Lakers/Nuggets Postgame Spaces

But I'm excited to get to the bottom of a bunch of stuff with you tonight because the Lakers uh did something that I think we're not entirely shocked by, but continues to stick with a bunch of the themes that I've been meaning to talk with you about since Sunday, which is good because we have a lot of topics to get to. But first of all, how are you doing, buddy? How is your week? It's going well. The Lakers obviously aren't helping any of it, but you know, I'm having

a nice little get together at my house here. Friends brought over some flukin stuff, so it's nice. I'm enjoying myself, if you know. The Lakers don't want me to, so I'm joining mouth. How are you though, man? How is your ski trip? How was the vacation? I'm doing good.

Skiing was fun. Um that family trip that I do with my wife's family we go in a couple of ski trips every year, but the one with my wife's family is always a ton of fun um, not too much travel, not too much drama traveling, which is something I'm thankful for because I know that a lot of people are dealing with a bunch of uh inconveniences on that front. But the snow conditions are amazing. Skiing is my second favorite thing to do in the world, behind basketball,

and I had a good time doing it. But anyway, let's get to the game, because you know this team is fundamentally broken. This is you know, there's a thing that you keep tweeting that you've tweeted throughout the season, something that I've reiterated on the podcast. I'm not calling you out by any stretch of the imagination, but you say there's a good team in there, somewhere somewhere there is. I think you're right. But the good team that's in there is Lebron and they d it's not anything else.

And one of the themes of my podcast that I did on Thursday was this idea that the Lakers made an identity change through personnel that has backfired and is backfired miserably and the Lakers have had a couple of different options moving forward. They can either say, hey, Kendrick Nunn was out, Hey Anthony Davis has been out of one, Lebron has missed time, we're integrating new pieces. You know, this guy has been hurt. That guy has been hurt.

We can blame it on all these issues, or we can acknowledge the reality of the situation, which is, we brought in a bunch of guys who may be on their own volition, bring a certain amount of stuff to the table as basketball players. But this concoction of basketball players, all these guys put together, they can't win in this league. It's a problem. And so I wonder if the Lakers are going to ever come to terms with that fact.

But it's like, I mean, here's the thing, Rogers, and is the last thing I'll say for kick it over to you. They had a spirited film session after getting lit on fire by a terrible Sacramento Kings team. All the things they did wrong, all the missed opportunities, all the mistakes, the defensive mistakes, and the little details that they dropped, and then from the opening tip tonight, none

of that stuff was put into practice. None of it right, and so they don't like, don't burden yourself with caring more than they do, because for whatever reason, this group of guys doesn't care, you know. But that's where I'm at. Yeah, none of that's wrong. And I also got killed at halftime. You know, I said, I thought they played hard to an extent, and I would have loved to be a fly on the wall right in that film session. I would of love too went down, I would of love

because we all watched the same tape. You know, the film is the same weather I watch it here, you watch it in a you know, a fancy film room. Like the tape. The tape is the same. We gave up points tonight Denver. You know, hit everything. They were super hot from three I think they were fifteen ours. You know, Jameson, I know how to like. Our schemes don't really have any rhyme or reason right Like, there's there's no like, there's no end goal to what we're doing.

I feel like, and we just double team for no reason. I thought early on, I thought Dwight on your kitch was good. I thought that was a smart way to start the game. And I thought Dwight was good. He had a bunch of offensive rebounds. Russell Westbrook for the first five minutes the game was getting to the basket. I think they had Will Barton on him, or they

had another guard on him. And then immediately that what we've talked about all season, Teams are going to eventually just switch their big wing onto him or break forward. They switched Aaron Gordon onto him, and Russell Westbrook just continue to drive through him, right and Eron Gordon is not a guy you can drive through him. And you know that if you want to look at glass alf fool, maybe Aaron Gordon has to take Anthony Davis when they're playing.

But most good teams might have three, you know, big wing guys they can throw on Lebron Russe and a d And that's what they did tonight. And again Russ put his head down, went to the basket, missed a bunch of layups at the rim, Aaron Gordon was on and decided to take some you know, questionable jump shots. This this is not on Russ. I think our problem tonight was defensively, but it's a team wide issue that we're seeing. And my point on there's a good team

in here. There's a ladder, and I keep saying there's like a step by step process. We have to go through that, but we can't go there if we quit along the way, right, And that's kind of what I'm saying. There's a like, there's a breaking point. I think also the small ball. I think when you start Malik Monk and Avery Bradley like and there, it's not their fault in terms of like personally and it's not personal for them, it's just you spart two guys who are like six

one Like, there's a breaking point to that. And then Lebron James is not going to be you know, the engaged Draymond while also having the offensive load that he is. Like that's and you said tonight he has to be better, absolutely, but that's just the Lebron that we're getting. I thought White again starting helped with that, but there was a quit there. Denver went up like ten to twelve points, and the body language just shifted between the whole team.

