Episode 81: Weekend Film Breakdown!

Then on Wednesday morning, we're recording a show that will cover Tuesday night's game, which will be very important because Lebron, Russ and a d will all play together for the first time, so we will, like I said, break that down on Wednesday. That will air on Thursday morning on

dash Radio. And then Thursday night is the last preseason game for the Lakers, and that will be the last or that will be the first game this year where where rog and I will do one of our postgame shows, which will be fun because we'll give you guys a chance to hop on and talk some basketball with us rather than just rog and I droning on for forty five minutes, uh NonStop. So that'll be fun looking forward

to it. And then from there, the vast majority of our shows during the regular season will be postgame shows, um, just like we did to end last year. Anyway, today I wanted to get into the nitty gritty of the last two preseason games and the stuff that I noticed on film, UM to kind of stay over arching to start again. I'm going to continue to harp on this for the for especially coming into this last week of

the preseason. Don't pay attention to the final result. The Lakers are are not haven't even attempted to play their best lineups, which will include their three best players. And in addition to that, they're just testing a lot of stuff and there's a lot of feeling each other out on the offensive end of the floor, which ironically has

been the problem in the preseason. There's been a lot of talk um coming into this year that the the defensive end would be the problem for this team, and ironically, here in the early going, I'm actually pretty encouraged by the defense, and the offense just looks sloppy, which is a factor of a lot of different things. Stars not playing of Russ has been absolutely horrible so far. On

the offensive end, which we'll talk about. Anthony Davis still can't make a jump shot, and Lebron James, who I believe is the best offensive force of this era, literally has only played in one game, so not too much

to take away there. There have been enough pockets of dominance, enough little bits of of really good Laker basketball to keep me encouraged, like the run in the middle of the second quarter against Phoenix last night where they turned a forty to twenty eight deficit into a forty one to forty lead, including some fantastic defense and uh, running

the floor and transition and getting high quality looks. And if you're looking for one last kind of overarching positive theme to uh to kind of give you a glass half full approach to the Lakers record so far in the preseason, it's the fact that they have a one oh five point seven defensive rating with Anthony Davis on the floor. Um, he's played in three games and I think he's played about twenty two minutes per game ish, uh,

so call it sixty something minutes. And last year they had the best defensive writing in the league at one oh six point eight, and there one oh five point seven with Anthony Davis on the floor so far in

the preseason. So translation, they can guard still so far, at least in the preseason, so that's something to take as just a little, a little a positive nugget moving forward again tomorrow night against i think gets Golden State at home with Lebron Russe and a d too play, that will be the first time that we can kind of get a real look at what some of the best Laker lineups will look like, which will include their

best players. Anthony Davis has already said he plans on playing the five with that group, which is really good because that's going to allow the Lakers to have more space to operate, which is absolutely imperative with Russ. So on that note, let's get started with Russell Westbrook because that's kind of where all of the talk is after these first two games. You know, as is usually the case, there's a lot of good and bad, which has been

the story with Russ throughout his entire career. To give and the take, you know, as as we like to call it, the let's start with some good on the defensive end of the ball, with exception of a handful of possessions where he's fallen asleep and or died on screens, which is something he's done kind of periodically over this last half of his career, He's done a good job of being physical at the point of attack, especially on

those screens when they end up switching. He does a really good job of getting into the big in boxing out things along those lines. I still think that when his job is simplified, when Lebron and Anthony Davis are on the floor, that he will have an easy enough defensive job that with his physical tools, he'll be able

to be very impactful. That I tweeted about this earlier, I'm gonna make a lot of references in this pod too, specific plays in the game, and if you go to my Twitter feed, which is at underscore Jason lt, you will see if you go to tweets and replies and just scroll down, you're gonna see dozens and dozens of little clips that I took out and put captions on so you can get a general idea of what I'm talking about. But I'm gonna make a reference to a lot of those, so if you want to see them,

just go to my Twitter feed in order to see them. Anyway, there was a specific play in particular where Russell Westbrook I believe, was guarding Landry Shammitt, who had already made it three earlier in the game on the first possession, and there was a basic little dribble hand off with Jay Crowder on the right wing, and Russ just flat out did you didn't even get caught on the screen. He just didn't try to fight over the top and

get to Shammon. Shammon got his feet set and made a wide open three at the top of the key. You know, in the past, when he had tons of offensive responsibility, that was something you could live with because at least in that regard, you understood that he had so many responsibilities that it was kind of a fatigue thing.

