Kings/Lakers postgame show

big a deal as people thought. I have. Memphis kind of been closer to the Utah Phoenix tier than the one the bundle up of the West with us to MAVs, Clippers, et cetera. So I wasn't really mad at that we went. We won our last at least six games other than the two Memphis losses, but tonight was definitely a step back. We'll get into it. Russ obviously is again the poster story. His players will be plastered everywhere, and I'll definitely get

into him. We scored sixty seven points in that first half, so this game was definitely winnable. You're up six. Honestly, to me, this game was lost on the defensive end here. The King's really ran simple actions and you know, you can blame continuity, you can blame effort. I think all those things are kind of intertwined. And I'm gonna try to kind of put some clips up here of stuff that I'm talking about, so again, people listening on the pod or on dash radio tomorrow, I'll kind of explain

the player. It's pretty simple. So the first player is kind of up there, and I'm gonna try to, you know, integrate basketball players into the you know, into the podcast a little bit here so I can kind of have a little bit more visuals so it's a little easier to see. But the first tweet is up there now. So the Kings run this double draft screen, and it's

pretty simple here. They runned it, and they ran this all night, right, It's basically just two screens for their guard against whoever's defending whoever's against Leek Monk or every Bradley or someone that we can't switch against, right, And it was lay up after layup, or corner three after corner three. It was and look, I don't I don't know how to like start this, but we lost this game defensively, and the rustuff is super frustrating obviously, and he ended a lot of our big runs, but I

thought Lebron wasn't engaged on that end. And I don't blame Lebron for and that's my kind of first point. I don't blame Lebron for not being engaged defensively every single night, right because he has a huge scoring load, Like that's just what he has on his on his plate every night. He has to score thirty thirty points for us to be competitive. But when you go small ball, you're big has to be engaged. And on these plays we have no clue who the help guy is supposed

to be. And again I'm not sure where that responsibility lies. But Stanley or Russ have to kind of step in here, or Lebron has to show and recover back to Bagley. And this is I just picked one play. This was one of the first players of the game, and we never really even adjusted to this. The King scored every single point pretty much in the paint. There were four for fourteen from three in the first half and still

put up sixty something points um. And that's kind of where I want to start with this, because eight is gonna be out a little bit longer as well, and we can't just go into a nose dive here. I would have liked to see Dwight Howard play a little bit, play a little bit more, but there has to be an identity to go along with the small ball where we have a defensive identity as well. And this is stuff that I just saw all night. I could have picked, you know, five more plays of that. Darren Fox got

right to the basket. I thought Austin Reeves was our you know, best defender on him tonight. I'll get into Austin Um a little bit later and kind of why I think he needs to play more. But d n Fox got lay up after lay up. Looking at the you know, plus minus always isn't always the best, you know barometer for things like that, but Dwight Howard was a plus nine tonight in fifteen minutes. I don't think that's an accident. The Kings went up big twice. Actually,

I thought both our runs came from playing Dwight. And I understand we want to move our identity and I want to keep you know, I'm trying to keep this podcast a little bit more on tonight. That's what happens

when you do a post game show every day. But we're trying to move to this small ball identity, but it can't be this rigid, right Like, there has to be some leeway for versatility here because if Lebron is not going to be engaged, and again I don't blame him for that because of his scoring though, like I talked about, but you have to kind of switch up here. I think, you know, Dwight Howard should have played more. Now does that change the outcome of this game? Who knows? Right?

And I think, you know, the offensive stuff is our issues as well. I think the defense has to get better. Man, there has to be some kind of identity there because we gave way too many points in the paint, and we came back out of the second half of the same energy, with the same effort, and it really felt like we could outscore the Kings tonight, right Like, That's kind of what I felt that, That's kind of how

we operated this whole game. We were scoring at ease, our jumpers were going down, and once those didn't go down, the Kings, you know, just continued to score at the basket. At the Darren Fox got lay up after lay up, and again that double drags King is just one kind of operation of them, if you could see it up there. For wherever just came in, Kings ran that they ran a just a simple ball screen, and our rotations were

so off, which is so against what a vocal team is. UM. If you remember last year Lebron and a d went down, but our defense stayed number one, and I don't expect this team's defensive state number one. Of course, the you know, the personnel is totally different, but the scheme still it just feels like it's off a little bit. And we have guys who help in different places, and we definitely

have people that players go at. I talked about they went out Lake Monk and every badly a ton of because they know that we're not going to switch those actions, right, So when when the Kings run this double drag, they make you operating more of a drop type of coverage, UM and and we really got destroyed with that. And I just didn't see enough adjustments there. I thought, why Howard was just a nice player to put in there

just to get just to change it up. And I love that they kind of he kind of mirrored his minutes with Alex Land. I just wish we closed with that. I wish we closed the half with that as well, right, because I thought, darn Fox just got to the basket. The Kings weren't even hitting their outschild outside shots tonight.

Like I talked about four for four team from three, they got little bit hot in the third quarter, but when he scored sixty of the points like that, you should be up more at halftime, And you know I was. I was a little bit worried about that. And again, like I, I don't agree to the fact that, you know, the loss to Memphis or even the lost of the Kings, and I throws away the stuff we've kind of built up in our small ball identity, because again, this is a new team. It's a new new, non new team,

but a whole new identity that we're moving towards. Right, We've moved towards this small ball thing, and it's a all new continuity. And we talked about how, you know, DeAndre Jordan is not in the rotation anymore, but you know this is stuff you'll see with You'll see you'll see us give us a big, big up, give give up,

big leads and stuff like that. But I just want to see a little bit more, little less rigid in our rotations here, and I thought, you know, Frank kind of pushed the wrong buttons uh tonight, And it's kind

