Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers presented a
Speaker 1: bout Dash Radio. Thank you guys so much for coming
Speaker 1: to hang out on a Tuesday. This is part two
Speaker 1: of the podcast I did with Vinet after the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and this part of the pot we primarily
Speaker 1: focused on Russell Westbrook. And as you guys know, I've
Speaker 1: been super negative about Russ a lot this season. Venet
Speaker 1: is very much on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Speaker 1: So I think it's really good for you guys to
Speaker 1: hear just another perspective. We got to the bottom of
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff with Russ. I thought this was
Speaker 1: really good. Thank you guys as always for your support
Speaker 1: and enjoy. So so let's look at us, you know,
Speaker 1: projecting forward, because I a great Lebron looks great. So
Speaker 1: if Lebron looks great, that's obviously something that you can
Speaker 1: build on. Because Lebron is a top three or four
Speaker 1: player in the world. That's a foundational piece, right Anthony Davis, Like,
Speaker 1: even if he never shoots as well as he did
Speaker 1: in the bubble, when he's healthy, he's probably somewhere around
Speaker 1: the you know, eleventh or twelve best player in the league. Right,
Speaker 1: So you've got two top twelve players there. That's a
Speaker 1: good foundation. So essentially, now this is where I wanted
Speaker 1: to move to the rust piece because you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to make the case really quickly to you
Speaker 1: for where I'm at with Russ and why, and then
Speaker 1: I want you to kind of tell me if you
Speaker 1: agree or if you would go in different directions. So
Speaker 1: as as far as Russ goes like he played actually
Speaker 1: okay against the Magic, I just didn't care because it
Speaker 1: was the Magic He actually today I thought was the
Speaker 1: best game he's had versus a good team, which has
Speaker 1: been a which has been a consistent issue with him
Speaker 1: this year. In our bigger games against our better opponents,
Speaker 1: he's been really bad either either for a pivotal stretch
Speaker 1: or for the entire game. Obviously with the all times
Speaker 1: stinkers like he had against Golden State, in against Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and then some other games where he was rough for
Speaker 1: specific stretches, kind of like the Phoenix Suns game that
Speaker 1: we had last month. So, like I my main concern is,
Speaker 1: like I view this game like he had it tonight
Speaker 1: against Miami as more of an outlier. I tend to
Speaker 1: think that most teams have figured out at this phase
Speaker 1: of his career, if you put a big forward on him,
Speaker 1: you're you're gonna basically force him to take jump shots
Speaker 1: because he can't play that same bulleyball game. Although he's
Speaker 1: had a couple of moments lately, uh, you know, against
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon and then he had to he had once
Speaker 1: a night where he caved in someone's chest. I can't
Speaker 1: remember who it is. But the point is that he's
Speaker 1: for the most part, been rendered ineffective against the really
Speaker 1: good teams this year. So this is where you run
Speaker 1: into this awkward situation because Frank, I think has noticed
Speaker 1: it too, because, especially with his attention to defense, Russ
Speaker 1: has had a lot of mental defensive breakdowns lately. He
Speaker 1: lost the shooter today, he botched a switch a couple
Speaker 1: of times today, like he just those kinds of mistakes
Speaker 1: are what has led Frank to pull back on his minutes,
Speaker 1: and then of late he sat him for significant stretches
Speaker 1: of two fourth quarters. So my thing is like, if
Speaker 1: you don't think Russ fits into your you know, crunch
Speaker 1: time rotation in the playoffs, then there's no point in
Speaker 1: keeping him around because then you have attitude issues and
Speaker 1: you don't want to have like a Andre Drummond type
Speaker 1: situation where you're in the middle of a playoff series
Speaker 1: navigating benching a player, you know what I mean, And
Speaker 1: then you've got Andre Drummond complaining and going on social
Speaker 1: media and and and and talking about the coach and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. I just don't think that's worth dealing with.
