Episode 46: Lakers/Magic Postgame Show With Omar Siddiqi @Osid24

just gonna be like that. Fortunately. You know, I watched I was a big a broad fan when he was in Cleveland, and uh he played in the Eastern Conference, so literally like two out of every three, if not three out of every four games was like this. Literally, it's awful every year. And now in the West, for the most part, they have enough decent competition to kind of keep them focused. It makes it a lot more

fun to watch him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, me too. I I remember watching those games in Cleveland and they were just a slugfest. Oh yeah, there was. There was a funny stretch at two thou eighteen. Uh. You know, it's funny. I make a lot of comparisons between the two thousand eighteen uh Calves in the two thousand one Warriors and It's funny to me because like that two eighteen Calves team, they were just it was like they were so like old and veteran, and they were playing all these bad teams.

They were losing often to bad teams. Whereas like with Steph, it's like he's absolutely had to be amazing every night because they've just been playing these unbelievably good teams and it's been funny kind of see the difference between the two. But I mean that Orlando team, they're deliberately just like, um, what's his name, the little guard I'm linking Brandy co Anthony. Yeah, co Anthony is okay, I guess, but he they're basically just letting him do stuff to see if he can play.

That's basically what's happening. Right. They play hard though, man, they play really hard. Uh. It feels like every night and the Lakers went up big, they went up like sixteen, but when they put it, when they took the foot off the gas, but like Orlando really took advantage. Um, So because we can kind of get into the game if you want to let a couple more people I guess get in here. Um, so, what are you guys like first, thoughts on the game. I guess just as

a whole. Um, I guess I can start with with you, Omar, would you what do you think of the game today? Yeah, I mean, like I said earlier, it was a total uh. Like we saw we saw them come out right after that disappointing loss with the maps. They came out, the Lakers came out, played really well. Uh. Then we kind of let the foot off our gap, foot off the gas. Uh. And you know, one thing is that we couldn't it

seemed like we couldn't hold onto the ball. We went from the first quarter we had one turnover and then the second quarter we had seven uh. And that led to I think like thirteen and fourteen easy transition buckets for Orlando, and it really got them in a rhythm, like like they had a nice looking jumper like moving

forward in the game. Um. And then you know talent kind of you know talent and then trying hard, putting an effort, and then along with you know, in the fourth quarter, putting in Tread's that was a nice boost of energy between treads and t ht uh and going a bit smaller right with kind of went away from the A D two A d lineups and went smaller and just switched everything instead of getting burned and basic pick and roll action. Um, we kinda we saw that and then and then we kind of just took over

the game. Dennis kind of just went berserk with that and just hit like a bunch of nice you know, skip passes and lands and jumpers. So what was really interesting to me about that closing stretch there is they basically just ran drum and Schroeder pick and roll from the top of the key and had Anthony Davis go

to the opposite corner. And it's it's funny because I was talking with somebody from Warriors Twitter during the game about spacing that that this particular team has, and he was talking about how he thought the Lakers needed shooting instead of drum and I actually disagree with him because in a weird way, you know, McLamore gives them flexibility

with their lineups to go with more shooting. And you watch, even without Lebron they use as long as you use Drummond as the screener against teams that aren't switching, they can literally space the floor. With the best teams in the league, you just put KCP in one corner and you put Anthony Davis in the other corner than whatever

third guard or or forward in the other corner. And like when Lebron comes back, they're gonna have lineups with Lebron at the four, eight at the five, Kuzma k C P Schroeder or Kuzma KCP Ben mackelmore, or they can go bigger and put you know, Drumming at the five and a half, him be the screener, Marcus all at the five and b a screener. This is a team that suddenly can make a lot of space. And I think if you watch down the stretch of that game,

Shrouder was getting wherever he wanted. Now, part of that is because Orlando is not a great defensive team, but at the end of the day, like that's what you You want to make the game easy for your players, and you make the game easy by creating space, and you create space by having really skilled players on the court and just throwing Anthony Davis into the mix there totally changed, like the geometry of the court. Yeah, and it was nice to see a d get his mid

range jumpers going right. He had a few early um he finished like eight for fourteen, I think something like that. So, and he seemed to be moving really well. He went off the minis minutes restriction as well tonight, so like it was good to see him moving, hitting jumpers and kind of yeah, finally hit the three off that play that Jason you were talking about, right, Shooter drove off a drum and pick and roll and I then kicked it out to a d in the corner for three

to kind of, um, I iced the game. And I'm not worried about Anthony Davis. I mean, there's a lot of things to worry about about this team. I feel like Anthony Davis is not one of them. Like I think he'll be he'll be there when it's already. But I want to ask you guys this because it was kind of strange. Uh, Like it's when I'm sixteen, and they had all these defensive mistakes, right and Orlando was running like a lot of four or five action and they were still trapping that I think with a D

and Drummond and uh. And then at the end, I think they just started switching it, especially when Traz came in and then Drummon kind of did the same thing. Did you see that as well. Drummond and a D still kind of trapping a lot of actions when I feel like those two should be just switching the whole point of like A D squared. I feel like, like, why are they trapping four or five ball handlers? That was kind of confusing to me. Did you guys see

that during the name as well? Go ahead? Uh? Yeah, I saw that as well, and I was kind of confused. I don't know, maybe um, if there was some you know, miscommunication or misunderstanding of the game plan, but um, I'm glad we went away from it pretty quickly. But uh, it definitely led to like easy dunks and easy lanness for Window Card Jr. Whatnot. Um, but yeah, I know, I mean, I don't know, I saw some of that. Was just kind of confused, But why not just switch it?

Especially when you have Drummond. It was pretty nimble, and that's not like you know, there's like great superstars with the magic just kind of you know, whatever team right now. But um, yeah, no, that that's that's it. I refused to believe that that was actually schemed in there, So I would I would I would go with that was just sloppy US against a bad team. You know, it's it's it's important for us to, you know, acknowledge the reality of the fact that they haven't been defending super

great as of late. I thought Dallas kind of picked him apart the last couple of games. And and I do think a lot of it was focused, Like a lot of it was when they would trapped Luca and there would have and they have that roll or going down the paint, whether it's Dwight Powell or Christops wherever it was, they would uh like kind of be stuck in no man's land on the back side and either leave the opposite corner three open or they leave the roller right down the lane for a dunk. They were

just really sloppy. They weren't rotating on the back end, and the worst thing to do when you desperately need to get your defense back on track. Because by the way, Frank came out and said that Franks like, our defense doesn't look like it's what it's supposed to right now, and uh, coming into tonight, it's like, you're what you really need is a good team um that the Lakers

can wake up against. But unfortunately it just kind of compounds the problem when you're playing against a bunch of fringe level NBA players, UH that are just trying really hard and and uh and the other teams not even necessarily trying to win, at least from the perspective of the front office, And it just leads to an extension of those sloppy habits. And I thought there was a

lot of that. There was a lot of giving up driving lane, second effort, plays things along those lines that they go right, And it kind of feels like when you play a team like the Orlando Magic, you're not really playing them, you're playing yourselves right pretty much, because

you're pretty much just working on what you wanted. We think of like the Lakers without Lebron and a D and playing all hard with this defense, and you think you just plug a D back and all that effort will be the same, But it's not really how like basketball works, right, Like, now they know they have Anthony Davis back, they can kind of still kind of relax to the game. You saw the intensity was like, especially

when they went up big, it really relaxed there. Um after they went up I think sixteen Orlanto went on a on a huge run and then I think they outscore the Lakers, like what forty to twenty two in the second quarter, and like Orlando just doesn't have the talent that should be able to do that. That was a lot of just lack of days ago effort, really lazy turnovers right, just throwing the ball away. I think they have four teen points off seven seven turnovers, which

I mean, you can't really do much more than that. Um. Yeah, So like I was, I was thinking what you guys think was No, Gasol didn't play tonight, right, so obviously they're going through the It's like big man kind of rotation, I guess, just rotating big um in and out. Do you see that like next game, maybe Gasol plays or do you think like Tred's kind of will stay Because I thought Tres played really well tonight. I think this is a good game for him. He kind of kept

he kind of kept us in. I think when the lead, when the Orlando started taking a lead, do you think like next game it will be uh probably Gasol back in there. How do you think Vogo kind of plays this go forward you go ahead over more so, I think Tred's getting a break a game break was pretty good for him. Uh, super super energetic and and Uh, like last few games, he seemed a little out of it. I don't know what it was like. I didn't see the same amount of bounce from him like last few games.

