Episode 91: Thunder/Lakers Postgame Spaces

family celebrates. I'm actually at a family's house. Uh, we're actually they're actually having a party. So I thought, you know, I can kind of tune in and out of an Okay See game that even without Lebron, we should be able to handle, you know, pretty easily. I was wrong. I was staring at my phone for the last six or seven minutes. I don't even know where to start with this. The first quarter seemed like it was the

same as it was in Okay See. I See Davis looked like he could have went for fifty if he wanted to. Um. I got to start see most of the first quarter. I missed the second and third quarter, and got to see the end of the fourth so I'm gonna have you kind of film me in those second and third maybe I don't want to know. I don't know us. I know they went up like nineteen. I saw the box score. They went up nineteen, and I thought, I can just kind of enjoy, uh, my

family's kind of presence here at this party. But I guess not so if you can kind of fill me in this the third quarter, because that fourth quarter was absolutely awfully was ugly. I saw Shae hit like a forty foot or something. But uh, there's a very basic principle that I think that that shuts this Laker offense down without lebron against Oklahoma City in particular, and a

lot of it has to do with lu Dor. He deserves the lion's share of the credit because what ends up happening is he has the ability to switch on to both Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook and he turns both of them into jump shooters, and so they're they're

down the stretch of the game. It was a lot of um there's a lot of Derrick favors in lu Door trying to defend these Russ and a D actions and they weren't getting anything good out of him, because Anthony Davis is content every time the team needs a big shot out of him to take a step back jump shot, which just doesn't go in ever um at this point in his career, which is a whole other thing that we need to discuss there, because if Anthony Davis is not a stretch big and he's just a

rim running big, that severely changes the dynamic of this team. That turns this from It turns this from a team that has the capability to unlock a lot of the best of what russ of Westbrook is. It turns that into all of a sudden something that could be a bit of a liability and so and what. We can get into that later, but the gist of it is the Lakers could not score against Oklahoma City in the half court unless Carmelo Anthony was making crazy contested threes.

And the reason why is they were getting underneath every single pick and roll with Russell Westbrook, and he is incapable of making teams pay for doing that. And Oklahoma City's post offenders were capable of forcing Anthony Davis into being a jump shooter, which he also uh it can't make teams pay for um but fundamentally, there's there's something wrong with this basketball team having to do with how

much they depend on Lebron. And the reason why is last year, when Lebron was out, they had this identity that they could fall back on that allowed him to remain somewhat competitive, and that was their defense. This team obviously doesn't have that yet. Um So now all of a sudden, when Lebron is out, they have nothing that

they can fall back on. And from an XS and nose perspective, you know, if you think of it, the Lakers have no problem filling the center minutes because those are gonna get split between some combination of Anthony Davis

and the two big guys Dwight and DeAndre Jordan's. But at the power forward position, when Lebron is out there and he's playing thirty four thirty five minutes, everything makes sense because he's probably the best power forward and basketball you know, so from that, from that standpoint, everything seems to work. He he is that back line defender when Anthony Davis at the five is defending screen and roll

actions at the top of the key. For instance, there was a late action there uh Mike Muscala and and shay Gil just Alexander to pick and roll at the top of the key and ad A d trapped on s G A and there was a very simple pocket pass. And because it's not Lebron James on the back line to blow up the play, it's Russell Westbrook who it was just too small and ended up just fouling Mike

Muscala as he made an easy left handed layup. That's that's a a lynch pin in the entire defense and the way that it works that when it's not there, all of a sudden, nothing makes sense. Why in the world would you want Russell Westbrook playing Draymond Green for you being the Draymond Green roll? You know what I mean. It's just it's just not something he's physically capable of doing.

And and then on and then on the offensive end, Lebron's ability to shoot the basketball off the dribble makes defenders chase over the top of those screens, which unlocks everything that him and Anthony Davis trying to do at

the end of these games. So Lebron James not being out there fundamentally breaks the Lakers on both sides of the ball, which is exactly why this isn't a good basketball team because in previous years they were a good basketball team because they had an identity outside of Lebron James that relied on the defensive end of the ball. This team without that relies way too much on him.

And he's thirty. Said, we're gonna talk about it later today, later tonight, but at this age, that's a dangerous game, leaning on a thirty seven year old guy to beat the lynchpin on both sides of the ball. And and and that to me is scared because you might look at yourself and say, hey, Russe and a d we got enough talent, we should be able to win this game.

