Speaker 1: Mmmmmm, all right, Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast.
Speaker 1: Happy Friday, everybody. Roger and I wanted so badly just
Speaker 1: to take this week off to to kind of recalibrate
Speaker 1: for the offseason, but we had to go today on
Speaker 1: account of the big news that came down yesterday. Rog
Speaker 1: First of all, how are you doing, man? How's your week? Ben?
Speaker 1: It's been really good. I was not expecting that I'm
Speaker 1: getting ready for like a music festival this weekend. Like
Speaker 1: I was preparing for that, um Hard Summer. I don't
Speaker 1: know if most people don't know what Hard Summer is,
Speaker 1: a huge music mestival here in Sanbordino Friday and Saturday,
Speaker 1: just you know, relaxing. Was ready to get to my Friday, Um,
Speaker 1: buddy healed, Rumors started swirling, and you know, I'm allays
Speaker 1: here posting. You know, we haven't had a shooter like
Speaker 1: this since you know, I'm not sure when you know,
Speaker 1: how are they going to defend him coming off curls,
Speaker 1: coming off layer screens? You posted that that play where
Speaker 1: they kind of screen him in the corner. You know,
Speaker 1: We're all excited and then bam, it just turns right
Speaker 1: away to Russell Westbrook. So yeah, but I'm good. How
Speaker 1: how are you? I'm doing I'm doing well. Yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: that was one of the most strange phenomenon phenomena that
Speaker 1: I can remember, uh in my time following the NBA,
Speaker 1: where all of this intel is pointing towards Buddy Healed.
Speaker 1: And in addition to that, it's like the clearest consensus,
Speaker 1: no brainer move that we can remember, especially surrounding the Lakers,
Speaker 1: who have been heavily critiqued in terms of the way
Speaker 1: they've built their roster. Well, you know, you've got Laker
Speaker 1: fans who are extremely excited about the the potential of
Speaker 1: having this talented of a shooter next to Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d all the different actions that can work, what
Speaker 1: kind of stuff he can bring to the team. And
Speaker 1: then outside of Lakers Twitter, I tweet it out yesterday
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, like, Hey, for all of my followers
Speaker 1: who are not Laker fans, what do you think about
Speaker 1: this move? And it was near unanimous that it made
Speaker 1: them significantly better. It was just a massive approval rating
Speaker 1: of this potential Buddy Heel trade. But there was one hiccup.
Speaker 1: They needed Montrese Harold to opt in in order to
Speaker 1: match salaries, So waiting around all day trying to see
Speaker 1: if Montrese Harold is gonna opt in. He does, and
Speaker 1: Woes tweets out that all signs are pointing towards this
Speaker 1: buddy Heel trade, and almost immediately Sham's comes in from
Speaker 1: the top rope with his report that they're actually nearing
Speaker 1: a deal with Russell Westbrook, and all hell broke loose
Speaker 1: on Twitter, including myself. And this is something that you know,
Speaker 1: in retrospect, I need to be better about, like and
Speaker 1: part of it was because I was so excited about
Speaker 1: the possibility of a buddy Heel trade and what he
Speaker 1: could do to help that team, and just the mass
Speaker 1: of swing an emotion from that to to this potential
Speaker 1: US Russell Westbrook trade that I almost exclusively reacted negatively
Speaker 1: and I was tweeting about all the different ways it
Speaker 1: could go wrong. And I think it's very important, as
Speaker 1: we've discussed this today, that we emphasize that there are
Speaker 1: two sides to the Russell Westbrook coin, and there are
Speaker 1: good things that he brings to the table. The reality
Speaker 1: of the situation now is regardless of whether they still
Speaker 1: get Buddy healed or if they still get auto porter
Speaker 1: or if they still get all these shooters or not.
Speaker 1: Regardless of what happens, Russell Westbrook is a Laker, He's
Speaker 1: going to be at training camp, He's going to be
Speaker 1: playing for the team. So we need to figure out
Speaker 1: how that works. And so my my first question for
Speaker 1: you is just in general, how do you forget about
Speaker 1: role players for right this second? How do you feel
Speaker 1: about the natural basketball fit of Russell Westbrook next to
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So I was like you,
Speaker 1: I did not think this was happening. My friends were
Speaker 1: kind of texting me this rumor a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: you know, like last week or something. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'll buy a Westbrook jersey if he comes to the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I'll buy Westbrook jersey. That's how sure I was. This
Speaker 1: was not happening. It wasn't gonna fit. At first. I
Speaker 1: was shocked at I don't like the basketball fit at first.
Speaker 1: I think that was what most people thought. As you
Speaker 1: watch like him play, you watch you know, his not
Speaker 1: his highlights, but like what he does on the court,
Speaker 1: you kind of understand where it's going. And I saw
Speaker 1: some of this like, hey, what if Westbrook comes off
Speaker 1: the bench. No, Westbrook's not coming off the bench, Like, no,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be like people like, oh, well, let's
Speaker 1: see how the rest of the roster looks. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's important. But in the playoffs you can have Westbrook,
Speaker 1: Lebron and eighty on the floor, Like that's your main
Speaker 1: core of team that's gonna be on there. He's not
Speaker 1: coming off the bench running a second unit forty million dollars.
Speaker 1: That's not what he comes to l a for. Like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, Westbrook can change, Yeah, he can fit in
Speaker 1: a little better around the stars, but he's here to
Speaker 1: do what Russell Westbrook does. What does west west or
Speaker 1: Westbrook do attack the rim. He's a relentless guy that
Speaker 1: gets to the rim, relentless guy in transition. Um, he
Speaker 1: kind of fits his Laker film room talks about this
Speaker 1: a lot, how the Lakers really trying to get to
Speaker 1: be physical, to dominate you in a physical manner, similar
Speaker 1: to how Dwight Howard kind of plays What's Work is
Speaker 1: kind of that way. He's like a mini kind of
Speaker 1: you honest in that way where he really just tries
Speaker 1: to drive the whole time. Again, takes jumpers that he
Speaker 1: probably shouldn't teams are gonna leave him open to me?
Speaker 1: His percentages, Like I don't know about what you think
Speaker 1: about this, Jason, but like people are putting up his
Speaker 1: spot up three point percentages, I almost throw those out.
Speaker 1: He's such a like a I don't know see, like
Speaker 1: a Jackal and Hyde shooter that teams aren't gonna guard
Speaker 1: him anyway, no matter, regardless regardless that he can shoot
Speaker 1: four department number three, teams are not gonna guard him.
Speaker 1: It's maker miss, it's all the other stuff. Is he doing?
Speaker 1: Is he's taking bad shots? Is he, you know, making
Speaker 1: right decisions on the floor. That's where I see. But
Speaker 1: I feel a lot better about today than I did yesterday.
