WEBVTT - Lakers/Rockets Postgame Spaces 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:18.480 Mmmmm all right. Welcome to the State of the Lakers, 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.400 brought to you by Dash Radio. Thank you guys so 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:22.239 much for coming to hang out on a Tuesday. A 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.599 lot of Laker basketball to talk over the next I 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:27.840 think we're playing four times in the next six days 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.360 counting tonight, so a lot of a lot of a 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.920 lot of game days, a lot of opportunities for the 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.640 Lakers to undo some of the nasty taste that we 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.280 have in our mouth from this five game losing streak. 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.400 Looked like it was gonna go south a few times tonight, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:44.280 but Lebron didn't let that happen. Um, So I'm glad 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.360 that for the first time in a long time, Rose, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.320 you and I can talk about a Laker win. How 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.320 are you doing, Buddy? I am doing well, man. Yeah. 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.400 The last Laker win was the Austin Reeves game winner, 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.200 which feels like two years ago. Um. But yeah, a 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.800 lot of Laker games coming up here tomorrow again one 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:03.800 against Memphis. But how are you, man? How is your 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.880 week going? It is going good. I'm prepping for my 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.560 first ski trip of the year, and I looking at 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.560 the weather and seeing all this snow drop in on 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.640 the mountain I'm going to so I'm pretty stoked about that. 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.480 But hey man, let's let's dive right into it. So 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:20.280 I thought I thought the story of tonight's game was 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.160 the Lakers finally kind of leaning into their identity. And 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.000 I think we saw that right away with the starters. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.640 Something that we've been preaching for this entire season, this 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.240 idea that this could be one of the best driving 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.559 kick basketball teams that we've ever seen, because you see 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.480 so many guys on the floor that are capable of 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.160 beating a guy at the point of attack, in making 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.240 reads and passes out of that for high quality offense. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.600 It's something that I thought the Clippers had nailed down 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.640 to his science last year in the playoffs, and they 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.320 were doing it with lesser players. They were doing it 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.560 with Paul George as their best player, with Reggie Jackson 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.280 doing a lot of that driving kick work. They didn't 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.560 have anywhere near the personnel in terms of that specific 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:03.960 skill set that the Lakers had, And it was so 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.680 infuriating for me and for you as well, rog to 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:12.880 watch this team try to actively sabotage that specific skill set. 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:14.920 You know, they're so good at driving the ball to 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.480 the basket, but we would play multiple bigs. We'd play 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.280 a bunch of non shooters. We'd be in a situation 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.680 where we had our driving kick guys taking off the dribble, 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.120 pull up jump shots just about every time down the 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.720 floor at the start of these games, and obviously there's 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:32.880 a lot still to work through. I don't understand why 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.440 they didn't play Dwight at all tonight. I would have 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.160 played him. Staggered with Lebron that said, I loved what 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:41.680 we saw from the starting lineup. I thought you saw 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.520 everyone look comfortable. Russ had a lot of bad rust 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:47.679 moments tonight, but he also had a lot of good 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.880 rust moments, and I thought he looked comfortable driving and kicking. 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.760 Lebron looked comfortable getting to the basket. Malik Monk looked comfortable, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.640 even mellow, operating in his little isolation sets, just the 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.800 space that he had to oper He just looks so comfortable. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:07.959 And with that team operating with confidence, especially as their 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.600 two best defensive forwards come back, a Resa and reeves 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.400 this team will get enough stops to where if they 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.520 can replicate this offense, they're gonna be a tough team 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:18.680 to beat. And then you plug Anthony Davis into that 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.360 and it gets even more exciting. But that was that 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.280 was I thought the story of the game. Rod starting 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.919 Stanley Johnson and dropping Dwight Howard, leaning into a five 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.800 out offense, driving kick, driving kick, driving kick, and just 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:35.080 all of our offensive players feeling comfortable. What did you think? Yeah, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.040 And it wasn't just Stanley Johnson, right, it was putting 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.760 Malik Monke in for th h T And I thought 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:41.920 that was very important. It looked like the offense flowed 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.080 a lot better. And this feels like we've really just 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.320 lean into and I've been on this from like I 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.600 think the fifth, the sixth game of the season. To me, 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.920 this season is about maximizing Russ. It's about making sure 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.160 lineups are kind of induced to help him play better, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.760 kind of fit around his skill sets. You know, we 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:00.560 have the miss dunks and stuff like that, but there's 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.040 still a good player in where in Russ. There's still 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.360 a effective player, there's still a winning player there. And 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.680 I think