Lakers/Pacers Postgame Spaces

I missed the game last night. I had my first game as a high school coach, which was a ton of fun, roller coaster ride of emotions, very different from anything that I've ever experienced in the game of basketball because you're so emotionally invested in the outcome, but there's really really nothing you can do. Uh, you know of an offer, slighted vice here and there, and a little bit of game planning, but the truth of the matter is is it's kind of out of your control. So

it's a totally different type of experience. But also just every bit is satisfying from a competitive standpoint getting a win, as it is when you're a player. UM. So that was a lot of fun. But that said, I got to enjoy the game this morning. Uh, take my time with it. Pause and rewind and rewatch stuff and get a really good feel, um, you know, for the flow

of that game and a really really interesting game. The lack of Anthony Davis forced Frank to go to some lineups that you know, he never in a million years would play, and it kind of forced him to put his eyes on some some modern basketball. And I thought it was I thought it was really interesting. But first of all, before we get too much further in ROZs, Happy Thanksgiving to you, man. I hope you're doing really well.

I really appreciate you holding it down for me last night while I was indisposed, and and I'm really excited. I'm really excited to get to the bottom of this with you. Yeah, I mean too, man. This is this is a strange and happy Thanksgiving to you as well. And everyone in here M surprised as many people on

a on a Thanksgiving morning. Uh yeah, it's a little weird doing it the next day, right, because I'm so used to just you know, jotting all this stuff down and then trying to formulate thoughts that makes sense right after where you're still kind of emotionally invested in the game, and this is hours later and now I've been able to sit with it. Your thoughts kind of changed a little bit in terms of like how you see the game, But I wanted to ask your thoughts. So what was

your your big takeaway from it? We didn't get to hear you. You popped in while driving, but you had you had not seen a minute of the game yet. You said your game went to overtime too, right last night? Your your high school game. Kind of twice you guys went double overtime. The Lakers went into overtime. It was just an overtime type of night. What was your what

was your was your takeaways from from that game? So, you know, I thought I thought the Lebron at the center stuff was the most interesting part of the game, mainly for a couple of reasons. One not only what it brought out of them offensively, but also, uh, they

leaned heavily into switching with that lineup. They did a handful of different they were handful of coverages were like, uh they What I liked about it is they didn't switch indiscriminately, Like, for instance, there were a bunch of plays out on the perimeter where they would do dribble handoffs and a little quick exchanges where if the Lakers were feeling lazy, they could have switched, but they fought through those and then they would they would basically switch

on any real screening action, like a screening action that was designed to gain an advantage. And obviously one of the one of the other that the core of that lineup in the fourth quarter not O T was th h T with Lebron and Mellow and Monk and ellington Um and then obviously an OT you swap out th HT for Russ. But one of the keys there I thought was Lebron, th HT, Russ and Mellow all have a really low center of gravity and they're all really strong.

And so what's that What that means is as long as you you know, with those those particular switches, they don't give up too much around the basket in terms of post position. And with a team like with a team like Indiana, you have your guys like Malcolm Brockdn who can put their head down and get to the rim.

But there's a lot of like you know, Carris Lavert really likes to mix you up and try to take jump shots, and there's a lot of jump shooting from Duarte and and then obviously they love to attack in the post with their two with their two big guys. So having those guys that are strong enough that they're actually decent post up defenders kind of allows that switching defense to work. And then honestly, it's just a lot

of commitment to the work. You know, Russ and Lebron in particular, we're both amazing defensively at the end of that game. Obviously they weren't throughout the whole game, but that that only works when the guys out there are willing to work, you know what I mean, And so especially the stars, and so it was, and then obviously on the other end of the floor it became really easy.

It was a lot of rim pressure. Um th h t obviously had a tough night again finishing around the rim, but there were several times where he got into the rim and missed the layup and guys were available for offensive rebounds because he caved in the defense. There was a play where he dove as a cutter and did a quick seal, caught it in the paint and quick swung it out the corner to Ellington for three that

he made. So he generated some rim pressure and then obviously Russ and Lebron just driving the basket and and just making easy kickouts to great shooters. It was good process. There wasn't a flukey that wasn't a flukey offensive performance that a lot of that was replicable and something that they can apply moving forward. And it's a shift we're seeing, right. It's uh. Last night, I think I talked a lot about how Vogel is trying to, you know, play kind

of both sides of this offensive offensive thing. But I thought last night we saw a really good shift. Like Lebron at the five is probably something that he doesn't really like to go to. I said yesterday too. He's a guy that he's a big believer in having big athletic dudes um at the rim, Like that's his base type of defense as he likes to play. That's the reason DeAndre Jordan's starts. That's why every Bradley starts to me,

because you have to play that base coverage. But last night, so we don't get the stats right after the game, So it's nice to be able to go back and look at look at lineup data, so that that lineup that you talked about, the Lebron mellow Westbrook, Ellington and mug They played five minutes in the fourth quarter and then three minutes in overtime. And again net rating is is tough for a small sample, but they were sixty

one point four. There were plus sixty one point four net offensive rating one forty defensive seventy eight point six. And I only bring up those numbers because I think that's where they have to kind of win. Obviously, the defense isn't gonna be that low, the offense isn't gonna be that high, but I think that's kind of where they need to fit. They need to be a super really good offensive team and then kind of just defend enough.

And I saw that last night. Monk and Ellington are never gonna be great as switching, like you talked about it, but there's they have, Like Monk has a speed to him that I think you can use. Right. He was like last night, and you talked about effort as well. I saw him put it in, uh Lebron as Lebron, I thought at the five, his effort was so different than at the four. I want to ask you about that as well, because did you see that kind of shift.

