Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jason timp Podcast. Thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for taking time out of your day to come
Speaker 1: out and talk some hoops with me and with Vene.
Speaker 1: I brought Vine on. You guys know him from the
Speaker 1: Laker Central podcast. He hosts that podcast with Alex holling Um.
Speaker 1: I hopped on with him and Alex a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. Those guys run a great show over there,
Speaker 1: so make sure you hop over. I'm gonna before we
Speaker 1: get out of here today, I'll have him. I'll ven
Speaker 1: A plug all the necessary pages and links for that Vane.
Speaker 1: How you doing, man? I am doing good. Excited the
Speaker 1: NBA is back. Looks like we neither of us got
Speaker 1: any time off, just like the players. But you know
Speaker 1: a lot of cool things to learn from yesterday's games,
Speaker 1: even though they're just on game sample sizes. But just
Speaker 1: glad that the league is back. Yeah, me too, man.
Speaker 1: And And like it's funny because I would imagine that
Speaker 1: for most of the guys in the league they wanted
Speaker 1: some more time off. But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: when you love basketball the way that these guys do,
Speaker 1: or the way that we the way that we do,
Speaker 1: get back into it, you're kind of just like you
Speaker 1: just get into the grind and you love it, Like
Speaker 1: I thought. Lebron had an interesting comment after the game
Speaker 1: last night. He said, I'm kind of glad this is
Speaker 1: over now. It felt weird that we had a game. Yea,
Speaker 1: now we can just kind of focus on our season. Um.
Speaker 1: And it was really cool to see all of those
Speaker 1: guys get their rings. I think it's one of the
Speaker 1: coolest things in sports because you know, uh, only one
Speaker 1: team gets to win, and it makes it that much
Speaker 1: more special and and and it was really really cool
Speaker 1: to see everybody, especially to see their families involved. I
Speaker 1: thought the Lakers absolutely nailed it in a really weird environment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say that, I thought the ring ceremony
Speaker 1: was really great. Um. I would say that the family
Speaker 1: part was real nice touch, especially considering the bubble they
Speaker 1: could never you know, their family wasn't even there for
Speaker 1: a majority of the time and stuff I got. I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, there wasn't too many like very like expansive
Speaker 1: speeches or you didn't get too emotional. It's just like
Speaker 1: the right amount of ring ceremony, the right amount of
Speaker 1: at least from a liquor fan perspective, the right amount
Speaker 1: of like attribution to like um, Kobe and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was really nice. Uh, it was
Speaker 1: just a great presentation all the way through. That's what
Speaker 1: you kind of expect from the Lakers, and you know
Speaker 1: it hats off to Genie Buss and and the rest
Speaker 1: of that, um, you know, the rest of that franchise
Speaker 1: for doing it the way they did. I like that
Speaker 1: they talked about the first responders and stuff I got too.
Speaker 1: That was really nice because sometimes we forget, um that
Speaker 1: there's an entire world outside of basketball that's still occurring
Speaker 1: that we're part of. UM. So I think it's nice
Speaker 1: that all that sort of stuff happened. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: we got onto the game, which was very very different experience.
Speaker 1: I thought the Lakers nailed it. And I mean, so
Speaker 1: first of all, as many of us know, defending champions
Speaker 1: sort of have a history of struggling on ring night.
Speaker 1: It's just it's a lot of emotion. And then I'm
Speaker 1: a huge believer in the uh, the motivational advantage in basketball,
Speaker 1: the team that has more to play for, and I
Speaker 1: think that it takes a lot of mental toughness to
Speaker 1: overcome that that doesn't. It doesn't mean that it doesn't
Speaker 1: happen from time to time. And obviously the Lakers will
Speaker 1: be at a motivation disadvantage throughout the season, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure they will overcome it. But opening nights a classic
Speaker 1: example of that, because you're always playing a really good
Speaker 1: team because for TV purposes, they're gonna put you against
Speaker 1: somebody that everybody wants to watch you play against. That team,
Speaker 1: in all likelihood had a disappointing playoff lost the previous year,
Speaker 1: and all likelihood they just watched you get your rings,
Speaker 1: and they're extremely frustrated, they're extremely motivated, they're chomping at
Speaker 1: the bit, and what do you know, the game started,
Speaker 1: and in the game kind of went as you would expect.
Speaker 1: The Clippers jumped out to a big lead. The Lakers
Speaker 1: fought back, but by the time they fought back, they
Speaker 1: were a little fatigued and they weren't really ready to
Speaker 1: continue to maut that effort, and then the Clippers pulled away.
Speaker 1: But that said, I think that there was a lot
Speaker 1: of really good basketball for us to have interesting, you know,
Speaker 1: takeaways from and the format that you and I settled
Speaker 1: on for this, which I think would be cool is
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you the three things that we liked
Speaker 1: the most, and then we're gonna give you, guys the
Speaker 1: three things that we didn't like, strictly speaking from the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and then we'll shift to the Clippers from there. Um,
Speaker 1: So the first thing that I liked, and you can
Speaker 1: just let me know if we overlap on this. There
Speaker 1: was a lot of pessimism surrounding Lebron physically last night,
Speaker 1: which was surprising to me because I thought he looked
Speaker 1: good physically. Yeah, there were several attacks to the basket
Speaker 1: where he looked more or less like the same guy.
Speaker 1: He missed a lot of shots at the rim, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't so much that he wasn't up high enough
Speaker 1: or that he wasn't getting enough sell separation. He was
Speaker 1: right there at the rim. He was just missing shots
Speaker 1: because he's more or less rusty. He came out and
Speaker 1: basically told us that Instagram post where he was doing
Speaker 1: a workout with his son was the first time he
Speaker 1: touched a basketball from October eleven that day, which was November,
Speaker 1: I believe, so a month and a half basically, and
Speaker 1: then he went right into training camp. So he's gonna
Speaker 1: be rusty. But I thought athletically he looked good, and
Speaker 1: that's not that long of a gap, so theoretically, I
Speaker 1: would imagine that he's going to pick it up very quickly.
Speaker 1: I didn't see anything to be too pessimistic about from
Speaker 1: Lebron physically. What did you think? Yeah, I thought, um,
Speaker 1: everything that Lebron was doing yesterday, I thought, athletically he
Speaker 1: looked fine. It looked like he had a really nice
Speaker 1: burst in transition, had a really nice burst in um
Speaker 1: even in some of the half court action that that
Speaker 1: first dump that he got, he that was based off
Speaker 1: of his guy going to go double Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: him like immediately cutting, So like the reaction timing and
Speaker 1: all that stuff was there. I mean, it actually just
Speaker 1: seemed like he was playing basketball. I know he played
Speaker 1: it the pregames, but it felt like he was just
Speaker 1: playing basketball for the first time, like live, live basketball,
Speaker 1: like he had to. He had the finger roll that
Speaker 1: he missed, uh that was like wide open pretty much,
Speaker 1: and then he had that he had like a point
Speaker 1: blank play up that he just like literally just shot
Speaker 1: over the rim and it went like off the back
Speaker 1: of the back of the room. So it's just like
Speaker 1: when you see stuff like that, and you're more versed
Speaker 1: in Lebron than I am, But like, even just from
Speaker 1: a basketball perspective, watching somebody do that, it reminded me
Speaker 1: of like somebody who's been stuck in the pandemic for
Speaker 1: a long time and just taking a break and then
Speaker 1: just showing up to play pick up basketball and then
Speaker 1: just you know, missing basic shots that you would normally,
Speaker 1: if you had a rhythm, you would already know how
Speaker 1: to do. So Physically, I thought he was fine. I
Speaker 1: thought the rhythm was kind of up and down depending
Speaker 1: on his first shift versus his second shift. Uh. And
Speaker 1: it was very reminiscent of the first game they played
Speaker 1: in the preseason against Phoenix, if you remember, if you
Speaker 1: got a chance to watch it, Anthony Davis, his shooting
Speaker 1: looked good, but both he and Lebron came out sort
Speaker 1: of out of rhythm, a little bit, kind of figuring
Speaker 1: out who who the ball was going to. And plus
Speaker 1: you know they had de Schroder. They're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how they're integrating him into the loop too as well.
Speaker 1: Their first shift in that game didn't look that great,
Speaker 1: but that second shift, the defense turned up. They I
Speaker 1: think they were down to Phoenix in that game and
Speaker 1: then they wiped away like a fifteen point deficit. We
Speaker 1: saw almost the same exact thing happened yesterday night where
Speaker 1: they came out a little slow. Our Stars came out
Speaker 1: a little slow, and then the second shift they kind
Speaker 1: of ramped it up a little bit more. And then
Speaker 1: you know that the second half, like the fact that
Speaker 1: he didn't even he didn't even break thirty minutes. Like
Speaker 1: so I was just like, all right, they're not taking
Speaker 1: this game very seriously. And I think most sensible fans
Speaker 1: saw it as this is the their fifth preseason game
Speaker 1: more than it is the first game of the regular season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, Lebron. I saw a stat over the
Speaker 1: off season where it was either I think it was
Speaker 1: it was for sure last postseason and then maybe for
Speaker 1: his entire career. Now Lebron had a higher fieldical percentage
Speaker 1: in the paint than Seaquille O'Neal. And I know for
Speaker 1: sure it was in the last postseason, but it may
Speaker 1: or may not be for his whole playoff career at
Speaker 1: this point. But that is an absolutely upsearch stat. Lebron
Speaker 1: when he gets to the rim and he gets enough
Speaker 1: separation to be around the room. He's just gonna make it.
