Bulls/Lakers Postgame Spaces

I just don't think we have the horses to hang with the best teams in the league right now. But once again, that really inconsistent competitive spirit and Frank looking like he's completely in over for his head. Offensively, a lot of those problems that we've been preaching about all year reared their ugly head tonight. You know what I mean? Where where are you at right now? Mentally? Raj, can we just like talk about th ht Like, is there

anything else that went on tonight? Was there actual basketball like that went on? No? I mean, I feel like this has been a theme with the team all year. I mean, we have blamed it on you know, injuries, and fatigue, and those are all valid concerns and valid reasoning. It just feels like this has been happening in third

quarters as well. Like I said, I was there for the Minnesota game, and again I'm sure fatigue was a factor there, but it just feels like, you know the term when the wheels come off, kind of when the wheels come offul It feels like for the team, it's not just when the wheels come off, like the whole car just sixplodes, like they just stopped playing. Chicago went on a couple nine oh runs tonight and then in

the third quarter that one just balloom. You can see their spirit really die and we can kind of get into why that happened, but that's kind of how I felt. A D got ejected, I think with like three minutes left, so I think three minutes left in the third and after that the game was pretty much meaningless to me. Once a D went out, we really just didn't have a chance. But I thought this was a winnable game,

Like I thought it was there. DeRozan and Lonzo Ball went nuclear in the second half, but I thought in the first half he played okay. I thought that was Russ's best half. Like that's I thought he looked really good and kind of saved us from from being down like twenty at halftime. And then obviously he when the Lakers play bad, it just kind of induces Russ to go into his bad Russ. I guess we kind of separated that. That's kind of where I'm at this with

with this. Like, I know Lebron's coming back, and like tonight, it's another game where I just can't blame it on injuries. It's like and then fatigue's maybe in the case they played they played yesterday, but I just feel like you shouldn't be getting embarrassed consistently as they do. That's kind of where I'm at with this. How about you? Yeah, I mean, you know, Roger always wants to would like for us to start positive. I just I just can't

do that. Tonight. We are gonna. I wrote down two positive notes from this game, eighties jump shot and the fact that it seems to be continuing to trend in the right direction and then th h T on the offensive end of the floor. But we're not going to talk about those up front. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna let Rods do it. This is just this is this, This is more of the same concerns that I've had throughout most of the season. And you know, I thought

today came down to a difference in defensive pressure. Um. This is something that I've talked about a lot over the course of the last a few years, this idea about basketball players being comfortable on the court. It's something that I talked about on both sides of the ball.

For the Lakers. Offensively, I've used, you know, the starting lineup and the idea of going small with a D at the five, because I believe that getting Anthony Davis comfortable offensively, and getting Russell Westbrook and Lebron James comfortable offensively leads them to be confident enough and in a rhythm enough to consistently make you pay throughout the game, even with whatever other shortcomings come from that lineup. Well, that same principle applies on the defensive end of the floor.

There was a reason why all of the dribble attackers stood the aggressive pull up jump shooting guards that the Lakers would play in the previous seasons would generally struggle against us, and it was because from the opening tip,

our defensive pressure would make them feel uncomfortable. And the best example I can give you is a matchup like th ht on de mar de Rosen because PhD kind of got lit on fire by DeMar dear Rosen tonight on a bunch of different occasions in isolation, and you might tell yourself while you're watching the game, like, oh, he contested that shot, but kind of like I said last week, there's a huge difference between contesting a shot

up and actually making the offensive player feel uncomfortable. There's a difference between having a hand up while they're releasing and while they're in their rhythm dribbles, disrupting them and making them do something they don't want to do. Like if they're like James Harden and they like to step back, you want to advance on them. Put them in a position where they want to where they have to go past you and they have to rush their decision making.

If they're a player that likes to bear down on you, put them in a position where you're giving up space so that they feel like that's what most teams due to RUSS, which puts them in a position where they're indecisive and more likely to settle for jump shots. But when you're playing these guys, these aggressive pull up jump shooters, these two Martera Rosen's and the z act Lavine types, you have to from the opening tip make them feel

uncomfortable with defensive pressure. And if you do not, they will get comfortable, they will build a rhythm, and they will light you on fire. And that's what happened. I mean, the Lonzo ball stuff towards the end of the game, to me, was primarily just defensive brave downs. But early in the game, the reason why Chicago controlled throughout, in my opinion, was their stars were comfortable and our stars

were not. Look at what Chicago did on the other end, it's all of this Alex Cruz alonzo ball ball pressure at the point of attack to make people feel uncomfortable. It's Anthony Davis getting double teamed on the catch every single time he touches the ball so that he never gets comfortable. That sort of that sort of gap and chasm between the way those two teams approached the game tonight directly led to the outcome. In my opinion, the Lakers had one of their worst three point shooting games

of the season. Despite the fact that they have tons of three point shooting. I think it's directly tied to defensive pressure leading them to take lower quality three point shots, leading them to that that cascading into guys getting out of rhythm and guys missing and then the exact opposite effect on the other end, And that to me is an identity thing. You have to from the top down be willing to commit yourself to offensively, to put in the work, the dirty work it takes to make the

offensive players feel uncomfortable. And so far to this point in the season, the Lakers haven't been willing to do that. And until that changes, Yeah, you'll be able to beat the Spurs, You'll be able to beat, you know, limited teams that don't have these high level dribble dribble creators who can pull off the dribble with the jump shop from anywhere on the floor. You'll be able to beat

the teams that don't have those types of guys. But when you when you get into the like in order to get out of the West, you've got to beat Steph Curry and Jordan Pool and Clay Thompson. You've got to beat Devin Booker and Chris Paul you've got to beat you know, Donovan Mitchell and and Mike Pond, but you have to beat teams that have this archetype of player, guys that can shoot from all over the floor off the dribble, and so you have to be able to

make them feel uncomfortable. And right now the Lakers just don't have that in their defensive identity, and until like it's fixed, I don't think they can win these types of matchups. Yeah, and I mean to me, like, I know you said th Hd got cooked, but I thought he was like our best chance defender on de Rosen at least early on. We started a v on him right and that worked for a little bit until they

just started using screens. They had Zach Green doing these like ghost screen options where he just faked the screen and come out and he got he got loose. I think he had three threes. I don't know if it was in the first quarter, but he had three threes. I felt right away. Drowsen to me got cooking because they went at Carmelo like I thought that, and we can go and get into the Lakers offense as well, which is awful, but just the bulls. I want to

give them credit. We'd like to just stay on the Lakers, but they're legit good team. I think Levine and de Rosen are an absolute handful, uh and at least in the regular season to stop and combine that with their ball pressure. But that's where I thought Rosen really got loose. Like I thought that they went after Carmelo a lot every Bradley, this is just not a good matchup for him, and I thought he probably played too much, especially if

