westbrook trade and again giving up
Speaker 1: a first round draft pick. Yes, you I understand the
Speaker 1: first might be how you rebuild one day, but you
Speaker 1: also have Lebron James and Anthony Davis on the roster.
Speaker 1: You owe it to them to try to make this work.
Speaker 1: And in this case, swapping a pick five years in
Speaker 1: the future to bring back quality role players is an
Speaker 1: excellent trade off for the Lakers. So then in this
Speaker 1: case we'd have whatever package comes back, Lebron James, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn, Taylor Norton, Tucker all under contract, Stanley Johnson,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, and when you and Gabriel are all on
Speaker 1: team options, all for right around two million for the season,
Speaker 1: I expect them to take all of those. They're discounted.
Speaker 1: They're good fits, they play hard, and they bring that
Speaker 1: little influx of youth that this team needs so badly.
Speaker 1: Each of them bring specific, unique skill sets to the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and we talk a lot about, you know, the difference
Speaker 1: between position old defenders and disruptive defenders. Austin Reeves is
Speaker 1: a really good positional defender in this league already. Stanley
Speaker 1: Johnson is a really good disruptive defender already in this league.
Speaker 1: When you Gabriel is just your textbook try hard forward
Speaker 1: that you just know is gonna get his has a
Speaker 1: nose for the ball, and he's gonna be flying around
Speaker 1: trying to make plays. He's a capable spot up shooter
Speaker 1: as well. Again, for the money and understanding that their
Speaker 1: homegrown players that the fans are attached to, I just
Speaker 1: don't think you can do much much better in the
Speaker 1: veteran minimum market than those guys. So I think you
Speaker 1: retain all of those, like we talked about earlier, no
Speaker 1: plotting centers. But you could get one who's a decent
Speaker 1: athlete to try to be a backup for yet plumbly
Speaker 1: in a trade with a team like the Hornets, Dwight Howard,
Speaker 1: if you signed him for the minimum contract. Again, Dwight Howard,
Speaker 1: as he showed last year, when he was able to
Speaker 1: play in small bursts, when he was able to play,
Speaker 1: when he was able to take nights off frequently, he
Speaker 1: was actually a very good backup center in the NBA.
Speaker 1: It's when you have to lean on him heavily that's
Speaker 1: suddenly his decline becomes readily apparent. But most importantly, on
Speaker 1: the periphery of that outside of those guys, let's say
Speaker 1: they need to sign three or four additional guys for
Speaker 1: the veteran minimum. You gotta target athletes on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: So I mentioned these earlier for Brooklyn al Read a
Speaker 1: handful of examples. DeAndre Bembrey, Daniel House, Josh Jackson, Justin Jackson,
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews, Otto Porter Jr. You know, there's a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys in this mold. There are dozens of them
Speaker 1: that I was looking at this morning. And alongside Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis, they would be in small roles
Speaker 1: that they should be able to excel at. And so
Speaker 1: you don't have to be picky. You can take what's available.
Speaker 1: Just don't make the mistake that Rob Bolika made last
Speaker 1: year and target tiny players. Now, Malik Monk, there is
Speaker 1: some reporting today that he might be willing to take
Speaker 1: less money than he's worth to stay to stay with
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Again, if if Kyrie comes for the the
Speaker 1: mL E, you have to take Kyrie. If Kyrie doesn't
Speaker 1: come from the EMIL E and Malik Monk's willing to
Speaker 1: come for six million, that sounds great, right. But again,
Speaker 1: if you can get a good wing for six if
Speaker 1: you can get Auto Porter Jr. For six million, you
Speaker 1: gotta take Auto Porter Jr. Over Malik Monk because Otto
Speaker 1: Porter Jr. Demonstrated that he is very valuable in playoff
Speaker 1: series because of his size, his intelligence, his perimeter shooting,
Speaker 1: his ability to thrive in a smaller role next to
Speaker 1: great players. So as much as I like Malik Monk
Speaker 1: and he was a joy to watch last year, I
Speaker 1: wish him a great deal of success around the league,
Speaker 1: I just don't see a realistic path to the Lakers
Speaker 1: keeping him that doesn't sacrifice their ability to fix other
Speaker 1: flaws on the roster, and that might mean you have
Speaker 1: to let Malik Monk walk. And the last, but not
Speaker 1: least for the Lakers, this is why I like the
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving acquisition for them. Specifically, the Lakers will always
Speaker 1: have spacing concerns because they have two massive rim pressuring
Speaker 1: forwards in Lebron James and Anthony Davis, so teams will
Speaker 1: consistently pack the paint on them even when there are
Speaker 1: good shooters on the floor. Kyrie Irving's immunity is spacing.
