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Speaker 1: to Lakers Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: I am Jason timp Happy Saturday, everybody. I hope you
Speaker 1: guys weekends are off to a good start. That was
Speaker 1: unpredictable in a lot of ways, because you know, I knew,
Speaker 1: I knew Lebron would bring it tonight. He always has
Speaker 1: taken this matchup with Steph Curry personally. However, this overall situation,
Speaker 1: particularly with talent with the Lakers, is so precarious, and
Speaker 1: the Warriors were desperate there in a little bit of
Speaker 1: a free fall that I was under the impression that
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have the juice to be able to get
Speaker 1: this done, but they were. And it's there's kind of
Speaker 1: two different sides to it that we need to look at.
Speaker 1: Part of that is just how bad the Warriors have been.
Speaker 1: This is now their fourth consecutive loss. This is the
Speaker 1: eighth loss they have in their last ten games. They
Speaker 1: are seemingly coming apart at the seams, which is really
Speaker 1: strange because they played such good basketball for a while
Speaker 1: there when Draymond first went down. We're gonna dig into
Speaker 1: that here in a little bit. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: Lebron's big night. We're going to get to some of
Speaker 1: the nitty gritty with this game, as I promised I would,
Speaker 1: and then at the end, if you guys stick around,
Speaker 1: we will talk a little bit about just how good
Speaker 1: Luka don Che has been of late, and how good
Speaker 1: the Mavericks are and whether or not they have the
Speaker 1: potential to rise out of the West this year. But
Speaker 1: let's let's start with Lebron because I've been very, very
Speaker 1: critical of him in the last couple of weeks, and
Speaker 1: I'm always, as you guys know, I'm never interested in
Speaker 1: just peddling some narrative I'm interested in being authentic and honest,
Speaker 1: and if I'm going to criticize Lebron, it's because I'm
Speaker 1: legitimately frustrated with something that he's doing. And if he's
Speaker 1: going to do the job, if he's going to do
Speaker 1: the things that the team needs him to do, I'm
Speaker 1: going to credit him for that. And you know, one
Speaker 1: of the things that I that I preached about immediately
Speaker 1: after the All Star break was the fact that the
Speaker 1: Lakers needed to play the young kids. I talked all
Speaker 1: about how they were the ones bringing the most effort
Speaker 1: on a night and night out basis, but also that
Speaker 1: they were their best players, that Austin Reeves was their
Speaker 1: best off ball player on the team and one of
Speaker 1: their best isolation defenders, that Stanley Johnson was clearly their
Speaker 1: best wing. You know what Taylor Horton Tucker has been
Speaker 1: bringing as a playmaker of late, although he had a
Speaker 1: rough night tonight. And then Malik Monk and what he
Speaker 1: brings as an offensive threat and what he can bring
Speaker 1: with some of his athleticism, particularly in transition. And there
Speaker 1: was a play in the game the other night where
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves threw a lob to Malik Monk and I
Speaker 1: tweeted out as a joke, I said, play these kids
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes. You know what I was thinking was
Speaker 1: is like the Laker, This Laker product on the court
Speaker 1: has been so sloppy, so unprofessional, so un serious, that
Speaker 1: I thought, hey, at least for the sake of maintaining
Speaker 1: some integrity in all of this, play the young kids
Speaker 1: a lot, because then at least, if you're losing, then
Speaker 1: you're going to have a pro sucked on the floor
Speaker 1: that's not gonna get booed off the floor. If you
Speaker 1: lose and you bring effort, the fans will support you.
Speaker 1: If you lose and your effort is trash, they will
Speaker 1: probably be frustrated throughout the process. Which brings me to
Speaker 1: Lebron because one of the things that made it so
Speaker 1: that even the young guys weren't succeeding in the last
Speaker 1: couple of games was Lebron completely let go of the
Speaker 1: rope on the defensive end of the ball. We'll dive
Speaker 1: a little bit further into that concept here in a minute,
Speaker 1: but in this game, Lebron just did more. He wasn't
Speaker 1: the dominant defensive player that he was in the bubble.
