Episode 30: State Of The Lakers With Raj. C @UnwrittenRul3s

I thought it was like pretty funny and creative. I think it's kind of late, but I thought that was not thought that was pretty dope. But yeah, I'm excited to do this man. I think I think we both give a cool perspective on it and kind of can go back and forth. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. And then consistency always helps. Uh, it's it's it's Podcasting is really really challenging, especially given the distance between most of us, and so finding some consistency I think is

is gonna be fun. So today, you know, more or less, nothing has changed with the Lakers since Roger and I last talked on Friday. We kind of predicted everything that happened this last week. Um, but one of the we were talking about ideas for the show today and what we decided we would do is we would each give our three silver linings of what we've noticed out of the Lakers during this bad losing streak, because you know,

we've all seen a lot of negativity. There's good reason for a lot of that negativity, but there is some good that's kind of hidden in all of this, and that's what Roger and I are gonna do. We're gonna give our three silver linings. But I do want a quick start with just reiterating something that we talked about last Friday, just having to do with the fact that it doesn't really make a ton of sense to evaluate the long term, you know, success of this team based

on what we've seen in the last week. And the example that I keep using is these role players. You know, if the Lakers very easily could make a couple of trades in the next few days for players of similar value that are more conducive to success without a d and Dennis Shrewder right, like you could trade Alex Caruso for a better, you know, playmaking guard that might not

be anywhere near as gifted defensively. You know, you could make a series of moves to try to to help win with that group, but there's no point because the ceiling with a D and Dennis Shrewder would shrink massively if you got rid of these guys. They make a ton of sense with the core guys. But as we saw, you're watching Alex Caruso running extensive you know, pick and roll actions, and there were even isolation place for Alex

Caruso which was never happening. Markkif Morris post ups where he's they're clearing aside and let Markis Morris goes go to work like, yeah, I got news for you. If that's what they're doing, they're gonna lose. But they're not going to be doing that when they have their guys back.

So I mean, I just want to keep reiterating the fact there's really no point in over evaluating what's happening right now because all of these guys are being asked to do things on the court that they were never asked to do with the way that that team was originally constructed, right Like you wouldn't asked youre like Gardener to be a chef, right, like your gardener could probably cook, Like he probably goes home and has to cook, but like you wouldn't hire your gardener to be a chef.

And that's kind of what's going on right now. You have guys up a role that in some up two roles right like you said with Alex Cruzo, he should not be doing ball handling or anything like that, but that's what he's fit into right now, running a ton of post ups like you saw that last night. Marky Morris got a bunch of post ups that I wouldn't

happened in regular games. So yeah, these role players are specifically put in a specifically signed to play a specific role, and when that doesn't happen, you get you get nights like we've been having the last few where the offense has just been created. I mean it was it wasn't great before as well, but I think right now we're in the bottom like twenty of shooting and we have

all these guys going through slums. It's just tough to really evaluate anything that's gonna matter when the playoffs start or something like that, for sure, And like you know, there there's a certain uh demeanor that surrounds the team right now that I think is interesting, Like, uh, my guy Vine was talking about this the other day. There's like a you can tell they know they can't win with this group at least not against good teams. But

and that sucks because that's that's bad for morale. But uh, you could tell, like even last night or in the in the in the Jazz game, there was just this thing hanging over the team where you could tell they just knew they couldn't compete now for good reason with the way that they're structured at like in that way, but you could just see it. You could see it.

Now that the one thing that I think is important to understand, like there's a lot of people that are that that are using this as ammunition to start taking shots at Lebron and to start taking shots at some of these role players and and talk about you know, uh Rob Pablinka and the signings that he's made and

all this stuff. And I would just continue to maintain that, you know, there's a game within the game here, which is that all of these guys are just trying to hold down the Ford until the real identity of the team comes back. Because you have to understand if Dennis had a season ending injury or if Anthony Davis had a season ending injury, then you go about the process of trying to find a new identity for the team. You know, it's like, Okay, this is gonna be us

for a while. What's our new identity. Do we need to run more in transition? Do we need to you know, experiment with specific lineups, Do we need to make a trade? But there's no reason to tinker with the identity because guys are coming back, so that that that's like the important detail of their strategy moving forward. There's just no point in kind of overthinking it in that regard. Yeah, and I was checking that the Lakers have still had the fourth best defense in the last fifteen games, which

is funny because Anthony Davis has missed the last six. So, I mean, their identity still has changed. They just can't score. And you have every single person going through the same slump. And you can see, like I know you're talking about the body lane, which you can see Lebron like he would pass it in the guy would miss. He like, man, I work so hard to get that open look right because he has to create every single shot. He's going

in isolation. He's driving, he's kicking, and guys are just missing. And then when Kuzman missed that one, I think it was before halftime or didn't take it. Sorry, he swung it to THHD and he could tell like he was just really upset about that. So I don't blame him. I mean, this is a tough stretch. He obviously is frustrated and he wants to win, and he's playing every night,

so they'll be fine. I feel like when once, as you said, a D and sure to get back, they'll they'll get back into the rhythm and uh, we'll get Shureter back tonight. So he'll be a big boost for for the offense going forward. Ye, and let me use this real quick as an example to as an opportunity to defend Lebron because so many people are criticizing his offensive ability, so many people are criticizing his how how his struggles have have heard his m v P case

Like I put it out this number yesterday. Did you guys know that literally the Lakers have generated more uh more wide open meaning defender closest fenders six plus feet away then all but four teams in the league during the stretch without Anthony Davis, they're generating wide open shots. They're just hitting those wide open shots at a rate of which would rank twenty nine in the league over that span. So they're just they're generating wide open shots.

Lebron's doing his job. I mean, he's definitely let go of the defensive rope a little bit, but he has to because he's got to create everything on the offensive end. Like there's just this, these are throwaway games. And and and by the way, the laate like it's not like any other m VP candidate is like taking the rope and just and grabbing it and running with it. It's like, no,

everyone's struggling. This is just gonna be the low point in the Laker season as a result of Anthony Davis's injury and as a result of Dennis retters COVID suspension. Like that's literally all they're all there is to it. They're doing the best they can. It doesn't make any sense to evaluate them either. And and there and like you know, Crusoe, for instance, hasn't been defending as well,

and it's like it's like what do you expect? Like this, the guy was literally shot out out of a canon as like a defensive wrecking ball for seventeen minutes a night before this, and now he's being leaned on for

half a game as like a primary ball handler. Like his entire focus and roll on the on, the on, the team has shifted, which is a perfect segue to my first silver lining, which is there was a lot of talk before the season and in the first month of the season about how Alex Caruso's play and talent Horton Tucker's play was going to complicate things next summer for the Lakers as far as trying to resign them.

