Episode 87: Lakers/Spurs Postgame Spaces

Appreciate you holding it down. Appreciative and a for coming on as well, I believe on the first show. But yeah, it's gonna be back. Man, it's not it's not fun watching games on box scores or when you can't find internet, going and asking around people with Laker jerseys did the Lakers to win or not? So that's not fun. So yeah, it's good. It's good to be back. And this was a fun one to come back to you. It was

a fun one. We are going to spend a good amount of time talking about the other two games that you missed, just because there's a bore just on the season in general, just because we haven't heard from you a long time and we want to get your two cents. But this was it turned into a really interesting game there when they fell down by I think it was did they get down by ten or was it just eight?

I can't remember, But there there, when the wheel started to come off, it just seems like your stereotypical like old team looking really old, looking like they don't care getting you know, run off the floor by the gun, you know, uh enthusiastic uh Spurs team. But they fought back, and uh I thought I thought Russe and a d

were both fantastic tonight. Neither of them were great defensively, but with what they were asked to do offensively tonight, you know, you gotta give them a little bit of slack. You know, having Lebron to take some of that weight off kind of makes it easier for the two of

them to focus on the defensive end. But you know what, they both they both did what you needed them to do tonight, which was get a win so that Lebron could get his ankle right so that he can come back and help you guys later on down the schedule. So um, it was, it was, it was. It was definitely what I would call a very very important win in the grand scheme of the eighty two game season. Yeah, this was definitely Russ Is Like I guess we can start with Russ because every single night I feel like

it's gonna be him being the first talking point. But he was attacking the rim I thought, at a pretty aggressive level, and when Lebron was out, it just felt like he played more free. I don't know if you saw that as well. And again, the focus of a lot of the talk has been DeAndre Jordan's starting, and I think I may have been even wrong, Like I thought he could play at a baseline level that he can't even reach that even though the ball is kind

of low, he might be washed. But just seeing Russ in transition get to the basket, and like my big key for tonight was they ran a lot of Russ in eight screen and roll right with the splore for Fred and even when there was Dwight on the floor, it just continually went to that and I thought we

found like some good things out of that. Russ got to the basket, and the Spurs don't really have a great kind of inside game as well to defend the rim of Jacob Jacob Pearle at the rim so Rusk and kind of go through him, but we saw that kind of aggressiveness and getting to the rim, scoring at the basket, kicking out to the corners for three. Is like I thought, Russ really really good, really looked good tonight.

What do you see from him? Because I thought he was pretty much the key, along with of course a D looking like himself. But I guess we can kind of start with Russ, like what do you see from him? What was his game like tonight? So it was interesting because as the game was getting ready to start, I was kind of bummed out that Lebron didn't try to play. The reason why is I kind of saw this specific game as somewhat of a must win, not actually a

must win, but somewhat of a must win. The reason why is They're about to head into a stretch of here I think four of their next five games or against Houston and Oklahoma City, so those are games that they should win, um even if even if Lebron has to miss. So my thing was like I kind of wanted him to push through and try to get this one and saying Antonio because it was a little tougher and then they could go, uh, you know, then he

could rest as he needed after that. But the silver lining when Lebron decided to call it a night was what I thought to myself was this is a great example of a great opportunity for Russ to not have to worry about fitting in with Lebron. It was an example of you know, like he it took out the

guesswork for him. It took out some of that decision making, some of that some of that self control that he would need to have if he was playing with Lebron, which gave him an opportunity to just put his head down, to go to the rim every time, like you said, and almost everything uh involved. Like I was shocked at how often he got to the rim in their big lineup. Now, some of that has to do with a young Spurs team that's going to make a lot of defensive mistakes.

Clear Um, I don't think you can get away with the DJ at the five lineup against really good teams. I think that this was a textbook example of uh, what Frank probably intens in terms of innings eating, because this is the type of game we're having DJ at the five when you're injured, when you're dealing with a bunch of injuries, and you defend well enough with that group that you can hopefully just squeeze out a win

out of the eight two, right. But I was so blown away by how good Russ was getting to the rim in those lineups. That's just not what we saw in the first three games. He struggled to find driving lanes in those lineups. Again, I don't want to take too much from it, because I don't think it will work against good teams. But I thought Russ was just

fantastic tonight because they took out the guesswork. You just got to put his head down and go to the rim, and you saw his best game as a Laker, right, And thirty three points eight is his ten rebounds, Like, that's kind of the guy they traded for. Writing you won't see this all the time, especially next to Lebron. Lebron will share a lot of that usage, but I think he still kind of has to play this way.

They traded for a guy that's going to relentlessly attack the rim, right and not try to do this where he tries not to step on each other, someone's toes or they want him to be Russ. You when you trade for a guy like Russell Westbrook, you trade for him for him to be himself and try not to just work on other people. And I thought he did that tonight. And again no Lebron playing. He knows that he has to be the main ball handler. And again it looks ugly sometimes, especially when they have two bigs

out there. But when they made that run in the fourth so on the fourth quarter they won the four seventeen, and that run was basically made with Dwight and a D I believe on the floor next to Austin Reeves, I think, and I think link Monk maybe as well been on the floor. But that's when they made that run. Russ was still getting to the basket. Him and a D were having some nice actions. Like I was kind

of frustrated. They had Rondo kind of throwing those entry passes to a D and they would just double one pass away and they had Russ doing it too. But Russ would kind of when they would double one pass away, he would use that space and just attack the rim and in transition on any like one on one matchup, right.

So if he's had like Deante Murray back or just any one on one matchup, it's just a quick left or right crossover, get to the basket, overpower him, and that stuff he can do even with like I understand, with two bigs on the floor, but in transition, that stuff he can do even when Lebron's back, just that relentless rim attack and that really breaks down the defense. It wears them down. And I thought you saw that tonight.

