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Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers presented a

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Speaker 1: bout Dash Radio. Thank you guys so much for coming

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Speaker 1: to hang out on a Tuesday. This is part two

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Speaker 1: of the podcast I did with Vinet after the game

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Speaker 1: on Sunday, and this part of the pot we primarily

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Speaker 1: focused on Russell Westbrook. And as you guys know, I've

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Speaker 1: been super negative about Russ a lot this season. Venet

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Speaker 1: is very much on the opposite end of the spectrum.

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Speaker 1: So I think it's really good for you guys to

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Speaker 1: hear just another perspective. We got to the bottom of

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Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff with Russ. I thought this was

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Speaker 1: really good. Thank you guys as always for your support

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Speaker 1: and enjoy. So so let's look at us, you know,

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Speaker 1: projecting forward, because I a great Lebron looks great. So

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Speaker 1: if Lebron looks great, that's obviously something that you can

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Speaker 1: build on. Because Lebron is a top three or four

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Speaker 1: player in the world. That's a foundational piece, right Anthony Davis, Like,

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Speaker 1: even if he never shoots as well as he did

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Speaker 1: in the bubble, when he's healthy, he's probably somewhere around

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Speaker 1: the you know, eleventh or twelve best player in the league. Right,

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Speaker 1: So you've got two top twelve players there. That's a

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Speaker 1: good foundation. So essentially, now this is where I wanted

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Speaker 1: to move to the rust piece because you know, and

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Speaker 1: I'm going to make the case really quickly to you

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Speaker 1: for where I'm at with Russ and why, and then

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Speaker 1: I want you to kind of tell me if you

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Speaker 1: agree or if you would go in different directions. So

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Speaker 1: as as far as Russ goes like he played actually

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Speaker 1: okay against the Magic, I just didn't care because it

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Speaker 1: was the Magic He actually today I thought was the

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Speaker 1: best game he's had versus a good team, which has

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Speaker 1: been a which has been a consistent issue with him

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Speaker 1: this year. In our bigger games against our better opponents,

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Speaker 1: he's been really bad either either for a pivotal stretch

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Speaker 1: or for the entire game. Obviously with the all times

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Speaker 1: stinkers like he had against Golden State, in against Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: and then some other games where he was rough for

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Speaker 1: specific stretches, kind of like the Phoenix Suns game that

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Speaker 1: we had last month. So, like I my main concern is,

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Speaker 1: like I view this game like he had it tonight

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Speaker 1: against Miami as more of an outlier. I tend to

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Speaker 1: think that most teams have figured out at this phase

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Speaker 1: of his career, if you put a big forward on him,

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Speaker 1: you're you're gonna basically force him to take jump shots

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Speaker 1: because he can't play that same bulleyball game. Although he's

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Speaker 1: had a couple of moments lately, uh, you know, against

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Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon and then he had to he had once

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Speaker 1: a night where he caved in someone's chest. I can't

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Speaker 1: remember who it is. But the point is that he's

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Speaker 1: for the most part, been rendered ineffective against the really

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Speaker 1: good teams this year. So this is where you run

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Speaker 1: into this awkward situation because Frank, I think has noticed

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Speaker 1: it too, because, especially with his attention to defense, Russ

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Speaker 1: has had a lot of mental defensive breakdowns lately. He

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Speaker 1: lost the shooter today, he botched a switch a couple

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Speaker 1: of times today, like he just those kinds of mistakes

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Speaker 1: are what has led Frank to pull back on his minutes,

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Speaker 1: and then of late he sat him for significant stretches

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Speaker 1: of two fourth quarters. So my thing is like, if

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Speaker 1: you don't think Russ fits into your you know, crunch

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Speaker 1: time rotation in the playoffs, then there's no point in

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Speaker 1: keeping him around because then you have attitude issues and

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Speaker 1: you don't want to have like a Andre Drummond type

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Speaker 1: situation where you're in the middle of a playoff series

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Speaker 1: navigating benching a player, you know what I mean, And

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Speaker 1: then you've got Andre Drummond complaining and going on social

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Speaker 1: media and and and and talking about the coach and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that. I just don't think that's worth dealing with.

