Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at
Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you
Speaker 1: guys have had a great week so far. Today we
Speaker 1: are going to zoom in on the Los Angeles Lakers
Speaker 1: and their offseason, which I think has come to a close.
Speaker 1: I think they all sign maybe one more player, probably
Speaker 1: someone like Tristan Thompson, but for the most part, the
Speaker 1: co rotation players are what they are going to be
Speaker 1: headed into next season. And as you guys know, the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers are really the one team that I
Speaker 1: root for on a personal level. Obviously, Lebron James is
Speaker 1: the person that got me to fall in love with
Speaker 1: the game of basketball in a family that I grew
Speaker 1: up that didn't really expose me to basketball, so I've
Speaker 1: kind of a sentimental attachment there. And so these last
Speaker 1: few years with Lebron James and the NBA will be
Speaker 1: my last few years having a real rooting interest for
Speaker 1: a team. I'll always have teams that I like more
Speaker 1: than others, players that I like more than others, but
Speaker 1: nothing like the sort of actual sentimental fanhood that I
Speaker 1: have for the Lakers. As long as Lebron James is
Speaker 1: still in the league, So this is gonna be fun
Speaker 1: for me. We're gonna do We're gonna look at this
Speaker 1: offseason from a bunch of different angles. We're gonna zoom
Speaker 1: in on the offseason moves that they made. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do scouts on the two players that I didn't hit
Speaker 1: in our free agency reaction, that is Jackson Hayes and
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish. Then we're gonna do a little look at
Speaker 1: their depth charges to kind of see what boxes the
Speaker 1: Lakers check across the board. And then I want to
Speaker 1: do a kind of a breakdown of why I think
Speaker 1: Rob Blinka deserves a lot of credit for what he's
Speaker 1: done since the Russell Westbrook fiasco to start last season.
Speaker 1: You guys know the joke before we get started to
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Speaker 1: podcasts Under Hoops Tonight, so quick offseason recap in the draft,
Speaker 1: the Lakers get Jalen Huoch Chafino in the first round.
Speaker 1: He's big guard that shot forty percent on pull of
Speaker 1: jumpers last year in college. Maxwell lewis a three and
Speaker 1: D wing, an outstanding catch and shoot player with a
Speaker 1: little bit of off the dribble. Poppy reminds me of
Speaker 1: kind of like a Trey Murphy type of prospect. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's got a long way to go to get there,
Speaker 1: but a couple of picks that I really like. And
Speaker 1: free agency there re signed DeAngelo Russell, Austin Reeves, and
Speaker 1: Ruby Hatcher Mura, all on team friendly numbers, and then
Speaker 1: outright they signed Torrian Prince on the bi annual exception,
Speaker 1: Gabe Vincent on the mid level exception, Cam Reddish on
Speaker 1: a veteran minimum contract, and Jackson Hayes on a veteran
Speaker 1: minimum contract with a player option for a second season. So,
Speaker 1: Lakers fans who missed it in our free agency breakdown,
Speaker 1: I already did evaluations of Torrian Prince and Gabe Vincent,
Speaker 1: so I won't do those here, but I want to
Speaker 1: hit Cam Reddish and Jackson Hayes really quick. So Cam
Speaker 1: British is your textbook high potential wing that hasn't really
Speaker 1: gotten much of an opportunity in the NBA because he
Speaker 1: struggles to do his job within a five man unit.
Speaker 1: There's a lot there's a big gap between what Cam
Speaker 1: Reddish is capable of in his ability to impact winning
Speaker 1: in the NBA right now. He has great tools. He's
Speaker 1: six foot eight with shoes on as a seven to
Speaker 1: one wing spanyways, two hundred and seventeen pounds after a
Speaker 1: couple of seasons of NBA strength and conditioning. But he's
Speaker 1: just not a very good basketball player. His spot aut
Speaker 1: points per possession is well below a point per possession.
Speaker 1: He shot thirty four percent on jump shots in Portland,
Speaker 1: thirty three percent on catch and shoots, thirty nine percent
Speaker 1: on unguarded catch and shoots attacking closeouts. He tends to
Speaker 1: overpenetrate and get himself into some trouble, turn the basketball over,
Speaker 1: take really tough shots. He's bad in pick and roll.
