Episode 24: NBA MVP Craziness And Lakers Deep Dive With Vinay Killawalla @VKillem

the weekend. Yeah, I was venting to you a little bit before we got started about how I need to do a better job of showing a little more self control because I get I'm I'm easily riled up with this kind of stuff. Um, But like like I told you earlier, I'm going to turn thirty this year. Maybe this is the year that I finally, uh learn how to how to stop myself. But we're gonna talk about

the MVP for a little bit. Uh. We have a three or four like interesting Laker topics that I've been wanting to bounce off of you and uh kind of get your opinions on. And then if we have some time at the end we're gonna bounce around to some other teams and as usual, guys, if you have any questions, drop them in the comments and if we have some

time at the end, we'll take them. But so, uh, to kind of frame the the MVP debate, you know, really quickly, I just want to lay out what I think is the basketball on court case for Lebron to be where he is in the MVP debate right now.

And uh, I think that's important because once again, just like last year, they're all these people coming out of the woodwork and you know, trying to make the case that this is a narrative type of conversation or that is to some sort of you know, lifetime achievement award and make it not about basketball with Lebron, which is exactly what happened last year when he got into the conversation. And of course I think that's completely dishonest. So I want to lay out the basketball case and to make

it really simple. The one seed in the Western for is immensely important this year. Why because the Utah Jazz turned out to be so good. There's like two bona fide contenders beneath the Lakers that that they're gonna have to deal with in the West, and so getting the one seed is the difference between having to beat two of those guys in the playoff run and having to beat one of those guys in the playoffs. And then the second part of that is the fact that Anthony

Davis has been hurt. Because of Anthony davis Is injury and because some of the cold shooting that the Lakers have been dealing with after Lebron on the roster, they haven't been a very good team this year overall in terms of their talent. Now that's not Anthony Davis's fault, he's just dealing with an injury. He'll eventually come back to form. I think we all agree with that, but this isn't some jugger not roster that we expected coming

into the season because of some of those issues. And Lebron is taking that challenge personally because he knows how important that one seed is. When he's on the floor, their plus thirteen per one hundred possessions. When he's off the floor, their minus three per one hundred possessions. And even when a d and Dennis Shrewterre on the floor,

their minus three per one hundred possessions. So Lebron knows I have to be out there in order for us to win these games, and he knows if he sits out, it could potentially put them in a situation where they

have to beat both the Jazz and the Clippers. That's why his availability matters, and it is something that he has taken personally, and it is something that absolutely factors into is a case for m v P. As far as the numbers goes, that's the most common thing you'll hear is you know, Kauai has got more points per game,

or Joel and Bead has more points per game. And what I would say is like, it's very important for us all as a basketball community to kind of understand the fact that that the counting stats aren't necessarily what they used to be because of some of the crazy stuff going on with the way offenses are run these days. Sixteen players in the NBA right now are averaging over

fifteen points per game. In two thousand and fifteen, that was four, okay, So it's very clear that the averaging somewhere between twenty five and thirty points per game doesn't necessarily mean the same thing that it used to. A lot of that has to do with pace, A lot of that has to do with just the way that

these offenses are structured. But the question is are you scoring. Yeah, all Lebron, Kauai and e beat are all scoring the basketball, and they're all doing it efficiently, and a handful of points per game here, they're a handful of percentages in the field goal percentage isn't going to make up that much of a difference, especially when you factor in the fact that Lebron is five times the pastor that both

of those guys are right. I just I just think it's important to remember that, you know, because of how important this regular season is for the standings if the Lakers happen to hoist the trophy at some point, what Lebron is doing right now, trying to float this thing while guys get healthy, trying to float this thing while they try to find their legs and get their rotations figured out, it's immensely valuable to what they're doing. And

it's a real on court basketball case. He's scoring the ball, he's playing point guard like he's CP three, and he's defending at an extremely high level, and and and it's been completely glossed over as a as a dishonest attempt to try to pretend like he doesn't belong in this conversation. Yeah, so, so I think, UM, I think the m v P conversation is I think what you said at the very beginning is is very similar to what's going on this season.

There's you know, a very clear cut candidate um on on one side of the spectrum, with Joel Embid who certainly has probably one of the best uh so far through this season candidacies for an m v P, especially with them leading with you know, with the Nets being like the super team basically, and you know, with the Bucks also loading up for the Sixers to be at the very top. UM, that is definitely something that that

warrants that conversations. Having a great season UM, scoring, rebounding, assisting the team looks better, the roster construction around the team looks better, a lot of good things that come

out of the six Ers. UM. But I think that the I think a pattern that I saw last season, which is a pattern that I see this season, is that it seems as though national media coverage keeps pitting these m VP conversations into the lebron and then the anti Lebron candidate, it's never it's you know, I I know that the NBA does like the the m v P ladder, and they do all this stuff and then

they have crazy swings on those ladders. Your cage for was like a number seven ranking and then after one week he's skyrocketed to like the very second spot or something outrageous. And for the Warriors fans, because I know you do have Warrior fans who listening in on this, they're doing that intentionally with step by keeping them at the very bottom of that because they know that you're gonna get mad about it, and so like my advice

to them is don't get mad about it. Like, if you're looking at national media conversations about m v P stuff, their goal is engagement. Their goal is not a real basketball conversation. And you know, I tweeted tweeted this the other day. Um, I'm just I don't like getting in the conversations anymore about m v P STA because it's not about basketball anymore. There's a basketball case for Joel Embi to be the m v P. There's a basketball case for Lebron James to be the m v P.

Last season it was the same thing. Jianna has had a great case to be the m v P and Lebron had a great case to be the m v P. Forget the narrative stuff, forget Kobe's tragedy, forget all that stuff. There was a basketball case for Lebron to be an MVP last year. He didn't win it, but he got some votes. Cool, whatever, it's the same thing now. And the part that that's frustrating and the reason why I don't get into these conversations, and I know that you

get frustrated by this too. We talked about this off offline. Um, it's because people just want to They're like, oh god, this is a narrative based thing. But then they use the narrative based stuff in their arguments when they're arguing, Like if you're going to make if you're gonna say that there's basketball cases on both sides, at least argue that, you know, I mean, like talk about the plus minuses.

Talk about the fact that Lebron is shooting over which is something I don't think he's ever done in the regular season like before, Like his shooting percentages are looking really crazy. The Lakers are winning even with Antie Davis. As a Laker fan, I can objectively tell you Anti Davis has not been good this year, Like he's not

even good to his own level. And I know that, you know, injuries are a part of that um and he has student Laker family is going to tell you that he hasn't looked like he's like in shape, he hasn't looked like his conditioning is right. But learn looks like a finally you know, fine tuned machine. And he's still rolling the same way he always does. And that's his m v P case right there. The Clippers are better. The Jazz like better as compared to last season. Their

roster is better and there coaching better. The Jazz are healthy, they look great. Denver started off a little bit slow, they lost Jeremy Grant, but now they look really great. Yoki's just playing really great. There's a lot of great teams in the Western Conference and we can see that in the disparity when we look at like I think like the eighth seed or the in in the Western Conference would be like the third seed in the Eastern