It was a saving energy kind of thing, like give up a handful of open shots on one end so that he has the energy to run the offense on this team with what you're asking him to do, with all of the talents surrounding him, and with two of the top six or seven players in the entire game of basketball that are in front of you. In those responsibilities, Russ needs to be more dialed in on the little things. The same goes for Lebron, who is also in the

past had a history of taking possessions off defensively. You can't do that on this team, for one, you're not gaining anything. On the other end, they don't need enough out of you offensively to justify that type of trade off and fatigue. So that kind of thing is that is the type of stuff from the past few years that Russ is gonna need to knock out. And my guess is that with the level of accountability he'll be under here with Anthony Davis and with Frank Vogel, that

that's something that he'll be able to work on. And in general, you know, lasadaisical type of basketball percolates down the roster and you'll see that in games where the energy is low, but then you see in the second quarter when the energy picks up, Russ was fantastic on defense. So the point is is, like I think, in general, in the regular season, in front of packed houses, with the stakes that the Lakers will bring to the table every game is one of the best teams in the league.

My guess is he'll be able to knock some of that out, which will be something as a silver lining, like I said, on the defensive end, from something that you can take from Russ. Early here in the season, I wanted to talk for a second about his turnovers.

So obviously that's been the hot topic. He had a little quote that was taken out of context last night where he said, you know, keep that same energy in the regular season, and he was joking that was something that was missing in the tweet that went viral um. But in general with Russ, the turnovers to me are quite simply a product of his lack of aggression at

the rim. If you look at a shot chart from last night, I believe there are five of his twelve attempts where at the rim, and seven of them were from the perimeter. In some way, shape or form. That's just a bad balance for a guy like Russ. And what ended up happening is throughout the last two games

he was passing out of single coverage. The whole point of of playmaking anything in basketball, you have to break down the defense at some level, because no one's just going to give you an open shot for no particular reason at all whatsoever. You either need to beat your man in one on one coverage to create a good shot for yourself, or you need to beat your man in one on one coverage to an extent that warps the defense so that you can to an open shooter

or an open guy in the dunker spot. What Russ was doing a lot in the last two games was beating his man in one on one coverage, getting a step to the point where he could continue all the way to the rim or take some type of shot, but then, after not seeing any help defense, kicking to somebody who was not open, which would either force him to throw away from the defender, which would cause him to throw it out of bounds, or he'd throw directly

to the defender. Just by virtue of being more aggressive at the rim, even if you get your shot blocked, even if you miss some layups or miss some floaters, being aggressive to the rim and taking shots there is what's going to cause the defense to warp in so that those same passes that he's turning over are now available now. To Russ his credit, he did in the postgame interview specifically mentioned that he specifically said that he was passing out of single coverage and that that was

something he needed to uh to address moving forward. That kind of overpassing is kind of a natural side effect of coming to a team as a star player. When there's this kind of vibe over the whole group like, we need to sacrifice, we need to all give into the larger goals. So I'm gonna take less shots, so I'm gonna overpass. I'm gonna overpass. What they really need Russ to do when he does have the ball is to be Russell Westbrook, because otherwise he's not helping anything.

