Episode 61: Lakers Eulogy, 2021 NBA Playoffs & More

you know, the vacation was great. That said like it was. I don't want to say I'm happy the Lakers lost, because that's obviously not the case, but it was a little bit of a blessing in disguise because man, when I was on that trip, uh, you know, with the East Coast time and you know, because it's a you know, it's an island, so you're starting early in the day,

it just was one. It was one of those things where like, it's hard for me to even fathom how that would have worked for me, And you too, have consistently done those those postgame shows, so you know, it kind of it kind of worked out in that regard

because I didn't actually watch a ton of basketball. I watched some, but not a ton while I was over there, just because it was chaotic and his vacation and um, obviously with all these games and shows, it was nice to kind of, you know, spend some time with my wife and just kind of get some distance from it. But I'm happy to be back, and I think there's quite a bit to talk about because we didn't even get to do really a a postseason show, and so that's kind of what my goal is for today is

to do. I'm calling it a eulogy, but whatever it is you want to call it, just a like a remembrance of what this team was, what went wrong, and then just kind of looking forward as to in a macro sense, what they need to get better at, because obviously it's hard to say for sure until the actual off season and you get to see the really defined list of targets and the cap situation and and all those sorts of things, and when and when Rob has more detail about you know, what Crusoe wants to do

and what Shrewder wants to do and blah blah blah blah blah. Um. But we can have a general conversation about what their needs are. And I think you can frame a lot of that just from the way these other playoff teams are playing. That that's kind of that's kind of what what I've been really taking away in

the last week. So I guess I guess a good place to start is this, Like, aside from the obvious injuries, you know, which are out of the Lakers control, Um, what did you think was the death nail for that team in particular this Laker team, Laker team. Yeah, it's kind of tough to separate like injuries from it, right. So like in my notes, I was just looking at

the notes, and they have twenty five different starting lineups. Now, like, that's fine if it's just like a few players going out like three and d wings kind of about But when you have like your main shock creators out like Lebron and a D your main defensive acres out for a long time, it really just changes the the change the team, right, Like you need your main guys in there, and you kind of separate the season into a few

different parts. So like that twenty one and six kind of start is what kind of sticks out to me, And from there, that's where everything kind of dropped off, even with a d not being his his full self to start the season. You kind of saw with the theories that we talked about in the off season, and that's mainly ly the thing that killed us to me is like just not being able to have any lineups with with our main guys in there. This team was

built around and elite defense to go around. It's two stars to go around Anthony Davis to go around Lebron James, and when you have one of those missing for extended times, it's tough for your team to kind of be that team. And it just like for reference here the Phoenix Suns team we played, they they only had nine different starting lineups compared to twenty five different different ones from US, and Chris Paul Devin Booker played in almost every single

one of those. I think both of those guys missed two games total um during the season. Spells my main kind of killer for me. What about you? What did you think kind of derailed the season? So, I mean obviously that that line of consistency was a huge part of it. I'm not going to dive too far into this next thing yet because I want to talk about

it when we talk more about the off season. But I did think that there was a glaring example of a lack of shot making and skill out of our role players, something that other teams don't have an issue with or as much of an issue with. Um. I think that. You know, someone asked me last night on Twitter. They said, well, I agree with you. So what's going on across the hall, you know, with the Lakers, Like, like,

what do you think their deal is? And I said, you know, Lebron and a d being two of the top five players in the league, and the fact that Frank is so good with his defensive scheming and coaching, and the fact that the roster just in general was such a good defense I think covered for a lot of those problems. And you know, again it's this is not a catastrophe type of problem obviously, because they just won the title and they took two games off of

that Sun's team. That's really good. Like we can look back at the Sun's thing now. Like you know, I talked throughout the season, I think myself in particular told you that I was high on the Suns because I thought the roster made sense as a playoff team but they're even better than I thought they would be. Like, the Suns are really really good. They do all the things extremely well that you need to do to win

a championship. And with Lebron and a D on the floor through the first four games, you know, not counting that ridiculous attempt that he had in Game six when his groin was basically useless to begin with, they were plus nine point three points per one out of possessions with Lebron and a D on the floor. So the Lakers were doing damage to a really good basketball team.

They were healthy, so this isn't like a catastrophe. That said, I do think that the lack of skill and shot making from those role players is a key weak point in the roster if you have to point to something, And even some of the stuff like Carusoe shooting over during the season and uh Kuzma shooting higher than he did the last couple of years, some of that came crashing down to earth in the postseason in a way that made you feel like maybe it was a blip

and not a trend um. Would you agree that that that's a that's a weak point, Yeah, for sure, But I think like it's kind of tough when like you have two kind of guys on max deals, Like when you're building your team around it's mostly going to be of these like role players, and like these role players are getting better and better, like we've seen in the playoffs, like with Phoenix, there guys can pretty much score in three levels, right you have like a Michael Bridges who's

not just like a three point shooter. You can also put it on the floor. And I think that's where they need to kind of improve the roster. I'm not sure how they will, Like you need guys that catch and also read like read on closeouts, read went to

attack and went to shoot. I'm not sure what to take, Like we talked about this a lot, Like I'm not really sure what to take from the playoffs, like with all those guys hurt and we we saw guys scared to shoot, and I'm not sure if that's like a confidence thing or what to do with that, or if that's just like this season being kind of wonky. But I do agree, like we need more, we need like people who can shoot. Man, we're singing in the playoffs

that that's such a premium. The Clippers are staying in so many of these games because they just hit ridiculous shots. They can hit threes and and I was over here just praying that we can hit a catch and shoot three pointer once in a while, and these dudes are just flinging shots. So trying to get some more shooting in him. But that's been the topic for for like a couple of seasons now, trying to get more and

more shooting um. And I think you can kind of work with that, like you have a bigger margin for error when you have your stars playing, but like when you have one of them out, you need shooting. And we saw the kind of important importance of that. Phoenix kind of won the math game so many times because we just were shooting are open shots. So I do

agree with that. I just don't know how you do that on like minimum heals and without just keeping your players that you've had last year, because they're going to be really strapped on the salary cap because you have two guys already making the max the max money. So I'm not sure where they do that from. But I do agree they need more any more shooting on this team, and you can't go you can't be shootingcent a series and expect to really win. So for starters, like the

cap situation is what it is. The it's important to acknowledge that teams like the Clippers also have two MAX players and that you know, first of Paul and Devin Booker fetch massive salaries, and you know, Drew holiday In, Jana Santana Coumbo and Chris Milton all take huge salaries. Like the thing is is, like guys like Reggie Jackson, they come available every year they do. Like a version of Reggie Jackson comes available, you know, a Marcus Morris

or whoever it is. I'm just giving random example. Sometimes you have to do some you know, some uh, some you know, manipulation with salaries to make it work. Sometimes you gotta throw in a second round pick. Sometimes you

got to get their teams involved. I'm not saying that they're going to be able to get you know, extremely high quality skilled shot makers, but that said, I do think that as a point of emphasis, instead of going after the Drummonds of the world, maybe you go out of your way to try to get the auto porter type instead, you know, And obviously he didn't even become

a buyout guy. This year. But like the point is is like that's the archetype that I'd like to see them go after, because the Lakers added some suit like

under Drummond is a significant piece given their situation. And so as we head into this offseason, I think, like, you know, you and I talked a lot this year about how deep the Lakers are, right, Like, they are twelve guys that they could play on any given night if you counted McKinney and eleven if you don't, So death was never an issue for them, but it was all depth that could play one way, you know, like almost every role player provided mediocre spot up shooting, really

good effort and defense, and like not a whole lot of off the dribble stuff, you know what I mean, even there even from the guards, Like even a guy like Caruso, like he could put the ball on the floor, he could run some pick and roll that he wasn't a guy like like when you had him running pick and roll counter to campaign, campaign was ten times better and it ended up, you know, manifesting in the scoreboard.

