Episode 69: Russell Westbrook Is A Laker

I was preparing for that, um Hard Summer. I don't know if most people don't know what Hard Summer is, a huge music mestival here in Sanbordino Friday and Saturday, just you know, relaxing. Was ready to get to my Friday, Um, buddy healed, Rumors started swirling, and you know, I'm allays here posting. You know, we haven't had a shooter like this since you know, I'm not sure when you know, how are they going to defend him coming off curls, coming off layer screens? You posted that that play where

they kind of screen him in the corner. You know, We're all excited and then bam, it just turns right away to Russell Westbrook. So yeah, but I'm good. How how are you? I'm doing I'm doing well. Yeah. You know, that was one of the most strange phenomenon phenomena that I can remember, uh in my time following the NBA, where all of this intel is pointing towards Buddy Healed.

And in addition to that, it's like the clearest consensus, no brainer move that we can remember, especially surrounding the Lakers, who have been heavily critiqued in terms of the way they've built their roster. Well, you know, you've got Laker fans who are extremely excited about the the potential of having this talented of a shooter next to Lebron and a d all the different actions that can work, what

kind of stuff he can bring to the team. And then outside of Lakers Twitter, I tweet it out yesterday in the afternoon, like, Hey, for all of my followers who are not Laker fans, what do you think about this move? And it was near unanimous that it made them significantly better. It was just a massive approval rating of this potential Buddy Heel trade. But there was one hiccup. They needed Montrese Harold to opt in in order to match salaries, So waiting around all day trying to see

if Montrese Harold is gonna opt in. He does, and Woes tweets out that all signs are pointing towards this buddy Heel trade, and almost immediately Sham's comes in from the top rope with his report that they're actually nearing a deal with Russell Westbrook, and all hell broke loose

on Twitter, including myself. And this is something that you know, in retrospect, I need to be better about, like and part of it was because I was so excited about the possibility of a buddy Heel trade and what he could do to help that team, and just the mass of swing an emotion from that to to this potential US Russell Westbrook trade that I almost exclusively reacted negatively and I was tweeting about all the different ways it

could go wrong. And I think it's very important, as we've discussed this today, that we emphasize that there are two sides to the Russell Westbrook coin, and there are good things that he brings to the table. The reality of the situation now is regardless of whether they still get Buddy healed or if they still get auto porter or if they still get all these shooters or not. Regardless of what happens, Russell Westbrook is a Laker, He's going to be at training camp, He's going to be

playing for the team. So we need to figure out how that works. And so my my first question for you is just in general, how do you forget about role players for right this second? How do you feel about the natural basketball fit of Russell Westbrook next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So I was like you, I did not think this was happening. My friends were kind of texting me this rumor a couple of weeks,

you know, like last week or something. I was like, I'll buy a Westbrook jersey if he comes to the Lakers. I'll buy Westbrook jersey. That's how sure I was. This was not happening. It wasn't gonna fit. At first. I was shocked at I don't like the basketball fit at first. I think that was what most people thought. As you watch like him play, you watch you know, his not his highlights, but like what he does on the court,

you kind of understand where it's going. And I saw some of this like, hey, what if Westbrook comes off the bench. No, Westbrook's not coming off the bench, Like, no, this is gonna be like people like, oh, well, let's see how the rest of the roster looks. Well, yeah, that's important. But in the playoffs you can have Westbrook, Lebron and eighty on the floor, Like that's your main core of team that's gonna be on there. He's not coming off the bench running a second unit forty million dollars.

That's not what he comes to l a for. Like, oh yeah, Westbrook can change, Yeah, he can fit in a little better around the stars, but he's here to do what Russell Westbrook does. What does west west or Westbrook do attack the rim. He's a relentless guy that

gets to the rim, relentless guy in transition. Um, he kind of fits his Laker film room talks about this a lot, how the Lakers really trying to get to be physical, to dominate you in a physical manner, similar to how Dwight Howard kind of plays What's Work is kind of that way. He's like a mini kind of you honest in that way where he really just tries to drive the whole time. Again, takes jumpers that he probably shouldn't teams are gonna leave him open to me?

His percentages, Like I don't know about what you think about this, Jason, but like people are putting up his spot up three point percentages, I almost throw those out. He's such a like a I don't know see, like a Jackal and Hyde shooter that teams aren't gonna guard him anyway, no matter, regardless regardless that he can shoot four department number three, teams are not gonna guard him. It's maker miss, it's all the other stuff. Is he doing? Is he's taking bad shots? Is he, you know, making

right decisions on the floor. That's where I see. But I feel a lot better about today than I did yesterday. How about you do? How do you feel about him on the team. So it reminds me in terms of the organic basketball fit to the Big three in Miami with the heat Now, Dwyane Wade is a significantly better basketball player. Even the diminished version of Dwyane Wade was a significantly better basketball player than this version of Russ.

