Episode 82: Lakers/Kings Postgame Spaces

so we can get into it. Yeah. Agree, it felt like a UM kind of like a mix of a regular season type of vibe with that little bit of UH, with that little bit of preseason flair, if that sense right right. It definitely felt like they chose, like it's in parts of the game to give a crap, you know what I mean, Like you could totally tell when the gas got off the pedal UM during the game. Yeah,

I tweeted out that link of the UM. I actually really like that that little line graph, just a basic line graph of time and points that ESPN has because it kind of it does a good job of capturing the flow of a game, you know what I mean, and UM, and you could just literally see that there were these stretches where they were engaged and where they cared, and when they did the Kings couldn't score even with their starters, um, but when when they like out of

the rope, it was like it looked like a black diamond. If you're a ski if you're a skier, you know what I'm saying. So it's just it's one of those things where you know, in the preseason, and you and I talked about this a lot over the last couple of weeks, specifically with the preseason, I'm more concerned about process than results. And when you see I'm actually gonna give another shout out to the l A Film Room

podcast here. I think it was Mr Darius Oriana who brought this up yesterday, but he was talking about how like when you're trying to test a scheme, when you're trying to test to see if something works, whether it's a lineup or a scheme or an offensive system or defensive kick and roll coverage or whatever it is, in order to really get a read on whether or not it actually works, the guys have to try so so sometimes it's it's hard to even really get a read

on what lineups work and what systems work when people are mailing it in, you know what I mean. But I did think that we saw enough bits and pieces in this preseason of stretches where they tried that. I do believe in the core of this group. What about you? Yeah,

for sure? I guess we can kind of start with like the Big Three, right, because this is our second game, in our second game with the full Big Three playing, or is the third I'm losing track, but the start second, yeah, and then DeAndre Jordan's obviously started with them, so I'm kind of eating you on this. DeAndre Jordan is gonna start thing. It feels like that's gonna I'm gonna be correct on that. But I thought the starters at least

looked fine. Um, we could start with Russ. This is the best I've seen Russ look and I like him better as this aggressiveness as a score, right, even if it leads some bad shots, even some like layups that he missed, just him attacking the basket as a score, I think it's what that starting lineup needs. Even with DJ clogging the pain, he could still get to the basket like he was bullying Darren Fox, pulling some of the other defenders to the rim, and I thought that's

what they need. A D missed everything. I still thought he said a lot. But what do you see from that starting unit, because I thought they were fine defensively as well. You saw what Vogel sees, right, I know DeAndre Jordan gets a lot of flak. And I've said before I don't want DeAndre Jordan playing any minutes that are not next to a D and frankly not next to Lebron either. I just don't think he can cover up when he's not next to those two guys. But when he's next to them, you could see his size

actually be a problem. Dn Fox had to second guess himself getting too the rack right, Tyler's how tyres Halibur and when he got to the room he was second guessing himself. Like that, size I think matters. And I thought the starting lineup is fine, and I just thought our second units were got awful. And I'm worried about that going to the season with all our depth injured, all are under thirty guys injured. But what did you see I guess from the starters in that first to

start the game and then to start the third quarter. Yeah, so you're absolutely right. We're gonna talk You and I have harpedne this all preseason and we're going to continue to talk about it throughout the season. There is a kind of like a baseline of what works for defensive talent on the floor. Yeah, if you're gonna put DeAndre Jordan in, Malik Monk, and Wayne Ellington all on the floor at the same time, all three of them are

gonna look bad. But as long as the as long as the totality of the group works, these players, when you shrink their responsibilities defensively, they can do their job. Like you said, DeAndre Jordan's size looks like a problem alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis, right, But if you put him out there as a five man with Carmelo Anthony at the four, all of a sudden, his size and mobility, when you're asking him to cover more ground and you're asking him to clean up more mistakes, it's

going to be a problem. And so both those stretches to start the third and to start the first with DeAndre Jordan on the floor, they defended extremely well. Have to wait for the NBA Advanced Stats to update later tonight, but My guess is when we look at DeAndre Jordan's defensive rating from this game, that it's going to be outstanding because because that's what happened while he was on the floor with that group of guys, searge Russ goes

same thing. It was, you know. It was a great example of what I'm willing to put up with with Russ because there were some defensive breakdowns. There were some poor shots, like there was an early transition pull up banking jump shot that he actually made that I was like why that. I was like, why in the world are we taking this shot? You know, And there was another pull up transition three later on that he missed. Those kinds of things in small doses we can handle

as long as the totality has that Russ impact. He had lots of plays where he drove into the lane and dropped off for dunks, either Anthony Davis or DeAndre Jordan's. He had at least three that I counted where he played physical bullyball on the smaller King's guards and for layups that all of that, and then he pushed the ball in transition really well. When when that scale is tipped to where good Russ is outweighing bad Russ. This is gonna work. Yeah, It's just it's just about keeping

