Hawks/Lakers Postgame Spaces

This is a big win to me. I know it didn't come pretty the whole night. You know, we didn't. We had a couple of leads that we were blown. But this is a This was a big game to me. This this showed a lot. I'm higher on Atlanta than a lot of people. I think. I think they're better than their record, for sure. They've had guys in and out. I'm high on tre Young as well. It's a big one. But yeah, I'm excited, man, I'm excited to get into some one. How are you, man, I'm doing good, so

you know I'm with you. I believe in the talent on that roster, you know, It kind of reminds me of a lot of what we saw from the Lakers early in the season when Lebron and they d were healthy, where you know, even though you could argue they needed an improvement here there on the roster, they also just weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing within their defensive scheme and there, and you could you could tell tonight with Atlanta they just were kind of unorganized

all over the floor. Um. One of the biggest indicators of that is is transition defense. And I thought the Lakers played poor transition defense tonight for long stretches as well. But it was a really interesting, really interesting game because whenever one team would start taking bad shots and and give up any sort of long rebound or where the floor balance was off the you just have guys run into the rim on the other end, and rule number

one of transition defenses take away the rim. And you know, for both teams, there would be these kind of like really quick runs like you know, where you'd have a minute or two minutes of game clock and you see the see the lead completely dwindle, or see the lead

build way back up. And it was because of this kind of consistent theme that the team that ran more high quality offense seemed to keep the game playing at a pace that was comfortable for them um and forced the other team to have to score in the half court, where they would be capable of getting enough stops. It was.

It was kind of interesting in that regard because it seemed like every time the Lakers got control of the game, they got a little bit mismatch happy in terms of trying to hunt tray and kind of get out of the flow of their offense and start giving up those fast opportunities I was talking about. But it was. It was definitely an interesting game with some really ugly stretches, and I thought both teams were loose and sloppy in a lot of the little details. But it was exciting.

I mean, there's a lot of cool shot making, a lot of ducks. But I mean the in the Lakers were able to tighten things up more frequently and when they needed to to put Atlanta away. But the Lakers definitely are gonna have to sharpen some things up in order to beat some of the good teams that are

actually playing good. I'm like Atlanta, who's a good team that's playing poorly right now, for sure, And we're on a ladder getting up to that, right And I heard the broadcast talk about that a lot tonight as well. This is not going to beat Phoenix or the Warriors, sure, but we are We're not in position to really like to look at that, right. I feel like that's skipping steps. We're on a we're on a ladder up to those teams. And I think beating a team like Atlanta is a

part of that. Atlanta came in tonight second in offense, and offense is not their issue. It's defense obviously, and they've had quotes coming about about how they've got kind of complacent the regular season and all that. But they're a good offensive team. Trey Young is an offense of himself. And that you know screen roll game that they run that is tough. That is a pick your poison, tough cover.

They run that with Capella. They have you know a lot of Spain actions where Kevin Herder or down the little Gallinari sets the back screen and it's a tough cover. And I thought it was impressive to kind of keep their offense. You know, they scored a lot of points still, but we had a lot of big runs on them, even with Tray on the floor, And I thought that was impressive to me to to to get a win

on Atlanta like this. We're going small and new identity, a bunch of small guards that you know, Tray can kind of pick on. I thought he did a good job kind of getting to the basket. His floater game was there as well, but just to slow him down a bit. And I thought, to me, because this is one of the points I wanted to get on, was the Stanley Johnson Lebron four or five kind of that back line at least to start the game. To me,

that kind of set the tone. They had a lot of deflections that we were trapping Tray a lot on his ball screens, and Lebron or Stanley were on the back line getting deflections, and we got out and ran. We had like a thirteen two fast break point. I just like tonight was impressive to me. And there's stuff that they have to clean up as well defensively, but I just stopt getting a win out on a team like Atlanta. It's obviously trying to turn their season around.

They got all their guys back tonight, right which of course they got all their guys back tonight, but they got all their dudes back, and I thought most of them played well. They get some tough shots too, right in Atlanta is a tricky team because you talked about, you know, how you run to the Raymond transition, but you know, guys like Bogdanovich, they you know, they fire away from three in transition as well. Trade Young shoot from like thirty five ft. Gallinari, I don't think he

missed tonight. I'm not sure what he went, but it felt like he hit every contested three he got. But I thought this was a fun one man. And obviously Liek Monk and Avery Bradley went went nuts in that first half. But and to have a game where Lebron really didn't start picking up offensively to the fourth quarter. That we'll get into that, but I just thought this was this is a really nice win to kind of build off of. I think we're starting to see the

fruits of playing small. This is the third straight, you know, game that we played with the starting lineup their four and no now. Our fourth straight started their four no now with this starting lineup with the Malik and h Stanley and the starting lineup there so we're starting to build some chemistry and you're seeing how other teams are going to struggle to defend us when we're small, right, they have to have their center on Lebron, and we

were able to kind of an advantage of that. Russ was running ball screens where you know, Lebron was a screener a lot more tonight than usually. So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to kind of get into, but I think this was a good win to build up the Yeah, I want to get into the offense. I want to get into Lebron and his kind of demeanor over the last couple of games, because I think that's

interesting too. But you have mentioned something about the back line, and I think it presents a really interesting conundrum when you're playing small because for starters both you know, there were times when Lebron was at center in the lineup, but Mellow was with him, and just because just because of the way the floor was balanced, Mellow ended up being the guy dealing with the roleman or dealing with the pick and roll coverage like he was effectively in

the center position on any given play, and Melo really really struggles in that spot, especially when there's a good vertical lab threat. But there were a lot of plays tonight when Stanley and Lebron were in that spot where they were able to blow things up. And the interesting thing that they had figured out that is so morton

for small ball. It's like, you know, when you have a real center, you can kind of play in between the ball handler and the guy rolling to the rim, right, Like think about that famous honest play in the NBA Finals. That's like the perfect example of what I'm talking about, where you're guarding the guy going to the rim. I think it was Devin Booker on that play, and you're able to dissuade him from shooting, but then turn and

block a guy way above the rim. But we don't when we're playing small like when we don't have Anthony Davis, we don't have that guy, right. So I tend to look at it from the standpoint of you have to sell out to the ball handler and and try to disrupt that because if that pass gets through, you're not