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Speaker 1: So my thing is like, if I had a reason

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Speaker 1: to genuinely believe that Russ could contribute and contribute well

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Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor in the actualized version

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Speaker 1: of this team in the biggest moments against the best teams,

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Speaker 1: I would absolutely be in favor of keeping him. But

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Speaker 1: I'm at the point where it used to just be

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Speaker 1: I'd be concerned with his late game decision making, But

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Speaker 1: now I don't think he's good enough in any phase

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Speaker 1: of the game for it to be worth it. So

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Speaker 1: I think it's better to get off of him rather

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Speaker 1: than to keep him on have it go really south

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Speaker 1: in a playoff series. But where are you at with

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Speaker 1: Russ just in general this season, because I know you've

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Speaker 1: been more positive with him, But do you think he

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Speaker 1: fits into what the actualized version into this team is

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Speaker 1: And do you see him having success in a postseason run. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so so, UM, I completely understand your your standpoint when

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Speaker 1: it comes to just kind of what you're describing as

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Speaker 1: to trying to get ahead of a potential situation where, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, like rusts may basically get schemed against where

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Speaker 1: you know the I and I get what you're saying, like, uh,

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Speaker 1: and I think other folks have said this to as well,

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Speaker 1: Like what's stopping another team from just completely ignoring rust

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Speaker 1: like in a playoff series for multiple games and then

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Speaker 1: just kind of jugging stuff up which then forced his

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Speaker 1: vocal to have to pull them um and all all valid,

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Speaker 1: vallid things. Um. So I don't disagree with that. I

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Speaker 1: think my general pushback against that has been, um, teams

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Speaker 1: haven't outright done that throughout games, Like even even in

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Speaker 1: close situations in some of the games that we played

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Speaker 1: against competitive teams, they haven't been able to do that

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Speaker 1: because there's this like you know, there's this fundamental nature

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Speaker 1: and it may happen. That doesn't mean it won't happen

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs, but it's there's a fundamental nature, um,

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Speaker 1: of a basketball player, Like we're regardless of how good

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Speaker 1: how bad the shooter is you're just not going to

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Speaker 1: give them a wide open lane to the rim because

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Speaker 1: you just know that, like something bad could happen if

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Speaker 1: it happens, and so and so Russ has capitalized on

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Speaker 1: some of those situations. So, UM, I think one of

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Speaker 1: the things you mentioned was Russ has had bad games

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Speaker 1: against playoff teams, contending teams playoff teams, UM, and So

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Speaker 1: I would push back on that a little bit, because

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Speaker 1: there are there have been games, even without bron where

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Speaker 1: Russ has played really well. For example, perfect example is

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Speaker 1: not really well, but has played well enough for us

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Speaker 1: to win. UM. And the Miami game at home in overtime,

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Speaker 1: like Miami was was running all the same actions and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that that they would normally run. We didn't

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Speaker 1: have run that game. They lost Jimmy Butler I think

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Speaker 1: after that after the first round or first quarter or

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Speaker 1: something like that for his knee or his ankle, and Um,

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Speaker 1: we pulled out the wind and that was a win

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Speaker 1: that absolutely required Russ to be good. Like it wasn't

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Speaker 1: a game whereas his Anthony Davis took over because Andy

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Speaker 1: Davis was having some trouble to himself against a guy

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Speaker 1: like uh, you know, bam out of bio and stuff,

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Speaker 1: I got another physical team. And so um the Cleveland game,

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Speaker 1: this is before everybody realized Cleveland's a really good team

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Speaker 1: like they were. They were beating up on teams because

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Speaker 1: they're really good defensive team. Uh, they come to play

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Speaker 1: the Lakers were down by twelve. Third quarter, Braun and

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Speaker 1: Russ go on this crazy run to kind of uh

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Speaker 1: catch up the race deficit. And then what ends up

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Speaker 1: happening is I think Braun and a d just basically

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Speaker 1: spamed their pick and roll like we expected them too.

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Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter, Lakers win the game. Then the

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Speaker 1: Boston game, back and forth, trading jabs both teams and

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Speaker 1: trading jabs. Eventually Russ erupts off the pick and roll

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Speaker 1: action with uh. And if you remember that game, that

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Speaker 1: was a game where Robert Williams was like dunking over

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis like every single play and stuff. Yeah

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Speaker 1: in the first half, and the Russ explodes in the

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Speaker 1: third quarter, and you know, we end up winning the

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Speaker 1: game and stuff I got and so um, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: there's other games I could probably also pull out to

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Speaker 1: as well. Um, like even the Bucks game. This will

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Speaker 1: be the last one. The Bucks game away uh in Milwaukee.

