Hoops Tonight - Lakers-Nets Reaction: LeBron James not slowing down, Ben Simmons bounce-back year?, Chet vs Wemby

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See Sportsbook dot Draft, Kings dot com, slash Football terms for eligibility terms and responsible gambling resources. Bonus bets expires seven days after inch issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, hope all if you guys are having

a great week so far. We are going to break down the return of Ben Simmons with the Brooklyn Nets, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers making their first appearance in preseason with both Lebron James Anthony Davis in the lineup and Austin Reeves first appearance with the Lakers. We're gonna break that game down, and then in the second half of the show, we're gonna do our season

preview for the Los Angeles Lakers. They are up next in our power rankings at number four, so we'll do the usual routine of a season preview on the Los Angeles Lakers, and then I have two mail bag questions for the end of the show as well. You guys are the jope for we get started. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight, and then follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason lt And don't forget any

more mailbag questions. Keep dropping those in the YouTube comments. All right, So, in the never ending saga of Lakers fans trying to figure out who's gonna start at the three between Anthony Davis, Lebron, James D'Angelo, Russell, and Austin Reeves ended up being Tory and Prince against the Brooklyn Nets.

Now doesn't really give us much clarity because Jared Vanderbilt, the guy who most of us think is gonna start at the three, was out with heel soreness, and that might have just been a move to essentially keep Ruiy Hatcha Mura coming off the bench. They will likely use him at the start of the season, So no real clarity there, But my guess is they're gonna end up going with Jared Vanderbilt. The Lakers dominated the starters did at least Anthony Davis on the floor was a plus sixteen.

They did have a unit they went to at the end of the first quarter with Christian Wood at the center with Lebron that got blitzed. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but the main thing that was killing the Nets early on is they were ducking under picks. And this is a big thing that I'm confused about just from the strategy standpoint with Brooklyn. They're so athletic, and they have so many switchable guys that have length and athleticism that can bother ball handlers. I don't understand

why they're not opting to use more ball pressure. They were letting Dangel Russell, Austin Reeves, Lebron James, really everybody settle into comfortable pull up jump shots over the top of drop coverage and pick and roll, and they, like Dangel Russell in particular, got red hot at the start of this game. As a team, the Lakers struggled to make their pull up jump shots against Golden State, but they were making them in a big way against Brooklyn.

Bakers scored thirty three points last night just on pull up jump shots, even in catch and shoot situations, like you'd see Ruey Hatchamura or Lebron James come off of a double wide pin down on the right side of the floor and they were just coming up and catching pretty much unguarded. And you know, you'd see Spencer Dinwood he kind of offer a soft close out at Rui, but Ruy's just rising up comfortably into shots. And so again, like this NETS team doesn't have the offensive talent to

not be a dominant defensive team. So I did think that was interesting. Again, it's early in preseason and we'll see over time. There's been a lot of talk from the NETS players about how they want to be an elite defensive team, but I wasn't super impressed with them last night. They got lit on fire. Dangel Russell was awesome. Like we said, he got red hot at the start

of the game. Now, we've all seen de Lo get red hot before, but he's been especially good in these two preseason games, and hopefully it's a sign of him taking that ass kicking at the hands of Bruce Brown and the Denver Nuggets last year. Personally in the work that he put in over the summer. He was very He talked a lot on media day about him working hard as a help defender. You're seeing some of that show up as he's positioned himself really well in passing lanes.

He's gotten two steals just by being positioned properly as three steals total over the course of the preseason so far. But he's been awesome in pick and roll. D'Angelo Russell has run twenty three pick and rolls, leading to thirty three points for the Lakers so far in preseason. That's one point four to four points per possession. That's ridiculous, really nice passing to the roll man. He actually has a decent chemistry already with Jackson Hayes, which is an

interesting thing for bench lineups in the future. His pull up jump shots been helping. He's even helping in spot up situations. He's three for four so far this preseason and catch and shoot threes. So again, just talk at media day, but he's so far through two preseason games. Delos putting his money where his mouth is. Austin Reeves and Ruyhacha Mura both were great. Austin Reeves put up eighteen.

He got into a good old fashioned shootout with Cam Thomas there in the second half, hitting a bunch of threes. He's you could tell the confidence is showing up with Austin. He had the first bucket of the game for the Lakers was a pull up three in transition with Lebron running the wing next to him, Like, you know what confident you'd have to be to be at his age dribbling down the floor in an NBA game with Lebron freaking James running the left wing and You're like, nah, dude,

I got this. I'm shooting a pull up three Like that, You could just tell all of the success that he had last year at the end of the regular season into the postseason into what happened with Team USA is flowing into the start of this season, which is exciting. Ruy Hachimura putting nineteen points off the bench. His catch and shoot three looks great, which once again is going to be a vitally important part of his ability to stay on the court, especially when they get into the postseason.

Lebron and AD's jump shooting, this is the most exciting part of what I've seen from Lebron and Ad so far in the preseason. Those two players have combined to take sixteen jump shots so far, and they've scored eighteen points on them. Seven points on seven shots for Lebron. AD's obviously been a little bit more efficient. But that's between the two of them one point one to three

points per jump shot. Why is that exciting? Because last year Lebron in the regular season zero point nine points per jump shot, Anthony Davis zero point seven to eight. They were both bad jump shooters last year. Now, like Ad, it's been several years in a row. Lebron, he has a couple of random years last year in the twenty fifteen where he shot really poorly. One of the biggest questions coming into this year is are they ever going to figure that part out? Again? Really small sample size,

but a good start for the Lakers. If they get one point one points per jump shot out of Lebron and Ad this year, that solves one of the biggest problems on this particular roster, which is over the pop, over the top shot making, like they need to bolster their offense with rescue possessions and tough shot making in half court situations. Lebron James hitting a pull up three and pick and roll like he did in that first half,

that's important. He had a one leg fadeaway out of a post up on the right block where he kind of like took that hard step towards the middle and then leaned back off one foot knocked it down. That's over the top shot again like that. We talked about this a lot on the show, but rescue possessions and tough shot making and things like that, those are the difference between a bottom tier offense and a top tier offense.

That's the you know, the three or four shots you make every game that the defense is literally giving you in a late clock situation or in a coverage situation. Those are the shots that could be the difference between you being elite and being pretty pedestrian on the offensive. Ended four, Anthony Davis has only taken two pull up jump shots so far in preseason, and he's missed him both.