But the point is is that Dwyane Wade was not a spot up shooter type of spacer the way that he eventually messed with Lebron was selective cutting and offensive rebounding, which is almost exactly what Russ is going to do.

The big reason why I think Dwyane Wade was a better fit then with Russell Westbrook is that if you're going to be that guy who hurts in terms of spacing but makes up for it with offensive rebounding and cutting and and off ball defense and protecting the rim and all those things, you almost can't have the bad

side that comes with it. Dwyane Wade was such a high basketball i Q and played so under control that the total, you know, plus minus of all the pros and cons of what he brought to the table netted a positive result for that Heat team. What scares me about the specific fit is, in addition to hurting the spacing while there is good that comes with him crashing the offensive glass and putting pressure on the rim and cutting off of Lebron and all those things. I worry

about decision making. You know, Russell Westbrook is a player that goes a hundred miles an hour all the time. There is no change of pace to his game, and it's it's one of those things where I wonder if that will kind of tilt that balance into sometimes on

some nights, being a net negative for the Lakers. You know, at a certain point, Russell Westbrook sometimes gets in his own way by trying to do too much um, and there will be nights when he's with the Lakers where he's going to do so much good that it just feels like this overwhelming force and you're gonna be like, man, this looks great. But I think for every night like that, there's gonna be nights where he tries to do too much and it ends up hurting the team. And and

so that's that's kind of like my initial impression. Now as far as the basketball fit, I kind of twe did this out a little bit yesterday, but the general idea is, if you're looking for a silver lining, a reason that the Russell Westbrook fit could work, I want you to think about the general ideology that the guys from Laker Film Room have been talking about a lot over the last couple of weeks, which is the identity of the Lakers as just a physically overwhelming team when

you add Russell Westbrook to the mix, as a big, strong, athletic guard who relentlessly pressures the rim, who grabs a ton of offensive rebounds, who at least when he's trying and when he's focused, can be a physically dominating defensive player. It adds to that identity. It makes it so that in the Rock Fight, not only do the Lakers have Lebron and a d just wrecking havoc around the rim,

now you've got Russell Westbrook in there too. He's going to be a physical problem for smaller guards in playoff series, for the Damian Lillards, for the Chris Paul's, for those types of guys in these off series. That is the

silver lining. That's how it could work out. But I just see a lot of ways it could go wrong, with the spacing, with him going off script, with his decision making, with him he's he's got that Rondo quality if sometimes he just goes for the home run steal instead of staying in the defensive scheme, which can get him out of position, which can hurt the defense. Overall. I'm worried about some of the ways it could go wrong, but that physical dominance is the way I could see

it going right. Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, and this is the first time I think in like three or four years, He's going to be asked to really be this connected on defense as well. Right, Like the last time probably was those under teams. Once he got his own team, he was not the defender that that he was before. He's going to crash the glass and everything.

One thing, I was surprised. I don't know if you were able to really dive into Westbrook film yet, but like he's still very athletic, Like he's not like he hasn't lost as much a step as I thought he would have. Um watching his place with with the Wizards. Still super fast, one of the fastest guards, still on the top two or three percent of athletes. And again that just fits what the Lakers are trying to do. Um, they have all these athletic freaks down the starting line up.

Lebron is still one Anthony Davis. They're just gonna try to maul you over with physicality. I try. Like when I watched his tape, like I'd rather watch him in Houston. I feel like that's more of what the Lakers are trying to do. UM with the Wizards, I mean, he had he was setting up guys like Alex lenn you know, Um, Thomas Bryant, all these like really young dudes not really ready to win when I played watch him in Houston.

I don't know about you, but I think like Westbrook will kind of be the center in a lot of lineups, you know what I mean, Like they'll kind of imverse the offense where like eight is kind of the four, and then Westbrook kind of plays the five where he's the screener. And then you could that's what he did for James Harden and line it was really successful where he's kind of the screener for Lebron where Lebron is

kind of making decision making. Um. But yeah, the one big question is off the ball, right, like can he be a guy sitting in the dunker spot? Can he being a guy that just crashes the board consistently? Going to be a guy that doesn't take the open three, you know what I mean, the guy that doesn't take terrible shots. He's gonna have four for twenty nights. That's just what comes with the package. Yeah, yeah, that's that comes to the package of Russell Westbrook. Like he's not

a guy. This isn't his second year in the league, you know what I mean, This is what I don't know what year but it's in multiple he is what he is. Yeah, I mean he's gonna he can change here and there. But you know what I mean, I'm seeing people saying he's gonna change. I mean, Russell Westbrook's coming here to be Russell Westbrook. Like, don't get that confused. So what do you think about him off the ball?

That's around kind of worried, Like I like him as a screener, but I mean you don't pay Russell Westbrook forty five million dollars to be a screener, you know what I mean. So, like he's gonna have a lot of on ball. I think this helps a deal lot, you know, Like I feel like these non Lebron minutes now have a pure creator on the floor. I don't think Dennis Truder was ready for that. Um, So what do you think about him off the ball? Kind of where where can he be successful there? With this team?