that scale balance properly, if that makes sense. Yeah, And I like that he makes Lebron be a finisher right in transition a lot. You could see how he's gonna help kind of be an inning seater for Lebron in that way where Lebron doesn't have to be the full time creator. He gets the rebound a lot and he's able to outlet it and push it ahead to Lebron

who's trying to cut in transition. It's crazy seeing Lebron in transition this much as the guy that doesn't have the ball in his hands, right, Lebron is usually when he's in transition, he's pushing and he's making the decisions to who he passes too in the corner or who's cutting to the rim instead, he's the one kind of cutting into the basket. I thought that was good. Russy looks like he's a lot more comfortable now as well as a pastor, Like he seems like he's kind of

finding out where guys like the basketball. He found bays More a bunch of times in the corner, found Reeves in the corner. He's still getting his time right with a D. A D had a bunch of shot at the rim that he missed. I thought Russ found him. So you can see him getting more and more comfortable. And hopefully when we start on Tuesday, UM, he'll be he'll be at the best day he's been. But I thought this was a good start for him. You could see what he does for the team just pushing it

in transition. The pace was insane actually from tonight. Um, it was pretty up and down. The Lakers went down by like fourteen in that first court and then kind of got back into it um later on in the game. But I just thought that pace, um, and you see how that how they want to play it right, this really fast paced basketball for Russ or Lebron. You can outlet too and they're gone. So I thought that was a good thing that we saw from tonight. Did you

listen to uh? Pete described what he found out when he charted the transition possessions for the Lakers in their last name, Oh oh yeah, where their past half court after twenty seconds for almost every possession, the starting group had six possessions that they played together and on forty three of them. They were across half court with uh with twenty seconds on shot clock, and you could just see that today on every miss and every make, it's just pushed the ball up the floor. But there was

even that like chaotic stretch there. And I think it was in the second quarter where um where it almost got a little bit out of control and and teams are just no one was scoring, and it's just Almo like direct league ball. But that's the thing. It's like, it's kind of like creating chaos through transition pressure, which is going to open things up for them offensively. But

the key there is they have to defend. And that's that's the big thing that I'm gonna be watching because you know, this is something that I have been very separate from many Laker people since the off season, this idea that the Lakers traded out all of their defensive talent, especially around Lebron in a D And I've always disagreed at that premise because I just thought the Lakers had a ton of defensive depth in the past, and I

thought they traded some of that defensive depth for offensive versatility. And all I cared about was would they have lineups where maybe it's a rock fight type of game and they just need to get some sort of uh lineup out there that's gonna tend to that style of play. They absolutely can do that. But if they're playing against a team and like it's a little bit more up and down and Lebron and a d Are are having trouble you creating and finding driving lanes, then they can

go with lineups with more shooting. I always looked at it as a versatility thing, and so the big thing is going to be, like those stretches to start the first, second, and third quarters tonight, can they do that more consistently? And that's why I like the defensive rating metric over the course of the regular season, because all NBA teams struggle with effort night in and night out in the

regular season. That's just part of the game. You play a two games, of course you're gonna have issues with effort and consistency. So that metric is just a good indicator of the average of your effort, and so that's what we need to this year. If it's dipping below, then that that that that goes to show you that their effort is not consistent enough. You know, you can handle stretches where they're like go with the rope, they just need to be few and far between, if that

makes sense. Yeah. And I guess before we get to the beast stuff, because I thought the second unit really struggled and there's some defensive issues, what do you think of Lebron? Because I thought Lebron looked like himself, like he looked ready to go for the season, And you always talk about this on the part and we were

talking about this on the last one. I think as well, the most important thing for the season is Lebron and a D are still Lebron in a D. Right, That's what covers up a lot of the gaps here, And like you were saying, they can cover up for some of the things that Westbrook does, some of the like bad shots he takes, that can all be covered up with Lebron and a D are still themselves. And then you can add or Russ does to that. But I thought Lebron looked good in transition. Um he was finishing

inside his jumper looked good as well. He's getting a lot of spot up threes, which is which is different for him. He got some corner threes as well. But would you see a fu Lebron? Because I thought Lebron looked like himself. He looks ready to go. He felt asleep on defense a few times, which is expected, like he's not going to try to play hard on defense. But I thought he looked good. He looks he looks comfortable with this team. So what do you see from