his shots not going. He's just too small to stay with Levine um or de rose In and for that matter. So I thought that's kind of where we got cooked defensively, And you're right, the team just doesn't have the defensive identity right now, Like these guards just aren't there. A d has to do a ton and I thought tonight he looked kind of fatigued as well, trying to He was obviously annoyed by the way they defended him, doubling

him right on the catch. We had defensively, man, I just thought we couldn't stop then de Rosen take shots where like like you said, you think it's good defense, but it's shots he's getting to and with the defensive coverage we do as well, especially if we're not switching everything. If it's a like a dropback coverage, that's shots that De Rosen wants, those mid range pull up lavine. Also, it's comfortable there. Alon's obviously got hot. But I thought

that's where we kind of messed up defensively. Um is when they just went out Carmelo, they went out Avery Bradley. Those dudes are just too small, and the Bulls run a really nice offense. They have a lot of actions that that get their guys going downhill, and I thought that's where we lost that defensively tonight. The work is done before before, like the the way I look at it,

because it's the way I look at it. There is a lot of those types of shots, of the types of shots that I like to take when I play basketball, and like, well, once I get to my footwork and get to my release, you're done. There's absolutely nothing you can do. It's it's it's in my hands at that point. I mean, they're making it or I'm missing the shot.

But if you can do things to disrupt before I get up into my shot making, putting me off balance, getting me to the point where I lose control, of the basketball a little bit, anything, anything to disrupt the rhythm that leads into the release. That sort of thing is far more likely to disrupt those types of players, those off the dribble jump shooters, particularly guys like De

Rosen that are going to operate in the midrange. Those kind of things are gonna do a lot more than the contest they That's just to me, it's just bad process. So to your point, like like there was there there were possessions in that game where Derosan got advantages against

slicer defenders. I'm not I'm not glossing over that by any stretch of the imagination, but I do believe there's just bad process just in everywhere on the floor in terms of bumping and like, if he's gonna run, if he's gonna run through a specific action to get a switch that he wants, he needs to get clipped and bumped in and elbowed and made to feel uncomfortable in the process. And again, what bothers me is this is the kind of stuff that we used to be so

good at. This used to be the we would be the team that would look up and be like, oh look, Jamal Murray Um Jamal Murray struggling again tonight, you know, after he lit everyone else on fire. And it's because our defense would make these these types of players feel uncomfortable and that is gone. And you know, I don't know what to make of it, to be honest with you,

because personnel is certainly part of it. But there there's definitely a lesser buy in on that front from players that have been around guys like THHD for example, Guys like d You know, THHD used to be one of the most disruptive point of attack defenders and it's too early in his return to to really quantify how well

he's done on that end. But the point is is down the roster, we're not doing a good enough job at the point of attack and off the ball of making guys feel uncomfortable when that used to be our identity. And so again, like you know, I used to advocate for not advocate, but say that I would get behind ditching Frank for someone like UM, for a coach that that that would get the guys to play more with a D at the five, or to you know, run

more switching defense and blah blah blah blah. Now at this point, because Frank has adopted a lot of that stuff. We've done a lot more switching in the last two games. We've gone entirely to a D at the five. The problem now is purely buying for whatever reason, And I don't know why. And I don't know if it's because of Frank, or if it's because of personnel, or if

it's because of Lebron and a D or what. But for whatever reason, this group of guys just isn't committed to the dirty work the way that previous iterations of this team did. And I honestly, God don't know what to make of it, Rush, but that that that, to me, is is bizarre, and I honestly I'm not sure how you fix it. Maybe it's as simple as Lebron coming back, but but I don't know, Man, I'm kind of at

a loss for words at this point. Yeah, Like you know, I always like to say, like blaming um, blaming troubles all on effort isn't fair to the other team as well. Right, It's not like the Lakers just lie down tonight. They definitely didn't have full you know, buying in that third quarter. But I don't like to blame all of it on effort as well, because I do think it is some

of the personnel issue. Now a personal issue, isn't getting down by forty And to your point on making DeRos In uncomfortable, I thought we gave up the switch way too easy, like he was just able to pick on Carmelo time after time, and it was basically just daring De Rozan to beat Melow one on one, which I thought just was like you said, bad process there, And again I thought THHD kind of did the best you

could on him. All you can do really is trying to deny the ball, make him catch it, make him double pump, you know what I mean, double pump, fake pull up, mid contested mid range pull up two's like, that's that's a shot you want to give up as a defense. And I thought we did an okay part of that in the first quarter until he was able to kind of pick on our bad defenders. I think

this is just a bad matchup as well, Avery Bradley. Um, just not a good matchup because this team against Levine and de Rosen and all these bigger guards, Lonzo is probably the smallest, the shortest guard on their starting backcourt. Caruso is not even an offensive option either, so putting Bradley on him doesn't make sense. So you basically have

Bradley on one of their two hot scores. Like I thought that was the issue tonight defensively, and like to me, I'm not even that mad at the defense, like I'm

more mad on the other end. Are you ready to move on to the offensive end here, because I feel like that's obviously the big issue from tonight, like it's the I'm not sure if this is on Vogel, like again you said replacing him with Fizbell or something like I I'm not there as well yet, Like I just can't get there until we see a healthy team, Like I just can't get there. Vogel is here to coach a specific roster, and this is not the roster he

was set to coach, you know what I mean? Like I think Lebron might be as important defensively as offensively is for us, just as at four or five like we needed, like he would have been incredible tonight on both ends obviously when you have Lebron James. But I feel like that's where I'm at with Vogo coaching. But are you ready to kind of move on to the

offensive end from the defense. Yeah, so I mean, so here's the thing, like, because it is, you know, the person who's been on this the most in the most sophisticated way, with a good combination of analytical analysis and you know, statistical analysis and digging into the film is our guy cranges Um. And the truth of the matter is is like so esc and Statson Info came out

and said that a D got doubled fifteen times tonight. Yeah, when I saw that too, I thought, I was that seemed below, But but it's it's because it's it's it's more about the kind of the flow of the game, right, Like if you throw it, if you throw it into a D post ups four times in rapid secession and they quick double and you can't get anything good out of it, then you go away from it for a while. So that that that's what that's what ends up inevitably happening.

