The volume.
In the NBA, the game can change in an instant, but no matter how the action unfolds, DraftKings Sportsbook has your back. This week, new customers can score one hundred and fifty instantly in bonus bets just for betting five bucks on basketball. Win or lose, you get an instant up. They even have great same game parlays, like in the Celtics Knicks game, you can get the Celtics money line Tatum over twenty six and a half points, Jalen Brown over twenty two and a half points that's at plus
two fifty eight odds. In the Bucks Bulls game, you can get Bucks money line Giannis over twenty eight and a half points in Dame over five and a half assists at plus two to fifty two odds. So many different ways to bet the NBA. Download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app now and use code hoops. That's hops. New customers can get one hundred and fifty instantly in bonus bets for betting just five dollars on basketball only on
DraftKings Sports Book with code hoops. The Crown is Yours gambling problem called one eight hundred Gambler in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text hope and Why to four six seven three sixty nine. In West Virginia, visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. Please play responsibly. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org on
behalf of Boothill, casino and resort in Kansas. Must be twenty one or older in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. See DraftKings dot com slash sportsbook for details and statespecific responsible gambling resources, Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. Terms at sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com slash Basketball terms. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume.
Happy Monday, Everyboday. I hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend. We got a very special guest, mister Jovann Buja, returning to the show Laker fans. He's going to be joining us at least for the next month or so, about once a week to break down all of the storylines surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers. For those of you guys who are not Laker fans, we still
have another show coming out later today. We're gonna be doing a power ranking video where we hit the top ten teams in the league at this point, and then we're also going to do a deep dive on the Los Angeles Clippers, who are a royal ing shit show right now, which will be fun to get into. But we're gonna talk Lakers for a little bit right now. Mister yovonn Bouja, It's very good to see you again. A lot to get into today. Let's start with a tweet that you sent out earlier today referring to Jared
Vanderbilt's impending return. You said that he's been cleared by the medical staff to start ramping up. What else have you heard surrounding that? And if you had to guess a timeline on Vando's return, what would you put right now?
Yeah, I'd be on the conservative side with Vanda looking at one to two weeks right now. If I had to target a return date, I'm looking at either the twenty second or the twenty fifth, so around Thanksgiving. Because you got to remember, he got injured during the first preseason game, so he missed the entirety of the preseason. He's missed the first ten games, is gonna miss again at least I think a few more games, so that
ramp up process it's a pretty vague term. I think the optimism there is that he's been cleared to start to ramp up. But a ramp up can be a few days, it can be a couple of weeks. So I think with the injury luck that the Lakers have had in recent seasons and the way that some of these things have gone, I tend to be more on the conservative end, So I'm looking at probably closer to week and a half to two weeks before Van do is back.
And they're gonna need him. It's funny because he was probably their very best point of attack defender last year. Andy average seven rebounds of the game last year, two very specific issues that the Lakers were having trouble with, and him coming back kind of solves a lot of
their regular season problems. It's funny. I always you got to differentiate between regular season problems and playoff problems, and does Van doos solve a lot of the big picture problems with whatever the potential playoff ceiling is with the Lakers, that's up for debate, but certainly, within the context of the regular season, that dude fixes so many of their problems it's not even funny. And I'm sure they'd like to have him back. But that's not the only injured
Laker right now. Lebron James missed last night's game against the Blazers with essentially what was referred to as like kind of lingering issues with his shin injury that he got with Kevin Durant. Do you think last night's rest for Lebron was more a proactive like kind of like just trying to find days off for him, or do you think he's actually dealing with some sort of issue in that shin.
From my understanding, it is a proactive situation where the Lakers are just trying to be precautionary Lebron. I mean, remember we got to go back to Opening night where Lebron plays twenty nine minutes against the Nuggets. Everybody's freaking out, why did he play so a few minutes? And Darvin Ham, you know, mentions this minutes restriction that they're gonna try and keep him playing twenty eight to thirty minutes a night,
but since then that has gone out the window. Lebron has played thirty two or more minutes in every game except for the Houston game, which was a thirty four point blowout loss. He played twenty seven minutes in that game. So if you look at the workload, the Lakers have had to rely on Lebron a lot more than I think they initially anticipated, in part due to injuries, due to several players underperforming offensively, and really just the offense
cratering when he's not on the floor. So I think they viewed this opportunity against Portland and you know, already a lot team that looks like a lottery team, but then you add in Scoot Henderson's out, Anthony Simons is out, Robert Williams is out. So that was a game that the Lakers identified as we should still be able to beat this team even if Lebron isn't playing, and it was pretty close that they almost didn't escape with the win,
but they ended up winning the game. Lebron got some rest and now he's got a couple of days off until they have a tough back to back against Memphis and Sacramento.
Yeah, it's interesting because if he was dealing with some sort of lingering thing from the shin, I don't think he would have looked as good as he did down the stretch against the Suns, Like he more or less looked like Lebron in the second half of that game. So I'm not really concerned about it in the big picture.
The reality is that in the modern NBA, there's just not a lot of nights that you circle as like, hey, maybe we can get this one without Lebron, and like that was literally the perfect one if you really, like, kind of after a game where he's particularly a sore and before an important n Sason tournament game and a back to back, like it just kind of seemed like the perfect circumstances. I wasn't even the slightest bit worried
about it when I saw that news. The biggest story surrounding the Lakers this past week was Austin Reeves being moved to the bench, a move that I thought, you know, was, at least the motivation behind it made sense in the sense that like the Lakers starting lineup was struggling consistently, and the backcourt in particular, was a driving force behind those struggles.
But the.
Team is kind of pitching it as like he's our Manu Genoa. Believe shout out to Logan Swayin had of content here at the volume you basically coined that term, but like it's being portrayed as essentially this big picture san Antonio spurs, We're gonna empower him the way we
did Manu kind of thing. But what have you heard behind the scenes behind like the reasoning behind moving Austin, whether or not it's a permanent thing or a temporary thing, and just how he and some other people in the locker might have reacted to that change.
Yeah, well, I was very surprised by it, and in speaking with people around the team, a lot of.
People were surprised by it.
It seems like it was a decision that Darvin Ham kind of kept close to the vest and really tight within his coaching staff, and he made the decision after the Houston game, you know, as they were heading over to Phoenix, you met with Chris gent, one of his lead assistants, and they kind of talked it through, came to that decision, and then he and Austin met up in Phoenix at the hotel, had about a thirty minute conversation and kind of talk through it, and I think
the Lakers, if you look at it now, like the Lakers are kind of doing a half measure where they clearly had to split up D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reeves.
