Episode 80: Ariza Injury, Suns Blowout

so far? Going great? Beautiful Thursday morning? Yeah? Trade everyone? Right? Is that the is that the vibe of of this Um, Lincoln made every mistake possible of this offseason, right, Let's just trade everyone. So that's a vibe at least. It's it's funny not watching a game live because everything just feels double, like on the timeline when you try to follow a game through tweets, Um, everything just feels double, you know, So it's it's crazy to rewatch it. But

I'm good man, how are you on this morning? I'm doing well. I'm getting ready to go out of town tomorrow up to Press Scott, which is basically a place in northern Arizona where it's a little cooler, so it's a place where people go to escape the heats. I'm looking forward to that. But yeah, dude, it's funny because I think it's just when you go back and look through tweets sometimes too, you can't, uh, you don't remember where in the game they were referencing. So sometimes, like

it's just kind of funny to see the reactions. But you know, to me, I think you and I have harped on this like seventeen times in the last couple of weeks. But the point of the preseason is not to win basketball games. The point of the preseason is to get reps for specific guys, specific lineups, and things

along those lines. Also, I do believe that some of this is just part of what the NBA makes these teams, do you know, Like I I bet you if it were up to Frank, knowing that he had no forwards available in the last week because of the Auresa injury and because of the fact that he didn't want Lebron to play, I I would imagine that, like, if it were up to him, he wouldn't even have played a game. He would have just had more practice reps for these guys.

You know, so I wouldn't overthink it too much. Plus, you and I were clearly devastatingly wrong about DeAndre Jordan because of his ugly preseason performance yesterday. That we will discuss later. Anyway, today, we're going to talk a little bit about last night's game, just kind of overarching what

we thought. Then we're going to talk about the the Trevor Areasa injury, what it means, what we think the Lakers should do, how big of a deal it is, uh, And then we're gonna do a deep dive into a couple of the players that played in that game, specifically Carmelo, Anthony Taylor, Norton Tucker, and then uh, Malik Monk and a little bit of Anthony Davis is too. He deserves a shout out. We didn't talk much about him in the in the first game. Um, but you know too.

Overarching about the preseason game yesterday, the first thing that stood out to me is something that you and I talked about in the Tuesday pod, which is when you you know the Lakers have some defensive liabilities at the guard position, that's to be you know that that's you can just jump to that conclusion. However, you know, they

were never brought on board to all play together. That was never the point, you know, they they didn't bring on Ellington, Monk and and uh none to all play simultaneously. Yet by virtue of what's happened in the preseason, because Lebron isn't playing, because Russell Westbrook isn't playing, they've had to play them all. And so what you're seeing is, I don't want to say, not a real basketball team, just not what the Lakers are are intending to to

put on the court this year, okay. And so from that standpoint, you know, it's it's kind of naturally gonna lead to some ugly I saar basketball. Okay, So you need to pay attention to what they do individually and not what the team accomplishes in those in its As things progress, a lot of these minutes are going to be taken up by Russ, A lot of these minutes are gonna be taken up by Lebron. Whoever they get to replace Ariza is gonna take a lot of these minutes.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. And just in general, we talked about the you know, the the aggregate of athleticism on the floor. When you have this many small guys, when you have this many guys who are thin at the point, like all over the perimeter, it kind of makes the Lakers look like they're just not that imposing. But they're never gonna play lineups like that, so I wouldn't be too concerned. What were your overarching thoughts about

that game yesterday? So we always like to kind of look at ourselves first, right, But there was another basketball team on the floor yesterday, Like there was another team that played the played against US. Phoenix is a well oiled machine, like even without even without having Devin Booker, they know exactly what they want to run, right, and they brought back I think their team of their seventeen players from last year or something like that. Um, Chris

Paul knows everyone's tendencies. They just and they played most of their guy yes yesterday. Right, their starting lineup was pretty much the starting lineup without obviously Devin Booker. So first I want to start there. They look good, they look like they know what they're doing. Aiden looked dominant as well, and I was expected right, and the Lakers started They're starting lineup. This is not really gonna play, right, they don't have their star creation on there. So that

was my overarching theme. Like to me, like judging any of these players, and we'll talk about later the individual guys, but judging without the two guys who are going to have the ball for the most of the time, it's really tough for me to look at these games. So I look at more kind of kind of in a team kind of sense, right, And I thought a D looked good in that first quarter, Like when you rewatch a game later you can kind of take notes a

little bit better. Game was closed in that first quarter, like when you had our when we had our starting lineup against against their starters, like, it was pretty good. I thought the defense was okay. It was in that second quarter where like THHD and kind of a D came out and then the flood just opened. McCall bridges got what's got whatever he want on like Ellington and stuff like that. But yeah, that was my overarching theme. Phoenix looks like a team that knows where they are.

They look like they're just continuing on from last year. Honestly, they had that, like we went to the finals confidence and I really do believe in that. I believe in like a playoff, a playoff thing that improves kind of your play, even if it was in a year where they where they play played some teams with injuries. But I just think that they have a confidence to him. You could tell mckele Bridges is very comfortable in himself. You can see Cam Johnson is very comfortable, and so

DeAndre and comfortable. Chris Paul super comfortable with this team now. So that's my kind of overacching team on this Phoenix is a step ahead in terms of continuity, and they look like a team that brought back a whole bunch of players, and the Lakers look like a team that has a whole new squad that's missing. It's the first and third best players on it. So that was kind of the overacting team on there. I thought Chris Paul

looked fantastic. I I could I couldn't believe. You know, there's a you know the lebron famously if you if you've followed him over the years, he kind of has like a regimen that he goes into about a month before the season starts, where he kind of kicks into gear, but other than that, he kind of takes distance from the game because he needs too. It's for your own you know, mental health, especially with how much stress he puts on his body. You know, Chris paul Is has

kind of been like that in his career too. He's had seasons where he comes in where he's out of shape or he kind of plays his way into shape. And I was just blown away by how polished and and uh like just just he looked like he was in a great basketball rhythm, which is not what you expect to see from players at this point in the season. As far as the you know, good Sons goes um. You know, it's a when you look at those lineups

kind of juxtaposed against each other. You see Jay Crowder out there, you see Michael Bridges, You see these Cam Johnson minutes. These are big. You know, Jake Crowder is only six six, but these are He's super strong. Michaal Bridges and Cam Johnson are huge. They're going up against the six ft two pour uh like like kind of thin guards. It's it's a it's a mismatch physically all over the floor. And to your point, the fact that they even hung with him in the first quarter is impressive.

