Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast. Everyone,
Speaker 1: Happy Friday, Welcome to the end of the week. I
Speaker 1: hope you all have a nice, easy day as we
Speaker 1: head into the weekend. Roger, how are you doing this morning? Man?
Speaker 1: Doing great? Man, beautiful morning. It's kind of weird there's
Speaker 1: no basketball. Well, I guess the Olympics is kind of
Speaker 1: uh is here now? Um, so that's kind of where
Speaker 1: I'll turn to. Yeah, we've started this summer. It feels
Speaker 1: like it's gonna be a long summer with the conversation
Speaker 1: that's already been happening. But yeah, doing doing well. How
Speaker 1: are you man? Yeah? I feel like we're lucky because, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, but you know, we took an off season
Speaker 1: in March last year, literally four months we just didn't
Speaker 1: watch any basketball, and so as a result of that,
Speaker 1: everything is compressed. Like there was a seventy two to
Speaker 1: seventy one day off season for the Lakers last year,
Speaker 1: and then I'm pretty sure this year it's like seventy
Speaker 1: two days again because it got pushed the season got
Speaker 1: pushed back, and then they're trying to start right at
Speaker 1: their normal time in October. So I think we just
Speaker 1: have about two and a half months that we're gonna
Speaker 1: be waiting um in this particular off season, and like
Speaker 1: you said, it's gonna be one thing after the other.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be free agency, it's gonna be the draft,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be Summer League, it's gonna be trades, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be training camp, and the next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: will be covering preseason games. So it's like this is
Speaker 1: gonna be moving pretty quick. I mean, you and I
Speaker 1: have discussed about what we wanted to do during the
Speaker 1: off season, you know, just for content. And the truth
Speaker 1: is we don't have to come up with too much
Speaker 1: in terms of like additional stuff, because we're gonna have
Speaker 1: plenty to talk about. But I'm doing good. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to talk. We're gonna talk about the Uh. We'll talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about the basketball in Game six between
Speaker 1: the Bucks and Sons, and then we'll talk about Janice
Speaker 1: and what this accomplishment means for him, uh and where
Speaker 1: where he stands at this point in his career. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then we're gonna talk a little bit about some of
Speaker 1: the crazy Lakers rumors that were going around, particularly centering
Speaker 1: around them potentially wanting Russell Westbrook or Chris Paul and
Speaker 1: then the one this morning about Kyle Lowry and DeMar
Speaker 1: De Rosen potentially wanting to to meet up with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So like a couple of Lakers topics that will hit afterwards,
Speaker 1: But let's start with the Bucks. So, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: what an interesting kind of inevitable and to the series,
Speaker 1: the Bucks continue to just physically maul them. Um. And
Speaker 1: even even Aton, who you and I talked about, is
Speaker 1: like they're one kind of physical presence that they had
Speaker 1: that could go toe to toe with the Bucks. Even
Speaker 1: he started to kind of show his physical uh you know,
Speaker 1: he just wilted a little bit physically as that series
Speaker 1: went along. He was throwing up some kind of Jakie
Speaker 1: kind of soft little floaters and hooks around the basket.
Speaker 1: And overall they just continued to pound them on the
Speaker 1: offensive glass and just have more possessions and you just
Speaker 1: can't win that way. The Nix might have been the
Speaker 1: best half court team in that series, and they lost
Speaker 1: four straight games. Um, And that's what happens when you
Speaker 1: get physically mauled. But you know, did you kind of
Speaker 1: feel like that was inevitable or did you think Phoenix
Speaker 1: was gonna pull that out there for a minute. Yeah
Speaker 1: for a second, because I mean Bud kind of switched
Speaker 1: his game planning. I thought he played a lot more
Speaker 1: Lopez in the first half of that one. Ima Phoenix
Speaker 1: was up seven at halftime. Um, Chris Paul kind of
Speaker 1: got going as well. Um, but the Bucks only had
Speaker 1: forty points, which I don't think showed well they obviously
Speaker 1: we're going to score more than that. But yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: they got physically mauled um Aiden. I feel like it
Speaker 1: was a little soft down low as the series went on.
Speaker 1: P J Tucker. Those guys are really physical with him.
Speaker 1: He wasn't able to get to his like little jump
Speaker 1: hooks as comfortably as he was in the beginning of
Speaker 1: the series. And to me, like a lot of people
Speaker 1: use like Chris Paul choking as like the main story
Speaker 1: of this. To me, this is Joannice elevating himself into
Speaker 1: like this higher echelon, Drew Holiday having a masterclass defensive performance. Like,
Speaker 1: to me, that's the story. Chris Paul obviously struggled in
Speaker 1: a bunch of these games, but honest was incredible as
Speaker 1: a team defender, switching taking away lobs like people are
Speaker 1: talking about him maybe in the top twenty five now
Speaker 1: or you know, like he's put himself there because of
Speaker 1: his performance fifty points in the finals game. To me,
Speaker 1: that was the story, just being relentless attacking the rim
Speaker 1: um and just just an insane pressure on the rim.
Speaker 1: He was even hitting three steps, Like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what you do when he does that seventeen of nineteen
Speaker 1: from the free throw line, Like what do you do
Speaker 1: when a guy of that stature is starting to pour
Speaker 1: it on. I'm not really sure Chris Paul Dennver could
Speaker 1: did anything. They're they're not there as that type of
Speaker 1: level players. So I thought that was the story. Do
Speaker 1: you see that as well? Honest and Drew kind of
Speaker 1: taking the story away from the Suns in a center. Yeah,
Speaker 1: First for starting it was it was the best game
Speaker 1: I've ever seen you on his play um counting the
Speaker 1: regular season. He uh, he reached a level that I've
Speaker 1: never seen him reached before in terms of confidence everywhere
Speaker 1: he was taking shots. The timeliness of when he decided
Speaker 1: to be aggressive and when he did it. It kind
Speaker 1: of reminded me a little bit of Braun in two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve, where he kind of figured out this semi
Speaker 1: transition thing. So, uh, Lebron started to really kill the
Speaker 1: Celtics in this like where the team is back on defense,
Speaker 1: but they're not quite set, and and he found gaps
Speaker 1: in their defense in that semi transition where he would
Speaker 1: he would bring the ball up the floor. He'd be
Speaker 1: the last one up the floor, but he he would
Speaker 1: have pushed the pace enough to where the Celtics wouldn't
Speaker 1: quite be set in their help side defense, and he
Speaker 1: would just do a one dribble rip to the right
Speaker 1: and Paul Pierce wouldn't be able to stop him at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, or whoever it was that was
Speaker 1: guarding him, and he'd be at the rim all of
Speaker 1: a sudden and and uh, if you remember in Game
Speaker 1: seven against the Celtics, he had a dunk and an
Speaker 1: and wanted a bunch of stuff in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: in plays like that, well, Janice kind of figured that out.
