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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoops today here at the volume.
Speaker 2: Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all you guys are having a
Speaker 2: great start to your week. Today is Lakers Day. We're
Speaker 2: having my friend Jovan Booja on the show again to
Speaker 2: break down all things Lakers. Are gonna ask him some
Speaker 2: questions about some potential guys returning from injury, the Chicago
Speaker 2: Bulls saga, and then we're gonna dive into the basketball
Speaker 2: and talk about everything that's been going on with this team,
Speaker 2: not just over the last couple of weeks, but over
Speaker 2: the season in general. Yovann, how's it going, man? It
Speaker 2: is good to see you again.
Speaker 3: It's good to see you, man. I'm doing well. How
Speaker 3: are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good? I heard you. I heard you started
Speaker 2: your or you're starting your achilles rehab today. So I'm
Speaker 2: gonna I'm going to not talk about my achilles ramp
Speaker 2: up because mine is from like severe tend tonight as
Speaker 2: you actually to yours. That would make me a huge loser.
Speaker 2: So I'm not going to do that. We're gonna dive
Speaker 2: straight into into Lakers basketball. Let's start with the guy
Speaker 2: that I think is kind of in that same veine.
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt is allegedly ramping up, but Darvin Ham mentioned
Speaker 2: last night that it's a slow ramp up. I'm wondering
Speaker 2: if they're if they're kind of treating that similar to
Speaker 2: Achilles related stuff in the sense that because it's kind
Speaker 2: of in and around his heel, if they're just being
Speaker 2: very careful with it. I was just hoping you could
Speaker 2: give us an update on Jared Vanderbilt and his potential
Speaker 2: return to play.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I feel like I have to give the caveat
Speaker 1: that with any Lakers injury situation, Shin, it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of day to day, and you know, you hear different things,
Speaker 1: and you know a guy will have a setback or
Speaker 1: it just feels like all of these situations that they've
Speaker 1: dealt with really for several years now, have kind of
Speaker 1: been dragged out. I think Kendrick Nunn is the most
Speaker 1: famous example, but with the Vando situation.
Speaker 3: So we spoke.
Speaker 1: Last time we spoke was the day after his announcement
Speaker 1: of him, you know, returning to the court, and I
Speaker 1: had heard that the Lakers were targeting this road trip
Speaker 1: for him to return. But obviously we got a couple
Speaker 1: of games left, it seems unlikely. I wouldn't be shocked
Speaker 1: if maybe he plays in that Okay, see game, but
Speaker 1: it does seem unlikely right now.
Speaker 3: So from what I'm.
Speaker 1: Hearing, next week it is probably the more optimistic end
Speaker 1: of the timeline, and then potentially the week after that,
Speaker 1: depending on I mean again, as you were saying, like
Speaker 1: he's got heelberciitis. So a lot of this is just
Speaker 1: how does fair after you know, getting on the court.
Speaker 1: He's been doing some two on two and three on
Speaker 1: three stuff, some you know, starting to do some contact.
Speaker 1: So I think with him, it's just a matter of
Speaker 1: pain tolerance. How does it respond to being back on
Speaker 1: the floor, how does it respond to contact, and how
Speaker 1: does it respond to treatment? And it's really a day
Speaker 1: by day process of just monitoring that before they're comfortable
Speaker 1: with him being back on the floor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again that specific area, that lower part of
Speaker 2: your heel is like one of the most poorly circulated
Speaker 2: parts of your body. It heals extremely slow down there.
Speaker 2: It's so painstaking. You know. I've heard a lot of
Speaker 2: Laker fans, like non Laker fans, say things like, oh, like,
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt's not going to fix all your problems. And
Speaker 2: I agree in the grand scheme of like the playoff
Speaker 2: ceiling of the team and everything like that, but there's
Speaker 2: no question he's just a huge help in the regular season.
Speaker 2: He is the one top tier high motor athlete that
Speaker 2: they have on the roster. The other two guys, Cam
Speaker 2: Reddish and Ex Christy, they're both a little bit on
Speaker 2: the smaller side, where Jared Vanderbilt brings real length and
Speaker 2: size and athleticism and motor and that's like one of
Speaker 2: the most valuable things that a basketball team can have
Speaker 2: in the regular season. So I think him coming back
Speaker 2: will help them with some of the day and day
Speaker 2: out effort stuff, which we're gonna talk about in a
Speaker 2: little bit. The next guy, Ruby Hotchi Mura had a
Speaker 2: nasal fracture, I guess, and apparently had a procedure done.
Speaker 2: Where is he at in his potential return.
Speaker 1: This one came out of nowhere because I didn't notice
Speaker 1: a Ruey hit to the face in that Dallas game.
Speaker 1: You know, he wasn't bleeding to my knowledge, and I
Speaker 1: think you would have noticed something like that. So that
Speaker 1: was kind of a freak accident that happened. But he's
Speaker 1: going to be reevaluated in a week, which would put
Speaker 1: him potentially returning for that Houston game, if not for
Speaker 1: the wild card game next Tuesday, in the start of
Speaker 1: the playing tournament. So I suspect Ruey will be back
Speaker 1: for one of those two games, most likely wearing a mask.
Speaker 1: But this was another like this kind of sums up
Speaker 1: the Lakers. They're already dealing with, you know, Vandoh and
Speaker 1: Gabe Ham.
Speaker 3: Goes out, Ruey goes out.
Speaker 1: It's just like one guy after the other with these random,
Speaker 1: sort of freak injuries that they've had. But Ruey is
Speaker 1: the one that Ruey and Cam could be back by
Speaker 1: the end of the week, and so on that front,
Speaker 1: at least the Lakers should have some reinforcements soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, i'd heard that. I guess. I guess Cam b
Speaker 2: Reddish has actually dealt with growing issues in the past
Speaker 2: who he's just been particularly careful with his I'm excited
Speaker 2: to see masked Ruey. I think that's gonna be fun
Speaker 2: to watch. And again, Ruey and Ruey and Jared in
Speaker 2: particular are both very important for the regular season, and
Speaker 2: I think I think that's gonna be something that will
Speaker 2: help at least steady the ship on the night to
Speaker 2: night stuff. Well, there is this other guy who plays
Speaker 2: for the Lakers. His name is Gabe Vincent. I know
Speaker 2: we don't remember this because he's only played in four
Speaker 2: games this season, but is he still on the team,
Speaker 2: Is he still going to be playing basketball anytime soon?
Speaker 2: Where are we at with Gabe Vincent and his return
Speaker 2: to play?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so he's said to be reevaluated by the end
Speaker 1: of the week, and from that point there should be
Speaker 1: an update. This is the one that I don't have
Speaker 1: a great sense of the timeline on, and people have
Speaker 1: been comparing him to Kendrick Nunn. Both guys came over
Speaker 1: from Miami. So I mean, with left effusion, it's kind
Speaker 1: of this weird thing with swelling and again kind of
Speaker 1: just how he's handling the you know, he had PRP
Speaker 1: treatment done to his knee and it's just it's one
Speaker 1: of those situations where it is kind of again, kind
Speaker 1: of a treatment based thing in terms of just how
Speaker 1: his body responds. So Gabe is the one that I
Speaker 1: think there's an unclear timeline on right now, and I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if he's out a bit longer. But
Speaker 1: that could be next week, that could be several weeks.
