Lakers/Grizzlies Postgame Spaces

of all, Ross, how you doing, buddy? Oh man, I'm doing all right. That was a tough one for sure, all those you know caviatects true. Um, still tough to blow a four teen point lead late in the third. But I'm a wow man, how are you? I'm doing good? Um, you know I can't coming into this game. I I predicted that Memphis will win by fifteen. And the reason why it's just as the Lakers are currently constructed. It's a bad matchup for them. Memphis is very big and

strong at every position. They come at you with an onslaught of strength. They're not the most skilled team in the world. They are heavily independent on shop making from the perimeter from guys like jaw And and Uh and Desmond Bayne. However, they can physically overpower you over the course of a game, and if you don't bring it with your effort and intensity in all of those areas of the game, all those physicality areas of the game,

you'll get beat. And that's why they're fourteen, and that's why they have a bunch of really impressive wins this year. I think I saw stat today that they've they're the only team in the league that's one on the road against the three top teams in the West. I think was the stat that I've read. That's that's really impressive.

This is a good basketball team. And what you saw tonight was an absolute master class from Lebron James and some timely shot making from guys that aren't usually great shooters, and a couple of guys from the Lakers go really cold, and it's just not being enough. It wasn't enough. But at the end of the day, like when you're going to the bench and Lebron's taking a rest at the end of the third quarter and Carmelo Anthony is playing center, that's I don't know how you compete with a team

like Memphis with Carmelo Anthony at center. It's just now we can get into that, and how frustrating it is that that's the direction we went. And obviously I would hope that they make the adjustment, but at the end of the day, it's like their only other adjustment is to, you know, play Dwight or somebody there. But like, it's just this is it's hard to win games against good

teams in the NBA when you're at full strength. We literally watched the Lakers go into Memphis what two weeks ago, I think it was just about two weeks ago, and uh and get beat and even though they were playing good basketball at the time, And that's just what happens when you go on the road to play a good team.

So I know we're going to dive into all the reasons why, and I know it's frustrating, but I would just ask everybody to kind of contextualize this by saying an understanding that this is a game they were supposed to lose. Memphis is really good. There was some good process tonight, but when Memphis hit the gas during the stretches, when Lebron was off the floor. There just wasn't anything we could do. Yeah, I mean, all that's true, and I agree with that, I guess in a sense. John

Morant went six for seven from three. I thought a lot of those were like good defense, you know, you know what I mean, Like the ball moves around and the guy you want to shoot is John Morant, and he hit a bunch of them. I think he hit his first six threesum mrs last one, including like a last second you know, heave at the end of the quarter. To me, though this game was lost at the end

of the third, like, you do enough to win. They did enough to win this game in my opinion, and you lose a game that Lebron hits eight of fourteen from three, Like, that's just really tough. All that stuff is true. Memphis is a really damn good team. They were, you know, winning even without John Morant. They get their superstar back, right, and he was just incredible tonight. He was up for the moment obviously, even when they went down.

But that's just tough to me. To lose the game, I believe in like a short two minutes span which you know they went with Mellow at the five again, which we've talked about a lot at nauseum that you know that's probably that's not sustainable against bad teams, against teams like the Houston Rockets, let alone a team like Memphis. I would love seeing Dwight Howard. I thought Dwight was good tonight, Like in his minutes. Um he finished, I believe a plus sevent team in a game that we

lose by six, which is interesting. Um leak Monk as well plus twelve, give him credit. But yeah, man, that that's really rough for me to to kind of accept. Memphis was shooting like eight percent as well from three, and I thought our defense was part of that as well. They also miss him open shots. Some balls didn't bounce our way right, A cup of like offensive rebounds went to Desmond Bane. He hit threes. But yeah, men, those

mellow at the five lineups. It would have just been so nice to have one of Areza or Reeves healthy tonight, either one. And you probably cut Carmelo Anthony's minutes down from thirty minutes. Is just too much for Carmelo, And it's not his fault. He's an older guy. That's just unfair to him to throw him out there for many minutes. Russell Westbrook again, the miss Layoup is gonna get plastered everywhere, which kind of sucks. So I thought he was actually

good tonight. We can kind of get into it perfect all right, Yeah, we'll get into that later. But honestly, like to me, would you agree though that this game was lost in the last, you know, three minutes of the third because that was incredibly frustrating, and I thought that was something I saw a mile away. They took Lebron out, put Mellow in and against Stanley Johnson and those lineus makes it a little bit better, but he's still on the perimeter and it was just a layup

line to the rim man. John Morant was hunting Russell Westbrook, which was kind of strange. And I thought Westbrook again did a nice job on him in his last few possessions. But that third quarter, man, they just got going, got to the basket and then jaw hits that three lay. Russ took a bad shot there. I thought he played well tonight, but that was just a bad decision. Should have just let the shock clock go down, you get