You're not doing anything with it anyway. And and if you're playing in between a no man's land, and this is something that DeAndre Jordan has been got has gotten killed on all season long is if you're in that no man's land, you're you're not bothering the guy with

the ball. He just throws it up and now you're jumping and just getting dunked up right, And so you know, there was this very specific play there in the third quarter that kind of illustrates what I'm talking about, where Trey got into the lane and Stanley just abandoned John Collins and sprinted up on Trey and jumped and he deflected the Lab pass. Now again, if that gets through, it's a dunk. But if he doesn't, if he just

stands there, it's a dunk too. It ended up leading to a runout where russ I actually ended up smoking a layup and then Lebron like tapped it in. So it's actually an important sequence there in the third quarter to build the lead. But it kind of indicative of

what I'm talking about with our small ball defense. Like you've seen a lot of like Lebron running a drop coverage, right, And while I like the idea of that because he can communicate and kind of stay back around the rim, it's also important for those guys on that back line to almost ignore the lab threat or if they're gonna guard the lab threat, it needs to be below the rim, meaning like boxing him out and and not so much like just jumping towards the rim because they're just gonna

give up a ton of lobs and they've given up a lot of stuff and taking a role in situations like that this season. But it's something to keep in mind. And then I don't know how you counter that with Mellow when he gets into that spot. But they've got to figure something out with Mellow too, especially against these good teams, to get him in a position where when he's on that back line, he can he can be out of that spot so that either Stanley or Lebron is the one who has to to disrupt that action.

But it's it's interesting because, like you know, the the Lakers after the Anthony Davis injury, coming into tonight, we're in defense, I think, so you know, so let's let's looking forward, you know, assuming Anthony Davis comes back eventually, you're still getting probably fourteen the sixteen minutes a night

with Lebron at center. So they're they're gonna have to figure out something that works because I think the Lebron at center lineups right now are doing about a hundred nine points per a hundred possessions on on defense, which isn't quite good enough. So they're gonna have to figure some details there with those small ball lineups just to get more stops. But I do like that formula if they can figure out how to get more stops. You saw the offensive end tonight, I thought was as crisp

and as comfortable and as slowy. Somebody pointed out on Twitter it was our season for assists, so we're moving them all a lot like there are. The offensive end is coming along so well for these small ball lineups. If we can figure out how to get some stops in those lineups, we could be really dangerous. Yeah, and you brought up Carmelo like he's always gonna be a give and take right, like you're not going to get the defensive with him, but you see what he does offensively,

Like we look like a juggernaut offensively. And you talked about the defense last five games. You know, last five isn't you know, the greatest barometer, But we're about the middle of the pack defensively in the last five games. I think it's like one on nine, Like you talked about but our offense has pretty much jumped up right to our offensive number two in the league in the last five games, and that's not including I don't think

NBA dot Com has tonight's numbers. Tonight's numbers yet yeah, at like one twenty point five, and I think that jumped up even more after tonight. But yeah, man like and I also think Vogel is pushing the right buttons as well. I want to give him credit to I like that, you know, he put in Dwight, I believe for Capella. Uh he put Dwight in when Capella was in and kind of matching their minutes. I just think he's finding the right buttons. And I think our defense

is getting better. I like that we're switching more. I love the Austin reeves with it, and we're just kind of building, like this feels like a brand new team. And tonight, You're right, it looked like the most flow that I've seen. Taylor was a part of that too, his jumper stills and there. But I thought he got to the rim. He had that nasty one hand, uh skin and out dribble dunk. I forgot who that was over, but he had a nasty dunk tonight, he got to

the rim, his layup were going. The ball was moving when we were when we had uh, we had Lebron at the five, it was just nice, man. The offense flowing. When Malik Monk has a jumper going, Avery Bradley looks like he's knocking it down. He's at his contract was guaranteed. The ball was just moving nicely, and we looked unstoppable for a lot of that. The Hawks had no answer for us. They didn't know who to put on. Lebron

didn't know out of guard, our screen coverages. We were just moving the ball right to left, left or right. It was just like it was a nice game to watch, man, And I think it's something we're definitely can continue to build on. And that guy talked about I'm super high on Atlanta, Like, I think they're a really good offensive team. I think they're really I think they're a lot better than they've shown. And you got to get a win to to get our fourth win. It's gonna be a

tough test against Memphis. I believe. On on Sunday, I believe, but yeah, this is but this was the phone when I think our small ball liners were seeing the fruit of that and Fogels understanding kind of what buttons to push. You know, we don't like the mellow at the five, but like those lineups kill offensively and if you can you know, just the average defensively, even those you can kind of see the lead push and you saw him

when he's wide open. He's been pretty much money. And the Hawks kind of how to make a lot of decisions when it's Malik Monk and Carmelo on the two week side corners, Like that's a tough decision for a defense, and then it's like Russ and Lebron putting pressure on the rim. It's just we're seeing some of the fruits

of the of us playing small. Now. Yeah, that was one of the things that I had taken specific notice of during the game, Like there's a good a good amount of defensive breakdowns that we were seeing from Atlanta that needs that needs to be pointed out. However, this style of play is really hard to guard. You know, this is something this is something I've been preaching NonStop

since the playoffs last year. It was kind of like such an awakening for me to watch the Clippers and it's something that I've said many times on the pots. I'm not gonna spend too much time on it, but for them to, you know, with Paul George and with Reggie Jackson basically and a bunch of guys who are you know, mid level close out attackers on the wings, they were able to light the Utah Jazz on fire. And and they had a lot of success during that

whole playoff run. They came within two wins of making it to the NBA Finals. They even had a great deal of offensive success against that Phoenix Suns team. And and there's, yes, there's talent at play there. Paul George is obviously an extremely gifted wing, and Reggie Jackson shot the ball really well in that series, and he's a shifty, athletic guard that can get into the lane. But a big part of that is don't make yourself easy to guard.

Like That's that's what drove me insane to start this season, and it was something I preached NonStop because I thought it was directly impacting our defense. Like we said earlier, you know the transition, right, the teams would get off the rails tonight, Both teams would get off the rails tonight defensively when their offensive execution would fall apart and they live in transition, right, And that was kind of

what was happening to us to start the season. We were making ourselves so easy to guard with those DeAndre Jordan's lineups that we were just missing jump sho you like Pete from micro Film would chart thees and he would talk about it in the in the in that pod, they would say like, you know, oh, well we have thirteen possessions with this group and we took you know, eleven jump shots to start. You know, we were making ourselves easy to guard and it was leading to runouts.

That was directly leading to our defense being comprom is all the time. Um, even with all the size and advantages that came with having DeAndre Jordan's there. And that's the thing here is like what you're seeing is, you know, especially if we can figure out how to refine this further and further as time goes on, because you're seeing our offense get a little better each game, which is something you can expect when you adopt a new style and you're you know, because it's a new style, you're

far from your ceiling with it. As they get closer to that ceiling. A large part of their defensive success will come from constantly having the ability to set your defense and that you know, that's what Brooklyn did so well last year in the playoffs, and so you know, I'm I'm really excited to see where that goes long term.

