Episode 34: State Of The Lakers with Raj C. @UnwrittenRul3s

level playing fields here. Yeah. So we had this worked out where it was a little easier for me to get back in time for this because I usually have a bunch of stuff going on Friday mornings, and then uh, I was up against it today because of the time change, which made things a little more complicated. But also just quick announcement, I am hard working on this WiFi situation. I think I have some solutions put together. I'm also gonna be trying to edit out some of the gaps

when we put the podcast together. But just thank you guys for bearing with me through through the move and getting this set up. Um. But I'm super stoked we got a lot of really really good stuff to talk about today. Um. Since last weekend. The only thing really that Roger and I were resoundingly wrong about was we thought the Lakers had a good chance to get Blake Griffin. As it turned out, they very much did not. Uh. But other than that, we we talked about how we

expected the Lakers to start playing better. Uh, And so really quickly here at the start, we're just going to talk about how the Lakers have been playing as of late. But I wanted to give you guys some numbers to let you know just how good things have been relative to the way things were before. So in their last eight games, they're six and two. One of those games Lebron sat out, so they're basically six and one in their last seven games that they've played with most of

their core players. This is since Dennis Shrewder came back in that eight game stretch their eighth, and offense in their fourth, and defense in their third, and net rating their twelve and three point percentage, which again the Lakers have never been a great three point shooting team, but before that they were the worst three point shooting team in the league by a wide margin. So that's a

market improvement from there. And then their third in the league in field goal percentage over that span, and this is against some quality opponents. Five of those six wins came against teams that are currently in the playoff pictures.

So we we basically talked about how at length about how Dennis shrewder and his ability to offload some of the ball handling responsibilities from Lebron would lead to a cascading effect that would lead to increased shot quality for the perimeter players to help them get their shots going. It would make it so they couldn't load up on Lebron as much, which would help him get going again. And what do you know, we were right Dennis shooters returned just kind of put everybody back in their proper

role and got the Lakers back on track. So what have you noticed that you've liked about them in the last couple of weeks. Yeah, it looks like they've got the energy back. Um. K CP looks he has his legs back, and the whole team is just running at a better pace. UM. And like you said, with the three point shooting there were, they were at twelfth in

the league. They really just need a baseline amount. Right, Like last night, there was a stretch, UM, I think when the Hornets were coming back and then Who's might hit like three straight? KCP hit one in the game, went back to ten and that that's really all they need. But like, I think the Lakers are now like eleven and two when Shrewder and Lebron play like just those just those two, which is kind of insane, which just shows how much they need another shot creator. And I

feel like that's really been the big help. Even when Shrewder struggles, he gets into the paint, he kicks out. He's getting a lot better at driving and kicking. And yeah, that's mostly what I've seen in the defense has been consistent. We we've talked about this for the last few weeks. Um, they're they're really aggressive, the guards hedge up and then um, Damien Jones, Man, I know we talked about Blake Griffin

coming in. The Lakers really just plugged in a ten day dude as a starting center, and they have not missed a beat. The defense is still still working fine. Um, every thing is going into rhythm and he's blocking shots. Last night he was deterring people from getting to the rim. Um, and he's in their scheme perfectly. So yeah, it's cool

to see. It looks like eight is gonna be out for a while, so this team looks like they're starting to get comfortable playing without him, which is important considering I think they're gonna play a couple of better teams going forward here. Well you you you said it right there, like the without a d all those numbers all of

a sudden look that much more impressive. Like for you to be the eighth best offense in this stretch, the sixth or the fourth best defense in this stretch, the third best net rating team, you know, six and one against like a bunch of high quality playoff opponents. That within the context of not having Anthony Davis is super

super good news. And I thought you you brought up you made a really interesting point about the shooting, Like you know, I think last night the Lakers were only thirty from three, so it wasn't even a great shooting game, even though they had been pretty good as of late. But the important part there is, like when you defend as well as they do, and when you put as much pressure on the rim as they do, Like I said, third and field goal percentage in this stretch, you don't

need to make all your threes. You don't need to shoot like the the Utah Jazz. You just need to make enough of them. And that's that cascading effect I kept talking about. I talked a lot about how Dennis Shrewder being out made the hurt the space thing in the sense that they were able to load up a little bit more on Lebron as he would fatigue through the game, and it led to limited shot quality, which

led to the Lakers starting to get cold. But and then, and and it even went to Lebron who's Lebron was like over for the season and has been over in his last you know, six seven games or whatever. But in that stretch without Shrewder, his shot fell apart, in my opinion, in large part because of the fact that his offensive responsibilities one up in defenses were loading up on him and it started to cause him to lose some of his you know, level of comfort out from

the perimeter. So you said, you made a great point, Like it's just they don't even need to be an elite shooting team. They just need to knock down, you know, thirty five percent ish of their threes to be the dominant force that they that they can be. Uh, but everybody seems to be playing better. It's like an overall like confidence and flow thing. And and you you, you

said it to like their defense has been consistent. That's the most impressive part is this isn't like a you know, oh for the season, their first overall, but in the last couple of months they've been falling apart. It's like every single calendar month they're great on the defensive end. It is the bread and butter of their team. It's their identity and it's what makes them such a dependable team in the playoffs. Right, and we talked about how

like their scheme kind of switched from last year. Right, there were a lot more of like a UM protect the ram kind of funnel. But I mean last night, Charlotte is a team that makes like thirteen threes at night, and they were just running them off the line. I think in the first half Charlotte took like six threes, which just shows like how aggressive they are um getting out running people off the line, forcing them into the paint.

I think the Lakers also give up a lot of paint points, but again, like that's all more volume, I feel like because they are really running dudes off the line last night. Charlotte has a bunch of players like Rogier Um, guys like that who want to get up a huge volume of attempts and they really kind of ran them off nicely. So that was that was nice

to see. And like again, man, I keep going back to that Damian Jones, Like they really just fit a guy that was, you know, out of the was gonna be out of the league pretty much, and just flit him into the starting line. Marcus sol has been out a few games, like, and it's just like they just keep pushing on so um, their scheme kind of is working through any personnel. Lebron has really picked it up defensively. He had a huge night last night, UM helping and

all that. So yeah, man, it's awesome to see and we'll see if they can pick it up. Four wins in a row, and I think they play Atlanta tomorrow in the afternoon game. They've got a winnable back to back this weekend. They play Atlanta and then Phoenix is a really good team. But and it's on the road and it's back to back, but I think the Lakers are gonna be coming for blood in that one. I think I think that's the that's the one loss of uh since Dennis Shooter came back and Lebron has been

playing so I think that's when they go after. But the Damien Jones thing is interesting, and I was thinking about this a lot with that, uh that guy who's the big Claxton, the big for Brooklyn that's been playing really well, and everyone goes like, oh, well, this this Clackston guys awesome. This Clackston guy's awesome. And don't get me wrong, both Damian Jones, Clackson, these guys have been

playing great. I don't want to undercut the way they're playing, but they're such a classic example of how when you have like an elite system and you have an extremely simplified role that you have filled, that someone can step in and do it. Like Damian Jones was extremely active around the rim on both ends in the last few games, getting tip dunks, blocking shots at the rim, things along those lines, finishing lobs and things like just just really

simple stuff that made the game easy for him. And you know, it's no different than gosh, what's his name, who's the who's the the tall linky guard that's like the fifteenth man for the Lakers has been playing McKinney. Alfonso McKinney is yeah, like the same same thing when he was with the Warriors, like he just he uh in an extremely simplified role as like that fifth starter everyone was freaking out. Remember Stephen A. Smith had his big thing, or that Fonso McKinney is the next great Warrior.

It's like that's what happens when you're playing around really good players and that and and I think that, uh, that's the beauty of being in a cap strapped position is you know, when you have everything else covered, all the bases covered, and you have a guy that's got a discernible talent, you know, like this guy is super tall and can jump out of the gym and his long arms and his mobile, Like that's an easy discernible role that you can slot into that defense and an offense.

And so I agree with you. I mean I do think I disagreed with some of the Lakers Twitter last night. I know, King's the you know, the the guy's the regular guest on Jason Maples Poe cast, Like he was talking about how why would you want? Why would you want? You know, Andre Drummond with how well Keith is playing, with how wal Damian Jones is playing, And my thing is like Andre Drummond in the Super simplified role that Damon Lee is playing would be our Damon Jones is

playing would be dominant. Okay, like the same thing that you saw from Dwight Howard, but almost to another level in my opinion, because it's the simplified role. It's the it's the very little that you're asking him to do. If that makes sense, Yeah, for sure. And that's where I'm at with it. Two's funny when people are like, oh, did you watch him with the calves, I'm like, yeah, that's the calves. I mean, this is he's gonna play

next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Like it's a totally different role, um than than he'd be on with that team. And you know, a guy that can get twenty rebounds at once, I mean, why now you get him for free? You pick him up off the buyout market. Um, you wouldn't trade for him, obviously, but a guy like that is just those guys don't just grow on trees,

you know what I mean, you can't just find that. Um. I feel like he would be excited, he would be he would be more than motivated here, he'd be playing for another contract. I mean, I just don't like Damian Jones is a really nice player, but the talent, like the just a talent gap between him and Andre Drummond is pretty large. Those are two totally different. I think Andrew Drummond has made an All Star team if I don't, if I recall correctly, he might have came close time.