So him sitting out that last House game definitely helped us out today because he was really instrumental in that fourth quarter. Um, I don't know what we see in the next So this next matchup is pretty interesting because it's the Wizards, and yeah, they're really they're really hot right now. I think they've won like their last like nine or ten game. UM, and I know you know, you know Westbrook and feel that they love attacking the rim. So it will be interesting to see how Vogo game

plans against that team. And um, I don't know who or which center that he's gonna go with, but it will be interesting interesting to see you for sure. At times I was thinking that gasol may have been needed tonight, But I'm glad. Uh. You know, has uh played his played his game today? Well, I mean we can safely assume that there's certainly a chance that he'll play Marcus

or Mark after what he said. What was it, I think it was the last game might have been two games ago, when when they when he benched one tracks and basically said like, hey, we're gonna keep Mark fresh, you know, And and I don't know, I don't know if that's something they're going to do consistently. I don't know if they did that one time and hated it, but it's certainly something that you could see them doing.

I thought it was interesting tonight that he kind of went back to Drummond, but he waited until pretty late in the game, and it's because it's because try As was playing so well. And it kind of reminds me a little bit last year, where it was like we

got this rotation. You know, Javanil eventually fell out of it entirely, but there at the end, you know, you still had Mark Keith, you still had White, you still had a d and Lebron and Kuzma all playing four or five minutes and uh and basically they just rolled with who had it going and you know, we're gonna I'm sure we'll touch a little bit more on Kuzma later, but like it it's something that Kuzma talked about after that last game, Like it's just kind of an understanding

in the locker room that you know, we're super deep and they are going to be games where we don't get to play and it's just kind of part of the deal. And we all got to be professionals about it. There's no soul in the world that's going to have that happen to them and not be you know, pussy about it. But the but at the end of the day, like it's it's it's part of it's part of the

problem that comes with their depth. And uh, you know, I I thought, you know, I think we all agree that Drummond was not the best option tonight, but I do think it was interesting that that Frank went to him at the end, And I think part of the reason for that is just like you've got to you've got to kind of keep him confident and stuff, because you're not gonna you're not gonna mail it in on Drumming and give up before Lebron comes back, right like,

you're gonna at least see what that looks like. And so from that standpoint, like you just keep going to Drumming, you live through the mistakes, and then you see if it works with Lebron, and if it doesn't, then you start considering other you know, rotation options. But I think they just have all these options and they just gotta figure out how to use them. Yeah, and I said last game that like you should kind of treat Drumming

as Jabail from last year. I said that with our part with Maples, Um people saw him as a Dwight replacement, but I see him more as the the Jabail replacement at the beginning of the game. See if he has it um. He's a little bit more mobile than Javel. He's just not the shop bucker that at Jabel is obviously, But again, like tonight, I saw the timeline kind of

being mad at him. He was six or eight tonight, Like those two mrs just feel really loud though right like it feels like he had it feels like he had a worse game than he did, but he was actually he was for eight to night eleven rebounds, Like he just produces um even when he's not playing well. He at thirteen points, so um, yeah, I would see him as like the Javail guy, and then Mark would be the Dwight. I know he's not the same type of player, but I mean just that defensive player of

the year before. Um guy just really smart on the defensive end and then can help you on offense as well. So that's how I would like, you know, people to see Drummond. But you know, you see him starting and getting the start of minutes, it's very easy to kind of just assume that he's locked in to the rotation um going into the playoffs. So I think and I think that would be good. And then Kuzma, you kind of touched on him. I think he was the game

leading plus minus. Yeah, he was, he was, he was the second he was Yeah, Shooter was leading with a plus twenty three, and that kind of matches the tape to me. Both of them played really well. Kuzma four threes, I mean that's four or six from three, had a he had a great night. But I thought he was really good on defense too. He was moving to speed, especially on switches. Um. But but we got a lot

from him and the backcourt. Uh, shooters kind of taking it on himself right, Like I think even with eight back um, would you guys agree, Like you can see he's still a resting I think that was the best thing for me that I see from him. Do you guys see that as well as shooters staying aggressive even with a D back, it feels like he still feels like he has the mantle to the offense, like he's still kind of taken over. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely liked

seeing that that. He was just aggressive and and he kind of kind of like the way he was playing was kind of evident of the way he played while a D and Brown were out, and I like that he's sticking to that, especially when especially since a D is still getting his legs underneath him clearly, like his jumper is still going to be, you know, here and there, and he's still like getting in game shape. And I know, I liked ad is getting his jumper back tonight. That

was I liked seeing that. But I really like that, you know, Dennis is consistently applying pressure to there in and it's just going to continue to open up so many opportunities for all all our guys, even though we weren't hitting our shots tonight. Um, you know, it's still gonna be super helpful for for us, and and Dennis doing that is really helpful. Denni is flat out awesome,

and he's been awesome for a while now. He really struggled at the beginning of the stretch and like, but like he continues to just uh really kind of figure out how to generate quality offense with this specific group of supporting players, and obviously throwing a D into the mix just adds all this this additional space for him to work with UM. But like, you know, it's funny.

I was listening to a podcast today. Actually it was Kevin O'Connor and Chris Vernon, and he was talking about Philly and how they had just dropped two Um, they had just dropped two games to Milwaukee without Ben Simmons, but he was like, I'm actually more confident in the UH. I'm actually more confident in the sixers because of how well Mattista Ibel was playing, and there was one other guy I can't remember, but he's basically saying like, I'm

just really happy with how well they're playing. So even though they lost, I'm actually more confident. That's kind of the way I feel about UH, Dennis in particular, UM and KCP and I kind of talked about this a little bit with with Naples and Raj in our last spot. But like, even though they dropped those two games against Dallas and here's another sloppy win and this gaming in

Washington is gonna be a tough one. Like, I'm super confident in the team moving forward because Dennis is just a better player now than he was to start the season. He's really really confident in this offensive system. He's still an incredible defensive player. And KCP is now every bit as good as he was in the bubble, and which was you know, just what the third best player on

the team with how well they were playing. So like I I think like regardless of results here, and trust me, I actually think results do matter now as now that they're trying to fight for that five seed, which will give them a significantly easier path through the playoffs. But having Dennis playing so well, having KCP playing so well has to just give you a ton of confidence watching

this team. Yeah, and I thought we really missed KCP in the last game, Like you could see the gap between him and like benckmar right on the defensive end especially, I thought that was really evident tonight. And then just his shot making. Um, I think he went one for four from three tonight if I'm right, But he played really well. He had a good game. And again his defense, like the way he can chase off guards, and he's much better off the ball as well. The Ban Macklamore,

who I think also struggled. Yeah, he was two for five from three. So but yeah, I thought I thought they really missed his offense. I think we scored like thirty points in the second half against Dallas or something like that. It was something terrible. Um yeah, yeah, yeah, and then's just I mean, a team with Anthony Davis Dennistrutor should not be scoring thirty points in the second half, even though I know Ad was on a ministerstriction and

all that. But yeah, it was nice to see the team get to get back on the winning ways and they play a really hot team, the Wizards, who I don't know if do the Wizards play again until we play them, I'm not I'm not sure, but yeah, they're playing. Yeah, they're gonna be an interesting challenging there. They've actually defended a little bit better as of late. Um, so they're they're not going to be anything like what we've seen early in the season, and they're going to present a

legitimate challenge for the Laker defense. But at the same time, like I'm I'll be Omar mentioned this earlier, I'm interested to see how they attack them defensively, because they're the type they're a type of team um that we could potentially see later on in the playoffs just with this like really good ball, dominant guard who um, Who's gonna use a lot of screen and roll two of them actually and there they may end up having to do

some trapping and recovering. And I'm just interested to see if they're up for that challenge, which as of late, they haven't really been that focused, so it'll be a good challenge for him. So I just I just checked the score. They just lost the spursion over time. There was a hundred. They I saw something they were like in their last it was the last decent chunky games. Remember what the exact chunk was when you felt when

you filter out garbage time. They were like six in the league or something like that, which is crazy, but U And one part of that too is like Russ. Russ always does like offseason junk with his knees and always comes into the year just like completely cooked and then just peeks at this time. I mean, he did it last year before I got hurt, and now he's you know, every bit as good as usually is. It that's you know, a loose cannon, but he still has