I thought when Lebron went to center. He definitely picked up his effort um. He was involved in every play, and I think that's part of it. I feel like when he's at the four, uh, it induces him to load, manage or you know, just relaxed defensively in a way

that him being at the center doesn't. What do you what do you think about that kind of that kind of take, because I feel like he does when he was the main RAM protector last night, I thought he was much more engaged defensively when he's at the four. And maybe I said this too, there's just some negative energy with that starting lineup. There's some like counterintuitive to how this team's identity should be. Like they walk the ball up the floor with Russ with that starting lineup,

and it's so against how he wants to play. And you posted that that that video today of like they got to stop and then like Russ and it's like an outlet to Russ from bron He's flying down the floor and he finds Malik Monk as the trailer from three, Like that's that's the kind of pace they need to play at. And I feel like a starting lineup goes

against so much of it. But what do you think about that about Lebron's effort kind of going up when he's the center, when he's the main kind of defensive cog, rather than when he's playing at the floor. I don't think it's overly complicated. I think Lebron is burdened by what he's expected to do offensively. I think it sits in the back of his mind at the time. I think he knows that, like in some of that is something he needs to get over, in particular when everyone's healthy.

This is something that I've been critical of him with, is like, hey, like you don't have the same offensive responsibilities when everyone's healthy, so you can devote more energy to that side of the ball. But I think I think when Lebron is at the four or at the three, his thefensive responsibilities become more labor intensive in terms of how much ground he has to cover on the perimeter, and that just takes a lot of energy, especially for

a guy who weighs as much as he does. It's just a lot to do a lot of starting and stopping physically with his frame, and so at the center position, it kind of offloads a bunch of it. It off floads a bunch of the movement responsibilities to his brain and to his strength. So for instance, it's less about covering ground and it's more about banging, you know, like fighting for defensive position, especially on the on the glass.

And then obviously exactly and he can make up for some of his unwillingness to be mobile on the perimeter, you know, in the dregs of the regular season, by transferring that into can you communicate, tell guy, tell other guys where to go, help dictate coverages and blow up plays with your brain um and then lastly with his hands.

There's a handful of plays in the in the fourth quarter and overtime where he blew up plays without having to jump, just by reading a play, seeing it coming in advance, knowing what the big guy is gonna do when he catches getting in the way and disrupting with a swipe down or or just by knocking him off balance, things along those lines. That's his defensive job as a back line guy is easier for him to do in the regular season, in particular because it's not as physically demanding,

and little things like boxing out. Lebron likes that kind of stuff well, but every single time that shot went up. He was he was textbook box out low squatting, pushing Sabonis and Turner out of the lane, and that kind of thing. Again, He's not that that kind of thing to Lebron is is easier than asking him to fly around in rotations and chase guys off the line. So I think that's the big reason why the the Lebron

at the five lineups look so good defensively. And then you know, obviously, uh that this is where I wanted to kind of transition into Russ for a second, because the whole, the whole concept of this team is starting to make more sense offensively when you watch him, um, at least in terms of the flow of decision making. So for instance, like you can kind of see like Mellow,

Mellow just knows where his shots come from. Now. He knows like, hey, when I got a little guy on me, they're gonna throw to me in the post and I get kind of free rein to do whatever I want down there, and then I have this like blazing green light from the three point line. He knows that, and so as a result, you can kind of just see in the offense, everyone kind of understands where Mellow is going to be aggressive, and they understand how to play

off of that. The same goes for Lebron and Russ, and it's so cool to see Russ kind of figuring that out because I thought one of the pivotal stretches of the game was the end of the third quarter

where Lebron goes to the bench. They're actually down ten and Lebron Lebron engaged into the game defensively really in that third quarter and he played well, but Indiana is a good team at home, and they made some shots and they kept the game kind of at arms distance at ten points, and you could tell Lebron was frustrated.

There was a stretch there right before he stubbed out of the game where Malik Monk in THHD both took bad shots driving to the basket and missed, and his body language got a little a little crappy, and you can tell he was just annoyed and frustrated. And Lebron as a tendency to, you know, when the game is achievable, he's really dialed in, and sometimes when it's going off the rails, he can kind of back out of the

game a little bit. And I thought it was so critical that at the end of the third quarter, Russell Westbrook just put his head down and got to the ring and there was a stretch right to end the quarter where it was he drove up to the basket, made a layup. Then he on the very next possession, drove to the basket, kicked out to the leak Monk and Molik Monk used that close out from the defender to get a little bit of a step uh to

make a pull up three to score fifth point. And then obviously he could went right back down, drove to the bast get, drew a foul, made two free throws, and it's like bam seven, Oh run, we just turned this ten point deficit into a three point deficit. Now, Lebron's checking into the fourth quarter believing that that his team could win, you know, and having that with Russ is such a huge advantage because like he he has

looked so good over these last few weeks. And I think and I think it's hard to you know, especially with the NBA fans at large, non Laker fans, they have a tendency because they don't watch the team enough that Russell Westbrook just becomes the punching bag, you know. And we saw that with we saw that with Kendrick Perkins yesterday with that asinine take that he had on

on TV that kind of was making the rounds. But Russ has been fantastic in the last couple of weeks, and like even with his game tonight five or fifteen, just took a ton of rim pressure and what that does to generate quality looks for the rest of the team. And you could see the pathway. The pathway is Russ just putting his head down and get into the room when Lebron's off the floor. Um there and for the most part in crunch time deferring back to Lebron and

it works. You can see that. And obviously Anthony Davis has to find a way to fit into that too. But I was really really impressed with that offensive give and take throughout the game. Yeah, and I've been saying Russ has been having these like nuclear type of quarters right where he just it's a nuclear tidal wave and I would like to see a little bit more of a consistent effort, consistent attack through it. But he picks his spots and he's been much better, like you said,

the last few games. I think on the road trip he's been pretty much the only one playing with the type of urgency. I think he's been one of the few guys and he's really picked them up. He's been huge. His room attack was great last night. I think Lebron like not to pick this back onto Lebron at the five.

But the reason we had to play Lebron at the five, in my opinion, is because we have one serviceable center on the on the roster right now, right especially last night without a D is pretty much just why Howard, which I think is why you know, Vogel was searching and he found this Bron at the five lineup. But I think it just it opens things up for Russ too.