Conference or something like that. It's very competitive. So your case of your example of like the Lakers are still the number two seed right now, that's a big deal, like yeah, and and and that right and then so that's not something that you can just excuse. And Um, I think the problem with these m v P cases or these conversations is it's always turns into a this guy and then anti this guy, or turns into this fan base and anti this fan base as opposed to

just talking about the field of play. And I think that's the part that I don't like it, the part that's the reason why I don't get those conversations. But you're right, I think there is a basketball case for Labron to be um an m v P candy. Does it mean that he get he earned it over Joel Embiid No, because we're only like we're lessing thirty games

into the season. Let the entire season play out. Right, last season, when we got about to the to the midway of mark, before the Lakers got a chance to play a second game against the Bucks, people had already decided that Giannice was going to win the m v P. It was it was a foregone conclusion right that he

was gonna win. And and one of the biggest things that I kept hearing UM when it came to both his MVP candidacy and his defensive player candidacy, the Player of the Year Candiday, because Anthony Davis was the guy who was supposed to be competing for that award with him. Was all the advanced metrics that were attached to Giannice

and how good they were. And when people tried to make that, including myself, tried to make a basketball case that the teams that he and I think you actually said this, that the very bad teams in the East are really really bad compared to the very a teams in the West not being as bad as the teams that he's inflating some of those advanced mets. And their division was terrible. So they were basically, in particular, they were playing every team in their division four times and

beating them by twenty to thirty points. Everything. It was like it was like a chipper shredder that just messed up all their advanced metrics, right, and and so you know my argument. So I had the same argument, and I understand folks saying, look, it's not our fault that other teams. You know, I I completely agreed with Bucks fans saying, look, it's not your fault. That other teams can't get their you know, get their crap together and

then put competitives. That's not Geonice's fault, but that's like, but but the argument that I think we were trying to make was at least level like, at least take that advanced metrics part of the conversation out. If you can acknowledge that the teams that that that that he's beating up on are much worse than the ones that the Lakers are beating up on, then at least it

levels a conversation out. And I think like for me, like towards the end of the season, my thing was just like, um, my thing was, if Lebron is not gonna win it, it should be a closer vote than the way people are making it sound. And I think that's the same thing that I'm trying to say now that Joel embiid. If I had to pick an award right now, like if I had to pick, I wouldn't mind giving it the Joel. I'd have no problem if you want, if he wins it, Lakers don't have a

one seed. Um Lebron, there's voter fatigue behind him. I understand if he's not if he doesn't win it, and Joel's carrying a team that wasn't expected to be as great as the Nets, or as the Bucks or or the even the Heat, you know, um, and so I understand him getting it. But the way that folks talk about it is like there's this vast chasm of difference between these two guys, and it's just not that way. If you watch the game, le Braun has strengths, he

has weaknesses. Joel Embiad has strengths. Joel Embiad has weaknesses. We just watched them lose last night to the Portland Trailer Blazers. Some of that stuff was in Joel's hands, some of that stuff was in you know, his teammates hands and stuff like that. But that's just how the game of basketball works, and people have to start, you know, if you're gonna have these m VP conversations, make a

basketball case for it. Don't give me a metric base case, because metric don't necessarily um what's it called that they don't necessarily display or accurately represent exactly what's happening. Because if you're going to use a metric base case, then I'm pretty sure I can make a solid case for Steph Curry. I can make a solid case for Bradley Field.

I can make a solid case for Zach Lavine. There's I can make a solid case right now for Jimmy Butler that Jimmy Butler should be the m v P because the heat looked terrible without him, and when he plays, they can't they just keep winning. So that that's my thing, Like people gotta start like, let's talk basketball, man, like we we gotta stop doing this thing where it's just like we're arbitrarily picking stuff to to fluff up our

guy and stuff like that. And so that's my thing. Um, but I do you know that's my long rent, But

I do agree with you. I think Lebron has a great case for an MVP this season, especially considering all the factors, you know, Anty Davis not playing or not playing well at all, him having to integrate this roster of new guys in um and they're still winning games and um, Look, there was a lot conversation the national media about the Lakers defense not being good because they lost Dwight Haward and JaVale McGhee, who are somewhat successful in their new new stops and stuff. I got and

the Lakers are still winning. We did the same exercise last season when everybody told us all Lakers are playing two bigs in enough spacing, there's no way that they're gonna win games, and then they they were ripping off like seven ten game win streaks and stuff. I got at some point we have to stop with the with the nonsense, right, like, enough with the Lebron anti Lebron stuff, enough with the like Lakers anti Lakers stuff. Let's talk

about basketball. Or what's going to end up happening is that all the same people last season that spent the whole season picking the Clippers, then picking the Blazers, then picking the Rockets, then picking the Heat, all the people who kept trying to pick different teams every single time, you're gonna end up doing it two years in a row. Because if the Lakers, you know, beat the expectations like they did last season, they have a solid shot at

another championship. And if they win another championship, that's two years of your life you've wasted arguing something that you already knew was disingenuous from the beginning. And so that's my thing, Like, if we want better basketball conversations, on Twitter, man, like, let's talk basketball. Enough enough with this stuff. You're a basketball guy. I'm a basketball guy, Like, let's talk about basketball.

I don't I don't win, you know, I'm not interested in winning arguments over a technicality because you use the word clutch and you didn't use the word fourth quarter. That's my thing, and um, it's it's It's just that's my stance. I think Lebron has a really good case. And um, look, if they keep winning and Anthony Davis is out longer and longer, it's gonna get hard for you to say that that he doesn't that that he doesn't have a case. And um, yeah, that's it, man.

That that that's that's my like biggest stance in regards to like the m v P stuff. There's a lot of great, great players in the league. This is a great season, outrageous shooting. It's crazy how many scores are. There are a lot of m VP candidates, But in the end of differentiators, who's winning games. Um, you can't put Nicola Yoki above Steph Curry if they have the same record. It it doesn't work. The one guy doesn't

have a better case than the other. You gotta look at like the top three teams, figure out who the best player on that team is, and give that guy MVP looks. That's how the way the ward is supposed to work, in my opinion, And that was one of the big things that I was pointing out when I would talk about it with people's you know, when I when I would make a case, I would and I did this last year when I made Lebron's case, I pointed to clear obvious, you know, a precedent for how

we used to choose the award. We used to always choose award based on three things, kind of like a combination of who's the best player in the league, who's the best player on the best team, and who's been the most valuable, meaning like how much of a drop off is there when they're when they're not on the floor. That's always been the way that we've done it. And there have been years where certain categories were weighed a little bit heavier than the other, but it's always all

of those things. And and then there are other things we value. We value, you know, like what your availability was, and it's always been factored in Almost every MVP debate has been like you know, there's been a year I think it was two thousand seventeen or uh two, that's a sixth team. We're like, uh, lebron mised eight games and the Calves went oh and eight and it it hurt him in the MVP debate, not because they were bad without him, but because he wasn't available during those

games and there were players who played more. And it's it's always been part of that. But you know, it bothered me because we we checked in on the debate. That was what we did. We did the same thing we do every single year, you know, about the fourth quarter of fourth four season, a third, a way through the season, halfway through the season, we always just kind of, hey,

how does the MVP debate look? You know, and it was like we looked in and it was like, you know, we have three guys at the top, you know, Kawhile, lebron In and Joel Embiad and then there are a couple of guys that are that are on their heels. Like it was never this is over right now kind

of thing. It was. We were just we were just we were just checking in on it and all that, you know, and this has been the frustrating part about it, like no one, no one ever even considered the idea that Kauai or Joe l Embiad were in the debate

for any reason other than basketball. But for whatever reason, when it comes to Lebron, when his name gets brought up in these conversations, there's always this massive push that it's like that, it's like that, it's like a fake case, that it's this this strictly propaganda fueld case, And it's ridiculous because if you look back, there's never been a time that Lebron won the MVP when he shouldn't have.

In fact, there it's far more likely that you might be able to make the case that he should have won it in a particular season and he didn't than the other way around. So whatever you think there is in terms of media bias, that is that is putting Lebron into conversations he doesn't belong in. That hasn't happened.