You need to aggressively attack the rim, aggressively try to finish there. Even if you miss layups, are are are or are blocked. Just by bringing the shot blocker over, you're giving Anthony Davis or Dwight Howard a chance at the offensive rebound. Or if you make they start making stuff there, guys are gonna start sucking into help and then you can start spreading out to your shooters. So

I'm not concerned about the turnovers in that regard. It kind of struck me as just a byproduct of trying to be too un selfish, which I don't think will be a problem with Russ in the long run. The next thing I wanted to talk about with Russ was his shot selection. And you know, this is something that I have a feeling like your fans are gonna be dealing with all season long, and It's gonna take some getting used to, and I think there are gonna be

moments where it's infuriating. The hope would be that in the long run, because of the accountability of Lebron in a D and because of the fact that the team is so good that he doesn't need to take some of the shots that he took when he was in Houston and when he was in Washington or in Oklahoma City after Kevin Durant left, Hopefully he'll be able to rein this in a little bit. What was kind of bizarre about the shot selection was similar to what I complained about with a D how he tries to find

his rhythm by taking difficult shots. Russ does the same thing, but he's not a good shooter. Like Russ is never going to be a good shooter. But if he controlled and reined in his shot selection, he could be a He could be effective enough in that jump shooting role that it could not hurt the team, which is what you need. But what he's trying to do is what Anthony Davis is doing, gain his rhythm as a jump

shooter despite not being a jump shooter. And there were a bunch of times in the first half where early in the shot clock he would take difficult jump shots that even great shooters would struggle to make. If Steph took this shot, it would be a tougher shot for him. If Dame took the shot, it would be a tougher shot for him. Here's Russ, a proven bad shooter who's not in a rhythm, who doesn't really have anything going with his jump shot, taking early clock tough jump shots

to try to build his rhythm. For a player like that, that's akin to throwing away a possession. And that's the kind of thing that the Lakers are gonna have to at some point try to address with him because it's just not necessary with this level of talent on the roster. I'll give you some examples. There was a play early in the game, kind of post up on Jay Crowder. I think it was either Jay Crowder Mchal Bridges on the right block just not an advantage for him to

begin with it. But it's early in the clock and he takes a one legged fade away and leaves it short. That's a tough shot for the best shooters in the game. Again, later on same thing, kind of uh runs a pick and roll with Anthony Davis at the top of the key, the defenders fighting over the top of the screen, and the big man is kind of showing it's just not open, and he ends up trying to draw foul kicking his leg out and he actually makes the three, which is

the crazy part. But it was early clock and a contested pull up three off the dribble off of a ball screen when Anthony Davis kind of had an opportunity to slip it and make something happen again that is a throwaway possession. It ended up adding up to three points, but it wasn't a good shot by any stretch of the imagination. He took another. He took a couple of uh post up type of uh turnaround shots that he

missed that he tried to bake. And then late in the second quarter there was one where in transition, after getting a stop while the team is on a run, he drove along the left side of the floor, got DeAndre Eton on a switch and took a one legged fade away, tried to bank it in off the glass

and wasn't even close. Again, a super difficult shot for a great shooter, let alone Russell Westbrook, and those are the kinds of things where when you look at Russ's efficiency, it's not just a product of him missing shots, it's him taking bad shots. The way that there are two ways to improve your efficiency, become better at the shots you take and take better shots. And so those are the kinds of things that that Russ is going to

have to clean up in the long run with his team. Again, I'm not I'm going to work really hard and I'm going to continue to press this idea to the Laker fan base. Let's not really evaluate the Russell Westbrook situation

until a couple of months into the season. For starters, they have a really easy schedule to start the year, which will allow them to rack up wins despite playing flawed basketball, which will be important in the long run because as things get tougher, they will have more repetition to to lean back on and and use to hopefully elevate their game to match the increasing difficulty of their schedule at the In the long run, Lebron James, you know, as a problem solver, is going to find a way

to use Russ in a better way than what he has been used in the previous season. So I'm not too concerned about it. All right, We're gonna move on to Anthony Davis. The main thing I want to talk about with Anthony Davis was his defense throughout that game against Phoenix last night. He was incredibly vocal and incredibly active with his hands, and his length is such a problem that he presents. Uh, he can disrupt plays in

a position that usually doesn't disrupt plays. So I this is another clip you can find on my Twitter feed. There was a play where DeAndre Jordan's was in a drop coverage and pick role and I can't remember who the guard was that was guarding the pick and roll, but Anthony Davis was guarding a shooter in the strong side corner, which I believe was Jake Crowder. At this point, the strong side quarner in a corner and every NBA

