Lakers/Bucks Postgame Spaces

something that should give us a bunch of optimism. UM. I don't want to get too far into it right away, but I just wanted to kind of set that tone from the start. Um. I felt like this was a game that the Lakers played on the road against the defending champs in Milwaukee. I just I was super rest

of the team. And we're gonna get into why. Uh, you know, because obviously, with the scoreboard, may seem like they didn't really have much of a chance to win, but I thought, I thought that they missed a lot of really good shots for really good shooters tonight, which if even just a few of those go the other way, this could be an entirely different outcome. So and that's just one small part of it. But I was I was really really excited. Th h tu looks freaking incredible.

There's a bunch of good that we're gonna get into tonight, which excites me because Roger and I have just had to sit here and bitch and moan basically the NonStop for the last for the last month. So Roger, whore's your head at right now? Are you as optimistic as I am? Yeah? This was a good game. Like we've been begging the team not just get blown out right and again tonight a game against the defending champs. They've been struggling, but there's still they still have. Be honest,

they got Chris Milton back tonight. I'd expect the Lakers to win, but they have definitely had a chance, and there was a lot of good process stuff, like you said tonight, just a lot of marginal decisions. I thought, impact of the game, some of the lineup decisions that we can kind of get into that. But Lebron's coming back Friday at least, that's that's the hopes And that

was kind of the pretense going into this game. I was just kind of just want to look at some good process stuff, and I thought we saw that tonight. Janice had a crazy first half, but he also had like three threes a couple of turnaround jumpers go in. So like I thought some of the physicality we didn't match, but yeah, just a lot of good stuff, like you said, And definitely I think Taylor Horton Tucker is leading that

train of positivity because man, he looks absolutely incredible. He looks he looks ready to start on this team, and that might have some issues with spacing and stuff, but if his jump shots real, man, he he to me was the lead again of the story tonight. Yeah, you know,

I think we should start with TNC as well. You know, we have kind of been on a little roller coaster back and forth with this kid about whether or not it's been worth trading him for something to buy into the you know, a title window that that we that is limited because of the age of Lebron right. And my main concern was, like, hand, this kid contribute at the level you need him to contribute to be worth it, at least enough so that you don't feel like you're

one ft in and one ft out. And what it had What has ended up happening here is he's taking a leap here on both ends of the floor, like I I called him in the last podcast, Mini Kauai, And there was this thing that used to happen with Kawhi Leonard, especially when he was younger, where if you dribbled in front of him, it was just a disaster every time because he was just going to take the ball away from you. He had these ridiculous arms. He was really good at reaching without fouling, and we saw

a lot of that tonight. He was on my notes. You may you remember, you may remember the big play at the end of the game where he ripped Drew Holiday and year half board, But throughout the entire first half of the game, he was just getting his hands on balls all over the court, off ball, in passing lanes, on ball at the point of attack, guys, you know, trying to fight over the top of the screen and

roll he's coming over from behind. He's just turned into an incredibly disruptive defender, which was something that we saw happening. But we worried about whether or not he'd be able to bring enough offensively to be playable in the best Laker lineups, you know, and whether or not they'd be able to rely on him in a playoffs setting, and he seems to be significantly ahead of where he was offensively last year. I know he had a career high

last game. He had twenty plus again tonight. The dude, if he gets his first step on you, there's nothing anybody can do to stop him from getting all the way to the rim because of how long his arms are and how good he is with that little scoop shot on both sides of the rim, and he's shooting well enough from the perimeter right now that he's at least every bit as much of a threat as a

bays Moore, you know, or in Avery Bradley. Right, So you can very much see that that th HD is trending in the direction of being a bona fide pillar of this team, and that absolutely, without a shadow of

a doubt, raises their sailing. And whatever you want to say about Russ in the trade, and whatever you want to say about what this team could have about the process that this team has gone through in the way that it's taken shape over the last couple of years, the reality of the situation is, is th HT making a leap like this makes all of that not matter, because now it's lebron in a D and th h T as this huge pillar and even if things don't pan out with Russ, which we'll talk about him later,

and I actually think he's starting to kind of find his groove a little bit, and he's starting to also look great physically. But the th h T rise completely changes the ceiling of this team and I think everyone should be very excited. Yeah. Man, his decision making is at a way different level than it was even last season. Like he's driving to the rim, he's doing all these like he drives, gets in the air and then kicks it out and our shooters weren't really making shots tonight,

but just his shock curation is so needed. There are plays where like Russ does a kick ahead to th HT and he has just a one man it's not even advantage, it's like a two on two. He gets right to the basket and he gets fouled or gets a lay up. I thought there were a lot of place tonight where he got ACKed and just didn't get the call. But he's just really finding of a rhythm. And I think just his third game back, you could

already see him start to get even more and more comfortable. Man, And once he starts drawing those foul calls, I think he's gonna even take the next step. But you're right, he's making that leap right in front of us, and I just think just having him, I wish we could have just staggered, you know, him and Russ, Like, I think he's showing us that he's like our second best ball handler right now. And again we're getting Lebron back,

so obviously that would change. But just without Lebron tonight, I would have just loved to see him kind of get the ball with him. But I wrote down in my notes here there was a play where he had Drew Holiday on him, which I think both of us think is one of the best card defenders in the league.

And like you said, he got one step on Drew Holiday and Drew had to kind of foul him as he got to the basket because he couldn't do anything his He's definitely got more skinny, but he's still super strong, so like and you combine that with his ball handling and it's just a really tough cover. And you're right, defensively, I thought he was probably our best guy on Chris Middleton tonight, like just chasing him over screens giving back

pressure on his length, like you could see that. I thought Chris Milton got off a little bit when he was guarded by like Rondo and you had DeAndre Jordans kind of coming up on a drop coverage. But I thought t HD on Chris Milton was fantastic. I thought he competed against the honest honest obviously has the strength advantage. But there was a play I think where THHD kind of almost drew a drum ball. They didn't really call it.

