Episode 33: State Of The Lakers With Raj C. @UnwrittenRul3s

games going on. So the I'll Star weekend was only one one day pretty much, So it's been It's been a long week, but I'm excited to finally get back

into it. Yeah, it was weird having time to like watch other movies with my wife, and I watched a little bit of that uh that what's it called Last Chance You, which I was like super stoked to watch because I played junior college basketball before I went to four year school and I got to, uh, having the time without the games to kind of dive into something like that was cool. Um. I I am super interested to see how this next a couple of months goes,

because it's gonna be super hectic. There's a ton of interesting teams. I think you're gonna have a lot fewer COVID interruptions just by virtue of vaccinations, which I would imagine the players will get vaccinated by early May and just and there's just a lot more immunity around the teams now than what there was at the beginning of the season. I'm super stoked about it. I'm also stoked to announce that I have hardwired my computer so we

should no longer have any WiFi interruptions. If we do, then I got a whole other different problem that we got to deal with. But I appreciate you guys being understanding of that over the course of the last couple

of weeks as I've gone through this move. But what we're gonna start with today are our game plan is we're gonna start by talking about whether or not we're kind of impressed or underwhelmed with how the Lakers have done this season, so are uh, And then we're gonna go player by player through the roster, give our letter grades, talk about what we liked about what we've seen from

said player, and what we've disliked. And then we're also gonna kind of tie things off by talking about you know what sort of roster changes we think can be made over the course of the next month to really maximize the potential of this team moving forward. So what I what I want to start with for Raj is are you impressed, are you satisfied or are you dissatisfied with what you've seen from the Lakers so far to this point in the season. Yeah, I mean I think

I'm I think I'm pretty satisfied. I mean it's kind of incomplete, right because I look at the team and I have to keep reminding myself that Anthony Davis missed four team games, which is the season. So you have your best defender, second best player on the team has seen that many games. You're still first in defense. You're still a game back of second in the list. I think they're like four back of Utah. So I feel like they're fine. They're in a good position. Lebron has

been great. He's been and we've talked about it a lot. He's been better than better than last year, it feels like, and I think that's the most important thing. The role players are are kind of in a slum, but that's kind of expected. They started out really hot, right, KCP was shooting like from three. Alex Crusoe was around there as well. I think they're kind of fitting into the role. Shrewder has really found himself in the last few games, and they're gonna pick it up. So it's I think

they're in a good spot. I think I don't know if they met expectations, because I don't even think that's fair in terms of the how many games a D has missed. So I think they're in a good spot, and there they look like they're ready to go to the second half. I think you and myself and most Laker fans out there had had pretty low expectations, you know, under the circumstances, Like if you would have told me once I knew the really quick turnaround was happening, like hey,

a D is gonna miss the games. You know, Denner Shooter is gonna miss a significant chunky games. KCP is gonna have an ankle injury. He's gonna miss some games, like Caruso miss some games too with some back stuff.

Like if you told me like yeah, like they're gonna be dealing with a bunch of missing pieces, I would have been, Oh, well, there, I bet you they're gonna struggle a lot because there were just there were a lot of teams out there that hadn't played in a very long time that were extremely motivated, chomping at the bit to get back out there and play some basketball,

and the Lakers just weren't one of those teams. And so for them to be where they're at, which is like basically right there fighting for the second best record in the league and within striking distance of getting that number one overall seed, is really amazing, like under the circumstances, And what I would I remember before the season saying that I just hope that their defense would linger around the top ten, because I never in a million years

would have thought that on this quick turnaround that they'd be the only team really playing defense Like that blows my mind, like and it really is impressive, And it goes to show you that there is that there's something hardwired into this team that is uh you know, they're made of the right stuff, that is what I'm trying

to say. And it goes to show you that that uhum, it goes to show you that there's a reason why so many of us who are Lakers optimists believe in this team the way that we do and as far as you know, the Anthony Davis stuff goes like I just have to We talked about this a little bit in the last podcast. Regardless of how unimpressive they've looked at certain stretches, you know, they've had a lot of they've had some really embarrassing losses. They've also had some

impressive wins. But the most important thing is that when Lebron and a D are on the floor, they're still kicking everybody's ass. And when Lebron, A D and Dennis Shrewder on the floor with either Caruso and k c P or Kuzma and KCP, they still have, in my opinion, the best five man lineup in basketball, both ways going and defending and scoring on the other end of the floor. That still presents a problem to teams because they have a they can lean on the fact that they're a

known commodity. Some of these other teams are fighting to figure out who they are, you know what I mean, And it's a different type of battle that they're going through the season. The Lakers know who they are. They are already a formed product, they're finished product. What they're doing right now is just getting through stuff and so when you kind of factor all that in, I would

say that things have gone better than they could have. Yeah, And and it's funny, like we say eight has missed fourteen games, but he's actually like only played well in like a few of them, right, like a few the first few games that he even played, and he was sleepwalking. They didn't play really until the fourth quarter. Um, he's like I think he only had like a few dunks to start the season. Um, he wasn't even going to

the basket. So um, even though he's missed only fourteen, which actually is a lot, um, he actually hasn't even played well or wasn't even in condition really, um starting the year. And then you look at the other teams that were in the bubble, right, so Boston is hovering at five hundred, they're like nineteen and eighteen. Miami I think it's still around there. Um yeah, the Miami is also nineteen and eighteen. Denver just started to pick it up,

but they're only one and fifteen. And then um, yeah, so you look at those teams, they really started slow. So the Lakers actually came out hot. I think that because the final four teams, the final four teams in the bubble, the Lakers have been by far the best for sure, right, And I think I think that has

to do also with the additions. Right, they had Shrewd or Harold, Marcusol, all these guys that were kind of new blood to the team, and then Lebron for some reason just decided I want the m v P. So he went. He went kind of berserk. So, I mean, I think I think they're in a good spot. And uh, yeah, I think you're right. They probably exceeded the expectations. They were probably thought to start slow, but they didn't. They

came out hot. They got a nice cushion of leads of winds, so they were able to kind of slow their way into the break. Lebron took out the last game as well, so and then Shrewder missed time with COVID as well. With the COVID protocols. Marcosol is going to be out still that still, because it's been seven days since he was knocked out. Is there any intel on that, like did he actually test positive that? Yeah, there's no news on that, but he is ruled out

for tonight. So well, okay, well then I was then, yeah, they we could just do math, because he would have been back in seven days, correct, I would think, yeah, yeah, I think they're really strict with that. So I'm not sure how the contact Tracy is gonna work. Like Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons who got it from a guy who tested positive because of the haircut, right, um, they're

still out till Saturday or something like that. So but that so that that made sense though, because they tested like from what I understand, like the guy tested positive and they were exposed one day apart, but both that weekend. So the the seven days would release them this weekend, which makes sense. But becauseol missed before the Phoenix game, right, so so so I think we can pretty safely assume that he tested positive. It would be And I'm not

obviously don't have reporting on that or anything. I'm just doing some math here, But you're right, that's another thing, um. And and you know it's funny because like everything is relative. I always talk about the regular season in the NBA is all that motivational advantage, uh, not all about talents, big part of it, coaching, all that good stuff, But one of the big factors that constantly gets uh you know, misrepresented his motivational advantage. Like even Tonight's game, you know,

Tonight's game is gonna be really interesting one. I think I think that I think this Pacers Likeers game is going to be a battle. You know, the Pacers have a lot more to play for in that game. They just do the a team that they're a team that is very scrappy and they're a team that kind of has a lot of guys that that don't get a ton of national exposure. They're going into a team that's basically the national darling of the of the league and

the and the Lakers. It looks like with them being kind of out of the first place hunt Uh, they're not entirely out, but they're kind of distance. It's like they're gonna be the second or the third seed and it's just not really gonna be a problem. So it's it's one of those things where like that's gonna be a big factor tonight, and that's a big factor in

every regular season game. If you happen to catch James Harden in l A back to back, like he's probably not going to be a stoke for that second game because he's been in l A for a few days. And he's kind of having fun, you know, in a

regular season. I mean, And so the point is is like you always have the factor that in in the Lakers by far had the least motivational advantage coming into the season, with the quick turnaround, with them being defending champs, with them getting better and knowing that they didn't necessarily need to attack the regular season. So for them to be where they are, I think speaks volumes about just how how how how talented there and also how they're

just wired to overcome that lack of motivational advantage. Right, And and it feels like, like we always say, um, Anthony Davis is kind of overstated in their defense, right, the defensive principles still stayed the same even though he's not there, And I think that's what's kept them in it. Um Vogels kind of trapping schemes and chaos and putting guys in the right position. And he's kind of got comfortable as well. He knows what buttons to click. Um.

Sometimes fans kind of get mad at like regular season decisions. Um. I think he had a few few times where he managed a few people, but um, yeah, I feel like he kind of keeps them in as well, and he gives them like a schematic advantage. I think he's a really good coach. Um. I think he's helped help them push through this. So yeah, I feel like just looking big picture, big picture, looking at the forest, through the

trees and all that they're in a good position. Um, Phoenix started hot, Utah started blazing Cord they lost like three or four going into the break, So I feel like teams are starting to settle down. So I was looking last year. The Lakers UM through thirty seven games this year are thirteen. They were thirty and seven seven

last year. Yeah, which again I mean six games sample when you just put it into all the context, isn't like crazy, right because again A D missed fourteen he I think he only missed like three going up to that time, um in last year, and he has playing better last season, Like A D has not been one of the ten best players in basketball this year, and if you just looked at when he was playing, like you know, we talked about this at length, like we're both huge believers in A D. And I think we're

both super confident that he will be a very impactful player in the playoffs. But make no mistake, he just hasn't been a D this year. He's been a shell of himself, you know, for lack of a better term. Right, Yeah, And it's kind of funny that a D and Lebron kind of switched the roles that we thought they would be right without a D. The seven year old now

twenty eight. I think yesterday was his birthday. Type about the A D. But we thought he would be the one that's kind of coming out blazing, and he's the one that's like, you know what, I'm gonna chill through this first half. I'm gonna shoot my little mid range jumpers and we're still gonna win. I'm not going to tell the basket and and do all that. So I feel like he's gonna come out. Um, I feel like an injury sitting out a while, like us we play basketball.