It just it opens all the good stuff for us when you have the amount of spacing that Braun at the five gifts, plus adds another playmaker to that right even when it's rust with a D at the five eighties not the type where you can throw throw the ball to him at the top of the key and he play makes out of it. And I think it's

just nice for us to have that. I think lak Monk next to it to another guy you can give the ball to Russ does a lot of this drive where he just touches the paint, like his whole goal is to just touch the paint, right, and he collapsed with the defense in whatever way. Kick it out and Fee has all these guys around him. Uh, it really works. I thought Wayne Ellington was a big part of last night. To Wayne Ellington, I think went five for seven from

three last night. Uh. And I was so huge on him in the summer, and I thought we really used him and Malik Monk straints UH to our advantage. And I want to ask you about this because they went to the Uh, they went to the inverted guard screens, right, And I've been asking for this with Allington with Monk, and we saw that with Braun at the five. What did you think about that, because I think that's something

we really should keep going forward. I harped on in a lot last night how much I hope stays in the rotation. And I don't think I know you said like Lebron likes to have more of a physical toll on him rather than having to move around. But I still think it's a lot for him to play center in a huge, huge amount of minutes. But I think it's something we can go to with our second units,

like the rust bron led units. If you can have Lebron at the five and those units, I think that's somewhere we where we can something we can use to our advantage when eighties off the floor, because I don't think I think we only have one service will center and we'll see dwhy Howard has these up and down games. But what do you think about that? Because I thought that was a huge part of last night too. It looked like Lebron ball, right, and this is something Lebron

has done all his career. He did it with k C P A lot. I think Ellington is a better shooter. Ellington might have even more gravity. There was a bunch of ghost screens where he'd faked the screen, but and then League Monk coming and set the screen. Just having shooters with gravity around. But what do you think about that action? Because I think that's something important we can

take into into the games here. Yeah, brown ball is the is the phrase that came to my mind as I was watching the tape, because it's he feels most comfortable. It's his style of play. But the irony is that's the kind of his Russ's style too, And one of the downsides of lebron ball is you know, when he can get fatigued when you really wear them out by having him consistently make decisions at the top of the key. So having Russ as another option there, you know, kind

of like a second side creator is huge. Um. You know, especially since this season he's shooting like on wide open threes. I think he's actually he's right around thirty that can remember if it's thirty four or thirty six, but it's right around He's shooting wide open threes this year, which is well enough that it's not going to kill you, um if he if he continues to get good looks

out of it. But you know, the thing with the guard the inverted guard screens is really interesting because the reality of it is it's such an uncommon basketball play that guards don't really know how to defend it. You know, they don't they don't want to switch on the lebron

So you know, there's a tendency it confuses defenses. You know, like obviously, when coaches are practicing pick and roll coverages, are talking about pick and roll coverages before a game, they're envisioning Lebron and Russ running screening actions with DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard, or maybe they're prepping for Anthony Davis because they don't think he's going to stay in

his hotel room. So the point is is like it's a confusing action because it's not something that you're necessarily prepared for, and they're gonna they're gonna, in all likelihood, want to switch it eventually, especially in like a playoff series. You know, when they can scout it a little bit more. But that's a switch you don't want to give up because now you've got Lebron going against a smaller, smaller defender.

But then the flip side of that is more often than not, with the switch like that, guys are gonna botch it. And when they do, they're going to overplay Lebron because you, if you're obviously your instinct is to go to the better players. So there were a ton of those sequences. Uh two of them I think that I can remember in the fourth quarter in particular, where Ellington and Monk, like you call them goo screens, come

inside the screen and then just quickly slip it. But guys stay with Lebron is just an easy swing pass and you're getting a wide open look out of it, And yeah, I'm with you. It's a it's a it's a really really interesting wrinkle. And you know, obviously, Anthony Davis is the guy who's going to play the five the vast majority of the time, as it should be. Um, but in a playoff series, eight is gonna play forty

two minutes. I don't see why not at all in specific matchups at least, um that you couldn't go to Lebron at the five for for a five six minute stretch or to three minute stretch a couple of times during the game. UM, it's a it's a really really interesting wrinkle. And this is the last thing I wanted to say about Lebron at the five. Um. You know, he's he's like Draymond when he's dialed in. He's that

level of defensive player when he's dialed in. Obviously, it's completely irrational and unrealistic to ask him to do that full time, especially with what we need from him elsewhere on the floor. But it's a really really interesting example of modern basketball because you know, Anthony Davis, as great as he is, and all of the good that comes

with him vastly outweighs that these issues. But he's a little bit slow and straight line speed, so in transition he can get lost sometimes um and his center of gravity is high, so he can be pushed off of his base really easily. We saw that with the Pistons.

With Isaiah Stewart, he just in box out situations as a tendency to get beat and some of that is his own physical wilting away from the confrontation, but a lot of it is also just his high center of gravity and the fact that he's very top heavy and he doesn't have a very strong base, so it's easy

to push him off of his spot. Lebron in a weird way, is such a perfect modern center because it when you play him at the center, the overall foot speed of the lineup is so good that they really really excel in the foot speed areas of defense, which are transition and then in rotation when you're covering for each other and the and it's really really interesting to see that line up defend and defend well because all

it is is mobility. It's a ship ton of mobility and guys not getting beat down the floor and transition and guys being able to cover a lot of ground in rotation to cover for each other, and obviously you're not going to do that full time. And Anthony Davis brings so much good to the table that he still is the best option at center for the Lakers, as you should be. But that's a great example of why Lebron at center is such an interesting wrinkle slash curveball

that the Lakers should go too more often. Yeah, and I say he's like a Swiss army knife, but that's probably that's probably underrating that the Swiss arm knife with all the separate specialties of every knife or whatever. But yeah, him defensively man like at the center. I just like that look. It gives us some speed when I think like Volos trying to make us a slowdown type of defense, and I just don't think that's what this team is. In the video you posted, I think is perfect with that.