So yeah, I thought Russ was really good. Um, this was his best game and we kind of need more more of that, Yeah, exactly. And you know the reason why I like the big lineups tonight in particular was because of what you're what you can expect from a team like the Spurs, right, because a really smart basketball team is going to find a way to make you pay for being too slow, whether it's off all actions or a really good point guard someone along the lines of Steph Who or you know, John Moran did a

great job of this too. Who's gonna make you look slow trying to cover in space like that? Right? But this young, this young Spurs team is kind of like they're just taking threes and they're going all the way from the rim, right, so if you have to, if you have two big guys on the floor that can clog things up around the paint, a young team like that is going to struggle countering that by by making

you pay for being slow. They're just gonna perpetually as long as you can chase them off the three point line, They're just gonna perpetually drive right into your side. And so I'm really curious. I'm gonna look at the advanced metrics after everything uploads later tonight. But I bet you that Dwight and DeAndre Jordan's lineups tonight were fantastic, um, but just because of their ability to defend the Spurs at the rim and their inability to make them pay

for that. But you're right, the Rondo stuff is just it's it's really hard for me right now, because you know, I was the truth or I was the Rondo truther during the playoff run. I was the one that, you know, when when most of the Laker fan base was was kind of getting behind the good games he was having. I still struggle with with the bad that Rondo brings and how much it can hurt the team and when

you put him out there. Um it just it just everything gets so much clunkier and and I'm hoping that this is not something we're gonna have to see for much longer. You know. Darius Oriano called this out on Twitter, and I thought it was interesting the Frank basically had

ten guys you could go to him. He had six guards, he had three centers, Any had Carmelo Anthony, and so he was in this really awkward position where he had to basically just mix and match combinations of guards that aren't great defensively with bigs, you know, they have their own limitations in terms of Dwight and in DeAndre Jordan's and again, you're just trying to survive in a game

like that. And so I liked that. I liked that Frank just was like, Hey, let's go big and see if they can make enough threes to beat us, and they just couldn't. And especially down there in overtime in the end of the fourth quarter, they just couldn't make enough jump shots, um to to get that way. Yeah, and I would have liked to see Rondo and Westbrook minutes a little more staggered, right, and like we're all

frustrated sometimes with vocals ros tape rotations. But I try to see what he's seeing, and I think he just wants an extra playmaker out there right in that second unit. But those zenas just can't survive defensively and the offensively. It's still just too clunky, too clunky to be out there like those Rondo Westbrook with mellow lineups, and I think, like maybe one more guard, they'll just get destroyed. And the Spurs run a lot of ball screens and I

knew like tonight would be tough. Greg Popovish teams play at a baseline level, right, They're not gonna place too poorly to get tone out every night. Like I think they'll have a baseline level of effort and scheme that they're going to run to where you have to play above that um and I thought they did. But yeah, like those Rhondo Westbrook minutes, I just would like those gone.

And I think with him trying to get another playmaker out there, I think Monk like passes enough as a shot creation shot creator where he can create where you don't need those lineups out there. But you're right, it's it's really tough. There's no one really you can go to like it's just trade off that you have to

keep going to. Like I saw him subout Dwight for Mellow for offense, and then right away you had Yaka Pearle just go off, right because when Adi helped, it's the guards dog to kind of recover and and tag on him, and that's Moligue Monk down there, and those are layups. Um, you saw Monks saying like what am I supposed to do going into the time out one time? But you can see his hands up and it's like it's his job to kind of rotate there, but he's not really used to that, right, That's not his role

a lot of times. So, um, you could see kind of the things that Vogel is wrestling with and it's a tough decision. I know, it's very easy to just say a D at the five and that's that's obviously the Lakers best lineups, but he kind of has to play the bigs, like you talked about, because the rotation is so short. We're missing three rotation guys who really are our three better defenders right in th hd Lebron Right,

I'm just speaking on the second unit basically. Um, but but but yeah, assuming Lebron's kind of play pretty soon. But yeah, with the second unit, the th HD, Monk and Theresa are better defenders. So I think he has a tough job trying to figure out. I think he's gonna kind of stick with this D J A D lineup,

um as we go onto these with these bad teams. Yeah, so at the end of the game they went back to A D and five And I thought it was interesting because you were talking about when a D would get they would get a D involved in the action, and a D would inevitably end up guarding Jon Murray or or Eric White or one of the guards on the perimeter off of like a switch. And in the normal Laker lineups, your three and four are gonna be, you know, either Basmore and Lebron, or if the reason

gets healthy, it's gonna be a reason Lebron. And so you've got Lebron coming to you, you're throwing into Yaka Purdo. Lebron is probably just gonna take it away from him half the time, and and Yaka is not gonna feel comfortable enough to go up to the basket with Lebron there most of the time, right, So, but instead because

of Frank's predicament. Now you basically have Baize Moore as your second biggest player on the floor there and that counched time lineup and and most of the time it ended up being one of the other smaller guards that had to fill that Lebron role of of picking up the that guy on the short role. And so it's just again like this is where you just have to look at it as you're surviving the NBA regular season. You're down four rotation players, you're down your best player. Uh,

you have to just find a way to survive. And and they did it tonight. And this is where this is where we saw Russ's value coming in the season. Right. The idea was, we need something to make it so that when Lebron James isn't on the floor, the wheels don't just come, you know, because because Anthony Davis is not a perimeter initiator, he's not a guy that's gonna break the defense down at the point of attack by himself.

He needs someone He's a he's a devastating offensive weapon, but he needs to be alongside someone who can make decisions. And what you saw tonight, it was a game that Laker teams of old would have lost without Lebron. That

they won because of Russ's ability. And the biggest thing they got to try to channel from this is try to figure out how you can get Russ to play with the same mentality when he staggered with Lebron, because and Frank has done a good job at this the season when the with the way they split the lineups, they take Russ out first. Lebron has been playing deeper into the first quarter than he has in recent years.