So it's it's dishonest from the start, and that's what's so unfortunate because Lebron, you know, literally jokes before the season that he's going to to not even show up to the first month of the season, he's joking, but he says he's not even gonna show up because he needs some rest. And instead he shows up and completely attacks both sides of the ball and leads a damage like injured roster to within a half game of the

best record in the league. And then his name gets brought up in an MVP debate, and here come all these people trying to say that it that it's there, that it's there for the some sort of propaganda, a base reason, and that that was the only thing that was frustrating to me, because like, you know, uh, I feel like when I approached these kinds of things, and you and I talked about this before we went live, and I feel like when I talk about these kinds

of things, I try to take a moderate approach, you know, Like I'll be like, you know, I think Lebron is better than Steph Curry. I don't think Steph Curry has ever really had a claim to best player in the world. However, I think he I think he's been top five consistently since two thousand thirteen, and as of right now, I

think he's the second best player in the world. Like that would be like my completely reasonable, moderate opinion for for why I think Lebron is better than Steph, but the what I get back in return, Like I heard from people yesterday yesterday that Lebron hasn't even been in the top five of performers of performers this year, and it's like, like, what can I even you know, what, what common ground are we gonna find when I'm trying to approach this from a position of reason and you know, rational,

like kind of like uh like to try to find common ground, and you're over here telling me the guy sucks. Like I just I can't find common ground with you in that regard, and and I just im frustrated for for Lebron's sake, because like this is literally the first time since two thousand thirteen that he's had a bona fide pole position on the MVP Award through a third of the way through the season, because he's usually a

late season guy. He's the guy who makes a late run, and this is the first time he's had a real opportunity to to to to say that he's in first place at this point in the season, and it's literally just caused the basketball world to descend into chaos, and it's ridiculous, right, and and I and I get it right, Like I understand that, Like let's separate out NBA Twitter, which is crazy in itself, and national media. I understand

why national media does it. Okay, like they're not going to do a real basketball and house Nick Write, Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharp, uh Rachel Nichols, whoever, like you know, uh Nick Friedell, whoever else that they have, even the basketball guys, the Channing Fries, those guys. Those guys are not on the shows to do basketball analysis. They're not interested in that. What they're interested in doing is maximizing engagement and the

responsors from Yes, they're interested in entertainment. There's a reason why Zach Lowe gets on there. It sounds boring sometimes when he says it, and then he's off. It's a reason why certain guys are always constantly invited over and over again because they will take They're willing to take extreme positions in order to and and extreme positions and and criticism from NBA Twitter because they know they're gonna

get retweeted. They know they're gonna get Quoe tweeted with people calling him a dumbass or calling him whatever it is, The reason why they do all that sort of stuff is so that they get the engagement that ESPN needs.

And what ends up happening is the quality content like Zach Lowe will get moved behind the paywall because the people who are generally interested, sorry, genuinely interested in basketball will pay money to ESPN to go read his articles, whereas all the extremists, clickbait people are the ones that are out there for free because they're monetizing and agent and and and my last thing that I have to

say about this is what what's you know? When I first joined Twitter, I came into the conversation, like I joined hoping to have productive conversations. And what I learned is that the productive conversations only come from certain folks. Okay, and um, this is what I was telling you offline, that you have to find the people who have productive conversations about basketball, who talk about basketball stuff, and you have to just you have to accept that not everybody's

on Twitter for that. Some people are on there to argue, man, some people like to argue about hoops. And I'm not talking about barbershop guys, because even I like doing barbershop nonsense and stuff like that too. But there's people who genuinely just get on there. They love their players, you know, they love their favorite player and whatever it is, and and they're gonna root from them no matter what. They're gonna write for them no matter what. And that's fine,

Like I don't have any problem with that. That's what you're on Twitter for. That's you're on Twitter for. That's cool. But I'm just gonna mute you because you should keep showing up all my time because people keep trying to dunk on you because you're taking extreme positions over the player that you like. Whether it's Lebron or whether it's somebody else, it doesn't matter. So I just mute you and I continue. But the people who have real basketball conversations,

those are the people I'm gonna engage with. And I think I've noticed this also in your case. There is another thing to tell you. Off one, I think you genuinely want to have good basketball conversations with folks, and you keep getting looped into the extremist positions at times. And that's the exercise if you want to tell if you want to engage with NBA Twitter in a productive manner, you have to stop engaging with extreme folks. I'm not

saying you're doing that. I just think that, like people take positions and stuff like that, and so that that's a hard thing to co and look, Skip Bayliss is cashing checks off of this action, Nick right is cashing checks off with this action. As long as they can keep taking extreme positions, and people on NBA Twitter keep responding in extreme manners. They make money and we don't. And that's the problem. And uh, you know, I've always seen people say that NFL Twitter is better than NBA Twitter.

NFL Twitter's because they talk about football, right, They don't talk about other stuff, you know, like they talk about m VP and stuff like that, but they talk about football majority of the time, not about not about who's going to win this award and all that sert of stuff. So, you know, and obviously football is a little bit of a different sport. What helps is that it that that

it's so a team oriented. Um, but yeah, I agree with you, And I mean, I think we can put the m v P debate to rest for at least a couple more weeks. Yeah, then let's just just let it, let it breathe, let it, let it breathe and let us get through. At least, we don't even know what the second the second half of the schedule of freaking

looks like after the next six seven games. So but if it's Jazz lose tonight and the Lakers win, I will absolutely be going out of my way to to point out the very simple fact that this this team

is that the in the pole position. But we're gonna talk some Lakers, and we're gonna talk some actual basketball, and we're gonna start by by talking about the Laker offense because one of the interesting phenomenon that's phenomenon that's happened this year is that the Laker defense has has gotten better than it was last year, and yet with the influx of offensive talent, their offense is actually regrets.

For the season, I believe they're either seventh or eighth, but in their last fifteen games, they're eighteenth in the league in offensive efficiency. Um. Now, I have a theory about this, but I want to get your point of view first. Why do you think the Lakers have been struggling to score so far this season? So? Um, I think some of it has to do with integrating the

new guys. Um. There are all of the most important offensive role players, which is then Schroeder's position with him replacing Rondo, um Wes, Matthews up and down play uh Montrez, Harold playing the playing the center position at times, and stuff like that. I think that has the learning process with that has been less than UM, less than smooth. But now it's starting to smooth out a little bit

more UM and and that's what it is. The other thing is, from what I've noticed is UM Lebron's impact in certain lineups has changed, and and specifically what I mean is UM. The the idea was that if we put Dennis Shoulder in the starting lineup that his scoring and playmaking would help offload some of the scoring burden for the Lakers at the startup games. And for some games it has and so for some games it hasn't.

And so what I've noticed, at least over the past the course of the past fifteen or so games where they've had like the eighteen Frank offense, is that when the Lakers don't start off well offensively, it's usually Lebron who's who's kind of saving that offense, which is normal UM, especially with Anti Davis not playing as well you know, shooting as well as he did in the bubble. He started out, hotten out, and then before he got injured and sat out, he wasn't shooting that great from three

and all that sort of stuff. So Lebron has been exerting a little bit more energy. That doesn't mean that like shoulder isn't making plays or anything like that. It just means that, like he's still having to kind of score at the same sort of workload, attacked the rim, all that kind of stuff. Um, And I think what's happening is that last season the Lakers would go to this lineup in the second half where Lebron would kind of run the floor and he'd set guys up and

all that sort of stuff. And what's happened is that, Um, he used to have a little bit more energy in the sense that because he didn't have to do too much and he was just you know, with the starting line up, the starting line was okay. Um, when he goes into his second shift, he's gassed. So one of the lineups that the Lakers have run, which they stopped running, which I don't know if they're gonna bring back, is the all forwards lineup that all forwards lineup literally runs

outside of Montrese, three, three and D guys. So the idea is that Lebron is either going to get to the rim or he's gonna run pick and roll, or somebody's going to attack the rim and create for these other three guys. And that lineup has been terrible. It's been super bad. And I think the reason why it's been really bad is because Lebron is not tired, but like he's kind of like not attacking the rim as much with that lineup. And so what's ended up happening

is um defensively too, and yeah, and they've been too. Yeah, Markief has not been good rebounding and stuff. I got um, which he was really great at last season, but apparently this season. Last game was the first time Markief looked like the Marquis from last time. Yeah, so that that lineup has looked bad, so that I think the offensive has dropped down. But what's been interesting is after that Mark Kief West Matthews switched, they got switched out for

like Caruso and th ht. We noticed that the Lakers are getting to the rim a little bit more, the offensive a little bit better, the defense look a little bit better. That the energy was better because they weren't you know, being stifled on offense. Lebron was still kind of still facilitating picking his spots and stuff I got

with that second shift line up. So I think what's happening with the Lakers offense specifically is that they're still trying to figure out the correct combinations of players to keep a sustainable offense on the floor, and that is going to be a season long process. What doesn't help is when Anthony Davis gets hurt, uh and he misses games, because that's an important, you know, volume score for this team. When they try to stagger broad in and out, and