But he's making his threes, and I would argue for Anthony Davis that's every bit as important as shot making because those are shots that defenses are going to concede. They're gonna help off of Ad when he's spotting up in the corner. They're gonna help off of Ad when he picks and pops to the three point line. Him making that shot is every bit is important, if not more important than the shots that even Lebron James will

be taking over the top. So again, only two games only preseason, a lot of stuff they got to prove over the course of the regular season in the postseason, but that's a good start. Last note on the Lakers in this game, Christian Wood versus Jackson Hayes. So these are the two backup centers that the Lakers signed over the offseason, and so far, again through two games, Jackson

Hayes has just looked way better. The one lineup that didn't play well for the Lakers in the first half against the Nets yesterday when Lebron and ad were playing, was that Christian Wood at the center lineup with Lebron James. He just looks significantly slower than Christian Wood. He's not running the ball or running the floor super well. And one of the biggest things is is Jackson Hayes is a much like a much more fluid offensive player for

the Lakers. That doesn't sound right right because Christian Wood is the guy that put up big numbers last year, but it mainly has to do with the fact that the four players around him have an easier time playing with him. Why, because he's super predictable, and I mean that in a good way. Offensively, if you hit him on the roll, he's gonna go up and try to

shoot right. If you hit him on the perimeter, he's going to quickly turn and run a dribble handoff going the other way to the other guard coming from the other side of the floor. As a result, there's a real flow to the offense when Jackson Hayes is on the floor. Right now, Christian Wood is being super aggressive offensively and trying really hard to get his offense going.

And so he's catching and he's holding, and he's catching and he's isoing, and he's slower to make decisions, and it's actually kind of slowing down the flow of the offense. And then right now, Jackson Hayes is just a much more aware and engaged defensive player. Now. Jackson Hayes had a kind of a mixed bag defensively last year with the Pelicans. Statistically, he was one of the best pick and roll defenders in the league percentergy, but on tape it was a lot of high and low, and then

he really struggled and switches. So like again, like Christian Wood can make up this gap, and he's gonna need a long runway too, because he's clearly just you know, learning how to fit in with this group in a way that Jackson Hayes is more naturally figuring out. So I'm not trying to write, you know, the death sentence on Christian Wood here in the rotation. That's not what I'm saying. And over the course of the season, Lebron and ad are gonna miss him enough time that they're

gonna play a lot, both of them. I mean, they both will play together and they and they did so last night. So like all I'm saying is is that in the shorter version of the rotation you give the advantage to Jackson Hayes at this point because he's better defensively and he flows better with the offense. And you

see that on the scoreboard. By the way, the Lakers are minus nineteen so far in Christian Wood's minutes in the preseason, in plus nineteen in Jackson Hayes's minutes in the preseason, So they're just better so far with Jackson Hayes a lot of basketball left. But what that tells me is the early indications are that Jackson Hayes looks like a guy that you can play two shifts, you know, in an important setting as a backup center. There's some

potential there. Christian Wood looks like a long way away from that, and he's going to have to take advantage of his opportunities the rest of preseason and in the season to prove that he needs that sp that he deserves that spot if he wants his offense to have a chance to sign through shine through. I should say with the nets, Ben Simmons, I thought he looked to really spry athletically. He beat Lebron early on a drive to his right hand and scooped off the glass when

Lebron tried to block him. He had a kind of runout like a steel where he looked really athletic. Where the dead giveaway is like, look at the angle of the arms when the guy's dunking the basketball. If he's dunking up here, you know he's having to reach for it. He's dunking out here. That usually means that his head is up and around the rim. And Ben Simmons had like that two handed dunkin transition where his arms were out in front of him and you're like, oh, like

he's getting up like he used to. He took a little jump shot on the right elbow and he missed it long off the left side of the rim. But I literally just don't care about his jump shot. I mean, at this point that ship has sailed. Ben's never going to be an offensive star. What he has to be for the Nets is the Ford version of Draymond Green.

He needs to be an athletic wrecking ball on both ends of the floor, a connective piece on offense that primarily operates running dribble handoffs and operating out of the high post as other guys are running action and he's distributing, screening and rolling hard to the rim, making plays as he's rolling to the rim, because he does have the

ability to finish at the rim and pass. And then on the defensive end of the or, he needs to be the defensive Player of the Year candidate that he's capable of being as one of the most versatile backline and perimeter defenders that we have in the NBA when he's healthy. But that's the key. He needed to get his back straight. He needed to get healthy to get near at least his former athleticism, and he looks at least near at this point. Again, it's early, it's preseason,

but Ben looks very athletic and that's super encouraging. Cam Thomas twenty six points, took twelve jump shots last night, May eight of them six for nine on pull up jump shots. And you know, I heard the announcers talking about, you know, how Cam Thomas can stay in the rotation, and I don't know, Like, as I look at the NETS roster, I don't really see universe where he falls

out of the rotation. I mean, once you get past bencer Dinwoodie and Michale Bridges, it's a pretty big drop off to the rest of the shot creation on that roster, especially with Ben simmons limitations as a shooter. And so I mean, even if you do include Ben Simmons and there, Cam Thomas is unquestionably, no, no worse than their fourth best shot creator and probably their third best shot creator. So, like, I think he's gonna play a lot. And I mean,

here's the thing. He if he shoots this well, he's gonna be an impactful player. I mean, there's a lot. There were a lot of there's a lot of talk on the on the broadcast about how he needs to defend to stay in the rotation and things along those lines. Again, like they might not necessarily need him to earn a spot in the rotation just because they're gonna need his shot creation, all right, Moving on to my Lakers season previews, so I have them at number four in my power

rankings quick offseason recap. They lost Mobamba, Malik Beasley, Troy Brown, Junior, Nyan Gabriel, Dennis Schroeder, and Lonnie Walker. They added Jalen Hood Chafino and Maxwell Lewis and the draft, And for you Lakers fans haven't seen my draft scouting report on them, go back in my feed to right around the draft, and I actually did full scouts on both Jaleno, Chafino and Maxwell Lewis at that point, and then I did

additional scouts of them at summerly. So if you're looking for more content on them, you'll find that back in the feed. Jackson Hayes, Christian Wood, the two backup centers they brought in, Tory and Prince cam Reddish. Toryan Prince is what I think is a really interesting option to have is forward depth from the standpoint of the fact

