Hoops Tonight - Why LeBron James & LA are trending up, Lakers-Bulls trade rumors, biggest issues

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specific 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 today here at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all you guys are having a great start to your week. Today is Lakers Day. We're having my friend Jovan Booja on the show again to

break down all things Lakers. Are gonna ask him some questions about some potential guys returning from injury, the Chicago Bulls saga, and then we're gonna dive into the basketball and talk about everything that's been going on with this team, not just over the last couple of weeks, but over the season in general. Yovann, how's it going, man? It is good to see you again.

last night that it's a slow ramp up. I'm wondering if they're if they're kind of treating that similar to Achilles related stuff in the sense that because it's kind of in and around his heel, if they're just being very careful with it. I was just hoping you could give us an update on Jared Vanderbilt and his potential return to play.

pain tolerance. How does it respond to being back on the floor, how does it respond to contact, and how does it respond to treatment? And it's really a day by day process of just monitoring that before they're comfortable with him being back on the floor.

He is the one top tier high motor athlete that they have on the roster. The other two guys, Cam Reddish and Ex Christy, they're both a little bit on the smaller side, where Jared Vanderbilt brings real length and size and athleticism and motor and that's like one of the most valuable things that a basketball team can have in the regular season. So I think him coming back will help them with some of the day and day out effort stuff, which we're gonna talk about in a

little bit. The next guy, Ruby Hotchi Mura had a nasal fracture, I guess, and apparently had a procedure done. Where is he at in his potential return.

the playing tournament. So I suspect Ruey will be back for one of those two games, most likely wearing a mask. But this was another like this kind of sums up the Lakers. They're already dealing with, you know, Vandoh and Gabe Ham.

for the Lakers. His name is Gabe Vincent. I know we don't remember this because he's only played in four games this season, but is he still on the team, Is he still going to be playing basketball anytime soon? Where are we at with Gabe Vincent and his return to play?

from Miami. So I mean, with left effusion, it's kind of this weird thing with swelling and again kind of just how he's handling the you know, he had PRP treatment done to his knee and it's just it's one of those situations where it is kind of again, kind of a treatment based thing in terms of just how his body responds. So Gabe is the one that I think there's an unclear timeline on right now, and I

wouldn't be surprised if he's out a bit longer. But that could be next week, that could be several weeks. Right now, it's pretty up in the air.

capable of, just from a size standpoint. And so in a weird way, having Vanderbilt back to kind of take some of those primary point of attack assignments so that you know, because like the slotting has worked really well in the sense that Max Christy has been so good at the point of attack over the last few games, and I watched the film this morning. He was not responsible for that complete shit show. Defensively, in the first half,

it was basically everybody else. And so with Max being able to kind of take the higher difficulty assignments, that has slotted Torrian better and he's been able to handle lesser assignments in the minutes that he's been out there with them, right, And so that's kind of the way I look at it, is like, if Gabe is your primary point of attack guy that's getting minutes there next to Tory, and it can be a problem. But if Jared's out there and he could take the more difficult assignment,

that makes more sense. So like, in a weird way, I'm not even sure that he'd be as useful now as he can be when Jared comes back. The final part of this before we get into some of the basketball stuff, and this is not really directly related to the Lakers, although you and I both believe so in kind of the grand scheme, the Chicago Bulls are still a shit show and they are in all likelihood going

to blow things up this year. So I want to talk about it first from the perspective of what you've been hearing within the Lakers and what your sense is on the direction they're leaning. And then I want you and I to talk about which Chicago Bulls players we think the Lakers should target. But let's start with the Lakers and what you've heard and what your sense of the situation is, What is their read on Chicago and who they prefer in that specific situation.

pick up in twenty twenty six, twenty seven. So they're looking at it like if we're investing in this, like this is kind of a negative contract, right, So we don't want to give up too much in terms of, you know, our depth and draft capital, and they are limited, of course, and when they can give up certain players, and then on top of that, they don't have much draft capital to include anyway. So I've actually heard that they're more interested in DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. That

was something I reported a couple of weeks ago. And I mean, Ac he's the one that got away Laker fans. Still it still bothers them inside the organization. It's still a very divisive topic in terms of his departure and why that happened and who's to blame, and it's just kind of a thorny situation still. And then Damar is someone that the Lakers have courted for several years now, dating back to you know, originally Toronto and then San Antonio and now in Chicago. So also both of those