Speaker 1: So my thing is like, if I had a reason
Speaker 1: to genuinely believe that Russ could contribute and contribute well
Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor in the actualized version
Speaker 1: of this team in the biggest moments against the best teams,
Speaker 1: I would absolutely be in favor of keeping him. But
Speaker 1: I'm at the point where it used to just be
Speaker 1: I'd be concerned with his late game decision making, But
Speaker 1: now I don't think he's good enough in any phase
Speaker 1: of the game for it to be worth it. So
Speaker 1: I think it's better to get off of him rather
Speaker 1: than to keep him on have it go really south
Speaker 1: in a playoff series. But where are you at with
Speaker 1: Russ just in general this season, because I know you've
Speaker 1: been more positive with him, But do you think he
Speaker 1: fits into what the actualized version into this team is
Speaker 1: And do you see him having success in a postseason run. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so so, UM, I completely understand your your standpoint when
Speaker 1: it comes to just kind of what you're describing as
Speaker 1: to trying to get ahead of a potential situation where, um,
Speaker 1: you know, like rusts may basically get schemed against where
Speaker 1: you know the I and I get what you're saying, like, uh,
Speaker 1: and I think other folks have said this to as well,
Speaker 1: Like what's stopping another team from just completely ignoring rust
Speaker 1: like in a playoff series for multiple games and then
Speaker 1: just kind of jugging stuff up which then forced his
Speaker 1: vocal to have to pull them um and all all valid,
Speaker 1: vallid things. Um. So I don't disagree with that. I
Speaker 1: think my general pushback against that has been, um, teams
Speaker 1: haven't outright done that throughout games, Like even even in
Speaker 1: close situations in some of the games that we played
Speaker 1: against competitive teams, they haven't been able to do that
Speaker 1: because there's this like you know, there's this fundamental nature
Speaker 1: and it may happen. That doesn't mean it won't happen
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, but it's there's a fundamental nature, um,
Speaker 1: of a basketball player, Like we're regardless of how good
Speaker 1: how bad the shooter is you're just not going to
Speaker 1: give them a wide open lane to the rim because
Speaker 1: you just know that, like something bad could happen if
Speaker 1: it happens, and so and so Russ has capitalized on
Speaker 1: some of those situations. So, UM, I think one of
Speaker 1: the things you mentioned was Russ has had bad games
Speaker 1: against playoff teams, contending teams playoff teams, UM, and So
Speaker 1: I would push back on that a little bit, because
Speaker 1: there are there have been games, even without bron where
Speaker 1: Russ has played really well. For example, perfect example is
Speaker 1: not really well, but has played well enough for us
Speaker 1: to win. UM. And the Miami game at home in overtime,
Speaker 1: like Miami was was running all the same actions and
Speaker 1: stuff like that that they would normally run. We didn't
Speaker 1: have run that game. They lost Jimmy Butler I think
Speaker 1: after that after the first round or first quarter or
Speaker 1: something like that for his knee or his ankle, and Um,
Speaker 1: we pulled out the wind and that was a win
Speaker 1: that absolutely required Russ to be good. Like it wasn't
Speaker 1: a game whereas his Anthony Davis took over because Andy
Speaker 1: Davis was having some trouble to himself against a guy
Speaker 1: like uh, you know, bam out of bio and stuff,
Speaker 1: I got another physical team. And so um the Cleveland game,
Speaker 1: this is before everybody realized Cleveland's a really good team
Speaker 1: like they were. They were beating up on teams because
Speaker 1: they're really good defensive team. Uh, they come to play
Speaker 1: the Lakers were down by twelve. Third quarter, Braun and
Speaker 1: Russ go on this crazy run to kind of uh
Speaker 1: catch up the race deficit. And then what ends up
Speaker 1: happening is I think Braun and a d just basically
Speaker 1: spamed their pick and roll like we expected them too.
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter, Lakers win the game. Then the
Speaker 1: Boston game, back and forth, trading jabs both teams and
Speaker 1: trading jabs. Eventually Russ erupts off the pick and roll
Speaker 1: action with uh. And if you remember that game, that
Speaker 1: was a game where Robert Williams was like dunking over
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis like every single play and stuff. Yeah
Speaker 1: in the first half, and the Russ explodes in the
Speaker 1: third quarter, and you know, we end up winning the
Speaker 1: game and stuff I got and so um, I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's other games I could probably also pull out to
Speaker 1: as well. Um, like even the Bucks game. This will
Speaker 1: be the last one. The Bucks game away uh in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: That was another game we didn't have with Braun. But
Speaker 1: that was a tightly contested game up until maybe about
Speaker 1: six minutes left in the game where we kind of
Speaker 1: let go of the rope as a team. Uh. Russ
Speaker 1: was he wasn't bad in that game. He wasn't average.
