Episode 32: State Of The Lakers With Raj C. @UnwrittenRul3s

a good morning here in Cali. Yeah. I woke up at four twenty this morning, as I usually do on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, to play basketball, and I was it helps to have something like that when you're having trouble waking up in

the morning. Um. Since you and I last talked, the Lakers had an impressive win against the Warriors, one that you and I predicted based solely on the fact that we knew Dennis Shudder was so valuable to everything that the Lakers needed to do, especially as it pertained to their roles and guys kind of slotting into their proper roles.

And then, of course, immediately after that, Marcusol goes into health and safety protocols, which we don't know what's going on with that yet, and Kyle Kuzma has a heel contusion, and so right when we could have had a pretty good indicator of the of the Lakers, you know, with Dennis against the better team than the Warriors and the Suns, they go out there completely undermanned and lay an egg

and lose to the Suns. And then Lebron sits out uh the other day against Sacramento and they take a loss. So not too much to take away from that. Fields especially frustrating when you factor in the fact that the Jazz have tricked off four their last seven games and the Clippers have been losing, and there was kind of an opportunity here to get back in the mix of things.

Could be worse at this point in the season than being a half game back of first place and a half game back of second place and in three and a half games back at first, But it did feel kind of like a missed opportunity. We are going to save everything having to do with like a total season, you know, rehash of the Lakers for next week. Uh, you know, as we're in the All Star break, uh, and we're gonna just kind of we'll we'll, we'll do

a mail bag. We're gonna do some player grades. We're gonna do everything under the sun, just kind of rehashing the whole season, but we kind of want to focus on But today we're gonna focus on just what happened in this last week, and then we're gonna focus on a little bit of what we think roster upgrades might look like for the Lakers. So my first question for Ross to start this off today is, yesterday I sent out a pole and all I did was set out

a pole. People were mad at me, and I literally just asked a question, okay, and the question was would you trade talent Horton Tucker for PJ Tucker. Now, the context of that simply was me thinking that there will probably be some kind of bidding war and you might have to give up THHD maybe, And I'm not even saying necessarily that's the case, but I knew that was an option, So I was just presenting the question. So my question for you is what was your reaction when

you saw that poll that I sent up? Yeah, I was like, that's gonna be a pretty one sided poll. I mean, you have a Laker fans. First of all, everybody loves th HT here and the Lakers aren't in like a desperation mode, right, Like, if they're in a desperate mode, then yeah, um they would give up tail Horton Tucker. But he's I feel like he's shown too much. He's also a part of Clutch. I mean, they're not

going to send him to a franchise that's that's falling off. Um, Like I saw the treads somebody put up treads for like p J Tucker as well, Like there's no way treads getting traded there with the Clutch and all that comes in comes into play. And uh also p J tuckers like thirty six, you know what I mean? Like you, I just I would not want to send out twenty year old t HD for p J. Tucker. So when I saw that, I was like, man, people are gonna really take that into one side. I knew where you

were going with it. I feel like you were thinking like young player for that kind of win now move. But yeah, I just don't I don't I don't see that. I don't see that happening. P J Tuck is a nice, nice player. I just he hasn't shown anything. Well, I mean, you can't really say that because it's a conversation we're gonna get into but um, I mean for right now, he's not shooting well. I mean it's all situation wise. I feel like if he gets bought out, then yeah,

there's a conversation. I just don't think t HD is the guy to give up right now. He's really the lakers only asset really, if you think about it that way. They don't really have anyone else that's a chip in that way. I don't think they'll give it up for p J. Tucker because there's something funky with Kuzma's contract that makes him hard to trade, right I can't remember what it is, but it's uh, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I used to be that it was Kuzma, you know,

and t HD. I would say Caruso is kind of an asset too, but they definitely don't have a ton of assets, and t HD is certainly their best asset. So the whole premise for my whole, you know, devil's advocate type approach that I took yesterday is the simple fact that the margin for error for the Lakers this year is less than it was last year, which is crazy because the Lakers got better. But the problem is is everybody around the league got better. You know, the Clippers.

We we've kind of slandered them at length on this podcast, in addition to other podcasts that have been on. But the truth is is that with Nick Potuman and Surgebaka, they're a better basketball team. Not to mention, any team coming off of an embarrassing loss usually comes back the next year really better. Look at Portland, they get embarrassed by New Orleans, They come back next year and make

the Western Conference Finals. You know, you look at the San Antonio Spurs, they blow that game, they come back. You know that every every team has a tendency to kind of rally around each other when something really bad happens and they play better. Uh, if you have Philly looks like a bona fide contender. I talked about them yesterday as a team that crosses all three boxes. They're elite defensively, they put a ton of pressure on the rim, and they have shooters. So it's a team that that

that is interesting to me in that regard. And then Brooklyn obviously, and then even these Utah and Phoenix teams have kind of added something to the mix. The the level of good that the Lakers need to be to win this year, it's it's at a higher level than

it was last year. And so from that perspective, when I look at a guy like t p J. Tucker as is is a guy that that that fills a specific need that very well could increase your chances of winning the title by a few percentage points, which, and with the margin of air being as small as it is,

could be the difference maker. Now I agree that he's old, but as we're going to talk about here more in a second, you know, I think there's plenty of examples over the last few years that that guys who are are playing in bad situations have a tendency to just let the ropes, let the rope slip, and then when they get re engaged in a good situation, begin to look more like themselves. And p J. Tucker quite simply is one of the best corner three point shooters in

the league. He's not a good overall three point shooter, but there's an easy need for the Lakers to have somebody in the corner that can knock down shots, and he's another body to throw at a Kauai or at a Paul George or even a bigger forward in the league that he might be able to to to cause some physical problems for so, so tell me why you don't believe in p J Tucker necessarily as a as a as a contributor at this point. Yeah, I mean, I I got to watch, you know, the Lakers played

Houston last year in the second round. UM, and PG Tucker was awesome and he was there small ball five. But he's not keeping up with those wings at that age right now, he's what like thirty six. And then we talked about those bets that are kind of in bad situations. They're usually not this old. They're usually like around maybe thirty two, thirty three. I feel like thirty six is pretty pretty high up there. And PJ. Tucker is a guy with a lot of mileage on him.

And uh, he's a corner shooter, right He's he's gonna sit there and shoot corner threes. Um, he's not gonna take it off the dribble. Um, he's not gonna, you know, create any kind of offense. He's just gonna stand there. And I feel like the Lakers have players like that. Um Wes Matthews is probably not as good a shooter, but I feel like he feels that kind of defender role.

