167. Why Frank Vogel was never the right choice

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confidential help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight Hope and why or text hope and Why to four six seven three six nine in New York. In Tennessee redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine in Tennessee, visit www one eight dot one eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, Welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by Fan duel Here on the volume, I am Jason Timp Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of you are having a good start to your week.

I should say a good end to your week. Um. You know, it's funny. I took some notes from the game tonight, you know, talked about how Dwight had a really good game against the Clippers last week, but he was struggling this week. And I talked about you know, Monk and Reeves and their chemistry and had all these notes and I decided that they don't deserve it. They don't. They don't deserve for me to dive into the weeds,

the basketball weeds of this team. When this team doesn't care enough about their own fate and their own situation to fight, and when they fight, when they do, they go on Saturday against Golden State, they put up a fight. I'm excited to get into the nitty gritty of the basketball, but the basketball is are relevant if this team is

not gonna play hard. The basketball is are relevant if this team is gonna fight to get back within three and then completely roll over in the third quarter, which represents two entirely differ aren't personas and that mix doesn't make any sense. You know, it's funny. I have this longstanding theory with the way that I value at basketball teams.

I look at their defensive rating not just because of a indicator of defense, but I look at defensive rating as a general indicator of effort and more often, like the Lakers, who were the number one defense in the league last year and the number three defense in the league the year they won the title, they would have nights where the defense didn't look good. They would have nights where their effort was poor, but they were the exception, and more often than not, they were engaged and they cared,

and they were extremely difficult to score on. And it manifested in those numbers. This team is the exact opposite of that that run you saw at the end of the second quarter. That's the exception. That's not who this team is. That's when this team gets out of character. The character of this team is what you saw in the third quarter. The character of this team is knowing well, having a firm understanding of what works for them and still not doing it because it's hard and for whatever reason,

they don't want to. And it's funny because I was thinking about this earlier today when DeAndre Jordans got signed by the Philadelphia seventy sixers. When DeAndre Jordan's was signed by the Lakers, I kind of liked the signing. Not not because I wanted him to start. That was way way way different than what I saw from that signing. But my ideology was, this Laker team has the best

defensive culture in the league. This Laker team cares and and and DJ was playing on a Nets team that did not care on the defensive end, and so what my thought was is you're gonna play Dwight and you're gonna play a D. And maybe when DJ has to play because of injuries or whatever, the load management or whatever it might be, he'll get swept up in that defensive culture and he'll look a little bit more like the old DJ than he did when he was in Brooklyn.

And that was completely wrong, because the Lakers defensive culture utterly disappeared in the last six months. And I think it's a couple of different things. Some of it's frank, and we're gonna get to that in just a second. A lot of it is the fact that we as fans massively underestimated how important Alex Crusoe was, how important Contavious called Well Pope was, how important Danny Green was, how important even Dennis Schroeder was toe Lakers holding down

that team when Lebron and Anthony Davis went down. They were a huge part of what made this team what they were in their identity on the defensive end of the floor and just in general with their effort, and we none of us gave them enough credit in that season when they won the title, it was all about Lebron and a D And I'm not I'm not shirking any of that blame because it was me too, and we massively underestimated how much those guys and their willingness

to fight on a possession by possession basis made that team work, and that was evidenced by the fact that the following season, with Lebron and a D both went down, they were still the best defense in the league without those guys, and for whatever reason, the people in that room, and I'm not gonna give them too much of a hard time about it, because we made the same mistake as fans. We massively, massively underestimated how important that was.