Speaker 1: How about you do? How do you feel about him
Speaker 1: on the team. So it reminds me in terms of
Speaker 1: the organic basketball fit to the Big three in Miami
Speaker 1: with the heat Now, Dwyane Wade is a significantly better
Speaker 1: basketball player. Even the diminished version of Dwyane Wade was
Speaker 1: a significantly better basketball player than this version of Russ.
Speaker 1: But the point is is that Dwyane Wade was not
Speaker 1: a spot up shooter type of spacer the way that
Speaker 1: he eventually messed with Lebron was selective cutting and offensive rebounding,
Speaker 1: which is almost exactly what Russ is going to do.
Speaker 1: The big reason why I think Dwyane Wade was a
Speaker 1: better fit then with Russell Westbrook is that if you're
Speaker 1: going to be that guy who hurts in terms of
Speaker 1: spacing but makes up for it with offensive rebounding and
Speaker 1: cutting and and off ball defense and protecting the rim
Speaker 1: and all those things, you almost can't have the bad
Speaker 1: side that comes with it. Dwyane Wade was such a
Speaker 1: high basketball i Q and played so under control that
Speaker 1: the total, you know, plus minus of all the pros
Speaker 1: and cons of what he brought to the table netted
Speaker 1: a positive result for that Heat team. What scares me
Speaker 1: about the specific fit is, in addition to hurting the
Speaker 1: spacing while there is good that comes with him crashing
Speaker 1: the offensive glass and putting pressure on the rim and
Speaker 1: cutting off of Lebron and all those things. I worry
Speaker 1: about decision making. You know, Russell Westbrook is a player
Speaker 1: that goes a hundred miles an hour all the time.
Speaker 1: There is no change of pace to his game, and
Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things where I wonder if
Speaker 1: that will kind of tilt that balance into sometimes on
Speaker 1: some nights, being a net negative for the Lakers. You know,
Speaker 1: at a certain point, Russell Westbrook sometimes gets in his
Speaker 1: own way by trying to do too much um, and
Speaker 1: there will be nights when he's with the Lakers where
Speaker 1: he's going to do so much good that it just
Speaker 1: feels like this overwhelming force and you're gonna be like, man,
Speaker 1: this looks great. But I think for every night like that,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be nights where he tries to do too
Speaker 1: much and it ends up hurting the team. And and
Speaker 1: so that's that's kind of like my initial impression. Now
Speaker 1: as far as the basketball fit, I kind of twe
Speaker 1: did this out a little bit yesterday, but the general
Speaker 1: idea is, if you're looking for a silver lining, a
Speaker 1: reason that the Russell Westbrook fit could work, I want
Speaker 1: you to think about the general ideology that the guys
Speaker 1: from Laker Film Room have been talking about a lot
Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks, which is the identity
Speaker 1: of the Lakers as just a physically overwhelming team when
Speaker 1: you add Russell Westbrook to the mix, as a big, strong,
Speaker 1: athletic guard who relentlessly pressures the rim, who grabs a
Speaker 1: ton of offensive rebounds, who at least when he's trying
Speaker 1: and when he's focused, can be a physically dominating defensive player.
Speaker 1: It adds to that identity. It makes it so that
Speaker 1: in the Rock Fight, not only do the Lakers have
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d just wrecking havoc around the rim,
Speaker 1: now you've got Russell Westbrook in there too. He's going
Speaker 1: to be a physical problem for smaller guards in playoff series,
Speaker 1: for the Damian Lillards, for the Chris Paul's, for those
Speaker 1: types of guys in these off series. That is the
Speaker 1: silver lining. That's how it could work out. But I
Speaker 1: just see a lot of ways it could go wrong,
Speaker 1: with the spacing, with him going off script, with his
Speaker 1: decision making, with him he's he's got that Rondo quality
Speaker 1: if sometimes he just goes for the home run steal
Speaker 1: instead of staying in the defensive scheme, which can get
Speaker 1: him out of position, which can hurt the defense. Overall.
Speaker 1: I'm worried about some of the ways it could go wrong,
Speaker 1: but that physical dominance is the way I could see
Speaker 1: it going right. Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, and
Speaker 1: this is the first time I think in like three
Speaker 1: or four years, He's going to be asked to really
Speaker 1: be this connected on defense as well. Right, Like the
Speaker 1: last time probably was those under teams. Once he got
Speaker 1: his own team, he was not the defender that that
Speaker 1: he was before. He's going to crash the glass and everything.
Speaker 1: One thing, I was surprised. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: were able to really dive into Westbrook film yet, but
Speaker 1: like he's still very athletic, Like he's not like he
Speaker 1: hasn't lost as much a step as I thought he
Speaker 1: would have. Um watching his place with with the Wizards.
Speaker 1: Still super fast, one of the fastest guards, still on
Speaker 1: the top two or three percent of athletes. And again
Speaker 1: that just fits what the Lakers are trying to do. Um,
Speaker 1: they have all these athletic freaks down the starting line up.
Speaker 1: Lebron is still one Anthony Davis. They're just gonna try
Speaker 1: to maul you over with physicality. I try. Like when
Speaker 1: I watched his tape, like I'd rather watch him in Houston.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's more of what the Lakers are
Speaker 1: trying to do. UM with the Wizards, I mean, he
Speaker 1: had he was setting up guys like Alex lenn you know, Um,
Speaker 1: Thomas Bryant, all these like really young dudes not really
Speaker 1: ready to win when I played watch him in Houston.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I think like Westbrook
Speaker 1: will kind of be the center in a lot of lineups,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like they'll kind of imverse
Speaker 1: the offense where like eight is kind of the four,
Speaker 1: and then Westbrook kind of plays the five where he's
Speaker 1: the screener. And then you could that's what he did
Speaker 1: for James Harden and line it was really successful where
Speaker 1: he's kind of the screener for Lebron where Lebron is
Speaker 1: kind of making decision making. Um. But yeah, the one
Speaker 1: big question is off the ball, right, like can he
Speaker 1: be a guy sitting in the dunker spot? Can he
Speaker 1: being a guy that just crashes the board consistently? Going
Speaker 1: to be a guy that doesn't take the open three,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, the guy that doesn't take
Speaker 1: terrible shots. He's gonna have four for twenty nights. That's
Speaker 1: just what comes with the package. Yeah, yeah, that's that
Speaker 1: comes to the package of Russell Westbrook. Like he's not
Speaker 1: a guy. This isn't his second year in the league,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, This is what I don't
Speaker 1: know what year but it's in multiple he is what
Speaker 1: he is. Yeah, I mean he's gonna he can change
Speaker 1: here and there. But you know what I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: seeing people saying he's gonna change. I mean, Russell Westbrook's
Speaker 1: coming here to be Russell Westbrook. Like, don't get that confused.
Speaker 1: So what do you think about him off the ball?
