Episode 78: Lakers Media Day

for your Roge, I'm coming for you. Um So, just quick announcement, guys, we uh this is the first week of our partnership with dash Radio. To make a long story short, it's just another place where you can find our our show, um uh. Specifically, just go to dash radio dot com or their or their Twitter page and you'll be able to find how to access um uh, their specific platform our podcast will Our show will still be available as a podcast in the same feed that

it always has been. For those of you listening on dash Radio. All you have to do is search State of the Lakers and you'll be able to find the show there as well. Um but nothing different other than that, it's gonna be the same thing from Rog and I as is usually the case, this is gonna be the last of our normal podcast before we get into our postgame spaces, primarily with mixed in regular shows as well.

But we appreciate you guys support, and we're super excited for this season, So um, we're gonna start with this a D at the five News. That was the big thing that stood out to me about that specific day

of interviews. You know, you and I were on the same page for the most part in the sense that we thought that a D would do a little of both, right, Like, we thought he'd play center, and we thought he'd play power forward as opposed to last season where he almost solely played power forward, so there was going to clearly be a difference. The main the main fighting point between you and I was will he start at center? Which is more just the symbolism of what a D is

willing to commit to. And then also it's about starting games off on the right foot, getting guys in a good rhythm early because you have good spacing early, which sets the tone for the rest of the game. And what was interesting about yesterday was we still got some conflicting information because we had a D come out and say that he's going to start at the five most likely. We had another report come out that said explicitly stated that a d would play more center than he ever

has as a Laker. But then we also had Frank's interview where what he said was more along the lines of, you know, in the first year, he was fifty fifty. Last year he mostly played power forward. It's going to be more like the first year. That's explicitly what he said, more like the first year, which is a little bit contradictory to some of the reporting that we've seen. So, you know, I have a theory about this, uh specifically why they decided to go to shrap, But let's start

with this rage. Do you have any uh condolences you'd like to offer or apologies to the Lakers community for your stubbornness, your outrageous stubbornness on this topic. So you know how like when you're like at a party and uh, you have the food in front of you, but you're not you know, you can't eat yet because like you need to wait for everyone to kind of get there, so you don't want to eat yet. I have the crow in front of me, but we're like four days away, right,

So like I'm not ready to eat it yet. I will eat it on like in four days if if that's what happens. But I've been pretty clear on this, like when I said I believe Anthony Davis when what he says, like with what he said in the past, I believe him. Like what Frank Bogle says also matters to me. But like when a d comes out and says it, that kind of changes me a little bit.

Like it was pretty clear. Um, he went back and forth a little bit, but he said the plan is for me to start at center and then from there we can kind of see in match ups maybe why in DJ starts. And I think that that was a big thing for me. That's the first time I've heard Anthony Davis pretty clearly mentioned that, Um, he'll be playing center pretty much for the majority of his minutes and even starting there, and I think that's a big deal to me. Um, it seems likely that he's gonna be there.

Now everyone's kind of got what they wanted on this, and I've been pretty clear. I don't think it mattered too much to me because he plays it when it matters. But obviously something with russ a D and Lebron clicked for him to where he wants to start there now, and it does. It does help them that I've never disagreed that they're better with him at center. I just always thought it was okay for him not to start there. But it looks like he will. And I thought Russ's

comments also went into that. We'll get into that a little bit later, but um, it seems like he'll start there. So you guys are right for now. We'll see in four days, but you guys are are right for now. Well, you know, and I'm with you, man, because this could change so fast a D. A D could go through two days of training camp, going through the pick and roll coverages and be like, Nope, I don't want to

do this. Um anyway, So I have a theory about this, and it actually stand from Russ's comments, so we can kind of start there, you know. To make a long story short, Rush just basically mentioned how Anthony Davis at the five just makes the game a lot easier for everybody involved. And you know, I think I think when a D came to the Lakers, Lebron was very accommodating.

Just in general. I mean that the story of the of that first game that they played together against the Clippers was like almost forced feeding, feeding Anthony Davis at the in the post to try to get something going for him. Lebron has been super accommodating to a D over these two seasons, and I think a D came in and said he wanted to play the four, and

Lebron was like, fine, we'll make it work. You know what I mean, Russ, I think I think where you and I kind of missed the boat on how obvious this was that a D would move to the five. More primarily is Russ's personal experience playing basketball over the last few years. If you remember in Houston, he really struggled to start the year with Clint Capella playing center

and the problems that that caused for their spacing. Then they traded Clint Capella, made p J. Tucker the center, stuck him in the corner where he actually had a really really good season shooting corner threes, and essentially Russ's season exploded. He wasn't even taking threes, and he was averaging, you know, over thirty points a game on over fifty shooting because no one could keep him from the basket,

and you know, Russ has shown some self awareness. There was another part of his interview where he explicitly mentioned that he struggled uh with rest because he plays so hard, and he attributed some of his later career, you know, health and success to embracing rest, understanding that with how hard he plays well, I think he his self awareness has expanded to understanding that he needs the driving lines.

You know, when he was young, he was so incredibly athletic that he could beat his man off the dribble and even if there were big men way eating for him under the basket, he could just float around them or dunk over them. You know, that was what he was capable of doing. Well, now he doesn't quite have that same nuclear athleticism around the rim, so he needs more space to operate, and I think he understands that. I think he sat down with Lebron in a d it was like, this is awesome, guys, I want to

do this. But just so you know, I watched the playoff games. There was there was no space to operate. I think I think that's kind of where he was and and I think he made it clear and no uncertain terms to Anthony Davis that the only way this was gonna work is if he played more center. That's my theory. What do you think? Yeah, And it's crazy listening to us talk like I saw someone else sound

talk about the Silier. He does sound like a guy that has been humbled right, like he doubts, does sound like a guy that like knows what his position now is on this team. Um, it felt like when he went to Houston, him and Harden were kind of peers, right, and like he saw themselves as peers. It's crazy hearing him talk about Lebron even yesterday. UM, he was saying, like he's done a lot in his career, but Lebron knows how to go to that next level. And this