you end the third quarter up eight. Instead, you know, he takes this weird fade away jumper and it's you know, five seconds for John rand Darren Carlson as well, still looked like he was moving two speed slower than John Morant was going. Let alone with the game was going um, and he couldn't stand from me hit three. But would you agree with that the game was kind of ended in the third quarter because I could just see Lebron right when he checked in the fourth again to start

that fourth quarter. You could just tell I thought he was exhausted, um, And you could just tell, like, man, I did all that and have to re regain this right once once Tias Jones hit that floater to put them up one, I honestly thought Memphis was going to take take this one. But I thought this was decided in the end of the third. You know, there are two different kinds of runs that happened in the basketball game. There's runs that are part of the normal EBB and

flow of effort when you play. For when you played for forty eight minutes, it's extremely rare for one team to be the aggressor the entire game. Usually there are these little two three minute stretches where you get a couple of stops, you make a couple of shots and the complexion of the game changes. That's normal, but then there's like runs that are kind of an error of process too, you know what I mean. And that's what the end of the third quarter was. That was a

run that could have been avoided. And this is something that I talked about a lot coming into this game. Dwight Howard is a quality backup NBA center. There's no reason to play him with Lebron who is your only other center on the roster, only other functional center, and then to have stretches of the game where neither of them are on the floor, especially against the team that's as physically imposing as Memphis. So that run to end the third was straight up a coaching era in my opinion.

It was an error of strategy that led to a run. Memphis had too many runs in this game. LA responded to most of them, but it ended up being one too many, one too many runs that was too much for them to overcome. And it's just you know, like at the end of the day, you have to control which you can control. There are some personnel things on this team that are outside of our control. I expect a certain amount of of shortcomings on any given night,

based on our roster shortcomings right now, even Lebron. Like Lebron, there was a big play at the end of the game where John missed two free throws and he got beat under the basket on a box out by Steven Adams. But like Steven Adams outweighs Lebron by like forty pounds. So the truth of the matter is is that's a

tough matchup for Lebron. That's in that in an ideal situation, that's Anthony Davis trying to box him out there, right So the point the point is is like some of this we can expect, but when you willingly play Carmelo Anthony at center to end the end the third, that's self sabotage. When you willingly go into crunch time with th Ht on the floor and Mellow who can't make a shot to save his life. This is a whole other topic, but Mellow has been playing bad basketball for

the better part of a month now. Last night, Total Outlier Mellow has been massively regressing defensively and he's not making shots anymore, tweeted out this recent stretch of game, He's below from three, so a lot of that has to do with the personnel situation and guys having to do more. But you didn't have to play Mellow there

that could have been Stanley. You didn't have to play th HD there with the closers that could have been Avery Bradley that you know, you didn't have to play Mellow at center and the third that could have been Dwight.

So if we're going to have our best opportunity to get wins over the course of this next you know, month or so without Anthony Davis, we have to at least get ourselves in a position where we're at the best possible version of what we're putting out on the floor, and when we're deliberately undercutting ourselves with some poor decision making. It's gonna be a lot of nights like this that should have been kind of night. It's kind of like Chicago,

kind of like Tonight games or the efforts there. You know, you get just otherworldly performance out of Lebron and it's just not enough, and that's extremely frustrated. Yeah, And to be fair to fit is like this is definitely like nitpicking, Like I think he actually coached a really good game tonight.

Other than those minutes. But it's just tough, man, because we started Dwight Howard Tonight in you know, in place just to win those Steven Adams minutes right to when the box out minutes where Lebron wanna have to be that guy. And I would have loved to see Dwight kind of mirror I guess Adams minutes, even especially a night where he's playing well. I think he had four fouls. UM picked up a lot of them on John Moran as well when John tried to get it going. But

I thought he was just really good. He was had his verticality going, moving his feet as well. That's not only I guess Nippig because it was just really tough to survive, especially when Carmelo. You talked about him shooting under thirty percent recently, Like to me, like again, we're playing him just a ship ton of minutes right now, we don't have another forward. Maybe Stanley Johnson can play more than twenty two minutes. I would have loved to

flip that. I would have love to have Stanley Johnson played thirty minutes UM and then Carmelo play around twenty two, especially if you can kind of go as the game is going, the flow of the game, right, Carmelo just didn't have his shot going. And I said, tonight and other nights where if Carmelo is not you know, Inferno,

which he has been for a lot of games. He's saved the lagers for a lot of games this season, to give him credit, But if he's not Inferno, then you know, those Carmel at the five line ups were just really tough to survive. And that was a struggle, uh, for this night and nights going forward until hopefully the

