1
00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:18,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to the State of the Lakers on Dash Radio

2
00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:20,400
Speaker 1: and it's Saturday. Thank you guys so much for coming

3
00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,600
Speaker 1: to hang out man bad news, rough night for the Lakers.

4
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,160
Speaker 1: I really appreciate Raj covering for me as I had

5
00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,400
Speaker 1: yet another holiday party. I love the holidays. I love

6
00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,800
Speaker 1: being around family. I love spending time with my loves

7
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,199
Speaker 1: and loved ones. I love all of the social elements

8
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,239
Speaker 1: of it. But it can be so stressful socially just

9
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,599
Speaker 1: to constantly have stuff on your calendar, and then when

10
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,479
Speaker 1: you get married, it just gets doubled because you got

11
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,360
Speaker 1: all her friends, you got all her family, and it

12
00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:49,000
Speaker 1: just becomes a whole thing. But that said, I'm enjoying it.

13
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,160
Speaker 1: It's just exhausting, and I feel bad because I haven't

14
00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:54,920
Speaker 1: been available to Raj Dad obviously in conjunction with my

15
00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 1: my grandfather's funeral, made things really complicated. But it's good

16
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,760
Speaker 1: to be back. I'm going to be back with the

17
00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,600
Speaker 1: normal postgame show routine tomorrow night, and I'm excited about that.

18
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,199
Speaker 1: But we're gonna talk Anthony Davis today. I'm not gonna

19
00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,120
Speaker 1: dwell too much on the game last night. I thought

20
00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,960
Speaker 1: it was a textbook, like you know, injuries just sucked

21
00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:14,280
Speaker 1: the life out of a team. It was one of

22
00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,039
Speaker 1: the big problems with that I had with playing Anthony

23
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 1: Davis in game six I think it was Game six,

24
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,800
Speaker 1: um of the series against the Phoenix Suns. I thought

25
00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:26,800
Speaker 1: as soon as Anthony Davis got out there and was

26
00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,160
Speaker 1: clearly hurt, I thought it sucked the life out of

27
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,080
Speaker 1: the team. They were horrible in the first quarter. They

28
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:33,959
Speaker 1: dug way too big of a hole, and it ended

29
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:35,880
Speaker 1: up being something they couldn't come back from. I thought

30
00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,160
Speaker 1: it from a strategy standpoint, it was it would have

31
00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,760
Speaker 1: been better just to try to steal that Game six

32
00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,600
Speaker 1: and maybe let him play Game seven, you know, because

33
00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,680
Speaker 1: you'd have an extra two days there. But it just

34
00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,960
Speaker 1: I didn't agree with that strategy. And you saw another

35
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,680
Speaker 1: example of that effect last night. Obviously not as some

36
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,920
Speaker 1: sort of injury management, but when Anthony Davis goes down.

37
00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:58,120
Speaker 1: You know, when you have a team like this where

38
00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,640
Speaker 1: all of the talent is tied up lebron in a

39
00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,920
Speaker 1: d and one of them goes down, it's really discouraging.

40
00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 1: It takes the life out of your team. It makes

41
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,160
Speaker 1: it really really hard to continue believing in what you're

42
00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:11,840
Speaker 1: trying to do on the court, and so you can

43
00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:13,360
Speaker 1: kind of see. I thought the game was kind of

44
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,079
Speaker 1: trending like the Sacramento game from a couple of weeks ago,

45
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 1: the one where Lebron didn't play, where we kind of

46
00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,360
Speaker 1: played down to the competition for about a half and

47
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:24,800
Speaker 1: it looked frustrating. But then we just came out like

48
00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,320
Speaker 1: gangbusters in the second half and and made a real

49
00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,919
Speaker 1: run at it and ran away with the game. I

50
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,840
Speaker 1: thought we were heading in that direction, uh there, as

51
00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,000
Speaker 1: we were going on that run to start the second half,

52
00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,040
Speaker 1: and then Anthony Davis went down and and that's just

53
00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,000
Speaker 1: how it goes. Lebron also had a bad game, but

54
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,120
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be too you know, hard on him

55
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,280
Speaker 1: about that, considering the fact that he had been playing

56
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,720
Speaker 1: so well for a couple of weeks. But it's kind

57
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:48,160
Speaker 1: of a throwaway game. It is what it is. The

58
00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,320
Speaker 1: team is still trending in the right direction in terms

59
00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,560
Speaker 1: of their habits, and honestly, they're completely ravaged with COVID.