It's got the ball back and dunked. But you're right, he's definitely taking another step and it changes everything for this season, to be honest, Like th HD taking a leap is and he was kind of paid in that way, but it was kind of hard to predict for a twenty year old returning one I think next week. But you're right, him taking a leap changes everything for this team. You're adding a I think he can average. I'd say he can average fifteen a game. Maybe I kind of

shorten him a little bit. You add like a seventeen point in game score who can create with a rock in his hands, Like that's such a big boost to a team that lacks that on so many levels outside of Russ and Lebron, So it's it's used to see him really play well. And I think he's not just putting up points. I think it's impacting winning as well. Like I thought he was a big part of why the game was close to name. Yeah, agree, Like it changes everything about the team. It changes their ceiling, it

changes their timeline. Th HT taking a leap like this this early in his career, you know, it makes it so that Lebron can age gracefully. It makes it so that you don't find yourself in this awkward situation where you're watching some ancient old Lebron and Anthony Davis looking like he's in over his skis because there's not enough talent on the team. And and then here comes the debates about whether or not he wants out to go to Chicago. No, like if th H, his skill set

obviously compliments Anthony Davis in a lot of ways. Two way guard, a guy who could be a primary ball handler can get guys into position like that. It's I don't see. And again we're two we're two games in, so I don't want to get too over the top here, but This is absolutely something to get excited about. And in addition to that, even within the context of Lebron returning, you know, there's been so much offense run through Monks, so much offense run through Rondo, so much offense run

through this theoretical position there. You know, even Kendrick Nunn is someone that's talked about is being usable in that in that type of situation, HD's gonna slot right into that position, that second side creator. He's probably gonna be on the floor with Russ or with Lebron at all times. But if you if you put him on that second side and have him create on you know, when Lebron comes down the floor runs in action for whatever reason,

it doesn't work, the ball gets swung around. Then th h D is an awesome option to run that second action and to take some of that you know, workload off of the off of the Lebron A D pairing. It's just, you know, again, I don't want to get tooated, but like this is, this is far far beyond what I expected to see from him at this point in the season, and so I absolutely reason to be excited.

Now I want to move on to the to the shot quality that the Lakers got in this game, because what's so amazing about a core built around th Ht, Lebron, Russ and Anthony Davis is, ironically, Anthony Davis is the more perimeter oriented player in that group. All those other three are head down, get to the rim guys and constantly collapse the defense guys. And even without Lebron tonight, the Lakers did an amazing job generating high quality three

point looks. Now in the past, when you're watching you know, when you're watching the two thousand twenty Lakers or the two thousand twenty one Lakers and they shoot in from three, I think they were. I can't remember exactly what they were tonight, but it was something like from three in

the past. When you see that, you go, Okay, this is just what you get when it's way when it's you know, Wes Matthews taking the threes, and it's Region Rondo taking the threes, and it's Avery Bradley taking the threes, and it's Danny Green and it's k CP. You know, those guys had a certain tendons to not shoot well,

but tonight those were great looks for great shooters. I think I think, uh, the uh, Mellows two for eight, was one for seven, Ellington was one for seven, and you know, yeah, they took some some deeper threes, some late clock threes that weren't quite as good as some of the others, but there were a lot of really

high quality misses in there. And so if you look at the process, like we always talked about process and results, like we lose a game, you know, to Minnesota, we lose a game to Portland's, and you'd be like, Okay, we're supposed to win, but our process stucked. We weren't getting good stuff. We weren't We weren't running inside out basketball, putting pressure on the rim, generating quality shots, playing defense like crazy. Tonight, they competed against the team that is

extremely talented on both ends of the floor. They generated high quality shots and they just didn't go in. And yeah, on the roads, you're gonna get some bad calls. There were. There were two, in my opinion at three, absolutely atrocious calls. Janice off Arm and the Tommy Davis. That's an atrocious call. That hook shot that he shot over th HD. That's not a foul. That Chris Middleton play where t HD jump, that's not a fount that that kind of stuff happens

on the roads. If you're sitting in the locker room tonight, you can look back at this and say, we had good process. The result wasn't what we wanted, but we went into the defending Chaps house without our best player and we played really good basketball and we lost the game we could have won, and we did all the right stuff, and so I think there's really good reasons to be optimistic coming out of that. Yeah, and you

talked about the threes tonight. Uh, not to just pour more fire on the th h D hype train, but it was three for six from three tonight as well. A lot of those spot up opportunities and if he can hit those, man like, we're talking about a totally different player. But you're right, they shot twelve or forty three from three. Wayne Ellington m League monk going to for fourteen really hurts you. Adding Carmelos two for eight bunch of threes that would have just shifted the tide

of the game there. So, yeah, a lot of good stuff. I still think our offense is still very ugly. A lot of you know, a D post ups, and we talked about eighties jumper getting better and it looks the best it did I thought tonight as well. It just looks super smooth, looks like that bubble a d in terms of mid range rhythm. Uh, that pick and pop jumper looks really clean. His balance is there. Hopefully that continues when Lebron gets back. But we had a lot

of open shots that didn't go in. I thought we competed pretty hard the whole night. Say for like the end of the end of the second quarter. We talked about all the fouls that went against us. Um Anthony Davis didn't take a free throw tonight, which is fascinating to think about it. Um. A lot of that is him not going to the rim either. I would liked him to be a little bit more aggressive, just the way that they were defending. But we did create some

good shots, man, and I really wanted us to start. Uh. Avery Bradley I think played like the first three minutes of the set of the third quarter, and then he didn't come into the game again. We just stuck with Monk and Ellington, and I really wished they started with that. And hopefully again when Lebron comes back, you changed the

whole kind of floor balance. But you're right, just a really good game, good process game, and uh, I think we can kind of move into Russell web Brooke because I thought Russ again tonight just looked he had I think three turnovers right away in the first quarter, and he finished with three turnovers tonight. Just a good floor game, nineteen points, fifteen assists, put his head down, like you said, go into the basket. I think I think you're right.