That back court just was not working if you look at all the lineup data and just the eye tests, like those two guys have such similar strengths and weaknesses, and you know, I think a lot of the problems that they were having defensively and on the defensive glass in particular, kind of stemmed from just having Austin and Delo out there and those guys not really being able to, you know, hit guys in the paint or rotate the proper rotate properly or whatnot.
So I think they had to split that back court up.
But it's kind of a half measure in my opinion, just because if you look at it, Delo has been starting games, but Austin's been closing, And to me, it's like you're trying to keep both sides happy, where you're like, Okay, Delo has been a starter his entire career. We're going to keep him in the starting group. Austin, you're gonna come off the bench, but now you're going to close games. So in the Phoenix game, Austin played the entirety of
the fourth quarter, Delo didn't play. Then in the Portland game, Austin checked in at the five minute mark for del Delo sat the rest of that. So on the one hand, you're still seeing that, you know, actions speak louder than words, and the Lakers are saying we trust Austin running the offense and crunch time more than we trust Delo, and that kind of shows their commitment and confidence to Austin.
But to me, it's it's still like, if you had to split them up, I would go with the guy who's better, who's your third best player, who's been better over the entirety of kind of this tandem together, who is better in the playoffs, who Darvin Ham said as a future All Star, Like, I just don't really see trying to split it up this way where you're trying to keep Delo happy by keeping him the starter, But it's almost kind of this token starter position where when
it comes down to crunch time, you're gonna still split them up.
And you're going to lean towards Austin.
So I think, you know, also from talking to people, there was a sense that Austin would take a benching better than Delo would and that, you know, this was a concern the Lakers had in the Western Conference Finals against Denver, where Delo was kind of unplayable on both sides of the ball, and it took till game four for them to really feel comfortable benching him and just saying, hey, like this is our last resort. If he doesn't take it, well,
we're about to get swept anyway. So I think that was another sense too, was that Austin's a good soldier. You know, he stayed professional throughout discussing the demotion. I know they're calling it a realignment, calling it a demotion, and you know, so I think that was another sense too, was Dilo has been playing slightly better.
I think that gap is shrinking. But it was also kind.
Of politically trying to figure out how can we keep both sides happy, and so far it's been Delo starting and Austin closing.
Yeah, I think that that's what's so funny about the manor Genobili thing is like the important context to why Manor Genobli came off the bench was Tony Parker was a better player than him, Like that, Tony Parker was second team All NBA. Tony Parker was a guy that was, you know, essentially just a better option in the starting
lineup than Austin Reeves was. Now, I think there's there's it's it's it's important to acknowledge that that's probably the reason that Austin's younger doesn't have his you know, obviously doesn't have the pedigree that D'Angelo Russell did coming out of college. Obviously it was this you know, big time score out of Ohio State. It was a lottery pick.
It's a totally different vibe in terms of their kind of like ego that they're bringing into the situation, right, and I think that that obviously is going to natural make Austin kind of an easier target there for lack
of a better term. Now, I do think that there's it's important to acknowledge why this isn't working because more or less, these two guys were the back court last year and it didn't seem like a problem until they ran into that Denver matchup, and you know, you and I talked about this after Media Day, and I think it's it's safe to say that the Del Austin backcourt was destined to be broken up at the deadline because of that Denver series and the realities of the limitations
of those two as a top tier like playoff duo in the back court. But they should have been fine in the regular season, and so let's like there's a reason why it hasn't been working out, And I think I think a big part of it is, like Austin hasn't been as good defensively as he was last year. Now there's there's context there, like he's in general been in a little bit of a funk to start the season.
He had a really long off season with a lot of mileage on his legs, And maybe it's one of those things where like as the season progresses, he'll get back into better shape. But he hasn't been as good. He hasn't been as good on the glass, he hasn't been as good at the point of attack, he hasn't been as good in his rotations. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year. Now, I don't think basketball players just magically get bad at basketball overnight
like that. I think he's just dealing with some stuff and he will be fine, but that duo won't be able to play together in the regular season until you know, the two of them kind of start holding up better there. I do think Vanderbilt coming back helps a lot in the sense that he kind of takes on a lot of the dirty work responsibilities that you expect from the back court. He is a primary point of attack guy, excellent defensive rebounder in a way that Torreon Prince is not.
So that's the next question here. When Vando comes back, do you think Austin goes back into the starting lineup at that point or do you think they slot Torrian Prince at the two. What do you think is going to be the look when Vando comes back.
My understanding is it's TBD right now.
I think the Lakers are still in evaluation period with how they view Austin coming off the beat be first starting. I do expect Vando to go back into the starting group. I think he'll start over either Ham or Torrian, which is kind of a crazy statement to make with the way that Cam has come on these last two games in particular, but I think it's been about three or four games now that he started to play better, even
if his shot hasn't been reliable. But so right now, I would Peggett as Delo, probably Torrian Vando lebron in Ady as the projected starting lineup once Vando is back, But a lot of things could change, Like I think Torrion hasn't shot the ball well. He's shooting thirty one point four percent on threes this season. That was a guy that coming in what was a near forty percent career three point shooter. So if he continues to struggle, I think he probably has to move to the bench.
And then you know, who knows, maybe Vando is the guy that you know. I was talking to someone this morning and they were saying, maybe Vando is that the kind of the bridge to making the Austin Delo back court work again. Where he handles the top perimeter assignments.
He gives you that energy and athleticism and length in the front court, you know, a good defensive rebounder and just someone who I mean we saw at work in the regular season where that five sume was really good together and I think they were about plus ten or or plus eleven points per one hundred possessions off the top of my head, so I think Vando. I mean again, we'll see when he returns, We'll see how guys are
playing up until that point. But I mean, so far, the Lakers are two and zero with Austin coming off the bench. I think he has played well in that role. Cam has played well in the starting group. But I think longer term and just big picture, as you were hinting at, if D'Angelo Russell isn't here past the trade deadline, then this is all kind of for not where now you're gonna have to I mean, I assume if you're trading Delo, you're probably moving Austin back into the starting lineup.
So it's like, I mean, Austin is the guy who's signed for three more seasons.
He's gonna be.
Here past the trade deadline in LA. Like I just I think it's a mistake benching him personally. I just I understand the logic behind it, but I disagree with it, and I know several people within the team disagree with it, and I don't know.
I think they're an interesting spot with it.
But I think Bando is going to go back to starting, and it comes down to probably Torrian or cam for the fifth starter.