Speaker 1: Right now, it's pretty up in the air.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: One of the things with Gabe too is his return
Speaker 2: actually makes the most sense after Jared Vanderbilt has returned,
Speaker 2: just with the direction the team is gone, in the
Speaker 2: sense that they've got more towards staggering Austin and d
Speaker 2: Low and playing one of their good point of attack
Speaker 2: guys at the two. And that's not to say that
Speaker 2: I don't think Gabe can do that, but I think
Speaker 2: Cam and Max have been better than even Gabe is
Speaker 2: capable of, just from a size standpoint. And so in
Speaker 2: a weird way, having Vanderbilt back to kind of take
Speaker 2: some of those primary point of attack assignments so that
Speaker 2: you know, because like the slotting has worked really well
Speaker 2: in the sense that Max Christy has been so good
Speaker 2: at the point of attack over the last few games,
Speaker 2: and I watched the film this morning. He was not
Speaker 2: responsible for that complete shit show. Defensively, in the first half,
Speaker 2: it was basically everybody else. And so with Max being
Speaker 2: able to kind of take the higher difficulty assignments, that
Speaker 2: has slotted Torrian better and he's been able to handle
Speaker 2: lesser assignments in the minutes that he's been out there
Speaker 2: with them, right, And so that's kind of the way
Speaker 2: I look at it, is like, if Gabe is your
Speaker 2: primary point of attack guy that's getting minutes there next
Speaker 2: to Tory, and it can be a problem. But if
Speaker 2: Jared's out there and he could take the more difficult assignment,
Speaker 2: that makes more sense. So like, in a weird way,
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure that he'd be as useful now
Speaker 2: as he can be when Jared comes back. The final
Speaker 2: part of this before we get into some of the
Speaker 2: basketball stuff, and this is not really directly related to
Speaker 2: the Lakers, although you and I both believe so in
Speaker 2: kind of the grand scheme, the Chicago Bulls are still
Speaker 2: a shit show and they are in all likelihood going
Speaker 2: to blow things up this year. So I want to
Speaker 2: talk about it first from the perspective of what you've
Speaker 2: been hearing within the Lakers and what your sense is
Speaker 2: on the direction they're leaning. And then I want you
Speaker 2: and I to talk about which Chicago Bulls players we
Speaker 2: think the Lakers should target. But let's start with the
Speaker 2: Lakers and what you've heard and what your sense of
Speaker 2: the situation is, What is their read on Chicago and
Speaker 2: who they prefer in that specific situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, in conversations I've had in recent weeks regarding
Speaker 1: the Bulls, there is real interest in Zach Lavine, but
Speaker 1: I think it comes at the right price, right, So
Speaker 1: if you look at his contract, he's owed. I mean
Speaker 1: take put aside the forty million that he's making this year,
Speaker 1: but it's about one hundred and thirty plus million over
Speaker 1: the next three years. He's got like a fifty something
Speaker 1: million dollar player option that I think he's going to
Speaker 1: pick up in twenty twenty six, twenty seven. So they're
Speaker 1: looking at it like if we're investing in this, like
Speaker 1: this is kind of a negative contract, right, So we
Speaker 1: don't want to give up too much in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, our depth and draft capital, and they are limited,
Speaker 1: of course, and when they can give up certain players,
Speaker 1: and then on top of that, they don't have much
Speaker 1: draft capital to include anyway. So I've actually heard that
Speaker 1: they're more interested in DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. That
Speaker 1: was something I reported a couple of weeks ago. And
Speaker 1: I mean, Ac he's the one that got away Laker fans.
Speaker 1: Still it still bothers them inside the organization. It's still
Speaker 1: a very divisive topic in terms of his departure and
Speaker 1: why that happened and who's to blame, and it's just
Speaker 1: kind of a thorny situation still. And then Damar is
Speaker 1: someone that the Lakers have courted for several years now,
Speaker 1: dating back to you know, originally Toronto and then San
Speaker 1: Antonio and now in Chicago. So also both of those
Speaker 1: guys are on more manageable contracts. Alex has a partial
Speaker 1: guarantee for next season, Damar is an expiring contract. So
Speaker 1: you look at Damar comes in, he's that over the
Speaker 1: top shot maker that the team seemingly doesn't really have
Speaker 1: outside of when Lebron's jumper is falling. I think he's
Speaker 1: someone that could be a crunch time option for them
Speaker 1: and kind of balance out Lebron's you know, pick and
Speaker 1: roll attacks. And then Alex Cruso one of the best
Speaker 1: point of attack defenders in the league, one of the
Speaker 1: best perimeter defenders in the league period, so we've seen
Speaker 1: the success he's had next to Lebron in a Lakers jersey.
Speaker 1: So I think both of those guys make more sense
Speaker 1: within what the Lakers need. I think with Zach you
Speaker 1: could see the fit there as the third guy. I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers haven't had that third reliable offensive option,
Speaker 1: uh you know this season. I think Austin has grown
Speaker 1: into that more recently, and that was what we were
Speaker 1: expecting from Game one, but with the start, you know,
Speaker 1: the struggles of that starting group, them moving Austin to
Speaker 1: the bench, I think that they've kind of needed that
Speaker 1: third guy, and I think Austin could do it. But
Speaker 1: whether you get Zach, whether you get the mar, whether
Speaker 1: you get someone else, I do think they could use
Speaker 1: a boost offensively. So I think there's there's real interest
Speaker 1: in all three guys, but from what I've been told,
Speaker 1: Damar and Alex are higher on their priority list.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm glad to hear you say that, because,
Speaker 2: like I, here's the thing in a vacuum. I lean
Speaker 2: Zach for a couple of reasons One, Lebron's gonna have
Speaker 2: the ball at the end of a lot of these
Speaker 2: games and in big moments, and he as like I
Speaker 2: think about like the two man game stuff that Austin
Speaker 2: and Lebron have had so much success with, like ghost
Speaker 2: screens and slipping out of it. They did a lot
Speaker 2: of that in the playoffs last year too. I imagine
Speaker 2: Zach is kind of a more high powered offensive version
Speaker 2: of that type of game, and Austin's so good off
Speaker 2: the ball that that can work great. I also Jamar
Speaker 2: Derosen as a over the top shot maker. Like last
Speaker 2: year he made about forty seven percent of his pull
Speaker 2: up jump shots, which even though he only takes long twos,
Speaker 2: that's still pretty good. But this year his pull up
Speaker 2: shooting his way down. And so I just look at
Speaker 2: like Zach's playing at a level that's a little bit
Speaker 2: higher than where Damar is right now. I do like
Speaker 2: Damar as a passer better, and then on ball, I
Speaker 2: think he just in general is a better half court
Speaker 2: shot creator than Zach is, but off the ball and
Speaker 2: playing off of Lebron specifically, I like Zak is a
Speaker 2: fit better. But the contract stuff that you mentioned is
Speaker 2: super important. Like you can imagine a scenario where you
Speaker 2: bring in Damar and then you retain him on a
Speaker 2: team friendly deal because you have his bird rights and
Speaker 2: you can bring him back at you know, twenty million
Speaker 2: for four years or some than like that after the season,
Speaker 2: Like you have flexibility by bringing in his salary as
Speaker 2: in expiring in a way that helps you maintain the
Speaker 2: ability to build around Anthony Davis into the future. So
Speaker 2: I just think, like, at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: you bank on a guy like DeMar this initial you know,
Speaker 2: month or so of the season being kind of fluky,
Speaker 2: and him getting his shot back and kind of figuring
Speaker 2: things out, and then that just being a better option
Speaker 2: for you down the line. The Alex Caruso piece, I think,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't think it necessarily has to be Alex,
Speaker 2: but he's the type of player they need, which is
Speaker 2: like an excellent two way off ball player that can
Speaker 2: take primary point of attack assignments, can play off of
Speaker 2: Lebron as a cutter and as a shooter, and just
Speaker 2: in general, is that like high motor athlete that we've
Speaker 2: been talking about so much. That said, the problem with
Speaker 2: Alex specifically is like you think of him as a
Speaker 2: two next to Austin, and we've already seen kind of
Speaker 2: with with Torian at the three, it looks a little small,
Speaker 2: looks a little bit like they struggle rebounding in those situations.