But those two guys have specific limitations that when you get ed him in specific matchups against guys that turned them into jump shooters, all of a sudden, nothing works. And that's a real problem. Yeah, So we spoke about this in the last Okay see a game, right, because I remember you're saying something like it's hard to judge this team without Lebron James, And I think that's totally

true judging this team. Like someone asked me today in my mentions, like are you worried about the Lebron James injury, and my response was really going to be, like, to me, worrying about Lebron James being injured is kind of like that makes no sense because if Lebron is injured, then this team is not going anywhere anyway. But there's still a level of like you have to get to where

they have to be somewhat competitive without him. Like Lebron, like I said, is not going to play forty eight minutes. Russ and Ittie should be able to win these type of games against Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City tunder that beat you already and again blowing another nine team point lead. I always talked about how defense isn't just effort. There are some issues here. I didn't like Russ on Loue Door in terms of like his job was to be

the help guy, tell me if I'm wrong there. Did that continue throughout the game as as Russ being the blue door that I saw that in the first quarter and the fourth quarter where he was the guy that's supposed to kind of help offer. He was supposed to be the cheek guy. And several included included yeah, just recklessly double tea at the top of the and we talked about this over the summer. I want Russ on a guy where he has to focus right, he has

to be mentally engaged defensively. I don't like him on a guy like Blue Door, where it's his kind of job, even if his bogol tells him to be the help guy, to stay in the paint. I just don't like that from a defensive kind of awareness standpoint. There was one play in the fourth quarter. I think he was on Kirk what I forgot the guy's name move at the third quarter? Who at the three pointer in the in the third quarter, Kendrick Williams. Kenrick Williams, um he was on.

He was on him in the corner. He just recklessly helped balls swang swan. Russ was in no man's land. He wasn't helping at all, He wasn't trapping. It was on his man. Kenris Willins had a wide open during the quarter and hit it. I don't like that, I guess. But again, like there's just got There's just has to

be enough talent there where you have. You have to be able to survive even if Lebron doesn't play against Okay, see, like what are you gonna do when you go play Dame on you know, on Saturday, or you play at Miami in a couple of days. Like these are teams you have to rack wins up against. And Okay, see it's one and six for a reason, their only wins against US. And I don't think that's an accident. This is not a good basketball team. You should be able

to defeat them without Lebron James. I just think there's a lot of things going wrong year again a d I'm not sure if his hand was bothering him. I know that he had an injury to his hand or finger or something like that before halftime time. He finishes with twenty nine. I think he had like fourteen in the first quarter or something like. There's just something kind of missing there, Russ. At the end there where he was dribbling up the court, I don't know about you.

When I saw him start running full court, US down three, needing at three, I was a little bit worried there about his decision making. I don't know, maybe Lebron opens everything up, but there has to be something where we can kind of live even if he doesn't play. And I'm just I'm just not seeing that from the Russ had too late game gaps that made no sense to me,

including the final three that he took. You know, it was almost like he dribbled up the court and he couldn't believe that they weren't intentionally bowling in, and so then he just decided to shoot instead of at that point, you know, I would just go with like that Villanova play that they ran when they won the national title a few years back, where you just dribbled really really hard and have Carmelo Anthony kind of just trail behind you and give him even if it's like or that's

going to give you your best chance. I mean, did anybody in the world think that rush shot was going in? I mean, like, it's just it's just not he's he's he's a bad he's a bad jump shore, you know. And and then the on the on the plane returned it over a couple of possessions prior the same exact thing. It was like he they got to stop. They were in semi transition, and he just can't help himself. He looks up, sees all the bodies in the paint and

it's just like I'm just gonna go. I'm just gonna go and see what happens, you know, like it's just like that, you know, it's it's it's it's it's bulling the China shop behavior, you know what I mean. But that that to me is like, you know, so so let's let's let's try to get around this for a second here, because no one, no one in the world thought that the Lakers were gonna win a championship without

Lebron James. So we have to we have to set that aside for a second and look at something fina mental problems with the roster, right because even with everything that I'm saying about how the team's complete lack of anybody that can play power forward other than Lebron, you know, and I'm not talking about what Mellow does, because what Melow is doing right now is as an offensive player is kind of interchangeable with what you have at the

two and the three. You know, he's he's a spot up shooter, but but defensively, he can't play power forward. He can't be your back line um, you know, roaming person that that that blows up pick and roll actions, is that third defender. He can't do that. So what you have to look at here, fundamentally, with the way the team is put together. And this is something that

I was talking about with a buddy earlier tonight. Like this team, if you look at the way that they were constructed in previous seasons, there was an obvious formula for success. That formula was, We're going to defend the hell out of the basketball with these defensive minded players, and we have a defensive minded head coach who's arguably the best in the business at figuring out how to

throw opposing teams out of rhythm. My favorite example of that is the playoff run in the way each successive round he made these tweaks into into very unique defensive approaches that through really good defensive offensive players completely out of whack. That's what Frank deserves credit for. And then on the offensive end of the floor, it was, you know what, we have Lebron who is arguably the highest basketball q i Q in the league and in an

offense in and of himself. And the problem is is somehow in the Laker hierarchy, they convinced themselves that that was broken when it wasn't broken. They just had injuries that if you you and I have talked about this a lot over the last six months. Though. What happened to the Lakers last year wasn't an offensive shortcoming. It was a growing shortcoming. Literally okay, like like Anthony Davis is growing failed and the team fell apart as a result.

