Episode 16: Early Season Lakers Takeaways with @UnwrittenRul3s

When you and I talked about doing this, I did not expect us to actually do what was necessary to get it done. But I'm glad we're gonna We're gonna knock it out early here this weekend and we can go back to relaxing. I really do think that, in spite of some unusual circumstances rounding these first what do we have now, uh ten games? Surrounding these first ten games, I really do think there's some interesting stuff that we

could take away from it. We're gonna we're gonna talk about how the Lakers schedule may have had some impact on the way that they've been playing. We're gonna talk about Anthony Davis and how he kind of seems to be I don't want to say unhappy, but he seems a little frustrated with the defensive end, and how some other stuff may have been impacting that. We're gonna talk about Montrese Harrold and how his fit has been a

little weird. And then we're gonna talk a little bit about how the Lakers have changed their defensive scheme this year as a result of losing Dwight and Javail and how that has kind of impacted them, uh in particular as as they've played some of these bad teams in the last week. Uh. And then we're gonna take your guys his mail back questions. So while we're talking, feel free to drop any questions you have in the comments. We're gonna save some time there at the end to

rapid fire through those. Um but you know, on that note, we'll get started the I do. So, the Lakers are seven and three. They are currently second in offense and or excuse me, third in offense, and they are eighth in defense, second in net rating. The defense has slipped particularly as of late. The thing that I think is interesting is that the it was hard enough to get these guys to turn around and come back and play basketball.

We had these interviews from Danny Green and and Lebron and himself saying like that he was really really frustrated

with the quick turnaround. You compound that with the situation with the fans where there's no adrenaline rush while they're playing, and then you add to that a weird schedule circumstance where all of a sudden, like Karl Anthony Towns gets hurt and LaMarcus Aldridge gets hurt and John Moran gets hurt, and now they're basically playing like a bunch of NBA role players every single every single day without any star

talent on the floor that they're going against. And it's kind of like night after night after night, and it's like then again last night, it's like, here we go with the Bulls. This is a terrible team. How about let's let's see if we can try to find the energy in this empty, cavernous stadium to try to play hard again. And I really do think that, like it's it's been an immense challenge for these guys to find

just the motivation to try to play hard. Yeah, for sure, And like I tweeted out the first quarter scores after the previous five games. Um, they gave up thirty points to San Antonio, Memphis, Memphis, San Antonio, m Chicago. UM, they're down in all these games and they're freaking out. They can just outscore them. And that's not a fun game to watch for the fans. That's not a fun game to see. UM. And then you can see Anthony

Davis get frustrated. UM. I was looking at the Obviously strength of schedule was a funny joke last year, but Lakers are six team in strength and schedule. UM, they have the easiest schedule coming up. So I don't think you're gonna see a lot of a lot of flips coming UM, But was it's kind of funny. You look at Denver, who's had the easiest or the second easiest in the three and five. So this season is is kind of strange. But yeah, that if you're looking at

these games, and UM, I take away ring night. They were down twenty in the first quarter. I mean, I'm not really sure what to do to do with that. After that, they blew out Minnesota, Dallas. UM tough game against Portland. They couldn't hit a shot. So it's kind of tough to really engauge where there are in terms of that. And I think the schedule they went on the road, Um, the road is different now, right. You

can't leave your hotel room. It's not like, uh, it's kind of like a bubble in of itself, is what some of the people said. Um, you can't go anywhere. You can't even have dinner with your teammates in a way, so, um, it's just totally different. Um. Anthony Davis after the final road game was like, yes, let's get us home please, Like, um, we've been on the road too long. It was like a four game trip and then you got to come back and play a Spurs team you just played twice.

So yeah, it's kind of tough. The schedule makers. I think they did in my favorite giving them a little bit easier schedule. But yeah, when you said Evans in defense, that's a surprise to me because they have not looked at at all. I feel like they've played ten minutes with the defensive game and are somehow winning, somehowinning these games. Yeah, and we're gonna talk more about that later. The reality is,

I think their defense has been pretty bad. The bottom line is is that, like when you're playing inferior talent, you can kind of beg them or you can dare them to make shots. You can if they're if they're whatever their primary creator is, who's usually the fourth or fifth best guy on a on a normal playoff team is is trying to create shots against one of your

perimeter defenders, He's just going to be inefficient. It's it's it's it's one of those things where like when we're talking about the defense later, we're gonna try to focus on xs and those, because the reality is is looking at actual results, even given what their circumstances are, you're just not going to get a lot from that um and and again, I just the last thing I'll say about the schedule is like I just I feel bad ad for them in a certain sense because you rushed

them to come back after this super emotional, crazy draining bubble experience. Like you rushed them to come back, and then they come back and they're playing in these empty stadiums against bad teams. It just has to be like a really really challenging mental experience, you know. I just I don't I don't envy them in that regard. I there are some tough games coming up this before the end of this month. They play the Bucks, they play the Warriors, play the Rockets, they play some good teams.

They're gonna they're gonna have a chance to to get a little bit more adrenaline because I think, I think that it's a class It's a classic case of you know, when you when you feel threatened, that's when you can you can dig deep and find your normal reserves of energy. And I do believe they'll be able to do that. Um So, the first thing that I want to talk about, uh in terms of just like a little bit more um uh focused topic. So Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis basically

has been underwhelming on both ends of the floor. On the defensive end, he's just been a little bit on focus, a little bit, a little bit sloppy, a little bit in and out with his effort. And then on the offensive end of the floor, he's been extremely perimeter oriented

more than usual. And some of that is by design because Frank Vogel has been explicitly asking him to take more threes than he usually does, but some of it also is just it seems like he's kind of floating around and taking shots settling with the intent of saving his legs and saving his energy for later in the season. Um, what are your thoughts so far and what you've seen from Anthony Davis? Are you concerned at all? Are you just kind of like waiting for him to wake up?

What are you? What are your what's your whole impression of that situation? Yeah, it all ties in right, like you were talking about you rushed him back. Um, the Lakers won the title ninety like two days ago. I mean, if you look at a regular offseason, you go from June, let's say even until June, you get like four months and by the time you're in this stage of the season,

it's like six months passed by. So when I look at him, he's taking a lot of mid range pull ups, like he's settling, he's not trying to get to the rim, but he's hitting them. So I mean, like if he's hitting his uh, if he's hitting his pull up jump shots, then I mean go ahead, right, Why waste all that energy driving to the rim every time? Um, and he has took a lot more threes I'm fine with, Like the spot up three's, it's like the just dribble into

like a three when it's a close game. Kind of those are the ones that are a little tough to take. But I think he's been He's been fine right there. It's the defense that, like you can tell he was super frustrating that Spurs game. And then I feel like it's a combination, like when you have a lack of effort, you also have a lack of awareness, you know, like a communication, all those things go together. It's not just

that people aren't trying. I think that's like a really easy way to just put that on, like, oh, they're not trying yet, Like I don't think that was the case in like the second half. I feel like they did want to win that Spurs game, but it's really tough to turn it on and you have guys hot already, like Marcus Adders was on fire by the time that Anthony Davis trying to actually do something about it. Um

Deante Murray was hitting pull up shots over him. So when you get a team and a rhythm like that the way the Lakers are starting games, Like I know Anthony Davis after the game was like, no, we were terrible on defense, but I mean, you can't start games, like going fifty percent effort by the time teams are hot. You saw with the Bulls last night. I think um Zach Lavine started nine for nine or something like some

crazy amount. Um Anthony Davids didn't play that night, but still you can just see the effort effort, Wayne, and I think he'll be fine. We saw in the Bubble last year people are kind of worried those regular Bubble games before the playoffs. Um, I think his jumper was kind of off, and then all of a sudden the playoffs, it just turned on. And we know the stealing of this team. So I'm not worried about him yet. Ten games in, Um, I think it's gonna take a few weeks.