guys are on more manageable contracts. Alex has a partial guarantee for next season, Damar is an expiring contract. So you look at Damar comes in, he's that over the top shot maker that the team seemingly doesn't really have outside of when Lebron's jumper is falling. I think he's someone that could be a crunch time option for them and kind of balance out Lebron's you know, pick and

roll attacks. And then Alex Cruso one of the best point of attack defenders in the league, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league period, so we've seen the success he's had next to Lebron in a Lakers jersey. So I think both of those guys make more sense within what the Lakers need. I think with Zach you could see the fit there as the third guy. I think the Lakers haven't had that third reliable offensive option,

uh you know this season. I think Austin has grown into that more recently, and that was what we were expecting from Game one, but with the start, you know, the struggles of that starting group, them moving Austin to the bench, I think that they've kind of needed that third guy, and I think Austin could do it. But whether you get Zach, whether you get the mar, whether you get someone else, I do think they could use

a boost offensively. So I think there's there's real interest in all three guys, but from what I've been told, Damar and Alex are higher on their priority list.

of that in the playoffs last year too. I imagine Zach is kind of a more high powered offensive version of that type of game, and Austin's so good off the ball that that can work great. I also Jamar Derosen as a over the top shot maker. Like last year he made about forty seven percent of his pull up jump shots, which even though he only takes long twos, that's still pretty good. But this year his pull up

shooting his way down. And so I just look at like Zach's playing at a level that's a little bit higher than where Damar is right now. I do like Damar as a passer better, and then on ball, I think he just in general is a better half court shot creator than Zach is, but off the ball and playing off of Lebron specifically, I like Zak is a fit better. But the contract stuff that you mentioned is

super important. Like you can imagine a scenario where you bring in Damar and then you retain him on a team friendly deal because you have his bird rights and you can bring him back at you know, twenty million for four years or some than like that after the season, Like you have flexibility by bringing in his salary as in expiring in a way that helps you maintain the

ability to build around Anthony Davis into the future. So I just think, like, at the end of the day, you bank on a guy like DeMar this initial you know, month or so of the season being kind of fluky, and him getting his shot back and kind of figuring things out, and then that just being a better option

for you down the line. The Alex Caruso piece, I think, you know, I don't think it necessarily has to be Alex, but he's the type of player they need, which is like an excellent two way off ball player that can take primary point of attack assignments, can play off of Lebron as a cutter and as a shooter, and just in general, is that like high motor athlete that we've

been talking about so much. That said, the problem with Alex specifically is like you think of him as a two next to Austin, and we've already seen kind of with with Torian at the three, it looks a little small, looks a little bit like they struggle rebounding in those situations.

Jared in there fixes a lot of the defense and rebound situations, but then you have the offensive questions surrounding him, And so a lot of times I kind of lean more towards looking for a bigger three and d wing because then you can put Torri in at the two,

where he's actually been more successful this season. And so in a weird way, like when it comes to the Bowls potential packages, all three of those players kind of have a big kind of like question mark beau Zack's contract and his knee, DeMar's kind of shooting this season, and whatever it would cost to retain him, and then Alex and just whether or not that's exactly the type

of player they should be looking at or not. Like so it's complicated, and that just kind of leads me to where if it's the right deal and you don't have to overspend and it makes sense in terms of the salaries, you do it, but you don't overpay for any of those guys. I would look at that as more of a trade of opportunity rather than a trade of aggression, if that makes sense. So that's kind of

the direction I look with the Bulls. And then I do think though that you and I have set this in in both of the shows we've done already, and I'm sure you still agree, which is, I do think this team eventually does need to make some sort of trade. I think that that has been kind of, like, you know, one of the safest bets in this NBA season the minute they resigned D'Angelo Russell, And I think that's kind of the direction we're going. Would you agree in that sense? Still?