is Russell Westbrook talking about that. Russell Westbrook, who has been an MVP in this league, who's been to the finals, who's had his own teams that have made the playoffs. Like, it's crazy hearing him talk about that, and it's cool to see him kind of reflect on his career and he seems ready to do that. Um, we didn't even

talk about this either that. UM. I think they had the Athletic article right earlier as well that kind of reported what the starting lineup would be, which would be Russ Ellington, aresa Um with Bron and a d Um, which I pret on the podcast. Yeah, And I don't think Shams and I think it was Sham, Sam Ammi and Bill Oorum who all report that, And I don't think that comes out without really strong kind of sources as well. Right, they wouldn't. They wouldn't project the starting

line up unless they knew it. So it seems like that that's what it's gonna be, and that totally makes sense for a basketball sense. You've you've laid that out, laid it out. I've said that Wayne, I'm really excited about Wayne Ellington. I've said that a few times. I think he's probably the perfect shooter. Putting next to him Trevor Aresa started a bunch of games from Miami as well. I think he's the perfect fits. So it seems like they are going to this modern basketball as he wrote

about as well. Um, they're moving towards this modern, modernized type of game where a d is at his best position, and that seems like what they're going to and this should be eighties year, right. I think his comments were really great to Um. He said the team kind of talked to him about we go as far as you go. And I believe that I've been preaching this all summer that this is the year of Anthony Davis. Westbrook is awesome.

Lebron's gonna beat Lebron James. This team goes as ad does his dominance inside as what will make them and him playing with two passors like this, I'm excited for it. So if he's gonna start that center, they're gonna they're gonna win a lot of games. Yeah, you know, Lebron actually mentioned angry Anthony Davis is what he was looking forward to this year, and I thought it was interesting because we've not really heard much from him um over

the summer. It's just been a relatively quiet summer for him for obvious reasons. He got married. But you know, in general, I think that, uh, Anthony Davis is the type of guy who's not very outward with his motivation, which is a good thing acause it's just it just means that, like his silence is almost like a sign of his his discontent with the way things went last season. One last note with him at the center that I think is important, Like, you know, we want him to

play some power forward. You know, there are specific there are specific matchups where it makes sense, you know, and there is going to be some overlap. You know. For instance, if you're playing Yokich or embiid Um, you know, yeah, Anthony Davis can guard those guys probably better than Dwight, and at the end of games you probably will do it that way. But you know, over the course of a game, in terms of throwing different looks at a

superstar to try to disrupt their rhythm and flow. You know, putting a guy like Dwight on those guys to be a pest on the ball and then having Anthony Davis off the ball clogging passing lanes is a nice wrinkle to throw at a superstar to try to to to mix things up a little bit. You always want to throw different looks at a super stars so they can't figure out the same look that you're throwing at them.

An example I'll give is like there's a play in the in the first round last year where Yokitch or Yeah I was in the first round where Yokitch was posting up against the Blazers and Michael Porter Jr. Was in the opposite corner and Yo gets through this like ridiculous looping pass that just barely got over Robert Covington's fingers and landed right in Michael Porter Jr. Shooting pocket,

and he knocked down with three. Like if that's Anthony Davis guarding Michael Porter Jr. Who was in the power forward position at that point in the game, Anthony Davis is getting that ball and he's running the other way, and now Yokich just forced to play isolation ball. There's a lot of wrinkles that you can get in specific matchups against superstar centers with Dwight Howard at the center position. So I certainly like that as a mix up. It

just should never have been their primary punch. It never made sense to do it that way. And one of the things, and the last thing I'm looking forward to with it is, you know, Anthony a Vis in particular kind of goes as his jump shot goes. That's been the way it's been over the last couple of years, with exception of some playoff games where he can be

really physically imposing. Well, giving him the space to operate offensively underneath the basket is going to make it so much easier for him to get his rhythm by getting easy shots at the rim, which inherently leads to the confidence for him to make jump shots. So, just in general, I look forward to all of the Stars getting off too quicker starts and being able to make more things happen. Last note about the starting lineup. You know there's been

some push back from Lakers fans. Oh they want bays more maybe instead of Ellington. I think the thing that people are missing with that specifically, in my opinion, is Ellington's a specialist. And when you have three superstars on the floor, guys like Russell Lebron and Na D who do so much to the point where you don't need almost anything out of those guys, even just with Lebron and Na D. We saw this in the first season

they won the championship. When your two stars are wrecking balls, you don't need k CP to do anything other than knockdown open shots and attack the close out and defend like crazy. That simplified role plays directly into what a Reason and Ellington do really really well. Ellington's hyper specific elite skill, which is off ball movement and shooting, fits like a glove with the three Stars, whereas with a guy like Baysmore. He's actually a little bit better at

attacking closeouts. He's a little bit better as a as a slasher, he's a little bit better. He's a little bit more athletic and transition, and he can also knock down some shots his his he's capable of a bit more, albeit not as good as a shooter as Ellington. That makes more sense to use in lineups with less star power, maybe with two stars on the floor or one star on the floor, because you might need him to do

a bit more. I like the idea of plugging specialists in with the three stars and using your ball handlers, your Malik Monks, your your way, your um Kendrick Gnunn types when the stars are staggering because you actually might need them to do more. Does that make sense? I'm explaining that, Well, yeah, yeah, it doesn't make sense. These are all really specialist and I think people are really going to be surprised, Like how good a shooter Wayne Ellington is. Like, he's not just a spot up guy.