But it's so important for us to continue to bread this culture of offensive comfort and flow because that will inherently help us because you know, you know, Frank is obsessing over the defensive end, right Like, Frank's gonna watch this film tomorrow and he's gonna literally want to clause eyes out over some of the defensive mistakes were making.

That that makes me feel good, because what if what did you and I say NonStop over the course the last couple of years, Lebron's the offensive coordinator here, Frank is the defensive coordinator. Well, Lebron seems to have this offense thing down from the center position right like we are humming right now in all cylinders, like you said, two second in the league in the last five games.

So I can't wait to see what Frank has for this team defensively because I feel very confident that before a d gets back, we're gonna have a stretch of games or we're gonna get a lot of stops because that's just what his specialty is. And there is enough athletic talent on this team, you know, with Reeves, with Stanley Johnson, with th Ht, with Trevor Reesa, with Avery Bradley, we have enough talent defensively to get stops. Yeah, And I thought tonight it was a blueprint kind of for

what they can be. And again the Hawks scored a bunch of points and it wasn't perfect, But I think we're going to be more of like a trappy trap team, like create turnovers, create k us, not so much like a standards set defense, more like great turnovers a bunch of players where like Russ gott Russe was like about to get a turnover, he got his like fingerprints on it, and you could see them kind of be able to react to that. And Trey Young's again a tough cover

with that because he can get to the basket. He has a floater game. But I thought, like trapping and stuff like that, doubling on the ball like that kind of is more our flow, our system, and guys like Stanley Johnson Lebron on the back line they're able to go and tag the rollman in that way. And it's a little different when you have a traditional center, right, even when dwights on the floor, it's still like a traditional drop coverage in that. But when you have just

all wings, you can switch a lot more. And I thought we started to see that we gave up a bunch of open threes tonight on plays, so like where one guy thought he was switching and he wasn't, and it got like hurt her some open threes. Bagdanovich, Like I talked about about that later on the game, like we'd have like Reeves and like th Ht and those two can just switch actions. And we're like that throughout pretty much our starting five rust and kind of switched

through most of those. Lebron and Stanley obviously I talked about on the back line and Stanley Johnson and like, I feel like his energy is infectious and it's not just energy because I think that would be fair to him. Like he's a legit defensive player, Like he had a I think he blocked a dunk tonight. To have that I was an outrageous Yeah, yeah, I was like, man, and he's he's a legit defensive player to me, and I think he's starting to find his nichees role. It's

great we got him back on the team. I think he'll eventually be on the roster full time, just the way he's starting every game. And those two men were awesome against. Like I talked about a great offensive team in Atlanta, I think Atlanta had like twelve points to the first like six minutes of this game. If I remember correctly, I think we had a Yeah, I think really quickly. The Lakers definitely had so much success early

in the game. You could tell they've never felt threatened, which I think is part is very releve It's very relevant here when we're talking about how their defense sucked for large. Yeah. Yeah, it was definitely up and down for sure. And again Lebron's going to Wax and Wayne kind of when he's the center, right because that's a

lot of effort for him. We talked about being the center is less physically taxing, but still a team like Atlanta you have to run around because they have so much shooting around Trey Young and they run so many actions where where they're they're pick and roll action is such a tough cover where you have to kind of be in two places at once a little bit and that stuff that the effort is gonna wax in Wayne.

But I saw enough tonight where Vogel can kind of build a group blueprint defensively, and again Dwight came off the bench. I love the buttons that Vogel was pushing. The mellow at the five. We saw some of it, but I thought, you know, he took it out when it wasn't needed. He took out Carmelo for Stanley for a little bit in the fourth and put it back in to kind of put the game away offensively. And

I think he's pushing those buttons. But there's a successful team here, and obviously throwing Anthony Davis into it just makes it all that better. I think le Brond and a d are the two best you know, small ball in quotations, small uh small ball centers like in the world, Like I don't know you can get too other than obviously honest maybe, but like you put those two and this with this type of shooting with Milik Monk, like

I'm excited to see it. And and Kendrick Nunn obviously is on the bench too, so we'll have a rotation kind of thing to figure out. But this is a blueprint that we can follow. Man just a fast team. Milik Monk is active. Uh we think about his athleticism offensively, but he jumps for in passing lanes like he's quick like you'll like he's starting to read plays more to like you'll see a crosscore pass and read it and

pick it off. Like. I think he's improved defensively. There were times tonight where Tree Young trying to pick on Leak Monk and he did a nice job, like he stayed in front of him, used his quickness to kind of make them take like a tough step back. Three. We're seeing incremental improvements even if it hasn't shown up

in like defensive rating and stuff. And that stuff is so tough for me to look at because this is a brand new team, Jason, right, Like this is like two starters are on the bench right now, DeAndre Jordan's camp baysmore who are who are littered through all our you know, big minutes lineup so far don't even play anymore. Like this is a totally different team, and I think it's tough to kind of look at, you know, how are ratings matchup for the rest of the league because

we're a new team. We're starting pretty much from fresh year. Yeah, like this is you I I said before every season, I say that you tracked defensive rating is just a general indicator of you know, effort level throughout the season. And like, yeah, I mean the Lakers were ninth in defensive rating before the Anthony Davis injury, you know, but it's like at the same time and that was a completely different group, right, so everything, everything is kind of irrelevant.

It's a moving scale. Every everything about the way we evaluate this team now needs to be focused on this new identity with this new group of players that they're

playing with. That goes without saying I wanted to uh to talk about t HD because you know, so for those of you who didn't listen to our last spot really quickly, Like you know, one of my big sticking points of t HT all season is the kid's just been put through the ringer with his rotation between the thumb injury and COVID and then just all of the other roster turnover, throwing him in and out of the starting lineup, and you know, changing him from being on

the ball a lot to being off the ball a lot, and and he's a young player, and those sorts of things tend to have a greater impact on younger players and they do on veterans. And you know, I predicted that as he would get into a more consistent role, which is what this off the bench role is for him now, and as long as he stayed on the court, that he would start to trend in the right direction. And then you know, from there, because he's played a

couple of good games in a row. Now from there, it's about like, Okay, what's replicable, right, Like, what what is he doing that will consistently work versus something he's doing that's you know, out of out of the ordinary. So for instance, when he had those back to back twenty point games when he first came back from the thumb, Like, if you look at those, is like he was making a lot of threes, right, And we know that's not necessarily replicable for him yet at this point in his career.