I think, yeah, he's been around that weekend a lot. I know he's I think he was in the Dunk Contest or something like that. But the talent gap between those two is pretty large. Now. I love what Jones has been doing. He's a guy that's played well. I think he's earned a second well. I don't think he can get another ten day, but he's there in a

contract somewhere. I don't know if he'll be with the Lakers, but yeah, the gap between him and Andre Drumm and a guy that rolls as hard as he does, who can you know he can catch lobs, he can protect the rim at some point in some way when he's motivated. So yeah, I just think it's a total talent gap that we're seeing, and I feel like we're gonna We

talked about this with Blake Griffin. I feel like his role with the Nets is gonna be so super charged and specific that people are gonna be like, oh my god, where was this guy? Well, he's playing next to Katie Harden and you know Kyrie, so it it's gonna be totally different. And we'll we'll see if they'll pick up Drummond. I think he's gonna get bought out here soon coming

coming up. Yeah. So uh, Well, with the Blake Griffin example, the trick is, uh, the role is small offensively, and I do expect him to succeed in that role, but is is what they need from that position defensively doesn't really make sense in my opinion. But as far as Andre Drummond goes, like the Damian Jones represents insurance against that. Like Damiens, Jones has demonstrated that in limited minutes in his very tiny role, he can be productive enough for

the Lakers to win with him on the floor. So like, if you get Andre Drummond, you let Damien Jones go and you have this supercharged version of that for the rest of the season. If he doesn't, then you keep Damian Jones. That's the beauty of of of Damien Jones, as he's insurance against that. But but yeah, Like it's like, as far what was the other thing you brought up trying to think Uh oh Drummond. Yeah, so uh. I listened to the Woad pod yesterday or might have been

the day before. Uh. He basically said that that the Cleveland really wants a second round pick, but the craziness because that's what they paid for Andre Drummond and they just want to get their right back basically. But the trick is is like trying to match his salary at that number, it's extremely difficult, and so they do very

much expect him to get bought out. Uh. Now. He also said in that podcast that he expects Drummond to start if he played for the Lakers, but that he would not start if he played for the Uh if he played for the Nets, And I don't really necessarily see what would be standing in the way of him starting with the Nets either, and arguably there would be more minutes available there because when when Drummond gets back, or if Drumming came to l A and Anthony Davis

comes back, there's just not a lot of availability for him there in those lineups with Anthony Davis back. But again, like I said, if if, if if Rob gets on the phone and he's like, yeah, I'm coming to l A, Like, yeah, he's gonna be that supercharged version of Damien Jones. Because all of the things you worried about with him were the same things you worried about with Dwight. All the Dwight pessimists were like, I worry about his attitude. He's

famously unliked in the locker room. He makes too many fart jokes, he does all this like literally Dwight Howard at oh hell, He's constantly calling for post ups. He never likes to screen and roll, he never likes to do all these things. And then literally none of those things were a problem because of the the cashe that Lebron had in that locker room and his ability to basically stare fireballs into Dwight and be like don't you don't you know, like like don't mess with me, man.

And so he's gonna do the same thing with Drummond, and and he's gonna come back and and and he's gonna be some you know, minimized version of minimized roll version of what he did. And he's got freakish tools, like he's arguably the best bet to get a twenty on any given night, you know what I mean, right, and you can't just find those guys, you know what I mean if people people forget what the amount of questions that were. And Dwight wasn't even on a guaranteed

deal until December. I mean, I know they guaranteed a little earlier, but we just we just forget those kind

of things. So yeah, when you put him into this kind of environment, this locker room, and then if Vocal can get Damien Jones in a defensive stand like last night, there was a play um where like I think Gordon Hayward was running a pick and roll and like Jones was icing it and I think KCP or something made the wrong play and so he had a switch, so he switched on Gordon Hayward and he's like in a

full defensive stance, moving to speek. He cut him off, and then I think Gordon Hayward kicked it to somebody who dunked. I think Lebron missed his rotation there something. I was like, man, he's got this guy, you know, in a defensive stance moving and I think he was one of the warriors. I think it was Tommy. I think he's he quoted me. He's like Damien Jones could even play three minutes under seved curve because of you know, he was just following out every second, So I thought

that was kind of funny. But but but yeah, um he has him playing, you know, great defense. I just can't imagine what he does with someone with the defensive talent as uh In Andre Drummond could have. But again, this is all potential. This is all on drum and if he's gonna buying and things like that. But I just think this culture is something to bed on with the player of that kind of that kind of talent. You just you just don't um deny those kind of things when you have this kind of team for sure.

And and we just have seen so many examples of dude with on bad team getting around really high i Q players with a real good chance to win and it reinvigorating them. Like I have absolutely no doubt that p J. Tucker is gonna play really well for for Milwaukee. A couple other notes that we noticed, uh from the last eight games. I have been extremely hard on talent

Horton Tucker as of late. UH in the last couple of podcasts that we've done, it is worth mentioning that he has more or less regained somewhat of his offensive rhythm that he had earlier in the season, and that he's been much better on the defensive end. It that's typical for young players to ebb and flow in their

focus and to ebb and flowing their confidence. But it's I want to pay him the compliment of saying that, uh, he has seemingly bounced back and has actually had some crazy, really really productive shifts in his last few games where he's looked really good. What have you noticed from t HD. Yeah, so I feel like rookies go through this thing where like the league figures them out right and then usually after that they usually don't refigure out the league until

the next season. And I think it's really cool that like he's figured out Okay, when I drive, everybody is collapsing, like the paint is just collapsed, and he's he's doing a nice job kicking out before he turns it over. He still jumps the pass a lot, which gets him in trouble, but like he's he's going in and he knows exactly where everyone else based on the floor vocal has kind of made it easy because they've really got

to high screen and roll with him. Or usually they'll have him run off a couple of drag screens on the side and he'll come up and run a screen roll with treads or something. He knows exactly what the shooters are, so he'll get in the air and then kicked to Kuzman in the corner. Or he'll find Harold at the at the dunker spot. I think that's really where he's grown. He's still I mean, I've never seen a player who goes for a reverse on the right side with the wrong hand as much as he does,

like he's looking for that, which is funny. But he's he's played so much better. And what I really like is they played him a lot next to Shrewder, so like Vogel has really adjusted in there. Um, and they have two guys who just put a lot of pressure on the rim consistently. I think that's helped him. He drives, takes it back to Shrewder and the shooter can re drive and then re kick, which um, I think has really helped him a lot. And Yeah, he just looks

so much better. I think he's turned over. His turnovers are down. Um, he's not taking those weird fade aways like in the paint as much as he used to. And so yeah, he's he's been great. I think you talked about it. He's gonna stay on the floor for his defense, like if if he can defend, he's gonna play. And he's been a lot better. He's not falling asleep

as much. He still gets lost sometimes on switches. I think last night and there was a play where I think Graham, Graham and Rogier run a screen role and they should have just switched, or LaMelo and Grandma ran a screen and role and they should have just switched it. And instead he tried to like hedge and recover and Graham got to open three or something. So but he's doing a lot better. Um, And yeah, he's twenty man, which is which I have to keep telling myself when

I watched him, like he's twenty years old. He's a year older than LaMelo, who got drafted like five months ago, which is which is kind of crazy. Yeah, So the reverse layer thing is funny because I was thinking about this a lot last night that it goes cross wise to everything that you're taught growing up as a basketball player, because so the trick is is like when you do that, that's saying that that wrong hand reverse layer, you're showing

the defender of the ball. So that's one of the big reasons why you're trained not to do that because it's it's an easier shot to block because it's like defender side and you're you're making it extremely visible to

him as you're going up. But what th h T does that counters that is he instead of like kind of doing it straight in front of him, he kind of turns his body and like positions his back between the defender and the basket and literally, uh puts the defender between his back in the basket and he'll literally kind of go behind his head. And he's a tough shot, right yeah, which is a tough shot. But I thought

about that a lot too. And it's because he has such huge hands, like he's got like he's not as tall as Kawai, but he's got some Kauai esque physical traits. And one of the big ones is just how big his hands are. But he just he gets you on his hip, he turns his body away from you and just just the scoop almost it's almost like a backwards shot, which is which is crazy, but but it works. But you you're right. The defense is going to be what

keeps him on the floor. And you know, my guess is that his role in this playoff run will actually look a lot like what it was last year, which is he's going to get these spot minutes. Uh and when he's playing well, they're gonna ride him. And if he makes one or two defensive mistakes at the start of a game, I think I think Frank's gonna go away from him, because Frank has just demonstrated at length that that's the number one thing that that he cares about.

But the last thing I'll say about t HD before we move on is like, you know, this is something I'm gonna harp on a lot throughout the season, and it's something that I mentioned with Contavious call blow Pope last night. You know the Lakers. You know, as far as offensively goes, the reason why th h d s offense is never going to factor into his minutes is because outside of Dennis Shrewder, none of the guards really

bring that much offensively. Like KCP is hot and cold sometimes as a shooter, he's probably your best offensive guard outside of Dennis Shooter. But it's like Carusoe super inconsistent offensively. Wesley Matthews has been awful this season offensively, Like, you're

not getting a ton from those guys. So you can live with the offensive mistakes with th HD because a bad night from him is gonna look more or less like most nights from Alex Crusoe offensively that you you just have to get him to commit on the defensive end.

But what I think is really interesting about th HD on the offensive end is when Dennis Shrewder and Lebron are playing, and especially when Anthony Davis gets back, they are putting so much pressure on the defense where almost everything that these guys do offensively is about attacking close outs.