And ironically, both players have struggled in this stretch under larger roles, and I don't want to like applaud struggles, but like, if there's a silver lining here, it's I think both players have significantly limited their value in the

off season. Over the last week, Alex Crusoe has shown that he's a different player when he's leaned on in a bigger role, which will affect what teams are willing to pay him, and talent Hornon Tucker has shown that he's still a few years away from really being able to be leaned on. His defensive focus has gone off

of a cliff as of late. And so if there's one silver lining, it's that all of these guys have particularly talent, Hornon Tucker and Alex Cruzo have diminished some of their value, which may make it easier for the Lakers to resign. The more you think, yeah, that that's a really fascinating way to think about it. I never even thought about that. I remember, like people, well, th HD was on just a crazy curve right, like he was not playing at all. Then he was like getting

in and just having insane moments every single night. People are like, oh, someone offer him four years eighty, you know, just to to mess it up, and that's not gonna happen anymore. You could tell the league kind of figure him out. Um, and again he's in a role that is even more than he was. Right, Like, his role is pushed up another level because of No a D

no shooter. He's the second best ball handler, Like that's even at twenty years old, the second best ball hand on the team, and they're asking him to run you know, units with Lebron off the floor, which is crazy for a twenty year old. Right, he's driving pick and roll, driving it to go bear and be like, oh shoot, I'm like at the rim now, like by myself, so

I think she'll be find Cruso. I feel like there was a little bit of like even myself, I was like, you know, play him thirty minutes, let's see what happens. And obviously we see what happens. I think I would like him in a larger I guess more minutes in the same role, if that makes sense, like same defensive exactly yeah, and he did like he got better as a shooter. I don't think he's this bad and I don't think he's as good as that he started. Right,

he was shooting fifty percent from three. That was never sustainable. That was not gonna happen. He wasn't gonna be Clay Thompson from three point range. But I feel like he is a better shooter than he showed. It just sucks that everyone's in the slump at the same time. So even like exactly an exasperates the issue, right because now no one's hitting and Cruso already doesn't get respected as a shooter. Even when he was shooting fifty, they were

still coming off him. So I think you're right. I hope they keep both of them, but yeah, I want I would like cruising a more minutes still, but the same role. He shouldn't be running screen role actions, um uh come and going forward? Yeah, and you know, I want to really quickly like this, just as a little tangent, when we're voting for all defense, why don't we factor this kind of thing in? Because like, for like, I'll

use Anthony Davis as an example. You know, I think he's a better defensive player than Rudy Gobert anyway, although he floats sometimes through the regular season as of late. But like like Alex Crusoe looked like an all defense level player when he was strictly defending, and then suddenly he gets you know, he gets thrust all these offensive responsibilities on him and his defense kind of like like he's been hardly as effective on that end. Uh, And

so you know, why don't we factor that in? That Always it blows my mind, Like, you know, you'll listen to some of these uh you know, like the Hoop Collective or the Low Post or something, and they'll talk about how, oh, you know, well, this defensive players has been better this year than you know, than Lebron or than a d or than you know, Kauai or some other defensive player, and it's like, yeah, but that guy doesn't have nearly as much else to work on and

it's on his plate. And really, you know, if if you if you strictly went up to somebody like Lebron or choir Anthony Davis and you said I never need you to take a shot, I just need you to walk up on the other end, they would be devastating defense. They would be devastating. And I just I really really think that that's something that needs to get factored in moving forward. Yeah, that's a good point. And Davis's averaging one like twenty five a game right along with the defense.

Rudy Goobert is at like what Tan eleven, Um, he just screens and rolls, so you can kind of that's wide open times. Yeah, so yeah, that's an interesting way to look at I never really thought about it that way, but yeah, they should probably factor that in, h like into the defensive award. So what's your what's your first silver lining? My first sim reliance is that I think

I feel like Tread's got really comfortable. Um, I feel like he wasn't comfortable in the offense and even on defense before, and I think Davis went out and I just see him a lot more in the offense, in the flow. UM. He's obviously now getting his touches, but

I just love how he's played the UM. He didn't close a few games, even though I thought like he should have, but I feel like his just game has really opened up with down Anthony Davis the last three games sixteen against Utah, twenty six against the Washington eighteen against the Heat UM, he's rebounding as well, UM over over seven plus rebounds in each of those UM. I liked how he's switched. I thought he's defended fine, and uh,

he seems he's really comfortable now. Like you could see in the beginning of the season, he would just stay at the dunker spot waiting for the ball, begging for the ball, UM, but now he's kind of moving around. He somehow added a mid range jumper UM this offseason, so I guess that's that's going in right now. But and he's their offense. I mean, when when Lebron's not creating, they give it a tress and say here, get a bucket,

And for the most part he did. UM. He still has his like defensive kind of issues that sometimes, but I really like how this I hope he plays this kind of same aggressiveness when a d comes back. Um, I think they need him as a shot creator in that second unit. We'll see as far as his aggression goes. Because I talked about this u with Tommy in the

Pot on Wednesday. But like, that's part of the role expansions, that that that that have been happening to role players is all of a sudden, Trees is like a twenty point a game like high usage guy, which you know, ideally he probably shouldn't be. But what what I do agree with you in the sense that, like, you know, there was a lot of talk after what happened in the series against the Nuggets, which was an embarrassing moment for Mantrez, even though there's a lot of context there.

But there was a lot of talk about, you know, whether or not the Lakers would be able to find a way to make him useful on a content, and I believe the Lakers have. And the answer is really simple. He's absolutely deadly in offensive mismatches. So if you can get him switched on to a smaller guy, he's as much of a sure thing as possible, as much as

far as like getting a lamp or getting fouled. And then on defense, we figured out, now the Lakers have through trial and error that he cannot be floating around is like as someone who's in drop coverage or any sort of uh like loose coverage where he's kind of floating in space because he just doesn't he doesn't anticipate things well enough, and he's not big enough around the

rim as a primary defensive player. But the Lakers have figured out that he can thrive in the chaos when he's because he's so quick, because he's so athletic, and he's so long, and his motor is so good. If you get him defending in space or he's chasing guys off the line and he's flying around in rotations, he's actually an extremely valuable defensive big, even more so than

you know, Dwight and Javail were in similar roles. So I think that I agree in the sense that, like, it makes a lot of sense to me that the Lakers have figured out, you know, ways to make Montrez into somebody that was successful in a way that he couldn't be with the Clippers. Yeah, he's much betterly, he's in like a defensive stance right when he's coming off. I hate when like he can't be the back line

of your defense. He just like those minutes with him and Mark kith Morris, it's just bleeding points, like there's just no there's no point of that because they're both not rim protectors. They're both undersized as well, even for the positions, and when Treads is coming off and a drop coverage, it's pretty much he's not he's not stopping the ball handled from me in the rim, or he's not covering the big that's getting a love and man against Utah. I felt like they were just walking through.

Man it that's what annoyed me about the Utah game. I understand we were like not talented at all. I don't know your point about this, but I was getting upset because it felt like they were in a walkthrough, like in a like you know, a morning shoot around. Like it was literally Connley screen roll. They know exactly where the help is coming past to the corner shooter wide open three. I'm like, what what are you even

doing here? What's the point even getting on this plane and come to Utah If you're gonna play it that way because they're just gonna destroy you. Some of those shots though, Man, they didn't even he I've never seen like Mike Conley. I don't think he shot hit rim last night Like that night, it was just swishing through. So yeah, but yeah, I'm glad Tread's get a little

more comfortable comfortable here. Yeah. With with Utah, like it was a textbook case of like the Lakers kind of came in and let him get comfortable early and then like, I mean, this is any decent sized shooter, Like I'm I'm six ft six and I've got about a six ten wingspan. If you let me get a rhythm, there's just no one that can stop me shooting the basketball because I'm too tall. Well, like when you've got Joe Ingles who's six seven, and Eve Royce O'Neil is the

short one. It was like six five or whatever it is that he is, and and uh Bogdanovitch I think is six eight, and you know, Donovan Mitchell can jump out of the gym. So like with these all these big tall shooters, when you let them get their confidence all of a sudden, it doesn't matter how much you defend and that that's what happened in that game, is they let him get comfortable early and they made some

shots and then it became like they're showing off. They're just they're they're just they're just riding that confidence wave, hitting a tough shot after tough shot after tough shot. Like that's why it's so important early in a game to make a team feel uncomfortable. Now, as far as