Speaker 1: He wasn't the dominant defensive player that he was from
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine to two thousand and sixteen, but
Speaker 1: he just gave a little bit of effort on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor, and it was enough for
Speaker 1: those young lineups to succeed. Lebron was plus thirteen tonight,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook was plus thirteen, Malik Monk was plus nineteen,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves was plus eighteen. All of them played at
Speaker 1: least thirty two minutes. And so if the Lakers have
Speaker 1: to have a little bit of a formula there, play
Speaker 1: the young guys, get just something out of Lebron on
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor, and you're going to
Speaker 1: get a product that is passable on the floor. Now,
Speaker 1: a lot of that has to do with the warrior struggling.
Speaker 1: I don't think that this team has the capability to
Speaker 1: hang through some of the tougher parts of their schedule
Speaker 1: that's coming up. But at least this is a passable product.
Speaker 1: I still think Lebron is hurt. I know he showed
Speaker 1: a little bit more vertical pop tonight. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if that was just the vibe in the arena or
Speaker 1: what it was, but he's not quite getting that same separation,
Speaker 1: particularly driving by guys and in the post, which is
Speaker 1: something that is a little bit concerning in the sense
Speaker 1: that it makes me wonder if it's worth gunning for
Speaker 1: this season, because if he's hurt, you're not going to
Speaker 1: have the ceiling you need. Anyway, he definitely looked a
Speaker 1: little better tonight, but I'm still a little worried about that.
Speaker 1: This scoring performance involved Lebron making six three point shots,
Speaker 1: It involved Lebron making twelve free throws. It was a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of you know, kind of just
Speaker 1: manufacturing and squeezing points out of the game with some
Speaker 1: of his savvy and some of his skill, not so
Speaker 1: much his athleticism, which is a testament to how amazing
Speaker 1: he is. I want, I don't want to undercut that
Speaker 1: to any extent. However, I'm still a little bit worried
Speaker 1: about his knee. In the long run, Hopefully what we
Speaker 1: saw tonight wasn't just riding the adrenaline. Hopefully it was
Speaker 1: signs of progress. Hopefully the knees getting a little bit better,
Speaker 1: Hopefully the pain is getting a little bit less intense,
Speaker 1: and hopefully Lebron is starting to feel a little bit
Speaker 1: of pop there, and over the course of the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, hopefully he can turn that into a
Speaker 1: stretch of good basketball. You know, it's funny. One of
Speaker 1: the one of the things that I've really enjoyed about
Speaker 1: being a part of this fan base is getting to
Speaker 1: interact with Laker fans. You know, I grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
Speaker 1: In Tucson, Arizona, the Phoenix Suns didn't even do a
Speaker 1: great job marketing to them. It's not an NBA town,
Speaker 1: nobody is in nobody's a die hard fan of an
Speaker 1: NBA team in Tucson, Arizona. I grew up without a
Speaker 1: fan base, and so I've kind of been adopted into
Speaker 1: the Laker fan base in a lot of ways, and
Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed getting to know them and what their
Speaker 1: expectations are for this team. And I've had the good
Speaker 1: fortune to be able to meet a lot of these
Speaker 1: people and talk with them about how they feel about
Speaker 1: this season, and they're frustrated with what Lebron had been
Speaker 1: doing in the past couple of weeks. I touched on
Speaker 1: this a little bit in our last podcast, But when
Speaker 1: Lebron is chasing Kareem. I don't think it's a referendum
Speaker 1: on what his you know, legacy is or anything like that. However,
Speaker 1: Laker fans can see through that a little bit. To
Speaker 1: be clear, Laker fans will support Lebron to the end,
Speaker 1: even if they lose every game the rest of the season,
Speaker 1: as long as he tries somewhat to do his job
Speaker 1: within the team concept. If he did what he did
Speaker 1: last game and for the most part over the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks and just completely mail in the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor and just focus on getting his
Speaker 1: twenty eight points so that he can continue to chase Kareem,
Speaker 1: that would turn a significant portion of the Laker fan
Speaker 1: base against him. I truly believe that, and that's one
Speaker 1: of the things that he has to realize. Like tonight,
Speaker 1: what you did tonight, even if you didn't score fifty
Speaker 1: three fifty four, if you just scored, you know, twenty
Speaker 1: five points, the fan base will support you and you
Speaker 1: will continue to have that massive margin for error or
Speaker 1: or leeway with the fan base because of what you're
Speaker 1: doing within the team concept to try to at least
Speaker 1: attempt to win the games. That's what the fans want.
Speaker 1: They don't necessarily want you to try to kill yourself
Speaker 1: trying to squeeze something out of the season that's not attainable,
Speaker 1: but they do want you to just act like you care.