Lebron tonight? I've seen everything that I need to see from him in this preseason. Um, you know, there was that I was pretty much settled down as soon as I saw that stretch on Tuesday night where he just was like, I'm gonna put my head down and get to the rim, you know, because like I think, you know, one of the things that I think people who need to keep an eye out here for Um, I think with Anthony Davis the more has to do with his jump shot. But I think Lebron is going to have

one of the more efficient years of his career. I can't remember off the top of my head, but if you actually went and looked at Lebron's efficiency last season, it was one of the better seasons of his career, and that was coming off of a playoff run where he was every bit as offensively dominant as he had been in his career. And I don't know if part of that is his you know, his his brain is

just so advanced at this stage in his career. But at the same time, this season, he's gonna have more space to operate than he's ever had before in trying position where the byron has always been deadly, He's gonna have more opportunities. And so just by virtue of that sort of thing, I think you could see Lebron hit some efficiency numbers that he hasn't hit, you know, since Miami,

that that remains to be seen. Health is a big part of that, you know, not just for him, but for the rest of the roster, because like we saw tonight, you know, I was you know, I was, I was joking. Um, I was laughing on Twitter because I was reading people talking about how the Lakers added shooting. The Lakers added shooting, and it's like if they did, but they're all hurt. Everybody that we added for the purpose of spacing the floor and making things easier for the stars was wearing

a suit on the sideline tonight, you know. And so you know, as over the course of the season, it's important for the health to stay above a certain threshold so that the talent is there for all those guys to succeed. But Lebron looks great physically, and his feel for the game at this phase in his career is better than you know ever, So I as long as he stays healthy, which is more worried about impact injuries at this point, like Sullivan Hill, as long as he

stays healthy, I'm not worried about him. I'm more worried about Anthony Davis and Russ. You know, like if if the Lebron of all the guys on this roster is the one that people don't need to worry about, because even even if he does suffer some physical decline, he's just gonna find a way to impact the game with

his brain, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. And and for him it feels like him playing in transition actually feels like it makes the game easier for him, right, Like he's not doing too much in the app corps like he used to. He's able to playoff for us, play off the ball him and Russ and kind of trade off who's who's kind of starting in the corner on actions, running ball screams through a D. And I would like to see a D kind of get more of the offense, go attacking the rim a little bit more.

I still feel like he's settling too much. And again, I don't know if that's just part of what a part of preseason and he's waiting to do that when the real game started. I just even with DeAndre there, I know that, like it's very easy to just blame the spacing, just blame because someone's in the dunker spot.

But I still feel like there's ways that he can go at him, like get more heartless on him a bunch of times tonight where I just feel like he can go through him rather than fading away from him. So I'd like to see a D kind of get more but that, and I'm sure he will. What do you what do you kind of see from a D? Because I feel like his jump shot he's relying on it. I understand that, like he's trying to get in rhythm through his jump shot, but I feel like he should

be attacking the rim to get to get going. This is a question We've had a ad the last few years, but this is probably his worst game. The pretesting I guess just in totality, and I think his defense is still fine. But what do you see from a D I guess tonight, Well, I think I think is looking at the bigger picture with his jump shot. This is something another thing that I'm kind of on an island with most people who follow a D. Most people think

a D's bubble shooting performance was a fluke. I disagree. I I think that's he shot really well before the bubble for about a month, and he shot really well after the bubble for about a month to start the season. And so the way I always looked at it was, if you looked at his shot selection early with the Lakers, it looked like a guy who had been working on adding an element to his game and he was implementing it into a game setting, and so was a bit sloppy.

He missed a lot of those Katie type of jump shots early in that season. Then it started to go, which is what happens. You know, you're connecting a practice result with a game result. There's a transition period there, and he got to go in and he was He looked deadly from that distance, and then he started the next season deadly, and then he got hurt, and so I I believe that that kind of wrench got thrown

in there and kind of messed with his confidence. This is something I've talked about a lot on the Pod two. Just jump shooting is kind of a it's it's really hard mentally on people because even the best shooters in the world will usually miss more shots than they take. So when you get into a cold spell, it can be really hard to deal with mentally. And I really believe that A D is looking at that and and saying,

I just need to find my rhythm. I need to find my rhythm, and so I see him taking a lot of these more finesse type of shots just to try to kind of build that again. But as you and I have discussed, in my opinion, it's better to that rhythm through the confidence you gain by dominating at the rim. Like getting to the basket and getting easy shots is a really easy way to make yourself feel like you're playing really well. We're just going to translate

into more confidence with your jump shots. So I disagree with the method that A D is using to try to get his jumper back, but I do understand what he's doing, Like he's His thing is like they gotta go and eventually, so I'm just gonna keep shooting, you know what I mean. I think I think that's his his approach here. Yeah, And we're always like thinking, how preseason we never really look at wins, right, we don't. We don't really care about the end result. You are

looking more at the process. And I did think we saw some good process stuff, Like they're really looking for him in transition, right, so like when rust and Lebron get the ball, he runs down the floor and he's immediately under the basket. There's a lot of times where he thinks he gets bowed or he doesn't finish. But I think that's also a good process. Those are ways for a d to pick up easy points. And I