But what Grantis was saying, and this is kind of my philosophy behind it too, is like when a team chooses to double your best player, that should only work to your advantage. Um. The only way it won't work to your advantage is if you have bad process in

navigating the double team. And I put a lot of this on a D over the years, and I do think he shares a good amount of the blame for it, but Frank also does because you could, in theory, go to your post, stop out of the exact same set every time, right, so same players in same positions on the floor, so that you could identify where the double is coming. After you've done that once or twice and you failed to make them pay, you should be able to call the time out and rapidly address where the

doubles coming from and how to counter it. And this is something that cranzis just talking about. He's like, he's like, rather than figuring out how to counter those doubles every time they would go to a D in the post a few times in in the double team would derail the play. They would just go away from a D post ups. Imagine, imagine that that that that is everything

Chicago wants you to do. They're they're they're hoping that they can double team a D and that you won't be able to make them pay a couple of times, and that you'll just abandon it and then all of a sudden, your you know, six ft eleven, super freak talent, power forward becomes basically, uh, someone who's just a bystander, you know what I mean. And so some of this

is on Frank. Now. The problem is is I don't know what you do because I don't think you can bring some This is something we've talked about a lot. You can't bring in some young guy who who is an offensive mastermind, but that all the veterans in the locker room will roll their eyes at and uh, you you probably have to end and it's the middle of the season, so you can't go too crazy. You probably have to go from somebody on the current staff. And I hate to break it to you, there's nobody on

the current staff who is an offensive mastermind. That's just not the reality of our current coaching staff. So it's kind of one of those situations where the best we can hope for is maybe Lebron coming back solves a lot of these problems. So you're right. I thought I thought as far as that that that's all I had to say as far as the A D doubles go. But I thought you hit the nail on the head in terms of just the flow of the game, like Russ kind of carried us with his aggression and his

ability to create for himself. Um, and then you know when the wheels come off is when Russ becomes his worst because he's a he's just your textbook hero ball type of guy who wants to save the game with one shot, and he took three. I thought all three of the jump shots he took in the third quarter, we're bad. I'd have to go back and watch the film to be a percent sure, but in the moment they felt like add shots and you know those are that's just kind of, like you said, the order of

operations of that kind of thing. Once the wheels start coming off, you hope that's where you really need Lebron because you need someone who can calm you down, not rile you up, you know what I mean. And so, yeah, I thought you hit the nail on the head on that front. Yeah, I mean, I think, like just in basketball sense, like it's tough to double team if you have Lebron on the floor, right, he's just too good.

But that's besides the point here. I think the frustration with most people, like just watching tonight, it felt like we ran the same play thirty times and it had the same exact result every single time. And like you said, like the definition of insanity is just doing the same thing every time and expecting a different output. And I thought we just kept running that. Well, we started every badly in th h T right tonight next to Russ.

Three guys that teams really don't respect as shooters, just in a general sense, every badly, like I said before, because you from three teams aren't going to guard him. Th HD hit a bunch of threes tonight, I think. But again another guy, they have no they have no care to help off of Russ. They are helping off the entry path. So like the cardinal sin in basketball, Jason, you know this, right, you don't help off a cutter, right, Like, that's kind of like the cardinal sin. The Bulls did

that every single time tonight. Russ would throw it into a D and they would double right off the catch. So like and then we ran like this rust a D screen and roll. No shooting on the floor. So you're during the rust a D screen and roll, they switch it because the matchup is irrelevant. You have lons of ball on a D. But that doesn't even matter because they're doubling right away, and there's just no shooting

on the fold of spacing. I thought was terrible. And this is not like a fire Vobile point like I think we go to extremes too much. I think there's like gray areas here. But just like some of the lineup makes no sense to me. We talked abo how how when we're down, like it kind of induces this really bad rust ball. I feel the same with Rondo, right Like, I feel like you can tell when Rondo respects a game or not, like and I don't know, it's not just effort, it's just his respect for like

the care of it. And that's you know, we can qualm with that's okay or not to happen, but that's just what happens. And I thought it was clear pretty early that Ronald did not respect this game at all. You could just tell the way he was playing. And I just didn't understand those lineups either, Like just to give us a chance, That's why I said, like, I hope we just played Monk and Ellington a ton at least we could have got some guys good shots like

that was what I was most frustrated with. We went to eighty a million times in the post and it just kept having the same exact result. Eighty had two shot attempts I think by halftime or something, and you can double all you want, Like that should not happen, just in the general basketball sense, Like I don't care how many times you double Lebron. He's not having two shot attempts. I don't care how many all these other stars in the league like that's and I feel like

they absolutely just took him out. And the mid range shots he made tonight, I feel like we were down like thirties or down twenty when he started hitting those. I don't know how much we can take from that, but that was my main frustration from tonight. And maybe Kendrick Nunn coming back, Lebron coming back fixes all these you know, weird lineups with no shooting on it. Like I don't think you can play a very badly Thht and Russ, Like I think that's really tough against like

a team that's doubling this much. But like, is your frustration there as well, because that's kind of where I'm at this with this, Like I think like a lot of this gets fixed with Lebron, and it will probably hide a lot of this stuff anyway, Like, I don't know how relevant this stuff will become in two weeks when Lebron comes back, because the the flow of the game will change so much where you can't do stuff like this. But that I guess that's where I was tonight,

you know what I mean? Like you, I don't know what to take. Like we ran the same post stuff fifty million times. The Bulls defended it the same exact way fifty million times, Like what do you what do you take from that? That's that's precisely what what uh? You know implicates Vogel because again, when you're openly doubling on the catch every single time with the same player,

there has to be a counter for that. And you know, and again I I need to go back and look at the tape to be percent sure, because a lot of times in the middle of the game, you know, I'll miss these these kinds of details. But you know, one of the reasons why the A d post ups at the end of the game against San Antonio last night we're working, was because they consistently went with Wayne

Ellington and Carmelo Anthony on the week side. So it just it just made it so that the angle from which they were doubling at made you leave one of those two guys open. But you know, this is where it gets complicated because so Anthony Davis, we talked a lot about how he backs away from the double um with his kidd foot, you know, kind of like retreat away, hold the ball high over his head, and immediately look for an exit pass, usually behind him or to the perimeter.

It was getting it was getting so bad tonight that he was dribbling away from the double like he would catch on the block. The double would come, and he would dribble back to the three point line to find his his outlet. And that's where you know that that goes to show you just how sheveled. That whole process was. You're the guy who's getting doubled is so uncomfortable under that level of ball pressure that he panics, which is

problem number one. And then the head coach is not sophisticated enough offensively to identify where the double's coming from and come up with the counter. So, for instance, if you're doubling off of Russ every time, you could there could be as simple as having Russ just quick run and set a screen for Ellington's man or for mellows man to get mellow, you know, flashing up towards the

wing where a D can make the pass. And then you pull a D aside in the in the huddle and you go, hey, listen, the doubles coming from this spot every time. This is what we're going to do. As soon as you catch the ball, immediately looked to this spot and throw it there. It will be open because we've identified where the double's coming from and this is our counter for it. There's none of that with this group, and to the point where they literally just went away from the A D post ups all to

other and again that's an indictment of vogel Um. Now to your point with Lebron, this is the partnership with his team. The way it was designed, as we've discussed so many times, was that Lebron would kind of take a lot of these offensive intricacies into his own hands and then you know, and then Frank would just focus on the defense. And the truth is they countered the A D double teams a lot of times with Lebron

being the entry pass. So Lebron would throw the entry pass and he'd go to the wing and he'd be the first pass away because that's where a D is most comfortable throwing the ball when he gets double team.