And it's disappointing because I think that's the guy that has to be the entire goal this offseason is trying to figure out how to recreate that culture because it's not gonna be Lebron in a D. Lebron and a D are both having massive issues staying available. Lebron is literally playing through a knee injury right now. Anthony Davis for whatever reason, can't stay on the court, and even when they were on the court this season, they weren't

fueling that. So you can't depend on them, and you can't just count on a coach coming in to do it because Frank Vogel preaches defense every waking second of every minute he's in that building, and even that didn't work. So you have to find a way to recreate that identity this offseason by finding guys that naturally at their core their DNA as basketball players, want to do that stuff. That has to be the goal. Not offensive players, not

guys who can shoot next to Lebron. No, it needs to be guys who are willing to set the tone in all of the effort and energy areas of the game. For those of you who are just joining us, this is Lakers Tonight, presented by Fandel here on the volume. I was just talking about how frustrated I am with the guys around Lebron and a d this season and how poor their effort and focus has been relative to

what the previous guys were. I wanted to talk about Frank Vogel and Tyler for a second because they represent a super interesting dynamic that took place with the Lakers over the course of the last couple of years. In many ways, the Tylu situation was the original sin of this Lakers era, the first indicator of where things were going off the Rails. I liked Tyler in Cleveland. I watched every game he coached there, at least before Lebron left. And you know, in two thousands sixteen, I thought he

did an excellent job. I didn't agree with everything he did. In two thousand and seventeen, I thought he was preaching transition too much. I think it was part of why their defense fell apart. But that's normal for a new coach to to to try to inflict his philosophy on somebody before on a team, before really taking the time to realize what works best for that team. But Tyler in the years since then has become one of the

best coaches in the league. And the job that he's done with the Clippers is one of the best jobs that we've seen a coach do in this league. And I think it's a credit to Tyler for adapting. That is the job. The job of a coach in basketball is to adapt. The reason why is you are a constant and everything around you is not. Your personnel changes

on a year by year basis. Your personnel changes on a game by game basis because of injuries and COVID and load management and in trades and any any of the number of things that can happen in a regular season. It's a constantly shifting dynamic. Then there's the league. It has to do with the way that the league is playing, the way the best teams in the league are playing, the strategies that they're using, has to do with matchups

in a postseason series. That was a huge deal for Mike Budenholzer before he won a championship was his stubbornness and his unwillingness to adapt, and that has turned into Tyler strength because the way Tyler coaches this Clippers team is way ahead of the curve. He is on top of the things that work best in this era. And he could have been had by the Lakers he wanted to sign. There there's famous photo was going on uh social media earlier today of Tyler having a Laker's birthday cake.

The truth of the matter is is that was on the table and could have been had. But Tyler wanted to be paid as a championship coach. Why why why do you guys think Tyler wanted to be paid as a championship coach? Oh, it's because he won a championship. But then the Lakers offered him standard NBA coach money and standard NBA coach length of the deal, and Tyler was insulted, and he walked away, as he should have, because that was insulting, and so they went with the

discount coach. And I don't want to be super hard on Frank here because the reality is with Frank, because he did a really good job in that season. But it was a perfect storm of events that went right for him. It was an archaic style of roster. For sixty of the minutes in the regular season, they played a d at the four. They were playing traditional centers. They were not playing five out bass ketball. They were playing traditional you know, uh, the four out one in

offensive basketball. On the defensive end of the floor, they were screening, playing screening roll coverages that were very traditional, chasing and and and funneling guys into your size underneath the basket. But as the league has evolved, as guards have gotten extremely good at shooting off the dribble at any spot on the floor, drop coverages have become less effective. As NBA teams have gone smaller and played more guards and more wings, and and gone positionless and gone in

many cases no bigs. All of a sudden when you got a Dwight Howard on the floor, you can run them off the floor because your overall foot speed is too high. And in that season there was a perfect storm. The league wasn't quite ready to get out of that era in the sense that the Lakers were too much to handle, and the roster was perfectly catered to what to what Frank Vogel did, and so we had that moment and it went well for him. Ever since then,

it's been a complete disaster. The Lakers had spacing issues all year last year, as they played a D at the four for only for only uh if they played a D at the five for only ten percent of the minute, so nine out of ten possessions a D was at the four alongside another big and it didn't work. Got into the postseason, their offense was really struggling, and the spacing was horrible and ended up being one of the many things that crippled the Lakers towards the end