But over the course of these last two games, a lot of what he's doing is like, I don't see why that wouldn't work. He's bullying guys around the rim.

You know, he's he's consistently attacking close outs and making good decisions, Like there are a bunch of plays today where he catched the ball at the three point line, beat the guy off the dribble, health defender would step up and he'd hit Mellow, or he'd you know, hit Monk coming off the you know, from the other side, Like he was just making consistent quality reads out of advantage situations. And then and also you know, you can tell the Lakers have made a concerted effort to get

his intentional touches with an advantage. So if on place where he's not attacking close out but rather they're running a set for him, it almost always involves him coming off some sort of curl or in some sort of ball screen with a matchup with a shooter someone like Mellow, where they're going to be hesitant to leave Mellow, or on those curls where he has an advantage and he's just killing people when he has an advantage because he's got such a low center of gravity and he's so

strong that when he gets a step on you, it's it's kind of just over. And the crazy part is, I thought he missed a couple of shots tonight that were really high percentage shots around the rim, you know, a couple of scoop shots, and then that little uh play where he got Clint Capella off his feet and smoked that lay up right by the rim, like he I could. You know this is this is looking really good. And you know, again, like we said, it's all about

consistency here. If this turns into a sort of thing where he doing it once out of every three games or once s out of every four games, then the conversation about whether or not you trade him gets a little more complicated, you know. But if he can get to the point where he plays this well two out of three games, like, that's when you start looking at this from the lens of he's helping us right now. Andy has this great upside that we can look to

in the future. But I mean, this is I got a lot of crap for the other day for saying that th hd um kind of reminds me of Drew Holiday and and and again, it's way too soon to take a victory lap. I am not taking a victory lap. But what you're seeing from th HD in these last couple of games, this is what I envision when I think about his development as a player, just this power guard who should eventually become a guy who can knock

down shots. Hence the high quality three throw shooting. You know, he's a power guard that punishes smaller, skinnier offensive defensive players at the guard position and then also on the other end, king guard, you know, basically one through four. There were a couple of plays today where he got switched onto a post, especially early in the game, where he got beat. But like, he does a really good job one through four defensively. So this is this is

the what I envisioned from THHD. You, Like, I don't want to talk about trades. He's not tradeable for another eight days, so not you're not going into that at all. But he's such like a rhythm player, and I don't think it's a coincidence um that he's like these like good games are coming from him coming off the bench. And that was the first time he came in for Lebron instead of Russ. So the last three games he usually comes up with Russ. Yeah, yeah, he came in

for Lebron. This time Lebron only came in for a little only went out for a little bit. I think I think he only sat for like two minutes and then he came in for Russ if I remember correctly,

But I think that's a coincidence. Nice he's not playing with all three of the ball handlers, and tonight there was definitely a concerted effort to give him the ball more, even when he was on the floor with Russ, Even when he was on the floor with Lebron, they let him run actions a little bit more, let him kind of ice so, let him attack the rim such a of them guy like I was talking about, and he got he got to the rim a little bit, he

got to the line. I think that I think he shot like the first technical free through or something like that, and I think, you know, just seeing the ball go to the basket for him, and it was just cool to see him get going. In Atlanta kind of tried to hide players on him. There was a stretch in this game where we went to th HC Lebron screen and roll, but instead it was THHD as a screener. And I feel like that's just stuff you can do to just so he doesn't always have to be the

guy that needs to shoot. And you know, all those plays we talked about earlier where the ball was moving like it was like three or four passes. Was a part of that. He was, He was a part of a lot of those possessions where like he was the glue guy. He drives ball, kicks, kicks, he moves it. He talked about the pick and pick and pops with Carmelo. He's another guy that it's similar to Russ where like he needs to slow down. He's either like I'm getting

to the rim. You know, I'm either getting to the rim or I'm like shooting a weird jumper. Like he can slow down a little bit, read read the defense. And I saw a lot of that, a lot more of that tonight. He's a good ball handler, Like all the skills are there, it just needs to be compiled together correctly. Because he obviously has ball handling skills. He

obviously can get to the rim. I think his first step is crazy, which is why I just you know, even a blow average jumper, which just changed his life. But you know, he's he's gonna get he did. Yeah, And you know there's a few plays where like he almost dunked and then decided to lay it up. There's a few plays like that. But he can get to the rim and you see him use his body a little bit more, use his physicality. Maybe he's getting a little bit more comfortable after being out for a little

bit from COVID protocols and stuff. But yeah, this tonight was another really good, you know, THHD game. He got lost a little bit off the ball, you know, on some shooters, I think on a Herd and Bugnonomous, a little bit that's gonna happen. I thought his on ball defense was pretty good though. I think he was on trade for a couple of positions. Did a fine job. But yeah, he was. He was good, man, and this is kind of what you want to see from him.

He knocked down a few threes tonight. That's not really expected. But I want him to shoot when he's open, Like, I think that's important. I think, you know, passing up shots for him just has a domino effect of of affecting everything else in his game. But he was good and I like him as a screener. I like him having the ball a little bit more. You saw that, and I think that's something that they're definitely trying to do to build him up a little bit. And it's

a second straight game that that's good for him. Memphis will be a test, but but it's a nice, nice little streak he's building as well. Yeah, exactly that. The consistency is everything with Like we said, like we we see all Star plays at a t HD every game. It's been, you know, one of our little talking points that we can like a super star playing tonight, a super super I'll star playing in and out dribble crossover to a dunk man and the huge hands like that,

Like that's the thing too. It's everything with t's the physical tools, like the ability to gather it like that and hold it high and to have such long arms that off a short take off like that that you can get high enough. Because that's the thing. Like when you're a jumping vertical athlete but you don't have great physical tools, you really have to load up. I mean, look at Moldleague Monk. He's the best example of this. Like he's flying in transition all the time because he

gets chances it gets a chance to load up. But he struggles, like he's not dunking on people in half court sets often because he doesn't have that you know, easy set of physical tools for to that have to jump. He has to jump much higher. You know, th h T is just so long that he's got the capability to finish like that in traffic because he doesn't actually have to jump that high in order to to finish them,

you know. But you know, the key here is this brings us to an interesting concept of close out attacking, because this is something that you know, you and I have been on for a couple of years now. My favorite example of a team that has high level clothes

that attacking is Phoenix. You know, when you look at guys like Cam Johnson and Michael Bridges, they just the types of moves they can make attacking closeouts are just a little bit more advanced, and especially in a playoff setting when scoring is so difficult, that sort of thing

brings a lot of value. And what I saw a lot of tonight was you'd have a kind of like a core initiation action at the top right, whether that was a Molik Monk Lebron screening role or a Mellow Lebron screening roll or a russ ball handler screen with with Lebron as a screener. They it run this kind of action either at the top of the key or on the wing and it would cause the defense to shade towards them because you have to. That's just how

it works. It's we have to do the same thing when we're guarding Tredy Young or when we're guarding anyone else. And so then comes the really quick swing pass right, the quick swing pass over to somebody who's got a little bit of an advantage, you know, And that's where you know, if that's Wayne Ellington, you know, I guess he can pump an take a sidestep and get a shot off. And I'm not hating on Moyne Ellington's game.