Speaker 2: Jared in there fixes a lot of the defense and
Speaker 2: rebound situations, but then you have the offensive questions surrounding him,
Speaker 2: And so a lot of times I kind of lean
Speaker 2: more towards looking for a bigger three and d wing
Speaker 2: because then you can put Torri in at the two,
Speaker 2: where he's actually been more successful this season. And so
Speaker 2: in a weird way, like when it comes to the
Speaker 2: Bowls potential packages, all three of those players kind of
Speaker 2: have a big kind of like question mark beau Zack's
Speaker 2: contract and his knee, DeMar's kind of shooting this season,
Speaker 2: and whatever it would cost to retain him, and then
Speaker 2: Alex and just whether or not that's exactly the type
Speaker 2: of player they should be looking at or not. Like
Speaker 2: so it's complicated, and that just kind of leads me
Speaker 2: to where if it's the right deal and you don't
Speaker 2: have to overspend and it makes sense in terms of
Speaker 2: the salaries, you do it, but you don't overpay for
Speaker 2: any of those guys. I would look at that as
Speaker 2: more of a trade of opportunity rather than a trade
Speaker 2: of aggression, if that makes sense. So that's kind of
Speaker 2: the direction I look with the Bulls. And then I
Speaker 2: do think though that you and I have set this
Speaker 2: in in both of the shows we've done already, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure you still agree, which is, I do think
Speaker 2: this team eventually does need to make some sort of trade.
Speaker 2: I think that that has been kind of, like, you know,
Speaker 2: one of the safest bets in this NBA season the
Speaker 2: minute they resigned D'Angelo Russell, And I think that's kind
Speaker 2: of the direction we're going. Would you agree in that sense? Still?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so, especially with I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll get into the Philly loss and you
Speaker 1: know Lebron saying they need to make a lot of changes.
Speaker 3: I think I think something is coming down the road.
Speaker 2: So moving out of this Philly loss. So they dig
Speaker 2: a huge hole and then they proceeded to get their
Speaker 2: butts kicked anyway all the way through to the finish.
Speaker 2: This third time this happened the season where they dug
Speaker 2: a big hole and then they weren't able to dig
Speaker 2: out of it. They kind of got killed when Sacramento
Speaker 2: came into town about a week ago or a week
Speaker 2: and a half ago, and then when they went into
Speaker 2: Orlando this happened, and then going into Philly this happened.
Speaker 2: But one of the consistent themes throughout the season is
Speaker 2: they've dug holes even in their wins and even in
Speaker 2: the games they've had a chance to win. I dug
Speaker 2: into the today because I wanted to kind of demonstrate
Speaker 2: this because it really is insane. They beat Houston about
Speaker 2: a week ago, they dug an eleven point hole in
Speaker 2: that game. They beat Portland, they dug an eight point
Speaker 2: hole in that game, which again not that big of
Speaker 2: a hole. But against Portland, it's like, why why are
Speaker 2: you going down by eight against Portland? Like that just
Speaker 2: should not happen. Right the second win against Phoenix, they
Speaker 2: dug a fourteen point hole in that game. When they
Speaker 2: beat the Clippers, they dug a nineteen point hole in
Speaker 2: that game. When they beat the Orlando Magic at home
Speaker 2: in the game early in the season, they dug a
Speaker 2: eight point hole in the second half of that game.
Speaker 2: When they beat Phoenix the first time, they dug a
Speaker 2: twelve point hole in that game. Even in the clutch
Speaker 2: lost to Dallas, which they led in the final minute
Speaker 2: and lost on a Kyrie Irving game winning three. They
Speaker 2: dug a twenty point hole in that game. The Miami
Speaker 2: Heat game where we had Cam Reddish miss the wide
Speaker 2: open three and Austin Reeves missed a couple of really
Speaker 2: good looks down the stretch. They dug a twelve point
Speaker 2: hole in that game. In the Sacramento loss at the
Speaker 2: one that went to ot early in the season, they
Speaker 2: dug a fifteen point hole in that game and still
Speaker 2: had a chance to win it late.
Speaker 3: And so like you basically listed every game at this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like six of their ten wins they dug substantial holes,
Speaker 2: and they are seven and three in crunch time. They've
Speaker 2: been one of the very they have been the fourth
Speaker 2: best clutch team in the league by net rating. They've
Speaker 2: been excellent on both ends of the floor. And literally
Speaker 2: all three of their losses they frantically dug out of
Speaker 2: a hole and then barely lost and had a chance
Speaker 2: to win. And so, like you know, it's one of
Speaker 2: those things where I think, and this is I want
Speaker 2: to I want to get into this for a little
Speaker 2: bit because I find it to be really fascinating. So
Speaker 2: before we get into some of the details, I just
Speaker 2: want to ask you this is the team aware that
Speaker 2: this specifically is a problem. Are they doing anything to
Speaker 2: address it or are they downplaying it within the locker room?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think them trying to address it was
Speaker 1: moving Austin Reeves to the bench and playing some of
Speaker 1: the bigger lineups that you've seen recently with Tory and
Speaker 1: Prince at the two. Now the last couple of games,
Speaker 1: they've been limited in terms of lineup flexibility with so
Speaker 1: many guys being out, particularly I mean Bandos missed the
Speaker 1: whole season, ruly has now missed almost half the season
Speaker 1: with how many games he's been out. Cam's missed the
Speaker 1: last three games. So those are three bigger, rangier wings
Speaker 1: that I think give you a certain level of lineup flexibility.
Speaker 1: This team has shown through the first eighteen games that
Speaker 1: they play better, bigger, like that that is their identity,
Speaker 1: kind of similar to last season, similar to the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty team, Like they've played better with a defensive identity,
Speaker 1: more size on the floor, just kind of mashing you.
Speaker 1: You've seen that the rebounding has picked up. They haven't
Speaker 1: been as susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds, second chance
Speaker 1: points when they've had at least kind of like a
Speaker 1: ten man rotation. So I think there are some positive
Speaker 1: trends there, but the slow starts, and based on Lebron's
Speaker 1: comments last night, like I have to wonder if they
Speaker 1: consider a starting lineup change again and whether that's Torian,
Speaker 1: whether that's de Lo. You know, I would suspect probably
Speaker 1: more likely Torian than Dlo, but like something's got to
Speaker 1: change where you can't keep getting down, Like I think
Speaker 1: Darvin has kind of downplayed it in some of his
Speaker 1: comments with us in the rest of the media in
Speaker 1: terms of, you know, it's not about who starts, it's
Speaker 1: about who closes, and like you know, he'll look for
Speaker 1: kind of reasons to justify it at times. But it's
Speaker 1: a problem if you're consistently down eight to twelve to
Speaker 1: upwards of fifteen or even twenty points in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: and we know Lebron and ad are the starting locks.
Speaker 3: Those guys are good.