60
00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:55,800
Speaker 1: All of these teams right now. We're gonna talk more

61
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,920
Speaker 1: about COVID here after we get to Anthony Davis, but

62
00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,560
Speaker 1: all these teams that are down, all these players it's

63
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,680
Speaker 1: not fair to really evaluate them because they're hardly feeling

64
00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,079
Speaker 1: a fielding anything remotely resembling what their basketball team is

65
00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,239
Speaker 1: actually gonna look like when we get to end of this,

66
00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:12,760
Speaker 1: when we get to the end of this road, So

67
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,639
Speaker 1: let's kind of throw away. Moving on, Anthony Davis. I waited,

68
00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,480
Speaker 1: you know, here, it's four pm local time in Tucson.

69
00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,520
Speaker 1: I waited until this point in the day to to

70
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,280
Speaker 1: get the result from the m R I because I

71
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,079
Speaker 1: just didn't see the point and trying to pontificate about

72
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,200
Speaker 1: these different scenarios until we knew, you know what I mean.

73
00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,040
Speaker 1: And obviously I got back and from some of the

74
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,120
Speaker 1: stuff I was working on today, and and and it

75
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,640
Speaker 1: was still hadn't come out yet, and I was about

76
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,040
Speaker 1: to record a pod where I was about to go

77
00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:42,360
Speaker 1: over both scenarios, and I'm really glad that I don't

78
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,960
Speaker 1: have to do that. That this I think this was

79
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,120
Speaker 1: the best case scenario. For those of you haven't seen

80
00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,080
Speaker 1: the report, it's an mcl sprain. He's gonna be out

81
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,400
Speaker 1: four weeks at least before they re evaluate him. But

82
00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 1: when I saw that, I thought that was the best

83
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,760
Speaker 1: case scenario. When you see a guy in that much pain,

84
00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:01,880
Speaker 1: it's just gonna be Oh he's fine and ready to

85
00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:03,600
Speaker 1: go on a couple of days. That's just not how

86
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,440
Speaker 1: it goes, especially when you saw him collapsing in the tunnel. Obviously,

87
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,360
Speaker 1: I was excited when I heard that they did that

88
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,840
Speaker 1: on site, you know, kind of like physical test on

89
00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:13,840
Speaker 1: the knee to see if it had stability. And it

90
00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 1: was still fine, and I'm glad for that, but I

91
00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,040
Speaker 1: was still worried with the pain. That best case scenario,

92
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:22,320
Speaker 1: we were looking at a month, you know, and my

93
00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,800
Speaker 1: guesses will probably be without Anthony Davis for two months.

94
00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,760
Speaker 1: We're probably looking at about, you know, after the All

95
00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,520
Speaker 1: Star break as a return, you know, and some of

96
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,080
Speaker 1: the stuff that was going around about what he would do,

97
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,560
Speaker 1: you know, if Anthony Davis was out for the season

98
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,279
Speaker 1: was so ridiculous to me. Guys, Lebron's not leaving l A.

99
00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,479
Speaker 1: His family is so ingrained in that community. Now, his

100
00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,359
Speaker 1: son is going both of his kids are going to

101
00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,120
Speaker 1: high school at Sierra Canyon. He loves it there. Would

102
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 1: it be a huge bummer? Would it be really difficult

103
00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:51,760
Speaker 1: for him to compete with if Anthony Davis had a

104
00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,400
Speaker 1: serious injury? Yes, but there was just no scenario where

105
00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,599
Speaker 1: he was gonna up and leave and go to another city.

106
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 1: You certainly weren't going to trade Anthony day Us. That

107
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,400
Speaker 1: was ludicrous. There was a bunch of really ridiculous things.

108
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:05,560
Speaker 1: And it doesn't make sense to make a small trade

109
00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,640
Speaker 1: on the periphery, like flipping th HT for a Miles

110
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,040
Speaker 1: Turner or something, if you're not going to compete for

111
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,080
Speaker 1: a title this year. At that point, you need th

112
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,800
Speaker 1: HT to develop. So I'm really glad we didn't have

113
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 1: to dive too far into that as possibilities that all.