I love the guy, but like that ability to make a complicated attack of a close out, to either create an open shot for someone else or to create something for yourself is so valuable. And th HD is just good at that already, which is crazy, and it actually brings, you know, on a larger scale, like that's an interesting conundrum with Stanley Johnson and Trevorresa because you know, there was a play Stanley actually stepped out of bounds on it, but he was able to beat to the baseline thinks

the end of the first half. You know, that kind of that kind of play a reason it can't really make right now, A Reason is kind of like almost more more like Ellington in the sense that like he can shoot it and he might be able to pump faken sidestep, but he's not able to really beat guys off the dribble when he's given a little bit of an advantage. And Stanley can and that kind of makes

him an interesting option. You know what I mean as as a guy to take minutes away from a reason when we're whole is you know, just you have to be able to beat that guy who's closing out at you unless you're just absolutely on the money from three every time, you know, which is a different story, but it's and that's obviously what keeps mellow in his value

so high. But that that that concept is very interesting to me because especially when you get into a playoff setting, there's just not gonna be a lot of like two on two on one side of the floor. It's gonna be a lot of shading, helping and packing the pain and things along those lines. This issue, and that's kind of where you talked about this a lot as well, where like Austin Reeves comes in as well and he just he just yeah, you know, he's just he's just

good man. Like there's no there's no like qualms about, Like he's a reals good for a rookie like that. Dude is just good. He's not even shooting well, but the floor just connects. And you talked about the you know, being able to attack the close out. He does that really well to me. His decision making and that is split second and he usually makes the right decision every time catch, shoot pass, like he knows exactly where to go. And I think, you know, we kind of move this

as well. I'm not sure we didn't really get into League Monk that much. But man, Malik is kind of living off these right like league is in heaven right now. Like he's shooting threes. I pulled up the numbers here. Malik is seventeen for thirty two from three in the last three games. It's like and they're not and that's just not And I think he's a legit shooter, Like I don't think he I don't think this is a

hot streak. Like his form looks good. I talked about when he gets into the dip of his jumper, it's just I feel like it's going in. But yeah, like he's able to attack off that he's getting to the rim a little a big game to aligne again, he had I think he had twenty one at halftime. He was like ten for twelve or some some ridiculous number.

And he just keeps on thriving. You know, in this small ball universe that we've entered here, he feels like one of the biggest you know guys who's who's benefit off it? Honestly, And you talked again the closeout attacking be able to hit wide open threes at a super high rate. He doesn't need to be open to shoot, which I think is a really important thing for this team. Like he doesn't have to be wide open like Wayne Ellington to me, needs to be. I know, we don't

want to attack Wayne Ellington. And he was one of my favorite signing. He's one of my favorite signings honestly, but he needs He's the guy that kind of needs to be open to shoot, right if it's contested, he's gonna just pass it off. Malik Monk, you know, he doesn't feel like he doesn't really even see the defender

a lot of times. But just talk to me about Milik Monk because I thought again, another just monster game from him and really picked up the slack him and Avery Bradley honestly, who we should give some flowers to as well. But Malik Monk just picking up the offense. Sixty something points from us, he had twenty one of them. Would you would you kind of think of just this

continuation of play from him. Well, I'm glad you pointed out that he's been shooting the ball well, because the truth is is to me, it's kind of a regression to normal. Because early in the season, if you guys remember, Ellington and Mellow and Lebron were all like up over on wide open threes. I know that was and and Lebron was struggling on off the dribble threes, but the everything wide open, Lebron, Mellow and Wayne Ellington were just good as money. But Molik Monk for whatever reason, was

missing the open shots. To start the season. He had a few games where he shot the ball well, but Malik was struggling a little bit figuring out. But and now, in his defense, he at that point in the season, his role was inconsistent. This is actually I'm going to go on a little mini tangent here. You know, One of the big reasons why I think Wesley Matthews has been playing so well for the Bucks is he has

a consistent role there. And if there's one little, tiny, itty bitty bit of criticism in might throw Frank Vogel's away, it's that he tweaks with the rotation a lot um, particularly at the guard position, and that was something he did a lot last year. Do you remember, like there'd be stretches of the season where way where West would be in the rotation, and they're being stretches of the season where West wouldn't be in the rotation, you know, and like you know, his minutes taken by THHD, Like

THHD took his minutes, like he he ends. But my but my point is this throughout the season, though West's role was somewhat inconsistent, and I don't and I think specifically for guys who are you know, who have the ball in their hands, guys who you know that and it's a rhytham sport, it really is, and it can get disrupted. So my point is is, like coming back to the Leak Monk, one of the big reasons why I think the league Monk is playing so well right

now is by virtue of necessity. The Lakers leaned heavily on him. Um, you know after a few games when things kind of started to go off the rails with injuries and stuff like that. And what you've seen is

in this consistent role, he's just comfortable now. And we talked about this like three or four games ago, but he has a green light now, like a full blown, legitimate like no questions asked, You've got a green light, and that that works wonders for a player's confidence, you know, when you don't have to fear missing a shot, you know what I mean, Like I mean even in that game where you know when remember the one after the game where they asked him what he changed, and he's like,

I stopped taking stupid off the dribble step back through. Like it's it's funny because you know, maybe when he was in New Orleans, when he was in Charlotte, he might have taken a couple of tough step back threes and Brego might have benched his ass, you know what I mean, Like like, but whereas here like he has freedom to fail, you know, and he missed all those shots in that particular game, and then he started taking

easier shots and they started going in. He was given an opportunity to to find his confidence and to find his rhythm. But again, like having having him like this as an option to carry the offense for significant stretches of the games helps in a bunch of different ways. Not only does it unlock some of those two man game options like we were talking about with Lebron, but it's relieved some of what we need Russ to do. You know, having having Molik and th h T start

to play this well puts Russ. It's you know, it slots for us proper, properly as someone that can kind of go back to what his offensive role was when a d was in the lineup, And that makes me feel a little better because you know, I was worried we were going to get a heavy dose of some of the uglier sides of Russ's game over this stretch without Anthony Davis and Malik. Monk is rectifying that, and so is th HT. And obviously, again consistency is going to be the key here. Now for t T, it's

only been two games. Malik's been going like this for two and a half weeks now, so that's exciting. But it'll be it'll be key that he stays on this course. But I tend to think with a green light and with the opportunities he's getting and playing alongside Lebron James, Like, it's not like his shot quality's gonna dip. He's just gotta keep knocking there and you know what I mean. Yeah,

