Speaker 1: M Welcome to the Day of the Lakers show on
Speaker 1: dash Radio. This is the second half of the post
Speaker 1: game spaces that we did after the Lakers lost up
Speaker 1: in Portland. We were joined by Ruche, our friend from
Speaker 1: Rockets Twitter, someone who's been through the Russell Westbrook experience
Speaker 1: the same way that we all have and provides a
Speaker 1: really unique perspective, and we touch base with him to
Speaker 1: see what he thinks about what he's seen so far
Speaker 1: and what we think about what we've seen so far
Speaker 1: with Westbrook and talk about what could be potentially the
Speaker 1: good version of this in the long run, and Russ
Speaker 1: fitting in and helping the Lakers raise their ceiling. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a really interesting discussion. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for supporting us. Enjoy the show, and we
Speaker 1: will have a postgame show back on Monday after the
Speaker 1: game with the Hornets. All right, I think a rouge.
Speaker 1: Are you there? Yes, I am, dude. I I love
Speaker 1: hearing these conversations because I've been through it and it's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's just crazy to hear y'all sounding literally the exact
Speaker 1: same way the Rockets fans felt. I'll say this, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a point when Lebron comes back where things
Speaker 1: go up and y'all will probably hit a stretch where
Speaker 1: it looks like it's really working, because that's the cycle, right,
Speaker 1: Russ always starts off, you know, just kind of I
Speaker 1: don't know, playing pretty much awful. Right even at Washington
Speaker 1: started off awful and then it picked up and you know,
Speaker 1: for they rode this stretch where it was like, oh hey,
Speaker 1: this is working. Even in Houston, they had to trade
Speaker 1: capella and and spread things out to give him the
Speaker 1: space to work. But it started working, and then you know,
Speaker 1: it inevitably dips again and just kind of crashes back
Speaker 1: and regresses back to the mean. But it's crazy, man,
Speaker 1: I mean he I think Jason nailed it on the head.
Speaker 1: There's no finesse to his game. He used to be
Speaker 1: a better jump shooter. He no longer gets that same lift,
Speaker 1: so it's really a crapshoot um. And man, the turnovers
Speaker 1: I think are just killers, because he'll have these nights
Speaker 1: where he goes like tonight one of thirteen eight points
Speaker 1: whatever it was, six turnovers, and then he'll come back
Speaker 1: and we'll have one of those nights where he scores
Speaker 1: like twenty seven points on twenty two shots. But the
Speaker 1: downside of that is even when he's at his best,
Speaker 1: it's still a game where he's barely being efficient. Right,
Speaker 1: And I don't mean to sound all nerdy and all that,
Speaker 1: but like at the end of the day, with the
Speaker 1: volume of shots he's taking and the sheer amount of
Speaker 1: possessions that are in Russell Westbrook's hands, you need him
Speaker 1: to be efficient. And for the most party is not.
Speaker 1: The only fixer is Lebron. I mean, if anyone's listening,
Speaker 1: they should go listen to the pot. I did rage
Speaker 1: with you and stay of the Lakers, you know a
Speaker 1: few months ago or whatever it was kind of break
Speaker 1: you down like that, the highs and the lows, Like
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's going to have those moments where he
Speaker 1: wows you and then overall his lack of shooting ability
Speaker 1: and his the killer for me, and what it seems
Speaker 1: like is killing Lakers fans is that he won't adjust.