that he kind of functionally operates as a three. Vanderbilt can defend like a three and can defend like a one, but can defend like a three, which requires what do I mean by that. Let's let's let's dig into this a little bit. So we've talked about the defensive assignments on the show before, and the way I look at it, like most teams have two or three shot creators, right, these are the guys that have the live dribble that

are creating shots from the perimeter. Okay, then they're gonna have dudes that they they use primarily for defense that they're gonna try to tuck away in the weak side corner as a way that they can try to not gum up the offense a ton. And then they're gonna

have a screen and roll either fulkroom or threat. So either a guy who comes up in set screens and rolls to the basket, a guy like Nick Claxton, right, or a folkrum a guy like Demana Sabonis, bam Adebayo, Nikola Jokic who's going to actually be running most of the action. Which are handoffs some screens at the top of the key, right, So as you match up with them defensively, you need a guy who can guard in two man game, right, So let's call that Anthony Davis

in this case. You need a guy who can guard the lowman. In this case, let's call that Lebron James, because he's going to be the guy that's going to want to rest on a lot of possessions. And he actually is at his best defensively in year twenty one as a lowman defender, using his IQ in his ability

to make plays at the rim defensively, right. So now I've got to guard these other three perimeter players, and these other three perimeter players are probably all shot creators, and so I've got to match up with them with point of attack defense. And so that is going to be different because now those defenders are going to have to navigate screens. Lebron is the low man, probably not

gonna have to navigate too many screens. Anthony Davis as the screen defender, probably not gonna have to navigate too many screens. So bigger bodies do better in that position because it's more about dealing with physicality, jumping for contested rebounds, protecting the rim, that kind of thing, right, that's what those guys do on the perimeter. It's very much about foot speed and quickness and the ability to navigate ball

screens and cause problems at the point of attack. And so let's look at Ruy Hatcha Mura and Jared Vanderbilt. Ruey Hatchi Mura kind of fits more into that Lebron James Mold. He's big, strong, good athlete, but he's a little top heavy, not a very laterally quick player. So he can be impactful as a defensive rebounder, as a help defender, as a guy switching on to bigger players in general, banging with bigger bodies, right, that's where he

can be most useful defensively. But if you ask ruyat Tcha Mura to start running around screens, there can be some issues there because he's a big body, doesn't slide his feet super super well. Right. But then on the offensive end, Ruy Hatcha Mura does function like a three because he's been shooting the shit out of the basketball since he came to the Lakers, and he can attack close outs and hit pull up jump shots and then he can also do some for stuff offensively in the

post and duckins and things along those lines. Right, So Ruey Hatchamura defensively functions as a four and offensively functions as a three to four. Right, then we look at Jared Vanderbilt offensively, he also functions as a four. He's not a guy that can run, drive and kick basketball or reliably knocked down shots from above the break. You have to either tuck him in the corner and pray he makes thirty six percent of him or he has to work out of the dunker spot where he can struggle.

You saw that against Golden State when he had a couple of catches under the basket that he fumbled, right. And so the problem with Jared Vanderbilt is he is an outstanding perimeter defender. He does defend like a three. He can navigate screens. Actually, Jared Vanderbilt, in my opinion, is either a top tier or second tier perimeter defender in the league. That's how impactful he can be in that position. But he just has severe limitations on the

offensive end of the floor. And so what I like about Torrian Prince is he basically brings kind of like the genuine three approach. He's a guy who can knock down, catch and shoot threes at a high rate and attack close out, so he can functionally operate on offense like a three, and then on defense he's not as good defense is Jared Vanderbilt, to be clear, but he can navigate over the top of screens and provide back pressure.

That's his particular strength defensively. But you saw against Jonathan Kaminga he can get punished in the post, so he can't defend like a four. Right if you put a bigger athlete attacking him down low by the basket, he can struggle a little bit. So what I like about the Torrean Prince acquisition is it kind of gives you

a more well rounded group of forwards. Now you've got two options to defend at the three in Jared Vanderbilt and Ruy Hatchamura, or excuse me, Jared Vanderbilt and Torrian Prince. And you've got two options to defend at the four, which is Ruy Hatchamura and Jared Vanderbilt, who can do both because he's also pretty big and strunk. So you've got a little bit more defensive versatility. And on the

offensive end of the four. If Ruy doesn't have it going defensively and you literally can't play him because of a specific matchup where he's navigating screens too much. But on the other end, you can't afford to have Vanderbilt

get ignored. You have Torrian Prince as an option, and so I really like that pick up, especially the Biannual exception, which is an affordable contract range as just a guy who can just kind of give them more depth at the forward position and versatility in some ways that Ruy and Van do have some holes. Cam Reddish, I don't expect him to play much this year. I think he is still a player who's learning how to play winning

basketball and his far way away from that. But he will have his moments and he will score points when he does get minutes. And then Gabe Vincent, who I thought was an intentional move away from the Dennis Schroeder archetype,

which we'll talk about in a little bit. So kind of recapping the offseason, they also re signed or extended Ruey, Hatchamura, Austin Reeves, Dangela Russell, Jared Vanderbilt, Anthony and Anthony Davis, and now as a result all five of those guys are locked up for at least the next two years, and all of them except for Dangela Russell, are locked up for at least the next three years. So there's going to be continuity. There is security in the group of guys that's going to be coming to work every

day for this team for the next few years. That's an advantage that the Lakers have lacked over the last few years with all the roster turnover that they've been going with. Now, there was a big kind of like narrative split in the public over what really happened in this Laker off season. You had a lot of people saying the Lakers had a great off season, and then you had a lot of other people saying, like, well,

they didn't get any better in the key areas. And like, the thing that's funny with that is like they're both right, They're just arguing about different things, right, So, like, you're right, did they get better at the things they needed to beat Denver? Did they get more athletic in the backcourt and better at the point of attack? No? Did they get better at backup center? I mean, we'll see, did they get better with shot making? Definitely not unless Lebron

and ad magically improve. So, like, did they fix those problems? No, So I agree with these people, But the point is is, like those weren't really capable of being fixed this offseason. Like they made a run at Bruce Brown to improve their backcourt athleticism. He was too expensive, He's twenty plus million a year. He went to the to the Pacers. Right. They made a run at brook Lopez. They needed a

legit center. They went after brook Lopez. They couldn't get him, he was twenty plus million a year, went back to the Bucks. Right, And then they didn't have the tradable salaries to get involved in the Dame sweepstakes or the Drew Holiday sweepstakes and probably didn't have the assets to get it done anyway. So like, if you really look at it, the magical top end improvement wasn't there for the Lakers in the off season. But they did improve the things they could do. They had the best offseason

they could have had under their set of circumstances. They didn't get cute. They brought back all of their important playoff rotation players on affordable deals, and that continuity is valuable, right, They brought in useful depth at positions where they needed it, depth at forward Victorian Prince. They have two backup centers now when last year they had won who got hurt in Mobamba, right, and one of which in Jackson Hayes has been winning his minutes in preseason and looks pretty solid.