Speaker 1: You know, when they would get into the half court,
Speaker 1: they did a good job of walling him up and
Speaker 1: forcing him to take tougher shots. But he uncovered opportunities
Speaker 1: in that semi transition and where he would just they
Speaker 1: just quite wouldn't quite be in set up in their
Speaker 1: health defense, and he would just go to the right
Speaker 1: and he'd get eight and on his left shoulder and
Speaker 1: just either draw out or or get that little scoop
Speaker 1: layup and and it and it became it became it
Speaker 1: started to look easy for him. Overall, the game reminded
Speaker 1: me of a lot of close out games. You know. Uh,
Speaker 1: the team that has their back against the wall is
Speaker 1: always going to play with the level of urgency that
Speaker 1: the other team doesn't have, especially in a game six,
Speaker 1: in a game four, game five close out type of deal,
Speaker 1: sometimes there's no hope and and that will overcome whatever
Speaker 1: sort of effort gap there is. But like the Suns
Speaker 1: had a chance to potentially bring that thing back home. Uh,
Speaker 1: it reminded me of like Game five Calves Warriors in
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen. They went into Golden State and they
Speaker 1: had a lead in the first half. They were up
Speaker 1: by some nine ten points, and then finally over time
Speaker 1: the Warriors started to match their effort and they pulled
Speaker 1: it away. Uh. The two thousand fourteen finals with the
Speaker 1: Spurs and Heat, similar deal. They kind of came out
Speaker 1: guns blazing to start in Game five in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: but they just couldn't quite keep that energy going. And
Speaker 1: and eventually, like man as the Sons tried to valiantly
Speaker 1: keep that a game at the end, it was just
Speaker 1: like every time they get a big stop, they give
Speaker 1: up an offensive rebound, and then and then even brook
Speaker 1: Lopez had a little run there at the end of
Speaker 1: that game. It just like I said at the beginning,
Speaker 1: it felt kind of inevitable and uh and and I
Speaker 1: don't think it was anybody's fault necessarily, Like even Booker
Speaker 1: who had a rough night. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: that had to do with the fact that Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: was on him the most. While Drew Holiday had spent
Speaker 1: most of the series on Chris Paul, he spent most
Speaker 1: of that particular game on Devin Booker and gave him
Speaker 1: a lot of problems. And that's kind of that's been
Speaker 1: kind of one of the subplots of the series is
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about how bad CP three has been,
Speaker 1: when in reality it has to do with match up.
Speaker 1: He was catching most of the Drew Holiday minutes and
Speaker 1: Booker was getting p J. Tucker and was having more
Speaker 1: success on him, and Booker actually struggled a little bit
Speaker 1: against Drew Holiday with exception of some tough shot making
Speaker 1: earlier in the series. So you know, it's not anybody's fault.
Speaker 1: I just think I think the Bucks were better. And
Speaker 1: that's the beauty of a seven game series is over
Speaker 1: the course of a seven game series, the better team
Speaker 1: is usually gonna eventually find their advantages and find a
Speaker 1: way to pull it out. Yeah, and we both kind
Speaker 1: of picked Phoenix is this in this one? And um,
Speaker 1: I think we both thought that Drew and Middleton wouldn't
Speaker 1: shoot well enough in most games, and to be fair,
Speaker 1: and Drew shot like four for twenty in one game,
Speaker 1: shot like what five for nineteen or whatever, and they
Speaker 1: both they won both of those games, which is which
Speaker 1: is kind of funny. So even though Drew didn't shoot well,
Speaker 1: their defense was enough. But this is why to me,
Speaker 1: Game four was the one where Phoenix had to get
Speaker 1: They were up to one, they were up like double
Speaker 1: digits in the fourth and once they lost that, I
Speaker 1: think it kind of showed where the series was going
Speaker 1: to go. I think we both talked about it. The
Speaker 1: physicality would kind of wear them down, um as it
Speaker 1: got as it went on. Uh, And Devin Booker hit tough,
Speaker 1: tough shots Um, I don't think that was ever gonna
Speaker 1: be sustainable as it went on. Um, he was eating
Speaker 1: contested pull up shots that really kept them in the
Speaker 1: game back to back forty point nights. Uh, and obviously
Speaker 1: I think he was dead tired in game six. Is
Speaker 1: something I want to ask you because they brought this
Speaker 1: up on the LFR pod and I thought this was
Speaker 1: very interesting. Um, as the game kind of goes more
Speaker 1: towards three point shooting, and uh, usually shooters aren't you know,
Speaker 1: super physical dude, So like the gap between the super
Speaker 1: physical monster players like Joan's Anthony Davis Lebron and the
Speaker 1: rest of the league kind of widens due to uh
Speaker 1: teams kind of going towards this Mori ball, right. I
Speaker 1: think Utah is a really great example of this. They
Speaker 1: really kind of priorities shooting and playmaking guys like Joe
Speaker 1: Ingles um Royce O'Neil is probably the most physical guy,
Speaker 1: but still he's undersized, kind of wing um. D see
Speaker 1: like the league continuing to kind of go to that
Speaker 1: because like I feel like the shooters like Bran Forbes
Speaker 1: shooter got outplayed, got Deem that's unplayable in this series.
Speaker 1: And then you have guys like Cam Johnson Skinny dude
Speaker 1: is really good euters, but against like Yannese, it's just
Speaker 1: it's just laughable, Like, yeah, they can spread the floor,
Speaker 1: but one little switch they're done. That's why I don't like,
Speaker 1: like we can talk about later, like the Kemba rumors
Speaker 1: as well, it just doesn't make sense to me, short guy,
Speaker 1: like do you see the league kind of continuing to
Speaker 1: go in this route or or would guys like Janice
Speaker 1: eight eight and even to an extent a d kind
Speaker 1: of fixed out a little bit where you have to
Speaker 1: sign more physical dudes because you know, Darius Saritch was
Speaker 1: their backup dude. He's not a physical guy, but you
Speaker 1: can spread the floor and shoot um. And that that's
Speaker 1: why I'm wondering the only guy they had was eight
Speaker 1: and to really even have a chance of stopping this
Speaker 1: super physical monster dude who didn't even have a jump
Speaker 1: shot to say the least. So to DC the league
Speaker 1: kind of moving more towards that, or you still think
Speaker 1: it's going to be like still more eball spread the
Speaker 1: floor the way you talk kind of did. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I'm always gonna put my money
Speaker 1: on the big physical guys in these big in these
Speaker 1: big series, as long as they can, you know, dribble
Speaker 1: and create for themselves the way that young Lebron or
Speaker 1: a d can um. I do think versatility is part
Speaker 1: of it, though. I mean, let's not forget that the
Speaker 1: Laker shot on wide open threes against the Suns, like
Speaker 1: with the defender more than six ft away, which allowed
Speaker 1: them to load up on Lebron in such a way
Speaker 1: and on Anthony Davis in such a way that their
Speaker 1: offense got stilkered. But what was crazy is that in
Speaker 1: spite of that, they still managed to go up to
Speaker 1: one because of their physical dominance against that particular team.
Speaker 1: I do think matchups are everything, and this is something
Speaker 1: to keep in mind. Like Phoenix outside of eighton is
Speaker 1: a very thin team. Uh, They're not. They're not a
Speaker 1: physically imposing team. Like Crowder is probably their biggest strongest
Speaker 1: player not named Eitan, and then after that it's a
Speaker 1: lot of skinny guys or short guys, and so in
Speaker 1: terms of matchups, they're a team that can get physically dominated.
Speaker 1: This is something that, uh that gave us optimism when
Speaker 1: we were picking the Lakers as a seven seed over them.
Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the day, when you're
Speaker 1: building your team moving forward, I think you do have
Speaker 1: to have that versatility, and there is a fine line
Speaker 1: between going too much in on the size and strength
Speaker 1: to where your overall skill level is too low. Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: as a physically dominant team, had a guy like Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton who could create shots all over the floor a
Speaker 1: point guard, and Drew Holiday, who, while he was super streaky,
Speaker 1: was very aggressive and was creating shots for his teammates. So, like,
Speaker 1: like you and I discussed, he it was kind of
Speaker 1: a coming out party for him as a passer in
Speaker 1: a way that he hadn't really had in his career.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta have that balance, and you know, this is something
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to when we talk about Janice. You
Speaker 1: know espeent, not not necessarily today, but when you and
Speaker 1: I talked about ranking players. But you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things with Shack is you know, Shack was the
Speaker 1: most dominant player in the league when he was playing,
Speaker 1: but it was kind of matchup specific like if if
Speaker 1: against UH teams in the NBA Finals, against the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference teams, he would be physically dominant. But then you know,
Speaker 1: and some of those Western Conference UH finals matchups or
Speaker 1: Western Conference semifinal matchups, they teams were able to load
Speaker 1: up on Shack and they really relied on Kobe to
Speaker 1: carry them for stretches, even as young as he was
Speaker 1: during those playoff runs. And so that's the one thing
Speaker 1: with the honest that that I thought was interesting in
Speaker 1: this series was it was a specific type of matchup
Speaker 1: where the Sons just couldn't mess with him. And it
Speaker 1: was really interesting to think what it might have looked
Speaker 1: like to see the Lakers in that matchup, because he
Speaker 1: would not have been able to physically dominate them in
Speaker 1: a way that in the way he did Phoenix, he
Speaker 1: would have been forced to make a lot more shots
Speaker 1: in the margins. And and and when we get to
Speaker 1: like a little bit to talk about you honest, like,
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see a couple of years from
Speaker 1: now what he's capable of as an audible or as
Speaker 1: a counter two teams that can shut the rim off
Speaker 1: on him, uh in a way that in the way
Speaker 1: that Phoenix couldn't. But it was super it was super interesting.
Speaker 1: And and and like you and I talked about a
Speaker 1: few days ago. I still think the Lakers are on
Speaker 1: the right path in terms of their formula. I just
Speaker 1: think you never want to go too far one way.
Speaker 1: Versatil versatility is key. The Bucks didn't have to go
Speaker 1: to a second punch and Phoenix, but they might have
Speaker 1: to go to a second punch next year against the
Speaker 1: Lakers or against the healthy Nets and and and in
Speaker 1: that case, you're gonna have to see what they can
Speaker 1: do when things don't go right the first time around.
Speaker 1: And so that'll be interesting to see. Yeah, and last
Speaker 1: thing on the Bucks, I feel like they found themselves
Speaker 1: as the playoffs goes on. I think most championship teams
Speaker 1: kind of do. Usually that second year after you win
Speaker 1: is like the dominant year. I think the Warriors after
Speaker 1: they won, they wanted a crazy They want seventy three
Speaker 1: games the next year. UM. I remember the Lakers when
Speaker 1: they got to the finals and No. Eight and know nine,
Speaker 1: they't won like sixty seven, sixty five games or something
Speaker 1: like that. UM. I think they found themselves. Bud kind
Speaker 1: of found himself as a coach as well. UM. They
Speaker 1: learned when they need to go small and when they
Speaker 1: need to go big. UM. Janice had the five lineups.
Speaker 1: I think they figured out kind of how that's to
Speaker 1: where it's funny the A D and you know Jhannest
Speaker 1: comparisons come around all the time and people want to
Speaker 1: force eight into the five. Honest also is like a
Speaker 1: five to be honest, where he's where he's the best,
Speaker 1: but he's not gonna play five full time as well.
Speaker 1: He was playing, yeah, and then as a screener, I
Speaker 1: think he really found how to be effective as a
Speaker 1: screener as well. They found pet place for Middleton, Like
Speaker 1: just the whole thing kind of came together. Phoenix obviously
Speaker 1: wasn't the best team to play with. UM. I think
Speaker 1: Chris Paul is kind of getting they had too much
Speaker 1: success early, right if they went out on the Western
Speaker 1: Conference finals, I think no one would really give him
Speaker 1: a huge choke job on this. But because they you know,
Speaker 1: got to the finals, it's kind of a difference. But
Speaker 1: just with the Bucks, Like, I think they're gonna go
Speaker 1: on a tear next year. UM, Phoenix Obviously we'll see
Speaker 1: if Chris Fall comes back. But I just I just
Speaker 1: love that they've kind of found who they are and
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna win a lot of games doing that.
Speaker 1: So they're gonna be tough next year. I think you
Speaker 1: honest with the confidence of the title. Um, he know
Speaker 1: he no longer has to like hide who he is
Speaker 1: as a player. Um, he can kind of be himself.
Speaker 1: And I think he really embraced that as well. Um,
Speaker 1: you could tell after he won he was really happy
Speaker 1: with this. So so we'll see. But I think the
Speaker 1: Bucks are on the Uh, they know what they're doing,
Speaker 1: and they'll be good next year. I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think I think I think Milwaukee is going to
Speaker 1: be a whole different animal next year. There there's there's
Speaker 1: kind of like a monkey off your back when you
Speaker 1: win a title, and uh, there's a there's a confidence,
Speaker 1: Like you said, there's a there's a slack that exists,
Speaker 1: like like extra margin for like benefit of the doubt
Speaker 1: from the public and from your teammates and everything. Like
Speaker 1: you know, if you if you lose to Miami like
Speaker 1: like they did last year, and you go through a
Speaker 1: bad stretch during the regular season, which they did, and
Speaker 1: you and I talked about in our podcast this year
Speaker 1: about how we thought that the Bucks made the trade
Speaker 1: for Drew Holiday for the playoffs knowing that it would
Speaker 1: hurt them in the regular season because it would hurt
Speaker 1: their depth, and that Drew Holiday is a specific matchup
Speaker 1: weapon in the playoffs. You and I were on top
Speaker 1: of that all year long, and that ended up being
Speaker 1: the right the right gamble. And the reality is that
Speaker 1: is coming into this year. If they go through a
Speaker 1: stretch where they lose to three games in a row,
Speaker 1: no one's gonna say anything. It's like the Lakers this year.
Speaker 1: The Lakers had a catastrophe of a season and half
Speaker 1: of the experts picked them to win the title still
Speaker 1: going into the playoffs because of the fact that there's
Speaker 1: that benefit of the doubt that comes when you're a champion.
Speaker 1: And those people who were Lakers optimists were correct because
Speaker 1: they were up two games the one before Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: got hurt. But the point being, like I'm with you,
Speaker 1: I'm super optimistic about Milwaukee next year as just like
Speaker 1: a whole different animal. I still think I would pick
Speaker 1: Brokelyn out of the East if they're healthy, but I
Speaker 1: feel a lot better about Milwaukee's chances just in general.