114
00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,479
Speaker 1: A lot of those talking points that were going around

115
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,400
Speaker 1: yesterday I thought were kind of ridiculous. This is the

116
00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,240
Speaker 1: best case scenario. So for starters, we can all kind

117
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,640
Speaker 1: of exhale and and take a deep breath and realize,

118
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,680
Speaker 1: as bad as it could have been, this was the

119
00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:34,880
Speaker 1: best case scenario. And I actually so I want to

120
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,960
Speaker 1: talk about what I think the Laker strategy is moving forward,

121
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:41,080
Speaker 1: and how I think there's a little tiny nugget of

122
00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 1: a silver lining potentially tucked in here, and we'll go

123
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,760
Speaker 1: over all of that. So I think what I was

124
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,520
Speaker 1: gonna say is, if A d was horribly injured, like

125
00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:58,280
Speaker 1: season ending injured. I was gonna recommend not trading anybody

126
00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,360
Speaker 1: because at that point you desperately need th h T

127
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,120
Speaker 1: to hit as an all star level prospect to help

128
00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,800
Speaker 1: carry you through this time, and I don't think Lebron

129
00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:10,640
Speaker 1: and a D are going anywhere, so it just didn't

130
00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,800
Speaker 1: make sense to cash in in the meantime. But we

131
00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,919
Speaker 1: talked a lot during the season that we would trade

132
00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,440
Speaker 1: th HT potentially or be in favor of trading th

133
00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,040
Speaker 1: HD if the team was trending in the right direction

134
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,800
Speaker 1: and had enough of that success apart from th HD

135
00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,720
Speaker 1: that you could count him as a trade piece that

136
00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:33,760
Speaker 1: might invigorate the team, as opposed to if th HD

137
00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:35,760
Speaker 1: was playing great and the team was playing great, it

138
00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,720
Speaker 1: would make no sense in trading him, And if the

139
00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:39,960
Speaker 1: team was going nowhere, it would make no sense in

140
00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,520
Speaker 1: trading him. Those were kind of like the three scenarios

141
00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,400
Speaker 1: that we were looking at their well. I think with

142
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,599
Speaker 1: the a D injury, now you have to trade Taylor

143
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,000
Speaker 1: Horton Tucker. And the reason why I say that is

144
00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,680
Speaker 1: this season is still alive in terms of a potential

145
00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,600
Speaker 1: run at the championship. Why because is the teams at

146
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,080
Speaker 1: the top are flawed Phoenix. The Phoenix Suns don't have

147
00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,200
Speaker 1: that super duper star. The Utah Jazz don't have that

148
00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:08,800
Speaker 1: super duper star. The Golden State Warriors, as great as

149
00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,840
Speaker 1: they are, they don't have that big, rim pressuring wing

150
00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,400
Speaker 1: that is so you know, necessary at the late rounds

151
00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,240
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. That doesn't mean Golden State's not a contender.

152
00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,240
Speaker 1: I absolutely respect them as a contender. I just think

153
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,239
Speaker 1: they can be beat and I think the Lakers could

154
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:28,160
Speaker 1: beat them. And so with Anthony Davis making a return

155
00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,040
Speaker 1: this season, that's still all on the table. And then

156
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,520
Speaker 1: coming out of the East, you're likely gonna get Brooklyn

157
00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,920
Speaker 1: and that's a team the Lakers have the ability to

158
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,760
Speaker 1: physically bully. So I think you have to understand the

159
00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,960
Speaker 1: opportunity that is this season once you look at it

160
00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,800
Speaker 1: from that perspective. With Anthony Davis gone, your front court

161
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,440
Speaker 1: is utterly depleted. Your front court is now DeAndre Jordan's,

162
00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:57,000
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard, Lebron, James Carmelo, Anthony, Trevor Reza. So I've

163
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,040
Speaker 1: got a primarily defensive old forward, a prime merely offensive

164
00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:03,920
Speaker 1: old forward, and two centers. One of them is a

165
00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,120
Speaker 1: backup and one of them should be an end of