When you sit out a while, you get you get like am to play again, right, even even with COVID taking away basketball, like you just want to go find a park and hoop, and I think eighties the same. He seems like a guy that loves basketball. So being out for this long almost a month now, I think before we yeah, yeah, exactly and he got the rest. Right, it's kind of like a forced rest kind of thing.

So he got a whole month of just no basketball, and I think he'll come back, um excited and uh back to where he was and starting to amp it up. I was watching the bubble kind of highlights um a couple of games, like game Like just the fluidity that he was playing with, it's just and then like the the mix of speed and power and like dunking on people at the rim and stuff like that we just haven't seen this year. So hopefully he gets back to

that going forward. Do we know whether or not. So the injury that he had in the Bubble was his heel, right, I think it was his heel, But it was weird because remember he reached down and grabbed his achilles. I remember because in Game five of the Finals, remember creaking out for a second. So like it's a calf injury, and then there's this tendinosis thing, but then there's also

that the heel thing that he had. There's just a I wonder if it was all kind of linked, like in the sense that like he just had that nagging problem down there for a while, and it's been something that he's dealing with. UM, It'll just be interesting to see because like my thing is, like, the only thing that would do derail my confidence in this team would be eighties health. I'm not concerned about the way he played. I think you know, I shared the other uh two

days ago. I think Jamal Murray's numbers in his last twelve games, which are just absolutely He's like seven and seven on like fifty seven percent from the field for I can't remember the exact numbers, but it's just bonkers,

Like he's just unbelievably good. And everybody wanted to discount what he did in the bubble, and the reality is is like if you look at the guys who all went off in the bubble, Anthony Davis, Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell, t J Warren, It's like t J Warren has been hurt, Anthony Davis has been hurt, Jamal Murray started slow, but now he's awesome. And Donovan Mitchell's team is so much better this year because Mike Conley has been better that his role is a little different. It's just not as

aggressive as he had to be on that team. You know, when uh, when Bogdanovitch went down, So like if you look at it like I I you. You brought this up last week. You kept saying, like the ten foot hoops, the ten foot hoops, you were just talking about how you know, you're talking about legitimizing their success. And I feel the same way, Like this is these were ten foot hoops guys playing really competitive playoff basketball. That was

real playoff basketball. The physicality was there, the intensity was there. The no fancing almost added a weird pressure, like I'll never forget Oklahoma City in Houston all just collectively soiling themselves at the end of Game seven. Chris Paul was soiling himself, James Harden was swilling himself like an weird way. Russell Westbrook was the only one who's playing well, you know, like that was real playoff basketball. And really bothered me

that people tried to discount that. And I think it bodes well for Anthony Davis because we were talking about his jump shot. I really do think that that he he went to another level as a jump shooter. I talked about how like he was clearly working on that shot a lot, but he was building the confidence to

be able to use it in games. And it's something clicked for him at the end of March, and then that last like five six games coming into the bubble and then the entire bubble, and then he shot really well to start this year, and then the injury kind of knocked him off. But between the Jamal Murray thing, I really I really do think a d S improvement is real, and I really do think that when he gets back out there and he gets his legs underneath him, that he's going to be more or less the same

guy we saw in the bubble. That's what I believe, as long as he's healthy and his legs are underneath him. Yeah. Like again, like I hear all this analysis like, well if eight is not healthy, then this team has a chance. Well, well yeah, of course, Like obviously, I mean there's there's no real um doubting that he's obviously really important to

this team. And like you said, with the bubble, like I like to say, Temple hooks, because like even if you put Lebron in Kawaii and in l A Fitness and be like, hey, this is we're having the championship, Like this is where you're winning, it's gonna be good basketball because they're gonna want it. That's what they that's

what they played for. So I don't think anyone who was watching at the time, like it's easy to go back now and be like, oh, yeah, Jamal Murray would have hit step back threes um in a regular game, like, well, that's what Jamal Murray does. Go watch his series from last year, or like, you know, Harden didn't play well. Harden doesn't play well in the playoffs, like he just he just doesn't. Then you're a guy who also believes that as well. I think you're a harder naysayer as well.

But uh, but yeah, he doesn't play well in the playoffs. It wasn't something shocking. Um. I think the only thing that was Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell had kind of like a crazy first round that might have been a little bit extra due to the bubble, But other than that, I feel like the basketball was the same. I mean, the bubble didn't force Paul George and quite a dirty straight jumpers in the fourth quarter. Is just when you're jump shooting team. That's what happened. So it's easy to

really dissect it and go back that way. But yeah, like I feel like anthy Davis will be fine. He's he's gonna he's a superstar. He's a guy that levels up in the playoffs. His numbers have leveled up in the playoffs when he's there. Um, So he's a guy that I feel like focuses more. He he has a weird way of drifting in and out of games, right, we saw that really early through the season last year, and then the playoffs he was a lot better. He's a lot more consistent, but he has he has a

habit of that. So so I think he'll be fine once the playoffs start. Well, that's where he compliments Lebron so well, is like Lebron is not a float in and out of games guy. Like when he's on the floor, he's he's just extremely involved in everything. That's just the way that he is. And so that that that's why they compliment each other so well. And you know, I I I think you made a really good point a minute ago, like him being away from the game for

a while his has to reinvigorate him. Yeah, you know, like you could see Lebron like super motivated going after this VP award and even he was like there in that last couple of weeks before they all start break. You could just see it, like he was like, give me, like, just give give me a break, man, Like you could just see it. You could see it in his disposition. And so I think, I think it'll be good for

a du to get some distance from the game. And well he did already get the distance from the game. I just it'll be interesting to see he's not he's not playing tonight, is he No, he's not playing up, but it will be evaluated tonight. So hopefully you'll play. I think they play on Sunday or something, so I would imagine they'll ramp him up to play him limited to start and all that good stuff. Um, So before we get to our letter grades, let's talk a little

bit about roster changes. So yesterday was the stupidest day that I can remember in Laker Twitter rumors. As there were rumors about the Lakers wanting to vail McGee. There were rumors about one of them came from the Athletic two, which is crazy because they're not like they don't mess around. And I think it Sam Ammick. I think it was the guy who said that. What was his rumor was that they wanted to to cut Marc Asol and they were going to go after who was it was it? Uh?

What was the center that they wanted to you remember? I feel like was that in the was was that in the JaVale McGee story? I feel like was that the same story where they I think I think Amaco was the one who said JaVale McGee? But uh there was Gosh it makes me mad, but no, it wasn't Trump,

it was Gosh, who was it? Okay? I feel really really bad that there were a couple of crazy Lakers center rumors flying around yesterday, And so I guess let's start there, like, uh, obviously, if the Lakers can get Andre Drummond, they're gonna get Andre Drummond. But let's talk about just the principle of the thing. Do you think the Lakers need to make an improvement at the center position? So I feel like this is a regular season issue,

Like I feel like we we talked about this. This is like a regular season innings eating kind of thing, Like do you want to make a move for a regular season kind of a decision, because if you do, then you don't want to trade pretty much, you don't want to trade anything, so you're pretty much left in the buyout market. So like I feel like Andre Drummond, I mean he's shooting like thirty seven percent on layups

or something like that, which is just hilarious. But yeah, the other guys in the top five or small guys, Yeah, it's impossible to be that close to the rim and to miss that many. I must don't understand it. I'm wondering if that's counting, like if that means like contested, does that count contested uncontested or is that just everything? Okay, I think it's but lay ups. I mean they're not counting hook shots there. That's like catching and finishing around

the rim. Yeah. Yeah, I don't watch I don't watch enough Drummond, but yeah, that is that is pretty bad. Um. It was funny because that like one of them is like Fred van Fleet. I was like, oh, that's kind of funny. That's see that as a guy that really finishes at the rim. But uh yeah, Like I don't know if they really need a center. I think they have like a position to fill, which is like a lab threat kind of guy. Just give them that thing. But eight is gonna feel that when the when the

playoffs starts. So um, I think you just want a guy that will eat fouls. And I think Damien Jones is fine for now. If you can upgrade that to a Drummond Um, that's good. Uh. I Like like the PJ. Tucker rumors came out. We talked about him last last week and I said I wouldn't trade for him, but I would buy out for him. And now it looks like unless someone trades for him, but I think he's gonna get bought out as well. Um. We talked about Blake Griffith who went to the nets, but yeah, I

don't think they need one. If they can get one, that would be great, the JaVale McGee one. Like, I don't know. When I see rumors like that, I always think, like, where is it coming from? And I feel like that's from Jamal's Jamal's camp because it said how to get him that the Calves would have to trade him to another team and then he would have to get bought out just for the Lakers to get him, because you

can't trade for a player that you traded already. So I have no interest in watching JaVale McGee play basketball. Oh no, Yeah, that Jamal is a champion, you know. That's that's as much as I'll say, you want to ring with the Lakers, Uh, I won't. I won't share on his name, but yeah, don't think I think they needed but they can that would be great. I think Damon Jones has been fine. Um, I think he plays that role okay, but if they can get another one