think we both talked about it. We said that he should probably lead the team in scoring as all right, if everything, if everything we're out correctly, he should be the one leading the team and scoring and he's could be able to get easy baskets in transition. And you know, the big divide on like Lakers Twitter, if he's he's gonna play center, if he's gonna say power forward. Look, it just feels like with like you talked about they

traded their defense for offensive versatility. Well, the point of that is to have the offensive versatility. And like you said, those guys are all injured. Leek Monk uh link Monk, who's the other thhds out as well? Right, so, and Kendrick Nune is out as well. So like now, Wayne Allington out as well, even though Wayne Allington might have lost his spot to Austin Reeves kind of discussed that,

kind of discussed that later with his defense. But yeah, all our kind of offense guys are out, so you're playing. Like I talked about, I wanted Carmelo Anthony probably played ten minutes a game. But right now, when a D plays the five, the power forward is Carmelo Anthony, not Lebron James. And we saw kind of the struggle of that. I also don't really like those Rondo Westbrook Carmelo lineups with a D at the five. He's got destroyed. Those

guys actually destroyed inside. And again I'm really worried about this because when our starting lineup goes off the floor, so you're starting King camp Bays more, then like on the bed on the second unit, it's Rondo and usually it's Westbrook trying to lead it. And like, Westbrook can be a good defender, but you know what he does on defense. He likes to gamble, he likes that, you know, he falls asleep off ball and that's just stuff you

have to live with. He's not going to be on forty eight minutes a game being a hard nosed defender. That's just what you get with Russell Westbrook. And you have like when dude slip a screen and eighties on the perimeter. You have Tristan Thompson down low being defended by Rondo or you know, or Westbrook or any of other small guards. So that's my worry here. What do you think about the second unit, because that's my biggest worry.

I guess going into the regular season, I think our starting line is fine, whether we start DeAndre or where the eighties starts of the five, I think there's enough defense there. I'm really worried about our second units because we got ran off the floor again tonight, and I feel like that's been the theme of preseason. We've just been ran off the floor. When when our second units come in, I do I I think that some of these guys that are sitting out with injuries or guys

that would be available if the games mattered. So I think I think Frank is dealing with a little bit of like, I'm just trying to get through these games, kind of the I'm with you for whatever reason. And this has just been the case since he came here. The Lebron lineups too fun. It's when he goes to

the bench that there are problems. It's the end of the first quarter, it's the middle of the second quarter when Lebron takes that second rest, Like, those are the times when the wheels come off, and You're right, those are the lineups where I would be. I would be

a little bit more willing to play big. That's where I'd like to see a a D with a center and uh and play some more defensive minded players because at the end of the day, the offensive i Q just falls off of a cliff at that point, and so I'm a little bit more willing for the game

to turn into a rock fight in that sense. Um. You know, as we see, as we've seen so many times over the last couple of years, when you play a D with a vertical threat center, it just overwhelms teams with length to the point where they all get super hesitant to drive for the basket even when they get separation from a defense, or they start to have second thoughts about that second that secondary attack, you know,

like what am I supposed to do here? I'm just gonna go in there and get blocked and and so I would like to see some of that. I'm with you, like Rondo. Rondo had a really good preseason with his energy level pushing the ball in transition, but he's been horrific defensively, which is what he was in the regular

season when he was a Laker. So I just have to if I'm looking for a silver lining, something to to make myself feel more comfortable with those lineups, I'm gonna trust Frank the idea they're being Frank historically has favored defense when the games start mattering and the guys are and you know, some of these guys who are

nursing these little nagging injuries are available. I really do think Frank is going to prioritize defense in those lineups, um specifically when Lebron's off the floor, because he has to expect a certain amount of defensive fall or just the offensive fall off and and to try to find a way to win those minutes. You know, ever since lebron came here, they've lost the lebron Off minutes every single year, including the first year before a D got there,

and including the postseasons. And so it'll be really interesting to see. Everyone said Russ was going to come in and fix that, and I'm not so concerned about Russ and what he does offensively in those minutes. It's they've got to like you said, you can't have Rondo and and Carmelo Anthony in those lineups are just asking to get picked apart, you know, they they need to find they need to discover where that baseline is a defensive

talent and make sure that those lineups have enough of it. Yeah, like you can cover for one bad defender right even to when you have three bad defense on the floor, it's really tough. And again we always talked about we want a D at the five, but like I said, there are detriments to that defensively because even though even though how good he is, he can't cover up like when he's switching up top, like that's why we get killed on offensive rebounds. And I think I think our

bench I know these are preseasons. Dads for our bench got outscored like fifty to twenty two, I think tonight or something like that. You just you just can't win that way. And that's where I'm worried about. And like Bogo has to look for defensive linus, but I don't. I don't know if he has them right now, you know what I mean, Like you saw the rotation tonight unless you see like John d Ndy Brown or you

know some of the two way guys. And again, this is why I pushed Frost and Reves mint is because I think he just looks like a glue guy up there. I think our guy Bene said it uh today and on Twitter he said he has that connective like energy

where he kind of like puts everything together. Because when you're playing with stars, I feel like you just I want you to not make mistakes more than I want you to make plays, if that makes any sense, Like the players on that lineup like, just don't make mistakes, don't hurt the team on the floor, even if you're missing shots, if you're taking the right shots, I think

that's fine. And again not to bring up because cru so, but that's where that comps kind of come from when you have guys who are good guys who can play with stars. Um, what else do you see from tonight? I guess our overall in uh in preseason. Well, let's let's let's touch on Reeves and then let's start getting some guests up here. First of all, thank you guys so much for listening in. You know how this goes.