And again to get p J. Tucker, I feel like it's gonna have to be in a trade and I just don't think the Lakers gonna give up anything for him. And we saw yesterday at the All Star Draft, Um, we saw Lebron kind of take a take a crap on Utah there. Just to bring that around here, the Lakers shouldn't have to go and trade right there there there are a place that people are gonna want to come to. They're gonna be a free agent. Uh, They're gonna be a buyout market place that people are gonna

come and play for. And I feel like that's where the market is going to be giving up th h D for a couple of months of p J. Tucker just does not. Like I understand the margin of air might be a little spatted this year. I might kind of contest to that, but uh, because eighties missed like fourteen games and the standings are still as close as they are. But even with the marginary, I don't think p J. Tucker saws that marginal maryor too high. Like

how much is he playing in a Brooklyn Net series? Guy? Really? Like that's a team to me that I want to look at here, the Clippers and Lakers. We know kind of the matchups are. I think in a Brooklyn series, I don't know how much p J Tucker is playing. And I think that's where you're looking at here. You don't want to sign guys for a few months or you know, for a first round series or somebody that That's where my issue was with p J Tucker. So,

but how much is talent Horton Tucker going to be playing? Like, I mean, a part of this for me, and for the record, I'm not necessarily saying I don't even know what my answer would be to that poll, because there are a number of different things that that make it complicated. For instance, talent Horton Tucker's salary doesn't match up with p J Tucker, so you've got to add additional players,

and when you're Hardcaps, that can be a problem. Um In addition to that, like, yeah, I'm not sure that that either talent Horton Tucker or p J Tucker will be will be relatively usable in a in a specific playoff matchup against some of the best teams in the league.

You know that said all, I'm saying is like I bel I personally was very high on talent Horton Tucker about a month and a half ago, um that he went through a strike where he was defending extremely well, he was attacking closeouts well, he was simplifying his game

and he did a good job within that specific role. UM. But I mean, what's really been disappointing to me as of late as I don't think either Frank or really any you know, any of his teammates can can count on talent Horton Tucker to do his job defensively, which has been frustrating because we talked a little bit about this, you know, two podcasts ago. But he's not defending very well and pick and roll, he's he's getting caught on screens too much, which is something he needs to work on.

He's losing his focus and help defense and getting caught. You know, there was a play, uh, there was a play against Phoenix the other night where you know, basic backdoor cut from I think it was Jay Crowder and he's just he's just he's not You're supposed to have an eye on man and ball is what they always teach you when you're when you're coming up in the game, and he didn't have an eye on either, Like he was kind of like looking back and forth, looking back

and forth. But then the guy cut behind him and he just wasn't paying attention. It was like was kind of sort of like, uh, just towing that line in no man's land, and he got beat. And so from that same point, like what I'm saying is I I feel relatively certain that the perceived value within some corners of Lakers Twitter that th h T is this future star. I feel relatively certain that that's not the case. Now

I feel like I'm in the minority there. Um, I think he's a good player, but I don't necessarily see the same ceiling that everybody else sees. And so, you know, me, I've got a core philosophy here, which is like, don't get caught trying to tow both lines of the current era and the future to the point where you get

you know, where you get yourself beat. You know, because it's like everyone goes like, well, what about the Spurs, you know, a team that consistently kind of did both, And it's like, yeah, but his talent weren't Tucker Kauai Because I don't think talent Horton Tucker's Kauai, you know,

but that's just my take. I'm lower on th HT than other Laker fans, and and that makes it so that And again I'm not saying that necessarily giving up give him up for p J Tucker, but I think I think a lot of fan bases act like this, and I'm not necessarily of the opinion that he should be untouchable. But you do make a good point. You and Ben Roe Salas brought this up yesterday, this idea that the Lakers aren't desperate, and I agree. We talked

about this a lot last week. You know, when a d comes back and everyone's healthy, this is still the best team in basketball, So there's no reason to overextend yourself. All I said from the beginning was is like I would I would be I would at least think heavily about moving someone like th HT for really solid veteran peace because of the fact that the margin for error

is less this year. And something silly like allowing Lebron to save his legs so that he doesn't have to guard Kauai in a play series, you know, something silly like that might be the difference this year. It might not be the Lakers might just be better, but it might be the difference this year. So that that's kind of where I I kind of tell the wine if that makes sense, Yeah, for sure, And I feel like there's a right trade out there, then you know you can make it for t hd At. I'm not in

the camp that T is untouchable. I was lower on him than most. Well I'm not a draft guy, so I really don't even try with those kind of things. I was kind of lower on him, But watching him this season, I you know, I got excited to you.

How can you not You watch him kind of dominating the UH in the preseason and kind of go go off, and you see the ball handling skills, Like against Sacramento, there was no one else so they just ran high ball screen after high ball school for him and he was comfortable and you could see like he was in his lab, able to drive and kick and dish, and you know that. I feel like the Lakers see him as that kind of player. They want to develop him, and I don't think for the really quick Sacramento was

a horrifically bad. Yeah, they have they have a lot of bigger issues than just basketball, in my opinion, day they have a have a live a lot of issues, but just seeing case you get to go to work and have fun. You can see, like on defense, I get your point with that, but to me, he's twenty, Like, I just don't know how many twenty year olds are contributing on a title team, like a title team, um,

especially you know at that age. And he really didn't play that much his rookie year either, so he's still really new and I'm not going to really kill him for that. I feel like his defensive was fine and he was playing next to like a d and you know in those lines for a while. Yeah. Right now it's accountability with those guys. But he just he's been he's lost his focus lately. Yeah, right now he's lost. I mean, he doesn't know where he's supposed to be.

You can see a lot of communication issues as well. Him and coups and traders are always kind of like, hey, that was your rotation. He's like, I'm trying to stop the guy at the rim and his guys open for three. So a lot of things like that happened. Um, So I I still really believe in him defensively and yeah, I just don't think p J took is the right trade for it. But I'm like, I'm kind of on your side there. I don't think he's untouchable. Like, if there's a right move out there, then you make it.

You don't, uh, you don't hold yourself for that that's gonna help you in the title. I just don't think there are many moves out there they're gonna create the big margin that's gonna help you in the playoffs here for sure, And there's not minutes available for some sort of large type of thing. I'm just saying, like, you know, Okay, So for instance, like one of the things I saw yesterday from somebody that on Twitter that I follow, I can't I'm blanking on the gentleman's name right now, So

I apologize in advance. But the someone that I followed for a while who knows this stuff, and he was bringing up the fact that that in Houston in the playoffs, that that PJ had started to struggle a little bit.

And what bothered me about that is, like, you know, I correct me if I'm wrong, And I'm pretty sure p J. Tucker led the league in corner three point percentage last year, So it was a specialty of his, which, for the record, it's a significantly different shot, like when I'm shooting a photo versus it's a significantly different shot. There's a it's a it's a different uh. You know. The easiest way I can describe it is like a an NBA, you know, a wing or the top of

the key. Three point shot is like a full body shot, whereas a where you have to get a lot of lift, Whereas the corner shot is a shot that is a little bit more of a set shot. It's a little bit more of something that if you if you really jumped crazy high and got a ton of lift, it would actually throw you off a little bit on that shot.