He's starting to get comfortable. His athleticism looked the best tonight, Like he had one play where he drove and just burst with control up and under layup, and I just haven't seen stuff like that. He's finishing getting a little bit better. The decision making isn't going to be great every night, but I just thought he's getting more and more comfortable and just having another ball handler and Thhd out there, you could see how it just opens things up for him. He doesn't have to be the one

that makes every decision. Does have another guy that swing to what do you see it from Russ tonight? Because I thought he's trending upward at least is what it feels like. And again getting Lebron back, hopefully it kind of stays this way, But what do you see from rest to name so he is There's been stories that have been told about Russ from every previous fan base that he's encountered that he tends to kind of like

get his legs underneath them as the season progresses. Now, he's never going to be the same guy that he was in his prime in Oklahoma City. Whatever that dream is, Laker fans need to get that out of their head. You know, he is starting to look a lot more athletic than he did at the beginning of the season, which is enough when you factor in what they need from this position, which is something I've talked about throughout

this entire season. You know, right now, Russ is being a primary ball handler, the like the number one guy on the team in terms of decision making and and uh and is going to draw the best perimeter defender every single night. That's what he's That's what he's dealing with right now. But that's only going to get easier for him when Lebron comes back. He's going to be

attacking lesser perimeter defenders. He's going to be attacking in lineups, you know, against bench groups because primarily with the starters, it will be Lebron making, you know, the majority of the decisions. In the closing groups, it will be Lebron making the majority of the decisions. He will be focused the same rim pressure that we're seeing, because what we're seeing from Russ makes sense on paper. It's just they're surrounding him with a ton of shooting and Anthony Davis

or Dwight Howard. I guess Dwight got hurt or something because they went with DeAndre Jordan in the second half. I'm not sure what ended up coming out about that, but they're basically putting him with one big and three shooters, and they're saying, put your head down, get to the damn rim, and if you run into trouble, just throw the ball out. And even if you throw it to the wrong guy, we can swing it around and find a shooter. That all that that makes basketball sense. That

is something that fits with this group. That is something that this team actually needs to help carry it in the non Lebron minutes. And so for it to look, you know, like this, in the role where he's the number one. In my opinion, it's only need to get better when he's the number two, and the main reason why is because he still is taking some absolutely bone headed jump shots off the dribble. There was one today where he was it was almost like he was trying

to end up on House of Highlights. He was like the ball was like rolling around in front of him and he was kind of like tapping down at it, trying to get the dribble to come back alive, and then he just said screw it. He picked it up and shot a turnaround fade away. That shot is not going to happen when Lebron is back in the lineup.

It's just not going to happen, or shouldn't at least, I mean, I don't know what that remains to be seen, but the point being like, there's going to be a more like think of it, like on this steak, and when Lebron comes back, Russ can finally trim a bunch of that off, and it should be a little bit more, you know, it should be a little bit more catered to what this team actually needs from that position. I actually really like the fit of having this like secondary

Baal like rim pressure type of guard. It worked. It really made sense with Dennis Shugar, you know, in a lot of ways. I think Dennis was better defensively than Russ, and hopefully Russ kind of comes around on that end of the floor. He is trending in the right direction, making incremental improvements on that end. But I I there is a universe where this fit can work. It just requires taking primary decision making responsibilities out of his hands.

And the key moments of the game at the beginning, when you're setting the tone, at the end, when you're closing the deal, those are the times when the ball will be out of his hands. So this could, in theory make a lot of sense. It's not entirely unprecedented to have your secondary creator be kind of a bowl in the china shop. It's no different than Jordan Clarkson with the Utah Jazz, or even like a Jordan Pool

with the Golden State Warriors. A guy that's like, you're kind of like, I don't care if you make some mistakes. You're attacking lesser defenders, You're doing it in smaller portions of the game. That that makes sense, That role makes sense for us. It just right now he's kind of miscast as a lead man. So but even in that miscastle lead man role. He was pretty good tonight, So I'm I'm starting to see the light at the end

of the tunnel with Russ. Yeah, And I thought th HD kind of did a pretty good job ton I have playing that Lebron role next to him right THHD points twelve rebounds tonight, But like it just it just seemed like Russ is starting to get comfortable with another super Shock creator and th HD kind of played that role tonight next to him. We'll see I want to see it when Lebron gets back, But it does seem like he's he took a lot of those really bad

mid range shots. And then when you talked about where you try to keep the dribble alive, like that stuff's gonna happen. And I always said, like Russ isn't gonna change, like his turnovers and his shot selection is gonna go down more of a function of getting more superior ball handy next to him. It's like playing next to Lebron. I really I really hope they can kind of stagger them a little bit better than they did tonight. And I thought that was a difference in the game for me.

Like Russ was a plus three, th HD a plus three a D plus five, Like our bench was just atrocious, like those Rondo minutes. Rondo was a minus ten and twelve minutes, which is kind of impressive. And I think like putting them both off in the middle of the fourth quarter, I thought it was a huge strategic mistake. Yeah, and then I think Vogo try to buy a few minutes with the DeAndre Jordan's lineup, and I thought he

didn't know, kay job. We went up one and I was just expecting a time out or a D to come in, and then Chris Middleton knocked off six straight points to put us down five. I thought that really changed the game. But again, good process, Like we kind of hung with the Bucks when the best players were on the floor, and I think that's what's important. Yannest again, insane first half. There's a lot of scheme stuff I

was confused by. We kept switching the Middleton Janice pick and roll late in that game, and it just led to Janice having like th ht on him with you know, Carmelo as the low man, as the bottom man trying to help. I thought that was really plum mixing. To me, the pick and roll the pocket pass was too easy for you honest on some of those. I mean, he

went eighteen for twenty two tonight. I'm just thinking that's just even with the three for four from three, I'm sorry, eighteen three for four from three, it's that's still an insane efficient night. I thought we made a little too easy for him on some place, But he's honest, He's special in that way. But Yeah, this is a good game, and this was a This was a winning type of game. Like you could have won this game if shooting went your way, a few calls went your way, and that's

all you can really ask. With the team shorthanded without Lebron, hopefully we get none in the reason back soon. But this is a good process game. Still a lot of ugly offense, Still a lot of post of for a D that I think get minimized when Lebron's back, just to control the offense. But this was this was a good process man, Like this is this is a positive

game to take from. Yeah. Agree. I wanted to talk about Joannice for a second because I think it was a very interesting Joannice game in a lot of ways, with the first half with the Lakers, the way that the Lakers decided to defend him. And then the second in the second half with the officiating. So first of all, you know, I wrote down in my notes that in the first half the Lakers were scared of your honest contact.