I thought our only real, you know, fire that we showed was when Russ took it personal against Aaron Gordon. I think they got double technicals or something, and he had a little fire to him there, but there's a there's a human element to this team that's that's rough to watch every night. I think Anthony Davis fixes a lot of the basketball problems. I think Kendrick Nonna helps a lot of the basketball problems from the you know where the help is coming from. He can kind of

take over stuff. But there's like an issue where we're not even making teams going to their second and third progression. I thought Denver was very easy. Uh Yoki post of double team one passed away open three? Uh one passed away as a cut Like it's just there's no rhyme of reason to we're doing so. I don't know, man, that I don't have answered. This was one of the most frustrating, one of the most like, uh, kill your

spirit type of games. I guess uh to watch and the rust of Westwark fits going to be the conundrum we tried to solve throughout the season. But this defense has been getting worse and worse, and I think our small ball has hit up breaking point to where teams just know what to do. They go right to the rim every time, and eventually there's a breaking point to where the game collapses. We either give up an open

corner three or layups at the basket. And that's again what happened to it is what happened against Sacramento is what happens against Memphis. Like this is a consistent theme and and I'm not sure when it really I'm glad you brought up the stuff with the scheme because this teame doesn't really match up with the personnel. That is certainly the case, but like what's what's funny is just in general, this team has departed from what made them

good and this is a this is a concept. I feel bad for the listeners because I've been hammering this home for the last like two weeks. But like, again, think about the Lakers. We started KCP at point guard, five, We started Danny Green at the two, six, We started Lebron at the three, nine, Anthony Davis at at power forward, and Jamal McGee at center. And even when we went small, it was Alex Crusoe ripped six six freak athlete coming in,

or it was Kyle Kuzma coming in. You know, we are the small guy we would play would be a Rondo or and Avery Bradley. We we were a huge basketball team that it was incredibly athletic up and down the roster, and we punished teams with our physicality. And when you watch those that playoff run. The interesting part about it, and this is a consistent theme that I've

talked about. Why I think it's so important to build defense first and then to let the offense kind of come from that is because defense is the ultimate energy, effort focus, you know, behavior in all of sports. Right, it's not fun to play. Defense doesn't get you on highlights usually, right, So a lot of guys struggle with

effort on that end. So if you're a defensive team and you get stops and you get out in transition like that Lakers team did, even limited offensive players, the same reason why we made all these trades this summer to get better offensive players. Even those limited offensive players had offensive success in that playoff run because they fed off their defense. We saw Mark Kith Morris make a ton of huge threes. We saw KCP attacking closeouts making threes.

We saw all of these players Alex Crusoe started in the NBA Finals, had big moments. These guys they built their offense off of the strength of their defense, and it was a proven formula. And what was so funny is we saw, you know, the team really fall apart against Phoenix in the playoffs last year, and it kind of it changed the tone of this entire era, which is strange because what really happened in that Phoenix series

was we didn't shoot the ball well. Yeah, but we didn't shoot the ball well even when we were winning. If you remember, guys, when we were doing the State of the Lakers postgame shows in the playoff run, we were up to one in the series, and Roger and I were talking about how we felt really good about our chances because we hadn't made any shots yet, you know, and like, and we knew from the team that KCP was a better shooter than he was showing that Kyle,

BECAUSEMA was a better shooter than he was showing. Alex Cruso was a better shooter than he was showing. We knew that eventually shots would going and things would be fine. But instead, Anthony Davis goes down and so as a result, the offensive Britain becomes even greater. Guys continue to struggle, we lose, and then everybody in the front office and including Lebron and A D apparently look at each other and go, Nope, this whole thing is broken. We need

to fundamentally change what made us who we were. And that's ridiculous to me because again, you had a proven method to win basketball games at this level. And now, even what's crazy about it is even when we have guys on the floor who have that identity, when we have Stanley Johnson out there, when we have Austin Reeves out there, the problem is is there always playing alongside guys like Malik Monk, guys like Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, who's been struggling a little bit with his lack of

size lately. The totality of the lineups just don't possess the same imposing physical nature that earlier versions of our team had. And so this is why, like I tweeted earlier, like this needs to be the two thousand eighteen Calves trade deadline. You can if this team this is you texted me after the pot on Thursday, you go, I want to talk about the concept of going down with the ship because I've seen a couple of people and not calling them out or anything, I'm just saying I disagree.

I've seen people say like all we need is this little trade here and Kendrick Nunn coming back, and I thoroughly disagree with that. This is a team that needs wholesale changes. And to me, pretending is though Kendrick Nunn is going to fix the problem, pretending as though even

Anthony Davis is going to fix the problem. To me, that's not acknowledging the reality of the situation, which is that even when Lebron and Anthony Davis or hell me this season and on the floor together, they didn't win at the same pace, not even nearly the same pace that they did in previous seasons. So something is wrong

here and at the deadline. I think everybody needs to be available, They need they need to do whatever they can, like the Warriors did this past offseason, to try to recreate what they had in season, bring back as much size and athleticism as they can't Guys who enjoy and appreciate and embrace the dirty work, because then you might be able to get and recapture some of that flame.