defense does not help. The reason why the strong side corner doesn't help is NBA shooters are really good and it's such an easy pass that any ball handler in the NBA, when they see help coming from the strong side corner, can push the ball out there and get a good look. So the vast majority of NBA teams helped from the weak side corner and try to make teams make really difficult cross court passes. In this play, Anthony Davis was able to close in and help and

shut down Chris Paul in the pick and roll. Chris Paul made the easy, simple pass to the corner, and Anthony Davis still closed out and completely swallowed up Jake Crowder in the corner, took away the shot and blew up the possession. That kind of thing just doesn't happen in the NBA. There's just there's only a handful of guy is on the on planet Earth that are capable of that type of covering ground on the defensive end.

And it was an interesting thing because, you know, we harp on a lot with the pros and cons of Anthony Davis playing at the five right, and most of them have to do with the offensive end. Right on the offensive end of the floor. With a D at the five, there's just more space to operate. Also, last year, in particular, we didn't have mobile centers. Marcus All was slow to Andre Drummond was capable, but was really inconsistent with his effort. Montrez Harold at moments was flat out

bad as a pick and roll type of defender. He was better defending in space than he was defending in screen and roll, and so it made so much more sense to play as much a D at the five as you could because of those limitations. Now they didn't

and that was something that infuriated me all year. But one of the reasons why this year I love the idea of shifting back to a ratio of meaning the ratio from season where a D spends about half his minutes at the four and half of his minutes at the five is these types of vertical threats, these DeAndre Jordan's and Dwight Howard types actually fit really well alongside Anthony Davis on the defensive end of the floor because they are so mobile and because they have that vertical presence,

and it allows Anthony Davis to be a help defender where he can be absolutely disruptive, kind of kind of in a freakish way that that you could tell really through Phoenix out of rhythm with their offense, a team that had been absolutely humming so far in the preseason. And that's the kind of wrinkle that I like with Anthony Davis at the four. Again, everything should be prioritized around a D at the five because it's the only

thing that's gonna make Russ usable. Okay, But as a curveball, I like a D at the four, particularly next to Dwight, but also next to DeAndre Jordan's because they can play basic drop coverage and if the guards do their job over the top and Anthony Davis isn't help, they're gonna overwhelm a lot of teams just with their length and size, especially when you throw Lebron into the picture there. So

I I do. I do like it as a curveball, just in general in terms of strategy, when we're talking about you know, when to go with a D at the five, when to play Russ, and when to play DeAndre Jordan's, You've got to really think about the aggregate athleticism and the aggregate spacing. This is something that I

talked about literally all the time on this pod. There is a fine line to where you dip so far down with your shooting that the spacing falls apart with your offense, Whereas if you're above that line, then your stars have enough room to operate. And the same thing goes with defense and athleticism. You know, you can hide Ellington with a really really gifted defensive group. Ellington was on the floor with that Laker group that defended at such a high level in the second quarter and went

on a thirteen run. But if you put Ellington around other limited defenders, then you dip below that line of aggregate defensive talent aggregate athleticism, and suddenly it kind of seems like he's getting exposed. You guys, see what I'm saying. That is the kind of thing that that kind of balance is something we're gonna have to watch all season. A couple really simple solutions as far as as far

as spacing goes. I really like two big lineups when Russ isn't on the floor, because then at the end of the day, you could theoretically put a ball handler with the center and a D will space the floor. And just because if those other three, if a D does have the ball or is involved in the action, if your other three players are all really good shooters, then the aggregate spacing is good enough for Anthony Davis

to be able to go to work. So with Russell Westbrook on the floor, you kind of can't play a center because of the way that that aggregate spacing dips too far low and and the same thing goes with the defensive end of the floor. DeAndre Jordan's. I don't think he can place enter unless Anthony Davis is out there with him because the totality of that defense, it

just makes DeAndre Jordan covers so much more ground. It makes DeAndre Jordan's job tougher, and at this phase of his career, he's just not good enough to be able to do that. And so if you pair DeAndre Jordan with Anthony Davis when you need to play DeAndre Jordan again, my preference would be he only plays when Dwight has