And so from that standpoint, you know, I don't think it's fair to discount his entire season of shooting based on the fact that the Lakers, who are one of the best three point defenses in the league, made PJ struggle a little bit. Like that, to me, is in a fair assessment necessarily because you know, it's like Marcusol.

Everyone's like, oh, Marcusol can't shoot. He shot poorly in the playoffs last year for Toronto, and it's like, well, he shot really well all season, he just was on a team that didn't have a lot of offensive creation, and so when they ran into some elite defenses in the playoffs, he wasn't getting the same shot quality, you know. And and ironically, like Marcusol has been shooting the hell

out of the basketball as of late. But I just I think, like, you know, uh, the limited minutes, because he would them into l a and he'd played probably fifteen to twenty minutes a game, the overall shot quality that he would get, I think would rejuvenate him. And so this is a good point because we're gonna we're gonna segue to Blake Griffin here in a second and

what that would look like. And I think, so there are dozens of examples, because there's a difference between what I was talking about with Tommy yesterday, which is, you know, uh, younger players playing on really good teams and struggling. Think like a Kelly Ubre with this Warriors team, or like a Rodney Hood or a Jordan Clarkson with the two thousand eighteen Calves, and they're struggling, and there's a tendency to kind of point fingers and be like why is

this guy struggling? Why is this guy struggling? Well, that has to do with the fact that they're young and they're struggling trying to find a way to fit in that offense. But with veterans, guys in their late thirties who are stuck in bad situations, who come out of bad situations and go into good situations and start playing around high i Q basketball players, I don't think we can I don't think it's possible to overstate how much

that can reinvigorate people. I don't have any sort of receipt or anything, because I remember not necessarily talking about it, but I was pretty confident that Nick Patum was going to be fine when he came back to the Clippers. Why because I wanted the Calves to get him when they were floating around that Colin Sexton pick. And the truth of the matter is is Nick Patum is It brings very translatable skills, right like, you can shoot, he's big and pretty athletic, and you can put the ball

on the floor make basic basketball reads. So obviously, if you stick him on a bad basketball team where the collective i Q is low, those skills aren't really going to manifest themselves. As we talk about all the time with the Lakers, their role players play a simplified version of the game because of what Dennis Lebron and a d do. They put them in situations where they're doing a closeout drill where there there are hacking against every

defensive player at a disadvantage. Those sorts of things. With a smart veteran player who brings translatable skills, I think reinvigorate them. And I think we have lots of examples of that over the years. Like even this last example I'll use and then I'll hand it over to you, Like even Tyson Chandler last year for him it was a health issue or two years ago. I'm sorry for him, it was a health issue. Uh, he couldn't say on

the court for the Lakers. But even when he was out there, like just having a guy who wouldn't completely urinate down his leg when he was on the court at the center position, like really helped them. And there and there were numbers, there were advanced metrics that showed that when Tyson Chandler was on the floor of the Lakers played really well that year. It was just he struggled with health and that might have been the most washed version of this type of situation, if that makes sense, right.

But like my only thing with Nick Putune, I mean, the rims are still ten feet high and Charlotte as they are in l A. Um, it's not like he was playing for the Vetterman minimum and Charlotte. He was making thirty million a year. So like, I don't know if he's an excuse to be like, I just don't care. Um, that's the one that's really shocked me. I did not

think he would. I thought he would be like in the rotation and I think he'd be starting and hitting threes and you know, going off the dribble and things of that nature. So yeah, it's kind of interesting when you look at his environment and moving over and you kind of like move that to anyone else. Um, I wonder if that's more like the exception than the rule. But um, the guy I was looking at his Blake Griffin, I think we were going to kind of segue to him.

Um I went because NBA dot com you can go and like look at every assist, right, so you can go and look at guy's assist and they'll just video out the assist and the look at is like they're very generous with the assists. So like Blake Griffin would have like a six assist game and four of them are literally him just swinging to Jeremy Grant who does like a three dribble move up and under layup, and I'm like, man, he really didn't do anything with that,

and like a lot of them are of that. Or he'll just like kick it to a shooter and he'll pumping step back three and he'll get the assist for that. So I went and try to rewatch the Laker Students game, and that's the game I think Blake actually tried. I think he's gonna try against those big, big opponents, and um, what I saw is like it's a guy that he's obviously lost his athleticism, but he's a guy who can hit open threes, he can run a little bit of

pick and roll, he can handle it. Um, he plays a lot out of the post, which I think kind of fits this team. I would like to see him next to a guy like a d That's the guy I think I would like to go for. He's like thirty two years old, kind of a really bad situation. Yes, I'm I'm gonna like hundred percent check that, but I'm pretty sure I checked that yesterday. Here's a reputation around the league as a corpse. He's actually I gave him an extra year. He's thirty one, so even even more. Yes, yeah,

it's kind of it's crazy. So and I mean you look at him. I mean he came to the league even before DeAndre or after DeAndre Jordan. I can't remember who's starting on the net. So I can see him being a contributor. Again, he's a guy that's going to get bought out. You don't have to really do much. And I think it's a like a low risk, high reward kind of player. Um so yeah, I feel like

you that's the kind of guy. And again, like we talked about with p J. Tucker, the minutes just aren't there, Like Tres right now with all these guys out is playing still played only twenty minutes of game with a d out, Mark out still only playing like twenty five minutes of game. So look, if you look at the minutes, I just don't see they're being too many minutes there to have on this team. That's the guy I would

like to see them go after, for sure. Yeah, it's it's fascinating because like a Bloy Griffin move is kind of an identity change for the team in a certain sense because like you you you kind of tried to to slot him into a combination of what you've been giving minutes to uh to Keith and uh tres and Marcossol. Now, like, for instance, like you can't count on on Blake Griffin to be as you know, as active in rotations defensively as him on tres Can. He doesn't have the motor,

he doesn't have the foot speed. Uh, you can't count on him to be the same physical rim protector that Marcos al is. He's not big enough, he can't jump as high anymore. But what he does give you, in my opinion, is kind of like a slightly better version of what you've been getting from markueff Um. Like if you think about what Mark Keith brings to the table, which is like he's kind of a corner three point shooter kind of guy. To He's he's done a good

job in post defense. He's that he has struggled in in rotations. But if you if if the teams that try to isolate markuef on the block like he actually does a good job of holding his own. You know, I think Blake would slot into that role perfectly. And and I would argue that he's a little bit better of a shooter and then a little bit better with the ball in his hands. Is he as he puts the ball on the floor. And again, everything has to be quantified with the with the with the type of

shot quality that they're going to get. You know, the Lakers are dead last and three point shooting over the last fifteen games. The shoot about it's awful, awful, offul awful,

like horrific, horrific stuff. Um, but I think the main reason for that has to do with the fact that with a D out and with Lebron kind of being on cruise control as of late, they're just not and with Dennis being out for as long as he was, they're just not putting any pressure on the rim, which is not which is not creating the same high quality looks that they were getting when A d was playing.