I think that's why their offense hasn't been good. They're still trying to figure out the line ups and um, some players not being you know as good as we expected to be, some guys playing really well, uh in for these stretches, it's kind of convoluted things a little bit more. And I think moving forward, it's going to be really important for Frank Vogel to find the right combinations of players on a nightly basis to win games. And that that's really what I think it comes down to.

I don't think they're a worse offensive team. I think it's just they need to work out their kings. Lakers don't run a five out offense. It's not a simplified offense where everybody just stands in their designated positions or fills this fine the in the designated positions. UM. I actually compare this situation to what like what Warrior fans have been complaining about when it comes to Steve Kerk's rotation and and like the up and down play of

Kelly Huber and stuff like that they do. The Warriors do not run a simplified offense. Nothing about what they do is simplified. Uh. It requires motion, It requires very very smart cutting. And when they lost Clay Thompson, Uh, they lost one of the smartest off ball cutter screen users in the NBA. What makes the Warriors so difficult to defend is not the split cut action, not the

elevator screens, not the relocation. That's that's all great, But what makes them elite like unguardable, is that Steph and Clay knew how to run off of screens which every way they wanted. There was no set curl or you know, no down screen pop out. It wasn't set. They get to make that decision, and Draymond would always hit those guys on time. And the reason why the Warriors are having some difficulty because Kelly Hubert doesn't know how to

do that. Uh, Andrew Wiggins doesn't know how to do that, and and that's why they're getting these games where they're up and down and because it because it messes with their senergy. And I think for the Lakers, we're seeing that same issue. We get some line ups that look great, some lives that don't look great, all of a sudden, the line if that didn't look great, all of a sudden looks good against a certain team. So those sort of things are all things you have to work out

during the course of the regular season. But I would bet money that a Steph led team and the Lebron lead team will eventually figure it out as the season goes on to a point where they can be competitive. And so that's that's why I think is happening with their offense. Yeah, is of like there's no reason to worry, yeah,

for for any reason. I mean, when you have a roster that's got Lebron and Anthony Davis, you know, two of the you know, the best offensive weapons that we have in this league, and you have the number one overall defense. You know, I'd rather be in that position than the option, you know, in a position where they're scoring really easily, but you're trying to, you know, pick some of the effort problems that they have. It's like, the effort stuff is there with exception of a handful

of knights against bad teams. They are defending in an extremely high level and they just need to figure out some stuff on the defensive ent. That's a much better predicament to be in. I agree with you that the lineups play a role. Um, I'm a big believer in you know, uh. You and I are gonna talk here in a few minutes about the Laker rotation. But to share a little anecdote, you know, when I uh, when I was playing at Arizona Christian University, I was picking

between three schools. I was an all conference selection out of my junior college, and I only had one year of eligibility left, so I was picking from only uh an ai A schools basically as Division ones wouldn't touch me as a result of my eligibility situation, and I kind of got my pick of the litter um to try to to pick a team, and and so I went for the team that was the best team. There was this team that had just made a deep postseason run the previous year and was bringing all their guys back.

And it was a team called a Christian University. They had really really good backcourt. I joined the team. I'm excited. I showed up to practice. He recruits another guy who I played with in junior college who was an awesome center. He recruits this guy from a D two out in Texas.

That was awesome. All of a sudden, we had eleven really good basketball players right and in a weird way, Like you know, it actually caused a lot of problems throughout the season with everybody's rhythm because it was so hard to figure out, like where your role was in the offense. Considering the fact that no one was paying playing over like twenty two minutes a game. You know, I was starting and playing like twenty two minutes a game. You know, so fro eighteen minutes of the game, I'm

coming in and out of the bench. You know, like there might be a game where you know, the guy that the guy who arting spot I took was literally an all conference player the previous season at the same school, like and and so there would be games when he had it going and I just didn't play as much. And and you you'll see that, like Wesley Matthews was a starting to guard for the best team in the league last year in the regular season, and now he's

borderline out of the rotation. So that sort of thing definitely disrupts things. However, like, I really don't think it's that complicated. I think there are two things that are primarily leading to this to this problem. For starters, they're defending like crazy, which is hard, and it takes a lot of energy. Historically, when you look at it, it just go to any players basketball reference page and the seasons where they're playing more defense. Lebron is a great

example of this. In the season where they're playing more defense, their efficiency tends to lower. In seasons where they're coasting on the defensive end, their efficiency efficiency seems to skyrocket. This is a big part of the fact that it just takes a lot out of your legs when you're consistently defending at at the level you are. And I really do think that the Lakers, because the Lakers have

actually they started amazing on defense. They were the best defense in the league for the first month of the season. They've been better since then. Like they're literally continually getting better at defense. In the last couple of weeks, they've held the Atlanta Hawks, the Boston Celtics, and the Denver Nuggets all below a hundred points. That's insane. You know, they're an extremely good defense, and it's wearing them out physically to the point where they're struggling a bit on

the offensive ent. The other part of it, in my opinion, is they're just randomly going through a pretty cold shooting stretch. I looked at the numbers earlier today, but in the last fifteen games, I think they're twenty seven in total three pointers made. Uh yeah, they're pretty Yeah, it wouldn't hurt them. The only reason and I think somebody somebody

messaged me to this. Um they're like, oh, somebody had a Laker fan of message me saying, oh, should we be concerned that their numbers are so they're shooting so poorly over like the past ten games or something like that. They it averages out to obviously with everybody's insane shooting precentages. That's really low, that's near the bottom. Um. The only thing I have to say to that is we just we're also like almost dead last in amounts of amount

of threes attempted. Like the Lakers just don't take threes, similar to like Miami. Miami was a really good three point shooting team, but the the their identity, their DNA was not to take threes. Their DNA was to get to the rim and then if they get wide open threes, then make sure it gets into the hands of their best three point shooters. And that's kind of what the Lakers. Lakers offense has been. But you're right, their three point

they're wide open shots. I think, especially against like these the overtime games that we went to, like it's been bad.