But one of the consistent themes throughout the season is they've dug holes even in their wins and even in the games they've had a chance to win. I dug into the today because I wanted to kind of demonstrate this because it really is insane. They beat Houston about a week ago, they dug an eleven point hole in that game. They beat Portland, they dug an eight point hole in that game, which again not that big of a hole. But against Portland, it's like, why why are

you going down by eight against Portland? Like that just should not happen. Right the second win against Phoenix, they dug a fourteen point hole in that game. When they beat the Clippers, they dug a nineteen point hole in that game. When they beat the Orlando Magic at home in the game early in the season, they dug a eight point hole in the second half of that game. When they beat Phoenix the first time, they dug a

twelve point hole in that game. Even in the clutch lost to Dallas, which they led in the final minute and lost on a Kyrie Irving game winning three. They dug a twenty point hole in that game. The Miami Heat game where we had Cam Reddish miss the wide open three and Austin Reeves missed a couple of really good looks down the stretch. They dug a twelve point

hole in that game. In the Sacramento loss at the one that went to ot early in the season, they dug a fifteen point hole in that game and still had a chance to win it late.

bit because I find it to be really fascinating. So before we get into some of the details, I just want to ask you this is the team aware that this specifically is a problem. Are they doing anything to address it or are they downplaying it within the locker room?

last three games. So those are three bigger, rangier wings that I think give you a certain level of lineup flexibility. This team has shown through the first eighteen games that they play better, bigger, like that that is their identity, kind of similar to last season, similar to the twenty twenty team, Like they've played better with a defensive identity, more size on the floor, just kind of mashing you.

You've seen that the rebounding has picked up. They haven't been as susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds, second chance points when they've had at least kind of like a ten man rotation. So I think there are some positive trends there, but the slow starts, and based on Lebron's comments last night, like I have to wonder if they consider a starting lineup change again and whether that's Torian,

whether that's de Lo. You know, I would suspect probably more likely Torian than Dlo, but like something's got to change where you can't keep getting down, Like I think Darvin has kind of downplayed it in some of his comments with us in the rest of the media in terms of, you know, it's not about who starts, it's about who closes, and like you know, he'll look for

kind of reasons to justify it at times. But it's a problem if you're consistently down eight to twelve to upwards of fifteen or even twenty points in the first quarter, and we know Lebron and ad are the starting locks.

you know, this camera place him. I think Van Do is going to go back to starting ultimately, but the Lakers I think have to probably make another starting lineup change at some point, or at least something within the early parts of the rotation because right now, those first six to eight minutes every game, consistently, they're just getting outplayed. And it's not like, again, you know that they're down twelve to eight, like a lot of times it's twenty

two to eight or something along those lines. So like that is a consistent problem that has hurt them all season, and I think last night was kind of the nader of the season and you got to really, I think evaluate or reevaluate at some point because this isn't again, this isn't a four game sample, a six game sample, an eight game sample. This has been eighteen games of thirteen fourteen of those they've trailed by double digits.

ebb and flow an effort. Now, his lower defensive effort is still deeply impactful compared to the vast majority of defensive players in the NBA, but even he can kind of ebb and flow, like I thought, I thought he was generally just not really fighting to hold his ground against Embiid at all last night's game, as Embiid was trying to basically bully him to the basket. He just kind of was tissue paper in a lot of ways.

And I've just seen I've seen ad do a much better job on Embiid than he did in that game. Lebron James in particular was making zero efforts off the ball to start last night's game, and then D'Angelo Russell in particular was really really struggling, and so some of that you got to accept as the reality of the short term. Austin has become a better defensive player than d Lo. Over the past few weeks, we've criticized Austin for his defense to start the year. I believe that

his criticisms were legitimate. His activity on the glass and defensively at the point of attack has gone up a level over the last couple of weeks. D'Angelo Russell is more or less where he's been the entire season. And so when you start games out with D'Angelo Russell and Lebron James, is two guys that are kind of just feeling things out right and not really doing much. Anthony Davis defending, but not all world Anthony Davis that we

know he's capable of being. And then you have one high motor guy in Nex Christie out there and then Torrean Prince, who's an average athlete with an average motor. I think that specifically is a recipe for a disaster. Now, the obvious solution is if you were to bring Jared Vanderbilt into that situation, you have your high motor athlete.