In a big part of that I thought was Anthony Davis,

and you know, just in general. We didn't talk about him much on UH after the Sunday game, but I thought in both still in both games, especially early when he wasn't so much focused on what he was doing offensively but just kind of uh focused on the totality of what was happening in the game, I thought he was getting a ton of hands on basketball's the amount of basketball is that he deflects just by like kind of that three quarter front type of post defense and

what he doesn't pick and roll coveragees what he does playing passing lanes. It was just a good reminder of the fact that Anthony Davis is the best defensive player in basketball when he's trying and when he's healthy. That's always been the case. And you know, there's a bunch two more to talk about with Anthony Davis, and we're gonna get to him more later in the show, because

he does not look comfortable offensively at all. In fact, he hasn't really looked comfortable offensively since the bubble, UH in terms of a consistent like night in and night out, like just looks like he's got his feathery touch he's got his handle under control and he kind of is seeing and reading the floor. Well that's kind of gone and and it's gonna be a process for him to get that back. He needs to regain that mojo is what I what I was calling it yesterday while I

was watching the game. But on the defensive end, that kind of thing. It's just so naturally gifted with his physical traits and with his instincts that like when he cares on that end, it just makes everything easier, and it makes all the jobs for all the players on the floor easier. The reason why the Lakers defense looks so terrible yesterday overall is what you were asking those guards to do was to hold their own at the point of attack all over the place. Because the totality

of the Laker defense wasn't really all there. You know that because of the lineups they were forced to play, because of the guys that were resting. I made the joke if Dwight Howard and Lebron James and Trevor He'sa and Russell Westbrook are all out for the season, then you can count on the fact that the Lakers aren't winning the title. And that's the truth that's the that

that is the reality of of any basketball team. If you're gonna play all or worst, you know, not your worst, but you're lesser players while all your better players are sitting on the bench, It's not gonna look great. Anthony. I'm really excited to see what the Laker defense looks like with Anthony Davis healthy, healthy and trying with Lebron James as that back line communicator kind of plays that Draymond role, you know, just always kind of floating into

the lane and and and just disrupting everything. When Trevories gets back healthy, which we'll talk about in a minute, and with Russell Westbrook's energy and just what he can do as a leader to bring that kind of verve and an intensity on the defense. Eve Ent, I'm very excited for that. And I thought it was funny to see everybody kind of panic and and lose their minds yesterday watching the game when the obvious truth was out there that that wasn't really what it was gonna look

like when the time came. What did you like about Anthony Davis and what he did in the game yesterday. Yeah, highlighted a few players as well. Online he had you talked about him as the best defender in basketball, like he just he erases kind of mistakes right in a

way he can really erase mistakes. So there was a bunch of times like the guard drove and he's able to take away the guard lay up at the ram while also defleecting like the past to eighton and like his I thought his energy kind of dropped after that first quarter that second quarter. And again it's a preseason game. You expect that, but I thought he was active early. His jumpers still isn't going, which I expect to go eventually. And again he takes really tough ones. He doesn't really

make it easy on himself. He's taking like jab steps step back jumpers over DeAndre Ayden before he's any in any kind of offensive rhythm. Again, though, judging him without the two shot creators is really tough. Like I want to see him next to Russ, next to Lebron like eight was. It's never this guy you just throw the ball to and run your offense through, right, Like that's just it's just not an effective way to run offense

in the modern NBA. Right now, he's a guy you want him with like some shock creation so he should be able to be a little bit better than he was offensively. But I liked him on defense though. He looked like he's getting back into the rhythm. And he talked about that um after the game, and Aiden's a tough matchup, right, like, and Chris Paul is a tough matchup as well. Um, Chris Paul really unted our guards,

especially in that second quarter. I think I wrote down here like they put in they had none Ellington, Monk Mellow and I think DeAndre Jordan's at center, and that lineup got just ran off the floor and Melo hit some fun shots. Melo did some like Carmelow things, you know, little jab step, he did that like I got the rebound f out of here, and he uh, he had some like he had some post up moves on Jake Crowder and hit some of his his fadeaways. But that

that lineup just got destroyed. Mccaull Bridges got whatever he wanted, Chris Paul got whatever he wanted, and that's when the game kind of went out. But it's good to see a d just he wanted to play in the second half, right and I think he would play in the second half he could tell he's just trying to get his foot on the gas a little bit. I think when he missed that MANI games last year, still trying to get himself in rhythm, trying to get his defensive defensive

stuff in the rhythm as well. And Phoenix is a tough team to do that with. UM, But yeah, I liked I liked at least seeing him out there getting their cardio as well. UM, And this is the time to do it. They have four more preseason games that seems like a ton, and I think last year just kind of hid the fact that how many preseason games there are, and I'm expecting all of them to sit at least the last one. That's usually what coaches do. They want that last one to rest before the for

the real things. So I expect Bron and Ad to play, Ron and Rust to playing maybe then the next one or on Sunday. But it's good to see a d at least want to be out there and getting rhythm with his teammates. I thought you made a really good point about Anthony Davis and the way in which he gets as a rhythm. It's one of the things that that I used to complain about with Kyle Kuzma a

lot last year. A lot of guys that are you know, that are capable of being really good aggressive jump shooters will take tough jump shots to try to build their rhythm instead of trying to build the rhythm through easy shots. It's honestly, it's one of the things that has made Lebron so efficient in his career. You're not Lebron doesn't come out in the first quarter taking step back threes.