It seemed like when Janice would attempt to bully his way to the rim, people had a tendency to just get out of his way. You know, I talk a lot of I talk a lot with Austin Reeves about how he's not afraid to take the contact and the ugly, the ugly jobs on the court, chasing guys over the top of the screens, putting his body in harm's way. He's gonna get a blood, he knows he's gonna get hit in the mouth, he's gonna get that kind of stuff, but he doesn't care because he's willing to do the

dirty work. That's the way you have to guard Janice in the pain. You have to be willing to put your body on the line. And then through that entire first half, it was like they tried to stop the action, but once Janic's got his catch within five ft of the ram or within seven or eight feet of the rim, they kind of just conceded the basket. You know and for starters, that's not gonna happen in a playoff series.

That was I thought just some bad I thought that was just like some regular season hey, let's cut our losses here type of behavior from the Lakers. In the second half, they did a much better job of making him take tough shots, of making him his life more difficult around the rim, and that's the reason why he didn't have twenty eight again in the second half. Now, I also want to come clear, officiating is not the

reason the Lakers lost this game. It is kind of an expectation that when you go on the road in a hostile environment, the home team is gonna get some

calls in their favor. Right, talked about him earlier. To me, that's not that's not out of the ordinary and NBA basketball, however, there's this thing that happens with Lebron in his career where over the course of the last twenty years, the refs understood, especially in the last six, seven, eight years, where like, hey, Lebron is initiating a lot of contact here.

So you know, Laker fans incessantly bitch and moan about the fact that Lebron doesn't get calls and I tend to think that Lebron is officiated pretty fair, you know, Like there are a lot of plays where Lebron will get into someone's chest, off arm the hell out of him, bullyball the hell out of him, and get hacked at the end, and they won't call it in the way I see it. It's like, you know, you're given someone you're getting some you know what I mean that that's

the ref understanding. This is the way Lebron plays, so this is the way it's gonna go at the end, and we kind of have to give the defender some leeway. Well, for whatever reason, that same leeway does not exist with your honest and it drives me insaying, I'm not sure if it's because it's early in his career. I'm not sure if it's because maybe he's just a touch more athletic, you know, in the sense that like he's getting a little bit more of an advantage on those plays. Maybe

it's just that simple. But what bothers me is Janice has given a great deal of leeway to initiate contact, and the defenders are not given that same amount of leeway. And so some of these plays where like where like like the honest play that got challenged, Like when you're extending your off arm into the guy's chest. I'm sorry, ad shouldn't have to abide by verticality. Okay, he should be able to take a little bit of your position away since he's coming into your position. You know what

I mean. It's it's it's It's just the same thing with that th HT post up where he got called the foul on the hook shot with Janice. It's like, dude, Janice is literally trying to bully this kid. You gotta give him some leeway in return. It's the same way that Lebron is officiated now and again, I I'm not insulting Janice. I think Janice is a bona fide top tier superstar. I thought he was incredible tonight. I think he's better than Anthony Davis. I thought it was still

brought up. But there it bothers me the way that he's officiated because we have a similar archetype in Lebron, who does the same thing initiate you know, a ship ton of contact and then guys hack him at the end of plays and we let that stuff go. That kind of thing has to eventually take shape with your honest or no one's ever going to be able to stop the guy. Yeah, I mean I thought tonight we

just didn't matter. The honest comes with a certain level of physicality that you have to at least match right and again the physical stuff, the calls like he shot, I think what for. I don't know how many free those he shot tonight. I didn't feel like you went to the line a bunch. Uh oh, yeah, eleven free throws okay, But yeah, like I just thought we didn't match his physicality in the first half. And it's tough. I agree with you, he probably gets a couple more

calls in that way. I think there's a lot of superstars where you kind of see that Paul George gets away with that like push off a lot and stuff like that. But again, like tonight, I thought it was just a physicality thing that we didn't match him in that first half. It was too easy. Um, he really gets up when he plays a D for some reason, like he definitely takes that match a personal and uh, A D definitely doesn't see it this way for whatever

reason that is, that is what it is. But I thought Joanna's definitely like there was a lot of plays in transition where he's just like, I'm going through your chest. And I thought there was a lot of that where um, a D picked it up in the second half, but in that first half it was just too easy. Um just straight line one one move, drives right to the basket, just and a lot of that is is be honest, and he's just a super physical dude. But yeah, like I just thought that there was a lot of just

not matching his physicality in that first half. He's gonna hit those. I thought we made him take some tough shots, those turnaround fadeaways like you've lived with those. He made a few of those three threes, Like if he wants to take those, he can take those all day. But yeah, I thought a lot of a lot of his stuff in that first half to me was sub scheme. Some of the defense just too easy on the pick and roll,

and then just not matching his physicality. And that's a level like that's a generational skill to me from Jhanna, is his motor to just play like that on a nightly basis. Again, I think against a D it's it's even more. But just like that's a general rational skill to me that he has that he has a motor that's unmatched for a lot of players in the league, and you combine that with his work ethic and his his skill level, that's definitely increased. UM, And he had

a special first half. But again I thought a lot of that was a D and the whole team not matching his physicality. And maybe that's just because you know when you have like like you said, on those plays where like a D would defend Drew and they would get to the honest at the rim and they just kind of give up. A lot of that was mellow who was who's kind of the back line guy. Expecting him to do that is tough, UM. And again, like you said, those probably won't happen in the playoffs. You