He's a guy that comes off handoffs. He's the guy that flies off down screens and comes up and is able to square up to the basket beautifully. Um, and take jumpers that way. Um, just really quickly on the A D at the five stuff one last time. Where's it going with this? I lost my train of thought. But but yeah with uh with Wayne Allington that I

agree with you. I think he's gonna be great and if he starts there, um, and he talked about as well, he wants to shoot like from three or something like that. That's his goal. This year we saw in the playoffs, like Joe Harris, who's a guy that obviously had she struggled in the playoffs, but he's a guy that you don't want to leave, but just because of the next three stars, like he's the guy you have to kind of leave open. I see Wayne Allington getting wide open

shots in that way. Um, Trevor reasay as well, Um, he's gonna get wide open looks. Where I was going with this was like, I like your went about being like a primary like not being your primary attack, right, and it feels like are you the aggressor for the reactor? And it feels like we've been the reactor for a while, right, even in the playoffs. We went down r O one in the first two series and it's because we were kind of reacting to Houston, reacting to Portland's um and

Russell Westbrook's not a reactor. He's an aggressor, maybe to his detriment sometimes as well. Um, He's just a more aggressive person who doesn't change no matter what it is. And I think they're kind of moving towards more of that. Still is Lebron's team eighties team, but it is gonna kind of adjust to be Russ's team as well, and they're gonna start off with this fast pace to kind

of accommodate to him. And I think that is the right move here, Um to start him at center, to start a d at center, give him more space and just run teams off the floor early and have that be I guess your adjustment now right, you'd you'd be the aggressor there and then you kind of react instead of reacting the teams. We talked, We talked about this low starts last year. All year. We would start to Baille McGee or not last year, Um, Marcosol, whoever, it was,

just whoever was starting at center firm. So I'm excited to see it. But I like the way on some point I think base Moore could start. Allington talked about it. It's gonna be ah, it's gonna be a matchup for who starts at the two guard and this now opens up a three the three spot as well, so we'll see who starts. But I think that starting lineup that he projected is right. I think that's what we'll see

on Sunday. Yeah. And and for the record, you know, you and I both said that those other spots would be open to competition, training, training, camp competition. They actually explicitly stated in the report that th HD could get the spot if he has a good enough camp. So

it's it's certainly up for the competition. You know. Uh. If bays Moore, for instance, is so so much better as a as a defensive player than Ellington in camp, and he's also hitting you know, of his three's in camp, that's gonna be something where Frank's gonna have a tough decision on his hands as as it pertains to what he's gonna do with that starting lineup. But competition is good, you know. Like I I've shared this example a couple

of times on the show. But like you know, uh, it's a good problem to have too many good players you know, when I was in college. I shared this on the last pot or two pods ago, but you know, we had like thirteen rotation level players my my senior year in college, and our practices were just unbelievable, and the second team would beat the first team all the time. You know, it was it wasn't an uncommon occurrence, and it made us better to have that level of competition.

It will make Russ better to have Rondo just going at him every single chance they get, and at training camp, and and vice first. It will make Malik Monk will grow more as a defender, understanding that all of these veterans around him are going to lock in on that end and he has to in order to get his opportunity.

This kind of that kind of accountability and competition just naturally breeds better basketball players and and breeds an environment where guys are more committed to giving their best effort

every time they get a chance. And I think because Frank's always gonna have an option, Frank's never going to be in a situation where he's looking at the next guy on the bench and being like he's so much worse that I have to stick with this guy who's not playing super well right now, he's going to have the option at any given point, at any given position to find somebody who can slot in and do what the other guy's not doing, and that and that will,

just like I said, just kind of breed a success. Um. But yeah, that's kind of all I have as far as the adot the five stuff goes. Do you want to kind of break down some of the other um quotes that we saw from media day, Yeah, for sure. So like one of the guys who had a really interesting I thought Prince conference was Kemp pays More and again, like he's in competition right for this starting two guards spot as well. Um, we'll see if he starts there.

But it's funny listening to him talk because he just seems like the young guy in the room, right, Like the way he just talks and the way he's kind of speaking in this humility. This is tenth year in the league, Like this is not you know what I mean, Like that's not like he's a rookie coming in. So it's cool to see him kind of speak about this in his kind of experience and you kind of get like how long he's been in the league. Um, so one one thing I want to ask you about because

I thought this was really interesting. Um, he talked about like practicing where his shots come from, right, like as a shooter, and we don't really think about that. We just think of guys getting a gym just putting shots up and stuff like that. But I just thought he talked about like how he practiced his threes, and he talked about how like when Lebron, when Lebron drives, you know, moving to the corner, so he has a passing link to him, Um a d in the post, um when

Melo gets double teamed. I'm just really cool kind of quotes like that from him. What, like, what do you think about that? Like shooters, I guess practicing where their shots coming because I think really that's something really interesting that we don't really discuss here. But um, just getting into like the detail of basketball. I think that was cool for him to kind of bring that up. Where do you see his shots I guess coming from? Like I guess do you just see him as a spot

up guy? He talked about how he's more than that, like he can attack the ram off closeouts and and all that kind of stuff. So like what do you see bays Moore's I guess, like where his shots is it mainly just s bought up threes? Or do you see him as a little bit more than that, because I think he was. He was a really interesting kind

of convoy esty. So, first of all, as it pertains to two spots on the floor for shooting, it's all about comfort, like comforts everything, like if if all, if all things are equal, why does a shot miss and a shot go in? You know, like a lot of times, it has to do with, you know, the rhythm and muscle memory. When you've got a good rhythm, you've established your muscle memory, that's why you start making shots, you

know what I mean. Whereas if you go a long time without shooting and then you catch your your rhythm is just a little off. Your muscle memories not quite dialed in yet, you might miss ugly or a lot of players they have to have their fingers on specific spots on the seams in order for them to feel comfortable. That's always been a thing for me. I struggle personally shooting if my fingers get off the seams. It's something

that I've been working a lot on. Is is not practicing on the seams every time because that's just gonna be the only time I'm ever comfortable. Well, the same thing extends to spots on the floor. You know. The corner, for instance, is a really tough spot for most players because it's so visually different than where you're shooting elsewhere

in the mrs are also super ugly. If you miss, it usually goes way long, and it can it can psych you out or something along those lines, you know, Whereas if you hit the front rim from up top, you always have the possibility of it coming in off of the backboard. You know. For me, personally, I always felt comfortable in the wings. That's where I felt like