You can see his conditioning still try to get up there. I'm not sure if he's still hurt. He sat out last night, but yeah, I mean, I think he'll be okay. He just his aggression will pick up. I'm sure nobody wants to lose games. I see you say this a lot. Competitors will eventually like, I want to get their asky every night, like even though they're seven and three somehow, but it feels like they've been down most most of

these games. Well, I think the I think their record, as a result of the inferior competition they've been playing, has kind of lulled them to sleep. And I think that's what actually did hurt them against the Spurs, and it's the reason why they barely beat the Bulls last night even without a D. That was a team that should have been able to handle a little bit more comfortably. But I mean, the reality is is, like I agree with you, Like, you can't just blame it on effort.

It's it's it's a lot of different factors. I do think efforts part of it, especially from a consistency perspective, because like basketball's game of runs, and you're gonna blow leads and or you know, get yourself behind when you go through a five ten minute period where you're floating around.

That's just kind of how it goes. The specifically, Like, I think that you made a great point as it pertains to confidence with these guys, you know basketball, particularly with jump shooting, you that you there is you're you're constantly like building into your rhythm, you know. I I feel like most jump shooters you'll talk to will say this to you. They'll say early in the game, They're not necessarily concerned about a couple of misses because they're

dialing things in. You know, they're they're feeling okay, like I'm a little bit left to right here, I'm a little bit longer short. They make those little slight adjustments, and then when they get confident, once they get into their rhythm, it doesn't matter really how close you are to them. If they can get up into their shooting motion, it's gonna go in. And I thought that was a classic case of what happened against the Spurs. Early in

the game. The Lakers let them get comfortable, and as the game progressed, even when the Lakers dialed up their defensive intensity, they were just so comfortable and in their rhythm that that extra space that was taken away by the Lakers increased defensive intensity didn't bother them at all, and they were able to just get what you know, they were able to make. They like the Spurs beat the Lakers that night with jump shots, which was pretty crazy.

That's it's a it's not a common thing to see over great defense, but that's that's something to keep an eye out. So I think that Anthony Davis struggles all a product of two things, and we're going to talk about them each year individually. Um, I think it has to do with a little bit with Dennis Shrewder, and just not the Dennis Shreuder is a problem, but just that he's a new circumstance that is requiring this Laker team to play a little bit differently on the offensive

end of the floor. Right. And then the second thing has to do with their pick and roll coverage, which we'll get to in a minute. But with Dennis Shrewder, you know, I was pushing and and talking about this all like NonStop before the season. You and I talked about it on a couple of occasions. You know, a Dennis Shudder was worried about his starting role as a result of the UH as a result of his ego for lack of a better term, Okay, and Shroders and

shoulder has been great this season. For the record, He's been excellent on the defensive end for the most part, with the exception of Anthony Davis ripping him a new one over that Spurs game. But and then on offense, he's been pretty good. He's shooting right around thirty four and a half percent from three, So it's not quite as good as last year, but it's okay, and feel like he's had a lot of really good offensive games. The problem is is I think you could also draw

a line between that and Anthony Davis's offensive rhythm. So, for the record, as Zach Globe pointed out in his podcast yesterday, the Lakers starting lineup with either KCP or Cou's with Schroeder, Lebron, a D and Uh and Marcusol is doing really well. So the starting lineup is doing well. Where they're losing these first quarters is in the second half of the first quarter when Lebron goes to the bench.

But I really do think that you have to look beyond just that specific focused window and understand that even though the team is performing well and on the scoreboard in those minutes, Anthony Davis isn't really getting a lot of touches in those minutes, and so as a result of that, it's kind of warping the rhythm of the game a little bit, so that when Lebron goes to the bench and suddenly they start feeding a d at the end of the first quarter, he's not really in

any sort of rhythm. And now he's you know, just taking ump shots and and and you know, and the bottom line is is that I think that, you know, the tinkering with their lineups has to be involved with understanding the rhythm of every player on the floor and not just you know, not just how Dennis is feeling about his particular ego situation and even if he wants

to start. Maybe it's as simple as instead of having Lebron go to the bench first at the five minute mark, having Dennis go to the bench first at the five minute mark or something along those lines. I just think there's some tinkering that needs to be done there because Anthony Davis needs to be getting more attempts early in the game instead of worrying so much about Dennis and

how he's feeling with the ball in his hands. Yeah, you made a great point there, because Lebron is playing a lot with that second unit um with like Harold, and it's also Shrewder on the floor as well, so there's a lot of there's a lot of guys to feed there. I feel like a d is also trying to find his place next to Marcus Saul. It feels like when he's next to Mark he's still a jump shooter, Like he turns even more into a jump shooters. So, um, it's kind of it's kind of strange just see that.

And I would like him to get more reps with Shooter. Um, they can obviously run pick and roll. Um, they do it pretty well, especially when when it's no Lebron on the floor and it's just him in a D running uh running ball screen actions. Um, but you would like to see that a little bit more in the second unit. I feel like, um, you should stagger a Shooter and Lebron seman, it's a little more so than a D

can kind of play with him. And I think that's a good point that he's not getting his touches early. But again, when he's like you know, walking through first quarters and just standing on the side while Shooter and Mark play pick and roller, Lebron is attacking like it's hard to get a rhythm for him. And like I think I said this before, Um, he's a guy that hasn't played with a low motor before. Like he's a he's a guy that likes to go a hundred miles

prower second. So he's a guy that's learning how to like you know, go six for the first three quarters and then bump it up in the final in the final quarter of the game, And I think that comes with experience. And I feel like the lineups are still I don't think Vogel is really putting out lineups to just win that game. He's doing a lot of like experimenting. I mean last night we saw like th ht Crusoe and Shooter playing playing playing lineups and it was just

a lot of strange experiments going on. But yeah, like he said on the Zach Lopot, I think he said, the starters are doing really well. Um, even the starters with Wes Matthews Kusuma all have really great minutes. It's just that bench with Harold Um and a d which is still struggling to kind of find offense when it's when it's Lebron out there running it. Yeah, I would like him to play a little bit more Shooter if