Just guys flying around at that THHD a big part of it as well, and it's cool to see Lebron, you know, have one of those performances. I thought last night was probably one of the first of the season where it was just he looked like one of the He looked like the best player in the world. And he saw him hunt the bonus as well. On those switches you talked about, teams will probably want to switch that, and he he put up Carmelo's man and gets a

bonus on him. Took a bunch of step back threes that went in, got to the basket a few times. Just good process stuff, stuff that he's starting to get more comfortable with this team. Russ trying to get more comfortable with this team. I hope hopefully, like we said after Detroit win, hopefully that was something to build off of. I'm not gonna go I'm not gonna go on to go and say that about this one yet, but it's

it can be. I thought that was a good win last night without a d our pick three has only played eight games together, which is which just sounds so weird when you say it out loud. Uh. And this is game twenty. There's stuff to really build off of from from this win? Uh? And did you have anything else from last night's win? Last night's wine over? Yeah?

Too too quick notes. I wanted to talk about Lebron and then I wanted to talk about th HD in his process tonight, because I about th HD had better process tonight, even though he didn't necessarily shoot the ball really well. So, first of all, with Lebron, you know what's interesting is it's uh the way he's aged the the addition of high end shot making has allowed him to continue his impact in a lot of different ways.

Because it's funnycause we always get into debates with people about the best version of Lebron right Like, we argue, we argue, you know, it was the two thousand thirteen Lebron the best. Here's two thousand eight team Lebron the best. And you know, I've always favored the older version of players, like I think Steph right now is better than he was in two thousand and sixteen, because I do think that your i Q can be your greatest weapon as

a basketball player. You know, it's funny, Like I when I was, when I was twenty one, I had a I could put my elbows above them, I could, I was way faster. I you know, I had this you know, this quick which like lightning speed and all that stuff.

But I was not even a tiny afection of as good of a basketball player as I am now, not even because of this the skill stuff, but just because of my understanding of of when to be aggressive when not to, you know, understanding pivotal moments of the game, how key, how important this rebound is, how important this extra possessions Like okay, on this particular possession, we get a basket, this team might fold mentally. So this is the one where I really have to make sure we

get a good shot. Like that kind of stuff is the stuff that you get when you're later in your career, and that with Lebron is better than ever. His understanding of when to put his imprint on a game is at an all time high. And when you couple that with his improved shot making, his ability, his ability to knock down those fadeaways, his ability to knock down those off the dribble threes, he has turned himself into a hell, like a hell of a different version of himself, you

know what I mean. And the same thing goes to pensibly you think of, you know, late Calves Lebron, you know first Stint Caves Lebron and Miami Lebron is like this unbelievable down the floor athlete who's eracing shots around the rim as a as a jumper, and now he's blowing up plays around the rim under the rim as more of a Draymond style verticality not guys off balance and stripped them below the basket type of defender. And it's really interesting to see that evolution. And you know,

and then here's the reality. He he didn't have a great game from an athleticism standpoint last night. There were several plays that he usually dunks where he didn't. There was one where he went up for a dunk and the bounce wasn't there and he had to divert to a finger roll right at the end. There was a play at the end of the fourth quarter where he made a left handed layup in transition where you know, before his abdominal injury, he's probably still hanging on the rim.

The point being is he's going to continue to get his legs underneath him. And I still think he has a season left of that a all of that package put together, including some of that nuclear athleticism that makes

him so good. But the exciting part, the reason why I brought it up, is that shot making and that i Q piece and that strength piece and that back line defense piece really opens the door to a late prime for Lebron when he's thirty eight thirty nine, where he can become your second best player, where he can become your third best player and still be a serious impact on winning. And that should excite Laker fans because there's a lot of worry about this window, right and

how long it's gonna last. But the reality is is if Lebron is this good of a shooter and he's this smart, and he's this capable of a blow the rim defender, then he's going to be really good when he's thirty eight and thirty nine, And that's exciting and it extends the window. Yeah, and uh, I think his jumper looks great to start this season, shooting like shooting like thirty of them percent from three. But it just

just looks good. He looks comfortable. Uh, he's shooting when teams go under um and they need his jump shot the way that we're playing right now, with the spacing that we have. But you're right, he looks great. I don't know if you will. You'll do this every night defensively. The team needs it. And I keep saying it's probably unfair to have to rely on him this much. Defensively

in your nineteen. But if we can put them are at center, if that's a little bit less taxing on his body, just being that final room protector instead of flying all around where he has to rotate a million times, I mean we can go to that because I think having just one center on the on the team, like having DeAndre Jordan as your own as and DeAndre Jordan Dwight Howard as your only centers and only one of them as serviceable, like I would love to go more to this Braun at the five lineups and and he

took over last night like that's that's what what last night was like. In that fourth quarter, late game offense has pretty much just been him with the ball. I think when we talked about over the summer, we thought it would be like a shared kind of thing between Russ and Lebron, and it really hasn't. Um right, It's pretty much just been Lebron with the basketball and him deciding where to go. Russ is in the dunker spot or spaced out. It's been Lebron taking over any of

the close games we had. And again he's only played in nine games this year, but we've kind of seen what the what like last night looked like what we would do in the playoffs. Right, of course a D wasn't there, but it's that's what my picture was for this for last night. And the theme for me last night was there's a good team in here somewhere, right, there's a good team in here somewhere, whether you know this coach finds it, the next coach front whatever, there's

a good team in here somewhere. And I thought last night was a picture of playoff kind of playoff basketball. What we would do be Lebron at the top, have have incredible shooters that we can use as screeners. A D obviously would be on the floor as well. Just that that was my theme for last night. Would you agree with as like, there's a good team somewhere in here? And uh, I think I hope we can find it pretty soon. There's a great team in here somewhere with

you there. I mean, you know this is obviously we haven't had enough data to really go on here. But the truth of the matter is, you know a lot of these losses have been with a team that doesn't remotely resemble what we're going to be depending on when

things matter and so it's hard. You gotta you gotta always, you know, compartmentalize that you can still get frustrated with the identity, right like it sucks when you know you lose in a game that you have less talent than you expect, but your process also sucks, Like of course you can be upset about that. And this team has been frankly not fun to watch, and and there's a lot of people who were saying that last night agree. And it's been something that I've complained about all year,