to sit or when Anthony Davis has to sit. But if you're going to play him in the rotation, put him next to Anthony Davis, so he's set up to succeed because in that simplified role, his athleticism will be a problem. But those are the kinds of delicate balances that they're gonna have to kind of tow that line throughout this season. When can you play Russ to where the spacing isn't neutered? When can you play DeAndre Jordan's

so that his defensive responsibilities don't become too complicated? And then he starts to struggle, But in general, I just wanted to give a little shout out to Anthony Davis's defense because he was extremely vocal, flying all over the floor, disrupting everything. His ball pressure was incredible. Um I tweeted about this in one of those clips. But one of the things that allows a rotating, chaotic defense to succeed

is ball pressure. When you apply ball pressure, even if there is a wide open man, if you make the offensive player make a pass fake before he can throw the pass, or if he has to throw some crazy looping like hook pass to get over the top of your length, it allows your team enough time to recover and get back into the play and then reset your defense,

and that that sort of thing. And if that type of rotation depends on all of those factors, you need ball pressure, and you need guys sprinting on the backside. If the guys don't spread on the back side, it won't work. If the guy doesn't apply ball pressure on the ball, it won't work. It's kind of all of that has to come together, and it did in that second quarter. If you watched in that second quarter run, they the Lakers did a fantastic job of pushing the

ball out. There were so many suns possessions where there'd be four or five seconds on the shot clock and they're dribbling out at thirty ft or stuck with a stuck without their dribble, pivoting all over the place looking for an outlet pass because of ball pressure and because of that chaotic rotation. And it all started with Anthony Davis. I wanted to give him that shout out. So we're

gonna move on to Camp bays Moore. Camp bigs Moore, according to Frank Vogel, has been the guard that has separated himself defensively from the rest of the group in training camp. So far, that's just taking it from his words, not mine. But when you watch the film, it all backs that up. And one of the biggest problems for the Lakers defense in the early going in the preseason

has been guards dying on screens. The Lakers have no intention of switching screens with guys like Molik Mount, Kendrick Non, Ragion Rondo, so on and so forth. That was never the idea. That was never the plan. However, dozens and dozens of times here in the first four games we've seen them have to do that. And the reason why is those guys are dying on the screens. They're getting caught, and then the big essentially has to switch out to guard the guard, and then Eton or whoever the big

man is is diving down the lane. Now we have rebounding mismatches, Now we have posted up mismatches like we saw against Brooklyn. There's a lot of trouble that gets caused when those screens end up getting switched. Those all of those guards that I mentioned have to get better at that. Baysmore has done a fantastic job here in the preseason of fighting over the top of every screen

and getting back into the play. You know, we complained about drop coverage drop coverage a lot, rog and I did in the postseason, especially when it came to team's

guarding Phoenix and well, I should say Milwaukee. We complained a lot about Milwaukee because at the beginning of the Hawks series and at the beginning of the Phoenix series, they stayed in this drop coverage and got absolutely torched by Trey Young and by and by Chris Paul and pick and roll when there was an obvious and simple answer to that they needed to to to play a

different pick and roll cut. But the reason why is because when that screen comes and it hits the on ball defender, if the on ball defender gets caught and the big is sitting under the basket all day long, you're going to have wide open fifteen footers and floaters all day long. For Chris Paul, it's kind of like

a step back three. For Trey Young, it's a it's a floater or trying to draw foul on the guy chasing behind, that kind of thing, right, But when you chase over the top successfully, which Drew Holiday started to do as that series progressed in both cases and you're able to bother the ball handler from behind, all of a sudden, that floater and that jump shot are no longer an option, and so now you're only option is to drive into the center who's waiting for you at

the rim. That's why drop coverage works. Drop coverage works when you can apply back pressure on the jump shooter and then you have a giant human waiting under the basket who's gonna make anything you attempt. They're difficult and takes away the law pass in that in that respect, so bays Moore has been the only defender perimeter defenders

so far this preseason. That has allowed the Lakers to stay in their actual traditional drop coverage that plays right into Dwight howard strengths, that plays right into DeAndre Jordan's strengths. So there's a couple of things to take away from that. One, it goes to show you where the area of improvement is for the other guards. But two, it goes to show you that Baysmore is the clear early shoe in