Like the there was a it was. It was bad access from the beginning to look back at what happened in those seasons and decide that there was something fundamentally wrong with the way the team was put together and not just an issue with Anthony Davis having a groin injury, you know what I mean. And and from that standpoint, looking forward, I think you have to you have to address this somehow. Right, So when Lebron comes back, if everyone says, like, how is th h T none and

a reason? Are going to come back and completely fix this? I don't know, and they may not be capable of that. However, when they do come back, if it's not working, then the team does have to make changes. And that's something you have to keep in mind. Here is like, I know it's it seems early, but there appears to be something fundamentally broken with the way this is put together.

And so from that standpoint, if when they start to get healthy, when Lebron comes back, when a Reason comes back, when th HT comes back, when Kendrick Nunn comes back, If this doesn't look demonstrably different, and I mean like demonstrably like you need to be blowing out the okay Seas of the world, handily beating the Cleveland's of the world and and winning more often than not against the Miamis and the Charlottes and the Bostons and the Milwaukee's

like they're going to play in the next couple of weeks. If that's not the case, you don't want to go down with the ship because Lebron's thirty seven, So you might have to consider packaging something like Moleague Monkey Kendrick nine. We talked about this a little bit in the Tuesday Pod, But at the end of the day, the early returns are in here, guys, and this looks fundamentally broken and and it might just be health issue, but we're not sure.

And so if this doesn't turn around quickly when guys start to come back, I think they need to be ready to make a big change. Well, you talked about how the kind of Team twenty team it's like identity even with loud Lebron was its defense right, and how they can go to that That's not this team though, Like I think that's pretty clear, like that's not going to be what this team is, and I think they have to kind of start leaning into like being an

offensive team. I understand Vogel is going to continue to try to start DeAndre Jordan's I was kind of on that train early, but I think it's pretty clear that Russ just can't be effective in that way, you know

what I mean. Like it, when I was watching the first quarter, even though we were up, A was hitting like step back jumpers and all that mid range pull ups and that looks all great and fine and what's going in, But Russ still felt like he was playing in a phone booth, you know what I mean, Like it just felt like when he was attacking the paint, he was in a phone booth and putting all our hopes and dreams into like twenty year old th HT thirty six year old Trevor Reza. I think Kendrick Gunns

a really good defender. I think he's gonna play. I just think like something with his team has to kind of switch. I don't think you can continue to start this where like Russ can't get comfortable offensively, and I thought I saw that at least in the first, first quarter and the fourth quarter when I was watching the offense just looks too bogged down. He's not in the rhythm. I don't know. Like again, Lebron is gonna be out a week, Kendrick Gnunn still out, probably another two weeks.

We'll see what th h T. I do think bringing four rotation back for rotation guys helps. I just don't think that can be your prayer. Like there has to be some internal like, yeah, we can't do this too big anymore, like we have to kind of pick one maybe to kind of accus to Russ to kind of let him play. And he was a plus six tonight just looking at the box core. Like I said, I

missed kind of the second quarter. Uh maybe that was a good thing or just for my health, but like I mean, if I missed like the second and most of the third, but it was a plus six. Um Anthony Davis being a minus minus fourteen in thirty eight minutes while he was eleven for twenty. Maybe you can kind of, you know, fill me in on how that's possible. Um. He also put in eighteen rebounds, but like, I just think like there has to be especially when Lebron's out.

I think I have to kind of go all in onto the rust ball, Like I think that's how this team was built. When you when you're playing guys like Wayne Ellington, Carmelo, Anthony Moleigue Monk a bunch of minutes. Austin Reeves I think is a good defender. But still, I just think the identity of this team is like a running, running gun kind team. I don't think you can go to this like just pure defensive line up. The Rondo minutes, I'm still kind of confused by even tonight.

I understand what Vote was trying to do there at a little bit more playmaking. I just think you're like you're fixing one problem while making another. Rondo's effort on defense is just not there, And I mean that's kind of expected. I guess he's a older player, but still I thought right when he came in, I saw a couple of those minutes the defenders went right at him. I don't know, like this is just an inexcusable loss to me. You can't lose the okay, see twice, let

alone once and that's what they did. But yeah, I just think there has to be some kind of like switch here. I don't think this. You can just expect th ht arena a reason and none to get back and everything goes. Everything is fine. There's some fundamental which was here, and I think I don't think you can start the two big I think I was on that train, but I think that train has left the station a long time ago. I think Russ's Russ's play has made

that pretty clear. I don't know where else to kind of go to this game so ironically and actually, you know, this is something that I think then they brought up a couple games ago, particularly when the run is out, they almost have to go to bigs because it's the only thing that gives them a legitimate chance to bother teams defensively. Because Lebron for all purposes, is a big.