If he will take threes when they're in the flow, when he's catching and shooting wide open, but for the most part, in the first quarter, well, Ron will take easier shots and then as he gets his rhythm, you'll see him start to take more difficult shots as things go. It's something that I think Anthony Davis can kind of kind of learn from a little bit because he is so physically capable of being dominant around the basket. He could build his rhythm that way and then kind of

work his way out with confidence to make shots. And for whatever reason, he doesn't kind of go about it that way. Um. But that said, if you look at from Anthony Davis's perspective, the way he sees it is like man, I was making all of these shots in the bubble, and so I know they're gonna go in eventually, so I just need to keep shooting them. Eventually they'll go in. I'll get my confidence, and then we'll hit

the ground running, you know what I mean. And I think that's the reason why he stayed in the game so long. I think he was just in his head thinking, let me stay out there, let me get four or five more jump shots up, and let me see if I can try to build this rhythm a little bit more as as time goes. Jump shooting is one of the weirdest things in the game of basketball because there's it's such an inexact science, like you can work so incredibly hard on your jump shot and sometimes they just

don't go in, you know, like like that. I would

it would happen to me all the time. I would have a week where I put in excellent work and I would work on my I'd go extra to the gun and at the gym, and I'd shoot a thousand shots, you know, three days during the week to get that extra work in, and then for whatever reason, in a random, you know, Thursday game, I just wouldn't be able to make a shot, you know, but then there would be another week where I wouldn't put his in as much work in and for whatever reason, they just kind of

go in. Like jump shooting is, it's such a it's such a a mind f for lack of of a better term, that it can it can really get in your head. And I think that's what what Anthony Davis is going through a little bit. I think he knows he's a good shooter, he knows he puts the work in he had. There's no reason why these shots should not be going in except for the fact that they just aren't. And I and you could tell that he's just trying to work through that. And I'm not worried

about it at all. Eventually, the eventually the work connects with the result and it will it will come together and he'll start making shots. And like I said, my only criticism is I think that he should probably try to build his rhythm on the interior and kind of work his way out because it is a confidence game, and I do think that that would kind of help him in that regard, if that makes sense. And I think both of us are like a big believer in

process over results. Right, Like even if even if those step back midrange kind of jumpers are going in early, like that's to me, that's still not like great process. And the guards that he's playing with aren't really conductive

to that either. There's a lot of times I don't know if you know this as well, but like he'd run a pick him up with Kendrick Nunn and that pocket passes just a little off right, and the suns are really good, like they'll they'll tap that away and they got a bunch of kind deflections on that as well. Even th ht try to run some ball screens with him. I don't think I want to see base more run anymore our ball screens, but you try to run a few with him as well, Uh, Monk, I thought it

did a pretty nice job. Again, these are all guys that are looking for the shot off of that right, So like when Monk comes off his queen and role, he's reading where the big is so he can attack him. Um, he's not reading kind of where a d is, but hit him with a few nice vaka passes as well.

But I just think the guards that he's playing with, and again, like it's so tough to judge any of this because the ball handling is about to move to two players who we're in street clothes yesterday, so it's kind of and we'll get who will get Anthony David's easy shots early in the game exactly, and guys who look for him right, like, just watch him when he

plays with Rondo. And again he aid didn't have a great offensive game yesterday, but Rondo checks in, pushes the pace, gives a little like further to the game, right Rondo is like even if Rondo is kind of more in this like uh, pointing instead of doing you know what I mean, Like he's more like, hey do this, and he's not himself kind of doing it, but still it kind of gives his team kind of a pickup. And

he comes in right away. A D has his eighties man is fronting, and Ronald just immediately throws it up. And I don't think any other player on the team who played yesterday were to throw that pass, but it got to a D. He caught it. It was kind of contested, he laid it in. I don't remember if he got fouled. But again, like those are the kind of players that kind of get him. Plays that kind of get him going, so I want, I want to see him next to our stars, but just good to

see him out there too. But I don't judging him without the two shot creators that we're gonna see. I keep saying this, we were like we're seeing thht in the Lebron and rest book role. Like this is what a game is gonna look like, twenty year old running your offense exactically, or even like Kendrick nunn you know what I mean, giving Kendrick Nunne the full ball handling duties. You know, this is kind of what it's gonna look like.

Like he's a good player, he can score off a pick and roll a little bit, but you know, you don't want him as your full time shot creator. And Russell Lebron are probably are first and second best rebounders or I guess he isn't there somewhere. But again, like that's that's why it's it's so different to me watching you know, Ellington and Monk try to sandwich Ayton on rebounds and I'm like, yeah, I mean, I guess, but

yeah they got killed on the boards. And that's not an excuse, it's just it's kind of how the game game way Yesterdame. Isn't it kind of funny how like Rondo, the Rondo experience was so frustrating for me at least. I I know there are some guys who are higher on Rondo, but the Rondo experience was so frustrating when Lebron was on the floor or when Lebron was an option.

But like, it's weird how he's kind of super refreshing when Lebron and and Russ aren't playing, because it's just a guy who at least kind of thinks the game the way that those guys do. I I agree with you that the decision making of was a big part of it. Like I, you know, Kendrick Nunn, I thought he had a pretty rough game as a decision maker.

I thought he was consistently kind of forcing things, and I think that it was part of the reason why he uh couldn't get into rhythm with with his shot, and it's just kind of everything seemed forced and out of the flow. Um. There was a play with Malik Monk, and for the record, I thought Malik Monk was awesome and we're gonna talk more about him later, but that kind of captures exactly what you're talking about he uh was running a side pick and roll in the first

half with Anthony Davis. Is one of his first possessions. When he checked in the game and Anthony Davis sets the screen and then he pops to the three point line. And when he pops to the three point line, Monk comes off the screen, and the big and the guard both stay with Monk and he kind of takes like a contested, like seventeen foot elevating jump shot along the baseline.