So the Russell Westbrook acquisition makes the surrounding moves so

much more important, uh than they were with Healed? You know, I with with Buddy Healed, you could have basically just brought everybody else back, like you could have gone, here comes west We'll bring back Crusoe and th HD on typical you know, rookie extensions, and we're gonna, you know, bring back Mark Keith Morris and and we'll just sign some standard veteran veteran minimum guys, and it all just would have worked because the Buddy healed is such a

natural basketball fit and one of the reasons why I was so excited about Buddy Held. And he's not off the table now. Allegedly there are some scenarios where it could work, probably a three team deal involving sign and trading him to somebody who gives stuff to the Kings,

who send hell to the Lakers. But like but with a team that puts so much relentless rim pressure, Buddy Held as a player that sucks people away from the rim, whether it's through screening actions off ball, having him flying off the screens that occupies off ball defenders, whether he's an on ball creator with Anthony Davis as a screener, or whether he's just a spot up guy. He pulls guys away from the rim, which would have naturally kind of made everything else work. With Russ, it's gonna be

the opposite effect. It's gonna be a total sellout to the rim for the defense, so it becomes that much more important for the other two guys that are on the floor with those three to be high level shooters. You know, there's kind of like a counterbalance with spacing, right, and we saw that tilt way out of whack when Anthony Davis got hurt. Right Like, when Anthony Davis was playing, everything seemed to make just a little bit more sense

with where the guys were being aggressive offensively. Then he went down and all of a sudden, it was like it was like a black hole in the pain. There were just bodies everywhere. Well, that's the way it's gonna be with that balance, you know, uh a d uh Lebron Russ lineup with auto Porter and budd healed spacing is gonna be fine because four of those guys, like Lebron's the worst spot upshooter in that lineup and he or maybe him in a D. So it's like you're

you're you're gonna be fine. But if that's Alex Caruso and Wesley Matthews, now is it gonna tilt way too far to where there's just not enough room for guys to create Because Caruso, you can kind of play him with a fifty fifty split, you know, play like a traditional shell drill and Russell Westbrook I can abandon entirely and basically just tap my foot in and out of the paint and and just be there, you know. And

Wesley Matthews same thing. You know. So that's gonna be critical is how how they weigh that as far as what he needs to do when he's off ball. You brought up one of them. Use him as a screener. That's one of the best ways to involve a guy that they ignore, because at the very least what's probably gonna happen is they're gonna trap off of his screen and you can hit him on the short role where he can make decisions, kind of like what the Warriors

do with Draymond Green. And the other thing you can do is have him constantly set screens off the ball four shooters, which will make the defense make decision and occupies defenders. But the biggest thing is gonna be his ability to cut to the basket off of guys like Marcusol and Lebron and his ability to get offensive rebounds. If he can do that, it's gonna be like that meter and it needs to tilt in favor of him

having positive impact. If if he's missing spot up shots, he's not getting rebounds, he's not creating havoc as a screener, it's gonna tilt the other way and it's gonna be a problem to where he's hurting their team with their spacing. But that that's the kind of stuff to keep an eye on him, Yeah, for sure. And mean he's an amazing rebounder and we can't take that away from I think that's the thing that will really help the Lakers that really pushed the pace, Like the real play faster,

Anthony Davis will play faster. Get him going. Anthony David was just being himself. I think is a huge thing that a lot of people are kind of forgetting this offseason. Um A d and Lebron together healthy back, healthy, with a motivated Russell Westbrook, I think, I don't. I think that will help with help as well. Westbrook has a lot of flaws, like he just does. They're very loud. Um. I don't want to compare him to Andre Drummond, but like when he has a bad game, you're gonna know it,

right Russell Westbrook doesn't have quiet bad games. It's not like, Oh, Russell Westbrook kind of a bad game tonight. I didn't even I didn't even realize. No, it's gonna be like five for twenty five, you know what I mean, yelling and screaming and yes, and that's the that's the process of Russell Westbrook. That's just what it is. Now, can Lebron and a D kind of bridge that gap to where like if he's having a gag game, but both of those are going you know what I mean? And

Russell Westbroks doing other things. Um, he's I think he's a better playmaker than he gets credit for. I think he's a big card of why Steven Adams is getting the contracts that he does. Um, I watched these case teams. He spoon feeds those guys watching watching Washington, He's spoon fed Alex Land. I'm excited to see him with a big like a D. He never had that. Um. In Houston, they kind of went really small, traded their only center, went with Robert Covington at the five, didn't really have

the big to play with. And again, Washington is is what they are. Um. But yeah, so I'm excited to see him with with a guy like a d How that works that kind of playmaking big um, He's never really had that kind of screener either. See what that does for him? And just yeah, when one of Lebron and Rusts get the rebound, the Lakers are off. Like, I think that's the positive he area. He's gonna be great in the regular season. That's my whole issue of this.