Speaker 1: He just is what he is and you have to
Speaker 1: deal with it. And oftentimes it feels like you're trying
Speaker 1: to fit whatever the phrases, right, You're trying to fit
Speaker 1: like a square peg into a roundhole. Like it just
Speaker 1: doesn't work, you know. So I'm really curious to hear
Speaker 1: your opinion on the potential upside here because so I
Speaker 1: do think that they're First of all, let's take one thing,
Speaker 1: for for a certain year, Russ isn't going anywhere. He's
Speaker 1: going to be a Laker at least for the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. There's just no conceivable way that they
Speaker 1: get off of him. So this is what this team
Speaker 1: is going to be, for better or worse, unless he
Speaker 1: gets hurt, which we don't want. So, uh, taking that,
Speaker 1: assuming that, and then also acknowledging the small ways he
Speaker 1: has changed, so for it just small ways. So for instance,
Speaker 1: he uh if with Lebron on the floor only attempts
Speaker 1: about twelve shots for thirty six minutes, and that go
Speaker 1: is up to like twenty shots for thirty six minutes
Speaker 1: when Lebron's off the floor. So he does temper back
Speaker 1: some of his aggression we saw in the Houston game,
Speaker 1: in the Cleveland game in particular, that he's more willing
Speaker 1: to um see the offense to Lebron and crunch time. Um,
Speaker 1: So I guess my question for you is this, if
Speaker 1: he does pull back in all those ways that I
Speaker 1: just described when the team is healthy, and he is
Speaker 1: most likely mostly kind of funneled and focused against bench
Speaker 1: players and or the third best defender on any given
Speaker 1: line up, and operating in space, meaning you know, whether
Speaker 1: it's through Frank getting the acts or if Frank finally
Speaker 1: just wises up and stops playing centers, but he's in
Speaker 1: operating in space, operating against weaker defenders. Do you think
Speaker 1: there's a scenario where potentially it could work better because
Speaker 1: he's not going to be relied on as much in
Speaker 1: the playoffs as he was in Houston and in Washington
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City. I mean, as you've heard you say
Speaker 1: many times, I continue to believe that Lebron James is
Speaker 1: good enough to shore up any issues. So yes, I
Speaker 1: mean there is a world where you know, Lebron's playing
Speaker 1: eighties playing and Russ is like that third option, and
Speaker 1: it works out kind of as as people had envisioned
Speaker 1: when when the trade was made. The problem is that
Speaker 1: he's so high octane that reducing him to a third
Speaker 1: option doesn't really work the way you'd want. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think ideally you'd want your third option to be
Speaker 1: some type of floor spread or some type of someone
Speaker 1: that can catch and shoot at the very least and
Speaker 1: be efficient. But his possessions are isolations where he's just
Speaker 1: dribbling and driving, and sometimes we'll get a match up
Speaker 1: where he's got like a smaller guard on him or something,
Speaker 1: and he can just kind of abuse that in spam
Speaker 1: it and go go to it over and over. But
Speaker 1: they his possessions essentially feel like post ups in the
Speaker 1: modern day age where you know, if you get the bucket,
Speaker 1: it feels great. But if you go a couple of
Speaker 1: possessions in a row, or if you go three out
Speaker 1: of like five possessions, for example, where he gets to
Speaker 1: this spot just doesn't make the shot and and misses it,
Speaker 1: it feels like a wasted possession that killed chemistry, killed rhythm,
Speaker 1: killed time, and like you know, it's like everyone's sitting
Speaker 1: there watching Russ and then he misses it and you
Speaker 1: just go go get back on defense. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like a killer in in multiple ways. So I guess
Speaker 1: the long short of it is, yes, there is a
Speaker 1: world where that's possible. It's all going to hinge on
Speaker 1: Lebron kind of setting things and making them all fall
Speaker 1: into place. Um, the difficulty is that you know what
Speaker 1: value is Russ if he's just kind of shooting ten
Speaker 1: or twelve shots a game, because chances alreadys gonna make
Speaker 1: four of them, you know what I mean? Right? For sure?