Speaker 1: He was above average, you know, staying under control and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. That was a good th HT game
Speaker 1: too as well. UM So, my thing is, if you're
Speaker 1: in the boat that you have to trade Russ, I
Speaker 1: understand if your logic behind trading Russ now is that
Speaker 1: you want to get ahead of a situation where he
Speaker 1: could potentially just kind of be schemed against completely. UM
Speaker 1: I understand that too as well. However, my only thing
Speaker 1: is this, if you trade Russ and you don't get
Speaker 1: another guy who could put pressure on the rim the
Speaker 1: way Russ has, regardless of how how many turnovers and
Speaker 1: stuff like that he's been doing. Um, if you don't
Speaker 1: get somebody who's willing to put pressure on the rim,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be like Braun is not going to do it.
Speaker 1: Like you watched Braun a lot, Like you've seen how
Speaker 1: much Braun is getting beat up like in New Orleans
Speaker 1: than he literally got slapped in the face by Jalen
Speaker 1: Suggs and they did not call a flavor. They just
Speaker 1: called it a common foul and they just said, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's cool, like it's nothing like. I don't think
Speaker 1: Braun physically can keep up with attacking the rim twenty
Speaker 1: times a game and creating for his his teammates. And
Speaker 1: we absolutely need somebody to do that, because even Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is having trouble doing that on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1: And so I'm not trying to make an argument that like, oh,
Speaker 1: we have to keep Russ for the playoffs. My argument
Speaker 1: is there's a very specific thing that he's always he's
Speaker 1: willing to do, which is attacked the rim, even when
Speaker 1: he doesn't have, you know, a size advantage, or even
Speaker 1: when it looks like, you know, they're gonna collapse the paint,
Speaker 1: He's willing to attack the rim and try to make
Speaker 1: plays for his teammates. I know that we're really mad
Speaker 1: about his finishing and stuff like that, but my thing
Speaker 1: is it does help spell Braun. Like Braun is not
Speaker 1: shooting the way he is, he's not having the fresh
Speaker 1: legs that he has if if if there isn't somebody
Speaker 1: else doing it for us, and that you know, like
Speaker 1: that was something that we wanted at A then a
Speaker 1: Stroder last season, and he gave it to us in
Speaker 1: like some consistent, some inconsistent fashion. And and I think
Speaker 1: that's a big part of basketball, you know, just putting pressure,
Speaker 1: constantly applying pressure on the rim. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what makes him really really important. I will say this
Speaker 1: too as well. When Anthony Davis and Braun are on
Speaker 1: the floor, Russ is he stays out of the weight,
Speaker 1: especially in these clutch situations. He doesn't try to get
Speaker 1: in their way with whatever play called they want and
Speaker 1: Braun wants to eye so or or they run thick
Speaker 1: and roll and stuff I got. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: hard for me to be mad at him when he's
Speaker 1: not hijacking possessions away from those guys. And look, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis has had struggled making passing out of double teams,
Speaker 1: like Russ has been an active cutter. Like that's something
Speaker 1: that we haven't had from other players. Um, he's willing
Speaker 1: to cut and attack the rim and stuff I got
Speaker 1: when when he gets double teamed and so, like I said,
Speaker 1: these are smaller things like kind of within the course
Speaker 1: of the game that we won't see necessarily in highlights
Speaker 1: because they won't end sometimes in um you know, like
Speaker 1: a flashy dunk or a layup or something like that.
Speaker 1: But it has been the difference between wins and losses
Speaker 1: for some of our games. And so that's just kind
Speaker 1: of what it is. I'm not against moving him, but
Speaker 1: you have to replace what he's actually bringing, which is
Speaker 1: like even in this Miami game, Braun, Braun and Russ
Speaker 1: run down the floor. It's like a seven point game.