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Speaker 1: That was another game we didn't have with Braun. But

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Speaker 1: that was a tightly contested game up until maybe about

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Speaker 1: six minutes left in the game where we kind of

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Speaker 1: let go of the rope as a team. Uh. Russ

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Speaker 1: was he wasn't bad in that game. He wasn't average.

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Speaker 1: He was above average, you know, staying under control and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that. That was a good th HT game

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Speaker 1: too as well. UM So, my thing is, if you're

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Speaker 1: in the boat that you have to trade Russ, I

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Speaker 1: understand if your logic behind trading Russ now is that

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Speaker 1: you want to get ahead of a situation where he

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Speaker 1: could potentially just kind of be schemed against completely. UM

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Speaker 1: I understand that too as well. However, my only thing

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Speaker 1: is this, if you trade Russ and you don't get

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Speaker 1: another guy who could put pressure on the rim the

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Speaker 1: way Russ has, regardless of how how many turnovers and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that he's been doing. Um, if you don't

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Speaker 1: get somebody who's willing to put pressure on the rim,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna be like Braun is not going to do it.

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Speaker 1: Like you watched Braun a lot, Like you've seen how

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Speaker 1: much Braun is getting beat up like in New Orleans

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Speaker 1: than he literally got slapped in the face by Jalen

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Speaker 1: Suggs and they did not call a flavor. They just

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Speaker 1: called it a common foul and they just said, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's cool, like it's nothing like. I don't think

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Speaker 1: Braun physically can keep up with attacking the rim twenty

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Speaker 1: times a game and creating for his his teammates. And

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Speaker 1: we absolutely need somebody to do that, because even Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis is having trouble doing that on a consistent basis.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm not trying to make an argument that like, oh,

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Speaker 1: we have to keep Russ for the playoffs. My argument

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Speaker 1: is there's a very specific thing that he's always he's

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Speaker 1: willing to do, which is attacked the rim, even when

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have, you know, a size advantage, or even

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Speaker 1: when it looks like, you know, they're gonna collapse the paint,

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Speaker 1: He's willing to attack the rim and try to make

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Speaker 1: plays for his teammates. I know that we're really mad

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Speaker 1: about his finishing and stuff like that, but my thing

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Speaker 1: is it does help spell Braun. Like Braun is not

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Speaker 1: shooting the way he is, he's not having the fresh

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Speaker 1: legs that he has if if if there isn't somebody

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Speaker 1: else doing it for us, and that you know, like

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Speaker 1: that was something that we wanted at A then a

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Speaker 1: Stroder last season, and he gave it to us in

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Speaker 1: like some consistent, some inconsistent fashion. And and I think

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Speaker 1: that's a big part of basketball, you know, just putting pressure,

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Speaker 1: constantly applying pressure on the rim. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: what makes him really really important. I will say this

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Speaker 1: too as well. When Anthony Davis and Braun are on

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Speaker 1: the floor, Russ is he stays out of the weight,

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Speaker 1: especially in these clutch situations. He doesn't try to get

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Speaker 1: in their way with whatever play called they want and

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Speaker 1: Braun wants to eye so or or they run thick

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Speaker 1: and roll and stuff I got. So you know, it's

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Speaker 1: hard for me to be mad at him when he's

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Speaker 1: not hijacking possessions away from those guys. And look, Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis has had struggled making passing out of double teams,

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Speaker 1: like Russ has been an active cutter. Like that's something

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Speaker 1: that we haven't had from other players. Um, he's willing

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Speaker 1: to cut and attack the rim and stuff I got

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Speaker 1: when when he gets double teamed and so, like I said,

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Speaker 1: these are smaller things like kind of within the course

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Speaker 1: of the game that we won't see necessarily in highlights

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Speaker 1: because they won't end sometimes in um you know, like

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Speaker 1: a flashy dunk or a layup or something like that.

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Speaker 1: But it has been the difference between wins and losses

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Speaker 1: for some of our games. And so that's just kind

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Speaker 1: of what it is. I'm not against moving him, but

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Speaker 1: you have to replace what he's actually bringing, which is

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Speaker 1: like even in this Miami game, Braun, Braun and Russ

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Speaker 1: run down the floor. It's like a seven point game.