that that would be great. And for whatever it's worth, and this, a lot of this had to do with the fact that he played with the starters. But the best lane, the best line up with the Lakers last year had javan mcget center. But I think it had to do with the starters. But someone uh asked me that question yesterday on Twitter, and I did a little bit of research in it, and it's like big minutes,

huge net rating. Best lineup for the Lakers last year was JaVale mcgett center, But I mean that doesn't account for the fact that in all the crucial moments he wasn't on the floor, so they just had him playing at the beginning of games. That was pretty uchit um. So this actually is We're gonna continue to kind of divert back to that type of question, but let's talk about what we've been getting from the center position and

use that to frame my answer to that question. So, like marcasol uh this season has been disappointing to start, but he's been very good as of late, and there are a lot of things that he does really well that I don't think are accounted for. He does not bring that athleticism around the rim that JaVale McGain and Dwight Howard it, that's for sure, but he adds a whole new dynamic to the offense and his shooting which has been amazing. He's up over in his last nine

games and he's it's actually forty three percent. I think it's forty two and a half percent, and uh On like almost five attempts a game, So he's shooting the heck out of the ball as of late. And he adds this whole like post entry, top of the key, back cutting, like crazy elements of their offense that never existed before. That is a massive upgrade over what you were getting from Javlan Dwhite. They don't. He's not blocking shots the way that those guys did, but his positional

defense is way better. Both Javlan Dwhite had a tendency

to get out of position. There's a play that circulated yesterday on Twitter of the end of the Orlando Magic game they lost in l A last year, where a swing path us was thrown to Aaron Gordon and Javail just did this bizarro close out on the guy in the corner, even though Aaron Gordon had the ball wide open at the at the three point line, and Aaron Gordon just drove in and dunked, and Javel rotated back to Aaron Gordon to like shove him up higher in the air so that he would get an even crazier

dunk and get the foul and the game was over. And I remember I remember being super upset when that happened. But that was the thing with Javail and Dwight was a little better with this. With Dwight it was the fouls, but with ja Javail was very frequently out of position, and that cannot be factored in enough when you're talking about the cohesiveness of the overall defense. And Marc Gasol

has been very good in that role. Now the downside is is it's been just him really instead of having both of the centers the way they did last year, because Montrez is very different and in my in my opinion, Montrez has been a little bit more hot and cold, and they've needed him more. Whereas last year in crunch time, they could either go to Dwight or no center at all,

so you never had to worry about Javel. They've had to lean on Montrez a lot this year because of the A D injury, and that has exposed a little bit. I think literally last year, if A D missed fourteen games and they were closing every game with like a center on the floor, it would have looked uglier than it did a lot. A lot of the the A D Javail stuff, Excuse me, the Javail and Dwight stuff was sugar coated by the fact that Lebron and A

D were out there with them. Um, So, what what have you thought about Mark and Trez and and what we've gotten out of the center position so far this year? Yeah. So again, like during this time, I went back and watched a lot of the playoff games and then the good playoff Rondo games, right, and then I was looking like Rondo is out, like his i Q was so high, he was kind of outsmarting people on the court, and

that's how I kind of see Marcus soul. Like in the regular season, it was kind of tough to kind of bear with him. He doesn't take his open shots. He's always in the right position though, so like I like having a player I can just trust right and he's not gonna make the wrong play. Um, he's gonna get out like athletics athletic size like a lot of the time. But he's always in the right place. His

mind is working. He's like faster than Lebron sometimes even on these passes like he'll have he'll throw a pass on Lebron, but like I haven't even cut yet, so that they have a lot of like those kind of moments there. But it's fine having a guy like that on the floor, and he's kind of replaces Rondo in that like playmaker that's super smart, um, and he's always in the right place. His defense, like his defense is

a is a big question all the time. But like when I rewatch the games, I'm never like, oh, it's Marcusol's fault that that guy scored there, you know, Like I never really say that, Like he's right there in the right position. Sometimes they score over him, and that's fine. If they're gonna score over over a verticality at the rim, Like you're gonna live with that, and that's what makes the Lakers have the best defense in the league. He's a big part of that. So I think he's been fine. Treads.

Treads has been okay. There's been spots where it's been really struggling, like his defense wane sometimes. I feel like that also goes with like he has some bad habits, right, like when when they put him in the wrong position, he'll go, he'll drop back to his drop coverage, He'll he'll point, he'll point fingers and stuff like that. So but again, like when things matter, he's gonna be playing with a d Um, He's not gonna be playing the back the back line five and Marcusols. He's starting to

hit his open shots. He's starting to take them. Raptors fans had a lot of more exactly, and Raptor fans had some complaints about that. They're like, go, watch out, he's not gonna shoot his threes. And you know he's shooting them now and he's being confident with it. Um, that's all you can ask. So I think he's been fine.

Him and a d are still a great combo. You see their net rating together is through the roof still, so um they I think he's been good and if they want to get in on the center, it's fine. But I think he's been as advertised. I think that the report was the report said like, oh, the Lakers want to center because Marcusol has not expect That's what it was. That was bad. And I was like yeah, and I was like, no, he's been as advertising. He's

been what he was brought here to be. He was He didn't come here to be a lob threat or you know, catch dunks or be even like a high score or like throwing the post. And Marcusol is a you know, high high volume post player. He's done his job. He's making good reads, making good passes. Him and Shrewder have like a really nice chemistry which I like, like they play off each other really well. He back cuts off him and he gets his little mid range pull ups off that. So he's been fine to me. Yeah,

and they both are. Um. You can very clearly see the role in which they will excel. Uh. It's it's it's easy to see, like Montrez not as a primary room protector, more flying in around rotations using his uh motor attacking specific mismatches on the block. You can see where his success will come. It makes sense, and that that that's all that I really expect from him, because he's not going to be a core guy and key

lineups at the end of these playoff games. You just need him to succeed in the small role that he'll have, uh you know, in the in his minutes that he'll play in an actual playoff series when the Lakers are full strength. As far as so as far as after we've done that, as our as far as signing a center goes, you take drum And if he's available, if he's willing to sign, I think he'll sign with Brooklyn.

But you take drum And if he's available, because why the hell not for starters two In this crazy second half of the season, with Marcosol being his age, with Anthony Davis's achilles thing that he's been dealing with, it's super realistic to expect that depth might be a concern. So having someone like Drummond is a huge asset. You take him in a heartbeat. He's there. I don't think he's their biggest need. And this is what we're going to transition to here and right now, I think their

biggest need is shooting. And uh, this to be clear, I don't think they need shooting. I think they have enough right now. But if you're gonna sign somebody, to me, that is the opportunity. Uh. The main reason being is you have you have a depth in the in the garden wing corps to where you're kind of playing who's hot on any given night. Anyway, like th h T checks in at some point in the first quarter, end of the first quarter. If he's got it going, they lean on him a lot during the game. If not,

they kind of go another direction. That's kind of the whole design of this Laker rotation. If West gets in and West is playing well, he plays heavy minutes. If he doesn't, he's out. They kind of just did did They kind of just go with who's hot on any given night as far as their rotation goes. And so adding another shooter to that list, somebody that you can go to when another guy's confidence isn't really there, I think is an asset. Now really quickly to frame this

topic about the Lakers shooting. You know, I was actually having a conversation this morning with a friend of mine Uh. When I was playing pickup and you brought up an old coach here in Tucson, a guy from a high school here in town. The coach one of the AU programs here in town. And one of his things that one of his like go to quotes was like, you always shoot your percentage, Like, don't worry so much about makes and mrs. You always shoot your percentage. And I

actually disagree with that. I disagree because if I told you, like rage, hey, you've you've been shooting thirty four percent on threes. How do we get that percentage up? The part part of it is working on your shot, but a big, a big part of it is shot quality. You increase your percentages by increasing the quality of shots that you get. If you like I know that if I'm not getting into a rhythm, the answer is not to take tougher threes until they start going in. Because

I'm counting on my percentage. I'm going to try to seek out higher quality threes that are going to inherently have a higher percentage chance of going in. That's how you get this kind of thing going. Now, we talked about at length that the Lakers have been one of the worst shooting teams in the league over the last couple of months. So how do you fix that? To me, like, that's not them shooting their percentage. They're not a thirty percent three point shooting team, They're like a thirty six

percent three point shooting team. Usually you do that by increasing your shot quality, and you do that by generating higher quality shots, by putting more pressure on the rim, by getting Lebron and a D healthy and getting them playing the way that they will in the playoffs. That's how you really fix that problem. However, if you had to gun to my head, pick something that actually might help them in a playoff series, to me, it would be somebody like a a JJ Reddick if he happens

to get bought out. I actually like p J. Tucker because he's a specialist at Corner Three's, even though he's been terrible this year. But we've talked about that at length in another podcast. But that that, to me is the area of opportunity. Is just some kind of specialist shot maker that you can go to when things really bogged down, when guys aren't hitting shots, to try to

open things up, to get Lebron in a D going. Yeah, I think is probably the perfect mix of that where he's like the big and the shooter right and again, if he gets bought out, I think that would be great. I don't think he's done yet. Um. He showed way too much last year for me to feel like he's done.