People would ask me, like, what do you think of Rust? Like, to me, the issue isn't in the regular season though, right Like, this feels like this is like a super regular season move. It was similar Toime Montrez last year was a regular season move and we all knew it, right, this is like the super extent of that. Westbrook is an amazing regular season player and the Lakers gonna win a ton of games with those just with the talent of those three, his motor, eighties motor. When he's healthy,

those there are gonna push through. It's the playoffs where I'm wondering and they're like, yeah, they might not work in like the second or third round, But then what are we doing all this for? This is the whole point of all this is to win in the playoffs. Why would you go out and get a player that helps you only in the regular seas And that's where like disconnect for me is there. You know, again, it could work. It's just I watched that second round super closely.

The Lakers game plan was to put a d on Westbrook and you let him run and him exactly make him shoot. And I watched that for a whole five games, you know, and I watched him do that consistently, watched Westbrook put up these shots that he should not be taking. Um. And again, maybe with more star power around it changes that. It's just that's my disconnection. That's the part that I'm having trouble. Like I watched Westbrook, I understand he super good.

Um My trouble here is in the playoffs. Like that's like what happens when teams game planned that way. You need at least one dead eye shooter next to them if this is gonna work. Um, So that's is that? What are you there as well? The playoff concern is the main thing for you too. Yeah, Well, it's because in the playoffs everything gets exaggerated. The amount of your spacing concerns get exaggerated. Just in general, like like that

Laker series was a classic example. The Lakers flat out ignored Russell Westbrook and the first time they did it, it was a huge problem. Russ had a nightmare game in the Lakers one and then the next game which I think it was either game through game four. They they I think it was Game three. He actually made a bunch of shots and made a bunch of bank shots, made it, made some threes, made a bunch of shots, but like it disjointed at the Rockets offense so much

that it just didn't matter and the Lakers won anyway. Um, but that that's the kind of thing you have to expect. I mean, you know, there's gonna be a lot that Russ can do with the ball. We just talked about him off the ball and and and yes those things are gonna be exaggerated in the playoffs, but he does bring a lot of good on the ball. That's where, especially in the regular season and running bench line ups

in playoff series, it's it's really gonna rear. It's ugly head the shooting stuff and the off ball stuff late in games in playoffs series. But for the most part, when he when he when he has the opportunity to make plays with the ball in his hands. There's gonna be a lot of good So let's talk really quick about the things that he does well with the ball. So first of all, like you said, absolutely incredible passer.

He's what probably one of the most underrated things about Russ is he's really good at manipulating a defense by putting that like semi transition pressure, like grabbing the rebound, taking three or four hard dribbles up the floor, makes the defense react one way or another, hits the big, hits a shooter, whatever it is that he's doing. He's a great passer. Secondly, he's a legitimate matchup problem for

smaller guards. The Lakers are the Lakers were have been a really good defense the last couple of years, and Russ has done a really good job in those matchups. Whether he's been with the Wizards or with the Rockets, he's done a really good job of finding the smallest Laker guard on the floor, posting him up and making some going through him and then going down the floor doing the rock the baby thing or whatever that he does. Like So you can see the vision there. You can

see the vision. The key is going to be getting the ball out of his hands at the biggest moments of the game, so that you or because his decision making is questionable, while at the same time letting him to have that impact off the ball. But you're right the dog days of the regular season, he's gonna be incredible. Playoff series, when you know it's the end of the first quarter in Lebron's taking his rest, having Russ out

there to run the offense, that's a big perk. It's just gonna be those specific scenarios where he needs to be incredible, and like you said, the moves on the periphery of this become that much more important. And I don't know, you know our guy Kings who does the POPA Jason Maples, he has this theory and it's actually an interesting theory, which is, you know, we heard about the Bogdanovitch fiasco last year, which, to make a long story short, was a sign and trade was agreed to

in principle to send Bogdanovitch to the Bucks. And almost immediately a bunch of people were like, who woa, whoa wa whoa Like, technically they can't even be talking to Bogdanovitch. This is ampering became this big, fat, hairy deal and then the deal ended up falling apart. So you would assume that anybody this summer who's thinking about doing a UH signing trade is going to be super careful to keep the intel out of the media too. You know, you smoke in mirrors and whatever it takes to just

kind of keep that out of sight, out of mind. Now, to my knowledge, they can't consummate the Russell Westbrook trade until the sixth, is that correct? So in theory that deal is still up in the air until the sixth and on. I believe the second or the first, it's like Sunday or Monday that this coming up, they can

start legally negotiating with free agents. So what will be interesting to see is if this deal just gets entirely reworked because Washington decides they'll take Dennis Shrewder, or if some other team gets involved and it ends up becoming a three team deal or a separate three team deal. But getting Buddy Hell becomes so much more important to kind of cancel out the negative impacts of Russell Westbrook spacing.