So I guess what I'm saying is is like I'm not saying you ditch all of that identity, but maybe it's time to try to get a little bit more versatility on that front and try to get it so that maybe you have the ability to call an audible and go to some more shot making and ploymaking and things along those lines, just that you're more versatile. And then, like you said, shooting just absolutely without a shadow of

a doubt. You know, the Lakers were able to overcome their lack of shooting as a result of their freak top end talent and the fact that they defended so well. But I moving forward, especially with how good Brooklyn is going to be when they're healthy, the Clippers kind of figuring things out, Phoenix being on the radar now with it with a number of good teams that are in the picture now that worked in, I think the Lakers simply have to be a better shooting team. That has

to be a point of emphasis. Um that That's kind of where I'm at with it. So it's funny that you bring up like Reggie Jackson and he's on a minimum deal right and he's absolutely outperforming his contract. Um, I think he kind of outperformed it last year as well. He's ever he's getting like dirty points he had you know, I feel like the two biggest shots in the game

last night. But that's kind of what we envisioned kind of Shrewder to be, right, like kind of like that scoring guard that can hit big shots, who can attack the rim um. I think we saw Shrewd as a little bit more of attacker. But I think that's where like the Lakers kind of poured their resources into right, they gave up a first round pick, they gave built Danny Green, who you know is very polarizing and Lakers Twitter, but I mean he was a shooter and shot forty

pc from three this year, a good defender. Like that's where they kind of poured the resource. Us is out too, and again, like that's how I'm gonna remember this season is like it's a very theoretical season. It felt like every time one guy came back, another guy came out, We're like, Okay, imagine now when he comes back, how this will look. And then like he went out, like you know, Lebron, Lebron went out, and then a D came back for a couple of games. We're like, oh,

imagine when Lebron comes back. Lebron game back. A D wasn't himself, like, so it's it's really hard for me to kind of judge like this roster. I feel like it's a lot of like hindsight, people are like killing Rob Boblinka kind of for the roster, killing rob O

Lincoln for the roster. Here went over the summer, you know, they were kind of lauded as like they kind of um killed the off season, you know, yet Kendrick Perkins also saying stuff like, you know, they really laughed all these other teams, and I feel like we never really got to see it. And I feel like the drumm And edition really we can kind of get into that

as well. The drum Edition really kind of derailed their identity in my opinion, like they really thought a little too hard to try to fit him in instead of kind of doing what they were doing to try to build to the playoffs. It just felt like a lot of like I felt like every game was just like, oh, did Drummond kind of fit in? Years drum And kind of getting used to it, and I feel like it

kind of killed their identity there a little bit. Their identity was like this hard nose, defensive kind of team where the center would just you know, be like a finisher a lot finishing and drum and obviously sees himself more is that, you know, getting these post edges and not blaming him. I mean there are a lot of injuries around. It just felt like a really weird season.

You know, Dennis Shrewder also coming in and out through COVID protocols, Like it's hard for me to take what he did as well in the play he's really struggled once Lebron and a D when I was just a really weird season, and like going after the GM and all that, like they built this team around a defense and the stars man and and we never got to see it really, so I'm just wondering, like where they where they go in terms of team evaluation, player evaluation,

Like for you, how do you evaluate these players? I guess that really struggled when the lights got right, so and and this is you know, this goes back to something that I think we have to come back at a D four and and also to your initial point at the beginning about continuity, because like the Lakers did play with a D at five for the most part

in last post season. I think it was like six of the minutes yeah, and then I think, I think in his minutes in this postseason it was kind of a similar ratio, but that's still just a little more than half. And you know, you said something a couple of seconds ago that stood out to me. He said, Dennis Shrewder was supposed to be our Reggie Jackson, And yes he was, but he's Dennis Shrewder playing with absolutely

no space to operate. And meanwhile, I see a clip in the game last night of Reggie Jackson isolating against Rudy Gobert at the top of the key. There are three help side defenders on the left and they're all within three ft of their shooter because they can't leave them. And Reggie Jackson mixes up Rudy Gobert gets him on his hip, kind of jumps back into him a little bit and does one of those you know, talent Horton Tucker the reverse style layups, and and gets a finish.

We are setting Dennis Shrewder up to fail. We are setting Roun up to fail because of the fact that we are playing an archaic form of basketball. And it's funny because yesterday I was I was talking around because I was thinking about some of the Lebron's great playoff performances after you know, Kevin Durants amazing game the other night and I came across the two thousand fourteen Heat on the road in Brooklyn. They had just dropped game three.

This is that, you know, that really stacked but old Brooklyn team and Lebron just put on a masterpiece, like a forty nine point masterpiece. You actually beat him with a pass to to Chris Boss, which was funny, um, but it was all bosh at the five with you know, d Wade was the only non shooter, but d Wade could by the end of there, had become such a good cutter that it was he almost provided his own

form of spacing. Like the health defender had to be so aware of what Wade was doing because he couldn't you couldn't lose him on a cut and h and Lebron. Lebron just was operating in a ton of space. And I'm like, this is seven years ago, man, seven years ago that the that the Heat had figured out that that small ball was the way of the future. And and it just bothers me because, like you know, Jason Maples has been getting a lot of crap on the t l for saying that that A d should be

a full time center. He's right, he should be a full time center. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be the centers on the roster. There should be, but they should strictly play in games when eighties resting or when eighties off the floor, that's when they should be playing. The Lakers need to embrace a modern form of basketball, and the entire reason why they don't it is because of Anthony Davis and his fear of guarding centers because he

thinks it's gonna wear them out. Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, he's playing in this like chaotic scrumball where every time he puts the ball on the floor there's three help defenders up on beneath him, and he's landing on people and he's getting bumps and bruises.