Speaker 1: They scored just sixty five points on seventy six Cam
Speaker 1: Reddish pick and rolls, including passes. It's well below a
Speaker 1: point per possession. He did have thirteen points on thirteen ISOs,
Speaker 1: but I watched every single one of the ISOs and
Speaker 1: they all are the exact same move. It's like catch
Speaker 1: on the wing, stare and face hard jab step, drive
Speaker 1: to the left, hard spin, move back to his right
Speaker 1: and try to finish at the basket. Although it was
Speaker 1: effective last year in small sample size, He's also a
Speaker 1: pretty bad defensive player. He leaves his feet on pump fakes.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I used to be really intrigued by
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish as a defensive prospect when he was at Duke.
Speaker 1: His ability to slide his feet at his size is
Speaker 1: pretty unique, but that just hasn't translated to the NBA
Speaker 1: because he has really bad habits. He leaves his feet
Speaker 1: on pump fakes, he reaches in and gets burned. He
Speaker 1: comes out of his stance, which causes him to lose
Speaker 1: that side to side mobility which is so important to him.
Speaker 1: Portland unleashed him on a lot of star players last year.
Speaker 1: I watched a lot of footage of him guarding guys
Speaker 1: like Kawhi Leonard and Brandon Ingram and Jason Tatum, and
Speaker 1: those guys just absolutely barbecued camrad It's just about every
Speaker 1: single time they had an opportunity to He also doesn't
Speaker 1: rebound well for a guy who's a good athlete with
Speaker 1: good size and long arms. He only averaged three point
Speaker 1: seven rebounds per thirty six minutes with the Blazers last year,
Speaker 1: so he still has a ton of upside, So I
Speaker 1: like the signing for depth. Again, anything with a veteran
Speaker 1: minimum contract is really low risk. But I don't think
Speaker 1: he's going to be playing any meaningful basketball for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: at least not this year. But again, the Lakers have
Speaker 1: a great player development program, and my guess is that
Speaker 1: they're just batt on a couple of seasons with Phil
Speaker 1: Handy amounting to Cam Reddis growing into a useful NBA player.
Speaker 1: Jackson Hey six to eleven and a half with shoes on,
Speaker 1: so almost a legit seven foot seven foot, three point
Speaker 1: five inch wingspan, two hundred and twenty pounds, so definitely
Speaker 1: fin although I thought he held up pretty well in
Speaker 1: physicality situations. He is an excellent vertical spacing threat. He
Speaker 1: catches and dunks everything. He had thirty four points on
Speaker 1: twenty two roll man possessions, which is almost a point
Speaker 1: in a half, which is excellent, and he had forty
Speaker 1: five dunks, which is just about once a game. Because
Speaker 1: I think he only played in forty six games last year.
Speaker 1: He also has decent touch on his floater in the lane.
Speaker 1: He took thirteen floaters and made seven of them last year.
Speaker 1: On defense, I wasn't expecting him to be, but he
Speaker 1: was actually a really good pick and roll defender. Last year.
Speaker 1: Teams ran one hundred and seven pick and rolls at
Speaker 1: him that amounted to just seventy two points. That's just
Speaker 1: about two thirds of a point per possession. That was
Speaker 1: number one in the entire NBA for big men who
Speaker 1: guarded at least one hundred pick and rolls. On tape,
Speaker 1: he's just long as hell. With his mobility, can come
Speaker 1: up to the level of the screen, and he can
Speaker 1: contest pull up jump shots, and when guys try to
Speaker 1: get downhill on him, they're just shooting over a seven
Speaker 1: foot with super long arms who's really active, and they
Speaker 1: struggle to finish over the top. He did struggle a
Speaker 1: little bit in switches statistically, but I actually thought he
Speaker 1: did well on tape. He gave up about one point
Speaker 1: two points per possession on switches, in large part because
Speaker 1: dudes were just hitting tough, contested jump shots in his face.
Speaker 1: In a lot of situations this season. I actually thought
Speaker 1: on tape he performed pretty well. The one thing he
Speaker 1: really struggled with was Luca got him with a bunch
Speaker 1: of pump fakes and some ISOs, So that's just a
Speaker 1: discipline thing. And then super quick guards have been able
Speaker 1: to turn the corner onto him. I saw Trey Young
Speaker 1: beat him off the dribble. I saw Kyrie Irving beat
Speaker 1: him off the dribble. He definitely struggled with some foot
Speaker 1: speed stuff with some smaller, quicker guards. But point being,
Speaker 1: I actually think he's going to be a really useful
Speaker 1: player for the Lakers as a backup center. Again, a
Speaker 1: backup center on the minimum who's a good pick and
Speaker 1: roll defender who struggles a little bit in switches, but
Speaker 1: is a good vertical spacing threat on the other end
Speaker 1: of the floor. That's like a home run. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's a playoff player. I don't think he's the
Speaker 1: backup center the Lakers are gonna need in a long
Speaker 1: playoff run. But I think he's perfectly fine to eat
Speaker 1: innings in the regular season. Put a pin in that,
Speaker 1: because we're gonna come back to that idea later on
Speaker 1: when we start talking about Rob Polinka. So as we
Speaker 1: zoom out, I want to quick kind of go through
Speaker 1: the depth chart positionally and then in terms of archetypes.