Speaker 1: What Lebron did tonight on the defensive end of the
Speaker 1: floor wasn't anything special, it wasn't amazing, but it was enough.
Speaker 1: It was enough to maintain the respect of of the
Speaker 1: fan base and to maintain the respect of of the organization,
Speaker 1: and I think that that's important. I really really liked
Speaker 1: that within the starting lineup they went with the small
Speaker 1: lineup instead of with Dwight, because that's so important Against
Speaker 1: teams like the Warriors. They run so many off ball actions.
Speaker 1: They run so that it's a heavy motion offense with
Speaker 1: lots of cutting and screening, and and having a switching
Speaker 1: defense kind of takes a lot of that stuff away.
Speaker 1: That was a big part of why the Lakers got
Speaker 1: out to such a big lead. But one of the
Speaker 1: things that's killing this team, and it's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why they're going to struggle for the rest of
Speaker 1: this month as they play better teams, is the fact
Speaker 1: that when they go to their bench, they're way too small.
Speaker 1: When you're riding bench lineups with Lebron off the floor
Speaker 1: and Carmelo Anthony's at center, and you've got Avery Bradley
Speaker 1: and Dj Augustine and Taylor Horton Tucker and Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: on the floor. That's the aggregate size and athleticism of
Speaker 1: that lineup is so InCred dobly low G League teams
Speaker 1: would run them off the floor with their athleticism and
Speaker 1: their strength. It's a problem. They got absolutely blitzed in
Speaker 1: their bench lineups tonight. Dj Augustine was minus tenny and
Speaker 1: he got some minutes with the closers that buffered that
Speaker 1: a little bit. Taylan Horton Tucker was minus eleven. Avery
Speaker 1: Bradley was minus seven. That's the part that's so frustrating
Speaker 1: about Rob Polink and not addressing this in the buyout market,
Speaker 1: about Frank Vogel refusing to play when you and Gabriel
Speaker 1: or or looking for somebody else who can do that.
Speaker 1: When the Lakers go to their bench, we we now
Speaker 1: have established that the starters, if Lebron puts in the effort,
Speaker 1: can compete. We know that Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson, and Lebron works. We know that's enough to
Speaker 1: carry you in the starting lineups and in the closing
Speaker 1: lineups as long as Lebron's trying. But when they go
Speaker 1: to the bench, the bottom will continue to fall out
Speaker 1: until they address that that's something they need to get to.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's another buyout guy. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's just playing when in Gabriel Moore. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's dipping into the G League or
Speaker 1: finding somebody they need to find some athleticism in size
Speaker 1: and effort to go to bring off the bench. If
Speaker 1: you're really gonna go for this. They have to decide
Speaker 1: if they're really going to go for this is tonight
Speaker 1: what happened against the Warriors. Is that the outlier or
Speaker 1: is that what they want to do moving forward? That's
Speaker 1: the part they got to figure out, which brings me
Speaker 1: to these reports. So Adrian or Zanowski tweets out a
Speaker 1: couple hours for the game that many in the Lakers
Speaker 1: organization want Frank to bench Russ, but that Frank isn't
Speaker 1: ready to. Earlier today, mark Stein reported that within the
Speaker 1: Lakers organization, there's a lot of tension that's been building
Speaker 1: a lot of conflict with Russ about him unwilling being
Speaker 1: unwilling to accept his role, about some really nasty film sessions,
Speaker 1: with some arguing he actually used the phrase that it
Speaker 1: was impossible to bring Russell Westbrook back, which is frustrating
Speaker 1: because we already knew all of this. We already knew
Speaker 1: that Russ was probably a better option coming off the bench.
Speaker 1: We already knew that he was obstinate and that he
Speaker 1: was stubborn as it pertains to his role. We already
Speaker 1: knew that he was having trouble in film sessions. We
Speaker 1: had reports that he refused to work out with Phil Handy.
Speaker 1: We already knew all of that stuff. So the fact
Speaker 1: that more of this stuff is coming out and that
Speaker 1: the Lakers are continuing to go down kicking and screaming
Speaker 1: with the Russell Westbrook thing is super frustrating because you
Speaker 1: got to decide what the goal here is. If you're
Speaker 1: saying that you can't bring back Russell Westbrook, that he
Speaker 1: has to go, then and if you're saying that he
Speaker 1: can't play with your starters, then you need to bring
Speaker 1: him off the bench. Then what's the point of even
Speaker 1: having him around. It's the same thing with Frank Vogel.