Something I'm gonna harp on all the time. It's something I've talked a lot about with KCP is you're you're not asking them to isolate and run, pick and roll and do all this crazy stuff that often for the most part, it's you get you get the ball swung to you a defenders out of position and you have to make a quick compact move to get past him and need to either draw a second defender or do something that that either creates a three for one of your teammates or gets all the way to the rim

and finishes. And I thought as of late that th h t s a lot of his offense has actually come from attacking closeouts. And he's so strong and he's so good at finishing around the rim that when they can get him with the head esteem past the defender his disadvantage, he's deadly in those situations. It's I I think that there is a clearly discernible role for him, especially in the playoff rotation. He just needs to defend

well enough to stay there. Yeah, And it's crazy. He's already at the point where like if he goes right, I know he's going to score or get found or something that because you let go right, that's a strong hand. He doesn't have to reverse it. He can flip it

up to the rim normally. Um, and you talked about when he plays with Lebron, but remember earlier in the year we were even when a d was here, we were kind of talking about the non Lebron minutes, like where the offense is going to come from, and there was a struggle and again I go back to those Shrewder and THHD line I was spanned because we talked about we're gonna talk about the rest of the league later, but like you look at like the Clippers, We talked

about them all the time, how they don't put enough pressure at the rim. But when when you have two guards who just attacked the rim relentlessly because Shrewder he wants to get to his mid range pull up, but he likes to get to the rim. He likes to put on his burners get to the basket, and THD does the same thing. And again that's why I feel

like they played so well. I think you I think you tweeted out earlier that they had like their first UM plus game where when Lebron didn't play or something like that, to the first like positive minutes without Lebron of the month. Yeah, and that was I think in a row, right, And I think that's when the THHD and Shrewder lineup started because and they're scrolling really well with that, They're getting open looks and they're getting hair. Harold I think is part of that as well, finding him.

So they really got a nice niche role for th HD where they're like, hey, just attack the rim. Do what you do. Um, they're not making him be a spot up shooter anymore. They tried that, they try to fit him into that role. I don't think that's what he is right now. He's just not efficient enough at shooting to be a good spot up shooter. They have him attacking the basket relentlessly and he's getting in the paint. He's causing havoc and it's great. I feel like the

league's gonna adjust again to what he's doing. But right now he's doing a good job just finding people and scoring at the rim when he can. And like last night, like Cody Zeller was on him and he like euro stepped. He did like a like a double fake fake past euro step. I'm like, man, this is this is this is crazy. And yeah, he doesn't even see the big anymore. If you have if you don't have rim protection, it's over.

He's going to score at the rim, which is just crazy for a guy who's that young and that raw. Still he's pretty good against rim protection to Uh. To be clear, I've said this a bunch this year and I just want to re you know, reiterate it here. Uh, when I ring up at length the non Lebron minutes and how much the Lakers have struggled, which they have. They flat out half. They have been a bad team this year when Lebron is off the floor. And it's a problem. I'm not talking about like this is a

crap team in Lebron's carrying him. That's not what I'm saying to me. It's pointing out the problem with the fact that with as much talent this roster has, they have to figure out a way to get it done. And you know, it was one thing when when Dennis Shrewder was out and like literally none nobody on the team could dribble outside of Lebron and and they were falling apartment he was off the floor. That was one thing. But this has been a problem even when Dennis Shrewder

has been playing, even when Anthony Davis was playing. I pulled up the numbers again. I had looked at up a while back, but I wanted to make sure this year and two in one minutes where Dennis Shrewder and Anthony Davis were on the floor but Lebron was off the floor, their minus two point five per points per one hundred possessions. It's been a problem. And so you know, some of it's Frank, some of it's a d not

embracing his job on this team. Uh, and and some of it is some of the fit stuff with Dennis Shooter as they've kind of learned how to play together. But there is enough talent on this team that they have to figure out how to win the non Lebron minutes. There's no excuse. They have enough talent. And so, again, just to reiterate, I'm not saying, oh, this is a crap team in Lebron's carrying him. I'm just pointing out the problem with the fact that they're not doing that.

The everyone involved needs to do a better job so that this stops happening. And and for the record, this Dennis Shooter and th HD lineup but you're talking about, appears to have solved some of that. And for two games now in a row, the Lakers have been positive in the non Lebron minutes. And that's the positive in the non Lebron minutes is the difference between this being one of the most dominant teams ever and being as good as they have been. They had problems with that

last year. Did I drop out? Can you guys hear me now you did, Yeah, and we got theory atrial Because I heard this on the low post. I just thought it was interesting not I don't know if I agree or really go with this, but it said, like when you have an offense that revolves around Lebron, right, because it's very heliocentric, right, it's all around him pretty much when he's on the floor when he goes off.

I mean, it's kind of tough to kind of, um, I guess changed that, right because he's playing about thirty five thirty six minutes a game, which means, you know, there's only two small shifts where you're really playing without him, so those minutes are kind of experimental anyway, kind of when you're when you're in there. So I don't know

if I really adhere to that. I understand it like from a from like a just a team standpoint, because everything does run through Lebron, But like, do you think that's a struggle when you have a like just even like you don't even have to go with Lebron. Look at when Luca sits out for the maps, right, they completely fall apart. They go and run poisenis post up

and stuff. Which just doesn't make any sense to me, But like you just you just look at that when Luca goes out or even guys like Lebron James Harden they go off the floor. It's just I feel like those minutes, if you can be neutral, I think you're okay. And again that's the difference, like you said, being like a super dominant team and being like a you know,

a good regular season team. Do you kind of go with that theory that like it's tough to kind of build a offense that's good without Lebron because it's so helious, It's it's so revolves around him when he's on the floor anyway, So I think it's kind of tough to have a have lineup set I guess are so positive

when he's off the floor. So there's this weird thing that that Dredges of of the basketball world are obsessed with, where it's like, any any talking point that works in Lebron's favor for whatever it is, or in Lebron's defense, people will go to just unbelievable lengths and absurd premises to try to undercut them. And this heliocentric basketball one

is a perfect example of that. Like the there there's a difference between the Dennis Shrewder problem like when he went out, where it's like, Okay, they're losing the non Lebron minutes because they don't have the talent because of

lack of ball handling outside of Lebron. That's different. And you had some of that with the like the two thousand eighteen Calves for instance, where it's like like they literally they there's no way for them to win the non Lebron minutes because of the way the roster is constructed, which really wasn't even their faulty. It came down to Kyrie Irving demanding a trade when they were caps strapped,

Like that's what really happened there. But the you know, uh, the when when the team's had Kyrie, you know when when the Cavs had Kyrie. This Laker team is another great example with Anthony Davis and Dennis Shudder. This is you know, you gotta be pros and and hats off to to the Mavericks for figuring out like okay, literally, Luke don Che is the most heliocentric basketball player, that one one of them, the one of the most that

we've ever seen. And you know what, they figured it out because there pros your job as the coach, your job as the backup point guard, your job is the secondary ball handler. Your job is to figure it out, you know what, Like you have to figure it out, you know, because he's doing his job, the heliocentric guys doing his job when he's on the floor. You as a professional have to figure it out, especially when you have that kind of talent. And so yeah, I've never

prescribed to that line of thinking. And I do think there's a huge difference between like the roster build part of it, you know, like the you know, if they've designed like some some like like James Harden is a great example, like they kind of designed the heliocentric style and built the roster around him. So I don't think it's fair for them to be like, oh, they lost

seventeen straight games without James Harden. It's like they lost seventeen straight games because that roster was designed entirely to have James Harten knowld the ball all the time. So that to me is different. But but yeah, like I

I I've never prescribed to that line of thing and thinking. Yeah, and I think that was part of the conversation to like, if you have Lebron James on your team, like, how much are you going to really use in terms like in a cap field, in a salary cap league, how much you're gonna give for a you know, a high star point guard that's gonna also have the ball, you know, the time. And I think we saw that with Houston as well, right when they got Chris Paul, and I

think it worked out really well. It's just they didn't Harden really wasn't um accepting of the of the kind of situation where he was getting told where to go by Chris Paul. And again, that's kind of like when you have someone who's so you know, into a heliocentric offense when he tries to share it with another person, even when they win, because the Rockets won, they still had huge issues just because he was trying to adjust.

So I think that was the main question there was, like can you build in And I think you can. And again like I think Shrewder and a d should be more than good enough to have a positive net when Lebron sits. But I just that was an interesting thing that, you know, Zach Low. Zachlow kind of kind of brought up in terms of roster building kind of more rather than just like just giving the coach an excuse. So why it doesn't work? M m m m m yeah, I think it kind of cut off. See m yeah, okay,

it's better now there you go. Okay, can you hear me? Yeah? I can. Cool. Yeah, I think they will figure it out. It's just something that we need a monitor, that's all. Like I said, I think, as you know, we talked about holding you know, like if, for instance, if Frank Vogel was doing a bad job with his scouting reports, you would hold him accountable for that, or if Lebron wasn't doing his job, you'd hold him accountable for that.

I think I think it's okay as a fan base to hold this very talented roster accountable for their job, which is to you know, uh, you know, float the ship while Lebron's you don't even have to win those minutes. Just dude, don't don't have the bottom fall out. That's

really it's really that, it's really that simple. Um. So, one last guy I wanted to really quickly touch up before we move on to some of our other topics was Markis Morris is I I. You know, he's one of the guys that I was harder on earlier in the season as well, because he didn't look he didn't look like he was in shape, he wasn't making shots. He like he just was struggling everywhere on the floor. He's become kind of like a sneaky weapon for them.