But right but right now, man, like, I'm sorry, but you can't have a film session about all your defensive breakdowns and then come back and give seventy seventy three up and a half and then tell me, Okay, well, Kendrick None will do a better job chasing over that screen and everything will be fine. You know. I just I just think that that's delusional in my opinions. You might right, like this time, this team might need wholesale changes. I just don't see them coming right in. And you

said going down with the ship. You know you've heard the term like you made your bed, you laid and you've heard that right before, Like, and I feel like that's kind of what this is. Except this bed is like tied to the floor and right now there's like springs coming out of it, right And like for a lot of the season we had none of our wings, and then once our wings came back, Andy Davis went out like and again, like Jason, we've already seen wholesale changes.

Stanley Johnson is starting like it's starting basketball games. Austin Reeves was undrafted. He was not. You can tell me the Lakers loved Austin Reeves, and I would believe you. Obviously they went and made sure they got him. There was no way they thought he would be a sixth seventh man, which is what he is. His talent level is showing that he's a sixth seventh man on this team.

We've already seen that. Kept Baysmore, who was slotted probably by a lot of fans to be the starter, right, to be that to guard who defends at the point of the tech. He can't even play. He's playing garbage time minutes and he's still struggling in those type of in those type of environments. DeAndre Jordan's started for twenty three games this season. He's now out of the rotation. We've already seen these small wholesale changes here. I just like, I think the trade stuff is, you know, up pie

in the sky type of dream. Right, are our guys who can move our THHD Kendrew Donne and at first whatever that can get you? Fine, but this is the team to me, Russell Westbrook's not going anywhere it makes I don't like to bring up the contract. I think that's been you know, talked to at nausea. But like he makes forty four million dollars, you're not moving him for anything tangible that's gonna help you this season, in my opinion, So that fit has to be figured out.

You can bring a Jeremy Grant in, but there's basketball stuff, Jason that's that's wrong, and there's human elements stuff that's been wrong. Anthony Davis and Lebron and Russell Westbrook played fifteen games together this year, and in those games, Anthony Davis took off a lot of those you know what I mean. Lebron was a game offensively, but I think the defense still wasn't there. Russell Westbrook was still lost on a lot of possessions. We started them next to

DeAndre Jordan's. I twoted the staff the other day, Russ, Lebron and A D have played a hundred and ninety minutes together where eighties at center, that's close to nothing. Stanley Johnson has already played. Now be leave if you clue tonight, like a hundred minutes next to Braun and a D. Just think about that, like he's already played almost as much as you know those three have played.

Where eighties at is optimal lineup. Like, there's basketball stuff I think we have to get to and I think we're now at the point where we have to find solutions that are in house before we bring anyone else. And you can bring Jeremy Grant in, Jason, and if the rest fits still isn't pretty. If Russ still isn't aligned to I believe the role that he needs to be to where his skill level is, this team's gonna fail.

Like it's that's just what it is. If Anthony Davis comes back and isn't the defensive monster two way guy, this team is going to fail. There's no outside force that can come in. And I see tonight the fire frame Vogel stuff is back, you know, on the on the timeline, and I've I've I've said my piece on that. Who knows the locker room kind of politics there, But I just think there's inside stuff we have to fix. Man, Lebron's body language. We can get into that as well.

I thought that was pretty poor tonight, like from from the get go. Uh And that's I don't know how where to place blame on that, because when you're down twenty and the other teams sating everything again, the human element like he's not gonna be all engaged. It's just stuff I'm seeing. Man. I think Malik Monks are real bright spot. I think that's something we found. I think there's defensive issues though. You start Milik Monk and Avery Badley with a small ball lineup, and tonight we started

Dwight Howard. But there's a breaking point to that. Too many teams to have over six six guys are just gonna take advantage. And we've been seeing that in the past, and that, you know, small ball thing was fun. I think it's something we can go to in ten twelve minutes for it's playing that thirty five minutes to night. It's probably not feasible against teams with competent UH competition on the other side, but you're not wrong. Wholesale changes

might be needed. I just don't think that's happening mid season. I think that's a that's a dream. I don't think they have the pieces to move like the eighteen. You know how people compare Lebron throwing, you know, Dwyane Wade to UH trading Dwyane Wade. I think that was that year, right, I think, yeah, But let me like how Dwyane Wade Lebron are closed. But I mean Dwyane Wade was on a minimum deal and he sent it back to Miami, So like there's I think that totally different circumsense here.

I think Russell Westborok's here to stay and we have to kind of uh try to work. So, I mean, here's the thing, rog if they're not going to make any changes, let's just call it what it is, guys, I'm here to tell you. If they don't make any changes,

this team is losing in the first round guarantee. Like that's just going to happen, because we're probably going to catch either Utah or Memphis in the first round and both of the if we slip even further, and every single one of those teams is beating us like they're they're beating us, like even if Lebron, like even with Lebron playing as well as he is, unless Anthony Davis literally gets back to the top five player that he was in the bubble, and who knows, let's let's even

in that circumstance. If Lebron and they d are playing that, well, are we good enough anywhere else on the floor? Like I personally, here's my question, Jason, if they're playing forty minutes a game against Phoenix, in them Lebron, you get Bubble a D and you get Lebron at this level, it's that's right that I would I would like our chance, I would like our chances A little bit better if