Speaker 1: If you don't think Frank Vogel can coach your team
Speaker 1: next year, and currently right now the team's not playing
Speaker 1: hard for him, then you can't keep Frank Vogel around.
Speaker 1: At a certain point, there's no point in and and
Speaker 1: just dragging the ball and chain along as you go
Speaker 1: about this journey. The Lakers have to figure out what
Speaker 1: they want. I know the reports that have been coming out,
Speaker 1: I know the comments from the press conferences say that
Speaker 1: they don't think they're done. I know Lebron says that
Speaker 1: he needs to be buried twelve feet deep. I know
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel says that they believe they can go on
Speaker 1: a run with UH with Anthony Davis and Lebron, but
Speaker 1: that's not evidenced in what we saw in their competition
Speaker 1: in the games leading into tonight. So if tonight is
Speaker 1: a sign of them attempting to do this, then enough
Speaker 1: of the reports, enough of the leaks. Russ was actually
Speaker 1: pretty good tonight. Just try hard every night the rest
Speaker 1: of the season, play your young guys and go down
Speaker 1: swing it if that's what you're gonna do. But if
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a pout fest, if it's gonna be
Speaker 1: lots of negativity. If it's gonna be Lebron mailing in
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor, then there's no point
Speaker 1: to this. And then you do need to send Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook homb and you do need to either find a
Speaker 1: way to get Lebron to try a little bit on
Speaker 1: defense or send him home too. You need to find
Speaker 1: young players and athletes to try to maintain some sort
Speaker 1: of passable on court product over the course of the
Speaker 1: next month and a half. They just have to figure
Speaker 1: that part out. That's going to be the question moving forward.
Speaker 1: Is tonight what they want to be or is tonight
Speaker 1: the exception? My guesses, and I would imagine you all
Speaker 1: feel the same way. My guess is that tonight's the exception.
Speaker 1: My guess is that they'll go right back down that
Speaker 1: dark path the next time they touch a basketball court together.
Speaker 1: And that's frustrating. That's really frustrating for the fans, and
Speaker 1: it's really frustrating for anybody who's a competitor that's watching
Speaker 1: this team. For those of you who are just joining us,
Speaker 1: this is Lakers Tonight, presented by Fandel here on the volume.
Speaker 1: I wanted to move on for the to the Warriors
Speaker 1: for just a second. I always, you know, really lean
Speaker 1: on the local fans of these teams to try to
Speaker 1: learn what they're experiencing as they watch what we like,
Speaker 1: We us Laker fans, we have such an intimate relationship
Speaker 1: with his team. You know, many of you watch every
Speaker 1: single game. I watch every single game twice. You know,
Speaker 1: we we we are so familiar with what's happening with
Speaker 1: this team and what the guys with the Warriors are
Speaker 1: telling you, what the people who watched that team are
Speaker 1: telling you, is that the lack of Draymond Green is
Speaker 1: finally starting to wear on this team, that the lack
Speaker 1: of Draymond Green is finally starting to cause them to
Speaker 1: fall apart. So Draymond Green is the best back line
Speaker 1: defender in the league. We've talked about this a lot.
Speaker 1: He's arguably the best defender of all time. He's certainly
Speaker 1: the best defender of this era. He does a lot
Speaker 1: to clean up issues on the perimeter for the Warriors.