of nitpicking as well. At again, like I talked about, I'm not sure how much we're gonna win when Lebron has that kind of effort, But I would just like to see, like us to play a little bit more of a traditional game there with with d why Howard, because when we're small like that, and we're and when you're small and not switching everything, that means your help has to be insane or you have physical guards that can protect the rim, right, Like, that's what happens when

you go small. The point of going small is to be able to have a bunch of life size guys that can defend. But again, when you're going small and it's League Monk and every Bradley out there, and you have Lebron who's just engaged as the back line center, and again I'll keep using this caveat. I don't blame him, just this is what happened tonight. And again at the end, there was a lot of plays where you know he's jogging back in transition and the Kings get open three

in the corner. But when you have that type of play, I would have loved to see kind of dry Howard play. And this is not just about Duy Howard. I just mean like just from a sense of just changing it up a little bit, play a little bit more traditional defense. Uh. The King's again are bad team. They came in tonight eleven games under five hundred, and they have some talent on that roster, but there's no way they should be

scoring at will like they were in the paint. I would just like to make a couple of different decisions, right, show that Marvin Bagley can catch and swing to the corner on the week side corner, right, and show that you know met you can catch in the paint and swing to the corner like that stuff that I feel like we should have at least made them go into and really did, and they caught it float after floating after floating in the rim, and we just kind of

gave them baskets in that way. And it's just it's tough because I feel like we are in such wind collection mode now we're weak. Like obviously you're experimenting with small ball lineups, but you have to kind of play with the game is going as well. Uh, And I really just didn't think we did that. Uh. And I thought tonight felt very similar to Memphis in a way.

Obviously Memphis does it on a higher level. They execute at a higher level, but the way that Jaw just put his head down right and got to the basket on us, Darren Fox did that tonight. Darren Fox average is twenty seven a game against us on pretty high efficiency. I was seeing too when there when the King's excuse me, when the King's posted his numbers against us, and that's just tough. It felt like a layup line. And when Lebron is not engaged in that way, I think you

have to kind of find other ways. Our small ball has a breaking point right defensively like that's and when it has that kind of breaking point, you have to kind of switch up there. And if Lebron is not in the Draymond role, and it's just gonna be tough for us to kind of survived these type of games,

especially when Russ is playing the way he was. And I thought, you know, and I guess I can kind of move on to Russ because I'm sure that's what everyone pretty much wants to hear about well before I get into that, Like, I'm tired of the four million dollar conversation. Like I think that's you know, been extended as much as it has um. I think bringing up how much Russ makes it's pretty negligent to the season. That's an offseason conversation, right, Like Russ as whatever you

want to if you want to call it. And I don't like using the word asset, but you know, that's how UH people talk when they talk about transactions and stuff like that. That's for the that's for the off season here. Like there's stuff that Russ does. But my expectations of him, and I think a lot of people have discussed as well, are not to be a score or even the second option. And I think you're seeing

that in these last few weeks, right. And he's had a bunch of low turnover games and I think tonight, let me check how many turnovers he had, he had one turnover tonight, Right, And you're starting to see him in his head a little bit kind of decide shot past, you know, and those decisions that he just never had to really be as cognizant of when he was the

main guy. Right, And you're seeing this transition. And I've talked about Russ in terms of this is a season where he's facing his own mortality, right, and every player kind of gets to that that point. And a player like Russ who's been, you know, not just the number one an option, like the only option right on a lot of teams like where in the last few years, like with Washington, right, he was the number one ball

handley option on that team. Bradley Beale was more of a come off, you know, downscreen type of offense guy. Russ Westbrook was running pick and roll, you know, with Daniel Gafford, you know, and all those guys and the bigs to make their run. But that's not how I see him on this team. And I think tonight in that first half was probably the most off the ball I've seen Russ uh and I've seen Lebron be turned into a full time screener. And if you go reway that first have it was just all it was Malik

Monk Lebron screen reactions. It was Avery, Bradley Lebron screen actions like and Lebron full time screenal Like I talked about, he's the full time finisher. Um, that's kind of why I'm seeing with Russ and these you know, these switches

from player. It's never pretty, right, and uh, I think people have also compared it kind of to Carmelo Anthony, right, and it wasn't pretty when Carmelo Anthony went through an okay, see, which is you know, it's kind of funny how you know, these things kind of intertwined because they played together in

Oklahoma City. But when it was Russ, Paul George and Carmelo as the third option when one of those when one of those guys sat out, Carmelo couldn't just fill into the second option, right like he just he was just not at that point in his career. And that's what I'm seeing with Russ as well. And obviously those laking decision makings are always tough. And I don't know what that late possession was. We were down, I believe

for Lebron had just hit a lay up. Russ comes up the left side of the floor, Lebron doesn't go get the basketball. Malik Monk decides to set a little brush screen. Lebron sets a little flare screen from the league Monk and he just goes stands on the other side and rust the sides, Harrison Barnes goes under the pick like every player in the league will do when defending him, and he gets, you know, an open three that doesn't go. But I think it was interesting in

this game to kind of keep it tonight. So Russ started this game with Darren Fox on him right, and he took him to the basket almost every single time, or even when it was Haliburton or anyone. And in the second half, the Kings switched Harrison Barnes onto him right, and that really just switched his whole flow of the game. And when that happens, there has to be an adjustment there where Russ has to be like, Okay, I have Harrison Barnes on me. Now, that's not a guy I

can overpower the rim. That's not a guy I can you know, get to the basket finish, you know, rock the rock the baby like you did tonight, like on one play. But that's just not a guy you can go through, right, And teams are gonna try to throw guys that Russ can't go through. And we always discussed the Lakers Houston playoff series. The Lakers had Anthony Davis

on Russ. They have some you know, Joe Schlow guarding him, or they didn't have even our good defenders and Alex Gruso and Kyle Kosma and DCP because he was just too strong so he would be able to bully to the basket. And we had Anthony Davis to throw on him. And that changed the complexion of that series. And I thought throwing Harrison Barnes on him, Uh, tonight changed the complexion of tonight for us. He was kind of getting