that starting lineup kind of pushes those correct 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:09.680 buttons I put in my notes here. Our first or 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.120 second basket was a Russ, you know, left or right, 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:13.840 drive right to the rim and he got to the 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.880 rim a lot tonight. There was a lot of miss 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.320 miss layup still at the basket, but he's getting to 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.080 the basket. And I thought, that's kind of what we 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.280 saw with the spacing. With that new starting lineup, Malik 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.080 Monk and Lebron have had an instant chemistry. I thought, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.599 just you know, from the beginning of the season, I 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:30.839 think when he was out, we missed his offense. He 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:32.599 has a punch to him where like he can he 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.080 can drive to the basket or shoot. I feel like 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.120 every time he gets into the dip of his jumper, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.000 I think it's going in like that's how clean it 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.000 looks when he's spawning up. But he's just been Him 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:43.760 and Lebron have a nice chemistry, man, and that that 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:45.760 stands out. But yeah, I thought the starting lineup really 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.200 helped russ Um get going. And still there's some bad passes, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.920 some awful turnovers that Russ does, and those kind of 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.400 glare out more when you don't have Anthony Davis to 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:56.719 kind of take some of those possessions away, so you 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:58.680 see more when you you know up Russ is you 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.280 said you get you up the turn over? Is he 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.320 also up the numbers right, and I think he got 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.720 another triple double tonight. But yeah, that's what I think 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:06.640 the starting lineup did. Man, there's still a lot of 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.440 defensive concerns. To me, we gave up a lot of points, 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.320 especially the backup you know, center position booches Carmelo right now. 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.720 But Stanley Johnson looks good again. Him and Lebron are 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.240 able to switch actions. And that isn't me or just 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.760 Stanley Johnson just look huge and that like in any 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.960 lineup peace and he just but he just looks like 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.200 like massive, Like he's like he was dropped out of 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.279 another era and just dropped in, you know, like he 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.960 just looks absolutely like he doesn't fit with the players 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.120 are on the floor. It's like Darren Coulson and then 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.760 you know also every Bradley and then it's like Stanley Johnson. 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.240 Him and Lebron looked almost same size sometimes and they're 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.200 able to switch. And I thought, you know, that looked good. 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.560 He's still not hitting his jumper, he's still not scoring, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.720 you know, at any kind of rate, but he looked good, man, 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.360 and it looked like this lineup is inducive to us. 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.400 We've leaned fully into the Lebron small ball. Lebron is 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.880 playing exclusively at center now, which is crazy kind of 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.919 the switch we've done. Yeah, Stanley's dude, I uh he 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.800 when he came through Tucson to go to the University 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.360 of Arizona, and I was fortunates get to play basketball 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.720 against him a lot over the year that he was there, 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.359 and I can speak from personal experience that he's just 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:13.640 a massive human And what's funny is he was massive 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.640 like that coming right out of high school. That's a 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.720 little similarity between him and Lebron is that they both 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.160 they both had their grown man body when they were 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.480 like sevent teens. Who the heck knows how that happens, 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.080 you know. So, Malik Monk, you're starting to see a 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.640 little bit of his cutting chemistry with Lebron, which is 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.640 something that we we've all we've seen throughout Lebron's career. 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.000 Players as they learn how to operate off the ball 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:39.119 with Lebron, they kind of, over the course of time 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.960 playing with him, they figure out where their opportunities were. 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.760 And we saw a lot of backdoor cuts from Malik 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.680 Monk today, which is interesting because that's why Avery Bradley 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.400 has had so much success, uh playing with Lebron cutting 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.839 on the backside, just kind of sneaking around and staying 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.840 a threat even when he's not at the three point line. 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.600 And so that's the instant chemistry with Malie Can. Lebron 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.640 comes from three things. His ability to cut off the 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.400 ball to his ability to attack closeouts in a more 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:10.400 complicating way, meaning a complicated way, excuse me, Like he 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.360 can make complicated finishes around shot blockers at the basket, 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.400 he can make floaters, you can make pull up jump shots. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.680 He can also do the next level reads out of 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.320 those clothesouts. And then lastly, he's a shooter. He can 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:23.840 knock down shots at a high rate. So when you 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.440 put those three things together, that's like your ideal off 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.640 ball Lebron teammate. Now. Defensively, he was all over the 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:32.280 place tonight, and that's the next thing, um that this 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.000 team's got to figure out is how to get more 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.360 stops with these smaller lineups. And I think a lot 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.800 of it will just be you know, taking you know, 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.080 because the Lakers only play eight guys tonight, which is 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:42.960 that was really interesting for a couple of different reasons. 