But we saw the Sixers last night do a lot of ignoring Max Christi, in particular in the early portion of the game, and they're certainly going to do the same thing with Cam Reddish, and they're certainly going to do the same thing with Jared Vanderbilt. Around the league, and so then you run into this issue where maybe you bring in the athleticism and motor that you need in the starting lineup, but now you run into problems

with the offense and just the s in general. And so they're not gonna move Austin into Delo's position, even though Austin's been playing better than Dlo because of all of the reasons that we've discussed in the past involving the ego, and so some of this is like I have to almost tell Laker fans like they're the Lakers are telling you through their effort that they don't really view this as all that important. And part of it is like they literally were blow five hundred all year

last year and made the Western Conference Finals. So this is a team that like never really truly feels threatened during the regular season. So as fans, you got to adjust your expectations in a lot of ways because they do not have an easy personnel fix to this problem. After the deadline, if they do upgrade d Loo into a high motor athlete, now you're in a situation where it could be Austin Reeves as a starting guard who

is playing better. In the details, than d Loo is right, you have Jared Vanderbilt in the starting lineup, you have a guy who's a much better offensive player, two way play athlete at the two that you get back from d Lo, and then you have Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Suddenly, I think you would have a much easier time floating the night and night out efforts stuff in the regular season.

But that's not happened until February, and so like at a certain point, like I kind of just think this is what they're gonna be until then, because they're always gonna be in this predicament of their high motor guys can't score, and when they put their offensive guys on

the floor, they don't play hard enough. But then again, we see every single game they're the second best defense in the NBA and second halves this year, so much so that they were before the Philly game, and then even though they got boat raced in the second half of the Philly game and give up a million points, they're still the second best defense in the league in

second halves. They eventually lock in. They just don't do it until it's like, Okay, we absolutely have to now if we're gonna have any chance to win this game. And then you even see d Lo and you even see Lebron and some of the lower level guys start to make additional efforts and make plays, and so like, some of this is just you got to accept the reality.

But counterpoint is who won the title last year? A one seed Denver Nuggets, who won the title the year before that, A one seed the Golden State Warriors who won the title the year before that. A one seed the Milwaukee Bucks who won the title book the year before that, a one seed the Los Angeleslikers. So like NBA history tells us, like, if you want a chill, yeah, you can do a playoff run, and you might be able to make it to the finals or make it

to the Western Conference finals. But the team that wins is the team that from day one of the NBA season to the end of the regular season goes. We are using this eighty two to practice being awesome at basketball so that when we get to the playoffs, we're

ready for this. And so, like I would just say, from a strictly basketball character standpoint, this team is throwing up all sorts of red flags that they don't give a shit and at a certain point that should tell us a lot about what this team is capable of in the big picture.

team isn't a defending champion. Like they had a historic turnaround. They made the Western Conference finals, had a great finish to the season, But like I still think, you know, you can go one of two ways where they come out.

Sometimes you'll see a team make a deep playoff run and the next year they come out like gangbusters and they start the season sixteen and four, and you know they're playing with that hunger of you know, we didn't reach our ultimate goal last year, and the Lakers have almost come out the opposite way kind of to your point, and it's sort of like, well, we know we can kind of flip the switch, and they kind of like, I don't think they did that at the end of

last season, but there were several games last year like they kind of had this comeback resilient identity of no matter how much they were down, they could turn it up, ramp it up defensively, get out and transition and overcome that. And they had several notable comebacks after the trade deadline last year.

force with force. So I think that's kind of been a consistent trend for them, as you were saying, even against the Portlands of the world. It hasn't just been the Philly and like even the Portland. Like a couple of those games, it was like they sort of just one with their talent and just being a much better team than Portland, even if they aren't trying their hardest. So this is something they have to address, whether it's

now or down the road. I think it is one of the things that I've been slightly concerned with to start the season.

But post deadline, the goal has to be if Austin is your one and Lebron's you're four and eighty is your five. You need two top tier athletes at the two and the three that are both plus offensive players just as role player guys. I don't know if that ends up being Torrian Prince and Jeremy Grant, or Torrian Prince and Dorian Finney Smith, or whether it ends up, you know, being a Toryan Prince at the three and getting more of like an athletic guard or somebody like that.