for the closing five. We're gonna talk a lot this year about what the best line of the Lakers can throw out to win games is, and it's gonna start around Rustle Lebron in a D. But then there's gonna be two additional spots. I believe it's gonna be bays Moore and and Aresa. Areasa is just your rock solid defensive forward who has the ability to knock down and open shot, which is all you can ask for. It's

the same reason why teams pay p J. Tucker. It's the same reason teams play pay Roger Robert Covington' that's what you're asking from from Trevor Aresa. He's a reliable piece in that regard. But bays More because of his ability to fight over the top of these screens and to and to provide good point of attack defense. His effort level has been outstanding through through the beginning of the preseason. That makes him an easy shoe in for

that fifth spot here early on. He has shot the ball thirty eight percent from three so far in preseason. He shot better from three last year with Golden State, UM, so I'm not worried about him in that regard. There is a possibility that over the course of the season you might see somebody like Malik Monk progress enough on the defensive end to be a better option. You might see Wayne Ellington progress enough on the defensive end that he could be a better option given what they bring offensively.

But here in the early going, I think there's a pretty comfortable gap in what you can expect and of what you can expect from that specific position as a fifth starter, and that's the that's the not a fifth starter, but as a fifth closing lineup guy. But that's the key difference here. When you're talking about that lineup, you don't need anything out of that fourth and fifth closer other than a guy who can lock up defensively and knock down an open shot and do basic stuff attacking closeouts.

That's all you need. You don't need him to run pick and roll Lebron and Ruscott. That covered. You don't need him to post up mismatches Anthony Davis and Lebron and Ruscot. That covered. There's no need for anything out of that position other than defense and some enough shooting to be able to keep the defense honest. That's really all you need, and so far bays Moore is the clear leader in that regard. So let's talk about Austin Reeves. This has uh been an interesting kind of surprise so

far here in the preseason for starters. He he's a lot bigger than the other options that the Lakers have at guard, not counting bays Moore. All of these guys like Ellington is six ft four, but he's not very mobile. Molikue Monk is six ft three, but he's very thin, you know. Kendrick Nunn is stocky and strong, but he's only six ft two and he's not overly laterally quick. So there's kind of a little bit of an opportunity for when Frank gets frustrated with the lack of physical

tools of his guards. There's a little bit of an opportunity to be an option, an option for Frank to lean on, especially with the Areasa injury and the th Ht injury, and Austin Reeves seems to be kind of like forcing his way into that spot, being that other option for Frank to have a bigger, more athletic defender when the other guys are getting bullied and there's a lot to take away from him. That's good for starters.

He's been shooting the ball really well. He's been shooting from three in the preseason, but he just his effort and focus on the defensive end has been excellent so far. He's been really good locking and trailing around guys and avoiding getting screened. He's done his help responsibilities well in pick and roll. He's done a good job when he does get caught on the screen of getting back to the big and boxing out of the paint, which is something a smaller guy like a Malik Monk is going

to struggle with. Again, he's young, He's probably not gonna get a ton of playing time. He's not likely to have anywhere near the explosive ability that you're gonna get from a Malik Monk or Kendrick Nunn. However, he's just another option. It's a group like nobody was expecting Austin Reeves to be somebody that the Lakers would have playing meaningful minutes this year. I don't think any of us expected that. We all expected he'd be on a two

way contract. Now he's on a real contract, and so far in the preseason he's looked good enough to me that if you put him out there with good players like Lebron and a D and Russ, I think he's usable. And that's just another depth piece for the Lakers, a team that kind of needs it. And after the th HT injury and the a Reason injury, so it's something to be excited about for sure. So uh kind of too uh piggyback off the injury thing that I was

talking about. There's been a lot of concern about the th HT injury, and particular I have said that a Reason probably won't come back until January because it's two month injury, and my guess is they'll be extra caution cautious with him, So give it another month. U Molik Monk has a groin issue that's going to take him out a week. I'd assume he'll be ready for the season opener, which is a week from tomorrow. But be careful with him. There's just no point rushing rushing him back,

especially with a groin injury. Um and we all know how that can affect the mobility of a player. But th HT in particular was one of the reasons you guys remember Raj earlier this week or last week. Raj was big on the fact that th Ht would be able to slot into the reason minutes because of his big um body, strong body and his ability to guard wings. And so him out of the picture kind of throws a wrinkle into things. But this is where all that

depth is advantageous. This is where Austin reeves. Being someone who's capable of playing small forward kind of adds too, adds to the versatility that group and gives them the ability to weather the storm through these injuries. You guys know, I've been harpening on all summer. I wish they'd signed