to the basket. Uh, he was. Again, he's not gonna make a lot of those, and he misses a lot more, it feels like, and he makes at the rim. I think I was seeing he was shooting at the rim on layups and stuff like that, but just his pressure at the basket and intertwme. It intertwines to me why I would like to see Dwight Howard Um play a little bit and let me see if I can kind of share this share this plane, bear with me, all right,

if you guys can see the play here. So Russ, this is what Russ does though, right, He's gonna attack the rim, so yeah, Haliburton on him. But when however, and gets to the basket, and this is why I want him to like, especially but when Anthony Davis isn't bad because this would be a D right, and a d can kind of feel the Dwight role. Obviously he can feel the Dwight role, but he can feel that

offensive rebound role. And I think that's so important when Russ is playing, especially without Lebron, when he's gonna have the ball more at the top of the key. So Russ drives on this play right, and alex Land has to come over, and the big will mostly come over on a rush dry Ruskin. If Russ gets his his shoulder passed the guard, the big will come over, and then you have I believe that's Harrison Barnes trying to,

you know, take away Dwight from the offensive rebounds. And I like, to me, that's just stuff that's important right now when adies out. I don't like when, you know, especially when Russ plays without Lebron and no centers. So when it's like Trevor reesa Carmelo, if our shooter is

not Inferno there, it's like layups at the rim a reason. Still, I thought this was the best of reason looks, but he's still kind of slow right when he's when he's moving around, he's still not quick um and Stanley Johnson is good but still sana Johnson's and underst center. So like those are just three points that you can kind of pick up so that every you know, Russ lay up miss at the rim, isn't the team going the

other way? And transition, you know, you can kind of you can kind of pick off some of these easier points there with what Dwight Howard in the game, and that's another reason I'd kind of like him to get more minutes, especially until eighties get eight gets back. I just think a backup center is important. I think again, our offense was great tonight and Lebron not being engaged defensively was was part of the reason I think we lost.

But that's just stuff. And you know, this season has kind of I said that from like the fifth game of this year, like the season has become about acquescing to Russell Westbrook, and I think that I think that's magnified one of one of our stars gets out, And I'm not telling you to change your expectations because like that's just what it is. The contract to me, is just negligent for what the season asked for right, and this is the season we're trying to win a championship,

Like that's the whole point of this year. So what can we do to put rust in better positions to where we're successful when he's on the floor, right, his contract means nothing once that ball tips up because he's on the team, like, and he's gonna be on the team after I don't remember when the trade deadline is February something, for the fifteenth, I think, but he's gonna

be on the team after that. I promise you. The best is not going anywhere for this whole season, So trying to find out places that we can kind of put them, And I think when Adie gets back, it does slot him in a little bit better position. But this is not excusing his play, right, Like he can't be missing layups, he can't be taking these awful jumpers. And again I thought tonight it was just another terrible, I guess decision making game from him in terms of

when to shoot, when to pass. And I'm sorry if I'm rambling here, but I feel like there's places on the floor you have to put them. And I did a video on the you know, when we beat the Kings, the last time we went to Lebron Malik Monk two man game every single time down the floor, and I don't know why we went away from it tonight. We didn't pick on Buddy Healed at all, we didn't pick on Darren Fox as a defender at all. We didn't force the Kings to do anything any of those actions.

Lebron took. Uh, he took twelve threes tonight, which I think is just a little too high. And again maybe that's part of the that might be intertwined as well into the load managing stuff. Not wanting to drive to the rim, But twelve threes to me, just get twenty nine shot attempts to total for Lebron. So I can't you know, Betwo nippicky, but you know, twelve threes is a lot three or twelve from three from Lebron and

and all that's kind of intertwined. But there's places we have to kind of put Russ there, and it's just it's just tough to watch him. I guess in a role that I don't think he was supposed to. I guess b for this team, and I'm not sure if that's the role that they imagine for him, but this is just not the role that his skill set now asked for, right. He needs to be a guy that's

attacking and already compromise defense. He can't be the guy at the top of the key running a pick and roll and trying to make decisions out of that, especially in late game. And I think he's gonna transition. We do. We do a nice job, you know, setting some brush screens for him where he can attack a defender that he likes, like meant to was a guy that I

thought he liked in transition. He got a few baskets off that, but there's just stuff we have to kind of find for him, uh, and that we're really not doing. Last thing I want to kind of get into Rust is passing here because I think I think it's an interesting kind of Russ passes to areas not players, right and and having a new team, it's kind of hard to find, I guess, uh, it's kind of hard to how too hard to find players tendencies when you're not

playing much together, right. And I posted a statue night that Lebron and Russ with a d at center of only played minutes together, which is absolutely nothing in the season Stanley Johnson, Lebron and Russ have already played eighty eight minutes together over almost half of that time, right,

And it's just tough to kind of find stuff. But Rust is a guy, so when he drives, he does around two to three reads, right, so his first read will be the cutter, then he'll look for the opposite corner, right, And that's just that's every time he drives, and it's a rigid kind of decision making for him. So you'll drive, look for a cutter, or look for the opposite wing or the top of the key, right, it's all areas

he's not looking for. A player is on the floor is not like looking at players, So when the floor is not space that way, it becomes really difficult. It's why you see those high turnover games. Right. So let me see if I can kind of throw another play up here at the top again bear with me. Is second here. Okay, so this is one on this play

here if you can kind of see it at the top. Um, if you can kind of see the play at the top peering and people listening on the podcast or dos Rio tomorrow, it's basically just Russ kind of drives from the corner right into isolation. So what he does his first thread is always that corner. But a Reason cuts right, a Reason cuts from the wing as his guy turns his head and he's able to find he's able to