Speaker 1: The ability to shoot over the top of defenders becomes
Speaker 1: immensely valuable in tight space situations. It's another reason why
Speaker 1: I like that fit. So again, that's my initial takeaway
Speaker 1: for the Lakers if Russell Westbrook does end up getting
Speaker 1: traded and they do not sign Kyrie Irving. Obviously, if
Speaker 1: something other than those two outcomes happens, we will reapproach
Speaker 1: this in the future. All right, Before we get out
Speaker 1: of here today, I did want to take just a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes to talk about this ever growing beef
Speaker 1: between Draymond Green the new media and the old media,
Speaker 1: the establishment media, the take artists, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it. And so Draymond his podcast that I listened
Speaker 1: to this morning was just him going down the line
Speaker 1: letting everybody know what it is. And I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: You guys know me, I'm pro victory lapse. Like, to me,
Speaker 1: winning has to mean something. If there's one time that
Speaker 1: I think you should be able to talk shi it
Speaker 1: with impunity, it's when you've won the trophy. And so
Speaker 1: I have no issue with it. But Draymond Green's his
Speaker 1: beef is with the the way that the game is covered,
Speaker 1: and I personally find that to be very interesting because
Speaker 1: I grew up listening to all these guys, you know,
Speaker 1: I grew up listening to Skip Bayliss from time to time. Obviously,
Speaker 1: now I can't stand it, Like it's like nails on
Speaker 1: a chalkboard. To me, I almost get like secondhand awkwardness.
Speaker 1: Even when I see his videos come along the Twitter feed,
Speaker 1: I have a hard time even just watching those because
Speaker 1: I've grown up a lot since then, you know. But
Speaker 1: one of the biggest things that since I got into
Speaker 1: this business, and I'm relatively new into this business, is
Speaker 1: you're you're you're trying to succeed, right. You want to
Speaker 1: the ultimate goal here is to put food on the table, right,
Speaker 1: So you're trying to pay attention to trends and see
Speaker 1: what works and see what doesn't. And you know, it's
Speaker 1: always been interesting to me how many people gravitate towards
Speaker 1: that kind of content and sometimes how it feels as
Speaker 1: though not as many people gravitate towards the analysis, and
Speaker 1: so you can kind of get a little bit discouraged sometimes.
Speaker 1: So I see where Draymond Green is coming from there.
Speaker 1: But I listened to another podcast this morning. I listened
Speaker 1: to uh Colin Coward interviewing Peter Goober, who is one
Speaker 1: of the majority owners for the Golden State Warriors. Towards
Speaker 1: the end of the episode, I highly recommend you guys
Speaker 1: check it out. Towards the end of the episode, Colin
Speaker 1: asked Peter a simple question about bitcoin, basically saying like,
Speaker 1: it's not something that I personally believe in, but I
Speaker 1: know a lot of really smart, successful people who do
Speaker 1: What do you make of that? And what Peter said
Speaker 1: really resonated with me. He said, and I'm paraphrasing here,
Speaker 1: He's like when you feel a desire to be critical
Speaker 1: of something, try to be curious about it instead the
Speaker 1: idea they're being. If you see something you don't understand,
Speaker 1: instead of just getting upset about it, try to learn
Speaker 1: about it, try to learn why it is the way
Speaker 1: that it is. And I'm not speaking about specifically Draymond there,
Speaker 1: because I know Draymond knows why those things work. But
Speaker 1: that's just how I rationalize it. So like when I
Speaker 1: see people like Skip Bayliss putting out a form of
Speaker 1: sports media content that I find borderline reprehensible. When I
Speaker 1: see that, instead of me trying to just get mad
Speaker 1: at it, I try to understand it. And one of
Speaker 1: the things I've learned in this business is the reality
Speaker 1: is a lot of people gravitate towards that. A lot
Speaker 1: of people gravitate towards hot takes, a lot of people
Speaker 1: gravitate towards the debate model, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: who gravitate towards surface level drama over analysis. A lot
Speaker 1: of people do. That is the reality. However, the flip
Speaker 1: side is is a lot of people also gravitate towards
Speaker 1: real analysis. I've been blown away by your guys support
Speaker 1: of my show because I like, sometimes I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: sitting here talking about pick and roll coverages, and I
Speaker 1: can't believe how many of you guys care. And I'm
Speaker 1: very thankful for that. But I also see people like
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick succeeding. I see people like Drama Green succeeding
Speaker 1: I you know, I uh, Tim Legler does an amazing
Speaker 1: job for ESPN, Zach Low does an amazing job for
Speaker 1: esp And they're all these guys out there who provide
Speaker 1: more detailed analysis, and then there's like an army of
Speaker 1: lower level people doing that for teams and doing stuff
Speaker 1: for blogs and things along those lines. There's a ton
Speaker 1: of people who produce that kind of content and a
Speaker 1: lot of you guys genuinely love it. And so what
Speaker 1: I've just acknowledged is that in the in this media landscape,
Speaker 1: there are different paths you can choose. Different people break
Speaker 1: the game down in different ways, and there's no such
Speaker 1: thing as like a crowded field. It's not like TV
Speaker 1: where you're competing against a handful of channels and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm either gonna listen to you know, Stewart Scott in
Speaker 1: the in the crew on ESPN, or maybe I can
Speaker 1: go over to you know, Fox Sports Net or something
Speaker 1: like that. It's not like that anymore. Now it's there.