the capability of being really good. Um. What did you guys think of the Lebron announcement from Frank Vogel that he's still out indefinitely. Yeah, I mean I guess I was kind of expected. I mean, like, I think Welsh came out and said he'd be ready by like next week. I think it's someone said but uh yeah. I mean I think Vogel is going to try to keep it,

you know, as low expectation as possible. I think that's his job as a coach, is trying to not to try not to put some timetable on Lebron, but hopefully can come back next week. I mean, Lebron posted like a video of himself I think doing a suicide or running back and forth or something like. So I think he's kind of like he's you could see him itching to play. I think there was also a video of like him shooting around without the ball or something like that,

pretending to like shoot around. So, um, yeah, I think that's Vogo's kind of job there is to make it kind of low expectation. Let let Lebron kind of come out or let the medical staff say when when he'll be ready, but hopefully he'll be here soon. It's super strange to me that we'll go ahead, go ahead. No, I was just gonna, I was just gonna what you're

saying about that. And and also to add to that, Um, Vogel is super transparent with this, you know, with his players and this staff, and UM, you know, I appreciate that Vogel also steps up, you know, for his players, and he's not applying pressure to you know, Lebron or a Dye, whoever's out and injured whatnot. Um could come back sooner than later. So that's that's all I was gonna say, so, you know, but it's interesting to me that like, uh, this whole process for him coming back

from this ankle has been weirdly not transparent. Um. Lebron is usually very showy and very um you know, uh like forthcoming with his workouts and all that kind of stuff, and like he's not even posting as many workout videos and stuff. And I I haven't seen any video of him doing anything with the basketball. I've heard reports of him doing like shooting, and I've seen the video of him jogging up and down the floor, but it is like weirdly kept close to the chest, and I don't

I don't know what's going on with that. I don't know if that's for theatrical purposes or if that means that he's a little bit further behind. And we all thought I saw people micro analyzing the jogging thing. I didn't think. I didn't think that was released to be the jogging. I thought it was like because there was like a prayer going on in the background. I thought it was like kind of all of the theatrical stuff.

But it's also a lot of trainers use jogging as a warm up because it really gets your calves and your achilles loose, because it's like a little bit more intense than running. It's less on your heels and more on your toes. UM. But yeah, I tend to think that if if we've heard from somebody that he's gonna come back during um these next you know, three or

four games, that that's probably what we'll see. My thing, too, is if you look at the schedule, it's relatively easy in this next three or four games and the game the games are there's no back to backs, at least, I don't think in the next three. Um. So from that standpoint, like that kind of seems like a perfect time to do it. But at the end of the day, um, you know, I think, like as it was during this

whole stretch, will come down to the standings. It's very, very important if the Lakers get the five seed in my opinion, because the five seed is what gives them the easiest path to the finals to go through that injured Denver team and then to go through either Phoenix or Utah, and then to go through the Clippers in the Western Conference finals. So my guess is, you know,

Dallas has a game tonight in Sacramento. If if Dallas drops a game the Sacramento tonight, um, you know, there's a decent chance that Lebron might be even taking an extra game or two because then at that point you're two and a half games up and it just gets a little bit more comfortable with the seating, right and and when he when he comes back, Like, did you guys watch that. I don't know if you guys heard the Boars the kind of interview on the Ringer podcast,

have you heard that? I know this hasn't really do with the game. I heard it was really good that I haven't I heard. It was really good at playing. I'm listening to it, I just haven't heard it yet. It was good. But like my favorite part was bores House saying like it was easier to guard Lebron then, which is Miami eat Lebron, you know, like in peak Lebron and his peak physical form than today, which is

Lebron at what thirty five years old? So I thought that was kind of funny and it kind of shows again like what the Lakers are missing right this This whole team is still built around Lebron James. Like I know, Anthony Davis is a huge part of it, but still the whole identity is still built around Lebron and his shock creation ability, and it's really easy to try kind

of lose that. I think a shoutout pick up Whop on Twitter said, um that Lebron's already missed more games this year than you did in with the growing which is because it feels like it hasn't been that because I remember that season at such a health scope, especially after Christmas Day. I just remember Lebron injury and then all of a sudden it passed forward to like the free agency so that that season kind of blurred out.

But yeah, he's already missed more games than that, which is which again I think is why they're going to be really careful with this with this high ankle's brain and and uh and I think as long as Dallas still stays a game behind, I think they'll still take it slow. That's why that loss was so huge the other day. But yeah, we'll see if Dallas. Dallas has been playing up and down as well, right, I mean, they beat the Lakers twice, but they haven't been They

have some bad losses recently. Yeah, exactly, so you can see how that can, I guess, persuade them to continue to keep kind of Lebron in a in a rest mode here going forward. You know, it's interesting with with what you were saying about Lebron, we we get so caught up because we've been watching this team for so long, this version of the team with Dennis Shruder being the primary ball handler, that we forget that, like this entire roster design was predicated on Lebron James setting up dudes

for shots. And you know, it's the one thing that gives me a little bit of peace of mind as it pertains to his athleticism, Like if you go watch Lebron in the bubble, he was absolute peeking, Like if you watch him against Denver creating shots, like he's just a step ahead everybody and and peaking athletically, And obviously

we prefer that. But he's he's smart enough, and he's big enough, and he's strong enough that like he can still kind of ease his way into things and almost like a the backdel point guard type of role where he can put his back to the basket and use a lot of screens to just try to get the defense to commit one way or the other and just

create open shots first teammates that way. So I think it will actually be a pretty easy transition getting back in and like you said, like I don't think I think people are going to be kind of jarred by how how much how much the shot quality for the entire team improves when they go back to the way they were originally structured and to play right and then like I just want to see him get at least seeding game and like I think we got what eight

seeding games right before before the playoffs started. Um, I just want him to get back for at least eight games, which would give at least I think tonight was their thirteenth game, but left, if I'm remembering correctly, I think they have. I think I think I think it's eleven after tonight, so I think it is. I think I think I heard that in the broadcast. Okay, eleven games, so I guess three more games. I guess he can

take off. For me, I would like him to get at least the amount he got for the seeding games where he was able to ramp up. And remember how terrible the Lakers looked during that time and everyone was saying, oh, man Ken, Lebron turn it back on during the playoffs, and then he obviously did, so that's that's where I would like to see him get back. I'm not really too worried, um. I think the seating will take care

of itself. They should win enough now that Anthony Davis is off the minutes restriction, and you can see him get like more and more rhythm as the game goes on. Right, every game goes on, it felt like his defensive kind of communication and all that with his teammates really picked up. But the one with Drummond will He's gonna have to work on that because the ad squared like defensive coverage are really confusing. It's I can see a d being lost, like on the phone, like what are we doing here?

Like why is he here? And why are you not? You know, like I could see those communications, and I think that's where they should build uh as as we move on here. Yeah, and I think that's go ahead.

I was just saying, I think that's the point of of Drummond getting so many minutes, Like I think we just got to kind of see how he fits and and how fits and then eventually when Leron gets back, hopefully it is soon, because I'd like to see from my own sanity too to see how they look before the playoffs, but how they all look and how you know,

the entire team will integrate together. We joked about in the last pot about like how how crappy the Laker passing has been out of pick and roll and Dennis is Dennis, through his credit, has been has had some flashes where he's looked pretty good, but it's just like stops a little off target. It, you know, it's nothing's in a shooting pocket. Everything's a little sloppy, Like we're just used to watching Lebron just put those on the on a dime to the right spot every single time.