So like they did the best they could with what was available to them this offseason. Even the Gabe Vincent for Denil Schroder switch made sense to me, Like Gabe is a downgrade at the point of attack by some amount.

I still think Gabe's a decent point of attack defender, but he's a downgrade from Dennis Schroeder theoretically, right, But it makes more sense on this roster because with Ruey and Lebron and Anthony Davis and D'Angel Russell and Ossin Reeves, they actit need someone who's more comfortable playing without the basketball, and Gave Vincent's just a better off ball guard than Dennis Schroeder is right, So I kind of like that

move too. So it wasn't like some massive ceiling raising off season like Milwaukee bringing in Damian Lillard, but that wasn't available. They did the best with what was available and they improved. I look at it as an excellent offseason for the Lakers on two fronts. They became a regular season they became a better regular season team through continuity and depth right, and then two, they maintained flexibility

if the right trade becomes available down the line. They have four salaries now between ten million and twenty million that can be pieced together in any way to target a player. And they also have the depth at forward to where if they need to get rid of a forward, they can, like if they have to use a forward a salary filler, they can because they've got two others left. Right, So I'll give you an example. Let's say, and again, Lakers fans love Rui. I love Rui. Maybe it all

works out and he stays with the Lakers forever. That'd be great. But what I'm saying is, let's say a great player comes available in the trade market and you have to use ruy salary. You can get to thirty three million in salary filler with D'Angelo Russell and Ruey hat Schimura, and you can do that and still have Jared Vanderbilt and Torrian Prints at forward for the rest

of the season. Right, So like some star guard becomes available that monumentally improves the Lakers' chances with shot making in the playoffs, and you can get it done with D'Angelo Russell, ruy hat Chimura and two first round picks. Now you have the ability to make a move like that. That is flexibility that they brought in this particular offseason with their strategy. So I thought that was a good strategy. Now, like, again,

the process from Rob Polink has been great. The only real question is, and this is the thing, Lebron had his first real decline last year in the postseason, right now, that was injury, but injuries related to age. He's now in his twenty first season. If the Lakers make it to the Western Conference Finals again this year, Lebron James will be thirty nine years old, thirty nine and a

half years old at the time of that series. So, like, the real question is is, like Rob's figured out his mistakes and he's rectified them, But did you the risk here was that you know, Lebron's age thirty seven and thirty eight seasons basically went to waste, right, and now you're an aged thirty nine season, right, So again I want to pay the compliment to Rob for the excellent job that him in his front office has done this offseason and really since the ruy Haacha Mura trade last

year before the deadline. But there is it's important to tell the full story, and the cost here is that Lebron's a lot older as a result, but who knows, maybe it'll all work out because of other improvements we'll talk about in a little bit. So the depth chart as of right now at guard, D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Gave Vincent and Jalen Chafino. At ford Lebron, James Ruyatcha Murra, Jared Vanderbilt, Torrian Prince, Max Christi, Cam Reddish, and Maxwell Lewis.

And at center Anthony Davis, Jackson, Hayesen, Christian Woods. So obviously a lot of depth at forward and center, which is weird compared to what they've had in earlier seasons. And they have three starting caliber guards, but they are

a little thin at guard. Now, that's a good spot to be in because the three guards they have are all capable of starting for a legit NBA Championship contender, right But the problem is is it's a big drop off to Jalen hoo Chafino there and you know, maybe you look at Damoy Hodge there, maybe you can play Max Christy as a as a two guard, but like it is a pretty big drop off, and so essentially, like they are a little bit thin at guard, and that's something to keep an eye on over the course

of the season, just from the standpoint of injuries, like a significant injury to D'Angelo Russell or Austin Reeves could cause some problems for the Lakers with their lack of backoin depth after those top three guys. Now, there are four playoff weaknesses that I see in this particular roster, and I want to dive into each of them for

a second. So the first one is backcourt athleticism. Austin Reeves and di'angelo Russell are both reasonably tall, right, like six four sixty five between the two of them, but neither of them are particularly strong or athletic, and so they really struggled with Bruce Brown, especially D'Angelo Russell, like really struggled with Bruce Brown. It was one of the biggest swing factors in that series. Bruce average twelve four and three, but most importantly he sapped de Lo of

his confidence. D'Angelo Russell scored six points per game in that series. I'm thirty two percent shooting and basically got removed from the floor by Darvin Hamm. There's a big swing factor. And how did he do it? Because he was too big, strong and athletic for him on one end of the floor, just too physical at the point of attack, just basically taking Delo out of rhythm and sapping him of his confidence. And then on the other

end of the floor just straight line drives. And so my transition hard Dribble moves to his right, knowing that Delo is not capable physically of sliding his feet and staying in front. Again, like the Lakers backcourt is super skilled,

super skilled, but athleticism is not a strong point. Now, the counterpoint here is the Nuggets lost Bruce Brown, and I really like Christian Brown, but he's not as good as Bruce Brown, right, So, like, I don't think the Nuggets are going to be able to capitalize on that specific advantage nearly as much in this offseason or this postseason. And I don't see that as an issue with any of the other teams they really could face in the

West except for the Clippers. The Clippers with Terrence Mann and Russell Westbrook could cause serious problems for the Lakers with their backcourt athleticism. But again, like the Clippers are too hard to take seriously as a threat because of their injury history, So I'm not super concerned about the backcourt athleticism. But that is definitely a weakness on this roster. The backup center position. None of the Lakers backup centers

last year in the postseason were playable. Whnyion Gabriel is way too small, so he basically was just another forward, and Lebron basically ended up playing center. And then Mobamba, who sprained his ankle right before the postseason and then when he was healthy, was not in a position to play. Now, will Jackson Hayes and Christian would be up to it, We'll see again. Early through two preseason games, Jackson Hayes looks like the better option. They're plus nineteen in his minutes.