Speaker 1: That's that that that is one of his calling cards.
Speaker 1: And last night he was just smoking layps right and left.
Speaker 1: He was missing everything that that he had around the rim.
Speaker 1: And it was never a factor of him shooting over
Speaker 1: too much length or him There was one play where
Speaker 1: he got blocked by Zobos as he kind of drove
Speaker 1: in on the left side, but like for the most part,
Speaker 1: he was getting plenty of separation and he was getting
Speaker 1: to the rim. He was just smoking laps. And for
Speaker 1: anybody who's played any real amount of basketball, especially like
Speaker 1: you said, the pandemic example is perfect because I went
Speaker 1: through this. I was playing four or five times a
Speaker 1: week for you know, years leading up to the to
Speaker 1: the pandemic, and you know, for for several months there,
Speaker 1: especially at the beginning, I was not playing at all.
Speaker 1: And then I get invited to some run somewhere and
Speaker 1: I I go play, and it's like it's not like
Speaker 1: I can't play anymore. It's just like the ball feels
Speaker 1: a little weird in your hand, and your your every
Speaker 1: little like gathering drip bill and finish and everything just
Speaker 1: kind of feels funky and that just kind of goes
Speaker 1: away over time. You just have to kind of build
Speaker 1: your rhythm back. And again, the the this isn't like
Speaker 1: are we wondering whether or not Lebron can regain his
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen playoff form like we talked about last postseason.
Speaker 1: We're saying, can he be the same guy he was
Speaker 1: two months ago, which right exactly absolutely certainly can be.
Speaker 1: So that if the reason why I put that down
Speaker 1: is one of the things that I liked was because
Speaker 1: I thought physically he looked great. That Duncan transition he
Speaker 1: had that was just ridiculous when he did that, I
Speaker 1: was like, well, I was not expecting that in Game one.
Speaker 1: I would say that as it relates just to that
Speaker 1: topic in itself, like you have to separate Lebron's finishing
Speaker 1: being out of rhythm and then actually just look at
Speaker 1: how he looked just getting to the rim. I thought
Speaker 1: he getting to the rim, he had a little spin
Speaker 1: in a phone booth on on Zoo Bach Like that
Speaker 1: wasn't as athletic as he probably normally would make that
Speaker 1: move because he's he's a little bit more exaggerated when
Speaker 1: he makes that spin move, But it looked good. So
Speaker 1: like the fact that he was getting to the room
Speaker 1: is probably a good sign of more than anything. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then the finishing will correct itself as the season
Speaker 1: goes on. Agree, The thing to watch there is the
Speaker 1: separation he's getting. Okay, So what's the first what's the
Speaker 1: first thing you have on your list of things that
Speaker 1: you liked? Okay, So the thing that I liked was
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis his mid range shooting. Uh. Yesterday he didn't
Speaker 1: take too many shots in the paint. That's, you know,
Speaker 1: probably by design because he didn't want to go in
Speaker 1: game one to start, you know, wrestling around. I think
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of the game, he had a
Speaker 1: possession where he had a back on him and he
Speaker 1: faced him up and he used a slight dribble fake, uh,
Speaker 1: not like a jab step fake towards the middle of them,
Speaker 1: towards the middle of the court, and uh, he got
Speaker 1: a back open up his hips to the base, opened
Speaker 1: the open the base signed up by switching his hips,
Speaker 1: and he immediately attacked him with his left hand and
Speaker 1: he got a dunk out of it. The rest of
Speaker 1: this stuff was all jump shots that he was making.
Speaker 1: It looked really good coming out of his hands, the
Speaker 1: ones where he wasn't fading away. He was kind of
Speaker 1: standing straight up when he was releasing. Um. That looked
Speaker 1: really good. It is a one game sample size, but
Speaker 1: it's nice to see that it's still continued to translate over.
Speaker 1: Him taking those jumpers over zoo Bach was also impressive
Speaker 1: because zoo Back was supposed to be the guy who
Speaker 1: had enough length and close out ability to affect that shot,
Speaker 1: or at least that trajectorated that shot. So I'm not
Speaker 1: a jump shot expert or a shooting expert, um, but
Speaker 1: I would assume that it was good that he was
Speaker 1: making those in rhythm and it looked like he wasn't
Speaker 1: using too many different moves to get himself out of rhythm.
Speaker 1: He was taking them face up and it looked good
Speaker 1: in general. Yeah, So I actually think it's really interesting
Speaker 1: that you brought this up, because it's gonna be something
Speaker 1: that's going to be very interesting to follow with all
Speaker 1: of the players from the bubble, because I do think
Speaker 1: that there is some truth to the fact that conditions
Speaker 1: in the bubble kind of lent themselves to the players
Speaker 1: shooting better than they normally would. That said, one of
Speaker 1: the most important aspects of jump shooting, his confidence and
Speaker 1: I up with you a lot about this the first
Speaker 1: time you and I did a podcast together when we
Speaker 1: talked about Anthony Davis shooting mid range well in the bubble,
Speaker 1: and I mentioned that, like, there's a pathway to adding
Speaker 1: a skill to your game. You you work on it
Speaker 1: by yourself to the point where you feel like you
Speaker 1: have it mastered. Then you start trying it and pick
Speaker 1: up or in practice, if for the case of an
Speaker 1: NBA player, and then you start trying it in games.
Speaker 1: And sometimes there's a barrier between that shot working so
Speaker 1: well when you're not being watched on TV, and then
Speaker 1: it's suddenly being something you feel confident taking with the
Speaker 1: world watching. And and what's interesting to me is there's
Speaker 1: been all this question about whether or not Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is jump shooting would translate from the bubble to the
Speaker 1: regular season in the in the real world. And the
Speaker 1: truth is is it looks like it may strictly on
Speaker 1: the strength of his confidence, that ability has always been there,
Speaker 1: his form great. He to the point about him being contested.
Speaker 1: Him and Kad have this weird thing where like if
Speaker 1: a hand is up just doesn't bother demand it right, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: because they shoot up, they don't shoot out. They have
Speaker 1: really really smooth releases, and they shoot so high that
Speaker 1: it just doesn't bother them. So from that standpoint, like
Speaker 1: the way that I look at it, Uh, it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see what Jamal Murray too, a player who's
Speaker 1: shot really really well in the bubble, who had issues
Speaker 1: being kind of hot and cold in the playoffs before
Speaker 1: last season, if the confidence boost from being that guy
Speaker 1: who was as good as he was, who dropped forty
Speaker 1: on Kauai in a Game seven, who did all those things,
Speaker 1: just simply allows him to be a more confident jump
Speaker 1: shooter for the rest of his career and it leads
Speaker 1: to him making shots. And I think I think that's
Speaker 1: what it was. The ability was always there with a D.
Speaker 1: The inconsistency was born out of just lack of reps
Speaker 1: as he was learning to be a more versatile, aggressive
Speaker 1: midrange score and now it's kind of just sort of
Speaker 1: coming together. And in the bottom line is that's something
Speaker 1: to be super super super excited about for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: because that's what makes him a top five player. Other
Speaker 1: than that, he's just you know, go bear with a
Speaker 1: little bit more offensive versatility, but his his his ability
Speaker 1: to be elite in that regard is what vaults him
Speaker 1: up into that you know, tier one, tier two star level. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it turns him being it puts him into
Speaker 1: that elite category of three tier scores, which is the
Speaker 1: very top of the top when it comes to like
Speaker 1: the best scores in the league. And typically you wouldn't
Speaker 1: think of Anthony Davis. You wouldn't if the first thing
Speaker 1: I said, well, what's what's Anthony Davis's best quality? Usually
Speaker 1: the first thing you say is he's he's a defensive
Speaker 1: player of the year. Can it right? You wouldn't. The
Speaker 1: first thing you wouldn't say, is it like he's a
Speaker 1: you know, three tier elite score. That's not the first
Speaker 1: thing you would say. And um, that still may be
Speaker 1: true now, but now he can add that if it's
Speaker 1: consistent and it remains consistent through the season, Um, you
Speaker 1: can add that. And that when you combine those two things,
Speaker 1: defensive player of the Year and three tier score, that's
Speaker 1: when you start getting into, Wow, this guy's an m
Speaker 1: v P level caliber player. Um. So it's a good
Speaker 1: sign for him, and I hope he continues to I
Speaker 1: wonder if winning a championship took the pressure off of
Speaker 1: playing the game of basketball for him now, um, and
Speaker 1: so now he just gets to play basketball and he
Speaker 1: doesn't have to worry about chasing a championship anymore. So
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's a level of confidence he gets
Speaker 1: from that. So, and it's to your point, I think
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right onto something there. I did without a doubt.