And and I think it's like, you know, I I actually expected Ben McLamore shot quality to get a little bit better with Anthony Davis, but it really hasn't. Like he's still not getting great looks, you know what I mean? And I think I think that will get better in time. Yeah, I feels like part of that, part of that is

like he's part of that. For Ben McLamore, he's still not getting a lot of spot up opportunities, Like it's still handoffs and um, I mean, he takes tough shots, but I think it's like a good and a bad thing for him, Like I like that he's an unconscious shooter, like he doesn't need to be wide open to take

the shot. But I think that also creates more variance like when he makes them so and it's still like it's it's a lot of looks that aren't He's not like standing in the corner after someone cheats on him, right, Like it's it's a lot of like he's because that's the one shooter that they're not going to help off of. It feels like, like, that's that's kind of what I saw tonight. So most of his lips are coming off screens or getting off handoffs or you know, tough shots

for him that are off the move. And he's still shot two for five tonight. But again, like it, it just felt like his shots are aren't coming easy. I agree with that you just said the most important thing a shooter, a shooter never being open is actually a good thing, even if he's not making shots. It's just

it's just organic spacing. And again I touched on this at the beginning of the show, but like, it's crazy to see how the geometry of the floor has changed just with Lebron or excuse me, with a d coming back, and if if you watch it, just getting you know, seeing Dennis Shooter have all that space to navigate pick and roll with Drummond, You're gonna see Lebron be doing the same thing. And it's it's gonna be really cool

to see. And uh again, like I think you know I mentioned earlier that uh actually said it on Twitter that Anthony Davis was some crazy cold streak from three was like four out of thirty six dating back to January thirteen, UM, I think that that he's gonna start to see a little bit of teams leave him open a little bit, and I think that might help him get going, at which point things will continue to even further open up for everybody. Does anybody want to hop

up on here and speak with us? Um, I'll be checking the speaker requests here in a minute, Rose, do you want to start going through the comments? Yeah? Sure, Uh let's see here, Um, Dennis only two Jeremiah Neyonda, But I said that right, Dennis with two turnovers in thirty eight minutes. It feels like he's really like got

to turnovers down all right. As we have kind of moved moved over here, I forgot what game it was that he had like a whole bunch of turnovers, but it feels like he's really controlled that since then, and he's been like the real Like I love that he's shown as like the leader on offense still I talked about this earlier, or even with eight back, you can just see him kind of still controlling the game, picking his spots at the right time, staying aggressive the whole time.

But like, do you guys see that as well? His turnovers have really dipped it feels like his passes are a lot smarter. Um, he doesn't really he doesn't really try all those like wild kind of pace to the rim and you're just throwing it out. Yeah. I think it was the Miami game, which was kind of U

they're like the perfect roster to trap. They're like the Lakers where they can just you know, they can throw like a kitchen sink at you and trapped especially smaller guards like Dennis Shooter uh and for so many turnovers, and that's what they did. And I think ever since then, you know, he's really ratcheted that up and you know, just been super smart with the ball um and not

be careless. And at the same time, um, he's just kind of learned, you know, uh to be effective as as the games have gone by, so in a way, you know with Lebron and maybe been out like Dennis has been super super effective. Yeah, and he is exuding a confidence as of late that is ridiculous, Like he's he's trash talking these other guards to you. And that kind of started a little bit with the Kyrie game. But like you know, we we the intel on Sugar coming out and I actually was someone who was not

anti shooter. I just preferred someone in the in the Spencer Dinuity type of role, because I thought the Lakers were missing a little bit of a kind of like a more like detailed shot creator, like someone who was a little bit more polished out on the wing. And they went for Dennis Shrewder. And you know, after I kind of got on board with that and you start talking, everybody rooted for him last year. It was like Dennis as a freak competitor. You know, Chris Paul loved this guy.

He defends like crazy, like you can count on him to go to war with you, all that kind of like cliche stuff, and honestly, like it's been great, and that's every dada that has been true. And for the record, like you know, he really struggled with this first stretch when Leron and Ad got out and and rog and I from the beginning, we were saying to everybody, like this is normal. He's adjusting to new levels of defensive attention. He's still creating quality shots for his teammates just by

diverting this attention. Don't pay too much attention to the stats. And ironically, like he's actually kind of superseded that even a little bit, and he's been very effective in his box score numbers while being the guy who has faced

the lion's share of the defensive attention. And uh and you write rogs like he just even with a D back, it's like, yeah, dude, you're you're one of the top five players in the world, but we're you know, I'm running this thing, which is kind of but he's but I mean like like he's been that good, Like he's been that good for for a while now. And and he's shown a willingness to pass that he didn't even really have last year. If you if you dove into a lot of his playmaking stuff with okay, see and

know he was okay, wasn't necessarily a strength. Um he's been he's taken a leap as a pastor this year and that's been really cool to see and that that could be some Lebron's too, like just helping to learn how to see the pick and roll a little bit more as a passer as opposed to just a dribble

drive attacker. Yeah, and and with even with a D back like that, the shock creation is still going to come from him, right, other than like giving the ball to a D in the post, it's pretty much gonna be ball screen action with him or in KCP off screens, and he got eighteen shots up tonight, which I think it's because when you run a screen roll with Drum and most big they're gonna drop coverage that right, because

Drum is not a threat from the mid range. It's pretty much at the rim, so it kind of opens up to the shot he wants, which is that little dribble mid range pull up. And I like that he's starting to take that even more. I feel like that's been there for a while, he just wasn't taking it for some reason. So um, it's good to see him, uh stay aggressive and I hope this days went well. Obviously it can't be the same when Lebron comes back because Lebron is going to take the majority of that

ball handler kind of responsibilities. But again, he's gonna be able to attack a already um compromise defense, which I think will make him even more dangerous. And it's why I like those lineups. SHREWD Lebron and a D line was We're killing in the beginning of the season even with a D kind of walking through the regular season, so yeah, if anyone wants to come up here, um, please don't be shy. Uh come up you don't. You can just bring give your opinion on the game, give

an idea, anything that you're thinking of. You didn't ask literally anything about anything. That's the whole point of us doing this locker room thing. We want you guys to hop up here and talk with us. So, like Rod said, don't be shy. Okay, let's I'll keep going to the chat as uh as while we wait for that. Um. Evans says Lebron did a layoup at the end of the jogging video, which I guess I missed that far,

but version of it out there somewhere. Alex says, uh, March should start and then Andre should play based on the matchup. Um yeah, I guess we kind of discussed this, but it feels like that's what it's going to be for the playoffs, right, Probably all three of those are

gonna be matchup dependent. You guys agree, Like, going to the playoffs is probably gonna be a d at the five, and then whatever five they think matches up with the like if it's your kid is probably the sl or you know, Like, you guys agree, with that going to the playoffs there, yeah, like, uh, go ahead on pretty much match a dependent. I think Vocals pretty much confirmed that that they're going to use three of their centers depending on you know, matchups and and rotations and all that.

Um go ahead. Just every team has their like go to playoff adjustment. I remember with the Warriors that used to always be Andrea Gudala is gonna start like they would always do it halfway through the series or whatever it was. It was kind of like they're ace in

the hole. And the Lakers have kind of already had that with an a D at the five, But I think starting marcusol and or playing marcusol more is going to be one of their big ones to go to, just because you know, when you get into these playoffs series, they become such a chess match and for whatever it's worth, like Drummond, he brings value, but he's not really a chess match type of player, and uh uh, having marcusol as an option to throw in as a wrinkle into

a playoff series when you need to get something going, whether you're down to one or you just lost Game three and you're up to one or whatever it is, and you just need to get a different look from a position that's been hurting you in a series like

that's where Marcusol is just a huge weapon. And like I have to believe that even with him kind of mostly falling out of the rotation, that that's been the type of conversations that Lebron and frank An Idea have been having with him, just like, hey, dude, like we are literally going to need you. So I like, yes, you're getting the short end of the stick right now,

but like we're gonna need you. Stay ready, Like where when we get this trophy, it's gonna be because you've stepped in and helped us big time in a big moment. You know what I mean, right for sure? Yeah, I was actually say more pointantly, we're gonna need you when it matters. Right right now, it's not as important. And I think for the most part, you know from what you're and Jason, I think Lebron and A d and the rest of the team kind of they know what

we have in Gasol. You know, he's high in i Q. He's an excellent ceiling razor um for the team and he's just gonna, you know, go out there and play smart and that's what you want in the playoffs m for sure. And I really like this question. I want to hear what you guys have to thing. Shout out hermo Sally bows delay. I hope I didn't butcher that

too bad? Which which have been which I'm kissing? It's McLamore th h T And West gets more playoff minutes because we know the backup guard in playoffs is going to be crusal. So would you guys think, I guess I'll start with you are Malcolm Moore, t h T or West? Who do you think gets more minutes in the playoffs? So? I think West would get more playoff minutes? Uh and of course it would depend on the match up two. But I think West just brings tremendous amount