and I hope they fix those things. But the reality is is their six and three with Lebron uh five and three when Lebron and a D both play. My guess is that by the time we get to the All Star Game, All Star Break with Lebron and a D on the floor will be hovering right around that sixty win pace. That's that's what I expect in the games that Lebron and a D play, which is where

it's always been. Um, you know, this is just it's just been frustrating because even within these games you're watching, you're like, Okay, we're trailing by ten to Cleveland in the third quarter before we finally turn it up and

make some stuff happen. We screw around with the Houston Rockets the entire game before Lebron and everybody dials it up and we get our process has been sitting, for lack of a better word, but the it's all in there still somewhere that you just have to be careful because if you don't establish those good habits, he may not be able to flip that switch, you know, when the time comes. But the last thing I wanted to say, as far as t HD goes, I just I thought

his process was way better. Um, you know, he wasn't. He missed a lot of layups, but there were layups that he usually makes, and they were layups when he had an advantage. So it wasn't like what he had been doing in the previous three games where it was a lot of like here's a boatload of bodies and I'm just flying into people, into the crowd with no real opportunity to to generate anything good, and here's a turnover,

here's a bad miss shot. It was significantly better process from th HD had a couple of tough jump shots that he took, but they were both late clock. Um, so I'm not terribly concerned with Um. You know, late clock, I want pht to to try to make make anything happen. But for the most part, I thought his shot quality was better, and I I there the main stuff with him is he got lost off ball a few times on defense. That's the stuff he's got to continue to

work on. But th HD I still think makes sense um as a guy who can be a core piece of this rotation. Yeah, and I really like they used him as a screener last night as well. It just gives him a chance, especially with Lebron, to be a ball handler going downhill instead of him just having to

get the ball at the top of the key. Like I keep seeing, like every time he gets the ball, it's this, it's this, like, oh, it's my turn now to go um And last night again on the rewatch, it looked a lot better, you write, his process looked much better. He's still not shooting as much as I'd like him to, like, I think he's being left open. I think there's shots there for him. But yeah, again,

another guy that used as a screener. Where if they traped Lebron on you have THHD now in a four on five situation, with the ball handling he has and the playmaking ability has. I think that's something we can really go to. And I think going away from the zone, uh, we really yeah, yeah, I'm really against it, and we went away from that in the second half. On the first half, we went to it a ton and th

ht Mileague Monk like those guys were just getting lost. Uh. And the point of the zone, right, it is just to stop the gibile penetration, the point of attack defense. But we gave up so many corner threes. And I thought THHD really fit into that. You talked about the stronger issue, the stronger lineups that we have and teach you fits into that right where he can switch. I thought he did a nice job boxing outance the bonus.

You give him just a straight, straight scheme, a lot of switching um, and I thought he played a lot better the zone. He looked lost in that zone, and it looked like they didn't know what they were running A two three three two. It looked really confusing at times, But yeah, I thought it looked I thought he was much better man. He's he turned twenty one today, actually,

I think so. I'm not sure today yesterday, but today. Okay, I have birthday t but but yeah, I thought he looked a lot better and he's gonna be a big part of this rotation. He's I thought he was great defensively he was part of those lineups and over time as well. But yeah, he's he's growing. We'll see you going forward. He's still not putting up the numbers he did when he came back the first three games back, but he's getting more comfortable in his role and I

think he has to. He has to be an off ball player on this team, right, He's not gonna get the on ball uh possessions if he was on another team, another bad team. He's going to be playing next to us or Lebron. And I think you've seen him get more and more comfortable. Uh, And yeah, that was a better, better process game from him. Ye are all right, guys. So here's the deal. So we uh rodged it a spaces last night. I'm going to combine the two of those.

For any of you who missed any part of those two, I'm gonna combine the two of them and and put pot out here probably in about an hour, um, so you'll be able to listen to that. There we will both, I believe. So I have a game tomorrow at seven thirty pm, but it's high school games, so it should be over in about an hour and a half. So I'm gonna miss maybe the first quarter, but I'll be able to watch the vast majority of tomorrow's game. So we will for sure be doing a spaces tomorrow night. Um,

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Uh, you know, I know we We've said this several times, but I know Rog and I are incredibly thankful for you guys and for supporting us. Um. We continue to just be completely blown away that as many of you guys do come and support us and hang out with us after the game, and it and it encourages us to you know, put the work in and to continue to watch and try to learn about this team and give our two cents. And and you know, obviously I appreciate you as well,

Raj for being alone for this ride. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Ronningho came out. I appreciate it. Yeah, I think he's giving to you as well. Man. Appreciate you as well. Going on this journey with me, and I feel like we're going something here, and it's been cool to see the support every single game. The support on the podcast has been just great and and uh yeah, we're really really thankful for it. I

really appreciate it. Thanks everyone. All right, everybody, enjoy the rest of your day, and we will see you tomorrow night. Alright, guys. Part two of the pot is going to be the opening monologue that Roj had after the game last night. Special thanks to rog for holding it down while I was gone. I hope you guys enjoy it and we will see you tomorrow night. Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast presented by DASH Radio. Jason is out tonight, at least for now. He's on molding the minds of

younger basketball players coaching a high school basketball game. He'll join us later, so I'll be solo for a little while. I don't want to talk too long. I don't want to ramble, So I want to do this one where I get a bunch of you up here. I just have a few things I want to get to and then we'll move on. But man, I think we have to start with Lebron closing this one. This season has been annoying. It's been a roller coaster. It's been up

and down. It's been the Russell Westbrook experience has been fitting Russell Westbrook. But none of that matters if Lebron is not Lebron, Right, if Lebron is still not a top five arguably the best player in the world. I think those are all marginal kind of areas when you get to Steph Lebron, Janice, whatever. But if he's in that conversation, he needs to be for this team. And that's that's probably the biggest thing that we have to see here. And Lebron's missed a whole bunch of games.