Speaker 1: So the depth chart you have at the guard court,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, D'angela Russell, gave Vincent, Jalen hoodsa Fino, that's
Speaker 1: a really really good guard corps. Three of those dudes
Speaker 1: have just got a lot of good playoff experience. Gave
Speaker 1: Vincent made a run to the finals last year, DLO
Speaker 1: and Austin Reeves made it to the Western Conference finals.
Speaker 1: Dangela Russell really struggled against the Nuggets, but he had
Speaker 1: moments elsewhere. They probably don't beat a team like Memphis
Speaker 1: in that Game four if Dangela Russell doesn't get red
Speaker 1: hot from three at some moments attacking in the Warriors
Speaker 1: series as well. Austin Reeves was just awesome during the
Speaker 1: entire playoff run. I think he's still even with all
Speaker 1: of the Lakers hype and the big contract and everything,
Speaker 1: I think he's still one of the more underrated players
Speaker 1: in the league. People just don't realize how good that
Speaker 1: kid is. And then Jalen Huchafino, who obviously has a
Speaker 1: lot of upside as a young athletic guard who's got
Speaker 1: really good physical tools, but he's in a situation where
Speaker 1: he doesn't necessarily have to be great because he's got
Speaker 1: three really good guards ahead of him. Forwards Lebron James,
Speaker 1: Riha Chimura, Jared Vanderbilt, Torrian Prince, Max Christi, and Max Lewis.
Speaker 1: That's just an awesome core of Fords, no other way
Speaker 1: around it. You can't do much better than that around
Speaker 1: the league. And then at the center position, you have
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, who's one of the top three or four
Speaker 1: centers in the league, depending on who you ask. I'd
Speaker 1: say he's probably the third best center in the league,
Speaker 1: maybe second, depending on how you value Anthony Davis's defensive
Speaker 1: impact over someone like Joel Embiid. But then you've got
Speaker 1: Jackson Hayes as a decent backup center, and I do
Speaker 1: think they're gonna end up bringing in Tristan Thompson with
Speaker 1: that last roster spot. We will see offensive archetype. So
Speaker 1: they have four players that are good in pick and roll.
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, d Angela Russell, gave Vincent, Lebron James can
Speaker 1: all run pick and roll effectively. And then they have
Speaker 1: four guys that can screen and roll effectively Anthony Davis, Lebron, James, Rouiyatcha,
Speaker 1: Murray Jackson Hayes. So they're going to be another heavy
Speaker 1: pick and roll offense in all likelihood. They do also
Speaker 1: have three rim pressuring forward You remember how much that
Speaker 1: matters for me with matchup attacking, especially against switching teams.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, Lebron, James, and Ruey Hotcha Mura can all
Speaker 1: punish mismatches in the post. They have an arsenal of
Speaker 1: reliable spot up shooters. This is crazy. Austin Reeves, D'angela, Russell,
Speaker 1: Ruey Hotcha Mura, Torrean Prince, Max Christie, and Max Lewis.
Speaker 1: Every single one of those guys was well over a
Speaker 1: point per possession in spot up situations last year. And
Speaker 1: then Gabe Vincent is the only guy who wasn't above
Speaker 1: a point per possession in spot up situations last year,
Speaker 1: but he was way over a point per possession the
Speaker 1: previous season and way over a point per possession in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, which leads you to believe that regular season
Speaker 1: last year was a little bit of an outlier. So
Speaker 1: going from where we were last year with the Lakers
Speaker 1: as a team that basically had no shooting to now
Speaker 1: they are just chock full of dead eye spot up
Speaker 1: shooters and guys who can attack closeouts at basically every
Speaker 1: single position except for the center position. That's really really intriguing.
Speaker 1: And if Anthony Davis and Lebron James, you notice I
Speaker 1: didn't even mention those two guys. If those two guys
Speaker 1: can get their ass in the damn gym this summer
Speaker 1: and fix their jump shots, this could be a really,
Speaker 1: really good jump shooting team which could really raise their ceiling.