We're gonna talk about the game for you know, twenty thirty minutes or so, and then we're gonna start letting you guys come up and complain and give your two cents and and then talk some basketball with us. We'll touch on Austin Reeves and then we'll start getting you guys up here. Um. You know, it's easy to comp to Caruso, you know, middle size white guy role player the Lakers, but they're they're they're actually very different in so many different ways. But I liked what you had

mentioned about the UM, you know, that connective tissue. I would equate Austin Reeves two more of like a Wesley Matthews type of role in that you're you're giving up the offensive ceiling that comes from a player that can create more for for himself in favor of someone who's going to make very few mistakes and who's going to capitalize on the advantages created by better players. And so, you know, specifically, you know, it's kind of like the

opposite of the Westbrook effect. You know, I joked earlier about how Westbrook takes some shots sometimes where you're like, honest to God, don't know what he's thinking. There's no advantage, it's it's a low percentage shot for the best shooters in the world, and there's twenty two seconds on the

shock block. I just don't understand what he's doing. Well, austin Us has the opposite effect of that, Like if you kick it to him in the corner and someone's closing out, he just won't take like he'll unless unless the shock box running down, he won't take it. He'll you know, pump fake, maybe do a quick rip through, and then he's gonna swing it back out and reset. He understands that he's not out there to be a gunner. He understands that his job is to when the really

easy opportunities present themselves, to capitalize on them. And then he also understands that his only hope of sticking in this league is to be the guy that consistently tries on the defensive end. And I mean I joked earlier on Twitter that he's been the most impressive guard on the Lakers this year so far in the preseason. That's that comes with a caveat that he's the only one who's really trying, so he kind of he kind of

like wins the award by default. But the truth of the matter is, is is like for a guy like Frank who's trying to fight that that little bit of of you know, veteran lacks of daisical nature that's going to kind of hang over this team. He's going to value that. He's going to value that guy that brings that in. And you know, last year with Wesley Matthews never blew the doors off with his shooting, never did, but he was the most consistent effort guy other than Crusoe. He

was the most consistent effort guy from those wings. And so he became a really safe option for Frank throughout various lineups and groups that he needed on the floor. And that's what Reeves is going to become because you're gonna see with some of these other guys like Monk, and with None, you're gonna see some inconsistency. You're gonna see nights where Monk looks like prime j R. Smith and the dudes hitting seven threes and he looks like, you know, one of the best bench players in the league.

And then you're gonna see the same thing out of None from time to time as off the dribble, create it or but they're also going to have knights where they're not making anything and they're getting burned on the other end, and for whatever reason, they're just not putting it together. And reads is going to be an option four. Frank, That is like West was last year, just a little

bit lower ceiling, higher floor. And I thought, I think he would like to to Lebron's point, he's a real NBA player, I think he's I think he has has found a niche there that he can fit into that's going to help him stick in this league. Right, And he played four years of college, so he's a rookie, but he's played a lot of basketball. You can kind of see that in his game. Um, his his reads are instant, right, Like you know that you have to like read if you can dribble, pass, or attack right

and he knows that right away. Um, so he makes those reads really well. I guess I'm off the dribble kind of creation. That's really nice, being like a secondary or third kind of playmaker where Russ or Lebron already break down the defense. And we talked about this a lot with th HD, where we like th HD as that like third or secondary playmaker, and th HD is obviously Lee more of a highlight maker right he can more get to the rim score. But re just does

a nice job. He comes off picking rolls, he makes passes that are on point. You know, he found a D and DeAndre I thought nicely tonight. That's all you need for him. He knows that he doesn't have to do too many things too complicated. And I think he still leaves the team in three point attempts for the preseason he did before this game. I'm not sure about tonight. I think he only hit one tonight. But he knows where his shots come from and he knows how to

get them up. He has a quick release as well. He just knows how to play like. It's it's very clear that I feel like he'll be in the rotation eventually. Even if it's not on Opening night, and maybe it will just do the injuries. But just a guy that knows what he's doing on the floor, and like I said, I need you to not hurt me more than help me, if that makes sense, just playing next to these these