of the season. And then this season. We don't have to get into the weeds, but it's been an absolute disaster on almost every front. Because Frank Vogel was a vintage coach from a bygone era, and the style of basketball that he wants to play doesn't work anymore. It might not work even if the Lakers were a hundred percent healthy. It might not work even if the Lakers were playing today. It's possible that that style might not function anymore. Tyler. Meanwhile, look at what he's done with

the Clippers. He doesn't even he doesn't even want to play a traditional center. He just does it now because of what their roster forces them to do. But he plays four guys that can guard multiple positions, that can move their feet on the perimeter. It's all drible drive attack. He's got an advanced zone. He's got like a matchup zone that he used a lot on the Lakers tonight. That's a that's a wrinkle that you didn't see a

ton in the NBA in recent years. But a lot of the really good coaches around the league are starting to do now. A lot of the really good coaches around the league are starting to experiment a little bit. It's not just here's my drop coverage, here's my five on five defense. It's here's this nifty zone. Here's a lot of aggressive trapping, here's a boxing one. You're seeing all kinds of nifty crazy stuff from the the forward

thinking coaches in the league. So Tyler could have been had if Jennie was willing to spend, but Genie wanted to be cheap, and instead she got Frank Vogel. Frank Vogel did really well when the circumstances were perfect for him, and since then the circumstances haven't been and it's been a disaster. So in many ways, the Taylu situation was the original sin of this era. It was the first mistake in a long line of mistakes that came from the top that led to the disintegration of one of

the best pairings in NBA history. That's how much of a catastrophe this has been. But the longest short of it is is that he's got to go right now. What are you gaining by keeping him around? You know, my friend Pete Zais from Laker Film Room said this the other day on his podcast, and I thought it

was really really important in this circumstance. He said, you can't grow anything in poison soil, And what he was talking about is that the Lakers are doing irreparable damage right now by not audible ng from this think about it. Months ago, we knew the Lakers were like this. Months ago, we knew this was a disaster. And for months we talked about how they needed to make personnel moves, We talked about how they had to shake up the roster, we talked about how they had to make a coaching change.

But instead they made no changes to the roster at the trade deadline, and then they're big shake up buy out. Signing was a tiny thirty four year old guard, as if that was going to solve their problems, and a really interesting athletic forward that Frank Vogel has no interest

in playing for whatever reason. So Frank is still here, and all the guys that are the culprits of this disaster are still here, and because they're still playing this way, they're doing irreparable damage, not just to the culture of this team, but to their reputation around the league. Let's say this summer comes around and Rob Polinka calls you and your player in the market for a vetter and minimum to a mid level exception. And Rob Bolink goes, hey, buddy,

you should come and play with the Lakers. You can play alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Do you not think they're gonna think about nights like tonight. Do you not think they're gonna think about this disaster. You don't think that's going to influence their decision making. After the Lakers won the title, they had access to a great deal of discounted talent. Mantras Harrold was expected to make more in the open market. He chose the Lakers. Marcusol

could have made more in the open market. He chose the Lakers. They were able to get these good players because the culture of the team was attractive. Two people out there, and then last year you could throw it all away to injuries, and they still competed. They still like good culture, so they were able to get who they wanted. They just picked the wrong guys. But that's the that's gonna be one of the big roadblocks this summer. Now Lebron's older, the attractiveness of playing alongside him is

not the same. Anthony Davis is injury prone, the attractiveness of playing alongside him is not the same. And the front office and ownership group is literally as incompetent as you'll find in the league. That's not attractive to people who would consider signing with the Lakers. So that's why it's so important to do something to blow this up. Now, fire Frank Vogel, get a look at Phil Handy, see if he can coach in the NBA. Start your process. Now, moving on to Lebron, this is in the same vein.