probably won't get situations definitely like that. But I thought a lot of it was just us not matching their physicality until probably the third quarter where where things really turn in, and they did a lot better job on him. Anthony Davis is a very physical defensive player, and he has the ability to use his physicality to impact the

game on that end. But the truth of the matter is is even the best version of Anthony Davis has physical limitations at the highest level of basketball, off it's okay. So for instance, like when he's playing Denver and your front line is like literally Michael Porter Jr. Jeremy Grant and in Nicola, yokits. Yeah, he's gonna be able to be physically dominant in a lot of ways. When you're playing against Houston and they don't have a center and

you're posting up PJ. Tucker every time, Yeah, Anthony Davis is going to have a certain amount of offensive physical presence. But look at what happened in that Miami Heat series when it became when it came down to bam out of Bio and you know, big, strong, physical forwards all over the floor, Anthony Davis turned into a jump shooter

in that series. If you look, the vast majority of his around the basket finishes were either set up by other people or offensive rebound putbacks when Lebron would get to the rim and miss a lay up, or Rohndo would get to the rim missile lay up something along those lines. They in post up situations were able to

turn him into a jump shooter. So when it comes to a game like this, you can try to match he can try to match Jannice with intensity, but the truth of the matter is is and when he's posting up Semio Jala or he's put post thing up you know, Jana Santana Coopo, he's gonna take fain aways. That's just that's just what he's gonna do. And then at that point it becomes a maker miss game, you know. And so that that to me is you know, the defining

characteristic that separates the two of them. This is something we talked about on a pod a few weeks back. But Janice just has that ability to break you down off the dribble and get into the paint anytime he wants, and the only way you're gonna stop him is by putting multiple bodies in the way, in which case you're gonna have turned turned the team into a jump shooting

team in that regard. But there is a a the defining difference between the two of them is that ability, Like, yeah, a d against the best forward defenders in the league is probably going to be a jump shooter in isolation situations. That doesn't mean he's not still deeply impactful offensively as a guy who can screen and roll to the rim. And screen and pop and do things as as a floor spacer, and his value in that regard is massive. But when you're comparing him to the very top tier

of stars, that's that one differentiating factor. So that when people say, like, oh, Johannest took it to a D tonight, it's like, that's kind of what it's gonna look like because they're to me, they're totally different archetypes of players. But I thought Anthony Davis overall was fantastic tonight, and he was great defensively, especially in the second half. His

jumper continues to trend in the right direction. What is this his fifteenth or sixteenth consecutive game that he's played this season, So he's starting to get his rhythm, he's starting to get his legs underneath him. Obviously he got a little banged ups and I looked like he looked like a dead leg is what it seemed like to me. It looked like he got need in the thigh somewhere.

That that's what it seemed like he was favoring. Um. I'm sure we'll learn more in the post game, but I I I'm really really happy with the way Anthony Davis is progressing. If you're looking at this from thirty thousand feet in the air, you can you can look at a couple of huge benchmarks here that should bring some optimism. One Lebron is coming back. Two Russ is starting to kind of figure out how he can help

this particular team. Three Anthony Davis is starting to make jump shots again and physically looks as good as he's ever looked. And four th h T appears to be progressing to be a star. If you count all four of those things, that's a lot of reason to get

very excited about this team ceiling. And I know that seems crazy to say, because um and it's been largely a disaster up to this point, but I mean weirdly, losing on the road in Milwaukee to drop the five you know, here in the middle of November is the point where I feel most optimistic about this team, which

I can't believe I'm saying I did too. And I just the last point on the Johanna's first a D and again those comparisons to me, like I think you honest has kind of ended those especially as a number one option and honest just a different type of player than a D is, but I just think the Bucks do some things to put him in positions that like

I'd love to see the Lakers do. Like the Lakers do a lot of this where they take half the shot clock running like Rondo sads a cross screen or something for a D to get a post up, and he eventually just post up another super strong power forward and it's like they're helping off a badly in the corner. But like I think a D like he's not I

don't know. Janice probably is the better ball handler, I guess, but to me, like a D has some ball handling skills that like I'd love to see us put in use, Like I feel like we just try to force him to be this ISO post up big and the Bucks to this thing where like and they scored off off of it twice to night where Pat Contaton comes, they do like an inverted screen or your honest is at the top, and because you're playing off so far, they do an inverted s feen where Counting comes and sets

his pick and so basically eight Janice gets to go downhill or you leave Pat Counting right, either the Guards shows on nice or Pat Conaton is open for three and it gets Johannice going downhill, It gets him in the rhythm in a way where it's not just throw a post entry to you honest, where he's still good

at that. He can still bully players in the basket, but be honest, gets a lot of buckets in that way where I'd love to see a D kind of get a little bit more ball handling duties at the top of the key instead of just giving the ball like at the high post, where like it's Russ or Rondo giving him the post entry in the floor that's already super cramped where the paint is cramped. So just like again, I'm seeing good stuff, but I just would like us to kind of tap into more of what

a D can do. I think I think he's still being put in a lot of situations where it's just one or two skills. It's either a step back jumper or you know, a drive to three people. Um, so like that those are kind of things I'd like to see.