Because early in the season the Lakers shot well. And so from that standpoint, like when everybody gets back, you know, Blake Griffin is gonna be one of the guys that gets left alone and you know, we're gonna transition here in a minute to kind of talking about the Lakers

trapping defense. And you know, one of the points that I'm gonna make is that you know, everybody talks with the Lakers like you gotta make Eventually they're gonna make these guys make shots because they're gonna, uh, they're gonna, you know, trap Lebron or double Lebron and they're gonna double a D. And the Lakers are gonna do the same thing to other teams with their defense, which we're gonna talk about in a minute. But the truth of the matter is is that's how it's going to be

in a playoffs series. They're gonna they're gonna relentlessly attack specific matchups with Lebron and a D and guys like Blake Griffin, you know, are going to be able to to make plays off the dribble in space as they put the ball on the floor. And I think if you can get him in the buyout market, I mean, there's obviously no way they're going to trade for him, the salaries would be impossible, but if you could get him in the buyout market, like I see him as

a pretty clean swap. The only thing that would get trouble from there is then Markief almost entirely falls out of the rotation, which makes it tough to kind of figure out how you work that out because he's complained in the past about not being in the rotation. Yeah, and I think Blake would have to earn those minutes. I mean, just on this team. He's not gonna come here and kind of demand minutes, But you have to earn those And if he's playing better than Markief, then

he plays. I mean that's just how it goes. Markief, I think would understand that. Um, he started some games in the bubble right in the playoffs and uh and some games he didn't play. So that's how I see him. Blake man like he was, he was a star in this league. Like those kind of guys, I feel like they're not just gonna go out off on a whip, right, Like they're not just gonna fall out of the league.

In my opinion, Like those guys want to prove something we saw with Dwight Howard last year, and I don't think Blake is even close. I think Dwight was a lot closer to his athletic uh peak than Blake is right now. But you know those kind of guys that they know how to play, and uh, Blake's was never like a great defender, but he's a smart defender. He knows where to be, where he's supposed to be. He doesn't put a crazy amount of pressure on the rim.

But what's interesting to me rewatching a few Pistons game, which I don't recommend at all because those are not fun games to watch, but people do send like doubles at him still, which is kind of funny. Like, so he'll go on the post and people will trap him, Yes, and people will trap him even though like even the numbers say again this the numbers test kind of thing, but like the number say, shoot on turnaround jumpers. But still people come and double him and he kicks it.

He makes the right play guys, cut off of it um. Again, he gets some kind of what's called assists that he probably shouldn't get, but still like he makes the right play um in those situations. So again, in that second unit where offense is kind of struggling, I would like him to kind of help that out. I think he can be a he can be a secondary creator. But when everyone's healthy. Yeah, I mean he might be a luxury, but I think it's a guy that low risk, high reward.

Like you, you can if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but he can kind of test it and see if it does. Yeah, and you know he's even setting basketball aside. Um. Blake's a star and he belongs in l A, and I I it's on good authority for many people that he wants to be here, and thank God for Steve Bomber burning the bridge so horrifically bad that he would never go back to the Clippers. Um.

So like I I would imagine. You know, I don't have any intel on this, obviously I'm not the intel kind of guy, but my gut tells me that he will be a Laker um just by virtue of the simple fact that there's intel out that he's gonna get bought out and all signs point to l A. But the one thing that's gets sketchy is there will be a conversation with Rob Olinka and Frank Vogel at some

point talking about minutes. And as you and I both know, there is there is significant evidence in NBA history of buy out guys chasing minutes because they like to play basketball,

and so that'll be the interesting part. Like I, you know, people would probably burn me at the stake for this too, but I would consider trading Tres for some shooting if I knew for a fact that Blake Griffin was coming, um, just because of the fact that I think they only have one additional buyout spot after Blake and uh um.

You know, in Montrese, to me, as good as he's been this year, he's been exactly what we wanted him to be, which is an innings eater, a guy that, yeah, the Lakers on the short turnaround got blitzed by injuries in COVID, And the truth of the matter is is Montrese was worth every penny to be the guy that

could eat up a lot of those minutes. But that said, when push comes to shoves in the shove in the playoffs, I don't necessarily see him as as that much of an ass that whereas like you know, Blake's got tons and tons of playoff reps and uh and his shooting helps with spacing and that specific type of environment. And then defensively they're not the same. But my guess is that you could find a way to be similarly effective with Blake defensively that you would with a mantres if

that makes sense. Yeah, well my only issue, like I saw a lot of like I would trade Tres on Twitter or whatever. Um, but I mean this is not two K you know what I mean, Like we can't like uh and also this is pleased with Clutch and all those kind of factors go in and uh, yeah, I just don't see it happened. He took a pay cut to kind of be here, and I wouldn't even think about it because there's just no way they're moving. They're moving Tress, no chance at all whatsoever. But I

just don't. I just don't see it. It's it's way too many things that would have to go wrong for that to happen. Um, it was funny. I was seeing like a Celtics fan being like, um yeah, I can't even put Tristan Thompson trade room trade rorez because he's a clutch guy and you can't screw over clutch, which you know, I think he was talking kind of facetiously,

but uh, that's kind of true. I mean these are like relationships that people have built, you know, and it's just no way that he was getting he would get traded in my opinion, Um, he's he's a he's too close with everyone, so I just don't see it, and he's played too well. I just I just don't see it happening. He's been as advertised and he hasn't complained, he's he's done his role, so I just don't see him getting moved. I would even argue he's been better

than I thought he would be. To be honest, it's just it's more just like a fit thing. And you know, and it may be as simple as like, you know, because the Lakers shooting has been you know the problem this last you know, a couple of months month really and and really if you look at the way the rosters built in their core lineups, you know, when k CP is actually playing like k c P. You know when when Wesley Matthews is shooting a league average like

he should at this phase of his career. Kyle Kuzma has actually been better shooting the ball than he has in years passed. When all these guys are actually playing like themselves, they are what they should be, which is an average three and shooting team that should shoot really well at times because of the high quality at three point shots that they get. So I I don't necessarily see that as a problem. I'm just kind of floating

these kinds of things out there. In truth of the matter, is with how old Marcosol is, and with how old Blake Griffin is, and with Anthony Davis being somewhat injury prone this year, you know, Blake Griffin might be worth having just for death at this position, which is which is something to to uh uh to at least, you know, takeing to to at least take a look at even if you have to have a conversation with your players and and be like, look like we're keeping you around

for debt um. So I wanted to talk about uh you actually brought this up, so I should credit you, but to talk about the Lakers defensive schemes. So you had I'll let you actually lead this one off. So you had mentioned that you, uh had something you wanted to say about the Lakers trapping the way they have in the last couple of games. What did you have

in mind? Yeah, So it's funny because I remember when we recorded last week, you said, uh, something like I think fans are gonna be surprised how well they play. When Shrewder comes back, I was like, well, I think they'll play better and I think they played this good.