Frank's scheme, I agree with you. I don't really like, uh, the way they've been doing their pick and roll coverage this year because to me, it's too much of an in between thing, where last year they were in a full drop coverage and this year there and then the play offs they did like a trapping scheme, and then this year they've been in kind of more of like an in between scheme. Uh. They call it a catch heead it's uh something that that guy Crane just is

always talking about on Twitter. But like it's kind of like an in between thing, and I don't really like it, and I think it's part of the reason they've had some struggles. But this team, we know can thrive in rotations and sprinting around the floor and you could just tell to start that game that they just weren't really all the way dialed in uh in that respect, and then once you talk aout their confidence, they ran off with it. As far as Tray's go real quick before

we move on to the next one. You know the reason why, like rim protectors are usually so tall and a guy like a guy like Montrese struggles and like head up rim protection because Tray's as good as like a secondary rim protector, meaning like if if a guy is driving to the basket and a guy's on his hip and he's changing the shot, and then Tread's can really load up and come flying in and block it.

He can get some block shots at the rim. But when you when you're a primary rim protector, meaning like the guy's coming at you like he's already beat his defender and you're the only thing standing between him and the rim, it's not as simple as just jumping as high as you can because the usually most offensive players are gonna find a way to get into your body. So that's where these like really big guys like Marc Asol.

It was the reason why foot Vogo went with him at the end of that game against Washington the other night. But like Marc Asol, or like a Dwight Howard or or like a Rudy Gobert is there so they can actually defend while standing up. So essentially, like a guy jumps into their chest and kind of takes away their jump, it doesn't matter because they just kind of staying there with their arms up and extend over the top, and they can they can get block shots, and they can

change shots. That's why it doesn't make sense to use treads and any sort of drop coverage or anything that has him kind of waiting for guys around the basket. It's just a waste. And you know, the Draymond is an anomaly in that sense, and I think it has to do with because he's so strong that when guys actually run into his body they lose all their lift, but treads doesn't have that that kind of strength. Defense.

Defense also is a communication thing, right, Like there's a lot of lineups that just do not play together, and treads is a lot of like when someone scores, he goes, oh, you're supposed to be there, right, Like, there's a lot of that I see that after someone scores, and just

a communication thing. That's going on. Him and Kuzuma have a weird defensive chemistry, where like he always thinks who's supposed to be helping or Kuzma things, treads is supposed to be helping, and those two really you could tell kind of go at it um on the court that way. So I feel like when the lineups kind of get more stuck um, they'll be fine. Th HD over helps a lot. He could tell that annoys his teammates. He'll lose, like the guy that's hit six straight threes, it's just hilarious.

He'll be in the pain. Well, like Joe Ingles who just hit two in a row, is wide open. You're like, ow, what are you doing? You can see it gets frustrating and uh yeah, like last night after after they got down by like fifteen, that game was over. But yeah, I don't I don't want trust to be the back line. For sure, he should be playing with a d or you know, I don't see him playing a lot with Mark, But they know how to use and Vogo knows what

he has has in trust. The th HT thing with with over helping has been a problem with him all season, and that's gonna be something he's got to figure out because there's a balance there. And this is something that Crusoe does so well, uh early from time to time. He last year he was kind of bad and help defense, but he's been better this year. But like a KCP

is actually a better example. And Dennis is really good at this too, where it's like they're they're in uh kind of like a shell drill type of position where the halfway halfway to the ball, but their weight is on their inside legs, so they're prepared to quit close out. So it's almost like he's only there to discourage the drive and he's already planning on closing out on the on the shooter, and that's something he has to get

better at. But the biggest thing that bothered me with th h T and so the best, the best comp that I could use for somebody like him with his body type is like an Eric Gordon as far as like really strong in his shoulders, not overly tall, but has really long arms. Eric Gordon does an amazing job

fighting over the top of screens using his strength. And what was still frustrating with th HT in that game is you know, he got matched up on Connolly and and Clarkson a lot in that game, and he just did he just did a really poor job fighting over

the top of screens. And like it's one yeah, it's one thing if you're a skinny guy and you struggle, but like you're strong and you've got a really wide base, you can fight over the top of these screens with your strength and then you use your length to bother the shooter from behind and that and that's what you know, like Tony Allen used to do so well in his career, and it's just I think there's he has defensive potential. Uh that goes on for days, and it's gonna be

really exciting to see what he turns into. But yeah, it was. It was not a pretty night. It was not a pretty night for him for sure. Um. But so my second silver lining is was that ironically, um and this is just part of the Laker experience with how you know, you know, how uh you know polarizing they are, h And part of this has to do with, you know, being a fan of any team, you have a tendency to kind of get stuck in the fish bowl and only pay attention to what's happening to you.

But every everyone's struggling. And I talked about this with with Tommy the other day. But I mean, the Clippers went into uh Memphis last night and got worked, like got beat like handily with all their guys, you know, like it, you know, Philly, Uh Philly gotta win last night. But they've dropped I think five games in their last twelve if I remember correctly, or something like that. I can't remember exactly for sure. Denver lost again last night

to Washington, who, by the way, is beating everybody. Ironically, the Clippers are the only team it was able to kind of handle them the other day. Um, but everyone's struggling, and the Lakers after all of this like probably the worst stretch they've had in the last two seasons, absolutely the worst stretch they've had in the last two seasons. They're half game back a second place in the West, in second place, the second place in the whole league.

Their half came back, and so I think if one silver lining I would say is that, like you know, with with everything that's happened, everything is still on the table for the Lakers. Now there's six losses back of Utah, so the one seed might be a little bit tough, but they're they're they're right there in the thick of things. They're still in a position where if they do beat Utah, they could have home court advantage in the NBA Finals because they have a better record than all the teams

out East. So it's one of those things where for as bad as things have been, uh, there's still a lot of opportunity here to salvage this regular season. Yeah, it's crazy because it's weird when I see like the Clippers lose, I feel like it puts less pressure on the Lakers again on their next game. Like every single time they lose, some of the Clippers just lose again, or the Sun's lose. I think the Sun's lost to

who they just lost to in a close game. But yeah, when you when you see the standing man, it's crazy the Hornets. Yes, yes, LaMelo went, LaMelo went insane, But yeah, it's kind of crazy looking at the standings that they're still tied and the Clippers have had all other guys. I think back for a little while now, and yeah, that that just shows how they started the season right, it felt like doomsday. But the Lakers still have like a four game lead. I think they've lost that, but um,

it's tied second place. What's great about this? Because I feel like you watched the rest of the league a lot more than I do. I kind of watch the Lakers um a lot more than other teams. So do you see like the same similarness or is it just like is everyone tired? Or is it like I catch like the highlights a lot. I don't really watch the full games of other teams, but at least from what I saw, because I watched the whole Clippers Memphis game, and I feel like the Clippers issues kind of just

tumbled on them. So they're big time jump shooting team.