he can in that bench shoot it well. The thing was Shooter that you gotta keep your mind too, is like he's not a traditional point guard, Like he's not like now, for the record, and there's a much larger conversation to be had here and about the way basketball has changed in the sense that there's just not a

lot of natural point guards out there. I was talking about this with some guys this morning as it pertains to the Clippers, because they desperately need a point guard, like a guy who can set up their main guys. But there's just not that many guys around the league because the natural guard that's being raised in our basketball system in America right now is being raised to be a scoring guard. And so the and and it's interesting how that's kind of changed a leak. But Shruder is

wired that way. What Shrewder is wired to go, you're is to just be an effort for a guy. Well, so Shrewder su Shreuder is a weapon. He's like a better analogy be he's a bullet. You aim and you shoot him, and he just goes like he knows how to do one thing, and he's had to do it extremely aggressively in one style. In way he's gonna put a ball pressure defensively and be a pest and then on the offensive end, he's just gonna go. He's gonna go to the rim as many times as relentlessly as

he can. He's not a guy who's gonna feel the flow of a game and be really attentive to the rhythm of the players around him. He's gonna be primarily focused on what he does best. That doesn't make him in value or unvaluable. It just means that if he's being used in that starting lineup, you're not gonna be able to convince him to play a more passive role

because it goes against his basketball identity. And so the key there is like that, it's not even so much about um, it's not even so much about like, uh, understanding that that Dennis Shutter's ego is at risk. It's all what's also at risk is his own specific talent

that he brings to the table. By allowing him to come in later or to go out quicker and then come back in with the bench line ups, you can allow him to be that super aggressive you know, bowling a China shop and it and it plays directly into his strengths. And then Anthony Davis when he comes in at that point, he'd be in a better rhythm because he had more shot attempts and was more aggressive early in the game. It's just it's just something to keep

an eye on. Like I said, it has become abundantly clear that they have no intention of removing him from the starting lineup. So it just it just appears that the collateral damage from this is Anthony Davis struggling to get into a rhythm early in the games. And it's something and even Lebron's touches and usage and stuff our way down from last year. Uh uh. Everyone everyone's sacrificing in that regards and and maybe that's part of their long term vision of this like three star kind of

of construct. Um. But but yeah, I mean I hope that Anthony Davis's frustrations are purely based on the defensive end, and then he's not harboring something that has to do with this, this situation with his touches. Yeah, really quickly on Anthony Davis. Um, he had a quote after one of the games and are like, I think Vogo had a quote. He's like, we didn't get Anthony Davis involved enough in the offense, right, And my whole thing is like, you're Anthony F. And Davis, like no one gets you.

Go get yourself involved in the offense. Go demand like a post touch, you know, go get dug in. But that's just not what he's doing right now, and he looks more than Happy's just sit and wait and then you know, and then watch as other players were in the offense. So and I was looking at the numbers. His free throw ray is way down, you know, his shots in the paint are way down. He's shooting all his mid range like long shots, and that just shows

that he's settling. I mean against the Spurs, he had a play where, um, he went into the post against Aldridge, spinned and dunked it, and I just thought, like, you can do that any time you want, Like it's it's right there. Marcus Aldris is a great player. He has no business guarding Anthony Davis, like you know in isolation. So I was just looking at that he can do that kind of many time he wants. But yeah, you look at the free throw rate um shots in the paint.

That tells me all I really need to know with him. And I think he's taken more shots out of the paint than he has inside, which is just strange considering the Marcus all was supposed to kind of open that up for him to be the one of the paint, but it seems like Mark is kind of in the dunker spot for some reason, it's kind of like flipped. I'm not sure if that's just scheme or if that's just because Anthony Davis is kind of walking around during

the start a game. So yeah, but like to your point, I think he'll be fine, He'll get in a better rhythm as we go here. Well, I think you're absolutely right like that, And that particular that particular game where Vogel had that quote was one of the worst games I've ever seen Anthony Davis play like. He was absolutely b sing the entire night, and I was. I was really annoyed by that comment, and I remember tweeting some

stuff out about it that night. But I was frustrated because I wanted to be like, like, look, does Anthony Davis need to get more touches? Yeah, but dude, now is not the time to be saying that. He had literally one of the most passive games on both both ends of the floor that I've ever seen. And the reality of the Anthony Davis experiences is you're right. He

is an alpha. He can demand that. You know. I was watching Bulls Lakers last night and at the end of the game, Lebron just kept looking at Schroeder and saying, give me the ball, and he did. It was funny that they kept in bounding to Schroeder and Schroeder bring the ball up the floor and Lebron would just come

up and get it from him. And it's like the point is is like, like Lebron and a d are at a status in this league that there's not a player in the league that they can look at and say give me the ball and they won't give it to him. Anthony Davis does command that kind of respect. It's it's absolutely something that he can that he can bring to the table and and you're absolutely like it's not just the it's not just the rhythm and the shot attempts in his defense, like some of these shot

charts that he's putting up are laughable. There was one two nights ago in Memphis where he had one shot attempt in the paint. It took like twenty four shots, Like that's that's just inexcusable, Like you even if you're trying to save yourself, and there's just no way in the world that a guy is physically talented as as he is can't be getting more attempts closer to the rim and but what we'll keep an eye on it. It's I don't I'm I'm with you. I don't think

there's any reason to be concerned. It's just frustrating. It's frustrating that, like, coming into this season, you might have told yourself, like, hey, like Lebron is probably gonna coast and they're really gonna lean on Anthony Davis because he's or eight or whatever he is. And and the reality is is like he's primed to go on an m v P type of run on a really good team and and and be the guy who kind of takes

that mantle, and the exact opposite has happened. Lebron's like, like squarely in the MVP conversation, Anthony Davis is taking nights off and Lebron is carried like like Lebron, Lebron is approaching this season with a lot more gency than Anthony Davis has been. And I and it's it's not a problem because I know Anthony Davis is gonna be ready when the time comes. It's just weird, Like it's just it's just a strange. It's a strange outcome that

you would not have expected under the circumstances. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And like you've watched Lebron, like obviously through his all Cleveland days as well, is he just better at looking more engaged? Like I'm wondering because I watched Lebron and I know he's coasting, but I don't see it because he's still like putting his head down and just getting to the rim. Like it's not like he's

taking all these jump jump shots. He's still getting to the room, So maybe he's Is he just better at looking like he's not coasting because I know he is. Obviously he's not going a full Lebron, but just like when you're watching a game, just like through a forty eight minutes, you I don't watch the game and like, oh Lebron is like taking this position off, you know what I mean. Like he's still attacking the room from the get go. He's getting to the line um when

it matters. So I'm I'm just wanting, like, as as you you've watched Lebron for a long time, is he like just better at looking like he's not? Because when I watch Think Davis, I can clearly see like, oh, this dude does not care about these three minutes of basketball that I just watched, but I watched Lebron. I'm like, I don't get that on the rewatch I see it, I'm like, oh, he was resting here. He was like he wasn't caring about this position, but just live you

don't you don't catch that from him. So maybe that's just that's just him. Some of it has to do with him, uh having an easier defensive set of responsibilities, So that's part of it. They're putting him on a lesser defense, lesser offensive player. That's that's that's definitely part of it. So like he you know, if they were constantly attacking Lebron James and pick and roll, like, he wouldn't be able to to coast as much as he does on the defensive ent. So that's definitely part of it.