Speaker 1: I think Max has played pretty well over the last
Speaker 1: couple of games as a spot starter, so I think
Speaker 1: you have to look at Torrian has really struggled at
Speaker 1: the three spot. He's shooting under thirty percent on threes,
Speaker 1: So I think that's something longer term. Where is cam
Speaker 1: you know, this camera place him. I think Van Do
Speaker 1: is going to go back to starting ultimately, but the
Speaker 1: Lakers I think have to probably make another starting lineup
Speaker 1: change at some point, or at least something within the
Speaker 1: early parts of the rotation because right now, those first
Speaker 1: six to eight minutes every game, consistently, they're just getting outplayed.
Speaker 1: And it's not like, again, you know that they're down
Speaker 1: twelve to eight, like a lot of times it's twenty
Speaker 1: two to eight or something along those lines. So like
Speaker 1: that is a consistent problem that has hurt them all season,
Speaker 1: and I think last night was kind of the nader
Speaker 1: of the season and you got to really, I think
Speaker 1: evaluate or reevaluate at some point because this isn't again,
Speaker 1: this isn't a four game sample, a six game sample,
Speaker 1: an eight game sample. This has been eighteen games of
Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen of those they've trailed by double digits.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that specifically is the part that's difficult to
Speaker 2: parse out right is how much of it is related
Speaker 2: to legitimate personnel weaknesses and how much of it is
Speaker 2: related to effort. And I do think it's a little
Speaker 2: bit of both, but like when I watched the film,
Speaker 2: it's consistently a lack of effort to start games. And
Speaker 2: one of the problems they have is Anthony Davis can
Speaker 2: ebb and flow an effort. Now, his lower defensive effort
Speaker 2: is still deeply impactful compared to the vast majority of
Speaker 2: defensive players in the NBA, but even he can kind
Speaker 2: of ebb and flow, like I thought, I thought he
Speaker 2: was generally just not really fighting to hold his ground
Speaker 2: against Embiid at all last night's game, as Embiid was
Speaker 2: trying to basically bully him to the basket. He just
Speaker 2: kind of was tissue paper in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2: And I've just seen I've seen ad do a much
Speaker 2: better job on Embiid than he did in that game.
Speaker 2: Lebron James in particular was making zero efforts off the
Speaker 2: ball to start last night's game, and then D'Angelo Russell
Speaker 2: in particular was really really struggling, and so some of
Speaker 2: that you got to accept as the reality of the
Speaker 2: short term. Austin has become a better defensive player than
Speaker 2: d Lo. Over the past few weeks, we've criticized Austin
Speaker 2: for his defense to start the year. I believe that
Speaker 2: his criticisms were legitimate. His activity on the glass and
Speaker 2: defensively at the point of attack has gone up a
Speaker 2: level over the last couple of weeks. D'Angelo Russell is
Speaker 2: more or less where he's been the entire season. And
Speaker 2: so when you start games out with D'Angelo Russell and
Speaker 2: Lebron James, is two guys that are kind of just
Speaker 2: feeling things out right and not really doing much. Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis defending, but not all world Anthony Davis that we
Speaker 2: know he's capable of being. And then you have one
Speaker 2: high motor guy in Nex Christie out there and then
Speaker 2: Torrean Prince, who's an average athlete with an average motor.
Speaker 2: I think that specifically is a recipe for a disaster. Now,
Speaker 2: the obvious solution is if you were to bring Jared
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt into that situation, you have your high motor athlete.
Speaker 2: But we saw the Sixers last night do a lot
Speaker 2: of ignoring Max Christi, in particular in the early portion
Speaker 2: of the game, and they're certainly going to do the
Speaker 2: same thing with Cam Reddish, and they're certainly going to
Speaker 2: do the same thing with Jared Vanderbilt. Around the league,
Speaker 2: and so then you run into this issue where maybe
Speaker 2: you bring in the athleticism and motor that you need
Speaker 2: in the starting lineup, but now you run into problems
Speaker 2: with the offense and just the s in general. And
Speaker 2: so they're not gonna move Austin into Delo's position, even
Speaker 2: though Austin's been playing better than Dlo because of all
Speaker 2: of the reasons that we've discussed in the past involving
Speaker 2: the ego, and so some of this is like I
Speaker 2: have to almost tell Laker fans like they're the Lakers
Speaker 2: are telling you through their effort that they don't really
Speaker 2: view this as all that important. And part of it
Speaker 2: is like they literally were blow five hundred all year
Speaker 2: last year and made the Western Conference Finals. So this
Speaker 2: is a team that like never really truly feels threatened
Speaker 2: during the regular season. So as fans, you got to
Speaker 2: adjust your expectations in a lot of ways because they
Speaker 2: do not have an easy personnel fix to this problem.
Speaker 2: After the deadline, if they do upgrade d Loo into
Speaker 2: a high motor athlete, now you're in a situation where
Speaker 2: it could be Austin Reeves as a starting guard who
Speaker 2: is playing better. In the details, than d Loo is right,
Speaker 2: you have Jared Vanderbilt in the starting lineup, you have
Speaker 2: a guy who's a much better offensive player, two way
Speaker 2: play athlete at the two that you get back from
Speaker 2: d Lo, and then you have Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Suddenly,
Speaker 2: I think you would have a much easier time floating
Speaker 2: the night and night out efforts stuff in the regular season.
Speaker 2: But that's not happened until February, and so like at
Speaker 2: a certain point, like I kind of just think this
Speaker 2: is what they're gonna be until then, because they're always
Speaker 2: gonna be in this predicament of their high motor guys
Speaker 2: can't score, and when they put their offensive guys on
Speaker 2: the floor, they don't play hard enough. But then again,
Speaker 2: we see every single game they're the second best defense
Speaker 2: in the NBA and second halves this year, so much
Speaker 2: so that they were before the Philly game, and then
Speaker 2: even though they got boat raced in the second half
Speaker 2: of the Philly game and give up a million points,
Speaker 2: they're still the second best defense in the league in
Speaker 2: second halves. They eventually lock in. They just don't do
Speaker 2: it until it's like, Okay, we absolutely have to now
Speaker 2: if we're gonna have any chance to win this game.
Speaker 2: And then you even see d Lo and you even
Speaker 2: see Lebron and some of the lower level guys start
Speaker 2: to make additional efforts and make plays, and so like,
Speaker 2: some of this is just you got to accept the reality.
Speaker 2: But counterpoint is who won the title last year? A
Speaker 2: one seed Denver Nuggets, who won the title the year
Speaker 2: before that, A one seed the Golden State Warriors who
Speaker 2: won the title the year before that. A one seed
Speaker 2: the Milwaukee Bucks who won the title book the year
Speaker 2: before that, a one seed the Los Angeleslikers. So like
Speaker 2: NBA history tells us, like, if you want a chill, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can do a playoff run, and you might be
Speaker 2: able to make it to the finals or make it
Speaker 2: to the Western Conference finals. But the team that wins
Speaker 2: is the team that from day one of the NBA
Speaker 2: season to the end of the regular season goes. We
Speaker 2: are using this eighty two to practice being awesome at
Speaker 2: basketball so that when we get to the playoffs, we're
Speaker 2: ready for this. And so, like I would just say,
Speaker 2: from a strictly basketball character standpoint, this team is throwing
Speaker 2: up all sorts of red flags that they don't give
Speaker 2: a shit and at a certain point that should tell
Speaker 2: us a lot about what this team is capable of
Speaker 2: in the big picture.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like they're playing like a team that won the
Speaker 1: championship last year, right and is in its title defense.
Speaker 1: And it kind of reminds me of some of those
Speaker 1: you know, mid twenty ten Warriors teams that got off
Speaker 1: to slower starts in the regular season, or some of
Speaker 1: those early two thousands Lakers teams where you know, the
Speaker 1: first year they won the championship, they won sixty seven games,
Speaker 1: the next year they won fifty six, and you just
Speaker 1: kind of see that from defending champions where but this
Speaker 1: team isn't a defending champion. Like they had a historic turnaround.