That's why this works, you know, like the only when you see these small lineups that work elsewhere in the league, it's because they have these like all NBA level wings you're looking at, you know, uh, this this team has Paul George and kawhile Ard on it. That's why they can go small. This team has Jalen Brown, uh, you know, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum on the team, so they

can go smaller. You know, even even Utah plays like a plethora of these guys that are in that six six to six eight range and it kind of just makes everything work. But with the way that this Laker team is where outside of Lebron and a D, all of your non centers are are either Carmelo who's extremely slow, or are very small, and so that sort of limitation puts you in a position where that aggregate size and aggregate defensive length is too low when you don't have

a second big out there. But regardless, looking forward, you know something some of this is going to be on Lebron in a D and the and the reason why I say that is like you have to think that the Lakers, either through getting healthy or through the trade market, one of the two, they're going to find an assortment of role players that play the one through the three that can defend and shoot and do the things that

they need to do within this system. And so, like one of the I brought this up at the beginning of the show, Anthony Davis is no longer a stretch big,

and that fundamentally changes the equation of this team. The Anthony Davis being a big that stretched the floor and that caused problems for teams that played off of him is part of what made him a top five, six seven player in the league right now, being basically a you know, a glorified slightly better, you know, offensive version of like a Rudy Gobert type, you know, where he he can bully some guys inside and finish, but like he's he's really struggling with anything outside of ten fift

feet and Brudy Gobert's bad comp To be clear, I'm just saying there's a there's a delineation, a clear delineation between this Anthony Davis and what we had in the bubble. That's that That's probably the better way for me to describe it. Anthony Davis from the bubble was a significantly

better basketball player than this Anthony Davis. And there there everyone in Lakers Twitter is so quick to make excuses for him, and I'm sure you're gonna see a lot of people that bring up the thumb tonight, but the reality of the situation is more often than not, when Lebron's not out there with him to put him in spots to succeed. He struggles to to take command of the game when he's far away the best player on

the floor. There's not a damn person on that floor for either team that's in the same stratosphere as him as a basketball player, and he could not take over that game. And it's because he has completely lost the ability to make teams pay from the perimeter, which allows teams to basically pack the pain on him and turn him into a jump shooter that's probably not going to make jump shots. And so there's two things here that

need to happen for the ship to get right. Thing number one is Anthony Davis needs to find a way to regain his bubble form. I'm not sure how that is. This to me, with his jump shot, appears to be a mental thing that is way off of the train tracks, like way off of the train tracks, So I don't

know how that comes back. It might just be I think probably the best bet for him is hopefully this thumb injury isn't serious and he can get a good consistent chunk of this season where he doesn't sit games and he plays every night and just through rhythm and consistency and conditioning and comfort. He regained some of that bubble form, but Anthony Davis needs to regain bubble form too. Lebron James needs to be available to this team. Now.

This is something that I was critical about of him from earlier today, and some of this is out of his control. But like you know, there's two angles to look at this here. Either Lebron is being overly cautious because he sees the big picture of the long season, which is probably the truth, or there's some you know, age and nutrition starting to show here. But regardless, I'm not gonna get too much further into what he needs

to do. Aside from the fact that him not being available, this team can't float without him because Anthony Davis isn't the same player he was in the bubble Bubble Anthony Davis with this group would win a lot of basketball games, but it's not. And so Lebron needs to come back. And Lebron needs to come back and be here consistently long enough for Anthony Davis to regain his form. But the bottom line is, like this team was constructed on two guys that were supposed to be top five or

six players in the league. After they won the title, everyone a lot of folks were saying Lebron's one Anthony Davis is too well right now, that number one was wearing street clothes tonight, and that number two had lu doored on him in the post and had no ability to do anything other than take a step back jump shot that he can't make. So that's the problem right now. Um,

you know, that's the harsh reality. I know that I know a lot of those things that I just said aren't gonna sit well with a lot of people in Lakers Twitter, But that's just the reality of the situation. And until those two get on the court and get back to where they were when they were at the top of the league, then they're not going to be able to cover up for some of the shortcomings of this roster. And I don't care if the best role

players of mankind are coming back. If those two guys aren't those two guys from the bubble, this team isn't going win anywhere. I lost ros for second when get back up here. Yeah, sorry, my connection kind of went out, but yeah, yeah, but yeah, you're right. I mean, this team is gonna fall back on his three stars, and I think that's totally true. Lebron being out shouldn't affect a game like against Okay. See again, it's still one game, I guess, just to put in perspective like Okay, so

he's not gonna like the playoffs. It looks like I just think there's issues here that are larger than just this game. Though, like I'm looking at the defensive issues, I still think Carmelo is playing a ton of minutes, even though he's been an absolute inferno. We'll see when a reason gets back. Eight has always been a finisher, and that was the point of kind of getting Russell Westbrook was to make him kind of be able to be more of a finisher in that way. And it's