Speaker 1: I think like one of the most common things that
Speaker 1: happens the first time the team wins the title is
Speaker 1: the comeback super super confident the next year. That that's
Speaker 1: what's so beautiful about the way Rob Lincoln did this
Speaker 1: is he he kept the core guys who are going
Speaker 1: to feed off of the confidence of winning the championship,
Speaker 1: and then he brought in enough new blood that there's
Speaker 1: not going to be stagnation and guys who don't have
Speaker 1: any sort of motivation. So the second thing that I
Speaker 1: put on my list of things that I liked was
Speaker 1: Montrese Harrold's offensive rebounding. Yeah, so what I loved about
Speaker 1: the way that they used Montrese last night is he
Speaker 1: did have a couple of isolation plays, but it was
Speaker 1: not the vast majority of his offense came playing off
Speaker 1: of the other players on the floor, and and he
Speaker 1: was an absolute beast on the offensive class, which is
Speaker 1: literally like stealing points. And it's one of the most
Speaker 1: important things to factor in when you're talking about him
Speaker 1: on the defensive end, because I kind of just throw
Speaker 1: throughout most of what I saw defensively from the Lakers
Speaker 1: last night, because I didn't think their effort was super
Speaker 1: good on that. And but like it's the verdict is
Speaker 1: still out as to what kind of defensive player Montrez
Speaker 1: can be on this team. However, if he's gonna get
Speaker 1: full offensive rebound putbacks every single game, that's just work.
Speaker 1: That just cancels out a lot of any any defensive
Speaker 1: mistakes he brings to the table. Those are empty possessions
Speaker 1: for the Lakers that they're coming back on defense with
Speaker 1: two points. And that's what's actually happening on those plays.
Speaker 1: And I thought, I thought you I thought it invigorated
Speaker 1: the team. I thought it brought a lot of energy,
Speaker 1: and you could tell, like you could tell Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d were feeding off of it. They were all
Speaker 1: feeding off of it. He brought a lot of energy
Speaker 1: last night, and I was really, really pleased with the
Speaker 1: way he fit in offensively. Yeah, and and you know,
Speaker 1: one of the benefits of being a good offensive rebounder
Speaker 1: or being able to put pressure on the offensive boards
Speaker 1: like that is stops the the opposing team from breaking
Speaker 1: out into the transition. They have to send an extra
Speaker 1: guy to help on to help with the defensive rebounding
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And that that in itself is
Speaker 1: pretty awesome thing. Even the Clippers themselves, they they utilize
Speaker 1: that offensive rebounding prowess with zoo back. Every time he
Speaker 1: grabs an offensive rebound, it causes problems for the defense
Speaker 1: because he got to send more guys back to help out. Um.
Speaker 1: And Lakers actually ran into that situation themselves a little
Speaker 1: bit when Zombo had a couple. I wouldn't say you
Speaker 1: got like one or two offensive rebounds for put backs
Speaker 1: or something like that. Um. And so they're the fact
Speaker 1: that we have one We only need one guy to
Speaker 1: put that kind of pressure on on the offensive offensive
Speaker 1: class is is great because if you find them with
Speaker 1: four guys who will make sure that they get back
Speaker 1: in transition and the good communicators and they pick stuff up,
Speaker 1: you have the luxury of doing stuff like that. And
Speaker 1: telling Mantraz giving him the green lights to go go
Speaker 1: ahead and attack the offensive class however you want. So
Speaker 1: all the parts kind of fitting together with that situation. No,
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. Having a having a one man offensive
Speaker 1: rebounding force allows you to the risk and not sacrifice
Speaker 1: or transition defense. I think, I think, I think it's
Speaker 1: a really good fit. So what do you have is
Speaker 1: your second thing that you liked? Okay, so the second
Speaker 1: thing that I have is um Montress partner in crime
Speaker 1: last night for some of those sets Dennis Schroeder Um.
Speaker 1: Yesterday was the first game where we saw outside of
Speaker 1: the very first preseason game where Dennis Schroder ran a
Speaker 1: lot of pick and roll. He ran it with Montrese,
Speaker 1: he ran a little bit of I think he ran
Speaker 1: a couple of possessions with Marcasoul and then he actually
Speaker 1: ran some with Anthony Davis. At the very beginning of
Speaker 1: the game, he had a little bit of an issue
Speaker 1: with the entry passes UH to Anthony Davis. He was
Speaker 1: throwing him at his feet and stuff. I got um
Speaker 1: and that clearly gets fixed once he watched his tape
Speaker 1: and realizes where Anthony Davis likes to catch the ball
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So I think that will get correct.
Speaker 1: I'm not too worried about it. But um, part of
Speaker 1: the part of that comeback in the second quarter that
Speaker 1: erased that twenty two point deficit was him just getting
Speaker 1: loose as a score. And when I watched him in
Speaker 1: the very first preseason game, it seemed like he was
Speaker 1: trying to be a fist ailitator for everybody else. And
Speaker 1: that's usually what you expect. Happened to your debut with
Speaker 1: your new team. You're being watched on national television, even
Speaker 1: though it's preseason game. You want to fit in and
Speaker 1: I think, um, that's all fine in handy, But we
Speaker 1: brought him on board because we need him to score
Speaker 1: and we want him to score. And the Lakers of
Speaker 1: Anything are a team that has a lot of role
Speaker 1: players that know how to play around volume scores. So
Speaker 1: if he's scoring, the rest of everything else will fall
Speaker 1: into place. Crusoe Kuzma, Taylan Horn, Tucker, everybody else will
Speaker 1: fall into place, Markip Morris. So that's what we needed
Speaker 1: from him, and that's exactly what happened. Yesterday was only
Speaker 1: one game, but we can already see what the difference
Speaker 1: is when we have a bench that can score versus
Speaker 1: a bench that could not score at all last season,
Speaker 1: and so it was nice. It was funny. Um uh.
Speaker 1: But it was also nice to see that our bench
Speaker 1: could battle back against another team's bench and take a lead.
Speaker 1: And Lebron and Anthony Davis were staggered in and out
Speaker 1: for as part of those lineups two as well. But
Speaker 1: I thought there was a stretch in the game where
Speaker 1: Schroeder and Mantrez were scoring like practically every every possession,
Speaker 1: and so the Lakers didn't even have to look at
Speaker 1: Anthony Davison. They just put Anthony Davis on quaint. They're like,
Speaker 1: just play defense and we'll take care of the offense.
Speaker 1: And that is I would say awesome. The more that
Speaker 1: they can do that, the more that like Anton Davis
Speaker 1: being on the court, but just having to only play
Speaker 1: defense is a boon for the Lakers. That's how Vogel
Speaker 1: can and and it's a it's an advantage of Lakers
Speaker 1: can utilize or exploit moving forward. Um if they can
Speaker 1: keep that scoring clip up. Mhmm. Yeah, So I I
Speaker 1: think I agree with you in the sense that the
Speaker 1: bench is going to be something that can carry the
Speaker 1: Lakers early in the year, as the lethargy from their
Speaker 1: stars and their starters can get them in some holes
Speaker 1: early in games, like we talked about earlier, just having
Speaker 1: that influx of people who don't have any reason to
Speaker 1: be lethargic and don't have any reason to be you know, complacent,
Speaker 1: those are the guys that can fight back and get
Speaker 1: and get the Lakers back into these games. And then honestly,
Speaker 1: just the competitive nature of Lebron and a D and
Speaker 1: KCP and guys like these, their champions, They're not going
Speaker 1: to sit there and let their bench carry them. Inevitably,
Speaker 1: they will feed off of that and find and find
Speaker 1: a way to try to match their intensity. Um. So
Speaker 1: this is actually good because I actually put Schroeder down
Speaker 1: as one of the things that I didn't like, Uh
Speaker 1: not Schroeder himself, but I did think that he was
Speaker 1: just a tad bit over aggressive to be clear, to
Speaker 1: the good stuff I noticed with Schroder, instant chemistry with
Speaker 1: Montrez that that that that is that goes to show
Speaker 1: you how gifted he is as a natural pick and
Speaker 1: roll playmaker. Um. And then he is absolutely I was
Speaker 1: pleased with what he brings to the table. In the
Speaker 1: sense that I do think there will be a scenario
Speaker 1: where this works really really well for the Lakers, having
Speaker 1: Schroeder shot out of a cannon and being very aggressive
Speaker 1: from time to time. That that said, um, I did
Speaker 1: think that there were some stretches, particularly in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: He took some shots that were a little bit outside
Speaker 1: of the flow of the offense that kept things outside
Speaker 1: of of Lebron and Anthony Davis and what they can
Speaker 1: bring to the table offensively. What I mean by that
Speaker 1: is that something that I harped on a lot last year,
Speaker 1: which is that I'm a big believer in continuing to
Speaker 1: feed your top two players because it allows them to
Speaker 1: gain a rhythm which will inevitably help you over the
Speaker 1: course of the game. That doesn't mean Dennishrioter doesn't shoot.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean the Dennistriotor doesn't you know, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't want him playing inhibited. But this is where
Speaker 1: it comes. This is where him being in the starting
Speaker 1: lineup becomes a problem. Because I loved the way that
Speaker 1: Brooklyn used Harris Lavert yesterday. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: caught that game, but when Carris Lavert checked in to
Speaker 1: start the second quarter, they just shot him out of
Speaker 1: a cannon and he just started going to work and
Speaker 1: he was generating all sorts of offense. He I think
Speaker 1: he took seven shots in his first nine minutes and
Speaker 1: made like four of them or five of them, and
Speaker 1: he was he was all over the place, and it
Speaker 1: was a huge net positive because early in the game
Speaker 1: they just ran everything through Katie and Kyrie. And then
Speaker 1: when you know, during a during the stretch of a game,
Speaker 1: when I think that either both of them were out
Speaker 1: or or a Katie was on the floor but he
Speaker 1: had been used a lot, and he was being a
Speaker 1: little more passive, kind of resting in the flow of
Speaker 1: the game, they just shot Karris LeVert out of a cannon.