find him the basket. That stuff that Avery Bradley has picked up, but just stuff that I think the team has to find out because when Russ is driving, it's very rarely just to score. He's looking. He's a he's a past first guy and and people kind of use that against him as a triple double, you know, hunter or or however want to call it, but that's just what he is. He he's the past first guard, which is weird to say for a guy who avers like twenty something for his for his game, but like that's

kind of what he is on this team. And I think this is the kind of stuff that you have to find. And that's why I would like Austin to play a little more. If you watch that play again, it's called fill and replaced, right, So when when Aresa cuts, Austin feels his his spot Austin. That's why Austin got a bunch of threest in that as well. They were all for us with Westbrook passes because Austin is very good at, you know, giving guys passing wings, passing angles

to get open threes. And I would like him to kind of play more with us as well. But that's just kind of stuff that Russ does. That's the positive stuff that he does. And and looking at him as the forty four million dollars star player, like, that's not the guy you have. That's not the guy on the roster, that's not the guy who's gonna be playing in the the playoffs, Like this is the guy you have. This is his skill set, and you have to kind of mold the

team around that. And I think, you know, moving this on to like Anthony Davis coming back, that's that's the key here, right because it's so and it's not really fair to keep saying, you know, we can't judge this scene until this guy gets back. We said about the reason we said about Kendrick Nunn. But this team is going to be revolved around eight now. And I think we've we've played forty one games. Russ has played in all forty one. I think it's extremely care clear what

his skills are and what they aren't. And I'm kind of again rambling here on Russell Westbrook. But I think it's important because I've just seen the conversation that it's tilted to, like comparing Russ to the combined numbers of k CP, kusbun Harrold's just very misguided, right, Like, that's just that's just not the way to kind of I think think about this team and think about Russell Westbrook,

and it's super frustrating. Of course, I just think you're seeing him in the oversized role that he's not supposed to be in, and I like, that's that's the main point I want to get across here. And it's not about you know, changing the expectations for him to minimize them. It's just putting them where they are. We have a team that's built around Lebron and a D, and Russell

Westbrook needs to fit into that. It's nine team built around Russ, LEBRONO a D. Right, It's Lebron and a D surrounded by guys that are supposed to support them. And then Russell Westbrook is a supporting player to them. And again that sounds strange for a guy with his contract. But again I keep saying the contract and vigible this season to me, he's on the team, like there's there's no there's no reason to you know, continue to uh to calm about about that, in my opinion, So there's

places to put him. And I keep talking about I don't think that you know, four game winstry grieving tonight because you lose to the Kings, like it throws away what we've kind of built on. We're in a small ball team. We found that putting Russ in the dunker spot is the place he can be effective. Putting him in the stretch baseline where he can attack for offensive rebounds and those are points that up take his skill right and and that's that's the place we kind of

have to place him there. I think that's you know enough about Russ. A couple of few things here and I guess, uh, you know, I kind of wrap this one up. So Lebron and Monk I've continued to kind of have a palpable chemistry to them, right, And I think again without a d you want to find and stuff that translates when he comes back. And I think those two have definitely found a synergy and I think

they've had it since the beginning of the season. But I think the Monk Lebron screen role, and I talked about how this is the most you know, Lebron has been a screener in his whole career. Like in my opinion, like tonight, go watch that first half. Every single almost offensive possession he was screening, which is just something you don't see from Lebron, right, It's just it's it's incredible

to watch him kind of transformed into that. And again that's part of with Russell Westbrook on the team, Like that's kind of what just this team needs and needs, you know, Lebron to be a score It needs to him to be the finisher a lot of times, right because you have the ball in Russe's hands on even closeouts on and Malik Monk as well as the ball hangler. So Lebron is kind of transformed into this center who's

a screener and can score off that. And I think it's been incredible to watch him, you know, move into that transition of his career. But I think Leake Monk, you know, he had a bad game against Memphis, and like in the words of Russell Westbrook, he's to have a bad game, right, Like I think Malik Munk fills

into that just another crazy, crazy offensive game. I think we're gonna have to kind of find ways where we can put him in better defensive spots because again I thought the King's picked on him, and our you know effort wasn't great with that. But you know, just the even the not just the double screen actions, but the regular screen actions where we just can't switch. And again, if our lebron or our centers not engaged in that way,

we're just gonna get picked on. But I thought mink Monk again just an incredible night for him, at least offensively. Struggled a little bit in the second half, but six for nine from three, like seven for thirteen from the field. Uh. He was a minus FOURT team, which is interesting. But again I don't think plus minuses is to tell all. But I thought he was just again just a great offensive punch, and we're starting to run you know actions

for him to uh as well. We ran this, We ran a couple of like dummy plays where it was like Stanley fake like coming off the screen and then he re screened from Leak Monk. He got open three are. Our first play of the game was actually an elevator doors uh option for link Bunk, which something you I think they put in probably the last few days. It looked like US where Monk comes off a double screen work and then it closes at the end of it.

It was it was kind of nice to see them kind of move into more offensive options here, and I think that's the important thing. And we're not winning anything though, obviously with our defense looking like it did tonight, I'm just trying to look at stuff that we can kind of take take forward here. And I guess the you know, last thing I'll kind of get into is, uh, Austin Reeves. Right, Austin Man just an incredible player that they found undrafted right,

and again tonight kind of showed why. I think he just needs more minutes man in a in a revolutionary move to small ball. I think it's important to have players who are not only good and and and try hard on defense, but know what they're doing right. And I think that's extremely important And looks expecting like a month to be that kind of defender isn't fair. That's not what he's here's not what he's paid to do.