I had the most space to operate. It kind of fit naturally with where spot up shooting is located on the floor, and it gives me more space to operate. That's just the way it is for me. But each player is different. They have their own little areas of comfort, and you know, with a guy like camp Baysmore, I'm not sure where those spots are specifically for him. However,

he probably knows where he feels most comfortable. He also is probably aware of spots where he will get shots this season where he's currently uncomfortable and he needs to practice and he'll figure that part out. Where do I

think he he fits in? Personally? I view him as like the spitting image of KCP because he's a really good athlete, and in addition to being a really good athlete, he's got really good one leg bounce and he's got good length and he can extend that was always k CPS thing if you remember, in transition in particular, but

also attacking closeouts. He could take off that left foot, extend that right hand out and no one could block it because of his athleticism, and he get all the way to the rim off of one dribble attacking a close out, Well, Kemp Baysmore is going to be able to do the same thing going left. In addition to that, he's just a little bit more polished in the things he can do attacking closeouts, like one dribble, pull ups, floaters in different finishes around the rim. If he has

to elevate and finish on somebody, he can. He's the one guy in the guard corps who will play off ball, who has that case, that k c P type of just really solid but simple type of close out attacking, and I think he's gonna fit in great there, especially on the defensive end. By the way, he's also the closest we have as an archetype to what k c P did. Defensively, he can lock and trail, he can apply ball all pressure. He actually applies too much ball

pressure sometimes and picks up a lot of fouls. Although our guy Jackson Frank actually dove into that a while back and he got a lot of crap from Golden State fans for picking up fouls, but that's kind of his style is I'm gonna be super physically aggressive at the point of attack, use my hands. Hopefully they just won't call it. And if you actually look at the numbers, he didn't do that badly in terms of drawing foul. So I'm a I'm a huge fan of base Bore.

I think he's a fantastic fit. I don't think he'll start, but I think I'm I'm a big believer in what he brings the team. I think it's a seamless fit because we've seen it before with k CP. Yeah, and I like the defense point. You probably brought up about that, and he talked about that as well. Um, how he's on this team, he can be more aggressive, right because he has more bigs around him. Um. He was watching like Dwight, DJ and a D kind of take picture

together and he was like pointing to them. He's like, Um, they're the reason I can kind of be more aggressive, um at the point of attack. And he's gonna be one of the big defendants on this team. To me, Um, we kind of forget, but base Mare used to be like the prototypical three and D guy that you'd want on our team, like when he was starting for those Atlanta Hawks teams that were winning ship a whole ton

of games before being beat by lebron Um. You also talk about how he played with Damian Lillard a couple of years ago, and he played with Steph last year, so he knows kind of how to play among UH star players and winning players. And it was cool to talk hearing him talk about defense as well. He was saying, like how defense is like a team thing, right, You're not really stopping one player ever, so like it's more

of a team kind of game. And when you have big men um at the rim, you can kind of just funnel your guards there and just and they're shooting over bigs all night, then you've kind of won there, So I thought it was huge. I like hearing him talk um. The other guy I guess I had wrote down was basically Wayne Allington. We talked a little bit about him, but he kind of went a little bit deeper into like him playing with I guess a D and him as a shooter. I guess that kind of

gravity that he brings. And it was cool hearing hearing him kind of talk about the xsos and details of that, like how he can play off of a das like you can't really switch that, and and how like you're gonna have to you can have make a decision I guess on those two when you're playing them, you have to make a decision on who you want to guard um in that. So, like if you want to talk about a little bit, like what do you think he does for I guess a D. I guess because a

D hasn't really played with a shooter like this. I guess, like I guess the best shooter I guess was k CP, but like, I don't think he's really played with the shooter of the level of Wayne Alanton, even in New Orleans.

I don't think, like, I don't know if he's had as good as shoot as Wyanton in New Orleans as well, But do you think that does for I guess a d as well or even Lebron in that case, because I thought that was really interesting that Wayne Alanton kind of brought up what he could bring um as a shooter and wanting to shoot I guess from three, which I don't think it's really sustainable, but um, I just think that's cool that he's coming into this, uh, coming

into this with those kind of expectations. Wayne Ellington is the first real shooter that the Lakers have ever had. Um, even if you look at Ben McLemore, he is a real shooter, but he like if you're if you're putting all those guys in a group, he's way at the bottom of that group in terms of guys who have a track record in the league of just being really, really really good shooters. So I would say that Ellington

is the first that the Lakers have had. This is something that the guys from Laker Film Room talk about all the time, and I think it's actually the super relevant here. They talk about how like, you know, the difference between a thirty three percent three point shooter in a thirty eight percent three point shooter over the course of the season might be like seven makes right, there's not. It's not really that big of a difference. That's that's what differentiates like a a Kyle Kuzma from a k CP.

For instance, two guys that I think are capable of knocking down shots, but neither of which are what you would call a shooter. K CP just happens to be a guy who made a few more over the course of the last couple of seasons. Then Kyle Kuzma, did you know the difference between the way you guard a a guy who can shoot versus a shooter is is it's a chasm between the way those two things are guarded. With KCP and with Kyle Kuzma, you're kind of in

a traditional shell drill. You're just closing out and you're living with the results. When you have a guy like uh Wayne Ellington on the floor, it is a panic that it sets on the defense. I mean, we remember this because he lit the Lakers on fire last year, and he has a track record of doing this throughout his career. When you're guarding a real shooter. You're not in a shell drill. You're maybe two steps away from

the guy. And most importantly, because when these really gifted shooters that can move around off the ball, you can't be in a shell drill because he's going to find some sort of way to you know, fake coming off a pin down and then flare out and you're gonna run into a screen and now he's wide open in