There's a lot of Lebron Russ staggering going on. So this is where you just gotta get into Russ's ear, show him take from this game and be like, this is how relent lists, and this is how persistent you have to be attacking the rim when Lebron's off the flour. This is what we brought you here for. This is what raises our ceiling um. And so that's that's the thing that they got to try to bottle up from

this game and and and take into the future. But I wanted to ask you, so we have had what three games since you last were on the pod, So I asked you to come with the one thing that you're most concerned about and the one thing that you're most optimistic about from the first four games, So why don't you start by telling me about the thing that you're most optimistic about from the first I guess, like just watching again this like this season kind of revolves

to me around the Russell Westbrook fit around the team, right, And I feel like every game he's gotten more and more a little bit more comfortable. He's still not like super efficient, but that's like what I've seen been most optimistic about. Like watching the last two games, kind of not not watching them live, you kind of watched them with less emotions, so you kind of look at things

a little bit differently. And I thought, like, he's getting to the rim a little bit or and I thought today it was kind of today it was kind of leading up from those from those games, right, So like he's getting to the basket, and I think his chemistry with a D is starting to work. Like watching that Phoenix game that I missed, I kind of thought they would lose to Phoenix. That just watching us play Phoenix in the preseason as well, they just look way more

ahead of ahead than we are. They're very they're well oiled system, right now running I just thought we wouldn't be able to beat that, and but then on the comeback and the fourth, Like I really like what I saw, like those eighty at the five with Rust. I think it was like Austin Reeves as well, when they were making their run and you just saw him kind of get a little bit more and more comfortable. And against Memphis as well, I thought you saw him getting more comfortable.

So that's kind of what I'm optimistic about. How about you? Do you see that as well? I feel like the Rust fit it's still clunky again with the two big that's never gonna be clean, Like it's just not you have two bigs in the paint and Lebron's there. People are still gonna play off him. It's gonna be ugly. But I feel like in transition there's things he can do and he's starting to find his spots, starting to find shooters. I thought he found Malik Monk a bunch

of times tonight. Um obviously got Austin Reeves some buckets, Like that's the Russell Westbrook they kind of signed for the law passes as well. Like, I think he's a really good law pastor. He just makes bad decisions with it that makes sense, like that that law pass to a D two end over time fourth in the fourth courter. I thought was it was absolutely terrible. I thought that was a terrible past But I do think he's a good law pastor when he combines that with good decision making.

But um so, yeah, that's what I'm kind of seeing. That's what I'm not going to knowing about. Yeah, so

the it's it's funny about it. B Reeves, Like I talked a lot with you in the off season about how I liked the versatility of this new Laker roster, the idea that they could go with more shooting an offense or they could kind of default to old school Laker lineups that were better defensively, and Austin Austin Reeves has kind of solidified that for me because in the Russell Lebron A D lineups to go vintage old school Lakers, you know, we're gonna lock your ass up and we're

gonna lean on Lebron and a D. On the other end, you needed that fourth and fifth guy in that lineup to be someone that you could count on to play that old school frank vote real style of basketball, and I liked Theresa for that. I liked Pays more for that. I liked th HT potentially for that if you can figure out some of his off ball stuff. But it's still a little bit thin in that regard. Well, Reeves

now to me, solves that problem. Reeves is like, you're perfect fifth dude that you could throw into those kinds of lineup. So now I'm more optimistic about the versatility that they can play with. You know, there are a lot there was a lot of pessimism floating around Twitter when the wheel started to come off tonight, and you have to remember, like this, Yes, the Laker roster looks clunky and flawed right now, but it was never intended to look like this. This is not what Rob Blinka

signed up for. Okay, Like the way Rob Blinka saw this, they would have more size on the wing, they would have better point of attack defenders like Kendrick Gunn, who's shown a propensity in his career to fight over the top of screens and do his job and pick and roll coverage or th h t s. You know, I've called him Mini Kauai a bunch of times with his

ability to disrupt guys on the ball like that. There's a there's there was a version of this that would have looked a lot better to start the season that got derailed by injuries. But let's see, let's hear what your thing that as you most concerned. Yeah, so it's definitely still the defensive end. Like I'm a little worried. Like again, I know, like I said before, we're missing our best three defenders, but we're gonna even be missing them for a while, right, I think THHD is not

gonna be back for a while. None still out for a few weeks. So that's where I'm a little bit worried and tonight against the same thing. These really ball screen heavy teams, like the spurs Um they have, they have a lot of guards that live in the mid range, right, so they might be a little unique to this. So they run a lot of ball screen actions and without drop coverage, Like it's very important for the guards to be able to fight over these screens and kind of

stay attached. And our guards are just getting destroyed by it. And I've seen that every game. I don't think it's a coincidence that, like John Moran went off for forty John Moran is very special, but I mean, I don't think that's coincident he did that against us, because our guard defenders just just can't stay up to a baseline level that it needs to to where you can play these big lineups, because that's where Frain's gonna play. He has three, he has two centers plus eight on the team.