But having two way guys and you know, we prop up two way guys for a reason because guys who can you know, in Austin is such a he's such a smart player, and the Carusoe coms are you know, uncanny, and they obviously fit because they're two white dubes that play basketball but in the NBA. But it's kind of fitting. He's a super in high i Q. We throw that around a lot as well. But just knows how to

play off Lebron James, and I think that's important. A guy who knows how to play off your best player and even knows how to play off for Russ as well. He's the guy again I talked about earlier. He knows how to find the open spaces and just defensively, I thought he was our best guy on Darren Fox, which is interesting with this is his first player, first, you know, year in the league. I just thought he was good and I'll play that kind of I thought signified it.

And again it's kind of simple stuff here as well. But let's see if I can share this one in here. So you know Reeves on this play, So Taylan Horn Tucker is so again people listening on the podcast or dash radio later, So on this play here you have Taylan Horn Tucker defending Darren Fox. Right, and if you watch this play, and I should have slowed it down a little bit more, but Darren Fox kicks it to alex Land and watched, you know, Austin Reaves this whole possession.

So when Dwight Howard comes over to help on the Fox drive, Reeves is ready to drop down on alex Land. He closes out to Deer and Fox. He then picks off Fox who's in a close out position attacking at full speed. Like that's just like, that's stuff you can't you know, teach in a like in a just general sense, right, like that type of instincts and stuff. It's not like a big deal. It's not flashy, it's not huge, but it's just stuff that he does on a regular basis

that you don't see. It doesn't even obviously, the steal this time goes up in the in the in the box score, but that stuff that doesn't really even show up. He'll you know, be vertical at the ram and the guy will miss and he gets zero. You know, he

gets zero credit for those type of plays. But that's why I mean, when I think he needs to play more, and he was a plus zero tonight, um, And I think he came back when we were down like thirteen and brought us all the way back before Russ had those tough moments to to kind of that put the lead back. But I thought he was great. I thought this was the you know, third or fourth game where like he was the main positive. Obviously had the game

winner against Dallas. But he's just lookit good man, and I'm I just wanted to give him a shout out here. He has legit defensive and offensive instincts that fit perfectly on a team that's you know, plays with a lot of players that are very helo centric. Anthony Davis post ups, Lebron James isolation at the top, Russell Westbrook driving off isolations like uniqu players that know how to move, and

Phil opens faces. Uh and he's really good at that. Um. I think that's pretty much all I have for tonight. There's no way to sugarcoat this. Another loss to a very team ten games under five. D um, That's that's not going to be easy. But I see my man rush is requesting, I'll see if I can get to a few people here. I think I have like twenty

twenty minutes left I'll bring Rush up here. But man, like that's just a it's a it's a tough night, and I think it's it's interesting to kind of try to break break down instead of just going straight into trade everybody right, Like, it's that's not happening. So our trade pieces are Kendrick done and THHD. The rest of the team pretty much gonna stay the stay intact to my opinion, So what can we do to kind of for that? But Rouge, are you there? Man? Can you

hear me? I don't think I can hear Rush, But yeah, like that's kind of, uh, that's kind of the way that I would kind of frame this, I guess, because it's it's come full circle into just Russell Westbrook contract. But Ruge, can you hear me? Okay, I don't think I can. I can hear him, but yeah, the conversation devolving into you know, rest is contract and that makes sense for assets and stuff. It's just I just think that that's not the way this team is going to

be built. And we're in a title connection mode and Russell Wepper it's going to be on the team when that happens. So I want to try to find out ways that we can kind of build that instead of instead of instead of just focusing on that. I guess that's the last chance. I'll ask if Ruge can hear me, and if not, and I'll kind of move up to a few people here. You have like ten or fifteen minutes, and then I'll call it a day. Yo, Desmon, can you here? What's going on? Much? I just got a

few comments. Um, I mean, I agree with you everything you said about rest of mean, we're stuck with rest Of. As much as people want to trade him, and you know, nobody, we can't get enough players to meet that contract with the teams that even want Rest, I mean, we're just stick with Rest. I think I think a lot of these things to be put on Frank as well. I mean we Frank needs to get back into um playoff mode with his adjustments. UM. I mean, we got to

start looking at lineups that actually work. We gotta start looking at at positions of players on the offensive andem. But we can't stick Rest in the corner. But we stick rest of the corps are playing five or four basketball with three fourths of the floor. Um, I mean, he's not Pacha taker over there. People actually respect p J. Tiker in the corner. You put Rusts over there. They're just they're wanting in the shoot. They want that type of offense from the Lakers. They want rust to go

one on one. They want Rests to do that little pull up bake shot. They want Russ to do whatever they on the offensive and to keep the ball out of Monk Braun mellow and then eighty when he comes back. I mean, that's what the defense wants. I mean, that's I think it's easy for anybody to see. Um. So, I mean, I agree with you. We have to find something to do with wrestling offensive vent because he's not he just hasn't been a positive on the offensive end.

He has been a positive on the defensive ended. We obviously can't sit somebody who's making forty four million dollars. So I mean, there's just something and that has to be has to be done with the Russ to where he he even becomes some sort of a plus or some sort of just an even to where you know, we feel like we can we can win, because I think I don't think anybody thinks right now that if Russ is pulling, Russ is shooting fifteen shots a game.

I don't think anybody is comfortable with that. And just the way he's been shooting, what the shots he has been shooting, the decisions, it's just it's just all confusing to a lot of fans to what Frank is doing and what this coaching staff is doing. You know, it's uh, get off and let you discuss that. Sure, And I think you know, Ruche, are you up there? I don't know if you can hear me now? Uh yeah, yeah?

Can you can you hear me now? I can? But really quickly on your point, does me like I think you know Russ is going through a transition, right, And it's again I talked about like the zero assist stuff is what we've been I mean, sorry, not sure it says zero turnover stuff is what we've been asking for.