Speaker 1: I thought like we saw a little bit of that,
Speaker 1: Like I remember when we played the Calves at home, Uh,
Speaker 1: you only shot thirteen times, he made eight of them,
Speaker 1: and I thought that was maybe the kind of formula
Speaker 1: we'd go to. And then we played your guys Houston
Speaker 1: Rocket teams, which was a huge like up and down
Speaker 1: pace where no one played defense really, and I thought
Speaker 1: he played okay and that in those games. But like
Speaker 1: my question you is, like can the Russ and a
Speaker 1: D lineups? Like I understand Ron's gonna fix a lot,
Speaker 1: but like Ken Russ, because we talked about this in
Speaker 1: the pod we did over the summer. It's actually like
Speaker 1: episode I think seventy two or something like that if
Speaker 1: you want to go listen to that. But a lot
Speaker 1: of those things came true, and we talked about how
Speaker 1: here he would have a D as the guy to
Speaker 1: kind of throw the lab up to, which would be
Speaker 1: different in those Houston teams because you guys traded Capella
Speaker 1: from Kendall's Russ and a D lineups kind of build
Speaker 1: if it's just like him, a D and three shooters,
Speaker 1: do you think, like, do you think that's something that
Speaker 1: can be successful that they can build with, because I
Speaker 1: felt like that's something they found before Lebron went out
Speaker 1: and then then went back to these like two big
Speaker 1: lineups because you saw then play against your guys team twice,
Speaker 1: so you kind of got a close look at that.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's something they can kind of build
Speaker 1: off as well as we go up here? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think so. I think the theme is inconsistency because
Speaker 1: there's gonna be games like tonight right where obviously a
Speaker 1: D was out, so it's a little bit different. But
Speaker 1: even when a D was in there, um and Lebron
Speaker 1: was out right, like you lost, Okay, See for example,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be moments where it works and you know,
Speaker 1: Russ and a D are clicking, he's finding his rhythm,
Speaker 1: you know, scoring. But again, even when he's on, it's
Speaker 1: like it's something like twenty seven points, like like those
Speaker 1: are your best nights and that's not exactly what you're
Speaker 1: looking for. Um. In addition to that, he doesn't get
Speaker 1: he didn't get foul love. Um. So again if he's
Speaker 1: missing his shots, like, there's not much redemption on the
Speaker 1: other end. When he was in Houston, the bench units,
Speaker 1: the rust lead bench units were awful. Um, And I
Speaker 1: don't think they'll be that in l A. I think
Speaker 1: having a D he helps significantly. But I think it's
Speaker 1: just gonna be off and on. You know, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be nights like tonight or okay, see where you lose
Speaker 1: the game. Then there's gonna be those nights where he
Speaker 1: gives you like some crazy thirteen on you know, like
Speaker 1: fifteen of twenty or something some crazy like that. Um,
Speaker 1: And you know, you start talking yourself back into it,
Speaker 1: and then he just kind of turns around and shows
Speaker 1: you again that he's the inconsistent version of himself. The
Speaker 1: other thing is and this is the thing that never
Speaker 1: goes away. Um. He's just bad on defense, man. His
Speaker 1: awareness is not there on defense too often. He falls
Speaker 1: like he he becomes. He creates holes in a team
Speaker 1: defensive scheme because he's either playing the passing lane. Someone's
Speaker 1: just hitting the hundred button over and over. He's either
Speaker 1: playing a passing lane, you know, over playing the passing lane,
Speaker 1: or he's taking his individual assignment way too seriously to
Speaker 1: the detriment of the team scheme. He just there's just
Speaker 1: too many lapses throughout. And so even when you're getting
Speaker 1: his best version of offense, which again it's gonna happen,
Speaker 1: it's not like he's just gonna be awful every night.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be nice where he goes, you know, psycho
Speaker 1: and reminds you that he is Russell Westbrook. So that
Speaker 1: definitely happens. And he tends to get on a streak
Speaker 1: right Like, he'll do it for two or three weeks
Speaker 1: in a row and you'll be like, oh, this is crazy,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden it just kind of
Speaker 1: flips on its head out of nowhere and you have
Speaker 1: to deal with the peaks and the valleys. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: he just doesn't defend at the level that like sustains
Speaker 1: you know, when I've always said he's very talented. He
Speaker 1: puts up the numbers, but he just doesn't play a
Speaker 1: winning brand of basketball. And I think that's just true
Speaker 1: kind of on every aspect. Offensively, the way he gets
Speaker 1: his points, uh, the way that he just puts his
Speaker 1: head down and drives and and you know, think second
Speaker 1: and acts first and just kind of passes it wherever
Speaker 1: he thinks the ball should go. No, no method to
Speaker 1: the madness. And then on defense, you know all the
Speaker 1: things we already talked about. Um, so it's tough, but
Speaker 1: I do think you also need to find the right lineup.