Anthony Davis looked like that. But I haven't seen Anthony Davis looked like that since the bubble, even when he's been healthy. The reality, you're right, and so the reality is is he's declined for whatever reason and confidence and skill set whatever you wanna call it, motor, whatever it is, he's declined to the extent that, like the whole Lebron and a d are going to trump everything hard just isn't the same that it that it was now now

Frank is a separate thing. Like you know me, guys, Like my whole thing with Frank from the beginning has not been what he brings to the table schematically or with the rotation, although I have bones to pick there. My my, my concerns with Frank were always buy in. And guess what if you look at everybody in your team and have a spirited film session and then they all go out on the court and give you the finger,

that's buying, okay. And so sometimes, and this is a phenomenon that happens in sports, sometimes players just get sick of listening to a coach. It happens, it's it is a consistent thing to happen now I'm not I'm not there yet with with with Frank, like I said, Like I said, my whole thing with Frank is buy in. Like I get worried when Lebron James, after looking like Draymond freaking Green for two weeks all of a sudden, is just not offering help on drives. That concerns me.

But but can you expect can you expect him to that? We'll get into that, but before we move on to the Lebron thing, because like I want to look at this trade deadline thing for just a second longer, because the Russ thing, in my opinion, is separate from the rest of the roster thing. Okay, because like the Russ question for me, as you know, Raj has always been about the playoffs in the ceiling. Because I knew going into this trade Russ wasn't the guy everybody thought he was.

I knew why because I've watched basketball over the last five years, and apparently I'm not the only one. Because I read a story the other day that there was a bunch of internal conflicts surrounding the Rush trade within the Lakers front office at the time. And then I guess Rob Polinka decided to pull the trigger. But regardless, my concerns with Russ are not about this kind of stuff. My concerns with Russ entirely center around this team. This

team figures it out. Lebron looks great, a D looks great, they make a trade, everything's great, huge key moment. Rust becomes a matchup issue on both ends of the floor, losing his man and actually, actually it turns out he can't score against good basketball defenses anymore. That's where I

worry about Russ going down the roster though. That's where I look at it as like something has to be done to try to replicate what happened in This is where it gets a little more complicated because it could be the buyout market, It could be swapping a veteran minimum. This would cause an absolute, you know, freak out from the Laker fan base. But Malik Monk probably can't play for us in key moments. He is horrible defensively in

the sect. I could make a highlight reel from the Sacramento and Nuggets game that would freak people out with how bad he was defensively, like like in both of those games, he cannot hold his own against bigger players. Offensively frequently gets lost. He's high energy. It's not even really an energy problem. He's just he's just all over the place. Yeah, he tries, he tries, and says he has really bad defensive discipline and really bad defensive instincts.

So he's bad at sticking to his responsibility in the scheme, and then he doesn't anticipate things very well. So his defensive problems will continue to be a problem throughout the end of the season in my opinion. So what the question becomes, like, what if you could flock a flip Molik Monk for a six eight try hard guy buried in the rotation somewhere else in the league that's not

playing hard or that's not in enough minutes. I mean like that that that's the kind of trade that the Lakers are going to have to consider at this deadline.

And again, you would have complete freak gap because everyone be like, oh, Malik has been so good offensively, But that shift going from a Crusoe type to a Malik Monk type, as that first guard off the bench or starting guard, whatever you wanna call it, going from even if you just want to call it Casey p to Malik Monk making that shift from a guy who does his job defensively on every possession two a gunner off the bench who probably hemorrhages as much defensively as he

brings offensively. That shift is why we are where we are because dirty little secret guys. The Laker team last year that had no Lebron and Anthony Davis was probably every bit as good as this one right now with no Anthony Davis because they competed because they were just a continuation of that lake or identity. We remember, remember last year how nobody made the all the defense team for the Lakers because that was the whole team. That's what the entire team did. It was baked into the roster,

it was baked into their character. That's no longer the case, and so down the roster. Those are the kinds of shifts that the Lakers are gonna have to consider making.

Would you flip Molik Monk for a good veteran forward that solves a lot of your defensive and hustle problems, you know, would you be willing to cut a guy and sign you know, cut a Wayne Ellington for instance, and sign an like a buyout candidate guy who's six eight and can guard multiple positions, you know, like but has some offensive limitations, you know what I mean, Like, would are the Lakers willing to go down that road?

Because that's gonna be the interesting question because again, and this is the lasting I'll say, kick it over you Rush, that's that core question that you texted me about after that Thursday Pod. Do they go down with the ship or do they acknowledge where they screwed up that? And and and I'm curious to see. This deadline is gonna be very indicative of where everyone at, where the front office is at with that because they have the ability

to make some changes and make this work again. I think, you know, I think they do have an ability to shift a little bit. And it's funny. We got the breaking news right I think it was from Brian win Horse said the Lakers are looking to move DeAnda Gtroitdan and a camp bays Moore. I'm like, yeah, breaking these two guys who don't play at all right there, they're looking to move him. I think it's gonna be tough. And you brought up trading monk, Like, isn't that kind

of Stanley Johnson? Right, Like that's kind of who he is and Lake Monk is out playing his contract and he makes like very little money, So you have to find a wing that doesn't make much. You know that you're trading all the offensive stuff that you're getting from League mon because I think believe you know, he's played well, like he's played up to what he's going to be.