And immediately, what I thought to myself was Monk came into that pick and roll thinking I'm shooting a jump shot off the dribble going left, like he telegraphed the hell out of it, because he certainly wasn't making a read because it wasn't open, And if you actually watched the play, all he had to do was kind of pick up his dribble, reverse pivot drop it back to

Anthony Davis for a wide open three point shot. That that's what you would do if you were making a read, rather than uh kind of preconceiving what you were gonna do. And again I'm not I I don't want to harp on Monk because he did so much good in that game, and we're going to talk more about it, but that's

kind of exactly what I'm talking about. And when Lebron and Russ are in the game, they both think the game at least through the perspective of of constantly being a air of of what kind of easy reads are available, and I do think that that's going to make everything look better around the floor. Now with Malik Monk, I think he's separating himself offensively from the other guys in

the group. Um. I do think Kendrick Nunn is gonna have his moments, Like he hasn't really found his jump shot yet since he came UH to the Lakers, and he had a really good jump shooting season last year on a pretty difficult shot profile. So I do think

that he's going to have his moments. But it's very clear that like Kendrick Nunn is more of a guy who can make shots, and Malik Monk is more in that like Ellington tier of like he's a shooter, like like when he's open, it's it's easy for him, and you could tell that that next level of touch is there. And I also think he's a better ball handler UH

than Kendrick Nunn. There was a move in the second half where he kind of hesitated off after coming off a pick and roll, kind of looked up at the rim, got the big head that I think it was JaVale McGee kind of just kind of just barely got out of his defensive stance and then he squeaked right by him and put it high off the glass and made it. And I'm like, man, that is a super advanced dribble combination that he put together to get into the rim.

And like I think his combination of athleticism. He's actually a tiny bit taller than Kendrick Gunn. It looks like about an inch taller, and that that high level ball handling and that elite shooting really translates to being a significantly better offensive player than some of these other options. Now, the defensive end is a whole other side of this. But I think early on here, kind of like Frank was talking about, camp Baysmore separated himself as a defensive player.

I think Malik Monk has separated himself from the pack as an offensive player. Does that make sense, Yeah, for sure. And it's funny how like one game can kind of just change a whole view on a player, Like I love that play that you talked about with the where he's running a screen world with a D right and

like he didn't kick it out to him. He was feeling himself, right, this was his first touch of the game, like first touch of the game, screen world a D step back jumper, And while watching it, I'm just like, oh, yeah, of course he should shoot that. Of course he shoot it's because of just the one game in preseason. Um, but yeah, I forgot like when he came out of college.

I believe he came in as a shooter, right, I think like he came into the league as a shooter and then he showed a little bit more off the dribble stuff. But yeah, like him coming off that he had he had one player I think it was his first three came off like I think a little bit of a down screen or something curled, smooth, looked absolutely smooth, went up really smooth and hit the three. And then like he used that threat to kind of get to

the rim. You talked about the off the off the glass shot that he had, Um, he had one where he was in transition, just a little bit of in and out dribble right by Cam Johnson right to the rim as well. He's just just a score man. Like he reminds me a little bit of like Lou Williams, like a little bit of that kind of type. Maybe not the veteraness of Lou Williams, but like just that game where he can shoot off the dribble, get to the basket, and like his ball handling I think opens

things up as well. Um, it's just cool to see him get more and more comfortable. And you're right, he's probably in the lead right now. Honestly, how Wayne Ellington would be a little bit better, But again, I think he suffers the most along with bays Moore, of not playing with these stars shock treators, because I think that's where he's at his best. Uh and playing with Rondo as well. But I'm excited to see him leak next to Lebron and Russ if he can still have that

kind of same uh impact. And this spot up threes are good too, Like he's running to the corners one derable step up three. I think he's like I forgot what the number said, but he's shooting like a super crazy percentage from three in the first two games and oh yeah, six for ten or something like that. His jumber looks clean, though, You're right. When you watch him shoots some guys, you're like, yeah, he, like Kendrick Nunn, seems like such a streaky shooter right the way he shoots,

it just feels like it's all rhythm. Like it's kind of like if he's going that night, it's going in. If not, then it's gonna be ugly. Linke Mud looks like I have a really pretty shot. I know it's going in every time. So you're right, Yeah, you're right. He he looks like in the league right now in the guard rotation, and it'll be interesting because uh, I

think he fits best coming off the bench. I don't expect him to start like what but but you gotta kind of again, like when you're building a closing lineup, you need it to be your best five guys because

that's what you're trying to win the game with. Um. However, over the course of a full basketball game, it's kind of like a you need a factor in the diminishing returns, right, Like if I put Molik Monk out there with Russ and Lebron all the time, that's a diminishing return because his ball handling is less valuable when he doesn't have

the ball in his hands. Right, So like a guy like Ellington, in my opinion, through through the through the run of the regular season, in all of these random shifts at random points in the game, I like Ellington with the three stars, and I like Monk when stars are are being spelled for stretches on the bench, if that makes sense. As a matter of fact, with the Areza injury, I think Ellington is almost a shoe in to start, and I think you're gonna end up seeing Baysmore,

the guy everybody wanted to start instead of Ellington. I think you're gonna see him in the games where a starts at the five, which may not and we'll get to that in a second. But if a d starts at five, I think you're gonna see a lot of bays More at the three in Ellington at the two. But you bring in Monk with those bench lineups, and now his ball handling becomes all that more valuable. Um, let's talk about Mellow for a second, because I thought I thought it was an interesting game from him in

a lot of ways. First of all, he actually defended okay in the in the first stint that he had. There was one transition play I think it was in his second stint where he had a really bad clothes It was a mismatch for Rondo I don't think got back to his man properly, and then Mellow got confused and then he closed out. But then he did this super Jankee close out to Chase mcail bridges off the line where he basically reached at a ball that wasn't

even there and just gave him a lay up. That's classic Mellow type stuff that he's gonna have to cut out. But I thought it was a really interesting game from Mellow in the sense that it captured the good and the bad because he had a couple of plays where he got post ups against um smaller guards and got really good looks. There was one where he kind of did a drop step on on Chris Paul and got that layup, and then there was another one I can't

remember who. I think it might have been Campaign that he got on a switch but he shot like a little turnaround jumper jumper and it looked really easy. But then when he tried to post up the wings, like when he tried to post up Jay Crowder or Michael Bridges or Cam Johnson. You could tell there was that he kept trying to take that fade away and he tried to shoot that little bank shot and it was

like way off. And I think it's a really interesting thing to kind of keep an eye on this season because I love Carmelo Anthony attacking smaller guards in these post ups because it just his size is such a problem that that he gets great lift and the guys bounce off of him and he gets a great look

at the rim. But these other these wings at this stage in his career, they bump him off of his spot when he when he tries to do that power dribble before he goes into his fade away, he loses all of his balance because they win that physical matchup, and now he's taking a fade away where he's off balance and it's not close. And so that's the kind

of thing that i'd be Now. The last night's game is different because they needed him to shoot more because of the guys that we're playing, So obviously I don't want to judge him in that respect, but it's something to keep an eye on in the regular season when the guys are healthy, Mellow's shot selection in specific matchups and remembering that at this stage in his career, he's not going to be able to win, you know, kind of an even matchup in terms of size on the block,