Speaker 1: That's around kind of worried, Like I like him as
Speaker 1: a screener, but I mean you don't pay Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: forty five million dollars to be a screener, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So, like he's gonna have a lot
Speaker 1: of on ball. I think this helps a deal lot,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I feel like these non Lebron minutes
Speaker 1: now have a pure creator on the floor. I don't
Speaker 1: think Dennis Truder was ready for that. Um, So what
Speaker 1: do you think about him off the ball? Kind of
Speaker 1: where where can he be successful there? With this team?
Speaker 1: So the Russell Westbrook acquisition makes the surrounding moves so
Speaker 1: much more important, uh than they were with Healed? You know,
Speaker 1: I with with Buddy Healed, you could have basically just
Speaker 1: brought everybody else back, like you could have gone, here
Speaker 1: comes west We'll bring back Crusoe and th HD on
Speaker 1: typical you know, rookie extensions, and we're gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: bring back Mark Keith Morris and and we'll just sign
Speaker 1: some standard veteran veteran minimum guys, and it all just
Speaker 1: would have worked because the Buddy healed is such a
Speaker 1: natural basketball fit and one of the reasons why I
Speaker 1: was so excited about Buddy Held. And he's not off
Speaker 1: the table now. Allegedly there are some scenarios where it
Speaker 1: could work, probably a three team deal involving sign and
Speaker 1: trading him to somebody who gives stuff to the Kings,
Speaker 1: who send hell to the Lakers. But like but with
Speaker 1: a team that puts so much relentless rim pressure, Buddy
Speaker 1: Held as a player that sucks people away from the rim,
Speaker 1: whether it's through screening actions off ball, having him flying
Speaker 1: off the screens that occupies off ball defenders, whether he's
Speaker 1: an on ball creator with Anthony Davis as a screener,
Speaker 1: or whether he's just a spot up guy. He pulls
Speaker 1: guys away from the rim, which would have naturally kind
Speaker 1: of made everything else work. With Russ, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: the opposite effect. It's gonna be a total sellout to
Speaker 1: the rim for the defense, so it becomes that much
Speaker 1: more important for the other two guys that are on
Speaker 1: the floor with those three to be high level shooters.
Speaker 1: You know, there's kind of like a counterbalance with spacing, right,
Speaker 1: and we saw that tilt way out of whack when
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis got hurt. Right Like, when Anthony Davis was playing,
Speaker 1: everything seemed to make just a little bit more sense
Speaker 1: with where the guys were being aggressive offensively. Then he
Speaker 1: went down and all of a sudden, it was like
Speaker 1: it was like a black hole in the pain. There
Speaker 1: were just bodies everywhere. Well, that's the way it's gonna
Speaker 1: be with that balance, you know, uh a d uh
Speaker 1: Lebron Russ lineup with auto Porter and budd healed spacing
Speaker 1: is gonna be fine because four of those guys, like
Speaker 1: Lebron's the worst spot upshooter in that lineup and he
Speaker 1: or maybe him in a D. So it's like you're
Speaker 1: you're you're gonna be fine. But if that's Alex Caruso
Speaker 1: and Wesley Matthews, now is it gonna tilt way too
Speaker 1: far to where there's just not enough room for guys
Speaker 1: to create Because Caruso, you can kind of play him
Speaker 1: with a fifty fifty split, you know, play like a
Speaker 1: traditional shell drill and Russell Westbrook I can abandon entirely
Speaker 1: and basically just tap my foot in and out of
Speaker 1: the paint and and just be there, you know. And
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews same thing. You know. So that's gonna be
Speaker 1: critical is how how they weigh that as far as
Speaker 1: what he needs to do when he's off ball. You
Speaker 1: brought up one of them. Use him as a screener.
Speaker 1: That's one of the best ways to involve a guy
Speaker 1: that they ignore, because at the very least what's probably
Speaker 1: gonna happen is they're gonna trap off of his screen
Speaker 1: and you can hit him on the short role where
Speaker 1: he can make decisions, kind of like what the Warriors
Speaker 1: do with Draymond Green. And the other thing you can
Speaker 1: do is have him constantly set screens off the ball
Speaker 1: four shooters, which will make the defense make decision and
Speaker 1: occupies defenders. But the biggest thing is gonna be his
Speaker 1: ability to cut to the basket off of guys like
Speaker 1: Marcusol and Lebron and his ability to get offensive rebounds.
Speaker 1: If he can do that, it's gonna be like that
Speaker 1: meter and it needs to tilt in favor of him
Speaker 1: having positive impact. If if he's missing spot up shots,
Speaker 1: he's not getting rebounds, he's not creating havoc as a screener,
Speaker 1: it's gonna tilt the other way and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a problem to where he's hurting their team with their spacing.
Speaker 1: But that that's the kind of stuff to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on him, Yeah, for sure. And mean he's an
Speaker 1: amazing rebounder and we can't take that away from I
Speaker 1: think that's the thing that will really help the Lakers
Speaker 1: that really pushed the pace, Like the real play faster,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis will play faster. Get him going. Anthony David
Speaker 1: was just being himself. I think is a huge thing
Speaker 1: that a lot of people are kind of forgetting this offseason.
Speaker 1: Um A d and Lebron together healthy back, healthy, with
Speaker 1: a motivated Russell Westbrook, I think, I don't. I think
Speaker 1: that will help with help as well. Westbrook has a
Speaker 1: lot of flaws, like he just does. They're very loud. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't want to compare him to Andre Drummond, but
Speaker 1: like when he has a bad game, you're gonna know it,
Speaker 1: right Russell Westbrook doesn't have quiet bad games. It's not like, Oh,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook kind of a bad game tonight. I didn't
Speaker 1: even I didn't even realize. No, it's gonna be like
Speaker 1: five for twenty five, you know what I mean, yelling
Speaker 1: and screaming and yes, and that's the that's the process
Speaker 1: of Russell Westbrook. That's just what it is. Now, can
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D kind of bridge that gap to
Speaker 1: where like if he's having a gag game, but both
Speaker 1: of those are going you know what I mean? And
Speaker 1: Russell Westbroks doing other things. Um, he's I think he's
Speaker 1: a better playmaker than he gets credit for. I think
Speaker 1: he's a big card of why Steven Adams is getting
Speaker 1: the contracts that he does. Um, I watched these case teams.
Speaker 1: He spoon feeds those guys watching watching Washington, He's spoon
Speaker 1: fed Alex Land. I'm excited to see him with a
Speaker 1: big like a D. He never had that. Um. In Houston,
Speaker 1: they kind of went really small, traded their only center,
Speaker 1: went with Robert Covington at the five, didn't really have
Speaker 1: the big to play with. And again, Washington is is
Speaker 1: what they are. Um. But yeah, so I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see him with with a guy like a d How
Speaker 1: that works that kind of playmaking big um, He's never
Speaker 1: really had that kind of screener either. See what that
Speaker 1: does for him? And just yeah, when one of Lebron
Speaker 1: and Rusts get the rebound, the Lakers are off. Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's the positive he area. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: great in the regular season. That's my whole issue of this.