He's pretty good attacking mismatches, uh, very very good post up defender, and then he's one of their most reliable three point shooters as of late. I've I've been really impressed with him, and so I'd like he's another guy that kind of adds like some insurance at that center position. Yeah. So I tweeted before the season started, I said, Markie

Morris at the minimum is just stupid value. Like, in my opinion, I don't like to put players in terms of value kind of thing, but just like looking at it from a cap situation, getting that kind of player from the minimum, it's just insane. Because we watched him

in the playoffs he was starting against Houston. The Lakers big advantage against Houston was starting him and being like we can match here, you know, a small ball lineup and put him in a d uh together and I was kind of getting killed for that because of how we started. But again, everything is contextual. You know, seventy one day offseason, he's spoken at lengths about it. He's been very open that he's really struggled, Um with the quick turnaround and trying to get his legs, get his

legs under him, and so you can see him. He's moving so much better now. There was just it's night and day. I mean, I think the other day, not not against not against Charlotte, but the game before I think it was against Minnesota, he had like an up and under layup like he drove and like, uh he did like up and I'm like, man, there was no way he was doing anything close to that earlier in the year. And his body just looks more fluid. He's

a really good, sneaky like isolation score. Like he's a guy you can throw it into him and eat possessions, as we say, you know, so like if Lebron doesn't feel like creating and just like here and Marquis and he'll just eat that possession and you'll get a you'll get a good look out of it. And I think that's important. I think that's very valuable. Um, he's not

like a great three point shooter, but he's streaky. So like he's a guy if he hits one, um, you can find him and he'll hit another one in a row kind of thing. And he had a quick five out run last night when the Hornets were coming back. So, and he's defending a lot better. Yeah, and so he's not like a switchbull defender, but you know he can hold his own. Guys can't really attack him in that way. They don't hunt him. Um. And yeah, I think he's

been good. He'll be like he's not the guy. I think that like his skills get uh exceeded playing next to Anthony Davis. He's a guy that gets better when he plays against plays with better players. Um. I think earlier in the year he was playing with like th ht Um tres As, like the shot creators in the lineup with him, and he just looked really bad just to even add on to his conditioning, which is bad to start. So now he's he looks like the bubble Marquis.

So he's he's picking it up. Yeah, he's got he's got his legs back and uh, and you know that the big thing with him is like something that I'd like about him more than I like about his brother, is that he has shown, at least last year that when you know, Anthony Davis comes back and startlin heavily on, did I cut out? Or can you hear me? Now?

You're good? When when things really start, when they really start to lean on Lebron and Nadimore, he has actually and the kind of guy who can fall back into a really small role and and just do his job. And and to me, that makes him very valuable. You know, he's not a ball stopper, he's a ball mover. But at the same time they can't they can ask him to be Marcus Morris and be a little bit more

of an isolation guy when they need him to. And like you said, it's it's it's eating possessions, it's give it allowing Lebron to rest while he's on the court. That that kind of stuff is all super super valuable. Um, did you have something else you wanted that or you cool? We move on? No, Yeah, that's good. That's good. So the last thing I want to talk about before we hop around to some other stuff around the league was, uh,

the m v P race. So you know, part of this is you know, uh, the unfortunate circumstance that that Joe l Embiid has has suffered an injury that's caused him to miss ten games and very likely to miss probably another close to ten. And uh, I would imagine that this point that the Sixers are gonna take it really slow with him, especially since they have shown an ability to win some games with Ben Simmons at the forefront.

But you know, sometimes like sometimes there's like a moment of clarity in the sense that you know, like and last night was a good example of it, where you just start to kind of look at the landscape and you go like, oh, well, like this is an obvious decision, and you look at it and it's like the Lakers had a super short turnaround. They had seventy two days off, you know, from the from hoisting the trophy to having to literally start playing NBA basketball games again. Anthony Davis

has missed almost half the games. Dennis Shrewder missed a week for COVID, Marcusol has missed a couple of weeks for COVID, k CP sprained his ankle at one point. Lebron has played almost every single game, and the Lakers have been the best defense in the league. He's been take one of the all defense teams, probably second team All Defense, and and and there's no reason in the world why he should not be the front runner at

this point. And I think it's pretty clear cut. It's just they're the They're the best there a game and a half back of the best record in basketball, despite circumstances that have worked very much against their favor. The team that's above them in the standings, Utah has had a much much more fortunate season in terms of player availability. And you know, I don't think there's any question that that Lebron has had a better m v P type

of season than anybody on that Utah roster. And so I think I think things are and Bron's MVP cases this to two really quick things. Last year, everyone submitted their honest votes halfway through the damn season. It was. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. An ego plays a huge part in this. You know, a guy comes on Twitter and goes like, oh, Joannice is far and away the the MVP leader at this point, and then when somebody makes a run at the end

of the season, like Lebron did. They're all super hesitant because of their egos to change their mind about it anything, because they didn't have to admit they were wrong about saying that Janice was the runaway m VP favorite earlier in the season. And so I hope that Lebron gets a little bit of that in his favor at this point, because I feel like he caught the short end of that stick last year. And here's the last thing I'll

say about it. If he gets the trophy, the m v P Trophy, he will have deserved it because they're about to head to a super tough part of their schedule without a d I mean, I think just next thing, you know, and they have one of the toughest schedules in the league here down the stretch, so they're they're flat out going to need him to be the m v P to stay near the top of the standings.

And if we get to the end of the season and the Lakers are the two seed out West or the two seed in the league, or even better, like there's gonna be there's there's not gonna be anything you can say, because there's it's just heading into this difficult portion of the schedule and without a d you know, he's gonna have to prove it and I believe he will,

but but we'll see how it goes. Yeah. So my thing with him VP is like if you went before the season, right even with the Lakers editions and you know they're people were saying that, you know, they won the offseason or whatever. Um, if you were like, okay, take Anthony Davis off this team, how many wins would

they have? Like just straight? If you ask, like if you pull the National Riders, they'd probably say, like what forty something that wins like with No A D. Yeah, it's not maybe not as bad as the Worriors, but um yeah, they would say it would be a pretty bad team and their second in the West. I mean, I was just looking at the records, man, Like Utah is only one and a half games above Anthony Davis has been forty forty two percent of the season. Rudy

Gobert has missed one game. I was checking, Oh no, he has missed serial games. Uh, Donovan Mitchell has missed two games. Like They've been completely healthy and still I think they flew a little too close to the sun. They're starting a torpedo back to Earth. But yeah, it's

just crazy. That's his case. Like, I don't know how that's not leading all of the UM whatever shows that I don't watch anymore, but all those m VP debate shows, the lead should be Anthony Davis has missed already two percent of the season and they are tied with the Suns. They are a game and a half back of this of the Utah powerhouse that was blowing through the league

for a while. So that's his case to me, And again he has a I think it was interesting you tweeted out at like the Bucks had three players make the All Defense last year, which is just ridiculous, just just ridiculous. The Lakers were a game behind Milwaukee when the when the season shut down. I think people kind of forget that how much of a run they made. And obviously they just lollygat through the bubble games because none of them matter. They had they had the ones

he locked up, so it didn't matter anymore. And I think Milwaukee, you don't want a few of those games more. But again, when the season shut down, it was around the March or something like that, or they have something I forget, but they were a game back of Milwaukee with two again who started off blazing hot and came back to earth, and Lebron's MVP case was kind of growing. But like you said, that vote was submitted, That vote

was submitted a long time ago. Be honest, was gonna win his win shares or per seventy five or whatever. Numbers were blowing through the water, and I think talked about that at length. He was beating up on bad team. But again not even to not even to diminish Johannes, because I think he's earned his two m vps. But yeah, Lebron wins this year, he probably has a narrative going for him. I mean, it's I don't know why that's like taboo to say. I mean, you kind of earn it.

You play eighteen years in the league. You earn a little bit of a narrative kind of thing, you know what I mean, Like, I don't know why that's taboo. They're like, oh, no, every m v P should be year by year. Nothing in life works without context, like it just it just doesn't. You can't ignore Johanna's flaming out two straight playoffs and given out. You just can't. The context is in everything in life. Why are we

gonna ignore it with with an awards? So I think that that's part of as well, and he'll earn it. I mean, he's played great defense as well. You could argue he's in the Defensive Player of the Year. He won't get that award. I don't think he's the defensive player of your conversation. That's one thing I think Lebron fans have taken a little too far. Uh But I mean I wouldn't. Yeah, he wouldn't. I would say he

would win it. But I mean, like this defense has been carried by him Marc Asol and like a great system, I mean you have to you can give it to somebody, you know. So yeah, again, like just just seeing his m v P ks, I think he's more than earned um the lead at it. It's unfortunate that Jolian Bead went down. I don't think him missing ten games shouldn't take him out of the race, you know. But but we'll see. But yeah, I think you're right, he has more than enough of a case for the m v

P this year, can you hear me? Yeah? So, the I think the h and they're like, you're disrespecting the process by bringing up the narrative, I no sport. It's a team sport. So we're interpreting, we are interpreting results. So if this was a tennis regular season, then you could be like, oh, you know, tennis player A was

clearly the best player in tennis this year. He beat everybody, He's the m v P. But no, it is a team sport, and so we have to rely on external vidence and context to try to compartmentalize and contextualize like what we're seeing. So you know, if I saw a really really great Yannice season like this year, I can contextualize that by saying like, oh, actually, like a big part of this was coach Bud and his system kind of spitting up and chewing out teams, chewing up and

spitting out teams from the Eastern Conference. As things progress that that actually wasn't as effective against the best teams in the league, and it wasn't as effective in the playoffs. So we add that context and we can we can kind of make it. We can kind of make a case for why Janice wasn't the best player in the league this year. And I think that's gonna end up actually hurting him. And you know, that's the thing with Lebron. It's like, okay, the it's not as simple as here

are his numbers and here's the team's record. It's the

whole story. And that's what that's where I think the narrative is not a bad word, but actually just the store of his m v P. The story of Lebron's MVP is that on a very quick turnaround, UH, with very little rest after winning the championship, after being the Finals MVP, he came back into this season with an injured co star who missed almost half the games and a couple of COVID's, a couple of uh COVID losses that cost starters to miss a combined three weeks a time.

He led them to within a game and a half of the number one overall seed. He his numbers have been you know, uh, you know, just everybody as good as last year, minus a few assists per game, which isn't him becoming a lesser passage, just him playing alongside Dennis Shrewder. But but that's the story of his m v P. And you you you tell that story, and that's how you plead the That's how you plead the case of the value of an individual in a team sport.