But just just like watching right but like, but for me, like I focus on that Portland's and Warriors game because I feel like they really wanted those two and they had all their guys pretty much there except for except for a d obviously, and man, these trapped Like, to me, Stephan Dame are the most dangerous thirty plus shooters in

the league. Like, I don't know if there's anyone other than that, maybe Luca when he's on, but Stephan Dame to me are the ones you have to guard that high up and uh, obviously step doesn't have the supporting cast right now there this is Dame. But watching like Shrewder first of all, him chasing screens like this, Like it's funny when people think about the trapping defense, they think, like anyone can just trap, and it's just not It's just not true that not every team can play this style.

So I was watching Shooter kind of chase Steph and Dame around these screens, and marcusol is at the level of the screen, right, and you have Stephan Dame picking the ball up like near half court, and now you have like a four on three and I'm watching Lebron. I forgot, like how much of a force Lebron can be on defense when he's when he wants to. He he hasn't really done it much this year, so you kind of forget. But I think him and A d are probably the best at this, and they're on the

same team kind of defending two guys at the same time. Obviously, with the Warriors, I think he's played them a million times. He knows their place. But even with even with the Blazers, man he was blowing up those those coverages. So I saw like the peak of what they can be. They're not gonna do that every night. They can't do that every play, but just seeing their trapping schemes something they have in their wallet that they've used last year that's worked, Um,

I think. I think it's really cool to see it see it work in these two games because I feel like they really tried it. And again, this is all without Anthony Davis, who to me is the the number one in this who protects all things at the rim and around around the basket. But yeah, I want to see like your thoughts on that, because I really felt

like they wanted to defend those guys. Dame have like twenty eight or some crazy number in the first half, and then they really shut all that off in the second half, and from there, I think they took that into the Warriors game, and that Warrior's game was over within the first five minutes. It was not a contest um. So I want I wanted, you know, like, were those shots that they were missing, like because they were giving some open looks. I think Andrew Wiggins had a few

open threes and all that. But again, I feel like they can control it. Right, if you just let Stephan Dame run high screen a role, they're gonna kill your drop coverage and they're gonna kill your switches. But if you can kind of control who's getting the shots, I think because I was listening to the Warriors broadcast and they're like, oh, they're just missing open looks, I was like, well, there's a reason those guys are open right, making sure Wiggins is the one taking the three with the hard

clothes out. So I kind of want to hear your thoughts kind of on that. So, first of all, as far as missing open looks go. I talked about this specifically with Tommy yesterday, and it's actually a problem with strictly analytical approach to two shot evaluation because they'll call a shot a wide open shot because there's no defender within six feet, but it doesn't account for how that wide open shot was generated so or who it is.

So for instance, like if the shot is generated in against the super physical def is that chases you off the line and forces you into a couple of attacked closeouts. By the time you're open, there's a fatigue element, you know,

in addition to the selective leaving of guys open. So when you look at it's I don't think it's necessarily a fair indicator of of of shot quality to just say, oh, we have this many wide open shots, because if those wide open shots are all in fatigued situations and all given to average to blow average shooters, it's actually good defense.

And it always bothers me when analytics guys will undercut a defense by saying like, oh, well, they're actually performing way above uh they're expected three point shot quality defensively, so they're benefiting from luck. So this defense actually sucks Like that to me is that to me is dishonest, and it just it just glosses over some basic, uh you know, principles of the way basketball actually works. And as far as the trapping team goes. I brought this

up earlier. You know, the we talk about how teams are gonna inevitably make Lebron and a D B passers, right,

that's just part of how playoff basketball works. Well, the truth of the matter is that the Lakers have to do the same thing to these other teams, especially in the Western Conference, when you've got Dame and you've got Jamal Murray, and you've got Steph Curry, and you've got you know, whether it's Here and Fox that you see in a playing game or in the first round if they happen to sneak in or there are just all of these super super quick guards that are great at

at creating shots. I mean, Lou Williams is a guy that they'll probably do it to some in the uh in the Clipper series. But the truth of the matter is is like that's their version of what some of these other teams are doing to Lebron and A D. When teams are doubling Lebron in the post or doubling a d in the post. That's what the Lakers are doing to these guards at the point of attack in

these pick and rolls. And so what I always look at it as is you're you're accepting the fact that you're going to give up a certain amount of shot quality, whether it's a wide open shot for and Andrew Wiggins or you know, a Nick Patuma or whoever it is

that ends up getting the shot. However, what you're hoping is that the overall rhythm of the offense gets thrown off by the fact that their star player, who usually controls everything, is suddenly not getting the normal shot attempts and a bunch of inferior players are shooting the ball more frequently. You hope that that throws them off. And then secondly, this is something that you and I have talked about at length, the Lakers thriving chaos they do.

And so you know the trap. The key with the trap is, uh, if you aggressively trap out front and you force the stepher a dame to throw a looping like side arm kind of over the top pass to the short roll guy, that time that it takes for that past to connect is what allows you to pre rotate or essentially like jump the gun in your rotations and give yourself an advantage. And it almost allows for that second defender on the on dame to get into

the flow and get back into the rotation. That's what's so bad about this kind of half past thing that they did for most of the first part of the season. Or it's not a trap, but it's not drop coverage, and you're basically just a no man's line because now that pass to the short roll guy is a pocket pass, and that hard bounce pass into that gap hits that guy and you can't pre rotate, and now you're a step behind through the whole process, and it just puts

you at a disadvantage. But the Lakers extensively used that specific scheme against Portland last year and against Houston in the playoffs, and it worked. Then they had a problem with with Denver having to do with the fact that Yokis was so good in that short role. So they did and this is what's so genius about it is they put Lebron in that action with Anthony Davis, and so they would run Yokis Murray pick and roll and

they would just switch it. And now Jamal Murray there's a whole highlight reel of film of him trying to attack Anthony Davis and Lebron and these isolations and and not getting good shots, you know. And so that's what's so devastating about what they do is they can trap you and and survive in rotations. And if you're beaten that, here are two of the best defensive players in the world when they're engaged, and we're just gonna put them on your two best players. Now, good luck running that