Speaker 1: People would ask me, like, what do you think of Rust? Like,
Speaker 1: to me, the issue isn't in the regular season though,
Speaker 1: right Like, this feels like this is like a super
Speaker 1: regular season move. It was similar Toime Montrez last year
Speaker 1: was a regular season move and we all knew it, right,
Speaker 1: this is like the super extent of that. Westbrook is
Speaker 1: an amazing regular season player and the Lakers gonna win
Speaker 1: a ton of games with those just with the talent
Speaker 1: of those three, his motor, eighties motor. When he's healthy,
Speaker 1: those there are gonna push through. It's the playoffs where
Speaker 1: I'm wondering and they're like, yeah, they might not work
Speaker 1: in like the second or third round, But then what
Speaker 1: are we doing all this for? This is the whole
Speaker 1: point of all this is to win in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Why would you go out and get a player that
Speaker 1: helps you only in the regular seas And that's where
Speaker 1: like disconnect for me is there. You know, again, it
Speaker 1: could work. It's just I watched that second round super closely.
Speaker 1: The Lakers game plan was to put a d on
Speaker 1: Westbrook and you let him run and him exactly make
Speaker 1: him shoot. And I watched that for a whole five games,
Speaker 1: you know, and I watched him do that consistently, watched
Speaker 1: Westbrook put up these shots that he should not be taking. Um.
Speaker 1: And again, maybe with more star power around it changes that.
Speaker 1: It's just that's my disconnection. That's the part that I'm
Speaker 1: having trouble. Like I watched Westbrook, I understand he super good.
Speaker 1: Um My trouble here is in the playoffs. Like that's
Speaker 1: like what happens when teams game planned that way. You
Speaker 1: need at least one dead eye shooter next to them
Speaker 1: if this is gonna work. Um, So that's is that?
Speaker 1: What are you there as well? The playoff concern is
Speaker 1: the main thing for you too. Yeah, Well, it's because
Speaker 1: in the playoffs everything gets exaggerated. The amount of your
Speaker 1: spacing concerns get exaggerated. Just in general, like like that
Speaker 1: Laker series was a classic example. The Lakers flat out
Speaker 1: ignored Russell Westbrook and the first time they did it,
Speaker 1: it was a huge problem. Russ had a nightmare game
Speaker 1: in the Lakers one and then the next game which
Speaker 1: I think it was either game through game four. They
Speaker 1: they I think it was Game three. He actually made
Speaker 1: a bunch of shots and made a bunch of bank shots,
Speaker 1: made it, made some threes, made a bunch of shots,
Speaker 1: but like it disjointed at the Rockets offense so much
Speaker 1: that it just didn't matter and the Lakers won anyway. Um,
Speaker 1: but that that's the kind of thing you have to expect.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there's gonna be a lot that
Speaker 1: Russ can do with the ball. We just talked about
Speaker 1: him off the ball and and and yes those things
Speaker 1: are gonna be exaggerated in the playoffs, but he does
Speaker 1: bring a lot of good on the ball. That's where,
Speaker 1: especially in the regular season and running bench line ups
Speaker 1: in playoff series, it's it's really gonna rear. It's ugly
Speaker 1: head the shooting stuff and the off ball stuff late
Speaker 1: in games in playoffs series. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: when he when he when he has the opportunity to
Speaker 1: make plays with the ball in his hands. There's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of good So let's talk really quick
Speaker 1: about the things that he does well with the ball.
Speaker 1: So first of all, like you said, absolutely incredible passer.
Speaker 1: He's what probably one of the most underrated things about
Speaker 1: Russ is he's really good at manipulating a defense by
Speaker 1: putting that like semi transition pressure, like grabbing the rebound,
Speaker 1: taking three or four hard dribbles up the floor, makes
Speaker 1: the defense react one way or another, hits the big,
Speaker 1: hits a shooter, whatever it is that he's doing. He's
Speaker 1: a great passer. Secondly, he's a legitimate matchup problem for
Speaker 1: smaller guards. The Lakers are the Lakers were have been
Speaker 1: a really good defense the last couple of years, and
Speaker 1: Russ has done a really good job in those matchups.
Speaker 1: Whether he's been with the Wizards or with the Rockets,
Speaker 1: he's done a really good job of finding the smallest
Speaker 1: Laker guard on the floor, posting him up and making
Speaker 1: some going through him and then going down the floor
Speaker 1: doing the rock the baby thing or whatever that he does.
Speaker 1: Like So you can see the vision there. You can
Speaker 1: see the vision. The key is going to be getting
Speaker 1: the ball out of his hands at the biggest moments
Speaker 1: of the game, so that you or because his decision
Speaker 1: making is questionable, while at the same time letting him
Speaker 1: to have that impact off the ball. But you're right
Speaker 1: the dog days of the regular season, he's gonna be incredible.
Speaker 1: Playoff series, when you know it's the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter in Lebron's taking his rest, having Russ out
Speaker 1: there to run the offense, that's a big perk. It's
Speaker 1: just gonna be those specific scenarios where he needs to
Speaker 1: be incredible, and like you said, the moves on the
Speaker 1: periphery of this become that much more important. And I
Speaker 1: don't know, you know our guy Kings who does the
Speaker 1: POPA Jason Maples, he has this theory and it's actually
Speaker 1: an interesting theory, which is, you know, we heard about
Speaker 1: the Bogdanovitch fiasco last year, which, to make a long
Speaker 1: story short, was a sign and trade was agreed to
Speaker 1: in principle to send Bogdanovitch to the Bucks. And almost
Speaker 1: immediately a bunch of people were like, who woa, whoa
Speaker 1: wa whoa Like, technically they can't even be talking to Bogdanovitch.
Speaker 1: This is ampering became this big, fat, hairy deal and
Speaker 1: then the deal ended up falling apart. So you would
Speaker 1: assume that anybody this summer who's thinking about doing a
Speaker 1: UH signing trade is going to be super careful to
Speaker 1: keep the intel out of the media too. You know,
Speaker 1: you smoke in mirrors and whatever it takes to just
Speaker 1: kind of keep that out of sight, out of mind. Now,
Speaker 1: to my knowledge, they can't consummate the Russell Westbrook trade
Speaker 1: until the sixth, is that correct? So in theory that
Speaker 1: deal is still up in the air until the sixth
Speaker 1: and on. I believe the second or the first, it's
Speaker 1: like Sunday or Monday that this coming up, they can
Speaker 1: start legally negotiating with free agents. So what will be
Speaker 1: interesting to see is if this deal just gets entirely
Speaker 1: reworked because Washington decides they'll take Dennis Shrewder, or if
Speaker 1: some other team gets involved and it ends up becoming
Speaker 1: a three team deal or a separate three team deal.