That's really all it is. It's not any more complicated than that. And like, you know, I think a couple of Lakers uh TV per sonalities, namely you know Rachel uh what's her name, Rachel Nichols, who's not a Lakers person, but as you know, a Lebron fan, I guess you'd call it. And then uh, you know, Dave mcmanam in and and then I think Brian went Horse did it too, Like Ramota Shelbert, they get on. They got on last year,

and they were taking it to borderline theatrical foolishness. You know, Kobe's death, you know, he's old, you know all this other stupid stuff. You know, Oh he he held a meeting in a conference room and a hotel in China, so he's the m v P like that was That was stupid. That was stupid and and it and it took that part of the m v P race and threw it off the rails. When the truth of the matter is is like the way that we decided is story based. It's just story based within the context of

what's actually happening within that locker room. And uh and on the court, if that makes sense. Yeah, and and people think this is just a Lebron thing, which is really strange to me, Like why did Westbrook win the m v P like three years ago, Right, It wasn't just like, yes, he had the triple doubles, but it was because Kevin Durant left that summer, right, And they're like, he's going to carry a team, and he carried them to like a three seed or a four seed or

whatever it was. And we take the whole context within it, right, just his season alone, probably when I've done it, when you look at the story, you know, one of the best players in the world ever left his team, he carried them, he had the heart. All that stuff is into it. And that's fine. It's an MVP award, you know, it's not you know, something that's decided by per thirty six and win shares and you know stuff stuff like that. It is decided by on the court. Your team has

to win. But I just don't know why people think Lebron is the only one that you know, uh, gets an advantage from the story being told from it, And that's just not true. The m v P has been about a story for the long time to go along with the basketball. So yeah, he has a case this year. I think I think it's fine if you have someone else winning. It's just I feel like it's pretty um, it's pretty malpractice to say Lebron is not even a top three or whatever in the MVP, because I think

he totally is. Uh, he's a totally good candidate for it. Yeah, he's a good candidate. And you know, it is interesting as far as like the RUSS m v P goes there, there there's a clear like path that happens with an m v P uh conversation, and this is why embiad

is so far up there in my opinion. If you look back, it's like, Okay, Lebron in two thousand and nine has this m the voter they have to, and then there's the fatigue and he's every bit as good the following season, but they don't give it to him. It's a Steph Curry thing. Steph Curry wins an m v P averaging twenty three points per game, but he wins the m v P and he comes back to and he's definitely better, so they have to give it to him again. And then in two thousand seventeen, they're uh,

they're still the best team in the league. He was the best He wasn't the best player in the league in my opinion at that point, but he was the best player on the best team in the league in

two thousand and seventeen. Should have been technically, you know, an MVP candidate, but you know, there's voter fatigue, there's like a there's like a pathway to this, and so that that's the unfortunate part about it is like it's like, I I'm glad that it's just a regular season award that doesn't really amount to all that much for any of these things. Because the truth is is the whole process is flawed in a lot of ways. Uh, but

but it is what it is. I do think it's important to mention that he has a really good chance and real quickly before we're done here. All the Lebron's numbers are up year over year last year when he was receiving first place MVP votes. Scoring is up, steals are up, reboundings up, turnovers are down, free throw percentage up, three point percentage up, field goal percentage up. The only thing that's down is his assists and so, which again is product of them taking on a twenty million dollar

year guard. Uh that to help with some of the ball handling responsibilities. So the truth of the matter is is he's in that path now. He missed out on an m v P last year. There's a lot of lingering. Uh, there's a lot of lingering kind of like angst over the fact that maybe he didn't deserve it, be honest, because he clearly is nowhere near as good at basketball is Lebron and then here comes Lebron better than next year. So I mean to me, that's a prime set up

for him to to receive a lot of votes. And uh, we'll see how it goes. A bit. Part of it is going to be this tough part of the schedule and whether or not they can weather through it. Um Uh. It's tricky because the last month of the season two, they have four sets of back to backs, um so, and I think they have three more sets of back

to backs just this month. So when like, as long as as long as they you know, hang out there in the top two or three seeds in the West, given the circumstances, I think I think he deserves it. Um really quickly. I wanted to touch on a couple of non Laker topics and get your thoughts on him. So, first of all, the Clippers continue to be one of the most disappointing contenders that uh, that we've had in the last couple of years. Uh. And this is this

has been consistent from the start. By the way, they currently have the seventh best record in the league. Um, I guess my question for you is, aside from the usual stuff that we've all talked about, like them needing a point guard and blahlah blah blah, why do you think that they've been so underwhelming, particularly on the defensive end. Yeah, it's funny because Clipper fans and our Clipper people do

not like you. I can tell. It's it's hilarious. Uh, this players seeing you quote tweet them and they're like, stay out of our out of our team, which I just think is absolutely hilarious. But uh, yeah, it's funny because, like you know, I like to joke about the PG narrative and you know, the Paul George stuff, who's actually played really well this year. Actually he's had a great year, so I give him credit. But when I watched their team like it's just looking at the basketball, like they

put zero pressure on the basket. The only person who does is Zoomach when he rolls to the rim. And again that can be schemed out, you know when teams really want to UM because they'll trap Kauai and you know, and they'll help off of anyone who they want to. They don't trust anyone to make a jump shot when it matters. I think they live with Marcus Morris, you know, and all those guys who shoot a good percentage. But I think when the game bolt boats down and close

outs are a little bit harder. Against Dallas, I mean, they didn't score for like five minutes. This is with Kauai and PG on the floor, like to all two superstar wings, and they couldn't get a basket because Paul Jorge, every one of their actions, like they run a lot of really like Tyler is a good offensive coach. They run a lot of like really good actions. They run like sippers and um PG comes off two down streets being and all these actions pretty much lead to a

step back contestant mid range jumper. Like that's because they just do not want to take contact. And then Paul George I saw after the game, he's like, the refs aren't giving me calls, you know, and stuff stuff like that, which again like maybe, but that doesn't really take you out from attacking the basket. So they get nothing at the rim other than Kauai dunking on people once or twice pretty nicely. But all the shots are mid range

pull ups or tough contested threes. And again they moved the ball around and try to find the open shot. But you know late in games, that's really it causes for inconsistency in basketball. And as you know, when people when teams go on runs, and maybe last night wh Charlie went on a run, it it catapults. And when you can't get ec shots, um, it's tough to stop those. And I think that's where they're inconsistent play comes from.

But PG and Choir and Kauai especially are good enough to where they're gonna kind of they're gonna win enough games to be a high seed. But I was looking at the standings, man, and they are tied for like six or seventh roight now in terms of the losses, like another loss would drop them down to six, I think or something. So it's when I saw the news today that they're interested in Alonzo ball, which made me kind of sad because Alonzo is like a lifelong laker

to me. But I don't know if Alonzo really fixes that kind of issue. Is a Lonzo is not attacking the rim guard either. He's a really good ball move which I think Patrick Beverley is Nick Betune all are really great ball movers. But that's kind of what I see in them. What do you what do you see in their inconsistencies? How the heck are they going to get lawns? Like saw that too and I was like, I was like, what, Like, they don't have any assets

they onny drafting. It's just it doesn't make any sense. Um it would require it would require David Griffin thinking, you know, in his head like oh, like I'd rather have Patrick Beverley or something like that. Um So, a couple of things really quick. The the Clippers are tied with the San Antonio Spurs in the lost column. Um So, here's the thing. You know, I'm hard on the Clippers for for a lot of reasons. One, I am a huge I've always had a huge problem with like prematurely

crowning people because like, I don't think people. And for the record, Lebron is one of the best best examples of this in NBA history. He went to the Miami Heat in two thousand eleven and thought he already had the trophies. Damn Near said as much when he was in my in that Miami party that they threw after they signed everybody like it is an objectively unlikable quality for someone to talk and act as though they've on

something when they haven't done anything yet. And the Clippers haven't put in the work, and that's the most important detail, and this is why their defense sucks. You know, on paper, their defense should be awesome. Patrick Beverley, you know, although

he's been injured for a lot of this year. You know, Paul George and Kawhile Enterred just those two should be good enough to be an elite defensive team, especially when you factor and they have Nick Patoum, another big wing, and they have Marcus Moore's senior who's another big wing. The problem why, the reason why they don't defend well is people are looking at it with a simplistic view of what defense is. They think, Oh, Kauai can guard player X and Paul George can guard player. Why, yeah,

that's great. But the vast majority of defense is not just straight up one on one defense. It's all about your team concepts. How are you in rotations? How are you when you're not matched upright in transition? How are you when you have to send a double team and everyone's chaotically running around. The Lakers have nowhere near as much defensive talent on paper as the Clippers, but they put in the work. They do what you're supposed to do to guard. They operate well in chaos. They're they're,

they're they're. Frank does a much better job as setting up their scheme. Everything they do make sense. They play to their strengths. They chase people off the three point line because they have smaller guards. It's it all makes sense. That's why it doesn't work. That's why it doesn't work

for the Clippers. They have everything that they've needed on paper, and they haven't put in the requisite work, which, for the record, is the microcosm of the entire l A Clippers experience since they signed both of them, speaking large you know, on uh on, in the large scale of of that entire team and their goals and their failures

last year and so far this year. As far as the offensive end goes, it's really simple, and it's the reason why I sent that tweet out and the reason why Paul George looks so, like I said, pathetic in that stupid press conference where he's making these excuses. It's you if if you want something and you want to complain about something, which I hate complaining regardless, I don't like when Lebron complains about the refs and he's literally a guy who's bullying his way to the basket all