That's how Lebron I don't think anybody's and West, you know, not too many guys have been hitting open threes, but that but that's the issue is is like Lebron is the only guy on the roster who has been shooting well as of and so you know, even when you look at those numbers, like I think I think there were twenty six then total made, but they're still I think they're somewhere right around like fifteen and three point

percentage that came umber exactly. But they're not shooting particularly well. And if you take Lebrons shooting percentage shooting numbers out of that, it looks even uglier. And you know something that I talked about at length last year and mentioned to you several times is you know, this Laker roster because they defend so well, and because Lebron and a D are so good, and because Lebron is such a good closer. There's pretty much like three scenarios for the

way that Laker games play out. If the role players play poorly, they barely win. If their role players played pretty well, they win by like ten fifteen points. And if their role players play extremely well, they beat the ship out of you. Like that's the that's the way

that this team has been put together. And and as far as like a glass half full way of looking at it, last year, they had several stretches where they didn't shoot particularly well, including like a catastrophically bad stretch of shooting in the bubble in the seeding games, and they were in like the below at one point for for several games in a row, like it was in their heads they couldn't shoot, and then all of a sudden, they literally shot everybody's eyes out in the playoffs. So

like that's an important part of it. And then Anthony Davis's struggles is a big part of it as well, because he's the key to unlocking their defense and their their offense and their spacing and up particularly, Like you know, it's funny when you watch the film of Anthony Davis shooting three point shots in the bubble, everything is more compact, everything is more balanced, everything is more confident looking in the way that he shot, Like if you watch it,

it's kind of actually jarring the look because his release looks a little slower this year, and he just looks like he's struggling a bit with his confidence, particularly at the three point line. And I believe that will eventually work out in the positive direction for the Lakers, but that's a big part of why their their offenses struggled

a little bit. And but bottom line, like as you and I discussed earlier, you know, when you're projecting this team offense isn't anything I worry about because as they've just as they've shown throughout the last couple of years, they have a clear identity, and when it comes to the playoffs, like there's always a drop off in offensive production from regular season to playoff pretty much for every team, but for jump shooting teams, that's more of a drop

off than it is for teams that don't rely on that as much, like Utah Jazz for instance. I'm a little more worried about that translating to the playoffs. I'm taking forty something three three is a game and shooting over that's less likely to happen because in the playoffs, your legs get worn out, it's harder to make jump shots. You tend to go cold for extended stretches, is what

we see happen to Houston every single year. And and the Lakers, because they are a physically imposing offensive team that puts a lot of pressure on the rim, that is something that is less likely to experience the playoff drop off. And that's why it's not something that I worry about. But yeah, the reason why they've been struggling combination of just how hard they've been playing defensively and

how poorly they've been shooting from the three point one. Yeah, and I would say that even if even if the ipothsis is that they're getting worn out on the defensive party, it kind of makes sense considering the blueprint of our coaching staff and what our head coach kind of pre preaches. They're getting gassed out from all the defensive conditioning drills

they're basically having to do in these live games. And eventually, once you're conditioned, defensive conditioning and timeliness and and reaction time and all that sort of stuff, which has gotten better because we can use like Treads as an example of somebody who's gradually gotten better and better on his defensive effort and as well as his defensive reads. From the beginning of the season, he was completely lost and now like even like he's playing crunched my mits, which

I know a lot of Laquer fans don't like. I personally don't like it um either, But you know, obviously we don't have Anthony Davis and just solds a little bit slow, a little bit more slow footed, um against speed, you guys have to point now, yeah, yeah, but he's he's been better, like he's had He's had moments in games where he's you know, just completely stone walled a guy trying to get to the rim, or defending a lot better in the last like three or four games

than he was the rest of the season. Yeah, or he's getting like strips on smaller ball ball handlers and stuff like that. So there's stuff that's happening. Um, But this is defensive conditioning time and that sort of thing.

And I'm on the same page as you. I think there are very Um, there are hallmarks to a contending team which you can kind of rely on, and I'm not sure three point shooting is one of those hallmarks because, like you said, in the playoffs, once teams know that they're gonna have to play up to seven games, they scout out all your stuff. They scout out what sets you like to use. Um, good defensive teams, those scout

out everything you like to do. So you're not gonna be able to get the stuff that you normally like outside of maybe small stretches of basketball where teams have lapses defensively, for the most part, it's gonna come off of base you know, based off like transition play. Do you cause turnovers to defensive rebound well, that kind of stuff. Um, is there any variance to your offense or are you always relying on the three ball the corner three to

save you throughout games and stuff like that. So and and and so that's you know, I wouldn't stress it now either, Um, but I think you definitely have a case there that it maybe just all the defensive condition that they're trying to do. Um, that's that's causing some of the offensive slip. Yeah. And when I look at when I look at explicitly like the kind of things that are going to be important in a playoff series,

that the ability to attack particular matchups. I actually really really like how Dennis Shrewder and Montrez Harroll have added some wrinkles to the way that the offense looks in these games, because if you look at the playoffs last year, almost everything ran through Lebron in a d down the stretch of these games. And and ironically, like you know, uh, if they did both have a bad game, they would lose. You know, that was that was kind of like the idea.

And thankfully, because they're both so damn good, it didn't happen very often. But that was always the risk of playing the way that they played. Now when you look at it this year, you know, Mantrez and and Dennis kind of throw some wrinkles in there because Anthony Davis

has been struggling. Like it used to be, throw the ball down to Anthony Davis in the post and he was getting a basket, And there's some there's some point per possession data that would tell you Anthony Davis is having a great season in post ups, but that doesn't match up with the eye test, particularly the fact that it seems like a lot of times he has to give the ball up because he's not particularly seen or

very well and some other things along the lines. But the bottom line is he hasn't been able to be especially productive in terms of overall um you know, overall output in that role. So what's been ice is like they have these guys who are gifted an attacking matchups, like Dennis Shooter in particular, I love him when he gets a switch on to a center, he seems to have the ability to get that shoulder past him his

hip and get all the way the basket. And then with Montrez I, you know, I specifically in in certain matchups, he's kind of like an automatic basket in the locmos, like you know, when he would when he would be isolating against Al Horford. I didn't love it. There was some stuff there. I'd be like him, maybe that's not the best matchup for us to attack. But there was

a play. And you know, there was a play in that last game against Okay see where it's like he gets isolated on Mike Mscala and just crosses him out of his shoes and goes and dunks, dunks the dunk in overtime, there was a play where they threw the ball in the post in a mismatch to Darius Basley. I remember thinking, as I'm watching the game, like that

is an automatic basket. Like I was literally thinking like, oh my gosh, like this is a great this is a great uh look for us right here, and he went right through him basically was too skinny to stay in front of and me just more right throw into

the basket. Like it's hard to it's hard to quantify how valuable that is as especially if he can, especially if he can be a net positive or a net even on the defensive end, which as you and I discuss, he's been so much better recently, mainly because they have him more operating in space instead of just hovering around the basket and and it's uh the advantage with having much.

So I think one of the lineups that we've seen be somewhat successful um mainly because a D gets put in the defensive role while Montrez is kind of carrying the offense, is when they pair those two together and a D plays the center and he's just kind of

defending and stuff like that. But one of the reasons why I like that that tandem a little bit better is because what would happen last season is that when a D would get that left that left hand side block post, so the baseline guy would always be a speedy guy, right. And the only way that you can counter speed um is either you have more speed than the person that's out there to kind of beat those guys um, or you have to have a big, burly

guy that's that the these small guys can't handle. And one of the things that I think the Lakers have done a good job, and I think you're right, I think the wrinkles of schroder And and Montras, especially in late game situations, has created UM is something that teams are still a year behind. I think teams still expect Lebron to be the guy, uh, to to play some hero ball into some degree he has and the same

thing with Anthony Davis to be to be the hero guys. UM. But both Lebron, especially Lebron seems to be a little bit more aware that he needs him he needs to. UM. What's what's encourage Dennis Shoulder to to abuse his matchups or manches to abuse matchup. So so the play that you called, so there's two two examples that I tried

to share on the timeline. Uh, in the Boston matchup, Shorter had Daniel Tyson him and UH, it was a switch the Boston was switching everything and Lebron had semiosul or somebody like that on him, and like he could have tried it was it was a five out that he could have tried to drive on on semiogulate. Lakers are up at like three or four something, My god, but they definitely need a basket because Boston was kind of coming back and stuff like that. Momentum was in

their side. Uh, Dennis Shoulder called to the ball back and beats and draws and one foul lay up on Daniel Tis using a short hot floater, which is that Tony Parker special off the wrong foot, same same hand. It's like you only do that when you know that you're probably gonna get blocked from behind and you're trying to get that like small edge like on the blocker to make it. He makes that. He does it um