If that makes sense. Yeah, for sure. I'm not saying you're doing this, but I've seen this a lot online, like people um saying, like, you know, who's Mellow gonna defend? Like, uh, is Mellow gonna be able to stay in front of these young guards? And to me, it's like if I are if I hire a chef and I tell that chef to like fix my air conditioning, Like the hell, like what are you? What are you talking about? Like not here to fixture regie a chef, melows there to

cook and score like that. That's what Melos in the game for. Like expecting him to be like some huge defensive kind of huge defensive impact players just not realist. To me, he's at a score and I think he still can do that. We saw some like where eight s at the top right, because to me, I think Melo is gonna play a lot where eights at the five. Like to me, that's where he's gonna play, and I thought that lineup looked actually okay, even like defensively it

looked fine to me. With Melow at the four, he saw eight kind of feed Mellow in the post, right, and it's kind of harder double off that, and that they were doing some cool stuff um off the ball as well sending some pin screens which he missed a couple. He's Karmelo Anthony like once once you give him the ball, it's like that's a license for me to do what I what I do, Uh, his license for me to do what I do. So I think he can still get buckets in that way, and so on the Blazers.

First year on the Blazers, he played thirty three minutes a game, which is high, right, Second year twenty five minutes a game, which I mean, Karmelo Anthony, twenty five minutes still seems a little high. I want to see what Mellow looks like in like a fifteen to like e t minute role, right, like where it's just pure buckets, Like there's not that's my job. I don't have to do all these help responsibly. Like my job is to

come in and get buckets. And he's a guy that gets you a shot, right, I think we undervalue how tough it is to even just get a shot in the NBA. You know what I'm like, just be able to create your own shot, Like have a guy you can give the ball to him, be like, hey, get us a get us a look that has a chance to go in. And I think that's a skill that's necessary on at least second unit. So I liked him with a D. I think that's where we'll see him.

I don't really want to see him next to like Jandre Jordan's where they're the only two back line players that that line I've got killed last night. And we'll talk about DJ later, I'm sure, but but yeah, that lineup got killed as it should. Like those are two dudes who know exactly how many stakes are on preseason. I'll give you a secret, there are zero steaks and pree season. So and they both know that they've been

a league a very long time. So I liked what I saw from Mellow And again you talked about it earlier, like you're not looking at the scoreboard in these preseason games, just kind of looking at what players can do and what skill sets they can kind of bring to different lineups. They'll have the star players that can kind of take take care of the other stuff. So I thought Mellow looked, fine, Um, he's not going to have a huge minute role, I don't think this year. But I want to see him

in that fifteen minute role. Man, can he be two thousand, fifteen Melow in fourteen minutes? He can't do that. In thirty minutes, he can't. I'm not even sure he can do that. But fifteen minutes a game, five or six minutes at five or six minutes every half, I think he can do that. I don't think you're you need to ask him to do much defensively, as long as the lineup around him is is kind of built, you know,

built in a way that makes his responsibilities easy. Like you said, don't play him with DJ, don't play with Dwight playing with a D. You know, make it so that the aggregate defensive talent around him is good so that his job is easy. I'll give you an example on that transition play where he where he reached on Michael Bridges and Michael got the easy layup. You know, it's like I'm sure Frank did say this to him,

but it's like, Okay, that's a breakdown. It is a defensive breakdown in transition that you guys weren't matched up so you had to do this crazy clothes out. But you have one job at that point. Just make him take a jumper. I don't care if it's even a wide open three. Uh, just anything other than this wide open, easy right at the rim lay up with nobody around. It was that that was where he messed up. He did a good job of kind of chasing him off

the three point line, but then he reached. And if he wouldn't have reached, and if he would have just kind of done a more conservative closed out to take away the paint, you make Michail Bridges take you know, a pull up fifteen footer or make him maybe he just pulls it back out and then you reset into a half court possession. That's kind of a much easier responsibility than saying, hey, you know, your job is to you know, be this like super stout isolation defender or

whatever it is that you're asking him to do. You make it easy for him with the totality of the lineup. But yeah, I'm with you as far as mellow goes. I want him to cook. I want him to be aggressive.

I really like him as an isolation score. Just locate the matchups, like make it a thing where it's like, hey, we want to get Mellow a look, Maybe run a Mellow a d pick and roll and see if you can't, uh get a big, big, slow guy on him, or or the opposite, like run a pick and roll with Russ and get a switch so that he's on a smaller guard, and then look for him in the post, because I really like him as a post up score, specifically against the smaller defenders and then really quickly lasting

on Mellow. I really like his spot up shooting in the sense that he's tall, and he's got a really quick release, and he's he's got this. It's actually it's actually something that I copied from him a lot when I was in college. He does a really good job of hesitating right before his pull up, right before his spot up threes to kind of lull the defender to sleep.