Speaker 1: Bron's waiting for the past for us, but Russ realizes
Speaker 1: that that Carmelo is trailing in the back. He sets
Speaker 1: up Carmelo for a three. Yeah, you can tell he's
Speaker 1: stared down Lebron extra long to just to get that
Speaker 1: guy to follow him into the way exact exactly exactly. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he's going to have, you know, the
Speaker 1: low lights where you know, liquor fans make fun of him,
Speaker 1: every every Twitter makes fun of him. Everybody does. But
Speaker 1: those little lights are that's not indicative of kind of
Speaker 1: the the amount of effort that he's putting into help
Speaker 1: a guy like Braun and stuff like that, and so
Speaker 1: I think that's what Ron valleys. He wants somebody who's
Speaker 1: willing to do it because he you know, he's thirty seven. Man,
Speaker 1: you can't expect him to do all this sort of stuff,
Speaker 1: and so that that's kind of my logic behind it. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I appreciate the perspective that you bring, because
Speaker 1: it's it's been a lot of me railing on Westbrook
Speaker 1: on this podcast, like least other gonna be good for
Speaker 1: listeners to hear a really coherent, uh pro Westbrook case.
Speaker 1: You know. I think the one thing that I disagree
Speaker 1: with that you talked about was having to do with
Speaker 1: rim pressure. Not because I don't believe in rim pressure.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge believer in rim pressure. I talked about
Speaker 1: that all the time. However, I think the idea of
Speaker 1: Lebron needing or wanting another ball handler to stand at
Speaker 1: the top of the key and create so that he
Speaker 1: can rest is less important on this roster and in
Speaker 1: this era than it was in years past. And a
Speaker 1: lot of that has to do with the concept of
Speaker 1: five out basketball versus vintage basketball. When you're talking about
Speaker 1: Lebron creating at the top of the key in a
Speaker 1: screen and roll with Kyrie Irving and it's you know,
Speaker 1: Kevin Love in one corner and j R. Smith in
Speaker 1: the other corner, or whatever it is that you have
Speaker 1: laid out. You're talking about specialists there, and you're not
Speaker 1: gonna kick to Kevin Love and expect him to do
Speaker 1: some sort of dynamic closeout attacking. You're not gonna kick
Speaker 1: to Kyle Korver or kick to Shane dad of A
Speaker 1: and expect some sort of a dynamic close out attacking.
Speaker 1: The idea of five out basketball is everybody's applying rim pressure.
Speaker 1: The idea of five out basketball is because of the
Speaker 1: space that is generated. You don't actually and because everybody
Speaker 1: can put the ball on the floor and everybody can
Speaker 1: kind of create their own shot, especially with this group
Speaker 1: of Laker players that they have, like especially in the
Speaker 1: future if they make some trades and they keep Milik
Speaker 1: Monk and they keep Carmelo Anthony, like you have guys
Speaker 1: on this team to where you know, just di virtue
Speaker 1: of the spacing and by virtue of just really crisp
Speaker 1: driving kick basketball, you generate a lot of rim pressure.
Speaker 1: And that's been the irony here because as rog has
Speaker 1: been pointing out as of late, over the course of
Speaker 1: this Russell Westbrook's slump and in the recent month, you know,
Speaker 1: it's been a lot of Malik Monk running these kinds
Speaker 1: of actions and having success. Why because it's five out basketball.
Speaker 1: There's tons of space, and you know, and just you
Speaker 1: know in that in that setting you can maximize talent,
Speaker 1: which is basically what happened with the l A Clippers
Speaker 1: last year after Kauai went down. So my thing is, like,
Speaker 1: you know, fundamentally, I disagree with the idea that Lebron
Speaker 1: needs this star guy to stand at the top of
Speaker 1: the key and break everything down because at this point,
Speaker 1: I think literally about concept even th h T can
Speaker 1: be that first guy who rips through and gets to
Speaker 1: the baseline and forces help defender to come over, kicks
Speaker 1: it to the corner of swing, swing, drive, drive, whatever
Speaker 1: it is. Just in this modern concept, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's as important that said, but I hear what you're saying,
Speaker 1: like there's there is a version of this that we've
Speaker 1: seen with Anthony Davis on the floor where Russ is
Speaker 1: a little bit more relegated to an off ball role.