I don't want to talk about them a lot, but I feel like Zach Close said, they're like twenty nine in the room scoring, And I know this is like a thing that you really hold true to believe that the teams in the playoffs get to the room right, they score at the rim, and they can draw free throws and they get easy shots like that, and the Cliples are like their perimeter attempts from putting PRESSU around the room correct, correct, and then PG and Quiet take

a lot of those mid range twos when they go in it looks absolutely beautiful, but like there again, twenty nine scoring at the room is a really low number for a team that's that good champions at level, So that was interesting. When I was watching in Memphis game, they were just breaking and then Memphis got out and ran um. They actually picked on the drop coverage of Zobach and us. I think Surge was like five of his last twenty eight from three or something. I saw.

He's really gone cold as well. So the whole league um is kind of going. Yeah. My question you was like, do you see a similar thing that's going on, because the Lakers it's some more of like who they're out right and then you could see them starting to sleepwalk? Is that what's going on the rest of the league. I'm seeing these close games, seeing Washington run down Denver.

That was just an awful last play. I feel like that was that was like that four on one I don't know if you got if you kind of it's one of the one of the most crazy things I've ever seen in my life. And the basketball like you of Michael Porter Jr. On that plate that literally have a dunk. Like the only explanation I can think of

is they didn't no time in score. Yeah, I'm thinking like that's his transition principles though, right, Like, obviously that's you gotta know time and score, you gotta go to the rim. But I feel like in a regular transition, his job is to get to that that week, that week side corners, so then the rim run comes. But he just forgot that, you know, it's two seconds left. That's a bone had play for him. That's what I

was just thinking. That's my idea of They they train you from high school on any form of organized basketball, that you fill lanes and transition. So the first guy up the floor always runs to the basket, the next two guys were on the wings, and then the last guy always trails. That's been the same at every level, at every basketball team I've ever played on ever, and I would imagine they still teach that in the league.

The only time you'd run to the wing if you were the first guy down the floor is if the guy had of you as the ball handler and you were trailing the play. It just didn't make any sense to me. That's why I thought maybe time and score but or or just literally the biggest brain fart in the history of basketball. But that was that was bizarre.

But as far as what you're saying, and real quickly about the Clipper, real quickly about the Clippers, the uh, this is what worries me about them with the nets is like you know, isolation is stag nation when it's leading to strictly contested jump shots. However, and like you said, the Clippers are twenty nine in the league or whatever in rim attempts, So that's something that's a real problem for them is they have a tendency to strictly lean

on jump shooting. So what I like about the Lakers or the Sixers in a matchup with Brooklyn is when they would get into isolation, it would be Ben Simmons doing ripped through's going all the way to the rim on like a Kyrie Irving and a switch or a Joe Harris and a switch, Or it would be Lebron James doing the same thing as a post up player, or the Anthony Davis getting a mismatch on the glass while Lebron's got a center on him and getting an

offensive rebound putback, which is something he did an amazing job of in the playoffs last year if you remember, especially against Miami, and that was where he had his biggest offensive impact. So like that's where I think, uh, like, you can beat a team that gets heavy into switching because isolation score isolation as a defense of trying to force isolations as a defense is great if you can force them into taking jump shots, but it can be a huge problem if you're just getting beat up around

the basket. Um, as far as the the the schedule goes, Like, let's be clear, what's happening to the Lakers is not what's happening to some of these other teams because they literally can't win, Like they were going into that game against Utah, like we can't beat these guys. They would

lose to Portland's tonight if Dennis wasn't playing. That's how that's how poorly constructed this roster is without Dennis and a d I truly believe that, Um, what's happening to all these other teams is more a product of just ridiculous death around the league. Like Charlotte's good. You can lose to Charlotte, Washington's good. Like Washington's beaten everybody. They beat the I just I've listed it the other day,

Like they beat the Nuggets, they beat uh. I think they beat the Nuggets twice actually at the double check. But they beat Boston, they beat the Lakers, like the Clippers are literally the only team they've lost to in the last like two and a half weeks. Like all of these teams that you're playing are so good that if you bring lackadaisical effort, you're gonna get beat. And and I think in every regular season, every team goes

through bouts of lackadaisical effort. And so with the depth of the league now that's just more likely to get you beat. And that's what's been so interesting about Utah is like it doesn't make sense for them to be trying as hard as they are. They're trying harder than every team in the league, like by a pretty significant margin. When's the last time you saw them come out and lay a negg like they got something to prove And when the wait you have every shot going into I

feel like it's tough. But like I think, like you said that, we're like what five games down right now in the standings. UM. I remember last year, Milwaukee I think had like a six game lead. Um. I think by the All Star break as well, and then then before you know, the COVID ended the season. I think the Lakers were one game back. They caught Milwaukee because I think every team does go through a cold. Utah is gonna lose. Like it's They're not gonna play like

the seventy three win Bulls. I feel like they're I just don't see them that kind of roster, that kind of team on the shooting is gonna go cold eventually. But they just have a ton of guys who just who have no conscience from three and when you do that, and then they obviously are feeling good. Mitchell and go Bart are young enough. They don't They're not like, oh, I have to save myself at the playoffs, so they're gonna go hard every night. I think I want to

compare them to like Hawks. I feel like Mitchell's better than whoever's on that team. But it kind of feels that way. It feels like a team that's running to the regular season. Um, you as watching the Calves a lot. He saw those Raptor teams that would really kill in the regular season two right, and then and the playoff comes in games change. That space that you get is like a little tighter. Um, I'm watching like DeRozan, his mid range pull ups just don't go in as much

when when the game's tightened up. So that that's kind of kind of feel about them. But they're a good team. They're they're gonna go hard every night. I don't think they're they're gonna let up at all, but I do think they'll start they'll go through a losing stretch. I don't know if that would be enough for the Lakers to catch them, um, but we'll we'll see. So I I do think it's like what they're doing is impressive,

Like I I never wanna you know, undercut winning. But I still think the Milwaukee Bucks are the best example of them in the sense that, like you know, I saw the stat that got thrown around on Twitter a couple It was like a week ago as when they were at the Bucks wereing that losing streak, like going back to like February of last year, the Bucks were below five hundred. They might have creeved back up a

five hundred with this recent winning streak that they're on. Um, But they like they've been more or less of average basketball team for a long time. And I think I think it has to do with scouting. Like when you when you watch a team, like when you watch Brooklyn for instance, like you can really see why they're winning. They just have this huge talent advantage and their defense is bothering people because it forces them into isolation and

causes stagnation and blah blah blah. But when you watch

like Utah, it's like it's kind of gimmicky. That's this defense where Rudy gobarts camping around the paint and no one has really explored the ways to get him out of the paint, and they just put relentless uh pressure on you from the three point line, which causes you know, this kind of cascading effect of driving lanes where it's like driving kick and driving kick and driving kick, and then somebody gets open and then once they get a little bit of confidence, they just start bombing away and

they can they can blow people out. But over time, you're gonna see scouting player role. Uh. This growing schedule in the in the second half of the season might get them all. It takes like kind of like what happened with the Lakers who were shooting so well to start the year and then suddenly went into the slump. All it takes is like a little tough break with your schedule, and you could go into a slump yourself.