So it basically puts you in a position kind of like what they did this a little bit Marcosol last year too, but they would basically have a D quick kick it out and then Lebron or Marcusol would be the one who made the complicated read at the top of the key, you know, the past fake to get the guy to commit one way, to go the other way to hit the open shooter or to find a

cutter or whatever it may be. They're basically taking that responsibility out of a D hands and putting it into Lebron or putting it into Marcosol because he's not comfortable handling those double teams, and so that that's where that's where it gets tricky. But at the end of the day, like at this level of basketball, you know, not just in the NBA, but an NBA franchise that is coming into the season was the second biggest favorite in Vegas

to hold the trophy. At the end, at this level of basketball, you shouldn't be able to just outright double Anthony Davis five or six times and have the team just go away from the play. It's just it just can't happen. And you said yourself, You're like, oh, how does a D end up with only two shot attempts? Lebron would never only end up with two shot attempts. You're right, Raj, But you know why, because Raj would make you pay for the double team to three times

in a row. You stopped double teaming him, and then he'd start working you from the block. That's why the Lebron James post up has been one of the most efficient point per possession plays of the last decade out of any NBA action in the entire league. That that that's the difference there is this shoot be easier than

it is. It should be easier to make the team pay for compromising themselves by double teaming a D, and then a D should be able to feast out of single coverage out of that, But we just can't get to that point. And I and it's kind of a split in my opinion between Frank and a D and his unwillingness thing of the ball pressure. Yeah, like that That's kind of where I'm at with it, too, Like a D is never going to be this amazing pastor out of the post, and I don't think he needs to.

Like I think the like we talked about last game, like make the reads a little bit more simple, and I think just putting so much non shooting around it, it's just it kind of exacerbates the issue, especially a team as good as the Bulls are. And again give them credit. I think Lonzo and Crusoe are a top you know five defensive just backcourting themselves. They're one of the best at being able to dig in and get back to their man. So like even when they're trapping

the ball comes out, they're flying at their guy. So where the shot. It looks open to us, but like a badly catches it and he has a kind of slow release already and they're already they're already at the at the ball. So just give them credit there as well. I don't want to make this all just the Lakers. I think the Bulls had a really great game plan. They stuck with it and ran us out the building.

But yeah, like I think the line of combinations with the bad spacing, like we have cutters cutting at the same time, like just watching like I was even watching off the ball a lot because the game kind of got out of hand. We throw it to a D and Russ is like right next to him, you know. So you saw this turnover where Russ is trying to get a D the ball at like the high post, but they're like they're ball denying at the top of the key, and so like Russ throws it too far.

It's like a turnover. You see a lot of this just really awful spacing where like Avery Badley is cutting through and like no one respects and Avery Badly cut through, you know what I mean, Like he's like six one at the rim. So it's just a lot of this really ugly basketball. Then again, I think Lebron clears up a lot of this um when he comes back, which is why I just have a tough time like I

think this. I think the the issue of a D against double teams is separate from like the ceiling of this team, I guess, because I don't think you can double eight this way. But you're right, it's like bad process though, like this this kind of stuff shouldn't happen. Let's just you know, it's with the lineups that we're running these Rondo Westbrook lineups these and then you have PhD out there every bad like there's just no shooting,

and the Bulls just continue to double team. They did not respect any of our shooters when in Ellentine was the only really guy out there that got any type of gravity. So I don't know it was a It was a terrible offensive night from the whole team. And that's where I'm more upset than even the defense. Like De Rosen is gonna hit those shots, you know, I mean,

Zach Lavine's a crazy nuclear three point shooter. The offense is where I thought we could have really made this game, had a chance in this game even without Lebron, and obviously the offense made sure we didn't. Everybody gets your requests, and we're gonna take some callers here. I want you guys to give your two cents on on on what you guys are seeing. The one last note on the A D post up thing, and it's something up really early in the season. A D really doesn't like when

the double comes from behind him. It's kind of like it's kind of like his blind side. So the Lakers always clear the strong side corner on its post ups. Um. The problem with it is he also likes to post up closer to the elbow than he does to the block. So what that does is it shrinks the floor on himself because the strong side corner is effectively empty, including himself, because he's not posting on the block, he's posting poser

to the elbow. And so now you're trying to cram four shooters and cutters basically into the space from from the lane line all the way through the lane to

the opposite sideline. Does that make sense? So like you're basically you're asking four shooters and cutters to fill two thirds of the floor, And so inevitably when what ends up happening is the just in the way that traditional spacing goes, you'll have a guy who kind of hangs out on the opposite lane line extended, and then a guy that's kind of like at the coaches line on the wing, and then you'll have a guy in the

opposite corner. But then there's this fourth guy and he doesn't really know what to do, and all season long, it's been a guard in all season long, that guard is kind of like hovered into the dunker spot off the ball and then like set like a pin screen for the shooter in the opposite corner, trying to find

some way to be productive. But the truth of the matter is is by a d S fear of help coming from the backside, it's basically caused the entire operation to shift to just two thirds of the floor and really closed off space on it. And so I think a lot could come from literally just having him post up closer to the baseline on the block. You don't have to go all the way to the baseline to where you can't spin back, but having your your moving that, just moving that a couple of feet down closer to

the baseline changes the spacing. It's something we talked about all the time in our high school practices, like you ever want to cross the midline with an action, because if you cross the midline, you are making it way easier for the week's i'd help to get involved. If you keep your action on your side of the midline, it forces those helpers to further leave their defense their

assignments in order to be of assistance. Shutting down your action, it's it's it's floor balance, it's basic floor balance stuff. And so I it's been something that's bothered me with the process of a D post up. The post ups all season, he just he insists on catching close to the elbow, but he also doesn't want anybody behind him, so he clears out his strong side corner. And now it's just part of my language. It's a cluster f on the on the on the other side of the floor,

and it's just difficult for him to make. He already has enough of a hard time making reads in a in a static situation, let alone when it's when it's like that. But anyway, I don't know about you, Rosa, but I'm at the point where I'm ready to get some callers up here and let them kind of dictate what we talked about from here on out. Well, before we do that, let's stick into the one positive from tonight. I know you had to you had the a D jumper, but I think th HD he's gonna be a legit

contributor on this team. Like it's it's pretty clear. I know it's only been two games. He looked like the third best player on the floor tonight. Honestly, like after Levine and Alonzo, I thought TCT probably had the best kind of flour game. Um, he just looks super impressive ball handling, and again the game got about out of hand, but his shot making be able to take threes getting to the bass kid. I thought he was impressive again

again only his second game back. I think he had twenty eight tonight, eight points um and again a lot of some of that was in garbage time, but just looks like a legit guy who's gonna a legit rotation piece that we've been missing. I think he could average fifteen to night on this team, just the way he gets his baskets like. He looks very mature as a score. He knows what he's doing. And again, like I said earlier, I thought he was our best kind of matchup on

on the other wings that they had. Levine and de

Rosen a pretty nice job. And it's kind of why I would if you're going to start th HD, I would rather put a shooter in avery Bradley spot because I think you could just have t HD kind of guard that assignment and you I believe you need way more shooting around russ A D and how you put a non shooter and th HD in that lineup hopefully maybe going forward and may hopefully Lebron's back but you want to touch on th h really quick because I think that is a positive we can kind of go