The other part of it, honestly, is just he is so smart now at this phase of his career that he under he understands how to efficiently efficiently use his energy.

And I think, like I think that it's it's it's one of the most underrated parts when we're evaluating players, were so obsessed with like, oh, he looks like he lost his step or you know, Kauai is looking a little slow right now, or you know Steph Curry's not getting as much separation as he used to, and you're like, well, actually all of these guys are better than they used to be because they're just seeing an understanding the game

at a higher level than they used to. And and that's what's crazy, is like Lebron, Lebron hasn't really had a lot of like explosive athletic plays this year, but he but I would argue that he's that he's scoring in a in a in an easier looking fashion than I can remember in a long time. And I think a lot of that has to do with just just he is. He's anticipating things and and just like he's one. He's like one or two steps ahead of the defense

at every single moment. And he's just he's I tweeted the other day, he's playing basketball offensively at a higher plane mentally than any other player in the league right now.

And as a result of that, he can, like if you watch him sometimes on a pick and roll, like he'll slow down and get the defender on his hip and he'll take like four or five dribbles to kind of just inch his way towards the basket and then wait for righte at that exact moment when the shot blocker kind of drops back to the dunker for a second, and then he'll shoot his little floaters hook shotter will pump bike to get him off his feet, and you'll go up like that's just old man, veteran savvy stuff

that just uses very little energy. But his damned defective And that's the That to me has been the funnest part of watching him this year, and and and for the record, like it's one of the reasons why I do think he deserves to be in the m v P conversation is the Lakers have been, for lack of a better term, shit in a lot of these games. But he's been he's been very fine tuned and when he's aggressive and understanding when the game is slipping one way or the other and just grabbing control of it.

And that's why they're seven and three. There're seven and three because Lebron has has been very deliberate about when he's aggressive and he's been able to close a lot of these games. And and now I I for the record, and we'll talk about this more later. But like the Lebron to win the MVP, the Lakers would have to just have a ridiculous record. I don't act like think

he'll win it. But the reason why he's even in that conversation, which you never in a million years would have thought would have been the case given the circumstances, it's just because he's discovered away to be a really effective basketball player without using a lot of energy. It really is that simple. Um, So I want to move on to this this uh defense, uh, this defensive scheme that the Lakers have been using. So for the record, I was really really impressed by this video that I saw.

Uh he. I tried to find out what his real name is. I think it's Tim cran Just, but he goes by cran Just Nick Basketball. A lot of you guys follow him. He's a he does NBA agent player and team consulting. He's like an analytics guy and and he's just really he's really really smart with the XS and os. And it was my first time watching one of his videos yesterday, and I was really really impressed. So shout out to Tim. If you guys don't follow him, you need to follow him and watch his videos, it's

really really good stuff. So um, he did this video yesterday and it was really interesting. Had to do with

the Lakers pick and roll coverage. So last year when they had White Howard and JaVale McGee, because they were better shot blockers and better presences around the rim, they used like a modified version of drop coverage, where that basically, whenever the rollman or the drive the ball handler were getting into the lane, the Dwight or Javeail or Anthony Davis would drop to whichever the lowest man was and if if the ball handler handler became the lowest man,

he would shift over to the ball handler, or if the if the ball handler was hanging back and the rollman was going to the rim, he dropped to the rollman. And it worked because they were so long and athletic around the basket with Javail and Dwight that they were able to just kind of funnel guys into the length and block a lot of shots, and the Lakers led the league in block shots last year, and then the

ball handler would chase the guy over the top. So what they're doing this year, Um is what's called a catch hedge, which essentially involves a soft trap. It's not really a trap, but basically they're doubling the ball handler off the ball screen, but loosely. And when they do that, the other three guys have to be in rotation in the drop coverage. They could play it too on two, so the other guys on the floor were in a

more traditional like man to man situation. But at the result of this trapping strategy that they're using on these pick and rolls, it immediately is leading to a rotation on the back end where guys are playing four on three. Now, where that that's a problem in in two for two reasons. And when I say a problem, I don't mean a

problem with the defensive scheme. Just it's presented problems for the Lakers early on because of the fact that they've been a little sloppy and lazy and unfocused, and as a result, they're not able to execute the rotations properly. Because rotations on the back end it's a scramble, and it's all about instinct and knowing where guys are gonna go, and it's all about effort and focus. So if you're bringing effort and focusing able, you're gonna lose guys in

these rotations all the time. So that's been the first problem with it. And then the second problem with it is that guy who's doing the catch hedge, so the the big man, whether it's Montrez Herald or it's Anthony Davis or Marcosol, when they're coming over and hedging on the ball handler, there being a little bit too unaggressive and and and and passive in the sense that they're they're doubling, they're leaving the rollman, but they're not really

bothering the ball handler. So as a result, the Dames of the World or any of these primary demard Rose and whoever it is, these primary ball handlers for these other teams are able to throw really efficient and quick like bounce passes or chests passes to the roleman and it's putting the Laker rotations and a step behind, whereas if they were a little more aggressive and active with that hedge, they could force them to throw a looping pass over the top or maybe like tip a pass

or two that that's getting that's getting thrown through, uh, you know, in the pocket pass to try to slow down that first pass to let the rotations catch up. And and the last thing I'll say about it is, uh, the the whole point of the catch hedge is it's

better for the playoffs. And Tim does a really good job of explaining this in his video, because in the playoffs, you're constantly playing super elite um primary ball handlers, and if this forces the ball out of their hands, and it's a much better defensive scheme in the playoffs, even though it can hurt you from time to time in the regular season. And it's supposed to not only get the ball there out of their hands, but it's a

more aggressive defense that is supposed to force turnovers. And the Lakers are twenty eight in turnovers forced this year, so they're they're getting all of the bad that comes with this defensive scheme without any of the good because they haven't quite been aggressive enough on that primarily primary ball handler to prevent them from just immediately having an aggressive four on three opportunity when guys are wide open.