the opposite corner. These really good off ball shooters, you have to stay glued to them all the time even when they don't have the ball, because of their ability to move around off the basketball and catch you sleeping to find open shots. The Lakers have never had a guy who does that. So that's what he can do, just kind of in enough his himself to draw guys towards him a gravity, so to speak, in the way

that helps the offense. Now, in screening actions and dribble hand offs and things like that, with Anthony Davis, it's really not all that complicated. You either have to switch it. Um you have to switch it, but you can't. It's really that simple. It's like a pick your poison kind of thing. You're basically either going to give Anthony Davis a matchup against the lock and trail guard in the post, or you're gonna let Anthony Davis set the screen, in

which case Wayne Ellington is gonna be open. So in that case, really your best case scenario is to stay glued to Ellington and maybe, if you get lucky, you force Anthony Davis to take a wide open jump shot. But even that isn't a great defensive possession because if you let Anthony Davis take wide open jump shots all game long, he's gonna eventually get it going and he's

gonna make you pay. So the the the anatomy of offense with a real shooter on the floor, it's it's a real real shooter as opposed to a guy who can shoot. It is hard to even describe. There's so much that it does to help the team. And that's specifically why he's such a great fit with the starting lineup is that gravity is basically like playing four on four with lebron A d and and uh and Russell Westbrook. And if you happen to venture that fifth guy in there,

Wayne Ellington's gonna make you pay every time. Yeah, for sure. And I didn't even realize he shot forty two actually from three last year, which is really pretty insane to put on this team I put next to the stars that we have. Um, so he's gonna be great. I'm excited to see it. Also, our guy, and that's what guys glued to him all the time, that's what that's what them guarding him like like in his jersey all

the time. That's insane, Yeah, insane. Yeah. And he's a guy that fires the way right as well, Like I think when he's coming off those pin downs, like his first read is like that big right, So if that big is down, I don't think he's really worried too much about the lock introl grad. He'll just fire because he's so good on inten his technicalities, um while shooting. So I'm excited to see him. Our guy. Rouge also

asked him about this on his pot. We didn't really get into it last time, and he went to even more detail on that how like, yeah, you can't switch that because then a D like you said, has that luck introl guarden him and he can just throw it down. And he talked about how Aid is such a good pastor as well, so you can find him. Um, excited for him, Uh the next one like DeAndre Jordan, I thought had an interesting press conference as well. I don't

know if you were able to hear his whole thing. Um, he had to get a short little stint um, but he kind of he kind of talked about, you know, how they had the little mini camp. I guess, um Lebron has his uh mini camp that he didn't have last year. So maybe that's why you know they're they're, uh, they want a title when he's had the mini camp. He didn't have it his first year. Uh here haded

his second year. But he talked about how like Lebron threw some like insane passes at him, um that he has to kind of get used to, which is which is not as funny because he played with James Harden last year, you know, so he's like so he said he has to kind of get used to how Lebron sees the floor. And I kind of thought about that from like a big view, like he's not only playing with Lebron, He's also playing with Russell Westbrook now and

again I know he played with Harden last year. I just think Lebron and Rusts are like at a different pace of that than Harden plays that there's a little bit more slow style rust and Lebron kind of pushed the pace more. So I was gonna ask you, like, what do you think about that people having to adjust I guess to how Lebron passes, and to me, I think it's the other way. I think Lebron kind of adjust to how his team goes. I guess how his teammates cut and kind of finds him there. So what

do you think about that balance? I guess from like players having to adjust to Lebron and Russ or them adjusting the teammates, Like, how do you think that works? How how coolly do you think they can kind of adjust to each other. I guess I'm not particularly worried about DeAndre Jordan because he used to play with Chris Paul, and so from that standpoint, did there will be a little bit of an adjustment period just kind of seeing

the angles that Lebron throws those passes. Um, you know, Chris Paul is probably a little bit better of not a little bit, but he's a better lab thrower than Lebron just because he played with Lob Threats his whole career as opposed to Lebron who kind of had to

enter that phase later in his career. Like the best lab threat that he really played with early on was maybe Tristan Thompson, which is just not in the same stratosphere as those other guys, you know, whereas you know, between Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, Chris Paul has just existed in a world where he could just throw the ball up towards the rim um. I'm not worried about DeAndre Jordan. Hill adjust a little bit to it, but at the end of the day, it's

all about being ready. You know. DeAndre Jordan has good hands. He probably is just used to in Brooklyn over the last couple of seasons and Dallas before that, not really having the same level of awareness around the basket being ready all the time for that kind of past as far as adjustments go, you know, and Russ mentioned this, and this is just the simple fact of the matter. You maybe a regular season has its ups and downs,

and Russ rust talk. He's like, They're gonna be games where it looks like it doesn't work, and then there are gonna be games where it looks like it's firing on all cylinders. That's just the way it is. I Mean, the reality of the situation is if you clicked on a random Brooklyn Nets game against the Cleveland Cavaliers last year where they went oh and two, you might have sit there and been like this, Kevin Durant, Kyrie, everything

just doesn't really work all that well. You know, that's kind of the way you would You would look at it because you caught it in a one game setting, and that's just kind of the natural progression of basketball. I mean, you probably remember this from when you were playing, but sometimes you just go through like a week stretch where you don't shot the ball particularly well, and then all of a sudden, the next week you can't miss

because you're an really good rhythm the whole time. That's kind of the way it is offensively for all of these guys. They're all very high i Q players. They're gonna figure it out. There will be some adjustment, but not much. I'm on the record, and I've said this before, I expect the Lakers to fire on all cylinders right away relative to the rest of the league, because it's really the same type of set up as last year.