over before we get into some some colors here. Yeah, for sure. I mean once again, he had multiple like NBA All Star type of highlights. Yeah, knocked down a couple catch and shoot threes. That's something that I said that I wanted to see after after last night's game. He's still dynamic as a drible drive creator. Um, I think I to me, I kind of know what to expect from him on that front, and I'm a believer in the way that it fits with the core group

when everyone's healthy. Actually really really like him as a match as a as a closeout attacker. I know it's something we haven't seen a lot of because he's literally only played with Lebron out for the not only but for the most part with Lebron out over the course of the last what games of his career because of the Lebron and Nab injuries last year. But you know, early in the season, we saw a lot of that last year, and I'm a big believer that he's going

to be a killer in those situations. I the thing not to nitpick him, but like I think he can be even better defensively than he's showing. And that's the next level that I'd like to see from him. It's him be him because like because when you guys have all heard me compare him to Kauai, to me, he's mini Kauai. That that's what I see him as. I don't see him as Dwade Wade, I don't see him as. I see him as a miniature version of Kawhi Leonard.

And the difference between being a solid defensive wing and being Kawhi Leonard is a massive difference, and having to do with commitment to disruption, and I think he's capable of that and I'd like to see a little bit more of that out of him. But I mean, hey, man, like that was his career high. I'm not trying to you know, poopoo on his game or anything. I'd like

he looked incredible tonight. I I'm not going to get too pumped about him getting baskets and garbage time because his offensive fit on this team is primarily going to be playing off of advantages created by other people. Um with exception of you know, small like small opportunities here and there when Lebron and Russ rest while they're playing. But I I've come a long way on the th HT thing because you remember last year I was a big advocate for trading him, UM, just just primarily because

of the timeline that the franchise was on. UM. But now I think this guy is gonna be an All star. UM. It's possible that you know, my my projection for what this kid could have been, I'd have been a little too low and that and that's something that I don't want to be on the wrong side of history on. So I'm here to tell you that I think I think he looks even better than I thought he could

have been. UM. But I'd like to see him really really try to embrace that like peak level defensive disruptor role because I think that's what will bring him to that point where he's a bona vital star. Yeah, and I thought you saw some of the more comfortability now him playing with another super ball handler in Russ. They had a couple of good action there where like Russ gave it to him, he was able to attack, and then Russ back and got a layup off of it.

Like I'm really curious to see his fit necks too when he plays with both of them, because obviously that's I think that's the role he's gonna have. Um. I think he's a big time score and they invested a lot into him, and I think he's going to be a big part of this. But yeah, defensively, I don't know if you'll get to I know what you mean by Kauai even more like the archetype of a disruptor. I want him just like as a solid you know, don't make mistakes is more of what I like from THHD.

And I think his ceiling is the like disruptor, can you know, get like three steals and and be a guy that you just be a lockdown guy. But from this team, for this title team, hopefully title contending team, I would like him just to kind of be saw and I think we're seeing one of maturity in his game on both ends. But yeah, I thought TSD another another good process game for him. That's kind of been the bright spot, uh for tonight. Really that's really the

only bright spot I saw. Everything else was kind of Alonzo Ball and Demarita Rosen having a party in their homecoming. But yeah, THHD was the bright spot. Yeah, so why don't you go ahead and bring up the first caller really quickly. That The other good thing that I noticed was just, you know, something that I talked about with Raj a lot over the course of the last couple of weeks, having to do with Anthony Davis's jump shot

and him continuing to trend in the right direction. You know, everyone was joking about how a Lonzo wasn't even hitting the rim on his threes. Well little stretch right before Anthony Davis got ejected, he wasn't even hitting the rim on his job shot um, which was exciting because him regaining that part of his game is the difference between him being the twelveth best player in the league and him being the fifth or fifth or sixth best player

in the league. So that's that's such a gigantic, uh, part of this team's ceiling, and so seeing him continue to trend in that direction has to be a good thing. The bottom line is his teammates Lebron back. I'm hopeful he's back Wednesday, but things should all start to make more sense at that point. Yeah, and eight he got most of them off of like picking pops, I thought tonight, So but I think we got our first up here. It's fun. Are you there? Yeah? Hello, hello, yeah, yeah,

look here um first time. I like uh um. Jason's point on the ball pressure. I think most of our guards, I mean, because of fear that they're going win Tom be passed on by the opponent. They they don't want the pressure the ball too much. I saw the HD mom. Even if Havington is not a good ball pressure guy anyway, he's a chaser, but they're not fronting the their opponent. So I agree on him on that on that part,

the first the first part part of the spot. Yeah, but the ball pressure, like I said, it's it's you are driving line that you are driving, the straight line, drive that you give up to somebody that doesn't want to drive. Meaning like these types of these dribble jump shooters, these guys like the Rooms and these guys like Leavin, they're looking to get to their spot to take a

jump shot. And so if you if you can find a way to make them feel uncomfortable and make them rush and make them drive to the rim, generally speaking, not only can your defense react to it, because it's predictable, right like if if Zach Wadine's trying to break down. Uh, let's say t h T on the left wing and th h T s up in his shorts and forces him to drive. All the other defensive players on the floor are looking at that situation and they it's a

predictable outcome. Hey, th hts th ht s ball pressuring like crazy, He's probably gonna give up a drive here, and it makes it it makes it easier for your help defenders to rotate and be in the right spots. The flip side of that is like if you if uh, you know zach Lavine himself, when he's on the drive, he is now uncomfortable because he and he began that possession thinking I'm going to get to my spot and

take a three. And now he's freelancing. And now that he's freelancing, he's far more likely to make a mistake. He's far more likely to get too deep, he's far too, far more likely to turn the ball over or to take some sort of funky, contested layup or or tougher shots. So that I'm I'm there's just a defensive philosophy that I believe in, Like you've gotta particularly when you're playing guys who can shoot really well off the dribble, and this is what you're going to face the highest levels

of basketball. You you absolutely have to find a way to make them feel uncomfortable and forced them to do something they don't want to do, which is drive the ball to the rim every time they look floor. That That's kind of the way that I feel about it, which is also Vogel's philosophy because he wants them to you know, he wants the drive in because he knows where the help is coming from. It is Vogel's philosophy as well, let them drive and then the helper is

going to don't be the one to stop it. So yeah, so I get there. Not that they're not buying into this concept, maybe not out of laptof a billion team, but more on fear because it started on that they're not going to play if they don't defend something like But it's also post defense. It's not it's not the defense that this the types of the Rosa and um levin that can rebo and um pumping or pump shot

or something like that doom. So yeah, that's the second one is um it is really not a good post up um um ball handler anyway, he's more on the offinest type of post up player, wherein he can beat Tom one on once, but when it comes to doubles is not good because he's passing is still not that high. So I think it can be answered by Lebron being on the game and also the problem with playing Rondo

again us minutes. Um. I hope that None will come back soon because I think that will augment his minutes. That's the hope. Yeah, yeah, Well he's been saying that for a couple of years and I'll see it. Uh, I'll believe it when I see it with Rondo. I mean, that's what we were kind of that's what we're kind of solved during media day. But but we'll see. But I think you're right though, eighties not the type of player you just gave it to him in the post

every single time. He's just not enough to do that. He's a moving He's a moving flip player. He's not a post top player. He's more on the move rather than posting him up and then let him create out of that. I think he's more on the he's more better when he's moving. That's why Rondo is Toronto and a D pairing is working because Rondo knows where he needs to move something like that. So I think that, yeah, I think that's that's his game, that's in this game.

