Luka/Zion Weight Issues, Luka's Fading Honeymoon, "Active" Lakers Defense

So these will be shorter. There will be roughly half the length of our post game shows that we do, and I'll hit on a couple of topics around the league, and then I'll touch on something that's a deep dive thing that I've been noticing when I watched the tape on the Laker games, and then we'll call it a day. Um Today, I'm gonna focus on the Luca Zion conversation surrounding their weight issues and what I think it means for them as players in the long run as well

as in the in the immediate future. Talk a little bit about that nets Mavericks games last night, and then our deep dive issue tonight with the Lakers is going to center around the concept of active defense versus passive defense, the ball pressure, making people feel uncomfortable and why I think it's such an important part of this Laker team getting back to where they were defensively in previous seasons.

But let's start with the Lucas Iron thing. So obviously we've heard, you know, we've seen pictures, we haven't heard much talk. We've heard, We've seen pictures of Zion Williamson looking very big, and then we see this video of him at Duke looking like a completely different kind of basketball player, looking thin and wiry and super super athletic as opposed to this kind of big bulldozing moderately athletic version compared to his you know, college self that we've

seen in the league. And then obviously it's led to these foot issues and he's had a meniscus tear already. And then we go on with with Luca and we see for back to back training camps, he's shown up to training camp over two hundred and sixty pounds according to report words, while they prefer him to be around two or thirty pounds. So, you know, I don't really think this means anything as it pertains to who they

are as people for starters. There's a lot of people saying that this should just be off limits as a topic as if it's you know, body shaming or fat shaming or whatever you wanna call it. To me, professional athletes, it's an entirely different circumstances. These guys are judged based on their performance and showing up consistently out of shape or not being able to take care of your body.

To me, that's part of being a professional athlete. That's no different than me criticizing, you know, Dwyane Wade or Lebron for jogging back on defense too much. I'm I'm coming at their work ethic in a position where you know the team needs more out of them. That's to me. That to me is fair game in terms of in terms of sports analysis. But I don't think it has anything to do with who they are as competitors. We

all know Luca is a freak competitor, Zion. There's no way he'd be as good as he is at basketball if he didn't care, so he obviously does care. To me, this is just immaturity. This is normal. When I was in college, I was playing college basketball, and there was a year where I probably had five hundred thirstbusters from circle K full of coca Cola. Okay, So like literally college athlete trying to get the most out of my body in my early twenties, drinking fifty ounces of pure

sugary crap literally every single day. I just didn't know any better. I was a kid. I didn't mean I didn't love love the game, or that I didn't understand or try hard on a day to day basis in practice to try to become a better basketball player. I just didn't know any better. I didn't know body maintenance. Kevin Durant famously, you know, he says that it wasn't

until he broke his foot in two thousand fifteen. I believe it was It wasn't until he broke his foot that he really understood how important it was for him to cut back on drinking during the season. He said he used to have a couple of beers every night and that had a big impact on his diet and how well he took care of his body. He was young, He didn't know any better. This is all part of

that process. What concerns me with both Luca and Zion moving forward is injuries bea is These things, Yeah, they heal, but most of the time they leave a little bit of residual effect. You do lose a little bit of mobility. You know, Zion's already had a meniscus tear, he has he has a broken foot now, or he's been rehabbing a broken foot and the pain is lingering. These kinds of things. When you're moving that kind of weight, it sets up higher. It's it's higher probability that you'll suffer

injuries to your lower body. I remember when I was after I was in college, my wife and I moved to Charlotte, and I went to a wedding the weekend before I moved, and then I immediately took a five day trip across the country with my brother helping us move, and we stopped and kind of bar hopped everywhere we went along the way, including Nashville and including in Fort Worth and a bunch of places on our way to Charlotte.

I put on like twenty pounds in like two weeks, and then I went to go play and pick up on one of my first days in Charlotte, and I didn't step on anybody's foot, I didn't come down awkwardly. I was literally just trying to stop myself on a drive and my my ankle rolled over under my own weight.

When you're harrying extra weight, all of those fast twitch movements, all of that deceleration, all of that landing from jumping, the math is thrown off with your body and how you're absorbing that shock, and you raise the risk for serious injury. That's where I worry about. It's not Luca a long term Luca is gonna have some phase in his mid light twenties where he's just an absolute like Adonis of a physical presence, and he's gonna be a much better athlete in that regard. He's just young, he

doesn't know any better yet. I just hope he doesn't suffer a serious injury in the meantime. Same goes with Zion. I think we're going to see a phase of Zion's career where he looks fantastic athletically. I just worry about him getting seriously hurt before then. And that's where this becomes a matter of urgency for me. If Luca is playing with thirty extra pounds on his body, that's high

risk for injury. That that to me is scary. So I hope for the sake of both of those fan bases and for the sake of both of those players and their law term health and security in this league. I hope they get those weight issues figured out sooner than later before something bad happens. As long as they get through this and they get to the point where they mature as athletes, I think both of them will

have long, productive athletic careers in that regard. Moving on to that that uh NETS game in Dallas last night, you know, I don't really think too much about it in terms of the the outcome. It was somewhat predictable in a lot of ways, Like at the end of the game when it was close, it was all what can Luca generate, while on the other end, it was what can James Harden generate? What can Kevin Durant generate?