But you're right, this good process going. It's just when I watched the bucks and like your honest also gets a lot of like plays where like he gets the rebound and he just dribbles it up and he's able to kind of feel in rhythm and like a D you know, he gets the rebound, it's like right away, give it to a guard, and I'm like, I feel like he can push the ball as well. Like there's stuff that I'd love to see us open the floor

for him because he is super skilled. I'd love for us to kind of use those skills more than just as opposed. Do you know what I mean by that? Like, obviously he's not your honest, he's not a give the ball to him every possession and run your offense through it. But I just think like there's more that we can tap into with a D that and again, he's his numbers are still insane, he's still you know, he's been

carrying us for a lot of this season. I just feel like there's more there than than we're seeing with a D. No. So I I percent agree. And the main reason that that what you're getting at here is so smart is post defense is the number one area in the NBA right now where defenders are allowed to be physical, and so in a weird way, it kind of is like the wrong It's just it's the wrong era almost to four speed post players you know they're there are handful of guys in the league who do really,

really well there. But the truth of the matter is is like as a guy like Anthony Davis with a really high center of gravity that's easy to knock off balance, It's just it's it's not the best place for him

to attack. I agree with you, like with all the shooting that you have on this team, getting him in the situations with a live dribble out by the three point line, or doing a lot more of like let's do quick pick and pops and hit him where the defenders kind of closing out at him so that he can just do quick rip throughs and things along those lines to give him a little bit of an advantage. I I really would like to see more of that.

He's never going to be able to consistently break a team down the dribble from the perimeter because his like side to side quickness is not as good as a guy like Janice Right, So like Joannice can do these like rip throughs and jab steps and crossovers where he covers a lot of ground really fast and no one can really stay in front of him on the perimeter. Anthony Davis is a little bit more of like a uh.

You know, what makes him such a versatile big is more his finesse in his length than it is his speed and quickness. You know, that's not necessarily his strong point, you know what I mean, Like like Joannice literally moves like a guard. That's the huge difference there and what

allows him to consistently attack off the dribble. But that doesn't mean he can't do it more of it, and especially in specific matchups to your point, when you like, I would love to see more Anthony Davis attacking off the dribble against a team like Denver, you know, where it's like he's going to be going against your kits

where he does have a footspeed advantage. You know, even against Robert Williams on Friday Night, that'd be another interesting matchup to see him do a little bit more off the dr But I'm with you, just like force feeding Anthony Davis post ups. Uh, there was a stat that I saw the other day that his postops and in a in a fadeaway jump shot like that. That that's that that's just the and that I'm not even sure how they factor that in whether or not those count

past attempts or shots towards the rim. I'm not sure what the exact map was there, but the point is is, like Anthony Davis post ups shouldn't be his only isolation attack. They should find varying ways to get him involved in

that regard. Yeah, and like even the screen of roll actions, like to me, the rondo a D screen of roll has become almost pointless sometimes, like because the defender is so off, A D gets zero contact on the screen, like I'd like him to be more being like just how the Bucks used honest like as him as a screener so much like I would like to him to kind of play more with Leek Monk as a screen and screening roll big, Like I know this competent, right,

and I'm not comparing the two players at all. It just feels like we're fitting a D be like Dirk, you know what I mean, Like we're running actions as if he's Dirk and he's not the shooter Dirk is. And also he's not like he's a much quicker player than Dirk, and he has like more off the dribble game to me, And You're right, a D doesn't have like the strong one move that Janice can do left

to right crossover. But to me, like his handle is strong, like he has the you know, he does all these like in and out dribble, in and out crossovers on biggs. But I would just like to see more of that. I just don't see it enough to me, And and the screens as well. I don't know if it's on a D or if it's the guard, but just there's no contact on him, so like the guards are fighting over and there's just no space traded. And like you see th ht Rondo Russ throw lobs into traffic basically

right because no one has helped. You haven't caused anywhere, you haven't caused any help, so either just throwing a lab up and having a D play jump ball with like nice or whever the big is. So yeah, like I think a D is more skilled than we're seeing, I guess, And I just I don't know, again that's some on a D as well, just his aggression or

lack there of it. But I just want to see him more in ball handling situations where it's not just you know, him with the back to his back when the with his back to the basket trying to make decisions because you could tell that's not where he's comfortable, Like like you saw him trying to read where the traps are going and it's like a second laye that it needs to be something on most times, and like that's just not where he's comfortable at. So I'd love to see just a little bit more of like ball

handling responsibilities for him as a as an attacker. So to kind of put a bowl on tonight. Um with Lebron coming back on Friday, how do you see, like what what kind of rotation changes do you expect? Who do you expect to fall out of the rotation? What do you expect the starting lineup to look like? How do you expect the flow of the game to go. Yeah, there are a lot of questions, but I'll start, I'll

I'll definitely start with the starting lineup. So I don't think THHD is going anywhere, Like I just can't see them taking him out of the starting lineup. He's shooting too well to me as well from three, So I definitely think it would be Russ probably th HD, ron A D and then I'm not really sure on the fourth spot. To be honest, I hope I'm guessing it's Wayne Ellington. They're going to continue with a D at

the five. But like to me, like there's no reason for Rondo to play right now, Like, I just don't think you need to. I don't think DeAndre Jordan needs to play either, And honestly, Baysmore, we'll see. I thought it was another rough night for him. He played hard, but he's probably out of the rotation as well. So I just want to I just want to see them stagger like Russ and Braun and maybe even th HD in there, because like that's probably give them their best

chance to win. And obviously Lebron solves a lot of these issues. Lebron is not only the power forward, he's also the backup point guard, which also helps a lot of those line ups. But how about you, man, I like that's how I see the starting lineup going. I know that I feel like THD is gonna stand there next to Russ Brown and a D and then that fourth guy I think probably Wayne Ellington or Avery Bradley, one of those two Vogo. I still want to just go badly for defense, But how do you see that?