If that makes sense, Yeah, yeah, for sure. And like obviously you don't have the rim protection of last year, so this team is kind of relying on those turnovers, right, Like when you watch against Minnesota Dallas and they blew them out, they just created a lot of turnovers on their aggression. UM, and I like when they're more aggressive, like I tweeted this out, like, I like when Mark

is trapping hard like I don't like him. I think they tried out some drop coverages early on, and it's just too easy for the guard to just get right to the rim and finish over. Mark is in the right position, it's just that he's just not at that level anymore where you can change the shot at the rim. So I like when he's more aggressive trapping and you're right, like, you can't be going and playing this trapping trapping scheme

because you have to be in perfect rotations. The guy who's in the paint needs to know whether he's closing out to the corner or to the wing. So, and then you'll a lot of incidents you'll have, especially in the Spurs game, you had guys, two guys running to the corner and you had a wide open three and then two guys are into the wing a wide open corner shot. So and also Anthony Davis is chasing around

a lot of guys UM this year. Um, they have him on like I think they have him on the rosen and guards like that where he's kind of moving around screens, which means he's not really near the paint as much as this year as I see as he was last year. That's kind of impacting it. I don't know if that will change going forward. Um, but yeah, that's most Lee why And the treads, Um, I like him when he's aggressive. I don't like treads in a back drop coverage at all. I think it just leads

to really bad habits for him. Um, he has a bad habit of like when a screen comes, he just comes, he just sits all the way back, so he just sit in the paint and these dudes are walking into jumpers. You can't do that with Dean, say Murray, with margin Rose and that's exactly what they do. That's what they get paid to do to hit those little midrange pull ups. Needs to be up. And uh, I thought last night he was a lot better. He was a little bit

more aggressive, especially with Zach Lavine late in the game. Um, they had him go all the way up and uh, I think he contest contested like two late shots, so I think you're right there. They Zack Lavine won the game winner that he missed. Yeah, exactly, and against like I think Houston the playoffs they did this as well. They had guys just trapping him. Um a lot against Dame. So like, like you said, it's a little bit more playoff ready kind of basketball. Um, getting guys trapping. But

trapping is always tough because you're at a disadvantage. Right once you trap, you are at a disadvantage no matter what happens. Um. So you have guys running around trying to get two shooters, and it's all about communication. I think that's what Anthony Davis was piste off about at the end. He said, our schemes are communication was awful. So, but that's on him. He's on the he's on the back line. He needs to be talking. He needs to be talking back there. Um. I know he blamed Dennis Shooter,

but you know that's he's he's in charge of the defense. UM. Yeah, I think you're right. I think the scheme is different this year. Um. And it needs to be a turnover turnover based defense. They're very aggressive. If you're aggressive like that, you need to force the turnovers to two. Uh, offset the easy attacks at the room. H and and for for the record, they have the personnel to run this defense. It's just this is a brand of defense that will

get exposed if you're not playing hard. That's just that's just the reality of the situation. NBA players now are too smart with the ball to to run a lazy trapping scheme against them, and and just let them play four and three all night. They're gonna kill you. Like and you made a great example like the in the game against Dame Mantres. This was and I was complaining about it that night before he even saw Tom video.

Like Montrez was kind of in no man's land, like he was he was hedging over on Dame, but it was like such a soft hedge that Dame was just literally taking two dribbles over and throwing a pocket pass to the role man, and the role man was already like in the pocket pass was so perfect and dialed in and fast that the rollman was was already at the ring before the back line defender could get over

and stop him. And and that's the problem. It's like if Montrese is aggressively hedging like with effort and and because he has super long arms too, just making Dame have to, like I don't know, do a pass fake before he throws the pocket pass or to have to loop it over the top because if he throws a bounce pass it will get stolen. That sort of thing just slows down the action and gives the back line of the defense the chance to recover. But yeah, bottom line,

they're gonna be fine. They've got the personnel to do this. It's gonna be better for them in the playoffs. But right now they're going through some growing pains as a result of one. It's a new scheme, so they need to just get used to it. And too, they're just a little bit less styled in than than uh than they will be later in the season. But but it will inevitably work out. I think this is a perfect time to to segue into Tres because you know, um uh,

so zach Loo actually talked about Trees yesterday. Is the one player on the Laker roster that didn't really make sense. And there's some truth to a couple of things he brought up. Montres is not playing with Lebron and a D much at all. He's specifically playing in line ups when they're staggering. Um uh, he is still I think he's doing a couple of things, particularly well, he's still offensive,

rebounding extremely well. He's had a lot of of random key moment uh, you know, post mismatch attacks where we'll get an end water bully through someone and get a basket. But we are at a point though, where it is time to start acknowledging that he hasn't been great on the defensive end of the floor. And and and a lot of that has to do with, uh, his size limitations.

A lot of that has to do with him, you know, caring more about the offensive end, and you can see it in his body language and in his effort um. But but a lot of it has to do with the fact that you know, you're you're literally requiring a six ft six inch tall guy to be your your primary pick and roll big defender. And it's just it's

it's just it's causing some problems. So my question for you is is like, are you at all concerned with with the Tread's situation or do you view him as like a you know, the Lakers have such a huge margin for error, who cares? Yeah, No, I mean I'm sure there are concerns, Like I think Clipper friends are right a little bit that he's not obviously this back

line defender. I think the problem for me is like Vocos playing him a lot with MARKI Morris, So it's it's like a Markis Morris mantras harrold Um uh forward center at the bench, And that's just a really tough thing for him to be the main cog as your defensive rim protector on that back line, and he's having to switch a lot more um and I kind of like him when he's switching, but you could just tell he's not comfortable out there yet, especially knowing where to

be on defense. There's a lot of like when someone scores, he's like, where was my help? Like he does that. He does that a lot when someone scores. You could just tell he's still kind of confused on where the rotations are. And he plays with a lot of like experimental lineups like when why Night, He'll play with like THHT Matthews. He keep it's like just tough for him

to get any kind of rhythm. Uh. And he's a guy that's like begging for screen role actions, like he just like he could tell any time a guard brings it up, he wants to run like screen roll action. And he's playing a lot of minutes next to Lebron without a d without shrewder So, and Lebron is really a screen roll action type player. He wants to go in the post and isolate, and that just leaves Harold the dunker spot and then they'll just have a big there.

So Lebron is looking for that dump off dump off past him, but it's just blocked there right there. Um, it's causing a lot of turnovers, um, and he's finishing it seems like he's rushing. I don't know if he's like if you see that as well, Like when I see him catch it down low, he seems to rush the shot a lot, like he'll get the offensive rebound and put back and then do his like screen Man one,

which which is awesome. I think that turns the team up. Um. But yeah, it seems like he rushes a lot of shots down low and he doesn't get as many isolation to just that I thought he would like. It seems like when he gets when he uh, he kind of rushes still take like a step back jumper or um, like you'll drive in and try to finish over two guys. So I think he'll get his rhythm back again. I would like him to play with a little bit more pick and roll action like him and t HD looked good.