And uh, you know the in the Jazz by the way, where you know they've been winning anyway because of injury luck. They keep playing all these teams without their best players, Like like they played Philly without embad. You know, they lost the Clippers with their guys, and then beat the Clippers when Kawiet Paul George didn't play. You know, they played the Bucks without Drew Holiday, they played the Lakers

without Anthony Davison Denner shooter. Like, I don't really know what to make of them, but they're gonna end up going on some Eastern Conference road trip where they're gonna play like Philly, Boston and Brooklyn back to back to back in one week and they're gonna get their ass kicked and it's and and that's gonna be kind of brings them down to earth. I they're a good team. I just I I refuse to believe that that either or that the Lakers would losing them in the Planters.

I just refused to believe. What was your second Yeah, So it's funny. I didn't I didn't know you were gonna go with the cruise, so and th h t um kind of uh. And I want to say lowering their value, but I guess showing like what they are in the league kind of thing. I kind of wrote down the opposite. I think this gives like shrewder a real like, hey, so I am the ball Hannah, like I am the secondary offense. I need to be aggressive. I hope this. I don't think I think this will

do that. I think this shows his importance to the team, not just for fans, but like to the coaching to him to like know that he's he's like a big part of what they do on offense. UM. And I hope this kind of gives him the confidence to be more aggressive. I feel like this is this open and open things up for him. I'm not sure he'll get the extension right away um that he's looking for, but I think this show was like, yeah, I'm I'm a big part of this offense and when I'm not there

that the team really struggles. And yeah, I think he'll give him a big boost here UM going forward because you can see his role like he would be aggressive some games and he'll have some like four for eight shot games, which should not happen. He should not be taking less than eight shots a game. Um go, So I hope this kind of makes him aggressive. I think

he might have some rust tonight. I don't know what you think, like, you know, being off for like four games because he's not even allowed into the facility, I don't think right, So I think he's gonna be a big boost. I think he helps. He helps just normalize the offense, uh in a big way. So that that's my other silver lining here is that like hopefully Shrewder really realized like, oh yeah, I'm a big part of this team like this, this is why they signed me

to be a big offensive hub here. So you actually make an interesting counterpoint any money that they save with Crusoe THHD, Like, if I'm Dennis, I'm like, give me the money, man, because like and that would be the time to ask for more than ever. It kind of reminds me, I'm a Cowboy fan. It kind of reminds me of what's happening with Dak Prescott. But uh, anyway,

like yeah, I agree, like there there's there. Uh, It's never been more apparent how important he is to that team, and it goes to show you how like even with as bad as Rondo was last year, and you and I think are both Rondo truthers in the sense that we don't think he's very good, but it's just so it's so important to have coherent ball handling on the floor, and you know, it's what it kind of like slides down a food chain, right, So like everybody on the

Lakers is like one or two levels too high on the food chain, and by putting Dennis Shrewder in there, it just slides everybody down the food chain. It gets back into a position where Lebron can be a role man where he's had a lot of success. There's been a Zach Low actually talked about this on his podcast the other day, But it's something that I've been seeing all year, which is, you know, and Lebron used to do this with George Hill in Cleveland in particular, used

to do with uh with Kyrie as well. When you put Lebron as a pick and roll man, as the as the screener, uh, he's deadly and he does that a lot with Shrewder and has had a lot of success. But yeah, I know, I'm excited to have him back. I think, you know, I think people are going to be stunned at how quickly the Lakers start playing better with Dennis Shooter. I cannot possibly overstate how his loss was.

It's just it's a classic example of how when we are evaluating basketball teams, we get so caught up and and just factoring an overall talent. And we and you and I beat this drum NonStop last year with the Clippers, But like how much we forget that, like this is a team sport. It's like there's a reason why we sit there and go like, oh, well, the all forwards lineup is getting killed. And you know this lineup that has Crusoe, k CP and and you know West Matthews

or whatever and Labar and they they're killing everybody. It's like, oh, well, because it's never a one on one sport, it's a it is a five man unit that kind of moves in unison with everything that they do. I talked about this yesterday a little bit about like defensive metrics and like still if things like oh, like you know, so and so our offensive players are shooting this percentage when Andrew Wiggins is guarding them, or like you know Lebron is when he's guarded by Steph in the finals, shot

this percentage or Kauhi or whatever it is. And it's like, there is no such thing in a five on five basketball game as a one on one play. If I'm posting up and I have a a player that that's one pass away, that is a dead eye shooter, and I have a stretch big who's in the opposite corner that's keeping help out of the paint, the defenders at

a huge disadvantage. But if I'm playing in there's one bad shooter on the floor or a non floor spacing big or one guy in help is like a little bit more shaded to my side, all of a sudden, I can only drive right now. The defender can sit on my right hand or be mentally prepared for me to make a move right and now he's been put in a big advantage. And I just hate when we

oversimplify things and shrewders just a perfect example of that. Really, what like maybe a top seventy player in the league, like top sixty player in the league, like he's no one is even considering him as even close to an All Star, but he is immensely valuable to what the five man units do for the Lakers immensely valuable. And and and what we talked about two like, I don't know, I don't I think Lebron hung a minus twenty against Utah, So I don't think he's still is a positive, but

he's been. He was actually a net positive without Shrewder and a D all season before last night's game. I would imagine he's kind of close to zero or slightly below zero. But that's that's the thing too, Like just having it so that you can stagger those guys as well will go a long way towards helping them win games overall as well. Yeah, and they were like five and one without a D I think, and then when Shrewder went out. Now they're like five and four without

both of them. Um, he's a really big part. And I feel like they've been defending like Sam's Utah because that was just that was gone before they landed. But like they've defended well enough. I mean against Washington they got up seventeen and then just completely again that's that phrase that we use, like they don't put their foot off the gas, they just get out of the Car and they're like, we're done here, We've got we've gotten to where we need to go, and Washington got going.

But I feel like they defended well enough. Um obviously aid helps a defense a lot, but they've still been wet fourth and defense. Like I said earlier, Um, they depend on they just can't get any buckets. I mean, Bradley Bale was just taking getting to the ram, scoring at will on KCP and when you can't score back, Lebron's taking step back threes to try to help the offense. So yeah, Shooter is a big Partum. I thought he was like all star level to start the year. He

was like seventeen and like six. I think he's not gonna make the All Star team, but I thought he was playing like a star level for this for this squad. I hope you can get back to kind of get back to that and his just aggressiveness, his like flow, his swag, like that really helps the team. Like you could tell when he gets a switch, he gets all excited and he scored. When he scores on the big

it's a team going. Things like that really help them when they just have nothing, teams can just load up on Lebron and but there's when there's no shooting around, you have guys that just aren't aggressive, um going to the basket who can't attack the rim. So yeah, he's exactly. Yeah. And his point of attack defense um is is huge. Um he's he has a lot of good chemistry on defense with with a d as well. So yeah, he's gonna be missing. They're gonna need him against Dame tonight.

I mean Dame has been I think the Blazer Blazers have lost three in a row, four in a row or something, but um, Dame Dame is gonna come in. He always cooks at Stable Center. He takes a personal for some reason, I don't know why that he just loves attacking us. So him and yes, yeah, Portland beat us. I mean we were a big I think on Portland as well, and I think, uh, they came back and uh and beat us. So and he's gonna be really

needed tonight. Yeah. One of my favorite Dennis Shrewder memories from the season was the Oklahoma City game, the first one where Shakl just Alexander was just barbecuing him all right, and then he got the two biggest stops of the game.

On him that sent the game to overtime. That that the post up play where he forced him into that really tough floater, and then the play where he got beat off the dribble, and then just had this absurd recovery play where he was like way behind and then just like did a one two step, took off his left foot and just like blocked him from behind. Uh.