He's not Yi Honest or Lebron. He is more on the movement player. He's more like the Rent. Actually, if you're going yeah, I think I think you broke that down really really well. The Rondo the Rondo comp is

super interesting. The reason why a D plays best with Rondo's Rondo gets him on the move, and you're right, like he's He's not like Katie in the sense that he's not that level of jump shooter, but he is like Katie in the sense that he seems to be peaking offensively when he's kind of like a movement player coming off the screens, catching him on the move too quick fit like to basically be the tip of the spear, the guy who finishes the play that the other four

players kind of set up for him. I definitely agree with him in that. Yeah, I think that's the exact term for him, that as a finisher. He's a finisher. He's not he's not a creator, so posting him up his is not his you know, strong suit. Then I think also, um, what do you think of the before the before the the season, they released a possible line up. I think that was actually better because Roger says that, um a b um. You know, Bradie is not a shooter, so him being paired with um Ross at h D

is is not working. It's not going to h D is also not going to be respected as a shooter as well. But I think the combo of if they're going if everyone's healthy again, but then if But yeah, I think Allington and Arisa are are the perfect combo for a D and Lebron and Ross. They have two shooters and on the defensive side, all of those four,

even Allington can pressure the ball. Yeah, I actually agree with you that that Bradley doesn't make as much sense with the starters now as he did earlier and earlier in the season when um uh you know, when injuries kind of forced him to go that route. The other

thing he was he was he was good tonight. But the other problem with a very Bradley over the course of the last couple of weeks has been he's a little bit too uh trigger happy with with his own offense, uh, which which again when you're in a situation where you need offense elsewhere on the floor. It makes It's one thing. But when when you've got th HD, Russ and Anthony Davis all healthy and in the lineup, I just it's got to be more like tonight where every shot every

Bradley takes is a three. That's that's relatively open. But I'm with you. I think I think I would go with Ellington, especially if you're gonna play th HD. Um, I'd either go with Ellington and t HD or Ellington and Theresa, just because with that particular starting lineup, spacing is so critical. Um. But hey, Bond, I really present coming on. We're gonna we're gonna get somebody else up here, but we'll be back on on Wednesday. But thank you

for coming up. We appreciate it. Thank you, you appreciate it. Um live in Are you there? Oh yeah, I'm here, I'm here. You're can you can hear me? Right? Good? Good? Are you guys on doing all right? Yeah? Um? Yeah? So ah to me, like, it's been really frustrating to watch the Lakers this year, Like in terms of like I don't even think sometimes I feel like I know le Bron has been out for for a little minute now,

like it's been seven eight games. But I feel like just like the effort level on some nights, like you know, like the Minnesota game and uh and then this game tonight in particular, like their effort level is just like it's just not there. And like I don't know what they I don't know what the Lakers think. I think like I don't know what they think. Teams are just gonna like roll over because they have Westbrook and eighty,

but they're like they're doing literally the opposite. So and and also like what really frustrates me sometimes with Frank Vogel, like this quote that he had today he said he said basically he was like, oh, um, the way Chicago double team eighty. Like that's not something we haven't that's that's not something we've seen all year, and we're just

not used to that with this group. And I'm like, I'm sitting here, like, bro, you get like you're the coach, Bro, like you really like you get paid like to make

these kind of adjustments. Like it's really frustrating sometimes. It's like and they were just running back the same play eighty eight posts up in the album eight post double team, double team, and then like five seconds left on the clock and we have like, you know, an ugly like Avery Bradley trying to beat someone off the dribble and falls down, or like Wayne Allanton has to force up a quick three, and it's like, yeah, it's it's kind

of it's frustrating to watch. And and what I've noticed too about the but mellow is that teams have started to scout for him, and then the way that they have, they weren't earlier in the season. Like even when he like when he set screens now and he pops, like teams are literally like right there in his jersey and they're they're really not. Um, no one's really giving him that space anymore. So, but I think, you know, a lot of these problems will be will solve when the

Bron comes back. Um, but even like when le Bron, even when le Bron comes back, I just feel like their effort level on a on the night to night basis needs to be a lot better so we can actually build some some continuity, like because it's like, you know, we say it's early, but bad habits, like you know, like habits take time to build, you know, so I just feel like, yeah, that's pretty much I thought will

making so far. So yeah, the A D double team stuff is frustrating because you're right, the coach's job is not just to make adjustments before the game, it's to

make adjustments during the game. I mean, hell, if you were playing a pickup game tomorrow and you had a guy on your team it was a good post player and the other teams started double teaming him and the game was slipping away as a result, you don't think you guys would kind of address like, hey, doubling off of this guy, so maybe this guy should do this. And obviously that's a real basic level at a very amateur level of basketball. But the point is, it's like

that same thought process applies here. There's that they should have been able to address that in a time out. Hey, when when we throw it, when we throw to a D in this spot with this guy, they're helping off of this guy and they're helping from this angle, what should we do and they should have counter set up for that. That to me was the frustrating part, But

it is what it is. At this point, it's it's, you know this the problem like a D Frank can pretend like this is some brand new doubling scheme that threw them off. But the point is is doubling an a D post up has been a smart strategy for two and a half years and uh, at least with me watching him this closely, and so I tend to I tend to think that a lot of this is just kind of the reality of the Frank and A D pairing as as offensive minds approaching those double teams,

which is unfortunate, but it is what it is. Um. In terms of the Mellow stuff, this was inevitable that it was going to happen. Coming into tonight. He was shooting over sixty six on wide open threes, so it was only a matter of time before teams really started to scheme up on him and start to take away

the easy ones. Um. The problem is is Mellow, In my opinion, it started to try to fire away anyway, which some of that is good because it continues that it continues to perpetuate that fear of closing out to him because you know he'll fire away. But with Mellow, what you gotta do is understand that the difficulty of the shots he's taking in the absence of his wide open ones suddenly are actually evidence of defensive attention, which

is a good thing for our offense. The bottom line is is like this trend, the trend of a of Mellow getting u you know, chased all over the place and never being left open, will only help this offense, especially when Lebron comes back, because it really is this simple. You know, Lebron is going to handle those double teams well. Lebron is going to be able to get to the rim at a much higher clip than than Russ and

a D. So you will have two options. You're either going to help off of Mellow and and try to take away Lebron at the rim, or or in which case Lebron is just gonna kick to him all day long, or vice versa. You can stay home and let Lebron cooking single coverage. That's what you're gonna see a lot

with these Lebron Ellington Mellow type of lineups. And so, I yes, this was bound to happen, but with Mellow, you gotta just trust the team concepts, Like, dude, if they're if they're blitzing you all over the place, that's only good for us. So that that that that's attention,

that's not being devoted to your better players. He was He's the only shooter in the starting lineup to tonight, right, just to be fair to him, I mean it was it was Ruzz, Bradley, th HD, Mellow and a D and the actually just once you trap a D email was the only guy they really sticked on. So he didn't really get that many open looks and he forced it some. I thought some of the post stuffs were okay, Like I liked him, went out de Rozan some a little bit. Um. I thought he got fouled on a few.