Speaker 1: But I guess to answer your question, it will. It
Speaker 1: will just be up and down. There will be moments
Speaker 1: for him and a D look amazing together, and then
Speaker 1: there's going to be moments where you know, you remind yourself,
Speaker 1: like Russ isn't a number one or a number two,
Speaker 1: and a D is a number two. So if Russ
Speaker 1: isn't the number one, you still need Lebron to kind
Speaker 1: of come and set things in place appropriately. It's so
Speaker 1: funny to me, how like like I can be both
Speaker 1: completely frustrated, like completely and fully frustrated watching Russ, but
Speaker 1: still have some optimism. And you know the reason why,
Speaker 1: It is pretty simple, Like I, he has good things
Speaker 1: that he brings to the table, and he has bad
Speaker 1: things that he brings to the table. And if the
Speaker 1: scenario around him is not uh, you know, perfectly catered
Speaker 1: to that, then the bad will outweigh the good and
Speaker 1: it will continue to be incredibly frustrating to watch, but again,
Speaker 1: like I I have a hard time giving up on
Speaker 1: And for the record, I'm not discounting what you're saying
Speaker 1: because this is so like that. This is a big
Speaker 1: fight I got in with Brooklyn, the Brooklyn fan base
Speaker 1: about the DeAndre Jordan thing. I am not saying that
Speaker 1: what happened in the past with this guy, it's all
Speaker 1: the situations faulted, not his fault. But that's not what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. However, with this specific situation, I can't fully
Speaker 1: I can't fully commit to saying, hey, the rust thing
Speaker 1: is busted and it doesn't work until I see a
Speaker 1: good stretch of basketball where the team is healthy. And
Speaker 1: the reason why is I do think there is a way,
Speaker 1: like you said, with Lebron, with his i Q and
Speaker 1: with the way this roster is put together, is like
Speaker 1: theoretically the perfect small ball lineup right like this, this
Speaker 1: lineup should theoretically be able to capture some of that
Speaker 1: that spark that he had in Houston before his quad
Speaker 1: quad injury. He should be They should be able to
Speaker 1: capture some of that. But with Anthony Davis instead of
Speaker 1: p J. Tucker playing center, right like this, this could
Speaker 1: work the problem is is we don't even get to
Speaker 1: see what that looks like right now, and so I
Speaker 1: I'm just I want to be patient because I do
Speaker 1: think again, if he's in a situation where he's surrounded
Speaker 1: by big basketball egos like Lebron and a D who
Speaker 1: are locked in on defense extended for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: he could take on some better habits. I do think
Speaker 1: that if he's strictly attacking inferior defenders, you know, because
Speaker 1: of the attention that is sent towards Lebron and a D,
Speaker 1: that he can make easier reads and by virtue of that,
Speaker 1: have that scale tip to where there's more good than bad.
Speaker 1: And if that happens, then it raises their ceiling. It
Speaker 1: really does. So now if you ask me if it's
Speaker 1: more than more likely than not that it won't happen, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd probably say yes, I think it's more likely that
Speaker 1: this doesn't work then likely that it does work. However,
Speaker 1: I still see the chance that it could work, and
Speaker 1: I don't really want to make you know, an observation
Speaker 1: on that until they start fielding a real basketball team
Speaker 1: with forwards in the two stars that were supposed to
Speaker 1: originally play next to him. Well, I think the interesting
Speaker 1: thing with him is that he tends to shine in
Speaker 1: situations that you know, people count him out in, right,
Speaker 1: So like in Washington, it looked like a disaster, and
Speaker 1: then for a while it looks pretty impressive. Right, it
Speaker 1: was like, oh hey, Russ, it's kind of semi willing Washington,
Speaker 1: like to the plan um. But then when he gets
Speaker 1: in a situation where he's high end and he's like,
Speaker 1: you know, the expectations are higher, he kind of reminds
Speaker 1: you why he's on a tier below the guys like Lebron, James,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, etcetera, etcetera. Um, I think I still think,
Speaker 1: like you said, there's I mean, when Lebron comes back,
Speaker 1: they can be a very good team. It can all work.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you there's going to come a stretch
Speaker 1: where it's gonna look like fire. He's gonna look like
Speaker 1: he's on fire. He's killing it. The issue is that
Speaker 1: I think I think he was acquired for the moments
Speaker 1: like now where Lebron's hurt, so that Lebron can kind
Speaker 1: of load, manage and show and you're gonna get the
Speaker 1: best version of it with Lebron on the court. So
Speaker 1: in these moments where you know you're leaning on Westbrook
Speaker 1: to kind of carry the load, you're going to get
Speaker 1: these up and down performances. But like I said, there's
Speaker 1: gonna come a time where he finds it and you'll
Speaker 1: start rattling off a bunch in a row. But the
Speaker 1: issue is sustaining That a question for you because a
Speaker 1: lot of the conversation I guess that me and Jason
Speaker 1: have and I just looked at up right now. The
Speaker 1: Rockets traded Clint Clint Capella in February. I don't think
Speaker 1: the Lakers have until February, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: for like Rust to get comfortable. Do you think it's
Speaker 1: just the center lineup? Do you think like just pulling
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan out, pulling a D at the five, like
Speaker 1: that's kind of the big band aid you can kind
Speaker 1: of put over it until Lebron gets back, Like do
Speaker 1: you think that is the fix? Like in Houston? Was
Speaker 1: that really the main kind of issue there or is
Speaker 1: it something else? Or Russ just picked it up himself
Speaker 1: and kind of like you said, he picks it up,
Speaker 1: you know when people aren't believing in him or whatever
Speaker 1: it is. Um he picks it up later he gets
Speaker 1: rolling a little bit later in seasons. Or do you
Speaker 1: think like that's just the band aid you kind of
Speaker 1: put over it, because I feel like that's what the
Speaker 1: conversation has kind of deluded to A lot with Russ
Speaker 1: now is just to take the center, open the space
Speaker 1: for him, open up, opened up the space for him.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's just the issue for him right now?