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Speaker 1: Bron's waiting for the past for us, but Russ realizes

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Speaker 1: that that Carmelo is trailing in the back. He sets

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Speaker 1: up Carmelo for a three. Yeah, you can tell he's

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Speaker 1: stared down Lebron extra long to just to get that

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Speaker 1: guy to follow him into the way exact exactly exactly. So,

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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he's going to have, you know, the

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Speaker 1: low lights where you know, liquor fans make fun of him,

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Speaker 1: every every Twitter makes fun of him. Everybody does. But

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Speaker 1: those little lights are that's not indicative of kind of

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Speaker 1: the the amount of effort that he's putting into help

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Speaker 1: a guy like Braun and stuff like that, and so

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Speaker 1: I think that's what Ron valleys. He wants somebody who's

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Speaker 1: willing to do it because he you know, he's thirty seven. Man,

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Speaker 1: you can't expect him to do all this sort of stuff,

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Speaker 1: and so that that's kind of my logic behind it. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, I appreciate the perspective that you bring, because

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Speaker 1: it's it's been a lot of me railing on Westbrook

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Speaker 1: on this podcast, like least other gonna be good for

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Speaker 1: listeners to hear a really coherent, uh pro Westbrook case.

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Speaker 1: You know. I think the one thing that I disagree

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Speaker 1: with that you talked about was having to do with

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Speaker 1: rim pressure. Not because I don't believe in rim pressure.

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Speaker 1: I'm a huge believer in rim pressure. I talked about

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Speaker 1: that all the time. However, I think the idea of

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Speaker 1: Lebron needing or wanting another ball handler to stand at

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Speaker 1: the top of the key and create so that he

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Speaker 1: can rest is less important on this roster and in

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Speaker 1: this era than it was in years past. And a

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Speaker 1: lot of that has to do with the concept of

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Speaker 1: five out basketball versus vintage basketball. When you're talking about

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Speaker 1: Lebron creating at the top of the key in a

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Speaker 1: screen and roll with Kyrie Irving and it's you know,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Love in one corner and j R. Smith in

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Speaker 1: the other corner, or whatever it is that you have

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Speaker 1: laid out. You're talking about specialists there, and you're not

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Speaker 1: gonna kick to Kevin Love and expect him to do

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Speaker 1: some sort of dynamic closeout attacking. You're not gonna kick

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Speaker 1: to Kyle Korver or kick to Shane dad of A

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Speaker 1: and expect some sort of a dynamic close out attacking.

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Speaker 1: The idea of five out basketball is everybody's applying rim pressure.

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Speaker 1: The idea of five out basketball is because of the

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Speaker 1: space that is generated. You don't actually and because everybody

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Speaker 1: can put the ball on the floor and everybody can

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Speaker 1: kind of create their own shot, especially with this group

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Speaker 1: of Laker players that they have, like especially in the

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Speaker 1: future if they make some trades and they keep Milik

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Speaker 1: Monk and they keep Carmelo Anthony, like you have guys

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Speaker 1: on this team to where you know, just di virtue

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Speaker 1: of the spacing and by virtue of just really crisp

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Speaker 1: driving kick basketball, you generate a lot of rim pressure.

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Speaker 1: And that's been the irony here because as rog has

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Speaker 1: been pointing out as of late, over the course of

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Speaker 1: this Russell Westbrook's slump and in the recent month, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's been a lot of Malik Monk running these kinds

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Speaker 1: of actions and having success. Why because it's five out basketball.

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Speaker 1: There's tons of space, and you know, and just you

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Speaker 1: know in that in that setting you can maximize talent,

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Speaker 1: which is basically what happened with the l A Clippers

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Speaker 1: last year after Kauai went down. So my thing is, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, fundamentally, I disagree with the idea that Lebron

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Speaker 1: needs this star guy to stand at the top of

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Speaker 1: the key and break everything down because at this point,

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Speaker 1: I think literally about concept even th h T can

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Speaker 1: be that first guy who rips through and gets to

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Speaker 1: the baseline and forces help defender to come over, kicks

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Speaker 1: it to the corner of swing, swing, drive, drive, whatever

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Speaker 1: it is. Just in this modern concept, I don't think

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Speaker 1: it's as important that said, but I hear what you're saying,

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Speaker 1: like there's there is a version of this that we've

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Speaker 1: seen with Anthony Davis on the floor where Russ is

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Speaker 1: a little bit more relegated to an off ball role.