Speaker 1: They made the Western Conference finals, had a great finish
Speaker 1: to the season, But like I still think, you know,
Speaker 1: you can go one of two ways where they come out.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll see a team make a deep playoff run
Speaker 1: and the next year they come out like gangbusters and
Speaker 1: they start the season sixteen and four, and you know
Speaker 1: they're playing with that hunger of you know, we didn't
Speaker 1: reach our ultimate goal last year, and the Lakers have
Speaker 1: almost come out the opposite way kind of to your point,
Speaker 1: and it's sort of like, well, we know we can
Speaker 1: kind of flip the switch, and they kind of like,
Speaker 1: I don't think they did that at the end of
Speaker 1: last season, but there were several games last year like
Speaker 1: they kind of had this comeback resilient identity of no
Speaker 1: matter how much they were down, they could turn it up,
Speaker 1: ramp it up defensively, get out and transition and overcome that.
Speaker 1: And they had several notable comebacks after the trade deadline
Speaker 1: last year.
Speaker 3: And I think that's that's still clearly in their.
Speaker 1: DNA with some of the comeback some of the comebacks
Speaker 1: that they've been able to have this season. But then
Speaker 1: you run into a really good Philly team that's big,
Speaker 1: that has two guys playing at All Star, if not
Speaker 1: all NBA levels and EMBIID and MAXI, and you see
Speaker 1: what happens. You have a historic forty four point loss,
Speaker 1: tied for fourth biggest deficit in Lakers history, and the
Speaker 1: worst loss of Lebron James's career. And like, that's what
Speaker 1: happens when you don't, as Darvin said, last night, meet
Speaker 1: force with force. So I think that's kind of been
Speaker 1: a consistent trend for them, as you were saying, even
Speaker 1: against the Portlands of the world. It hasn't just been
Speaker 1: the Philly and like even the Portland. Like a couple
Speaker 1: of those games, it was like they sort of just
Speaker 1: one with their talent and just being a much better
Speaker 1: team than Portland, even if they aren't trying their hardest.
Speaker 1: So this is something they have to address, whether it's
Speaker 1: now or down the road. I think it is one
Speaker 1: of the things that I've been slightly concerned with to
Speaker 1: start the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if I was coaching the team, what
Speaker 2: I would do to float things until the deadline is
Speaker 2: when Jared comes back, I'd move Austin into the starting
Speaker 2: lineup and I'd go with your same core five that
Speaker 2: you ran at the end of last season. Why because
Speaker 2: on a night in, night out, basis Jared bringing that
Speaker 2: Austin more or less defending and rebounding the way he
Speaker 2: has over the last couple of weeks. I think there's
Speaker 2: enough of that in that lineup to make it work.
Speaker 2: But post deadline, the goal has to be if Austin
Speaker 2: is your one and Lebron's you're four and eighty is
Speaker 2: your five. You need two top tier athletes at the
Speaker 2: two and the three that are both plus offensive players
Speaker 2: just as role player guys. I don't know if that
Speaker 2: ends up being Torrian Prince and Jeremy Grant, or Torrian
Speaker 2: Prince and Dorian Finney Smith, or whether it ends up,
Speaker 2: you know, being a Toryan Prince at the three and
Speaker 2: getting more of like an athletic guard or somebody like that.
Speaker 2: But you just can't go forward. It's not tenable anymore.
Speaker 2: And the Lebron and ad era to be unathletic in
Speaker 2: your starting lineup, because when you're unathletic and you don't
Speaker 2: play hard, you're gonna get your ass kicked in the
Speaker 2: modern NBA. It really is that. It really is that
Speaker 2: simple to me, and so I'm interested to see how
Speaker 2: they address that. I will say the last thing on
Speaker 2: this before we move on to our game. Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 2: will help a lot with this regular season stuff doesn't
Speaker 2: have anything to do with their ultimate playoff ceiling in
Speaker 2: my opinion, unless Jared Vanderbilt turns into a thirty eight
Speaker 2: percent corner three point shooter, which I don't think is
Speaker 2: going to happen. So like, I don't think it's a
Speaker 2: take about what the Lakers are capable of, but the
Speaker 2: night in, night out stuff he's just going to help
Speaker 2: so much. I know we've said that like six times
Speaker 2: in the show, but it's just important because it is
Speaker 2: a legitimate loss that this team has been dealing with.
Speaker 2: All Right, So we're gonna move forward to this game.
Speaker 2: This game is called something or nothing. Here's what I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do. I'm going to give Yovan a trend mostly
Speaker 2: just facts being laid out, and Yovann's gonna tell me
Speaker 2: whether or not that trend is something meaning like something
Speaker 2: legitimate that needs to be factored in moving forward, or
Speaker 2: nothing meaning it's just a blip and it's not anything
Speaker 2: to be concerned about and the Lakers shouldn't worry about it.
Speaker 2: So our first question, Max Christie and Cam Reddish have
Speaker 2: shown flashes of really high level point of attack defense
Speaker 2: even against particularly tough assignments. I think I think that
Speaker 2: Max Christie in particular has gone through the ringer in
Speaker 2: this last week and has shown some really high level stuff. Obviously,
Speaker 2: that's one of the biggest personnel needs on this roster.
Speaker 2: Is that trend something or nothing for the Lakers?
Speaker 3: I think it's something.
Speaker 1: I think that both guys, I mean, we talked about
Speaker 1: before the season, how high both of us were on
Speaker 1: Max Christy after his summer league performance, the flashes that
Speaker 1: he showed last season, and I think you've started to
Speaker 1: see that over the past week that he's been thrown
Speaker 1: into the starting group. I still think he has a
Speaker 1: ways to go in terms of his development. But for
Speaker 1: a guy who's only twenty years old in his second
Speaker 1: NBA season to be defending Donovan Mitchell and hold him
Speaker 1: to one of seven shooting and be defending him in
Speaker 1: crunch time, like, I just thought that showed me a lot.
Speaker 1: And then Cam has been a revelation since joining the
Speaker 1: starting lineup, And you know, that was someone that I
Speaker 1: was pretty skeptical of the Cam Retish signing, you know,
Speaker 1: based on talking to people who had covered him before,
Speaker 1: been around him before, and just didn't you felt like
Speaker 1: he had a very mid range heavy game, and I
Speaker 1: think you saw some of that in the preseason, But
Speaker 1: the Lakers have simplified his role as you know, you
Speaker 1: are gonna take catch and shoot threes, you will finish
Speaker 1: in transition. You'll get some back cuts and some offensive rebounds,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, like we don't want you
Speaker 1: putting the ball on the floor, we don't want you
Speaker 1: taking these pull up mid range jumpers that you love
Speaker 1: to take, and then defensively, like you're that guy, You're
Speaker 1: our point of attack guy. You're going to guard the
Speaker 1: best perimeter defender, and we want you to focus on
Speaker 1: really just taking threes and you know, defending your ass off.
Speaker 1: And I think he's done that so far. He's I mean,
Speaker 1: before his injury, he had led the league and steals
Speaker 1: in the month of November, and I thought he was
Speaker 1: playing at a really really high level and starting to
Speaker 1: kind of actualize his potential.
Speaker 3: In the NBA.