Reeves gets back the next night. I think he's he exited COVID protocols as well, based Moore as well, but just to get them to having one of the reefs or reads of time would have been great, just to limit those minutes. But yeah, and I thought that's where this game was lost. Memphis is a damn good team. Like this is not something you know to go cry about, Like Memphis is a great team. They're playing at home. You talked about the wins that they have on this season,

but this game was there for the taking. Even with John Marant, you know, as hot as he was, with Lebron playing at you know, best player in the world, level thirty seven minutes to night on a back to back eight of four team from three, like you just don't want to I wouldn't say waste, but I mean you're getting that kind of production from your best player, Russell Westbrook. Again we disagree on you know, how he

played tonight. I thought he played pretty well, but I mean the numbers aren't there are sixteen points, twelve rebound, twelve assists, ten rebounds, Like you get that production as well um five turnovers, which you know still probably a little higher than you want, but still like I thought you played enough to where you could win. It's just those minutes. Man, you build that four team point lead,

you want some kind of cushion. And with Lebron coming back, and Lebron came back, and the game was I think it was a three point game or something, and then they had to one floater by John Rant one floater by Tayas Jones, and to me, the game was over there. I didn't think we could, you know, re re get that like control, especially with the crowd into it. And Memphis is just a solid team. Their physicality took over as well. Um late in that game, desmit Vane, all

those guys really defend at a super high level. But yeah, that's that's why it's so frustrating tonight because I thought this was a winnable game. We're in win collection mode right here, where like if you have a chance, like if this game was over by the third, like I

would understand, But this is a winnable game. And like all those caveats about Memphis, you know, being a really good team are true, but this was this is a game for a taking that you lost, and you can't do that as a team that's you know, game two games over. I agree with you, and I see a lot of people talking about what he staid Lebron James performances,

and I tend to go the other way with that. Um, as long as he doesn't get hurt, which is obviously a risk when you have him taking on this kind of workload, as long as he doesn't get hurt, I tend to go Lebron looking this great is absolutely good news,

and there's no other way to interpret it. Because, as we know, the number one based formula for bigger team being able to compete with the Phoenixes and the Golden States and the Brooklyn's and the Milwaukee's of the world is for Lebron and Anthony Davis to be top five players.

And right now, Lebron looks every bit as good anybody else that's in the league right now, and Anthony Davis has not been that guy, but right now he has some time to step away from the game, to get right physically, to figure out whatever that is and try

to get back to that level. So I know it's extremely frustrating these performances feel wasted, But at the end of the day, the way I look at it is, this is Lavron learning to play a new style of offense with this group, a different style of offense that he's played then he's played in the last couple of years. And as long as he stays healthy, so as long as he's listening to his bodies and make your body and making the right decision on that front, I look

at it is nothing but good news. But I wanted to move on to Russ, So you and I got into a conversation at the end of the pod yesterday talking about Russ and you know his press conference recently where he seemed to be focused on the wrong things, and it was frustrating for me. Hearing that press conference, because my number one concern with russ is is for him to understand that the most important thing he could do for this team is not sabotage. Then that's the

most important thing he could do. And as long as he understands where he fits in the picture of this team when it's healthy, and can control his ugliest urges, then that makes me feel optimistic because he does bring a lot of good to the table. To me, he's a textbook good play, bad play kind of guy, and you in theory, over the course of the meat and potatoes of the season, you just want more good plays than bad plays. Then then you could say okay, net positive.

But when we're in crunch time, when we're in these big moments, when you're playing good teams in game situations, every bad play is catastrophic. And for him to have made the mistake he made the other night trying to turn over that dunk against Brooklyn and smoking it off the front of the rim, and then to come into tonight's game in a critical possession, Lebron just hit a massive three at the top of the key to get you back to or to get you back with the three.

I don't remember what the score was, but they were back within three. And then you get a stop and you're running out in transition, and he tried to turn over a transition lay up attempt into a dunk again, Are you kidding me? Like? That is him telling me he is incapable of learning his lesson, Like, how is it that after that massive stage on Christmas Day when you made the exact same mistake, you didn't learn your lesson?