The play where he hurt is growing DeAndre and is completely ignoring a center and standing under the basket and and it helps side and it just you know that that's like, that's been my biggest takeaway from this whole thing, is like the Lakers were able to win playing of their minutes in an archaic form of basketball because they were so good defensively, because Lebron and a d were

so good, but they were actively handicapping themselves. And I just I think that at some point someone's got to have that tough conversation with him and be like many centers like you have come before, including Chris Bosh, have

embraced this modern form of basketball. It's going to help Shrewder, it's going to help Lebron, it's gonna help you man, and and and and hopefully at that point they can start to you know, start to see because the Lakers offense has been a problem for both of these years, especially in the half court. Even the Chain Beanship team was a terrible half court offense. It's like a real

problem that everyone just forgets exists because they're NBAH champions. Yeah, and we've kind of litigated this, like it's pretty clear Anthony Davis does not want to play center full time, and I just don't see that changing at all. Like it's just sometimes this is what happens, Like he wants to be the power forward and he feels like it makes it easier on him, and I think that's what

they're gonna move going forward. It's just like, I think the main key for me next season is Anthony Davis coming with a sense of urgency, right Like, I feel like he never came with that this season, even when the Lakers started really well. Um, he was basically he was basically just a jump shooter. He was basically just a spacer, right like. He was never aggressive attacking the rim.

And I think that's where the main thing for me for him playing power forward, Like, if he wants to play power forward, that's fine, it's just like I feel like it really baits him into being just a pure jump shooter or settling at the top, right, being able to be defended by smaller guys. Um, he doesn't attack the offensive rebound the same way when he's not the center.

I think that's all well and fine, but I feel like your centers have to be guys who can either protect the rim or be able to really switch out, and I think that's where they need to kind of find that kind of balance there. I thought Dwight Howard

was a really big part of that last year. That's why the Lakes were so successful in my opinion, even when Anthony Davis playing a lot of power forward, as they had a center that was Dwight Howard's a really smart high basketball like you guy really can protect the rim, and that's where they need to look this season. I don't see Anthony Davis playing center full time next year.

I just I just don't see it. Like he obviously has made that clear to the front office, to the team, to the coaching staff that he does not want to do. And I think there's ways you can kind of protect that, but he's got to be more aggressive. I want a sense of urgency next year, and I just don't think we got that this season. And it's fine, he can have a past for that he was injured, um, but I want to see him attacking the rim attacks, which is like and you need I want to lop through

at that center position as well. I think it's really tough when you have a big guy who can't jump, who also has a tough time catching. They can just sit another center right there, and it just really forces him into jump shooting, like litigating whether he can be a center or power forward, like if he's gonna play center when it matters, I think it's okay, Like I think that's I think that's fine. The Lakers are going to live with that, but he has to be more aggressive.

We can't have this like jump shooting guy who's just not engaged in most of the games, and I think he will be next season. The one town side to to the to that approach that I think goes glossed over all the time is like, you know, the Lakers had some stretches against Phoenix where they went small with particularly in Game one, and they got they got their

ass kicked. And part of the reason for that, in my opinion, is like when you're so used to playing one way all season, because a D refuses to play the five during the regular season except in very tiny bursts,

you don't get the reps that you need. And what's crazy is like, you know, if if a D is not doing any pick and roll coverage all season because he's playing off ball and help, but then suddenly in a high leverage moment he's asked to do that something he hasn't practiced barely all year, I think that it can manifest in them struggling and and have moments like they did in Phoenix where they tricked off Game one in a in a way that could have potentially cost

them the series. You know, and and it's just one of those things that practice what you plan on leaning

on when the time comes like it. Maybe the compromise here is instead of going sixty at the five in the postseason in one a d at the four in the regular season, maybe you go sixty eight at the five and the regular season two and at least get some or some percentage of it there, so that the Lakers at least are comfortable going to that option frequently because they have the practice and the reps, and and

and they've leaned on it. In that regard, I do agree with you that the Lakers center has to be a vertical spacer and someone I can guard in space. I hope that the bridge isn't burned with Dhite Howard because he was a really good fit. The best case scenario for that is the Sixers going down in flames, because if they go down in flames, dwightes know Dwight might miss what he had in l a um. The trouble is is that the Sixers are gonna be able to give him a raise on that veteran minimum without

affecting their cap situation. So it could be a matter of a few hundred thousand dollars in whether or not that ends up being a factor, but yeah, that's the kind of guy that you'd like to see them go after for sure with that spot. So so it can be a vertical spacer or like a three point there, and which is why, like I thought, Marcusol was just like that perfect fit next to a D. Right Like we talked about this all over the off season as well.

It allows a D to be the five kind of on offense, right like with Marcusol, he can be the five on offense. And it was still still weird that even in the even when those two played together. I think this was more because of eighties maybe aggression early on, but Mark was still the guy in the dunker spot a lot of the times, which is kind of strange, where a D was kind of the spacer there. I thought those two should be switched, but I just thought

that would be the perfect fit. And we kind of saw that to start the season even with those some of those wonky lineups, even with a D not being aggressive. I think they were like twenty one and six or something when they when they started started the season with those two being the two bigs and once a d got hurt all that kind of drill, But I just thought that was kind of the perfect fit. And they really went away with that to kind of, you know, go to the Andre Drummond experiment and try to fit

him in. And like I said earlier, I thought that really derailed kind of their identity this season. Like I love that fit with Mark. I thought it lets a d B the five, not just a d B the five, have a guy that finds him when he seals down low, have another passer next to Lebron. So I hope I will get into free agency maybe later, maybe another pod, but just I hope Mark, and I know he's signed for next year. I hope he comes back. I just I would like to see those two kind of build

a little bit more chemistry. I think those two only played like twenty something games together this season or something some low number. I'm not sure exactly how many it was, but just to have another guy that can pass like that. I don't think E. D S even played with another big man that can pass like that as well, um in his time in New Orleans or with the Lakers. So just another guy there who can space the floor. I think Mark out up to like as a three

point shooter as well. And and that's the only thing, right when when we talked about a D five, what do we mean, we mean that he's not able to be at the basket, right. And that's where Mark kind of flips that you get the size of a center while also allowing a D being inside because Mark Hasty perspected um from outside of like five five to ten feet. And that's where I kind of want to see. That's

the balance you can kind of fit. If you don't have a lab threat, you can at least have a guy that's space the three point line that gives Mark like you were talking about, gives Dennis Shrewder driving lanes, give Lebron driving lanes. Um, how many times do we see that Phoenix just pinch, you know, right at the nails and there's no room because you have drumming down low. Even when a d was playing, they don't they're not really worried about him as a jump shooter in that series.