166
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:11,200
Speaker 1: the bench guy, So you absolutely have to now go

167
00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:15,000
Speaker 1: after that Miles Turner trade. I didn't like the Miles

168
00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,960
Speaker 1: Turner trade when Anthony Davis was healthy because I thought

169
00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,559
Speaker 1: it was going away from the identity that this team

170
00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 1: was trying to build. But now with Anthony Davis out

171
00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,880
Speaker 1: for at least a month, probably too, you need to

172
00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:29,920
Speaker 1: find a way to float in the standings in the

173
00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,960
Speaker 1: immediate future, and the only way to do that is

174
00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,320
Speaker 1: to flip th ht for a guy like Miles Turner

175
00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,800
Speaker 1: that can really shore up the front court while simultaneously

176
00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,439
Speaker 1: giving you that floor spacing with his ability to shoot

177
00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,960
Speaker 1: that will allow Lebron and Rush to carry you. Because

178
00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,640
Speaker 1: now think about this, Lebron and Russ are gonna have

179
00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,360
Speaker 1: enormous workloads over the course of these next two months.

180
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:53,600
Speaker 1: So if you can find a way to bring that

181
00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,720
Speaker 1: talent into the front court with Miles Turner while maintaining

182
00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,040
Speaker 1: that space and keeping the floor open for lab On

183
00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,640
Speaker 1: and Rush to pressure the rim, you might be able

184
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:05,640
Speaker 1: to grind out a few games over five hundred over

185
00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,120
Speaker 1: the course of these next couple of months, in which

186
00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,720
Speaker 1: case then Anthony Davis can come back, and now you

187
00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,760
Speaker 1: can really make a run at it. Ideally, I would

188
00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:15,679
Speaker 1: have liked to have kept th HT and traded in

189
00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,240
Speaker 1: for someone like Jeremy Grant. I just don't think that's

190
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:20,400
Speaker 1: an option now, unless you want to go crazy all

191
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,400
Speaker 1: in on small ball, and you know, we don't know

192
00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,280
Speaker 1: what's going on in the front office. Maybe they want

193
00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:26,640
Speaker 1: to go that way. I just don't think that's the

194
00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:30,520
Speaker 1: smart strategy now with Anthony Davis out, So I would

195
00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,440
Speaker 1: flip t HT sooner than later, sometime, and then as

196
00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,520
Speaker 1: soon as his contract allows, which i've heard middle December,

197
00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,560
Speaker 1: I've heard middle January. I'm not sure when exactly that is.

198
00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,080
Speaker 1: I think you gotta flip t HD from Miles Turner.

199
00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:44,160
Speaker 1: I think you gotta go go all in on a

200
00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:46,640
Speaker 1: front court of Lebron and Miles Turner, with Dwight Howard

201
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,320
Speaker 1: coming off the bench in Areza and Mellow coming in

202
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,480
Speaker 1: at that other forward spot off the bench. I think

203
00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,079
Speaker 1: you gotta go all in on that and just try

204
00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,480
Speaker 1: to float things until Anthony Davis comes back. Now, like

205
00:09:57,520 --> 00:09:59,600
Speaker 1: I said, there is a silver lining to all of this,

206
00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:02,920
Speaker 1: and I think it has to do with Anthony Davis's weight.

207
00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,000
Speaker 1: And it's gonna be hard because he's not gonna be

208
00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:12,040
Speaker 1: able to exercise as easily as you would hope. But uh,

209
00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,480
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis got too heavy. I think that was the

210
00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 1: underrated factor in his struggles over the course of the season.

211
00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,920
Speaker 1: Mobility has never been his absolute strength, you know, like

212
00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,040
Speaker 1: he's not like a honest like he's not flying around

213
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,160
Speaker 1: the floor and covering all sorts of ground relative to

214
00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:33,079
Speaker 1: like a wing, but relative to Biggs, he was very mobile,

215
00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,880
Speaker 1: and he got so strong up top he was almost

216
00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,320
Speaker 1: top heavy. His center of gravity moved up, it became

217
00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,840
Speaker 1: easy to push him off his spots, and most importantly,

218
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,720
Speaker 1: his mobility took a dip, and I think it really

219
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:47,760
Speaker 1: really was affecting him in his ability to get to