He's gonna be playing these big lineups. And it's important where the guards have to play at a Baselin level of defense. I just have not seen that yet. Basemar is probably the only one. And that's why Austin Reeves is getting all these minutes um. He's played what I think almost thirty minutes tonight or maybe like twenty five minutes tonight. Yeah, he played. He played tonight a rookie just coming around a rookie because he can at least

play like at a Baselin level of defense. Plus his shooting um plus the shooting out there was huge as well. But that's where I'm a little bit concerned about. And again, I don't know if none th HD and Theresa are just you plug those in and that's your answer. Like I think that's a little dangerous think about with the thirty six year old Areza Thhd is still a young player, and none is a good defender. He's not a great defender,

but he's a good defender. Was still that's that's my biggest concern with this team, because I think you saw tonight as well, like Deanto Murray was walking into those jumpers um pretty easily, and I think you'll see a lot of guards do that against us with our with our guard defense. Yeah, tonight was the worst for the Laker guard corps defensively by by a mile. And I thought it was mostly effort. Um. You know, the the Lakers, especially after the hot start, kind of just expected san

Antonio to fold and they did it. You know, young kids, they're just gonna keep feeding off the crowd and continue to put shots up and God, for a bit, two or three of them go in, Like what happened with Lonnie Walker, like he can all of a sudden, the dude just gets our ageous confidence and he's feeding on it and he's gonna keep going to work, you know. And Um that said, like it's all about options, right,

Like Frank could have gone to Avery Bradley tonight. I wanted to, um, but but he couldn't because Avery Bradley ever since his little spurt at the end of the Golden State game has actually been pretty bad. Uh, not just in you know, we all saw the meme that went by roll with the uh you know, the twenty seven minutes and zero points and zero rebounds and zero

systs or whatever. But the truth is he was just he was just bad when he checked into the game to guard John Murad have lost him on the first possession and just not paying attention like like he was bad. So for the way Frank is looking at this is it's like, all right, Rondo's dying on screens, monks doing some swappy clothes outs for us, is kind of floating around. He's losing his man off the ball, but I don't

really have options, and so what what what? What fixes the problem is the accountability brought by the fact that you could lose your minutes, you know, and having him having options like none, like th ht like a reason in the future gives Frank more, you know, more ammunition to sit down with some of these guys and be like, look, if you don't do this better, you're just not gonna play,

you know what I mean? And the one thing that has me a little bit concerned is I and I mentioned this on the pod on on Sunday night, but I I have a feeling that Reeves is going to fall entirely out of the rotation. Uh. And it's not by any of his doing, It's just by virtue of

the fact that Nune's coming back. Um. You know, if you look at the way this kind of broke out this season, they brought in Rondo to basically run the bench lineups, right, and they you know, put him in that weird lineup with with Russ a lot, especially in the Golden State game and then tonight. Well, the truth of the matter is, as those minutes are going to nothing, right and in between, in between the Golden State game and tonight, UH, they kind of used Rondo tonight a

is like Lebron. They kind of played him in the Lebron benchman's because they're so because those lineups are so used to having a playmaker on the floor, you know what I mean. And Franks just trying to replicate that. But in the previous two games against Phoenix and and UH and UH Memphis, they put Reeves in in the Rondo minutes and basically played him alongside Russ And and that was where he got the majority of his burns. So Kendrick Nunn is pretty much gonna slot right into

that spot. And he's your mid level exception guy. So even though his salaries only like five point six million or whatever, Genie is effectively paying fifteen million if the luxury attacks to keep him on the roster. So it's just hard for me to believe the rookie, undrafted kid just playing over Kendrick now, and that feels to me like something that's not going to happen. So I I think you're gonna see Reeves kind of fall onto the

back burner here. But at the same time, the thing to be optimistic about there is he's uh, they already converted him from the two way into a guaranteed contract. I think it's guaranteed for two years, So like he Lakers have him under control, they have him for depth, and hopefully um at some point during the season Frank will kind of see the value there and give him his opportunity. But I am worried about him falling out

of the room. I'm not too worried about that because I think Frank even sometimes to his detriment, will fall back on the better defender. Like I think that's who he's going to play. And I think if Reeves is the better defender, and then I think he'll play. And Rondo, I think he was brought in not to be Jared Dudley, but I don't think he was meant to play this much. At least that's what they told us at the media day,

which was I think three years ago now. But yeah, like I think like media Day, they talked about Ronda not playing much. And again I'm not sure if that's sure. Will never really know until we get the full rotation. But I feel like when we get the full rotation, he should be the one kind of sitting out. I would like to see Reeves stay in the rotation. I think he's too good of a shooter to not play. Um. I think that just fits next to three stars who

want to get to the basket. Basically, like you need knockdown guys, which is why I thought Ellington would play. But his defense again just can't get to a baseline level that it needs to, and that's where Reeves comes in. He's a rookie, he makes rookie mistakes. He gets out muscled. I thought Lonnie Walker try to pick on him tonight. You saw him kind of use his whoever he was going to kind of use him as a screener and

go at him. But he makes the right decision even if he gets out muscled, and I think that's all you can ask. He makes the right play. And those are all cliches, but does matter when you're playing as the superstar guys who take all these uses. If you're in the right spot, take the right shots. Like that one shot he took where like the guy was running at him, he faked, got right into the mid range jumper wide open. I think it was a huge shot. I think it put us up one or something like that.

Like those aren't rookie plays, you know what I mean. Those aren't guys who aren't who are who are super poised and can take those kind of looks. So I think he'll stay in the rotation. Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but that's kind of how I see it. I think Vogel will go with a better defender, and he's been playing pretty good defense. The numbers with Lebron and a

D on the floor I think are great. His plus minus is good, which is another ode to Crusoe, I guess, but but yeah, I think I think he'll stay in the rotation. So our guy Jason Maples just tweeted and said, uh that there's no way, there's no way reason leaves the rotation. Don't put that in the air. I'm not putting that in the air as if to say that I wanted to happen or that it should happen. I'm just saying it's what I predict, and to be clear,

I do not want it to happen. Like I you mentioned his clothes that attacking he he is like this is not just within the lens of a rookie. He is one of the best close out attackers I've ever seen in terms of not the flashy seeing of the you know, like like what you know, what you might see from someone like cam read is, for instance. What I'm more referring to is just the like never a misteak, never tries to do too much, like very rarely tries him it very rarely makes a mistake. I should say,