So that that's kind of what I want to see this this offseason is a little bit more care on that on that position. Um, it felt like they really try to fit Andre Drummond in and I think that experiment kind of didn't go as planned. I'm not sure, and Drummond obviously doesn't want to be back on the minimum, so I think that was probably the last game we see him him and the liquor uniform. I don't know,

it'll it'll be interesting to see. I mean, it's clear that he wants some port into the mid level exception, but I think it's gonna come down to what is available, because you know, honestly, if there isn't a reasonably reliable perimeter player available, I think you have to take from him because a d is gonna miss probably fifty games next year. Uh, and they will play him at the power forward a ton and you do need depth at the center position. I think that's just the harsh reality

of the situation. I mean, but like if if someone comes up in that mold of the of the knockdown three point shooter who can do some you know, really low level playmaking and hold his own on the defensive end, I think you have to favor that. But it but it has to be like a knockdown three point shot like this, the Lakers have one guy on the roster that you're scared of if he catches when he's open and that's k CP. Everyone else, You're like, no, you

might make it everyone else. It's like, oh, Cruis has been but you know when Cruiso shoots a three and you're the other team, You're like, we can live with that, you know what I mean. They don't have that that you know, that that Buddy Healed type of of just knockdown. Like if he's opening, Seth Curry, whatever it is, he catches it, you're panicking. We don't have that on the roster, and so that needs to be priority number one. And if that's not available, then I think you do have

to bring back Drummond for depth. Um. But you know, like as far as the overall totality of the strategy going into this summer, this is something that Darius Soriano said from from like her film rooms the Laker Filming podcast. He had said, you know, there's no point and this is something you and I have said on and off throughout the year. There's no point in overreacting to what just happened because Dennis Shooter was playing really well before

the COVID suspension. You know, I vividly remember I was on a ski trip in in in Park City and like literally like watching him just destroy the jazz, like just destroy the jazz by himself. Um uh, just executing and pick and roll, picking them apart with the pass and finishing at the basket. Just looking amazing. And and he was he was passing way better than he had in his entire career, something that going into the season I talked about being kind of a little bit of

a weakness for him. You know, he's a little bit of a tunnel vision guy. He had grown, you know, playing with Lebron and seeing the floor a little bit better as a passer, and he was really kind of peeking on that end, on that end of the floor. And then bam, go sit in your house for two weeks and then come right back for for really high

leverage you know, playoff basketball. And that's that's tough. And then the continuity stuff with with Lebron and all the guys, Lebron being a primary playmaker all of a sudden after playing you know, roughly thirty games without him, there were so many weird factors in there that made it's so that it's hard to really gauge what their needs are. I think there are clear obvious needs like shooting in

a little bit of shot making. But it's hard to say for sure whether or not they need to overhaul things because what you know, as Lebron said in his postgame press or like we never got to see our full team. You know, even when they were all out there, it was they were still kind of they were like in game one of that series against the Suns. You know, the Suns are in like a well oiled machine, just on the tracks, going full speed, and the Lakers are

like in training camp mode. Literally there. They might as well have been in training camp. That's where they were at. That's something that I talked about frequently. It's just like a rhythm that you have to build up, Like even for Lebron is like a jump shooter and like as a ball handler and stuff. It's just hard to just go from not doing it to just suddenly doing it, you know, at a really high level. And and that's

why it's too hard to to really gauge. And then lastly, as far as judging that team, I think we can all agree that the spacing was a legitimate issue that made it really difficult to evaluate. Even something as simple as how is Lebron aging because you're right, they were just sitting on the nails in help side, and if he beat his man to the to the to the basket left or right, he had to like immediately spin back or cut back or do something like that or

try to bowl somebody over. There was there was nothing that resembled the type of spacing that the Clippers had, and part of that as roster design, but another part of that was literally, in my time launching basketball, I've never seen a group of role players get the hips as bad as the Lakers did. Because they are limited in some ways, they aren't as bad as they looked. That was an outlier. Crazy, just complete mental breakdown of

the supporting guest. Everyone played well below what their regular season performance was, and some of that is like some of that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Yeah, for sure, it's kind of hard to tell like that, this was a season full of like no fans as well, right, and then all of a sudden you get to the playoffs and these stadiums are packed. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. It's kind of

hard to judge. And like going off Dennis Shrewder. I always say people are gonna totally forget that he had like two awesome games in Game two in Game three that the Lakers don't win out of those without him, Like he had like twenty points and he was getting to the rack and those again, those games were next to Lebron and a d and then obviously when those two went out, I think in game game five he had he went over nine and then in Game six

it was a blowout after the first quarter. But like that, that's what's so tough, Like I feel like he had a really good season and it's not like it's not like this is his first playoffs, right, Like he's a guy that um even lastly in the oil Cloma City, Like he had a good playoff run. It's not like the light should be well. I was in the bubble as well, but he's played in playoff games before as well,

So I don't know how to judge it. Like he went out with COVID twice, I think, right, I think it was two separate times that he got he got put into the protocols and every time he came back he really struggled. And that's again as hard as judge

like where these teams go. And the Lakers are kind of, um, kind of in a trap here because they can't just let him walk and then like sign somebody with that money as well, right, so like you're gonna have to resign him, Like I don't think he's going to get the number that he you know, got offered the extension,

but like they're gonna probably bring him back. And and that's where like it's it's really tough to kind of judge what happened in the playoffs, Like I don't I don't want to go off of six games to ruin the whole season, right, like six games going versus like the regular season and that sample, I think it's kind of more important. And and that's where they'll kind of judge.

At KCP, I think they kind of know what he has. Again, I don't think one bad series kind of mix up, and he also wasn't healthy I think for a full part of that as well, So judging all those guys,

Kyle Kuzma as well, like it it's really tough. I think they're gonna go into next year and try to run not run it back, but bringing back most of the players that they had and try to see what happens was because they were shooting a well to start the season and when you have the team healthy and before Andrew Drummand came on, you know, like you talked about the spacing a lot, Like I thought it was great when you had marked out there with a D

and then Dennis Shrewder like that's that's what they kind of switched out, right, They switched out a three and D shooter and Danny Green. We all again, Danny Green very very polarizing, but he is a spacer. He's a guy that teams usually do respect, except in the finals, but teams usually do kind of it would have been the second shooter that teams would have feared to leave open without a doubt exactly. Yes, So he's a guy

that teams do do stay on. Like you talked about Alex Cruz as first that can hit for three, teams are still going to kind of leave him open, right, He's just not that kind of volume shooter. He needs to be kind of wide open to take a three. Danny Green, people are gonna respect him on the shooter, and they kind of switched it out for Denni Shrewder.