It was good to see him be able to get to this though, right, like, be able to channel this even if it won't be in every game, even if quarters, even if you'll take off quarters. I thought it was just great to at least see that again. I think it was thirty nine points that he finished with big time three's. The late game offense was pretty much all just him, right. I'm pretty surprised how in all pretty much a late game it hasn't been this sharing with Russ.

It's been pretty much just Lebron basketball, which is mismatch hunt, switch hunt attacks of Bonus. He really picked on him. I thought, vogo it. I don't want to go deep into Vogel. We did a lot of that on our podcast. You can listen to the last few, but I do see him adjusting. I think the Lebron at the five thing is another thing that goes really against his ideas and what he likes to do as a coach. Right.

Vogels is a very protect the rim with big athletic or at least seemingly athletic, with the DeAndre Jordan's type of players, where guards kind of fight over. He saw him in that second half, man go to Lebron at the five. I've been preaching this, to play Lebron with shooters like Wayne Ellington, like malikue Monk, used them as screeners, use their gravity, and that's switching. In the end, there was a lot they mixed it up, right, But I

thought that defense was so much better. We held Indiana to thirty six points in that second half until two minutes left, where the Pacers really just went nuts. I think I forgot who forgot who hit the three in the corner and then Duarte hit that ridiculous three. Brogden hit a few, but I thought the defense in the second half was much better. Lebron's effort when he plays the five seems to be much much better as well.

His commitment to when he plays the four next to DJ, it's just ugly and defensively, they went to zones, and I personally don't like the zone. I feel like players don't commit to it as they would a man or or a switching scheme, and I thought you saw that in the second half, especially with all these small guards. It's tough in a zone. You're basically predetermining where you're gonna be, right Like, that's the whole point of a zone,

and a defense is already a reactionary position. So like, if you're already predetermining where you're gonna be and in a reaction in position, which is why his zone is not something you can use as your base defense, right It's why none of the thirty teams use it as their base defense. It's a switch up that you can go to once in a while. But I thought Lebron's effort defensively in that second half was big time. He

was huge. He was in the defensive stands pretty much the whole time, shutting off Brockden a lot of times when he got him on a switch. I talked about this team needs his commitment on defense, and it's not fair for him. You're nine ten, it's probably not fair for him to, you know, have the offensive load as well that he has, but still on defense, this team needs him to be committed, especially playing the center, and I feel like he feels that when he's the five

um as well. So I wanted to start with that. Just a huge Lebron game. I'm not gonna say this is a turning point game because it's I said that after the Detroit game and that's not what happened at all. Today was another super slow start. I don't know, maybe it is just the starters have something where there's just

there's no juice, there's no energy. Something about that starting lineup, and you know every Bradley and Johndrey Jordan gets scapegoating into it, but something about it just reflects some negative energy on the team. Where we walk the ball up. You know, Russ is walking the ball up and it's just so counterintuitive to way the way he plays when he's energized Lebron as well, and he's at the four it's a lot more roaming, which I think induces him to to kind of load manage as well. I don't

know something about that starting lineup. Uh, it's just really not out working, even though it fits like this archetype of a Voga likes. But man, in that second half, I thought it was huge to see Vogel switch up. People have asking him to, you know, try to switch his lineups, and in all the three guard lineup with guards who can't defend next to Rust and Braun is so against what Vogel wants to do. It was cool

to uh to see him go to that. I remember when Luke Walton was the coach, we choked about Lebron at the five right and Lebron posted that kind of meme of him all buff and all that. But we need it on this team with these guards. We saw league Monk Wayne Ellington's hold their own right. And Indiana is not a great team. I think they came in at like eight and eleven. They're kind of middle of the pack and a lot of places, but Sa Bonus Brogden are really good players. Lever is a good player.

They're the middle of the pack. They're a good team, right, they play at a baseline level where you have to match that baseline to win against them, and that's kind of what a five team is, and that's kind of where we're at now. But I thought this is really good in the second half. Another don't the tough night for Taylor as well, but hopefully he he'll pick it up. He needs to be a shooter as well. But I

want to kind of stick to that Lebron point. In that second half, I thought we really found something with the inverted ball screens, right, and this is all h this is all a process. Vogo's trying to find stuff, Lebron is trying to find stuff, Russ is trying to find stuff. But that inverted ball screen where we use Ellington or Monk as a screener, who got so much out of that, and I thought that kind of carried

us for most of the most of that game. Lebron's family again be able to pick out some bonus, and he can't do that if he's playing next to another center, right, like he's playing next to DeAndre Jordan's, if he's playing next to Dwight Howard, it's harder to mismatch Hunt because teams would just stick their big man right in the center, and it's tougher for Lebron to get driving lanes. It's tougher for us to find driving lanes. And it was just great to see the offense moving that way and

our defense really picked up. I don't think Link Monk and Wayne Ellington are gonna be able to defend that way every night. It but just they just can't get beat. And we got beat a lot by t J McConnell. I thought he killed us early on. But we just can't get beat at the point of attack that we are And that's the point of the zone as well, right, The whole point of the zone is to take away that point of attack defense so that you have two

guards basically shutting off driving lanes. Right, That's the point of the zone. But the issue to me with that is we're just giving up too many corner threes. And I thought we saw that in the first half. But this is a good game. I want to kind of stay positive here. A lot of again coaching rumors and all that, and another game tech tonight. I know a lot of people are ready for Vogel to be canned, and and I understand that even though I'm not there.

I just think firing a coach in the middle of the year, and I've I've stayed in my claims on why I think that's true. But i another game like tonight, like I can see Vogels searching. He's a guy that lives in the film room. Right, And again, I'm not gonna go too much longer. I feel like I'm rambling here, But what was the guy that lives in the film room. And he's not dumb. He sees I rewatched these games. He probably rewatches these games five five times, right, it's

probably just replaying his head all the time. He sees what DeAndre Jordan is doing. But there's like a given a pull, there's a given a poll there, right, And that's the reason he starts Avery Bradley, That's the reason he starts DeAndre Jordan, just to just to have the archetype of a defense, try to instill than identity. And tonight without a D I thought it was super impressive in that second half. Lebron turned into defensive player type

of year type Lebron with the offense. He can't do that every night, but we need his commitment on that end. But again, Vogeo adjusting. These are positive signs to me to take from tonight. And we're still a bad team in a lot of ways. We still have a ways to go. The rest of it's still isn't pretty. I was thinking about this. Uh Rust does a lot of his attacks in this like nuclear wave. Right, it's this, it's this nuclear title hit. It's this nuclear title wave.