just not connecting towards like wins and losses. Like the defense just isn't right to me, blowing all these big leads. I talked about it when they blew it against Oklahoma City, Like you that can kind of extend like that can kind of sit with you as well, and they can kind of mess you up mentally. And I don't know if that's what was the reason tonight, if that's why the Blue lead, but I just think they shouldn't be

this over reliant on Lebron. There's some lineup stuff that we can do, and maybe Voglo is just gonna be spearheaded and continue to do this. I understand what you're saying, where you have to kind of play two bigs with Lebron out. I just think with this team, it's it's so offensively minded focus that like, I don't think you can go to that. You can't just I don't think you can start this too big lineup and it'd be successful. I think Russ just can't get it in a rhythm

that way. A d is still kind of taking all these tough shots. Okay see, kind of switched a lot of stuff they had doored on him and the pains packed. I don't know. There's just a lot of weird things going on here. I'm really interested to see how they

respond on Saturday against Portland. I think Dame's gonna be a really tough matchup coming off a law against okay see, and Lebron is gonna be out a while, like I know they said a week we'll see um, but they're gonna have to start a five lineups that are successful without them. And tonight wasn't really a step in that direction. I talked about how I like the Second Units with Russ and a D kind of playing that one five kind of screen and roll game with shooters around, and

maybe a Resa and THHD coming back help that. Maybe none helps that, but like I think seeing those guys as saviors, it just isn't the right way to kind of look at this. Lebron is gonna be out a little bit, why a little while, and just being the over reliance on him. He's in year nineteen, man, Like we have to be able to find lineups that are successful without him, and we're just we're not seeing those. We still have a negative net rating without him this season.

I think we're like negative point two or something. Where Lebron sits for this season, Like that's that's crazy to me. With Russ and a D manning a lot of these lineups. So I don't know where they kind of go from here. I guess we'll see if the starting lineup changes are. I really liked Russ and a D starting at the five, but we'll see if that continues. They just can't do it without Lebron. They can't run a D at the five.

Lays about Lebron unfortunately because of the the way I am constructed, Like if you had the Lakers, and it's like I've got I've got Danny Green out there, and I've got KCP out there, and I've got Kyle Kuzma out there, and i get every Bradley out there. Hell yeah, man, I'm running a d at the five all night long. And I like my chances, but it just it just

doesn't work with this group of guys. And I mean, and you know, coming coming back to Russell Westbrook for a second, like this is something that you and I respectfully have have kind of deviated from each other. You know. I I don't think Russ is a star. I look at him as someone that's kind of just a better version of Dennis Shrewder. That's that's the way I look at him in this regard. And and to be honest with you, to til I know, but so let's let's

let's be clear. If I said, hey, here's this basketball player, here's the basketball player player A. Okay, Now, for player A to succeed, literally everything has to be catered exactly to his strengths and weaknesses. If they're not, he's not gonna be able to do anything. Okay, if you play the wrong lineup, he will be able to score. If you play him without somebody who's got to hire i Q than him or or more cachet than him, then he's going to be a bowl in a China shop

lat in games and make poor decisions. You know. If he's not you know, if we don't trade quint Capella to get him out of the paint so that his lesser version of himself can get to the paint, then he's not going to succeed. Like then that that that that describes what what you're describing is a limited basketball player.

It's like it's like Carmelo Anthony, Like Carmelo Anthony has been very good for the Lakers, why because they're asking him just to capitalize on defensive attention put on someone else. If you ask if you shift off Carmelo Anthony to Oklahoma City and asked him to run their offense, I guarantee you would be ugly as all hell and and and that's kind of the thing. Like I I look at Russ as a player that with a D at

the five. Later in the season when this team is healthy and has all their wings, and in specific playoff matchups, he can be a guy that can raise your ceiling as a guy that can attack specific matchups and a guy that can that can have big nights that can help you win playoff games. And then when he doesn't have it, he can fall into the background a little

bit and let better players take over. But if you're sitting on your couch right now and thinking Russ is the one that has to carry us to the promised Land, I hate to break it to you, guys. He just can't do it. That's not who he is anymore. There was a play late in this game. He actually had a nice little left handed layup towards the end, surrounded

by all the crap. But he had another one where he got into the lane called paulm the ball with his right hand took off from the semicircle and there's just no lift there and he ended up throwing the ball into the bottom of the rim. That's Russ now, that's Russ in. Russ is the guy that on some nights he'll look like he's got that burst. In most nights he won't. And if things aren't perfectly set up for him to succeed, He's going to struggle. That's that

is the rust of Westbrook experience, in my opinion. And I know you're higher on him than I am. And and that's fine, And I'm not trying to say you're wrong or anything. I'm just giving my two cents. But like, I think that pretending as though the magic fix for all of this is like laying into rust ball. I just respectfully disagree with that because I think if you want to play rust ball, you're gonna lose a hell

of a lot of basketball games. Yeah, I mean when I say lean into rust ball, it's also kind of lean into like Russ and a d ball, right, because I feel like doing this like too again, like I thought DeAndre Jordan will be able to be kind of effective only of JaVale McGee in that way, it just hasn't kind of worked out. Again, that's kind of more

Accua thing to Russ. But when I say, like, play rush ball, I mean play kind of what this team was built around, right, Like this team is not THEI team, Like it just isn't that they don't have the defenders to kind of play that way. I know Vogo has his system and it's gonna be tough to kind of convince him to be like, hey, like you know the way that you won the championship, Yeah, scrap all that.