You've got Lebron and a D who already have chemistry from two years, and you've got a dribble drive guard in the form of a Dennis shooter slash Russell Westbrook. Is Russ as good as a shooters Dennis, No, But Dennis was a bad shooter too, so it wasn't exactly like Dennis was getting left open all the time. You know, Russ is actually just a massive upgrade over what Lebron and n A D or what Lebron and n A D we're working with last year with Dennis and with

Dennis it worked. And you know, for all of the complaints about offense, and they were legitimate, they had like I'll have to look it up, but they were over one fifteen I think was their offensive rating with Lebron on the floor, So they certainly weren't struggling to score. They just weren't as good as the top tier teams because they kind of nuke themselves with their spacing. But at the end of the day, I think when you get this many smart players in the room, they're going

to figure it out. But at the same time, we know how this goes. If they go if they go to Phoenix in the second game of the season, and it doesn't look good and they lose, You're gonna have all these people on Twitter and elsewhere saying that this Lakers fit is clunky and it doesn't make sense and this team can't win. But those are just the same people that are always waiting around for the next failure, and they'll be quiet when the Lakers going a ten

game winning streak later on. So this is this is all part of the process. It's all part of of of just the anatomy of an NBA regular season. It's gonna look ugly sometimes, gonna look pretty sometimes, but these are smart players. They'll figure it out. Yeah, it's funny listening to like DeAndre Dordan talk. It just he's even sounds so eerily similar to like when Dwight came, you know what I mean. Like, he's just a guy that's very comfortable in who he is now and what his

role is going to be. Um again, maybe he starts when he does him, but he just seems like he understands and he understands basketball. It's pretty much what he said in his comments. So it's cool kind of hear him talk. He's also kind of goofy as well, kind of like why they're almost like the same player almost in some weird ways. But I'm excited for him to see what he looks like. Um So, the last kind of quote I guess I had written down, I was like, we talked about him a little bit as well, but

I think Trevor Resa is really interesting. Um So, Trevor Reesa is thirty six. When you hear him talk like, he doesn't like, you don't see him as old. I guess like it just doesn't come off on the screen. So like when I heard him and then you think about how he's played fifteen years, he don't really see that. I think it's fifteen years and leading out for Trevor Resa something like that. Um So, he said, like he pretty much said, he's like a plug and play type

of player. Um And I think that's really interesting and a guy like that, you don't stay in the lead that long without knowing. I guess how to win. I guess, like my question for you, I guess like he might start. I guess as well, do you see him as well as like just just a plug and play type of guy, like you could just put him anywhere. I think He's gonna be really important defensively, which is to say we're a thirty six year old. But again we talked about

it before. You don't start that many games from Miami unless you know what you're doing. Eric Spoelsa doesn't play fools as well. I'm excited for him, and he's probably in the most minimized role he's ever had, I guess, Like I remember him in Houston, but he was a big part of the Houston team. He's one of the main shop makers, I guess um, and I don't think that would be his role here. He's just he'll get

a few threes, but just do the little stuff. And I think he can still do that for twenty minutes a game. So I think about Trevor Reza. His comments were interesting. Um, he's like, just play me anywhere. I really don't care, Like that's I'm here to just do the little stuff to win, which is interesting to hear about a guy who's, you know, had such a long career.

So what do you think about his role, I guess um and his comments from yesterday, Yeah, the plug and play thing was the big thing that I wrote down from his interview. Um, you know, It makes sense because it's arguably the easiest position to plug into any NBA offense, which is the six six to six nine wing who can guard the other team's best wing score and can knock down thirty ish of wide open corner and wing threes. That's that's just the easiest archetype to plug into any

offense in the NBA. Um. You know, he mentioned, you know, the very first thing I said when we signed Trevor Riza, if you remember, on this pot, I said, he just just played a lot in the last couple of years, like minutes, like heavy minutes. Like last year in Miami, twenty eight minutes a game was his lowest minutes total

over the previous like five seasons. Because all of these teams that he shows up on lean extremely heavily on him because of what he brings the table and how valuable it is to an NBA team, you know, And and it's a testament to the to his work ethic and what he what he brings to the table, and and the little niche that he's carved out for himself in the NBA as a guy that everybody needs, you know.

And and it's wild to think about when you when you really dig into because I was thinking about this with Carmelo, because Carmelo, you know, he said, he said in his interviews, like I've been around a minute, you know. And and it's kind of crazy because it's his I think it's his nineteenth season as well, because he came

in the same year as Lebron. Uh for him in in his nineteen season as a dude who's lost like a solid sixty sev of his original athleticism, to still have a spot in this league as a rotation player on a championship caliber team is such an accomplishment because this is a league that every single year brings in sixty seventy new players to try to see if they

fit in the league. And for a guy that's that old and that unathletic relative to the young guys coming in to continue to carve out a spot both Areza and Mellow, it's just a testament to their work ethic and their professionalism. And I think and I think it's awesome and and also it's just another thing too, is it's just you know, veteran savvy. We talked about this a lot, the scar tissue that forms from losing basketball games. They've over the years of just develop upton innate understanding

of how to win basketball games. The little things that matter, the the little offensive rebound crashes here, the little transition sprints there, the little extra clothes out here, the little extra effort there that could be the difference between you winning a championship and you're losing in the first round. Those are the kinds of things that these older guys

are very attuned to. And you know, that was kind of the theme of the press conference was these guys they you know, they didn't even view the old stuff as bolton board material. You know what they said. They said they laughed at it. They laughed at it, and as that's as they should, because you know, the when you're an older basketball player, you should view that as a sense of confidence in your experience, not as a as a as a detriment to what you can do

on the floor. And uh, and yeah, I'm particularly excited about a reason. I was probably one of the higher Laker people in terms of of how I felt about the reasons signing. And I kind of expected him to start and I'm glad he's gonna get that opportunity. I think he's gonna be the rock. I think he's gonna be the guy that's just the dependable plug into every good Laker lineup that they end up throwing out this year. Yeah, and I like that you brought up Karmelo. It's interesting

hearing him talk as well. He's another guy like he speaks like like he's been around, you know, like nothing is new to him, and he's another guy just seems so comfortable now who he who, like in what he is, and for a guy that's been a superstar in this league, a top four or five player in this league in his prime's interesting to hear him talk about his role and how they told him like, hey, you were forty three point shooter. Now he's like, yeah, well you kind