That's encouraging. You want to be positive. With Anthony Davis off the floor right now, some of those minutes were with Jackson Hayes. But Jackson's played well, But it's too early to tell, so I'm gonna put a big question mark by that one. The third biggest weakness of this roster for the postseason is over the top shot making. The Lakers were twenty ninth and pull up jump shot efficiency in the regular season last year, so literally second worst in the league. They also had a one toh

one offensive rating in the clutch in the playoffs. Not good. That comes down to Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Those two guys were awful last year making shots over the top of the defense. Look what happened in the Denver series. All those games were close, right. Three of the four games came down to crunch time. The other the only one that didn't come down to crunch time. The Lakers had a double digit second alf lete and really the Nuggets just did basically a clutch time blitz at the

start of the fourth quarter. Right. But what happened in that series every time the game slowed down, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were able to make over the shot over the tough over the top shots, right, But Lebron James and Anthony Davis were not. That was literally the series. They were neck and neck basically the rest of the games until it slowed down at the end, and then the Nuggets out executed them every single time. Now, so

far in preseason, they're shooting well. Right, Lebron and Ad have taken sixteen jump shots in preseason and they've scored eighteen points on them. That's well over a point possession. That's really good. But it's early, and that's something that they're gonna need to clearly demonstrate throughout the regular season

and throughout the postseason in ordering to fix. In order to fix now, like unless there's a personnel move, a specific trade to make, it's up to Lebron or Ad, but certainly from a roster standpoint, over the offseason they did not get any better there. And then lastly, point of attack defense. Now, point of attack defenses have always said is one of the most important parts of modern NBA defense because of the team's spamming pick and roll

and how good pull up jump shooters are. Now you need a guy who can navigate over the top of screens and bother players from behind so that your back line can be impactful defensively. It's vitally important. Last year they had two really good options. They had Dennis Schroder and Jared Vanderbilt, Right, But Dennis Schroeder was a little too small, particularly struggled with Jamal Murray, and then offensively

he was hit or miss, especially off the ball. Jared Vanderbilt was outstanding, like just an excellent point of attack defender, but had the offensive limitations that caused problems in the postseason. Right, And now you've downgraded Dennis to Gabe, who is just going to be a lesser version of Dennis with the same small weaknesses. Right, So a man again, like if Jared Vanderbilt makes a significant offensively that helps to mitigate this problem, but even if that does happen, he's really

your only guy. So this is a roster that has a significant weakness in point of attack defense. In my opinion, they're excellent back line defense and a lot more athletic than I think people think, but they're going to struggle at the point of attack. So in summary, it's backcourt trained and athleticism. Athleticism which I don't think will matter

much this year. And then the backup center position, which I think the Lakers will figure out before the end of the season, and I think Jackson as is a good chance so it really comes down to shot making and point of attack defense. Those are the two biggest weaknesses that could will most likely get them beat at this point. So the question is is which is more important because they do not have the assets to address

both in my opinion. So if you could bring in a above average starter who is an elite point of attack defender or an outstanding over the top shot maker, which direction do you go? That's the big question. And to me, it really comes down to who the shot maker is. So if I was running the Lakers and we get to the deadline and those two options are on the table, it depends what the options are. If the shot maker is let's say, you know, someone like

Jordan Clarkson, Like, I don't think that's worth it. Right, If it's James Harden, I don't think that's worth it. But if it's like a real top tier guy, like let's say the Mavericks completely self implode this year and at the deadline, you know, Luca gets hurt and Kyrie's super upset and he just wants to get out, and you can make a move for someone like Kyrie. Hell, yeah, you do that. You find the salaries. I think it would have to take Ruey, it would take de Lo.

You probably have to use another contract in there as well. But like you do that, but if it's anybody below that tier, I don't think it's worth it. And the reason why is you're not going to beat Denver in shot making with a mid level shot creator. You're not gonna beat Damon Milwaukee with a mid level shot creator. It has to be one of the guys, and so if you can get one of the guys, you go for it. That's why I lean more towards the point of attack position. Be great at what you're great at.

Don't try to beat Denver at shot making. Don't try to beat Milwaukee at shot making. Beat them by being the best defense in the NBA. And if you get another outstanding point of attack defender out there, with that front line and with commitment from the rest of the roster, you can be downright destructive defensively. I know the GMS all overlooked AD and the best defender category, but like,

he's the best defender in the league. How do you not see that by watching the postseason last year and everything you in the second half of the regular season, he's the best defender. So if you give him real support on the perimeter, that's where you can go up against teams like Denver and be like, yeah, you're great at that, but we're great at this. Deal with it, right.

That's the way that I would go about it if I was running the Lakers, unless it was a top tier shot maker at the deadline, I'd be looking at a point of attack guy, And honestly, you don't do anything like that unless you need to. It's a judgment

call you make at that point. If you get to February and Lebron, James and Anthony Davis are making their jump shots and Jared Vanderbilt is a little more efficient from three and a little more efficient from the dunker spot, you don't mess with it, and you run it with that group, right, It's a judgment call you make at the deadline. My prediction for this year, I think the

Lakers are well positioned for a successful regular season. I think they'll be a top four seed in the standings in the West, barring like a catastrophic injury to Ad. I think they can afford for eighty and Lebron each to miss twenty games. They're deep now and they're deep

at the important positions you need to win in the NBA. Like, they're actually deep, young and athletic in the front court, right, Like eighty and Lebron can both be out, and they can run a starting lineup with Austin Reeves, Dangela Russell, Jared Vanderbilt, Ruy Hatchamurra, and Jackson Hayes. That's a functional basketball team that has a real chance to win games, especially against bad teams. So you might be able to buy rest time there. They didn't have that last year.

Everyone on the roster other than Lebron, James and Anthony Davis is in their twenties. Is a young, athletic team. So I don't think that Lebron missing twenty games or Anthony Davis missing twenty games is a problem. It's if Ads mis fifty games. Now we're talking about a much more serious issue. Right. But barring that sort of catastrophic injury, I think the Lakers are going to be a top

four seed. But in the playoffs, I think they're clearly behind Denver, Milwaukee, and Boston unless they have a significant upgrade, and that upgrade can come from two places. An upgrade in offensive pote hot and see from Lebron James and Anthony Davis right, Lebron and Ad improving his jump shooters, or a roster upgrade either targeting a high level shot creator or a point of attack defender. If they don't upgrade in one of those two ways, I think they're

destined to lose in the semis of the conference finals. Again, all right, let's move on the mailback. First question in your video a year ago is Steph Curry top five player at NBA history. You divided players into bigs and perimeter players. What changed this year and why do you have bigs like Ad and Jokic in the rankings with other guards and forwards. It's just really the difference between ranking all time versus in the league right now all time.