Speaker 1: He just was super aggressive and and that's what I
Speaker 1: that's what I'd like to see, And this is what
Speaker 1: I put down as one of the things that I
Speaker 1: didn't like. I just would like to see the Lakers
Speaker 1: focused Dennis Shutter's aggression through specific points in the game
Speaker 1: when it makes a little bit more sense. And part
Speaker 1: of this is Anthony Davis's fault, because he was so
Speaker 1: passive at times as a result of the double teams
Speaker 1: that that it kind of forced someone else on the
Speaker 1: floor to try to create something and and Shuter would
Speaker 1: be more aggressive. But I think there's a sweet spot
Speaker 1: because you know, he was I think he was five
Speaker 1: of fifteen last night, and he was five or fifteen.
Speaker 1: But he played well. I really do think he played well.
Speaker 1: He nearly had a triple double at eight assists, and
Speaker 1: he's not notoriously a high assist guy. And one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why is I thought he just had a
Speaker 1: few bad shots in the game that if he takes
Speaker 1: those out and and kind of plays like a little
Speaker 1: bit more under control, it might impact this team a
Speaker 1: little bit better. But I'm I'm really picking NTS here
Speaker 1: because he was good last night. I don't want to
Speaker 1: overplay that but or underplay that. But I just yeah,
Speaker 1: like that, I I see, I really liked what I saw.
Speaker 1: But I think they can focus his aggression in different
Speaker 1: parts of the game a little better. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: that's a that's probably something that is going to happen
Speaker 1: over the course of time. My entire logic, or at
Speaker 1: least my my approach to what I think the first
Speaker 1: ten games of this season are probably gonna be is
Speaker 1: um Vocal just wants to get reps up with different lineups, um,
Speaker 1: and get these guys a little bit used to it.
Speaker 1: Like even if you're best friends with you know, like
Speaker 1: if you go and play reck ball and you're unless
Speaker 1: you're like absolutely best friends with the other four guys
Speaker 1: that you've played with and you guys have played hundreds
Speaker 1: and hundreds of games together, it's really hard. Even if
Speaker 1: you know the person and you've seen how they play,
Speaker 1: it still takes a certain amount of reps to kind
Speaker 1: of get real comfortable with how each other other plays.
Speaker 1: I want to say that maybe his over aggression also
Speaker 1: probably came and the fact that the Lakers were down,
Speaker 1: and so he was just trying to change the change
Speaker 1: his speed of the game and stuff I got. Um,
Speaker 1: he did definitely get himself stuck in a few bad
Speaker 1: spots like overdriving or getting a little bit too deep
Speaker 1: without having like a real good outlet pass and stuff
Speaker 1: I got to his teammates. But I think that's something
Speaker 1: that he'll learn that he doesn't have to rush stuff
Speaker 1: and you can play within the field of the offense
Speaker 1: and whatnot. Um, But I think your stuff is valid.
Speaker 1: I think I saw that on the timeline as well.
Speaker 1: Most most Laker fence. We're pretty happy with what Shoreder
Speaker 1: was doing. They were just a little concerned about his
Speaker 1: you know, some of it was a shot selection and
Speaker 1: some of it was just being a little over zealous
Speaker 1: with sort of how his activity on on the ball
Speaker 1: in the bottom line is is they're going to need
Speaker 1: him to be super aggressive. It's just about figuring out when,
Speaker 1: and you make a great point, like it's just about
Speaker 1: learning when, which you can't just you can't like scheme that.
Speaker 1: It's so like you can to the to with your
Speaker 1: lineups to a certain extent by just having him come
Speaker 1: off the bench, which doesn't appear they're going to do.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is over time and through playing
Speaker 1: experien arians, all of these guys will learn how to
Speaker 1: play off of each other better. Um So, the third
Speaker 1: thing that I liked was the defense in the second quarter.
Speaker 1: So when the Lakers got slapped in the face to
Speaker 1: start the game, their competitive nature kicked in and they
Speaker 1: did something that I think is a is a big
Speaker 1: landmark for this team and has been throughout the throughout
Speaker 1: the Lebron and Ad experience. When they lock in defensively,
Speaker 1: teams just can't score. This was a Clipper offense that
Speaker 1: was humming on all all cylinders yesterday, um uh. And
Speaker 1: they held them to seventeen in the second quarter, much
Speaker 1: better ball pressure. They made Kauai feel uncomfortable. Kaui missed
Speaker 1: a lot of shots in this stretch. They did a
Speaker 1: good job of getting into his body so that when
Speaker 1: he was shooting shots, he was always shooting off balance.
Speaker 1: He was Kauai wasn't bumping people off. People were bumping
Speaker 1: Kauai off. Marcusol had a good stretch during this time
Speaker 1: where he was protecting the rim. Well this was before
Speaker 1: uh he played limited minutes because of foul trouble. But
Speaker 1: I really really liked what I saw from the Lakers
Speaker 1: defense and the second quarter. As bad as they were
Speaker 1: for the game, that was enough for me to see
Speaker 1: to feel optimistic that they can still hit that peak
Speaker 1: when they need to to try to pull games out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was so that quarter overall. I'll just give you
Speaker 1: some of the plus minus is a little tricky of
Speaker 1: of a data point to use, but it's okay if
Speaker 1: you use it within the course of like a single
Speaker 1: run to understand the contributions. Right. So in that in
Speaker 1: that um the minute distribution wise, if we look at
Speaker 1: that second quarter, we got eight minutes of Cruzo who
Speaker 1: went plus eight. We got eight minutes of Markith Morris
Speaker 1: who went plus nine. Uh. Montraz seven minutes, almost eight minutes,
Speaker 1: he went plus ten. Schroeder played three minutes and went
Speaker 1: plus ten. Uh. Lebron and a d both went eight
Speaker 1: minutes six minutes respectively plus twelve plus fourteen. Uh and
Speaker 1: even uh everybody's favorite whipping boy, Kyle Kuzma went uh
Speaker 1: six a little over six and a half minutes and
Speaker 1: he went plus seven. So that's that's a testament of
Speaker 1: just that the entire energy shift, like you mentioned, of
Speaker 1: that second that second shift, that line up in the
Speaker 1: second quarter was completely friend It wasn't just one guy
Speaker 1: or a specific lineup group. If everybody came and said,
Speaker 1: all right, like f this, we're not going down by
Speaker 1: like twenty points and and just laying down uh and
Speaker 1: and defensive wise, you're absolutely right. The Clippers shot seven
Speaker 1: of twenty five in that quarter. Kah I took seven shots,
Speaker 1: went two of seven. The next best shooter was Paul
Speaker 1: George at and he went to for five, and then
Speaker 1: Lou Williams, who went too for three. Everybody else pretty
Speaker 1: much missed every single shot attempt that they took. So
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty good. Um, they didn't the big differences
Speaker 1: Lakers Dan Foule. They only gave up two free throws
Speaker 1: in that quarter. And that's something that Frank Vogel mentioned
Speaker 1: at the beginning. The Clippers are a team that is very,
Speaker 1: very good at drawing fouls. Um, Kawhi Leonard and Paul
Speaker 1: George are probably the best at drawing fouls. They think
Speaker 1: last year they were like in like the nineties something
Speaker 1: percentile of drawing fouls. Yeah, in the league and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. And um, obviously the way those calls that
Speaker 1: they get in the regular season they changed. Like I
Speaker 1: saw a Laker fans saying, man, Paul Jordan gets all
Speaker 1: kinds of files, and then I think Kauai like he
Speaker 1: yelled for an end one and the ref like gave
Speaker 1: him a really late continuation on that. But like we
Speaker 1: we've done this exercise before. They don't get those calls
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. That's what kind of throws them out
Speaker 1: of rhythm and why why they have collapses. Well, not
Speaker 1: definitely apologized, be not quite as much, but you're to
Speaker 1: your original point. The Lakers offense came out really great.
Speaker 1: They went ten of twenty two. They took nine threes um,
Speaker 1: they only made three of them, but look at the
Speaker 1: free throw advantage. They have fourteen free throws in the
Speaker 1: second quarter. So when you see a huge free throw
Speaker 1: advantage like that, the first thing you're thinking about is, well,
Speaker 1: how how often were they going to the rim? And
Speaker 1: that was really what the testament of the second quarter was. Um.
Speaker 1: In the first quarter of the Lakers settled for a
Speaker 1: lot of jump shots as the guys kind of we're
Speaker 1: warming up their legs and warming getting a lather on.