And we need some more like consistent waves, you know, we need a little bit more of a consistent attack. But again, tonight, I thought his his ball control was a lot better. He had a few plays like I think the miss dunk that he had or some of the turnovers that you'll get. But his energy I thought helped. We saw how him and Broun can kind of work. I really like that Braun at the five lineup that I talked about earlier, with Russ kind of as the

center there. Like even though Braun is the five, Russ is the Russ is the five on offense because he's the non shooter in the lineup, right, So you'll have you'll have Mellow out there, or maybe you'll Mellow or Ellington and Monk, and I just think this team has to lean in to that and we saw how they can be effective defensively. I love that they went away

from the zone. I love that they just stuck to a traditional switching with a little bit of drop coverage or Lebron's the you know guy at the rim that you have to that you have to attack. So I thought that was great. Um, let's see if I have anything else in my notes here. Uh yeah, I guess last thing just on Taylor Horton Tucker. He's gonna play man Like I saw people, you know, pining for him too to be benched or to just not play, or Taylor has to play like twenty years old. That these

are the growing pains you're gonna get. I've been saying, he's probably not the player that we saw the first three games right where he's averaging twenty five or whatever it was. And he's probably not this player who's missing layups at the rim and uh you can't score a basket or missing all his shots. He's somewhere in between there. I think he'll find his rhythm. He's such a rhythm player anyway, Like he's such a need the ball in

his hands. And when you're next to Lebron, next to Rus you're just not going to get those type of touches. And you can see when he gets the ball, it's kind of like, oh, this is my time now, like this is my chance to run something. And he was in those small lineups that I liked um and they used him as a screener as well. I think that's a way to get him going. But he has to

shoot to me like this. They had Miles Turner on him a lot where Miles was giving him the jumper, and he's too good of a shooter at least what his jumper looks like. I think he's putting in too much work for him to be passing up um open threes like that. But yeah, so I think that's enough of me rambling. You guys have thanks, give me and get to I'm gonna get to callers, so if you want to, you want to come up requesting. I'm gonna try to get to a bunch of people tonight because

I don't really like just talking to myself. It's kind of strange. Uh so let me see here again. Thanks everyone for coming out on Thanksgiving Eve. At least they would say, you guys have probably family and all to talk to and stuff. While I go and rewatch this game. But let's see yo, Uh, Jonathan, are you there? Can you hear me? I can hear you. What's going on? Bro? That's up big homie rides man? What's up that much?

A man? Uh? The thht thing? Bro? I think he got to do a better job at taking advantage of his tattooes right when he gets the ball. I think he'd be settling up with the jumper a lot more. I think he should attack more. I've seen a play where like he ain't got the switch, he had a turner on him right, and he didn't take the three. He got a screen and he got out who was at Broaden on or somebody had somebody smallering him, But he took the three over him and it was like

he was gonna take the three. You could have just took that over turner like right, like why you can pass that? But yeah, No, it was good to see Lebrian take over. I told him, when uh le Bron is out there, rust won't have a ball so that turnovers won't matter. So that was a good thing to see see Lebrian take over like that, because that's what I'll be on a d to do, but he seems to just let Russ Win get instead of taking over and taking the last shots. But I don't know that

was a good win. I'll be in the house Friday. Hopefully they do the same thing for sure. Yeah, on your tailing point, like he definitely does. He's still in this like he's a rim seeker. I think, as they call him, he's a guy that just you know, he's attack, attack, attack, or he's like, uh he he's like one legged fadeaways. Look that looked really pretty when when they go in, But lately they've been airballs. I'd like him to like play the three and D role a little bit more.

I think he's a better spot up shooter than he thinks. He passes up a lot of shots, but when he does get the ball, you're right he should be attacking. It's just tough. He's been playing in two big lineups as well, next to Rus, next to Lebron. Teams just play off him, you know, they play him as a driver,

they're scouting him. I think I posted a video Alec Burke's like closed out super short on him, basically daring him to shoot, and then he drove in and threw up some wild shot and I think it was like over eight against the Knicks or something like that. But but yeah, but he's young. I think he turned twenty one today or something like that. But yeah, I have birthday TSD. But but yeah, it's growing pains for him.

But you're right, man, seeing Lebron takeover was was huge and it's the most important part of the season to me, Like that's Lebron's not Lebron all this is a waste, you know what I mean. Yeah, the thing is we just we gotta buy time. TSC just be thinking too much. But I think that's gonna have I've been with all the little lineup changes, Like when the Reason come back, it's gonna we're gonna you know, I mean, it's gonna be funny thinking out there again. They're gonna be out

there looking, you know, crazy when none come back. The same thing. But we should have a star power. We should have enough to you know, overcome that and let everybody find a rhythm wherever they gotta you know, kick in at like right, yeah, we're shifting as a team like this, this is a team that goes against pretty much everything our coach wants to do. And then we have, uh, you know, star players that don't fit perfectly, so it's gonna take time. It's looked ugly early on, but I

think they're trying to find a little bit. I think Russ is starting to find his spots. Lebron is trying to find his spots. And hopefully, you know, we haven't got too many games with the Big three either, so hopefully when when a D comes back, we can start building that rhythm and this road trips over. I think we're like what two and three or something, but but yeah, hopefully we can we can start a win streak here, because this was a good win. To me, The second

half was good. I said that in the Detroit win, so I'm not gonna be too too hopefully here, but but yeah, it was good to see Lebron take over for sure, before we even convey with what kind of team we are? That's so funny. Yep, for sure, man, Uh my guy, I appreciate you coming up right on. Bro. Appreciate you of course. Alright, Joe are you there, hey, Rod? Can you hear me? Man? I can hear you? What's going on? Man? Hey? Nothing much? Man, I'll tell you