day long and constantly getting fat. But the point is is like, if you're gonna do it, at least come from a position of strength, at least come from a position where you're backed by evidence. You literally other than the Orlando Magic, or I think it's the Orlando Magic, your your twenty nine in the entire league, I get a generating shot attempts within five ft of the basket and within the restricted area, and it's been like that

all season long. You're a team that relies on off the dribble pull up jump shots from Lou Williams, from Paul George and from Kawhi Leonard and even in this league, where that type of jump shooting gets a lot of calls. It's not going to get the same level of calls as a team that pressures the rim consistently. And then you have the nerve to walk up to the press conference table and be like, we're doing our part, we're putting pressure on the rim. We're just not getting calls. No,

you're not. You're living in fantasy land. And you're the same guy that stood up to the press conference after you tricked off Game six against Denver and said we're in control of this series. It's just it's an objectively unlikable quality. They're complaining and living in fantasy land, and they don't understand that we all have eyes and that we're watching the damn games. We're watching the games man, like especially Lakers Twitter, because they love hate watching you

and rooting for you to fail. So like we're all there, we're all paying attention and and and I don't know, it just it is what it is. I just I just you know. And for the record, I'm the most scared of them. They are the team that I'm most scared enough to beat the Lakers, at least in the West, because they're they are built to do it. I just what what have you seen in the last two years

to show them that they will right right? Let me let me ask you this because I created this out and like you said, I know, I understand the NBA is not no longer an isolation game. It's a pick and roll heavy game, you know what I mean. But like, it was very weird to me that Luca is absolutely cooking right like he is. He is, he is not even seeing a defender like he is. There was nothing he was so comfortable. He could have been as slippers

that game. Like, he was absolutely comfortable walking to the rim, doing floaters, step back three. He's not feeling a thing. This is late game, This is a you know, this is a big time game they need to win. And they have Nickpatune picking up Luca full court. You know,

this is with Kauai. And again I understand it's not a one on one game, but like Nick Patune picking him up full court, and then later on they switched then later on they switched Marcus Morris on him, like and this due Luca does not even feel these dudes like he has There's no you know, there's no like

pressure on him. He's literally walking to the room doing floaters, and again Paul George I think, switched on him with like two minutes left, and by by that time, Luca is completely on fire, like his whole body is pretty much heated up that he is not feeling a thing, you know what I mean. So, but it's just interesting to me when I see that. I'm like, it's so weird.

And people are like, oh, they're load managing. You know, this is Luca has like forty on like easy easy shots, like this is still your you know, have some pride, have some use of pride. I mean the load managing Nick Patune is thirty two. I mean I don't. I just don't understand that part of it. Don't make it so easy for them. And that's the thing that's really weird to me. They have a lot of weird corks

that don't make any sense to me. They're hiding kauai on I think it was um Brunson in the corn and I'm like, that just doesn't does not make any sense at all what they're doing with that. I want to ask you that because do you think that's an issue? Like I think it's very weird when like even Lebron last night switched on LaMelo when Lemel started cooking, just because you know, just to show like, hey, we're not allowing. This is not what we're allowing. Or even Terry rose

Year when he got cooking, he switched on him. Like it's just really weird when I when I see that, Like they have the two probably the best two best wing defenders in the league on any given night, and there they have Nick Betune guarding Luca when he's absolutely cooking anyone in isolation. Is just just really strange to me, those kind of things that I see. They have weirdly weird quirks about their team. Yeah there there there's something off in just the chemistry of that entire teams at

the way it's built. Well, what Clipper fans will tell you is that oh uh uh Tylu is holding everything and saving everything for the playoffs. That's what I'll tell you, Which to me, that's stupid because the whole premise of saving things for the playoffs only makes sense within the

realm of single elimination anyway. It's something that makes a lot more sense in football because like Bill Belichick will save plays and schemes and formations and stuff for the playoffs, because he knows that he needs to beat you once and if he can throw you off for a quarter and a half because you have to adjust to a new scheme, it might win him a playoff game. That's

not how it works in the NBA. Like the Lakers could show you everything that they do, you have to play them seven times so that there's no advantage gained by Oh, maybe I'll win the first quarter of Game one because I randomly started throwing, you know, some crazy defensive scheme or some offensive scheme at somebody. And quite frankly, with the how deep the West is in the in the seating problems that the Clippers are putting themselves in danger of dealing with it, they need to win games now.

They need to win games like for and so the whole idea that they've been withholding is stupid to me. It's a matter of of of like I said, and I'm just reiterating it, but the scheme and the effort and the dirty work that a defense has to do to make a star feel uncomfortable. You know, Dennis Shouter is a is a talented defensive players. So I don't want to under cut this. But do you think Damian Lillard is worried about whether or not he can get

by Dennis Shredder. Hell no, Like Dennis Shredder is not presenting now. Like my point is is like it's not like Ben Simmons, where Ben Simmons literally had Damian Lillard feeling like he was in prison and just single coverage. That's not what Dame Lillard feels when he goes up against Dennis Shrewder. What literally is happening there is the Lakers as a team, as a scheme, are making the

stars feel uncomfortable. And the problem with the Clippers is they've got all the talent in the world, but they're not making like the Lakers would never in a million years have let Luca do that. You know, they got burned by Luca once at the beginning of last season, and they have really really taken care of him the last four or five times they played him, because the Lakers will not let you beat them with your star.

They will not let you do it because they they they're they're they're not caught up in the Monoemano type style of defense. It's it's us five against your five and and and that's and that's why I think they have uh you know, that's the difference in my opinion.

But between those two really quickly before I get you out of here, I wanted to share a quick thought about the about the Warriors, So you know, I think the Warriors are are a fascinating case study of of the way aesthetics kind of like throw off people's impressions of of a basketball team, because in my opinion, the Lakers and the Warriors have a lot in common, uh particularly just with like their their their roster build in the way that they're trying to win games. So for

the record, the Lakers are a lot more talented. So I don't wanna make that equivalency. I just think there's a stylistic similarity. You've got this supreme offensive creator in the form of Lebron and Steph Curry, but for some reason, the offenses struggle and the fan base says get all riled up talking about like this offense looks stupid. Why isn't Steph doing this, Why isn't Lebron doing this? Why don't they run more offense? If it's the Lakers, you're

complaining that they're not running enough offense. If it's the Warriors, they're complaining that they're running too much offense, It's like it's literally just NonStop complaining. And what they don't realize is like that is by design the way that team was put together. When they were putting the roster together, the Warriors said, we don't want to be the two thousand eight team caps. We don't want Steph to have the most incredible monster statistical season ever but not be

able to guard anybody. And what they wanted was they wanted a team that would muck it up and have tons of length and athleticism and speed and play with a ton of pace, that would wear teams out, physically defend the heck out of the ball, and then we just hope Steph can generate enough offense that will win. And if you would have told me coming into the season, even after the first few weeks of the season, I thought they were a terrible team. There's no there's not

a lot of talent on that roster. You know, Andrew Wiggins was terrible at his previous spot. Kelly Hubrey is nothing but a role player. I'm a big believer in Draymond Green, and I think that the Warriors fan base underrates the heck out of him. However, he's not what he once was. He struggles a lot offensively in ways

that he didn't used to. So the truth of the matter is, if I told you, hey, Warriors fans back when Clay Thompson tours Achilles, so I said you're gonna be twenty one and twenty, they'd be stoked because there's not a lot of talent on the team. The Western Conference is super deep. They were gonna lean so heavily

on Steph that's a win in these circumstances. But instead they're so obsessively focused on how the offense looks, like, oh, STEP's missing a lot of shots and you know step is slumping, and it's like no, no, no. They have consciously made a decision to muck things up by prioritizing talent that can carry them defensively because they believe that will win. And I really do think the winning above their talent level. So what do you think about what

you've seen from it? Were good? Yeah? Like it's funny. As as fans, you want to feel good about our team, right, Like that's the whole point of us being fans When watch a team you want to feel like we're not. We're not only feeling good about this season, but we feel about good about where we're going right. And I feel like a lot of these postgame like press conferences are all kind of for show. They're all media savvy.

But when you hear Steve Kerr say something like, oh, why don't you play Steph More, Oh, we're not really going for wins this year, that's that like really attacks a fan base. And then you add that with I don't think I've seen Wiseman smile on the court once, Like, I don't think i've seen him. I'm not saying he

doesn't enjoy playing basketball. I don't think you get that good without enjoying some Lovean Andrew wigging is maybe a conclusion of that, but like, I don't think I've seen Wiseman like enjoy one minute of his play out there.

But again you combine that with watching you know, LaMelo and his his play, and again they're tweeting LaMelo box scores, which I think is psychotic behavior, but you know, like tuning out LaMelo's box scores, are watching Anthony Edwards dunk on someone and have this joy exuber ends that really even though the Minnesota Timberwolves are nine and forty two or whatever, they are still Edwards gives like a positive view of that. And then they see this team where

it's like, what are we doing? Are we trying to win? Are we developing Wiseman and Pool or what? And I think that's where they really struggle with it. I think about, like, I don't know if you're watching the Lakers in like two thousands seven, two thousand eight, remember that's when I started watching, and they had Andrew Bynum right, and again,

Andrew Biinden wasn't picked second. He was picked I think thirteenth or tenth or something like that, but it was the first round pick with a Kobe who was obviously trying to win. And so you had this mix of like two players trying to develop. And the Lakers became good. And Andrew Bynum played well, but Andrew Bianna played well, and it's like his third year, right, it was like the third or second year. And again the question is are the war is gonna wait for him to play?