Speaker 1: I think I think I still stand in the in
Speaker 1: the camp that it would make more sense to bring
Speaker 1: back functional off ball role players with that salary rather
Speaker 1: than to tie it up in somebody who at the
Speaker 1: end of games is gonna have to stay in the
Speaker 1: corner anyway because he's a little bit too easy to
Speaker 1: guard in those situations. That's my personal opinion, But I do,
Speaker 1: like I said, I appreciate you taking the time to
Speaker 1: explain your side. The one thing I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you before we get out of here. My last biggest
Speaker 1: concern with the Russ has always been his due before
Speaker 1: thinking kind of style of basketball, which I think in
Speaker 1: many ways has carried him throughout his career, you know,
Speaker 1: in a good way, just in the sense that, like
Speaker 1: you know, for his entire career, being a bowl in
Speaker 1: a china shop worked. So I get it. But you know,
Speaker 1: tonight we had this latest example jump ball. I think
Speaker 1: it was an eleven point game at the time Lakers
Speaker 1: were on a run. Might even have been closer, might
Speaker 1: have been a seven point game, I can't remember, but
Speaker 1: but we win the jump ball in literally Russ with
Speaker 1: absolutely no advantage, with no Lakers down the floor, with
Speaker 1: three Miami Heat players very much in his way, just
Speaker 1: tried to cram his way to the basket and ends
Speaker 1: up turning it over. And we've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: examples like this over the course of the season. Miss dunks,
Speaker 1: poor decisions, poor shots, that kind of thing. I am
Speaker 1: concerned with the pivotal mistake with us in a big moment,
Speaker 1: So talk me off of that. Ledge. Yeah, So he's
Speaker 1: not gonna have the ball like that. That's literally that.
Speaker 1: That's literally the only thing I could possibly say. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna have like the ball in
Speaker 1: a lot of these situaies like today. I feel like
Speaker 1: today it was just kind of because we were down
Speaker 1: by twenty six, like you were prime to get like
Speaker 1: one of those like Russ is gonna do something stupid
Speaker 1: because he's just trying to be furious and try to
Speaker 1: make a curious come back in some compact like he
Speaker 1: had to play where it was like a two on
Speaker 1: three and he tried to like take the early advantage
Speaker 1: um and try to make a kickout plass to Bradley,
Speaker 1: but Duncan Robinson was like waiting for it because he
Speaker 1: knew that Bradley was the only other option that he
Speaker 1: had to pass to, so he did that thing where
Speaker 1: he jumped up in the middle of you know, jumped
Speaker 1: up in the air to make the pass. So then
Speaker 1: he was screwed, so he only could pass it to
Speaker 1: Bradley Duncan, Robinson steels and stuff like that. But I
Speaker 1: don't think he's gonna have the ball in his hands,
Speaker 1: Like that's that's genuinely the only thing I could, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we had this panic um a long long
Speaker 1: time ago about Region Rondo, like Region Rondo, like Frank
Speaker 1: bobil Is putting Region Rondo and asked him to close
Speaker 1: these games, like we're going to be in trouble because
Speaker 1: teams are gonna play off of Region now now Rondo.
Speaker 1: You know, he was like he hit like one, he
Speaker 1: go like one for two, one for three, Like he
Speaker 1: wasn't shooting high volumes the threes, but he was making
Speaker 1: his threes enough to keep the opposing team respectable. But
Speaker 1: he was an atrocious finisher, Like he was terrible season.
Speaker 1: He was so bad, Like you know, it's like what
Speaker 1: everybody says about Russ's jumpers, like it was a turnover
Speaker 1: and so like, to some degree I think that he
Speaker 1: Russ is not It's not that he's going to get
Speaker 1: relegated to that role. I think he's gonna get kind
Speaker 1: of put in that that sort of position, like if
Speaker 1: if I was brawn and a d and I had
Speaker 1: to try and guess what they tried to explain to us,
Speaker 1: like what his role would be. I think they probably
Speaker 1: pointed out a guy like Region Rondo, or they pointed
Speaker 1: out a guy like Dennis Schroder, and they said, look,
Speaker 1: when when it gets tough, just get us the ball.