220
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,800
Speaker 1: the basket. You can trim that weight in a lot

221
00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,160
Speaker 1: of ways. One of the ways you can do it

222
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:57,880
Speaker 1: is just by stopping, just not lifting anymore. And so

223
00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,600
Speaker 1: hopefully over the course of these next two months he

224
00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,880
Speaker 1: can kind of cut that out, watch his diet very carefully,

225
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,520
Speaker 1: do whatever cardio his doctor will allow him to do

226
00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,880
Speaker 1: with his knee rehab, and he can drop a few pounds,

227
00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:12,960
Speaker 1: and even if he just drops five to ten pounds

228
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:18,000
Speaker 1: of muscle, he might be able to come back rested, fresh, lighter,

229
00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,160
Speaker 1: more mobile, and ready to go on a run. Not

230
00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:23,760
Speaker 1: to mention during that time that second month, you know,

231
00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,160
Speaker 1: because that first month he's gonna be resting. In that

232
00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,000
Speaker 1: second month, when he's really just slowly ramping up his movement,

233
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:32,920
Speaker 1: he can go all in on working on his jump

234
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,520
Speaker 1: shot and trying to get back to where he was

235
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,080
Speaker 1: in terms of his confidence in his shot, the way

236
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,199
Speaker 1: he was in the bubble. So again, just in summation,

237
00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:43,880
Speaker 1: I would you have to trade th HT now you

238
00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:45,760
Speaker 1: have to trade him for a guy like Miles Turner.

239
00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,400
Speaker 1: You have to pay whatever the Indiana wants because you

240
00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:52,480
Speaker 1: are now the desperate team. This window is still open.

241
00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,599
Speaker 1: Golden State is beatable. The other teams are very beatable.

242
00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,160
Speaker 1: You have to make a run at this and the

243
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,000
Speaker 1: only way to do it is to stay afloat in

244
00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,520
Speaker 1: the standings, try to get a three or four seed,

245
00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:05,640
Speaker 1: and the only way to do that is to try

246
00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:07,920
Speaker 1: to float this time that Anthony Davis is out, and

247
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,520
Speaker 1: I think you do that by trading th D. I

248
00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:13,520
Speaker 1: really quickly before we get out of here, I wanted

249
00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,720
Speaker 1: to talk about this recent COVID outbreak. And to be clear,

250
00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:18,840
Speaker 1: I'm not about to talk science. I'm not about to

251
00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,680
Speaker 1: talk about my overarching opinions of the way COVID was

252
00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:24,760
Speaker 1: handled by the US, and I'm not about to get

253
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:26,920
Speaker 1: in any of that. You guys know me. I avoid

254
00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,240
Speaker 1: all that stuff with a ten foot poll, not just

255
00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,800
Speaker 1: in the podcast but in my real in my main life.

256
00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,800
Speaker 1: I think it's toxic. I I have opinions on stuff,

257
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,160
Speaker 1: I keep them mostly private. If I do have opinions,

258
00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,840
Speaker 1: I just share them with my wife because she has

259
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,439
Speaker 1: an open ear, and I'm just not interested in confrontation.

260
00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,680
Speaker 1: I enjoy my life devoid of that stuff, so I

261
00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,439
Speaker 1: don't like to talk about it. But with this, particularly

262
00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:51,320
Speaker 1: with the end uh the n b A, I think

263
00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,200
Speaker 1: it's interesting to see the disconnect between the way people

264
00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,840
Speaker 1: on Twitter feel about all of this and the way

265
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,600
Speaker 1: the actual players feel in the way the league feels.

266
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,839
Speaker 1: I tweeted a while back that Brian Windhors had reported

267
00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 1: on the Low Post podcast that there was a big

268
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:12,400
Speaker 1: push behind the scenes from players and coaches and front

269
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,160
Speaker 1: offices to try to let players play with positive tests

270
00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:18,640
Speaker 1: as long as they were vaccinated, and everyone thought that

271
00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,719
Speaker 1: was crazy, But I think it illustrates and by the

272
00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:23,920
Speaker 1: way the NFL just had a similar story come back

273
00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,920
Speaker 1: where NFL players are trying to advocate for being more

274
00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:32,480
Speaker 1: lenient with pulling guys out, especially when they're vaccinated and