I guess this comes down to because the Lakers are deep already, right, so when you're when you're going after these biot guys there, I mean, some of them just want to ring someone also want to be a part of it. They want to be a part of the rotation. And it's really hard to sell that. Um and to me, like, I'm still a West Matthews believer. I don't know if you if you think he'll ever Yeah, so a lot of people are down on him, but I think he's gonna like I don't think like like you said, Um,

it comes down to your shot quality. He's getting good looks. I mean, I don't think he's a thirty three percent three point shooter. I just don't think he's that low. He's not. I don't think he's a forty two percent. But he's gonna. I feel like he'll average out, just like k CP wasn't the fifty percent shooter that he showed to start the year. I don't think West was

like the eight. I think he started to pick it up a little bit and his shot quality really did because he got moved to like the third unit, right, so he was playing almost with all bench guys, like he was playing with Tailor and Tucker as his main primary creator from going from Lebron. So I think he'll he'll also be in the rotation again. Like you you just you just can't play eleven guys, you know, in the playoffs. So even when you're going after these buyout guys,

it's it's tough to sell them on minutes. And like, I don't think J. J. Reddick's getting bought out. I feel like shooting is out of premium right now. And I don't think I don't think you'll. I don't think you'll get bought out. I think the Pelicans want to try to make the ten seed, which is kind of crazy. They seem like they're ready out of it. They're like six games back of the ten seeds, so between ten

and eleven is insane. Yeah, the NBA made it so you have ten spots and they still can't even make one, which is just I know it's driving our friend Jason crazy, but every night, right, yeah, so I don't I don't think he'll get bought out. Um and to me like that, your your officers are p J. Tucker. Um, I don't think all rig is getting bought out, So he's probably get traded. But it's like PJ. Tucker and Andre Drummond

and Tucker is probably the perfect mix of shooting. But again, he's a corner three special this so he's not like a shooter. You can't run him up pin downs, like you can't run him off screens. And I think that I don't think personally, I feel like, yeah, well, I feel like that would be a nice option to have, right, Like a guy that can come off a screen um and shoot like West was supposed to be there, Like he was sold as a shooter that could move right,

like they could come off handoffs to take threes. He hasn't done that yet. KCP has been a little bit of that, So would be nice to have that kind of wrinkle to come in. But yeah, they don't need it, but'd be nice if you have a shooter, get a shooter that can kind of shoot off the move and things like that. But yeah, I don't know if they'll need one. But it's kind of tough because the rotation is so long already, it's it's tough to kind of

fit another guy into it um going forward. And then there's also there's a lot of these teams that are also going to be competing for those guys have these like weird exceptions and stuff that allow them to offer more money. Like that's the thing like p J Tucker if he gets spot out, Like that's a guy who it's well known that he's upset about a lack of money.

Uh so that what what in world would convince him to take you know, seven hundred thousand or whatever he'd make on the tiny pro rated veterans minimum to come play for the Lakers? You know what I mean. A couple of interesting stats for you. Uh, the Lakers are shooting thirty seven point five percent from three with Lebron and a D on the floor. That's pretty good. Just Lebron on the floor. They are shooting thirty five point

eight percent from three, mm hmm. Lebron is off the floor this year, they're shooting thirty two point from three. So that kind of goes to what I was talking about, like, when they have their good players on the floor that are putting pressure on the rim and helping them to generate higher quality looks, they're just they're going in at

a higher clip. And with a d being out and with Dennis Shooter being out, it was this perfect storm of of just uh, you know, teams being able to load up on Lebron, but at the same time, like you know, Lebron not having the ability to get into the paint to to help draw to develop these open looks. It just was a perfect storm of things that then coincided with a massive slump. Uh. So I don't necessarily blame the Laker shooters for kind of succumbing to that,

if that makes sense. I'm a firm believer that when push comes to shove, KCP is gonna make shots. And I think Wesley Matthew is gonna make shots. Kyle Kuzma, I think is gonna make shots. I'm not I'm not worried about that. So let's let's go player by player down this list, and let's talk about, uh, whether or not we we they have exceeded expectations or been disappointing. So let's start with Alex Caruso. How have you been Have you felt about Alex Caruso so far this year? Yeah,

I feel like he really exceeded expectations to start the year. Um, and then his role kind of got pushed up. And we talked about this a lot, right, Um, when he got like thirty minutes thirty minutes a game, but it was a it was an out eyes role, so he was doing more than he was supposed to be, Like he was playmaking and stuff like that. Um. I think he's been as expected though, he's been himself when he's got those like I just have to focus on defense

and hit some spot up jumpers and make the right play. Um, he's been himself. I think he's better shooter than he was last year. Um. Like I don't know if the numbers kind of bear that out now he's kind of gone cold, but yeah, I think he's been as expected. He's been himself, and we know exactly who he is, right, Bogo knows who he is. He knows how he's going to play in the playoffs, and he can trust him on the floor and I think that's the most important thing.

And he's he hasn't regressed, which I think is the important part. He he hasn't shown that he could do more than what he was, but um, he hasn't. He hasn't shown that he's gone backwards. So I think that's that's a good thing. He's from three on the season, okay, on two point four attempts. He's playing right at about twenty minutes per game. Yeah, Um, a couple other things

to see. I'm looking at assist to turn over here, he's averaging two point four assists in one point one turnover, so he's over a two to one assist to turnover ratio. I think he's exceeded expectations. Um. He is shooting the ball at a much higher level than he was last year. He's been every bit as good defensively when he's been in the smaller role, and for what you're expecting from that position, I think he's knocking it out of the park.

He's one of the few guys this season that I think has been a resounding, uh, you know, a resounding success compared to what we expected on the quicker turnaround. What about Dennis Shrewder, He's exceeded my expectations. Um, I didn't think he was this good of a defender coming into the year. Um, he's he's a lot more dynamic as a score as well than I thought. I think he was more of just like a straight pick and roll. But he's a really he can isolate. He loves to

attack switches. Um, he'll go, he'll go buy you. He's good in transition as well. He'll get to the ram and he can draw vowels, which is just awesome to have at the guard spot. The Lakers haven't had a guard that can draw foals and forever. So he gets to the rim, he gets to the line, he puts teams in the pen. Know the he's exceeded my expectations. His three point shooting, though, isn't um as good as

I thought it was. Um, it was a yeah. But again, he just has to hit like a minimal base amount, right, so they can respect his three pointers so he can do what he wants to hit that mid range as Yeah. And again I don't think he's that bad of a shooter, so I think that will raise as well. Um, he takes a lot of uh tough threes as well. He takes a lot of like jab step pull up threes. Um, especially when the Lakers are up, He'll He'll take some bad shots, so I think that kind of plays into

his percentage as well. But I loved what I've seen from him. I think he'll get extended here soon. Um the Lakers can extend him four years or something like that, and I expect that to get done soon. So he's exceeded mine. He's been He's been great. I think he's been awesome. I've been super super impressed. I did not have super high expectations for him. I was actually to

be clear, this is me admitting I was wrong. I was one of the guys who was a little bit higher on like a Spencer Dinwoody type of guy, a guy who a little bit more of an elite shot creator for himself. I think he's been awesome and the the the number one contribution that Dennis Tutor has brought to this team as his defense, He in my opinion,

has been the best defensive player on this team. He has been the lynchpin to that entire UH defensive scheme working because of his ball pressure at the point of attack. And I think it'll be an absolute travesty if he doesn't make one of the All Defense Teams We'll see what ends up happening, but I think it'll be an absolute travesty. I think I think his point of attack, ball, pressure, defense, and competitiveness every single night defensively has been easily the

most pleasant surprise of the season. We all knew he could defend, we all knew he was good, we all knew he was a competitor. But I didn't expect this out of him. And I firmly believe that if he if he had not been the move this summer, that the defense would have slipped him coming in and bringing that effort and energy to that because asition has been amazing offensively. I read some of the numbers a minute ago.

He's you know, from three fifteen points a game, four and a half assist per game, two and two and a half turnover, So just a little bit worse than a two to one assist turnover ratio. But that's better than what we were hoping for in terms of him creating shots for his teammates. Really good free throw shooter. Two he's getting uh he's eighty three percent and getting there four times a game. The I he's been, you know,

a little a little better than I expected. On that end, but when you combine those two together, him being the productive offensive player that he has been. He's had a lot of pivotal moments in games too, where he's gotten a key switch at the end of a game and made a key shot, you know, a key beating a big man off the jibble fern and one knocking down a big time three he has. He's been everything they've needed on offense and way more than they've needed on defense.

And I think he's been you know, Rob Blink, I think made a few catastrophic mistakes early on that I believe partially may have been Madgin's fault. Losing Brook Lopez was a huge mistake. You know, Letting Julius Randall walk for nothing was a huge mistake. There were a lot of mistakes that were made there, and I cannot a percent blame Rob because it might have been Magic. That said,

since then, he's been incredible. Pretty much. The only signing I've disagreed with, why uh Dwight letting Dwight Howard go. I would have brought him back. You and you talked about this on Twitter all the time. Every time there's a Sixers game. I can count on Rods tweeting out that Dwight belongs in the Lakers, which I can't argue

with you. I would agree, but I I think the the addition of Dennis Shooter was has been such a seamless fit, and then he was proven to be so incredibly important when he was out there a couple of weeks ago. I think Rob blacoln just deserves a lot of credit. And I've been super the stokes to watch Dennis Shooter, and I think he's gonna be a really

really good playoff player. He's it'll be a little bit tricky to have him on the floor and specific matchups because guys can attack him and switches specifically like a Kauai. But I trust the Lakers in a double and recover more than I trust any other team in the league

really quickly. On I'm sure he used to use the word um that, like he's a competitor and his like fighting and like I love like against the really like all star guards like Steph Curry, Like he'll score on him and then he'll pick him up full core just to be like, yeah, we're we're doing this all game, Like this is how the game's gonna go. I'm gonna be on you all game, like why don Rice and