Speaker 1: I don't think it's just the issue, but I think
Speaker 1: it definitely helps. You need to run a D at
Speaker 1: the five. I see Lakers fans argue about this all
Speaker 1: the time. If Russ is on the squad and rus
Speaker 1: A is gonna be playing heavy minutes, you need to
Speaker 1: run a D at the five. There's no question because
Speaker 1: there's no space otherwise. And unless you have like a
Speaker 1: very legitimate lab threat, which a D already is, so
Speaker 1: you don't. I mean, I don't think DeAndre Jordan is
Speaker 1: a lowed threat anymore, at least definitely not what he
Speaker 1: was um and even I mean Capella was a lot there.
Speaker 1: But it's still to work because when Russ, Russ makes
Speaker 1: he's like a one cut running back right. He makes
Speaker 1: that move and then he just goes and so when
Speaker 1: someone else is in that space, it's easy to help
Speaker 1: over on him. And like I said, he does not
Speaker 1: get love from referee. So he'll get to the basket,
Speaker 1: he'll get close, someone helps over, he might even get hacked,
Speaker 1: but he won't get the call most times. So it
Speaker 1: just kills the space. He can't open the space up
Speaker 1: on his own, and when he tries to, he shoots
Speaker 1: from the elbows right um that little mid range area.
Speaker 1: So that's it's all just clogged up the best way.
Speaker 1: I mean, when Houston found success, it's because they traded Capella.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately I missed Capella. But you get to go five
Speaker 1: out and then rust can break a defense down, draw
Speaker 1: a corner defender, whip the ball out, the ball gets moving,
Speaker 1: you know, you start putting the defense on their heels
Speaker 1: and you start forcing the defense to react, and that's
Speaker 1: when your offense actually begins clicking, because then rust can
Speaker 1: put pressure on people and is so one on one,
Speaker 1: get a smaller guard whatever, beat them to the rack,
Speaker 1: or use his muscle to get to the to the
Speaker 1: hoop and score, or like I said, draw extra defenders.
Speaker 1: But without that, you're not going to draw extra defenders.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have the big maybe in the dunker spot
Speaker 1: or roaming somewhere around the middle, and his man is
Speaker 1: going to be in close proximity able to help over.
Speaker 1: And then you start getting Russ forcing the issue. Russ,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, get into the basket and missing,
Speaker 1: missing an easy layup or not getting a call, and
Speaker 1: then these possessions become wasted and they turn into turnovers
Speaker 1: and misses, and that's when things kind of start snowballing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think a D at the five is
Speaker 1: the immediate solution, and then the long term solution is
Speaker 1: a D at the five with Lebron back in the
Speaker 1: lineup obviously. Yeah, we're on the same page, man. I
Speaker 1: think like, at the end of the day, you uh you,
Speaker 1: Russ is incapable of finishing around traffic anymore. So you
Speaker 1: have to find a way to minimize traffic as much
Speaker 1: as possible. Even if he's even if he's got a
Speaker 1: guy like size on him, he can't power through him
Speaker 1: to finish anymore. So look up the stats man. Look
Speaker 1: up his two point percentage in Houston, because I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure it was one of the best of his career.
Speaker 1: And that's because we we traded and opened it up
Speaker 1: for him to actually become an efficient player. Right, Not
Speaker 1: to cut you off, Jameson, but that's that's the point though.
Speaker 1: The point is is like you youth theoretically can do
Speaker 1: that with Anthony Davis at the five, and so like I,
Speaker 1: I think I I predicted before the season that Russ
Speaker 1: would have one of the more efficient years of his career.