275
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,160
Speaker 1: they've tested positive. To me, that illustrates a big chasm

276
00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,360
Speaker 1: between the way people on Twitter feel about the way

277
00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,920
Speaker 1: the NBA is handling the pandemic and the way these

278
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,520
Speaker 1: people actually feel. It's not entirely uncommon. A dirty little

279
00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,920
Speaker 1: secret about Twitter is that there's really not a huge

280
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,160
Speaker 1: representation of the public on Twitter. I remember reading statistic

281
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,040
Speaker 1: I think it was last year that only six percent

282
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,280
Speaker 1: of Americans are active on Twitter. So it's really just

283
00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,320
Speaker 1: a poor representation of what people actually think. I think

284
00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,280
Speaker 1: that's one of the most dangerous things about Twitter, as

285
00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,760
Speaker 1: we get caught kind of in an echo chamber that

286
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,640
Speaker 1: doesn't actually resemble what the real world thinks or what

287
00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:10,920
Speaker 1: the majority of people think. And that's not a right

288
00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,000
Speaker 1: left thing. I think those echo chambers exist on both sides.

289
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,120
Speaker 1: One of the things that I've done on twitters try

290
00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,080
Speaker 1: to follow people on both sides, so I'm constantly inundated

291
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,760
Speaker 1: with the takes from both sides, and you can see

292
00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,800
Speaker 1: there's an echo chamber on both sides and you know that.

293
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,160
Speaker 1: But the point is is that Twitter in and of

294
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:31,600
Speaker 1: itself is never a good indicator of what people actually think.

295
00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,560
Speaker 1: So if you're on your couch and you're watching all

296
00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,280
Speaker 1: these positive tests pile up and you're thinking the league

297
00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,479
Speaker 1: needs to stop, or that there's some sort of crisis

298
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,680
Speaker 1: materializing here, that's not actually the case. There is a

299
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,400
Speaker 1: crisis in the sense that the quality of the television

300
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,000
Speaker 1: project product is struggling, right, Like, guys missing games is

301
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,800
Speaker 1: no good for the quality of what we're watching on TV. However,

302
00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,920
Speaker 1: the league has made it very clear that they're not stopping.

303
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,680
Speaker 1: And one of the biggest reasons why is the league

304
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,720
Speaker 1: is aware of the sentiment of its players. So, for instance,

305
00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:09,240
Speaker 1: I I thought this was crazy when we were talking

306
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:11,760
Speaker 1: about the bubble. Everyone was talking about like why would

307
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:13,800
Speaker 1: we start. There was a bunch of people on Twitter saying,

308
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,440
Speaker 1: why would we restart the the NBA season and the bubble?

309
00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,840
Speaker 1: It's a pointless risk. This is that we're doing this

310
00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:22,360
Speaker 1: just to chase money. And I was one of the

311
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,480
Speaker 1: many people who pointed out, like, hey, the bubble is

312
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,040
Speaker 1: gonna be safer than the real world. The guys in

313
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,280
Speaker 1: there are gonna be obeyed really really strict protocols, and

314
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,280
Speaker 1: guys in the real world just weren't doing that. And

315
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:35,920
Speaker 1: I was proven right, and most I feel like most

316
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:37,560
Speaker 1: people were kind of where I was at on that,

317
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,360
Speaker 1: and the league had zero positive tests inside the bubble

318
00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:43,880
Speaker 1: ended up being a huge success. And the reason why

319
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 1: is because, guess what, these are young, successful professionals, and

320
00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,040
Speaker 1: they don't think the way that Twitter thinks. They like

321
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,560
Speaker 1: going out and doing stuff. They like going to the clubs,

322
00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:56,160
Speaker 1: they like going to bars. They like going to a

323
00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,200
Speaker 1: buddy's house and having a glass of wine. They like,

324
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,760
Speaker 1: you know, being with their family. They like having a

325
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,400
Speaker 1: barbecue like you know, they like going to whatever the

326
00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:05,840
Speaker 1: heck it is that they like to do as activities.

327
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,800
Speaker 1: They have no intention of stopping those things. If you

328
00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:11,960
Speaker 1: pause the league, these guys are gonna go lock themselves

329
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 1: in their houses. They're not gonna go you know, social

330
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,240
Speaker 1: distance and wear masks and never put themselves at risk.