We're gonna play, you know what I mean, Like, we're gonna play differently, Like no Vogo wants to play this drop coverage. They call it the no roller behind right where the big kind of stays with the center. But

our base just aren't able to do that. And we talked about it over the summer though, like when you trade for Russell Westbrook, you know what you're getting, right, Like, it's not like they traded for Russ and they don't know that this is who he is, and it's about adding this production next to the two other stars, and maybe without Lebron, this is just how it looks. Maybe that's where the team is. We've kind of seen what A D and no Lebron lineups look like the last

few years. They've been pretty terrible as well, right, and then now the Russ and A D lineups have been Okay. I felt like in a few I feel like it was trending upwards. But now you pull Lebron out, you plug again Rondo, you plug in DeAndre Jordan's it just hasn't looked right, and maybe Vogel is still kind of experimenting. But it's not that I'm like higher on Russ. I just feel like, like no disfrict to like Dennis Shooter

or nothing like that. But Russ put up twenty seven, nine and five and again, like we talked about this last game, but not nine. Sorry, I'm trying to get his numbers here. Russ tonight was twenty seven five and six, uh four turnovers again stuff you can kind of live with. Plus six. I kind of gotta go back and rewatch the game. But that kind of production is something that you should be able to build along with our two stars, right,

that's when you add it. And again you can kind of qualmb about the numbers there are what they are, seven, six and five is kind of what it is. That's where I was going with that. But there's just like the other lineup just haven't been successful with it. We're still playing just a lot again, a lot of Carmelo Anthony and maybe that gets fixed with the rotation. But that's kind of what I mean by going to Russ ball. It's not just about Russ, about the team that was built.

It's this team that's supposed to run and score high level and defend at a baseline amount where you can kind of win those minutes, and that hasn't happened. Yeah, defensive identity is just not there. And maybe that's because you're playing Rondo Karmelo Anthony. You plug in Wayne Ellington, another minus defender into this who was one for five from three as well, a little bit worried about his shot. But again, whether you play with Milly and Allington the

league monk, you have the same defensive issues. There is a team that kind of has to lean into their offense. That's what I mean by russ ball. I don't mean that like, yeah, I just accus everything to us. It's just that's what this roster is right now, without a reason, without none, who is a little bit better of a defensive guard, Like I think that's what you have to lean into or we're gonna lose a lot of these games. These leads are getting blown ninety six like that's that

shouldn't happen. And that's that's kind of you, right. For russ a d ball to work, a D needs to

be a stretch pack. That that's that's that's the kind that the problem here is, like, like I said, fundamentally, Oklahoma City, at the end of these two games, its supposed Russ and a D as guys that would turn into perimeter jump shooters if you got up under if you if you took away the pain from them, and they were when they would run those Actually, like in a weird way, bringing a pick and roll over is almost bad for both players because it kind of, um

it kind of just by the way Oklahoma City was guarding it kind of made their decision for them. I almost think you're better off just spacing the floor and having a D go into the corner and in having Russ just try to get ahead of steam and go to the rim because at this point Dort is just going underneath that screen and Derrick Favors is also in a drop and it's like there's just nothing open when they run those actions. So it's just it's just tough.

But regardless, anyway, let's let's try to bring this back to some positivity here, because like, because I like you know, I I've you and I've always prided ourselves on shooting you guys straight, Like you know, this is not this is not like the propaganda. If you're looking for that, you should probably go somewhere else. I'm just gonna be honest with you. This isn't Lebron propaganda. This isn't Laker propaganda. This is just we're gonna call it like we see it.