of impact to the defensive ent uh t HD. I think you know he can be sprinkled in here and there U depending on you know, if there's minutes to go by, um and then then it's definitely gonna be a special tool tool to use, like if we need, you know, additional spacing or if you know KCPS shooting is not going too well. But I could definitely see West being used more just because you know, he brings that unique skill set, especially if we're you know, defending

those wings that we may be facing in the postseason. Um,

so I'd go with West. Yeah, I think a big part of that's gonna be, uh, you know, how well Ben shooting and whether or not there's anything to be had with th ht because I mean, look like if he like t she had another like absolute superstar play at night, that one where he had it in the corner and he kind of did the in and out cross and then did the quick split and then finished the reverse layup on the other side like he if he continues to show this like flash kind of like

star type potential, if he continues to show value as they get into higher leverage moments, he's gonna play. And

if he does in that complicate everything. But my guess is that if if Ben's shooting is inconsistent, and if th ht uh continues to make a lot of mistakes kind of like young guy mistakes, I think you're just gonna see a whole lot of West and KCP and Dennis and Alex Caruso just because they're you know what they are, you know, they're they're dependable, they're predictable and and like Omar said, it's matchup specific, Like West just gives you another weapon to throw at the bigger, stronger

wings that we have in the league right now, which they're very well might have to go through like like like two straight rounds at the end with the Western Conference finals in the finals, where that's going to be

such an important piece. And so i'd like everything is about having these chess pieces, and we talked a lot about that in the last pot, But like the Lakers just have all these chess pieces that they can play, and they have all these different you know, attack angles they can go with, and they can audible a lot of stuff, and a lot of teams don't have that. A lot of teams it's like they are one trick pony, and if you solve that trick, they're in big trouble.

If you figure out how to you know, make Donovan Mitchell make a ton of bad decisions and all of a sudden there's three point shot quality goes down. They don't really necessarily have another option. I mean, what are you gonna do? Four speed? Bogdanovitch in the post like I'm sorry, but the other the other Wings in the West are just better than him at that. So it's like that there's just not as many options for some

of these other teams in the West. The Lakers have all these wrinkles that they can throw at you and h and kind of keep you off balance. Yeah, I think it's gonna be key to if like mclamarre can defend enough. I think he's a specialist as a shooter, but his off ball defense is really kind of troubling for right now. But with like th HD, I always say he's kind of playing Lebron's role right now, right like he's kind of being that backup kind of shot

creator with the second unit or even like taking shooters role. Um. I think of the playoffs that we obviously a lot less with Lebron and shooter taking most of the ball handling responsibilities. So but his minutes a little, I mean, he he has he has the potential to to to play more. I mean, if he's if he has it going, he's able to attack the rim and his jumper is going. But I think he'll be the one with the most

variants in minutes. I think Weston and Malcramar would definitely eat up the majority of those backup, backup guardments, and like you said, Jason, they just have a bunch of players they can pull in. UM. Everyone's kind of going to play their role, So whoever's going at that night, he both kind of pick, kind of choose the right buttons to play M on a nightly basis. You could you could choose a rotation that has no Kyle Kusma

and they'd be every bit as good. You could choose the rotation that have no centers or doesn't play Markis and they'd be every bit as good. I mean, even if you took like Shrewder is probably the only one that like because of his ability to defend and create shots out of switches that like the Shrewder and a D and Lebron are the core three guys that need to be engaged in whatever rotation in order for the

team to have the same ceiling. But everyone else is pretty interchangeable, and I think I think that's just a huge, a huge asset to have UM in the long run of a playoff run, for sure. Rob Jr. Says, do you guys think this injury for Lebron was a blessing in disguise since he didn he doesn't like to miss games, and he would have had to carry so much for two months while a D was out. He says, I know he's superman, but carrying a heavy load all regular season and trying to be what he is in the

playoffs might not have been ideal. I've kind of started to feel that way. I mean, last year people are saying that it's been Lebron has never had the chance to get you know, that many months off, but that was due to kind of covid um that many months off and then be able to start the playoffs all fresh. Um, do you guys see that same kind of thing happening

this year? I know, high ankle sprain is not the way you want to miss games, but kind of that forced off season, right the seventy one day off season that everyone brings up. Um, A D got his off season, Lebron, I guess, is getting his now. Um do you see that kind of being a blessing in disguise, um for for the team? Omar I start, Yeah, yeah, I kind of I kind of think that. I mean, he kind

of brought up, you know, some positives. Right if you look at the flat past few weeks, Um, you know, the one true calling card that we've been able to hang our hats on has has our has been our defense and we've been like top five without Lebron and Needy and that's something that's credit to the players, uh

in Bogo and the coaching staff. And then in addition, we've talked a lot about the shooter, but I think he's really uh stepped up in this unique, you know situation where he's kind of um, you know, catapulted himself as a better playmaker. He's super confident, you know, because of that you know stretch that we're seeing that now.

So in a way, it is and I think we will get a you know, pretty well rested Lebron because I think Jason, I think you might have said in the last locker room, I think you had some there's a guest or a theory of yours. But Lebron, if if it was like more of a desperate situation, I think he would have been back by now already. But um, and I think I kind of agree with that. I think if if it was if we needed, I think

Lebron would have been back. But I think it's kind of beneficial that he's been just resting and and um, you know, that's definitely helpful. But I think we'll we'll see how he comes in with his rhythm, um and those, you know, when he joins an active team. You know, the only one who knows the answer to this question is Lebron. And yeah, like, I have my theories that that he's find more or less the high ankle sprain is is is a tricky injury in the sense that

it's kind of a pain tolerance thing. And there are a lot of examples of guys coming back from high ankle sprain is pretty fast, although we don't necessarily know the way his severity compares to some of those. However, Lebron's Wanta knows. Lebron's either sitting on his couch right now literally thinking like like, you know, this is awesome. I get some time off, this is great. I feel confident that I'm gonna be you know, peaking. It's very possible that that's one of the reasons why he's been

so behind the scenes with his recovery. Here is maybe he's athletically an amazing shape, and maybe he's trolling us by jogging up and down a basketball court, you know, and and then he plans on coming back, you know, rested and just ready to go, or maybe it's worse than it looks like. That's the tricky thing is we just don't know, and I think we'll know pretty quickly

when he comes back. Not about the uh uh, you know, the way he looks in terms of his polish, because I expect him to be extremely unpolished, to start a lot of turnovers, a little bit funky with the hand, a little bit funky with the jumper, but I expect him. Uh. The biggest thing for us to keep an eye on, it's just the way he looks physically. You just know. It's like when we watched that Clippers game, the first

game in the bubble, if you remember Lebrama sloppy. It was an absolute nightmare of a game in terms of the aesthetics. But he had that crazy driving dunk in the first half, or Kai just kind of ripped down on his arms and he just went up through it and dunked it. And then he beat everybody to a loose ball at the end of the game and made a game winner, and it was kind of like, okay, like Lebron Ron, Lebron still Lebron physically, which is all we needed to keep an eye on. So I have

my theories. You know, we have all these different potential outcomes, but I think we're gonna find out pretty quick just based on how he looks athletically when he comes back, for sure. And I'm gonna I'm gonna bring Michael up uh here. I think you requested what's going on? Michael? Hey? What's going on? Guys? How y'all doing good? Hey Michael, thanks for hopping on with this man. No problem, no problem.

So I have a question. Um, Ellen Prefaces was saying that he's going to be important in both series, like highly important in my opinion, But um, I've been thinking on this. What do y'all? What is your you guys opinions on Shrewder is important? Do you think it's gonna be more important in a series against Brooklyn or against the Clippers? And I lean Brooklyn mainly because of, like,

you know, defensively against Kyrie and attacking switches. But I can see a situation or you know, a scenario in which he is absolutely vital even offensively against the Clippers, especially in the non Lebron minutes, attacking you know, drop coverages with against Zoo Box and Uh Surge. So I just I was just wondering what y'all. Y'all's thoughts were on that. I think he I think he's making his paycheck against Brooklyn. That's not to say he's not gonna

be important against the Clippers. Like I said earlier, he's gonna be, you know, the third most important piece in their rotation behind Lebron and na d. But the thing with Brooklyn is he's uniquely capable of making Kyrie work hard, and he's uniquely capable of attacking and switching defense against the Clippers. Yeah, like they have Zo Botch and they're

gonna they're gonna play him to some extent. There's gonna be some drop coverage, there's gonna be some picking roll, but they're also gonna be doing a lot of switching, and they're gonna be doing a lot of switching with a lot of wings. And then there's also the problem with him getting attacked on the other end and switches against Paul George and Kauai, which is something that I've been you know, not complaining about, but being wary about all season long. Just how do you do uh and there.