He literally turned that over like he was gonna dunk it, and then at the last second realized he wasn't high enough and tried to go back and finger roll it. That is inexcusable mistake. And you know, our friend Jason Maples, he tweeted out right after the game, He's like, yeah, you gotta get off of Russell Westbrook. You can't beat

the good teams with this guy. Now. I'm not there yet neither, but there is an absolute truth to the fact that if he can't control himself in late game situations with his decision making, it will get this team beat. Because even if Lebron and a d are at their absolute best and everything clicks and you make it to the Western Conference Finals and you're playing Phoenix or you're playing Golden State or you're playing Utah, it's going to be close, and a couple of errors like that will

get you beat. And I just I it's like I couldn't believe what I was watching when he did that again tonight, I couldn't believe it to be fair to that like particular play that was different at least to me, Like, again, you don't want to miss the lay of you know, late game situation, but that was at least, you know, open floor transition, Like I think the Brooklyn one was like more in a more in a half core kind of situation, right, he had a close out opportunity, you're

more in a half gay situation. In transition, he has a full you know, head of steam. He's already picked up momentum, he's already you know, on the way there to the basket. Like that's a little different to me, Do you know what I mean by that? Like I don't, I don't put those two in the same do But the decision, the decision to attempts to dunk that basketball when when a layup he would have absolutely made, to me, is the problem? Sure? Okay? So like so do you

you don't think he played well tonight? I guess right, like just in in a hole because like to me, I thought he had a good floor game, Like yeah, I think three turnovers with like the game again that that layoup in transition is going to be plastered everywhere. That's going to make a couple of ugly turnovers in the fourth too. Ros Sure, I understand he did it during that time, but you know, I thought the whole

team kind of played bad. I thought the wall is kind of being built on them, that you can feel the Memphis avalanche coming right. The Memphis physicality definitely picked up. Memphis definitely figured out like hey, we can win this game, you know what I mean, Like they definitely found out once they took that lead. To me, the game was over. But like for the most parts, and I thought Russ had a good floor game, Like he had a bunch of players. I have my notes here, like one of

them he went into the paint, he slowed down. They we spanned this like we spun this Lebron Dwight. Uh you know double double screen pick and roll? Did you see that? Like we spanned that play a bunch of times. It was like Lebron and Dwight screening for Russ and just made his decision making a little bit easier. You had a Lebron popping and Dwight rolling, and he found Dwight on a few lobs. He bade Adams a few times. Like I thought, his floor game was fine tonight. And

again the numbers are what they are. You can kind of calm with you know the impact of them. But sixteen, twelve and ten, like you're getting that out of your who's supposed to be your third, you know, third option here, Like I think that's enough against a really good Memphis team. There were some bad turnovers for sure, not just from him, from Carmelo Anthony as well. There were just some bad passes that you know you're gonna get with Russell Westbrook

when you up his usages like this. But I think the mislayup is going to construte a lot of what I thought was good basketball from him tonight against a really good defensive Memphis team. Like I thought he created shots. He had a bunch of these, like in air passes where he changed his mind mid air and then switched to the corner on point to like Malikue Monk or two other guys David Bradley on one play when we were building our leads, Like, I want to give him

at least credit for that. The late game stuff is what it is. We've we've talked about this at nauseum, Like the late game stuff should be Lebron a guard screen pick and roll, or Lebron a d pick and roll, or you know, Lebron making two decisions, whether it's in

the post um and all that. But like I understand the misslayoup was tough, and Lebron just hit a super jab step break rhythm jumper to put us I think within three, and we have to turnover Russ, you know, in transition couldn't decide if he was gonna one hand slam it, which he's probably done three d fifty million times in his career, and he's like, oh, I just don't have that last little lift, and I decided to finger roll it and it missed there. But I thought,

you know, overall, do you do you disagree with that? Though? With his floor game, I guess for the rest of the game, take away that fourth quarter. I know you can't really do that in basketball, but like, do you agree with the rest of the game in terms of just what you kind of want to see from him on a night tonight basis, in terms of decision making, Yeah, well, Roger, you're right, he had a lot of good moments tonight. But what did I tell you after the Brooklyn game.

I told you he would do the same thing if he was twelve or twenty. That's what I told you. This is the Russ experience against Brooklyn on Christmas Day. It was especially horrifying because he also was actively point shaving the entire game. Okay, tonight tonight was more of

what I'm afraid of. Even if everything goes right, even if everything clicks, even if he's in that tertiary role behind Lebron and a d even if he plays great all game, what is there that makes you think he won't try to turn it over and dunk in a late game possession like that in the playoffs. That's That's where I'm coming from here, And and this is where, like again a couple of weeks ago, if I to see the tweet like what our friend Jason Maple said, I would have been like, come on, man, get out

of here. But like the the reason why I'm even entertaining it is that the reason why I'm even entertaining the idea that the Lakers need to get off of Russell Westbrook is this ship will get them beat. It will get them beat, and I don't and like, even though it would be a catastrophe of a trade, because now you're turning KCP and Kyle Kuzma and Montrez Harrold into salary filler. Get yeah, you're you're absolutely right about that. But the only, but the only reason I'm even considering

it is because this will get them beat. And I don't. I don't see. I just don't see any way or anything that could happen over the course of the next few months that would change my fear of that type of outcome. Well, but what happened is what we've seen in some other you know, late game when the team was healthy, right, we we've seen it against Remember that you posted that video when we beat the Calves, right