Speaker 1: On the defensive end, this is where it gets a
Speaker 1: little tricky. In terms of perimeter defenders. The only outstanding
Speaker 1: perimeter defender they have is Jared Vanderbilt. I'm not counting
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis because they're not going to use him for
Speaker 1: that during the regular season, although we know he can
Speaker 1: and he got two clutch stops against Steph Curry in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference semi finals last year. But in terms
Speaker 1: of perimeter defenders, it's basically Vanderbilt and Anthony Davis. Guys
Speaker 1: like Gave Vincent, Austin Reeves, Torre and Prints are all
Speaker 1: just kind of okay at it. You know what, I mean,
Speaker 1: they're good, they're playable. They're not going to hurt you
Speaker 1: on that end of the floor. Everything they bring a
Speaker 1: package is worth it. But they're not going to be
Speaker 1: the guys that are going to significantly hamper a guy
Speaker 1: like Steph Curry in a playoff series. Right, thin athletic wings.
Speaker 1: Remember I have like two different types of forwards. There's
Speaker 1: the thin athletic forwards and then there's the big power forwards.
Speaker 1: The thin athletic forwards, they have Jared Vanderbilt, Torrian Prince,
Speaker 1: and Max Christy. It's a decent core there, and then
Speaker 1: big power wings. These are guys that you can switch
Speaker 1: on to Biggs to guard in the post, but they
Speaker 1: can also guard a little bit against some of the
Speaker 1: power wings guys like Kawhi Leonard, guys like Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1: In the league, they have Lebron James and Ruyacha Mura,
Speaker 1: So some decent options there. Rim protectors Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: Jackson Hayes. Not a perfect roster, but a pretty well
Speaker 1: rounded one that should be able to win a lot
Speaker 1: of regular season games. And again, when I say a
Speaker 1: lot of regular season games, it's all relative to the competition.
Speaker 1: I think the Denver Nuggets were the best team I've
Speaker 1: seen since the twenty eighteen Warriors, and they only won
Speaker 1: fifty three games last year. So it's not about like, oh,
Speaker 1: you need to win sixty five games to be great.
Speaker 1: When the league is this stacked and this deep, chances
Speaker 1: are you're not gonna end up getting that many wins.
Speaker 1: Like the West was just flat out better than the
Speaker 1: East last year, and we saw that in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but it didn't really look like that during the regular
Speaker 1: season because they were just beating the shit out of
Speaker 1: each other and it didn't manifest like that in the standings.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about Rob Polinka for a minute.
Speaker 1: So I was really critical of Rob Polinka in previous seasons.
Speaker 1: I thought that he made a critical mistake overlooking the
Speaker 1: Miles Turner trade, for overlooking the Miles Turner trade and
Speaker 1: Buddy Hill trade last summer, in running things back with
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, I think he made a critical mistake making
Speaker 1: the Russell Westbrook trade to begin with, when everybody in
Speaker 1: the world who understood basketball knew that was a bad idea.
Speaker 1: And I'm not like, literally it was the consensus opinion
Speaker 1: that it was a bad idea. It was obvious that
Speaker 1: it was a bad fit with Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: Rob Polinka is the president of basketball operations. It was
Speaker 1: his job to stop that from happening. I've been very
Speaker 1: critical of him, letting Alex Cruso go. That's inexcusable, losing
Speaker 1: the Julius Randall asset for nothing, losing the Brook Lopez
Speaker 1: asset for nothing. There have been a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 1: Rob Polinka made him previous iterations, effectively destroying a championship roster.
Speaker 1: That team won the title in twenty twenty and was
Speaker 1: a basically a non playoff team for a season and
Speaker 1: a half. And I do think Rob Polinka deserves most
Speaker 1: of the blame for that. But as you guys know,
Speaker 1: I don't have personal vendettas on the show. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and criticize Rob Polinka for all eternity.
Speaker 1: I am going to do what I do with every
Speaker 1: player executive that I talk about on the show. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna point out the good things they do and point
Speaker 1: out the bad things that they do. Is the purpose
Speaker 1: of basketball analysis, right And when it comes to Rob Polinka.