And um, you know that said, everything about what the Lakers are right now doesn't change what they can be. This Laker team very much still can achieve championship form. This team still has a championship ceiling. In a weird way. Everything we've seen in the last few weeks just shows

that they have a long way to go. So the reality of the situation is in the immediate future, you've got to try to find a way to be competitive without Lebron, and the way to do that, in my opinion, is too in my opinion, is to play two bigs. In your opinion, is to lean heavily into russ ad ball. Regardless of what it is. They have to find some

way to be more competitive right now. Then when Lebron comes back, rob needs to be very attentive to the way this team looks as the guards and the wings get healthy and and be prepared to potentially make a move. Um you know, at the at the end of the day, the Lakers do one of the things that you know, the Laker roster was mixed. Characterized in a lot of ways this offseason is oh, it's just old guys, or oh, it's just veteran minimum guys, and it's like, well, actually,

it's it's old guys mixed with young guys. There are what at least four core rotation players that are twenty eight or younger. Um. And there are some legit draft excuse me, some legit contract assets on this team. Um. You know, Molik Mounk, even as bad as he's looked this year, there's not a team in the league that wouldn't want him for the veteran minimum. Um. There's not a team in the league that wouldn't want Kendrick Nunn that the five and a half million or would ever

he makes. So at the end of the day, you know, it's very important for Rob to really carefully watch the way this ship goes when the pieces start coming back, because sometimes, you know, kind of like with the two eighteen calves, sometimes there's just something off with a group for whatever reason. Sometimes it's chemistry, sometimes it's a basketball fit. Sometimes it's you know, attitudes. You know, obviously there was some attitude problems with the two eighteen caves stending from

Isaiah Thomas and from Jay Crowder, you know. And then all of a sudden, the swap a bunch of mediocre players for a bunch of other mediocre players like Larrynnson Rodney Hood, and all of a sudden, the team just takes off, you know. And and that's that's because basketball is a living organism. There's Bill Simmons talks about this in his book. He calls it the secret. It was something that Isaiah Thomas used as the uh you know what, what he claimed was the reason why the Pistons in

the late eighties won their championships. And it's just sometimes there's just just a concoction that takes place of the basketball team that's just off. And sometimes that concoction is just on, and you know, the thing that you do. At some point, we were through what nine games. Now, at some point, if this concoction was right, it'll it'll

hit a stride. And if we see a stride in the next couple of weeks where the guys are all healthy, they win a bunch of games in a row and they beat some good teams, then you could say that this team has the secret. But if for whatever reason, this doesn't come together over the first thirty forty games of the season, it might be one of those things where you gotta make a lateral move moving you know, two guards for a wing, or a wing for a wing, or you know, a buyout guy here in a waving

a guy here, or whatever it is. But you know, they need to get this concoction right so that the so that this particular basketball team jels it's supposed to. If that makes sense. Yeah, Like you talked about kind of Robney's to look at the team, Like, to me, it's early to to kind of speak on that, Like that's probably more at the trade deadline, right when most people teams kind of would make moves. I still want to see this team healthy before I kind of, yeah,

before I started trading pieces off. And you're right, it's still a bunch of like I feel like they were finding things. You know. The Lebron injury is so unfortunate. Obviously he is a big part of this team. Usage I don't think it's an excuse for losing against Okay see, but I thought they were kind of buildings towards something, you know, like there was like a ladder there. They were going up, even if there was against bad teams

like Houston. I just thought they were lineup that they're starting to find, especially that second unit that I kept talking about, Like I thought they found something there, and now that's all kind of destroyed. We're getting all these Rondo minutes and again Rondo blessing than he was amazing

in that playoff run. I just think in the regular season, it's just ugly when you, like I was, can have some of the lineups that people were kind of posting about Rondo, Dwight Howard, you know, next to Baysmore and a couple of like nonshooters, Like those kind of lamps are gonna get destroyed on the floor. Like that's just what's gonna happen, even against a team like Okay, see against sha it was awesome tonight, Like sometimes that happens. It's just that I feel like there is some positive

you can take. It's just they have to start to find Like you can't go and just lose a bunch of games now because Lebron is out, you know, like he's out for a week. It's gonna take some time. We'll see how much longer that is. But you're gonna play some good teams here, and they have to start to find lineups. And that's why I would kind of maybe you don't start too big, but at least like kind of move into this more offensive mode here, uh, instead of trying to fit them into this like defensive

kind of lineups that that we're kind of seeing. And and maybe you know, Carmelo has to play a bunch. I just don't like him playing next to like Dwight Howard, you know, Like I just feel like those kind of lineups also are going to blow a bunch of defensive assignments.

Like there's little things they can do. It's not all doom and gloom, but there are some like inward looking that that has to go on here before we just start to try to trade a bunch of people, Like I want to see the four rotation guys back and maybe we judge this team until then, I just I want to see a little bit more inward we're developed a little bit more care. I don't like Russ and I said lu door types where you can just relax defensively like I want him on some on ball kind

of assignments. There's little things we can move on here, but there's some bigger kind of issues here that we have to solve as as we go into these better teams. You know, That's why I said, like you wanna you want Rob to just pay attention as the team gets healthy to whether or not this is gonna work. That's what I mean, Like I obviously you don't trade everybody right now. There's no point in making a you know, a serious evaluation of this team until everyone's healthy. That's

that's step one. Um. You know what you were saying too is really interesting. Like I would say, start a D five play defensive players in that line up, So play a a's more play of Reeves next to Russ with a D at the five, so that that team can float defensively. And then when Russ is off the floor, I'd go a D with a second big, and then you play like a monk with that group or in a mellow with that group, so that those guys just chase guys off the three point line and funnel into