star guys. So I thought he looks good. He was probably the star of preseason with how much our guys kind of sat out and didn't really try for much of these games. He feels like the positive story of coming out of preseason. So it looks like he'll be in the rotation going forward. You you absolutely, and I'm gonna follow up on this if Roger, if you want to go ahead and get our first guest up here, you can. Um. Also, I believe Maples was planning on

joining us as well. Um. You know, at the at the end of the day, when you're a team that's cap strapped because you have three guys that are making forty million dollars a year, you need to hit on some of these And this is where the Lakers scouting department has been such a huge value add uh inh for this particular franchise, because you know, when you're you've got your the star driven franchise that needs to rely on these huge contracts, you're always gonna have to work

on the margins and you're gonna have to nail some of these. And you know, it's interesting about the Austin Reeves thing. If you actually look at his college stats, he's a really good three point shooter at Which Taught State in the mid in the mid forties on like I think three attempts per game, and I think he was like in his last two seasons at Oklahoma after he transferred, and that's probably a big part of why

he slipped. And credits credits to the Lakers scouting for digging into the film, and they, for the record, I have not looked at this film, so I'm not uh, you know, speaking uh you know, with certainty here, but I'd be willing to bet that at Which Toss State he was in a role similar to what he's doing right now, and he looked fantastic as an off ball threat.

And I'm guessing that he at Oklahoma was forced to take a completely different shot profile on and it probably threw him out through out of his confidence a little bit with his jump shot, and you know, his loss, so to speak, ended up being his and the Lakers game because he slipped to to the extent that he

was able to to follow the Lakers. And you know, now he looks at it looks like out there, like the kind of player that you know every team is looking for, that's a contender, a guy that they can go out and trust to not make mistakes and to knock down open shots and not turn the ball over and and make simple basic reads off of the attention that the starters grabbed. Yeah, exactly. And last thing on the Lakers scouting department, they've definitely been hitting it how

the park for the last few years. Um, sad part. And I bet they feel this way. They put all this you know, film work into drafting a guy and then you develop him and then you watch him go flourish elsewhere, right, And that's part of being the Lakers. I guess you get Anthony Davidson return, but we also watch these guys kind of floors. You see Lonzo Ball, Alic Crusoe are the kind of big names you see

Brandon Ingram as well. Um, I know those are high lottery picks, but still those are really great players that they've drafted in. Then David Naba as well, another undrafted guy. But yeah, it looks like they've done in again. We'll have to see if Austin can do this in the regular season. Preseason is what it is. We saw a PhD have a huge preseason last year, and he had a good year last year, but not not up to the hype that it was in freezing So we'll see.

Rugget first guest up here. Appreciate everyone who's listening here. I appreciate everyone listening on dash radio. Um let's let me see. I think uh Toddy was the first one, and I see Maples in here as well. So if Maple's you wanna hit a request, I'll get you up here too. I forgot how spaces works been a while. Rusty this is preseason says it's connecting when you see I get your request in. If you want to come

up and just share anything, share about preseason. Your overall actions are overrating Rogers, what's your Are you still thinking that the Lakers are gonna lose the Golden State on Tuesday? I'm gonna stay with that prediction, and I'm not sure anything I've seen in preseason kind of changed that. And again I had them losing that game, but I still have them going in like fifteen and three or something to start the season. But yeah, Golden State just looks ready,

more ready to me to go. They just like they have a little bit more continuity as well, and they look like they're playing a system that fits curse style, especially with Wiseman hurt as well, which is unfortunate, but it just feels like they know what they're doing. It looks like, yeah, it looks it looks to me like

a team that has much better habits right now. And in addition to that, they're kind of like specifically built in a way right now that will lose some problems for the Lakers as a matchup because of their their

guards and what they're capable of. And so I I think there's a the Lakers could very easily win because they're at home and because they're huge, and they could just physically Anthony Davison, Dwight Howard could have you know, seven offensive rebounds and Lebron could have you know, eight made field goals in the paint, and it could be it could be a Laker win. But I'm I'm leaning

that direction as well. I think I think the Lakers are gonna lose on opening night just because they've got a bunch of bad habits that they need to work out, and then I think they'll hit a little winning streak there. I think they really want to beat Phoenix. But I was just curious to get your two cents. We got somebody up. I think we do. Uh, what's going on in manking? You okar it leaking? Are you okay? I had a question? So you know how we h we

all like are debating a V at the five? Or is DeAndre are gonna start all u um under the scenario that a D starts at the four, which I think is most realistic in my opinion. Do you think they still trot out more even though he's not the best shooter, or do they go with like a monk or a linked for that go ahead first rush? Yeah, I think base Moore still starts. I think he's the best like defender out of that. Like he's our best

point of attack defender. When we were playing Phoenix, he was our best guy on Chris Paul like he was able to chase around screens. I think we talked about this a lot on the pod. But our guards have the tendency to die on screens a lot, and it leads to our big defending the guard a lot on drop coverage one on one or got our guard is giving no back pressure. And I think Baisemore is the best at that is shooting is up and down. I

think he is a good shooter. He takes some shots where like I'm not sure, like those transition corner threes where he's running full speed, I'm not sure that are great shots. But I think he's the shooter that we have to play right now that we don't really have many options, don't really have that many wings. After Baisemore, it goes to like Carmelo, and then from Carmelo you go down to like our two way guys. So I still think Baisemore would start. What about you, Jason? Yeah?