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Speaker 1: I think I think I still stand in the in

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Speaker 1: the camp that it would make more sense to bring

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Speaker 1: back functional off ball role players with that salary rather

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Speaker 1: than to tie it up in somebody who at the

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Speaker 1: end of games is gonna have to stay in the

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Speaker 1: corner anyway because he's a little bit too easy to

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Speaker 1: guard in those situations. That's my personal opinion, But I do,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I appreciate you taking the time to

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Speaker 1: explain your side. The one thing I wanted to ask

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Speaker 1: you before we get out of here. My last biggest

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Speaker 1: concern with the Russ has always been his due before

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Speaker 1: thinking kind of style of basketball, which I think in

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Speaker 1: many ways has carried him throughout his career, you know,

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Speaker 1: in a good way, just in the sense that, like

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Speaker 1: you know, for his entire career, being a bowl in

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Speaker 1: a china shop worked. So I get it. But you know,

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Speaker 1: tonight we had this latest example jump ball. I think

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Speaker 1: it was an eleven point game at the time Lakers

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Speaker 1: were on a run. Might even have been closer, might

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Speaker 1: have been a seven point game, I can't remember, but

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Speaker 1: but we win the jump ball in literally Russ with

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Speaker 1: absolutely no advantage, with no Lakers down the floor, with

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Speaker 1: three Miami Heat players very much in his way, just

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Speaker 1: tried to cram his way to the basket and ends

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Speaker 1: up turning it over. And we've seen a lot of

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Speaker 1: examples like this over the course of the season. Miss dunks,

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Speaker 1: poor decisions, poor shots, that kind of thing. I am

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Speaker 1: concerned with the pivotal mistake with us in a big moment,

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Speaker 1: So talk me off of that. Ledge. Yeah, So he's

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Speaker 1: not gonna have the ball like that. That's literally that.

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Speaker 1: That's literally the only thing I could possibly say. Um,

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Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna have like the ball in

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Speaker 1: a lot of these situaies like today. I feel like

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Speaker 1: today it was just kind of because we were down

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Speaker 1: by twenty six, like you were prime to get like

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Speaker 1: one of those like Russ is gonna do something stupid

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Speaker 1: because he's just trying to be furious and try to

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Speaker 1: make a curious come back in some compact like he

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Speaker 1: had to play where it was like a two on

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Speaker 1: three and he tried to like take the early advantage

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Speaker 1: um and try to make a kickout plass to Bradley,

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Speaker 1: but Duncan Robinson was like waiting for it because he

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Speaker 1: knew that Bradley was the only other option that he

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Speaker 1: had to pass to, so he did that thing where

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Speaker 1: he jumped up in the middle of you know, jumped

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Speaker 1: up in the air to make the pass. So then

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Speaker 1: he was screwed, so he only could pass it to

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Speaker 1: Bradley Duncan, Robinson steels and stuff like that. But I

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Speaker 1: don't think he's gonna have the ball in his hands,

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Speaker 1: Like that's that's genuinely the only thing I could, Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, we had this panic um a long long

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Speaker 1: time ago about Region Rondo, like Region Rondo, like Frank

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Speaker 1: bobil Is putting Region Rondo and asked him to close

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Speaker 1: these games, like we're going to be in trouble because

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Speaker 1: teams are gonna play off of Region now now Rondo.

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Speaker 1: You know, he was like he hit like one, he

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Speaker 1: go like one for two, one for three, Like he

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Speaker 1: wasn't shooting high volumes the threes, but he was making

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Speaker 1: his threes enough to keep the opposing team respectable. But

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Speaker 1: he was an atrocious finisher, Like he was terrible season.

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Speaker 1: He was so bad, Like you know, it's like what

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Speaker 1: everybody says about Russ's jumpers, like it was a turnover

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Speaker 1: and so like, to some degree I think that he

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Speaker 1: Russ is not It's not that he's going to get

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Speaker 1: relegated to that role. I think he's gonna get kind

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Speaker 1: of put in that that sort of position, like if

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Speaker 1: if I was brawn and a d and I had

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Speaker 1: to try and guess what they tried to explain to us,

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Speaker 1: like what his role would be. I think they probably

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Speaker 1: pointed out a guy like Region Rondo, or they pointed

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Speaker 1: out a guy like Dennis Schroder, and they said, look,

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Speaker 1: when when it gets tough, just get us the ball.

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Speaker 1: And that was a problem Like that, there was a

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Speaker 1: time where we couldn't even throw an entry pass to

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. So we had to put Region Rondo in

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Speaker 1: the game because he knew how to get the entry

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Speaker 1: pass to Anthony Davis for to Lebron on the post ups.