As of right now, I've kind of liked the big looks in general when Torrian's been at the two or Camrad has just been at the two. I think in the big picture, that's kind of what the team looks like is basically Torrian at the two plus whatever player they get back for d Lo, or maybe Torrian at the three with whatever player they get back from Delo if it's a guard. But like that kind of to me. I mentioned this to you in a text message the
other day, and I think it's the truth. But like when you look at this Austin situation, when you look at in general, just the way that the starting lineup has looked when you go back to the Denver Nuggets series. We kind of said this on media, but I feel more certain about it now. I think D'Angelo Russell getting traded is one of the safest bets in the NBA
this season. It's a simple question of like if you can't play him alongside your third best player in the back court and you have to bring him off the bench, and if you look at the lineup data and it's like whenever one of them's on but the others off is literally when the team has been playing at their best, like and that goes for both of them. Even the d Lo led units without Austin have been really good, so like, it's pretty clear that that's the direction that
they're going. So I guess my question for you is it does have you heard anything coming from the Laker front office that they are as aware of this issue and that they also see that as the inevitable destination. And if so, do you know what archetype of player that they're looking at? Are they looking for like big fish?
And we saw that report come out the other day that the Lakers might be looking at a star or do you think they're looking at more a higher quality role player upgrade for that to two or three spot.
It's been pretty quiet on the trade front, I think since the beginning of camp. But when they re signed d Lo and it came out that he had declined his basically his no trade clause, you know, part of a little CBA wrinkle. When you sign a one plus one with a player option, you traditionally get a no trade clause for you know, that first year and with
the new CBA. They tweaked it where you know, you could decline that, and I think the Lakers and dal kind of came to an agreement of we're going to give you more than you could get on the open market, because I don't think he had much of a market this offseason, and had he left the Lakers, he probably would have had to sign for the full mid level exception, which would have been about twelve twelve and a half million dollars starting out.
So Lakers decided, hey, we're going to give you some more money.
We're going to give you seventeen and a half over two years, or you know, seventeen and a half annually over two years, and then you're going to waive this so we can trade you at the trade deadline if we find the right move. So I don't think they're fully committed to trading Delo. I think there is a scenario in which they figure this out, it works really well,
and they just decide to ride it. And like, I think, really this was an opportunity for them to move him to a bench role potentially where it could have just been like Austin's the starting point guard, Delo is the sixth man and I think that would kind of make more sense in a playoff setting where if you're playing Denver and you have Delo coming off the bench, like he can play twelve to fifteen minutes if he's not playing that well. But it's harder to do that if he's the starter and Austin is.
Coming off the bench.
So I again, that's where I don't really I feel like there's a bit of a cognitive dissonance there with the benching of Austin when it feels like a temporary measure. But in terms of guys that they're looking at, I think the Kyrie rumor is going to pop up again come trade deadline.
Now.
Dallas is off to a great start. They're eight and two, so I don't see why they would trade Kyrie. Yeah, you know, and that probably looks like something like Dilo and Ruey and a pick for Kyrie. And I don't know, like, I don't see why Dallas does that right now unless they start struggling, and then I think there's gonna be a Chicago fire sale.
So you know, Alex Cruso is obviously a Laker.
Favorite, but Zach Lavine, de Marta rose In those have been two guys the Lakers have been interested, have been interested in for several seasons, now you know Damar, even going back to the Toronto days, but but also in San Antonio. So I look at those maybe one of those three as a target for LA come the trade deadline or maybe sooner, depending on when Chicago decides to blow it up. So I think Kyrie will come up again,
depending on what happens with Dallas. But I think if Chicago has a fire sale, I think the Lakers are going to be calling them and trying to get in that mix.
Yeah, it's a way different set of circumstances because last year it was like they needed to make a trade just to be competent in the regular season, and like the Russell Westbrook situation was tenuous. There was bad body language, there was you know, all of these like Zapruder film type things where like people's like, oh, look, Russ gave a weird look to Lebron across the arena or whatever, you know, like.
That sort of something with some of the dynamics to each other exactly.
And so, and then there was that weird clip the other day where before the tip off of the Clippers game, he was kind of like avoiding the hello handshakes at the at the start, and like that's the thing. Like it was just a totally different vibe. And that's the thing. Like, the Lakers are not a bad team right now in the big picture of the of this of this regular season. So it's not like, oh, my gosh, they need to make a trade. They need to make a trade. It's
just it's inevitable that they're going to. Like, there are three teams this year that I look at as really high probabilities to make a trade, even though they're already good, like the Lakers. I think the Milwaukee Bucks, same type of thing, need to upgrade that two spot in some way shape or form into a rotation level like starting level, defensive, rebounding guard right. And then the Philadelphia seventy six ers.
I think they know they're a good regular season team, but I think they know they probably need one upgrade if they're gonna have any chance of contending with the with the Bucks and the Celtics and the big picture in the playoffs because of the inevitable playoff shortcomings that Joel Embiide has, right, So it's important to differentiate here. Jovan and I are not saying like the Lakers need to make some big trade because it's like all hell
is breaking loose. This is just big picture playoff ceiling stuff. I think the Cruso Derozen package is one that I
find interesting. You know, I really like Rui Hachimura, but he kind of falls into a similar space with Dlo where like there's some issues with specific playoff matchups where it's like, because Ruy basically plays the same position as Lebron, there are certain matchups where you're like, oh man, we really need him Memphis and Denver, right, and then there's another matchup against Golden State where you're like, yeah, we can't really use him in this series, you know what
I mean. And that kind of inherently makes him somebody that you start to look at. Is if the target package required more salary filler, you've probably consider him there, even though he's a great player. The other guy I was looking at was Dorian Finney Smith with the Brooklyn Nets.
I like him as an option that you could get without having to include Ruy Hotcha Mura that basically brings in a good catch and shoot player that can guard at the point of attack, just basically like a better version of Torrian prints at the three that you can go to in those specific situations. But I think I do think it's going to happen. It's just a question of what they intend to go after it, and I think going after a star would be a huge mistake.
I think Lebron looks great. I think that the late game offense has been excellent. I don't see the need for a star more than I see the need for just upgrades at very specific position groups with the role players. So as we move on to kind of talking more x's and o's, let's do a quick little rundown on how the season started. Lakers five and five, seventh in the Western Conference right now, twenty third in offense, second in defense, twenty fifth in rebounding. They're grabbing just forty
seven point four percent of available rebounds. Once again last night in the in the Blazers games, just way too many long rebounds that in fifty to fifty balls that are going to the other team. Another kind of concerning stat in the standings, the Lakers are one in five against teams that are five hundred or better, but they
are four to h against below five hundred teams. So as we move into the second portion of the show, what we're gonna do is Jovanna and I are going to go over the biggest flaws that we see with this particular team so far through ten games. We're gonna go one out of time, Yovan, So I want you to give me the first item on your list of the biggest flaws with this team. Will kind of break it down from there.