He just has this competitive energy to him. And then kind of similar to that food chain thing we talked about earlier, having him as your primary point of attack defender against the Dame or against like really any point of attack guard like Mike Conley, it just slides all of the other Laker defensive players down the food chain guarding inferior players and allows them to be more successful.

Um So, my third, uh silver lining is that Lebron looks great physically and he you know, he's still slumping with his jump shot, which I think is a product of a lot of things that has to do with overall workload. Uh and just said how that wears down

his legs. One thing that I've really noticed is one of the reasons why Lebron has had a lot of success in his career as a jump shooter, even though he's not the most skilled player in the world, is that defenses have to play off of him a little bit um as a as a result of him just being a freight trained to the basket. But one thing I've noticed, which I think is actually really interesting is after the a d and Shrewder injuries, the defense has have been able to pack the paint a little bit more.

And as a result of that, when you've got help defense behind you, the primary defender can get a little bit up into Lebron space. And you notice this a lot with Hochi Mura and uh even against Utah as well. Um, when you can actually ball pressure any guard and and there's there's a ton of help behind you, it's hard to shoot because now you're like you have to do some move to get separation, like a step back or

a side step or some sort of other move. Whereas like a lot of what Lebron was doing successfully as a jump shooter when the team was at full strength was there's such offensive firepower on the floor that the there's not as much help, and now that primary defensive player has to go underneath the screen. The primary defensive player has to give a little bit more space to to to deal with Lebron's driving lane. He's just a little more comfortable with his jump shot, so that's something

to keep an eye on. However, physically he looks great. My guy Maples has been absolutely shredded for this that tweet that keeps getting brought up about uh. And we all have our moments, so I'm not talking trash. But he had that tweet where he's like all Rich Paul gave us the Bentley with five thousand miles. There was some concern. There was concern, I mean into that signing

like like Lebron's old like this goes south. This could be the guy we pay a million dollars to to just have the late Kobe years kind of thing, you know what I mean. And he looks more athletic now then he did uh in any of the previous two seasons he had. He had that one transition dunk against Denver before halftime that literally looked like he was prime Cleveland Labron. He had another dunk against Utah coming down the lane the other nine where it was just like jeez,

when the world is going on with this guy? So the one there is a sense of optimism that I would take from all of these losses, which is, you know, Lebron struggled with try to score with this very limited offensive group. Although he's still, as we talked about earlier, is generating a lot of really high quality shots. But their Lebron looks great and and when this team is at full strength, if I said this, I tweeted this the other day, did you guys know that Lebron in

you're a team? He's shooting a higher percentage right now from every area of the floor than he did last year. He's shooting a higher percentage at the rim, he's shooting a higher percentage from mid range, he's shooting a higher percentage from three, even after this ridiculous slump. And he looks more athletic than he did in your seventeen when he was second m VP voting and I, in my opinion, should have won. So, like, this guy is better then

he has been. I mean, the last week has been weird, but like, I think that's something to derive a lot of confidence from. If you're a Laker fan, Yeah, he looks awesome. Do you remember like he was early in the season, he was getting like cornered three attempts, and we're like Lebron getting corner three attempts, Like he's getting a catch shoe, look at the look at the laces on the ball, and then take the shot. He's even betting with his teammates in the corner. He's gonna make it.

He's not getting those anymore. There's no no one else driving and kicking allowing him to do that. Like that's why his shots kind of go down. He's taking a lot of like step back threes against switches. But yeah, man, he looks awesome. He can get to the rim whenever he wants. I remember after the Brooklyn game, Um, someone asked him, like, oh, did you have trouble with their switching. He's like, what are you are you talking about? Like I know exactly how to beat that, like when it matters,

Like he's like, I got whatever I wanted. Like I think he shot like eighteen for thirties and he's like, I got whatever I wanted. I can get to the rim when I want. So no, it's no problem for me and against Utah too, Like I have no worry about him. He got to the room when he wanted. I don't think I'm really really good is good defender. I just don't think he stopped Lebron for doing what he wanted to do. He got to the basket, he's still finished. He got and once when he wanted to.

Obviously he didn't have his foot on the gas the whole time. I think his defense is kind of stepped back a little bit. But yeah, he looks like he needed this thing. This thing I want to ask you because people are talking about his minutes right, Like every single broadcast is like, um oh, he's now number one in the league in minutes since uh since a d went down. I just like, and people are comparing this like the Kobe year, right where like Kobe played a

bunch of minutes and then Tours Achilles. I've watched that full season. I watched, I'm watching this whole season. These minutes aren't the same that, Like, I'm watching Lebron and he is not. He's playing forty minutes, but he is not going for forty minutes that he's he's taking his time, he's you know, he's he's taking breaks on defense, taking breaks on offense. Like I I have no concern, like if he wants to play the full seventy two. I

don't have like an issue with it. Um, I would like him to rest if you but I don't misue. Do you, like, do you have a problem with this minutes? I feel like he's fine. I don't think these minutes are too heavy on him. Maybe the over times I would like to, like, you know, keep down. I don't think we need to be in overtime every night. I don't think you should be going into overtime trying to trying to win every night. But what do you think about the minutes that are that are going on for

him that he's appat. I don't care at all. I mean, I think I may have said this to you at some point in the past as well. But like I'm a big believer, and you just listen to your body, like you know, uh, we are a time obsessed society. It's actually a conversation I was happening with my my

wife last night. We were talking about something completely unrelated, but like like like so many like old fashioned business people are obsessed with like butts and seats, like this idea that's like how many hours did you put in? How many hours did you put in? And it's funny because I run my own business, and like everything that I do is not based on an hourly basis. It's based on what I accomplish, Like what did I actually get done today? Because that's the only thing that's paying

me at the end. And it's funny because that's that's a hundred percent how I feel about physical activity. Like you know, uh, it's not about how many minutes you work out or how many calories you might burn through whatever it is you're doing. It's about like what are

you accomplishing while you're doing it? And and that's the thing with Lebron it's like, you know, he knows how much energy he's expended, how much impact his joints have taken, how what kind of recovery he needs, Like he he actually had a comment that he said, I think it was two games ago against Washington where he's like, uh,

he said something. I can't remember the exact words, but it's something along the lines of like my advisors have told me what I'm doing is okay, I can't remember exactly what it was, something along those lines, And I believe I think, you know, when people talk about Lebron, no, he invests a million dollars into his body every year.

You know, you realize, but all that money is going to it's going to like nutrition, and it's going to recovery, and it's going to advisors, and it's going to medical professionals that are giving him opinions on what he's doing.

And you know, I just think, like, like I I do think that, like if he pushes himself to the point where he's got kind of a bang up type of injury and he's still going that that's done, but he hasn't led us to believe anything like that's going on where I would sit him as like especially in his grueling where they have eight back to backs or something like that, nine back to backs in the next

in the next half. So if he tweaks his ankle, then you see him go down and tighten up his shoe and then he says after the game like all on playing tomorrow night in Memphis. I'd be like, yeah, that doesn't seem smart. But the as far as what he's doing now, as long as he's not banged up, he's fine. It's just he needs to listen to his body. And like, dude, you know, I've had a couple of stress reactions. One in my knee and one of my foot.

One one when I was in college. One was after college, like your body tells you like you're like when I actually had the bad foot. One like my foot was feeling a little funky for a while. I just didn't listen to it, you know, like your body communicates with you and tells you when you're experiencing wear and tear injuries, you know, did whether it's tendonitis or a little bit of pain in one in one spot or whatever it is.