of have to be to stay in the league. So Um, it was cool to kind of hear him talk about what he's going to be this season. And this is like my six or seventh media day. I guess like where I really actually followed um the players who talk, and it's the first time I feel like we're Every single press conference was insightful and every single one of them felt like I feel like they could be in

the rotation. Aside from Austin Reeves, Um, who uh you know, who's a young who's a young player that he just signed. Other than him, every other player could play. I mean thht even who's twenty years old. Um, they were talking to him about his like you know, what's your role and how you're gonna defend. And this kid's like twenty years old. You know. It's just funny to watch. And he's gonna be probably in the rotation, So I think

it's interesting. I just want to ask you, like your overall theme of Media Day because when I was watching, like, you know, we we kind of uh well, I guess it's our job to kind of go into the details and be really granular and you know, talk about the percentages and talk about you know, the healthy like how

the defense is gonna work. And sometimes they also feel like we overcomplicate stuff like Russ, Lebron and Navy is just a shipload of talent, and then there's just another there's just a bunch of other shipload of talent on the team. Like when I'm watching Media Day and they're taking pictures together, it's Carmelo, Dwight, Lebron, a d Russ. Like sometimes we just overcomplicate stuff. So and I ask you, like,

what was your overall theme? I guess the media day, watching uh, watching all the players and stuff talk from mytery, So you know, I'm with you. I picked up on the insightfulness too. There were a couple of guys who were a little short, like you know, I thought that Malik Monk was kind of just you know, uh not. I think it was just trying to get through the interview, kind of a kind of deal, uh, you know. But

but all the guys. You know, this is another asset to being older, is you know, you've been in so many press conferences that you've developed a sense of of just comfort and confidence in those types of environments so different than you and I do in podcasts. I'm sure if we went back and listen to our first podcast, you and I would be, you know, completely blown away by how far we've come in terms of just how comfortable we are. And I think that's natural and you're

going to see that with older teams. They're just wiser and more thoughtful just because they've been around longer. You know, in terms of overthinking the roster, I'm percent with you. I mean, a less talented version of this team in one at a win pace and before the bubble, and then and then went into the bubble and basically killed everybody. Um. Last year they were winning at a sixty four win

paste before everyone got hurt. They had a little bit more talent than the previous year, but it was kind of a more clunky fit. Well, this is the most talented of all three teams and the clearest, most obvious basketball fit in terms of of of what would what would work in the modern NBA. So, you know, I think you're gonna Everyone might rub this in my face if it goes off the rails, but I'm extremely confident in this group. I've said it before on this podcast.

I think they're gonna win sixty five games. I don't think people understand how quickly this is gonna all mesh together in terms of just the sheer amount of shot creation mixed with shooting ability on the floor, and and with the spacing that they're going to be going to be playing with. You know, you're right, like we should. We shouldn't overthink this by any stretch of the imagination.

They have a competition that will push them all to get better and stay motivated during the regular season, they have Russ's motor and all the things that that's gonna do. For Anthony Davis and his inconsistent effort, and just the overall vibe of the team on on any given night.

You know, I think we all know we can get what we're gonna get out of Lebron, but obviously with younger players and with other players, it's a little bit more of an ebb and flow, and having a guy like Russ around to invigorate those guys is a huge is a huge asset. But at the end of the day, I mean, it's it's really a simple basketball concept. You want to generate quality shots, right, and the there's two

elements to that. Kenya cave in the defense, so that there are guys that are gonna have open shots, and are those guys going to be capable of knocking them

down at a high percentage. Well, in previous years, they've had lots of guys who could generate the quality shots in Lebron and Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroeder, even Rondo a little bit that first year, but everyone was just kind of okay at making shots, and that ended up being a problem for them unless Lebron and a d were just pounding the ball in the paint and nothing

and no one could stop them. So this is gonna be that first year where these kickouts and and these guys attacking these closeouts are going to be really high level, skilled basketball players. I've talked about this on the pod before, but six of the free agents they signed this summer shot over from three last year, and one of them, Kendrick Nun, shot thirty eight percent. But he had a really tough shot profile, and if you look at his open shots he shot him I think like forty six

percent or something on open threes. So at the end of the day, I think you're gonna people are gonna be blown away at how quickly this picks up. You know, Frank, this is actually a good thing for us to end on because I know we need to be out of here in five minutes. I'm interested to hear your opinion on it. Frank was asked about the defense and he goes, you know, we we lost some good perimeter defenders. We did. He's like, but um, we still have good perimeter defenders.

And he explicitly said, I don't think we have any liabilities now. I would disagree with him. I think Malik Monk is probably a little bit of a liability in terms of his ability to guard a bigger, stronger players who might get him on switches. And obviously, you know, DeAndre Jordan is coming off of a few really bad defensive seasons, so obviously there there are some defensive liabilities. However, we I've said before on the pod that they do have lineups they can go to that are going to

be strong defensively. But the big thing that Frank talked about, and this is something that's really important as he goes, you know, it's kind of up to the guys is like I'm gonna I'm gonna go in there and I'm going to coach defense, but it's about them and whether or not they buy in. And and that's the truth, because we have all seen good defensive coaches have bad defensive teams because of a lack of buying. I mean, look at the Pelicans last year. Stay In van Gundhi

has always been a good defensive coach. Those guys just didn't buy in and it hurt them over the course

of the season because their stars didn't buy in. Obviously, the Lakers are gonna have the ability to quote unquote get it back on the other end this year, right, They're gonna have the ability to, oh, we gave up an easy layup on a back cut, We'll just go down and score because we have the offensive ability to score this year, which they didn't have in previous seasons, which is part of the reason why they engaged so

much on the defensive end of the floor. Well, the pathway to the Lakers being capable of beating a team like Brooklyn is being able to get it back on the other end, but wanting to get stops anyway, and and buying into that end anyway. And it starts from the top down. And Lebron has had a tendency in the past two when he's on really good offensive teams take it a little bit easier on the defensive end.