Speaker 1: It's it's a flooded field. You can go anywhere. There
Speaker 1: is no limit, there is no if I can listen
Speaker 1: to five podcasts that break down the NBA Finals in
Speaker 1: one day, if I choose to, And so because of that,
Speaker 1: I just I just I appreciate that we can get
Speaker 1: the eyeballs in the ears that we can get, rather
Speaker 1: than getting upset about the Skip Bayliss type of stuff
Speaker 1: out there. Because again, like there are probably some of
Speaker 1: you guys who listened to this show who also listened
Speaker 1: to SKIP. And I don't think you're I don't think
Speaker 1: you're wrong for listening to Skip. It's just not my
Speaker 1: cup of tea. It just not what I'm into. And
Speaker 1: I think it's cool that you can listen to both
Speaker 1: if you want to, if you're into that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Here's where I very much, powerfully agree with Draymond. Another
Speaker 1: thing Peter Grouper said in his podcast with Con Coward.
Speaker 1: He talked about how, being an owner of a basketball team,
Speaker 1: he doesn't like the semantics of the word owner because
Speaker 1: he doesn't feel like he owns anything. It's more of
Speaker 1: a partnership. What he said is that he feels like
Speaker 1: the steward of a team when he is an owner,
Speaker 1: meaning he's kind of like in charge of us. He's
Speaker 1: kind of like in charge of navigating that team through
Speaker 1: a certain period of time. And the way I look
Speaker 1: at it, all of us who talk about the game
Speaker 1: of basketball are stewards of the game of basketball. Again,
Speaker 1: guys like I gave my life to this game. Literally
Speaker 1: from the time I turned eighteen years old. Every waking minute,
Speaker 1: with exception of the times I absolutely had to be
Speaker 1: suit doing something else or when I was relaxing with
Speaker 1: my wife, I've given to this game. I I No
Speaker 1: one pays me to volunteer for the high school that
Speaker 1: I coached for. No one pays me to train those kids,
Speaker 1: or to go to practice, or or to do the
Speaker 1: things that I do. I do it because I love it.
Speaker 1: I do it because I love I I want to
Speaker 1: give something to the young basketball players that are coming
Speaker 1: up in my city. I pay I played in men's
Speaker 1: leagues and I play pick up. I train like a
Speaker 1: professional athlete, even though no one pays me a dime,
Speaker 1: and it's just because I love the game. I love
Speaker 1: this game so much. It means so much to me,
Speaker 1: and it's so important for this game to continue to
Speaker 1: be healthy going into the future. And so where I
Speaker 1: agree with Draymond vehemently is it sucks sometimes to see
Speaker 1: the game being talked about in that way because it
Speaker 1: is shallow to me, and it is bad for the
Speaker 1: game in a lot of ways in my opinion. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, all I can trust
Speaker 1: is that me on a much lower level. But then
Speaker 1: the higher ups, the Draymond's, the j d Reddicks of
Speaker 1: the world, I hope that they take that responsibility as
Speaker 1: stewards of the game. And I say I hope, I
Speaker 1: know they do. I try us to j J, and
Speaker 1: I trust Draymond to do this, But they are the
Speaker 1: stewards of the game. It's their job now. And you know,
Speaker 1: with guys like Tim Legler and Zachlo and all those
Speaker 1: guys that I mentioned, it's their job to continue to
Speaker 1: help grow that game into the future so that more
Speaker 1: people that happen to come across their content do learn
Speaker 1: about the game of basketball. When I listen, when I
Speaker 1: go back and I look at the comments to get
Speaker 1: feedback from you guys. One of my favorite things that
Speaker 1: I see is things along the lines of, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I learned about the game today. You know,
Speaker 1: Jason helps me learn about the game. That means the
Speaker 1: world to me. That's all that matters to me. I
Speaker 1: want to increase the population of people that are in
Speaker 1: love with the game of basketball. That's what matters the
Speaker 1: most to me. And so at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like I totally see where Draymond's coming from, I feel
Speaker 1: those same visceral feelings that he feels. I just I'm
Speaker 1: kind of at peace with it because I just get
Speaker 1: that that's the way the business is. I understand too
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna have to do a certain amount of
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. I'm gonna have to do lists,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to do comparison, I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: do those kinds of things. The one thing you can
Speaker 1: count on me for sure is I will never be
Speaker 1: critical of a player opportunistically. I'll give you an example.