sort of action. Okay, you want to bring our worst defender into the action, cool, I bet you he's on your worst offensive player, and your worst offensive player isn't smart enough to consistently beat us in that short role position. Because that's the key. What makes the Warriors short role work out of those traps is Draymond because he's making the first play. What's making it work for Denver is Yoki because he's making the first play. Portland Nurkics is

pretty good at it. But anybody else they put in that spot, like like can't just can't make enough plays out of that position. And so you actually that's what's so beautiful about putting a Lebron in a D pairing on your two best playmakers is now you've got to run that action with an inferior playmaker and a guy who's a little bit slow making a read and a four on three. That's all it takes for your defense

to recover at that point. And the truth of the matter, this is what's so nice about having Lebron in a D two is Lebron and a d are so big and physical that I don't care how many doubles you send their way. They're still getting thirty points because of their physicality around the rim, and there are specific spots on the floor that it's suicide to double. But like a guy like Dame or a guy like Steph, like when you trap them, they literally have to give it up.

They don't have an option that's like, oh, I'll just go post up, because that's the thing. If you try to trap Lebron and pick and rolls, He's just gonna go post up where it's a better spot for him to attack double teams. Guys like Stephan Dame can't do that, and so that that's kind of what I think is so fascinating about the trapping defense is it's a specific way to neutralize a star and force them to play

four on three in the back end. And as long as you can force them to play four on three with an inferior initiator, or you can switch that act altogether, it allows them to shut down these teams. That's why I think they looked so unbelievably dominant at stretches in the playoffs last year. Right. And I like how you say, like Anthony Davids kind of raises the ceiling for this defense. Right, He's not like the the Anchors the speed right in their guards. Their guards are fast as hell. Carusoe k

CP shrewder. Those guys are running around chasing Um, I saw them. Depending they're the labor intensive guys in the defense. They do the most work exactly. And it's all about your point of attack defense, right. If you're just getting blown by, it's gonna be hard to do anything. Um. But they really keep guys in front of them. They stay, they stay in front, and uh, that's the that's the basis of this defense. You have Lebron also chasing around. H posted a few clips against the Warriors and they

just took away every single action so the Warriors. The Warriors are emotion offense. I know Warrior fans get mad at that a lot that the Warriors are emotional offense, but they're super heavy motion offense, and I feel like that's where they have some wins because those are hard to defend. Um. The Lakers are really good at switching and getting out and I feel, I guess for t HT struggles right because he's he is having trouble with that kind of communicating and getting on the same page.

But when you have five guys that know what they're doing, this team really locks in. And I was looking at I think they still have like the third best defense. I think Davis has missed sport teen games and in those spoorteen games, they still have like third best defense in the league, which is incredible. So they have the first right now obviously overall, but just looking at it in totality with the games he's missed. UM. So yeah, I'm excited to see how they keep moving with that.

But it was awesome to see them lock in because they haven't locked in in very many games this year, but seeing see it against Portland and Golden State, I feel like was a template they can use going going forward well, and so to the to the point of what you're talking about with the with the defense, like there's there is a delineation in my opinion, between like effort based regular season success, scheme based success, and then

like a playoffs ceiling success. So, for instance, there in the regular season over the last two years, the Lakers have actually been better defensively without a D on the floor. Now, I don't think a D actually hurts their defense. That's silly,

that's not at all what I'm saying. But in the regular season, the effort of the guards at the point of attack and in rotation and Frank Vogels scheming and things along those lines, the consistency on that end allow them to be an elite defensive team without Anthony Davis. But then there's this whole other side of it in the playoffs, and the same thing goes on with offense.

We talked about you and I have talked about this at length, Like offense is cute with like what Utah is doing is cute, right, Like they're driving and kicking, they're putting their you know, Rudy Gobert's roll into the rim, and they're generating these threes or like what the Bucks have done the last two years is like literally one of the best offenses like ever that we've ever seen the last couple of years. And but then all of a sudden they get in the playoffs and that offense

like doesn't work, Like it just doesn't work. And the it's because there's this delineation between the two. Like you can try hard your way and just scoring points in the regular season. You can try hard your way into defending in the regular season, but once we get to the playoffs, there has to be like a tangible like like identity to the way that that defense can succeed

against the best of the best. And you can see that with the Lakers were like when like the truth of the matter is when push comes to shove, If you've got the Lakers down to one and you're going into Game three and you think you've got a chance to get to win there in the game is you know, and it's a tie game in the fourth quarter, It's like, here's what I know you're gonna see. You're gonna see

Dennis Showder hounding your point guard full court. You're gonna see Alex Caruso flying around in rotations, You're gonna see k c p out there flying around in rotations and you've got Lebron and a d Good luck because when that because when that group is out there, there's gonna be nothing easy for you on anywhere on the floor.

And so you know that group, I don't even know what their defensive rating is this year when the five of them play together, and it's probably okay because with the eight minutes have been weird this year because he hasn't been great. But the truth of the matter is like when things really come down to that that moment in a game, you know that specific lineup makes sense in the way that they can guard. All three of those guards are super quick and they play extremely hard,

and they're great at the point of attack. Even Dennis like will fight in a in a post mismatch, you know, at least put in a position where the guy's a little uncomfortable, you know. But if I that, uh, you know, a team like Utah for instance, it's like at the end of the day, like do you love Bogdanovitch out there? You know, guarding the other team's best player like Royce O'Neil is pretty good, but he's not you know, he's

not that great in those specific matchups. You know, some of the stuff doesn't make sense and translate to the playoffs and and and then good luck on the other end too, because you know what Lebron and n A. D Are going to do to you offensively with that lineup, you know, with the spacing that it's provided. So it's

just different. It's important to draw the line between the two, you know, And and I like, I clearly don't think Anthony Davis hurts their defense in the regular season, but but it's very it's obvious that what they can do against the best of the best requires him to be on the floor. Um yeah, anyway, yeah, yeah, exactly. And their biggest trump card is a D at the five, right, That's that's the one that no one's known in the

league has yet figured out how to stop. And I don't don't see anything that has changed my mind on that. Him and Lebron with the elite defense at the five, them two can just run, screen and roll. They did it I think against the Bucks to win that game. They haven't really had to go and go to it too much. Yeah, that's that's where it goes and you have to stop that four out of seven. So I

saw something funny yesterday. I think it was a Raptors fan was like telling Utah Jazz fans like a being then one seed with Lebron in the same conference doesn't really mean much because they've they've obviously been destroyed by by Lebron a few times. So um yeah, I've seen. Seeing Lebron kind of shoot on Utah was kind of hilarious considering they're the best team and they have like what eight losses and they've just run through the league.