Speaker 1: But let's move on to honest because I think I
Speaker 1: think this is interesting because sometimes people over complicate what
Speaker 1: it takes to go to the next level as a winner,
Speaker 1: as a superstar. You know, we look at Janice and
Speaker 1: we look at him lose to Miami, and we say
Speaker 1: things like, oh, he needs to learn how to shoot
Speaker 1: jump shots, or oh he needs to become a reliable
Speaker 1: three point shooter, or he needs to do this, or
Speaker 1: he needs to do that. Well, the reality is that's
Speaker 1: not Sometimes it's as simple as just little things on
Speaker 1: the margins. Be honest, want to title this year, not
Speaker 1: by doing things differently, but just by being more dominant
Speaker 1: in the same things that he's always done in little
Speaker 1: things on the margins, like you win and lose a
Speaker 1: game on blocking that eight and lab understanding when you're
Speaker 1: in that drop coverage, like I have to literally sell
Speaker 1: my soul to get this block. Like if you when
Speaker 1: you watch that play, there's a level of effort and
Speaker 1: urgency in honest that he just didn't have in previous seasons.
Speaker 1: You it's you and I talked about this all the time,
Speaker 1: the scar tissue that builds up from losing. You lose
Speaker 1: so many basketball games, and in those each one of them,
Speaker 1: you remember how you lost. I lost this game on
Speaker 1: that turnover. I lost this game by not getting back
Speaker 1: in transition on this play. I lost this game by
Speaker 1: not fighting through this screen or not blocking this slab.
Speaker 1: And that's the way you honest did it. You honest
Speaker 1: at it by just doing by leaning heavily into what
Speaker 1: he was good at and then doing so much more
Speaker 1: on the margins defensively, extra effort plays things along those lines,
Speaker 1: and and it was super impressive and and he reached
Speaker 1: a level in terms of physical dominance that and this
Speaker 1: has been said, this is not something that you and
Speaker 1: I are saying uniquely, but in physical dominance, dominance that
Speaker 1: we haven't seen since shack to where you're watching the
Speaker 1: play on TV and you're sitting on your couch and
Speaker 1: you're like, they can't do anything with this guy. They
Speaker 1: can't keep him off the glass, they can't keep him
Speaker 1: from getting to the rim, they can't stop him in transition.
Speaker 1: They can't stop him here, they can't stop him there. Oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, now he's making his free throws and uh.
Speaker 1: And it was just it was just a masterpiece. And
Speaker 1: if if you're gonna ask me, like, did Janice level up? Yes,
Speaker 1: not in the sense that he's so much more skilled
Speaker 1: than he was in the last two years, but just
Speaker 1: as a winner. It's a basketball i Q thing. He
Speaker 1: just understands what needs to be done to in games
Speaker 1: at a higher level now than he used to. And
Speaker 1: it won him some games this year that they might
Speaker 1: have lost in years past, and now he has the
Speaker 1: trophy as a result, and and we all got to
Speaker 1: tip our cap to him. It's kind of crazy, like
Speaker 1: he's only twenty six years old, but like the way
Speaker 1: he talks after the game or like after you know,
Speaker 1: with the tears, he talks like he's thirty six, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like he's been through all these
Speaker 1: playoff wars already, and you know he was judged he
Speaker 1: was too successful too early, right, Like he was so
Speaker 1: good so early. People put all these um lofty kind
Speaker 1: of expectations on him. You're supposed to win the title
Speaker 1: right away. You know, you're back to back m v P.
Speaker 1: Can you win? Can you win with the honest as
Speaker 1: your best player? People calling Middleton the batman? You know,
Speaker 1: all this stuff that was just kind of even crazy
Speaker 1: in the moment. I feel like like you talked about
Speaker 1: the free throws, hitting the seventeen for nineteen or whatever.
Speaker 1: I like when you respect the game, like the game
Speaker 1: kind of gives back to you, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like he he never like stopped trying to get to
Speaker 1: the line. He never stopped trying to attack the basket.
Speaker 1: You know, he never like even though he didn't shoot
Speaker 1: the free throws. Well, like when you do that, I
Speaker 1: feel like the game kind of gives gives the game
Speaker 1: back to you. And I think that's what happened is
Speaker 1: freed Tho started to go down. Um, but from here
Speaker 1: he can even get better. Right. He saw him get
Speaker 1: more comfortable with that turnaround fade away. Um, he started,
Speaker 1: he's getting even more comfortable with his jump shot. Like
Speaker 1: he's so young. It's weird because he's talked about as
Speaker 1: like a like even he said, he's like, even if
Speaker 1: we don't win another one, it's okay, we did our job. Um.
Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy to hear him talk like that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he really elevated his game. And people who
Speaker 1: have finals like that is rare. That's why I put
Speaker 1: the a D one last year in a rare form.
Speaker 1: I put this one in a rare form. People who
Speaker 1: are who put up numbers like this in the NBA finals,
Speaker 1: I feel like it should mean more. You should get
Speaker 1: more like credit for doing it when it matters, and um,
Speaker 1: he did, so you had credit to him. But there's
Speaker 1: a lot more basketball for that guy to play like
Speaker 1: he's young, and I think that's what's getting so lost
Speaker 1: in this, Like he's he's talked about as like a
Speaker 1: complete Like people are comparing this ring to Dirk, like
Speaker 1: Dirk won his ring like super late, you know, after
Speaker 1: Like but you know, you're honest, winning there at twenty
Speaker 1: six is just in a insane, insane moment for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I tweeted yesterday that I thought that people
Speaker 1: don't even really realize how good he's going to be.
Speaker 1: And I really mean that, and I'm and I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily think it has to be attached to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: high level three point shooting or anything along those lines.
Speaker 1: I mentioned basketball i Q in that last thing that
Speaker 1: I was talking about having to do with the little
Speaker 1: plays it takes to win games. Well, he's never gonna
Speaker 1: be a Lebron where he's making these like super surgical
Speaker 1: passes that just pick defense as apart. That's not gonna
Speaker 1: be in his in his you know, archetype of who
Speaker 1: he is as a basketball player. But what he can
Speaker 1: get better at is just little reads, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: a little uh little into interpretations of a defense that
Speaker 1: he doesn't make at this point where he's going to
Speaker 1: get to the point where his little hook shot and
Speaker 1: his little turnaround and his little one like fade away
Speaker 1: are so consistent that he's going to start attracting more
Speaker 1: attention off of good shooters, you know, like there that
Speaker 1: he's gonna have that gravity kind of pulled towards him,
Speaker 1: and guys like Middleton, guys like Drew Holiday are gonna
Speaker 1: be even more open than they are at this point,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna get just a little bit better at
Speaker 1: interpreting that, a little bit better at hitting those guys,
Speaker 1: a little bit better at reading help defense, so he knows,
Speaker 1: you know, when to go to his spin move and
Speaker 1: when to not spin back into the help defender and
Speaker 1: things along those lines, those little details on the margin,
Speaker 1: in addition to slight improvement with his hook shot and
Speaker 1: his turnaround jump shot and his one like fade away.