I'm gonna score on you on the other day. And I just think that's one of the Lakers a few games where they've come out lack of days ago, without energy, and Shooter would just be like, no, I want to take it to Steph Curry tonight, like I'm I'm going out, Chris Paul, I'm going out. Whoever the guard is on the other team, he sees as some like disrespect, like

he's not in that kind of tears. So I love what he's brunning in that respect as well for the his My one of my favorite games this season was his game against shay uh yeah s g a um Say was whooping his ass all night long, just eating him alive and such an unbelievable Arsenal moves and we I think you and I both are really impressed with him as a player. But to your point, Dennis was like, I'm here all night like you're gonna have to keep making them. That's the problem is You're gonna have to

keep making them. It's it's one of the biggest things that I always count on when I'm defending in any sort of full length game. Yeah, here in town is like, guy makes a couple of tough shots on me. I just stick to my principles, and I understand, like there's gonna be this. This game is a long game. It's gonna drag on, and there's gonna be a moment later on where he has to keep making those shots. And

and that's what happened. He made two huge defensive plays at the end of the game where he forced SJ into a tough floater and they blocked him from behind on that crazy recovery play, which was like freakish, and and that won the game because you have to understand it sometimes like dudes are gonna make shots, you know, And and it's just about getting the pivotal stops at the end of the game's wearing them out over time so that he doesn't quite get as much lift on

that floater, so that he misses it at the end of the game. That's where you're gonna you know, that's gonna be the difference between winning and losing in a lot of nights. Um, we're back. I think he's he exceeded expectations again to start, and then he's really dropped back. Um, he's gone he's had some really bad games going. I mean, I feel like it's all fatigue, but I think it's more than that. Um, it got mental for him as well.

He could tell his legs just weren't there. Um, there are a few moments in that I think that King's game or you could just tell he was like, get me on a flight, get me to you know, get me to Cancun, get me to somewhere else. Um, I just can't play right now. So I think spiral for him. He could tell when he misses a shot, it messes up his defense, his rotations, he does bad fowls. And I think the break, he's the guy that probably needed

to break the most. To me, Um, he's a guy that doesn't really miss games and he's the iron man in that way, and you could tell it really affected him. So, um, he's income like he's been fine to me, He's been himself. I think he has the largest like benefit of the doubt. I see a lot of people like putting him in trades,

which is just just crazy to me. Yeah, trying to trade him like I trust him entirely in Yeah, I mean, you don't go four rounds playing well too, you know, like you get you get some kind of benefit from that. So he was the third best player I thought in the playoffs last year. Yeah, and I don't think it was close. People say it was Rondo, but people forget how many bad games Rondo had him. But I will forever die on the hill. Yeah, Atlanta is absolutely dead

on that hill right now. But but yeah, Casey, if he has been great, it's gonna be great. He's gonna be fine. People like throwing him for Victor Hill a deepo, but it's just not even playing well right now, so it doesn't really make sense. Um, he's he's been fine. He's he's been I expect he's been himself. He's taking his shots. I think he's been a little better even as like a defender. He's been faster. Um, he knows where to be, he knows the schemes. Now, he's comfortable.

I think he's fine, he'll be okay going everything. For everything that frames KCP season is how good he was in the playoffs, and that there's good and bad to that that. The good is the benefit of the doubt and the amount of trust that the fan base hasn't in what he can do. The downsize is it is. It makes him look so bad right now because he was, like, you know, I could not say enough good things about

KCP last year. You know, he had a couple of bad games defensively where the entire team kind of dropped the ball on defense. Like he was definitely on some of those highlight reels against Miami, losing Duncan Robinson and losing Tyler Harrow. But the for the most part in that playoff run, he was extremely dependable in rotations and at the point of attack as just a ball pressure guy,

a guy chasing people off the three point line. And then, as I've said so many times on this podcast, I think he's one of the best like traditional close out attack guys in the league because he's an extremely good one leg jumper, which is great for attacking closeouts because it's usually just a like a tiny sliver of space that you're attacking uh in the defense and then UH and then he can knock down shots and he can if if the help comes over, he can make that

one to dribble easy kick out to the next guy. So it's an unbelievable asset. Like I don't know what the closing lineup is gonna look like. But I know one thing for sure, KCP is gonna be in there. It's gonna be Dennis KCP, lebron A D and whoever's playing best as that other guy. I think it'll be Cruiso some nights of the Kuzma others. You know, if they need more size, he might you know, might have Mark Kis out there. But that that's that that's gonna

be what they end up depending on. And KCP has earned he can miss his next thirty threes, and I wouldn't be worried. If anything, I'd probably be like, is he healthy? You know, that would be my first at that point. He's one of the fastest players too, right, he's super quick. We don't think of him as a speed guy, but him and Sure were like one of the fastest guards combos in the league. So and you

saw that really get effected. So hopefully he had a nice break here at some my ties on a beach or something, and then uh is okay to is okay

to be back? Now? It's that's the scary thing with the Lakers, is like there's this lebron A D combo, which we talked about a lot at length in the last podcast having to do with the way that that can neutralize a lot of the best picking roles in the league, because if you put them on your first on your best player and your second best player, and you want to run that action with your second best player so that you can get him on the short roll, if you're trapping like a staff or trapping like a

Dame Lebron, and a D can just switch that and effectively neutralize your best action. And all that's so scared we talked. And then offensively, all the pressure they put on the rim. We've talked at length about how good looking a D are. The differences is last year they had an average to below average backcourt, and this year

they have an above average backcourt. And that's one of the biggest reasons why I'm so confident in then like to put a guy the caliber of Shrewder and a solid, solid three and D guy like k CP in that backcourt, to me, just makes them extremely difficult to be four times out and seven. What about Kyle Kuzma, I think he's exceeding UM. I feel like he's he's really fit into a role. UM. Some people are mad at the extension I was one of the ones that loved it.

I was really happy to see a guy that's you know, I got to watch from summer league to you know, build and finally find a role that he's really fitting. His defense has been great. He's been, uh, the most surprising guy. He's He's played the hardest every game. I feel like, I feel like you would agree with that. Like, his energy has been the most than any player, um, maybe besides Lebron. Even when the team is slipping effort wise, you'll see him like running and get a crazy offensive

rebound tap out or something like yeah, just hard. Oh, he plays super It's funny. There was a few players where a d would like go up for a rebound and Couzma comes flying in and like tries to steal it, ball goes out of bounds. Eight. He looks at him like it's the first quarter, like what are you? What are you doing? But it's fun to watch him grow and he's really fit into a defensive role. His three pointers are they're up and down. But you know, he knows his role, his his roles to play hard. He

really crashes the offensive boards like a madman. Um Because players and people don't really box out those corners and he would really take advantage of that and gets He's one of the Lakers some games with that. I think again the Pistons or something, he got a big offensive rebound sun. He's exceeded, to my expustations. I never thought he'd be this level of defender. Um. I thought the playoffs he was good. Um, he's become a really reliable guy that like they put on people and be like, hey,

this guy scoring, slow him down. It was just an insane thought from his rookie year who he was like just the score guy who he would help him to be like a Jordan Clarkson level. And now he's like this defenders spot up three pointer who makes the right read on rotations and knows where to be. It's it's cool to see where he's gone from here. We talked about this a few weeks back on one of our pods.

He's been one of the coolest stories that from this season for the Lakers because his whole like if you were to kind of like try to, you know, summarize his personality after his first couple of years in the league. He's very Hollywood. He's very into the showy stuff. He wasn't very into the winning stuff, and that is completely flipped on his head, like he is a bona fide winning basketball player. Now everything that he does is within the team concept and not within his own individual concept.

A couple of things that are super fascinating. Uh, you know, he shot thirty thirty six point six percent from three when he was a rookie on about five and a half attempts per game, and then he was terrible the next two years, and there was a lot of talk about whether or not that was an outlier performance, especially since he did not shoot the three well in high

school or in college. Um, well, he's at thirty six and a half percent this year on five attempts per game, So there is evidence that there is a significant improvement there, because once you don't have multiple outlier seasons in that regard shooting a career high and effective field goal percentage.

Just scoring is down, but it's not way down. He's still had like twelve points per game, um and and he's averaging a career high six point seven rebounds, way career high offensive rebounds two point one offensive rebounds per game. His previous career high was one point one career him blocks the the guy he's just what. You know. One of the biggest things that always projected well for Kyle

Kuzma as a defensive player was his size. And it's something that it's something that I say a lot about, like the difference between like a Trey Young and Luca don Chich. You know, like Trey Young does not ever project to be a serviceable defensive player because he's just too small. You know. Steph Curry always projected to be a decent defensive player because he's six ft three, which is bigger than Dame. It's bigger than Trey. He's he's

like a bigger guard than he ever gets credit for. Well, Luca is a big body, and he just he eventually will learn how to use that to be good. He was. Kuzma was a poor defensive player early in his career, and he has figured out through positional defense because there's

there's multiple kinds of of individual defense. Some of it is like Alu alue Dor like strength and lateral quickness, like kind of like what Wesley Matthews was before he got hurt, and you know, and when he was in Dallas, like just absurd lateral quickness and anticipation in physicality at the point attack to keep guys in front of it.