So I'm excited to see them play again. Utah obviously kicked our butt, but I want to see with a D healthy and see how that how that line up looks going forward. The as far as seeding goes, what matters most to me is not, uh, getting above Utah. Obviously, I think it'd be fine. I mean, you don't What you don't want to do is put yourself in a situation where you know a guy's banged up and it has to sit out a game, and you lose a game in l A and now you've got to win

two games in Utah. Like, you don't want to put yourself in that position, especially since knowing Utah, like, they'll probably have like fifty percent capacity fans by the time May and June coming around. So like I but but fortunately, like I think the Lakers are only a half game back being above everybody in the East. I don't know that for sure, but I think they are because I think Phoenix is a one full game ahead of them.

And but anyway, so like, as long as they can have home court advantage against everyone else, I think it's worth going for. Uh, you know, because obviously against the Clippers, they'll probably have home games for every single game, but you know, going into going into Milwaukee in the finals would suck, like if you had to do that four times,

So like, why not at least go for it? But I agree with you, like Utah, Utah having home court isn't as big of a deal, and quite frankly, as you and I have discussed on this podcast a half dozen times, that it's just the worst possible matchup for them, And I don't think the Lakers are even the slightest bit scared of that particular matchup. But but I mean, uh, it'll be interesting to see what they go for. By the way, I don't know if you saw, but the

alert just came on my phone. Blake Griffin just got bought out. Oh really, Oh yeah, let's see. It's a six time also for Blake. Griffin has agreed to a contract by it with the Detroit Pistons and will become an unrestricted free agent. Griffin has interest from many of the NBA's top playoff contenders and is expected to make a decision on his next team after conversations with prospective

teams in the near future. That's very vague from for the Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure he knows where he's going in my opening, like those kind of those kind of people really know what they're know what's coming. I my gut is tell like, because it's just knowing Blake. Uh, why wouldn't he Why wouldn't he come here? I there's the thing again. The one thing that would throw it off would be minutes. Like all it takes is a team like Brooklyn calling Blake and being like, do you

can play as much as you want here? You know, like something stupid like promising minutes? That could throw it off because the conversation with Frank and Uh and Rob is gonna go like this, Hey, Blake, you're our backup stretch five. That's what it is like the like Blake's not gonna take Mark out of the starting lineup, Like he's just not there. So you're backup five. You know there's minutes there, but you're a backup five. But if there's a contender out there that will look at him

in the face and be like, dude, you're starting. You're playing twenty plus minutes a night. You know you can play as much as you want, but if you need rest, will rest you. Blah blah blah. That might be something that that could throw him out of the mix. But I certainly would like to like to see him in l A so quickly before we get out of here.

You had mentioned so mean and I had a conversation about analytics, yeah, yesterday and you had mentioned that you had a follow up to that you that you wanted to ask, Yeah, because there's the stat that I always see people throw around, is this per thirty six minutes? Right?

And I kind of fell into it too. I just, um, I just heard you guys yesterday though, was a good point where you're saying, like every shot is in the same shot, right, So you kind of have to uh kind of fit in fatigue, and you know how long guys played or who's open or whatever. There's a whole bunch of factors that you know, numbers will never be able to quantify, and you can work with that with film. Right, those two go together. There shouldn't be some big war

onto it. But like the thirty six minutes, I think it's fine for like players who play thirty minutes right, that to me it makes sense. It's really when I see like I saw like a James White, little James Wisen, which you know, I think he's gonna be good. But I saw that James Wisen per thirty six someone posted he would be like twenty and twelve in per thirty six.

I'm like, he's never playing thirty six minutes. So like showing showing that James Wisen as averages twenty and twelve on a per thirty six just doesn't makes sense to me. Or like I saw what the Clippers that they posted like a Luke Kennard per thirty six, it was like sixteen four and like you know, like shooting, I'm like, he's never playing thirty six minutes. The average is nineteen. It doesn't really make sense to me to put up per thirty six out for guys who will never play

thirty six minutes. Like, it's just it's confusing to me when I see that, Like with the Lebron or like Paul George or those guys are gonna play thirty minutes, so their per thirty six kind of makes sense. It fits into their rotation, right, so you can kind of you can kind of predict what their numbers will be in that kind of thirty six minutes is kind of like the average what a superstar or like a full

rotation starter plays, right, so it makes sense exactly. But when I see like rookies have per like rookies that don't play at all getting per thirty six minutes, who average like fifteen minutes a game. Basketball just doesn't work like that, where like if you get ten points in ten minutes, it means you'll make you'll get twenty and like another fifteen. Like that's what's confusing. What do you

think about that kind of staff? That's that's kind of strange to me when I when I see it put out for guys who don't play rotate minutes, and I see like per thirty six for them like, yeah, that looks great, that looks awesome. You can do that with any rookie lee round. I'll go do their per thirty six. It's just doesn't really make sense for guys who will never get that that minutes this year. So for me personally, I've used it, uh mostly referring to stars who have

been playing in lower minutes. So for instance, think like Janice last year. I think like early this year when Lebron is playing like thirty three minutes a game or whatever. Where I agree with you that it's not necessarily the same translation for a rookie playing ten minutes a night. But here's where I would look at per thirty six and I don't I don't think it's perfect, but I think it is an indicator of your overall activity in

those minutes. So let me give you an example. So for instance, like I played pickup basketball games this morning. One of the things I love about these pickup basketball games that I played with this particular group of guys is we like quick games. So we played twos and threes to nine. So literally a game can end in

three possessions if you don't defend. And what's interesting is like, you know, I might average you know, four or five points per pickup game, but if there was a way to quantify it as a per thirty six, it would give an indicator of how productive I was in that specific young on one second, I'm having a nightmare said of luck in the last couple of weeks with my computers. I'm telling him in um anyway, So the it gives it, h it gives a general indicator of what your productive,

your production level was in those minutes. So again, if you we use Alex Cruso as an example, Alex Crusoe is going to be more impactful, not even statistically, but just in his overall effort and stuff. He's gonna be more productive in a seventeen minute outing than he is in a twenty seven minute outing. We've learned this now, you know that that was one of the things that was revealed during this Dennis Shrewder injury. However, you know, uh,

if if if a guy, if if a guy. I if I play Trisan Thompson off the bench in Boston, and I play him for fifteen minutes a night, and in those fifteen minutes he's getting ten points and eight rebounds. I don't think that's a fair a fair uh you know, representation of what he accomplished in that game, because what he really accomplished in that game is per thirty six, he averaged like he put up like twenty six and

fourteen or whatever it is. I'm not sure where the conversion is there, but the and what that means is in his fifteen minutes, he was a wrecking ball. Now that doesn't that doesn't translate to him having been able to be a wrecking ball for thirty minutes, but it does show me that he was a wrecking ball for those fifteen minutes. So it's as with any stat, it's imperfect.