And I think this is a whole mix. So like when people are watching not even watching these games, are watching Draymond and now they're trying to be like, hey, why don't you score ten points a game? It's not what Draymond does. You know this, You watched Draymond for the last three years. Who cares how many points he scores that's now exit game. Asking him to do that now is kind of doesn't really make sense to me. So like, I'm more of a I'm a bigger Draymond

guy than a lot of people. I guess now, I still think he impassed a game at a huge level even though he's not scoring. That's kind of what I see from them. And they're a mid level team. I mean, when Steph goes off the floor, I think they're a G League team. Like they just they just can't score. Uber and Wiggins taking midrange jumpers or pull ups. It's just not gonna work. So that's a comparison I see.

I don't know if they have a Pale Gasol trade in them where they just get another great star player, I think that's the move. But yeah, I see a lot of like Andrew Bynum and Wiseman, very similar, very skilled. I think Wiseman has a lot more potential than Andrew, buying him obviously, but just that kind of like young player mixed with a superstar who's who's trying to win,

and it's it's funny to see them. I mean, I feel like a team that just went through a super duper dynasty, would you know, be able to handle one five season a little bit better. But it's it's not, it's not happening the thing. Things can turn around quickly. I mean, look no further than the Lakers, but I mean Draymond is a perfect example of what we're talking about here. Like the book is out on Draymond. When he's on the floor, your team usually is winning, Like

it just it is what it is. And if you look at the Lakers or the Warriors this year, it's like when Draymond's on the floor with Steph, like it just makes stuff just happens. But again, people get so obsessively focused on him missing a layup, or him not wanting to shoot, or him the defense not guarding him, and they're not focused on the bigger vision, which is it's a trade off with Draymond, just like it is

with any other player. Like guess what, there's a little bit of a trade off with Steph, Like he's an average defensive player, like if you put Dennis Shrewder into his role, you would be a better defensive team. You know that the reality is is like for for for their way. So they're so focused on these aesthetics that they that they get like so caught up and bogged down in the uh in the in what they're seeing that they're not paying attention to the result, which is

the whole point of what you're doing. And if you look at if you look at the Warriors, if I told you, like if you look at the Warriors in the standings there below like way below five against good teams, against teams that are five hundred or above, and then

they're taking care of business against bad teams. Now, if I would have told you going into the season like, hey, the Warriors are operating at a big talent disadvantage, but they have Steph, then the most likely outcome was that they would take care of business against bad teams because Steph could lift them over the top. And they're well coached and that they play hard, and then they're probably

gonna be overmatched when they go against the good teams. Like, this season is going exactly how it should go for a player of Steph's caliber and with the amount of talent that's on the roster, and it just I think it's I think it's just funny because like it's like people get so they're just they're they're a lots and you know, I don't know, I don't know what you do. Like people say like, oh, would you trade Wiseman in this uh in this Minnesota pick for for Bradley Beale,

And for the record, of course you do. But the thing is is like, does is Bradley be All going to make them contend for a title? I don't think so. I I think I think he makes them better, but I think right now they're a ten seed because guess what, they're the ten seed, So like they're or not so. So the thing is is like, uh, like if you have Bradley be what are they like are they the Nuggets? Like?

Are they are they the Nuggets? You know? Like Okay, yeah, the next year you get Clay Thompson back and it gets more interesting. But a big part of this is like the league is a lot more talented now than it used to be. And you you know, the if the same roster from the two thousand fifteen Warriors isn't really enough anymore with how much talent there is in the league. It's just I just think I think that, just like any other fan base, they're just being a

little unrealistic. Yeah, And I listened a lot like the Warriors kind of podcasts and stuff, and I think the point that they make, which is the valid one, is that stuff is what thirty three now. So I mean, like, and he's in his prime, So I think you owe it to a guy like that too, kind of you know, trying to make his prime work as while I mean he's what created he's increased the value of that franchise by the billions, right, and to try to develop I mean,

it's pretty clear to see. I don't think I mean I think Wiseman is gonna be really good. I think it's pretty clear to see that he's not going to be ready by the time that Steph needs him to be ready to be the kind of playoff performers. So I mean, I feel like they're going to try to

do both. In my opinion, what they're gonna do is keep this in episoda pick if it conveys this year and now we'll see man, then I'll try to keep Wiseman develop and try to do both at the same time, which to me, if you're doing both at the same time, you're doing neither kind of thing. So like that's so that's that I've seen the Lakers try to do it. I remember at the end of Kobe's prime, but it

kind of got derailed because he had the Achilles. But I remember they signed like Jeremy Lynn and Carlos Boozer and you know, players that just weren't going to help you win. But they also had high draft picks or like Julius Random and Jordan Clarkston. So they were kind of doing both, which again doing neither and uh say, and that can lead you to a ten year playoff drought like the Lakers had, however long it was. So

that's the trouble you get to. And I think that's where they're kind of seeing the not light at the end of the tunnel, but the dark at the end of the tunnel, you know what I mean, where like it's been light for so long and now you're kind of seeing the dark dark into it. But again, Steph is still at m v P level. I think the Way's gonna try to do what they can I just I wonder My whole thing I question is like if Clay was playing right now and there were still five hundred,

does that change how we view this team? Like if let's just say Clay was healthy this year, Like, does that change how we breathe in front office? Does a change? How would be Steve Kerrent? Like, I feel like the Clay has given them a crutch And I'm just wondering, like if Clay were to have played this year and

they were still bad. Because I love Clay Thompson, I just don't know how much he solves their issues this like just on this roster specifically, Um, he's again he's another insane shooter and healthy Clay is a top twenty player in the league. I'm just wondering how much he saws, Like how many more wins does that add to this construction of the roster. And I think it's given them a crutch that they may use going forward another year,

which is which is be interesting. If someone was healthy, I think they'd be you know, in the mix in the West for sure, but this idea that they would be you know, on the same tier as like the Lakers and the Nets. I entirely disagree. I think I've been on the record about this for a long time and Warrior's Twitter gets super upset with me every time

that we we talked about this. But like, I think that a big part of what made the two thousand fifteen two sixteen Warriors successful was the fact that um was the fact that uh uh Steph Curry caught the league off guard, you know, with his style. The defenses weren't ready to prepare to deal with it. That's not

to say that he wasn't good. It just means that like there was kind of like a market inefficiency that they were going after their kind of like what the Rockets were doing in two thousand eighteen, you know, And what I think the reality of the situation was, like Kevin Durant was so so so good that he put them over the top continuing in the future after that. But without Kevin Durant, you know, the Steph Clagge Raymond core was not a top tier core in the league anymore.

They were a second tier core in the league at that point. That's just my opinion of a lot of people would disagree with me on that, But the reality is is, like you know, I I do think that if Clay was healthy and more or less the same guy he was before the A c. L tear, that they would have been, you know, right there with Denver and Utah and Phoenix, you know, a team that we thought was really good but that wasn't quite you know on that on the level they need uh to really

to really feel like they're dangerous. Um. As far as the uh, the stuff you brought up at the beginning, I think it's important to touch on this really quick, Like, like, even though I'm trying to get Warriors Twitter to chill out in terms of like understanding the the optics of what what their offense is doing. There there's some legit criticism like, yeah, I agree that to reading Wiseman like with training wheels doesn't make a ton of sense. Like

your offense sucks. Why not lean a little bit more on him, don't discourage him from shooting threes, let him be more aggressive, play him a lot, let him figure it out, because the truth is is like you're gonna be you know, what was the range of outcomes this year ten seed to you know, maybe seven seeds, So you were gonna be in the play and no matter what And if you're banking on the fact that Steph can carry you in the plan, which I would too, like I wouldn't pick against step in the plan, then

why not take your lumps during the regular season and try to lean a little bit more on Wiseman and try to get him to develop if that's your plan. But that's that, that's the that's the crux of the problem. Though it's like you you can't, you don't want to be the Boston Celtics and and be hoarding on the assets. You know that that pick for from the Minnesota Timberwolves is not going to help you win a basketball game right now. It's gonna help Steff win a basketball game

when he's thirty four. That's the way you have to think about it. And that pick is probably not going to be old enough and experienced enough to be able to impact winning all that much until he's until Steff is thirty six, you know what I mean. And so I I don't you know, I'm I'm a big sell the farm guy, and I know I get a bad rap for that because it's something that Lebron has done at all of his destinations. But I would remind you that Lebron is found a way to win by doing that.

And you know, one of the big things the last thing will say about this is, you know, people talk about how oh Lebron you know, screwed over cap sheets and everything everywhere he went blah blah blah. That's not the way the league works anymore. JR. Smith isn't getting a four year deal anymore. Uh, the Stars are getting four year deals. Um, But like the Danny Greens, the you know, the th h T s Alex Caruso, they're

all signing two year deals. So there's no there's no such thing as this idea that you can sell out for the future excuse me, for the moment and not still have the opportunity to rebuild because you do and you have the mid level exception every single year, and you have the bi annual exception every other year, and you can you know, work the trade market and things along those lines. It is a lot easier now to

retool on the fly than it used to be. So this idea that like if you sold Wiseman and this Minnesota pick for Bradley Beale, that you wouldn't have any future stupid to me, because if you have a good destination of culture stars. You're gonna get the Montrez Harralds, You're gonna get the surge of Bakas, You're gonna get these like, really really talented players who are willing to

take a discount to compete for a title. And and I think I think that will honestly be something that's gonna be really interesting to watch with the Lakers in the next five years. Yeah right, I mean, you could have all the picks in the world, and I like I saw like a good I think when the A d trade happened, I forgot who Royal, but someone said, like you can get ten straight number one picks and not pick a player as good as Anthony Davis, Like

you could. You could, just you could. That could happen. So like I was for like a remember the Lakers were rebuilding with Ingram Clarkson and Alonzo and all those guys, and I was really for that. I was down. I think fans will be with it if you tell them

straight up what's happening. Right, I think there's a miscommunication to mean the front office in Golden State, the coaching staff, and with the fans because they're being sold this one platter and they're eating a different platter, and it's like, I don't know what's really going on here game to games, so I think there's not like a clear direction to it. And with like Lebron destroying cap sheets, I mean, I think it's pretty clear that like if he trusts organ