what Man, that was exciting, bro. Just you're right man, just seeing Lebron, uh, you know do this thing taking over and all that good stuff. I think for Vogel, man, you know, it's the classic. What I watched was Lebron's

body language with some of the clunky lineups. Man. And I think Vogel really needs to because light wind Horse said he's not gonna tell you what it is, but I think he's giving Vogel kind of the answers to the test based on how he kind of perked up when he was at the five and he had, you know, those guys out there with the spacing, so hopefully well was been kind of keying on that. But uh, I was super excited to see the way Ellerton and Monk battled man like for rebounds and things like that with

those guys being small. So it's good to see that man. And was that the first time. I mean it's the first time I saw where he did the silencer in the Laker uniform. Man, I I made some kind of noise in my living room there. My daughter looked at me like I was crazy, bro, because I was just excited. But uh enjoyed the win. I know, we got a lot to you know, we got a long way to go, man, but just enjoyed that win. Man and everybody on the air. Have a great Thanksgiving. Man. I appreciate it, Joe, I

appreciate you. Yeah. Maybe, I mean I can't imagine what you would have to because of the amount of ship I bet Lebron here is on a game the game basis, I can't imagine what you'd have to say for him to come and point you out to a ref to escort you out, like I just can't as you. But yeah, it's seem to get him going fired up. He had two big time threes. He was just he just looked like the best player in the world tonight. And that was cool, cool to see him kind of step back

into that. At least we can see that it's still there. Uh and maybe John Hollider can drop some more articles here, But yeah, man, it was it was a good win. Uh. And like the Lebron sending you know, uh mixed messages to Vogel, I can't get there, like Lebron's played like eight what this this is what tender eleventh game? Like, I just can't get to the Lebrons sending messages to Vogel. They've been through a war, they've been through a bubble,

they went through a championship. I just I can't get there, but but yeah, a good win. Man, it was cool to see Lebron hype after hitting some big shots on the road. Absolutely, thanks man, appreciate it. Appreciate you. Uh Vladimir either is it lamoid lammid dere all right, I'm not ready yo, Yeah, I can hear you. What's going on? Man? Yeah, I just wanted to go on Joe's point. Man, shout out to my leak Monk and Winne Ellington. Uh, they're they're shooting. Was great from three and I think the

league Monk had like eight boards, which is huge. And I know we talked about point of a tag pavans a lot and to me and my leak Monk didn't really show that tonight. You know, he wasn't really getting bet off one drip or one moves. I think I saw that more from Ellington, but I just want to give him a huge shout out. You know, Lebron looked amazing. You know, this is how we optimize our lineups. Just go back to give them shooting and let them go

to work. Yeah, I agree. And if they can defend like this, uh and I think you know that late game kind of just switching everything, I think it tends to help them a little bit more. They're very quick. Our starting lineup is so slow, and when we play with two bigs, we just look so slow. And even if Ellington or Monk are guys who get picked on and targeted. And I thought Monk got targeted a little bit in the first half by t J McConnell. He really went at him. But in that second half, man,

he really he stepped up. I thought on both ends league Monk was huge offensively. He's a big time shotmaker. He's a he's a guy you can just give the ball to. I thought in the third quarter a lot of our offense was just here in the league Monk create and he did. He was like step back, you know, dribble through the legs, one leg floaters. Um. He had huge threes off of Lebron screen off of screening for Lebron. He was big time man and Ellington and Ellington I

think is a is a guy. He's not a good defender, but he's a guy who's in the right places. Like he doesn't get he doesn't get beat off like where he's supposed to be as much. Monk gets beat off like he's too small or uh, like he missed his box outs and that stuff that's gonna happen. But to me, like this team needs both of their offenses and I've been pining for Mellington to get more minutes. Um. I liked the Monk and Ellington next to Braun at the five.

I think their speed is something we can use defensively, like we just feel so slow we play these big, trotting out lineups. But you're right, man, Monks stepped up huge. It was cool to see. It was cool to see him have another big game on the road. This is probably his like second game he's like helped us win in a in a big time way just with his scoring with a d out. It was it was cool, man,

And I think we're progressing here. Every game you see a little little small process things that are that are hopefully training up. Yeah, definitely. And you know, I don't think we win this game without Lebron hitting you know, crazy step back threes. But it's just nice to see that we have a closer you know. I know people like to harp on a d and you know, being that superstar. But you know, I feel like we just

with just Lebron, you always have a chance. And um, I like to see Vocal adjusting to like I'm kind of in and out on you know, whether he's the right guy for our team. But to see him kind of go away from his philosophy and just working with what he has in front of him, I think it does show some progress. Yeah, man, that's why I'm don't I've said this a lot, but I just think firing Franklogo opens up a whole kind of learns a whole

bunch of unintended consequences that you have no idea. Who is replaced him is if he can instill what he wants. This is a tough basketball team to coach, though, you know what I mean, Like the Rust fit just isn't pretty, and even tonight it's still ugly in a lot of places. It's still Lebron and Rust still have issues trying to attack at the same time, uh turnovers where they're both kind of drying. It's a tough team to coach, and you're a guy who leans on defense, even if the

numbers don't match that starting lineup. It matches his eyes in a way, it matches his philosophies. Is that ideal ideologies as a defensive minded guy, and you're gonna keep seeing this man. But the small adjustments I think are happening. I think Lebron at the five is a point to that, uh, a point to that direction. So hopefully we see that more going forward. It takes a lot out of Lebron, though.

I think those step factories were uh, kind of a show that he was fatigued because the Bonus is a guy he likes to attack off the basket, like off the dribble, Like the Bonus is just a guy he likes to go at, you know as a off the dribble, and he really stopped doing that. He took the step bac threes they went in. He was he was incredible though. To close, you're right, all right, that's it for today, guys, Thank you so much, Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you tomorrow. Night