I'm gonna say something that's kind of borderline blasphemo. This year. It kind of reminds me of Andrea Gudala, Like when Andrea Gudala taxi close out. He's always under control. He never does something stupid. He always makes that like advanced level read like looking guy off to the corner to hit the guy on the wing or vice versa, or that little extra pass fake or wrap around to make sure the past actually gets where it's going so it

doesn't get tipped. Like he's so savvy attacking those clothes outs. And when you actually add in that he's a rookie, it's completely mind blowing to me. Like when he catches on the wing and puts the ball on the floor, don't you just feel like safe in terms of like he's not gonna do something stupid, you know what I mean? Like it's kind of crazy. And that that blow by play you brought you you you've uh said, is the

perfect example. Just completely under control. Pump bake, wait for the guy to go by one dribble, completely balanced, just just everything is is so under control with him. And that that's me. If it's up to me, I put him in over bays more as a as a guy in the closing lineup. That's that's how much I think that guy is the perfect fifth player. But that said,

it's not going to happen. And what's problem. I actually do predict he'll fall out of the rotation, as unfortunate as that is, I just I do think the politics matter here, and we've seen in the last couple of years with Frank that the politics do matter, like with Drummond, like with JaVale McGee, even like with DeAndre Jordan here to start the season, Like there's just there's there's a little bit of decision making here that goes beyond just purely XS and knows if that makes yes, that's fair,

I mean that that could be right. I just think he's playing too well and we just don't have enough guys who can, Like he's not even a super two way player, but it's enough to where like it stands out on a team with so many guards who are blow low blow average defenders, like just him on the floor not making mistakes, it stands out. I just think that can't be ignored on the film, I think his numbers can be ignored. I know it's only been what four games, I think, but I think those numbers can't

be ignored. I wanted to ask you this though, because I thought it was important they came back tonight, like I think too. I know it's I know it's early, the season just started, whatever, but I think, uh, one in three is is a lot different than two and two just from the just from a mental xiety of a team. And they got punched in the mouth like they could have easily just you know, got punched and

just let it keep bleeding. And I honestly that's what I thought was going to happen, Like at Spurs in the fourth, we're kind of gonna We're kind of going to run away with it. I think they ended the ended the third on like a twelve to three run or something like that. Yeah, had like nine straight I think points by himself and nine and run by himself. But I thought them coming back was important, even if

it is early. I think just for the team overall, Like you can't get blown out like that, especially going on to a road trip here. So I thought it was apportant to you think the same thing. Yeah, So when you and I broke down the first sixteen games of the schedule, you know, we were both kind of just hopeful to get one of the Phoenix Golden State Stretch, especially after that preseason, we were like, if they got one of those, we were going to be thrilled. And

um uh. It was interesting too because in both games they had stretches, particularly at the beginning where they looked pretty good. It's just the wheels fell off in both of those games. But the way I looked at it, the Memphis in San Antonio games were the big ones and the reason why it's like, like I said, for the next five are are like really easy games with Houston and okay see, and then the fifth one in there is Cleveland, who just came off beating Denver and

who's the other team they beat? They beat Denver and then they beat somebody else good. I can't remember exactly, but they Cleveland is a little dangerous and a little frisky, so that's not a super easy one. But I knew that these two the San Antonio game in the Memphis game, if they could get those two wins, they have the potential to go up to Portland. At what's that that would make them if they if they win these next five, which are all very winnable, they'll be They'll be favorites

in Vegas by at least five points. In every one of those games. Um uh, they could go up to Portland's seven and two and have an opportunity to get a signature when early season signature win up in Portland's come back eight and two, no one will even remember Dwight Nade getting an altercation. No one will even remember the uh, the nasty uh, you know, ugly finish to that Golden State game or the blowout against Phoenix, Like all that stuff disappears if you just win. Winning here's everything.

And they needed to get a couple here and now all of a sudden, Lebron getting that ankle rest with the win in San Antonio feels super valuable. I was just I was just worried that they would lose tonight without Lebron, just because of how poorly did Yeah, and I guess like we can talk a little about a little bit about a D like his start to the season,

that thought has been great, like he's come again. We always try to talk about like the process um over results thing, and I think the process is a D and Lebron looking amazing, right like sometimes that's just that's just the process. And I think he looked great again tonight. And the Spurs are a bad matchup for him. They have a lot of smaller, kind of undersized guys on him. Docom Peartle is probably the main big guy they throw on him. But I thought he was really good dominated

the offensive boards. Um, even when like Baysmore, russ Leak Monk when they attacked, when they just attacked the basket and get the big to help over. He's able to get offensive rebounds, and that's just stuff we missed last year. And I think last year kind of hit the fact of how kind of special a d is as a player. And it's good to see him throwing those numbers up again.

At thirty five points, seventeen rebounds tonight, four assist Um, he had the one player where he like got the rebound, he blocked pearl at the rim, got the rebound, drove down in and out, dribble, attacked the basket and one. I believe that's just stuff that he could do and we didn't see. We didn't get to see much of it last year. So hopefully I think I saw on the timeline that it was he knocked knees with somebody. So hopefully, um, he's okay and he's able to play.