Speaker 1: And in the second second quarter, the Lakers are like,
Speaker 1: all right, let's lock in down defense and let's attack.
Speaker 1: Let's attack the room. And that's what they did, and
Speaker 1: a lot of these shots came from attacking the rim. Um.
Speaker 1: That's the Laker's identity. Their philosophy has always been put
Speaker 1: pressure on the rim as much as possible, and that
Speaker 1: the winning formula. We saw that with even the heat.
Speaker 1: The heat as much people talk about Tyler Harrow and
Speaker 1: Duncan Robinson shooting threes, it's the fact that they can
Speaker 1: get to the rim. Jimmy Butler, Batman to bio um
Speaker 1: even done tragic because they're willing to attack the rim
Speaker 1: repeatedly over and over again. It opens up the rest
Speaker 1: of your offense. Those are high percentage shots. So um,
Speaker 1: I was really glad with what I saw on the energy.
Speaker 1: It's it's I think somebody in your in the chat
Speaker 1: mentioned that it's very reminiscent of of the second quarter
Speaker 1: against the Suns, like that second shift once they're all
Speaker 1: warmed up. Now, this is the Laker team that you've
Speaker 1: got to be concerned about, and it's just you have
Speaker 1: to match the energy of the bench. It's like it's
Speaker 1: the main guys because the main run they they would
Speaker 1: think it was forty two thirty one, or it was
Speaker 1: like fifty forty one, it was a ten point game
Speaker 1: or something with just a couple minutes left in the
Speaker 1: first half, and they closed it to two with a
Speaker 1: run with the starters. Because literally, you can't just sit
Speaker 1: there and watch the bench guys carry you and not
Speaker 1: get a little annoyed that you're not a bigger part
Speaker 1: of what's happening. And then how they fought back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's good that the team, the players on the team,
Speaker 1: even the stars on the team understand the accountability that
Speaker 1: comes with when your teammates are putting in. So it
Speaker 1: was it was good to see. I mean, we only
Speaker 1: really played one quarter of really quality defense. If we
Speaker 1: had played two quarters or maybe even three quarters of events,
Speaker 1: this could have been a blowout if they'd really quality defense. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, it was really really good to see.
Speaker 1: So what was your third thing that you liked? Uh?
Speaker 1: So the third thing that I like was just it's
Speaker 1: actually not even think the Lakers really made it out
Speaker 1: of the first game relatively unscathed. Then nobody had any
Speaker 1: serious injuries. Like the thing I'm like always super worried
Speaker 1: about now, especially with like the Achilles hairs and all
Speaker 1: these things that are happening. It is just like anyone
Speaker 1: play can can end up hurting somebody. Um, So I'm
Speaker 1: that's like the number one thing that's probably gonna be
Speaker 1: a constant theme for me, like did we make it
Speaker 1: out of this game unscathed? Um? Lebron tweaked his ankle
Speaker 1: trying to help on zoo bach Uh, and he looked
Speaker 1: like he was okay. Case P looks like he had
Speaker 1: a Charlie horse because he got screened by Zoom bach also. Um,
Speaker 1: and he was fine also, So like every time I
Speaker 1: see somebody go down, Auntie Davis hit the floor, I
Speaker 1: want to say a couple of times. But now I'm
Speaker 1: almost positive that he's doing that on purpose because he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to land on his feet and risk turning
Speaker 1: his ankle if there's somebody happens to be underneath, So
Speaker 1: he deliberately falls on the ground. So he walked away
Speaker 1: relatively unscathed too. So, um, that was my third favorite
Speaker 1: thing to see that even with all the little nix
Speaker 1: and bruises that they got during the course of the game,
Speaker 1: nothing was serious and um, you know they stayed healthy.
Speaker 1: Um you know what was a chippy game at one
Speaker 1: point I would say, yeah for sure. And and they
Speaker 1: get too. They get two days off leading into the
Speaker 1: next one. Um a Christmas there they at home. I'm
Speaker 1: just double checking right now, I believe so yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's a home for the Mavericks. So so they
Speaker 1: they're they're no one has to travel. They get two
Speaker 1: full days Lebron, plenty of time for him to get
Speaker 1: his ankle right. It should be it should be perfect. Um. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the first thing that I didn't like other than
Speaker 1: the one that I already mentioned, which was a short
Speaker 1: or is over aggressive over aggressiveness, which we already decised. Um,
Speaker 1: I really didn't like. And this is something that goes
Speaker 1: beyond just last night. It goes into the preseason. I
Speaker 1: really don't like the way they're using Marcusol while they're
Speaker 1: isolating Anthony Davis, either in face up face ups are
Speaker 1: post ups. If you look at my Twitter feed, I've
Speaker 1: talked about this a couple of times over the last week. UM,
Speaker 1: it just seems kind of so at least with with
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard and with and with JaVale McGee, when they
Speaker 1: would sit in the dunker spot and help would come,
Speaker 1: you could kind of float something up towards the rim
Speaker 1: and they dunk it. Now, Anthony Davis isn't really a
Speaker 1: gifted enough pass or to take advantage of that. But
Speaker 1: at least when Lebron was driving to the basket, that
Speaker 1: was an option and and it made some sense for
Speaker 1: them to be there. But with Marcus s Sol, he's
Speaker 1: not an above the rim threat, and Anthony Davis isn't
Speaker 1: isn't really that great as a wraparound pass or drop
Speaker 1: off passer around the rim. He makes simple passes, but
Speaker 1: he struggles with some of the more complicated passes, and
Speaker 1: so it doesn't make any sense to me to have
Speaker 1: Marcosol run to the dunker spot every single time Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis ice relates. It just is putting him in a
Speaker 1: position where he's going to have to fade away or
Speaker 1: shoot some sort of jump shot that is over the
Speaker 1: top of the defense rather than going through the defense.
Speaker 1: And the best example of it is that Sergebaca one
Speaker 1: that he where he dunked when he drewup past him
Speaker 1: and dunked. Because that's that's why you want to clear
Speaker 1: the paint for Anthony Davis. You clear the paint for
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. He's got such a physical advantage he's gonna
Speaker 1: go around the guy most of the time. And if
Speaker 1: you have Marcosol at the top of the key, then
Speaker 1: the person who's gonna be helping, because it's not like
Speaker 1: they're not gonna help. There's still gonna be people in
Speaker 1: the length. But then the person who's helping is probably
Speaker 1: gonna help from the short corner, in which case it's
Speaker 1: probably going to be a guard, which means that person
Speaker 1: is not going to be able to contest Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: at the rim, he's just gonna dunk on him and
Speaker 1: by the time he gets over, it's It's one of
Speaker 1: those things where it just seems strategically inept to have
Speaker 1: Marcosol wasted in the dunker spot rather than have him.
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean he has to play at the
Speaker 1: three point line all the time. It just means that,
Speaker 1: you know, when in those specific scenarios where you're trying
Speaker 1: to get Anthony Davis going in isolation, it makes more
Speaker 1: sense to have him out front. I like the idea
Speaker 1: of using him as the post entry guy because Marcus
Speaker 1: he has a really quick release and he's such a
Speaker 1: big target that if you have him one pass away
Speaker 1: and you have him throw the entry past Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: if the double team comes right away, Marcusol can tee
Speaker 1: up wide open threes, you know, with an easy like
Speaker 1: and that's a read that Anthony Davis can make very
Speaker 1: very easily. Uh. And plus the guy who's guarding Marcusol
Speaker 1: probably isn't going to close out super fast. He's a
Speaker 1: little slower body who's charging it Anthony Davis. It's just
Speaker 1: something that I'd like to see them figure out a
Speaker 1: way to better use marcosol during Anthony Davis's isolations and
Speaker 1: post ups. Yeah, so I thought the Mark being a
Speaker 1: good passer and being a good post entry pastor. So
Speaker 1: I I I agree with your sentiment. I don't think
Speaker 1: he should be standing in the dunker spot. I would
Speaker 1: have thought that maybe they would have put him in
Speaker 1: the corner on the opposite side at the very worst,
Speaker 1: to at least have, you know, if they want to
Speaker 1: swing the ball all the way back around to him. Um,
Speaker 1: I would whom the only reason why that happened, It
Speaker 1: wasn't by design. I think maybe Mark just thought that
Speaker 1: he had a mismatch in terms of size because they
Speaker 1: put Ibaka was his defensive matchup. But I baca want
Speaker 1: to go guard Anthony Davis, which makes me think either
Speaker 1: batoum or Clai Leonard or something like that was on
Speaker 1: Marcus soul. So I think he just went there to
Speaker 1: try and help, you know, possibly get an offensive rebound
Speaker 1: or something like that. So I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was by design, but ideally you don't want
Speaker 1: him in that spot because he did it a couple
Speaker 1: of times against the Suns and the clip Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: because the a d and Lebron didn't play, but there
Speaker 1: was a couple of plays against the cliff of the
Speaker 1: Suns that I actually put on my Twitter feeds. Similar
Speaker 1: thing where he just his first instinct when he's running
Speaker 1: down the floor and they're doing quick isolations is to
Speaker 1: run to the dunker spot. Yeah yeah, okay, okay, then
Speaker 1: that's fair. Um yeah, so if if he's if he's
Speaker 1: doing that, then maybe on film they'll say, hey, don't
Speaker 1: run here and just run to the spot instead or
Speaker 1: just stop right here. Um, So that that's definitely a
Speaker 1: good thing. I agree with you. I would have thought
Speaker 1: that they would use him as the post entry guy
Speaker 1: because it actually puts the defensive guy in sort of
Speaker 1: a tough position to decide, not not whether he's going
Speaker 1: to close out on Marcus sold, but like for a
Speaker 1: big man, a person who plays a power forward center position,
Speaker 1: like to decide, do I go and help with the
Speaker 1: rebound to secure the rebound in case this guy misses,
Speaker 1: do I go to help double, Do I do this?