And so as long as he's listening to those things, I I trust him, and I'm not worried about it, like I I. You know, a lot of people were saying he should take the game against Utah off. Yeah, and I would have said, okay, fine, in the sense that I had thought they had no chance to win. But like, he likes playing basketball, and he probably saw it as an opportunity to keep his body in shape or whatever it is, you know, he takes he takes pride in it too, right, Like he's taking obviously some

kind of pride um. I don't know if it's the m v P chase or whatever, but he wants to play all the games, and who am I to say, like, no, you need to rest this one game, you know, and take these thirty minutes off, And he's like, what difference does that make in the whole season. So, um, he's gonna get the All Star break too coming up, or some kind of break. He's gonna play in the game obviously,

But yeah, I'm fine with his minutes. I just don't like, I see a lot of uproar, and I feel like the minutes kind of don't tell the whole story obviously, like you always say you need to always take context into it, and uh, he's playing forty minutes, but I feel like twenty of those are kind of like, yeah, I'm not gonna help right here because you don't want to, or yeah, I'm not closing out on a guy that I just don't respect as a shooter, and you know,

things like that he does all game, which I totally find with he's Lebron James. He shouldn't be going full force the whole night. So yeah, I'm not I have no problem with his minutes. He's number one and minutes right now. I think that will level out when a d comes back. Shrewder obviously be able to play with himself. Yeah, and he's still I think, at a career low in minutes, even with all the like, even with the craziness that's happened now. So I think he's fine. What was your

third silver lining? So my third silver lining is that the shooting can't get any worse like this. There's no way that it can get anywhere so that at all. So in the last six games, which is really what a d has missed, Um, we're one in five right, the only uh, the only win was against Minnesota, I believe. Um. And so the Lakers are shooting twenty nine from three now, Like, I know that that seems bad. What makes it worse?

It's like most of these are catch and shoot like as you said, Lebron's creating the most open looks um that the Lakers have had. UM, and they're just breaking threes. West Matthews had a bunch last night where they just went in and out. KCP is starting to get a little bit on track, but again he went cold I think last last night. And then UM, yes, I don't think this can get any worse. We saw this. I think you bring up the bubble shooting a lot with

the Lakers went really cold. Um. I saw someone tweet I forgot who it was. They're like, oh, Utah has the third through ten best players if you ranked, if you rank the teams, And obviously that's not how basketball works, but that's just a product of the shooting. The Lakers make a couple more shots, that tweet doesn't go up, so uh yeah, it's just it's just funny looking at so I don't think you can get anywhere. It's like they're just shooting all awf of from everywhere, especially from

three point line, and that just clogs everything up. There's nothing open. Uh, these guys they're running, I think I see people like, although Well needs to switch up the offensive scheme. I'm like, these dudes are coming off curls and they just don't respect. And no one's gonna No one's running to Chase West, mat West, Matthews off the line. No one's running to Chase Crusoe k CP right now,

and you have guys just clogging the paint. I don't I don't know what different scheme is gonna do anything. I don't know what kind of like uh, different flares or anything's gonna work. So that's why I stillver lining here. It can't get anywhere is maybe it will, maybe they shoot one for twenty tonight from three, but I just I just don't think, uh, you can any worse than it is right now. So nowhere to go but up

for the shooting. I agree with you, and and to me, there's a whole other element to this, Like the reason why I compared to the bubble is, you know, in the bubble seating games there were massive effort problems for the Lakers, and the reason why I think things turned around and like in every pivotal game if that playoff run, the Lakers shot really well. And I think one of the biggest reasons why is again it's a cascading effect.

Like when things got you know, when it got to nut nutcrunching time, Lebron and a d put immense pressure on the rim by virtue of just them like being super engaged on the offensive end. When when when it gets really get down to the really important moments of these playoffs series, and when you put immense pressure on the rim, the defense reacts and all of a sudden,

your shot quality is just amazing. And you know, I always talk about the law of diminishing returns when I talked about teams like Brooklyn, you know, Kyrie Irving is fifty times better than Wesley Matthews at creating three point shots for himself. However, if Wesley Matthews is wide open in the corner, he's going to hit it at a much closer rate to Kyrie uh than he would as

like some crazy step back shot. And so what you know, people worry about the quality of the shooters on the Lakers, but when you get into these you know, really intense playoffs series in Lebron and a D and Dennis Shrewd really dial up the offensive intensity and put a ton of pressure are on the rim, the Lakers are just

gonna get insanely good shot quality. And that's why, like, you know, they go into the Miami Heat series and they're like, oh, you know, after the top two players, you know, Miami has the next seven best guys, and it's like and then all of a sudden, everybody on the Lakers just shoots their lights out that entire series. It's because they're all wide open looks, because Lebron and A D physically dominated that series around the paint to create wide open shots. And this goes back to what

we were talking about with the Clippers. The Clippers take too many jump shots, and they their entire philosophies outside in the Lakers. And you know, this is something that I think you taught as a really good job of as well. And Russell Westbrook of Late with Washington is doing a really good job of this. When you create three point shots that are a result of pressure on the rim, they just go in at a higher rate.

It's just a simple reality of basketball. Yeah, definitely. And it's funny because right now the Lakers, the only one putting press on the rim is Lebron, right, so like, these these shots are open, but it's tiring him out, and his threes have gone down, and he's part of this bad percentage. So I feel like we're just watching the same movie again. We heard this all last year. The Lakers have enough shooting. They have a d Lebron and an awesome defense, which I think is even better

than might even be better than last year. They need a baseline level of shooting, right, They need enough shooting where teams have to respect and enough to where like they can't send that help on a d driving to the rim just as much where they can't help on Lebron getting to the rim just as much. And then when you have they need one guy hot a game.

And it's funny seeing all these dudes go cold at the same time, because like if they if this was spread out a little more like West Matthew was cold, but KCP has it going, you can kind of work it out a bit more. But they have everyone cold, so it's and they're losing them. That just makes them lose the math game every night. Um and I think I think Utah had eight threes in the first quarter.

Um made made eight threes in the first quarter, and the Lakers I think took like eleven for the half or just some crazy you know math question that And it was crazy to see that they were only down. Someone said, I can't believe they're down sixteen, only because they were just losing the math game, like crazy, So yeah, that should that's just turn back. But chasing guys off the three point line, that's kind of their defense principle, which by the way, the Lakers do the same thing.