your two bigs. And that just as a way to try to like kind of fake it till you make it, so to speak, until Lebron comes back. Um, I wanted to you know before you know, and we can we can call it here in a few minutes when I wanted to read this tweet from Darius Oriano because this is the ultimate silver lining. If you're looking for something to make you feel like this might be okay, this is it right here. If you removed end I'm quoting Darius Oriano here, if you remove DeAndre and Rondo from

the lineups. Here are some Laker stats per Cleaning Glass. This is from before tonight's game. For the record, Russ and a D on the floor plus four teen net rating Russ and Lebron on the floor, plus six point two net rating, Braun and a D on the floor plus seven point three net rating all three on the floor plus twelve point seven net rating. Now, why does that matter? A couple of reasons. First of all, Rondo and DeAndre Jordan probably aren't going to play much in

the playoffs, if at all. Okay, Um, if you if you do see DeAndre Jordan in the playoffs, it will be in game one of the playoffs series before they get rolled, and then they immediately pulling which is exactly what happened with Javail in playoffs. Okay, so that's what you would see from DeAndre Jordan's and sat Rondo just

won't sniff the floor at all. And so the way you got to look at it as those numbers look pretty damn good when you factor in the fact that this team has no defensive identity, is struggling to figure out how to play together, and has had a really inconsistent, uh you know lineups having to do with injuries. So the silver lining is when they play real you know, coral lineups that are missing the bad basketball players on

this roster. They've been really successful with with those pairings despite the fact that quite frankly, they haven't played well. So that would be your silver lining. Um. But but to your point there, you can't ignore you can't ignore the fundamental problems that lead to Arruss and a d team losing to Oklahoma City. You know on your home floor. You can't ignore those problems. But like I said, if you're looking for a silver lining, that's your silver lining.

This team, especially with with playing real NBA players, has been pretty successful and the vast majority of the struggle that this team has gone through has been a product of injuries and Frank's unwilling to to bench DeAndre Jordan's. If you look beyond those two things, they've been okay, And so that would be, like I said, that's if you that that that can be you know, kind of the thing that we end on tonight is just that silver lining. And obviously I want you to give your

opinion on that as well. But that's kind of where I'm at as like kind of put a bow on everything tonight, is that as for as bad as it's been, there are there are some little, you know, positive nuggets in there underneath at all. Yeah, and I think we're both kind of more optimists in terms of like at least we were for this team. Those are you know,

great numbers, and I think that is true. DeAndre Jordan's probably won't play in the playoffs when it matters Rondo, I'll wait and see, you know what I mean, they can say, Um, I think in the playoffs Rondo will still get some times. But but you're right, there have been lineups and then that's what I was talking about there was they were kind of building something and again it wasn't against great teams. But still like it was

a four game win streak. They were kind of feeling out the team, and I felt like Russ was finally getting his bearings and kind of being combed with the team. That's why I said this Lebron injury is so unfortunate, because I thought they were kind of starting to build these better habits, even though against Houston they kind of gave up seventy points in the first half, and the second half they really did turned iron I was looking up I think some net ratings earlier. Lebron James was

like a plus. The Lakers were like plus twelve point two when Lebron was on the floor. Of the last five games, just about absolutely killing. There's some teams until here. We'll see against Portland's I guess on Saturday, but there are some seperate linings. But I mean, losing against O Casey second time in a row, this isn't like something that caught him off guard. There's definitely something when you know the other team goes on a run, the team just not able to stop it. And maybe that's just

how the Russ A D lineups have worked. Maybe the answer is just stopped playing DeAndre Jordan and Rondo, but that's not gonna happen for a week at least. But you know this team is gonna go through the mental shift. Four rotation players you throw in is not nothing. You know, that's a whole bunch of minutes that you're throwing in line. All these other five man lineups are You're going to get all these new kind of rotation players playing together. We'll see when that happens. But yeah, this is a

tough one. It's good to see those silver linings, I guess, but losing against probably the worst team in the league isn't isn't great. But those you're right, those are some good silver linings to kind of fall back on as we wait for the next one. Yeah, I think it's good for us. Sand On a positive note, everyone who came on and in requested to speak, I appreciate you guys. We're gonna go ahead and call it tonight. This just turned into an events session, but on Saturday night we

will take more callers, I promise. So for those of you who came and wanted to speak, please come back on Saturday, UM and we will give you a chance to UH. As always, we sincerely appreciate your guys to support Roger and I continue to be blown away by how many of you guys choose to come at hang out with us after these games. And uh in the meantime,

hang type. This is gonna air on dash Radio tomorrow morning at seven am, and we'll be on our podcast speed Understate of the Lakers here in about thirty minutes or so. Thank you guys so much and enjoy the rest of your night. Appreciate everyone. Thank you,