But again that has a domino effect to it. And I've always said tempering Russ's aggression to me was never the answer, right, And you can see he's kind of in his head even more now than he was before, right, And and some of that, you know, convoluted with a d being out, But you can see the past shoot decisions have become just so more magnified for him, and he's trying not to turn the ball over, which to me has tempered his aggression in a way. So like, I think there's a fine line to it that you

have to kind of fine. And I'm okay with some of the turnovers if you know, if if, if they're in aggression, I think that's the mine we have to feel there. But Ruch, what's going on? Man? Yeah? Man, thanks for having me. I always like to come and talk rust with you guys, because I think you and I have talked about Russ with the Lakers for I mean,

I don't know, we've done it a lot. Basically, we did a whole podcast on it, a lot of it, honestly, a lot of exact go back and go back and listen to that State of the Lakers podcast for yourself, Lakers fans and something what you think if if we nailed it, if we were on point or what. But um, as much as people you know don't want to talk about it, I feel like it's it's really inevitable, right, Like salary aside, like you said, that's irrelevant to the season.

But his role, he was brought in to fill a role and that role is not being fulfilled and it's resulting in Lebron over extending himself right, Like, we've been getting vintage Lebron performances and the Lakers are still not getting over the hump. They had that stretch where they want to forget you know, four in a row whatever it was, um, you know, albeit against worst competition, and then they ran into the Grizzlies and got beat and you know again, they're losing tonight, and now they're back

to five. We can talk about offense all day, but I think defense is really where it's at. Um, Lebron has been at his best, man, and you guys know this better than me, but Lebron's at his best when with the Lakers, when he's got a D and then just three guys that can spread the floor and switch and defend and and and who know how to play off of him. I think you've really found something with

Austin Reeves. Um, it's kind of incredible how he's like filling the Crusoe road is white boy whopin, But you got him. I think Malik Monk has looked really good as well. Um, and then once the rotation kind of slims down, I think you just got a phone in and find like I almost hesitate to say that you'd be better assuming a D comes back, but you'd be better with a D Lebron and just three shooters, um,

because those guys shoot and then they defend. And like that formula has proven that it works for the Lakers and for Lebron specifically, and and Rust's issues as as many issues as he has on offense because he can't shoot. His turnovers are down, but he can't finish at the rim anymore. And you know, just when you need him to make a smart play, he does something like he did tonight when it was sixteen and then he brick

that three. But as much as he does that kind of stuff, he just ball watches so much on defense, and it kills the connectivity of a defensive scheme right, Like there's no defense is all about communication and moving on a rope, guys filling in for other guys, guys, anticipating where the action is going to be, and people, you know, stepping where they need to step and then and then getting back to where they need to get back. I think Austin Reaves does an incredible job of it.

You guys have clipped a lot of kind of clips where he's like, you know, switching and chasing people off the ball and then getting back and playing incredible defense. But too often man rust just kind of sits there and watches, And I think that's the biggest issue. You know, as basketball fans, we love to focus on offense because that's the easiest way we can think of, you know, to kind of conceive of the game and like hey this, you know, you do X, y Z, and that's how

you win. But I think you're scoring, you know, and I think Lebron is proven that you guys can score in the league. Monk has stepped in in a huge way and he's scoring and shooting well and hitting big shots too. But defensively, like that, it's going to collapse.

And I really wonder, So that's defensively, then I wonder when a D gets back, does the rust fit get even funnier because a D doesn't trust the floor, you know, not out to the three and not the way that you need him to for for the whole rust thing to work. And so it's just kind of crazy to see how much like obviously I'm spurned as a Rockets fan with you know, the Russ experiment and how that kind of turned turned out and basically imploded the franchise.

That's a different story, but I pay attention to how he performs and how teams perform as he hops around and skips around. And it seemed like the Wizards was was the type of team for him, right, not high aspirations, just happy to make the play in he could get the ball, get the rock, do his thing, and just play Russ basketball, you know, great stats, kind of turns over, turns the ball over done, played good defense, not winning basketball.

And so now now he's with Lakers and the expectations are higher, and he was brought in to kind of carry the carry the load so the Lebron could show. But that's all gotten messed up with a d out and Russ isn't carrying the load. So now Lebron has to step in and be be like Lebron that the guy that just spokes that Frank needs to get into

playoff um adjustment mode. But I think that's a lot to ask halfway through the season to you know, be making like playoff intensive adjustments with the roster that's simply not defending to the caliber that you need and I think it it bodes poorly on on the other end of that spectrum, though, I will say, as long as you guys limp into the playoffs and everyone is healthy, anything can still happen. Um, you know. But but I just don't know how you solve it. Defensively is my

only issue. Like, offensively, I really think you could bench for us. Well maybe that maybe that's all the defensively if you bench for us. But but offensively, I think you could just go Lebron a D or even like Lebron and Dwight and just three shooters and you could win some regular season games. But then on defense, man is where it all falls apart from me. So I guess you guys are gonna be faced with the question do you bench him? Um? And if you do, you know,

how do you see that plane? Now? Is that even a possibility for you? It's not for me. I don't think you can mention him. He's not Montrez Harold right, Like you can't just see him on the bench, Like that's just not how this works. And you said, you know you can just put three players, you know, Lebron a D with three shoots and defenders, like you're probably right,