Speaker 1: So both of those guys, to me, deserve to be
Speaker 1: in the rotation. And I don't know like what that
Speaker 1: means for a guy. Again, we were talking about Torri
Speaker 1: and Prince and some of his struggles when Vanda comes back,
Speaker 1: like you know, do you just go giant and it's
Speaker 1: maybe fewer minutes for d Lo, fewer minutes for Gabe,
Speaker 1: and just more Austin at the one with these jumbo
Speaker 1: lineups of like Austin and Max in the back court,
Speaker 1: Austin and Cam the back court, Austin Andrean in the
Speaker 1: back court, and you're playing basically, you know, six or
Speaker 1: five and up guys in your rotation, which is something
Speaker 1: we saw the championship team do and have some success
Speaker 1: with for the most part. So I think this is
Speaker 1: something for sure.
Speaker 2: So I think it's something within the context of the
Speaker 2: regular season in the sense that, like I think both
Speaker 2: Max and Cam have shown that in a night out
Speaker 2: night a night in, night out kind of context, they
Speaker 2: can bring effort and energy and they're both great point
Speaker 2: of attack defenders. In my opinion, Cam Reddish coming out
Speaker 2: of college at Duke, that was the most exciting thing
Speaker 2: about him was he was really laterally quick, and he
Speaker 2: had good physical tools, and he could sidle up and
Speaker 2: over screens pretty well. Like that was the number one
Speaker 2: thing that stood out about him coming out of out
Speaker 2: of college. Max, as we've talked about, it's the same combination.
Speaker 2: He's surprisingly strong, absorbs contact well, has good length, and
Speaker 2: moves his feet really well, and played really hard all
Speaker 2: the time. That said, everything we know about NBA history,
Speaker 2: he tells us, if you've got a really young player
Speaker 2: that has some offensive limitations that you're relying on in
Speaker 2: a postseason series, you might as well just check him
Speaker 2: off as being just almost useless, at least within the
Speaker 2: context of the important stretches of games. It's one thing
Speaker 2: for them to come off the bench for you know,
Speaker 2: one shift to half and play really hard against the
Speaker 2: bench guy for the other team. But like, I think
Speaker 2: if either I think if the Lakers are expecting that, like, oh,
Speaker 2: Jared's gonna come back and Torrian's gonna move to the
Speaker 2: bench and Max or Cam is going to be our two,
Speaker 2: I think that would be a really bad idea. I
Speaker 2: think in the big picture, they're both perfectly fine as
Speaker 2: bench point of attack guys in the rotation, But relying
Speaker 2: on them to be consistent, starting, starting level production, especially
Speaker 2: as we get into the postseason, I think is I
Speaker 2: think that would be nothing like I think. I think
Speaker 2: I think both guys would struggle heavily in a playoff
Speaker 2: series in big minutes, is what I'm saying. The second question,
Speaker 2: this one, this one's a tough one for me post deadline.
Speaker 2: Last year, in twenty seven games, including seventeen games coming
Speaker 2: off of the BETCH, similar context to what's happening right now,
Speaker 2: Austin Reeves averaged seventeen points and five assists per game
Speaker 2: on seventy three percent through shooting. Last year, in sixteen
Speaker 2: playoff games, he averaged seventeen points and five assists on
Speaker 2: sixty two percent through shooting, down from the regular season,
Speaker 2: but still excellent. This season, in eighteen games, hasn't missed
Speaker 2: a game, so he's had plenty of time to kind
Speaker 2: of build rhythm. He's averaging fourteen points and five assists
Speaker 2: per game on fifty eight percent through shooting, which again
Speaker 2: is good, but not the Austin that we got accustomed
Speaker 2: to seeing the latter half of last season. He has
Speaker 2: now also entered into another shooting slump. He's shot just
Speaker 2: twenty six percent from three over his last seven games.
Speaker 2: Is this something or nothing?
Speaker 3: I'm going to say nothing.
Speaker 1: I agree with you, like I kind of struggle with
Speaker 1: deciding how I feel about that. I think expecting him
Speaker 1: to get back to seventy three percent true shooting is
Speaker 1: that that's a really high level that I don't know
Speaker 1: what was sustainable. I do think in the grand scheme
Speaker 1: he has played better since moving to the bench.
Speaker 3: He shot the ball better.
Speaker 1: Now, I think you could have moved de Lo to
Speaker 1: the bench and probably had similar, if not better results.
Speaker 1: So I don't think it's strictly because the Lakers moved
Speaker 1: him to the bench, but it was clear you had
Speaker 1: to split those two guys up. And I think Austin
Speaker 1: playing with the ball more in his hands in second units,
Speaker 1: playing a little bit more with Lebron closing games. We've
Speaker 1: seen he's had some nice closing moments for them in
Speaker 1: recent weeks.
Speaker 3: So I want to say it's nothing.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to continue to shoot the
Speaker 1: ball as poorly as he has at several points this season.
Speaker 1: I do think his legs have come back more. You're
Speaker 1: talking about his defense. I think his defense has been better.
Speaker 1: His shot has looked better overall. Like last night, I
Speaker 1: kind of chalk up like that that was an avalanche
Speaker 1: of just you know, Philly was making everything you had.
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverly and Marcus Morris come off the bench and
Speaker 1: hit season high, you know, four threes each almost single
Speaker 1: handedly out shooting the Lakers, just those two guys. So
Speaker 1: it's just like I feel like last night, and really
Speaker 1: we're at the point where a bad shooting night can
Speaker 1: dramatically swing your shooting percentages. Like Max Christy went oh
Speaker 1: for three last night on threes, he dropped from thirty
Speaker 1: five percent three point shooting down to twenty two percent.
Speaker 1: So that just shows you, one game can really swing
Speaker 1: how we view someone's shooting. So with Austin, I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna get better. As we're talking about, if this
Speaker 1: team makes a move and maybe even slots him more
Speaker 1: as like a fourth option or or like a three
Speaker 1: point five option, I think you could see even better
Speaker 1: efficiency numbers with him.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna say nothing for now.
Speaker 1: Of course, if this continues for the next twenty games,
Speaker 1: I'll probably have a different answer. But I think we've
Speaker 1: seen enough of a sample size from Austin that I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's gonna get quite two the heights
Speaker 1: of last season of fifty forty ninety seventy three percent
Speaker 1: true shooting percentage after the trade deadline. But I do
Speaker 1: think he's a better shooter than he showed through the
Speaker 1: start of the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: See, that's the tough part, is like he's still been
Speaker 2: so good like he the last couple of weeks. I
Speaker 2: would say that Austin was pretty bad to start the
Speaker 2: year when you factor in his poor shooting and the
Speaker 2: turnovers and what the struggles he was having defensively in
Speaker 2: on the glass. What's interesting is like he's kind of
Speaker 2: entered into a little bit more of a shooting slump recently,
Speaker 2: but his playmaking has actually gone up a level. He's
Speaker 2: starting to figure out the reds in the offense set
Speaker 2: at a higher level. He's up over six assists per
Speaker 2: game over his last eight if I remember correctly, And
Speaker 2: the defense and rebounding stuff has ticked up. And then
Speaker 2: you mentioned the crunch time stuff. He's been so unbelievably
Speaker 2: good in crunch time, Like he literally made the biggest
Speaker 2: shout of the game against Houston, he made the read
Speaker 2: to Lebron and those back door cuts against Cleveland. We've
Speaker 2: seen him at big time pull up jump shots in
Speaker 2: big moments and other clutch games throughout the season. Like
Speaker 2: he's been awesome in so many different ways. That said,
Speaker 2: like to me, there's a difference between like Austin being
Speaker 2: really good, in Austin being what he's capable of being,
Speaker 2: which is like what managing Nobili was for those Spurs teams,
Speaker 2: which is this guy that doesn't put up the most
Speaker 2: amazing box score numbers ever, but at the same time
Speaker 2: is deeply impacting winning on a little bit higher level
Speaker 2: than where he is right now. And all I'll say
Speaker 2: is that it's nothing. But if this does turn out
Speaker 2: to be what he is, which I don't believe. So
Speaker 2: I believe he's going to play better in the bigger picture.