Speaker 1: But getting Buddy Hell becomes so much more important to
Speaker 1: kind of cancel out the negative impacts of Russell Westbrook spacing.
Speaker 1: And I'm really interested to see if they can still
Speaker 1: pull that off because the Buddy heel thing was such
Speaker 1: a no brainer fit that I wonder if the reason
Speaker 1: why they went after Russ is because they knew they
Speaker 1: could also get Buddy. I'm really interested to see. I mean,
Speaker 1: are are you optimistic about that? Or do you think
Speaker 1: that's just heading the cloud stuff? Yeah, I'm more on
Speaker 1: the ladder there. I was seeing Eric Pinkins and he
Speaker 1: was saying that the only way that would work I
Speaker 1: believe if like they signed and trade Dennis Shrewder. But
Speaker 1: then why would the Kings want Dennis Shrewder. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they just dressed it a point guard um
Speaker 1: and they have obviously dear and Fox. While would they
Speaker 1: pay dear Dennis Shrewder um what he wants really quickly?
Speaker 1: Just aside, note how hilarious that Bugnanovich tampering thing is,
Speaker 1: Like that is total bullcrap to me, because you know,
Speaker 1: we just got a story that Russell Westbrook was that
Speaker 1: Lebron James House two weeks ago. You know, I mean, like,
Speaker 1: what what is this tampering thing? Like where you're gonna
Speaker 1: draw the line? I I did a problem. I had
Speaker 1: a problem with the big Ganovitch thing. I thought that
Speaker 1: was I thought that was b s two, It didn't
Speaker 1: make any sense to me that like literally tampering is
Speaker 1: is rampant throughout the league, and then you were going
Speaker 1: to break Like I I think like the league has
Speaker 1: a somewhat of an obligation to make it not so apparent.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like I can't believe they
Speaker 1: actually stopped that deal from happening. Like that was pretty
Speaker 1: wild to me. Yeah, I usually like hit him on
Speaker 1: the wrist and keep it moving. I mean these like
Speaker 1: all these all these guys talk, I mean, tampering is
Speaker 1: such a loose term now, um, but yeah, I do
Speaker 1: think this deal gets reworked in some way. We already
Speaker 1: saw the Wizard's trade the first round pick the Lakers
Speaker 1: gave them um to Indiana, so you could see things
Speaker 1: kind of moving around. I don't think they're done, but
Speaker 1: I do think Buddy Healed is more of like a
Speaker 1: behind the sky as well, just in hindsight to me,
Speaker 1: Like I don't, like, I know us on Lakers Twitter
Speaker 1: and all that probably really like really fascinating Buddy Healed,
Speaker 1: but like just this is the Lakers. Buddy Hell was
Speaker 1: never going to be. I guess the third option, right,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook has such a star kind of named to it.
Speaker 1: Like it's just not just his production, but just the
Speaker 1: name Russell Westbrook that rings throughout the league, you know,
Speaker 1: like that's just what the Lakers do. He always seemed
Speaker 1: like a future kind of Laker player. I didn't think
Speaker 1: it would be this year. He just always seemed like
Speaker 1: a player that was gonna It's kind of funny he
Speaker 1: was the one that stayed in Okay see and all that.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be his fourth team in like four years,
Speaker 1: which is which is which is insanely about it? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Which is insane to think about a guy Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: who on the m VP like four years ago. You know,
Speaker 1: like that's that's kind of insane to see a guy
Speaker 1: who's moved on again. These guys you usually don't become
Speaker 1: available this early m vps at thirty two years old.
Speaker 1: But the talent is there. I don't think that's the question.
Speaker 1: The fit is the question here, But I think it
Speaker 1: can work. I feel a lot better about today after
Speaker 1: watching Russell Westbrook play. Um, I need at least one
Speaker 1: elite shooter next to them, right at least I don't
Speaker 1: need at least dead eye shooter guy because they just
Speaker 1: dropped their best shooter. K cps their best shooter, and
Speaker 1: they just dropped him act. Yeah, So let me let
Speaker 1: me ask you, what do you think about the deal?
Speaker 1: I guess it's like KCP, Kyle Kuzman, Mantrese, Harold Mantrez
Speaker 1: didn't really play in the playoffs. I'm not worried about him.
Speaker 1: Kuzma obviously struggled um, but I think he was a
Speaker 1: rotation playoff beast case be obviously probably the best kind
Speaker 1: of player in that. What do you think of those
Speaker 1: two guys, Like how the Lakers have to kind of
Speaker 1: replace them, I guess, and filling them for Russ Westbrook.
Speaker 1: So giving up Kuzma, Harold and KCP was literally the
Speaker 1: only way to get the deal done in terms of
Speaker 1: matching salaries, at least at this phase, in terms of
Speaker 1: agreeing in principle. And like you said, this could all
Speaker 1: get reworked with Dennis Shredder. I have a hard time
Speaker 1: believing Washington would take Dennis Shredder because the whole purpose
Speaker 1: of them doing the trade it was to get Cat
Speaker 1: flexibility in hopes of signing an agent to play with
Speaker 1: bo one day. So if if Shrewder wants four years
Speaker 1: a hundred million. Why why in the world with Washington
Speaker 1: want to get involved with that. So if there is
Speaker 1: a sign in trade for Shrewder, it will be a
Speaker 1: three team deal for some team that wants a point
Speaker 1: guard like the example I've seen thrown out a Chicago
Speaker 1: and I don't know whether or not they actually want
Speaker 1: to do that or not, but something like them throwing
Speaker 1: Lori Marking into the Kings, who then throw Healed to
Speaker 1: the Lakers, who throw Dennis Shutter and assigned in trade
Speaker 1: to the Bulls or whatever it is. There are versions
Speaker 1: of that that could work. The part that I didn't
Speaker 1: understand was throwing in the first round pick like So
Speaker 1: it seems to me like the team that really is
Speaker 1: like like Washington, is benefiting by getting off of Russ's contract.
Speaker 1: They are because they they they had absolutely no flexibility
Speaker 1: with him, and they want to bring somebody else to
Speaker 1: come in and play with Beal. So they're getting off
Speaker 1: that deal. They're getting the third best player on the
Speaker 1: champion Lakers in k C. P as A as a
Speaker 1: good three n D guard to play alongside Bradley Beal.
Speaker 1: They're getting Montrese Harrold, who is front coal. He's a
Speaker 1: rotation front court player. Maybe not out for a team
Speaker 1: that's got championship aspirations, but he's a rotation front court player.