and organization, he'll sign. I mean, he signed with the Lakers four years. I think he gave the Caps one year deals and I mean we saw how Dan Gilbert operates that I think he was pretty right in in terms of doing that. So and again it's all worth to ask any any team if they would take Lebron destroy the Cap for five years to go to be a for sure Finals appearance. I mean, I think teams

would do that. That's what this is all about. And like we watch with Danny Ainge, we make the jokes about he almost traded for someone, he almost did this deal. And now, look they're a middling playoff team. They're locked into two guys who are great, Tatum and Brown are awesome, but they have Kemba on a huge long deal now, so NBA moves fast man. They owned all the next the Nets picks for decades and decades and the Nets

became a title contender before them. I mean, it's just the NBA moves quick So in my opinion, you have to um try to do what you can for the superstar you have because teams moved so quickly. Like it's Lakers couldn't sit down and sit around and wait for a Lonzo and Ingraham to get better so that Lebron could win a title, like it just wasn't happening. Once Lebron signed here, it was clear. So I think that's how a team team building is going right now in

the league. You have to you have to catch up for sure. And and again like the it's you're never gonna be as messed up with the cap as you were because of the shorter deals role players. Uh Like, you're right, Like, I mean, the truth is is where Lebron kind of screwed over the Calves And it wasn't really Lebron, it was just the nature of the league at that point. Is Jerry Smith had a bunch of huge shots in the NBA Finals and he needed to

get paid. Tristan Thompson was an absolute dominant offensive, rebound and defensive force for the for the Calves, so he had to get paid and at that time, the role players got four year deals. That's just the way it worked. That's not going to be the way it is anymore. Real quickly, I promise it's the last thing. Uh. I just thought of it because you brought up Kemba. So Dennis Shrewder is up for an extension this summer. Mm hmm. To me, the comp that comes to mind that makes

it scary from a cat perspective is Drew Holiday. So what's Drew Holiday. Drew Holiday is one of the best defensive guards in the league, and he's an okay offensive guard. Like if you were to rank him as an offensive player, he's the middle of the pack to below middle of the pack offensive guard. Like there are just so many offensive point guards in the league right now that he's not even close offensively to a lot of those guys.

What if how would you describe Dennis Shrewder. He's one of the best defensive guards in the league who's an offensive weapon. Not on the same level as the best offensive guards in the league, but he's an offensive weapon. I don't think Dennis Shooter is as good as Drew, but I think he's close. And uh, Drew Holidays making thirty million a year, so I don't think the Lakers are gonna pay him thirty But the truth is is like I could see Dennis his agent, looking at at

the situation and going like, I'm an all defensive player. Um, I was Lebron's co star for half the season and we were winning most of our games, and uh, I should be making twenties six million a year. Let's say Dennis asks for that. Are you of the persuasion that it's a good idea to tie up your cap with Dennis Shooter for million a year for four years. It's tough because basically I don't even think the Lakers can offer him that much right now. I think his extension

has a has a max they can go at. I think it's like twenty two or something like that a year that he can offer him, And I'm kind of fine, makes sense. I think it does. I think you just have to take into the Lakers content x to where they have Lebron and a d locked up, which means their cap is they have no cap room anyway. They're not gonna have money in terms of free agency to offer anyone. So if you lose DNS, it can, but I mean the Lakers haven't really been paying the text

for the last few years. Um anyway, So like like you can't you can't lose Dnis shooter, and then you don't get that money to spend, you know what I mean, Like because of how the NBA salary cap works. So and they have his bird rights, which means he's a restricted free agent, so that means they can match any offer. You know, I believe that that can come at him. So, UM, I think that that amount of money is fine. I

think he's been really good. He's also twenty seven. It's not like you're locking up a thirty year old, you know what I mean, Like you're you're locking up a guy who's pretty young, who's gonna get better. You said he's closer Drew Holiday. I mean, I feel like that would be a pretty hot take if you put that out there at I don't know, I think so I feel like I think what they do, No, I I understand.

I just like Drew Holiday is a guy who's made multiple All Star teams, who's um, who's people say he's the best defendant the league. Now I'm with you in terms of production, Like I think they are I think yeah, even then, yeah, he probably could. But I mean Drew Holidays looked at as a savior in Milwaukee. I mean, you just I mean they traded three first round picks for Drew Holiday. I mean that's I don't think anyone's putting up three first round picks for Dennis Shrewder. I'm

just looking at him how he's viewed around the league. Um, yeah, I think twenty two is fine. I mean Kuzma makes sixteen, right or or like thirteen or something a year, so it's it's not like a huge I mean it's kind of huge gap. But I don't think you find guards like this anywhere, right, Like, you don't. It's hard to find scoring guards like this that are fit next to Lebron. And he's so dynamic and when he brings and you're basically locking him up for the Lebron in eight d years,

which I think is fine. Um, you're not gonna have room to to save on then if you want to move them later, you can, so I think it's a fine deal. Um, and he can't. I don't even think the Lakers can offer a thirty million years. So it's gonna be somewhere around the four year eighty ninety rain trick them. I'm fine with how about you are? Are you okay with that? I mean, as long as Jeanne's willing to pay the tax, I think it makes sense.

But I mean it just gets difficult. I mean. And then the other thing too is, uh, just he relies so much on his athleticism that gets tricky from the standpoint of um, just like how well he'll project in the later years of his deal. Now, the good news is that he hasn't dealt with too many injuries in his career, and he's only twenty seven years old, So

there that makes it a little less sketchy. Uh. The other thing too, that will end up helping the Lakers potentially is did you see that the TV deal that came out for the NFL yesterday? M hmm, something crazy like over ten billion a year just from TV from the NFL. Uh. The reason why I thought that was interesting was, you know, there was there was all this talk about like an NBA TV rights bubble. Clay Travis

was one of the guys who was leading it. And he's like a blowhard who's constantly just you know, he's got other motives but his whole point was, you know, the no one's watching these NBA games, so, uh, this TV rights bubble is gonna burst, and then NBA salary caps are gonna fall way down and it's going to screw the league up. Was his whole thing. And TV ratings have been a problem for the NFL as well.

And what was really interesting to me about it was this right steal which the rights deal encapsulated more than TV. It also encamps encapsulated streaming and some social media stuff and like highlight rights and stuff along those lines. What I always said was more eyes are on the NBA than ever. It's not being watched on TV, was but more eyes are on it than ever because people are

consuming the NBA in all these different ways. And so what it will be fascinating is is how over time, how they value that when they're negotiating the next rights deal which kicks in into on UM, and how that could potentially, you know, massively increase the salary cap. Uh. But it would be interesting to see because that was always the concern was whether or not TV companies would ever pay this much again, and we found out yesterday that yes they will. They'll just they're just playing on

distributing it differently. Yeah, for sure. And I think you said that a lot of more eyes are on it. I think that's a good and bad thing. Some of the things. The way that the NBA has covered is a lot more um transactional in terms of like who's going where, and that's where a lot of the views kind of come from, and those don't really translate to um watching views. I think there's a shift that's coming um where like more people are kind of into the

actual basketball and I think that's a good thing. I think that will lead to along It won't be a lot of short term kind of growth, but in the long term it will help. And it is a way longer conversation we can have on that. But but I just yeah, just just in terms of like seeing the NFL, Like when I watch I don't watch football, but when I do, when it's on or whatever, they pretty much

stick to the game. Like there's not a lot of If you watch the NBA broadcasts, and man, those guys are doing like their own podcasts within a game going on. You couldn't even tell there's a game in front of them. And I think that kind of there's the product and hurt some money. Lakers have a huge TV deal just they have the biggest one in the league by I

think by far Nicks might be second. But just looking at it from that perspective, you want the league to kind of grow and that's kind of how it goes, and the NFL has done a really good job at the NFL has a lot of bigger issues. I see that. People say all the time. They really they're not really pro player as the NBA is, but they know how to market their sport and it and like you said, with that TV deal, it kind of shows yeah, And

I agree with you. It will be real quick about this because we're crusting over an hour and a half, yere. But the the people talk about the NBA, and I agree with you, Like I think officiating is a huge problem. I think the way the league is covered in a lot of ways is a huge problem. It's it's way

too melodramatic, I agree. But the overall product is still good and people still like watching it in various formats, and I think that's the important detail because if you look at the NFL, like the NFL, you know gets way more viewers than the NBA does, and it's m think you cut out here, m all right, can you hear me? Uh? It real quickly and then we'll get out of here. But like the in the NFL, like

guess what they have to deal with? They have uh you know, if you're you come to watch quarterbacks and receivers and passing and catching. If you have a bad offensive line, the quarterback can't make a damn throw. And so like a lot of times, like games will be really boring to watch because of line play and the fact that the line they can't figure out line play. They do deal with similar officiating problems with wide receivers and defensive backs and when should we call holding? When

should we call pass interference? How? How? How do we appreciate these sorts of things there are So the NFL has similar watchability problems that that happened over time and and and I my thing is is that the league per severes in the form that people love football and uh and they always will love football. And basketball is the same way. And right now in the NFL there are more good balls than ever and and the same

goes for the for basketball. I'm just I'm naturally an optimist, so I'm not as concerned, but I do think it's okay to talk about the problems that the league has had. Anyway, I'm gonna I'm gonna get you out of here because we can go for a while. But this was really good, man, and I thought we got to a lot of really really good stuff. And uh, I appreciate your time this morning, and I appreciate all of you guys who have tuned in, tuned in and listened. Um. I will have the podcast

version out shortly. I have some work stuff I have to do first, but um, I appreciate all you guys, and we'll see you next week for sure. I have a one