And the point wants to bring another shot creator, a guy who can create off ball screens, a guy that can you know, run screen and roll with a D and kind of get him looks that just didn't happen in the playoffs and continuity whatever you want to blame it on, Like I think, I think it deserves kind of another chance to kind of see it. I thought, Dennis is, you know, like his competitiveness really kept us

in a lot of games. I thought his energy, like when we were kind of dead, similar to Montres Harold in a little bit a little bit lesser extent, but like his energy and effort kind of kept us in a lot of these games. And I find with him kind of I think he'll be back for sure. And I think that's where it's tough to kind of evaluate who who played, who played bad in the playoffs and

who didn't. Just with this weird season and you know, with the fans as well, Lakers were at like what eight thousand will Phoenix had, like I think sixty thousand or something like in all these kind of differences really went into that series. And the Suns are really good. Like I was saying before, I think you said Lakers in five and I was like, oh, man, I think the Sun's team is super legit. I think it's gonna be like six or seven. And they ended up winning

the series. But yeah, that's it's tough, man, when you're the seventh seed going against a really in a lot of chemistry on that Sun's team. Man, wish that wasn't I wish that wasn't the one thing that like, you know, the core formula of Lebron and a D plus leape defense clearly works because, you know what, whether regardless of what is around that, you know, whether or not they play a D at the five or at you know,

inferior shooting or really good shooting. Because even those two games they won in this series, they didn't shoot the ball. Well that was the crazy part. You know, Laker fans kept falling back on this idea, like, hey, just wait untill we start knocking down shots, you know what I mean.

And and so you know, I don't think you know, include game two they won in Phoenix, and yeah, Chris Paul didn't play much in the second half, but that was because partially because campaign was literally lighting us on fire, you know, and uh, and they were leaning heavily on that I don't think they wanted to play two tiny guards against that big Laker lineup. And like the thing is is, like the silver lining here is that core

concept of the way that this team is built. You know, healthy Lebron and a d elite defense is hard for teams to deal with. And and you know, Phoenix might not lose a home game this year. You know, they're they're that good, and they're that good at home, and the Lakers beat them on their home floor, you know, comfortably they want but I think they want by like

ten points or so. You know, like that was a you know, there are reasons to be optimistic, but like you know, we're going to talk about the off season in a more detailed way later on um in a

few weeks. But I think the core principle needs to be bring back everybody you can by by signing them to their normal whether it's you know, player options in the case of someone like Tread's, or it's a you know, a twenty million dollar year contract with someone like Shrewder or whatever you can get, CRUs so forth, whatever whatever

you can get. Just just get everybody under contract, because then you're gonna have a bunch of those intermedior intermediate contracts that you can put together into trades so that if something does pop up that looks like an opportunity, you know whether it is for someone like Buddy Healed or like a C. J. Mccollumn or something. And I'm just going random exam polls. I haven't really thought these through, but the point is that you needed to peach a

piece together contracts. You need the contracts first. So I think that I think the move is to sign everybody and deal with the the cap consequences later. And and that because the only way they're gonna be able to improve the roster, because I don't think they want a hardcap themselves. Again, the only way they're going to be able to improve the roster is the smaller portion in the mid level. Of the mid level exception veteran minimums

and trades. That's third, But that's the totality of their their options here, and so I think I think that's the smart path. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on kind of surface level with this Laker season before we move on to some of these other series. No, I mean, I think this was like a really frustrating

kind of season. Um, just in totality, I feel like the second or third most important thing was like HDS development, which is funny, like you don't usually do that on a championship level team, but it felt like his development kind of became one of the most important parts of the season just the way it down. We'll see how he kind of moves forward next year. I know you have um different feelings about him, but like the Lakers

at least got something out of this season. I think that's that was the main thing, and the next year you hope that you know, you just stay healthy. Um. Injuries is a tough thing to kind of blame the whole season on, considering there's like injuries every year, but I just think this one was really frustrating. I don't think we ever got Anthony Davis this year either. Maybe that's just a tax that was a championship tax that this season kind of went so, so you know what

we'll see next year. But yeah, I feel like that that kind of puts a lid lid on the lid on the Lakers here. Yeah, so rosen are going to continue to do plenty of Lakers stuff throughout the off season. Um, but obviously we're basketball fans, so we're going to continue to do um as much of this kind of stuff

as we can throughout the playoff run. I wanted to start with this, uh the Nets series, UM with with Milwaukee, and you know, before we even get into the nuts and bolts of the series, I wanted to pay a compliment to Kevin Durant because I don't think people really lies just how big of a deal that performance was, above and beyond the obvious, you know numbers. You know, we've we've all heard the numbers. He had thirty one in the second half. He assisted another eighteen, so he

scored or assisted on forty nine in the second half. UM. I thought he was awesome defensively, which is something that I've been critical of him a lot, you know, compared to his peers. I just never thought he cared as much as his peers at the position. And and but he showed in that game that he's will he's actually actually capable of anchoring at the defense. I wish we

already knew, but he showed it again. And then you know, the biggest thing is like, like you know, there's a chance that Harden gets healthy and there's a chance that maybe Kyrie comes back in the finals and it's gonna it might look easy, they might win easily. And I think people are going to forget this game because this is it kind of reminded me of Game six for Lebron in Boston in the sense that you know, they kind of us through the thunder, kind of handled him,

not not not souper. It wasn't a blowout or anything, but they kind of one relatively comfortably in the finals, and people forget that, like it was that close to falling off the rails in that Boston series, also because of injuries, because that series was the series that Bosch missed the beginning with an abdominal strain, and even in that Game six he came off the bench. And you

can't put it anymore playing than this. If Kevin Durant has forty instead of the nets probably a ninety are like nine not just lose the game, they lose the series. They lose they lose the series if he doesn't do that, meaning they there are chances in you know, in this

series is still very much not over. There still is a talent chasm here, and and we're going to talk a little bit about you know, some of the coaching malpractice from from Mike Buddenholzer, But like, I just want to take a minute to compliment Kevin Durant on what was an absolute master piece, one of the best basketball games I've ever seen any player ever play. And and just remember that, like and it's you know, one more thing that Darius Oriano actually from Blaker Phil Room said

this on a pod yesterday. He goes he goes the path that Kevin Durant shows kind of concealed how great he was over the last few years. And and it just strictly because he never had to dig that deep. And and what was so cool about that last night it was it was the first time since two thousand sixteen where he was in because like, you know, I don't want to hear it about those shots in Cleveland,

Like yeah, yeah, they were great shots. Yeah, he played amazing, but like he could have he could have won out there and had twelve points on four of seventeen shooting their winning the series. Like they might not have won that game, but they're winning the series. There was no real pressure to those moments. And what he did in that game was, you know, dig deep and do something he absolute we had to do in order to to

keep his team alive. And I think I just think that's really cool because that's the best part about the NBA super the superstar experiences. The NBA Superstars are so good and so much better than everybody else on the floor that when they do dig deep like that, like crazy magical stuff like that happens, And as a basketball fan,

I just thought it was so cool. And I think that's what most like, like saying those Warriors titles don't count is dumb, right, those those narratives that have been talked about on all these UM Sports shows and first taken all that where they talk about the Durant's titles. But I think that's the main thing that most people are kind of annoyed about that is like it felt like when Katie would drop forty on those, like, you know, those Super Warriors teams, it felt more like an overload

instead of like him having to do it right. And he totally can. He could totally carry a team like this um for a whole year, like he just he has that kind of talent. I feel like that's the stuff that we kind of missed out on being on

this team. And I thought with him and Kyrie, I thought it was awesome that he got another kind of shot to do that, to kind of be the main kind of score where if he doesn't score thirty five, they lose, you know, that kind of not pressure, but that kind of like where they rely on his scoring. It felt like, you know, obviously he was the Finals