But you know, Mellow, I think he's gonna He's not gonna shoot and open threes, but I think he's gonna be like a three point shoot, Like he can be that type of shooter. I think I've seen enough volume, uh from from Mellow to where I think he'll be fine there. And again like the double team stuff, like

it's annoying game the game. But I think this is why the reason you can't do this is because I hope, like fingers cross, Lebron is gonna be on the floor and so like that's where like this team is again going to go through another shift of Like, once you get Lebron, none areasa back, You're gonna get a whole new team again. So it's frustrating as how to watch. I agree with you, hasn't been fun. A lot of the games really haven't been fun. We've been blown out,

We've been close games against bad teams. Hopefully now we finally get a good team we escaped. Go to DeAndre Jordan for a lot of this. He's gone now as well. It seems like from the rotation, Baysmores out of the rotation. So now hopefully when Lebron gets back, we have a better team here. And I think tonight this is something you can do when Lebron's on the floor. Doesn't mean it's not an issue. It's just something I don't see being a huge problem for the team going forward. Like

eight has never been good out of double teams. It's just you couldn't double off him. You couldn't do that next to Lebron on the floor. But I'm with you, like this is super frustrating as hell to watch nightly and to talk about honestly every single night. And you can never you can never blame everything I effort. I would call it third, I put in third it's like equal part efforts, equal part personnel, because without Lebron, this

team actually isn't all that talented. And then equal part coaching. I would say those those are the thirds, Like you can you can't blame Frank for everything that's happened, you can't blame the effort for everything that's happening. You can't blame the personnel for everything that's happening. But each of those three things play a big, big role in how bad this team is. Right now. Alright, guys, this is our last this is our last caller for the night.

I'm getting very tired. I'm gon appreciate you coming up. Maniate it, Eric, what's going on? Man? Can you gars? Yep? Can you hear me? You can hear you? What's what's my dude? What's going on? Hey? You know what's interesting about this team, right is that when the roster was constructed, I think the construction and the prevailing thought was that this team was going to be able to survive the

non Lebron minutes better than this. Right. So here we are, year nineteen, and this team still doesn't survive in Lebron minutes. So that's kind of concerning to me at this point because I felt like they would do a better job. But I think a lot of it is what I've been hearing tonight, is like, for example, um, you know, the decision making in some parts and then the talking

and connecting the defense on the others. Like those little things that Lebron does that we you know, that we kind of take for granted because he's that good, But those are those little things that this team is missing drastically and it costs us huge runs. Right, And so I guess I'm concerned, not because you know, I mean, obviously, I know when the Browns on the court, the team

is going to be much better. But his injuries kind of concerned me because, like I've watched him getting nicked up a lot over the last couple of years, and I'm like, well, what if he comes back and he doesn't, you know, like and he has to miss another chunk of games and another chunk of games. It's like, yeah,

we we gotta we gotta do a better job. I think it puts a lot of pressure on Vocal to play the right lineups, which he I'm convinced he's just not going to do consistently, right, So I think that's part of it, and it puts a lot of pressure on Russ to be a player he's probably not been. Now. I do have confidence he'll get better, right, I do. Um. I think he'll have just and over the last few games, I've seen him get better in the role at times, right.

But it really puts the non Lebron minutes. It puts a lot of pressure on him to be a player he's just not been. And so that's a little concerning to me. I don't know if you guys were the same way I do, But yeah, I mean it's really this simple. Russ isn't what everybody thought he was, and I'm everyone should have known that going in. But Russ is not a you know, massive floor raising superstar the way that he was in two thousand and seventeen. Those

days are gone. They're never coming back. The best version of this experience is him being able to be, like I said, a better version of Dennis Hruder, a guy who can attack in specific matchups against inferior players for sure stretches, not a guy who can attack better players for long stretches. That's just just not what he's capable of to Anthony Davis is not Bubble Anthony Davis. He will be, I believe before the end of the season.

I think he's trending in that direction. And before the end of the season he will be Bubble Anthony Davis, top tier superstar Anthony Davis. But right now he's not. And then three, the defense is the defensive identity has gone. So with those three things gone, there was never any chance in hell that this team would would be able

to compete without Lebron. That's just a reality. The flip side of it is just kind of you know, Lebron does so much to impact winning it's hard to quantify, Like just just look at the defensive end of the floor. He basically plays the Draymond role for this team, and in terms of the back line communicator, the back line disruptor, the guy who blows up everything in the paint. Taking him out of that picture completely fundamentally changes the way

our defense works. And so that that's just one small part of it, not to mention in big moments, he can be your best isolation defender. In Game four of last year's or Western Conference Finals, he literally shut down Jamal Murray in a pivotal playoff game, Like, that's just that's not a thing that you used to be able to. That's not a thing that you can replicate with team defense. That's just at the end of the day, of Lebron

brings so much. And then that doesn't even get into what he does on the offensive end of the floor to calm guys down. It's not just about helping a d handle double teams. It's not just about taking decision making out of Russell Westbrook's hands. It's about you know, um, it's about the uh, the leadership on the floor. It's that, hey, the wheels are coming off here in the third quarter. It's okay, we got Lebron, Like he's going to make some plays and get us back into this game. There's

it's just the list goes on and on. There's just so much that he brings to this specific team that it's too much to ask them to to be either same or a competitive to be an elite product without it. But they should be able to be competitive. And that's where it gets tricky, is like you think that at least they'd be like, hey, guys, we don't have Lebron.

We should play harder you know, like like you think they'd at least be like, hey, Frank would be like, hey, we don't have Lebron, I need to take a bigger role in our offensive decision making, you know, like those kinds of things like those are those are the things that I personally would like to see fixed. One last, one last thing. There's real quick when you said something about bron and it kind of raised another point that

I forgot about. So the Lakers are not as good a rebounding team as they were a year ago or even the title year. But Lebron also brings seventy rebounds a game, and ironically, the Lakers are losing most rebounding

battles by about six. So when you add Bronze sevent eight rebounds in that swings depends on a lot of as more possessions so on, and so they're also upset some of these turnowners, right, And so I was thinking as I was watching these games, you know, like I just I kind of made a point over the last i'll say four games to kind of watch some of these rebounds, and I staid in myself, Okay, Brian would

have got that one, right. He would have got that that one right, and you know all of us that hoop no like especially if you hooped in college and know that, like like you know, rebounds normally will dictate the winner of the game. Just want to share possession standpoint, Like, if you lose the rebounding battle, you're probably going to lose the game. And this game, this team loses the rebounding battle more often than not. It's not going to

get killed, like right in the paint. It's those long rebounds. But those are the ones bron grabs and takes off and starts runs right, And so I think for all the things he does that right, there might be literally at the top like outside of the being the back line defensive connector, is catching those long rebounds. Five of those changes the game because now those are potentially points going the other way because he starts to break on those.