It's more about how we rank them with their peers, and it's purely for fun, right Like ranking them now, you're almost looking at it from the perspective of like

a general manager. Like at the end of the day, if you're picking teams, you can pick a center or a perimeter player, and if it's a better center, you're gonna take the better center over the lesser perimeter player, right like you're gonna take Joel Embiid over a guy like Jamal Murray, right, for instance, Whereas like if I had just guards in a list, you know, Jamal Murray's gonna be higher on the list, right, and and and

beads not even in consideration. So that's the thing, Like when Jamal m Murray's career is over, I'm gonna look at him and the way he stacks up to other two guards. Right. But like in the bigger picture, obviously, you know, if I'm running a team and centers are available, I'm gonna I'm gonna consider that. So essentially, what I'm saying is is that, like right now, looking at the league, centers and players have to be ranked with each other.

But in the all time sense, it makes sense to separate them because they effectively play different positions and it's really hard to compare them all. Right, Last one, what team do you think will perform worse than the majority expects? This is a great question. I thought really long and hard about this one. I have two teams that I'll throw out there. First of the Sacramento Kings. A couple of reasons why the West is insanely deep this year,

and they got super lucky with injuries last year. They were the least injured team in the league last year. So as a result of that, I expect them to dip down into the bottom half of the Western Conference standings finished, you know, five to six, seven eight in that range. The second team I put in there was the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, to be clear, don't take this the wrong way. I'm a huge believer in their playoff ceiling, but they gave up a lot of depth and they're

really bad at the point of attack. And so like any injury to one of their core four players, like if Jannis misses time, they're not gonna be able to float the ship the way they did in the past. If brook Lopez miss his time, they're not gonna be able to float the ship the way they did in the past. God forbid Dame misses time, like, you're gonna

really miss what Drew Holliday brought at that point. So, like, don't be surprised if there are several games behind Boston in the standings, like a solid five to six games behind Boston in the in the in the standings when we get to the end of the regular season. But obviously I'm very much pro the Dame trade, and I think it will pay dividends when they get to May. I just think they a little bit of a regular season sacrifice this season for a postseason increase in potential.

And so again, I think the majority probably viewsed the Bucks and Celtics at the top of the East again all conference. And don't get me wrong, the Bucks might still finish two. I just think it's more gonna be like the Celtics runaway with the conference and then everyone else is behind them at that point. At the start of the NBA season is still about two weeks away, two weeks from tonight to be exact. But there's no

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last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Victor goes for twenty and five with two steals in a block in nineteen minutes. He played a shift at the beginning of the third quarter that Chet didn't play. Chet goes for twenty one and nine with a block in sixteen minutes. I was watching the

game this morning. Alien shit is happening all over the court, Like Victor hit this spin move up and under lefty scoop shot off the glass that literally like you're thinking to yourself, this guy's just gonna throw. You see any other NBA player do that that's at that size and you're half expecting them just to launch it off the backboard as a brick. But he has that soft touch to be able to finish while moving with that crazy

spin move in through the lane. Chet holmguns running inverted pick and rolls and elevating and taking taking the hit and double pump finishing like he's a two guard in the nineties. It was crazy. The biggest thing that stood out to me, just in a big picture sense was the level of dexterity. Again, like we see big guys try to do little guy stuff right around the league.

We see Andre Drummond take a step back three occasionally we see Javail McGee go with some aggressive move through the lane, and as it's happening, you're watching and you're like, this is gonna end badly, and it'll Drummonds shot will go three feet over the back of the rim, right, or Javail will go to that hook shot and literally just put a hole on the backboard, right, Like that's

what you expect from players of that size. But these dudes just have the touch and the dexterity and the footwork and the polish that you expect to see from guards. And that's the thing that's crazy about them as archetypes to add to their teams, they're basically wings that can provide the defense and rebounding support that you get from big old rim protectors right, and both teams are gonna be much better as a result. So let's start with Victor and on the offensive or on the defensive into

the four. So on defense, as was the intel going into camp, they ended up playing him at the four alongside Zach Collins and using him as the lowman, kind of similar to the way that the Bucks use Giannis right. So have Zach Collins run up and down in that yo yo and pick and roll right. So he's got to show high on the on the the guys that can shoot off the dribble, and then he's got to recover back to the role man. And then basically you tuck Victor Wembanyamo away on their worst shooter so that

he can help in the paint. And this in this particular game that ended up being lou Dort, and it worked in its own way. There's a play in the late second, late first half that kind of I thought demonstrated this really well where Josh Giddy ran a ghost screen I believe with Jalen Williams could have been Case on Wallace. I can't remember he was Case on Wallace.

So Case Wallace comes up and runs a ghost screen and on the action, Josh Giddy actually hits Trey Jones with this like disgusting behind the back dribble and gets just barreling downhill at the lane like nobody in his way, and Victor wemen Yama is guarding Dort in the corner and he just comes over and just spreads his arms wide and makes a big, you know, obstacle in front of the rim. Josh Giddy has to kind of go up and under with his left hand on the left

side and he smokes the layup. Those are the types of advantages you're gonna see with with Victor Wenbinyama in a help side role like that. I think it depends on the matchup. Like against outstanding pull up shooters where you need people up at the level of the screen, he's gonna be able to stay at the rim a lot.