and that you know that went over. The Calves is actually looking a lot better and better as we move into the season. They just lost Ruby r Ricky Rubio, which sucks, but they're a really good team and we beat them earlier in the year before they kind of built their momentum. But you know the late game, what was that? That was just Lebron. You know, straight screen roll, straight pick and roll. He gets to the side where

the ball goes. I believe Russ was in the dunker spot for a lot of that, or Russ was you know, on the week side kind of where where it's tougher to help. He got ever mobili on switches, drive to the basket, someone someone helps he get he kicks it out. Like to me, that's more what we'll see. And I

talked about this last night as well. Tempering Russ is just not the way you go with this, like you know, to me, it's just taking down his usage and possessions, which will naturally happen to me when the team gets healthy, when Anthony Davis is back. Like this, this type of stuff you kind of have to just live with. Like the late game situation stuff is what it is. I'd like to see him more as a screener. I think playing him next to Teach. We are closing lineup tonight

with him next to HD. I don't remember if Avery Bradley was on the floor as well, but just mellow, mellow Lebron and then of Russ and Bradley, I think, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm just one, but I think it was two nonshooters as well. Next to it where and he talked about how Memphis you know, didn't close out to him in the corner. I still would have liked to see um them swing it to us, have him kind

of attack a defense that's in rotation. I still think that's I still think that's a threat, you know, even late game, even with his high levels decision making, I still think a defense closing out to him is a threat. It's how we got the Austin Reeves game winner as well.

But yeah, man, that late game stuff is kind of it is like the bigger picture of the process stuff tonight with stuff I want to see from him when the team's healthy, in control, slowing down in the in the paint, you know law passes, which stuff that he's good at, that he's done at for his career. The you know, dunks turning into layups is him kind of facing mortality. To me, We'll see if how that works as the season goes. U you don't want to see

him mislayups. I heard the Memphis broadcast today I don't know if you were listening to the Memphis podcast. Yeah, they're they're really good. Um, they were talking about how Russ leads the league in layup attempts. That yeah, attempt I think it was. It was attempts or makes. They said lead the leads and lay up. So I don't remember if its attempts or makes, but I mean, still lead the league in layups is something, you know at

the guard position, Like, I think that's something big. He had one play tonight where I think it was on the play where he you know, I saw it against Brandon Brandon Clark and then did a nice you know lay up kind of worth Clark contesting, and they said that he leaves the league in layup, so he's getting to the basket at least, and like that's the process stuff. I want to see. Lay game stuff is what it is.

But yeah, it's tough. It's not gonna be easy, especially with a d out for this long, Like he's going to have lake game possessions to kind of control high level situations. It's just you kind of got to live with and you know, entertaining Russ trades. To me, it's just so like it makes no sense. Russ is not going anywhere like that. He's just not like entertaining Russ trades.

To me, I get tweeted and I'm sure you do too in my d M s and even on the timeline, what do you think about this Russ trade with Like none of these are happening, Like he's like he's on the team for this full season, like he just is, and we kind of have to accept that and try to maneuver around that. So I agree with you. I'm just saying, like the reason why my brain even allows, like the reason why I even allow myself to think

in that direction is because of this recent stretch. But I mean, dude, I'm aware of all the good that he brings, Like rim pressure has not been the issue with Rust this year, you know, Like ironically, jump shooting hasn't even been the issue with Rust this year, at

least off the ball. I would say that he's like they're still are way too many possessions every game where he'll get the inbounds pass, bring the ball up the floor, call for a ball screen, and shoot a pull a jump shot with like twelve seconds on the shock walk, And I'm literally like that should never ever be in our offense. You know that I go in though the little yes, but again I I just I think of Lakers are are taking a gamble here and it could

pay off. You know, there are all these jokes before the season, Oh, Lebron's the goat if he gets Westbrook a ring, and it's it's it's true, Like, yes, there's the scenario where this works out, where you end up on the biggest stage and Russ actually does a good amount of mismatch mismatch hunting. And you know, he had a couple of really nice defensive sequences against John Morant at the end of the game, and like, again, if you could bottle that stuff up, it would be amazing.