She did a good job finding him, like he's just begging to run like scretal actions. And when he's playing with Lebron, he's just sitting in that dunker spot waiting for the ball because he's not spacing the floor. So he's the he's the center, and so that's that's his job there and it's hard for him. You could tell, right he's a rhythm player, like he's a rhythm player. Once he gets that first and one, it's like, okay,

here we go. The game started. He starts to talk a little crap to the other backup center, like oh, you can't guard me, you know. Things like that just gets him, gets him going. And I think just getting him a couple of buckets early kind of keeps his energy up on on both ends. Well, and I agree. I think I think, like, uh, you can you can see him visibly getting not annoyed, but just confused by

what he's supposed to do while he's out there. Yeah, And what I like a out him is he doesn't pout if he found if he finds out, okay, I'm not going to be involved in this action. He just bullies his way under the room and tries to get offensive rebound. So he there's been there has been a lot of good to come with the bad with Montrese. Harrold um I view him as a as a luxury

and not a necessity. Um I thought that little framed it really well on his pod yesterday said he's in a regular season innings eater, and that's what he is. He's a guy that that raises your overall talent to the team to help carry you on the average nights in the in the regular season when you need just

you just need somebody to step up. The bottom line is is the Lakers this season when they play Lebron and Anthony Davis in no center, so Lebron and a D and three perimeter players they're getting They've only done that for thirty one minutes, but they're outscoring teams by twenty five in those thirty one minutes, so that at the end of the day, the Lakers still have this ace in the hole, which is we're gonna put Lebron at the four, Anthony Davis at the five, then we're

gonna go with some combination of perimeter players based on who's been playing well, who's been defending well, and we're gonna be able to bully teams physically while at the same time having this ridiculous offensive versatility and offensive talent. So they're gonna be fine. It's not a necessity that

Montrase Harold is basically who we thought he was. Um, And there's and there's no point in being, you know, Mr Captain hindsight and going back and being like, well, what if we did this instead, you know, as signing someone else, Like it is what it is, This is what he is. He's gonna he's gonna bring a lot of good and a lot of bad. That's pretty typical for a guy who comes off your bench. And you know, I'm not really overly concerned with it. All right, So

let's go for the next eighteen minutes here. Before we're done, let's uh, let's hit some questions. So, um, first of all, we had one from Jason Maples, my guy. He says thoughts on Schroeder as a starter versus off the bench. We did talk about that earlier. So all you gotta do is hop on when I released the pod come back at the at the beginning, as we both said, like we're we're kind of concerned earned with how it

might be impacting Anthony Davis's rhythm. I tend to think that he should be coming off the bench, should be better for literally everybody involved, But it seems pretty clear that his ego is going to dictate doing the opposite. Um, what adjustments should Frank make to improve the on off numbers when Braun is on the bench. As I showed the other day after getting off to a pretty pretty good start the season, the Lebron on off stuff is

actually worse than it was last year. They're negative without him instead of just slightly about positive like they were last year, and they're massively positive with Lebron on the floor. So what do you think was a way to try to improve that? Yeah, I think I brought this up early, Like you have Shrewder and Lebron starting, which is fine. I think Shrewder has earned a starting spot. You want him coming up the bench still, but um, I think you know, he's kind of played well enough that you

can kind of keep him there. But the problem is, like he's not playing with that second unit at all, so you really don't have like a like a main creator. It's like th HT, who's great, but you know he's twenty years old and still kind of finding his robes. And carus Oh. I think last night you are teaching Caruso trying to create shots and that's just really tough.

And also like a D is kind of playing with Mantras Harrold and you know those lineups kind of uh and again his ten games, so you really don't know how loud those numbers are are yet, but yeah, it's really to see. I think that's the main thing I would do. I would like to create it. I would like to keep one of lebron inshooter on the on the floor at kind of all times to keep I know, teach she's getting there, but he's not the He can't be creating for NBA level offense right now, like a

championship championship team level UM offense. So that's that's the main adjustment I would do, and kind of see how that goes with the numbers. UM. I think this also has to do with the effort level. As we talked earlier, UM A D is walking through these games UM at least in the first half, and that's gonna make these numbers even louder because he's the defensive He's the force on defense. That's that's his job. And uh so that's I think that's mostly what those numbers speak to. Yeah,

I agree. I think I think there's one really really obvious, easy, clear fix for this. It's to bring Shoulder off the bench. Have have have Braun and Adie start the game, Have Schroeder come in at the six minute mark when Lebron checks out, and literally shoot Schroder out of cannon and and then and then run. I'd run Caruso with him because then the two of them are such great ball pressure guards. Okay, so you run in that role as well.

But the bottom line is is then your defense is picking up and you've got, you know, Schroder being optimized in what he's bringing to the table. But it's clear that that's not gonna happen. So the realities, I'm with you. It's about effort. It's about, honestly, just getting Anthony Davis to understand that he's the fourth best player in the world or even better potentially, and that the only way that they're going to be positive in the Lebron off

minutes is that if you start playing up to your potential. Um. I do think that that's going to correct over time. The bench is too talented. I think that. I think that most of that weird statistical anomaly has to do with with their scheduling and just guys not really playing

particularly hard. All right, let's seem do you think Lebron could snag an m v P so as I As I said earlier in the show, I think there's an outside shot for it, and it's pretty much dependent on no rising star, meaning like guys like Luca, you know, continue to be floundering around the bottom of the standings, guys like Janice not getting votes because the NBA is kind of sick of him in his regular season stuff.

And then the Lakers just kind of ending up at the top of the standings by a decent margin two or three games. And and part of that involves Anthony Davis struggling. Like if Anthony Davis is right there with him, I don't think he could get it either. So for me, it's like an outside shot. I don't I think he'll be right up in there in the voting, but I don't necessarily see it as a realistic outcome unless a lot of things break his way. Yeah, exactly. I just think,

like Anthony, you can't. I don't know, Lebron can't win an MVP with Anthony Davis next to him, Like, I just don't see that happening. I don't see that getting voted for. And like you said, that means Anthony Davis had a really bad season, which again that means a lot worse than than Lebron just getting his his m v P. Exactly. Cous still doesn't have a designated role on this team. What is what is his best way

to be effective on offense? What do you think? Yeah, it's tough, Like he still looks like he doesn't know where to be where shots should come from. Um, he seems like a guy who takes a lot of like he checked shots before he's hit a shot. It's it's a funny kind of thing that he does take like a contested three. Um. Yeah, I feel like he just needs to be a little like you could tell he's

thinking out there and he's playing with a lot of lineups. Um. Even when he started, he was playing well, but now he still seems kind of lost his defense, kind of stick step step back, Um, so I really don't know. I think it's all in his head, like he's he needs to just stay stay in spotting up, stay cutting off a Marcasol like that's where he should be getting

his shots. He takes a lot of like like he's one of the few people on the team who catches the ball and holds it, and we're like jab step and try to like figure out what to do from there. They'll have like beautiful ball movement and the ball will get to him, you know, like hold it jab step, look like if he can do a one on one move and I just like him to get a little them on the flow. I think that will happen as he gets more committed to the lineups he's playing in.