Speaker 1: And it was because I envisioned a d playing at
Speaker 1: the five and Russ attacking tertiary defenders were before you
Speaker 1: came on. We talked about the Thunder game. The reason
Speaker 1: why Oklahoma City shut down the Lakers in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter of that game was because Russ was getting Dort,
Speaker 1: who was their best perimeter defender. If Lebron is playing
Speaker 1: in that game, Lebron draws Dort and if they run
Speaker 1: action for Russ, it it's it's probably gonna be s
Speaker 1: g A on the ball and Russ is going to
Speaker 1: have a much better chance of the zickally beating st
Speaker 1: at the point of attack to get him on his
Speaker 1: hip and try to strong finish strong at the basket.
Speaker 1: You know, like that's that that's a very It's that's
Speaker 1: the It's not just about bringing Lebron back so that
Speaker 1: he can run the show, and like, it literally makes
Speaker 1: Russ's job easier when when the defensive attention has to
Speaker 1: be geared and schemed for Lebron and a D. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, And I think the difficulty when Lebron the
Speaker 1: one difficult thing, at least when Lebron does come back,
Speaker 1: is that when you have that line up on the
Speaker 1: floor and Bron and Russ are sharing their time with
Speaker 1: a D, it kind of forces Bron to become if
Speaker 1: Bron is not handling the ball in the moments when
Speaker 1: Russ is handling the ball, Lebron then becomes kind of
Speaker 1: a spot up shooter. And I think you mentioned that earlier, Um,
Speaker 1: because that's kind of how it turns with Russ, right,
Speaker 1: Like you have to just kind of sit there watch him.
Speaker 1: I so almost like Hardened, except a much less efficient
Speaker 1: version without step back capability. So you're just sitting there
Speaker 1: watching him, you know, I so, And if the defense
Speaker 1: draws over, if they feel the need to double or
Speaker 1: help out or whatever, that's when the ball gets moving.
Speaker 1: But you're gonna kind of see like Lebron and Russ
Speaker 1: kind of just taking turns. I feel like, um, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's you know, I'm not as
Speaker 1: worried about that particular dynamic because, for instance, Lebron used
Speaker 1: to do the same thing with Kyrie, And ironically, like Lebron,
Speaker 1: Lebron likes to take possessions off on offense. But that's
Speaker 1: kind of one of his things. Is like you'll watch
Speaker 1: him when he's closing a game, like he'll do three
Speaker 1: or four high picking rolls, but then it's like, let
Speaker 1: me just dump into a d in the post and
Speaker 1: go stand on the wing because I need the rest.
Speaker 1: Like that's kind of the way he is. So like
Speaker 1: the way I see it, he on possessions where he's resting,
Speaker 1: he's actually a spot up threat, so it can work
Speaker 1: with the rustling and then when he's on the ball.
Speaker 1: We've seen lots of different examples of this. Uh, it
Speaker 1: depends on where they position him on the floor. If
Speaker 1: they position him, you know, uh, you know, in a
Speaker 1: position where it's easy tole off of him, then it
Speaker 1: can be more dangerous than if he's tucked somewhere else
Speaker 1: on the floor where he can maybe be a better
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding threat. Or we saw in the Memphis game
Speaker 1: they used him as a screener and got a bunch
Speaker 1: of good looks out of having him basically played the
Speaker 1: Draymond role anticipating them trapping Lebron at the top. So like,
Speaker 1: I'm not as concerned about the dynamic of how that
Speaker 1: can work in crunch time. Where where I would have
Speaker 1: been really concerned is if in those games, in those
Speaker 1: high leverage moments, Russ co opted the ball from Lebron
Speaker 1: too much, which which he did it. For the record,
Speaker 1: we have not had a game yet this year where
Speaker 1: Lebron was healthy, the game was close and Russ took
Speaker 1: the ball out of his hands and did something stupid
Speaker 1: that has not happened this year for the record, so
Speaker 1: that would be the red lining for the record. By
Speaker 1: the way, he the highest two point field goal percentage
Speaker 1: of his career was in Houston. Sounds right, and he
Speaker 1: led the league this season. I think, according to what
Speaker 1: looking at in two point attempts as well, um, that
Speaker 1: was the He's only had two seasons in his career
Speaker 1: where his two point field goal percentage was above and
Speaker 1: that was one of them. Um. The other one was
Speaker 1: two thousand, two thousand, sixteen, So I think that's the key.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I don't see disgusted enough. And
Speaker 1: maybe it's just on my end, but Um the killer man,
Speaker 1: and it's another thing, like I hear you'll talk about habits, right,
Speaker 1: you need to get used to the idea that he's
Speaker 1: his habits are there and that's just what it is.