Speaker 1: Ever since the trade deadline, I think he's done a
Speaker 1: really nice job. The trade deadline, I think is a
Speaker 1: little overstated because guys like Dangel Russell ended up really
Speaker 1: struggling in the playoffs, Malik Beasley was completely unplayable, and
Speaker 1: then Jared Vanderbilt was kind of matchup dependent and in
Speaker 1: some series didn't really have the ability to stay on
Speaker 1: the floor. But what he did do is he got
Speaker 1: he got Russell Westbrook off the roster. The Rui Hachimura
Speaker 1: trade was an absolute home run from a Rob Polinka,
Speaker 1: and he deserves a mountain of credit for that second
Speaker 1: round picks that he immediately turned around and recouped. I
Speaker 1: think in the Thomas Bryant trade, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: I'm not one hundred percent certain, but the point is is
Speaker 1: Rob did overall a pretty good job at that deadline.
Speaker 1: And say what you want about Danngela Russell and Moleague Beasley.
Speaker 1: They lost some league Beasley asset for nothing, but they
Speaker 1: were able to re sign D'anngela Russell at a friendly
Speaker 1: number that they can use for salary filler, and Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt is going to be a very useful player for
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the regular season. So overall, I think
Speaker 1: he's done a really nice job. And then the big
Speaker 1: one is this summer. I was listening to Tim Bontempsy
Speaker 1: said something yesterday where he was like, the Lakers did
Speaker 1: nothing to get materially better. Why is everyone talking about
Speaker 1: how they had this great offseason? And I understand the
Speaker 1: premise of what he's saying, because this is more or
Speaker 1: less the same team from last year with a couple
Speaker 1: of role player upgrades, right, Like Gabe Vincent is probably
Speaker 1: like a maybe the same type of players as Dennis Schroeder.
Speaker 1: We'll see how I say same level of player. I
Speaker 1: think Gave's a better offensive player, Dennis is better defense player,
Speaker 1: but he kind of filled that need. And then Torrian
Speaker 1: Prince is definitely going to be an interesting depth option
Speaker 1: as a guy that can actually shoot a little bit
Speaker 1: while guarding on the perimeter. But other than that, it
Speaker 1: was all basically bringing everybody back, right, Like, it's the
Speaker 1: same Austin Rieves, d Angela Russell, and Ruey hatch Mura
Speaker 1: that they had last year. Right, So I agree with
Speaker 1: von Temps in the sense that they didn't get materially better,
Speaker 1: But the key is Rob Pelinka maintained a core of
Speaker 1: a team that went eighteen and eight post deadline last
Speaker 1: year despite losing Lebron for most of those games, and
Speaker 1: made the Western Conference Finals. So he brought all those
Speaker 1: guys back, which will allow them to succeed in the
Speaker 1: regular season, but he maintained the flexibility they need to
Speaker 1: make the trade they'll need to make to improve to
Speaker 1: become a bonafide top tier championship contender, which they probably
Speaker 1: already are. But if they find themselves at the deadline
Speaker 1: needing to do something to surpass Denver, they have real
Speaker 1: tools at their display, which was not the case last year.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think he's done such a great job.
Speaker 1: I've said this multiple times going into this summer, but
Speaker 1: there were three things that I think the Lakers had
Speaker 1: to address in order to become a perfect basketball team,
Speaker 1: so to speak. I thought they needed an athletic guard
Speaker 1: who can guard on the perimeter, someone like Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: or Alex Caruso, because you saw what Bruce Brown did
Speaker 1: to the likes of D'Angelo Russell in this particular playoff run.
Speaker 1: I thought they needed to have a real over the
Speaker 1: top shot creator Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and their
Speaker 1: failing jump shots was a big problem for the Lakers
Speaker 1: in the half court. The only way they were going
Speaker 1: to do that is either Lebron James or Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: getting better this summer and fixing their jump shots, or
Speaker 1: making a trade for someone like a Kyrie Irving right,
Speaker 1: and then the last thing they needed is a bona
Speaker 1: fide backup center that can actually play in the playoffs. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't think they accomplished any of those three things,
Speaker 1: but they didn't really have an option to this summer.
Speaker 1: I don't think they had, like, let's just go through it.
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown went for forty five million for two years,
Speaker 1: the Lakers weren't getting him, and Alex Crusoe wasn't available
Speaker 1: in trade. So guess what they couldn't get that type
Speaker 1: of player in this particular a free agent run over
Speaker 1: the top shot crater. Kyrie Irving re signed with Dallas,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers did not have the salaries to match
Speaker 1: for someone like Bradley Beal, so it was not an
Speaker 1: option this summer. The backup center thing, Brook Lopez stayed
Speaker 1: and I don't think Mason Plumley was the guy, so
Speaker 1: there wasn't really a backup center available that was going
Speaker 1: to fit the knee, that what they wanted. But at
Speaker 1: the deadline they might be able to do that. They
Speaker 1: might be able to trade for Alex Crusoe or someone similar.