Speaker 1: Do I do that? Or do I worry about this
Speaker 1: guys shooting a three? Like those sort of things, and
Speaker 1: Mark being such a high i Q guy, it seems
Speaker 1: like he would be a really good option to be
Speaker 1: the post centry pastor for those isolations. Um, but we'll
Speaker 1: we'll see, you know. And the thing is that if
Speaker 1: that double comes eight, he can send that back out.
Speaker 1: And Mike is a super super i que guy. He
Speaker 1: knows exactly which where the advantages on that pass if
Speaker 1: Lakers set up a design backcut or something like that
Speaker 1: or whatever it may be. So forgot to take that
Speaker 1: first pass out of this Yeah, exactly. And he's a
Speaker 1: quick pastor too, he doesn't waste time making that read. Um.
Speaker 1: I think a while back I posted a video about
Speaker 1: like how he actually starts looking in the direction of
Speaker 1: where the pass is going to go before he even
Speaker 1: catches the ball in his head. Like it's pretty cool
Speaker 1: stuff that he does. Um, So they may start doing that.
Speaker 1: They may try him out as a post centry passer
Speaker 1: when it comes to that, But I think I think
Speaker 1: that's fair. He's better utilized either in the corner of
Speaker 1: those of those sets or at the top of the
Speaker 1: key of those sets as opposed to in the dunker spot.
Speaker 1: I agree. So it was the first thing that you
Speaker 1: didn't like, Okay, uh So for this one um our
Speaker 1: fan favorite from last season. Alex Caruso, Uh, he had
Speaker 1: short He had a good defensive game, but he had
Speaker 1: what I want to say is a rough offensive game.
Speaker 1: And that may also be because he had the hip injury.
Speaker 1: He didn't get as many reps and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: The Lakers deployed um Caruso and Taylor and Horton Horton
Speaker 1: Tucker at the same time, which I was excited for
Speaker 1: because I actually think those two guys can definitely play together.
Speaker 1: The only problem was I think their responsibilities were flipped.
Speaker 1: I think they used Alex. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: was by designer, if it's just what happened, and Taylor's
Speaker 1: just being, you know, a good teammate and letting his
Speaker 1: teammate like kind of run the show. Um. The pick
Speaker 1: and roll stuff has been uh. Crusoe's offense out of
Speaker 1: the pick and roll stuff has always been a little
Speaker 1: shaky uh, and it hasn't been great. It's part of
Speaker 1: the reason why he couldn't take minutes away from Rondo
Speaker 1: last season because he was having trouble with it. And
Speaker 1: it's just one game, but he was having trouble with
Speaker 1: it last night too as well. Um. Not mishandling the ball,
Speaker 1: but you know, like just having struggling with the with
Speaker 1: the floater um, struggling with just kind of making reads
Speaker 1: good passes he had to and I want to say
Speaker 1: he had two passes that just pretty much went straight
Speaker 1: out of bounds because of the way he threw the
Speaker 1: past um that can be corrected with just some more
Speaker 1: reps um or it could just be something that requires
Speaker 1: a little bit more attention. But um. The only thing
Speaker 1: I didn't like is I thought we saw a really
Speaker 1: really good action out of Taylor Horton Tucker during the
Speaker 1: preseason that I'm kind of surprised that he didn't get
Speaker 1: those reps. And I don't think it's as big of
Speaker 1: a deal right now because I think maybe what's happening
Speaker 1: is Vogo wants to give Caruso the chance to for
Speaker 1: everybody on the team to openly see, hey, look, maybe
Speaker 1: this is just not the best way to use him.
Speaker 1: And Voco seems like the kind of guy who doesn't
Speaker 1: just do it without telling his players. He lets them
Speaker 1: try it out and when it doesn't work, then he'll
Speaker 1: switch to responsibility. So I wouldn't be surprised if they
Speaker 1: run that tandem more and more if that's a if
Speaker 1: that's a thing that the Lakers try to do. Um,
Speaker 1: that those responsibilities flip. And Caruso is still a fantastic defender.
Speaker 1: He has a really good fantastic defenses last defensive possessions
Speaker 1: last night, and I think that's really the best way
Speaker 1: to use him. He's he's much better in transition as
Speaker 1: an off the ball cutter, a guy who just kind
Speaker 1: of is like the wild card and just kind of
Speaker 1: does stuff because of his natural prowess. And Taylor horn Tucker,
Speaker 1: at least from what we've seen in the preseason game
Speaker 1: so far, has a very very good nose for the
Speaker 1: rim uh and getting to the rim with a live dribble,
Speaker 1: and UM, I'd like to see him get that opportunity
Speaker 1: at some point and see how Alex functions off the
Speaker 1: ball with him um in that role. Yeah, agree with you.
Speaker 1: If as long as as long as talent Hornon Tucker
Speaker 1: is even half the guy that he was in the preseason,
Speaker 1: and as long as Dennis Shrewder is on this roster,
Speaker 1: there's no longer any reason for Alex Caruso will run
Speaker 1: any of the offense, to be honest with you, and
Speaker 1: and you know, Look, the reality is is Alex Crusoe
Speaker 1: is a specialist. He was a specialist last year and
Speaker 1: and that's what he projects to be in the n
Speaker 1: b A. He's he's so far from being a you know,
Speaker 1: a competent, you know, NBA ball handler that if that
Speaker 1: comes at some point in his career, it's going to
Speaker 1: be at some point in the probably distant future. At
Speaker 1: this point. But that said, I think he's an all
Speaker 1: defense level defender, I'm not the most important thing is
Speaker 1: finding a way to get him less involved with the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands on offense, but keeping him in
Speaker 1: the rotation and keeping him involved with this team night
Speaker 1: in the night out, because he is kind of, for
Speaker 1: lack of a better term, he's kind of the heart
Speaker 1: and soul he's there. He's the guy that that fires
Speaker 1: everybody else up with his defensive sequences. He's like kind
Speaker 1: of a barometer for that team, especially in the grind
Speaker 1: of the regular season. And so my hope is that
Speaker 1: they find a way to balance that so that Alex
Speaker 1: Cruzo stays involved in the rotation while they kind of
Speaker 1: take ball handling duties away from him. So, um, the
Speaker 1: second thing that I didn't like or I should say
Speaker 1: the last thing that I didn't like, I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't have any I don't have anything else that I
Speaker 1: didn't like, So this will be an optimist. So I
Speaker 1: continue to be frustrated with the way that Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: handles double teams, and I uh, I'm hoping over the
Speaker 1: course of the season that Lebron gives me some good
Speaker 1: counter examples. He hasn't had too many post touches so
Speaker 1: far in preseason or in the or last night. But
Speaker 1: you know, I talk a lot about how the anytime
Speaker 1: it's any time it defense double teams, they're they're putting
Speaker 1: themselves in a precarious position. They're they're putting themselves in
Speaker 1: a position where the other guys are playing three on four,
Speaker 1: and if the offensive players have any idea how to
Speaker 1: adequately space themselves, there's really no way to guard NBA
Speaker 1: players like that. But for whatever reason, Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: so uncomfortable under that blitzing double team that his first
Speaker 1: instinct is to find the nearest outlet guy, the nearest
Speaker 1: guy who's gonna sprint somewhere towards where his face is
Speaker 1: and and just throw a really simple pass just to
Speaker 1: get get rid of the ball. And then and then
Speaker 1: he'll just take himself out of the play at that
Speaker 1: point because he's decided, Okay, I tried to post up,
Speaker 1: They're just gonna double team and let me get rid
Speaker 1: of it. And and and there were a lot of
Speaker 1: examples last night, and I put I put a couple
Speaker 1: of them on my Twitter feed. But the of him
Speaker 1: panicking and missing a clear open read somewhere else on
Speaker 1: the floor to eat, turn the ball over, or to
Speaker 1: throw it to somebody who was in a great option.
Speaker 1: There was one where Lebron actually got a dunk as
Speaker 1: he kind of started cutting. But look, but Anthony Davis's
Speaker 1: read was to give the ball to a player thirty
Speaker 1: feet from the basket rather than just kind of holding waiting.
Speaker 1: And Lebron is so good at this. He he will
Speaker 1: hold the ball strong with two hands, and he'll turn
Speaker 1: and pivot, you know, keep the defender on his back
Speaker 1: as best as he can, and he'll wait to see
Speaker 1: what develops and then he'll make a read and it
Speaker 1: usually ends in either a wide open three or a dunk.