You know, plus minus is imperfect. I hate plus minus in a single game, but I do believe in plus minus in the long term because I think that clearly shows that when this guys on the floor, the team has success for whatever reason, even fits against specific lineups and with specific role players next to him are specific supporting cast. But you know, one of the things I

like about her thirty six is it's an indicator of activity. So, for instance, Damian Jones like, it'd be interesting to take a look at it, and I'll look it up real quick, but it's it's a quick indicator. Let's see real quick. Let's look up Damian Jones. So if Damian Jones is playing super limited minutes, so he's been playing ten point three minutes per game with the Lakers, it shows that

he's only averaging four point seven rebounds. But if I take it as a per thirty six, he's at fourteen and nine, So I can relatively assume that his production in his limited minutes mimics that of a fourteen and nine type of player. That that's not amazing, but that's that's back up big type of production, right, So I'm getting I'm getting back up big level production out of Damian uh, Damian Lee in or like Damian Joel in those specific minutes. Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure.

And I don't think there's no place for it obviously, And I think it does have something like if you have a guy that's playing twenty five minutes, I guess you can kind of extrapulate that out to thirty six, right, well, he would be in a rotation. I just see it used a lot today for like narrative base and like, oh, let's compare this rookie who's playing fifteen minutes to the per his per thirty six to like Jimmy Butler and be like, oh yeah, they're both averaging like seventeen and eight.

You know, in these things like that's not how um this that that comparison should kind of go. So that's that's my main issue with it. I see it used a lot for rookies, especially because rookies aren't gonna get crazy minutes, right, So like when you do a Perth Dady six or a guy making who's doing fifteen minutes who has no reputation at all in the league, it's kind of hard to um. It's kind of hard to see that um in the stats. So obviously with any stat you have to kind of think about it. With

the film and with everything that you see. Obviously Alex Cruse you can tell his activity obviously is high. So when you go to a Perth day six, you kind of like, okay, he gets like one steel every fifteen minutes. I can kind of see him getting three fields and like that minutes. You know, So that that's remics to issue with it. It is just using it for players in comparisons that it just doesn't makes sense for UM, but I mean, I'm not mad at Every stat has

its flaws, every stat has its positive. So I'm a person who really likes defensive rating. A lot of people don't. I feel like there's stats that you like and don't like kind of um in your philosophy and stuff like that. So that that was my main thing. That's the thing that I thought when I was hearing you guys talk about it, because I thought it was interesting that there's

a lot of stats out there. There's I mean, there's a stat for a stat right today, you can have stats for stats, so you can kind of gets you can kind of get lost in that um. And yeah, that's my main point that it's kind of interesting seeing those kind of things. Like a lot of people like there's I think Andy Bailey who's like the Utah guy.

He really likes per seventy five possessions, Like he does everything with per seventy five, which I guess is like the the average amount of possessions in like a full game. I'm guessing, so he really goes possessions would be closer to a full game, and no one plays a full game because I think the NBA game has like a hundred and seven possessions per team or something like exactly.

So that kind of trips blow and I'm like, I understand it where he's going with it, but he uses a lot to be like, Okay, Gobert with average like five and fifteen on like a per seventy five, you know, and things like that. So it's kind of funny just to see it used in that way, and I feel like there's a that's a better way to kind of look at it. Again. We're all kind of improving here on our stats. But I was interesting I heard. I thought of that when I when I heard you guys

do that conversation? Can you hear me or my cut out? You're good, I'm hearing. I'm getting a little symbol on my screen. Heck is about the break loost with my WiFi? Um No, I think you're absolutely right. Using it to compare players is foolishness because there's no two situations that are like like I said, I just like using it specifically to kind of gauge, you know, if you're a fan of a team and you want to gauge you know, how impactful a player has been in a limited role.

I think it'll give you a general idea. Um the uh, and it's the last thing I'll talk about and then we'll get you out of here. But the defensive rating is scoreboard like offensive rating is the scoreboard. That's not That's not an advanced metric. All that is is a scoreboard waited per possessions like guess what, like if you have a positive net rating in a basketball game, you are guaranteed to win as a team. That like guaranteed like one thousand million percent of the time. It's not.

It is not an advanced metric, and it buy any stretch of the imagination. The only thing I don't like with advance with offensive rating and defensive rating is every single year there are a bunch of teams that are at the top of the offensive rating that don't defend. And every single year there are teams like the Lakers and other teams who defend extremely well, but they are more middle of the pack offensively or you know, bottom

of the top ten or whatever it is. And the reason why is because it takes energy to do both. You know, teams that don't defend usually have better legs on offense and they're better at scoring points and teams that don't score are better at defend Teams that defended a really high level struggle offensively because they're fatigued and usually the game will they'll strangle the pace in a

lot of ways. But yeah, I there are uh, there's nothing wrong with defensive rating offensive rating in a vacuum, because all they are is literally the scoreboard. My biggest, my biggest. You know, it's not a convoluted stat you know,

like raptor is or lebron or whatever. Those metrics that you see floating around as of late, Like those are deeply, deeply convoluted stats that are trying to attach a single number to something that uh, to a specific role on a basketball team, like more you kind of cut off. I think you're bad. There you go, alrighty, I'm back. I apologize everyone for the WiFi stuff. I was talking with Roj beforehand. I think I have it figured out.

I just have to order a specific piece of equipment to get me back up and running towards not a problem. But I appreciate everybody bearing with me through the process. Um real quickly before I get you out of here. Uh. Tweet from Mark Stein the Lakers Clippers nets and Heat and Warriors are the five teams that have most publicly expressed interest in Blake Griffin at this time. Yeah, and that's kind of predictable, right, all kind of contenders or

semi contenders. Um. Also big markets, right, he doesn't want to go to know, go no East market, a small market team, so it kind of makes sense. I still think he's gonna want to go to a winning contender, like he wants to go to one of the championship teams. Um. I think I think it's gonna be Brooklyn or the Lakers. I don't think he's going to the Clippers. Might be I just can't see him going back there after being sent away, But we'll we'll see. I think he's coming.

I think you're right. I think you're I think you said you're kind of feeling him coming here too. I think it just makes too much sense, um for them to to kind of try it out. So that's I think he'll be here. We'll see. Um, maybe we'll find out today. I don't know. I hope we find out today. We'll see at least get some intel. But I'm gonna

get you out of here before my WiFi cuts out again. Um, let's let's send out a tweet, you know, Monday, Tuesday next week, just asking for some mail back questions, and then we'll do uh, we'll do some grades and some just overall kind of like rehashing of the first half of the season from the Lakers. Roj is always I really appreciate you, man, and I will see you next Friday. Thank you everybody for listening in. Thank you