331
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,960
Speaker 1: That's just not reality. If the league pause for a month,

332
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,160
Speaker 1: guys would just continue to get COVID. So the reality

333
00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:27,160
Speaker 1: here is that they just have to find a way

334
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,840
Speaker 1: to slow it down to the point where it can

335
00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,120
Speaker 1: you can have a functional season where the positive tests

336
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:37,000
Speaker 1: are few and far between instead of being a huge

337
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,840
Speaker 1: problem that's going to cause you know, these games where

338
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,640
Speaker 1: you have five G leaguers on the floor filling in

339
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,320
Speaker 1: for guys who are in health and safety protocols. You

340
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:46,640
Speaker 1: just have to find a way to get through this

341
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,280
Speaker 1: next couple of months. And you know, the interesting little

342
00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,120
Speaker 1: sub story here is last season. This was something Joe

343
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:54,680
Speaker 1: l Embiad said and in a postgame interview, he's like,

344
00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,560
Speaker 1: you know, we had all of these good smart rules

345
00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,160
Speaker 1: last year and then we ditched them all and he's like, out,

346
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,680
Speaker 1: this year was unprofessional, And he has a good point

347
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:04,440
Speaker 1: in the sense, and for the record, I'm going to

348
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,680
Speaker 1: defend the league here, you know, Like I think even

349
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,280
Speaker 1: Anthony Faucci and had came out and said that during

350
00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,800
Speaker 1: the pandema, during the vaccination campaigns early in the year,

351
00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:17,480
Speaker 1: in like January and February, I think he said like, hey,

352
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,919
Speaker 1: if we get everybody vaccinated, you know, we're not going

353
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,639
Speaker 1: to have any more surges, Like the surges will be

354
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:24,479
Speaker 1: a thing of the past. And that was kind of

355
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,959
Speaker 1: what everyone was expecting because the original data that came

356
00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,080
Speaker 1: out with the vaccine was so good in terms of

357
00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:32,920
Speaker 1: its ability to avoid infection. Also, when they were doing

358
00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:36,440
Speaker 1: the vaccinations, cases were plumbering and plumbering and plumbering and plumbering.

359
00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,880
Speaker 1: So we all thought that this year would be mostly

360
00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,680
Speaker 1: back to normal, including the NBA. So of course the

361
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:48,520
Speaker 1: players Association negotiated stopping daily testing for people who are vaccinated. Well,

362
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,639
Speaker 1: it turns out that that was a bad decision, but

363
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 1: we didn't know hindsight. It's easy right now to be

364
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,600
Speaker 1: like this was stupid. They were going off of the

365
00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,880
Speaker 1: information that was available at the time. Okay, so now

366
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,400
Speaker 1: here we're at. We we were in a situation where

367
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,560
Speaker 1: we had all these guys who are testing pot and

368
00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:09,639
Speaker 1: who are not testing, who were positive asymptomatic, vaccinated people

369
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,400
Speaker 1: carrying COVID around and spreading it around everybody in these

370
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:14,880
Speaker 1: locker rooms, and so you end up with seventy five

371
00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,760
Speaker 1: people getting COVID in six weeks. So all you have

372
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,360
Speaker 1: to do is adjust to new information. They just need

373
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,479
Speaker 1: to go back to the same protocol as they had

374
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,679
Speaker 1: last year, go back to masking, go back to testing

375
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,400
Speaker 1: every day. If someone in the locker room does get COVID,

376
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:29,880
Speaker 1: then at least you're getting them out of the locker

377
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,159
Speaker 1: room right away instead of waiting for them to infect

378
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,919
Speaker 1: seven people before you can find it. There's an easy

379
00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: fix here. It'll be really really rough for the next

380
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,680
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, which is gonna suck because it's gonna

381
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,399
Speaker 1: hurt the Christmas Day games and it's gonna hurt you know,

382
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,560
Speaker 1: a bunch of Marquee primetime games. And it is what

383
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,119
Speaker 1: it is. But they there is another side. There is

384
00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,720
Speaker 1: a light at the end of this tunnel, and the

385
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,120
Speaker 1: league isn't stopping. They're gonna put the league guys in there.