MVP twice. You can't take that away from him. It just it just didn't feel the same, didn't have the same kind of those points, didn't feel the same, I guess, as they do in these games. And I thought kind of the hard and trade kind of UM mass that as well this season. But obviously with those two, with Kyrie and Harden out, you're kind of seeing what he

can do. And to me, he's the greatest scorer I've ever seen, like just personally, like his ability to come off a screen and just shoot UM and no one

can really bother it. And I actually said, we'll talk about with the coaching staff the opposite coady staff did with him UM, which I thought was not practice as well, but you know, him being able to just come off down screens like I just never seen a guy at that size like I think he's listed at like six tent but like, I feel like he's a legit seven foot of being able to come off screen, shoot handle, you know, left to right, crossover, pull up, Like there's

just unguardable stuff, stuff that you just don't see from guys that side. So to me, he's like the best score I've ever seen, and it's cool to see him kind of get his flowers on this team. And he really outplayed kind of honest as well, and you kind of saw the difference in what kind of matters in the playoffs, Like we see what matters in the regular season, and then once you get to the playoffs, like shot making is the king. Like a guy who can create

his own shot is everything. And we can bring it back to Lakers later, but like it's just you see guys that's able to come off and pull up, which I think is the most important thing in the playoffs. You need a guy who can when everything is taken away, when teams are locked in, um, you don't get open looks. You need a guy that you can just give the ball to and be like, hey, we need a shot here.

And Kevin Durant is one of the best ever at that being just come off a screen and pull up or you know, you know, isolation and just just rise above anybody. And it was it was awesome to be able to watch that and and see him just tear a team's heart out. They had like a twenty point lead and once they saw Durant kind of hit those first shots, like that's really demoralizing. It's like, what do we do? You know, you play up on him and he drives by you. You hear in some weak drop

coverage and it's a layoup. That midirate and shot is a lay up for him. Um, you kind of playoff or you know, you drop back, you try to cheat under the screen and hits at three. It's just just stuff. That's three level scoring. That's just you know, the best ever to kind of do that at that level. Yeah, there was like a little jab step jumper on the left elbow that he made in the fourth quarter that

was like he need to look easy. And I remember sitting there thinking like this is one of the huge advantages of three level scoring is that ability to um, you know, hit a stand still shot like that out of a out of a face up that allows you to get save your save your legs a little bit, he got to the foul and a couple of times driving along the right side, you know that there was

it just was. The variety is. Variety is what allows you to to adjust and and have the ability to you know, kind of be one step ahead of a defense as elite as that as that Milwaukee Bucks defenses. And you know, the last thing I'll say about KT before we move on. You know, I think that if you're putting you know, superstars in the NBA A on tears and you know, I know a lot of people think that this stuff is silly, but I think it's fun.

I think it's fun to rank players. You know, if you're you're not into that sort of thing, I'm sure you can find some other podcast out there. But like, I I think that, uh, you know, Kauai, Steph Lebron and and k D are all kind of on the same tier as in, like the only four guys that we are certain can be the best player on a

championship team. That said, like, I feel like there's an obvious and discernible gap between k D and Kauai um in the sense that, like, even when when KAD does engage himself defensively, he's not as good on the ball, but he's like a much better in help side. And then that that level of shot making that he has

is even a clear level above what Kauai does. And and what was crazy is I was I had been thinking that before that game, and then you watched the visible chasm that exists between him and Janice just like a absolute like like it's jarring when you're watching the game to see the difference between the two of them, and you know, someone the thing that was making the rounds yesterday was the last couple of days, was the

A D and Janice stuff again. And I think that the A D. Janice stuff is the perfect example of the difference between a floor razor and a ceiling razor, because I don't think a D can hold a candle to Joannice as a baseline superstar to build a team around for an a two game regular season, as a guy that can run a rudimentary regular season NBA offense and score and create enough offense to to have a you know, fifty plus win season and at least get you to the playoffs, I think he's just flat out

considerably better than a D at that but when things really grind down and scheming plays a role and the game gets into the half court and teams are are really cutting off everything that's easy in a way that they don't in the regular season, I think a d is considerably better. Like I think there's a chasm in the other direction. And so it's as simple as like, would you rather have him as a number one or

a number two? And if I already have a Lebron or a James Harden, I'm picking Anthony Davis over Janice. But if I don't have that player yet, I'd rather have a nice and go after an elite high and playmaker, which is why it was such a huge mistake for them not to go after Chris Paul. Yeah. Absolutely, And like looking at you, honest, like he's like the like he gets blamed a lot for what the Bucks do and it's kind of funny look at his line after it's like thirty five, twelve and and like five. But

it's like a difference in regular season and playoffs. And I think it's really tough when your main creator can't shoot, you know, like that's just a fundamental flaw like in your kind of team building. So it's tough when their perimeter main perimeter shot creators are like Drew Holiday and Chris Milton, and those are two guys like the Brooklyn that's just aren't worried about kind of beating them. And

comparing a D and your honest, like it's tough. I think you honest has a much better motor in the regular season, Like he's a guy that plays, you know, plays, uh knows to the wall every single game, and a D just doesn't approach the regular season like that, at least he hasn't. Um Last year was a little bit better, but especially this year, like he's just not going for regular season kind of points awards and things like that,

and that's where you honest really excelled. And when you get to the playoffs, everyone's kind of playing hard, and again, when you can't shoot, it's just really tough. We saw it last year. A d shot making was a huge part of the Lakers winning a title, Like it's we kind of forget, we forget after a game two, we were wondering if he was the Finals MVP. Like his his shooting, his ability to hit that midrange kind of jab step pull up, it's kind of what won them

a lot of the series against Houston. That's what changed the game. Houston went all and you obsolutely punish their switches, and you see Joannice Brooklyn goes small and Jannest just

can't punish them at all either. Right, they are able to switch Bruce Bown on him, switch all these guys, Blake Griffin on him, like an older Blake Griffin, and he just can't do anything because like if he doesn't have any touch on a jump hook, and it's just just so funny, Like I was watching the Nets Bucks game, just funny to watch John is like have zero touch on like a hook shot, right, like a plane hook shot from like two ft and you watch Katie get

the rebound, dribble up and shoot a thirty five ft or that just switches in. It's just a funny, like just the contrast of like kind of skill level there that that's just a difference when you're shot creators. I think Billy has every bone head center in NBA history has been able to make a two ft hook shot. And because they practice that, you could tell that the coaching staff isn't having him work on that enough. Right now, should get he's bullying down and he's getting within five