As long as Anthony Davis and Russe and Lebron buy in on that end anyway and still have the ability to score on the other end. That's the path to the ceiling of this team. And I still think it's there. But I thought it was really interesting that Frank brought up, like, you know, hey, there's only so much I can do these guys gotta want to do it. Um, So what's

your opinion on Frank's comments about the defense. Yeah, so I don't know if you hear like Polinka also because then they've talked about how this is all collaborative process, right blink, Polinka, Vocal, the stars, everything, putting the team together Blinka a couple of days ago. Um, he said, you know, defense definitely is about the personnel, Like that's obviously part of it, but it's also part of the scheme,

and it's also part of how you teach it. And they also a part of how guys buy in and you've you've and you've definitely seen that with how the how the team is, how the team is built as well. So I think they're betting on that. But they're betting on Vocal scheme. They're betting on They're betting on him to be able to transfer his defense over year to year.

Last year there was a ton of turnover and they still as Polinka talked about how the number one defense in the league, And I think they're betting on that, and now is that a good bet? We'll see. I do think they've dropped off on defense. I do think you have to give the perimeter defenders that walked out of the door some credit here, Casey be crue. So we're great, you know, in their role as defenders. So

we'll see. But I like the thing. I think we talked about this earlier as well, with Vocal saying there's no liabilities, and I think that's important. These guys don't have to be above average defenders for the way the team is built. They just don't. The offense is good enough to where they don't have to be a d is good enough to as an help defender, where they don't have to be above average defender. They just don't

have to be liabilities. If all these guards become average defenders, I think you have a great defense just the way that the team is built. So I think it's okay to look at it that way. I think that's the way Vogel sees as well. He's gonna try to get more out of them. I think there is simply but

with defensive talent. Taylor Horn Tucker, his first question yesterday was on his defense, like how he's you know what I mean, like how he's going to be focused on defense, And I think that's the theme here and that's the role here. And can you get the buying from the stars. If you get the buying from the stars, everything kind of else trickles down. And you know, a D and nine was the leading the leader of the defense. And I think that's his job this year too, um to

find that, to find who can be the defender. Um to kind of make his mark on this team. And and that's what he's gonna have to do. And I think they can. So we'll see how how it works on on the first day, but I think they still can be, like I think I said before, like a top seven defense, and I think that's good enough to where I think the offense is gonna be absolutely bolstered this year with the talent they have. Yeah, it's all that buying, correct about that, as far as the personnel

goes in terms of their talent. You know, they were the number one defense last year, and everyone associates it to traditional Lakers basketball, so to speak, and there's some truth to that. But don't forget like they were essentially in the front court defensively last year because Anthony Davis and Lebron missed the you know, a significant chunk of the season and uh, there are other bigs that they brought in to replace Dwight and Javail were not vertical

defensive threats. You know. Marcusol actually kind of became a blow average defensive center last year because of his inability to guard in the space and pick and roll and because he's not the same presence underneath the basket that he used to be. Montrese Harold just really not that good of a defensive player. You know, Andre Drummond had his moments, but he wasn't really on the team for most of the season, and they still had the number

one defense. You know, everyone is so focused on the guards this year, and what they don't realize is just plugging Lebron and a d back in is a huge influx of defensive talent in the front court. And then you also have Dwight Howard as a as a much much, much, much much better defensive player than Marcusol and Montrese Harrold were Trevor Reyes as a player that the Lakers haven't had over the last two years. You know, that really

fundamentally sound like classic archetype of an NBA wing defender. There, I would argue, there's actually more defensive talent actually available on the floor, god willing. If with injuries, then there was last year and they were the number one defense. I think people are overthinking that a little bit. Well it look different than last year. Yeah, it's not gonna be the same scheme without a doubt, but it's it's doable.

And you know, the last thing I'll say about it before we get out of here is, you know, there are ways to scheme around defensive liabilities when the time comes. There are they're like they're they called pre switching. So for instance, like you have Trey Young on a guy in the corner and he's hiding over there, and you know the primary ball handler at the top key uh say it's Drew Holiday, calls for p J. Tucker to come up and set a screen so he can get

Trey Young on the ball. Well, what they'll do is they'll pre switch when p J. Tucker goes, they'll just keep Tray Young down there and they'll send another defender up with p J. Tucker and just leave try Young in a different spot on the floor. That's an example of a way to fight that. There's also just simple double recover type rotations that you can use to try to make it so that you're forcing them to make complex passes out of double teams rather than just isolating

your worst player defensively. There are there are ways to work around this, and Frank is the man for the job in my opinion. He's absolutely capable of figuring out how to make this work. So i'm i'm I remained very confident that the Lakers will be one of the top tier defenses in the league this year. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on with media day before we get out of here? Uh? Now, I think

that I think we covered it pretty nicely. Um, I just want to thank everyone for the support I guess during the over the whole summer it's been it's been awesome. We're gonna get started here. Um. Shout out to dash Radio our new kind of partnership there. But yeah, thanks someone. The support has been crazy, so Jason and I really appreciate it. But we're excited to get started here. Preseason games in four days. So everyone had a really good,

good off season. Again, thanks everyone for the support here. Yeah, I'm on the same page. We'd. I've been blown away the support and quite frankly, like I think this is gonna be one of the funniest seasons, uh, in the history of the Lakers franchise. And I think that I think that we're all in for the ride, and Roger and I are going to do our best to cover

it as best as we can. And we appreciate you guys being there with us, and we look forward to the spaces where we can have you guys pop up here with us and and and talk some hoops, you know, face to face, and have some fun that way as well. All right, everybody you've been listening to the State of the Lakers show on DASH Radio. Thank you guys so much for your support and we will see you on Sunday. Thanks everyone,