But obviously in situations where you've got guys rolling downhill towards the rim, it could be a little bit trickier because Zach Collins is going to be in the way there and it's going to be harder for Victor to load up and come over into help, right. So it depending on the matchup, it'll work really well and then in other situations, you're just gonna see really quickly that Zach Collins is not nearly as good as a pick and roll defender as Victor Wenbnyam is. So like, again,

I get it. For now. It makes Wemby's job easier, and in certain matchups it'll help. But at the end of the day, I hope he gets a lot of reps this year at center because in the big picture, the Spurs will be at their best when Victor Wembinyama is defending in pick and roll because he is uniquely capable of bothering people up at the level of the screen while still staying back far enough to defend the rim. That's his superpower, and so I'll be interested to see

how that looks in the long run. The dig downs were crazy. So dig down to me is like if I'm in a helpside role and a guy's driving, So pretend like the basketball is where the camera is, and I'm defending a guy over here and I'm kind of like sitting in help and you're trying to drive to your right. That goes in my general vicinity. A dig down is my ability to reach down in a lunch

stance and just swipe down at the basketball. Right A dig down is my ability to literally just take a lunch step and reach down and swipe at the basketball while not getting too far away from my shooter so I can rotate. And there was a play in particular where Cason Wallace was driving towards his right and Victor

women Yama's defending at the top of the key. His left foot is literally at the three point line and he does a single step dig down, so he like basically goes with his right leg into a lunch step

and swipes down at the basketball. He makes contact with the basketball south of the free throw line with his left foot starting at the three point line at the NBA three point line at almost twenty four feet right or twenty three feet, so like basically he's digging down like nine feet away from where he's staining, swipes the ball away and gets out in transition for a dunk. What's crazy about that is the shooter is not open.

That's the superpower there. He's not leaving his man. He's taking one simple lunch step, a lunch step and swipe, and he's forcing a turnover effectively being in two places at once. That's deeply impactful defensively. Yet another steal that was kind of similar where he got his arms in the way and picked the ball free. He was all over the place and on the defensive end. He's going to be deeply impactful on offense. Now, what was interesting is they basically use Victor wembin Yama as a wing.

It was at Collins that was operating as that folkrum at the top of the key, that was setting ball screens and popping to the top and things along those lines. There wasn't a single shot attempt from Victor webin yam in this game that you would expect from a modern center.

There were no picking pops, there was no dribble handoffs and two man game like what you're accustomed to seeing the skilled centers in the league do right like Sabonis and Nicole Jokic, like even Anthony Davis and when he's done is so far in preseason for the Lakers, kind of operating out there out of the top of the key like Victor just didn't do any of that. It was all, you know, spotting up on the weak side and attacking closeouts, giving him the ball straight up with

a live dribble attacking his set defense. He literally operated as a wing. There were post ups, there were ISOs. It was it was very, very interesting, and you know what's funny, it worked like he still went eight for thirteen from the field. Even the three point shots he

took were like wing threes. Right, Like there was that sideline out of bounds on the where the inbounderies on the left side comes off of a pin down, runs to the top of the key, puts his right left footwork down and elevates on the move straight up and down into a three, which is like the kind of shot you expect from Klay Thompson, and Victor's taking that right.

There was another his other three that he made literally came off of a dribble hand off at the top of the key and took an escape dribble to his side and was drifting to his left and elevated and knocked it down. Those are guys you remember when when him and Scoot Henderson had that showdown with the G

League Knight last year. One of the big things that stood out to me is I was telling you guys like, don't be surprised if he takes five to seven threes a game and literally is taking him like Klay Thompson because that's the type of three point shot he likes to take. He gets his rhythm by doing difficult shit when he's taking three point shots. He missed his catch and shoot threes in this game, So that's kind of the interesting thing is like he literally operates as a wing.

The only real big man offensive stuff he was doing is obviously had that one post up where he kind of got smothered, and then he had two offensive rebounds, one over chet Holmgrin on a free throw where he just reached over the top and grabbed it. And then at the beginning of the second half there was a rebound off the back of the rim and he's standing in the middle of the floor. No one else even

tried to go for it. They're like, ah, I'm not gonna be able to jump with this guy just jumped over everybody, caught it, kept it high, and shot that little flip shot into the basket. That's what's crazy, is like he was playing a more difficult brand of offense than he probably should have, and he still went eight for thirteen from the field, And in the long run, he's gonna start doing that easier stuff. We're gonna talk about it in a minute with Chet, and it's only

gonna go up from there. The one thing that kind of stood out to me offensively is he's difficult. He's more difficult to handle off the dribble from the three point line than he is from the mid post. Right now, his mid post catches were not productive and he didn't get good looks, and in large part because dudes at that point can press up on him because they're closer to the basket and he doesn't have the space to

really mix up off the dribble. You can press up on him, and that's where your physicality can be an advantage. You struggled a little bit there, not a big thing. I'm sure he'll figure that out in the long run, but that's definitely the rub on him initially is like he's more comfortable with a live dribble from twenty five feet and beating people off the dribble against a slower footed big man than trying to post up somebody in the mid post where guys can really get up underneath

him and cause them some issues. Let's talk about Chet. So Chet was used much more like a modern NBA center. He was operating at the top of the key in that five out system. He's running dribble handoffs, and he's popping of the three point line, and he's running ball screens, and when the ball gets kicked out to him and he doesn't have an easy look, he's looking to reverse the ball to the other side and run a dribble handoff. The same kind of stuff that you expect to see

from the modern NBA center. That's what Demanda Sabonis does, That's what Nikola Jokic does, right, Like, that's what we see bam Adebayo do. Those are that's the modern NBA center attack position, and like it just it was working really, really well, and he was super efficient with it. He

did have a couple of those like slot drives. You remember when I was talking about Anthony Davis against Kevon Looney, where like they're kind of set up in five out and you have shooters in the corners and guy on the wing, guy at the top of the key, and Anthony Davis is kind of in that right wing slot area and everyone's spaced out and everybody can shoot, and so AD's just taking Looney off the dribble and just going right at him into the lane and finishing layups

and spin moves. Right. Well, you got to see Chet basically do that to Zack Collins when he would catch and he'd be in the slot and the floor wid be spaced, he would just put his head down and drive at Zach Collins. And he actually had two fouls that he drew just by hitting that spin move and basically catching Zach reaching down across his arms. And so that's kind of like more wing like behavior, but everything else was pretty much out of traditional big man actions, right,