But that that tells me just logically that their help defenders are a little more keen to chase people off the line instead of over help and it works because Rudy go bears in the paint um. But if you notice, Marcusol was just shooting wide open threes in that game because Rudy didn't respect him. When they go five at the five, you're gonna have to respect out there. And and guess what, You've got a team that over helps on the three point line. It's gonna be Dennis shooter

and Lebron to the rim all the time. It's gonna be something. Yeah, I was freshakes Market, like two threes in a row, and I'm like, you have that every single time, Like it was the same place he needs to. Yeah, Lebron comes off the pick, does that little behind the back back past him. Mark at the top of the three, he hit one, they'd run the exact same play. He had another, and then the next play Lebron did the same thing. He decided to like fake swing and I'm like, Mark,

just take the shot. You just hit two in a row, right, Just I know you're an unselfish you know, a pastor. I know this, but like, just shoot it again. Rudy's not going to defend you. And again eight is gonna you know, pump fake drive to the room, step back whatever, he's gonna do all this stuff when when that matters, and he takes that matchup personally as well for some reason. So I mean, I'm glad he does. I'm glad he does. But yeah, Mark needs to take those man, especially right now,

Lebron needs any kind of helping get in Marks. Mark's good enough shooter in my opinion, Like he's not the shooter he's shown so far, like he's not this I think he is. Yeah, And he's taking more too, and he's taking like I think he Like you always say, it's tough to like take one when it's like the third quarter, when you haven't shot all game, you know, like you're not in any kind of rhythm. So I'm glad he's taking. Yeah, I'm glad he's taking more. He's

even like posting up a little bit. She shot like a fade away over Rudy Gobert which didn't go in. But I just like him taking shots. I have no problem with him being aggressive anytime. He's so unselfish that he's never gonna ballhog or or you know, be a black hole on offense. So I like him to be more aggressive, especially with what uh especially with what they're

working with offensively right now. So Marcus Oliver's last ten games is forty from three on four attempts a game, So that's something that's something too to be to keep an eye on. That's positive. So we have one question in our comments. You and I actually already touched on this, but I want to just quick reiterate so that we can make sure that we get to our listeners. Um. I think this is from Joe Um question. Does Lebron's age have have anything to do with it being tougher

for him to create shots now? Just seems to be a little tougher for him this year or am I way off? So you and I talked about this earlier. My take on it is just uh, kind of that cascading effect of their limited offensive personnel right now allowing the primary defender to be a little bit up into Lebron's grill in a way that normally they can't and

just a lot of help. Lebron's overall shot quality that he's getting right now is lower than it normally is, and that's gonna just naturally manifest in him having to to take tougher shots, and he's gonna and he's gonna what do you think? Yeah, I agree with that. He's taking like he really took out that. You know, he had that like people would laugh at it. It became like a meme or whatever. He would stare at the ball before he takes that. Yeah, before that step aactor.

He really took that out for the most part this year. Um, I'm kind of seeing that come back a little bit because it's just no space. He's every time he drives to the rim, there's three bodies and then when he kicks it out, no one's making a shot or people are holding um, and so he's having to go to that more. Um, that shot is coming back. But yeah, he's taking a lot of tough ones. He's like getting to the mid range. Um, teams are switching in and he's just having to take tough step step back mid

range ones. So I think he's fine. He's taking tougher shots right now. But um, but like you said, he's in the best physical shape that I've maybe seen him as a laker. He's he's still getting yeah, and he's still getting to the rim when he wants. UM, I don't think, like I said before, Rudy Gilbert really changed much. I thought that Washington as well. Um, the Lakers went down four and he just decided I'm gonna get to the rim and got like an ones and sent the

game into overtime. I think so, yeah, that I think he's fine. Yeah. So. And the thing too, is like he's he's over here. I just looked up fift since a D went down, So it's not like he's missing a ton of shots. I mean he's he's shooting poorly from the perimeter, but he's still getting quality shots from the post and in the in and around the basket. His scoring numbers are down, He's at twenty six points

per game since the a D injury. But that that tells you all you need to know, because if they were guarding him straight up by virtue of the limitations of the other personnel, he'd be taking a lot more shots and he'd have a lot more points. And that just that shows you that he's he's being guarded heavily as a result of the lack of talent. Now the um the reality. The one thing that I would nit pick him on is I think he needs to do

better job take care of the ball. Um. But but I do think part of that is just like he's playing with limited offensive players and he's trying to make something into nothing. And I really thinks, Um, another question. Let's see the Lakers are obviously going to take a look at that buyout trade market. Who should be on the list? What do you think? Yeah, it's see they just wave when Quinn Cook right shout out Quinn Cook. Uh, who's an awesome Laker here? But yeah, they waved him.

So they have two spots available. Um, A lot of people said, you know, Boogie Cousins. I mean, I feel like you would be like the last option. I feel like they need one more shooter maybe and then maybe another like a wing defender would be nice. I don't really know who's on the market. Um. I saw gun Robinson, the third I think just got released. I think he'd

be like, okay, pick up. I really don't know who else would really help, because what we're talking about here is playoffs, right like you you don't want to get You don't want to get players for like the A D injury that's coming out right now. You don't want to sign a guy because of this little stretch um that they've been missing. So any guys who are going to play in the playoffs, and I really don't know who's available for that. I think they're gonna wait, um

for the full buy out market and see who gets available. UM. I like a guy like Trevor Reason, I wouldn't be mad at that. UM. I don't have a problem with Boogie if like he's if they don't sign anyone and they just want to keep him on UM and so yeah, I feel like that would be my choice. How about you? So okay. A couple of quick questions came through Chris Taps and Hassan Whiteside. I don't First of all, as far as Kris STAPs goes, no one know the Lakers

aren't getting any major key piece. That's not happening. I would not touch us on Whiteside with the tent football. UM, I don't think they need it big either. And this kind of goes to my answer the question, which is, like, I you know, first of all, NBA history tells us that buy out guys primarily choose based on minutes because

the basketball players and they like to play basketball. Like there's so many examples as of late where teams that are where player player would come available in the buy out market, you'd be like, oh, I bet you he goes to the Lakers, or I bet you he goes to sign with the Calves in Cleveland or whatever it is, and they end up going to like Milwaukee or some random team that truly needs that piece to play big minutes.

And so when I look at the biot market, it's like, you know, the Laker rotation is eleven deep now, and and they're gonna rink that when when when all the guys get back? So are in the playoffs, So when you look at it, it's gonna be the guards, Like it's gonna be kcp Wes, Caruso Dennis, and then it's gonna be that's four, and then it's gonna be Lebron Kuzma, Anthony Davis and Tre's that's eight, and then Marcusol is probably gonna play that's nine guys. So it's like, who

are you kicking out of the rotation? And so from that standpoint, it's like, I doubt they'll be able to get any really quality buy out pieces by virtue of just the limited minutes that are available. And then secondly, it's like you don't you don't necessarily need them. Um, if if I, if I had to gun to my head think of something that they could get would be a shooter. The idea there is like you're having issues

of spacing. You know, some of your other guards are cold, and your ideas is like, Okay, if I have Anthony Davis, Lebron, Dennis Shooter and KCP out there, uh and those who are so good defensively, then maybe I can fit in, you know, a limited defensive defensive player that can knock down shot and we could just cover for him and hopefully it just opens things up. Uh, you know at certain stretches of the game. But I just you know, the Lakers are in good shape with their roster. They

really are. I know it's hard to see that. It's hard to see the forest for the trees right now, but I really do think they're in good shape. Uh, we'll take one more. Let's see, do we need to focus on getting a big or three and d wing if given a choice. So we just we just talked about that's basically, you know, more or less we think

they need shooting. I don't. I don't think they need a big because in the playoffs they use their bigs less anyway, and Mark and Trez and a d are enough, especially since Lebron plays the four you know really well when it comes to that point, you got anything else? Man? I think that said. This was fun, This was exciting. It was good to go to go through this and

do this, do this weekly. So thank you to everyone who who tuned in as well, Like, yeah, we got the podcast version will be up here and I'll do it right away, so give me like fifteen minutes, Roger. I really appreciate you, man, I'm really looking forward to doing this. I'm glad we found a time in our schedules at work. Everybody else'll you next week? Awesome