Maybe he'll probably rest tomorrow. But what you see from a D because I thought he looked good tonight. Again, the offensive looks still monkey. That store running a lot of io post up for him, and maybe that's just a product of not having Lebron on the floor, but

but I thought he looked good in his minutes. So I love a D. But he's an extremely frustrating player to to reform sometimes, um, just because just because the silly things like his absolute uh like unending desire to turn every post up into the most complicated jump shot in the history of man kind, that gets frustrating, the incessant following, the constant injury scares, it gets difficult to reform. But my one big knit pick with him tonight was the glass And this is a problem that he had

a little bit uh in the Phoenix game. Um, A D has a tendency when he gets locked with a big to not fight for position. So like, once he's already bodied body with somebody, he kind of is just where he is, and if the other big decides to push on him or or or seal him, uh, he just kind of gives that ground. And and he really struggled against eight and around the rim uh with just giving up his base, like getting shoved off of his spot, uh,

always losing balance like in that physical altercation. He was the loser in most of those matchups, and tonight he got like, especially in the second half, he really got manhandled on the boards by Yaka Purdle. And again, the way you got to look at it is the team is not going to rebound very well without Lebron and without you know, uh the rest of their uh their depth out on the wing like Areza um or even th Htu who has a has a tendency to be a good off ball remounder. You can count on that

working better in the long run. But it just I do I wish that A D was a little bit more willing to be the guy who wins the physical battles, you know, to be the guy that you look back because because he can't. Like Game two, in Game three against Phoenix, Key bullied Aten and he wasn't shooting well, he wasn't even winning in isolation. He just beat up Eighten on the glass offensive rebail, pushed the putbacks defensively.

He just manhandled Aden in those games. And he just that's the one thing that's inconsistent with him that I'd like to see become more consistent. It's just take the physical challenge. Be the guy who be the guy who the other guys scared to hit you and not the other way around, you know what I mean That that that's what I'd like to see from in the long run. But again we're just I'm just knit picking. Uh. This was he had a lot on his plate night, He

had a lot that he had to do. His responsibilities were far more extensive tonight than they were in his previous games. I'm not gonna harp on it too much, but that was just that was my one little, uh negative takeaway from the night. Yeah, for sure. I mean I thought a lot of those also were kind of long rebound. But you're right, Yacopola did win a lot

of those. And I don't know if that's just him trying to just save his energy, um and whatnot, but I thought like they found something with like him catching the ball on the move, especially with rust and he gets to those floaters and stuff, and again, like it's frustrating seeing him sometimes you'll like bully a guy at the rim, like post move spin done at the rim and the next posessially gona take a fade away jumper for just for for no reason. So those kind of

things are frustrating. But again, like I tweeted it tonight, like when he gets the ball, like or even if it's just an isolation, it's like momentum going to towards the basket, Like he's so good at those, like flip shots, or like he gets a little contact he can finish, Like those are shots he should be getting a whole bunch of, especially with Rust and Braun kind of feeding him. Those are shots I want him taking. I guess those fade away jumpers are kind of just I don't know.

Obviously he likes to take them, but those are kind of frustrating to watch frohim. But that's why I thought I saw from eight each night, and I don't expect him really to play tomorrow, so it was good to see him kind of pull this from now and get to win for us. Well. The other thing about the fade aways and stuff too, is like I would almost treat it like mellow, Like if he needs to rescue a possession with something like that, that's fine. You know,

Lebron will take the occasional fade away. He'll take two or three of them a game. They're usually they're usually like, okay, there's only twelve seconds on the shot block. I'm with my bench line up, So Russ and a D aren't even out here. They're leaving me on an island. They're not doubling. Here's a chance for me to save some legs and get a decent shot. But I practice a lot that kind of thing for a D. He he uses it too much as his bread and butter, you

know what I mean. And and yeah, when it's when it's when he's in the bubble and he's shooting on those, then it looks fantastic. But I mean, there are like two players in the league or three players in the league that should turn around fade aways over. You know, you're talking like maybe Kwieline or maybe Kevin Durray, maybe Demardros you know what I mean, Like you're it's just a it's an extremely difficult shot on your best day.

And so what I'd like to see is a little bit more of like what they did on the shot where a D took the lead. Um, Yeah, they got it back to one, and then a D took a jumper at the top of the key that knocked down, just get him on a pick and pop. It's like a D you trying to save your legs and get some more jump shots. Like let's just run a simple screen and roll or screen and pop and you pop to where you want to go and you just catch him shoot your You can shoot ten of those a game.

Save your legs the same way you do with the fade away. Lean more on the fade away when you've got a significant size mismatch where there's help around and you know you can get an easy little turnaround, or oh my gosh, there's six seconds on the shot clock and we just need to try to bail out this possession. You know. One of my other big takeaways from this game with Russ has to do with his efficiency. Um, and I'm kind of relating this to the A D thing.

So if Russ could just show a little bit of self control with his jump shot, he'd have the most efficient season of his career. So, like, I bet you he could get close to six shooting. The reason why is he's going to get a lot of opportunities at the rim with this group, and if he could just

cut out the stupid shots. He'd go eight for sixteen every night, you know, And uh, I kind of feel that way with a D two, Like a D is capable of having you know, almost you know, yokichen b type of efficiency if he if he trimmed out some of the fat, you know what I mean, Like, like, just find a way to to take out a few of those per game and turn them into higher percentage shots. It doesn't mean you can't take them, but trim the fat a little bit and you could end up having

one of the more efficient seasons of your career. And again, read the room, like this roster has three star level creators, so you can trim the fat, you know, like if you're if you're Kevin Durant in the Eastern Conference semifinals and James Hardens on one hand string and Kyrie Irving's in a suit, then yeah, you're gonna have to lean on a lot of tough shot to carry you through the night. But with this specific group, with how much talent they have, read the room, they don't need you

to take as many of those. Trim some fat, rush, trim some fat, Lebron, trim some fat and and it'll it'll show up in the longer and like I think it. I told you all summer that I predicted Lebron would have his best three point shooting season because I knew that that was the way he'd look at the room. He read the room with this group, I need to shoot better because that's how I can make sure my

game fits well with these guys. And I and I think that the way he saw it was I can be a high volume three point shooter this year and maintain my impact without stepping on people's toes and and so that's where that's where I'd like to see both Russ and a D improve. Is just trimm the fat in their shot selection, for sure, And I think like expecting the Rust to that, like I want to expect it.

Rust has been in the league a long time, Like he's gonna take those bad jumpers, and I think there's a difference, Like he had that one mid range jumper he hit where like you came off eighties, the main the one where he came off a D I think, and it was wide open, just in rhythm, one dribble, just in one wide oven, full up jumper and he switched it and then in trance in the net play down.