against Okay, see he did the same exact thing. He got a mismatch where he had his speed matchup, he had the speed advantage on his guy did the same exact thing. Took drove right handed, took it off the wrong foot, gotta lay up in over time that play where Montraz scores over over Baisley, he was trying to go to Lebron to the isolation on lu Dort, And if you watch that overtime, Lebron takes one shot in that entire overtime. The person everybody, it was, it was West,

it was Mantras, it was should nobody. Lebron never shot the ball until that isolation played. That I think made rounds on Bleacher Report about lu Dort defending Lebron and him missing like the game dagger or whatever you want to call it. Um, but he tries to go to shoulder, tries to go to Lebron for that I so, and Lebron gives it back to him. He says, no, no, you go to you go to Montrese because Mantrese has

a matchup there. So, like Lebron is encouraging these guys to be to be like, you guys are more than capable of winning this game without me. You guys are more than capable of winning your matchups without me. You

need to start doing that. And I think that bodes well that he's trying to do that, whether it's happening directly or you know, it's an active conversation, or if he's doing it, you know, like kind of passively in the in the course of the game, because that's going to help build confidence for these guys when in the playoffs teams sell out on them. Right when when we see the situation like the Danny Green missed wide open three, like we got Danny Green because we were hoping that

he would hit that three. It's fine he didn't. We still under winning the championship. But those are the moments that these guys need to be prepared for. There will be times where Lebron will get matched up against like an all defensive caliber guy like Lou dort And and and oki SE's basically running a shell zone, that box zone behind them because they don't want Lebron to drive on him. They want him to shoot a jump shot.

But a guy like Mantrese or a guy like Schroeder who's in all defensive caliber player himself, they'll have some sort of small advantage strength or speed that they have to take advantage of that because you just have to have some sort of variants in these late games situations. It. You know, as much as we like to um as much as we like to think about like basketball in in the Kobe and Jordan's era where it's give it to your best player, he has to shoot this crazy

contestant shot. That's not how I mean you you're a bron guy, like you know, that's not Lebron's like DNA. His DNA is to make the right play, find the right matchup, do the right thing. That he can't do it quickly. What's so funny about that too, is like, like, no, there was not any talk of the past to Wesley Matthews for that huge three at the end of the game in overtime. That was a huge shot. If I'm

not mistaking. It was less than a minute left. He drove into the paint, drew help, and drew an easy pass out to Wesley Matthews for three. And I remember sitting there thinking right after, I was like, I was like, every single time he does something like that and the guy misses the shot, it's a story worry. And yet there are so many plays throughout his career that was just another one, a footnote. But he's done that in

the playoffs too. There are so many games in Miami were like, he beat the Brooklyn Nets, or he beat the Boston Celtics by drawing Kevin Garnett into the paint and kicking the Chris Bosh in the corner for a pivotal shot at the end of the game. And and you know those those always get swept under the rug with Lebron because it's not as interesting as as as the fact that he failed doing the exact same thing. But I mean, you know, that was as I was watching the game, I was like, that is a huge

play that most stars in the league don't make. That was that was a play that you know and West and it feeds through the whole roster, like these guys like Wesley Matthews and Kyle Kuzma and and all of them are on the floor and they're thinking like I might get a shot here, and Lebron's gonna trust me, and so I need to knock it down, you know. And that that to me is it's you know, it's kind of like the uh, the dueling approaches to how

to close basketball games. But I don't think that there's any argument, any evidence that that's less effective than you know, the traditional Michael Jordan's way. And there's an argument that we made that it's more effective, right, And I mean that that last game that we saw to kind of put put a you know, and Samon on this is there was also a play in that I think it was in the overtime where Lebron sets up, you know,

he's basically telling Shorter like, back cut your guy. Like everybody's frozen defending their guy, and he's literally looking at Shorter saying back cut your guy, like I'll get you the ball bounds, and then uh like I think should got a Yeah, I think he got a lay up on one of them, right, Yeah, I remember there was a play in overtime we threw it backdoor cut to shoulder and it got barely knocked out of bounds with the Lakers kept possession, and then Lebron after the play

was like doing some body language stuff with the shoulder to be like yeah, we almost got him, Like yeah, I know. There was a play earlier in the game where he did actually hit shoulder on the back cut for a lap, which is probably why. Okay, so he was a little bit on top of it, but that kind of stuff is important. We talk about the guys who are heroic and do all these game winners and stuff like that, but we should also and that it's

not just specific to Lebron. There's many many Jimmy, but there's a great example of a guy who makes the right play at the end of the game to win a game, even if it means that he doesn't have to shoot um. But we have to start thinking about it in that manner. If you watch that play, the one that you're describing, anybody goes and rolls that game back. Watch Lebron's drive on that play. He has zero intention

to shoot the ball. He knows that all he's trying to do is sucking as many guys as he possibly can. So can you can find a wide open three. He's not even looking at the rim when he makes that play. Those things are are all important, And um, I think my original point was, I think that bodes well for the Lakers that he's trying to embolden his guys to be successful because he is an old man by basketball standards.

Uh be. It is still a long, consolidated season, and um, you know, I know we're gonna talk about his minutes, but like you do want to avoid those minutes stacking up too much. But the fact that these guys are hitting shots and clutch moments, obviously we would like to hit him. See them hit it in non clutch moments, so we don't have to run into these issues. But like the fact that they're able to hit it, there's a a positive feedback loop. There's a positive amount of

confidence reinforcement that comes for these situations. Last season, we knew that we were going to give the ball to Danny Green and we brought the angrying on to hit these clutch jumpers. This season, we're hoping that k CP can keep it up. The new guy West West Matthews can do it. We're hoping that Kuzman can also be that guy to some degree with some of his shooting that he's been doing. Like and same thing with Denni Schroder.

Schroeder was struggling with his scoring for a decent stretch of basketball so far through the games or whatever, and now he's starting to find his groove again. He was shorting all these threes that game, all of them, and then what what happens? Pump fakes mong guy in overtime takes us or maybe in the fourth quarter takes one step in and it's like, all right, I'm not taking this three takes like a long too, and he makes it, and I was just like, thank god he did that,

because I was just like, don't chase the three. Just taste the best shot, you know, because that's all we need. We don't need threes. So I think this stuff all bodes well in the long term. UM, and I think it will help this Lakers team as the season continues. On building confidence in these sort of situations, UH is important. I don't like ugly wins, but I like to call them character wins because you find out the character of your team, UH, if they're going to fight through UH

these sort of these sort of like battles at the end. Yeah, I agree, And uh, I'm I'm one of those I'm a big believer in the fact that, you know, if there's a silver lining to what happened in the last three games, it's the it's the the reps, the clutch reps that give you the confidence in those moments. Like Lebron having a really good clutch season to this point, to me makes me feel like when he gets into these moments in the playoffs, he's gonna have that confidence

back to de feed to feed off on. It reminds me a lot of Kobe in the late two thousand's, where like he was always a good clutch player, but he was almost at another level in clutch situations in the late two thousand's just because of the sheer amount of success that he had had and what he could

lean back on in terms of his confidence. Um. So, I think I'm probably gonna end up disagreeing with you on this rotation stuff because so when we were talking about what we were gonna talk about today, you had said that you wanted to talk about how we can get Wes and Marquee back in the rotation. And you know, I'm kind of the persuasion that you shouldn't get them

back in. And the reason why I feel that way is, uh, kind of like what I did the share earlier with the anecdote from when I was playing at Arizona Christian. You know, Uh, it makes it infinitely harder for the for the rest of the players and the roster to

get into a rhythm. And I think, let's be honest, like you know, when it comes to the front court, between Kuzma and Lebron and uh and Marcusol and Anthony Davis, there's just not as much of a need from Mark kief Now with a d out you need him, um, but there are just better options in that regard. And I know he did play really well against Okay see the other night, particularly defensively, had a couple of really nice defensive plays against Horford at the end of the game.