He's out here chasing Kareem and again. And I said this on the pod the other day. I don't want to hear any sort of referendum on Lebron's career because he's stat patting in a losing effort. This dude has one more basketball games and one more NBA championships than any franchise in the NBA since he came into the league in two thousand three. So you're full of ship if you want to go down that route. But it's

not pretty and I don't like it. I don't like the way it risks his body as he's playing through an injury. And I don't like the way it poisons the soil. I don't like the way that it continues to lend itself to this negative culture of poor effort and the wrong priorities. I understand it's a difficult conversation to have with Lebron because he's going after Kareem. But something somebody's got to say something as like at a certain point like mellow Lebron, Dwight Howard, Can Bays Moore,

Avery Bradley, Trevor Reesa. All these guys need to stop playing and they need to lean as much as they can on the youth, so at least the product on the floor for the rest of the season plays hard. Think about this guy's If the Lakers fall out of the plane, they lose their first round pick this summer, So oh, there's legitimate steaks. Even if even if you throw away the postseason and just think about it as getting to the ten seed, there's steaks. And they still

don't care. They don't care. They are actively sabotaging this environment by not caring. And that goes from the top down. That goes from Genie with everything she's done. That goes with Rob with not making any changes to this roster and just saying, here, you guys, fend for yourselves. It goes with Frank Vogel and his incredible stubbornness. It goes with Lebron in his unwillingness to fight through circumstances like this, and it goes down the roster with the guys not

willing to do the job. And so if there's gonna be something to salvage here down the stretch, it has to be done in the in the way of effort. And the easiest way to do that get rid of Frank Vogel. Get a young coach in there, like a new coach like Phil Handy in there to try he'll bring some enthusiasm at least it's his first coaching gig, and give the younger players a chance to play, because at least they'll go out there for the Lakers faithful

and play hard. One of my co workers here at the volume, Draymond Green, did a whole bit the other day about the Laker fans booing Lebron and the Lakers, and for the record, there's a part of his point that I agree with, the idea that the Lakers are the most successful franchise in NBA history. The idea that for the previous two seasons, not only did the Lakers bring you a championship, but they brought you a great

deal of effort and respect for the game. So there is a certain amount of respect that has to be paid towards them for what they've accomplished in this era. However, on Sunday Night, when the season was very much salvageable, where Lebron and where Lebron and Russ had they tried, could have won the game, they came out and mailed it in. And mailing it in is probably underselling just

how poor their effort was. And one of the things I pointed out on the show was as a fan, when you've worked your tail off all week, and in the back of your head when you're at dealing with the grind of work and you're thinking about your favorite team and the big game they have tonight and how important it is, and how much you hope they come through. And they go out and they don't try, how do you not boo and so in defensive Laker fans, I

totally understand where they're coming from. It's despicable what you're seeing over the course of the last couple of weeks. It's a disgrace to the game of basketball. The Lakers are worse than the Clippers, that's true. It's a tough match up for them in a lot of ways. That's true. The Lakers don't have the personnel to hang with some of the best teams in the league. That's true. They're not thirty points worse than the Clippers. They're not thirty

points worse than them. That that that's a team that doesn't care and something has to be done to change things up or it's gonna be one of a complete disaster over the next month and a half and this team is going to have This team is gonna have absolutely nothing to build on going into the next season. I can't talk. I can't talk anymore Lakers tonight. Let's let's move on. So I wanted to touch on on two other games tonight. I wanted to touch on Grizzly

Celtics and on the Heat Nets. This is like a sniper presented by vandel here on the volume. So the Grizzlies are a team that I have frequently talked about as a as a you know, long shot contender, not even really a long shot. I call him a dark horse third team that I think has the necessary pieces to win a championship because they have a great deal of size and athleticism. They have interior size and strength, They've got shooting, and they've got an all world superstar

that nobody can guard. And I talked a lot about how the biggest thing that excites me about that team as a playoff threat is the fact that John Moran presents a two thousand six Dwayne Wade esque free throw conundrum. He comes flying into the lane and he elevates and nobody can stay in front of him. So as a result, people foul and when they found you know, he could shoot twenty three throws in a playoff game and it