I think he got the rebound, came in transition and just pulled up this heat check, um, this contested eat check, and those are the stuff you just kind of have to live with. I know they're bad shots or whatever, but that's just what comes with the package of Russell Westbrook if you can get this all this other stuff kind of mixing in. And we talked all summer about how like it's about putting what Russ does in the mix of Lebron and a D to where it can

kind of over overpower the other team. And I think that's what you need to get expecting him and kind of trim off these bad shots. I just don't think you're gonna really get that. And again, maybe two Bigs

really plays into this. It kind of lulls him into the jumpers, Like you'll see him guards go so far into the screen and the big will just sit back because there's another big in the paint and he's gonna take those Like it's tough for him to turn those wide open shots down, Like those are shots he's taking his whole career, and I don't see that stopping in year thirteen or whatever year he is in. He's in,

but you're right, he can be more efficient. Those decision making has to get a little bit better, and it has to work with Lebron on the floor that we have to see it with Lebron. I thought, now, he did play a lot more free. You could tell he got the ball a lot more. You could tell he was just he played like himself. He feeled like Russell Westbrook doesn't. And there's a mix of bad and good with that. But I think he can You're right, he

can get more efficient with it. And if Lebron is gonna shoot this, well, you can put him off the ball. And because you were saying like, it's got to work with Lebron, right, and I do think that, you know, Lebron in order to get his rhythm needs to have extended stretches during the game where he kind of is the maestro, kind of like the beginning of the fourth

quarter against Memphis. I'm not sure if you have a chance to watch the tape, but in that fourth quarter against Memphis, Lebron just became the primary decision maker and

and a ton of good stuff happened. And you you gotta have stretches like that, but you know if there's a specific point in the game where you need to get Russ going and and you know, like just take Lebron off the ball because of how well he's been shooting and asked him just to do what he did tonight and see if you can't get something going there. And I'm with you, like Russ is who he is, blah blah blah. Get I do, I sincerely do, And I understand. I'm also a big believer. And you've got

to play into people's personalities. Like if his personality is like I thrive on the the confidence that I get from my green light, you know, kind of like the Draymond Green thing, Like you need him to be crazy because that's what fuels his defense. So you can't tell him to not yell at the refs, or stop yelling a teammates, or just stop having blow ups with the coaching staff because like that you know, fervor that he has,

that that's what drives his defensive motor. So you gotta you gotta feed into a guy's confidence, and you gotta feed into what their personality is. But this is the first time, literally in his whole career where he's been a third option, so at a certain point, like and I loved that Frank said it earlier in the year, Like it's like Russ has a green light on catching shoes right, but when when he's off the dribbling need

to be more picky. And you brought a great point, like there was one jumper that he took in the pick and roll today. Um it was in the second half, and he shot it right about the right mos with an a d pick and roll and he was wide open. He had tons of time, he was in a rhythm because he had scored a couple of times previous. He was comfortable and he stuck it and that was great.

But there was one in crunch time. It was either at the end of the fourth or end of overtime where he was walking to dude down into the lane off the dribble and pulled up like a ten footer

and left it way short. And it's like, that's that's the one, that's the one you gotta you gotta, you gotta cut out with this group, you know, because that's like like we talked with in Maples, like that's the hemorrhage possession that if he does that six times a game in a critical playoff game, it could cost you. So those are those are the ones that I'd like to see him cut out right, Those are those are basically turnovers. I think that's how Maples calls him. But

but and we didn't really get it. We really get to talk talk about like the Memphis game too much. But I like that they used him as a screen or a bunch right to close that game. I thought, like, I thought, that's something they found and again this season they just kind of had to find things as they go and if they can win while doing that, that's even better obviously. But I think that's kind of what this season about. Like to me watching all these games,

like I might have been wrong. DeAndre Jordan might not be able to even start for five minutes, just the way that these games are going. Uh, Russ can't get in any rhythm to start, And I maybe I have have under value like where Russ, what Russ can do even with a super clock paint. Maybe he just can't get to the rim and anymore at at that level. But again, like trying to find things that they can they can go to lat in games, and I think Russ as a as a screener for Lebron is something that they

did unlocked. Teams like to trap Lebron coming off these screens, like when they used to run it with KCP, they would trapp and give the ball to Ksep and have him kind of playoff that and Russ is a much better player on those decisions, him getting to go downhill, and that's something I think they can use going forward. So that's like another thing that you can just unlock as the season goes. Did you see that as well in the Memphis games, to seeing Russ just as a

screener for Lebron something that they can go to. Yeah, that was a big thing that we talked about. Is actually brought up by one of our callers. It was something that I uh made specific note of during the game.

The It reminded me of Wade Lebron boss Um the particularly in the The Thunder series in the two thousands twelve finals, they did a lot of Lebron Wade pick and roll with Wade becoming the short roll guy, and they just got they just got fantastic stuff out of it because it's just he's he's such a good playmaker. Wade was, and obviously Russ's as well that that he was so good in that four on three at picking teams apart, and they got really good stuff out of that.