As then t HD has to start, he's too he's too good, like I mean, like I he's looked so good in these last two games that it literally doesn't make sense to bring him off the bench. Now, you you might think, oh, traditional sixth man role, which is where my brain usually goes, because you've got, uh, you know, redundancies in the starting lineup when you got that many drivel drive guys. But you know, generically or like historically in the NBA, the sixth man type of off the

bench scoring archetype. Your Lou Williams, your Jerry Stackhouse, your Jamal Crawford, that type of guy. They're almost always bad defensive players. And the dirty little secret to why they come off the bench is because they're bad defensive players like that. That's that's usually the rationale behind that kind of decision. T HD has been one of the best defenders on the team so far in the two games

that he's played. Obviously, don't want to give too much credit in that regard, but anyway, point being like you have you have to start t HD. So you look at the if you look at the flow of the game and the way that they usually subs to the stars because of the way that Anthony Davis likes to play full quarters, and because of the fact that Russ likes to take quick short rests instead of longer drawn out rests, what ends up happening is Lebron Russ comes out,

you know, like quick, like usually first. This year they're pushing Lebron sub a little bit later. He comes out like to like three quarters of the way through the first quarter. So it goes. It goes from like the starters to like a Lebron a D group to like an a D Russ group, and then a D and Rust both come out and it turns into like a Lebron with the bench guys group, and then Russ comes back in quick and it turns into like a Lebron

Russ group, and then Lebron comes out. It goes to Lebron a D so you can kind of see how and then Russ comes back in and it's the starter, so you can kind of see how the staggering works. There to be two stars on the floor for the most part with Lebron as that extra guy. But now with th Ht thrown into that mix, you're gonna have like a high level dribble creator on both wings at all times, which is a super exciting prospect for you

know what this team is supposed to be. This is something that the guys on at LFR have been preaching and it's something that I'm a big believer in. It's kind of this I've been talking a lot about modern basketball with the l a Clippers, right from the playoffs last year. This idea like we're just gonna spread you out, and it's all this trible drive attack penetration, getting you

into rotation and then swinging the ball around the shooters right. Well, in order for that to work, you've got to have multiple guys that can break down the defense off the dribble at the point of attack, either through prick and roll or literally just beating a guy off the dribble from the perimeter. Well, having this many guys the way the Lakers have, it's starting to trend in that direction.

They need to go away from postops. We talked a little bit about this earlier, instead of going really heavy Anthony Davis postops, really heavy Lebron postops, which by the way, you can still do in specific matchups and specific situations

as a wrinkle to throw in there. But I'd like to see just a lot more get four guys out, have either a D or Dwight set of high screen and roll, or even go five out sometimes when a D s on the floor and just let th Ht, Russell Westbrook and Lebron James beat guys off the dribble and just start getting the team into rotation because it's

always going to be shooters around them. Now, that's what's so exciting about this formula is we have real bona fide knockdown three point shooters, although tonight they didn't show that, but the point being like that, this formula is starting to look a lot less like the where we're you know, Championship Lakers that were like a literally almost like a nineties team that just was trying to pulverize you with

size and physicality too. Now we're doing this modern basketball space, the floor drive and kick offense that that makes a whole lot of sense and still have the physicality that comes from having Lebron and a d oh and guess what are other two dribble drive guards? Rust and and th HT are like physical specimens at the position sh and that are gonna have a whole other side of you know, physical impact on the opponent. Just in their own right, you know. So I I I'm really really

excited to see everybody fall into the roles here. I think we'll see a lot less phase more. I don't think. I don't think you'll see DeAndre Jordan at all, except when Dwight Howard is resting like you did in the second half tonight. I think a reason complicates things even further.

But I would not be surprised if it turn if Bradley falls entirely out, bays More falls entirely out, and they just play the shooters and it turns basically into Dwight A d lebron th HD Russ and then Ellington Monk Mellow, you know what I mean, And and maybe some a reason in there when he gets going. But it just with the with the physical imposing nature of those for those core four players, you can get away with playing less physical shooters around them. And so I

that's that's kind of the way I see it going. Yeah, And that's why I was like, even tonight, I really wanted them to just put a shooter in where you Bradley is. And I understand Vogels, you know, love for Avery Bradley. It makes sense even going small. It's just like oh to his past team, right, every Bradley represents like a defensive minded first player who can't space the floor,

but teams just don't guard him in a way. Like even Wayne Ellington, I who was one for seven, Like they still guard him like he has a certain level of gravity that I think is important. And I think that's important on Friday as well in Boston, Like, I just think you can't have a non shooter in that space,

even with the shooting that th HD has shown. You start Russ Braun in a d like teams are going to pack the paint and then you add th HT into that as special as he's been, Like, the paint is gonna be packed, and I just need at least one shooter in that spot. Whether it's Monk, but I'm hoping it's Ellington. I think Ellington just has one of a mature game right now. Monk is more of like a hot and cold scorer type. And again Ellington and

shoot well tonight. He just understands how to get open, how to relocate right when he throws a pass and his man helps off him. He understands how to get into like the correct, correct passing angle, and I just hope that he kind of starts, but I wouldn't be surprised if we going with Bradley again just to kind of keep keep that defensive minded first player in there. But that's why I hope happens. I hope probably start why allence and go all into this, you know, a

d at the five, Brown at the four, just rust ball. Um. That's what I hope happens on Friday. Man. But I think this team is kind of progressing. Like I think you just remove the Rondo minutes and uh and the DeAndre Jordan minutes, but the Rondo minutes especially, just to remove that from the rotation right now, it's just a

big boost in and of itself. And then obviously getting Lebron back, um, and you know this is this is a big road trip to me, Like, like I understand Brons just coming back, but I think, like you gotta win some of these games going up here after Boston. I think it gets a little lighter. I think goes like Indiana, Detroit or something like that. But it's a big road trip. Man. They're a and eight right now. Like you get Lebron back now, Like I think this is the time to kind of go on go on

a run here. I think so too. I think it starts tomorrow Friday against Boston. I think the Lakers are going to go on a run here. Um, We'll see a lot of things. Gotta go right, guys, gotta stay healthy. Um. But this suddenly, with pht back and looking the way he looks, and Lebron coming back, this suddenly becomes a team that's gonna have a demonstrable talent advantage every single night,

like a big, big talent advantage. And when you couple that with the urgency associated with a record, and the fact that they have some ground to make up in the standings, and the fact that these guys got to be sick of losing. Um, I think I think we're gonna see a really solid stretch here of really good Laker basketball. And it sure would be great for them to beat the hell out of Brooklyn on Christmas Day to cap something like the stop that that would be.