Like if I could care, if I could say, hey, like I can stick Russ on all the best point guards in the league and he's gonna get awesome isolation defense and caused him to have rush it frustrating nights. Then man, this this looks totally different. But you and I both know that's just not the case. Those sequences like the one against job there at the end of the game are the exception. They're not the normal, and so it's just it is what it is. I'm with you,

he's gonna be around the rest of the season. In all likelihood, it's too us. What what we've seen in the last week is a great example of what I described coming into this season as my fear with Ross, which had nothing to do with the fit, nothing to do with his perimeter shooting, everything to do with his basketball i Q or lack thereof, and and how I thought that that could be fatal in in the right situation. But I mean, we can move on from Russ now. I just I wanted to get that off my chest

because it's been us. It's last thing on the rust thing. Like I think our perception of it, our whole perception kind of changes because the Lakers record is what it is, right where two games under five hundred. So every mistake, every turn over, every mislayout, you know, every you know, small screen that leads into like a layout that he thinks he gets fouled and the ball just goes over the room, like all that is accentuated because the Lakers

are two games over five hundred. And I'm kind of thinking the Lebron at center lineups are killing, like they're destroying teams, right and we're like plus twenty. I think in those lineups, Rush is on the floor for a lot of those as well. It's not just Lebron, Lebron and Russ and you know, Lebron at center, Russ Russ

and those lines are doing well. And I just wonder if our perception of this team would be different, Like if we started the season off, maybe DeAndre Jordan doesn't start twenty plus games, right, maybe it's you know, maybe

we do go smaller earlier. Maybe you know, we're able to play at a fastest speed earlier, that kind of exceptions what the roster needs and we're like twenty and I can't really do math right now, but for like five six games over five, maybe like the view of us is a little bit different if we're not at this page. I just think every game now everything's such a bigger deal because of where we are in the standing.

So that's my last thing on this is that, like I think if the lines were a little bit better, maybe earlier in the year, maybe if a reason is out and we sub him with like a wing instead of just going fully into the two big directions that we decided to go in, maybe the view on him is a little different. The games are frustrating, the miss dunks,

the mislayops are all super frustrating. But I just think like that would kind of change the person section and change all these you know, trade scenarios that are that come up, that come up after we game. So I'm I would push back on that a little bit here because it wasn't the whole purpose for sacrificing the depth to have Russ be capable of carrying the team and stretches when Asara is missing for one reason or another.

And I mean, i'm the way the season gone has has gone in terms of injuries and luck is what

it is. I actually was thinking about this earlier today because there are a lot of like silver linings here because it was clear, it was clear that the Lakers when they signed DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard, that they still had this Lakers type of ideology for their you know, their identity, and ironically, all of this cascade of injuries has forced them to play small and now they're seeing all of this offensive success and it's kind of they

basically tripped and fallen on accident into the best version of themselves offensively. And we talked a lot about this in our last parts. We won't go any further into it, but like, five out basketball is just the way you succeed in the modern NBA, and Anthony Davis can play five out basketball. So this, this system they tripped and fell in, is good. Even a step further Stanley Johnson, Like, we probably have no chance of getting Stanley Johnson on

the roster if we stay healthy. My guess is, you know reasons in that role, they if everything goes well, maybe they don't consider trading tailing at the deadline. And it's just kind of more or less this. There might be a moment in the playoffs where we're rocking to line up with Lebron the reason and Stanley Johnson on the floor, and that just doesn't happen unless we get

completely railroaded by COVID. So I'm with you in the in the sense that there's a silver lining to some of the way that this went over the course at the beginning of the season that said, like, this was the whole point of giving up a legit fifth star in KCP and a legit bench wing in Kyle Kuzma and Montraz Harold would take him or leave him But the point is is that you were hoping, I think, and I think who I think, if cooler heads were

available at the moment, they would have realized, like, hey, Russ really isn't that guy anymore. He's not the guy that can carry you for stretches like this, And so fundamentally, when they made that decision, you know, it just I just didn't. I I that was why I disagreed with

it in the moment. And I know Lebron loves back up playmaking and that's something that he's always placed a great deal of value on, but it just would have made more sense to do it with someone like Hollison, you know, or trying to find somebody like that out there that can make plays that you didn't have to

sacrifice your depth for. And and and and it is what it is because like you can even take it a step further to trade flexibility and the fact that they don't really have a lot of options this deadline, aside from you know, th HT and none in hopes of pulling back somebody in that twenty million dollar range.

But it just you know, if Russ had, to your point, Raj, if Russ was the Russ that I think rob Polinka and Lebron thought he would be they wouldn't be seventeen and nineteen, they'd be fifteen or something because Russ would have been able to carry the weight when Anthony Davis went down or when Lebron went down, And so that that's where, that's where if I'm a Laker fan, I'm looking at this like, hey, guys, what the hell? You know what I mean? Well, I mean, relitigating the Rush

trade is always tough. But like to me, like, even if we're fully healthy, I guess, and we still go to two big lineup, but we saw what that did for us, And you're right, Russ is not that guy. He's not the m v P guy. But I said, you know, five games into this season, this season is about, you know, acquiescing to Russ, making sure lineups are conductive to him. And I think we're starting to see at least a little bit of that um like going down a d going down would have hurt this team anyway.