And I'm really interested to see if they can still pull that off because the Buddy heel thing was such a no brainer fit that I wonder if the reason why they went after Russ is because they knew they could also get Buddy. I'm really interested to see. I mean, are are you optimistic about that? Or do you think that's just heading the cloud stuff? Yeah, I'm more on the ladder there. I was seeing Eric Pinkins and he was saying that the only way that would work I

believe if like they signed and trade Dennis Shrewder. But then why would the Kings want Dennis Shrewder. I mean, I think they just dressed it a point guard um and they have obviously dear and Fox. While would they pay dear Dennis Shrewder um what he wants really quickly? Just aside, note how hilarious that Bugnanovich tampering thing is, Like that is total bullcrap to me, because you know, we just got a story that Russell Westbrook was that

Lebron James House two weeks ago. You know, I mean, like, what what is this tampering thing? Like where you're gonna draw the line? I I did a problem. I had a problem with the big Ganovitch thing. I thought that was I thought that was b s two, It didn't make any sense to me that like literally tampering is is rampant throughout the league, and then you were going to break Like I I think like the league has a somewhat of an obligation to make it not so apparent.

But at the same time, like I can't believe they actually stopped that deal from happening. Like that was pretty wild to me. Yeah, I usually like hit him on the wrist and keep it moving. I mean these like all these all these guys talk, I mean, tampering is such a loose term now, um, but yeah, I do think this deal gets reworked in some way. We already saw the Wizard's trade the first round pick the Lakers gave them um to Indiana, so you could see things

kind of moving around. I don't think they're done, but I do think Buddy Healed is more of like a behind the sky as well, just in hindsight to me, Like I don't, like, I know us on Lakers Twitter and all that probably really like really fascinating Buddy Healed, but like just this is the Lakers. Buddy Hell was never going to be. I guess the third option, right, Russell Westbrook has such a star kind of named to it.

Like it's just not just his production, but just the name Russell Westbrook that rings throughout the league, you know, like that's just what the Lakers do. He always seemed like a future kind of Laker player. I didn't think it would be this year. He just always seemed like a player that was gonna It's kind of funny he was the one that stayed in Okay see and all that. It's gonna be his fourth team in like four years, which is which is which is insanely about it? Yeah, exactly.

Which is insane to think about a guy Russell Westbrook who on the m VP like four years ago. You know, like that's that's kind of insane to see a guy who's moved on again. These guys you usually don't become available this early m vps at thirty two years old. But the talent is there. I don't think that's the question. The fit is the question here, But I think it can work. I feel a lot better about today after

watching Russell Westbrook play. Um, I need at least one elite shooter next to them, right at least I don't need at least dead eye shooter guy because they just dropped their best shooter. K cps their best shooter, and they just dropped him act. Yeah, So let me let me ask you, what do you think about the deal? I guess it's like KCP, Kyle Kuzman, Mantrese, Harold Mantrez didn't really play in the playoffs. I'm not worried about him.

Kuzma obviously struggled um, but I think he was a rotation playoff beast case be obviously probably the best kind of player in that. What do you think of those two guys, Like how the Lakers have to kind of replace them, I guess, and filling them for Russ Westbrook. So giving up Kuzma, Harold and KCP was literally the only way to get the deal done in terms of matching salaries, at least at this phase, in terms of agreeing in principle. And like you said, this could all

get reworked with Dennis Shredder. I have a hard time believing Washington would take Dennis Shredder because the whole purpose of them doing the trade it was to get Cat flexibility in hopes of signing an agent to play with bo one day. So if if Shrewder wants four years a hundred million. Why why in the world with Washington

want to get involved with that. So if there is a sign in trade for Shrewder, it will be a three team deal for some team that wants a point guard like the example I've seen thrown out a Chicago and I don't know whether or not they actually want to do that or not, but something like them throwing Lori Marking into the Kings, who then throw Healed to the Lakers, who throw Dennis Shutter and assigned in trade to the Bulls or whatever it is. There are versions

of that that could work. The part that I didn't understand was throwing in the first round pick like So it seems to me like the team that really is like like Washington, is benefiting by getting off of Russ's contract. They are because they they they had absolutely no flexibility with him, and they want to bring somebody else to come in and play with Beal. So they're getting off

that deal. They're getting the third best player on the champion Lakers in k C. P as A as a good three n D guard to play alongside Bradley Beal. They're getting Montrese Harrold, who is front coal. He's a rotation front court player. Maybe not out for a team that's got championship aspirations, but he's a rotation front court player. And then Kyle Kuzma at his at his salary is actually a good asset, good value. So they're getting a lot, and so I didn't understand the need to give to

throw in that number twenty two. But at the end of the day, value is set by the league. I don't know if there was another team out there that was bidding for Russ or if it became an issue of like, oh, it has to get done before the draft, or we're not or that, or we don't want to pick anymore, whatever it is. Like, I just didn't understand why they threw that in as far as filling it out the roster. This was something I tweeted out after I kind of calmed down after the news came out yesterday.