But you just can't go forward. It's not tenable anymore. And the Lebron and ad era to be unathletic in your starting lineup, because when you're unathletic and you don't play hard, you're gonna get your ass kicked in the modern NBA. It really is that. It really is that simple to me, and so I'm interested to see how they address that. I will say the last thing on

this before we move on to our game. Jared Vanderbilt will help a lot with this regular season stuff doesn't have anything to do with their ultimate playoff ceiling in my opinion, unless Jared Vanderbilt turns into a thirty eight percent corner three point shooter, which I don't think is going to happen. So like, I don't think it's a take about what the Lakers are capable of, but the night in, night out stuff he's just going to help

so much. I know we've said that like six times in the show, but it's just important because it is a legitimate loss that this team has been dealing with. All Right, So we're gonna move forward to this game. This game is called something or nothing. Here's what I'm

gonna do. I'm going to give Yovan a trend mostly just facts being laid out, and Yovann's gonna tell me whether or not that trend is something meaning like something legitimate that needs to be factored in moving forward, or nothing meaning it's just a blip and it's not anything to be concerned about and the Lakers shouldn't worry about it. So our first question, Max Christie and Cam Reddish have shown flashes of really high level point of attack defense

even against particularly tough assignments. I think I think that Max Christie in particular has gone through the ringer in this last week and has shown some really high level stuff. Obviously, that's one of the biggest personnel needs on this roster. Is that trend something or nothing for the Lakers?

ways to go in terms of his development. But for a guy who's only twenty years old in his second NBA season to be defending Donovan Mitchell and hold him to one of seven shooting and be defending him in crunch time, like, I just thought that showed me a lot.

And then Cam has been a revelation since joining the starting lineup, And you know, that was someone that I was pretty skeptical of the Cam Retish signing, you know, based on talking to people who had covered him before, been around him before, and just didn't you felt like he had a very mid range heavy game, and I think you saw some of that in the preseason, But the Lakers have simplified his role as you know, you are gonna take catch and shoot threes, you will finish

in transition. You'll get some back cuts and some offensive rebounds, but for the most part, like we don't want you putting the ball on the floor, we don't want you taking these pull up mid range jumpers that you love to take, and then defensively, like you're that guy, You're our point of attack guy. You're going to guard the best perimeter defender, and we want you to focus on really just taking threes and you know, defending your ass off.

And I think he's done that so far. He's I mean, before his injury, he had led the league and steals in the month of November, and I thought he was playing at a really really high level and starting to kind of actualize his potential.

means for a guy. Again, we were talking about Torri and Prince and some of his struggles when Vanda comes back, like you know, do you just go giant and it's maybe fewer minutes for d Lo, fewer minutes for Gabe, and just more Austin at the one with these jumbo lineups of like Austin and Max in the back court, Austin and Cam the back court, Austin Andrean in the back court, and you're playing basically, you know, six or five and up guys in your rotation, which is something

we saw the championship team do and have some success with for the most part. So I think this is something for sure.

over screens pretty well. Like that was the number one thing that stood out about him coming out of out of college. Max, as we've talked about, it's the same combination. He's surprisingly strong, absorbs contact well, has good length, and moves his feet really well, and played really hard all

the time. That said, everything we know about NBA history, he tells us, if you've got a really young player that has some offensive limitations that you're relying on in a postseason series, you might as well just check him off as being just almost useless, at least within the context of the important stretches of games. It's one thing for them to come off the bench for you know, one shift to half and play really hard against the

bench guy for the other team. But like, I think if either I think if the Lakers are expecting that, like, oh, Jared's gonna come back and Torrian's gonna move to the bench and Max or Cam is going to be our two, I think that would be a really bad idea. I think in the big picture, they're both perfectly fine as bench point of attack guys in the rotation, But relying on them to be consistent, starting, starting level production, especially as we get into the postseason, I think is I

think that would be nothing like I think. I think I think both guys would struggle heavily in a playoff series in big minutes, is what I'm saying. The second question, this one, this one's a tough one for me post deadline. Last year, in twenty seven games, including seventeen games coming off of the BETCH, similar context to what's happening right now, Austin Reeves averaged seventeen points and five assists per game

on seventy three percent through shooting. Last year, in sixteen playoff games, he averaged seventeen points and five assists on sixty two percent through shooting, down from the regular season, but still excellent. This season, in eighteen games, hasn't missed a game, so he's had plenty of time to kind of build rhythm. He's averaging fourteen points and five assists per game on fifty eight percent through shooting, which again is good, but not the Austin that we got accustomed

to seeing the latter half of last season. He has now also entered into another shooting slump. He's shot just twenty six percent from three over his last seven games. Is this something or nothing?