There have been some examples this year where teams have attacked Dennis in switches with bigger, stronger wings, and that's just a much bigger problem with the Clippers, and it is against Brooklyn, Like Brooklyn is going to be that series where if the Lakers win, Dennis is going to be incredible. In my opinion, yeah, I think the same thing Jason. I think in that in that series, and

we saw it in the previous game this season. But he has that unique ability to with his foot speed to stay in front of Kyrie, be a constant pest, to come up full cork um and be a defensive menace.

And at the same time, you know, they they run that Mike D'Antoni defensive switching uh scheme where he's just gonna the ball, bring up DeAndre Jordan or Clackson, and he has that foot speed to get to the basket and if they if the paint collapses, there's gonna be plenty of players to uh, you know, kick it or dup it off too. So I think he's gonna definitely make his money's worth in that in that series. So

I think he'll be important in the next series. But the reason I would lean into the Clippers because we didn't get I don't even think we got one healthy matchup right this year, but I think it was that was Ring night and le Bron e d e kind of.

I don't think they're really going that hard, but remember last year, the Clippers ball pressure a lot, and the ball pressure Lebron all game because they have the wings to do it, Kauai, Paul George, even Pat Beverley, and then last year exactly so and the end of the game, Lebron is tired, right, And that's where I think Shrewder will really help. You can't just ball pressure Dennis Shrewder for every night the whole time, right, So it kind of gives Lebron a break, and I think that would

be huge for him. And then you add in the defense and what he could do on the offenses event against a big like uh Box on all that. But that's why I think he'll be more key against the Clippers in my opinion, because the Nets aren't going to do that. Nets are just gonna switch everything. They kind of play straight up defense. Kyrie is not going to be a ball pressuring Dennis shooter for ther feed all game.

That's where I get, I get kind of the where I would think his biggest UM contribution will be is giving Lebron a break on the ball, right, because in the playoffs, you want Lebron kind of creating every shot, but he has to bring it up every time against ball pressure. That's that's really tiring against. Like you said, Jason, the wings that they have Um on the Clippers, that's

a really good point. Rogers, Like they used Rondo as the pressure release valve last year, right, and he was just so inconsistent and kind of maddening to root for Um, but having having Dennis, which is just far more Uh. And I think it's I think it was Rondo's like

unpredictability that made it hard. You know, because one day he was this ultra aggressive three point shooter who you know, would you know, take six or seven threes in the game, and then the next day he's like staring at him and just refusing to even take him and uh, and then you know they're the games where he was picking defense as apart like a high level point guard, and then another game where he's overdriving and overpassing and refusing

to shoot at the rim and all of these other things, Well, Dennis just gives you a much more consistent, predictable option there. Uh and and then also like Rondo was arguably the worst defender on a lot of nights, and then there were other games where he was great. But uh, having Dennis there just a massive two way upgrade over Rondo as a pressure release valve. It's just it's just a huge asset to have. I think that was an interesting point. Yeah, sure, Michael.

I was just gonna say, I think the dynamic that's gonna if we get to that series between the two is just gonna be really interesting. Um, you know in terms of, you know, Rondo has been the guy that's been there and he's done that, and but Shrouders is just hyper competitive and gets under your skin. And um, I might be wrong, but didn't Rondo get thrown out of a game against the Lakers? Um he was on the whenever he got into it shrewder didn't he a right? Yeah?

So I just think the dynamic between them and that series, I think he's the Clippers are gonna, you know, really rely on Rondo for better or for worse, kind of like we did last year and let the Chips fall. They lie but you know, I just it's just an interesting, interesting dynamic I think, and I Shrewder is obviously the better player, but um, I think it'll be fun to watch just on the level. I gotta eat some crow

on the Rondo stuff. He looks good with with the Clippers, And I think, I think it's just a simple, you know, age old basketball proposition having to do with meshing different skill sets. And and Rondo is just really redundant with Lebron. And part of that was Frank's vault fault because he never staggered them the way they were supposed to. Remember, at the beginning of the season, they would start Rondo and it was like Rondo and Lebron and everything was

like super like clunky. Um. So there's some of that was Frank's fault for not staggering them, But it just he was never a great thing with Lebron because there was a redundancy there. And and Rondo is just a terrible off ball player, um. And so given although he had some moments in the playoffs as a cutter, and and and I'm not gonna you know, he's a smart player. I'm not I'm not trying to undersell him. Too much here.

But he very much has proven me wrong with the Clippers, just in the sense that he has been a nice slide and fit. That said, in a playoff series with the Lakers or really anybody for that matter, I'm not terribly concerned if the offense is being run through Ronda. I think he helps them a little bit. He's an upgrade over what they've had. It's better than Reggie Jackson. But like, I like my chances if Rondo at his age and with his inconsistency is the guy that's making

all your decisions and they're getting playoff, They're getting playoff. Rondo, Man, this is ridiculous. I'm watching these He's like, he's like defending well and he's he's like paying attention off ball and getting steals. I'm like, bro, where was this last year? Like I know, Yeah, he was the most tradditing player I've ever rooted for my life. Like it was awful.

It was it was. It was unbelievable having to watch a team with championship aspirations just willingly shoot themselves in the foot every night by playing him as much as they did. In the weirdest lineups. He ruined Kyle Kuzma last year, Troy or Trey Young and Lloyd Pierce are sitting on the couch at home wondering where where the hell this guy was. That's true too, That's true. I appreciate you, Michael. Probably I'll have a good one man.

I really appreciate coming to hang out. Man, appreciate it. Alright, let's see, uh he hear me? Yes, what's going on? So, guys, um, I have a question as far as like, because it's roster, it's such a pretty big turnover from last year, and let's assume that was Lebron, nats healthy and everyone pretty healthy.

What do you guys see his potential closing lineups? We're talking about like the lineup of death sort of like the go two's and then like the big version like where there we're going big with it, and the smaller version. So yeah, that's the question. I think. I think you're going to see a lot of in high leverage moments, a lot of eighty at the five with Lebron and then Trigger and KCP, and then based on who's playing the best, you'll slide someone in there in that five spot.

If Kuzma has been uh, he made a few more threes today. When he makes four threes tonight, like he's he's back, he's back up. I think he's around like thirty six from three with his release and with how tall he is, that's that's pretty consistent, are pretty valuable with their spacing, and so my guess is it would end up being Kuzma. But there are a bunch of different options you could throw in there. You could go crazy with shooting with Ben McLamore, you could go with

a great wing defender and Wesley Matthews. They'll have options there. But with as well as Kuzma has been shooting the ball, uh, and just with the crazy length of that front line of having a six nine Kuzma, six nine Lebron and and then Anthony Davis at the five, I think I think that would be like their best closing line up in my opinion. How about you? Yeah, I kinda, I kinda, I kind of agree with that. Um, that's that was the only player I would probably toss in is maybe

Mark Keith Morris. Uh. He's been playing pretty well this season and he was excellent in the bubble. UM, So I think I would just interchange possibly Mark Keith and Cruise, but I like Dennis and Cruise so as the guards, and then a D and Braun at the five and four. Yeah,

I would agree with that. I guess for me, like it's Lebron a D and maybe Caruso like and then from there, I feel like everyone else is kind of interchangeable, Like with the matchups and size of Dennis has it going, then he'll close, but lebron a D and like one really good defensive guard, whether that's Shoot or Crusoe, and then from you just plug and fill whatever you need. Um, I don't think this team will get like like a lot of teams have their closing five that have hundreds

of minutes together. I don't think this team will have that. They just didn't get the chance. Um. But like even last year though they didn't get very many minutes at the five right with a D and then that's pretty much what they went to with the closing lineups and

even starting games with in the playoffs. So I think I think that's the main thing in Bolo again, he's gained like the trust to kind of pick and choose players from there and not have to stick with one closing lineups that a lot of teams will have to in the playoffs. Like we said earlier, like we've been pounding all night long. The Lakers have a spacing uh you know, repertoire that they can go to that they just didn't used to have. That was the biggest flaw

last year. UM, they had a lot of inconsistent shooters playing at the guard position and basically KCP was their only decent shooting guard. UM, and then they had two centers that couldn't shoot. This year, they just have all

these options they can go to. And is a long long as you stick you know, someone of k CPS caliber in the opposite corner and KCP in the strong side corner or whatever it is, and as long as you can put someone on the other wing that can knock a shot down, that Lebron a D pick and roll or any sort of Lebron or a D isolation out of pick and roll and switches just becomes fifty times more effective. Spacing is the is the greatest weapon for a driving or any sort of basket attacking basketball player.