Speaker 1: I've been extremely critical of Russell Westbrook. I am. When
Speaker 1: I am critical of Russell Westbrook, it puts up numbers.
Speaker 1: I have social media clips over the last couple over
Speaker 1: the over the course of the last year, that breached
Speaker 1: millions of people because of me being critical of Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: But that is just coincidental, because I would never be
Speaker 1: critical of Russ opportunistically. You know, you guys know why
Speaker 1: I'm critical of Russ. He offends me as a fan
Speaker 1: of the game of basketball. He is one of the
Speaker 1: most naturally gifted athletes I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget a play when he had broken his
Speaker 1: nose in Oklahoma City. It was, I want to say,
Speaker 1: the year after Kevin Durant left. It was during his
Speaker 1: MVP season and he had a play. He was wearing
Speaker 1: that like face mask and he goes running down the
Speaker 1: court and transition jumps from behind the semi circle damn
Speaker 1: Ye at the free throw line, cox it back with
Speaker 1: two hands behind his head like this and throws it
Speaker 1: down and the entire gym is just floored from what
Speaker 1: they saw. I watched the clip like a hundred times
Speaker 1: in a row. When it happened, I couldn't believe what
Speaker 1: I was seeing. He is a nuclear athlete, possibly pound
Speaker 1: for pound, the best athlete that we've ever seen in
Speaker 1: the NBA. And the guy just has never cared enough
Speaker 1: about improving himself on the on the periphery of his game,
Speaker 1: committing to the defensive end of the floor, you know,
Speaker 1: being willing to fit alongside stars, working on your jump shot,
Speaker 1: working on your midrange shot, your float or your push out,
Speaker 1: your short range game. He was one of the worst
Speaker 1: volume rim finishers in the league this year, and it
Speaker 1: just feels like a waste to me. And then when
Speaker 1: you combine that with his obstinate attitude and the way
Speaker 1: that he can just be like, not screw you, guys,
Speaker 1: I have it all figured out. You guys do know
Speaker 1: what you're talking about. That's offensive to me. So when
Speaker 1: I talk about Russ that way, it's very organic. It's
Speaker 1: it is not Skip Bailess attaching his name to Lebron
Speaker 1: for the sake of numbers. Russell Westbrook will be gone
Speaker 1: from the Lakers in all likelihood this year, and I
Speaker 1: probably won't talk about it much anymore because he's probably
Speaker 1: gonna disappear into irrelevance. And you know what, our show
Speaker 1: is gonna do fine because you guys like that. I
Speaker 1: like to talk about basketball, So again, like that, I
Speaker 1: have my own little personal commitments in my much smaller
Speaker 1: role as one of the smaller stewards of this game.
Speaker 1: But like the way I see it, we just do
Speaker 1: the best we can with our platforms, and Draymond, you
Speaker 1: do the best you can, and JJ you do the
Speaker 1: best you can. Amplify each other, amplify each other. That's
Speaker 1: why I'm amplifying those names that I mentioned earlier. But
Speaker 1: it just acknowledged the reality that there are a lot
Speaker 1: of people that like that crap and they're going to
Speaker 1: continue to like that crap, and that crap is not
Speaker 1: going away, and so it's just it's just the reality
Speaker 1: of the business. But I'm happy for a Draymond that
Speaker 1: he's taking is is uh his victory laps and last
Speaker 1: but not least, to be honest, like, one of the
Speaker 1: things with this business is you have to acknowledge the
Speaker 1: reality that when you are critical of someone, you could
Speaker 1: face consequences. Like what's happening with Draymond, Like talking about
Speaker 1: these people is they said things and there are consequences
Speaker 1: to those things. Freedom of speech is not the same
Speaker 1: as freedom from consequences. I understand that if I'm next year,
Speaker 1: if I'm critical of Anthony Davis one day and he
Speaker 1: decides to tweet at me like, who the hell are you?
Speaker 1: What's your problem? Like, that's that's a potential repercussion. You
Speaker 1: know when when you're in this business and you and
Speaker 1: you are talking like that, you always know there's a
Speaker 1: potential for fallback. It's just part of the deal. Um.
Speaker 1: But that's all I got for today, guys. I sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate your support. As always, we will have more free
Speaker 1: agency previews throughout the week. Check out this on YouTube.
Speaker 1: If you miss it for whatever reason, you can find
Speaker 1: it on our podcast feed under Lakers Tonight. Remember to
Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason LT. That is
Speaker 1: all I have for you guys today. I'll see you
Speaker 1: guys in a couple of days. The Volume