handedly out shooting the Lakers, just those two guys. So it's just like I feel like last night, and really we're at the point where a bad shooting night can dramatically swing your shooting percentages. Like Max Christy went oh for three last night on threes, he dropped from thirty five percent three point shooting down to twenty two percent. So that just shows you, one game can really swing how we view someone's shooting. So with Austin, I think

it's gonna get better. As we're talking about, if this team makes a move and maybe even slots him more as like a fourth option or or like a three point five option, I think you could see even better efficiency numbers with him.

at a higher level. He's up over six assists per game over his last eight if I remember correctly, And the defense and rebounding stuff has ticked up. And then you mentioned the crunch time stuff. He's been so unbelievably good in crunch time, Like he literally made the biggest shout of the game against Houston, he made the read to Lebron and those back door cuts against Cleveland. We've seen him at big time pull up jump shots in big moments and other clutch games throughout the season. Like

he's been awesome in so many different ways. That said, like to me, there's a difference between like Austin being really good, in Austin being what he's capable of being, which is like what managing Nobili was for those Spurs teams, which is this guy that doesn't put up the most amazing box score numbers ever, but at the same time is deeply impacting winning on a little bit higher level than where he is right now. And all I'll say is that it's nothing. But if this does turn out

to be what he is, which I don't believe. So I believe he's going to play better in the bigger picture. That does change the way we'd have to look at the outlook for this team, because I do think they need Austin to be what he was in the playoffs last year, if not a little bit better, for the Lakers to have a good chance to win the title

this season. But I did think it was interesting to look back at those numbers, and what's crazy with Austin is like fifty eight percent true shooting, and we're talking about him like he's having a way down year, as if that's not like incredible in the you know, over league average. All right, here's our here's our last question. The Lakers have played the fourth toughest schedule in the NBA this season so far, with opponents having won fifty

three percent of their games. They have the ninth easiest remaining schedule As a result of that, Jared Vanderbilt has not played yet. Ruey Hatchamura has only played two hundred and seventy nine minutes out of the eight hundred and seventy four that the Lakers have played. Gabe Vincent has only played one hundred and thirteen minutes. They are well

positioned for mid season trade. And despite all of that, they are ten and eight and are just three and a half games back at the number one overall seed. And they have several really positive trends in my opinion, with Lebron's jump shooting, which he's been at one point zero nine points per jump shot, which is way up from last year and right about where you need him

to be. And Anthony Davis is having the best post up season of his career, in large part fueled by him hitting every single hook shot that he's taking, like damn near jokicesk. Everything I just said, is that something or is that nothing?

in impressive fashion. Thinking about the Utah win, the Memphis win, and they've taken care of business, particularly in the N Season Tournament, which is it feels like if you called every game an N Season Tournament game.

weren't giving maximum effort. You had that Mobaba dunk late in the game, and it was just like even with them beat out, they were outscored forty to fourteen in that fourth quarter, and Philly's third unit was kicking their third units.

Like on paper, before Cam Reddish kind of broke out, we would have said Jared Vanderbilt and Gave Vincent were they're too best perimeter defenders taking ad aside, but when he has the guard wings. But like Vanderbilt and Vincent being out, I think has really compromised their Primmeter defense. And even with that, they've been so good defensively over the last ten games or so and that's kind of

become their calling card again. So for me, I think it is something that this team, as you said, has as a much easier schedule moving forward.

playoff top six. It's just a matter of how high is the ceiling, and that is something that we got to see what they look like when they get their guys back, and then on top of that, what do they need and do they ultimately make a move. I think we both are in agreement that they will. What does that move look like and how much does that raise their ceiling.

felt that way. And like, and you know, the NBA is kind of weird like that, where it's like, yeah, the Lakers also just had a really impressive road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, that same Cleveland Cavaliers team that just went into Philly and beat Philly that you know, and like, and I'm pretty sure that if I remember correctly, Donovan Mitchell didn't even play in that game, and so like, like that's just kind of how things go. Like the game last week where the Kings came in and just

and just beat their ass. Like, have you looked at the Kings this season, Like outside of the two Pelicans losses last week, they've they've kicked everyone's ass, including a bunch of good teams. Like they're just playing really good basketball right now. Like a lot of this is just kind of how the NBA regular season goes, which is why we talked about that set of trends like this is not this is you know, because I've heard a lot of Lakers fans use the phrase, oh, another fake comeback.