Speaker 1: I know that doesn't seem like much, but that's the
Speaker 1: difference between him being what he is now and being
Speaker 1: twice his effective in my opinion, And the same goes
Speaker 1: defensively and interpreting plays and and just you know, he's
Speaker 1: he's not terrific on the ball right now. That's another
Speaker 1: thing that he can get better at overtime, just his
Speaker 1: instincts and being better at anticipation. And because Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: kind of has his number right now in isolation where
Speaker 1: he can just get him with some shifty stuff and
Speaker 1: get him off balance and get by him. That's something
Speaker 1: he'll get better at. His time. Him goes on like
Speaker 1: he right now, he's Shack, which is crazy. And I
Speaker 1: think he's capable of being an even higher level version
Speaker 1: of Shock, which is scary to think about. And I
Speaker 1: you and I talked about this like two or three
Speaker 1: podcasts ago, but you know, he is capable of having
Speaker 1: a seven eight year run that rivals the greats, and
Speaker 1: all he has to do is rack up, you know,
Speaker 1: a few championships in that run, and he then he's
Speaker 1: right up there with the Larry Birds and the Magic Johnson's. Now,
Speaker 1: obviously he's not there yet, But I don't think it's
Speaker 1: asinine to say that Janice has the potential to be
Speaker 1: considered one of the greatest basketball players ever like and that,
Speaker 1: and I tweeted this a few weeks back, but like,
Speaker 1: letting him get one this year was was trouble because
Speaker 1: I don't think he's the best guy yet, Like, like
Speaker 1: we let him get one when he's not the best guy,
Speaker 1: Just wait till he's the best guy. It's just gonna
Speaker 1: get easier and easier for him as time goes on.
Speaker 1: And and uh, I think I you mentioned this at
Speaker 1: the beginning of your last bit, but like such an
Speaker 1: incredibly emotionally mature guy. And and I I think like
Speaker 1: he learned a lot from the Crown situation last year.
Speaker 1: Like I think I think he jumped his own gun
Speaker 1: a little bit. And it's funny because he just won
Speaker 1: the title and he's acting more humble now than he
Speaker 1: did during his MVP run uh last season. And I
Speaker 1: just I think I think he's got all the right
Speaker 1: intangibles and all the right motivation and and he's gonna
Speaker 1: be and he's gonna be fun to root for. And uh,
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see what the media decides to
Speaker 1: turn into the thing that we hate about j honest,
Speaker 1: because you know how that goes, We're gonna find there's
Speaker 1: gonna be some subset of of basketball Twitter that just
Speaker 1: decides they hate the guy and and then end up
Speaker 1: being complicated. His accolades always going to look insane next
Speaker 1: to a ring, in my opinion, like he had the
Speaker 1: two m vps already, two m vps, Like go look
Speaker 1: at the guys who won two m vps as a
Speaker 1: super short list, you know, I mean Kobe each when
Speaker 1: he years has one m VP to his name, Kim
Speaker 1: Durant one m v P like that. Those m vps
Speaker 1: are I think Lebron has three, like just like I
Speaker 1: was thinking about four okay, four okay, but yeah, like
Speaker 1: those the guys who have multiple m vps is a
Speaker 1: really short list. Um. And yeah, and he can get
Speaker 1: better at the free throw line like all those kind
Speaker 1: of things. Um, but he's a legend already. I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you about this because he he talked about
Speaker 1: the super teams thing, and I think that was like
Speaker 1: my favorite kind of Did you see that quote from
Speaker 1: him about the super team That was my favorite kind
Speaker 1: of bit from him where he was like I could
Speaker 1: have gone to another team and it would have been
Speaker 1: easy like that. That's the part that got lost to
Speaker 1: me is where he said it would have been easy.
Speaker 1: I could go and play my role on a super
Speaker 1: team and and and one a champion. She was doing easy,
Speaker 1: but I did it the hard way, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? And I think that's kind of his whole
Speaker 1: brand is like this, like I've done it the tough way.
Speaker 1: It's kind of what Damian Lillard tries to sell as
Speaker 1: well in Portland, which is kind of breaking down. But like,
Speaker 1: what did you think of that kind of quote? Did
Speaker 1: you read in and read into into it at all?
Speaker 1: Or is that just him kind of speaking as a
Speaker 1: like like globally around the league, or is it like
Speaker 1: a shot at like James Harden or something, or like
Speaker 1: what did you see anything from that that quote? I
Speaker 1: don't think it's necessarily a shot at anybody. Um. I
Speaker 1: do think that it's just a player controlling his narrative,
Speaker 1: you know, like, and I'm okay with it, especially from
Speaker 1: a winner. You know. Lebron came out after last season,
Speaker 1: uh posted an Instagram post of him smoking a cigar,
Speaker 1: saying up in smoke season and talk trash the entire year.
Speaker 1: Uh when and When on a podcast tour, said it
Speaker 1: was the hardest title ever, all this stuff, and I
Speaker 1: don't even necessarily agree with everything that he said as
Speaker 1: even as a Lebron fan. Uh that said, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with the guy who wins
Speaker 1: going out and telling the story. The thing that you
Speaker 1: have to keep in mind is that every time you
Speaker 1: start talking, like every everything with basketball is about what
Speaker 1: have you done for me lately? I mean, Kauai won
Speaker 1: a championship in two thousand nineteen and then did a
Speaker 1: whole New Balance campaign about how he was coming to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles to effectively take the crown. And I'm not
Speaker 1: making that up. It was. There was ads that had
Speaker 1: him in it that he was intimately involved in that
Speaker 1: talked about how this is his city and then he
Speaker 1: had a crown on his key chain and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: Like the problem is is when when you talk and
Speaker 1: you start to control the narrative, you have to continue
Speaker 1: to back that up. So you know, I have absolutely
Speaker 1: no problem with you, honest talking. He just has to
Speaker 1: be aware of the fact that next season, if he
Speaker 1: falls short and gets outplayed by somebody, that there will
Speaker 1: be detractors that will weaponize what he said in this
Speaker 1: particular off season. Now, as far as the logic behind it,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too deep into this, but
Speaker 1: of course I disagree with that concept. Like, first of all,
Speaker 1: the best player that Lebron managed to play with in
Speaker 1: seven seasons in Cleveland was Moe Williams. Okay, that was
Speaker 1: literally the best player. And he was a player that
Speaker 1: had success in the regular season as a secondary score,
Speaker 1: but had two really bad post seasons by his standards
Speaker 1: compared to what he did in the regular season. That
Speaker 1: was the best that Cleveland could muster to put alongside him. Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: you know, are Chris Middleton in rw Holiday your bona
Speaker 1: fide superstars. No they're not, but that team has a
Speaker 1: lot of talent. Drew Holiday is capable of taking a
Speaker 1: top ten NBA player and Chris Paul and making him
Speaker 1: significantly less impactful than he normally is. Chris Middleton in
Speaker 1: this playoff run was right around effective field goal percentage
Speaker 1: and right around twenty four points per game. That's right
Speaker 1: up there with the Kyrie Irving type of postseason that
Speaker 1: he was having alongside us alongside Lebron, and similar in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways because he made a lot of
Speaker 1: big shots the way that the way that Kyrie did
Speaker 1: and are this series swung on Game four and five,
Speaker 1: which both were crunch time games, which both involved Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton running the majority of the offense at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. So my point is is, like, let
Speaker 1: him talk his let him talk his ship. He deserves too.
Speaker 1: I disagree with his assessment that he had the easy
Speaker 1: way be or that he didn't take the easy way,
Speaker 1: that he took the hard way, because like he had
Speaker 1: a lot of talent on his team, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: if there wasn't Chris Middleton and Drew Holiday on this roster,
Speaker 1: he's probably not in Milwaukee right now, He's probably somewhere else.