Speaker 2: That does change the way we'd have to look at
Speaker 2: the outlook for this team, because I do think they
Speaker 2: need Austin to be what he was in the playoffs
Speaker 2: last year, if not a little bit better, for the
Speaker 2: Lakers to have a good chance to win the title
Speaker 2: this season. But I did think it was interesting to
Speaker 2: look back at those numbers, and what's crazy with Austin
Speaker 2: is like fifty eight percent true shooting, and we're talking
Speaker 2: about him like he's having a way down year, as
Speaker 2: if that's not like incredible in the you know, over
Speaker 2: league average. All right, here's our here's our last question.
Speaker 2: The Lakers have played the fourth toughest schedule in the
Speaker 2: NBA this season so far, with opponents having won fifty
Speaker 2: three percent of their games. They have the ninth easiest
Speaker 2: remaining schedule As a result of that, Jared Vanderbilt has
Speaker 2: not played yet. Ruey Hatchamura has only played two hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy nine minutes out of the eight hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy four that the Lakers have played. Gabe Vincent has
Speaker 2: only played one hundred and thirteen minutes. They are well
Speaker 2: positioned for mid season trade. And despite all of that,
Speaker 2: they are ten and eight and are just three and
Speaker 2: a half games back at the number one overall seed.
Speaker 2: And they have several really positive trends in my opinion,
Speaker 2: with Lebron's jump shooting, which he's been at one point
Speaker 2: zero nine points per jump shot, which is way up
Speaker 2: from last year and right about where you need him
Speaker 2: to be. And Anthony Davis is having the best post
Speaker 2: up season of his career, in large part fueled by
Speaker 2: him hitting every single hook shot that he's taking, like
Speaker 2: damn near jokicesk. Everything I just said, is that something
Speaker 2: or is that nothing?
Speaker 3: It's something. I think it's something.
Speaker 1: I will say one thing that I've been a little
Speaker 1: discouraged by is they're five and eight against teams that
Speaker 1: are five hundred or better and five and zero against
Speaker 1: teams below five hundred. So on the one hand, it
Speaker 1: is encouraging to see them taking care of business. They're
Speaker 1: beating the teams they should beat. They've beaten those teams
Speaker 1: in impressive fashion. Thinking about the Utah win, the Memphis win,
Speaker 1: and they've taken care of business, particularly in the N
Speaker 1: Season Tournament, which is it feels like if you called
Speaker 1: every game an N Season Tournament game.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, this team looks like world beaters.
Speaker 1: But I think some of the losses against the better teams,
Speaker 1: like I want to see some.
Speaker 3: More impressive wins.
Speaker 1: I thought the Cleveland win was impressive, the Houston win
Speaker 1: was impressive, but then I also look at the Philly
Speaker 1: shillacking and like that to me, I don't want to
Speaker 1: read too much into a regular season result, but like
Speaker 1: even the I mean, Darvin kind of called it out
Speaker 1: last night, but like even the rookies came in and
Speaker 1: weren't giving maximum effort. You had that Mobaba dunk late
Speaker 1: in the game, and it was just like even with
Speaker 1: them beat out, they were outscored forty to fourteen in
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter, and Philly's third unit was kicking their
Speaker 1: third units.
Speaker 3: But so to me, like I do want to see
Speaker 3: more of that care factor.
Speaker 1: I do want to see them take the regular season
Speaker 1: and these first quarters more seriously. But to your point,
Speaker 1: with how difficult the schedule's been, with how many guys
Speaker 1: they've had out and really critical guys, because I think
Speaker 1: this roster, while it is deep. They clearly have guys
Speaker 1: in specific roles and the roles that they've been missing.
Speaker 1: Like on paper, before Cam Reddish kind of broke out,
Speaker 1: we would have said Jared Vanderbilt and Gave Vincent were
Speaker 1: they're too best perimeter defenders taking ad aside, but when
Speaker 1: he has the guard wings. But like Vanderbilt and Vincent
Speaker 1: being out, I think has really compromised their Primmeter defense.
Speaker 1: And even with that, they've been so good defensively over
Speaker 1: the last ten games or so and that's kind of
Speaker 1: become their calling card again. So for me, I think
Speaker 1: it is something that this team, as you said, has
Speaker 1: as a much easier schedule moving forward.
Speaker 3: You know, they're basically on the road for a.
Speaker 1: Month if you look at their schedule, kind of starting
Speaker 1: with this road trip and then their home Saturday against
Speaker 1: the Rockets. They their home next week for the n
Speaker 1: Season Tournament, but then they go Vegas, then they got
Speaker 1: Dallas and San Antonio and like they got several road
Speaker 1: trips in December. Once they get through that, it's a
Speaker 1: lot easier. So I think this is a team that
Speaker 1: is going through it right now, but they're going to
Speaker 1: figure it out. I still think they'll be in that
Speaker 1: playoff top six. It's just a matter of how high
Speaker 1: is the ceiling, and that is something that we got
Speaker 1: to see what they look like when they get their
Speaker 1: guys back, and then on top of that, what do
Speaker 1: they need and do they ultimately make a move. I
Speaker 1: think we both are in agreement that they will. What
Speaker 1: does that move look like and how much does that
Speaker 1: raise their ceiling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny because the Philly game in particular, I
Speaker 2: just don't care all that much about because it's not
Speaker 2: like we're watching that game and like, oh, they're completely overmatched.
Speaker 2: Like I even't felt in any of these losses to
Speaker 2: the good teams that the Lakers are overmatched. I haven't
Speaker 2: felt that way. And like, and you know, the NBA
Speaker 2: is kind of weird like that, where it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: the Lakers also just had a really impressive road win
Speaker 2: over the Cleveland Cavaliers, that same Cleveland Cavaliers team that
Speaker 2: just went into Philly and beat Philly that you know,
Speaker 2: and like, and I'm pretty sure that if I remember correctly,
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell didn't even play in that game, and so like,
Speaker 2: like that's just kind of how things go. Like the
Speaker 2: game last week where the Kings came in and just
Speaker 2: and just beat their ass. Like, have you looked at
Speaker 2: the Kings this season, Like outside of the two Pelicans
Speaker 2: losses last week, they've they've kicked everyone's ass, including a
Speaker 2: bunch of good teams. Like they're just playing really good
Speaker 2: basketball right now. Like a lot of this is just
Speaker 2: kind of how the NBA regular season goes, which is
Speaker 2: why we talked about that set of trends like this
Speaker 2: is not this is you know, because I've heard a
Speaker 2: lot of Lakers fans use the phrase, oh, another fake comeback.
Speaker 2: These are not fake comebacks. You know how I know
Speaker 2: because I remember the fake comebacks last year. The fake
Speaker 2: comebacks were like they're completely overmatched and are terrible, and
Speaker 2: then they just play harder and they get it back
Speaker 2: to like eight, and then they end up losing by eleven,
Speaker 2: and everyone's like, oh, they got it from twenty seven
Speaker 2: to eight. That's a fake comeback. Yeah, one hundred percent
Speaker 2: agree with you. These are like they're in position to
Speaker 2: win a lot of these games. They won six of
Speaker 2: them and they almost won another three where they so
Speaker 2: like this is literally like a matter of effort. They
Speaker 2: have been one of the very best second half teams
Speaker 2: in the NBA, and they have fared extremely well in
Speaker 2: slow down half court environments against the best teams in
Speaker 2: the league. They've done well. This is literally an issue
Speaker 2: with effort and focus and energy and athleticism during the
Speaker 2: during the larger portions of games, especially in the early
Speaker 2: portions of and so like, here's the thing. Would I
Speaker 2: feel a hell of a lot better about them if
Speaker 2: they were twenty four and three like they were in
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty season. Absolutely. That's why I'm out over
Speaker 2: here saying the Lakers are the championship favor They're not.