And we're starting to like actually run actions. From the League two, we started running him off some curls and he's coming off and pulling up and just trying to get into some more you know, system stuff for him where in the half court, get him more shots. But that's a great point on like how it slots Russ to a little bit more of an easier position, right, because when we were starting Russ next to we already started next day Bradley who's not really a ball handler

and sends more like a spot up guy. Um and I think it was also Thhd as well. But now you put Mileek Monk next to him, just a guy he can give the ball to, and it feels like Russ is able to kind of attack more on his terms. Right. It's it's not so much you have to have him run in the half court and and I think Russ has done a lot better job, you know, just controlling his his attacks to the rim. He had some finishes tonight, Jason.

Do you see the one in Transition today where he was like up and under It was like with Finesse. It was super nice. And I'm like, man, he can do that all the time, like if he just slow if if he just slows down a little bit, like he can finish like that. But I think that's a good point with that, because like I've always said, with Russ, you're never going to I don't think tempering him is ever the solution. It's just you know, lowering the usage.

And I think we're kind of seeing that where he's able to his usage goes down a little bit and he can attack on his terms, especially with Lebron on the floor again with Leek Monk as hot as he is able to be a bowl in the china shop. In transition, he's doing and Avery Bradley and him are starting to get a little connection here, right Like when Russ drives, Avery Bradley cuts and like that he's found if he found every badly a few times, not just denying the last few games, him and Bradley have a

nice connection as a cutter passer kind of duo. But I think he's passing is getting better. Three and three turnovers tonight. Two of them were kind of like what were you doing? Stuff? But you know, the three turnovers is not bad for us for the night he had. I think if he had like twelve assists or something, uh, twelve assists on the night. But you know, he's starting to play a little bit better and the game is starting to be controlled a little bit better for him.

I'm I feel like he's he's moving in the right direction, and when E comes back, obviously I will kind of, you know, shift him even more into the into the correct spots. But I think he's played well. Man, I don't and I think Lake Monk, you know, surgeons here is not you know, it's not coincidental that Russ is playing better along with that. So I think you're right with that with that assessment. I think Malik has definitely helped Russ kind of be more in his lane and

be able to attack in situations that makes sense. And we kind of figured out a late game kind of thing with him where he can go stand in the Dunger spot he can be a screener. He's kind of more the secondary third attacker instead of having to be the primary guy. And I think that's something we've kind

of figured out as as the season's gone on. Yeah, you know, the Russ has actually started to plaint better, start a little more self control for all those reasons we just discussed, I think, you know, I think if I had to choose between him taking some of these fifteen footers that he's been taking or putting his head down and trying to get into the paint, especially early in the game the way that he did in the first quarter. You know, when Russ draws into the basket

and misses a layoup. As much as it is a bad play because it is because it triggers a fast break out of the other direction, he's usually complaining to the rest or complains to the rest. But but the there's a there's a cumulative effect to rim pressure that is a it's a psychological effect on the defense because they start to naturally collapse when Russ starts bringing the

ball up the floor. Um, but also there's a fatigue element to it, and guys start getting out of the way, you know, like there's there were several plays tonight where Russ drove to the basket and was in a crowd and threw up a crazy shot missed. But then there were a couple of plays there in the fourth quarter where all of a sudden it was single coverage him around the rim and he bumped a guy off of

him and laid it up. And that's cumulative fatigue. That's eventually guys just gets sick of getting in the way, you know what I mean. And and then obviously during the stretches when they are collapsing and trying to take that stuff away from him, there's a lot of good that comes from the rim pressure with him kicking out

and spraying the shooters. So again, like my thing is, like, you know, there was a kind of a moment where he made that and one in the first quarter, second quarter might have been yeah, and he had kind of like a little moment where he threw his hands up kind of like off finally, And you know, I kind of want to be like man like, no, like those weren't the other ones missed because you're just not good at that. This wasn't the basketball gots finally paying you back.

I think I think that dude might have fouled your shot into the basket like like like I'm just like I wish, I wish for his sake, Like, you know, especially now that Monk and th Ht are starting to kind of find their legs and play better, I almost want to be like man, like really really channel into what you're good at now, you know, which is just put your head down and go to the rim, Like those are those are the kinds of you know, like the place a place where he picks up his dribble

along the second lane line and tries to throw some stupid like those are pointless turnovers, but the ones when he's like flying into the basket and trying to make something happen, those are at least a little more tolerable because of that cumulative effect of him putting rim pressure. So that's what I'd like to see him really really

focus on now that we're clicking so well offensively. Yeah, and like those mid rain shots aren't great, you know, but I like, to me, I'd rather have those than the turnovers as well, Like if you can get a shot at the rim, we can get our defense back. And I think it's also a sign of aggression. That we need Russ to be aggressive, and to him, those

shots are a part of his aggression, right. It just is like it's just those you know, size of you know, mid range pull up jumpers like those are that's just part of his game. Those aren't going anywhere. But I'd rather have that than the you know, the bad drives to the rim where like it's just a throw up there and hope and pray, like a foul gets called or he falls to the floor and all that, And I think that's your sign that you're kind of starting

to see the progression of that. And he's played well these last few games, like he was the high I think he led the team in plus minus tonight as well, like with the plus twenty four or something. So he when he was on the floor, we were we were winning, and he was impacting winning in my opinion, And him and Lebron is starting to build a little bit of chemistry.

I thought on the fourth quarters tonight, we went to Russell Lebron screen role really nice to I think Atlanta was going over the top of screens for some reason, and we were. He was able to hit Lebron on like pocket passes and stuff and no idea why they were doing that. Yeah, but like you know, just dying to see progressions um with the offense with him and and we're seeing him play better I thought defensively as well. Just he's been he's picked it up, so hopefully this continues.

But yeah, it's interesting, man, Like the I trade in these shots for turnovers all day long, and there's different types of like you know, but there's different type of turnovers, right, there's the just the lack of days ago, you know, on ball turnovers like those like those you can't live with.