Speaker 1: But when Draymond Green goes down, at least at first,
Speaker 1: they actually did a decent job, especially on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, because they have they have what
Speaker 1: the Lakers don't have. They have a ton of athletic
Speaker 1: wings that have really quick feet, that are committed to
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the ball, and that can keep
Speaker 1: their mand in front. But over the course of this
Speaker 1: last month that has started to wear on them, because
Speaker 1: when you don't have that back line presence, your perimeter
Speaker 1: defense becomes that much more important. You can give up
Speaker 1: straight line drives if Anthony Davis is behind you, you
Speaker 1: can give up straight line drives if Draymond Green is
Speaker 1: behind you. But if they're not and there's not that
Speaker 1: back line help, you desperately need guys to keep people
Speaker 1: in front, and over the course of this last month
Speaker 1: that has fallen apart for the Warriors. And then in
Speaker 1: addition to that, Steph Curry is experiencing some sort of
Speaker 1: significant decline. This is something we've talked about at length
Speaker 1: on this podcast. His shot is about he's shooting about
Speaker 1: ten percent worse from three over this stretch of the
Speaker 1: season than he did over the same stretch last season
Speaker 1: when he was shooting extremely well. That's not like, oh,
Speaker 1: I missed two or three more shots out of a
Speaker 1: hundred attempts. That's not some small amount. That is a
Speaker 1: significant chunk of what he brings offensively, and that Cascades
Speaker 1: teams don't have to send as much help at him,
Speaker 1: that you can play a more traditional defensive scheme against
Speaker 1: him when he's not as dominant. So with that, in
Speaker 1: addition to the Draymond Green piece, this team is kind
Speaker 1: of coming apart at the seams, which is why I
Speaker 1: I if you're a Warrior fan, I would imagine you
Speaker 1: have to be deeply concerned. You know, unless Draymond Green
Speaker 1: can regain his physical form that he had before the injury,
Speaker 1: and unless Steph Curry can regain his shooting form that
Speaker 1: he had early in the season, this team isn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1: They're liable to potentially lose in the first round. I
Speaker 1: was joking with my producers before the game this this
Speaker 1: was a game that the Lakers could win if they
Speaker 1: put together an effort, because the Warriors aren't very good
Speaker 1: right now. That's got to be concerning, especially for a
Speaker 1: team that was humming on all cylinders. I compared them
Speaker 1: to the Lakers to start this season, and so that's
Speaker 1: something they have to figure out again. Just to put
Speaker 1: a bow on on this whole ing. I'm really really
Speaker 1: happy that Lebron, you know, was was able to show
Speaker 1: that he can still do this even in his injured form.
Speaker 1: I appreciated that he gave He did it in a
Speaker 1: respectable manner. He didn't do it mailing in the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. You know, Lebron His defensive focus
Speaker 1: over the course of his career has been an interesting
Speaker 1: ebb and flow. He started as a young player who
Speaker 1: is not a great defensive player, which is super typical
Speaker 1: for young guys who come into the league, and then
Speaker 1: right at the tail end of his first calf stant
Speaker 1: he really ratcheted up on that end of the floor.
Speaker 1: Particularly that was during the Chase down block phase. Then
Speaker 1: in Miami he was a great defender the entire time
Speaker 1: he was there, and then in the first two seasons
Speaker 1: with the Calves, he was a very good defensive player.
Speaker 1: But one of the things that's really interesting about Lebron
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor is his care
Speaker 1: has always been attached to his belief. If Lebron believes
Speaker 1: his team can win a championship, truly believes that his
Speaker 1: team can win a championship, he will defend just like
Speaker 1: he did in just like he did when he doesn't believe.
Speaker 1: When that belief goes away, that's the first thing Lebron
Speaker 1: cuts out. So look at two thousand seventeen, the Warriors
Speaker 1: signed Kevin Durant. They had just won a title, But
Speaker 1: the Warriors signed Kevin Durant, and I think lebron knew it.
Speaker 1: I think lebron knew in his heart of hearts that
Speaker 1: he didn't have the ability to beat that team with
Speaker 1: as much talent as they had. And so that entire season,
Speaker 1: the same guy that was an amazing defensive player in
Speaker 1: two thousand and sixteen was not in two thousand seventeen,
Speaker 1: was not in two thousand eighteen, was not in two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen on that Lakers team that was so talented,
Speaker 1: that was having all those injury problems, And then as
Speaker 1: soon as there was a real opportunity in he ratcheted
Speaker 1: it right back up. And so that's the tough part here.
Speaker 1: I understand where Lebron is coming from. He's looking at
Speaker 1: the situation. We don't have the horses. We can't beat
Speaker 1: these teams. We can't beat Phoenix, we can't beat Memphis,
Speaker 1: we can't beat all of the any of those teams
Speaker 1: in the East. Why am I gonna put a ton
Speaker 1: of miles on my legs to try to do this.
Speaker 1: And no one's asking him to be Draymond Green. No
Speaker 1: one's asking him to be the defensive player of the Year.