I take that back. There's one other kind of like high level thing he did. It was the inverted pick and roll. So right right after Wemby gets the the and one on I think it was after the dunk, actually when he got the steel in the dunk. Yeah, that's what it was. So he gets the steal, he rips down in case On Wallace gets the steal, Victor goes down and dunks it. Chet comes down the right side of the floor and they run an inverted pick and roll. What do I always talk about inverted pick

and rolls. With inverted pick and rolls, you're taking the defenders and putting them into roles that they're uncomfortable with. Right, So now the big man who's used to being the screen defender now has to navigate a screen. Right, that's not something he's used to doing. The guard or wing who's used to being the on ball defender and is used to navigating screens, is now guarding the screener. And

so as Dort goes up to set the screen. As Dort goes to set the screen, literally, Malachi Branham, I think it was, was literally hugged up to Dort on the backside. Look at him. He's literally like just trailing him in a trail position, not hedging, not helping, not anything, just staying glued to Dort because that's what perimeter players are used to doing. Don't let your perimeter guy get open. And as a result, he basically sets a double screen

on Zach Collins. Zac Collins has to duck way underneath the pick and as a result chet Holmer and gets ahead of Steam going downhill. And I don't care how good you are, Devent. So that's a really hard play to defend when you're kind of in a back pedal position at the rim and the offensive players coming right at you with a head of steam with a live dribble, and he ended up elevating over the top, taking that

bump and finishing over the top. That's super high level stuff, but everything else is pretty standard what you'd expect from a big man, right. He had two offensive rebound put back similar to Wemby just jumping over the top of everybody and putting it in. Even the threes he took were what you'd expect from a modern big man, right Like, there was that play where Josh Giddy posts up on the left side of the floor. I think it was against Trey Jones if I remember correctly, but it's posting

up on the left side of the floor. Chet just goes and spots up in the weak side corner and Zach Collins kind of gets sucked in into help position right around the block, and Josh just throws a rifle pass right into the shooting pocket. Chet rises up and

knocks it down. That's going to be super useful when teams switch against the Thunder because they've got all these matchup attacking players like Shay Gildas, Alexander and Jalen Williams, who was freaking amazing last night, and and Josh gitty, and so when you're in that situation, like when they switch screens, having the big man be able to go spot up on the week side of the floor and be a legitimate threat to knock that shot down is a huge asset. Then the other three he took was

a trailer three. Now, trailing threes are one of the most common threes you'll see coaches ask big men to take. Why because of transition defense principles. What is the thing you're preaching to your big man and transition defense all the time? Sprint back, get to the rim. Sprint back, get to the rim. We call rim running, right like a big man is supposed to run the rim. The traditional big man is supposed to run the rim both

ends of the floor. And now as the modern offensive game has changed, they don't necessarily run to the rim every time, but on defense they still do the same thing. You run to the rim because you have to build a wall to stop whatever the transition attack is. So when you're the trailing big offensively, there's usually a little gap there between when the big man defensively gets back to the rim and then when he recovers back to

the perimeter. After all of his teammates are back on defense, and Chet ended up hitting a three off of a pass from Josh Gidty right on the right wing. Same type of situation. Zach Collins gets back in transition defense, he's considered protecting the paint. Chet runs up in the trailing to play knocks down the three, and that's all allowing him to be super efficient. He made twenty mad

He's scored twenty one points on ten shots. That's insane now like, and that's what I'm saying on the wemb front.

I just like to see him do more of that because he can do the same stuff right like, and he can show all of that high level wing skill out of that position, so he can pick and pop and on the catch show all of that high level ISO skill, pump, fake jab, step hard step to his left, step back three, you know, driving to his left, spinning all of the high level shot making stuff he's capable of.

He can do that with an advantage more frequently out of picking pops than attacking out of a stagnant wing ISO right or like just off of a live dribble. So it just there are other ways to do it.

That dribble handoff keepers right, So like Victor at the top of the key faking a dribble handoff and then making a move, he can show all that same high level stuff, those trailing big plays that I just talked about chet Holmgren, Like obviously, if Zach Collin closes out on him, he can rip through and beat somebody off the dribble and make a play the slot drives the plays that chet Holmgren was making against Zach Collins in the first few possessions of the game. Wemby can do

that kind of stuff. Like I'd like to see him operate a little bit more as a big because it's easier there. He will score more effectively against the other team's big man than he will against another team's wing, and if he's lined up at center, he will draw the other team's big man in most cases. So it's just something to keep in mind. I'm not saying they're doing it wrong, because obviously the Victor went eight for thirteen with twenty one points or twenty points. I'm not

trying to say he did wrong. I'm just saying in the big picture, and when I imagine the future of the Spurs, I look at him operating like most modern bigs do. And for the record, you can literally be the best player in the league doing that. That's what Jokic does. That's Jokic's role. He is a folkrum from the top of the He primarily is a screener run in two man game, but he's such a threat to score that it makes it impossible to guard. And that's what I like.

Wemb can add his own flair. He can add the wing scoring stuff too. I just think in terms of the alignment of the team, it makes the most sense for him to be that way. Chet on defense, fine, not overly impactful, but it wasn't a great defensive effort from either team. He defended five pick and rolls and gave up five points, but there was like a player dort foul a three point shooter. The one play where

I thought he kind of could have done better. There was a pick and roll where Trey Jones got downhill and made a floater and right at the last second, Check kind of backed away. And I'd like to see him just be a little bit more active with his hands. But this is super nitpicky stuff, Like he's gonna be a plus defender almost immediately in the NBA. But that was a lot of fun and both of those players

are insane. I've been trying to tell you guys about Chet all the intel this summer is that the dude is working harder than just about anybody, and that he really really really wants to be good and all the right stuff that you hear that you want to hear from a young talented player, and so especially since he kind of like fits a specific need for OKC. Like there was a Jalen Williams finger roll and one I

posted a video of it on my Twitter feed. You guys can see or Chet rolled hard to the rim and when he rolled hard to the rim, Zack Collins had to take two hard steps backwards to recover at the rim and as a result, Jalen Williams had a wide open kind of finger roll at the end and Chet Zack Collins kind of slapped him at the end for the end one, but he was way out of position. Because of the role man gravity that Chet Holmgren has, they have never had that, at least not in recent

seasons in Oka. See they have a real vertical spacer, a real role gravity creator in Chet Holmgren, And I look forward to watching both of these guys. I think the Spurs are actually going to be a little better than we expect, just because of how impactful Victor is going to be right away in a way that I don't think people expect. But that was fun, and that's

all I for today. We're gonna be coming back either this afternoon or tomorrow morning with our next season preview, which is number four, the Los Angeles Lakers in our in our power rankings, and then we have three more teams that we're gonna get to kind of depending on what the preseason schedule looks like over the next few days. All Right, guys, that's all I have. I appreciate you, and I'll see either later today or tomorrow. The volume h