Speaker 1: So but at the end of the day, winner gets
Speaker 1: to tell the story. I'm not gonna sit there and
Speaker 1: and and talk a bunch of trash and let him
Speaker 1: have his moment. But yeah, if you're asking me if
Speaker 1: I think he's being disingenuous, yeah, but I also think
Speaker 1: Lebron was being disingenuous when he said that that was
Speaker 1: the most challenging title ever. So it's just kind of
Speaker 1: like narrative controlling superstar stuff, you know. And this last
Speaker 1: thing I'll say, like everyone talks about how humble you
Speaker 1: Honese is. Uh. I certainly think he's a lot better
Speaker 1: in the media at portraying himself as someone who's very
Speaker 1: down to earth, but none of these guys are all
Speaker 1: that humble, Okay, Like you're it's just about impossible to
Speaker 1: be one of the best basketball players in the world
Speaker 1: and not be extremely confident in what you can do.
Speaker 1: And Steff is a great example of this. Like Steph
Speaker 1: is magnificent in the media at just being the nicest,
Speaker 1: greatest guy, but that dude is a psychopath, Like he
Speaker 1: literally wants to murder you on the court in genuinely
Speaker 1: thinks he's better than everybody, as he should. And I'm
Speaker 1: okay with them being wired that way. But I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that I do appreciate about Lebron
Speaker 1: is he's very arrogant and pompous and showy and dramatic
Speaker 1: in the media, but that's who he genuinely is, and
Speaker 1: he's kind of just leaning into that and and and
Speaker 1: it's at least with Lebron, it's like you never have
Speaker 1: to question whether or not he thinks he's very confident
Speaker 1: or very showy, because that's just that's his personality and
Speaker 1: that's that's and he just kind of leans into that.
Speaker 1: He's the guy that will make a shot and go
Speaker 1: to the crowd and wave his hand like this, asking
Speaker 1: for a round of applause like that. That's that's the
Speaker 1: way Lebron is and and he gets it and he
Speaker 1: leans into it. Some guys like to be very humble
Speaker 1: in the media, but then put crowns on their head
Speaker 1: when they make a big three in a regular season game.
Speaker 1: So every all I'm saying is don't don't always buy
Speaker 1: into the persona. But I say that as someone who
Speaker 1: likes you honest for the record, Yeah, yeah, And I
Speaker 1: don't think it's home is his fake. I just think
Speaker 1: like it looks a guy who's different on the court.
Speaker 1: I think Chris Paul is into this too, right, Chris
Speaker 1: Paul is probably an asshole on the court, right, And
Speaker 1: and that's what everyone says, does everything to win, all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff off the court, gentleman, you know,
Speaker 1: vice president of Players Association and all that stuff is
Speaker 1: just coincidned on. These dudes have to change on the court.
Speaker 1: You're it's a competition, is physical? Um your honest? You
Speaker 1: could tell you don't get to where your honest is
Speaker 1: without having some sort of inner kind of motivation, inner
Speaker 1: kind of I'm gonna kick your ass every single night. Um,
Speaker 1: it was cool. My last thing on your honest I
Speaker 1: remember watching the document There was this documentary on him
Speaker 1: and it was a moment where like he figured out
Speaker 1: he could average twenty and ten at night. Like it
Speaker 1: was the moment he liked. One night he had twenty
Speaker 1: and then like the next night he had twenty again.
Speaker 1: And he went to his agents and his friend. He's like,
Speaker 1: I could do this every night, and the agents like really,
Speaker 1: He's like yeah, and he went an average ten. And
Speaker 1: I think that's really awesome that he was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I could do this every night and no one can
Speaker 1: stop me. And so he did and he continued to
Speaker 1: do it. I think they were having negotiations with this
Speaker 1: shoe deal and it was a really low number or something.
Speaker 1: He said, Oh no, no, no, it's gonna be way higher.
Speaker 1: I can do this. I can have average twenty and
Speaker 1: ten easily. So I think that's really cool. See a
Speaker 1: guy who's consists Dan doesn't stop motors. Incredible. Those the
Speaker 1: guys that should win. Um, it's good for the league
Speaker 1: to small market uh as, I don't know Milwaukee has
Speaker 1: sixty five thou people outside watching on By the way, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know how smaller market actually is. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just awesome for a guy who stayed, you know,
Speaker 1: on the super Max um and and gets the ring.
Speaker 1: So we'll see Milwaukee goes here. But it's it's a
Speaker 1: really awesome story for him. Yeah, we're gonna dive more into,
Speaker 1: you know, where all of the chips fall after this season. Probably,
Speaker 1: I think I think we'll probably take about a week
Speaker 1: off after this and we'll come we'll come back next
Speaker 1: week and and do like some player ranking stuff and
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, how Yanna stacks up against other guys.
Speaker 1: Just today's not the day for that. Uh. Today's the
Speaker 1: day to give props uh, and and make sure that
Speaker 1: Jannie that most of the conversation centering around him is positive. Um.
Speaker 1: So for today, we only have about ten more minutes.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about some of those Laker topics that
Speaker 1: that I had brought up. So for starters, are you
Speaker 1: with me? It is absolutely insane to be going to
Speaker 1: great lengths to bring in Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: Absolute well, so for Chris Paul, I mean if he
Speaker 1: was like, it's never gonna happen. He's the president of
Speaker 1: the Players Association, he can't take a discount. But if
Speaker 1: he came for like our taxpayer, Emily, which is like
Speaker 1: six million dollars, yeah, you have to take the half
Speaker 1: of it or whatever so that you don't trigger the
Speaker 1: hardcap to exactly. So if he came for like six million,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul with open arms, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Russell westbrook absolutely not. Russell Westbrooks on a super max contract,
Speaker 1: which means he's getting paid forty million dollars or something
Speaker 1: a year. Um, yeah, that is absolutely insane, Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: So thirty six, you know, so just not feasible. Moods
Speaker 1: for this team also don't fit, like the culture of
Speaker 1: the team, which which is like a hard nosed defensive
Speaker 1: I just think, like I don't know about you, just
Speaker 1: from a basketball fit, like Lebron is going to be
Speaker 1: the ball handler when it matters. I don't want to
Speaker 1: use my resources to get a thirty five forty million
Speaker 1: dollar a guy who needs the ball in his hands,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like a secondary creator makes sense.
Speaker 1: Dennis Schreuder should have fit that kind of build, But
Speaker 1: I don't want another super primary guy when I'd rather
Speaker 1: use I'd rather feel out the roster in different ways
Speaker 1: than than do that. If you have Lebron James on
Speaker 1: your team, who was still at the not top of
Speaker 1: his game, was still at a pretty peak level of creation,
Speaker 1: playmaking and all that, you would you agree with that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you hit the nail on the head. Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrooke and Chris Paul are overqualified for what the Lakers
Speaker 1: need from that position. You know, one of the beautiful
Speaker 1: things about the Dennis Schroder experience is that even though
Speaker 1: he was aggressive, there was a clear deference to Lebron
Speaker 1: and when when when the important moments of the games came,
Speaker 1: Dennis just went to Lebron. I I think Russ and
Speaker 1: Chris Paul in particular, their egos would get in the
Speaker 1: way in the sense that that might kind of that
Speaker 1: balance might go the wrong way to where, like you said,
Speaker 1: the vast majority of the primary decision making needs to
Speaker 1: be made by Lebron be because he is one of
Speaker 1: the best in the world at that if not the best,
Speaker 1: And so I just don't necessarily love that particular fit. Um.
Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about Kyle Lowry and Demarta
Speaker 1: Rosen in a minute, and those two guys make a
Speaker 1: lot more sense because Demarta Rosen is not a decision maker.