Expecting him to be good defensively, like isn't fair. And we have a lot of guys like that, And that's probably the issue, right we have you have to cover for Meliks, a guy you have to cover for defensively, Carmelo Anthony another guy you have to cover for defensively, Wayne Ellington, another guy you have to cover for defensively, and eventually there's a breaking point because you can't cover for three guys on the floor. Right, And I think that's the stuff you saw with a D as well, right,

he got uh A D was very frustrated. You could see the beginning of this year where he has to cover for a lot. He has to switch and somehow get back to the role man. Even tonight, I'm watching you know Denver run simple screen role where it's like Jeff Green going down the lane and it's like Malik Monk or Avery Bradley tagging Jeff Green and he's just dunking all over them. Like that's that's what I mean

by breaking point. And for sure they have to try to add wing dev And that's why I think I think Austin Reeves should start just to give some size, get some you know, hustle on that end and and try to trying to bridge that gap. But I don't think that trade is out there, Jason, Like, I honestly don't. I don't think you can move minimums for other minimums and then get the type of players you're looking for.

Cam Reddish was a guy we were kind of thinking of, right, and he went for a protected first and Kevin Knox and the Lakers off for two seconds reportedly like that's the type of players you would, I guess wanted to have upside, But like to me, Jeremy Grants the like the only real guy available to me that you could help. But this team has inner issues that it has to fix.

You talked about the identity not there and last year being there, they had the players to match it, you know, and they had a core from returning from right, So you had Caruser coming back, PCP coming back, Kyle Kuzman coming back. All those guys that were your core guys in the championship run came back and played when Lebron and a d you were out and held up the defensive ant. Dennis shrewder All, for all his faults, is

a good point of attack defensive guard. I think that's you know, been lost in kind of his conversation, Like I thought he was good defensively last year and he traded that obviously for offensive pole and for the hope that Russell Westbrook can kind of pushed the ball a little bit more and get Lebron off the ball, which Lebron has been more off the ball. I guess it just hasn't been in the way that we'd hope. It's kind of been through the hands of th HD, the

hands of Leak Monk and all those guys. So it's it's interesting. I just don't see a move coming. I think this is more has to be inner development. This team has to kind of push through the the ceiling that Anthony Davis and Lebron James can get to, and that's where it is. You're gonna play Lebron James, Anthony Davids forty some minutes. You hope that rust And can fit in that and then fit some three D guys

around that. We've already seen that a three and D kind of combination around those two is a successful formula. We're gonna learn if you can fit Russ into that. That's a calling new combination. And you know, maybe we've already seen that it won't work, but that's what we have to do, man. And I think you know, Russell Westbrook starting getting no turnover games and stuff like that is a push towards that. That's this process was never gonna look pretty, and it shouldn't look this ugly maybe,

but it's never gonna look pretty. Russell Westbrook already pushing back, right, And I think both of us talked about it on the pods the I'm a point guard laughing when Davi mcmanimum asked him about that, right, Because you can see the push to push him more and more off fall. We're lowering him even when he's on the floor. We're

lowering his usage. We're putting the ball in th HD's hands when he's on the ball throwing and putting him in the dunker spot, putting him in on the weak side corner to just stand while where it's harder to help from. We are starting to move towards basketball that's away from where Russell Westbrook has been in his career. And if you want to put in the forty four million dollars, does that make sense. No, you don't want to be you don't have a role player in that position,

in that contract spot. But it's what we have. And I don't think he's going anywhere. And I think you know, expecting us to trade it for wings, like, I just don't see it happening. Man. Wings are the most valued position in the league. And you know, teams like Phoenix have a bunch of Utah has a bunch, like the Warriors have a ship ton like it's gonna be tough

to kind of to grab that. I guess this trade landline, but I don't know, man, I don't I don't see a player that brings you back that you trade a minimum guy for and you get that back. I just don't see it. That's why I think Jeremy Grant is the you know, hope here and who knows that the

Lakers want to trade PhD for him? So that's that's where we're at and if this team is gonna This is why I appreciate the having you as a partner, Rogs, because you and I have such conflicting viewpoints on this stuff, and it's I think it's it's it's informative because I think you are way too high in the sky to think they're going to make internal changes. And you think I'm too pie in this guy to think that they're going to be able to find somebody to come in

and fix the problem. So I I get that. It's just and that's that's just the reality of the predicament that we're in, right, like every right, right, It's just the team has a boatload of issues and any available solution seems unrealistic. That's just that that's the reality that we're in now. I mean, as far as the trade goes, like remember what I'm saying here, Like the guys you

get are flawed. When you're talking about veteran minimums, buyouts, trades where teams are dumping guys, you're gonna get flawed players, right. But that's why I point to the Warriors because Namania be Elitesa is a is a small ball center who can't guard, you know, he can't guard. That's why he's

not highly desired around the league. Andre Guddala is really old, struggles to shoot, misses a lot of games because he has to maintain his body, you know, he so he ends up becoming a I who doesn't bring a ton of value to teams except for teams that can use him the way that the Warriors using right and then out of Porter Jr. Like really really uh, but again on a Porter Jr. Injury issues, buried on a bad team for a few years, questions about his motor and