But yeah, I think that just comes with time and hopefully his shot it's kind of it's still up and down, but he's he's been pretty well doing catch and shoot. He's still pretty automatic on the corners. So I don't know what else to ask ask for him right now, but he needs to be better for sure. Yeah. I think I think that he's going through a similar thing

that a lot of basketball players do. You're seeing Kelly Ubre go through it right now where he's he's really trying to find what his role is on the team, and the way he's coping with it is by being like kind of forcing the issue and by like, you brought up a great point. Kelly Ubre does this all the time for whatever reason. Kelly Ubre and Kyle Kuzma's first shot of the game tends to be an extremely difficult shot, and if it goes in, then the whole

night changes for them and they feel great. But if they miss it, it like starts them off on a bad note and then it just can kind of spiral

out of control from there. And it's crazy because, like, the truth of the matter is if they actually let the game come to them and made sure that their first one or two shot attempts every game was an easy shot in the flow of the offense, balanced and open, it would actually trigger them into being in a better rhythm so that they could make them more difficult shots later on. But I've I've said this about seventeen times about Kyle Kuzma, and it's the truth. Kyle Kuzma is

what he is an inconsistent basketball player. It's not just in his results, it's in his methods. He's inconsistent with his defensive effort, he's inconsistent with his form on his jump shots. So that's a natural side effect of that is gonna be he's gonna have night spare goes in and he's gonna have night sports. Not Sometimes he's kicking his legs, sometimes he's landing straight up and down. Sometimes

he's fading, sometimes he's more balanced. Like every everything about what Kyle Kuzma does changes on a night tonight basis, and that inherently is going to lead to inconsistent results. This is just this is the Kyle Kuzma experience. I do think the glass half full thing is as he gets older, as he becomes a more savvy veteran, he's gonna learn how to replicate his good nights better just by by just learning and maturing as a basketball player and as a person. So I'm not overly overly concerned

by it. All Right, let's see, do you expect Mark to be more involved in the offense by season's end. I've been a little disappointment disappointed in his utilization thus far. What do you think? Yeah, I hope so, Like his assists have been weighed down the last few games, I think he had like zero too, and like one assist. Um, you can tell they're trying to learn how to play off him. I think Lebron's got it pretty well, but the other guys are still trying to learn um, and

he's got to take the jump shot. Like that's there. Like I feel like him passing up that jump shot kind of just leads to all the other bad things teams can drop in the paint, and then his passes aren't aren't as open um. He's had a few turnovers with that um. But yeah, like I think the more important thing is like him and a d need to learn like how to make advantages out of each other, Like how to bend defense is to where like you can't guard one or the other, you know what I mean.

Like that's where like the more important thing is. I think him a shooter a nice connection, but like that's where we important in the playoffs. Um, that's whole point of getting Marcosol, Right, You're trading in the like shop blocking for the offense. Like that's basically what the Lakers did this off season basically. So I think that's where I would like to see a little more. But he's you know, he's a thirty, he's in his mid thirties. He's gonna be um going slowly into this into this

season as well. So I hope so, like I said this before, like I would like to see him get a touch every single time down the floor, like he's he's just too unselfish, not too It's not like he's gonna hold it, you know, jabs to drop drop hook like jump hook, like he's gonna make the right play every time. And I would like to see him get a touch every time. He goes way too long, like they'll just go up and down six times before he

even gets to touch. In the post and against the Spurs, he was getting guarded by damarda Rosen, Like put him in the post, like, you know, give him a give him a shot. I would like him to see, see him more involved. Yeah, I agree. I think I think you can keep him involved with that at this serrupting the rhythm of the other guys on the floor. Um, some of this, some of this, as far as utilization goes, comes in time because you know marcosol is is this kind of goes back to what I was talking about

with point guards. Later one of one of the there's there's been a good side and a bad side to what has happened in the NBA over the last several over the last decade. The good side is that every single higher end player in the league is more skilled individually. Everyone can dribble better than they used to be able to twenty years ago. Everyone has more variations of different shot attempts that they can get off against different types

of defense at any at any given point. Where where there has been a decrease is there's been so much of this James Harden ball and pace in space and drive and kick that there's actually kind of like a limitation in the traditional forms of basketball like backdoor cuts and deep seals and high lows and and and different sort of off ball actions that that that that people used to rely on in older iterations of basketball, And that doesn't mean that it needs to happen all the time,

but means that when a guy like Marcosol gets involved in an offense, you're the guys on the floor aren't used to playing with a really really smart player that's gonna get them, that's gonna be able to hit them when they go on the back door cut you know, and it's funny because you know, it was kind of fun watching Lebron and Shrewder last night kind of have a little bit of an off ball thing going on, where on these Lebron post that Shrewder was cutting through,

and sometimes Lebron hit him for a floater, sometimes he cut through the other end. Sometimes there are being over help and he'd pop out for three and and you can see that chemistry building. It just takes time. As long as Marcus All can stay on the floor defensively, which has a lot to do with just matchups, that these guys are gonna learn how to play with him better and they're gonna understand that it's gonna open everything up for them. Um, there's they they're still putting him

at the dunker spot a little bit more than I like. Um, I think it makes way more sense to have him at the top of the key. Is a post entry guy, and like you said, a guy that you swing the ball to that every possession that's just gonna continue to move it and keep thinking that that keeps the defense shifting from one side of the floor to the other, while at the same time not disrupting the effort of

the or the rhythm of the other players exactly. Alrighty uh, why do you think Vogel doesn't use a all switching defense, especially with having Montrez. I'll take this one first. So the switching defenses require a certain type of personnel. The Lakers, if you actually like wrote down all of their heights and what their specialties are, they have a lot of uh. They have a lot of players on the shorter end of the spectrum, and they have a lot of players

on the taller end of the spectrum. They don't have a lot of big switchy wings. They just don't have many of them. There's basically two on the roster in uh in In Lebron and Kyle Kuzma. So the reality is, if you look at a team like the Warriors in two thousand nineteen or two thousand eighteen, they're running lineups with Kevin Durant, andre A Guadala, Clay Thompson, you know they're they're running a lot of these bigger, switchy wings. So it makes more sense within their personnel to run

a switching the defensive scheme. The Lakers have one of the best defensive rim protectors in the history of basketball, and Anthony Davis and the Lakers have a bunch of these quick, high effort, you know, ball pressure guards, guys like Casey, guys like Alex Cruzo, guys like Dennis Shrewder that are up in everybody's shirt and forcing them to forcing them off the three point line, into their height

and into their their shot blocking. So running a switching scheme for them doesn't necessarily lend itself to the personnel that they have, and it's one of the biggest reasons why I think that the Clippers have always been a bigger than usual threat to the Lakers, even though I

still think the Lakers are a better team. They're kind of set up to attack some of the weaknesses in the Laker defense, But the Laker defense is specifically designed for their personnelity, something that I appreciate about Frank Vogel. They they they they they have built their scheme to their personnel, even to the extent of making a change in their pick and roll coverage based on the loss of Javailan Dwight. So I think it's I think you

try us. These guys. They're pros, they know what they're doing. They've they've watched the tape. They've analyzed what their strengths and weaknesses are and they've built a scheme around that and it works. And and switching for these guys would actually be a negative, not a positive. What do you think, Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like you said earlier, like the Lakers trump card RSE eight at the five, and like that's with Lebron eight at the five, and that's where you can kind