Well. In flashing red bright lights, three point shooting.
And it's funny because on paper, I think many people expected this to be the best three point shooting supporting cast that the Lakers have had in the Lebron eighty era. And you add Christian Wood, you add Tori Prince, you had Gabe Vincent, but the Lakers. You might have to cover your ears, folks, But twenty ninth in three point makes, thirtieth in three point attempts and twenty ninth in three point percentage. So they're a bottom two three point shooting team.
And I don't care. You know, they can fix some of these other issues that they have, but if they're a bottom two three point shooting team, they're not gonna win a championship, let alone. Potentially a playoff series with their current level of shooting, and of course we've seen the last couple of years they've gotten out to slow starts from a shooting perspective, So they're going to shoot better.
It's kind of inevitable. But you know what once that that I have constantly referenced over the last two years that I think matters in the modern MBA is that since twenty eleven, which is an arbitrary delineation, but for me, is kind of when the shift started to small ball
and you know, heavy three point shooting offenses. So starting with Dallas Mavericks group, every champion has ranked in the top ten in three point makes attempts or percentage at least one of those three, often two of those, and sometimes even three of those with some of those Warriors teams that the Cavs teams. So three point shooting, I mean, I'm not breaking news here, but like is a very
important thing in the modern era. And I don't think it's good enough for the Lakers to be fifteenth or eighteenth in some of those categories, Like they got to be close to the top ten at least in one of them. And so you know, the one exception over the last thirteen years has been the twenty twenty Lakers, but that team had the best defense in the league and two top five, if not top three guys, So the Lakers have kind of defied that. I guess they
have a recent history of that. But to me, this group has to shoot much better than they have and barring you know, them making a trade that really upgrades the shooting, I think this is an issue that like, again,
they're going to shoot better. Maybe they're in the top twenty, maybe are in the top eighteen in some of these you know categories, but for them to be top or bottom two in percentage really attempts is the one where like you can control your attempts, you can't control your makes, you can't control your percentage.
But like, they should be shooting more threes than they are.
I know part of that is due to them not shooting well, but I just look at it as like the process isn't correct either, where like you got to shoot more threes, and I think that's something that they have to address first with Darvin's offense and just kind of the style of play that they're playing, but potentially at the trade deadline, like, I think this group probably needs some more shooting.
Yeah, those two pieces at the end are are are going to be the interesting, you know, progression of the season, whether or not they make some sort of change in the offense and whether or not a trade ends up actually kind of beefing up their ability to generate quality threes because the real problem, in my opinion, is that
they're not generating quality threes. The Lakers attempt just fourteen point one wide open threes per game, which is where the defenders at least six feet away, and that ranks twenty ninth in the NBA. And like when you when you look at the shooting percentages, like there are a few guys that are shooting around their career norms like Christian Wood, Ruby Hatchamuri Lebron, James cam Reddish. Those are
those guys are all shooting about what you'd expect. None of them are shooting better than you'd expect, but they're all shooting about what you'd expect. But then a lot of they're like like historically good shooters are shooting Portland, like Austin Reeves thirty two percent from three this year. He was forty percent last year. Forty four percent in the playoffs. Dangel Russell twenty nine percent. He was forty
one percent last year. Torrian Prince, he's a career thirty seven percent, and he's shooting thirty one percent this year. Max Christie's one for ten on the season. He was forty two percent last year. Gabe Vincent one for fourteen on the season. He was thirty eight percent last year. So do I expect some guys to start making shots that they've been missing so far this season?
Yeah, the process plays a role.
And so this is where I wanted to ask you about the offense because essentially one of the big one of the big storylines kind of surrounding the team this they've gone away from their spread, pick and roll, spread post up type of offense, kind of a brute force type of offense that they ran last year, and they're running more of like a five out read and react kind of like dribble handoff, like multiple players, multiple actions, lots of motion taking place on the floor, and it
seems to have specifically disrupt disrupted their spacing and pick and roll like it just seems like guys are getting in each other's way and they're just a little Now it's gotten better over the course of the last few games. They have gone back to a little bit more of the spread, pick and roll stuff they did last year. Have you heard, because I do think that that plays a role in the three point shooting. I think people get in trouble when they start to expect, like, oh,
we'll eventually start making shots. It's like, yeah, there's a luck element in shooting, but there's a huge process element in shooting, in my opinion. So have you heard any buzz surrounding any sort of discontent within the locker room surrounding the offensive approach to this point in the season.
No, but I think there's a healthy level of frustration with the results. I think naturally, you know, they don't want to be twenty second in offense, and they don't want to be again twenty ninth in three point shooting percentage, Like that's not what they came into. Like, if anything, on paper, this group looked better offensively than defensively, and I think it's really been the opposite, where again, they've kind of been better defensively the games that they've won.
They've been able to, you know, lock down defensively, play bigger lineups and kind of figure it out and muck it up and win games that way. So I think, as you pointed out, I think that there's a process problem here. But also with a redn't react type offense and a five out offense like that takes reps, that takes continuity, and I think with having certain guys out, you know, several guys have been in and out of the lineup, not really the principal guys for the most part.
You know, Lebron has missed one game now, Eighties missed one game now. Austin and Dilo have been available for all ten games games, but Vandos missed all ten games, Gabes miss six, Rui's miss four, Torrian's missed too. So you've had several prominent guys within the rotation in and out of the lineup or just out of it altogether.
And I think it's kind of been a process of just figuring out, like you have to know how certain guys like to play, how certain guys like to move, what are they going to do off the ball?
What are they going to do? Like, how does you know does this guy like to reject the screen? How does this guy like to roll?
Like all that stuff comes down to timing and continuity and reps. They haven't had a lot of practice time. That's just kind of the nature of the modern MBA is, you know a lot of times you're figuring this stuff out on the fly and games. The Lakers have had several instances in which they've had, you know, walkthroughs and shoot around trying to implement some of this stuff, but it's just it's hard to do on the fly compared
to actually figuring it out. So I do I do give them some grace and say, you know, I think there is an element of just everyone's kind of adjusting. I think some of this stuff is affected Austin and Dilo, and that's why that partnership hasn't necessarily worked the way that it did last season.
But I think for them, they want to give it.