I agree, And it's interesting that you brought the transition three is up because it feels like on some of them he has more time to get set and you know, and get more batters and take the shot, but he's it feels like he's kind of rushing it. Rogers percent right. The Lakers runn a drop coverage and they have three bigs that are vertical threats that defend in the drop coverage, and so the guards that are willing to fight over the top of the screen and apply back pressure are

the ones that are going to play the most. So I think I think Baysmore is gonna play a ton. Kendrick nun is gonna play a ton. Uh. You know, Reeves is another guy who's done a good job of fighting over the top of screens so far this preseason. They're gonna I would imagine that they're not going to have more than one of that Molik monk Ellington type of guard on the floor at the same time, the type of guard that's going to die on screens because

then their entire defensive scheme balls apart um. Roger and I talked about this a lot after the first preseason game because they kept having to switch pick and rolls against Brooklyn because the guards just kept dying on the screen.

And so that that that's the thing, like if Frank has a scheme, and a scheme doesn't work unless the guys do their job in baseball right now, regardless of missing you know, open jump shots, is doing his job in the defensive scheme better than some of the other options,

So I think he's gonna have to play. And the last thing I'll say is to the eight at the five thing, Roger is gonna end up winning by default because of the injuries here, because the injuries, but I still think when the Lakers are at full strength, that eight is gonna end up starting at the five more often than not. But we'll see that could be wrong. You got your textbook DeAndre Jordans and the JaVale McGee roll tonight where he played start the first quarter, start

the third quarter, and that was it. So, I mean that looks very to me. Looked at that mark score, that's that looked really fake. At first, it was like twelve and eleven for DeAndre and everyone was killing him. Was like, damn, bro, he did good. He did good with the starters. Well, we've talked about that earlier in the show. When when when he's on the floor with Lebron and a d there's just so much size around

him that his size becomes imposing. It's just when you play him with Carmen Anthony or a bunch of guards where he's gonna look limited because you're he's just not at a phase in his career where he can be a backboint defender with that type of talent. Yeah, do you see any request on your end? I don't see anyone else requesting, but just to speak on the DeAndre point, like Jason and I become the face of DeAndre Jordan propaganda.

It has been really strange. But like again, like five minutes a game to started, I think he's fine in that role. Anymore than that, I think it gets troubling. Like him on the bench. There was that first game I think against Brooklyn he played next to Carmelo, and like Carmelo and DJ as the four or five, you're just gonna get You're gonna get murdered defensively, and expecting him to be this like switch out while again going back covering the rim, it's just not realistic to me.

I always thought he could play the Javel role in his sense, and Javel might be the best, probably the better player, and got paid, just got paid as such. So that's all I see with DeAndre. I think he's been fine with the stars. As you said, when you have Lebron and a d out there covering for him with base more as well as our guard defender, I think he'll be fine, thanks for coming on, man, we appreciate you. We're gonna get our next speaker up here. Hello,

I can hear you. What's up, Hey, what's up? What's good? Well? Good good? Yeah? So, um, you know, but watching uh Lakers playing preseason and we're all in six, which doesn't bother me too much, but like, um, a few things,

a few things kind of bothered me. Like a few things, Like I like, um, what they were talking about earlier in terms of shock quality, I feel like, um, I feel like Lebron's gonna get like a lot of great shots this year, considering, um, considering Russ and eighty, I just feel like he's gonna get a lot of And we saw like two, we saw that transition bucket when Russ was like, um, he was in, he was in. I guess he was in a using transition and he was attacking the fast break and I know he passed

it to le Brown and Roger thunk the ball. Um yeah and um um. Honestly, I don't want to see too many more possessions of Mellow at thirty six years old, trying to you know, trying to beat someone off the dribble and I'm pulling up for a midrain shot like we've seen a lot of already seen too many too

many air balls from them. So um and yeah, honestly, um, I said, I really don't like the DeAndre Jordan's and eighty lineups f like with because it doesn't I don't know, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me with with Russ Brown and eighty and having DeAndre Jordan in terms of like, I feel like it's going to make um like Lebron shoot Lebron eighty like just to the perimedent shoot one. Too many jump shots for me.

But yeah, that's so I'm gonna try to hit all three really quick because I think you brought up a couple of interesting things. Um, that something that we've already touched on, but we can really quick bounce back to. So on Venet's point about shock quality, You're absolutely right, and I actually mentioned earlier in the show, I expect Lebron to have one of his more efficient seasons of his career, um, just by virtue of that shock quality.