Speaker 1: And that's that's that thing with Anthony Davis. He's still
Speaker 1: I still think he's the fourth, third or fourth best
Speaker 1: player in the league. I still think he's unbelievably incredible.
Speaker 1: His his mid range progression is such a great sign
Speaker 1: for Laker fans. But that's something I'm gonna be harping
Speaker 1: on a lot this year because I really think it's
Speaker 1: the thing that separates him from being the guy who
Speaker 1: can be the best player in the league. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that a couple of times that we've had this conversation.
Speaker 1: The biggest hole in probably Anthony Davis's game up until
Speaker 1: that midrange shooting kind of kicked in, UM was literally
Speaker 1: just his ability to read defenses. And that's something that's
Speaker 1: something that I was hoping that Lebron and and the
Speaker 1: coaching staff would help him figure out to some degree.
Speaker 1: I think like Lionel Hollands and now with Gasola, Lionel Hollands,
Speaker 1: like they'll probably help Anthony Davis with that sort of
Speaker 1: aspect because because Soul was a really good post passer,
Speaker 1: high mid or low post whatever, maybe UM that's been
Speaker 1: like the difference between him being like a regularly triple
Speaker 1: double kind of guy, Like he has all the tools
Speaker 1: to be like a guy who could average a triple
Speaker 1: double all season off the strength of him scoring, drawing
Speaker 1: a double team and then just setting up his teammates.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the like last thing to making
Speaker 1: him practically unguardable. Um. But so I agree with your
Speaker 1: with with why you didn't like that. I just think
Speaker 1: that when I think about like other elite tier players,
Speaker 1: like when we think of Harden and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: like they kind of do the same thing, like when
Speaker 1: they get blitz, they give it up and then they're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well now now this, now this possession is not my
Speaker 1: my not my fault. If anything bad happens. I think
Speaker 1: it's a weird all thing that tends to happen with
Speaker 1: guys um and so Harden and the issue is more
Speaker 1: pronounced because they run an offense specifically tailored to his strength,
Speaker 1: and then he dips out of possessions after he gets
Speaker 1: double team uh and doesn't participate. Um Anthy Davis is
Speaker 1: a big guy. You can't do that. You have to
Speaker 1: always be participating if you're that big. But I hope
Speaker 1: as the season progresses, um and maybe if they make
Speaker 1: that adjustment with the post entry passes and they bring
Speaker 1: a soul over to his side, so now he has
Speaker 1: a wider field division and a wider angle behind him,
Speaker 1: he'll feel a little bit more comfortable making some of
Speaker 1: those passes. Yeah, So for the record, I'm holding him
Speaker 1: to a very high standard in that. Like That's why
Speaker 1: I was trying to clarify that stuff there at the end.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to say that because I love watching
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis play. I got into a discussion with somebody
Speaker 1: last night about, you know, kind of the differences between
Speaker 1: him and k D. And it's important to remember that
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis just put on one of the most amazing
Speaker 1: defensive playoff runs I've seen in my life watching basketball,
Speaker 1: and and it kind of culminated in that Game six
Speaker 1: where he because he was able to play off of Bam,
Speaker 1: he just completely shut down the Miami offense to the
Speaker 1: point where they looked like they had no idea what
Speaker 1: to do with themselves. And and so I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: holding him to a very high standard. It was just
Speaker 1: something I noticed during the game last night. And it's
Speaker 1: and it is a clear scheming thing. If you throw
Speaker 1: hard doubles and Anthony Davis, he's going to get rid
Speaker 1: of the ball, and chances are you can get him
Speaker 1: to kind of take a passive role in the game
Speaker 1: if you get him to do that a few times.
Speaker 1: And so it's just something. It's just something to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. Um so real quickly because I know
Speaker 1: you only have about ten more minutes. Uh. A couple
Speaker 1: of really quick notes that I that I liked about
Speaker 1: the Clippers. Uh. There was a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: how they implemented the triangle offense. I thought that was
Speaker 1: really interesting because I thought it gave them some order
Speaker 1: that they didn't really have last year, kind of a
Speaker 1: purpose to everything that they were doing on the floor. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I really, I really do think that. And it's
Speaker 1: it's so allegedly Kauai is the one who pushed for it,
Speaker 1: and I really do think that that made a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. Um. I will say, I will say I
Speaker 1: didn't see them run any triangle offense. It seemed like
Speaker 1: a lot of their offense was just five out and
Speaker 1: they let uh. And and of course it's a long season,
Speaker 1: they may institute it, you know, they it's it's a
Speaker 1: learning triangle office is one of the most difficult office
Speaker 1: just learned from everything I read about it. Um, it
Speaker 1: seemed like last night was just five out and that's
Speaker 1: that's why they started ibaka and it was five out
Speaker 1: basketball and like Paul George, Kauai and Lou Williams run
Speaker 1: their isolations and seem very much off ball action for Canard.
Speaker 1: For Lukenard, I didn't see too much pick and roll
Speaker 1: where they went to the dive guy outside of Lou
Speaker 1: Williams and Zoo Bok running it together. So I didn't
Speaker 1: see mut triangle offense. But you know, like, well it'll
Speaker 1: it'll be, and mean it took in theory, it makes
Speaker 1: sense for them to try somethingture that. I actually liked
Speaker 1: Kennard on the ball. I thought he was their best
Speaker 1: after last night. That was the second thing I had
Speaker 1: on my list there is uh. Maples was talking a
Speaker 1: lot about him on the defensive end. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of truth to that, but but I really really do
Speaker 1: like uh he almost has a genobly esque I don't
Speaker 1: know it's as you say this about every lefty, but
Speaker 1: he he was throwing these swing passes across the court,
Speaker 1: getting into the lane and making simple reads to get
Speaker 1: open shots for people. I actually thought Kennard made a
Speaker 1: lot of sense in their offense. Um Paul George was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: That's the player that you hope he's gonna be. That's
Speaker 1: something that, Uh, if he plays that well throughout this season,
Speaker 1: then the Clippers are a legitimate title threat. Um. And
Speaker 1: then I thought Zobach once again, he's he's the he's
Speaker 1: the plus minus hero because every single game he's the
Speaker 1: guy who that the Clipper seemed to play better. And
Speaker 1: I think it's time to take a look at Montrez
Speaker 1: last year and just say maybe it's not so much
Speaker 1: that he was bad or it was just that Zubach
Speaker 1: so good. It's so good. Yeah, but he was a
Speaker 1: beast last night and he and he's he's he's legitimately
Speaker 1: very big and difficult to keep off the offensive glass.
Speaker 1: When he catches the ball around the rim, and he's
Speaker 1: got any sort of momentum going towards the room, you
Speaker 1: basically have to wrap him up or hack him. I
Speaker 1: thought he brought a lot to the table of last
Speaker 1: night that that made the clips look pretty dangerous. Anything
Speaker 1: you any take as you had from the clips last night. Um,
Speaker 1: I just thought that their isolation play was they made
Speaker 1: a lot of people are like, well, Kus mccannic, guard
Speaker 1: Paul George, Uh, and which is true because you know,
Speaker 1: Paul George is supposed to be a superstar tier player
Speaker 1: or star tier player. But I thought he did a
Speaker 1: good job trying to stay in front of Paul George. Um.
Speaker 1: You have to remember you're asking a six eight guy
Speaker 1: to run round to to withstand screens from Sergebaca and
Speaker 1: withstand screens from zoo Bach and then still be able
Speaker 1: to close out or recover in time on Paul George. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there's some plays in direct isolation where he got beat
Speaker 1: by Paul George. Um, but a lot of those shots
Speaker 1: are just really good contested makes, and if somebody make
Speaker 1: sim you just you gotta tip your hat and just say, hey, congratulations.
Speaker 1: But I'll take my chances and play the field. I
Speaker 1: don't think the night is going to be sustainable by
Speaker 1: any degree. Um. And outside of that third quarter stretch
Speaker 1: where he kind of ran off like eight to eleven
Speaker 1: points or something like that, that was the difference between
Speaker 1: the Lakers probably maybe winning this game and then losing
Speaker 1: this game. So if you're going to rely on a
Speaker 1: stretch like that from Paul George on a nightly basis,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you get that every single night
Speaker 1: and so um, that's really all I saw at their
Speaker 1: offense does look any different than what I saw last season? Um,
Speaker 1: I think the only difference is because they started abaka
Speaker 1: uh and the Baca went like five of seven like
Speaker 1: he'd like. He seemed like he couldn't miss anything from
Speaker 1: the perimeter. Um. So it was good because they enabled
Speaker 1: their their superstar wings to have nobody sitting at the
Speaker 1: rim outside of whoever their primary defender was. So it's
Speaker 1: good in that sense. But I'm sure teams will slowly,
Speaker 1: you know, as they watch more tape on them, we'll
Speaker 1: figure out exactly what lou is trying to do. One
Speaker 1: last note on the Lakers. UH, I was disappointed in
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews on the defense about yeah, yeah, I said,
Speaker 1: I it's tough to judge. Defense is a five man
Speaker 1: unit that moves in unison and UH and Wesley Matthews
Speaker 1: is a ball pressure guy, which means he has a
Speaker 1: tendency to give up straight line drives, which is fine
Speaker 1: as long as the defense is is you know, cohesive,
Speaker 1: and guys are ropating into the right spots. There's he
Speaker 1: had a lot of those isolations. Even with Kuzma, there
Speaker 1: was no backside help, so they like these guys knew
Speaker 1: that they got him on the hip they draw a
Speaker 1: foul or give a good shot exactly. And so, but
Speaker 1: the one silver lining there is that, like Danny Green,
Speaker 1: didn't really bring much as an on ball defender last year.