Like to me, I don't know, I don't know how many you know games that flips with Russ and Lebron missing as many times as he did, right, Lebron missed. I think two or three weeks. Like this team was built around those three being able to carry, because that's what you do when you have a team full of minimum guys. Plus you know, Taylor Horton Tucker, who's kind of taking a step back due to situation, also confident, all the stuff that we've kind of litigated, you know,

back and forth. And our other non minimum guy, Kendrick Nunn, hasn't played a single second in the regular season. So you're filled with minimum guys, Russ and A D particular, we're supposed to take over the non Lebron minutes. And I do think, you know, Russ a D as a combo should have been able to probably win a couple more games, and then they did when lebronos out. But that's neither here and there, so it's tough to kind of again, these are all situational stuff that we can't

really get into. The lineup stuff is always frustrating league Monk probably should have been playing more earlier in the year. Um, all that stuff is into it. But we are starting to get to a good team, Like you can start to see a good team here, and I think that's the positive. I guess you can take but you're right, man, it's it's been rough. It's not been a clean season. You're when you're two games under five hundred, there's issues

that are all around. But yeah, relay again. The RST trade is is really tough for me, I guess because you can kind of see what they were going for even if we disagree. I think both of us were still kind of you know, unsure about it, uh when it happened, but you kind of see what they're kind of going for. And I think you're starting to see at least bits and pieces of that media day. Man.

I keep going back to this. We were sold this, you know this a d at the five with Wayne Ellington and Trevor Ariza and then a reason's injury really and Wayne I think was out as well for yeah, and so instead of you know, trying to find fast facility whatever familiar players like them to put in that lineup, we just went with a totally other identity, which was DeAndre Jordan's starting for so many games, anton Or Trucker, who who eventually gotten the starting line up but every

badly essentially filling the shooter role when he's not essentially a shooter, even though he's shooting well for the season. But yeah, I digress, like, that's kind of that's kind of where we went. We put twenty games into that, and so now we're kind of starting the uptick into what we're going to become. It's gonna take time, but yeah, and I was frustrating the man. That's a I was a tough loss. But I don't even know where I was going with this anymore. Let's yeah, so let's let's

finish with this. Let's finish with moving forward for the next month. How would you structure not not every inch of the lineup obviously, but the front court in particular, how would you structure that moving forward until Anthony Davis comes back in terms of the rotation, like who would you have on the floor? Wind? Yeah, so, I mean I think some games Dowight is definitely gonna start due to just big man, even though I don't think there are that many big men now in the league that

would give Lebron too much issues. But I would like to stagger right and Lebron at least until our wings come back. If reeese reevee can't really play center, but just until we get some more of those wings back. I would like to kind of stagger those two at least, um just to go away from the because I feel like all this team is kind of missing is those a few minutes where we play Mellow at the five, And to me, those are just unsurvivable. We've seen that

against Houston last night. We've seen it actually all season. Look at them. Look at the numbers when mellows at the five, they just kind of burned points and teams, you know, see that as a layuplind to the rim. I don't know how really structure the minutes that way THHD. I think coming off the bench is nice, Like I think that's helped, you know, that helps the kind of the team flow when the games start. But oh yeah, and he's he's completely gone mentally on the offensive end

right now. Yeah, he's in a real struggle. He had a one on one against like desmc bane in transition and absolutely had no clue what he wanted to do. Flipped up a like no, looker, yeah no, look. I was like, oh man, Taylor is gone, because that used to be a power, you know, through through guys and one finishing out. Yeah for sure. But yeah, I would love to stagger kind of Lebron and why just to

take away some of those mellow at the five minutes. Um. I know that kind of hurts Russ because Russ leads a lot of those second units, so it kind of takes some space away from him him. But I thought Russ and Dwight Man had some nice chemistry tonight. Like again I talked about that play. We spammed Rose, Russell, Lebron and Dwight running like stagger screens for Russ where he can kind of make decisions off that. I thought

that looked good and rust with some shooting. He had some passes to shooters tonight in the corner that we're nice. But I would I would just stag to those two, like that's all we can really do right now. Those those mellow at the five minutes are killing us, And I thought it killed us tonight. Um. I thought even against Houston, we had a little bit of a lead, we went to mellow at the five and teams just attack us relentlessly at that free to advantage again a

lot for Memphis. I think it was like twenty five to eight. But yeah, that's what I would do. How about you, man, what would what would you kind of do with the forward big minute rotation because I think John J. Jordan's definitely not saying yeah, he's done, and that might lead to what I think is their next roster move. Honestly, like, that's just kind of how I