But he hasn't been great overall this season. And then as far as Wesley Matthew Matthews goes, I actually love the way he plays and I think he's a great fit. However, Uh, he's a professional and you can handle it in a way that you know, Casey, he's a little bit more hot and cold with the way his confidence works. Plus I think he's a better player. Uh, you know Crusoe, you absolutely have to play him. You know, talent, Horton Tucker.

There appears to be something there, something that could be dangerous in a good way in the playoffs, So you almost have to keep feeding that. And you can look Wesley Matthews in the face. And and to Frank's credit, he's been upfront with these guys. He didn't just show up and say I'm not playing you like he told them. He sat them down and said, just so you guys know, I'm taking you out of the rotation so that we

can get more minutes for our core nine guys. And and uh, Wesley Matthews has been on the record, like Franka handled it like a pro. And what I would say is, you know, knock on wood. You know, chances are they're gonna remain heavily involved as a result of load management for Anthony Davis and various injuries anyway, like Alex Caruso has showing a tendency to get banged up every once in a while, so they're gonna get to play.

So I think it's better to just you know, like the only thing that made me a little nervous was Mark Keith and his comments about played in the playoffs, So why am I not playing now? It's like, well, Dwight and Javeil were bad, so they got taken out of the rotation, and now we have Montrez who's actually playing in these situations. There's not as much minutes available for you. Yet I'm sorry, Like that's harsh realities, and and and and and the biggest difference I think is

that Kuzma's improved rebounding is better than even Marquis rebounding. Like, one of the things that we could always count on was even if Markis was a hitting threes, he was like that bruiser, like he would be the guy that would fight for the tough defensive rebound even if you're underside and stuff like that. And what we've seen is

Kuzma is the guy who's doing that this season. And one of the most noticeable things for me has been that when you have an undersize center like Montrese when he has to when he has to box out guys slidder like becauzoo Watch and Nicolaeo Kits and all these sort of guys, it takes all of him to do that. That means that he can't box somebody out and grab

the rebound at the same time. And last season, Markis was doing a good job of being that guy, of being the guy who um, if Anton Davis was occupied trying to box somebody out, he would come in and he would grab that defensive rebound, make the quick outlet pass like you just get out in transition. He hasn't been doing that this season. He's been really lazy. Um

when it comes to that part. I don't know if Vogels told him that, I would I would think that a smart basketball player, and I think Markie probably kind of knows this. He just took the opportunity to say what he did, like you would see on tape, like we're watching you not box guys out, you know, like that's like a bare minimum when we wasn't moving a rotating super well either, like mark was legitimately having a

bad season before. Yeah, particularly well yeah, So I mean the way I see it is it's maybe this was sort of that moment um, you know, him actually getting bench or Vogel showing this is like a Nick Nurse thing. This is Eric Spoelstra thing like, if you're not playing well, I gotta put you to the bench. Like to some degree, this is a meritocracy. We're not just gonna keep playing

you because you're terrible. Um. As a Laker fan, thinking about our coaching staff, I'm kind of glad that they did it because I don't want anybody feeling that they're comfortable in the positions they have that you know, in their roles and stuff. Got Um, there's an expectation that you should be a professional. I understand Anthony Davis taking

time off. I understand Lebron taking time off. Nobody else needs to take time off unless you're unless you're injured or something like that, because there are guys like Taylor Hornon Tucker who would love to take your spot, even if it means that they only get to play six state minutes a game or whatever minutes they play. So UM, I think there was a basketball reason why he wasn't getting played. I understand his frustrations. I don't think he's going to rock the boat because I don't know how

many teams will look into him. Um and giving seriously, I think they cut him pretty quick if that became an issue, but I doubt they'll become an issue. Yeah, So he didn't finish the statement saying that I'll do whatever, you know, whatever it takes to winning championships. I'm fine with it. So I think he was just he was being his normal self, being outspoken, but at the same

time trying to be a professional at the end of it. Yeah, and I get it, Like I mean, like guys who are wired like that that are super competitive, it's hard

to to handle that. But I mean the bottom line is is like they're going the I would imagine that even in the case where the Lakers are completely healthy, there will be matchups where you know marcasoul is not playing well, Montrez's lack of spacing is hurting the team, where you know Mark Keith is going to get his opportunity, and then Wesley Matthews, without a doubt, is going to get an opportunity. Plus, like Wesley Matthews is gonna be a huge guy to play in a Clippers series because

of his ability to guard to guard Kawhi Leonards. So I'm not I'm not worried about that at all, and in particular, such a pro you know what would solve this issue if the Lakers stopped stopped playing down to their competition, if they actually played the kind of basketball that we expected to play, there would be enough minutes for everybody. The reason we're stuck with nine nine man rotations is because we get too many lapses in defense and stuff. I got our our offense when we stretch

out to eleven. So if everybody does their job, there's there's minutes available for everybody. Um, but but or or if they make a shots, you know, if they make their threes. But if we're not, then this is the kind of stuff that happens for sure. And and so this is a perfect segue to, uh, to our our last topic. We a probably have time to touch on

other teams today, but we'll get to that some other time. Um. You know, you had mentioned controlling Lebron's minutes, and you know, uh, his minutes are inflated by the fact that they just played four overtime periods over the last three games. So that's like, that's that's twenty twenty minutes that's been thrown into the mix. Now. His minutes were up, uh considerably

from where they started this season. He was I think he was around like thirty three minutes per game at thirty four minutes per game before this week, so he was playing a relatively heavy minutes. But I'm not I'm not necessarily concerned about his minutes as it pertains to wear and tear because of the lack of practice time, and I think Lebron takes care of his body in a way where as long as he doesn't do, you know, twenty extra minutes of overtimes every week, that that's not

going to be a problem. I'm a huge believer though, in managing like the nagging pains and injuries and things like that. So for instance, like if Lebron started to feel knee tendonitis Lebron, Like if Lebron is going into a game and he's experiencing pain in one of his joints, that's where I think it's it's time to take him out of the lineup for a game or two to

manage that. But as far as like going into a week and thinking, oh, we have four games, let's cut back on Lebron's minutes, I don't necessarily agree with that because of the fact that with the lack of practice time and with the way he takes care of his body, He's easily capable of managing that. But like nagging injuries, those are the things that I think matter more than than strictly minutes per game as a as a box

score stat especially since they play at such a low pace. Yeah, that it's not as like frenetic and up and down, and even when the Lakers get out and transition, Lebron is primarily a passer, uh from the back court. Yeah, I would say after the experience last season of watching Lebron coast um or just kind of in game load

manage as the season progresses. When I kind of started because I don't you know, obviously haven't watched him as intimately as some some other folks have, Like I started noticing where he would be not passive, but he's more facilitator Lebron, which is I'm not really gonna drive, I'm just gonna kind of move the ball, really pick my spots.

Maybe if we're all running breaking out in transition and it's like an advantage number of situation or like a three on two, four on three, that sort of thing, um is where he would kind of do what he does,

but he's been very selective of his spots. I would say this season more than I would say even last season, where even if it means that the Lakers are going to lose the game and he's gonna start shooting a bunch of home run threes, which then you know, the Lakers Twitter is gonna be very upset about and be like you knows a little wrong room that we're gonna take the loss, like we're not going to chase the wind like by by burning ourselves out and through the course.