Wesley Matthews. I genuinely think he's the perfect fifteen man on this roster because of his professionalism and because his ability to guard guys who are bigger and because of the fact that he's just a smart basketball player, is not gonna make too many mistakes, even if he doesn't particularly shoot the ball that well. I hope they signed west but even if they don't, having Austin Reeves kind of fill into that role is a big deal if

you look at it. Even with the monk in th HD injuries, You've still got Russell Westbrook, You've still got um um Kendrick Nunn, You've still got Austin Reeves, you still got Wayne Ellington, and you even have Rondo if you absolutely need him in that regard, and you've got baysmore So, I've got six cards that can still play NBA basketball with these guys even with the injuries to uh two monk in t HD. So that's something to just kind of as a glass half full type of

attitude from those injuries. Um, alright, a couple more things. We're gonna talk about DeAndre Jordan's and then what I want you guys to look for in the last two games that we have with that Lebron plans I'm playing in. So DeAndre Jordan again, when he's with Anthony Davis and his job is simplified, He's kind of a pain in the ask for other teams because of his size and athleticism, and because his simple that he's not asked to do much.

If you let him float around the paint and you let him just be a presence around the rim, he's gonna be more effective than when he has to cover a ton of ground and when he doesn't have the shrunken floor brought by Anthony Davison in his length. You know, in general, yesterday I thought he looked pretty good, but he was played primarily in lineups that were advantageous to his strengths. You know, as as I've said multiple times in the podcast in the last few weeks, ideally I

prefer him not to play at all. And then what's nice is you have a defensive scheme, and the defensive scheme is built around what White Howard and Anthony Davis can do. So if you need to play a third center because a d has taken a night off, or because Dwight Howard's hurt, or because Dwight Howard's just resting, you can play the same scheme with DeAndre Jordan. That

was the whole point of that signing. In my in my personal opinion, However, if he ends up playing significantly consistently throughout the season, I'd prefer to see him partnered up with a D because this year, when he's been next to a D, he's actually been pretty good, which is something I expected. Uh, even after his ugly moments

in UM, even after his ugly moments in Brooklyn. Okay, So Lebron has said that he's gonna play in the last two preseason games, or rather, Frank has said that Lebron is going to play in the last two preseason games. Who means that Tomorrow night against Golden State is going to be the first time that we get to see Lebron, a D and Russ altogether at the same time on the floor. These are These are the couple of things that I want you guys to keep an eye on.

First of all, what does Westbrook do when Lebron has the ball off ball? There There are a couch, a bunch of theories about and I've picked the brains of several basketball people that I trust about what would be your approach in this case. And I've heard a bunch of different things. Um, I've heard use him as a screener. This is one of the most common things that I do when I'm playing pick up and I happened to be on a team with the guy who's a non threat. If you put him off the ball, it just it

doesn't help anything. So what I'll have him do is I'll have him come up and just repeatedly set ball screens, and I just tell him hit him, hit him, hit him, hit him. I don't know if he said an I legal screen. Just hit him, because at least at that point you're serving some purpose. You're deflecting one defender away from me, so I can do something with the other defender off ball. It's it's a it's a problem. That's

an interesting way to potentially use Russ. Have him come up and set the ball screen and basically play the Draymond role. They're gonna ignore Russ on the ball screen, so when Lebron comes off the ball screen or when Malik Monk comes off the ball screen, they're probably gonna trap. Then you just dump it or throw a quick pocket pass or quick release two Russ and let him barrel down the rain like Draymond Green, barrel down the lane like Draymond Green used to do with the Warriors, and

make that kick out pass. Let him play four on three in that regard, that's one interesting way to use him too. I'm actually pro Russ taking wide open catch and shoot threes. One. You don't have to be that efficient in that regard for it to be a relatively

efficient possession if he shoots. Think of it like this, If he shoots from from three on wide open catch and shoot threes, which is definitely achievable for even a shooter like him, that amounts to an effective field goal percentage of what's that forty eight percent uh if I if a math is correct, pretty sure that's right. So effective fielgal percentage. That's not the end of the world.