see this this going. But what would you kind of do with the center forward rotation so staggering Dwight and Lebron It should have been the biggest no brainer that this coaching staff has ever had to decide. That is definitely a confusing um decision tonight to bring Dwight back into the rotation, but then to also have minutes with Dwight and Lebron off that was genuinely confounding. You know, But I look at it like this, When you go small, I think having more big forwards on the floor becomes

absolutely imperative. And you know, I need to dig into the numbers after the all up date, but my guess is lineups that have had Lebron and Stanley Johnson on the floor have done well. And the reason why is because when you get a couple of those guys flying around, it kind of generates the same type of defensive disruption

that one really big guy does. You know what I mean, so I the way I look at it is that we have Dwight, who's kind of like the odd man out here in the front court in terms of his style. But then the rest of the three, four or five minutes have to be taken up by Lebron, a Resa Mellow and Austin Reeves. And so what I would in Instanley Johnson, So what I would do as I would try to have two of the more athletic guys on

the floor at all times. So never go with like Mellow and Reeves, because if you have Mellow and Reeves on the floor run in the front court at the same time, then now your biggest players on the floor are just too slow and too small, you know. But like if you could always have on a Reason on the floor, on Stanley Johnson on the floor, Lebron on the floor, you know, with those guys, then you have

that baseline level of athleticism. So if you are going to force a Carmelow at the five lineup, which who knows, maybe that's the way they see it, then it needs to be Mellow at the five alongside a Reason and Reeves, you know, two guys that are going to do a lot of the dirty work that mellows unwilling to do. Two guys that will put their bodies on the line to get in front of guys barreling through the lane

and things along those lines. But you know, I've been talking a lot over the course of the last week that you know, Austin Reeves and Trevor Reason are two best defensive forwards not named Lebron in a D. So they're absolutely, you know, incredibly important to this team and just being functional. And and that's why you've seen Stanley Johnson do so well is because he's really the only guy on the roster now not named Lebron who can

do that stuff because of COVID. So now with everybody coming back, we can get that same invigorating feel that we get from Stanley Johnson plugged into a lineup. We can get that all the time with combinations of Stanley and Lebron and combinations of a Reason Reeves and mixing

that up in a bunch of different ways. But I think, I think you gotta lean in on and this is gonna be really hard for Frank because Frank is such a big believer in ball pressure and such a big believer in a little quick guards that can chase guys over the top of screens. But this team, now that Lebron is playing so much center, needs to go a lean heavier into playing their bigger wings. And so I'll be really curious to see if if that ends up

being the the direction that they're going. Um. But that's all I have for Deny. Is there anything else you wanted to hit ros before we call? Now? It's funny you talked about the ball pressure. Um, the ball pressure that Frank Vogo like the sick joke about tonight. Really I thought, you know, they did a nice job on John Morant, at least in that first half. He just did all his threes. But like Avery Bradley was chasing over the top, Dwight was moving his feet. They're pourcing

him into tough shots. That's what It just makes tonight a tough loss. But hopefully, you know, they can pick it up. I think they played Portland's on Friday, UM, and I think the schedule gets a little bit easier here. But yeah, that's a tough one man. Jason Maples, I think tweeted this is rock bottom. I want to say this one's rock bottom, but Okay, see lost losses film felt a little bit more rock but or the lost in Minnesota at home that was actually you know, in

the building for that one felt awful as well. But yeah, this was a tough one that you can't really give up games while you're two games under five. But I saw a good process stuff tonight. Man. I think we're getting if you know, if a d can come back and we get this type of Russ at least through the first three three and a half quarters. That that fourth quarter was rough, but I thought he played a good floor game, man, and I want to kind of

keep that. I'm gonna go rewatch the game and maybe I changed my opinion and when I go, when I go rewatch it, but just watching it live, I just you know, in my notes on how much of like, oh that was a nice like Russ was pick and roll with Lebron and Russ saw the pocket past but then he was in the air and found a guy in the corner or like he was driving and get a nice finish at the basket through contact, like there was stuff to and I thought that was good. So

good plays. Yeah, yeah, the late game stuff is is what it is. But I thought he made some nice plays as the game one. All right, everybody, that's all we have for tonight. So just you guys know, Raj is gonna be out of town on Friday, so I'll be trying to find a guest. Maybe I'll reach out to Maples and see if he wants to join us. I know he needs to give me a hard time

about my THHD Drew holiday camp. And then I think he also is one of the guys the captain of the Let's Trade RUSS ships, So we'll try to reach out to the NMC if we can't get him on. But we appreciate you guys hanging with us. This is gonna be on dash Radio tomorrow morning at seven am Pacific Standard time, and we'll also be on our podcast feed here in about twenty minutes. Has always, we appreciate your support and we will be back for the game show on Friday. Thanks everyone,