of switch. That's what kind of makes a d the unicorn. He is um. You can switch on to Dame, switch on into these uh smaller cards. But like right now, when you're playing a traditional five, I know Harrow is a undersized, but he's still a traditional kind of big um when you're playing him in Marcasol. It just doesn't make sense to have guys just on an island like that switched onto these guards. It's just your defense is gonna give up a million points, you canna get a

bunch of gibral penetration. So I think you're right. It is better to have a scheme that's uh goes with his players. So that's what we should be doing. That's what he does. And I think a lot of it's gonna change a lot of the fortunes defense, and they're gonna change when when KCP comes back. I mean, at

the end of the day, he's a star. KCP has been the biggest like kind of breath of fresh air for Laker fans in the last couple of years in the sense that he used to be kind of the butt of the joke because he was missed passed as like a not a primary ball handler, but like a

secondary ball handler with those bad Laker teams. And like now now he's he's been kind of like focused into this like you know, intense ball pressure, perimeter defense role mixed with like just really simplified spot up offensive role where he's catching and shooting and catching and driving where he's just a ridiculous one like leaper that that that can finish around the rim and then and then getting

out in transition. And like ECP is a really, really good player that the Lakers have been playing without for the last little while. And you know, it's it's like with th HD. You know, uh, you talked about this earlier. He's just not ready to really make primary decisions. He has all the talent in the world. He's gonna start seeing the floor better eventually, but that's gonna come in time.

He's not a guy that the Lakers can depend on this season, and sou the reality is he's been playing a lot and asks to do a lot because the Cruizo being out, because the k CP being out, Like he's he's he's gonna kind of fade out of the rotation as as he should. He's gonna be guess what, He's gonna be a Laker for a long time that no one needs to worry about unless I trade him. But like he's gonna be involved. They don't need him this year. Anything they get from him is just absolutely

like gravy they have. They have a lot of depth in the back court this year that they didn't really have last year. And and like I think, like, uh, my guess is that as the schedule picks up here before the end of the month, that you're going to see a lot of really dominant Laker performances because the

talent really is there. And the biggest thing is that there is no other team in the league that is separating themselves like like the the the Philly has been the one team that's been that's been better than the Lakers with their record, and also just with with impression around the league, and the Lakers literally have Marcus al who's one of the best Joe LMB defenders in the entire league. Like, what a great UH like weapon to have for that specific matchup, Like if I if I

was a Laker fan. Even with this crazy uh inconsistent and disappointing as the start has been, there are a lot of reasons to be really optimistic about what this could eventually look like as time goes on. Yeah, and I have these notes here, have a Jason tim podcast notes. In my final note here is like does any of this matter? Because I looked at up like you said, that Trump card was lebron N d at the five.

It's really just lebron and a D lebron N d R plus seventeen um net rating together this year, they're they have a hundred and two point five defensive rating. That would be the number one pretty clearly. Calves are number one right now, which just doesn't make any sense. But um, yeah, so that's pretty much it. Like all these other things are obviously luxuries, like treads, the luxury in the playoffs. Um, it's gonna come down to those two and I think they're still the best duo UM

in the league. And you saw last night, like there's I mean, I watched the Clipper I don't know, you got to watch the Clipper game last night? Yeah, own it. And they don't ask you about that because they obviously have a new motion offense and everything right that's going on. But once it goes down to that like late game situation, it's still give the ball to your star player and get out the way. Like I saw that, and I'm just thinking, like, that's what the playoffs is about. It's

about giving the ball to your best players. And I think the Lakers still have the top two UM top too going well. And I thought there was a lot of interesting stuff about that game last night, because, like you know, I I thought a lot before the season about how how I would rank the players in the league, and I thought that UM, even after everything that went wrong for the Warriors and for Steph last year, that I thought he was still the second best player in

the league. And a lot of that had to do with the fact that Steph and Lebron are are the two best players in the world in my opinion, at generating easy shots for their teammates, and that is such an immensely valuable thing that constantly gets glossed over because the Clippers from top to bottom are filled with all of these players like Lou Williams, like Kawhi Leonard, like Paul George, like Reggie Jackson, like Marcus Morris, even guys who are who have developed a skill set that helps

them make extremely difficult shots. But the problem is is that when deep at the end of these close games, when defenses really dial in, basketball has a tendency to degenerate into a lot of isolation because guys are grabbing and holding off the ball, they're switching screens, just nothing's open in your traditional actions, even within the trying offense that they're allegedly running, which uh my, guy Vene says

that they're not actually running it at all whatsoever. So the point is is the Clippers, it's really easy to stagnate their offense, and when you stagnate their offense, they have a tendency to have these terrible runs where there you know, there was another one last night where they gave it was like four run or something like that against the Warriors. Whereas guys like Lebron and Steph when offenses stagnate, they actually can continue to generate open looks.

Steph by getting double team far away from the basket and getting guys into position where they can play four on three or three on two and Lebron with the ability to basically back down to the basket until a second defender comes and start a three on two on the perimeter where it either is a one pass away three or two pass away three or something along those lines.

Those two guys have a sense with the floor of how to continue to generate easy shots when basketball degenerates, while at the same time having the ability to make the difficult shots that you also need to be able to make. And that's why I think they're the two best players in the world. And I think last night was another great example of that. The game degenerated. Steph kept the floor open with his playing style while things really congested and slowed down for the Clippers, and they

literally fell apart. And the problem for the Clippers is good luck finding a good discounted point guards somewhere on the market with them not having any assets, no draft picks, no players that anyone around the lead wants, except for their two stars. That that they don't They don't really have a lot of options, and it's one of the biggest reasons why I'm not particularly worried about them compared

to some of the other teams in the league. Yeah. Right, and and we'll see they're trying to make Paul George the point guard, um the defective point card. And again their offense loves beautiful. Those first three quarters are running

like seperactions, getting him like corner three. But once like the game slows down and I'm just watching it, just reminding me of the playoffs, running of the bubble, not just the you know, just them being blowing a lead, but like just looking at the offense, how it boils down into the playoffs. And like you said, you watch the rest of the league, Um, you know that other than Philly, who has two losses, like you talked about, it's pretty much just open season. Utah blew out the

Bucks last night. I mean, it's just a weird season. So right now, it's just a time to stack up wins. However you can get them one point wins, twenty point wins. We just put them up and then from there you can get a rhythm in March and hopefully this team is hitting on cylinders. When when that happens, well, hopefully the fans are a lot in the stadium in time

for the playoffs. That would be great because if fans were allowed in time for the playoffs, the Lakers seem to have a decent track to potentially get the number one overall seat, which would which would be interesting because um, you know, the Lakers were as dominant as they were last year without the Staples. Faithful they're behind them. Um. Anyway, Roger, thank you guys so much. Everybody for listening in. Roch thank you for taking time out of your weekend. I'm

glad we got this knocked out early. Everybody can go back to relaxing again. I really appreciate all of your support. Roger. I appreciate you being a consistent guest. You know, I always love having you on UM. But I hope you have a good rest of your weekend and I'll talk to you guys later. Appreciate man, thank you for having me