In the fourth quarter again against Memphis, there was there was actually a play that got blown up. Is the very next one after the one that Pete called out like a film room um on Twitter today. The there was the very next possession. Lebron actually rejected the screen and roll and uh that they just used with Russ, and he went to the right instead of going to the screen which is to the left, and it completely

befuddled Memphis. Both guys jumped to Russ's side and then immediately realized they made a mistake and sprinted to Lebron. All of a sudden, Russ is like butt naked at the top of the the key, and Lebron just throws the little pocket pass and Russ came down the lane and a d read it cut just on time, and honestly I can't remember who it was from Memphis, but someone ended up breaking up the past and it turned into

a turnover. But had Russ successfully competed a little completed the little shovel pass ad, he probably still be hanging on the rim like it was. It was one of those, and I remember sitting there thinking like this is this is one of the ways that you can use Russ's um, you know, skills and weaknesses to your advantage in crunch time. Make him a screen or turn him into Draymond, turn him into Draymond, let him, let him make those kinds of plays. And in the most important facet of that

is the the the the like sizes element. So you know, the reason why the Lakers can't just run Lebron ad pick and roll against like the Clippers or or some of the best teams in the league is they'll just switch because chances are you've got two really big, strong forward stuarding those two guys. And if a guy is if a guy checks the box as quote unquote capable of guarding Lebron, he probably checks the box capable of

guarding a vice versa. So it's just it's it's really easy to switch it and then the action is blown up and then you end up having to isolate anyway, Well, Russ is almost always going to be guarded by a someone in that six three or less type of size, uh you know size frame. So from that standpoint, it becomes extremely difficult to switch. And now you've got two incredibly gifted passers and ball handlers, UH with two defenders, you know, having to run a traditional pick and roll coverage.

So it's just it's it's definitely something that I think the Lakers can weaponize and and it makes me a lot more optimistic about that fit in crunch time. And that was the key that everyone was missing with the Houston part, right, because like Houston was string pole specialists alongside Harden and Russ, and so you know, it became easier too, and it became easier to UH to make Russ's inability to shoot a huge crippling effect on them.

But with this group, with Anthony Davis as the guy who's gonna be cutting or in the roles are in the dunker spot, and with Lebron who quite frankly, and I know people some people disagree with me, I just think Lebron is way better than James Harden, Like he just is. He's so much better as a pastor, is

so much bigger, so much more versatile. I think he's just the kind of guy that those two Lebron and a d just make Russ usable in a way that James Harden and that Houston Rockets team just couldn't in that respect. And obviously Russ has a long way to go. He's gotta be better defensively, he's gotta be more consistent, he's got to stay healthy. There are a million ways this can go south. And I still don't love the fit, but I'm more optimistic about the potential ceiling now than

I was before the season. If that makes sure it's gonna be a clunky fit for a while. I think they're all going to try to figure each other out. We'll see if the starting lineup stay the same, and it might just with the injuries that we have. But I think today was a good like step forward. I guess for Russ it's kind of what he has to be, but he has to be it with Lebron on the floor as well. Like he played a lot more free tonight.

We'll see if he does when Lebron comes back. But just stuff he didn't transition that relent relentlessness, relentlessness attacking the basket. That's who they traded for. Man like that, that's the guy they traded for. They didn't trade him to kind of, you know, walk around, kind of stand in the corner or you know, try to just feed a d every time, like they traded for us to

be Russ. That's what you do when you when you go get a player like this and they need him to be himself for this team to go anywhere that they want. And I thought to stay is a good step for that. Yeah, And this is the last thing I gona say, guys, and we're gonna called to night. Uh, we're Roger and I are going again tomorrow night. And I wanted to get Roger's thoughts and a bunch of stuff just because I haven't heard from him in almost a week. But on tomorrow Night's show, we're gonna take

a ton of call ours. So all of you who made request tonight come back tomorrow night. The game starts at five Pacific standards, right around seven thirty West Coast time. Just be ready to bring your questions, bring your thoughts. We're gonna take a lot of colors. Um. But yeah, like it with this, with this specific uh, with this

specific group. The main thing that I want to look at in the long run, as as is usually the case, it's going to be that defensive rating metric and not not because of what their defensive ceiling is not because of what they're uh, you know, what this lineup does or what that lineup does. I just think it's gonna

be the best indicator of this team's effort level. And and it's just it's just a great to me, just like a quick catch all type of metric that says that does a good job of of gaining how hard a team is playing. And you know, the effort has been really inconsistent to start the year. Big part of

that to depth, a big part of that injuries. But I'm just I'd like to just see over the course of the season than trend in the right direction and get that closer to that top five, top ten, because then that would just be an indicator to me that they're giving the consistent effort to establish the habits that they need that they're going to lean on when they hit adversity in the playoffs. And so it's ugly so far. That's definitely something you need to work on, but that's

something I definitely want to keep track of. I agree, and we'll see. We'll see it again tomorrow against they're playing the Thunder play Okay, see tomorrow. Um So that's yeah, I play ok see tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if both Lebron and a be sat out. But I hope Lebron gives it a go. If yeah, I would, I would think the same. You should be able to be okay, see without even maybe even without aiding Lebron, you still be able to You should still be able to go

in there and get a win. Boll see. Uh, this was a good win. Though I think it was ugly, it was close, unnecessary clothes sometimes, but I thought it was good to pull this one out. I thought it was important to come back. You can't just you know. They went down twelve in that third and it looks it looks scary. I thought they were gonna lose. To be honest, I thought the Spurs, we're just gonna run the score up. And I think it's a point that they came back and and they won. So that was good. Yeah,

it was an important game. A couple a couple of important check marks, like the Memphis game, Lebron and Nady both didn't play well and they won. That's a that's a big check mark, especially after the Sun's game or the Warriors game where Lebron and Nady were world beaters and they lost like this, that was an important check mark. And then tonight down a star on the road, young team playing a ton of energy. Just you just need

to get a win and they gotta win. So like some of those like mental check boxes that we look for for like that championship and makeup, a couple of those things got checked in the last couple of nights. So that's that's definitely encouraging. But yes, thank you guys so much for hanging out. We sincerely appreciate it. Like I said, I wanted to get Roger's thoughts on a bunch of stuff, but we are going to take a

ton of collars smart nights. So bring your questions, brain, your whatever it is that you have to say, whatever did you want to vent about. We're gonna take a ton of collars smart night. Hopefully another Laker win at that point. But rog, it's good to have you back, my man, and I will see foo