Speaker 1: So there's really nowhere to go but up in that
Speaker 1: regard really quickly before I get you out of here.
Speaker 1: So obviously I try I bring you on for your
Speaker 1: Laker expertise. But we are basketball fans. We do watch
Speaker 1: the other games. I don't really want to talk about
Speaker 1: the Nets much because the truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: is I want to see if they can defend. And
Speaker 1: they haven't really played a great offense yet. They played
Speaker 1: the Celtics without their two best playmakers last year in
Speaker 1: the preseason, and then they played that Warriors team, which
Speaker 1: is an absolute mass right now. But I do find
Speaker 1: them intriguing with all the offensive talent they bring to
Speaker 1: the table. But what I do think is interesting is
Speaker 1: this Warrior's team. So I I tweeted about this last night,
Speaker 1: and I think it's really really interesting, uh, because you know,
Speaker 1: we get so wrapped up in the barber shop talk
Speaker 1: surrounding basketball. We talk about you know, you know player
Speaker 1: X is the best because he won a player wise
Speaker 1: the best because you know he's won that this many championships,
Speaker 1: or the player lost in the second rounds he must suck,
Speaker 1: or whatever it is we get wrapped up in that
Speaker 1: that we forget that. You know, yes, basketball is the
Speaker 1: sport that individuals impact the most, but it's also a
Speaker 1: team sport. And and there's there is a there's a
Speaker 1: rhyme and reason to everything that the team does on
Speaker 1: its pathway to winning a game. And and Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: like Lebron, impacts the game beyond his scoring and the
Speaker 1: attention that he draws Steph with either off the ball
Speaker 1: or on the ball. And then Lebron as an on
Speaker 1: the ball guy driving to the basket and kicking the shooters.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was really interesting to see the
Speaker 1: Warriors consistently find themselves with guys either open or in
Speaker 1: full were on three situations or three on two situations
Speaker 1: and just making stupid reads and making taking useless dribbles
Speaker 1: and taking bad shots and just looking like they had
Speaker 1: no idea what to do. And I think it's a
Speaker 1: great example of how important it is to have high
Speaker 1: i Q players on your team, and understand that when
Speaker 1: you have guys that attract lots of attention, you know
Speaker 1: that that those are the guys that actually are so
Speaker 1: like they're kind of just as important to everything else
Speaker 1: happening on the offense. And I think we've really overrated
Speaker 1: or underrated over the years, how important Andrea Guadala and
Speaker 1: Sean Livingston, and Andrew Barbosa, and Andrew bo Get and
Speaker 1: even Draymond Green, who wasn't there last night, how important
Speaker 1: those guys were to what Steph Curry does because just
Speaker 1: like any other great offensive player, if you throw multiple
Speaker 1: bodies on them, somebody else has to do something and
Speaker 1: more just they're putting you in a position to succeed.
Speaker 1: And and I did think it was really interesting to
Speaker 1: see how, you know, Steph's gravity, you know, it was
Speaker 1: markedly less effective last night, the result of the low
Speaker 1: i Q players around him. Yeah, so I would say,
Speaker 1: my my main takeaway, so I only watched the first
Speaker 1: half of that game. Um, but my main takeaway from
Speaker 1: that game so I didn't see any of like the
Speaker 1: Wiseman stuff that happened in the second half. I saw
Speaker 1: it on my timeline minding a garbage time at the
Speaker 1: very end. Okay, yeah, so what I saw this is
Speaker 1: my main takeaway, at least from the Warriors side of this,
Speaker 1: is they're young guys specifically, or the new guys, not
Speaker 1: young guys specifically. Wiggins and Neubre. I think they had
Speaker 1: just they had a case of the jitters or whatever
Speaker 1: you want to call it. I think they went to
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and they realized who they were playing, and um,
Speaker 1: this may be the first time that those two guys
Speaker 1: who are going to be important contributors to this team,
Speaker 1: UM are dealing with uh, not a high stakes reward situation,
Speaker 1: but they're in a high stakes environment because of who
Speaker 1: they're playing next to. This is the same thing that
Speaker 1: happens with Lebron, same thing happens with Katie. All Right,
Speaker 1: So there are there's a difference when you have the
Speaker 1: expectations of playing in Minnesota or Washington. Okay, see and
Speaker 1: now the expectations playing Golden State. UM. They have a
Speaker 1: very large fan base on Twitter. They're very active, They're
Speaker 1: posting highlights, low lights, everything. So I think that stuff
Speaker 1: hit him with a ton of bricks. Uh, Wiggins, he'd
Speaker 1: brick two wide open threes at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: game and they missed like a point band play up
Speaker 1: on a drive and I was just like, Okay, this guy,
Speaker 1: this guy is not ready for this game today. Um.
Speaker 1: But the one thing that I will take away from
Speaker 1: I did take away from this is, um, when Steph
Speaker 1: was on the ball, there were times where he was
Speaker 1: definitely trying to help his teammates kind of get into
Speaker 1: a rhythm. And the way he was doing that was,
Speaker 1: you know, attacking the rim, which is not something that
Speaker 1: you want a six two guy doing over and over
Speaker 1: again against the treated players because that can lead to
Speaker 1: injury and stuff like that. UM. And I'm sure Kurt
Speaker 1: doesn't want him doing that. I think he's openly said
Speaker 1: before he's not James Harden. He's got six six two
Speaker 1: pounds or whatever it is. We can't ask him to
Speaker 1: keep doing that sort of stuff. But I thought the
Speaker 1: shot quality that he was getting for his teammates was
Speaker 1: really good. But but the fact that they weren't making
Speaker 1: any of those shots made it is what made it.
Speaker 1: You know, it compiled a really bad situation. So I
Speaker 1: think that's a good sign for Warriors fans where that
Speaker 1: whether he's used off the ball or whether he's used
Speaker 1: on the ball, he can create very very good shots
Speaker 1: for his teammates off the equity of just him being
Speaker 1: a superstar player and being a really smart guy. Um.
Speaker 1: As a fan, if I was a fan of Warriors fan,
Speaker 1: I would like them not to have to have him
Speaker 1: go to the rim as much as he does, only
Speaker 1: because I don't want to risk him getting hurt. And
Speaker 1: if he gets hurt, then your seasons. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a really tough situation to be in. I want to
Speaker 1: try and get jam On back as soon as possible
Speaker 1: because he could play that point forward role and and
Speaker 1: direct guys that the way they need to and set
Speaker 1: curry up off the ball. Um. The other side of
Speaker 1: the thing takeaway I'll take from the Warriors this will
Speaker 1: be my last thing, is their defense needs a lot
Speaker 1: of work. Their guys need to get really, really in
Speaker 1: tune with how these rotations and stuff we're gonna work.
Speaker 1: When they were coming back in transition, I couldn't count
Speaker 1: how many times I saw ubre passing off an assignment
Speaker 1: in transition because he didn't know where his guy was.
Speaker 1: And that's the problem, like guys wide open and trance visition, right,
Speaker 1: And then that's why you saw Joe Harris get you know,
Speaker 1: step into wide open threes. You saw Kyrie step into
Speaker 1: wide open threes. Um, maybe everybody's focused on the rent,
Speaker 1: but that was sort of the issue that I saw.
Speaker 1: So that was my two takeaways. But it's just one game,
Speaker 1: and I think over time, hopefully they'll they'll get that correctly.
Speaker 1: I think Jaymond will make a very very big difference
Speaker 1: from a this is where you're supposed to be offensive geometry,
Speaker 1: all that sort of outstandpoint. Well, vin A, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for your time. Man, we're right at the
Speaker 1: limit here. Um. Like I said, I really appreciate you
Speaker 1: coming on. You're awesome, You're great at what you do,
Speaker 1: and hopefully you'll join me a few more times this season. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I enjoyed, Uh appreciate everybody taking time to listen to
Speaker 1: your podcast and listen to me talk about the Lakers
Speaker 1: and a little bit about other basketball teams. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be back whenever I do. Awesome man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Lakers Central is the name of the podcast. Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I co host the Lakers Central podcast. I have
Speaker 1: a newsletter, you can find out my bio. I'm only
Speaker 1: on Twitter at V killum v K I l E
Speaker 1: m uh. The newsletter is a little more Laker centric,
Speaker 1: but thanks to ESPN pushing Zach low to behind the paywall,
Speaker 1: I'll probably start writing a little bit more about some
Speaker 1: of the other teams I like watching. And I watched
Speaker 1: way too much basketball for my health, so that's pretty
Speaker 1: much it. Alright, buddy, have a good rest of your
Speaker 1: day and I'll talk to you later. All right, Thanks
Speaker 1: a lot, take it easy, Bye bye.