Darvin has constantly said give it twenty games and then let's reevaluate it. So I think what we'll see what the next ten games look like, and if they continue to struggle, I think they have to potentially look at going back to more of last seasons for out offense. And I think that suits who it wasn't great last year obviously they still struggled offensively, but we at least saw the ceiling of that team can make a Western
Conference finals. Like right now, I think the offense has been so bad that if this continues for another five to ten games, like, you really do have to reevaluate it well.
And that specifically is the issue that I have with it is when you look at the bigger picture, the guys that it seems to be negatively impacting the most are guys that you're going to need in a big way towards the tail end of the season. Like d'An Angelo Russell has actually been a better player in the regular season so far this year than Austin, even though you and I both agree Austin is a better player, but in this specific offensive approach, d Lo just seems
more comfortable. I think a big part of it is his strength. He's stronger than Austin right now, so he has a little bit better time getting to his spots for his little, short, little mid range jump shots. And I think like Austin in particular is a guy that is like kind of an old school let him cook type of scorer in the sense that you kind of have to give him space and he needs he needs to be able to take seven or eight dribbles in a pick and roll to get to the spot that
he wants to get to. Austin can also play excellent off the ball, but in his on ball reps that's kind of when he's at his best. And I haven't really been pleased with how Anthony Davis has been involved in the offense, specifically in the five out looks, and so that that has been concerning that he's already completely abandoned the jump shot after basically using it, you know, intentionally,
and talking about using it intentionally in the preseason. So I would say that, like when two of your best three play players seem to be the opposite of empowered within your offensive look, it's time to potentially consider altering it. I have seen them at least within the the you know, in the context of when Austin's on the floor with his own unit and de Lo's off, they do start to run more of that kind of spread, pick and
roll stuff they did last year. So I do I think, and in the big picture, I think it's important to have multiple looks and to be able to go to different offensive approaches depending on what the matchups dictating things along those lines. But at the end of the day, this is my main concern with the five out offense.
If you look at the teams that do it well, teams like Golden State Sacramento, for instance, they have in Sacramento incredible downhill pressure guys like Malik Munk and Darn Fox right, and then in Golden State they have like guys that come flying off a screen shooting love doing so and hit those shots at a high rate. And the Lakers kind of don't have either of those, and so to me, it doesn't it's not necessarily the best
fit for this particular group of guys. They have methodical, unathletic guards that need space to get to go to work, and then they have old school like power players that also need to operate with a cleared side for a post up so that they can make easy reads and things along those lines. So I am curious to see in the big picture how long they stick with it.
But I do agree with Darvin Ham's approach in the sense like give it some time, like let's see if they can figure it out in the meantime, And I would argue that they should still have been winning at a higher rate even with the offensive struggles, just through better kind of effort and commitment in other areas. Now that we're we're kind of we've hit the three point shooting element of it. What's the next item on your list? As one of the biggest flaws we've seen in the Lakers so far this year.
Defense, And I think this in part will be not necessarily solved, but at least improved with Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt coming back. I think those are probably their two best perimeter defenders aside from obviously Anthony Davis. So I think we haven't seen the best perimeter defense from
this group in terms of just their potential. But I still look at it like I think a lot of their issues have even the Portland game last night, Like I think the Lakers again escaped with the win, and yeah, I thought eighty and Bruie had had some nice defensive plays, and you know, I think Cam has done a really good job on the perimeter. But still like I feel like guards can kind of get whatever shot they want against the Lakers.
It feels like, and I.
Just I don't know, I think there's something with the point of attack defense hasn't been great, that the pick and roll defense, in my opinion, hasn't been great, and I just think, you know, I really would have liked to have seen how the Lakers would have fared against Phoenix had Devin Booker been available in either one of those games. I think he would have probably torched them with the way that their their guard.
Defense has been.
So I just look at it as again, I think that's part of the reason why they had to split the d Low Austin pairing up was both of those guys have been minus defenders up to this point in the season, And I just look at it as we had talked about it before the season, you know, early in training camp of premier defense is arguably the biggest concern with this roster. And again, you plug in Vando, but that comes with its own offensive concerns of that's
another non shooter that you're plugging in there. Teams are gonna sag off of him, They're going to load up the paint. So I think there's no like Gabe is one guy that I look at is okay, he's a plus shooter even with the one for fourteen three point shooting, and I think you've seen some good things from him at the point of attack. Definitely a downgrade from Dennis, and I think they really missed Dennis. That's been clear
through the first ten games. But I just I think the perimeter defense is some It has been pretty shaky at best, and I look at that as something where you mentioned Dorian Finney Smith. I really like that name. Royce O'Neill also another guy in Brooklyn, Like those are a couple of guys that like three and d Ish basically three and d wings that could plug some of those holes. But I think Cam's been solid. I think Torrian's had some moments, although he fouls a lot and
is a little bit undersized in certain matchups. I think Chris, I mean, Christian Wood held his own against KD for that fourth quarter, but like, I still don't think that's a sustainable h you know, solve there. So I think it's it's a lot on ad shoulders and he's played, I mean, he's what top six or seven in minutes right now, basically has played every game, and they're just asking they're putting a lot on his shoulders. I think
that's unsustainable as well. So for me, it's it's the perimeter defense and just how they figure out the right lineups and combinations. But I do think it will get better once gave in vandor back.
Yeah, if you actually list out the Lakers minutes total minutes played this year and you get past the first four guys, which is Austin, Dilo, Lebron, and ad who lead the Lakers in minutes, the next two are redicatory in prints, and I think that's a pretty strong indicator of what Darvin Ham sees from the rest of the roster and their needs. You know, like you're not You're not like I would argue those are not your fifth and sixth best players, but they're the guys getting those minutes.
And again, like I think, I so I kind of tie these things together because I put perimeter defense on on this list, but I reference it as perimeter athleticism and defense and just kind of everything associated with that.
Like the what what the Lakers do not have in their current rotation because of the Van do injury is a top tier NBA athlete who has a high motor and because they don't have that, and like this was crazy, like Cam Reddish is rebounding at the highest rate of his career since his second season and getting steals at the highest rate of his career. And it's a big
part of that is like they're empowering this kid. It's like you're one of like you're like the only dude we have right now who's available, who's a top tier athlete that can do this job, Like just so just go do it. They're basically pointing him and shooting him, and he's doing a really great job within that role. I think I think Cam Reddish succeeding the way he is is a testament to Cam, but it also is
a testament to what this roster needs. And you're actually seeing how like a player that is considered essentially like a journeyman in the NBA at this point is playing some of the best basketball of his career because his specific skill set fits what this roster does not have. And if you go back through NBA history, pretty much every single championship team has a high motor, top tier athlete.