Like that's been a proven formula. I think that they have to be a certain you know, level of three and D guys to at least to at least make that work. But you're probably right. This is a brand new thing to me. And my whole thing was it's obviously been ugly, and there's enough people rage tweeting and rage podcasting where I don't really need to feel that void, right, I think that void is there and it's understandable why it's there, and I don't just I don't think those

people are necessarily necessarily wrong. I just think like putting energy into that it's very you know, it doesn't really make sense to me, Like it's very clear what Russ is to me forty forty one games, ruce of watching every single some of these games twice, right, watching Russell Westbroog and watching what his skills are and aren't and

what his tendencies are. And it's tough because you know, this season started and we kind of had both and then Lebron went out, right, he was out for like two weeks, and then a D went out, a D was in and out, and then a D went out full time. A couple of weeks ago, so now you

don't really have those three. And even when they were together, we didn't have any of our wings, right, So we were playing like week one with Avery Bradley, you know, with them, and we had no wing players that to throw on the floor, so it was never really a full team. And now you get this, which is probably the most maximized version of him, right, it's super charge. It's Lebron in the Clint Capella role, like you would

in the you know, in the PJ. Tucker role. I'm sorry on Houston, and you know, you can kind of feel a d back into that. But like I'm at the point where and like we talked about this on the preview pod, but like I'm at the point where, like Russ to me is now a complementary piece to the two stars, right, And I think that's the way

I look at it. And it's kind of less than the frustration I guess by me for you know, for the season, because I kind of understand how I would view him, Like I don't expect rust, you know, make his open threes, and I think, you know, it's a better decision for him not to take those. And I think that's something we can kind of work towards. But you can see it in his head man. It's obviously like no turnover games are super rare for him, and he's had two in the last like four games. You

can see him in his head even more. And I don't think that's the place we need to get that there has to be a fine line here. I think we found positive stuff like him him in the dunker spot, him as the center um in a lot of actions where they invert stuff him and Lebron screen role. I think it's something we can kind of build on. But you're right, man, it's gonna be tough. But I don't

think he's vengeable in the defense. Obviously, he's a he's a ball watching like turnover creating chaos creating defender, right, And that's doesn't really fit a defensive scheme, right. So like Vogel, Vogel loves to where Vogel loves to run like a drop coverage type of scheme, and Rust is more of a gambling type where like he'll play off his guy. And that's why I don't like him on guys like Buddy yield Um and guys like that, because you know you have to kind of be You can't

look away. You have to be focused, you have to be attached. You have the top log those type of guys, and the rest is the guy who will cheat over Desmond Band got a bunch of threes on him that way on our last game, So like it's interesting kind of fitting, Like even though he's a complimentary player, you have to fit his skills around with stars, which is a weird way to kind of put that, But I think that's where we are. Does that make sense, Rucie,

you know what I'm saying there? Yeah, no, I think it makes a lot of sense. Um. Last thing I just wanted to say real quick is I just want to caution people because I saw the Lakers fans talking about it. I know his rackets fans, we talked about it, and you know, to rust his credit, he does try to change, and he deserves credit for trying to change his game and fit but I just want to caution people. Man, when you've got a guy that's, you know, in his way.

He's thirty three now, one of the m v P has been playing the way he's been playing, you know, fantasizing or theorizing about ways he can change his game to like fit the perfect scheme for a team is often fools gold or at least in some to some extent, ruche. Wouldn't you say he's facing his mortality though? Now, like I see it even more than I think. I Like, you watched him every day for Houston, but like I

feel like he's or am I being like hopeful? I guess here because I feel like he's facing at least somewhat mortality. I feel like the low turnover kind of switch there is a product of that. Or is that? Well? No, No, he is facing his mortality, but the low turnovers have been a very recent thing prior to I mean, he's still averaging four and a half turnovers the game I'm talking about recently. Yeah, for sure. But but no, he's faith I mean, look, he's You're right, he's trying. He's

like taking off. He has no lift, right, he can't finish around the rim um in the ways that he used to. He's like getting hung on the rim sometimes it's just like he'll he'll make the move to the basket and just straight up lose the ball, you know, and he's going through it. But I think they go hand in hand. You know, like he's still trying to play like the guy he knows how to play like, because that's what he made his career off of. You know, this this deep end and I'm just saying, turning that

switches is hard. It's never pretty either. It's not a pretty like switch when people turn it. It's not especially when your game is predicated on athleticism. His whole game was burst in thunder, you know, and there was the finesse. He had some finesse at the rim. People remember and kind of talk about, like, oh, you used to have

that elbow jumper. Yeah he did, but not at the rate that like you'd really if you go back and look at the numbers, he doesn't really hit it the way that we kind of think he used to hit it in like two thousand, thirteen and fourteen, and now it's completely gone. So when you don't have any skill to polish, you know, when you lose your burst and when you lose that thunder, this is kind of what you're seeing, Like some nights he's got it, but some

nice man it's just ugly. And also credits to Mellow because Mellow really polished his game to kind of you know, he wasn't like a deadly three point shooter. He was a capable three point shooter. But he but he's made his career last by really getting his touch and his skill refined to the point where you know he can still hoop like that, um, or at least like a

lesser version of himself. But but yeah, with Russ, I mean, you're gonna have gonna have to hope that like dunker spot or cutting off the corner or something like that really works. Um. But that's why we all scratched our heads when the move was made. Man Lebron needs three in d Lebron, these guys that catch and shoot from the corners, guys that catching shoot from the wings, or guys that catch and close out with efficiency, and and you know that's really not Russ's game. So it's kind

of sad to see him facing his mortality. Um. And it's you know, I think the hardest part to watch is like on a night where he's two of twelve Lakers on an eight eight to two run to cut the lead eight oh run to cut the lead to two. Then Darren Fox hits the bucket, game point, game minute left, and then he just stares his mortality in the fucking face and just bricks the ship out of that three. It's it's sad to see um, but there. I just think there are ways around it. He just you might

have to just minimize his role. He played thirty seven minutes tonight. Obviously there's injuries, but I feel like if you if you decrease his minutes, or maybe if you get something from like a Kendrick nun or if a reason can get kind of back to form, then maybe you just spread those minutes out throughout the regular season.