I don't know if you see this, but like he'll catch the ball and he'll kind of hold it for a split second and he'll act like he's not gonna do anything, and then suddenly he'll elevate into his shot. And the reason why I like that is like sometimes and I joke about this, talked about this all time in the pot. Sometimes there is no wide open three on a possession. Sometimes the defense is locked in. Sometimes they're rotating really well. Sometimes you're not gonna get the

you know, the buttnake at three in the corner. It's gonna be it's gonna be something a little tougher. And sometimes it's mellows only a little bit open, but you can swing it to him and he can do that little hesitation that just barely lolls the closing out defender to sleep, and then he can just elevate into the shot and at least get a decent look at the rim. And so I really like him as as a floor spacer in that regard. So let's let's talk about this

a reason thing, because this is a big deal. Um. I think you and I both had said multiple times over the summer that we thought that they needed another wing. Uh, not because they needed somebody in the rotation, but because of depth. During the regular season, someone's gonna get hurt. Maybe Lebron twist an ankle, maybe Mellow twists and ankle

here you go, Trevor Reasa gets hurt. So all it really means, in my opinion, is that a reason is now your wing that you're gonna add during the middle of the season in the form of an injury recovery. But now you need somebody now, and I have a feel they're gonna look to sign somebody now. I don't know if that's Wes Matthews or James Ennis, or if they have somebody else in mind, but I think they need to sign a wing now because that's now a

legitimate problem. And what I'm really concerned about because it's I don't think the a D at center thing is just a D I think I think Frank Vogel has a has a role in that as well. I think he's so defensive minded that he's obsessed with size, he's obsessed with rim protection, he's obsessed with rebounding, and I don't even think he factors in as much the way that that can impact the the overall flow of things

on the offensive end. I think this is gonna be something they use as an excuse to play a lot of DeAndre Jordan at the five next to Dwight, not next to dwighte but in conjunction with Dwight and put a lot of a d at the four because he's gonna be like, hey, well, we needed a reason at the three to make our overall totality or total physicality of the whole lineup. Uh, you know, usable, So we're

gonna need to to play more centers. I'm really concerned about that because again, even though you and I get roasted for this all the time, like we liked DeAndre Jordan in a very small role, like you had him as like a two stint guy, kind of like Javail and I had him, isn't like doesn't play and the only time you would play is Dwight's resting tonight. Anthony Davis is resting tonight. So this allows us to use

the same pick and roll coverages. This allows us to stay in the same identity rather than here comes Paul millsap. He can't protect the rim, so now we've got to completely change all of our coverages and do all that kind of stuff. That's why I liked DeAndre Jordan's None of us you and neither you or me anticipated that he would get used to the extent that I expect him to get used here in the next couple of weeks with the reason out, and that's concerning to me.

Are you concerned at all? So first, I love that we're the face of DeAndre jordan propaganda, Like I just think that's absolutely hilarious, hilarious, even though we both said he won't play when it matters is probably like the twelve most important player on this team. Is there just to be an an easy eater. But I love that where the face of I'll rocket, that's cool. I don't I go the other way on this. So I've have heard I've heard this argument that like, oh, this just

means more DeAndre Jordan's and I love that. That's just like a hell escape, right, any kind of issue comes up, let's just throw it on DeAndre Jordan's plate. You know he'll he'll be the he'll be the scapegoat for this season. I think this is an excuse to play more. The fourth highest played player on this team, which is Taylan Horn Tucker, I think he's gonna play a lot more. I think he's gonna play at the three. He's played the most minutes in preseason. I'm pretty sure I know

in the first game. It was the second game. I'm pretty sure he he played the most. Maybe eight he played a little bit more, but I feel like he played the most minutes. I think they're been playing about the three. I've liked what I've seen with him off ball too. I don't know what you saw as well, but he just seems he looks more comfortable with his jump shot as well. His jump shot looks more stable,

it looks more repetitive. It looks like he can repeat that action a lot more than it was last year. His feet look a lot more. You could tell he put in work to get his feet in rhythm. His defense as well has looked fine to me, Like minutes. I think this is an excuse to play more Tailor Horn Tucker. Maybe DeAndre Jordan still starts. We'll see, but that's where I'm at this with this. I think this gives him an excuse to do even more THHD. He's a guy they paid, there's a guy they invested in.

This guy who's shown some skills, some off ball skills, and again I love him. As this secondary kind of defense is broken down, give it to him, and he has more off the ball. He's not as smart obviously as a players forever reason yet he just don't have the experience. But he's a better off the drible player. He's a bigger threat attacking the rim. I thought his like basketball, overall decision making is better, even if his

passings isn't great. He had a bunch of players where like he noticed Eton wasn't in the paint and he had Jay crowd on him. He just drove out to the basket and Jay Crowder couldn't do anything about it. He drew a foul I think on two of those. So to me, that's where they go with this. What

do you think about that? Because that's where I went first when I saw it, and then I see online everyone jumping right to that Frank's gonna do what he wants now, and it's just like, well maybe, but I think I think this is more to uh more th team minutes. What do you think? I do think it leads to more th h T minutes. I don't think it will necessarily be at the three, but I think that's just semantics because you know it's wings, right, It's

just it's just wings, Like it'll be. I think you'll see more th HD in bays more because you'll have to now. So we talked about how you've got these rust lebron A D minutes right, and they're all they're each gonna play probably thirty two thirty three minutes a game, So that kind of takes a huge chunk of the rotation now, and then you've got, you know, how many center minutes are going to be available and who's splitting them, And then you've got how many you know, wing slash

guard minutes that are available and who's gonna take him. Well, I thought a reason it was gonna play twenty plus minutes a night. He was literally I was one of the most optimistic Laker fans about the reason signing. I thought he was such a clean fit. And if you look at his his history, he's one of the players that coaches lean on UH to play big minutes because of how reliable he is in so many different ways

on the basketball team. Well, with him out of the picture, that twenty something and it's is now available for everyone else, So it's gonna naturally lead to more th h T minutes. Now. I agree with you in the sense that you kind of have to play th h T now and baysmore a lot because that overall physical presence of the lineup needs to hit a certain baseline. Uh Frank Frank Vogel.

For instance, somebody asked him in an interview yesterday after practice or maybe it was before the game, I can't remember, but they said, you know, hey, like, what is the case for playing a D at the four? Basically, like, if you had to come up with a downside for playing a D at the five, what is it? And

he said rebounding? And and I disagree with him because Lebron and a D are probably the second biggest front court in the league behind brook Lopez and Janice right, So like I don't think that that's and then Russ is the best rebounding guard probably of all time. So I disagree with that line of thinking. However, he's what

he's getting at, even though I think he's wrong. What he's getting at is like, we need a certain baseline of physicality and athleticism and size in the lineup, and if we dip below that baseline, you're gonna have a lot of games like yesterday where the Phoenix Suns just physically mall you, or like the first game where even the Brooklyn Nets, who are not a physically imposing team.