You know, if you look at Bruce Brown last year, Aaron Gordon last year, you go back to Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton the second with the Golden State Warriors, and you go back to Giannisontenacoopo and Drew Holliday on the twenty twenty one Bucks and obviously the Lakers. It's like, at this phase in Lebron and Anthony Davis' career, you have to have a high motor athlete around them, and I think that kind of helps you in multiple ways.
It helps you in the point of it tag defense assignment kind of like staggering and making sure guys are kind of guarding matchups they can handle. But it's also big on the rebounding piece. We mentioned the Lakers have been a horrible rebounding team to start this year, and a big part of that is they lose every fifty to fifty ball, every long rebound goes to a bigger,
better athlete. And so I think that to me is why like I look at that specific type of upgrade is necessary and why I think going after a star is so foolish. We've seen this again with the Suns.
We've seen it again with the Clippers just recently. Like when you bring in a star when you already have stars, there's a diminishing return on what you get on the third star, and in a lot of cases, what you really just need is dudes that can help make the stars jobs easier by taking that workload off of their plate. So I'm one hundred percent with you on that page.
I think I think obviously the deadline has some potential to fix that problem, and I think with the assets that they have available, they will be able to make that upgrade. But I think it's gonna be really interesting to see what they do before the deadline, because they need to, Like again, Dangel Russell can't be traded until January fifteenth, and you know, shout out to d low if he knows he's going to be traded, and that more or less has been communicated to him as like
a high degree of possibility. Right, He's been a professional, he has been a great leader, he's been mentoring some of the younger players on the roster. He is staying mentally engaged, and he's playing hard. Like I like, I actually have been so impressed by D'Angelo Russell this entire season, just with the way he's handled all that. But there is a degree of urgency within this like that until January fifteenth, that this group needs to find out how
to do a better job. What, in your opinion, is the best way for the Lakers to manage this weakness in the short term.
Well, I think Van Doo coming back is gonna help, But I think you got to go with the bigger lineups. And I recently actually you know that this morning, how a piece go up state of the Lakers ten observations through ten games, And one of the things I looked at was the front courts and all the different front court pairings that had at least one of Lebron and Ad in the lineup, because of course that's kind of
gonna be your foundation. You can have some odd lineups of Christian Wood, Jackson Hayes and like Torrian Prince, but I don't think that's something you're going to see when it actually matters. And it's clear that the bigger front courts have just been better. And if you look at the net differential on cleaning the glass, like the Lakers play better when they have some combination of Anthony Davis and Christian Wood, Anthony Davis and Jackson Hayes, Anthony Davis
and Ruey Hatchimora, like the bigger lineups. And I'll take egg on my face, like I was against the two big lineups entering the season, I didn't think they made sense. Like even to this day, I still think Anthony Davis is a five, and he's kind of been the five in those lineups more so than not.
But Christian Wood has exceeded expectations.
I think he's held out reasonably defensively, like you don't want him as your primary rim protector. And Darvin has tied his minutes largely to Ad and Jackson Hayes for that reason. But I think he's added some length. He's a good weak side shot blocker. When AD's contesting a shot, you know Christian will come with the second level of
contesting or he'll just vacuum up defensive rebounds. That I think in that Phoenix game in particular, that was why the Lakers won that game, was Phoenix was killing them on the offensive glass. Christian Wood comes in and he helps hold down the fort. So I just look at Lakers have played better with size. I think they have to go back to that being their full time identity. And we haven't seen the three guard lineups because Gabe
Vincent's been out. I'm sure he was playing. We would see some d Lo Gabe Austin just because as we know Darvin tends to like those lineups, so, but I think that's not going to work with this current group. With the way that they've been giving up defensive rebounds, They've been susceptible to cuts and just kind of energy plays that you can't I mean, part of that has to just be guys being locked in and focused and
giving maximum effort. I think the effort has been poor at times, and that's been a little bit disappointing if you're the Lakers. But part of it is just size. And if you have Christian Wood, Lebron, James, and Ruey Hachimora out there together, that's like three dudes six ' nine and above. With Lebron and Ruey you get a
level of force and athleticism. With Christian Wood, you get a bunch of size and length, and like, it's harder to grab off into rebounds when those guys are in the paint compared to going eighty Torrian Prints and Cam Reddish or you know, just one of those guys being in there in a three guard lineup. So for me, it's it's clear this group has played bigger, has played better bigger, and that's something that they really need to lean into more than I think they have up to this point.
Yeah, again, like if you don't try to outplay people in an area that you are undermanned, Like if you can't beat guys to the basketball with straight line speed, then you need to beat them up high, and so like it's a great it's a great way to look at it in the sense that like when they have three dudes that are six nine in taller and excellent defensive rebounds like Lebron James, Christian Wood and Anthony Davis on the on the floor at the same time, they're
gonna win a lot that they may lose the occasional long rebound, but they are gonna get every damn rebound that's around the rim just because of how how big they are.
And I kind of I.
Agree with you, and and honestly, like it's gonna require difficult things like doing more staggering of Austin and Dilo, which they're already doing. But it's clear in terms of the emergency stop gap until January fifteenth, they basically have to slot in order to compete physically, someone like Reddish Aratorium prints at the two, and I think I think that's gonna be essentially their their formula until they get
deeper down the line. Essentially like we can't compete with teams in straight line speed, but we can compete with teams with our overall size because of what Christian would ended up being. And like again, Christian we said this in our in our Media Day pod, but basically Christian Wood is a zero risk proposition in the sense that, like he was a veteran minimum contract, obviously there were
some potential downsides. Everyone's like, oh, he can't guarden pick and roll, he can't guarden pick and roll, and that is true. When he's been the primary rim protector guarding
and pick and roll. He's been flambathed like that that goes without saying, but he's actually been excellent help side defense situations and he's had some interesting on ball reps against switches and then like kind of little niche assignments for three four possessions at a time, or he'll guard like Kevin Durant or something like that, and he's proven as that kind of backside guy, essentially the lowman behind Anthony Davis or the lowman behind Jackson Hayes to be
a really helpful player. And when you combine that with him basically allowing them offensively to operate in that true kind of like you know, true four out one in spacing or five out spacing with a second big on the floor. He's been a home run in that regard. But the question becomes like, are you going to be able to play Christian Wood next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis for an entire postseason run? And it's probably not.