It's hard to judge this move into vacuum they have. If this move gets consummated as currently constructed, You've got Lebron, You've got Anthony Davis, you've got Russell Westbrook, you've got Marc Asol, You're probably you've got the rights to th h T and you've got the rights. I think Crusoe is unrestricted. Actually yeah, him back though, but yeah, But like those are the only six players that the Lakers have,

you know, real control over at this point. So there was intel that came out UH last week that said more or less, the Lakers are expected to expected to get a line of veteran minimum UH the guys to fill out the roster. So if if that's what they're getting, then then maybe this will all work out. But the bottom line is is if you're if you're looking at the roster, you need to have at least two big

guys that we can put next to Anthony Davis. I don't know if that's Dwight Howard and UH and you know Andre Drummond at the mini mid level or something along those lines. But they need a couple of bigs. You gotta add guard depth at that point because Caruso, th h T and Russ is not enough. You need

probably five really good guards. And then in terms of their four depths, it's just Lebron and n A d At this point, I forget marcosols on the rosters, so they might be able to be fine with just Mark and and Dwight Howard, and maybe they can use that many mid level on someone along the lines of an auto porter, but they have to fill the whole roster at this point when you this reminds me of the Drew Holiday trade for the Bucks in the sense that the Lakers just kind of had this depth that they

have now foregone in for a top level talent in hopes that in the Rock Fight playoff series late in the year, having Russ swings the tide a little bit enough to win one a series that might otherwise have gone the other direction. But it's just it's hard to judge until they make all the moves on the periphery. Otherwise we don't really know what this team is gonna look like. Yeah, and everything you said kind of falls into like they have to be creative with this, right, Like,

they don't have many options here. They have their taxpiller taxpayer mL E, which is like five point six million or something. Someone was asking me if de Rosen is going to take that, I don't know, but I would bet on people taking twenty million dollar pay cuts, you know, and I just would not bet on that. So that's yeah, Yeah, that's probably not the caliber player you're getting, but there's gonna be a lot of vetminimum guys, and the Lakers at the top of that list, like the Clippers cows out,

you know. So basically your choices Milwaukee or l A. I mean, even though Milwaukee just won the chip, you usually lean l A when you have putting l l A versus Milwaukee, just in terms of location and all that. Plus, the Lakers have um playing time to offer, right, they

don't have a team yet, you could literally make the team. Um. And one thing about the pick that I was kind of just gathering from leading the timeline on the Lakers didn't even buy into the second round, so like usually they buy a second round pick, they didn't buy into that either, which told me they really didn't. Um, they didn't think they need the draft to get the players they wanted. They got a bunch of highly touted, undrafted guys who went undrafted who are high on people's boards. Um,

I'm not. I think Austin Reeves and uh Maxim and the guy and the guy from Gonzaga as well. Yeah, I know exact you're talking or something like that. Yeah, I'm blaking on his name, but I feel like that's kind of why they didn't. They kind of were able to kind of throw the pick in um. But yeah, THHD is probably going to be back at some number. Caruso is probably gonna be back. But you have to fill this roster out and they have to be really creative with it. Bedroom minimum guys, um, see how who

plays well in the summer league. Maybe those guys can make the team. Reminds me a lot of the nineteen Lakers. Do you remember they traded everything for Anthony Davis and then they signed grand Danny Green and they signed Troy Daniels. I think that was a team for like a month and a half. It was literally lebron A d Danny Green. It wasn't even it was it wasn't even Danny Green. It was they signed they signed Troy Daniels because it

was a veteran minimum. And then it like it was after the Kauai news that it was like after the Quiet news. It was like Danny Green, Javaille McGee, all these guys. But like literally, yeah, for like a month because they were in the Kauai sweepstakes, there were like three dudes on the roster. Yeah, yeah, it was Lebron, A D. I think like Troy Daniels and money things money. Yes, this is the last year of law dings money actually

five million dollars left. Um, but yeah, that it reminds me of that, where like the team is literally just the stars and then you feel around that. So it's gonna be really interesting what they do around um. But yeah, this is the core, Like, there's no there's no like playing with it. This is the core. It's gonna be Lebron, A D and Russ on the floor when it matters. And that's where I think we have this kind of start with this, like that's what it's gonna look like,

and they branch out from there. They're not going to change the concept of the team. Now, this is what it is like. It's not gonna be like, oh, we bring another super duper shot shot creator and put Russ even more off the ball. Now this is the team, Like, this is what's gonna look like. I think it's really gonna help the non lebron minutes, right, Russ and a D.

I think that's the biggest thing. Um, those those minutes have to be a positive now, which have been a negative the entire lebron Era exactly what you mean with Anthony even with Anthony Davis on the floor exactly, and that's where it should help. Rush should open things up for him. Um. And then the other side as well. UM, just using a D as a screen in those lineup a D at the five with him? Um, what do you think about that? Do you think now a D has to play fully at the five for this to work.