But like the drive to the rim and then like expecting your guy to cut because I think there's kind of a they're kind of starting to know, like when Rush drives when I'm supposed to huh, and he's and you'll see it too, you'll throw it and there'll be a turnover. Be like, man, you're supposed to be there, like you know you're supposed to be there or something. You know, Like you're starting to see little progressions of that. And he passes to areas I always talked about, he

passes to areas instead of players. So once he drives, he expects you to be in that corner and he found a few guys in the in the corner tonight. I know, we're starting to see the team kind of understand how Russ plays, and Russ understand the team. All that you get through a eighty two games season and hopefully a d can come back in a time where those two you can kind of build. But I think Russ is in the right direction for sure. So let's hit on Lebron and then let's get out of here

for the night. So uh, an interesting stretch of games from Lebron because so three nights ago, you know, he basically coast for three and a half quarters against the Kings and then puts his foot on the gas and just goes absolutely nuclear and just blows their head off, basically.

And we blame it on fatigue because they had played, if I'm not mistaken, that was their fifth game and eight nights, and over the course of those five games, Lebron had to heavy workload, and in those first four games there was a considerable amount of energy that he was playing with, although that fifth game he was a

little more law days ago. But it was interesting because then they had a couple of nights off, they didn't practice at all, I think on Wednesday, and then they did a practice yesterday where Lebron said he went light

and primarily focused on his skill work. And then you come into a game tonight and he was lacks two days ago again, and it's it's it's interesting because you know, but then he has that blow up in the fourth quarter where he fills up the statuet and has a dunk where you know, TCH kind of threw the lob a little too high and his head's near his head's

near the rim. But it's like, it's funny. It's funny because like, okay, first of all, for any of you that are listening who have played basketball at any level, and like real organized basketball, when you play there, you don't feel the same every night. Like even like lab One has a whole other element, like he's played so many thousands of NBA games that like for him, he doesn't even probably get as excited as as normal people do.

But like even when you are excited, like I was excited for every game I played when I was in college. But the truth of the matter is is like some it's like a brain. I don't know if it's a brain chemistry thing or if it's like just a natural evan flow of physiology. But like, there are games when you just don't feel good. You know, your head is not really in it, You're not seeing the floor super well,

your energy levels low, whatever that reason maybe. And I thought it was interesting that Lebron came out with low energy tonight because it was you know, it was the type of game against Atlanta, the you know, a team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year on national TV. Against another star player like Trey Young, you think he would have come out with a little bit more urgency. Um, they're not worried about it by

any search of imagination. It just was weird, you know, and like and it also could have been you know, Lebron also has a tendency when when when his teammates are really going, he has a tendency to pull off

the gas a little bit. That's you know, famously, if you guys remember you remember the game that Avery Bradley hit the game winner against the Calves in two seventeen UM in that series where the Calves were just beating the living ship out of them every game, and then game three back in Cleveland, they just had a clunker and Avery Bradley made a game winner. They were like hit the front of the rim and like bound stop

and went in. In that game, everybody remembers Lebron being horrible, and he was, but both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love We're going off in that game. They both were efficient and through three quarters at twenty something points and both of them were killing it. Lebron has a tendency in his history like when guys are really going, and Avery Bradley and Malik Monk were on fire in that game.

I think he might have just been kind of reading the tea leaves a little bit and being like, yeah, like, oh they gotta going, Like I might be able to chill tonight, you know, like if it might have been one those kinds of things. But I'm not sure what the reason was, but it definitely was unusual in my opinion that he came out with low energy after having

that extra night off. Yeah, that's that's definitely what I saw more of it as I thought, you know, he saw that Leek Monk was going crazy, Avery Bradley was scoring at a was hitting his shots. Also, the Hawks kind of have They're not a great defense, but I think they do have bigger players where it's a little harder to attack them, just in transition, especially with his three pointer not going. I think it was like one for five from three and the upcoming bad threes too. Man,

he was jacking some crappy three. Yeah, he was taking a little bit tougher shots coming off screen rolls and just and just firing. But you know, that's kind of how he can kind of load manage instead of having to attack the Rim at the rate that he needs to. That he could if you wanted to. But I thought that's more of what it was. I thought Capella and you know Collins as well, there's a kind of big, kind of dudes that are the kind of archetype that

was theoretically put on Lebron. They're not going to stop him, but a little bit better. You know, Capella is a big guy who can also protect the rim. Just I don't think they wanted to attack but leron and the fourth seventeen points he looked unfazed to me, like like, I don't like, I don't think he feared this. Like nothing against the Hawgs. Again, I'm really high on them. I just don't think he feared this defense at all, like he knew what he knew. He can get to

his spot at any time. And I was watching that fourth quarter, I was like, man, he just does not care, like he does not fear this Hawgs defense at all. They threw him and he was asking for it. In the post. John Collins, you know, is all up for it, is like you know, in his stands and it's like ready to defend it. Lebron just you know, without a sweat, just two dribbles, back down, step back, fadeaway jumper. Switsch goes back the other way like like it's nothing like

it was a preseason game. Like that's he's like, this is what I do. And that's kind of more what I saw it turned up late obviously had the dunk in transition, but the fadeaway jumpers to me, the jab step pull up jumpers, like that's he was just in a groove. I think he kind of understands that he can get to a spot. And that's more what I saw it. Now, he was able to kind of walk

through this first half. I thought. Defensively though, he was good, Like I thought he was pretty engaged defensively through the full night. I just offensively and the fourth quarter. I think he had thirteen points or something for the first three quarters. In that fourth quarter, just giving the ball on the post, giving ball, you know, high post, let me just back down quick, two dribbles, fadeaway, jumper, jab step jumper. Games over. So that's kind of more what

I saw, at least from him. I thought he closed it out again in the fourth. Yeah, I disagree with you on defense. I thought he mailed in a considerable number. Um. That said, like when he was dialed in defensively tonight, he made plays. Um. But you know, there's there's there's also a really positive way to look through this. Like, you know, you look back at Michael Jordan when he

was with the Wizards. You know, do you think of a typical older player in the league, even Kobe and his you know, a farewell tour Usually for guys who were this late in their career, with this much mileage. It's more of like a oh, I really haven't tonight, so I'm gonna get thirty, you know what I mean.

So for for Lebron to basically try for all of about ten minutes of the last two games, literally, to have tried for all of about ten minutes and to be averaging over thirty on on efficient shooting like there's there's it's it's kind of wild that he can kind of coast his way through a game and put up the numbers that he does. But hey, that's that's lebron Man. He's you know, the first second best player ever. I don't know, maybe that's that's just what this looks like.