Speaker 1: He just has to do what he did tonight. He
Speaker 1: just has to care enough that the Lakers can run
Speaker 1: a functional small ball lineup in those minutes. All right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna move on to the Lakers really quick. To
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Luca before we get out
Speaker 1: of here. So, the Mavericks are twenty three and seven
Speaker 1: since New Year's Eve. During that stretch, they are eleventh
Speaker 1: in offense. It's pretty good, not great, pretty good, second
Speaker 1: in defense in third and net rating behind just Boston
Speaker 1: and Phoenix, two teams that I've talked about plenty on
Speaker 1: the show as of late. So in that span, Luca
Speaker 1: is averaging thirty ten and nine on fifty true shooting.
Speaker 1: So the Mavericks are rounding into something that looks like
Speaker 1: a contender. And so, just like I've done with all
Speaker 1: these other teams, it's time to ask is this a
Speaker 1: team that can truly win the championship? And it to me,
Speaker 1: it all comes down to the the question of of
Speaker 1: of what you think of as of Luca as a
Speaker 1: top tier superstar. One of the players that he's most
Speaker 1: commonly compared to that I vehemently disagree with is James Harden.
Speaker 1: Everyone wants to say, this is just the European version
Speaker 1: of James Harden, the next guy who's this heliocentric top
Speaker 1: of the key, make every decision, make every every read,
Speaker 1: have the ball in his hands all game, you know,
Speaker 1: relies a lot on drawing fouls, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: That's the line people want to go. And it frustrates
Speaker 1: me because I could not. I could. I think they're
Speaker 1: so incredibly different. As I've talked about on this podcast
Speaker 1: a lot, James Harden is one of the most predictable
Speaker 1: basketball players in the NBA. He always wants to attack
Speaker 1: from the left wing or the right wing with a
Speaker 1: live dribble, either an isolation or a ball screen, and
Speaker 1: he's either gonna go to a step back three or
Speaker 1: he's gonna go all the way to the rim. When
Speaker 1: he goes all the way to the rim, he might
Speaker 1: stop short for a floater, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: it's trying to get all the way to the rim
Speaker 1: for a layout and then from there he can make
Speaker 1: reads just like any decent playmaker can. Luca is remarkably versatile.
Speaker 1: Guys like James Harden. Defenses get so used to seeing
Speaker 1: what he does that in a seven game series, you
Speaker 1: give a guy, you give a good defensive wing, hundreds
Speaker 1: of reps guarding James Harden, and he's doing the exact
Speaker 1: same thing. He's gonna kind of figure him out a bit.
Speaker 1: That's a huge part of why James Harden struggles at
Speaker 1: the end of playoff series is but look at what
Speaker 1: Luca Don did against the Clippers in his last two
Speaker 1: playoff series. He seemingly didn't have any issue doing what
Speaker 1: he wanted to do throughout the entire series. And the
Speaker 1: reason why is he's way more versatile. Yes, he can
Speaker 1: go from the left wing or the right wing and
Speaker 1: isolate and do the stuff that James Harden does, but
Speaker 1: he also can get by his man and put him
Speaker 1: in jail, trap them on his backside, take a couple
Speaker 1: of slow dribbles into the lane and get to a
Speaker 1: fifty footer. He can do the Chris Paul thing where
Speaker 1: he gets into the lane and takes a little fall aways.
Speaker 1: He's got this huge arsenal of little push shots and
Speaker 1: hook shots and one like fadeaways and turnarounds and all
Speaker 1: these things that make his offensive attacks so versatile that
Speaker 1: no defender can figure him out if you have an
Speaker 1: audible guarding Luca. He's got an audible right back at you,
Speaker 1: and that keeps him effective as playoff series is dragged on,
Speaker 1: and that's immensely important. Not to mention he's bigger. He's
Speaker 1: six ft nine, He's super strong. He's got that size
Speaker 1: to lean on you. This is something I talked about
Speaker 1: all the time, that physical tools and how important they
Speaker 1: are in super physical environments when the refs swallow the whistle,
Speaker 1: when the defense is really clamped down. Having the ability
Speaker 1: to use a massive frame to hold somebody off is
Speaker 1: a massive advantage. It's something that has constantly affected guys
Speaker 1: like James Harden and Steph Kurt, who's someone that I've
Speaker 1: talked about with that in the past. That that's the
Speaker 1: huge difference between those two guys. That's why he looked
Speaker 1: flat out better than Kawhi Leonard in those two playoffs series.
Speaker 1: Is And so the question becomes, does this team have
Speaker 1: the ability to make it out of the West. Does
Speaker 1: this team have the ability to get to the championship.
Speaker 1: And that's where that defensive effort becomes so interesting again.