Like Roger and I were talking about this with Russ the other day, there are two ways to improve your efficiency. To take better shots and to get better at making those shots. And you know, Lebron's, for better or worse, what he's going to be as a basketball player, but there's going to be a huge improvement in his shot quality this season, and so it will improve his efficiency.

Moving on to the DeAndre jordan thing. You know, it's so similar to the JaVale McGee thing from two years ago because if you actually look, if you go into the NBA dot Com stats website and you look at how the Lakers played with JaVale McGee on the floor, they played great, but it was because he was with the starters and with that starting group, because he would always start the first quarter and then start the third quarter, especially in the playoffs. You've got a few more minutes

in the regular season. But when you put it, when you put a player that has limitations, and Javaal obviously has limitations, and so does DeAndre Jordan's, if you put them next to great basketball players, their job, their role, what you're asking them to do, gets very easy, and suddenly they're one thing that they're really good at. In this case, being gigantic becomes a problem for other teams.

And so the truth is is as ugly as the DeAndre Jordan's minutes may have looked tonight the Lakers won those minutes. I can't remember exactly off top of my head, but I know they were plus eight in the first half. Um. So the point is, like with DeAndre Jordan on the floor with that group of guys, he can work. It's when you put him out there with you know, limited line ups where he's gonna struggle. And then lastly with

the Carmelo Anthony thing, the same exact concept. He just needs to be in a position where he uh is turned into more of a spot up shooter who occasionally, at the end of a shot clock has to make something happen at and nothing, or is attacking guard mismatches. You'll notice tonight he had a really nice, easy one leg fade away that he took I think against Davion Mitchell.

Uh Davion Mitchell that he made all preseason, he's looked great posting up little guards, and he's looked bad posting up wings because at this phase in his career, he just can't get the physical advantage he needs against wings to score. But against cards he's gonna be just fine. So again, for him, it's just about shrinking him down into a role that makes sense with as much talent

as he's playing around. But in the preseason, because of injuries, the Lakers were asking him to do a ton and so it was kind of bound to get ugly from time to time. So I'm not terribly concerned about Melo just yet. I think that's the call that we can make later on what about you rog, Yeah, I think I'll just you hit on the DJ stuff, but I'll just continue the point on Carmelo Um. Like I think I said on our pod, like if you're expecting Carmelo to come in and be a defender, that's not what

he is. But he's also kind of outsized in this role, right, Like I wanted him to be playing like fifteen minutes, and I talked about how basketball is not played on like a spreadsheet, Right, you can't just tell Carmelo go sit in the corner for everyone in here minutes and sit through corner three. He's like he's Carmelo freaking Anthony, Like he's gonna go in the post and once he gets to switch, he's gonna try to bully him to

the basket. And he's done a good job. Like you talked about getting hitting his fade away jumpers and his jab step kind of pull ups. I think he's hit him at a pretty good percentage. You just want those a little bit tweaking down. But like I think he's he's been fine. He's gonna be a microwave scorer off the bench, that's his role when the team is healthy.

It's just they're relying on right now, Like he's the only real power forward on the team besides a d really, so he has to play big minutes right now, which is going to hurt the heard the defense. So I think a few jobs that jumpers here and they're not

gonna hurt. He's still hitting his shots. He's still been like he's been really like pushing these momentum for us, Like he's been pretty building momentum for us when we're down in these games, Like his his threes are and he puts like the three to the dome and stuff like that, like it kind of helps the team. And I think he's been fine. Like expecting him to run off screens and stuff defending is just not It's just

not what he's gonna do. Yep, I agree. Thanks, We appreciate you coming on man, thank you, thank you, appreciate it. I think we have one more else, see if we'll do one more and then close this out. Appreciate everyone that stayed up with us. He was connecting here. We'll do another one of these Tuesday after after the first game. Yeah. Uh,

I think we got enough. We went long enough tonight that I'll probably split this into two separate shows, and then we'll do a postgame show on Tuesday to hopefully not a Laker's loss, but something that you and I are both predicting will be a Laker's loss. A couple of optimists over here, we gotta speak her up. It doesn't look like it's connecting, so I guess we can kind of po this one out. All right, guys, Hey, thank you all so much for supporting us and UH

and hanging out for the last couple of hours. We are very excited. This is going to be the routine every Laker game, UM, at least unless rog and I are out of town. We're planning on doing a postgame show just like this. Come armed with questions and complaints and venting and whatever it is you guys want to do. Uh. This is gonna air on Dash Radio. Tomorrow morning at seven a m. Pacific Standard time, and then like I said, I will post it on our podcast feed as well.

But like we just appreciate you guys a support and we're looking forward to what's going to be a really fun season, hopefully with a happy ending. Appreciate everyone that stayed up, stay late, and I will see