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.160 First of all, they're on the front end of the 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.040 back to back, you know, so ideally you'd want to 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.840 play a deeper rotation, but again it's the COVID circumstances 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:53.880 at play here as well. The part that I got 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.640 confused with is Dwight should have played like Dwight. Dwight 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.760 is a quality backup NBA center. He has to be 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:03.680 in the lineup unless he's hurt or dealing with conditioning problems, 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:05.840 which that very well may be the case. We don't know, 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.600 but he was playing the other day, so I don't 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.080 really understand. But it was interesting that they kept the 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.520 rotation super short under the circumstances. But when you get 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.680 guys back in there like Reeves like a reason, now 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.680 that becomes a ten man small ball rotation. And now 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.720 we now we can kind of ask for more out 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.880 of those guys defensively, because in an eight man rotation 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.080 like that, you just end up with guys playing big minutes. 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:35.600 And when they played big minutes, that's when they start 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.560 paying really close attention to their own personal fatigue, like 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.920 how much how much longer can they hold down the 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.240 turbo like we have. Stanley played thirty two minutes tonight, 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.199 which I'm fine with. I want him to play big minutes. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.320 But Avery Bradley thirty one minutes, that's a lot, Carmelo 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.360 Anthony twenty eight minutes, that's a lot. Like you're asking 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.319 guys that are going to experience a drop off in 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.280 their defensive effort as their minutes increase. As guys get 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.240 back from the COVID protocols, they should be able to 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.880 be in a more traditional you know, here's your two 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:09.640 shifts or here's your one shift. You play your ass 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:12.120 off while you're in there, and then you know, well, 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.360 we can actually expect more from you defensively. So they've 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:15.720 got to figure out how to get more stops to 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.920 that group. But I just think it's really cool because 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.439 this is the identity of basketball that I've been pining 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.800 for this entire past eighteen months. This is modern basketball. 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.240 Modern basketball is five outs. That's what we did. That's 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.719 that that's the best way to maximize offensive talent in 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.679 today's NBA. And again, it's just about how can you 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:40.400 get stops with these smaller, primarily offensive minded players, And 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.800 I think they can. They're just gonna have to kind 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.040 of figure that part out. But this is this is 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.520 kind of my idealized version of the way this team 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.600 would play offense. Yeah, and with like with Russ playing, 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.480 you're almost never always five outright, because he's going to 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.240 be the one kind of that's that's inside. But tonight, 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.440 like Lebron played, you brought up the minutes that all 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:01.319 these guys are playing. You know, we played the eight 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.240 man rotation broadcade thirty nine minutes tonight. But it didn't 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.120 look like it was too much for him. It didn't 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.280 look like it was too much of a heavy kind 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.200 of load for him. A lot of his offense was just, 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.360 you know, throw it into the post and let him 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.960 playmake out of that. Jason, I think our offense is 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:17.040 getting better. It looks like we've added a lot of 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.520 kind of actions and stuff, a lot of off ball stuff, right. 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.439 We're getting a lot of baskets, off cuts, um, We're 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.839 running like a lot more split actions on week sides 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.480 and stuff that are involving on shooters like Malik Monk 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:29.840 and Carmelo run a lot of offside actions and it's 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.320 cool to kind of see that. We also spam like 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.760 the guard screen roles that are that are doing and 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.719 Lebron's Lebron's playing center, but he's still playing a lot 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.760 of point guard. A lot of his stuff is just playmaking. 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.079 Yet Yeah, so he's still doing a lot of playmaking, 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.640 which I think is easier for him. His playmaking again 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:47.320 is coming out of the post or just you know, 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:49.520 guard screens and try to make decisions out of that 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.200 didn't look too difficult. Houston is not a great team, right, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.200 They don't have, you know, a really great They don't 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:55.880 play defense that well. I think they're one of the 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:57.720 worst defensive teams in the league. But it was nice 0:10:57.720 --> 0:10:59.720 to just to see that. And again it's we can't 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.120 really be picking right now with Winds six five losses 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:04.600 in a row, so it's nice to just kind of 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.040 put the script there. But yeah, I think we're getting 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.200 better on offense, man, if we can fill these wings in. 