Speaker 1: You get good nights, sometimes you wanna get bad nights.
Speaker 1: The saving grace could be Lebron maybe, like you know,
Speaker 1: that whole cliche of Lebron being in his ear is
Speaker 1: actually going to materialize and come to fruition and he'll
Speaker 1: start changing his habits. But I can tell you for
Speaker 1: sure in Houston he did not like that they tried
Speaker 1: to change the way he played, and that was part
Speaker 1: of why he asked out. Um. He was just like, look,
Speaker 1: I want to get back to playing my style of
Speaker 1: ball with the ball in my hands, doing what I do.
Speaker 1: And so I think the one person he'd listened to
Speaker 1: is Lebron. But whenever you'll talk about changing habits, you
Speaker 1: need to just kind of get used to the fact
Speaker 1: that that might not happen. But the other killer with
Speaker 1: him is um free throw percentage man. It's he's become Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: somehow he's become such a bad free throw shooter. In
Speaker 1: the later stages of his career, he used to be
Speaker 1: and above pretty much guaranteed um. And you know, now
Speaker 1: what this season he's in Houston, it was bad and
Speaker 1: he got up to at one point, but Washington, you know,
Speaker 1: So that's the other thing I think. I think the
Speaker 1: fundamentals are obvious inability to shoot and spread the floor,
Speaker 1: defensive lapses, and then he misses free throws and he
Speaker 1: doesn't get there near enough um to kind of compensate
Speaker 1: for some of the weaknesses on offense. And you talked
Speaker 1: about like him changing in Houston. I thought like something
Speaker 1: we talked about also on the part was like he
Speaker 1: just stopped shooting threes right in Houston as well, Like
Speaker 1: I think he just he took his least amount of
Speaker 1: threes in Houston, especially after they traded Capella, so that
Speaker 1: kind of pushed him up into a bunch of two
Speaker 1: points legal percentages. And that's what I thought he would
Speaker 1: do here and maybe that just hasn't happened. And again
Speaker 1: we talked about like I didn't think Russell Westbrook was
Speaker 1: gonna change, but like I think marginal kind of changes
Speaker 1: would have had a big impact on this team. I've
Speaker 1: seen it in spots here and there on the games
Speaker 1: that Lebron has played, but definitely when Lebron's out, he's
Speaker 1: back to his just oldt usage or whatever. And we said,
Speaker 1: that's just not conductive to winning. Like it's it's been
Speaker 1: proven throughout his career. You give Russell Westbrook the ball
Speaker 1: for a million possessions, you're not gonna win at a
Speaker 1: high enough clip, at least to what this team wants
Speaker 1: to go to. But with Lebron, I think you can
Speaker 1: drop that usage down. And again, that's not great for
Speaker 1: a guy who you know, makes the money he does
Speaker 1: that takes the salad scot that he does, but that's
Speaker 1: just what it is right now. And like like you said, Jason,
Speaker 1: like at the end of games, it's been pretty clear
Speaker 1: he's not gonna have the ball in his hands like
Speaker 1: that's that's been clear for a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of the late game situations. So maybe that's just something
Speaker 1: that I'm optimistic about. Maybe I'm foolishly optimistic about, but
Speaker 1: that's where I think Lebron comes in and really helps
Speaker 1: to solidify his role, even though I still see him
Speaker 1: as like a star, like solidified his his role a
Speaker 1: little bit there. That's why I'm less worried about it
Speaker 1: is it's just there's the what you need from Russ
Speaker 1: becomes so much less when this team is put together.
Speaker 1: And if it's not going to be put together because
Speaker 1: the injuries, then they were never going to contend for
Speaker 1: the championship anyway. And I I am a little bit
Speaker 1: more optimistic about Russ in the Dennis Shrewder role than
Speaker 1: I am in the co star role. And he was
Speaker 1: in the co star role in Houston, and he was
Speaker 1: in the co star role in in Washington. And you know,
Speaker 1: Trush's point, like if it becomes a personal beef for
Speaker 1: him where it's like I want to go play my
Speaker 1: style of ball, then yeah, that could be a problem.