Speaker 1: And then Kyle Kuzma at his at his salary is
Speaker 1: actually a good asset, good value. So they're getting a lot,
Speaker 1: and so I didn't understand the need to give to
Speaker 1: throw in that number twenty two. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, value is set by the league. I
Speaker 1: don't know if there was another team out there that
Speaker 1: was bidding for Russ or if it became an issue
Speaker 1: of like, oh, it has to get done before the draft,
Speaker 1: or we're not or that, or we don't want to
Speaker 1: pick anymore, whatever it is. Like, I just didn't understand
Speaker 1: why they threw that in as far as filling it
Speaker 1: out the roster. This was something I tweeted out after
Speaker 1: I kind of calmed down after the news came out yesterday.
Speaker 1: It's hard to judge this move into vacuum they have.
Speaker 1: If this move gets consummated as currently constructed, You've got Lebron,
Speaker 1: You've got Anthony Davis, you've got Russell Westbrook, you've got
Speaker 1: Marc Asol, You're probably you've got the rights to th
Speaker 1: h T and you've got the rights. I think Crusoe
Speaker 1: is unrestricted. Actually yeah, him back though, but yeah, But
Speaker 1: like those are the only six players that the Lakers have,
Speaker 1: you know, real control over at this point. So there
Speaker 1: was intel that came out UH last week that said
Speaker 1: more or less, the Lakers are expected to expected to
Speaker 1: get a line of veteran minimum UH the guys to
Speaker 1: fill out the roster. So if if that's what they're getting,
Speaker 1: then then maybe this will all work out. But the
Speaker 1: bottom line is is if you're if you're looking at
Speaker 1: the roster, you need to have at least two big
Speaker 1: guys that we can put next to Anthony Davis. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's Dwight Howard and UH and you
Speaker 1: know Andre Drummond at the mini mid level or something
Speaker 1: along those lines. But they need a couple of bigs.
Speaker 1: You gotta add guard depth at that point because Caruso,
Speaker 1: th h T and Russ is not enough. You need
Speaker 1: probably five really good guards. And then in terms of
Speaker 1: their four depths, it's just Lebron and n A d
Speaker 1: At this point, I forget marcosols on the rosters, so
Speaker 1: they might be able to be fine with just Mark
Speaker 1: and and Dwight Howard, and maybe they can use that
Speaker 1: many mid level on someone along the lines of an
Speaker 1: auto porter, but they have to fill the whole roster
Speaker 1: at this point when you this reminds me of the
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday trade for the Bucks in the sense that
Speaker 1: the Lakers just kind of had this depth that they
Speaker 1: have now foregone in for a top level talent in
Speaker 1: hopes that in the Rock Fight playoff series late in
Speaker 1: the year, having Russ swings the tide a little bit
Speaker 1: enough to win one a series that might otherwise have
Speaker 1: gone the other direction. But it's just it's hard to
Speaker 1: judge until they make all the moves on the periphery.
Speaker 1: Otherwise we don't really know what this team is gonna
Speaker 1: look like. Yeah, and everything you said kind of falls
Speaker 1: into like they have to be creative with this, right, Like,
Speaker 1: they don't have many options here. They have their taxpiller
Speaker 1: taxpayer mL E, which is like five point six million
Speaker 1: or something. Someone was asking me if de Rosen is
Speaker 1: going to take that, I don't know, but I would
Speaker 1: bet on people taking twenty million dollar pay cuts, you know,
Speaker 1: and I just would not bet on that. So that's yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's probably not the caliber player you're getting, but there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of vetminimum guys, and the Lakers
Speaker 1: at the top of that list, like the Clippers cows out,
Speaker 1: you know. So basically your choices Milwaukee or l A.
Speaker 1: I mean, even though Milwaukee just won the chip, you
Speaker 1: usually lean l A when you have putting l l
Speaker 1: A versus Milwaukee, just in terms of location and all that. Plus,
Speaker 1: the Lakers have um playing time to offer, right, they
Speaker 1: don't have a team yet, you could literally make the team. Um.
Speaker 1: And one thing about the pick that I was kind
Speaker 1: of just gathering from leading the timeline on the Lakers
Speaker 1: didn't even buy into the second round, so like usually
Speaker 1: they buy a second round pick, they didn't buy into
Speaker 1: that either, which told me they really didn't. Um, they
Speaker 1: didn't think they need the draft to get the players
Speaker 1: they wanted. They got a bunch of highly touted, undrafted
Speaker 1: guys who went undrafted who are high on people's boards. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I think Austin Reeves and uh Maxim and
Speaker 1: the guy and the guy from Gonzaga as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know exact you're talking or something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm blaking on his name, but I feel like that's
Speaker 1: kind of why they didn't. They kind of were able
Speaker 1: to kind of throw the pick in um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: THHD is probably going to be back at some number.
Speaker 1: Caruso is probably gonna be back. But you have to
Speaker 1: fill this roster out and they have to be really
Speaker 1: creative with it. Bedroom minimum guys, um, see how who
Speaker 1: plays well in the summer league. Maybe those guys can
Speaker 1: make the team. Reminds me a lot of the nineteen Lakers.
Speaker 1: Do you remember they traded everything for Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: then they signed grand Danny Green and they signed Troy Daniels.
Speaker 1: I think that was a team for like a month
Speaker 1: and a half. It was literally lebron A d Danny Green.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even it was it wasn't even Danny Green.
Speaker 1: It was they signed they signed Troy Daniels because it
Speaker 1: was a veteran minimum. And then it like it was
Speaker 1: after the Kauai news that it was like after the
Speaker 1: Quiet news. It was like Danny Green, Javaille McGee, all
Speaker 1: these guys. But like literally, yeah, for like a month
Speaker 1: because they were in the Kauai sweepstakes, there were like
Speaker 1: three dudes on the roster. Yeah, yeah, it was Lebron,
Speaker 1: A D. I think like Troy Daniels and money things money. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is the last year of law dings money actually
Speaker 1: five million dollars left. Um, but yeah, that it reminds
Speaker 1: me of that, where like the team is literally just
Speaker 1: the stars and then you feel around that. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be really interesting what they do around um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this is the core, Like, there's no there's no like
Speaker 1: playing with it. This is the core. It's gonna be Lebron,
Speaker 1: A D and Russ on the floor when it matters.
Speaker 1: And that's where I think we have this kind of
Speaker 1: start with this, like that's what it's gonna look like,
Speaker 1: and they branch out from there. They're not going to
Speaker 1: change the concept of the team. Now, this is what
Speaker 1: it is like. It's not gonna be like, oh, we
Speaker 1: bring another super duper shot shot creator and put Russ
Speaker 1: even more off the ball. Now this is the team, Like,
Speaker 1: this is what's gonna look like. I think it's really
Speaker 1: gonna help the non lebron minutes, right, Russ and a D.