Speaker 2: I have them as a lower level team in the
Speaker 2: championship contender tier because they have the tools, they have personnel,
Speaker 2: things that they can implement in a playoff series that
Speaker 2: other teams cannot do. That is why they have the
Speaker 2: capability of winning a championship. But for me to really
Speaker 2: get behind this team, they need to have an extended
Speaker 2: stretch where they look like a championship team. And so
Speaker 2: far to this point, as a result of the injuries,
Speaker 2: as a result of the schedule and as a result
Speaker 2: of some really poor effort, they've looked underwhelming. But in
Speaker 2: spite of that, they're ten and eight, instilling in striking
Speaker 2: distance to make moves. So I think in general, it's
Speaker 2: one of those things where, like my feelings about the
Speaker 2: Lakers in the big picture haven't changed all that much
Speaker 2: except for that it just kind of looks like a
Speaker 2: lower level of focus than you would hope for from
Speaker 2: a traditional NBA champion. But I haven't seen like major
Speaker 2: personnel things splash off the screen where I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: like that's new. I don't think they can overcome that.
Speaker 2: Like I haven't felt that way. Have you felt that
Speaker 2: way at all?
Speaker 1: The one the one thing that I'm concerned with, and
Speaker 1: this has been a concern for me going on several
Speaker 1: years now, is the three point shooting. And part of that,
Speaker 1: I think there's a trickle down effect that you know,
Speaker 1: people don't really factor in where you play better defense,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get better shots offense. Like it's just kind
Speaker 1: of it's it's a it's a yo yo, where like
Speaker 1: I think, you you know, put better defensive players on
Speaker 1: the floor, like theoretically, you know that that's gonna stop
Speaker 1: teams from scoring as much, and then you know you're
Speaker 1: able to get out and transition and get easier baskets
Speaker 1: and like so.
Speaker 3: I think offensively some of the concerns will.
Speaker 1: Just kind of be ironed out by getting Van Do
Speaker 1: go back eventually and game and et cetera. But I
Speaker 1: do think the three point shooting is a concern for
Speaker 1: me looking at you know, after last night, they're thirtieth
Speaker 1: in the league, makes per game, can't get any worse
Speaker 1: than that, twenty ninth in attempts per game, and I
Speaker 1: think they're they're twenty sixth in percentage. So to me,
Speaker 1: like that is something where you cannot win a championship
Speaker 1: as a bottom five three point shooting team and all
Speaker 1: three of those categories.
Speaker 3: So and I know some of that is it's it's.
Speaker 1: Variance, and you know they're gonna regress positively, and I
Speaker 1: you know they're not a bottom five three point shooting team,
Speaker 1: but if they're closer to that, like twentieth best three
Speaker 1: point shooting team, I do think that's a concern in
Speaker 1: a playoff setting. And again, maybe they address that with
Speaker 1: what the moves they make at the trade headline. They
Speaker 1: bring in a couple of shooters and it looks a
Speaker 1: lot better, But to me, there has to be a
Speaker 1: certain level of shot making that hasn't always been there
Speaker 1: with this group, and so that that would be my
Speaker 1: kind of only real concern through these first eighteen games
Speaker 1: is like you have a guy like Torrian coming in
Speaker 1: career thirty eight percent three point shooter. He's shooting on
Speaker 1: thirty percent, and I think that's going to get better.
Speaker 1: But we've also seen guys come to LA and just
Speaker 1: for whatever reason not shoot the ball as well as
Speaker 1: they normally do in other spots. Like I look at
Speaker 1: Pat Beverley last year, Like Pat was quietly a near
Speaker 1: forty percent three point shooter the last few years before
Speaker 1: coming to LA. He comes in and just can't make
Speaker 1: a shot. So I mean, Beasley thirty five percent with
Speaker 1: the Lakers last year, forty five percent right now with Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: So like, for whatever reason, I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: the lights, I don't know if it's playing with Lebron
Speaker 1: or a combination, but like, guys just don't shoot the
Speaker 1: ball as well in LA as they do in other spots,
Speaker 1: And that to me is the one concern of just like,
Speaker 1: clearly they can still win games not shooting the ball well,
Speaker 1: but to me, like it has to get at least
Speaker 1: closer to league average for me to have more confidence
Speaker 1: in their playoff offense because right now that that's kind
Speaker 1: of the one area I'm a bit concerned with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I think the one thing I'll say
Speaker 2: that gives me a less trepidation surrounding the shooting is
Speaker 2: just what the core five will look like down the line.
Speaker 2: Like if the core five down the line ends up
Speaker 2: being Austin Reeves with Torreon Prince at the two and
Speaker 2: player to be named later, who's a good shooter that
Speaker 2: can defend that you get back at the trade deadline.
Speaker 2: With Lebron the way he's shooting the season in Anthony Davis,
Speaker 2: I don't think spacing is going to be a concern
Speaker 2: in the important stretches of games, you know, down the line.
Speaker 2: I do think from a process standpoint, i'd like to
Speaker 2: see the Lakers take more threes. Specifically, I was thinking
Speaker 2: about that in the Sixers game last night, where it's
Speaker 2: like when Lebron James and Anthony Davis play with real
Speaker 2: downhill force, which they do whenever they need to, they
Speaker 2: don't really need to shoot, like it's just not necessary.
Speaker 2: They're just so damn good at getting downhill to the rim.
Speaker 2: But in the line in the In the rest of
Speaker 2: these portions of games, when they're kind of in chill mode,
Speaker 2: I'd almost like to see more guys taking threes because
Speaker 2: just in sheer attempts, they're just not taking enough. Like
Speaker 2: they're they're like right around I think twenty nine three
Speaker 2: point of ten per one hundred possessions. Them and the
Speaker 2: Pistons are the only teams in the league taking less
Speaker 2: than thirty. Like you need to be just from a
Speaker 2: shot value standpoint, taking more of them, and like you
Speaker 2: almost think of it as like a floor balanced thing,
Speaker 2: like set your defense up so that you can get
Speaker 2: back and transition off a long rebound and take more threes.
Speaker 2: It because just from the standpoint of shot value, when
Speaker 2: when you come off of a screen and you gotta look,
Speaker 2: just take it instead of just like you know, kind
Speaker 2: of hesitating and then swinging the ball for the next
Speaker 2: guy to do the same thing, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I'd like to see them push their volume a little bit.
Speaker 2: But as long as they can come up with a
Speaker 2: core five where you have to guard all the guys,
Speaker 2: I think I think they're fine in the big picture.
Speaker 2: Is there anything else you wanted to plug before we
Speaker 2: get out of here today.
Speaker 1: No just at yovan Buja and all social platforms and
Speaker 1: read my work at the Athletic.
Speaker 2: All right, man, this was awesome as usual. We will
Speaker 2: be having you on again next week as always. We
Speaker 2: appreciate all of you guys for supporting us and for
Speaker 2: supporting the show and we will see you guys tomorrow.
Speaker 2: The volume