Speaker 1: And that was a problem Like that, there was a
Speaker 1: time where we couldn't even throw an entry pass to
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. So we had to put Region Rondo in
Speaker 1: the game because he knew how to get the entry
Speaker 1: pass to Anthony Davis for to Lebron on the post ups.
Speaker 1: And and I feel like that's the role that he's
Speaker 1: supposed to be. Like for the first three quarters of
Speaker 1: the game, we're not looking to Russ to score. Just
Speaker 1: keep moving the ball, facilitate, push the ball up the floor.
Speaker 1: When we have the young guys on the floor, find
Speaker 1: the open man. If you get the open lay up,
Speaker 1: you know, make the year open layups. Obviously, that's a
Speaker 1: separate issue all in itself, which has been better at
Speaker 1: these last two games, But I just don't see it.
Speaker 1: I don't see a situation where Braun just says, Okay, Russ,
Speaker 1: bring us home in the playoffs. I don't see it.
Speaker 1: And I don't see a situation where, um, he looks
Speaker 1: at Russ before he looks at Anthony Davis, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, and I look more than Russ. My
Speaker 1: largest concern has been our coaching and just kind of
Speaker 1: our very very slow on to take adjustments that our
Speaker 1: coach is making on the defensive end, especially um. So
Speaker 1: that's probably a completely separate topic that we we could
Speaker 1: spend an hour on, but that that's that's really my
Speaker 1: only pushback. Like I've seen too many games now with
Speaker 1: even a compromise Braun and a compromise a d where
Speaker 1: they just never go to the third guy. They just
Speaker 1: go to the you know, it's just a two man
Speaker 1: game over and over and over again. And then from there,
Speaker 1: you know, make your open shots, put shooters on the floor,
Speaker 1: defend your position. That's just kind of what it is.
Speaker 1: I think that's what's gonna happen with this team in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Slotting is going to help everything, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, when we're looking at talent. You know,
Speaker 1: the big problem is is you're asking Mellow to do
Speaker 1: this much. You're asking Malik Monk to do this much.
Speaker 1: We're even with Russ, We're asking Russ to do this much.
Speaker 1: With Lebron, we're asking him to do so much offensively
Speaker 1: that his defensive effort has crater relative to the season.
Speaker 1: You know, he's had good defensive games and good defensive moments,
Speaker 1: but he's had a lot more bad ones this year
Speaker 1: than he has in recent years. And that's all the
Speaker 1: product of the slotting. So your hope is, you know,
Speaker 1: when you bring in Anthony Davis, everybody slots back a
Speaker 1: little bit and then all of a sudden your skill
Speaker 1: set has a better chance of fitting right. But my
Speaker 1: thing is, like, this is where Jeremy Grant trade could
Speaker 1: be so game changing for this team if they could
Speaker 1: pull it off, or even if it's not Jeremy Grant,
Speaker 1: even just in Eric Gordon sliding somebody like you know,
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, who even in the current slotting with health healthy,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, it really isn't the guy for that job,
Speaker 1: you know, putting someone who's a very competent NBA player
Speaker 1: like Eric Gordon in that spot and moving everyone else
Speaker 1: down one more slot could go a long way to
Speaker 1: fixing this. So I'm I'm definitely not a defeatist yet
Speaker 1: about this roster, but I do think that vibe needs
Speaker 1: to be reset, and the coach could very well be
Speaker 1: associated with that as well. I I tend to think
Speaker 1: that there's been way too much pushed back on the
Speaker 1: Frank slander. I don't think. I don't think people outside
Speaker 1: of Lakers Twitter, Lakers fan outside of Laker fan base,
Speaker 1: I don't think people that have been casually following the
Speaker 1: Lakers have any idea just how bad Frank has been
Speaker 1: this year. Again, again, that's not the only problem, but
Speaker 1: he's definitely been a problem. Like how do we do? Like,
Speaker 1: you can't you know, you can't post low lights for coaches, right, Like, No,
Speaker 1: there's no single possession that we could post. All we
Speaker 1: could post like the misshots and the miss cues by
Speaker 1: our star players. But but I think one thing that
Speaker 1: you said is very is very key. Regardless of who's
Speaker 1: on this roster, whether it's Russ or somebody else, the
Speaker 1: slotting on this team seems to be very out of place.