Speaker 1: He's actually an underrated passer, but he fulfills a need
Speaker 1: in terms of shot making, in terms of a guy
Speaker 1: who can come in with when Lebron's off the floor,
Speaker 1: when Lebron's off the ball, and create shots for himself,
Speaker 1: and then when the defense commits to him, he can
Speaker 1: make simple reads. But he's not a pound the air
Speaker 1: out of the basketball guy who's going to disrupt Lebron
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis's rhythm. Same goes for Kyle Lowry. Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry is I is, like I've been preaching this since
Speaker 1: last year's trade deadline. He's the ideal fit in terms
Speaker 1: of what the Lakers need from that position. And then
Speaker 1: when once you factor in all the salary stuff, like
Speaker 1: you said Chris Paul as a guy who's the head
Speaker 1: of the VP of the Players Association, and then everything
Speaker 1: that comes with the Russell Westbrook experience, I just in
Speaker 1: his salary at at forty plus million a year, I
Speaker 1: just don't the type, the lengths they would have to go,
Speaker 1: the depth they would have to give up, the crazy
Speaker 1: things they would have to pull to get those guys
Speaker 1: on board to then not be the ideal fit doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense to me. And so that that did.
Speaker 1: I haven't done too much digging into this lowry De
Speaker 1: ros and stuff, but just from a basketball perspective, it
Speaker 1: makes so much more sense to me. Yeah, and with
Speaker 1: de Rosen, like he's a great player, great creator. You know,
Speaker 1: he's gotten really good as a pastor as well. But again,
Speaker 1: you you don't get de Rosen for like whatever that
Speaker 1: salary I just mentioned the five and a half million um.
Speaker 1: And also like if you were going to trade, you
Speaker 1: have to trade a bunch, you have to trade Shrewder
Speaker 1: probably k CP th h T. You know, we have
Speaker 1: different feelings about HD, but like it's just it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a ton of And I'd also like them to
Speaker 1: get younger kind of in that area as well. I
Speaker 1: think Shrewder was the right idea twenty year old guard,
Speaker 1: you know, a guy with some youth, some rhythm um
Speaker 1: into him. Um. I just think it's tough trading for
Speaker 1: already six year old cars, Like that's you're really like
Speaker 1: I have I think Ricky tweeted this, but like, you know,
Speaker 1: you have some PTSD with Steve Nash in two thousand twelve.
Speaker 1: You know Steve nash Game. I think he was thirty
Speaker 1: nine at the time. I don't remember a thirty nine,
Speaker 1: but yeah, but he was. He had a great season
Speaker 1: that previous season, you know, and they traded two first
Speaker 1: round picks for him. Um and that just didn't work out.
Speaker 1: He got injured the first play the game. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying those two guards would get injured, but you know,
Speaker 1: when you get older players, you have more of a
Speaker 1: chance of that. We just went through a huge injury
Speaker 1: riddled season. Um and, and I'd like some kind of
Speaker 1: youth and infuse players there if they could get some
Speaker 1: getting young. I don't know who they can go after,
Speaker 1: but I just think trading for thirty six year old
Speaker 1: guards is not the move for this team right now.
Speaker 1: Do you think this is all smoking mirrors as a
Speaker 1: negotiation ploy with Dennis basically like we're looking for a
Speaker 1: new playmaker, we're looking for this, We're looking for this
Speaker 1: basically basically sending a signal to Dennis and his agent
Speaker 1: that we're going to walk away from the table if
Speaker 1: you don't take a discount. Do you think that's what
Speaker 1: this is? Yeah? So I feel actually think the Lakers
Speaker 1: are gonna get Chris Paul Russ Russ, right, I mean
Speaker 1: that's yeah, Like for me, like with all free agents,
Speaker 1: two rumors, there's like three sides to every rumor, right,
Speaker 1: there's one side, one side in the truth. Like there's
Speaker 1: like precise to every one of this. I don't know
Speaker 1: what's what's true or not. Did you see the Dennis
Speaker 1: Shrewder and Kuzuma were fighting all year kind of rumor
Speaker 1: as well? Do you know where did you see that?
Speaker 1: I think Jordan's Schultz he too that like Dennis and Kuzma,
Speaker 1: we're having we're having arguments that really increased as the
Speaker 1: playoffs went on, um as the bosses went on again,
Speaker 1: all this stuff. Like, I don't know what to take
Speaker 1: for any of this stuff. Shooter obviously, I mean there's
Speaker 1: no it's no secret he wants to get paid. He
Speaker 1: wants the hundred million dollars or whatever. The Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna offer whatever they want, um, and maybe there's a
Speaker 1: sign and trade to work into that. But yeah, like
Speaker 1: maybe I'm sure his agent has wants him to get
Speaker 1: the most money and maybe this is a way to
Speaker 1: do it. But I really don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to take from any of this. Uh, the rumors
Speaker 1: always are strange to me. I don't know where one leaves.
Speaker 1: Always these new people who you know, didn't watch a
Speaker 1: single Laker game this year. Somehow I've inside sources on
Speaker 1: what's what's going on. So it's it's a strange season
Speaker 1: for sure. I do you know, I want to shout
Speaker 1: out the podcast because I know some of the aggregators
Speaker 1: failed too. But the Laker side chats with Alan Romits,
Speaker 1: he had who's the writer that he had on Eric Pinkas, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and he basically brought up an interesting point. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, winning cures everything. Winning is the is the
Speaker 1: is the attitude that that makes people more willing to
Speaker 1: deal with being unhappy in their specific role or or
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a little bit of locker room chemistry stuff,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. And he's he basically said, like, you know,
Speaker 1: last year they were winning, everyone was willing to fall
Speaker 1: into place. This year was rocky and they lost, and
Speaker 1: everyone's a little bit less and they're less patient, they're
Speaker 1: a little more fed up, they're a little bit more irritable.
Speaker 1: Things along those lines. Well, I'm not surprised at all
Speaker 1: that that guys could be yelling at each other in
Speaker 1: practice and things along those lines. Easily the most fascinating
Speaker 1: part of it. I mean, the Kuzma thing makes sense.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're Kyle Kuzma, it's like you've won
Speaker 1: a title. You know, all your peers are out as
Speaker 1: the best player on their team getting tons of shots.
Speaker 1: You're stuck behind Lebron Anthony Davis, and now you're stuck
Speaker 1: behind Dennis shrewder To. He's getting more shots than you.
Speaker 1: It's it's this whole thing, right, and and and you
Speaker 1: feel like maybe it's time for you to spread your
Speaker 1: wings and fly. I get that. This stuff with Dennis
Speaker 1: and all these other guys that came in that didn't
Speaker 1: even win the title, that's where that's where it gets wild.
Speaker 1: Is just the uh, the the unwillingness to buy in
Speaker 1: when you don't even have the trophy or the ring yet.
Speaker 1: That's been very unusual for me, But I'm with you,
Speaker 1: Like I the Derosian C. J. McCollum type of archetype
Speaker 1: makes the most sense to me because genuinely, what the
Speaker 1: Lakers need, in my opinion, is a guy that can
Speaker 1: take a ball screen and force the defender to go
Speaker 1: over the top. That that's key. It's it's so important
Speaker 1: for a lot of different reasons because, like we saw
Speaker 1: with Dennis all season long, they went under every single
Speaker 1: screen with him because he didn't make anybody pay shooting
Speaker 1: over the top. And half the time he would get
Speaker 1: into his little like kind of side step in and out,
Speaker 1: drill will pull up a little fifteen footer as he's
Speaker 1: fading out of bounds. Getting the defender to chase the
Speaker 1: guard over the screen is the key to unlocking the rollman.