It's probably gonna be more of a matchup dependent kind of thing, which keeps bringing us back to the original crux of the issue, which is like you gotta have another vert like like straight line top tier athlete at the two or three that can compete in a lot of these situations and help them win more of those battles. Did you have anything else on your list of biggest flaws? Those are really the only two that I put in. Obviously they're the three point shooting in the perimeter athleticism.
Obviously they're both very complicated issues, but those are the only two I had. Did you put anything else down?
Yeah, I mean, I think a subcategory of the premier athleticism is what we were just talking about. The defensive rebounding has been awful, but I think that like the perimeter defense and the defensive rebounding kind of are both subcategories of the lack of perimeter athleticism. Other than that, no,
I think like those are the two biggest things. I mean, I think the jump shooting in general and that kind of starts to stem into some of the three point shooting, like has been an issue, and I think this team continues to just be at its best living in the paint. But I would say, I mean, maybe just the offense overall, that that would be kind of the third thing for me would just be the five out offense and how stagnant it has been and just kind of janky at times.
But other than that, I think that the three point shooting and the perimeter defense and rebounding to me, have been kind of the two main themes that have translated into each game that have ultimately hurt this team and kind of caused them to play behind for the most part.
Well, that perimeter athleticism piece, I think will help with the offense piece as well, because like again, everyone thinks of rim pressure something that has to come from the ball handler. It's not necessarily the case, like you that straight line athlete just in random transition pushes can cause
havoc and bring multiple bodies into the paint. There's you know, the Mavericks have been using Derek Jones like this a lot, where they'll kind of position him on the weak side wing and he'll just catch and rip to the basket really hard instead of catching and shooting because he's such a freak athlete that just when he catches and rips,
everyone kind of coalesces around the paint anyway. And so there, I think just having a really good straight line athlete on the floor next to their core four guys would go a long way towards just generating higher quality shots. And that's kind of why I put perimeter athleticism is kind of a vague term because I think I think in general that helps in so many different ways, especially in the modern MBA with how things are spaced out. What do you think, obviously this has been a disappointing
start right five and five? I think I till Logan asked me at the beginning of the season to make a guest based on their first twelve games since they went to and ten last year, and I said they'd go seven and five, And I think that's actually on the table as a possibility if they beat Memphis on
Tuesday and then they win on Wednesday. But I still think through ten games that if I think if you gave truth serum to every Laker in that locker room and asked him and said, are you disappointed or you know, happy with how the start of the season went, I think most of them would say they're disappointed. So like, with that as kind of the context, what would you say is your biggest silver lining that you've picked away from this team at this point?
Look, I'm feeling optimistic, so I will give you two silver linings. One, I think this team has played pretty terrible for the first ten games, and the fact that they're five and five to me is a win. Like I think they played at It was funny after the seventh game Darvin, he was answering a question and he was kind of like, you know, we're we could easily be six and one right now, and we're clearly not a one in six team, And like, I disagree with that.
I think the way that they've played, like, to me, they've played more like a two and eight or three and seven team than a team that's like seven and three or eight and two like they've had, like they're five and two in games that have gone into crunch time, and that alone might be its own silver lining of like this team's resolved, Like four of their five wins have come after trailing by double digits in the first quarter and in some cases double digits in the second half.
So like this team has showed a resolve and just a kind of a calmness within the chaos that even if they get down, they have a slow start, they can still come back and win a game. So I think the fact that they're five and five despite again you know bottom, I mean their bottom six in that rating, their bottom two and three point shooting, Like they've had a lot of things go against them, all the injuries, all the poor the poor starts. Like to be five and five to me is a win in and of itself.
But the second thing for me is Lebron in my opinion, is back to his pre injury form before that foot injury that he had in February, where shooting a career high fifty six point seven percent and making a career best eighty three point four percent of his shots within three feet at the rim, and that's been like he might be one of the few exceptions in terms of guys benefiting from the five out system, like some of the driving lanes that Lebron has had, And of course
part of that is just his burst his athleticism. It's back compared to where it was, let's just say in the playoffs. But Lebron's finishing at the rim has been incredible. I think his shot selection has been much better than the past couple of years, and just his efficiency so far offensively, Like the Lakers have been about twenty four points per one hundred possessions worse when Lebron has been off the floor, so they're as reliant on him as ever.
And on the one hand, you'd like to see some of the d Lo or Austin led lineups be better and the Lakers not have to rely on him as much. But the fact that he's looked as good as and I know you've been on the clutch stuff, like so first in the league and clutch baskets, I think third in scoring and tied for fourteenth and plus minus in crunch time, so like that's all, Like he's been making shots and making plays that he wasn't making last season.
So overall, I think the fact that Lebron has looked as good as he has in year twenty one at almost thirty nine, that in and of itself, to me, is a really positive sign for the Lakers eventual contention. If they can just get healthy and potentially make another move, you know, fill in some of these gaps that we're talking about, like Lebron, at that level, I think you can win a championship.
Yeah, the Lebron stuff has been super interesting because you mentioned the five out stuff, and it's a really simple concept. With five out, if you can get past the first line of defense, the backside rotation is infinitely harder because you don't have a defender waiting in the dunker spot or basically like in an easy help situation. It's a
much longer rotation. So Lebron's gonna have had a steam against probably a perimeter player that's in help, so he's gonna have a much better chance of finishing around the
rim or easier kickout opportunities. But that initial line of defense, the guy that is digging down off of the defender on either side is closer than they would be in a spread pick and roll type of situation or a spread ISO or post up situation, and so Lebron with his incredible strength can just shoot through these tight gaps and get to the rim and have no problem. But
it's the lesser athletes that are struggling with it. And to your point, like that's a great example of why you know it is worth sticking with in the long run. My thing with the five out is just like I think they should cater it towards each player in the sense that like, hey we have an Austin led group out there, let's run more spread pick and roll. Hey we got Lebron on the floor, maybe we run it
this way. Liked lo lineups have done a good job with the five and out of the five out stuff, So like, I think that's kind of the short term solution there is kind of just cater the offense more
towards each individual group. But the stuff in the crunch time is really important because brom was a bad clutch player last year and a big part of that was his jump shot wasn't falling, and it kind of kind of spiraled into all of these other, you know, ancillary issues and it turned into this thing where he would get the big on the switch and he'd take that pullback three, and he just missed it every single time, and it was a huge part of how games kind
of ended up being close light that they probably shouldn't have been. This year, he's just been so much more decisive. He's knocked down a bunch of clutch jump shots this year. He has specifically dominated the game as a matchup attacker at the end of games, generating high quality shots against the weaker defense of you know, kind of areas of their opponents. And so I think that's a huge silver lining.