Speaker 1: Since New Year's Eve a thirty game sample size, the
Speaker 1: Mavericks are second in defense, and you guys have seen
Speaker 1: it's not just about personnel. They have athletes that are
Speaker 1: defending right like Cleaver is doing a pretty good job,
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith is doing a pretty good job. You're
Speaker 1: getting You're getting a decent amount of athleticism. But it's
Speaker 1: a lot of guards. It's a lot of Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 1: It's a lot of Luca don Hitch, It's a lot
Speaker 1: of Spencer Dinwitty. There's a lot of offensive minded players
Speaker 1: that are having success in their defensive scheme. And this
Speaker 1: is where you gotta credit Jason Kidd. They are doing
Speaker 1: what I have been insisting on for all of these
Speaker 1: teams for so long. They're doing a ton of switching.
Speaker 1: They're leaning into modern defensive concepts and how well that
Speaker 1: they work that is something that has proven to succeed
Speaker 1: all the way through the latest rounds of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That is the huge difference between this Mavericks team in
Speaker 1: the Mavericks team that damn near beat those Clippers. Teams
Speaker 1: that were really, really good, that were much much more talented.
Speaker 1: So that's that's gonna be something that they can lean
Speaker 1: on in this postseason. It's gonna be the same Luca.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be the same offensive versatility, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: the same things that he brings to the table as
Speaker 1: an offensive player, but with the defense to hold on.
Speaker 1: In those Clippers series, Luca utterly controlled the game, but
Speaker 1: the overwhelming defensive athleticism of the Clippers in the in
Speaker 1: the tissue paper defense of the Mavericks eventually came back
Speaker 1: to bite them, and how did it bite them, barely
Speaker 1: losing in Game seven. So when you give Luca the
Speaker 1: ability to get stops, he suddenly becomes a much more
Speaker 1: devastating threat to any of these teams you get in
Speaker 1: a knockdown, drag out playoff series. With Luca and his
Speaker 1: team is getting stops, he's that much more dangerous. Then.
Speaker 1: The other thing you have to look at is fatigue.
Speaker 1: And I'm not necessarily worried about it because with the
Speaker 1: Clippers in the against the Clippers in those series, he
Speaker 1: seemed to be strong and fine as the series progressed.
Speaker 1: But even that's less of a worry anymore because of
Speaker 1: the Spencer didn Witty acquisition, you know. Haral above. Vulgaris
Speaker 1: went on the Bill Simmons podcast a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: back and he talked about how in last year's playoff run,
Speaker 1: one of the things that killed them was the fact
Speaker 1: that Nick patum was able to completely shut down Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson and basically made it so that Luca had to
Speaker 1: generate everything for them offensively, and so when the shooting
Speaker 1: started to fade as the series went along, that's when
Speaker 1: they fell apart offensively. Well, Spencer didn't what he gives
Speaker 1: you that extra wrinkle there, because again, these are all
Speaker 1: about matchups. If Lucas being guarded by Paul George or
Speaker 1: Kauai and Nick patum Is is guarding uh Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 1: then someone else is going to have to guard Spencer
Speaker 1: Dinwoody and he might have the best matchup. We saw
Speaker 1: that against the Warriors when Dallas beat them the other night.
Speaker 1: Spencer dinwood he just gives you that other guy that
Speaker 1: can create his own shot. It alleviates some pressure from Luca,
Speaker 1: and it gives you another matchup that you might be
Speaker 1: able to attack. So to make a long story short,
Speaker 1: they're not in that top tier there. I don't put
Speaker 1: them with Billy, I don't put them with Milwaukee. I
Speaker 1: don't put him with Phoenix, I don't put them with Well.
Speaker 1: I think those are honestly the only three at this point.
Speaker 1: But I don't put them at that top tier. But
Speaker 1: they're in that tier right below. Some things go right,
Speaker 1: some injuries, you know, affect other teams. Lucas stays healthy
Speaker 1: and plays well, their defense competes. They absolutely can beat
Speaker 1: anybody at this point, and I would be terrified to
Speaker 1: face them if I was any of the teams in
Speaker 1: the West, especially a team like Golden State. That's that
Speaker 1: is that has you know, first or second round exit
Speaker 1: written all over it. Alright, guys, that is all I
Speaker 1: have for tonight. I appreciate you guys support as always.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and
Speaker 1: I'll see you in a couple of days. Ye