I'm seeing those reports come out again that that they were at the house together and they said they would play the four and the five to accommodate Russell Westbrook. I still don't think a D is gonna start the season at center, Like just with how he's talking. What what do you think do you think he started the season at center? And does he have to for this too to be what it needs to be. Well, I've heard that intel to uh no, just just from the

same source as you have. And I the issue that I have with it is I think at the end of the day, it's gonna come down to who they end up getting because if they can't bring in quality forwards and ends up being marcusol, Anthony Davis and some some veteran mid uh you know, uh, minimum type, but forward it might literally be as a result of a lack of depth that Anthony Davis play center all the time, and it might end up being that way at the end of the day in terms of xs and ohs,

like we were talking about earlier, that tilting balance, that scale of spacing. If you play a D at the four and you put a five out there with a D, I don't even think Buddy Yield can fix that. You you need, it's almost not going to work unless Anthony Davis plays the five. But I mean it could be.

You know, sometimes sometimes stubbornness fades. And I've been beating this drum NonStop for two years that playing the five will actually be physically easier for Anthony Davis because of the fact that while he he'll he'll have to do a little bit more boxing out in, a little bit more fighting for position, which can be fatiguing, But on the offensive end, he's going to be playing in so much more space that will actually be easier for him.

I genuinely feel that way, um. And so the hope is is that maybe that has just dawned on him as the reality of of of you know, the future of this team, and if he does that, it makes me feel a lot more comfortable, like the reason why and heal. The healed thing feels like a long shot to me personally, but there are some Likeer fans that have a lot of optimism that they're going to make

that work. The Healed Thing, to me, would completely change my outlook of this trade, because I don't love the idea of Russell Westbrook with Lebron and A d as a natural basketball fit. But I do love the idea of Russell Westbrook but he healed, Lebron and Anthony Davis as a natural basketball fit, because it's just three unbelievable rim pressure guys with a guy that you literally can't give an inches space whether he's coming off a screen.

You know, I was listening to Kevin O'Connor this morning, Like he's awesome on catch and shoot, He's awesome flying off screens. He's like one of the top tier guys the dribble. He is fantastic in transition. There's no weak spot on the floor. He's just, without a doubt, the third best shooter of this last half decade. It's like him, Stephen Clay and Duncan Robinson those are the guys, and so that that kind of thing would change my outlook on everything and just the way that it all would work.

But yeah, I forget about it. If you're putting if you put Drummond or Dwight Howard with Russell Westbrook on the floor, Uh, it's just you're you're begging for teams to just completely ignore everybody and just crab the paint at that point. Yeah, And I mean Ad has been pretty um, he's been pretty stern in this, like like

he doesn't want to play center in the regular season. Um, he wants to, you know, he'd rather play power forward rather, you know, way to play center when it matters, you know, when the coach asked him too, as he says, um in the playoffs, to me, if you're going to get a center, because that's what I think is going to happen. Like I'm just I'm believing what a d says here. Um, he does say he wants to play more five, but I do think it will still kind of work out

this way. It has to be a lob threat at least, like a guy who can catch above the rim or space out to three point line. You can't have this middle dude who needs to catch the ball, you know, gather, you know, just like be a slow footed big in the pain, like he needs to be able to catch above the rim, have a gravity above the rim or a gravity outside the ark like Marcus Ault. That's where

I think it needs to be. Um, if they do get a center, obviously eighty at the five lineups are where they're going to be most where they're gonna be the best utilized those three. But I still think they're gonna play a center here. That's just how I feel it's gonna go down. Centers can be found from the

minimum on the market. And Uh, I just think and like you talked about Buddy Healed, like when you have Westbrook part and a d you don't even need a Buddy Healed, you know, Buddy he would be the like he's one of the best shooters ever. Like that's just what his numbers kind of point to. Um, you need at least just some kind of knockdown shooter there, And uh,

that's that's where I think the Lakers will go with it. Um. But yeah, I agree with you, like it has to be a vertical spacer, which is why I like the idea of Dwight Howard coming back. I really hope Dwight Howard comes back. That would be one of the guys

that i'd keep an eye on. Um uh if they do play a center, and you seem to think that they will, Yeah, I think we're gonna be in for a really rough first couple of weeks of the season as they find out the hard way that teams are just going to uh kind of forego any sort of basic defensive principles for just crowding everything around the rim, you know, like Montrese Harrold and we we joked because

he could. He blamed everybody else for him not receiving playing time, said matchups that don't exist and blah blah blah. But that's one of the great reasons. One of the big reasons why he didn't really pan out was like you said, he's not really much of a vertical spacer and he can't shoot. What he was was he was a guy who could attack specific matchups and a guy who was a good offensive, rebound or motor guy. But he was an average to below average defensive player who

really struggled on the defensive glass against bigger centers. And then he didn't provide spacing on the offensive end, and that's why that didn't work. And I think just in general, like you said, there, if they if they go down that route, Russell Westbrook almost makes it impossible to play those types of lineups and it'll be really interesting to see. UM. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on with Ross before we get you out of here for the day.