He's that thirty three points per game or something for the last ten games out it's insane. It's insane. He's he's carried the team. So yeah, and in in a winning concept, I think over their last I want to say, in their last sixteen games, there um nine and seven if I remember correctly, So I mean there and that's with just that's nine and seven over the last sixteen games. And you've got three and a half games out of Anthony Davis and you and you got all sorts of

COVID suspensions that just completely railroaded this season. And I could point to Brooklyn as a game they very easily could have won. Memphis was a game they very easily could have won. There there were games in that stretch that they very easily could have won. And so I mean, it's it's pretty it's pretty wild. I just I mean, you know, I I as a fan, I get annoyed watching nights like tonight because I'm like, come on, man, like this team is hanging around, like let's just put

him away. But at the same time, like you know, like I I get it, I get it in terms of the dregs of the regular season and keeping your energy, energy level up. But you know, I just hope especially the one thing that worried me a little bit is especially on those shots in the first quarter, he didn't seem to have great lift. I don't know if you noticed that, just like he was he was leaving the

jumper short and he won't getting a great lift. That I hope he's not, like, you know, dealing with an ankle or something like that, because that because that could get a little nervous. But I'm hopeful that that he'll be all right. You know. You know how is with lebron to like it's always like he feeds off of the crowd a little bit. Like he you could tell he got his pep in his step when he had that alley you but it was after he had made a few shots, and I was like, okay, I'm here now.

The same thing happened against Sacramento. He hit back to back threes, and when he hit back to back threees, he was pointing to the crowd mixing, you know, like, oh, he's completely engaged and completely checked into the game. So I mean, I guess we should keep it positive in that regard. I just, I just I just thought it was a little strange as all. Did you have anything else on your list that you wanted to do tonight? Uh? Yeah, last thing. I just want to give a Bradley his flaws.

Man got his contract guaranteed tonight. He gets a lot of crap, I think from Laker fans. You know, he's he's putting different lineups and stuff. I thought he did a great job on Trey Young, like I thought when he picked up his third foul and he went out, I thought that really impacted the game. I thought Trey Young got freed up a little bit. But he's shooting like crazy. Like, I don't know what more you could ask of Badley, So I just want to give him

his flowers. He's been playing really well these last few last few games. He's shooting I think from three now out for the season. Just a professional, right, I think that's what we call him a lot of times. Just a professional guy. Plays hard. You don't have to worry about, you know, his effort or how hard he plays. All that stuff is just you just you just know what you're getting from him. So I just want to give him a shout out there big time, you know, offensive game.

He's picked it up. He's one of the guys that has continued to start. We have a plethora of guards and he continues to just you know, beat all of them out for starting lineup spots. So I just want to give him, give him some credit, ball ball ball, pressure, point of attack, high level guard, and I think that's he's a valuable member to this team. Yeah, he deserves that credit. Man. He was on the verge of being

out of the league. There's a version of that. There's a version of that scenario where the Warriors society to cut him. There, you waive him and because they want to sign Garry Paane Jr. And the Lakers, maybe Kendrick Nunn doesn't get hurt, you know, and and he could be out of the league, and and he gets set up to absolutely fail because he gets thrown in and

all these DeAndre Jordan's lineups, you know, like that. That was one of the weirdest little phenomena of the season, was looking looking at the line up data and be like, man,

every time Avery Bradley's out there, we suck. And then like it's like wait, wait, wait, but what what about when DJ it's not out there, It's like, oh, we're awesome, you know, like you're like, okay, remember we had like remember we had like Rondo Westbrook Bradley forgotten was like Bradley was like the Bradley was like the power forward in one of those laps are some way. It's just it's funny what we've kind of and that's also because

guys are out and stuff. But I think it's funny to kind of see but you see he's striving now for sure. Well that's back to your point, like this is a completely different team, Like I I don't know, yeah, it's just it's just still to me and like I can't get over how many people at points during the season wanted to, you know, point out like there was someone on Twitter I can't remember who it was. It

was like, oh, did Milik Monks save the season. And don't get me wrong, Milik Monk's been awesome, but it's like, no, no, no. What happened is the Lakers have a functional basketball roster now, Like, instead up playing three to four guards with Anthony Davis by himself or with Lebron by himself, we are now playing two or three forwards alongside guards who can guard at the point of attack and shoot, and with Lebron at the helm like we we are running even without

Anthony Davis. We are running far more functional basketball lineup then we were to start the season. And that's directly related to us succeeding. And you know, I don't wanna look man like. The Lakers also didn't bring enough intensity to start the season. They were shitty and training camp they I think they lost every preseason game. In those preseason games, they look blacks of days ago, even when Kendrick numb is playing. So I like, I don't wanna

undersell any of that. The Lakers did not approach this season with the right level of intensity. Frank was all over the place with his lineup decisions to start the year, even when we were healthy. So it wasn't perfect by any stretch, but you could just throw all that away because because we consistently play hard over the over the course of this last month, we've consistently played hard at a completely different level than we did to start the season,

and we're just playing completely different guys. So I mean, and even when Anthony Davis comes back, I think we're going to play a completely different style with Lebron and Nad than we did in years past. So I think I think we all need to kind of like we almost need that Men in Black stick thing where you hit the button and you just see race your memory. We need to just kind of like forget any of

that happened. Obviously there are ramifications with the standings, but this, this team needs to be kind of re evaluated from ground zero at this point. Yep, No, I agree with brand new team. I don't think you can throw all out. But at least I gave us, you know, a lot of data points to kind of point out what does and doesn't work, And obviously DeAndre is the big one that stood out, but I think there's other stuff from

there as well that we kind of learned. Obviously, those three guard line ups, putting russ next to shooting, putting Lebron and Rush together, you know, more small bot line us. But yeah, man, brand new team. I don't want to say brand new season, but it feels like a brand new team. It feels like a brand new team for sure, and hopefully we can you know, Memphis, to me, it feels like what's it called? Like, if you can get

that game, that's great. Just you know, if you can compete in that one out time we have Memphis is legit to me. They're really good team. So if you can get that one, that'd be great about just hoping kind of compete in that one. But yeah, this is a this is a good one, man. We can kind of build off of it. Yeah, it's a good it's a good building block for sure. Memphis will be a challenge, but we can beat them. We just have to play

better than we did last time. Alright, guys, this is going This will not be on Desh right now because it's a weekend. This will be on our podcast feed here in about twenty minutes or so. Roger and I will be back for our normal postgame show on Sunday against Memphis. Thank you as always for the support, and we will see you guys in a couple of days. Thanks, everyone appreciate it.