Speaker 1: They might be able to trade for Miles Turner or
Speaker 1: someone similar to fortify that backup center. If they're sitting
Speaker 1: at the deadline and they're like man Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: Lebron James are still declining as shot makers, we have
Speaker 1: to do something. They can go trade for a bona
Speaker 1: fide creator at the deadline, or hey, Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis got in the gym this summer and fix
Speaker 1: their jumpers. Lebron's back to where he was in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: We're in good shape now. Okay, now we don't need
Speaker 1: to make that trade. But no matter what, now they
Speaker 1: have the flexibility. Ruey Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Austin Reeves, and
Speaker 1: D'Angel Russell all make somewhere between eleven million dollars a
Speaker 1: year and twenty million dollars a year, and they're all
Speaker 1: in the middle there. So if if the need arises
Speaker 1: and they need to go after that type of player,
Speaker 1: they can make that type of trade at the deadline,
Speaker 1: and they don't need to before. Then all of those
Speaker 1: problems are Denver problems. They can beat anybody in the
Speaker 1: league as currently constructed, except for Denver. Those are Denver problems,
Speaker 1: And you might not even have a Denver problem if
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis fix their jump shot and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis competes against Jokic in a way that he
Speaker 1: didn't last year, so you didn't need to do anything.
Speaker 1: Patience was the right approach in this offseason. It was
Speaker 1: the wrong approach last season. Sending that group with no
Speaker 1: shooting and no forwards into that awful schedule to start
Speaker 1: the season was bound to put them in a two
Speaker 1: to ten hole and make it so they were digging
Speaker 1: out of the standings all season. That was a bad idea,
Speaker 1: and I was critical of Rob Polinka of that. But
Speaker 1: this season, patience was the right approach because that roster,
Speaker 1: that depth chart that I went over, is going to
Speaker 1: win a ton of regular season games. Again relative to
Speaker 1: the field, They're going to consistently be in that one
Speaker 1: through four seed all season long, and so you can
Speaker 1: just eat innings and chill during the regular season and
Speaker 1: then come February, you have a conversation where are we at?
Speaker 1: Are we good enough? Did Austin Reeves and Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis improve enough as jump shooters that we
Speaker 1: don't need it over the top guy? Okay, good? Oh,
Speaker 1: Jackson Hayes is hooping. We're in good shape. We don't
Speaker 1: need a backup center. Actually, no, it's not working out.
Speaker 1: Maybe we go target a Miles Turner or a similar
Speaker 1: backup center. Okay, we're getting torched at on the perimeter
Speaker 1: by this particular type of player, and I'm worried about
Speaker 1: it against Jamal Murray in the Western Conference finals. Okay,
Speaker 1: we need to go target an Alex Cruso type of guy.
Speaker 1: They can make that move at the deadline and maintain
Speaker 1: the core because of their depth. Again, I read over
Speaker 1: the depth chart they've got. They've they've got players to
Speaker 1: burn at every position now, which is not the way
Speaker 1: it used to be. And so I really do think
Speaker 1: the Lakers have had a great offseason, even if it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like it on the surface, because they were
Speaker 1: already awesome. Don't let the sweep fool you. They were
Speaker 1: the team that was closest to Denver and point differential.
Speaker 1: Every one of those games came down to the buzzer,
Speaker 1: well not the buzzer, but to the final minutes. The
Speaker 1: Lakers are this close, but they clearly need to make
Speaker 1: up that gap. They weren't gonna do that this summer,
Speaker 1: so bring everybody back. Maybe you can flip that gap
Speaker 1: at the deadline. So kudos to Rob Polinka. This is
Speaker 1: gonna be a really fun Lakers team. I'm very, very
Speaker 1: excited to cover them coming into the season. They're gonna
Speaker 1: be much more enter taining regular season product, and I
Speaker 1: think they have a real chance to win an NBA championship.
Speaker 1: Like I said in our video with the nerd sech
Speaker 1: guys a while back, I think the Lakers are absolutely
Speaker 1: the team that is most capable of unseating Denver as
Speaker 1: the defending champions. We are going to be covering the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors in their offseason tomorrow to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on the feeds for that. As always, I sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate your support and I'll see you guys. Then the
Speaker 1: volume