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing. Um, those those minutes
Speaker 1: have to be a positive now, which have been a
Speaker 1: negative the entire lebron Era exactly what you mean with
Speaker 1: Anthony even with Anthony Davis on the floor exactly, and
Speaker 1: that's where it should help. Rush should open things up
Speaker 1: for him. Um. And then the other side as well. UM,
Speaker 1: just using a D as a screen in those lineup
Speaker 1: a D at the five with him? Um, what do
Speaker 1: you think about that? Do you think now a D
Speaker 1: has to play fully at the five for this to work.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing those reports come out again that that they
Speaker 1: were at the house together and they said they would
Speaker 1: play the four and the five to accommodate Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: I still don't think a D is gonna start the
Speaker 1: season at center, Like just with how he's talking. What
Speaker 1: what do you think do you think he started the
Speaker 1: season at center? And does he have to for this
Speaker 1: too to be what it needs to be. Well, I've
Speaker 1: heard that intel to uh no, just just from the
Speaker 1: same source as you have. And I the issue that
Speaker 1: I have with it is I think at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it's gonna come down to who they
Speaker 1: end up getting because if they can't bring in quality
Speaker 1: forwards and ends up being marcusol, Anthony Davis and some
Speaker 1: some veteran mid uh you know, uh, minimum type, but
Speaker 1: forward it might literally be as a result of a
Speaker 1: lack of depth that Anthony Davis play center all the time,
Speaker 1: and it might end up being that way at the
Speaker 1: end of the day in terms of xs and ohs,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about earlier, that tilting balance, that
Speaker 1: scale of spacing. If you play a D at the
Speaker 1: four and you put a five out there with a D,
Speaker 1: I don't even think Buddy Yield can fix that. You
Speaker 1: you need, it's almost not going to work unless Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis plays the five. But I mean it could be.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes sometimes stubbornness fades. And I've been beating
Speaker 1: this drum NonStop for two years that playing the five
Speaker 1: will actually be physically easier for Anthony Davis because of
Speaker 1: the fact that while he he'll he'll have to do
Speaker 1: a little bit more boxing out in, a little bit
Speaker 1: more fighting for position, which can be fatiguing, But on
Speaker 1: the offensive end, he's going to be playing in so
Speaker 1: much more space that will actually be easier for him.
Speaker 1: I genuinely feel that way, um. And so the hope
Speaker 1: is is that maybe that has just dawned on him
Speaker 1: as the reality of of of you know, the future
Speaker 1: of this team, and if he does that, it makes
Speaker 1: me feel a lot more comfortable, like the reason why
Speaker 1: and heal. The healed thing feels like a long shot
Speaker 1: to me personally, but there are some Likeer fans that
Speaker 1: have a lot of optimism that they're going to make
Speaker 1: that work. The Healed Thing, to me, would completely change
Speaker 1: my outlook of this trade, because I don't love the
Speaker 1: idea of Russell Westbrook with Lebron and A d as
Speaker 1: a natural basketball fit. But I do love the idea
Speaker 1: of Russell Westbrook but he healed, Lebron and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: as a natural basketball fit, because it's just three unbelievable
Speaker 1: rim pressure guys with a guy that you literally can't
Speaker 1: give an inches space whether he's coming off a screen.
Speaker 1: You know, I was listening to Kevin O'Connor this morning,
Speaker 1: Like he's awesome on catch and shoot, He's awesome flying
Speaker 1: off screens. He's like one of the top tier guys
Speaker 1: the dribble. He is fantastic in transition. There's no weak
Speaker 1: spot on the floor. He's just, without a doubt, the
Speaker 1: third best shooter of this last half decade. It's like him,
Speaker 1: Stephen Clay and Duncan Robinson those are the guys, and
Speaker 1: so that that kind of thing would change my outlook
Speaker 1: on everything and just the way that it all would work.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I forget about it. If you're putting if
Speaker 1: you put Drummond or Dwight Howard with Russell Westbrook on
Speaker 1: the floor, Uh, it's just you're you're begging for teams
Speaker 1: to just completely ignore everybody and just crab the paint
Speaker 1: at that point. Yeah, And I mean Ad has been
Speaker 1: pretty um, he's been pretty stern in this, like like
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to play center in the regular season. Um,
Speaker 1: he wants to, you know, he'd rather play power forward rather,
Speaker 1: you know, way to play center when it matters, you know,
Speaker 1: when the coach asked him too, as he says, um
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, to me, if you're going to get
Speaker 1: a center, because that's what I think is going to happen.
Speaker 1: Like I'm just I'm believing what a d says here. Um,
Speaker 1: he does say he wants to play more five, but
Speaker 1: I do think it will still kind of work out
Speaker 1: this way. It has to be a lob threat at least,
Speaker 1: like a guy who can catch above the rim or
Speaker 1: space out to three point line. You can't have this
Speaker 1: middle dude who needs to catch the ball, you know, gather,
Speaker 1: you know, just like be a slow footed big in
Speaker 1: the pain, like he needs to be able to catch
Speaker 1: above the rim, have a gravity above the rim or
Speaker 1: a gravity outside the ark like Marcus Ault. That's where
Speaker 1: I think it needs to be. Um, if they do
Speaker 1: get a center, obviously eighty at the five lineups are
Speaker 1: where they're going to be most where they're gonna be
Speaker 1: the best utilized those three. But I still think they're
Speaker 1: gonna play a center here. That's just how I feel
Speaker 1: it's gonna go down. Centers can be found from the
Speaker 1: minimum on the market. And Uh, I just think and
Speaker 1: like you talked about Buddy Healed, like when you have
Speaker 1: Westbrook part and a d you don't even need a
Speaker 1: Buddy Healed, you know, Buddy he would be the like
Speaker 1: he's one of the best shooters ever. Like that's just
Speaker 1: what his numbers kind of point to. Um, you need
Speaker 1: at least just some kind of knockdown shooter there, And uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's where I think the Lakers will go with it. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I agree with you, like it has to
Speaker 1: be a vertical spacer, which is why I like the
Speaker 1: idea of Dwight Howard coming back. I really hope Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard comes back. That would be one of the guys
Speaker 1: that i'd keep an eye on. Um uh if they
Speaker 1: do play a center, and you seem to think that
Speaker 1: they will, Yeah, I think we're gonna be in for
Speaker 1: a really rough first couple of weeks of the season
Speaker 1: as they find out the hard way that teams are
Speaker 1: just going to uh kind of forego any sort of
Speaker 1: basic defensive principles for just crowding everything around the rim,
Speaker 1: you know, like Montrese Harrold and we we joked because
Speaker 1: he could. He blamed everybody else for him not receiving
Speaker 1: playing time, said matchups that don't exist and blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: But that's one of the great reasons. One of the
Speaker 1: big reasons why he didn't really pan out was like
Speaker 1: you said, he's not really much of a vertical spacer
Speaker 1: and he can't shoot. What he was was he was
Speaker 1: a guy who could attack specific matchups and a guy
Speaker 1: who was a good offensive, rebound or motor guy. But
Speaker 1: he was an average to below average defensive player who
Speaker 1: really struggled on the defensive glass against bigger centers. And
Speaker 1: then he didn't provide spacing on the offensive end, and
Speaker 1: that's why that didn't work. And I think just in general,
Speaker 1: like you said, there, if they if they go down
Speaker 1: that route, Russell Westbrook almost makes it impossible to play
Speaker 1: those types of lineups and it'll be really interesting to see. UM.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else you wanted to touch on with
Speaker 1: Ross before we get you out of here for the day.