That's a that's a good point. Like that's when we went to eight at the five, and I think we were getting outrebounded when we even had two bigs. But you have all these like four guards or you know guards in like one wing or just Carmelo finding down low when a d comes out and switches um and they just lose the rebounding battle every night. I thought Chicago got a bunch of them tonight as well. You're right,

that's something that Lebron can bring as well. Lebron brings a bunch of stuff, like you said, Jason, and the rebounding. I think him being the power forward is super important on this team and might even more, might be more important defensively than even offensively. Just what this team needs. But like they need to find lineups that are successful without him, to write like he's not gonna play forty

eight minutes a game in the regular season or the playoffs. Russ, Like Russ is not going to be the floor raiser, but like you can see him and a D should still be able to man like second units and you know, win those lineups when when they're out there. And I think you have to kind of acqus lineups to Russ put shooting around him with a D at the five and that stuff. That's just it's happened here and there, that's been in spurts, but just haven't seen it enough.

Like tonight again, I thought it was just too much non spacing around Russ and a D and that's just not gonna work for him. Like and with a D as well. You saw them able to double off them. But you're right, Lebron is gonna come back. The rebounds is huge. We've been losing the rebounding battle. A D has been having to having to do a ton out there defensively. He has to switch out to the guards and try to get back and defensive rebound and try to dominate dophins and boards. So there's a lot of

stuff on his plate as well. But yeah, Lebron coming back picked is a lot of stuff. But I do think Russ and a D still have to find units where they're successful without him, you know what I mean, Like, because this team is not going to go very far if they're just they just get demolished in the non lebronminance the way they have been this season. The rebound the rebounding thing is not overly complicated. We're small. We're small. Uh is not enough size a D and Lebron as

the four or five is plenty of size. That's where it gets That's where it gets tricky is taking Lebron out of the picture. It's basically four guards in a D or three guards mellow and a D at any given moment. That's that those are lineup rebounding is absolutely

gonna be a problem with those groups. Um avage, I thought you brought up something super interesting and uh, it's the last thought I'd like to share tonight, is this idea that like asking you should be able to ask Russ and a D to carry you for these stretches. I agree with you, And that's the key difference between doing it in the context of Lebron available in the

context of Lebron unavailable. We've had plenty of stretches over the course of this you know, five or six game stretch without Lebron where um, where the team has looked good for short periods of time. Um. It's but in the highest leverage moments they seem to struggle, right or against the best and the best lineups, they seem to struggle.

And that's just the reality the situation. You can ask Russ and a D to carry you for the final three minutes of the first quarter, and for two minutes in the middle of the second quarter, and for another four minutes at the end of the third quarter, and for maybe a minute in the fourth quarter. You can't ask them to do it for whole games. They're just not good enough for all the reasons that I laid

out earlier in the show. So the point is, Raj, what you brought up that makes it so that to have like a little bit more of a silver lining is like Russ and a D are showing you right now that they're not good enough to do this for whole games. But we don't need them to do it for whole games, and we don't need them against the best lineups, against starters for good teams, against closing groups for good teams. Lebron will be out there, so that that that should be the one thing to help us

kind of exhale a little bit. Here is the idea that you know, it shouldn't We won't have to ask these guys to do this much when push comes to shove, you know, uh, when Lebron comes back. That's just the

reality of the situation. Yep, that's that's fair. I just I still want to see a little bit more from those lineups, like we're in like the fights with bad teams still, and I feel like I think vote I think Vocal has a lot to do with that too, though, Like I think I think that's what I was saying, like when Lebron's and out there, it puts a lot of pressure on Vogo to play the right lineups, and I think Vogo has just shown he's just not going to do it. And I don't think it's that Vogos dumb.

I think I have a theory that coaches are very stubborn and and the way the coaches, right, and the way coaches make their imprint on teams is either by the way of their system or their rootations, and that's their way of being able to say they did it their way, because the reality is the NBA is a players league, right, So I'm not gonna say coaches have no use. They do, but for the most part, the

players are going to dictate how it goes. So either by way of system or by way of rotations, that's how coaches are gonna make their imprint on the game. Vocal sees all the stuff that we talk about, like the like there. He's a smart guy, like he knows

all this stuff. But his way of making his imprint on this team is by way of his substitutions in his system, so like his two big line ups or his Rondo Russ or whatever, like when that's if that stuff ultimately works, Vocal gets credit like he did the title year, right, you know, we complained about the two bigs or a year, but they won because they you know, they led the league black shots into So that's what That's how Vocal makes his imprint. So I don't think

it's that he's stupid. I think he's that he's stubborn and the problem is the way this team is constructed, it really and especially with brown out, it's really critical that he plays the right lineups. But stubborn and making his imprint is not going to allow him to do that. So I think we're just gonna take els in the in the non Bron moments, and I think that's just

the way that's gonna be. And you know, once again Renness in his situation where Bron is gonna be the fixer in the end all be all, and I just hope he stays healthy enough long enough to be able to do that. That's my biggest concern, to man, that's my biggest concern to I mean, it's just this this add thing was really weird. Was the first is the first time in my time being a fan of him where I was like well, this is an old guy injury, but you know so, yeah it is. It is what

it is. But um, you know, Eric, we appreciates you coming on in as always. I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to call it to night. We're gonna be bad. Wednesday is an early one rights five thirty start. Thank four thirty for you, Rush, I remember correctly, I believe. So they play in Milwaukee, if I'm correct, Lakers are. Yes, they're in Milwaukee four thirty start here in southern California, Arizona time. But I'm looking forward to that one. That's

gonna be a lot of fun. I had a feeling Lebron would come back tonight, and then I was let down when I saw Dave mcmanimon's report, and then I saw the Instagram story of him doing cardio, which you never do cardio on a game day. So I was like, oh, he's not playing to night, but I have a feeling he'll be coming back soon, hopefully for that Wednesday game. Milwaukee's a little banged up, so it's definitely a game

that is, like you would say, RAJ winnable. Um, but if they come in there with the same crap they're gonna get beat, so it'll definitely definitely be a good one. But thank you guys so much for coming to hang out. This will aeron dash Radio tomorrow morning at seven am Pacific Standard time. It will be on our podcast feed here in about twenty minutes. As always, we sincerely appreciate you guys, and we will be back in a couple of days. Thank you.