That's not what Kyle Kuzma does. Kyle Kuzma is more of like a give space and and and try to beat guys to a spot and use his length to make up for the fact that he has to give space because he's not very latter really quick. But he learned how to do that, and then he's also figured out like, hey, I can be a really good help defender if I if I use my side to eventually figure it out as long as he did, I drop out? Now you did? And now you dropped out? M M

can you hear me? Now? Yeah? I can hear you now. Okay, So I guess the hard wire is not gonna work. I have to figure out what's going on with my I s P. Anyway, I apologize guys for the dropout. Um anyway. So, uh, it's just been cool to see as he's kind of made that maturity leap to finally figuring out how he can turn himself into a really good pro And that was the difference between him flaming out being overseas and him being like a guy who's gonna be in the league for twenty years, and so

I've been really impressed. I credit the coaching staff on that too, because I feel like the previous seasons his his defensive stance. Even I used to watch, it would be awful. He would get beat off the dribbles so easily. Um, And now you know he's really good. He knows how to stay in front be people to the spot you weren't watching. I don't think the Lakers in eighteen before they got Lebron the year before they got a little bit you watch a little bit. Okay, Yeah, but I

was talking about Rookie year Couse. I'll tell my grandkids about Rookie year cuse because that guy was. That guy was a different level of score. Like people joked about the Lakers comparing him to Jayson Tatum that year or whatever. But I dude was like hitting floaters off the balance where he would come off screen roles and score and look like an eighteen to twenty point score. And I think he could still probably do that on a bad team. But like you said, it's it's great to see his

him just accepting and enjoying. Right. He looks like he's having fun, like he's He's having a blast doing his role, and I think that's that's important. So let's move on to Wesley Matthews. Have you felt about himself this year? Man, he's probably been the biggest disappointment um on this on the on the team. Like I know he's a little older, but uh, like people were placing him as a Danny Green replacement, right like, as like he'll just come in and fill the Danny Green roll, which I think we

really underrated Danny Green. Like I can't believe, I mean, Danny Danny Green is making fifteen million, you know a year. I mean it's a little bit different as well. West is on a minimum deal and there's a reason why he's on a minimum deal, right like this that doesn't happen by accidents. So but yeah, like he's obviously not Danny Green, and he doesn't have to be for this team. He just really needs to hit a few open threes.

I feel like his defense has been fine though, Like when he's out there, he plays hard, Um, he makes he he gets beat. Sometimes he makes some wrong decisions. I think that's like a chemistry kind of thing. He doesn't know where people are going to be. But yeah, he's probably been the most disappointing him. But again, I'm one of the big believers in him. I believe in Vets. I believe they will eventually figure it out. He's been being playing basketball in his life. He was starting for

a sixty seven win team last year. I mean, it's just it's just crazy what what has happened to him? So hopefully hopefully he gets a going, but he's been he's been pretty disappointing. So he had a stretch a let's see a fifteen game stretch that from December to February tenth. Um February tenth was a couple of games before a D got hurt. So he's playing for the most part with Lebron in a D. And he was shooting from three in that span on four four attempts

per game. So he had a significant chunk of the season when the rest of the team was healthy where he shot really well, for whatever that's worth. But I agree with you, I think you know a lot of times like this is one of the biggest reasons why I think th Ht, who we're going to talk about in a second, is going to eventually fall out of

the rotation. You know, the in the playoffs when le Bron and or when the Bronze playing forty minutes a night and eighties play in thirty six minutes a night and Dennis Shooter is playing thirty five minutes and a night or whatever it is, Like you the the the role for these guys is gonna get even more simple

than it is now. And you just need guys who don't make mistakes, who don't have silly turnovers, and their shot selection is really good, Like you know, there's gonna always be that worry, like is th ht gonna go rogue and take a bad shot in the pivotal part of the game, like when he just doesn't kind of feel the moment enough, and and those sorts of things like you can't you can't uh possible over value having a guy like West on the roster as an option

to put in that as that fifth guy in that lineup. Like that, it may very well be the case that you know, in their closing lineup with Dennis Shooter, k CP, Lebron and a D that against the Clippers, they might send West out there and put West on Kauai and just have Lebron and a D digging and helping on Kauai like that. That that that could be scary, you know, especially that West has a track record of defending Kauai. Well. I he's definitely been underwhelming. He's definitely been less good

than we all hoped. He definitely has been nowhere near as good as Danny Grant. I want to be clear about all of that. However, I remain optimistic that he will be a serviceable guard in that rotation by the time that the Lakers get to the playoffs. Yeah. Same, He's he's a veteran, he knows what he's doing. He's not gonna make like like you said, mistakes. He's a high i Q basketball player, so he's not gonna hurt

you in terms of like his own dumb mistakes. He might miss shots and all that, but um but I can live in miss shots, you know, he that will happen. So that he's been playing fine defensively, he fits in. I think, like the net ratings with him on the floor is still fine, So I think he'll pick it up as as we go on here. So let's move on to HT. Have you felt about himself far this year?

I think he's exceeded my expectations. I didn't think he would be this good as an on ball kind of score um so fast that the kind of blew people away in the preseason, right hit and insane. He had like national people talking about him in the preseason, and uh, he was really good for the first beginning of the the season. And I think teams have caught up to what he is, which is the guy who wants to get to the rim consistently. He doesn't really trust his jump shot yet.

But again, he's twenty years old, so it's hard for me to say like, oh, he's disappointed, you know, as a twenty year old guy in the on a championship team. And I think he's been good. But you're right. I think he'll start to follow up the rotation, Uh what's the roles will really get to find right, And he's a guy that's just not good defensively right now. He just isn't. He doesn't know where to be. He gets lost.

He comes off shooters that have hit five threes in a row, like he just it's it's stuff like that that you just can't live within the playoffs. So I think he'll be he'll be out of the rotation there but he's shown that he's really good. He's not gonna get some max contract this summer. I think that has kind of wayne. People are worried about that that some team would come and pay him like twenty million a year or something like that. I think that's I think

that's over with. But he's been fine. He's exceeded my expectations for what I thought because I didn't think he'd be in the rotation this year. So he's he's in the rotation. He's fully getting like fifteen twenty minutes a game almost. So, yeah, seventeen minutes a game on a team that's third in the West. I mean, that's that's a big time for twenty year old second round pick.

So I'm gonna say I've been disappointed with him, but I'm framing that within the the perspective of the fact that in the preseason there was talk of whether or not he was a rising star, and we talked a little bit about this last week. I do not think th HD is a future star. Um. I view him is like, you know, a guy that in the future can be an off the bench spark plug type of guy,

just because he's a super aggressive scoring guard. Uh. The only potential he has, in my opinion, to eventually be like a really good, solid starting guard on a championship team is if he develops defensively, which he certainly can't. Uh. That's the tools. He's is more than enough tools. It's just gonna come down to him picking up the focused stuff. The reason why you can't play him is he can't shoot. He's a thirty one percent from three last year from

three this year. UM in the playoffs last year he was, but that's in a very very very small volume. I I think that in a playoff series he's going to be left butt naked on the three point line every single time, and it's going to really hurt their offense. And so, you know, I still think the Lakers have an asset there. I still think that he's a great guy to kind of help bridge you know, the Lebron era to the post Lebron era. I absolutely view him

as an asset in that regard. I just personally have been lower on him than other Laker fans, and I don't think he can play in the playoff rotation. And so just within that you know, you know, contextualization, I would say that I've been disappointed in him. Yeah, I mean it's kind of tough because because he's so young, Like I feel like, I feel like saying he's not going to be a star is really tough because I think he's shown enough on the ball to where like

that's that's really needed. Like if you have a guy who can create off the dribble, and he said he can't shoot, I think he's learning to be a spot up shooter, right, Like that's just not who he was in college or anyway. Feels like the dribble ones more than yeah he's yeah, he's a rhythm shooter, right. He likes to like dribble through the legs, like step back and then hit hit his threes that way rather than just sitting waiting in the corner for the ball to

come to him. I think that's really hurts him. But he's like a streaky shooter. He hold one, held like two more in the same game, but he'll go like over five and in another one. So I don't know what to make mom. I still think he's so young. There's a lot of Lakers Twitter that think like he's a for sure All Star. I'm not there, but I do think he'll be a starting level guard. Um. Jared Dudley was really high on him. He said he's like expecting him to start next year, which which I don't

think that's happen exactly. Yeah, but yeah, he's a young kid. He's he'll be fine. He's he's learning to play with you know, championship level uh team, so he'll be Okay. I'm trying to pull up his shooting number serio real quick, one of you, uh. The last player we gotta get to his markis Morris, So why don't you tell us? Yeah, I've been upset or pleased with what you've seen from markets this year. Yeah, he's also been kind of underwhelming

from what we expected from the bubble. From the bubble, he was really great. He was sending his open threes, and I feel like he's one another guy like k CP, Like he's he and he has been really open with it, right, Like his quotes have been really um my opening where he's saying like I'm exhausted, Like every game feels like I'm starting with like thirty minutes already, Like I've I'm tired as hell. So I mean I'm taking that into account.

He's starting to play better like against Sacramento, he played really well. Against Phoenix, he played really well. Um, he's a guy that you know, they like to throw the ball into the post and score out of that. But yeah, I think he's been underwhelming just because of what we expected. But again, he's another veteran that I feel like, we'll pick it up when it matters, and uh, he's he's really started to pick it up lately, so hopefully that

that picks up going forward. I so Markief has been interesting the sense that I see him as an easy, easily upgradeable player that would drop out of the rotation if they got anything resembling a decent forward. At this point, I don't want to say all negative things because that there have been a couple of things he's done well.

I think he's been a good post defender there when you can if when he plays the center position and teams try to bully him on the block to take advantage of the lack of size, he holds his own pretty well down there. Uh. He also has had some games where he has shot the ball well. Overwhell on the season, he's not shooting the ball well, but he has had some games this season where he has shot

the ball well. The problem with him is he is not mobile enough like the and he doesn't have the motor that Montrez does to make up for some of his uh, to make up for some of his athleticism deficiencies, and it hurts them in defensive rotations. And usually when you see, you know, a defensive rotation is like a A defensive rotation is kind of like a like a uh, like a ping pong rally that goes back and forth and then eventually the ball falls off. This falls off

the table because someone messes up. It just feels like a lot of those end with Mark Kiff being slow on a rotation and something getting butchered. So, you know, I, you know, he's fine, he's serviceable. He does what he does.