Speaker 1: I think we kind of covered it, um, like I was.
Speaker 1: I think you were as this on this as well,
Speaker 1: Like we were two people who were against getting Russell Westbrook. Um.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean we don't want this to work, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's I want Russell Westbrook to work in the Lakers. UM.
Speaker 1: I just have a couple of concerns with it. But
Speaker 1: I think it'll work in the regular season. I think
Speaker 1: it'll be fun, like a full stables with Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: and Lebron running lanes dunking. I think that would be
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. I think, uh, this season will
Speaker 1: be a little bit more fun. And that way, he's
Speaker 1: a guy that hypes up the crowd, really gets you know.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be a fan favorite pretty soon. I feel
Speaker 1: like that's just how Russell westbrook Is. When he's on
Speaker 1: your team, you you kind of love him. So I
Speaker 1: think we kind of covered. We'll obviously keep talking about
Speaker 1: Russell westbrook It's not like it's going anywhere. Russell westbrook
Speaker 1: Is is going to be a Laker, and that's gonna
Speaker 1: be a topic for That's gonna be part of every
Speaker 1: decision the Lakers make. Now he's part of this Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d it's a trio now where like every
Speaker 1: decision every player you sign has to fit with those three.
Speaker 1: You know before and it was this the two you know,
Speaker 1: it was two players. Everyone else's kind of uh roams
Speaker 1: around that universe runs around them. They're the planets, you
Speaker 1: know what, or the sun however, the universe works the sun.
Speaker 1: But now you've got three of those dudes, and that's
Speaker 1: that's where the Lakers have to make their decisions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, and you're you're right, it's gonna be a show.
Speaker 1: I was talking to my wife a little bit about it. Uh,
Speaker 1: poor Carly, Literally she worked all day and we're driving
Speaker 1: over to my parents house for dinner, um and and
Speaker 1: I'm just talking her ear off about Russell westbrook Port role. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I was, I was vnding to her and one of
Speaker 1: the things I said, I was like, I was like,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a show like this. This season
Speaker 1: for the Lakers is going to be riveting. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be musty TV every single night. And Russell Westbrook almost
Speaker 1: brings that that energy that makes it so that that
Speaker 1: Tuesday night game in Memphis all of a sudden carries
Speaker 1: a certain weight because he's gonna be talking trash and
Speaker 1: one of the dudes on the other team and it's
Speaker 1: going to become a whole thing. Um. But yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: So like we're going to continue to watch film on
Speaker 1: Russ and we're going to continue to kind of find
Speaker 1: out the ways that this could work. There are more
Speaker 1: moves on the horizon. This trade very well, maybe expanded
Speaker 1: by next week with the August six free agency opening.
Speaker 1: So let's just table it for now and next week,
Speaker 1: maybe Friday morning, we'll touch base again and kind of
Speaker 1: talk about how it might make more sense with some
Speaker 1: of the guys that they sign in the in the time.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you're right. I mean, it's I think we've
Speaker 1: said all there is to say about what we can
Speaker 1: see with this move at this point, with what we
Speaker 1: know now. Yeah, for sure, I feel like it's either
Speaker 1: going to go great or it's gonna crash. Like there's
Speaker 1: no middle ground to this. There's no like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: they're kind of winning. Uh, you know, they're doing okay.
Speaker 1: Now this is either gonna blast forward or you know,
Speaker 1: really blow up. And I expected to do well though,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's gonna be a show. You're right. Health
Speaker 1: is the big thing, and this is this is the
Speaker 1: most important detail. Like even if for us destroys their spacing,
Speaker 1: even if Russ has bad late game decision making, if
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d are healthy and they're at their peaks,
Speaker 1: they're just still gonna be winning. Like, they're just still
Speaker 1: gonna win. They're still gonna be the favorite in every
Speaker 1: series out west. Uh. And it's and they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a team that's difficult to be so, you know, and
Speaker 1: we said the same thing, you know, kind of before
Speaker 1: the season or before the summer. But like the all
Speaker 1: this other stuff is kind of window dressings for whether
Speaker 1: or not Anthony Davis can stay healthy. And I really
Speaker 1: really hope that he really devotes a lot of more
Speaker 1: a lot more effort and time and money and and
Speaker 1: just care into becoming a player who can stay on
Speaker 1: the floor, because you know, if if a real quick
Speaker 1: way for the Russell Westbrook thing to be a disaster
Speaker 1: is if Anthony Davis keeps falling on the ground and
Speaker 1: grabbing limbs every time he hits the ground. Like that's
Speaker 1: just kind of the the the harsh reality of this situation,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Yeah, for sure, health, health
Speaker 1: is everything. Um, I think Ad has been healthy as
Speaker 1: much as more than I think people think. Last year
Speaker 1: obviously was was really tough. But he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: just be healthy. He has to be Anthony freaking Davis,
Speaker 1: aggressive and none of this you know, a passive none
Speaker 1: of this passive stuff. He has to be attacked in
Speaker 1: the rim, the defensive player of the year kind of
Speaker 1: that he can be that he in nineteen. That's who
Speaker 1: he needs to be for this to work. Anthy Davis
Speaker 1: has to be not the best player on this team,
Speaker 1: but the most talented player every night. Like he has
Speaker 1: to fit that bill um for this to work, because
Speaker 1: that's what they're betting on. They're reading on Lebron to
Speaker 1: be himself, which again he'st Lebron James. You've kind of
Speaker 1: been on that. Um, Anthony Davis being Anthony Davis. And
Speaker 1: that's that's how it's gonna work. Um. And that's and
Speaker 1: we're gonna see. H it's gonna come pretty soon this offseason,
Speaker 1: not as long as others either. Um, we got a
Speaker 1: couple of months here. It's gonna move really fast. Summer
Speaker 1: leagues in a few weeks, and then we started, we
Speaker 1: started the regular season. Alright, alright, everybody, that's all we
Speaker 1: got for today. Uh, Roger and I will be back
Speaker 1: probably on Friday morning. Um, but we appreciate you guys support.
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks everyone,