And I think, like, you know, I like, I like that argument I had earlier with somebody on Twitter, uh talking about the drum and signing. It's like, I don't think this roster has a hole anymore. And they used to have a hole in wing defenders, but with Wesley Matthews and then Mark kief who's lost some weight, and it's just a lot more mobile and just a lot more serviceable as a wing defender now they have. They've

got like five wings. You could throw up people Kuzma, Lebron, Wesley, Mark Keith, and Anthony Davis like that's that's that's not a weak point anymore on the roster. This roster is really really well put together, and Rock Poinken deserves a ton of credit for sure. There's the deepest Lakers roster like I've seen. I don't know if they'll win. I don't know if they had the chemistry and all that to do that, but there's just in terms of talent they have that That's why just getting healthy is so

so key. But yeah, they're closing lineups. Will be probably a D at the five likely right, and then uh well maybe with Drummond, but I think most line will still probably carry eighty at the five when when things really go down, and then you have Lebron at the flour and then from there they can pick and pull, like like Jason was saying, yeah, did you guys see in the comments that they the Kings are blitzing the Mavericks to start the King By our love, they'll be

like tied by halftime. So I'm not trying to check the store on that. I hate it. I hate it. You have to go and look for every especially when Lebron, any of you were out right, You're looking at almost every West team and having having to lose was no fun. I still cannot overstate how watching it the Lakers would be if they ended up in that five seed, Like you, if you would have told us before that a d would have waited this long to come back and that

with eleven games left, Lebron still wouldn't be back. What are the odds that you would say that the Lakers would have an easy not an easy, but a relatively easy first round opponent and then get a way to play the Clippers to the West Finals. Like that's that's just like I cannot It's gonna be so uh such an ideal outcome for a terrible hand of cards if

they end up getting five seed. And I'm just not worried about Lebron's an amazing road playoff player, and the Lakers have fans that travel, it's just not as much of a concern for them. Yeah, that's basically home court in the Western Conference finals, which is hilarious. Into the five. That'd be funny. I'm gonna bring up Mascelli here, can

you hear me? Yeah? Also, what's going on? Yeah, um, as as um Kuzma, are be confident about Kuzma being at the primary defender like sies because I remember the first game. I think voge Will used him as like a primary option on PG a lot of times. So are you guys confident about like being a good defender and a cliple series? Oh my yeah, I mean I'm comfortable with Kuzma being a primary defender as long as you know, this team defensively is one of the best

helping the cover teams. So um, you know, we do a really good job not leaving our players on an island. Uh So, if Kuzma is on a you know, one on one matchup with either Kauai or PG, um, I can see I can definitely see us you know, sending hard double with Crusoe or Dennis or whatnot. And then you know, we just rotate our asses off. So for sure, I think, you know, Kuzma has definitely stepped up like positionally and and the way he uses his length and body.

But you know, I'd be fine with it. I'd be fine with about being there if that's you know, the given match him. I think he's his progression as a defender has been really interesting because like he used to be super susceptible to shifty players because he just had bad principles, like his feet were always popping off the ground, so he would be you know, any sort of crossover, any sort of shifty move would kind of catch him off balance. And he's what he's figured out is that

his athleticism is not his strength on defense. It's his length and his size and his ability to be a positional defender. Like there's all these different types of defenders, right, Like Wesley Matthews is like this ball pressure, hands on, super physical defender, whereas like how Kuzma, if he's gonna be hands on and up in your business, he's gonna get toasted every time. He's just not laterally quick enough.

And and Kuzma has identified away through trial and error by getting roasted and having Lakers Twitter talking a much trash about him, and and and all the you know, all of the growing pains of becoming a veteran basketball player. He's just turned into a guy that knows how to

use his body to defend. And like Omar said, like everything is about trusting, you know, trusting the back line in your defense as well, and knowing that, hey, if you mess up and you give up a straight line drive, all you gotta do is stay focused and find an next rotation. Someone's gonna cover for you, but you do not have to cover for them. And that's been the Lakers m O all season. Yeah, I think, yeah, I

think you guys hit it on the head. Like he's become a much better one on one defender, especially all wings, right, And I think the Clippers are a good team for that. Um, they don't that many guards that will kind of take you off. It's mostly Paul George Kauai right or Rondo who shouldn't really be able to check you. But Kuzma has become a really good like team defender. He gets like blocks, weak side blocks. Um, he's in the right

place when he's helping. He knows when to help and recover. Um, he's part of why the Lakers are able to trap right and then kind of get get back to shooters and at the right time because he's really improved to that and he's talked about that as well, becoming a better team defender. But yeah, I like him as a

wing defender. Um, he's not much of a He still gets beat off the dribble a lot against guards without expected but his first and his first two years, Like I remember watching games back when we had Luke Walton as the coach, and I'm not saying it was Luke's fall, but who's like didn't have a defensive stance, Like it was just like he was just hopping around, skipping. And now he gets in like he gets low, he moves his feet, he decides to see, he knows how to

kind of he knows how to cut people off. So yeah, I'm comfortable him as a weeking defender. Paul George is gonna cook a lot of people, same with Kauai, but he at least makes it tough. He doesn't get and beat to the rim makes him shoot over the top, So I'm comfortable with him as a defender. Uh. Sorry, Also, Marquis are concering about three points because I think he's been like really boxed slump for like past two weeks. Two weeks so that we comed about he shoots in

the wall. I'm not worried about it. I think that, like I've always said, the shock quality is a big part of slumps, and you know, Mark, you've got it going for a while and he's become, you know, a guy that you have to be attached to, and I think I think when you look at scouting reports from last year compared to this year, I think teams are a lot more aware of Mark Keith's shooting and it's a matter of respect, and his shot quality is differently bit and it's caused him to, uh to go into

a little bit of cold spell. But as I've always said, um, you know, at the end of the day, when Lebron and a d are engaged with an in shooter on offense in a playoff series, teams are gonna have to divert a ton of attention to them and everyone who's playing in those other two spots or other three spots, depending on the lineup, they're gonna have incredibly high quality shots. And that's where we learned from last year's playoffs, and I think it's gonna be I trust markis to knockdown

shots when it matters. He's not one of the guys I'm worried about. He's the one guy where his shot I think you touched on. His shot quality is going to go up so much next to Lebron and a d right like right now, a lot of his shots that I see are like late clock. They swing to him and he takes it with a hand in his face. Um. But man, he he really carried the team when they didn't have much offense like his like mid range game and being able to post him up. So I gave

him a pass for right now. I think someone that he struggling since he missed that one game, but he played really well when they needed him to. And uh, I think right now he's going through a slump. But again, his shot collect sauce election and shot quality should should improve as as uh Lebron in eight he gets more comfortable here. It's a matter of spacing too. They have to guard him that and it's spacing and like everything is.