Physically mall you you need to hit that baseline. So if a reasons out your six eight guy who can guard multiple positions and rebound really well, especially on the defensive end, and he uh can play five minutes a night, take that guy out. That we're moving closer to the baseline.

So the way to counteract that is more th ht and more base more you're bigger of the guards, you know, like you're Whereas if a reason was playing twenty five minutes a night, you might lean more towards none in Ellington, in Monk because you can get away with playing a little bit less size, a little bit less athleticism. So that's gonna be the interesting thing to keep an eye. I agree with you that they're gonna have to play

T H T more. I just think the obvious answer here is the guy I've been clamoring for all summer and a guy that you like to and that's Wesley Matthews. He's a little bit undersized, but he's so strong and he's so laterally quick that he defends guards pretty well. And then he's just the definition of a professional basketball player. Like the dude just every night, does his job, does the shot going all the time? Know, as a matter of fact, it's it's missed a lot of the time.

But the point is is like he's kind of like a shorter version of a reason if you think about it in a lot of ways, and what you can expect him to do. And so I think that I think that's a route that they should go. I'm really interested to see what Rob does in the next couple of days. I would I would assume we'll hear something today. What do you think? Yeah, And like to me, I don't predict them to add another wing, Like I think

they're just gonna try to. They have a roster, like their team, guys who they believe can play, right, Like, that's what their belief is in this roster, other than Austin Reeves, who actually looks nice. Like I like Austin Reeves a lot. I don't think he will play obviously, but I think he had a couple of while plays yesterday. Yeah, like his cootback Q teams there and he doesn't look scared on the floor, you know what I mean. He looks like, he looks comfortable. He looks like he belongs

in the NBA, So that was cool to see. But also, like Chandre Brown, I think I think he's a nice like two way player. But yeah, Rob has been open that he wants to keep that final roster spot open, So I don't think they add someone. I think they expect the reason back in eight weeks um, which I think it probably puts him back. What it's October, somewhere in December probably. I think he'll be patient with him.

I I think we'll see him mid January. I was thinking about that today, like like it's a two month evaluation, but theoretically they could evaluate him and then be like, Okay, we need to rehab this another month, or maybe you need you know, we're playing great, we're winning a lot of games. No reason to rush you back. We need you for the postseason. I would expect to see a reason in January. That's just my guest. Yeah, for sure, and again to me a reason again he could have started,

but that's a playoff signing. Like that's a guy who's gonna make his bones in the playoffs. Same with like Andrea Guadala in Golden State. Similar type of mold of player, right, guy who knows what he is doing we can put in sixteen game player versus eighty two game player. To me, right, he's the guy who's thirty six years old, Like, you shouldn't be your prime one of your primary wing defenders, even though he probably could have this year. Base Moore,

I think we'll have to get more minutes. Like and again, like we talked about it, I just you just can't share the floor with Non Ellington, Uh Non Ellington, who else Bays Moore, Carmelo, Like that's just disaster defensive line And no matter how many buckets Monk is getting off the dribble, you know, like it's it's just a disaster

defensive lineup that I don't think we'll see. And and I guess we can kind of move to DeAndre Jordan, Like I don't want to see DeAndre Jordan without Anthony Davis on the floor, even how ugly the spacing looks, Like, I just think that doesn't make any sense. And uh no, Dwight playing yesterday as well kind of exasperated that issue because we got we got a lot of it. I think that's been pretty clear. And we've never said that

DeAndre should be the primary center on the floor. That was never what we were going to, so, like, what do you think of DeAndre Jordan? I guess, guys yesterday. So this has been one of my biggest pet peeves of the last uh a couple of years, kind of getting into the whole Twitter experience and covering covering the league. People take what you say out of context, you know, Like, and what what we said about DeAndre Jordan's was so was so clear to anybody who actually listened to the podcast.

We were like, Hey, we don't really care about what what happened in Brooklyn because it's a completely different identity. Um that said, we know that the defensive front court is going to be built around Lebron, Anthony Davis, and Dwight Howard, So this is kind of just a depth signing. And and what I said was what he can do in their drop coverage, which they is what they run

with Dwight Howard. What they ran with Dwight Howard and Jeva McGee in was a drop coverage strictly in the drop coverage around good defensive players that actually care about defending, which is not what he had in Brooklyn. I think he can be a reasonable fac simile of Dwight Howard. That's that's all we said. That's literally all we said.

And it turned into this thing like you and I saying that DeAndre Jordan's gonna be rejuvenated as this like modern uh defensive center with the Lakers, which is not at all, not at all what we were trying to say. And so what's funny is like, you know, I had I had somebody come to me yesterday, and I'm sure you saw something as well, basically saying, you know, are

you ready to admit you were wrong about Deandrew Jordan. No, no, I'm not ready to admit I'm wrong about DeAndre Jordans because even if I was flay writtenly wrong, like even if like even in the best defensive lineups with the Lakers this year, he was just an absolute disaster, it would be in the regular season that I would admit that.

Never in a million years would you get me in a fake basketball game to come on here and be like, hay, you guys got me like DeAndre Jordan's with with three twigs at guard, couldn't couldn't defend the rim like I would. I would never say that, that's just that's that's what

because it was so funny to me. But as far as DeAndre Jordans goes like like he is, he is a limited defensive player unless you can kind of focus what he does into one specific thing, which is strictly a drop coverage big around other good defensive players so that he doesn't have to cover a ton of ground, so that he does like like he was guarding picking rolls yesterday with guys who were dying on screens, like of course he's gonna get picked apart, Like of course

he's going to get picked apart, you know, but within if it if that's Lebron on the back line, if it's a reason helping, if it's Russ chasing over the top, his job becomes easier. And I do think I don't think he's gonna be an all defense guy. I don't even think he's gonna necessarily be a positive defender. But I think he'll be able to hold his ground as a reasonable fac simile of Dwight. I don't think that's

an outlandish prediction. Am I am I crazy now? And again, like last night watching the game, like he definitely was in this, like I know it's preseason, and again, DeAndre Jordan's in year fifteen or whatever he is. He knows how many stakes are in preseason, and it was there were some funny moments where Rondo was like, come on, man, like you gotta you gotta move and DJ look back at Rondo like what are you talking about? Like this is preseason game number two, So he's not gonna be

a great defender. And to me, he's always just been this inning seater, right just to give a d upbreak at the five, when Dwight Howard is not playing, Like that's a specialized role to me, and maybe he's not even good at that, Like maybe I'm wrong in there, But that's that's the idea that Polinka hired him for. That's the idea of Ogels going for. That's the idea that a d he recruited him for. Like all these guys obviously believe that there's something there that he can do.