But but I don't know. Look in a playoff game, in the playoff series, you guys know this better than anyone, and you you hit on it with the fact that the Lakers had Caruso kind of bodying him and then you had a D. Everything funneled into a D. So it's not like you'll necessarily face that. But let's say you face like a DeAndre at and in the playoffs, for example, you know the Phoenix is just gonna be

funneling rust into the middle and then living with the results. Um, and I think that's gonna be the biggest thing to get around. I still don't think it's impossible I still think the Lakers have a chance. I'll never count Lebron out and a D hasn't been playing, so obviously that's going to change the results here. But um, but yeah, it's interesting. But defensively, man, that's that's where it's all that for me. Defensively, No, yeah, no, I totally agree

with that. And like I don't think you know, putting him in the dunker's but it sounds like some you know, demotion or something like that, or you know, regulating him there. I just think, like, to me, it was never about like tempering him, because that's what's happening right now, right like, because you could see him just decide less, Like that's why I think the jumpers are coming, because he's like, oh, this is my time to attack. I need to score here.

Instead of being like okay, let me read like what am I supposed to do? Do? I drive Like, it's more like, oh, I need to shoot this because I haven't got a shot in a while, right, And then he'll take like three straight jumpers because he hasn't had the ball in his hands for like five to six minutes straight. Because we run offense through league Monk, Now, we run offense even uh to th HT like when

th HD and Russ share the floor. Now THHD has the basketball like Russ has put on the week side and he just stands there and I'm sure that's such a just spent for him. And you know, he had that press conference as well where Dave mcmonimum asked him like as a point guard and he laughed like, you know, like that's funny, Like I'm essentially like saying like he's not really up in a point guard's role right now.

And again that you know this, I don't. You know, Russ after a loss is always you know, an interesting press conference, but like he's definitely going through that adjustment. I never thought that adjustment would be pretty um and it's better to happen in January than in eighth mid March. I guess, um, I just would like to see it with a D back, of course. But nothing you said there is wrong, man, It's just this is a new thing. I guess, like the lebron a D and three three

and D players has worked. It's just this is brand new. Like I don't know if it works. I just know that this is not what the team is. And this is like Judging this team right now is tough because I don't think they have their central peace based on how tapped in you are. Is there any chance that the Lakers look to move him because obviously I think the only realistic no destination is you know, you can bring in a good old on the wall who I actually think would fit a little bit better. But is

that realistic whatsoever from the worker's perspective. Absolutely not. Man, there's just there's just no way. And it's not even just the outside stuff, right. He he was brought in as an l A guy who was you know, l a roots. That was you know, a huge marketing point from the Laker team. And they're not saying they were wrong to do that because of course Russ is and l A guy. You're gonna bring that stuff up, right

and the kid coming home right? Is the stuff that it was kind of uh put in, you know, exclamation points and stuff like that. And it's not just that you don't you're not going to get anything close like that's going to help you win this year. Trading Russ like that. It just doesn't get you anything. And some people have asked, Jason asked me on the last podcast, is the team better if you just take Russ off it and you get nothing back. And I disagree with that.

I don't think that's true either, and that's just not how you know it works. I don't think you can take off Russ from this team and they're better. I think we've seen what our guards are like, you know, when when he's when him and Lebron aren't aren't there. But it's interesting though, But no, I don't think he's

going anywhere, man, Like, There's just no way. I mean, I think that's the so interesting because we used to see we used to think the same thing, right Like, there were times where it took Russe a minute to fit to fit in Houston, and for a minute it looked really good. But everything other than that was very inconsistent, and up and down there were there were super high highs and super low lows, and a lot of rackets.

Fans really thought like, man, let's just just give me James Harden and four guys that can hustle and shoot um. And we didn't have the luxury of Anthony Davis. But obviously Lebron, James and Anthony Davis, you know, I mean, you won a championship with you know, role players. So I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. I really don't. And it's drastic like the optics, he's

a high level role player. Like that's what Russell Westfork is like take away the contract, take away, you know, the star, the fashion, but the substance in the context of the role he played, Like I said, you need shooters. I mean, playing at simple you just need guys that hit threes, you know, and defend right like his role he he's a role player, but not by choice and not by you know, I don't know how to word it, but he his game him isn't playing a role right.

His game is he's playing superstar basketball. But it's just not working right now. Sometimes it works right some nights, like earlier in the season he had he had some nights where it really works. But then you have the nights where he's just like two or thirteen or whatever it was. Um, yeah, and I do. I don't know the outsider perspective, but I do think it actively makes the Lakers less just less scary, like against bad teams like Bruss went off against the rock As he killed us,

so you know, against bad teams that will work. But I feel like when you get to those good teams warrior sons, maybe you can feed uh utah, you know, it'll it'll just be an issue. But but I don't know. I appreciate you let me speak to me, so thank you for sure. For sure. Yeah, And and and those good teams are never going to like go go over on a Russ screen, right like you saw some bad teams do that. They're always going to play off him, They're

going to go to his tendency. It's gonna be interesting. I don't have the correct answer. I just like, and people are saying, you know, I'm giving Russ excuses, but like, I just don't think that's the player he is right now. He is not a second star type of guy who can carry you, and he might even be lower than that right now, he might even be he's probably playing lower than a third star, you know, quote unquote. But

to me, he's not a star. He's a you know, he's a high functioning role, content, complimentary piece on this team. And maybe that's just a problem in terms of roster construction. We can speak on that later, but just him as a basketball player and his skill set he's like the fourth option on offense and on defense. There's a lot of players where he goes for steals and stuff like that, and that works. And I honestly, I think going small you kind of lend towards being more of a chaos

turnover turnover creating defense. But that's just where we are right now with the rest experience, and when Adi gets back, we'll get a full, more full picture here. It's just I think we're looking at, you know, half the screen before we get him back. But Rouche, I appreciate you coming up. I'm gonna close this out. I think I've been going for like an hour now. Thanks to everyone for listening. Uh this has been the State of Lakers podcast and uh I'll catch you guys next time.