could swing a big playoff game. But this was an interesting test because the Celtics are the best defense in the league. They have some very specific things that they bring to the table in terms of their scheme that shut down a lot of what Memphis does. Switching defenses forced you to create in isolation, and so I was really curious to see how they fared tonight. Now, to

be clear, John Moran the little context here. John Morand's only shooting from three in his last twenty three games, so he's going through a massive shooting slum when he's actually been a pretty good shooter over the course of the previous calendar year. So that's a weird context there. We're gonna talk about that in a second, shooting slumps can be weird and they can really get in players heads,

especially young players heads. But as a result, you were gonna have to have other guys that can create their shots. And what was interesting, and this is the biggest flaw in this roster, and it's the main reason why they're not a top tier contender. They're clearly in that second tier when you need more than one guy that can create their own shot against the set elite defense. John Moran is gonna be just fine. I'm not worried about him.

We're gonna get to him in a second. Desmond Bayane, who's their backcourt partner there for jaw, he is a a really good shooter and he's a really good slasher, meaning if he's attacking a close out so someone chases him off the line, he can rip through and he can get to the room and he can finish. He's big and strong and athletic. What Desmond Bane is not is a score. And so one of the things you saw tonight before garbage time, he made I think four

shots and garbage time tonight. But you saw Desmond Bane really struggle tonight because in the Clippers switching scheme, you needed him to be able to create his own shot, and that's not a strength of his Jaren Jackson Jr. Who I think I've always called him like a D LIGHTD. He's a very similar to a D as a defensive player in terms of his versatility, but on the offensive end, he's actually a much better shooter than Anthony Davis is. But he can be such a bull in a china

shop going to the basket. He's very much a tunnel vision. I'm putting my head down, I'm going through your chest, I'm trying to get to the basket. And that thing just doesn't work against the best defenses unless you're an all world athlete. We're talking to Lebron's the jannice Is of the world, and Jared Jackson Jr. Is very much not that. So again, in a setting like this, he's less valuable because in a packed paint setting, in a switching defense setting where you need him to isolate, it's

just not as good of an option. And so it came down to jaw and Jos started the game one for eight from three again, because what all these teams are gonna do, especially when they get to the postseason, is play way off of him and force him to make shots. Is he ready to do that right now? No? I don't think so, but I think he will be.

My boss. Colin Cowhard had did a whole a bit the other day talking about John Murray and comparing him to Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook and too John Wall, and for the record, I totally see what he's getting at, and there's a lot of truth to it that we have absolutely seen the super athletic point guard that's not a great shooter come through the league several times. And he's also right that there there is no success story on that front. All of them have flailed flamed out

for various reasons. The biggest difference, though, I think, is all of those players had a fatal flaw. Okay, John Wall could not shoot, Derrick Rose could not shoot, Russell Westbrook complete spas John Murray. It isn't a great shooter yet, But if you look at his form, and if you look at how well he shoots at the free throw line, and you look at the stretches where he shoots, well, he's going to be a good shooter. And he has

all of the other boxes checked. He's a freak athlete that can get by anybody off the dribble, he can finish at the rim, but he has a floater package. John Russell Westbrook has been in the league for over a decade, has never added a floater package to his game. It's been a massive thing that has held him back. John Morant has that stuff. He has the midrange game, he has the floater stuff. He's got a great feel for the game as a passer, which will only improve

as he gets older. His form on his jump shot looks great. If you looked at Derrick Rose when he was young, it was broke. If you look at John Wall when it was young. When he was young, it was broke. John Wall still to this day shoots like a set shot, like he's Jason Kidd. So like John Morant has a much much more you know, he has. He has a foundation on his shot that's going to work really well. So is it possible that he ends

up being the new one of those guys. Yeah, but I don't think it's super likely because I think he's clearly better than all of them, and so that will be the the The bell Weather moving forward is if jaw can add that shooting, which I believe he will. He instantly becomes a way better player than any of those guys ever were, and in a playoff setting that that that will be the big indicator for him this year.