Speaker 1: Everybody is being asked to do more like that this
Speaker 1: is the biggest issue with Russ, right, Like we know
Speaker 1: he's been athletically declining as a player, we know that
Speaker 1: he's scoring wise, he's challenged as a player, Like since
Speaker 1: his MVP season, it's it's been a steady decline. You
Speaker 1: had the guy from the the Houston guy, Rush Rouge.
Speaker 1: I think kind of talk to you about them trying
Speaker 1: to optimize. Like one of the things I've been trying
Speaker 1: to push back on is like everybody's like, oh, we
Speaker 1: have to optimize for Russ. I was like, no, we
Speaker 1: we don't have to optimize for a guy who struggles
Speaker 1: to score. Like why are we trying to optimize for him?
Speaker 1: We should be optimizing for Braun. We should be optimizing
Speaker 1: for like whatever the strength of our roster are, And
Speaker 1: if the strength of our roster are roster is you
Speaker 1: know Mellow can shoot, Monk and shoot, Grieves can shoot,
Speaker 1: Broun can shoot, then we should be optimizing in that capacity.
Speaker 1: Like since Anthony Davis has been out, can you remember
Speaker 1: a single game that we've played where we've consistently run
Speaker 1: pick and roll? No, that's and that's my point, Like
Speaker 1: we're doing this thing where where we keep having these
Speaker 1: conversations about optimizing for one specific player. Well, if we
Speaker 1: are going to do that, it's not Russ, it's either
Speaker 1: Bron or it's a D when a D comes back.
Speaker 1: And and that's been my like general pushback when it
Speaker 1: comes to like the conversations about Russ and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: Like we're already like we're expecting him to score instead
Speaker 1: of Anthony Davis. If if Rob Lincoln thought that Russ
Speaker 1: could do that in case Anthony Davis or Lebron James
Speaker 1: went down, he approached this offseason terribly. The entire foundational
Speaker 1: process of how we went to to decide this is
Speaker 1: completely wrong and that and that's what you know, you
Speaker 1: and I have watched a basketball you know, you coach
Speaker 1: kids like that that play in high school. Like we
Speaker 1: could compartmentalized skills and say, Okay, I understand why we
Speaker 1: have this guy here in this spot. I understand why
Speaker 1: we have mellow in like that Kuzma role of just
Speaker 1: kind of scoring UM and stuff like that, because that's
Speaker 1: what we want to use Kuzma for as a stretch
Speaker 1: for Um. But when Anthony Davis goes down, we're using
Speaker 1: him as a small ball five it's just like that's
Speaker 1: not gonna work, you know, like that's a layup line
Speaker 1: for the opposing team and stuff like that. And so
Speaker 1: I think slotting is really really important. I think athleticism
Speaker 1: is really really important. And I think if if we
Speaker 1: can add bodies that kind of helping those two realms,
Speaker 1: I think what you're describing, which is a very human thing,
Speaker 1: like the air in the locker room, it will change
Speaker 1: because you'll you'll know, you'll get consistent effort and you'll
Speaker 1: get consistent um execution from from guys that are able
Speaker 1: to do it. So, um yeah, I think I uh, well,
Speaker 1: we've just crossed over the our marks. So I know, Vanetta,
Speaker 1: you and I can talk for a long time. Buddy.
Speaker 1: We are going to get you back on the show,
Speaker 1: hopefully sometime soon. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time
Speaker 1: out of your Sunday to come hang out and talk
Speaker 1: um so Westbrook with me. I appreciate it. Everybody. This
Speaker 1: is going to be on dash Radio tomorrow morning at
Speaker 1: seven am Pacific standard time and be on our podcast
Speaker 1: feed here in about a half hour. So as always,
Speaker 1: we appreciate your support. Thanks again be for coming on
Speaker 1: and we will see you guys after the Nets game
Speaker 1: on Tuesday night,