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Speaker 1: And and I feel like that's the role that he's

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Speaker 1: supposed to be. Like for the first three quarters of

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Speaker 1: the game, we're not looking to Russ to score. Just

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Speaker 1: keep moving the ball, facilitate, push the ball up the floor.

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Speaker 1: When we have the young guys on the floor, find

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Speaker 1: the open man. If you get the open lay up,

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Speaker 1: you know, make the year open layups. Obviously, that's a

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Speaker 1: separate issue all in itself, which has been better at

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Speaker 1: these last two games, But I just don't see it.

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Speaker 1: I don't see a situation where Braun just says, Okay, Russ,

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Speaker 1: bring us home in the playoffs. I don't see it.

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Speaker 1: And I don't see a situation where, um, he looks

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Speaker 1: at Russ before he looks at Anthony Davis, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, and I look more than Russ. My

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Speaker 1: largest concern has been our coaching and just kind of

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Speaker 1: our very very slow on to take adjustments that our

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Speaker 1: coach is making on the defensive end, especially um. So

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Speaker 1: that's probably a completely separate topic that we we could

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Speaker 1: spend an hour on, but that that's that's really my

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Speaker 1: only pushback. Like I've seen too many games now with

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Speaker 1: even a compromise Braun and a compromise a d where

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Speaker 1: they just never go to the third guy. They just

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Speaker 1: go to the you know, it's just a two man

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Speaker 1: game over and over and over again. And then from there,

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Speaker 1: you know, make your open shots, put shooters on the floor,

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Speaker 1: defend your position. That's just kind of what it is.

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Speaker 1: I think that's what's gonna happen with this team in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs. Slotting is going to help everything, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, when we're looking at talent. You know,

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Speaker 1: the big problem is is you're asking Mellow to do

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Speaker 1: this much. You're asking Malik Monk to do this much.

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Speaker 1: We're even with Russ, We're asking Russ to do this much.

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Speaker 1: With Lebron, we're asking him to do so much offensively

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Speaker 1: that his defensive effort has crater relative to the season.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's had good defensive games and good defensive moments,

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Speaker 1: but he's had a lot more bad ones this year

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Speaker 1: than he has in recent years. And that's all the

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Speaker 1: product of the slotting. So your hope is, you know,

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Speaker 1: when you bring in Anthony Davis, everybody slots back a

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Speaker 1: little bit and then all of a sudden your skill

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Speaker 1: set has a better chance of fitting right. But my

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Speaker 1: thing is, like, this is where Jeremy Grant trade could

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Speaker 1: be so game changing for this team if they could

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Speaker 1: pull it off, or even if it's not Jeremy Grant,

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Speaker 1: even just in Eric Gordon sliding somebody like you know,

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Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, who even in the current slotting with health healthy,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, it really isn't the guy for that job,

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Speaker 1: you know, putting someone who's a very competent NBA player

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Speaker 1: like Eric Gordon in that spot and moving everyone else

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Speaker 1: down one more slot could go a long way to

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Speaker 1: fixing this. So I'm I'm definitely not a defeatist yet

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Speaker 1: about this roster, but I do think that vibe needs

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Speaker 1: to be reset, and the coach could very well be

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Speaker 1: associated with that as well. I I tend to think

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Speaker 1: that there's been way too much pushed back on the

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Speaker 1: Frank slander. I don't think. I don't think people outside

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Speaker 1: of Lakers Twitter, Lakers fan outside of Laker fan base,

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Speaker 1: I don't think people that have been casually following the

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Speaker 1: Lakers have any idea just how bad Frank has been

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Speaker 1: this year. Again, again, that's not the only problem, but

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Speaker 1: he's definitely been a problem. Like how do we do? Like,

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Speaker 1: you can't you know, you can't post low lights for coaches, right, Like, No,

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Speaker 1: there's no single possession that we could post. All we

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Speaker 1: could post like the misshots and the miss cues by

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Speaker 1: our star players. But but I think one thing that

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Speaker 1: you said is very is very key. Regardless of who's

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00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,760
Speaker 1: on this roster, whether it's Russ or somebody else, the

433
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,359
Speaker 1: slotting on this team seems to be very out of place.

434
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,439
Speaker 1: Everybody is being asked to do more like that this

435
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,600
Speaker 1: is the biggest issue with Russ, right, Like we know

436
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,600
Speaker 1: he's been athletically declining as a player, we know that

437
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,879
Speaker 1: he's scoring wise, he's challenged as a player, Like since

438
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 1: his MVP season, it's it's been a steady decline. You

439
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,560
Speaker 1: had the guy from the the Houston guy, Rush Rouge.