ft of the basket and that's the shot they're getting in. Yeah, and there's no touch on it. No, And he also settles for these fade away jumpers. You know that Brooklyn absolutely throws a priddy any paray at anytime he takes and these like dribble up three is like, I think the dribble up threes are like kind of okay if you're up like fifteen, you know, like it's just like a like a like closed the door type of shot, right. I just I don't like those when you're down or

when the game is close. Like he's just too Brooklyn has zero into kind of defense to really stop them. And I like I was going with, like I think Philly has this issue too, where their main kind of perimeter shot creator, because I think that's really important in

the playoffs. Like I think their main perimeter shock creators like Tobias Harris, right, and uh yeah, like Tobias because Ben Simmons just stayed in the ducker's part and it's really tough just to give you give the ball to Jewel and beat every time who's a really good jump shooter. It's just I think when he takes those mid range fade away jumpers. I think, you know, Atlanta is fine with that. So it's just like that's a tough part

when you don't have star levels shot creation. Um, I think in the playoffs really tough when we're seeing that with Milwaukee as well. Um, when with the honest trying to just give him the ball and he's just running his head into a brick wall every time, and sometimes he breaks through the wall like sometimes he does. You can see it's taxing. It's tiring to just run in the paint against three dudes every time and trying to score. Like he gets worn down at the end of these games.

You see him stop attacking that way. He doesn't want to get to the line. To me, the free throws is the bigger issue here. I don't know if you agree with that, but the free throws to me is the biggest issue for him over the jump shot, over the post game, Like his aggression level drops because he doesn't want to get to the line that you know, that allows Brooklyn to get even more into the pain. Like it's just a domino effect for me for him.

So that's where I kind of see these Bucks net series um going here, Yeah, well and allowing your player to sit there and think about the free throw that he's not good at shooting for ten seconds before he shoots is just like, whoever, yeah, whoever approved that in that organization? That needs to get fired. But you know, the thing is, and this is why the series is

not over. The You know if Lebron, if Lebron was on the Bucks even at age thirty nine, what he's doing in the game is he slowly bringing the ball up the floor every possession he's finding James Harden and he's either getting Chris Middleton on him, or he's getting Drew Holiday on him, or he's doing something along those lines. And he is slowly trying to suck the life out of you for playing a lineup that he knows can't

beat him. And what was so missing from the Bucks in that game is that calming, steady presence that can make those decisions. Because even Drew Holiday, who's the point guard of that team, like in the fourth quarter, was breaking off and isolating against Kevin Durant, and you're like, what are you doing? Man? You know Chris Middleton doing

the same thing. I'm like, this is the only guy on the floor you shouldn't be going at and like and just in general, there are some obvious you know that you know, I have a buddy who plays on my little men's league team that I play with on Sundays, and he played basketball Wisconsin back in the day, and uh, and so he's a big Bucks fan and I was talking to him about this at length, and he's and

it's all the same stuff that you've heard. It's it's the for some reason, Harden and Katie are playing more minutes than than any other book stars. The Bucks are making absolutely no attempt to make hardened garden space that you don't want to post up Harden. You want to make him Guarden space because that's where his hamstring is going to be useless. And you could tell when you watch him play, he's basically a decoy out there. He's playing the Jason Kidd role. You know, I'm gonna knock

down spot of threes and make basic basketball decisions. Then you have the fact that they continue to play Brooke Lopez Um, but in the same exact issue that we're seeing in this Clippers series with Um, with Rudy Gobert, you're using a rim protector against a five out lineup with shooting, and so for for Gobert, he what he kept doing is he kept getting sucked in on a drive and then his wide open three point shooter causes the team to rotate, and then he stays in the

paint and doesn't get back out to the three point line. The same thing is happening with brook Lopez. He's on Jeff Green, he's helping on a drive. He's shutting off the paint. That's great. The Nets aren't trying to score at the paint. They're kicking it out to Jeff Green. If he's open, he's making seven out of eight, and if he's not, he's moving it around to the next piece.

And guess what, brook Lopez is still in the paint, and it's like at a certain point and he and brook Lopez isn't even even in the same you know, stratosphere is Rudy Gobert. So I just don't understand the trade off there. But there's just some basic strategy stuff here that the Bucks can kind of just kind of calm down and understand they have a talent advantage and attack them properly. They should win Game six and they should be favored going into Game seven. They just have

to pull their head out of their ask. For lack of a better expression, I'm glad you brought up the Rudy gobert Um kind of brook Lopez, because I just didn't understand playing brook Lopez. It just felt like once he once he came in, like Hatie just soft food, and Katie was in full inferno at this point when the quarter started, and then yet brook Lopez in and this like like it's okay if you want to play a job kind of coverage, but I feel like it

has to be a little bit more aggressive. Like brook Clubs was already in the paint while Katie is behind three point line, and now Katie's just walking in and I saw someone tweet at me, well, that's a contested jumper. No, it's not like brook Lope his hand comes up like five seconds late. Um, that is not a contested shop for Katie. So those kind of things just confused me. I feel like you have to trap him, you have to get the ball, has to get to Bruce Brown.

Like brook Lopez, I see him worried about the cut from Bruce Brown, Like, now you've got to get the ball out of Kim Durant's hands. And then with Rudy Gobert as well, Um they're trying to hide him right like to me, like, if you can't punish the Clippers inside for playing small, like I feel like you're going to lose even without Kawhi Leonard because they're shooting is

just too good. You have to make them play Zoobach and the Jazz just don't because Rudy Gobert takes three seconds when he catches the ball to you know, gather himself, dribble and then try to shoot. And by that time he's either stripped, he's either fouled. Like they need to be able to punish him. They have Nick but Tom kind of switching on him and they don't care at all. And if you can't punish them going small, same with Brooklyn, if you can't punish them from going small, I feel

like you're going to lose. It's just it's just too tough. You have to kind of make them go big with you, and the JAD just can't do that, and neither can the Bucks. Round Brook Lopez catches in the posts, they're not scared of him shooting a jump. Brook Lopez is spacing like they're using him as a spacer. He's out like thirty five forty feet while Janice tries to barrel himself to the rim, and they're just not worried about that. Same with Utah. To me, it's like they doesn't care exactly.

And also like Gobert needs to be a force inside. He got some offensive rebounds last night, but I thought it was a little a little too late to me. And those offensive rebounds just don't aren't going to force the Clippers to go big either. They're trying to hide him on Terrence Man, hide him on Nick Patum, and we saw Terrence Man kind of dunk on him yesterday.