I put two others on my list. One Christian Wood, which we already talked about just him hitting as a veteran minimum signing in unlocking real big lineups for this Laker team. I think what is a huge home run. And then secondly, just like Lebron's overall level of play and just where he looks in general. We talked about this before the year as like one of the major you know, kind of like swing factors for this team. Are they going to be able to go toe to
toe with the best stars in the league. And Anthony Davis, it's been a little bit of a mixed bag. He's had some bad games, he's had some good games, but I think more overall, he's kind of looked more or less like he did last year. Lebron James looks like he's better than he was last year, and I think that's super encouraging. And then lastly, five and two in clutch games, that's the fifth best record in the league by winning percentage in clutch situations, the fourth best clutch
net rating. The Lakers have been elite on both ends of the floor and have grabbed fifty five percent of available rebounds, so when push comes to shove, they can lock in and they've played really good basketball at the end of games. It's just been funny because, like in four of their five wins, they've been such shit for like three quarters and then they lock in and they play good basketball. I think that's kind of colored the entire season as disappointing in a way that maybe the
record wouldn't suggest. But let's let's let's do one last thing before before we get out of here. Did They're going on on East Coast road trip soon, where they're going to play Cleveland and Philly back to back on the road.
That's it.
That's gonna be a tough one, but the schedules a little easier up until then. Really, the tough games are a home game against the Kings and then a home game against the Dallas Mavericks, two games which the Lakers will be favored in. H Do you think there's any chance that the Lakers hit the road at eleven and five on an eight game winning streak?
Any chance?
Yes, But I think again, we'd have to see some better overall play from this group. I think you just hit on it where you know, I think in crunch time they've been great, but I would just like to see sustained periods like I was like looking for that last night against Portland, where even with Lebron out like that could have been a situation where they just had a wire to wire Victory won that by fifteen to twenty points, and as as subjective as it sounds, I
would have felt a lot better about them currently. But the fact that they were kind of messing around with that game. You know, Portland was up, you know for stretches of the first quarter. You know, they got back into the game in the fourth quarter, and there was a couple of minutes there, I thought they were potentially
going to win that game. Like to me, just they've kind of been playing with their food, so to speak a little bit too much, and I would like to just see a little bit more killer instinct from them of just come out and look. They'll they'll play Portland at the end of the week. They've got some winnable games. But Memphis just came into the Clippers arena and beat them. Sacramento, as we know, has been a tough matchup for the Lakers over the past year, just with their their speed
and their five out offense and their perimeter shooting. So I think that's a tough one. Looking at Houston again, you know, they just beat the Lakers by thirty four points. Iverything beat the Nuggets. They're on what five game win streaks five or six. And then you got Dallas, who's been the second best team in the West in my opinion up through this point. Also Utah, who who's kind of sneakily been a bit of a tough matchup for the Lakers also with their five out offense and uh,
some of their spacing and shooting. So I'm gonna say no, I don't think it happens. I think it could happen, and that you know, they're home for five of the next six games. Looking at it right now with the one road game being Portland, but I suspect they go four and too over the next six games, and that would put them at nine and seven, which again I think, with their current level of play, is a win compared to where they could be.
Yeah, I don't think they're gonna go eleven and five. It's funny in general, I think I think like I think, I think you remember the high motor athlete thing we're talking about. I don't think it's really possible to go on like long win streaks and to blowout teams unless you have high motor athletes because of the fact that inevitably, when a team is down, they start playing hard. And it's kind of like that early fourth quarter run last night.
It's like the Lakers are so unathletic that when they start not giving a shit, they just the bottom falls out, and so like they're so prone to those ugly stretches, it's like inevitable that they'll drop. I feel the same way around nine to seven, ten and six, before we get you out of here, how's your achilles, how's the surgery? How are you holding up mentally? I feel like if I was in your position, I'd be spiraling into depression, So I'm curious to hear how you're doing on that front.
Well, I appreciate it. Man, It's been tough. I'm not gonna lie. This has definitely been the toughest physical situation I've ever dealt with. I think, so I've been fortunate to speak with multiple people who've dealt with it. Actually had a conversation with Kevin Durant when the Suns were in town and we talked a little bit about it, and you know, hadn't met him before, just went up to him, introduced myself and asked him for his advice on it. And everyone that has dealt with it has
unanimously said, like, the mental part is the toughest part. Like, physically I'm okay now. I had surgery almost two weeks ago, so first few days of surgery.
Were really rough.
I had to be on pain medication, couldn't get out of bed. You know that that was really rough to deal with, But since then, largely pain free. It's just kind of the mental grind of like you always have to be like, you know, you got to go to the bathroom. Your instinct is stand up, walk to the bathroom, And like there's been times I've had to stop myself and be like, Okay, gotta get my scooter.
I got.
I got this eyewalk thing which is almost like it's almost like a peg leg kind of where you you put your knee in it and then it's like a crutch below the knee.
So been walking around with that a little bit.
But the biggest thing for me has been, like I was really looking forward to, you know, the season and traveling and like the beginning of the season is always really fun, getting to know some of the players, getting to go get drinks of people, get dinner. So I wasn't on this pass road trip hoping to be back on the road by the end of the month, hoping to be walking a little bit by the end of the month. So I'm trying to approach this recovery like
Aaron Rodgers and exceed expectations. So it's been tough. It has been mentally draining, but I'm trying to keep a good spirit with it.
Yeah, and most importantly, you got a lot of good basketball left in you got to get back out of the basketball court one day. Yeah, I've been dealing with achille soreness, bad soreness, so bad that I've shut myself down. Now this is the third time, because I tried to come back to quick twice and like just last Sunday, a week ago, yesterday, I played in a mensley game and I was like, it's worse than it's ever been.
I'm like, I gotta shut it down. So I'm shutting down for the next month probably and just being away from the game as long as I've been over the last couple of weeks months, I should say, has been kind of like torture for me. So I can't even imagine what it's going to be like going without it for a year, because like it's almost even it's even above and beyond the love of the game. It's like
just really easy way to get good cardio. It's like it just in terms of like just your day to day health, Like it just helps to be able to strap on a pair of shoes, go to the gym, play for an hour and a half and burn a thousand calories, you know, like you don't get to do that anymore, and it's really unfortunate, and I'm really curious. I'm gonna be picking your brain throughout the process because, like I'm really curious as to what that whole mental
challenge is like. Along the way, yo Van, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today, Laker fans. Like I said, this is going to be a thing at least for the next month, hopefully longer. We appreciate giving us the time. We appreciate everybody for supporting the show. We will see you guys later today for our Power rankings and Clippers evisceration.
The volume