Roger and I always talked about the waterfall effect, like there there is a a clear improvement in the way Dennis Shooter has been playing. And I think it's because there for a while, like he was, he was coming to defense attention that was thrown his way. And he's improved so much as a passer in the last couple of weeks that he's kind of reversed the gravity away from him and it's allowed it's allowed him to get

easier shots for himself. And it's all it's all relative, right, Like if you're either gonna take away Dennis and give up a bunch of shots, or you're gonna take away all the shots and Dennis is going to go off, that's just the trade it off with a leite defense when you've got a guy like Dennis who's capable of creating his own shop. Yep, I'll bring up I think the last three group question was Rob, so I'll bring him up. What's time about up? You guys? Yeah, I

can hear you, Okay, ask my question. I just want to say, the Kings, who apparently have the worst defense of all time, have the Mavericks to seventeen points in the first quarter. But um, my question was, what did you guys think about Genie's top five most important Lakers because I've seen that was like a big topic um on Lakers Twitter. Know what you guys thought about it? Garage? Where do you take this one? First? Man? Okay, so did you guys listen to the you know, the full

thing is two hours and it's really good. I'd recommend if you guys are able to hear that full thing. It's all the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Nate. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah, those two hours fly by. So

they asked really good questions. But yeah, it was kind of interesting because I mean, the Lakers have such a long history, right, and then Genie Buss also has a long experience issue with the Lakers, so she was going to Lakers and then like I think she went like Lebron, Kareem and someone else, and then Matt Bonds was like magic. She's like, yeah, I'm magic too, So obviously I don't she said she wasn't prepared for that question. I don't

think she thought too much into it. I think people are mostly mad that she put Lebron in there, but I think, you know, Lebron means a lot. If you listen to that podcast, you can see that Lebron means a lot to her that he came when they were down, right. It's very easy to it's very easy to join a franchise when they're at the top. That he joined when they were down that really meant a lot to her, So that that's kind of how I saw. I don't

think she put too much thought into it. I think hers was like what Kobe Lebron, Phil Phil Jackson, Kareem and Phil Jackson was a weird one, and I thought, not that he's not valuable to the franchise, but like jack should be there instead, I would think, and just go ahead, I was gonna say Phil Jackson was said by Matt Barns. Actually he said Jackson and then yeah, She's like, is he does he count? And he said absolutely, So yeah, I feel like the questioning there was a

little strange too. Contact is really important. These kinds of lists are really hard, and it's impossible not to kiss somebody off, so that that would be the thing that I'd frame it with. As far as Lebron, the case is really simple, and I'm not even saying Lebron is one of the five most impactful Lakers ever. I don't think that that can really be decided for a couple

more years. But the case for Lebron is like, like, there's some truth to the fact that the franchise was a little bit off the rails there for a while, Like the Magic Johnson thing was really bad. It was really really bad. It was so bad in fact, that people were wondering why Lebron went there to begin with under the circumstances. Now, Jeanie deserves a lot of credit for the Rob Polinka pick, because Rob has proven to

be very savvy and good at his job. But the the initial piece that turned all of this around and one of the lakers of Championship and had them as the favorite coming into the season was Lebron came to town. And there's something to be said about Lebron facilitating the Anthony Davis thing. It's a real thing that happened, and uh and then and then now Anthony Davis is under

contract in the long term. Um, So there's something to be said about a franchise that was off the rails and is now very firmly on a positive trajectory for many years to come. And Lebron is kind of a linchpin of that. So I don't think even if you don't want to put him on that list, I think

you have to acknowledge his importance to this franchise. Now. Yeah, And I think, um, given that you know, this was basically her first like run as like the governor and owner of the Lakers, I think it's just speaks to the bond between her and Lebron James. I mean, they she speaks so highly of him, so I can only imagine that they have really close bond even though he's been here for only a few years. But um, those

things matter, you know what I mean. So um, and I'm just happy that you know, she she's running the Lake show and and Rob's doing his thing and Lebron's players, right, and just to like piggyback off the question Rob at that interview was so awesome because you kind of got a look into some of the chaos, Like you remember when the Lakers fired Mike Brown, right, and then they hired Mac Mike D'Antoni, And then she was like, I don't really know basketball, but I know that like our

roster was built for a defensive team and then we hired a fully offensive coach. That it's just funny to her. Hear her kind of speak about like those those kind of decisions in the front office that happened, and from us from the outside, we just see that chaos, like oh, they fired Mike Brown and then they hired mac Datoni. But she was confused as well in the in the front office. So it's it's a really good interview I had. I'd say that everyone should go listen to that. It's

a little long, but it's worth it. Yeah, man, thanks guys, thank you. I think that's all the speakers. See if we miss any questions in the in the chat, we're going on over an hour fifteen here, so I guess we'll we'll wrap up. Why don't we do one more question to night? Sure, let's see here. I guess we can kind of close with this one. Um uh, he says, I hope he helps Andre Drummond shout out. Evan Reynolds says, uh.

I think they're hoping they can coach Drummond to be a chess match type of player due to his mobility at his size on the perimeter when he choose it, so they can play small while technically staying big. Thoughts on that, I guess we I guess we did kind

of touch on that. But, um, do you see Drummond as because I think his like, uh, I guess theoretically Drummond was a switching player right when I when I watched him on switches, it's not as again though, his mistakes are pretty loud, so I don't know, Like maybe when I'll rewatch it that it feels different. But do you feel like he's he's a good switchable player because it feels like they're still trapping a lot with him rather than switching on the perimeter. I guess, I guess

look at Joe thoughts on that. I think that was the crux of the question there. If Drumming can kind of switch on the perimeter against you know, against playoff level players right like against throw out of Magic it doesn't really matter, but against they're really good teams that have good perimeter players that can and hunt those kind of things. Do you do you see him as a guy that can switch on the perimeter? Not particularly Um, he's he's I think he's every bit as capable of

that type of role as a javeailor Dwight. I think of him, it's just a slight upgrade over Dwight Howard in my opinion, Like he's gonna have moments as a rim protector and as a guy who's got active hands in pick and roll pocket passes and things along those lines, and uh, and as a redounder, he's gonna have his moments. But like, at the end of the day, like I never was overly confident with Dwhite on the floor against teams that were, you know, really good dribble drive offenses

that were attacking switches. And again like I like having him instead of not having him because I thought Dwighte had his moments um and I think I think Droman's gonna have moments in that first round series against Denver. But at the end of the day, like we we'd be lying if we thought that he was that we would be thrilled to watch drum And on an island against you know, really anybody. Uh that's a decent, drible

drive guard. Yeah, I agree. And I think one more thing to add to that is I think I don't thing that I didn't really, I mean, I didn't watch too much tape on Drummond, but he bites on a lot of like pump fakes, which gets like these smaller guards, like just enough separation to kind of get like an easy shot or layup in and and um, you know those kinds of things that like kind of takes him away from using him as as a switchable type player. Yeah, that's a good point. He does that at the rim

a lot too. I feel like like, yeah, that's good, you go ahead. No, I was just thinking, I'm always just like why why do you do that? Just so large? You know that, I know he has his hands up and he still jumps and like man, and those are things that I don't really show up on a box score, but it's just like those are some of the frustrated things about him. But yeah, I felt like, obviously, Omar,

you said you didn't watch too much tape. I don't really blame you for not watching all those Chatz games, but like I wasn't really watching them either. But just theoretically, I thought, like, because he's I mean, he named himself big Penguin, you know, and you can able to move, um have the agility, it just doesn't really translate onto switches at the perimeter. It feels like teams get him

backing up too easily. And then they can shoot over him. So, UM, yeah, I feel like I think that's a good place to kind of, uh kind of wrap it up. We went around an hour twenty. I appreciate everyone who came up and talked or put a question in the chat. Um, this is this is really fun. Uh, Omar, appreciate you taking the time here. Um everyone go follow Omar on Twitter. I believe it's O S I D. Is that correct? Yeah, of course, it's just super fun. Oh you were awesome, man,

I really appreciate you coming on um question. Roger and I are planning on doing Roger is one of the super fancy famous people that has spaces on Twitter, So we're gonna we're gonna try to do a spaces on Wednesday. We're kind of trouble shooting. My big issue with spaces is that there's no onboard natural option to record it.

So we're gonna try to uh tinker with some things to do, like maybe a screen recording, because at the end of the day, like I don't know about you guys, but I I if I can't listen, I'd prefer to have a podcast that I can listen to, And so that's what we want to provide for you guys, um, but we'll do that on Wednesday, and then as soon as Locker Room emails me the link for this one,

I'll have it up as a podcast as well. And Roger and I were just talking about some of the numbers the other day, and we're so impressed and so happy with all the support you guys have given us. And we're super stoked to see how this thing grows, and and we want feedback from you guys, and and we just hope you guys understand how much we appreciate all of you. Yeah, yeah, we really do. Thanks a lot. And then again, go follow Omar on Twitter. O s I d Um does great work with the Laker Central

doing videos and everything. So yeah, thanks everyone for coming out. Um, Jason, I'll talk to you later. Omar, thanks again. Of first, thanks sad Alli. Everybody's you, guys,