And again, you're right, it's just a pure drop coverage. These guards that can can pull up off the dribble in mid range, they're gonna they're gonna be able to score on him, Like that's just that's just how it is. They were able to score on Javl. To go watch you know c J McCollum against US. Go watch Damian Lillard against US the last year. Go watch any of these guards who can pull off the dribble. They destroyed

drop coverages. That's the point of these That's why these cars average twenty five or thirty points a game, because these biggs can't stop them. So like, to me, expecting DJ to stop guys is unrealistic. Like all I want him to do is box out, rebound, block a few shots here, catch a few values. That's it. That's it, in like ten minutes a game, I think he can reasonably do that. I'm not even acting. I'm not even

asking him to be Dwight Howard. Why Howard comes in super energy guy, guy who lights up the whole team, energy, bunny officer and rebounding um, attacking the rim aggressively, Like, I'm not even asking him to do that. So if you can't do that, he won't play. Like that's that's all there is to it. And they've talked about more a D at the five. You have a D at the five, Dwight center minutes and whatever is left in there, throw them to DeAndre Jordan's uh in a forty a

minute game. That's all I'm saying with that he didn't look great these first two Breezes games. We can be honest about that. He didn't look great like that, and that's fine. The whole team doesn't look the whole exactly. Whole team doesn't look like there's a lot of people getting their ask that's what's happening, very true, Yeah, a lot of people missing defensive assignments, you know, So just to just blame it on him as very's very strange

to me. And and again, he's part of this whole totality of not looking great and that's fine, we can say that. But you know, there's still four more of these exhibition games left before we even touch an actual, real effect simily of a game. So I want to wait and see till then. Um, for now, we'll wait. And again, I want to see him with our primary shot creators, like playing with Kendrick Nunn, trying to feed him like while driving, trying to throw it to him

on the bounce in traffic. Like it's just weird watching watching him play with those guys. So I want to see him with the real team, and I think he'll

get his shot. The last thing I'll say about DeAndre Jordan's is that, you know, for the people who want to take a victory lap, if he ends up starting every game and playing eighteen nineteen minutes as a center every game and being one of the defensive anchors of the team, there's a chance that could get ugly because that's never what we thought he would end up being. And if you want to, I'll tell you what. If you want to circle around and take victory laps against

us at that point ahead, we'll take it. But because we're gonna we're gonna know deep down that's never what we intended, what we thought was intended for that specific signing. UM. The last thing I want to say we've got about three minutes. The last thing I wanted you and I too quickly talk about before we get out of here is one of the ramifications of the Aresa injury is just how how much more important it is early in

the season for russ lebron in a d to be healthy. Um. That margin for error has shrunk considerably now with the Aresa injury, because in a lot of ways, with the signings that they made, the physical, you know, drive of the team is so much more tied up in the

Stars than it was in previous years. In previous years because of what you know, k CP was as a stout, you know, extra perimeter defender because of Dennis Shorter, because Andre Drummond, all those things, the it was a little bit less dependent on Lebron and a D. So when they got hurt, they were able to continue to defend at a really high level this season, So much of that athleticism and strength and size is tied up in Lebron Russian a D. And now with the Reason out,

it's so important early in the season for them to stay healthy and that's all about luck, and so it'll be really interesting to keep an eye on UM. But I think the Lakers would be more than fine getting through to January when I think a Reason will come back. As long as the core three guys stay healthy, I just think that will be something to keep an eye on.

What do you think? Yeah? I feel the same way, and like this team is going to go as those three guys go, Like and we're missing two thirds of them, you know what I mean? Started watching this game with like thirty three of the players that probably really matter in all of this UM and again like this stuff. To judge any of this without Russ is like I was thinking about this, adding Russ and Lebron to your teams, like adding six new players right like just in the

terms of like the way your team runs. It's like you're you're adding an entired new dimension to how the team looks. Right now. You're going from th Ht running everything a ball screen to Lebron James and Russell Westbrook making all your decisions. Your whole team is gonna change. The whole way the floor looks, the way defensive guards you, the way UM teams have to scheme against you. Everything

is different. Once those two guys are running the running the ball and you almost start over, which is kind of a funny way, which is kind of why I want them to play a little bit, and I wish they just played one quarter in that first game. But but yeah, like there're a whole new team when those two guys go around, And I think A d knows that too, Like you could tell just the way I know he's trying to get comfortable with these new guys

and all that. But this team is gonna go through a toll new make makeover once Rust and Brown get on the floor. Everything changes, all the offense that they run, how much they're in transition. Right, we see Rondo pushed in the ball, Westbrook is like an super exaggerated version of that. You know what I mean. You're gonna see this team in transition even more, see his team run even more, shots come from different places. So, UM, I

don't see those Thus get on the floor. Man. We have like four more games here, and I expect them to sit out that last one. But yeah, hopefully we get three games with them working on it and then we get the real thing. I think they'll play tomorrow night against Golden State. That will be an interesting one. Um. And and they've been absolutely destroyed on on the glass and so bringing Lebron and Russ in completely changes that equation. UM. Anyway,

so I'm out of town this weekend. UH. We would like to get something recorded as a postgame show from the Warriors game, So maybe you and I could touch base about doing something on Sunday. We'll we'll figure that out after the show. But anyway, as always, we sincerely appreciate all your guys support. I'm having so much fun with this. I'm so glad the season is starting back up a little bit of drama, not real drama, but a little bit of fake drama to kind of keep

us held over until the season starts. But as always, like we said, we appreciate your guys support and we'll hope to have something recorded by Sunday. Thanks everyone,