386
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,200
Speaker 1: They're gonna sign the Isaiah thomas Is and the James

387
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,359
Speaker 1: ennis Is of the world, and they're gonna try to

388
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,640
Speaker 1: make this work. And at the end of the day,

389
00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:04,960
Speaker 1: cases will eventually calm down. Guys. They'll be tested in

390
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:06,879
Speaker 1: the locker room so you won't have outbreaks on the

391
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,360
Speaker 1: teams and things will go back to normal. Just in general,

392
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 1: it's just a general rule of thumb. Never care about

393
00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:17,480
Speaker 1: something more than the person who's actually involved cares about it.

394
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,320
Speaker 1: This is it's it's a way to avoid your own

395
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:24,680
Speaker 1: stress levels. You know. A little short anecdote, I play

396
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,200
Speaker 1: in a men's league on Sundays, and I've been doing

397
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,000
Speaker 1: it for years now and I have a good rhythm

398
00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,600
Speaker 1: and group now. But when I first started doing the

399
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,199
Speaker 1: men's leagues, I used to get really frustrated because I

400
00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,879
Speaker 1: took the game so seriously. I practiced, you know, on

401
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,679
Speaker 1: my individual game, and I went into those games and

402
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,760
Speaker 1: I tried to win them at the best of my ability.

403
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,080
Speaker 1: Why because I'm a former college athlete. It's baked into

404
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,159
Speaker 1: who I am as a competitor, and when I get

405
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,800
Speaker 1: on a basketball court, I'm trying to kill you. That's

406
00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:53,840
Speaker 1: just who I am as a as a guy on

407
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,399
Speaker 1: the court. Well, you know, I would get annoyed that

408
00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:58,439
Speaker 1: some of the guys on my team wouldn't care as

409
00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:00,399
Speaker 1: much as I would, and I wouldn't be something I

410
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:02,919
Speaker 1: said to them directly. I would just complain to my

411
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: wife about it in the car on the way home.

412
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:06,600
Speaker 1: And my wife said something to me, and it was

413
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,679
Speaker 1: so profound. She goes, Honey, don't ever expect them to

414
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 1: care as much as you do. You know, like you

415
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: care a certain amount and that's good for you, But

416
00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:22,280
Speaker 1: to these guys, it's just for fun, you know. And

417
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,680
Speaker 1: it was profound. It's just She's like don't waste time

418
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,160
Speaker 1: caring if someone else doesn't care. And so a couple

419
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:30,040
Speaker 1: I made a couple of changes there. I found a

420
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,080
Speaker 1: couple of other college athletes. So I have three or

421
00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,080
Speaker 1: four guys on my teams now that actually care as

422
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,879
Speaker 1: much as I do. And then with the rest of

423
00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,440
Speaker 1: the guys on the roster, I never allow myself to

424
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,439
Speaker 1: get upset about it. Why because they don't care. And

425
00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,040
Speaker 1: I should never care more than I should never allow

426
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,960
Speaker 1: myself to get upset because I care more than they care.

427
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,479
Speaker 1: And that that's kind of the ideology I would take

428
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:53,719
Speaker 1: that with this. If you're sitting on your couch and

429
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,119
Speaker 1: you're upset that there's so many guys catching COVID in

430
00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:01,560
Speaker 1: the NBA, they don't care. Guys, they don't care. So

431
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,280
Speaker 1: don't allow yourself to get stressed out and get upset

432
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,679
Speaker 1: because they feel a certain way and you don't. Just

433
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,920
Speaker 1: if you're upset about it, you know, you can cope

434
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 1: with that however you want, but you're not going to

435
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,120
Speaker 1: get a reaction out of them when they simply don't care.

436
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:18,760
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that's all I have for today. I'm

437
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 1: gonna post this one immediately because of the news surrounding

438
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 1: a D but I will be there for the postgame

439
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 1: show tomorrow. We're on the road in Chicago. The game

440
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,680
Speaker 1: starts at I think five Pacific Standard times, so plan

441
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 1: on the postgame show right around seven thirty Pacific Standard time.

442
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,880
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate your guys support and I'll see

443
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:36,360
Speaker 1: you tomorrow