440
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,360
Speaker 1: I think kind of talk to you about them trying

441
00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:42,480
Speaker 1: to optimize. Like one of the things I've been trying

442
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,800
Speaker 1: to push back on is like everybody's like, oh, we

443
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,120
Speaker 1: have to optimize for Russ. I was like, no, we

444
00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:49,879
Speaker 1: we don't have to optimize for a guy who struggles

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00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,400
Speaker 1: to score. Like why are we trying to optimize for him?

446
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 1: We should be optimizing for Braun. We should be optimizing

447
00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,280
Speaker 1: for like whatever the strength of our roster are, And

448
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,480
Speaker 1: if the strength of our roster are roster is you

449
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,919
Speaker 1: know Mellow can shoot, Monk and shoot, Grieves can shoot,

450
00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,639
Speaker 1: Broun can shoot, then we should be optimizing in that capacity.

451
00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,360
Speaker 1: Like since Anthony Davis has been out, can you remember

452
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,120
Speaker 1: a single game that we've played where we've consistently run

453
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,760
Speaker 1: pick and roll? No, that's and that's my point, Like

454
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,400
Speaker 1: we're doing this thing where where we keep having these

455
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,359
Speaker 1: conversations about optimizing for one specific player. Well, if we

456
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,760
Speaker 1: are going to do that, it's not Russ, it's either

457
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 1: Bron or it's a D when a D comes back.

458
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,399
Speaker 1: And and that's been my like general pushback when it

459
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,560
Speaker 1: comes to like the conversations about Russ and stuff like that,

460
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,080
Speaker 1: Like we're already like we're expecting him to score instead

461
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: of Anthony Davis. If if Rob Lincoln thought that Russ

462
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,440
Speaker 1: could do that in case Anthony Davis or Lebron James

463
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:50,919
Speaker 1: went down, he approached this offseason terribly. The entire foundational

464
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,520
Speaker 1: process of how we went to to decide this is

465
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,879
Speaker 1: completely wrong and that and that's what you know, you

466
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,880
Speaker 1: and I have watched a basketball you know, you coach

467
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 1: kids like that that play in high school. Like we

468
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,720
Speaker 1: could compartmentalized skills and say, Okay, I understand why we

469
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:06,080
Speaker 1: have this guy here in this spot. I understand why

470
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,520
Speaker 1: we have mellow in like that Kuzma role of just

471
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,239
Speaker 1: kind of scoring UM and stuff like that, because that's

472
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:12,879
Speaker 1: what we want to use Kuzma for as a stretch

473
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,680
Speaker 1: for Um. But when Anthony Davis goes down, we're using

474
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: him as a small ball five it's just like that's

475
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 1: not gonna work, you know, like that's a layup line

476
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,159
Speaker 1: for the opposing team and stuff like that. And so

477
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,119
Speaker 1: I think slotting is really really important. I think athleticism

478
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,359
Speaker 1: is really really important. And I think if if we

479
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,360
Speaker 1: can add bodies that kind of helping those two realms,

480
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,000
Speaker 1: I think what you're describing, which is a very human thing,

481
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,720
Speaker 1: like the air in the locker room, it will change

482
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,680
Speaker 1: because you'll you'll know, you'll get consistent effort and you'll

483
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 1: get consistent um execution from from guys that are able

484
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:50,600
Speaker 1: to do it. So, um yeah, I think I uh, well,

485
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,199
Speaker 1: we've just crossed over the our marks. So I know, Vanetta,

486
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:54,639
Speaker 1: you and I can talk for a long time. Buddy.

487
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:56,440
Speaker 1: We are going to get you back on the show,

488
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 1: hopefully sometime soon. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time

489
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 1: out of your Sunday to come hang out and talk

490
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 1: um so Westbrook with me. I appreciate it. Everybody. This

491
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,159
Speaker 1: is going to be on dash Radio tomorrow morning at

492
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,919
Speaker 1: seven am Pacific standard time and be on our podcast

493
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,840
Speaker 1: feed here in about a half hour. So as always,

494
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,119
Speaker 1: we appreciate your support. Thanks again be for coming on

495
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,480
Speaker 1: and we will see you guys after the Nets game

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00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: on Tuesday night,