If they do end up going on a run, making it to the Western Conference Finals, winning a championship, it'll be because John makes shots. But yeah, if Jaw goes one for eight, you know every other night in the postseason, they might lose in the first round. That's how vulnerable they are in a postseason setting because they don't have that second shot creator. But again, this was I told you guys earlier in the season. The Grizzlies were very cocky and confident. They were talking a lot of trash

to people. This is the hard part. This is where it gets hard. This is where you have to put your money where your mouth is. It wasn't good enough against the Celtics tonight. You're gonna have other opportunities, but it's really gonna come down to John making shots, and they're gonna have to get something offensively out of Baine and out of Jackson. All right, moving on to the

heat and the nets. So Kevin Durant returns tonight. I I am always completely and utterly blown away by how easily Kevin Durant can step back out onto a basketball court. I had a buddy growing up who was so natural as a score in basketball that he could go six months without touching a basketball and walk into the gym

and shoot amazingly well. And then for me still to this day, even though I literally trained like I'm a professional athlete, I I can go on a four day ski trip and come back and completely forgett how to dribble because I'm very based on my rhythm I have. I need lots of reps to get it going. And it's so funny because I see a similar dynamic between Lebron and Kevin Durant, like when Lebron takes time off,

when Lebron has an injury. When Lebron gets out of basketball for a little bit and comes back, he looks super sloppy, can't handle the ball, his shot goes to heck, he struggles a lot seeing the floor. You see that a lot in playoff series. Early in playoff series, especially when he was in Cleveland, they'd get a sweep, they'd win four games in a row, and then like they'd have six days off and then he'd come back and look like crap in the next in the next game

because he was just rusty. Kevin Durant is like my buddy, He's just this incredible natural basketball player. I don't I'm not. I want to be clear. He works his tail off. This guy doesn't go six this guy doesn't go days without touching a basketball. But it's also amazing to me how he's always in rhythm, and it makes him such a devastating weapon because you don't have to plan for him in your offense. This is what made him so good.

In Golden State. You could play steph ball for six minutes and k D could go without touching the ball and just be running up and down the floor playing defense. But then suddenly you could go to him in an isolation possession and he'll score, Whereas if you did that with just about any other scorer in the league, they would miss on their first attempt and maybe their second attempt because they have to regain their rhythm when they're not involved in the offense. It's always been one of

the most impressive things to me about Kevin Durant. Another thing that I thought was super interesting tonight, k D obviously is getting up there in years, and one of the things that he does to prevent himself from taking bumps and bruises around the basket to protect his body, he will drive two three to five feet from the basket and shooter jump shot, which in retrospect is kind of genius because what he's doing is he's saving himself

wear and tear. Instead of flying into a shot blocker, taking a bunch of contact, trying to draw foul falling to the ground, he just raises up for that five foot or because that five footer for him might as well be a layup. He's remarkably proficient at it. Just little details in his game that I've loved. You know, I thought Kevin Durant should have one m v P this year if he didn't get hurt. We massively underrated, underrated how his effort early in the season floated that

team when they were really struggling. And on the next team that had Joe Harris hurt, that had Kyrie Irving not able to play, James Harden out of shape and actively looking at other situations, he just I think when he got hurt, they were the one or the two seats he just carried them to that point, and unfortunately

is he got hurt and it derailed him. This poor guy has had an unbelievably poor set of injury luck over the course of the last half decade, and I'm hopeful that he'll get a chance to show us what he's capable of, because I think he very much is in the conversation for the best player in the league this season with Kevin Durant on the floor. Coming into tonight, they were plus one oh nine with Katie on the floor,

minus one sixty six with him off. That's how much of a difference he's made for that completely talent void roster, at least for what he was dealing with earlier in the season. I actually do think they have a decent amoun talent after the trade. You know, people don't understand what he does and how much how hard he works to do what he does, and I just hope that people realize that, you know, the heat we're interesting in a lot of ways to bam ade Bio is getting