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.320 And both of us would like Dwight to play, but 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.640 I think we'd much rather have this be the have 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:16.880 this be the place where they lean into, right, You'd 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.360 rather them lead into the small ball identity um, rather 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.280 than you know, lean into the two bigs and then 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.600 go with the small ball here and there. They lean 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:26.559 in all the way and I don't like how rigid 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.800 it is. I do think Dwight can play a few 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.000 minutes here and there. I still think he's a serviceable 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.960 backup center, especially those Mellow at the five minutes, those 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.160 are really a struggle. Although you know, Stanley Johnson next 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.080 to him makes it a little bit better look at 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.120 it in terms of the athleticism, Yeah, exactly, And he 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.080 definitely makes those lines a little bit better. It still 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:46.840 feels like a layup line a lot because you know, 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.599 Stanley is usually still on the perimeter. Mellow likes to 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.680 stay in the paint, which makes sense, can't really move 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:53.839 his feet um and again that's where I think Dwight 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:55.800 can come in. But you know, Russ in those second 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:57.680 units gets to the basket a little bit more. I 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.640 do think the finishing should get a little bit better 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.440 at the ask, you right, people to usually shoot at 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.720 the rim. But he's getting there and that and that's 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:07.280 a good thing. But yeah, they lean all the way 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.160 into this super small ball, which makes it fascinating when 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:12.640 you know Reeves a Resa all those guys get back 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.400 because they are kind of built to play in this 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.720 kind of this kind of system. We'll see if Lebron 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:18.840 can kind of continue to hold up at center. But 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.160 it's nice that they've leaven into it, uh and it 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:24.559 took what games to get to get there, but it's 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:26.480 good that we're here, and hopefully eighty can kind of 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:28.679 come back and fill those spots. But it's it was 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.440 fun to kind of watch tonight at least the offense right, 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.760 And I think this really does help Russ be able 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.000 to pick his game up too. So my argument for 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.200 playing Dhite is the fact that he's a good NBA player. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:41.440 I know that he didn't look good coming out of 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.160 the locker room, but like I've said to you so 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.719 many times, when you've walked the guy in the locker room, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:48.800 when you walk the guy in the hotel room for 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.640 ten days, he's going to struggle to quickly adapt back 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.280 to playing NBA basketball. That's just kind of part of 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:57.960 the deal there, and that I would imagine that's even 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.400 exaggerated for big guys, you know, because so much of 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.199 what they do is based on their motor and they're conditioning. 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.520 My reasoning for playing Dwight is the exact same reason 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.560 why you don't play DeAndre Jordan's. You know, you're playing 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.720 DeAndre Jordan because you feel like you need a center. 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.280 But he's actually like one of the worst players in 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.960 the NBA. So actually, what you're doing is you're just 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.640 putting one of the worst players in the NBA out there. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.800 Well with Dwight, we're having issues with talent, especially with 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.800 Anthony Davis out. We're bringing in guys off the street. 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.439 We got guys like Darren Collison, who we might talk 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.320 about later may or may not still be an NBA player. 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.080 But the point is that Dwight is very much a 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:43.040 completely passable, maybe even good backup NBA center. He just 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:44.360 has to be he has to be out there. And 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.000 then the flip side of that is like kind of 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.760 bringing this to Lebron because I do want to go 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.640 in the direction of Lebron here. You know, Lebron at 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.760 center is easy on his body against most of the 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.559 teams in the league. Like a night like tonight, Lebron 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:02.480 had no issues playing center against Houston. There thin Christian 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.120 Wood wants to take him out on the perimeter and 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.840 take jump shots anyway, there's it's just not labor intensive. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:09.840 And you saw that literally at the end of the game, 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.760 after playing all those minutes he dunked all over Christian 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.320 would like he wasn't even there. So the point is 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.839 is like physically he's fine there. But let's say Carl 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:23.240 Anthony Towns tomorrow. Let's say you know Nicola Yokis down 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.080 the line, Let's say you know these Joe olmpide when 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.960 you're playing against these bigger centers. I think that's where 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.560 you're starting to talk about, Okay, can Lebron do this 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.880 physically for thirty nine minutes a night? Is that a 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.560 good idea? That's why I would keep Dwight in there 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.640 as your backup center, have him play a couple of 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.320 shifts every night, you know, in the minutes where you'd 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.120 normally had Mellow at center, and essentially just keep him 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.800 engaged and in shape and prepared to then have the 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.720 bigger role against the bigger centers. And then what I 0:14:55.720 --> 0:15:00.000 would do, like like tomorrow night against uh Karl Anthon. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.240 Excuse me, they play Memphis, so they play uh Steven Adams. 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:06.400 So it's wrong about that, but oh, I think we 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.600 played Minnesota a couple of games from now, if I'm 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:12.400 not mistaken, maybe later this week, but anyway, against Steven Adams, Like, 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.960 rather than go big and put d White on Steven Adams, 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.480 what I would do is I just say, like Lebron's 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.240 starting at center, run them off the floor. Like with 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.480 that lineup, just run, run, run, run, run. Maybe Steven 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.160 gets a couple offensive rebounds here there, but over the 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.840 course of the that stretch of basketball, you have the advantage. 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.600 And then I'd bring Ed White in and have him 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.240 spell in the in the non Lebron minutes. But I 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.800 wanted to talk about Lebron for a minute because I 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.360 think what you're seeing here is kind of an idealized 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.480 version of him. And I don't think it's coincidental because 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.680 you know, he did dunk on Christian Wood tonight, but 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.480 this hasn't been a year for him as a high flyer, 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.000 so you can kind of we can all kind of 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.840 admit to the fact that physically he's not the same 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.760 guy that he was, you know, back in two thousand eighteen. 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.600 That goes without saying. However, his efficiency is up across 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.280 the board. I tweeted about this earlier today. He right 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.520 now is shooting a higher percentage in the restricted area 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.040 then he hasn't any of his years since he left Miami. 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.760 That's a that's an awesome number, especially when you factor 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.400 in how many of his minutes at the beginning of 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.680 the season, we're alongside DeAndre Jordan's. But he's also shooting 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.280 near the top of his career highst for shots in 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.680 the mid range and his overall true shooting percentage. He's 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.040 just he's just having an extremely efficient scoring season. And 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.320 I think a big part of that is this recent 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:40.160 move into this modern idea of what basketball should be, 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.720 this five out basketball. And to your point about Lebron 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.560 playing the point, his assist numbers are down this year 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:50.160 because he's been so deferential to Russ and he's done 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.840 so much work as a screener and off the ball. 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.320 But what you saw tonight is what the team needs 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.880 to be. Lebrons to defer to Russ only when he's 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.920 fatigued or when he out of the game, and when 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.080 he's on the floor, he needs to play that role. 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.040 This team has always been at their breast when Lebron's 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.240 a tennisi ist guy and not a five assist guy, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.119 you know what I mean, Like when Lebron's at the 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.720 top of the key, surrounded by shooters, or at the 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.080 elbow surrounded by shooters and cutters, just picking you apart 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.879 with his brain. That's when he's at his best, and 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:24.200 then which what inevitably ends up happening is guys all 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.360 glue up to their man and now he's playing one 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.600 on one basketball, and that's how he ends up with 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.800 these super efficient shooting numbers. But again, what you saw 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.480 tonight is a little bit different than what we've seen 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:38.720 from Lebron for a lot of this season because he's 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.679 been deferring to Russ so much, and I think we 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.399 need to kind of try to bottle that up a 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:47.080 little bit and repeat it moving forward. Have Lebron make 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.560 more of the decisions. Have Russ when Lebron's on the floor, 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.879 be more of an off ball guy, because what you 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.600 saw there is peak Lebron ball, top of the key, 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.000 elbow extended one of those two spots either with a 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.359 live dribble or out of your threat. That's where's that 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.440 his best? Yeah, and we're starting to playing with Billie 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.120 nice cutters, right, I think again, going back into Leak Monk, 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:09.640 I think that's a big part of it as well, 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.200 playing with guys who move off the ball. Every Bradley 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:13.879 is not a shooter, but he is a nice cutter, 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.520 and I thought he got a lot of baskets off that, 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:17.439 and again it looks like we're getting into second and 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.679 third kind of production of our offense as well, like 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.440 we're getting into more movement, a lot more cutting, and 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.080 Lebron is able to just find guys. It's it's interesting 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:28.880 the Russ you know Lebron dynamic there because I think 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:31.600 the starting lineup is all intertwined into that as well, 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:33.439 like the r late game offense, and I was just 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.960 Lebron in the post or it was also Rust Lebron 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.560 screen and roll right like Russ was able to attack 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:40.160 the basket. I think he got a lay up off 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.040 the uh he found Lebron twice cutting and you're getting 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.040 to see Lebron as a cutter with which I think 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:47.520 is great when when he's at the center position. That's 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.000 just a really tough cover. You have Rust Lebron running 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.600