ship like that. Like there's a bunch of those kinds of questions with veteran minimum guys. But why are all those guys knocking it out of the park in Golden State Because on that team with Stephan Draymond doing what they do, there's a very small ask for the role players and those guys, they're small skill sets fit into those small asks. And that's what I'm talking about here, because we're only going to get squad players back. We're gonna like I don't know if we'll have time to

get to it tonight. Maybe we can make some time for tomorrow, ROJ. But like we do need to dive deeper into this rust thing. And my case for trading Russ is you're gonna get crap back. You're gonna get crap, you're gonna get salary filler, You're gonna get a whole

lot of crap back. But if Russ is objectively a bad fit for the Lebron and a D core, but some limited basketball players that you get in return are a better fit just strictly with what you need from a player playing off of Lebron and a D at the top of their powers, then it could end up becoming in that positive. Now we're not going to dive into that because we'll get into it later, but that's kind of the kind of concept that wants you to

transmit to the betteran minimum thing. Because Molik Monk, even though he's vastly outperformed as veteran minimum, let's call him a five to ten million dollar a year type of player in terms of value right if he's if he's at, but his defensive issues are part of a cultural problem that is holding the team back, and they limited veteran minimum forward who somewhat replicates what Danny Green did or

what Casey p did, or Kyle Kuzman did. Even if it's just of what those guys did, they could theoretically be part of that value shift. Now, the one other concern I have about that, and this is something you brought up, and it's something that I think is super interesting here and it points us back to Frank, is we do have some of these guys on the roster

and they're just not on the floor enough. Why aren't Stanley and Austin playing high twenties a game, you know, when we desperately need what they bring to the table. You know, I've heard concerns about the reasons conditioning. Well maybe you know, maybe because the reason has been really bad too lately, especially on the defensive end. And it's like, well, if a reason is gonna when a reason gets to the point where he can play more minutes than maybe

that's the way we need to go rotationally. But you're right, like, we can't play too six three guards or below six three. We can't play three of them. Actually a lot of a lot of times we're playing Bradley, Monk and Russ.

We can't play three tiny guards and expect to be able to compete in the modern NBA where everybody's position list and every wing that the other team is thrown out is freaky athletic and six six, you know, like that, they're just fundamentally, either through the trades or through the rotation, the Lakers need to lean back into what they know works with their core, and that has to happen soon.

That that, to me, is a realistic change. Like suddenly convincing mo Leakue Monk and Carmelo Anthony to start playing defense isn't gonna happen. Suddenly convincing Lebron and Russ to buy back in on the defensive end after both of them have let go of that rope. I don't know that that's going to happen, but maybe it maybe through personnel around those guys, by shifting back to the Lakers type of identity, you might be able to reinvigorate that

a little bit. That's what I'm saying. So you brought you brought up to get eight percent of I believe you brought up Danny Green, Kyle Kuzman, KCP. I believe you wrought those three those three may fifteen millions a year pretty much, right, you know what? Like that's my point here, like, there's those guys aren't coming to save and you said bringing in guys to kind of, you know, push Rust and Lebron to defend better. It starts at the top, Jason, what did we here twenty before the

season started, right, I'll quotes Anthony Davis. I want to get Lebron James to become And again, this is off the court stuff. This is stuff that's hard to you know, translate in terms of you know, to quantify, but and this is stuff that came out. Anthony Davis is like, I want to Lebron to be first team All Defense. Right.

He's like, that's when I'm here. I want to push the guy to be first team All defense when in past seasons Lebron has it been right and his calvs teams, he was a guy that wasn't playing, you know, to the defensive uh skill that he could, but Anthony Davis kind of pushed that out of him. He had a defensive player, he had all defense type of year. Anthony Davis had a defensive player the your type of year. And that's it starts from the top, you know, and

it goes down. And that's where I think you have to see Russell Westbrook is a different type of defender. He's a turnover, try to creating. He's a chaos ball watching type a defender and another guy you have to you know, kind of look out for on that end. He's a guy that's going to try to get steals and stuff like that. And it's not gonna work to me in a scheme type of effort. But I just don't see a savior coming here. Like the savior to me is Anthony Davis coming back and being world beater.

Anthony David was being the top five two way guy that you can get. You can get a bunch of offense from in terms of isolation, scoring and get the all world switch ability. Um putting out fires defender, because we're gonna have a lot of fires to put out. You put all these guards out there, You're gonna have fires to put out. The Carmelo Anthony Mo League Monk. I think they try defensively right there, just limited. Karl Anthy is old and slow. He can't move his feet.