That would be kind of like the target for a date that you'd like for them to kind of start to hit a real real ceiling in that regard. But I'm I am really excited to really quickly a note on Bradley both complained about Avery Bradley in recent days, and again I'm not I'm not a huge fan of the some of the things that he does when he's on the court. Like, I think he's way too much of a gunner for what their guys actually need out of that position. Um, the dude has never seen a

shot he doesn't like. Uh, in his way too aggressive as a jump shooter early in the clock, and that can get irritating. Um. However, when you look at what he does in Frank's system, he's a predictable defensive option. You know. The mistakes he makes are mistakes that play into their scheme. The his ball pressure, in his ability to fight over screens is like absolutely necessary for the pick and roll coverages. So, like, would I prefer for Ellington to be in the starters, Yes, to be clear,

I would go with Ellington. I think the spacing is better with him, and he's enough of a you know, a fundamentally sound positional defender that it works. However, it is also exciting to think about the ball pressure of that group with with Avery Bradley, right, I mean it's exciting to think about, like, hey, guess what you're you're playing, you know, you're going into to Boston and it's Marcus Smart,

Jayson Tatum and all these guys. It's like, guess what you're gonna have th HD, Avery Bradley and Russell Westbrook Ball pressuring the living hell out of you from the opening tip like that that that's an exciting prospect in its own regard. My point is is, like I saw a couple of people compare him today to DeAndre Jordan's like the new DeAndre Jordan, meaning like the new guy that makes no sense in the lineup book. I think he's gonna fall out of the rotation I would start Allington's.

So I'm not disagreeing with like some of the rationale there, but he's a hell of a lot better option than what could be, you know what I mean. Like it's he's not that bad in that position. No, Yeah, And I was a big fan of every badly you know, two years ago, I was hoping they resigned him. I wish he went to the bubble. He did not out of his own decisions. He's a player that like kind of fits what Vogel wants to do. And this is not against Avery Bradley, is just a function of the team.

To me, it's just that you can't have a non shooter in that space Bradley can shoot. That's a difference between there's a difference between a guy who can't shoot in an app lute shooter, right like when Hilton is a shooter, they have to respect and I just don't like the floor balance on that. Every Bradley plays hard, I think defensively, Like he plays hard. He's too small sometimes in a lot of matchups, like that's his biggest scribe to me, his his height, Like you just can't

match up. Sometimes he plays hard, he defends, he's a good point of attack defender, Like there's no there's no qualmy about that. But I'm just like saying, like, you just can't play a nonshooter to me, with these a d at the five line ups that we're trying to run out here, there's just no space, especially when a lot of the offense is posted up heavy. They're helping

off the same guy every time. Like to me, the game changed to me in that third quarter when you when Avery Bradley came out and they put in I believe Wayne Allington, and then he never came back in the game. They kept Monk on there and the floor, the floor balance of the spacing just looks so much better. A d was able to get going a little bit. T HD got some driving lines open, Russ got some

driving lines open. I think that's really important right now, and we'll see when the Bron comes back all that kind of changes. But yeah, nothing against Avery Bradley, Like I don't think he's DeAndre Jordan's level of of of effort or you know, or his impact on the game. It's just to me, it's a function of the roster right now. It's just I you can't play a non shooter in that lineup with just how our offense is running.

But I mean that's different with Lebron out there. Like maybe you can play every badly if Lebron's out there, But to me, I'd rather just put a shooter in that spot. And I think Ballington has been defending well enough, Like like he's not great, he's not going to be a plus defender, but like I think he's trying hard and he fights, so I think that's all you can really ask him. Yeah, I'm with you. I think we're on the same page here. Like he's definitely not the

best option. All I'm saying is like this, the rationale behind playing every badly makes more sense from the coaching staff than the DeAndre Jordan thing did. This is all I'm saying. But anyway, so that's all I had for tonight. Obviously, Rogers, there's anything else in your notes you wanted to hit? Obviously, with an East coast road trip like this, I'm gonna take advantage of it to try to end the night a tiny bit early, to try to spend some time with my wife for what. But did you have any

and you also wanted to hit tonight? The last thing in my notes was like you could tell the difference in chemistry been the Bucks and the Lakers, Right, Like, I thought that was pretty clear. I thought the Bucks knew exactly what they wanted to do, laid down the stretch of that game, it was straight up Milton, the honest picked and roll. They knew exactly where to be, and I just wrote down like that's where I hope the Lakers kind of get to this season where they

know what they're doing. Late in the game, you could tell they were kind of experimenting with that. And then the last thing I think shout out UH pick up hoop who tweeted out th HT in three games this year, twenty three points, seven rebounds to assist UH six two percent true shooting, Like that's kind of insane. Third game back, twenty year old. So those numbers probably won't stay where they are at um his you should will probably go

down with the brown going back. But I think that's been the kind of theme the last few games here is th HD is the real deal. So that's why I wanted to kind of close out with here. Yeah, he can be what because I don't think Russ is long for the Lakers if this doesn't go well, like obviously if they win the title, then you know they'll

keep him and this will all go well. But you know, the reality is is that that that that fit of having like the super high end playmaker i Q guy like Lebron with the big that needs someone to set him up like Anthony David that can create his own shot and apply a ton of rim pressure and also defend. That all makes a ton of sense. And so th h T can slot right into that in the post Russ era, you know what I mean, especially if he

continues to progress at this right. I cannot. I'm so impressed by how fast he's come along again, only three games, but I've been really impressed. All right, guys, thank you guys so much for coming to hang out tonight with Roger and I. I'm glad that we were finally able even after a loss, to hit on some good positivity with this group. Um. This is going to arrow dash right out tomorrow morning at seven am Pacific Standard time and will be in our podcast feed hearing about fifteen minutes.

As always, we sincerely appreciate your guys a support and you come and hang out with us up to these games, and we will see you for another early show on Friday night. If you're not out party and having a good time, you can come hang out with Roger and I talk some basketball. Appreciate it. Thanks everyone,