Speaker 1: But dude, like you'd have to be some special kind
Speaker 1: of lack of self awareness to to be in the
Speaker 1: same walker room with with Lebron and a d and
Speaker 1: be like give me the ball, you know, Like like, so,
Speaker 1: I I don't know. I I that like I said
Speaker 1: from the very beginning, I'll just repeat that, like I
Speaker 1: I am really frustrated every time I watched him. However,
Speaker 1: I'm probably one of the more optimistic Laker fans in
Speaker 1: terms of what it could be. Um, when this all
Speaker 1: comes together, well, I mean, last point I'll say is
Speaker 1: I'm kind of just driving home everything I said. But
Speaker 1: I think Houston had the blueprint post Capella trade. Um.
Speaker 1: I already talked about his two point percentage being the
Speaker 1: highest of his career. His overall field goal percentage in
Speaker 1: Houston was also the highest of his career, and the
Speaker 1: next high it was forty seven. The next highest of
Speaker 1: his career was two thousand eleven to twelve forty five
Speaker 1: point seven percent. So that's pretty drastic in my opinions. UM.
Speaker 1: And then when you but when you drop his field
Speaker 1: goal attempts to what right now he's at eighteen point
Speaker 1: eight when he's only hitting of those, that's where you
Speaker 1: get into trouble, right because he's not shooting well. He's
Speaker 1: not shooting well from three. And then it all kind
Speaker 1: of just like adds on to itself. And also his
Speaker 1: three point attempts in Houston, we're the lowest since two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen to two thousand fourteen. So since two that
Speaker 1: thirteen and fourteen, he has not been below four attempts
Speaker 1: per game except for the season in Houston when he
Speaker 1: shot three point seven, so you have to just get
Speaker 1: him on a track where he's bought in, focused on
Speaker 1: just using his skill to get to the rim. Houston
Speaker 1: treated him his I so possessions and Bully drives to
Speaker 1: the basket as like a post up. Like I said earlier, Um,
Speaker 1: it was like their version of you know, points in
Speaker 1: the paint inside offense and there was a stretch where
Speaker 1: it was really working and like it was on fire.
Speaker 1: So I think that is possible with the Lakers. You know,
Speaker 1: bro on the same page. Cool man, Well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: So y'all to thank you for stopping by. This was fun.
Speaker 1: You're you're probably the perfect guy for us to talk
Speaker 1: to you about this. He just you. You're You're the
Speaker 1: You're the person that's like leading that that group therapy
Speaker 1: session who's actually been through everything. You're the perfect guy
Speaker 1: to be like tell me how you really feel. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you both, it's a it is a trip watching
Speaker 1: you guys like literally mirror the entire Rockets Twitter. You know,
Speaker 1: It's like I'm watching you'll go on the roller coaster
Speaker 1: and I just want to like tell you, like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is how it's gonna be it's gonna be okay
Speaker 1: until it's not. But you have Lebron, so I think ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think it will be okay still. And if you
Speaker 1: haven't listened to the one with the Rush hopped on
Speaker 1: our pod a couple of days, I think before the
Speaker 1: season started, a lot of that stuff kind of foreshadowed
Speaker 1: what we're seeing now, So i'd recommend everyone to go
Speaker 1: listen to it if you haven't, Rush appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: up though, Man, Thanks you appreciated baby. Have a good night, man,
Speaker 1: thank you too. Yeah, and we'll we'll take the I'll
Speaker 1: take the link from that show, the one that Rush
Speaker 1: was on, and I'll share it underneath this one for
Speaker 1: anybody that wants to see it. But hey, we're gonna
Speaker 1: call it tonight guys, because it's already here. But we'll
Speaker 1: be back Monday night and we will take more callers.
Speaker 1: So if we didn't get to you tonight, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: but we will get to here on Monday. We got
Speaker 1: a long season and head too, so just keep coming
Speaker 1: back and requesting and we'll get as many of you
Speaker 1: guys up as we can. This will be airing on
Speaker 1: Dash for Video on Monday morning at seven am and
Speaker 1: we'll be on our podcast feed here in about thirty minutes.
Speaker 1: As always, we sincerely appreciate your guys support and we
Speaker 1: will see you on Monday night. Thanks everyone,