That's like that, that's sort of like super fit, like with dort in particular, like Lebron can handle the guy like dor in a in a playoff series. If he's going back him down and take him into the post, he just I think he just literally looks at the situation and goes like not worth it tonight. Yeah, I mean, And and look, you've played competitive basketball, if you've ever played any sort of competitive basketball, there's also a temperature check that you get as it relates to how the

rest are calling the game. So if Lebron wants to attack the rim, but the temperature check that he's getting from the reps is they're not even making the calls in my favor, I'm not going to stress myself over it. This is not a meaningful win by any margins. Obviously, as a fan, you want to see these guys, but this is not NBA two K right, Like, there's actual fatigue, there's injury concerns, there's the worst things that can happen if you try to push yourself too hard. Um and

and the perfect example of that is Alex Caruso. Everybody keeps saying Alex Cruiser should play like thirty two minutes, but if you see the style of defense he plays, he is always going to be prone to getting hurt. Like I keep jokingly tweeting after every game, almost every single game, there is a Laker who gets hit in the face every single game. And that happens when you're playing like crazy ass defense, like KCP keeps getting elbowed

in the face last game. Mantras want to go defend somebody and the guy's elbow like you know, he got elbowed in the face trying to in the room. Like injuries happen to two really great defensive players because they go greatly the league. Guys, the ones that don't necessarily have all the physical intangibles, like a choir or somebody made may do those guys do technical stuff that can

lead to injuries. And the reason why Caruso can't get thirty five minutes unless you know it's like a playoff situation or something, it's because he keeps getting hurt and we don't want to lose him for like weeks and weeks of time. So like, I don't necessarily want to crusively thirty five minutes. I don't want him to play seventeen minutes though, either. I think I think it's reasonable to be like, hey, let's play him half a game. No, No,

for sure, for sure. I I just think the the analytics part of NBA, the data guys on on on NBA Twitter, I think you're right. I think like five minutes is like a really good number. He's a change base guy and that sort of thing. But I think people do this thing where they see that small number and they go, why would we just keep doing more of this, keep doing more of this, keep doing more

of this without considering the human element of it. Flip if he if he took a big contract after this year and went to go be a pretty minute per game guy for like the Cleveland Cavaliers, like his his defensive production is going to slip, Like that's right. Yeah, So so I do agree when people say, hey, we should play Caruso in these situations a little bit more because we really need this kind of defense, when we

need this kind of intangible stuff. But you know, um, with Lebron, I think this season and I that's why I don't complain about it so much this season is it seems like he's very, very aware that last game is a perfect example. In overtime, Lebron did not shoot the but there was like eight shots, nine shots before he even attempted a shot, the one over lu Door. He had specifically decided in his mind, I'm not going to try and go and score every single play down

even though this is an overtime game. I'm gonna give it a should West trays if we make them, we make them. We don't make good before. Like I think that's part of it too, Like I think it's something that Dame could have done a little bit better last night. Is understanding that, Like, hey, I'm Dame Lillard, I'm one of the ten best players in the world. I know that if I really need two, I can get a decent shot off over Ben Simmons. But Ben's doing a

good job on me. I'm fatigued a little bit right now. Carmelo has got a better matchup over to Bias, and he's got a rhythm going like maybe this is the move and look that that's I think that's Lebron's thing is like I can really try to bully door and get into the basket if I want to. However, Montres is being guarded by a six nine guy who pounds, so I'm gonna go to him, and I'm gonna and

just because it's easier. And at the end of the day, he cares more about the win than he does about, you know, whether or not he put up ten points in overtime, you know, yeah, And I mean, we watched the game, so we can talk about shoulder and Montres and all that sort. So but look at what We'll look at what the general conversation was about on the timeline afterwards, right, the highlights for lud Doort's defense one

on one play on the overtime, right exactly. But if you watch that game, Lebron was being very selective with his offense. He's trying to make sure that he got at the advantage matchups for his teammates, Um, and look, I'm not going to be bad at bleacher or. Their job is to get engagement, so they're gonna do stuff that gets engagement, and anti Lebron stuff gets tons of

engagement on Twitter. So it's cool. Um. But as it relates to his load management, the minutes increased, I would like to see those numbers come down, but that means that the rest of the team has also got to step up. They've got to make their shots. We can't be going through these crappy offensive stretches and stuff like that. But at the same time, you're absolutely right, uh, Lebron.

Nobody knows their body better than Lebron. And if it means that he looks bad in in in the national conversation because he's not giving the effort, and that means that he stays healthy, I'm alright with that because I know what's on the other side of this conversation, which is competing for a championship. So I don't mind the short term arguments and the short term complaining and the short term criticism if it means that he's healthy for the playoffs, because it's very tough to beat that guy

in seven games when he's healthy. It reminds me of two thousand eighteen, where you can almost like you can see he seems to have decided he's playing every game. Yeah, it's it's definitely like a thing now. And I think he understands, like we talked about at the beginning, how that impacts his uh you know, imprint on the m

v P race. But yeah, like I said, it's just about it's just about kind of listening to your body, like you know, I, you know, I've been trying to get back in shape recently because I've found access to basketball that I didn't have, uh, you know, as as

recently as two or three months ago. And you know, when I first got into it, I was every single day doing some sort of of of workout, playing basketball three times a week, and then even in the off days I would do cardio, would just keep it low impact, and like you know, this we I've been dealing with some nagging pains in my angling in my shoulder, So you know, this week, I've you know, I haven't done as much as those other things. I just try to listen.

You just listen to your body and and and try to read it from that perspective, but you know, uh, you know he no one knows it better than him, and uh, at the end of the day, like like I we I think we all are aware that uh uh if it if push comes to shove and Lebron needs to go take a rest, he's going to, He's going to yet and it's just not going to be

a problem. But anyway, Uh, thank you so much for taking longer for canadera little chat earlier, but to come and hang out today all of you listen, Thank you guys so much for your support. N let's hook up in another couple of weeks or so, and more Lakers trying to make trying to save some time for something else. So yeah, yeah, no, they look. I don't know why everybody's talking about MVP stuff because the milball looks really

great in Charlotte. Houston's playing much better. Steven Silas, who was getting a lot of crap from the analytics guys on NBA Twitter, has got a pretty competent team, competitive team that's out there with a bunch of mishmashed parts. People keep talking about Bradley Beale's body language, but they're not talking about like the other basketball like the Warriors up and down, Like I know, Warriors families is big on Twitter. There are all there are markers where they're

getting better and better. Like a lot of people yesterday we're complaining that like, oh, you don't know why Tuscano Anderson's name like that in the game added bleacher reports, like dude, talk more about him, talk about how he looks better than the fifteen million dollar guy that's come to you know, like come to play and stuff like that. Everything doesn't need to devolve into like whatever the national media. It doesn't have to be about m v P stuff.

There's so much great basketball happening and I think that, Um, the fact that we have so many guys that are shooting like out of their minds right now is nuts. This is the pure Hooper environment, right which is what everybody was saying last season. This is a pure Hooper environment, and we're seeing the guys that can really score, really score, and I think he's taking a level. Yeah, man, we it's we've as basketball fans, we have to enjoy it. We have to really admire because we may not see

this ever again. If all these shooting percentages dropped when the fans come back. This was a very special time where we saw like the best of the best um really show out. So I don't necessarily think it'd be the fans. I think could be the other distractions that would come with them. Yeah, I mean yeah, there's no travel distractions either, so yeah, but anyway, yeah, we we will try to make more time for that next time.

But as always, Man, I appreciate you hang out um And as for everybody else, uh, stick around next Tuesday or so. It's probably the next time we'll do one. But I'll just stay tuned on my Twitter page and I'll keep you guys updated. Also, Vane, you want to plug your guys podcast real quick? Oh yeah, So I co host Laker Central with the actual host and the owner of Laker Central, Alex Um. So you can find them. You can find his account at Laker Central. Uh. And

then I'm only on Twitter. You can just find me at vi kill um Um. I do writing for my newsletter, which nobody needs to worry about, and I do writing for other guys. Elite media group guys. They let me write about other teams that are non Laker stuff. But yeah, it's about it. You can just find me on Twitter. That's about it alright, guys, the podcast will be up shortly about twenty minutes on my podcast feed as well. Everybody, enjoyed the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you next week.