He's another one of those guys that had some big playoff moments feeding off of because he's kind of an a rational confidence guy, and he he fed off of some of the incredibly high quality shots that he got playing alongside Lebron and a d I just think he's he's an extremely likely candidate to fall out of the rotation uh come playoff time. And Frank has said as much, uh, you know, early in the year when they would shrink

to nine, it'd be Wes and Mark Kief. Now I don't think Quest should be out of the rotation, but Mark Kief, he just he is what he is. He's your tenth or eleventh guy. He's their spots center when they don't have center minutes available or when they do have center minutes of a I should say. And he's very heat checky from three when he's got to go in, he can be really dangerous out there. But he's also had games where he doesn't have it going. So um,

he is what he is. Yeah, And I think he wasn't he wasn't done any favors, but playing next to Montrez, they were doing that second unit where him and Tres were like the back line of the defense, especially especially without Anthony Davis. Like that's just that's just asking he had scored on he could tell and put a couple of that with him being tired and all that stuff.

So and he's a specialist, right, He's like a guy that you can start at the four when when you want to next to a D And that really destroyed Houston in the second round. Him and him and a D starting, they're really really made tough for them. He's a guy that can switch. He doesn't want to be in rotation, like you said, he's a little slow for that, but he's a good switchy defender. He's not gonna get destroyed on those kind of things. So yeah, he's he's

a specialist player. And again he signed for the minimum as well, so he's a minimum kind of minimum players. So that's that's what you'll get out of those guys. All the guys are are exceeding their contracts by yeah, enormous him ounts, which is what you need when you're trying to build the championship team. But yeah, I think I think more or less given the circumstances. To kind of wrap this up, like, I think more or less

under the circumstances, you couldn't really can't really complain. The only thing is, like you know, they are just and again I'm not trying to speak this into existence. I'm literally just you know, sharing my concerns. There are a lot of examples of in NBA history of a guy who's got this nagging thing that's been kind of a problem and it leads to a severe injury. Uh, if you remember Derrick Rose, he was dealing with a lot of a foot and ankle stuff, and and that ended

up leading to his knee being a problem. Uh you know, Iman Schumpert, I'll never forget was dealing with a a knee sprain throughout the year, and then the knee finally went in the in the playoffs. The point being is like, I just hope they take their sweet ass time getting a d back out there, because none of this is worth losing him for a whole a year. Uh, whatever it takes. Like, think of it like this, If he tears his achilles knock on wood, that'll take him out

next year too. So it throws. It throws. It basically throws out the end of Lebron's prime. Whereas if for whatever reason, he can't finish this year, which I don't think will be the case, but for whatever reason, it's like, look, he just can't get healthy this year, at least then you can go at it next year with the same guys. You don't have everybody healthy, and so I really hope they take their sweet time. You've got thirty something games left. What if he sits out another twenty? Who cares set

him two months? Whatever it takes. Get him healthy, because I just the last thing that they need is to overpursue some seating thing, especially when you know you can win with Dennis in Lebron as long as everyone else is healthy. So I just hope they take their time with add Yeah, and and just listen to him. I think he said, um before before they went All Star break, if he if this was the playoffs, he could, you know, muscle through it and play. So that's a good sign.

And they said it has nothing, it won't affect the actual Achilles being, uh being, you know, being teared. And that's all you can do is listen to them. Yeah, that's all you can do is listen to them, right and how they say they know their bodies better than anybody. So um A d obviously felt he wasn't ready and hopefully, you know, he'll sit out tonight and be ready to go soon. I'm hoping just to build some kind of

rhythm with this team. I mean, um, I know it must be tough to kind of play with and without him, um going for especially for Shooter and Marcusol. All those guys need reps with him. Well, speed him in the post. That's the hard part is like with a D is Like he's such a significant chunk of their offense. Like

last year in the playoffs. I was talking about this with another friend of mine named Paul on Twitter the other day, Like part of the Laker offense in the postseason was a D had turned into Kevin durant as a post up like midrange score and so just you know, ten times a game they would dump it down there to him and he'd make four or five of them,

and that was a significant chunk of their offense. Like that's gonna if they don't get enough reps with it early and during this run, it'll stagnate them if they try to go to it, you know, without much practice in the playoffs, Like if you just start dumping it down to a D every time, and you saw that last year against the Clippers in the season opening game.

Like you need to learn how to fit, you know, within the rhythm of the offense a high volume post up player because it just it just throws everything off in terms of the other guys touches. It's funny because I see that comparison a lot that he turned into Kevin durant um in the in the bubble um that was mostly against Houston. Like I went back and kind of watched them. He didn't have many of those against like Portland or even like Denver, but it was mostly

against Houston shut him down. Yeah, and well he had a great Game one and game two and then three four, three four or five, But again those are off like offensive rebounds were at the rim. He was scoring at the rim and and offen. He wasn't scoring as a like they He wasn't bullying them on the block the way did earlier. Yeah, yeah, and again and again Houston put six six guys on him. They had Daniel House

on him. I mean, what was he gonna do? So he was shooting practice mid range jumpers and you're gonna make those. Um he practices though, So that's that's what I mean. Kevin Durant is gonna hit it. Whether you double team and triple too does it doesn't matter. So but yeah, that that's compared this. It's funny to me because I feel like he was that for like one round. It wasn't really him. You know, that's not a hundred.

The reason Blake is one is just because you know, he turned to Kevin Durant because that's I don't expect that. I don't expect him to be hitting mid drains jumpers at the level of Katie, who won't be the best you know madrains score. Ever, So a couple of questions before I get you out of here, Uh, where do you have the m v P rankings right now? Just give me your top three? I have Lebron and then be tied pretty much. And I think, um TI goes

to the runner or some something. Is that how they say in baseball or something that I feel like Lebron is the runner here because he's been, you know, trying, He's been pushing this narrative, so I think he'll and he has a he has the case as well. I'm just saying it feels like he has the voters. And then I probably have YO kids right behind them. So I have Lebron, embiad and then y how about you

Tigers to the runner. I like that. That's interesting. I I give him beat a very slight edge right now. I think Lebron's case has to be best record in the league. Uh, and the only and the only thing that would give him leeways if Utah finished with the best record in the league and he had the second best record in league just because Utah doesn't have a traditional MVP candidate. But I think Lebron's case because he

does have a very talented team. Albeit the injuries have ravaged them, but they've ravaged a lot of the teams, and beat ironically has been one of the few guys

who's been on a team that's mostly been healthy. M But I would say that if the Lakers end up with the two overall seed or the one overall seed, and and he continues to play almost every single night and put in the numbers that he has, I agree, there's just the with him being the best player on what should be recognized as the best team in the league. Is the defending champ with all the playoff pedigree to

back everything up, I believe he should get it. However, right now, with with with the way the standings are breaking down, and with how well Joel Embiad is playing, I would give the slight edge to Joel Embiid. Then I think the Nuggets are gonna make a trade. I think they're gonna get significantly better, and Yokich has been so good that I do expect them to go on

a run and they're basically only three. I think they're only three and a half games back of the Lakers, So they are very very very much in striking range here to make some noise, And Yokich has actually played better than both of them in terms of their overall effectiveness in terms of just straight up regular season impact. Um, So I would rank it and bead Lebron Yokis right now, but I think all three of them have a really good chance. Um And this is as open as I

can remember it being at this point in the season. Yeah, it's funny because Janice obviously who won you know, two m vps in a row already, he's not gonna get votes, but he's still averaging like a crazy like twelve and seven and which of late he's and insane. Yeah, and it just doesn't matter anymore because people are like, we

want to see in the playoffs. And again that's where I think Lebron has kind of the vote here because of the you know, people see that they gave it to me honest two years and they're like, you know what, Lebron, He's earned it as well. But also like he has the votes kind of I see him getting it this year. He's played too well, and I'm not sure if you'll get another MVP kind of chance here. Um, so I have that, but you know, I wouldn't be mad if in Beid got it. He's been playing amazing. We'll see

if that keeps up. I mean, he's a he's a guy that's known that to like get tired at the end of seasons, especially in the playoffs. So we'll see if he can keep it up. But I have no problem with him bead winning it either that. That's how I goes to The runner thing is a super interesting point that I think will end up being a factor. Janese in his last thirteen games is averaging thirty thirteen and seven and uh and no one cares they've lost six of that. They're only seven and six in that stretch.

For him, it's always going to be the team and and then the records not dominant enough and there's just still too much of a question mark kind of lingering over him from his playoffs stuff. Um. Lastly, just real quickly, do you still think the Lakers are gonna win it? Who do you think is their biggest threat? I still think they're gonna win it. I think the nets are their biggest threat. I mean, I watched that team, man, and that team is just an insane load of offensive talent.

I know they have defensive issues, and we've discussed this before, but they just need a baseline level defense. I mean, if you can't put up one twenty on them, you're not beating them. And I don't see any East team able to keep up with that. They're they beat Boston last night. They even have Katie, and they just ran away with that in the fourth quarter because Kyrie and Harding can just hit whatever shots. Kyrie looks like you watched him, and Kyrie is insane, but like he wasn't.