Link Monk is six one and skinny with zero physical kind of he's he's super athletic, but he's not physical. Teams can attack him on the offensive boards. They can attack him in isolation. He's a guy that we have to help on and so there's a lot of issues here, but like that's the only way for me. I don't see Wings coming in and giving eighty percent of those three guys. Those two guys were paid as you know,

their production. BCP was a guy who made who got his you know, four years sixty months or something or whatever contrary he got, Kuzma got the four year extension, um Danny Green got two years thirty from us. Like, these are wings that are valued around around the league. So I don't see a savior coming and just we won't get deep into the you know, trade Russ or just you know, uh, cut your losses with Russ conversation. But I just don't think that's a road we're going

to go down. I think that's that burned the house down type of say. Like I think the house is like still waiting for the roof, Like Andy Davis is like the roof right, like where there's a bunch of rain and hail coming in and we're like, yeah, let's just wait, just wait till the roof gets on there. Let's see if the house can function. You know and

before we just burn it all down. But you know, no one's wrong here, like they've all played poorly, way under expectation, definitely, and even with it's so tough because you you played both of these lines right, You played like the rust has employed next le Bron and e Dy so much. And you also play the like we got beat by Oklahoma City twice, and we got in Sacramento, we got our ask kick in Sacramento and Denver without you know, they're too out of their three best players

kicked kicked our ask by forty tonight. Like those are the inexcusable stuff that I'm seeing. But I don't know. Man, the body language looks bad and we can't falter here either. I think the West is too good to just go through a nose dive. I think we played some even better teams going forward. I think we play Utah soon, so they have to switch it up. Man, Anthy Davison is going to come back. I don't think he's gonna be a d right away. That's gonna take time for

him to get his conditioning. Kendrick Nunn, I have no clue on. We just keep hearing he's close. Um, But again looking as those guys as savers isn't fair either. There's the stuff that has to be better. Vogel has to be better. I'm a guy that's no not fire Vogo, but I think our line ups can't be as rigid. I don't think you can just decide to play small ball and then when it's getting you're asked kick like you have to adjust. We were not in position to

pro games either. But I don't know, man, this was one of the most unspirited one that this is one of the most like kill your spirit game. Sacramento was close to it for me. This one was definitely like a man like this. This was tough to watch. You've gotten rolled in back to back nights by bad Western Conference teams, teams that are every bid is bad, if

not worse than we are. We got rolled back to back nights, and you know and that you know, you brought up some of the limitations you know, with defensively with um with guys as it pertains to their physical tools. And I'm glad you got up because I did a bad job of emphasizing that with guys like Malik and Carmelo, it's not just effort. They lack, they lacked the physical tools to do the job. That goes without saying, um, I know, I know you had to get out of

here soon because you got some friends over. So we're gonna hit one last really quick topic and then we'll get out of here. So Lebron, I get in trouble with this all the time because you know, I'm aware of all of the Lebron qualifiers. I know he's in a really tough spot right now. I know he's he's being asked to do a lot. I also know that he's old. I also know that he has a lot of mileage on his body. None of that changes the

fact that I'm a huge fan of Lebron. As all of you guys know, I literally cover the Lakers because I followed him here. Now I've since then become attached to the team and attached to you, RGE, and I'm loving my time here and I'm loving covering the team. But I never shot away from the fact that Lebron is the reason why I originally started following this team, and I am I am. You are not going to get me to manufacture stuff to say negative about the guy that's not I'm not capable of that. I'm a

fan of his. When I when I create, I'm just calling the things out that I see with my eyes. When I watched the television, which has been my which I've been doing in varying capacities at various levels of basketball for decades, it's it's just what I do. I watched the game, I followed the game, I coached the game, I teach the game. I do all of it. And

when I'm watching the game, I see Lebron. After Anthony Davis goes down put together about him, like what three weeks or so, rog where where he looked like Draymond Green defensively just and guess what I was saying during that time, rog, I was saying, he looked like he might be the best player in the world. That's what I was saying, because because guess what, I'm a fan of Lebron, and when he does good stuff, I'm gonna call it out. But every single time this happens, for

all the time, I get pushed back. My mentions are a total disaster area today because I'm pointing out the fact that basically right around the time of that Sacramento game, it was the two games the Sacramento game, and then I think it was at Lanta right after it those two games, which I think we're four or five games ago, he randomly after having remember when we were talking too

how great his energy looked. It was like it was like the broadcasters were talking about it too, Like he was just flying around on both ends of the floor. And that was in a stretch where we had five games in eight dates, like and he was just bawling out on both ends of the floor. And then suddenly in that Sacramento game where you and I just after the show we're like, or after the game, we're talking to the show, We're like, yeah, Lebron kind of took

this one off, ton't me. And then all of a sudden, like we're watching the Atlanta game and we're like, huh, he's doing it again, you know, like he's not. He's kind of the textbook thing is like the instead of stepping over and either swiping down or or verticality trying to disrupt the guy at the ram, he just kind of stands there and watches, you know, and just lets the guy laid in. That's the tell tell sign that has been basically the story of Lebron defensively for the

past four or five games. Now. Ever, since that Sacramento game, the one we won, um, Lebron has let go with the rope defensively, and in a stretch where we've played five games in thirteen nights. So I have all these people telling me, like, man, it's fatigue, he's got too much on his plate. And I'm watching him early first quarter after two nights off, just letting guys coast into the lane for layup. And so some point recently, probably right around the time of the Sacramento game, Lebron made