a ton of attention right now. He's on a twelve game stretch, I believe, where he's averaging twenty two and eleven shooting he's doing. He's doing a lot of the stuff that Anthony Davis does, you know, without the jump shot obviously, although Anthony Davis can't shoot either. He's the the cornerstone of their defense and everything that they do he gives. His ability to set screens and roll to the rim is very similar to what Anthony Davis can do. The huge thing that he can do, though, is pass

out of the high post. And with how many guys that Miami has that can cut and shoot off of dribble handoffs and that are smart and can read defenses and make simple like you know, curls and cuts and reads and screens and things like that, he's a really dynamic player to have with the ball in his hands at the top of the key because of all the

things he can do there. The one thing that concerns me with Bam, and this is the reason why I don't believe in the Miami Heat the way that other people do, is because it's it's because of something that I saw in the finals. When you have Bamata Baio on the court and you're playing against a really good defensive center, that defensive center can ignore Bam. Bam is basically not taking threes anymore. He's only shooting thirty seven

point four from ten to sixteen feet. He's only shooting thirty four point seven percent from sixteen ft to the

three point line, So he's basically a nonshooting threat. And in Game six of the Finals, which was one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen from a basketball team, the reason, the main reason why they were able to make that work, in addition to all of the guards doing their job, was Anthony Davis ignored Bam and just camped around the basket all game long and shut everything

down that Miami tried to do. That will continue to happen, especially in specific matchups that team has to go through Janice, that team has to go through Joel and beat Joel em Beat will ignore Bamata Bio and hang out around the basket. Now is there downside to that? Yeah? Of course, Bam as a screener can help get guys open jump shots and things along those lines. But teams like Philly have so much length on the perimeter, that's gonna be Matisse Thybol chasing you over the top. That's gonna be

Tobias Harris chasing you over top. That's gonna be Tyrese Maxi chasing you over the top. Those aren't gonna be easy shots, and you're gonna be driving right into Joel m beat who's one of the best defensive players in the league. So the bam at a bio thing I just don't think works right now for the championship level ceiling that they're shooting for. I definitely believe that at some point in the future, if he becomes a shooter, that he can alleviate some of that, but it's definitely

a concern of mine right now. And then lastly, ty Tyler Harrow's uh. I think he's on five straight games scoring over twenty points off the bench. He's having an amazing season after having kind of a slump last year. And the most fascinating thing to me about his game, just for all of you young basketball players out there, is how high he elevates on his jump shot. I always say you have to have one of two things

in a jump shot. You have to either have a super quick release or you have to elevate and have a high release point. And if you're gonna do both, it needs to be adjusted. So like if you're standing still in the corner and you're shooting needs to be quick. But if you're attacking off the dribble and you're shooting

off of movement at all, you have to elevate. And Tyler Harrow's six ft seven is a freak athlete, and he comes flying off these screens, or he runs down the floor and transition and he elevates and his release point is damn near above the rim, and so as a result of that, he always gets super clean looks. So if you can attach that to shooting proficiency, which

he absolutely has, he's a great three point shooter. It becomes a devastating offensive weapon because there's not a whole lot you can do when a six seven athlete is flying off a screen and turning and rising and fire, rising and firing at a release point higher than ten feet, it's just really difficult to guard, and it gives them an interesting weapon. Again, I don't believe in Miami this year.

I don't think Jimmy and Kyle Lowry can generate the quality offense to beat the teams in the East that have just way better offensive players, But they do have some exciting pieces. Tyler Harrow is absolutely someone that I've really enjoyed watching this year. Al Right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. I apologize for the Lakers providing us with very little interesting basketball to talk about. On that front, we will be back for Saturday night

against Golden State. I would hope that at that point Frank Vogel is gone. I mean, even if he is gone, I'm not sure anything is going to stop the Lakers from rolling over and letting Golden State beat them by thirty. But either way, I will be here right after the final buzzer for the show like usual as always. I appreciate your guys support, and I'll see you in a couple of days. U