I don't remember him this like focus level, like you could tell like he knows exactly where his shots come from now and he's just like driving pull up. He knows no one's stopping this. I don't have to worry about getting trapped double team. And last night he just took over in that third quarters. So I think they're the toughest to me, them and the Clippers, um, those two, But I don't really I still think that when I think the Nets are closer than I feel like it

was to start the year. I think the Lakers were the heavy favorite. I still think their favorite, well, I don't think their favorites anymore technically in terms of actually, yeah, because of Blake Griffin, which is we'll see, but yeah, I think the Nets are the biggest contender for them, how about you. So, first of all, on Kyrie, like, Kyrie maybe the best. He might be playing the best out of any point guard in the league right now.

It's kind of insane now. He to be clear, he's very fortunate to be playing on a team where some of the like James Harden is it kind of like Lebron was, James Harden fills all of his deficiencies, So it's important to kind of acknowledge the circumstance. But I think he's reaching that thing that I always talk about where you're like your abilities catch up with your like basketball, I Q as he's gotten older, and you're right, like

he just knows where his shots are coming from. He's he's very much in control of his game in a way that he didn't used to be. Um And and yeah, I think he's been super fun to watch. He was always one of my favorite players to watch. Like, I think Kyrie is a little bit of a crazy person. But but he's also a genuinely good person, and he also is one of my favorite basketball players to ever watched. And I thought he was an incredible compliment to Lebron and it was very, very fun to watch the two

of them when they were together. As far as Brooklyn goes, I think they're gonna get This is what I think is gonna happen. It is just my prediction. We'll see how it goes. I think Bloy Griffin is gonna start playing for them, and he's not gonna look very good. Not he's gonna have moments, he's gonna make shots, he's

gonna have some a few plays. I think they're I think the upper management and I think the coaching staff is gonna pretty quickly figure out that he's not gonna be able to fulfill the defensive things that they need from him. Kind of similar to what happened with Carmelo Anthony when he went to Houston. UH, they had a very in Portland. They had a very specific need for

shot creation because of the c J. McCollum injury. UH, Whereas with Houston, the James Harnum was doing all the shot creation and they just needed a dude who can defend and make three. So they so they got rid of him. I don't think the Nets are gonna get rid of Blake by any means, but I think they're gonna pretty quickly figure out he doesn't solve their problems. And then what's gonna happen is Andre Drummond is gonna be this obvious and clear fix, and I think he's

gonna end up signing in Brooklyn. I know there's competing reporting out there. There's some reports that say Hill consider the Lakers, and then there's another report from a football player I guess who says that he's gonna go into to the nets. But the nets are just a logical solution there. Um, they need a bigger body to throw

it in. Bead and ombiad has had a ton of success against Drummond in the past, but it's a totally different animal when you play him four times in a row and uh, seven times in a in a playoff series, and and Drummond has a chance to kind of pick up on more of his tendencies. He's got the physical tools that he needs to to be able to to compete in that matchup. So I think they're gonna end up with Andre Drummond. I put them on the same

or with the Lakers. I've seen enough. They're freaking good, and I I think the Lakers are equipped to beat them. I think it'll be a dog fight, and I think that I would pick the Lakers, But I think Brooklyn's every bit as good as them, and I think we're headed for one of the most incredible playoff runs on both ends of the on both conferences, that we've ever seen. I literally can't wait. It's gonna be amazing. So I saw a tweet yesterday, Um, just really cool. You don't

have to go deep into it. But so Game one, Lakers Nets, what is your game plan defensively against the Nets? Because I have my thoughts. I'm just want of your quick like your philosophy, Like you don't have to go through it super deep, like you're defending the Nets. They have all their players have Kyrie, they're starting Kyrie Hardened, Joe Harris, Katie and some nominal center that doesn't really matter here. What's your like defensive game plan, like what

do you what do you what do you want? Like what do you want the shot to come from? If you can decide like you can decide defensively what what they're gonna do. Where would you I'm pretty shrewter on Katie or excuse me, shooter on uh Kyrie, and I'm putting KCP on James Harden, and I'm putting Lebron on Kevin Durant, and I'm having a d B a roaming

helper a couple of things there. First, it's not as much of a fatigue thing for Lebron because I really do think that the multiple ball handlers that Brooklyn has makes it so that Katie's less aggressive, and it's what wears you down as a defensive players when they repeatedly go at you. And I just don't think they will. Uh. Kevin duran will be aggressive on Lebron at times, but

I don't think it will be something that uh. I don't think it's gonna be something that's gonna wear Lebron out because there's gonna be so much Lebron, Kyrie and and James Harden action. Lebron is one of the best defenders you could ever build in a lab to guard Katie. He's extremely strong, and he's good at fouling within the rules. He's really good at using his physicality UH in a way that doesn't get the whistle blown, and for a skinny guy like Kevin Durant, it's something he can use

to kind of keep him contained. My favorite game tape to watch is pretty much the last time Lebron tried on d fence against Kevin Durant, because he didn't try the rest of the series. Was Game one of the two Thousan NBA Finals, and if you watch the way Lebron played very physical at the point of attack, forced him into shooting over the top, did a good job of getting him off balance and made him miss a

lot of shots. I think that's a good matchup. K CP on James Harden would probably be your weakest one. I think Denistriutor will at least make things tough on Kyrie, But at the end of the day, what you end up doing is UH probably trapping any pick and roll action that involves Kyrie or James Harden and just getting

into your crazy psycho rotations. The as the Lakers have shown in the past, they can get James Harden to give up the ball farther far enough away from the basket and rotate quick enough that they can be where they need to be. And then I don't think Kyrie is a good enough pass or to to hurt them enough in those in those trapp sequences. But most of it's gonna come down to, you know, uh, whether or not they can play a center and whether or not a D can be a factive as a as a

help as a help defender. But they'll probably end up putting. You know. The thing that gets tricky is Joe Harris. But my guess is they'd end up gosh, yeah, that's true. It's tricky with the way that they do their lineups because Joe Harris has to be guarded too. Um. But I mean, I suppose I don't necessarily like the idea of a D on Katie. What about you? Yeah, I

probably wouldn't do that either. Like my thing is like these to me, like the individual matchups don't even really like count here because there's gonna be so many screens and switching. So I would just have a philosophy like whoever's on Harden, I'm trapping that hard in the screen role for thinking give it up. Yeah, And I'm making Bruce Willen score thirty. I'm making Bruce Brown sorry score

thirty or Andrew Drummond have to score thirty. Katie is gonna get his shots if he wants to eye so against Lebron, because I agree, I would put Lebron and go ahead. And you want to against Lebron three times a game, you could do that. I don't think that would be enough points per possession or whatever to win the game. Kyrie as well, I think I would. I would probably trap him as well, but just depending on situation, if you have to switch year or not. It's all tough.

I mean, Joe Harrison is gonna be flying around screens, um, you have to be careful of that. I'd have a D guarding whoever the big man is, so like whoever, let's say Bruce Brown is their technical big man, I'd have a D on him and then covering up so he can defend the corner three and the role as he did against Miami. So it's tough. Though. There's no right answer here, right because you know they might score anyway.

It doesn't they're that good offensively. It's just it's just a fun thought exercise to like go into like Vogel's head, I guess and see like what he would do, he's a guy I think that that like prioritizes protecting the rim right, and so it's kind of interesting to see him from that way. Houston. Brooklyn puts a lot more pressure on the limb than like the Clippers do that, like because Hardened and Katie will attack the basket. They'll dump on you if you don't protect it. So it's

it's a tough cover either way. And I think you're right, it'll be a there'll be a hell of a series. It's a it's a toss up. I give the Lakers there just because they wanted last year, but it's a it's a hell of a series. I would I wouldn't be surprised by any outcome with Brooklyn, Like I wouldn't be prize that they lost to Miami or Philly or some crazy team that that schemed them into just becoming a pull up jump shooting team and they just didn't

make ano shots. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they want it all. I think I think they're kind of like a such a new construct, you know, Superstar late in team that doesn't defend. There's such a new construct that it's kind of impossible to to to just like resolutely stand up and be like, I know these guys are gonna lose, because it's just you just don't know. But I do think I would put them on the

top tier. There's too much evidence. I think. I do think they're not as good as they've looked, because they've looked like world beaters lately. I think that teams will have a much better time attacking their switching scheme in a seven game series. I think that teams are going to figure out how to attack their defense around the rim. Uh, just with their lack of size. I think teams are

going to figure that out. Um. But at the end of the day, and the way to beat them would be to stagnate them and turn them into a jump shooting team and just hope that they go cold and count on the fact that if you wear them out on the other end, if you wear them out on both ends of the floor physically, they'll just start missing these pull up jump shots. There's a lot of history that Kyrie and Kevin Durant both have and James Harden

have an extensive history Katie, particularly in Oklahoma City. You know, uh, Kyrie when he's not playing with Lebron and James Harden forever had they have a history in the wear and terror of the playoffs turning into inefficient jump shooters and so and that that would be the way to beat them. I still think Philly and the Lakers are the most equipped physically to to accomplish that goal. But I think I think people who are undercutting them still at this

point are silly. I think they're the runaway favorites in the East, and I think they're every bit as good as the Lakers. Yeah, we'll see, well, we will see, all right, man, we've been going for almost an hour and a half. This was awesome. I really enjoyed this. I think this is the best part we've done. I think we touched on a lot of really good stuff. I think we did as much of a deep dive

in the Lakers as you possibly could. I cannot believe that my little Ethernet cable thing didn't work, but at least now I know what's wrong, so I can attack that problem. Everyone, thank you so much for listening in. I'll have the pod version of this up probably in about thirty minutes. Roger, I hope you have a good day, man, and I will see you next week. Wait sure