In a possession where they're ignoring Russ on the wing and maybe if you're lucky through better shot selection, he shoots a little bit better, you know, on wide up and shots. Now we're taking into overt EFFECTI field goal percentage, and now we're talking about a really good possession. That's one way to do it. The last thing that I'd like to see Russ do off the ball when he's

being ignored is just attack like crazy. You know. With that original example that I gave with pick up one of the reasons why I don't like having that guy off the ball is because he's literally not a threat. Russ is not a non threat. He's just a non shooting threat. So if he gets the ball at the three point line and no one's there, and he just screams down the lane as fast as he can, that

type it's kind of like Russ and transition. That type of rim pressure will naturally collapse the defense, at which point he can make extra kickouts to extra shooters from there. It's just it's something i'd like to see them try over the course of the season. When Russ gets ignored,

just catch it and go. You know, even if you barrel into the lane and and knock somebody over, you put the possession in the ref's hands and make him make a call potentially, you know, And just in general, it leads to that rim pressure that paint too great that Frank always talks about, that leads to open shots for other people. It's just another wrink called that I'd like to see them try. Um. The other thing I'm really curious to see is the defense of the Big Three.

You know, we've already talked about how the defense with Anthony Davis on the floor has actually been pretty good, and we've already talked about how Westbrook has had moments where he's looked pretty good Defensively, Lebron continues to be one of the best back line defenders in the league as just a communicator and a guy who disrupts plays underneath the rim. It's also, as we're talking about aggregate athleticism,

that's a great deal of athleticism. Having Russ, Lebron and a d on the floor at the same time should physically be something that no team in the league can match. And so I'm really curious to see what that looks like, just especially if they if they managed to out a certain amount of physicality and that in those three guys are just beating guys up all over the floor. I'm really curious to see what that looks like. It's something, um that'll be fun to watch tomorrow night. And then

last but not least as Westbrook shot selection. So a certain amount of what Russ was doing in the first two games that he played had to do with the lack of the third star right Like Russ was making all the decisions against Phoenix last night because Lebron wasn't playing. You know, Russ was struggling a lot in the first game that he played, you know, maybe because Anthony Davis

wasn't there. I would like to see what his shot selection looks like when he's playing with Lebron and a D because it should be more reserved, and it'll be interesting to see if he comes out with the same recklessness that I talked about earlier in the pod. That's a concern because you're playing with Lebron and a D your your game should be adjusted to what you're playing with. You know, you guys see on my Twitter feed, I'm

always showing me making these crazy shots. Right when I go play pick up, I don't take those crazy shots as anywhere near as often when I'm playing with a good group of guys my men's league that I play with on Sundays, I might take one or two of those in an entire game. Because my men's league that I play with on Sundays has six dudes who used to play in college on my team, so we play real basketball. We look for quality shots. You know, I adjust my shot selection for the group of guys that

I play with when I go play pick up. Later this afternoon or tomorrow, if I go there and I'm playing with a bunch of guys who can't shoot or can't do anything on tougher shots, it's it's an adjustment, but just in general, it'll be curious to see what Russ's shots selection looks like with that group of guys tomorrow night, whether or not he keeps it in reserve or whether he continues his craziness. All right, that's all

we have for today, guys. On Wednesday morning will be recording a show that covers the Tuesday night game against Golden State, and then on Thursday night a postgame show, first postgame show of the season for Rog and I after their final preseason game. I'm looking forward to that. As always, I appreciate you guys support. This will be on the podcast feed shortly and we'll see you guys in a couple of days.