I think we kind of covered it, um, like I was. I think you were as this on this as well, Like we were two people who were against getting Russell Westbrook. Um. But that doesn't mean we don't want this to work, right, Like that's I want Russell Westbrook to work in the Lakers. UM. I just have a couple of concerns with it. But I think it'll work in the regular season. I think it'll be fun, like a full stables with Russell Westbrook and Lebron running lanes dunking. I think that would be

a lot of fun. I think, uh, this season will be a little bit more fun. And that way, he's a guy that hypes up the crowd, really gets you know. He's gonna be a fan favorite pretty soon. I feel like that's just how Russell westbrook Is. When he's on your team, you you kind of love him. So I think we kind of covered. We'll obviously keep talking about

Russell westbrook It's not like it's going anywhere. Russell westbrook Is is going to be a Laker, and that's gonna be a topic for That's gonna be part of every decision the Lakers make. Now he's part of this Lebron and a d it's a trio now where like every decision every player you sign has to fit with those three. You know before and it was this the two you know, it was two players. Everyone else's kind of uh roams

around that universe runs around them. They're the planets, you know what, or the sun however, the universe works the sun. But now you've got three of those dudes, and that's that's where the Lakers have to make their decisions. Yeah, I agree, and you're you're right, it's gonna be a show. I was talking to my wife a little bit about it. Uh, poor Carly, Literally she worked all day and we're driving over to my parents house for dinner, um and and

I'm just talking her ear off about Russell westbrook Port role. Anyway, I was, I was vnding to her and one of the things I said, I was like, I was like, this is gonna be a show like this. This season for the Lakers is going to be riveting. It's gonna

be musty TV every single night. And Russell Westbrook almost brings that that energy that makes it so that that Tuesday night game in Memphis all of a sudden carries a certain weight because he's gonna be talking trash and one of the dudes on the other team and it's going to become a whole thing. Um. But yeah, you're right. So like we're going to continue to watch film on Russ and we're going to continue to kind of find out the ways that this could work. There are more

moves on the horizon. This trade very well, maybe expanded by next week with the August six free agency opening. So let's just table it for now and next week, maybe Friday morning, we'll touch base again and kind of talk about how it might make more sense with some of the guys that they sign in the in the time. But yeah, you're right. I mean, it's I think we've said all there is to say about what we can see with this move at this point, with what we

know now. Yeah, for sure, I feel like it's either going to go great or it's gonna crash. Like there's no middle ground to this. There's no like, oh yeah, they're kind of winning. Uh, you know, they're doing okay. Now this is either gonna blast forward or you know, really blow up. And I expected to do well though, but yeah, it's gonna be a show. You're right. Health is the big thing, and this is this is the

most important detail. Like even if for us destroys their spacing, even if Russ has bad late game decision making, if Lebron and a d are healthy and they're at their peaks, they're just still gonna be winning. Like, they're just still gonna win. They're still gonna be the favorite in every series out west. Uh. And it's and they're gonna be a team that's difficult to be so, you know, and we said the same thing, you know, kind of before

the season or before the summer. But like the all this other stuff is kind of window dressings for whether or not Anthony Davis can stay healthy. And I really really hope that he really devotes a lot of more a lot more effort and time and money and and just care into becoming a player who can stay on the floor, because you know, if if a real quick way for the Russell Westbrook thing to be a disaster is if Anthony Davis keeps falling on the ground and

grabbing limbs every time he hits the ground. Like that's just kind of the the the harsh reality of this situation, you know what I mean? Yeah, for sure, health, health is everything. Um, I think Ad has been healthy as much as more than I think people think. Last year obviously was was really tough. But he doesn't have to just be healthy. He has to be Anthony freaking Davis, aggressive and none of this you know, a passive none

of this passive stuff. He has to be attacked in the rim, the defensive player of the year kind of that he can be that he in nineteen. That's who he needs to be for this to work. Anthy Davis has to be not the best player on this team, but the most talented player every night. Like he has to fit that bill um for this to work, because that's what they're betting on. They're reading on Lebron to be himself, which again he'st Lebron James. You've kind of

been on that. Um, Anthony Davis being Anthony Davis. And that's that's how it's gonna work. Um. And that's and we're gonna see. H it's gonna come pretty soon this offseason, not as long as others either. Um, we got a couple of months here. It's gonna move really fast. Summer leagues in a few weeks, and then we started, we started the regular season. Alright, alright, everybody, that's all we got for today. Uh, Roger and I will be back

probably on Friday morning. Um, but we appreciate you guys support. All right, Thanks everyone,