We saw Reggie Jackson like hunt him out, which I thought was kind of crazy to see Reggie Jackson look for the Gobert switch, which I thought was just a real, real funny thing to watch. But yeah, those two teams have some issues there. They need to be able to punish inside. If not, I feel like the shooters for both they're just are just too tough to kind of

kind of stop well. And and that's the thing, like you want to set yourself up with those rotations to to kind of have the math work out right, So like if like the way the Clippers are guarding the Jazz, the way the Nets are guarding the Bucks, it's a it's a really simple concept, you know, Like particularly with the Clippers, you know, we have these five mobile perimeter players, and if at any point someone has to help the whole team two ships and whoever was guarding the ball

handler that got burnt, he kind of gets into that shift and and and finds the next available guy. And because everyone's mobile, there just tends to not be anything open. That's just kind of the way that their their defense works. Well, you know, you know, are of one of the guys that I follow is uh he runs Jazz film room. Ben daw said he did a bunch of film analysis

last night. He's he keeps pointing to these road attians where you know, Clarkson's getting lost and and things along those lines, and and and one of the things that I think is getting glossed over there is the math is off because Gobert is in the paint. So now all of a sudden, instead of it being five guys rotating to five guys, it's four guys rotating to five guys.

Because Gobert is now in the paint because he helped on the drive and the driver has already run back out to the three point line, but Gobert has stayed in the paint. And and now you're kind of running like almost like a four out one end zone. And but if there's five shooters, and if they if they rotate the ball well enough, they're still getting open shots. And and and that to me is like, you know, I think, I think this is something that I did,

something I tweeted last night. It's something I believe. You know, the Rockets got kind of roasted for their switching defense in two thousand eighteen for it being for being kind of gimmicky, um and something that was uh, you know, not just Anibal and and and it and it wasn't because you know, the the greatest offensive team ever picked them apart at the end of the day. But I do think like switching is the future right now as

of right now, that there's always gonna be there. There will be another shift where the we're switching will get attacked too well by NBA offenses. But NBA offenses haven't quite figured out how to properly attack a switching defense yet other than isolation. And so because of that, like I think, I think, like, look at how well the Nets and the Clippers are playing, and there you're too heavily switching teams right now. It is it's very obvious

that that works right now in the league. And so I would actually, you know, just temporarily bring this back to the Lakers. I'd like to see them do that a little bit more. And it's something that they can only do in a d S at the five unfortunately. But there's something to be said about switching in the way that it stagnates another team causes guys like Drew Holiday, Chris Middleton, you know, Donovan Mitchell to lose their minds a little bit and not know what to do and

resort to just throwing up bad shots. Like I can't tell you how many times in the fourth quarter of both those games, either Mitchell or Drew Holiday or Chris Middleton threw up a bad shot, sometimes even early in the shot clock. And it's because like all of their offensive you know, motion attack is based on you know, teams playing a traditional defense and they get up the floor and they run that first action and it's a switch and They're like, what do I do now? Well, like,

I think I can. He's kind of giving me a little bit of space, like maybe I can just elevate over the top, you know, or shoot a step back or something. And and so I do think I think that this this playoff run has been kind of a case study in the fact that going a bit smaller in favoring switching defenses, favoring shooting, doing traditional drive and kick, not necessarily driving to get all the way to the rim, but driving to get that first defender so that you

can get out to an open shooter. That stuff works really well even in a playoff setting. And I think that I think that that's been something that I just you don't have to abandon your identity if you're the Lakers. But I'd like to see them add that as like a VERSTI like a like an audible that they could go to if that makes sense. No, for sure. And I like that you brought out Houston because's kind of funny.

Last year, like we forget like Houston was really successful with their switching defense, right they they won Game one

I think by like twenty points or something like that. Um, And how did the Lakers beat that they had Anthony Davis right, they were switching these small guards and I think that's the only like bad thing about switching is that the other team can kind of hunt who they want, right, So we saw Lebron as well hunt Brussell Westbrook every single time because like Houston, Robby switch everything, so Lebron can kind of get the magic he wants, or Anthony Davis kind of can get the magic he wants. That's

the only thing was switching. And I feel like for Utah, like you talked about it, like you have to be able to punish when they switch, and I think that's where Mike Conley has really missed for them. Like Mike Conley is a big part of them being able to attack because obviously Utah, like with all their shooting, the main like the easy kind of defensive scheme is to switch everything. Right, they want to shoot three, so just switch everything. And that's where I think you need another guy.

Donovan Mitchell, you know, did a great job. I thought this series really keeping them keeping their head above water. Um scoring forty points thirty five points on pretty good efficiency other than last night. But um, that's where Mike Conley is really missing on the guy who can not only attack swhich is but really can find Gobert down low and really feed him. Loves Donovan Mitchell is a is a good pastor. He's not. Mike Conley is the guy who's actually looking to get others involved, which I

think is a difference there. And he's a guy that can really beat you with speed, get to the rim, hit threes, and I think they really missed that against this Clippers team. Like you, I feel like it'd be tougher to switch if we have two guys that can really punish you the Clippers. The only guy that're worried about Donovan Mitchell. I don't worried about Bogdanovitch beating them and switches or you know Royce O'Neil getting to the basket a few times. Like it's really Donovan mitchell um

doing that. And Drew Holiday as well, you brought him up. He's another guy that he's a good score, but he's not like his skill isn't to shoot off the dribble, right. And that's where Brooklyn like switching really baits you into that based players into trying to match up um Matt trying to go in isolation when they maybe that's not their skill set, so that that's where switching kind of hurts them. And I think these two series kind of

have played that out. Unique guys who can punish you, especially when you're a big man, can't be honest and Rudy Gobert not to compare them, but those two really aren't punishing the other team inside, and so the teams can continue switching, continue staying small, skill ball small ball, still be able to stay small and space out five out, and it's just that's really tough. You lose the math

game there, m M. Yeah. And you know what's what's exciting about potentially playing a little bit more of that style with the Lakers is they can attack switching defense. Is they have the skill set in their roster to do that. Um, you know. And one of the reasons why it's kind of in the same way that that

Kevin Durant does. The the ability to put your back to the basket or attack and face up, or attack and pick and roll or attacking like the ability to go to a bunch of different styles of of isolation offense with Lebron and a D gives you the ability to attack both ways. But you know, I know, we gotta get you out of here, UM because of work. I want to make sure that we, UM, you know,

stay consistent with this stuff. Maybe either uh, you know, after tomorrow night's games or sometimes sometime this weekend, we'll do another one of these spaces after the game. UM. But I wanted to get back and and kind of do like a little recap of the Lakers season. Everyone who hopped in. I have this recorded, so I will post it on our podcast feed if you missed any of it, and you can check it out in its entirety here, probably within the next twenty minutes or so.

But Roger, I appreciate you taking some time before work today to hang out. I'm glad to be back. I look forward to doing this for a long time with you, and I'm excited for this offseason and and hopefully another UM running a championship at some point in the future. Yeah. Man, it feels good to be back to like a week to pe a list off. So it's nice to be

back in the fold again and talking basketball. Even if it's not the Lakers, we can really get into these teams as well, so it's a lot of times to be back. It's cool to be back, all right, everybody, enjoyed the rest of your Thursday, and stay tuned on the podcast feed and and Roger and I'll see you at some point before the end of the week. Appreciate everyone. Thank you.