These are not fake comebacks. You know how I know because I remember the fake comebacks last year. The fake comebacks were like they're completely overmatched and are terrible, and then they just play harder and they get it back to like eight, and then they end up losing by eleven, and everyone's like, oh, they got it from twenty seven to eight. That's a fake comeback. Yeah, one hundred percent agree with you. These are like they're in position to

win a lot of these games. They won six of them and they almost won another three where they so like this is literally like a matter of effort. They have been one of the very best second half teams in the NBA, and they have fared extremely well in slow down half court environments against the best teams in the league. They've done well. This is literally an issue with effort and focus and energy and athleticism during the during the larger portions of games, especially in the early

portions of and so like, here's the thing. Would I feel a hell of a lot better about them if they were twenty four and three like they were in the twenty twenty season. Absolutely. That's why I'm out over here saying the Lakers are the championship favor They're not. I have them as a lower level team in the championship contender tier because they have the tools, they have personnel, things that they can implement in a playoff series that other teams cannot do. That is why they have the

capability of winning a championship. But for me to really get behind this team, they need to have an extended stretch where they look like a championship team. And so far to this point, as a result of the injuries, as a result of the schedule and as a result of some really poor effort, they've looked underwhelming. But in spite of that, they're ten and eight, instilling in striking

distance to make moves. So I think in general, it's one of those things where, like my feelings about the Lakers in the big picture haven't changed all that much except for that it just kind of looks like a lower level of focus than you would hope for from a traditional NBA champion. But I haven't seen like major personnel things splash off the screen where I'm like, oh, like that's new. I don't think they can overcome that. Like I haven't felt that way. Have you felt that way at all?

you're gonna get better shots offense. Like it's just kind of it's it's a it's a yo yo, where like I think, you you know, put better defensive players on the floor, like theoretically, you know that that's gonna stop teams from scoring as much, and then you know you're able to get out and transition and get easier baskets and like so.

think they're they're twenty sixth in percentage. So to me, like that is something where you cannot win a championship as a bottom five three point shooting team and all three of those categories.

what the moves they make at the trade headline. They bring in a couple of shooters and it looks a lot better, But to me, there has to be a certain level of shot making that hasn't always been there with this group, and so that that would be my kind of only real concern through these first eighteen games is like you have a guy like Torrian coming in career thirty eight percent three point shooter. He's shooting on thirty percent, and I think that's going to get better.

But we've also seen guys come to LA and just for whatever reason not shoot the ball as well as they normally do in other spots. Like I look at Pat Beverley last year, Like Pat was quietly a near forty percent three point shooter the last few years before coming to LA. He comes in and just can't make a shot. So I mean, Beasley thirty five percent with the Lakers last year, forty five percent right now with Milwaukee.

So like, for whatever reason, I don't know if it's the lights, I don't know if it's playing with Lebron or a combination, but like, guys just don't shoot the ball as well in LA as they do in other spots, And that to me is the one concern of just like, clearly they can still win games not shooting the ball well, but to me, like it has to get at least closer to league average for me to have more confidence in their playoff offense because right now that that's kind

of the one area I'm a bit concerned with.

With Lebron the way he's shooting the season in Anthony Davis, I don't think spacing is going to be a concern in the important stretches of games, you know, down the line. I do think from a process standpoint, i'd like to

see the Lakers take more threes. Specifically, I was thinking about that in the Sixers game last night, where it's like when Lebron James and Anthony Davis play with real downhill force, which they do whenever they need to, they don't really need to shoot, like it's just not necessary. They're just so damn good at getting downhill to the rim. But in the line in the In the rest of these portions of games, when they're kind of in chill mode, I'd almost like to see more guys taking threes because

just in sheer attempts, they're just not taking enough. Like they're they're like right around I think twenty nine three point of ten per one hundred possessions. Them and the Pistons are the only teams in the league taking less than thirty. Like you need to be just from a shot value standpoint, taking more of them, and like you almost think of it as like a floor balanced thing, like set your defense up so that you can get back and transition off a long rebound and take more threes.

It because just from the standpoint of shot value, when when you come off of a screen and you gotta look, just take it instead of just like you know, kind of hesitating and then swinging the ball for the next guy to do the same thing, you know what I mean. I'd like to see them push their volume a little bit. But as long as they can come up with a core five where you have to guard all the guys, I think I think they're fine in the big picture.

Is there anything else you wanted to plug before we get out of here today.