a conscious decision to lay off the gas defensively. Now. I don't know why. It could be attitude, could be he's frustrated with the situation. Could be he doesn't believe the team could win. Could be he's tired. I don't know. I don't think it's the tired thing, though, because I'm looking at the situation and I'm seeing a guy that will take a bunch of those defensive possessions off him and fly around like crazy on offense. And he's had multiple time, multiple days off, So I just I just

don't buy into that excuse. And again, like every single time, I tweet this stuff out and I go, hey, guys, Lebron is not doing his job defensively, and yes, we're limited with personnel, and yes we don't have a ton of talent without Anthony Davis, but he's also not playing well enough on the defensive end. He's also not doing

his part. And every time I do that, it's like, here comes the guy and my mentions again the seventeen guys and I mentions that are like, oh, he's thirty seven out of what how outrageous it is for you to expect him to do this kind of stuff. And all I could say is like, man, is he the best player in the world or not? Because you're the same guy that's always out there talking about how great he is and how he's still the best and how he's better than k D and how he's better than

stef and how he's better than j Honice. But I can't hold him to that standard, the standard that comes associated with that status because Janice's garden like crazy. Kevin Durant's having one of his best defensive seasons and years, like the Steph Curry without any of the physical tools is everywhere defensively. I can't get by with the whole let's coddle Lebron. There's a guy. Our friend Joe, regular

of the show, tweeted out he said it perfectly. You can't celebrate he's thirty seven when things are going well and then use it as an excuse when things are going poorly. Shout out to Joe, but that I'm calling it out man like, he's like part of the issue here. Part of the reason why we're losing two teams were actually talented enough to beat, right know is Lebron isn't defended, So it's it's low on the list of issues. Obviously, there are a ton of other issues related to personnel

and talent fit. But Lebron can control that. That's an easy fixed that can be fixed tomorrow now if he wanted to. If that makes sense, Yeah, I mean like stuff, I think you know, I'm not there. I guess like I try to. I think all those issues are convoluted, right. I think he's he might be a little bit tired. I think he's also very frustrated both of us. You know,

go back and rewatch he's game. There's a bunch of times like on the on the on the time he will run back, you know, or or he'll both full hopfull speedback and transition. He'll do his job right, He'll he'll cover the rim and then like someone will run to the rim with him and the other team gets the open three and you can see him just put his hands on his head, or he'll look at the

bench and he'll be frustrated. And you know, that's all human elements stuff, man, And to me, like Lebron best player in the world stuff is like you have to win for out of seven, you know, but like all those other guys are in their prime, man, I don't I don't know. I can't expect Lebron to be Draymond an average thirty Like I can't. Maybe you know, maybe that drops him down and whatever list, but I can't

get there. And this team has issues of course that you know, and Lebron is definitely a part of them. If you're going to go small, I always say, then you have to have LEBRONI gates, like there's no line there, like you you can't go small and also not be engaged and also have small guards, like like that's such a that's a combination for failure, Like it's a combination for failure, and we've hit that breaking point. Teams I've understood how to play us. Now, teams are driving to

the rim. You know, every single time we have zero point of attack defense that is able to stay up to a even baseline level. Go watch that Sacramento game man Darren Fox Halburn straight line drives every single time. I'm not sure should Lebron be coming over every single time like job in that spot? It? No, for sure, but I mean can you do that? And what do you still put up? I think what do you put up in that game thirty Can you still do that?

I would never sure, but my question to you like, can you put up the thirty five and also cover you know, at the river? Can you do that for a couple of weeks? And then he just stopped. But maybe he doesn't need to be Raymond Green. Maybe he doesn't need to be Draymond Green. Yeah, but he and the scheme part is another part of this to Roge, because maybe schematically you can't have Lebron played Draymond Green.

That maybe you need to do a ton more switching as opposed to traditionally helping helping recover heads and recover that kind of stuff, like we might have to shift defensively to a defensive scheme more like what Brooklyn was using when they would go small, but then you can't stop. But then Jason, you can't start. You're gonna switch every so yeah, so that's why I'm on the restart. I think you have to switch more. I think it also

induces to what Russell Westbrook better at as well. It keeps Russell Westbrook more in like a inline traditional switch instead of having to chase over or chase guys on screens or being a drop coverage, you know, like that's all stuff that's not And he said that like you want to do on the floor. So I'd rather way more go switching. I think that could help Lebron to I'm there, all right, rog, Well, we're gonna get you

out of here. See you go hang out with your friends. Uh, we will do either we'll either squeeze one in tomorrow or we'll do it after the next game. I'm actually not sure when the next game is. Let me check really quick, but we will. We will definitely on the next show dive into the rusting because I said on the Thursday pod that I think the Lakers should trade him, and we haven't really had a chance to get to the bottom of that the two of us and I'm

sure will continue. He's not going anywhere so at home against the Jazz on Monday night. So so yeah, so we'll depending on how that games go, that games goes, game goes, we'll try to get to it, but you go finish, finish, hanging out with your friends. Guys. This is gonna be on dash Radio on Monday morning at seven am Pacific Standard time, and we'll also be on our podcast feed here in about twenty minutes. As always, we appreciate your support and we'll either see you tomorrow.

We're on Monday. Thanks to everyone. Have a great night. H