Speaker 1: This is something that we saw at length with Trey
Speaker 1: Young and with Chris Paul and with Devin Booker against
Speaker 1: the book, against a really really good Bucks defense, and
Speaker 1: especially when your role man is Anthony Davis or Lebron
Speaker 1: or somebody along those lines, it brings even even more
Speaker 1: to the table. I don't even think that player needs
Speaker 1: to be a super high end passer, just having somebody
Speaker 1: that can take a ball screen and force you to
Speaker 1: switch or force you to go over the top, because
Speaker 1: a guy like c J or a guy like De
Speaker 1: Marta Rosen, if you go under the screen, is going
Speaker 1: to pull up and knock the shot down every single time.
Speaker 1: That kind of thing I think makes way more sense
Speaker 1: in their offense than looking for a guy who's going
Speaker 1: to dribble the air out of the basketball, you know,
Speaker 1: and take Lebron and a d out of his ribb
Speaker 1: out of their rhythms the way that Rondo did. I
Speaker 1: felt like, sometimes that's kind of where that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I'm at, and so that's why I didn't. I
Speaker 1: was kind of scoffing at those particular rumors. Yeah, CJ
Speaker 1: would be c J would be a great get, kind
Speaker 1: of a guy who can shot create um, create off
Speaker 1: the dribble. Also he can hit spot up threes as well, right,
Speaker 1: Like he's a good shooter. Um. That would be kind
Speaker 1: of the gift for me. But again, like he makes
Speaker 1: also like what million dollars a year two, he'd be
Speaker 1: pretty much had to give up Kuzma, KCP your guard,
Speaker 1: deb I think we worth it. I think I just
Speaker 1: don't know what if Portland will do that unless Dame
Speaker 1: kind of unless the Dame situation really flames out. That's
Speaker 1: where you kind of have to go bargain hunting, and
Speaker 1: that's a situation at that point they're they're blowing up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the only way I would see it. See it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't see any of these Westbrook, Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: even Kyle Lowry to an extent, like I don't know
Speaker 1: why like Toronto would help do that unless he just
Speaker 1: signs here as a free agent for the minimum amount
Speaker 1: of money. But I was signing trade with Dennis. Maybe
Speaker 1: that that could be the other option there. Those are
Speaker 1: more realistic to me than than a than a Chris
Speaker 1: Paul Russell Westbrook. So yeah, these rumors are gonna be
Speaker 1: flying though. You're gonna see almost every star player kind
Speaker 1: of be linked here. Eventually you're gonna see Bradley Beale.
Speaker 1: Eventually you're gonna see all the all the big time
Speaker 1: players the Lakers get thrown get their names thrown in there.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of hard to decipher what's real what's
Speaker 1: not in these situations. Um, a lot of people, again,
Speaker 1: like I said, I didn't follow the team at all,
Speaker 1: somehow have inside, inside sources into the brain trust of this.
Speaker 1: So it's interesting. I don't think a Westbrook move or
Speaker 1: Chris Paul kind of fits what the team has done
Speaker 1: since Magic has stepped down, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: They've been really conservative, really uh careful with who they
Speaker 1: sign um and not doing big, long term dumb deals.
Speaker 1: Um so. So we'll see though, but that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I'm at with those. Yeah, I agree, and and
Speaker 1: this is literally the last thing I'm gonna say, uh
Speaker 1: to all of these people out there. This was the
Speaker 1: same phenomenon that happened before the Anthony Davis trade, Okay?
Speaker 1: Or is the Laker fan base a little over ambitious
Speaker 1: with who they think they can get? Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: agree with you that they're a little over ambitious, like
Speaker 1: you're not You're not gonna go win the war for
Speaker 1: Bradley Beale or for Dame Lillard. That they're just they're
Speaker 1: physically incapable of it. Uh. That said, they're they're they're
Speaker 1: in play for every other trade option that's that's out
Speaker 1: there this summer. And the reason why is quit saying
Speaker 1: the Lakers don't have assets. They absolutely do. Talent. Horton
Speaker 1: Tucker is a legitimate asset that gms around the league
Speaker 1: value Kyle Kuzma is is about. It's from what I
Speaker 1: can gather, from what I've heard from from the people
Speaker 1: that I trust on Twitter, it's like two thirds of
Speaker 1: the league thinks he's overrated. But there's like a third
Speaker 1: of the league that thinks if he gets into the
Speaker 1: right situation, he can play. And the other thing with
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma is his number, his contract for what he
Speaker 1: brings to the table as a good defensive player, a
Speaker 1: good rebounder, and a guy who can get hot and
Speaker 1: score off the bench. At twelve million a year or
Speaker 1: whatever it is that he's making or thirteen million years,
Speaker 1: that's actually a really good value. And then the Lakers
Speaker 1: all there the the idea that the Lakers don't have
Speaker 1: any draft picks. That's a fallacy that I the Lakers
Speaker 1: have the ability to get into the trade market for
Speaker 1: everybody except for Bradley Beale or Dame Lillard. Did you
Speaker 1: have anything else you wanted to add today before we
Speaker 1: get out of here? Uh? No, I think that's pretty
Speaker 1: much it. Congrats for the Bucks. Uh And uh this
Speaker 1: this is gonna move pretty quickly. We have the draft,
Speaker 1: but in like six days or something. Is that? Is
Speaker 1: it really that quick or is it? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is about to run really quickly. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but I feel like the draft is
Speaker 1: coming up pretty soon. In some re leagues, in like
Speaker 1: less than a month. Um, so, yeah, this is gonna
Speaker 1: move pretty quick. We'll be here to cover it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So Roger and I are gonna take about a week
Speaker 1: off and then we're gonna come back and do like
Speaker 1: just our our ti pickle offseason stuff. We'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about, you know, where we rank players, where
Speaker 1: we ranked teams going into next year. Uh, and then
Speaker 1: we'll talk off season stuff for the Lakers, will do
Speaker 1: a big offseason extravaganza type of deal, and then depending
Speaker 1: on how the time goes, we might do some other
Speaker 1: fun stuff. We were thinking about maybe going back and
Speaker 1: breaking down the way Roger and I like to break
Speaker 1: down games. We were thinking about breaking down some of
Speaker 1: the old Lakers championship series from the last couple of decades.
Speaker 1: But thank you guys so much for your support through
Speaker 1: this season. We sincerely appreciate it. It's been really crazy
Speaker 1: to see even just the way our little, our little
Speaker 1: deal has been growing. And I'm so excited to see
Speaker 1: where it goes next year. And uh, Roger, really, I
Speaker 1: really enjoy working with you man, and I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to see where this can go. And and uh, season
Speaker 1: one in the books from start to finish, you and
Speaker 1: I went the entire way for the first time. It
Speaker 1: was fun. Yeah, I didn't know. We did right back
Speaker 1: at you an exciting minut It should be a fun
Speaker 1: summer as well. So we get a lot to a
Speaker 1: lot to break down here. We'll we'll continue to do it,
Speaker 1: all right, everybody, have a good weekend and we will
Speaker 1: see you next week. E