Fatigue would inevitably play a role because there's just more dispersion of responsibilities with Brooklyn than there is with with Dallas. You're you're asking Luca to do so much more. But one of the topics after the game that came out that I thought was really interesting is this idea that

the honeymoon phases over with Luca. You know that people are starting to be a lot more critical of of the way he takes care of his body like I just talked about, or you know, his bald dominant nature as opposed to being you know, more of like an equal opportunity ball mover, a kind of player. There's a criticism based on the results the team just not performing as well as some of the other teams in the league that have players that are considered in the same

tier as Luca. And you know, this is kind of part of the natural process of the way we evaluate players. We become enamored with them early on, and then after two or three years where they under underachieved relative to the top players in the league, we instantly turn on them and we become hypercritical of them and borderline unfair in our analysis of them. This is all just part

of that process. I don't like any of it because to me, Luca and Luca kind of falls into that same campus Trey Young to me, where it makes no sense to truly evaluate them compared to the best players in the league, given the fact that they're not playing next to a legitimate, serious, very good secondary creator. Obviously, it's something to this has been looking for a while. Who knows if they'll be able to bring it uh

during the next few years. But how can I say, you know, oh, k d outplayed Luca last night, when Kadi had James Harden to help share those responsibilities with. How can I say the same thing about James Harden. How can I compare Luca to Janice when Janice has Drew Holiday and Chris Middleton to help share those responsibilities with. How can I pare Luca, compare Luca to Lebron when he's sharing those responsibilities with Russell Westbrook and with Anthony Davis.

I don't think it's fair to sit here in Monday Morning Quarterback all of Luca don Cheus's results on the floor when he's playing with the team that is doomed to failure under the current you know, under the current landscape of the NBA. We all know in the modern NBA, you are not winning a championship unless you're a super duperstar who has another at least high level star next

to them that can help generate offense. And usually that second player has to be some kind of perimeter initiator, unless you're the best to the best, unless you're you know, Lebron like he did in That's or Steph Curry, for instance. You need to have that super super high level star level perimeter initiator next to you to help share those responsibilities. Right now. For Luca, it's a whole lot of of

of Chris apps Porzingis. You know, it's not you're You're You're not gonna get that level of of shared responsibility with Chris aps Porzingis. He's a lot closer to Anthony Davis. He needs to be set up in a lot of ways. Obviously he's not anywhere near as good as Anthony Davis, but you can't. It's unfair to say Luca's got a co star and now he does he does. He doesn't have a co star relative to what the other guys

in the league have. So yeah, I get it. We were reaching a point where we're gonna be critical of Luca. That's part of the process. You know. I don't love every single thing he does on a basketball court. That's normal, but a lot of this he's doing out of necessity. I saw him take, you know, a turnaround on kind of one legged fade away against James Johnson towards the end of the game last night, and when he did,

you could tell fatigue played a role. If he could hand the ball off to three times in crunch time to another high level creator, maybe he has the legs to knock that shot down, and maybe you have a different outcome in this game. So I'm gonna cut Luca Slack. I don't think it's fair at all to compare him, you know, in terms of his play style and get super hypercritical of him until he gets a chance to have the same thing all the other best players in

the league have. When I'm ranking the top tier players in the league, I've got Lebron really good secondary creator. I've got Kevin Durant, really good secondary creator. I've got Stephan Curry. He doesn't have that really really good secondary creator, but he's got Clay Thompson was a heal of a lot better. At least he's going to be a hell

of a lot better than Christaps Porzingis is. And about Steph really quickly, you know, with Steph, when he hasn't had Kevin Durant, the playoff ceiling has been lower than it has been, you know, relative to others because of the fact that he doesn't have that big, you know, physical rim pressuring wing to take some of that responsibility off of him. That's not an insult to Steph, It's

just the reality. All of those top tier guys look a hell of a lot less impactful when they don't have that guy, especially when like an injury comes in and knocks one of those guys out. You see them struggle, and so it's not a coincidence. I don't think that Steff had a sixty seven win season in two thousand fifteen and found himself kind of back against the wall twice in that playoff run, or seventy three win season in two thousand sixteen and back against the wall twice

in that playoff run and actually lost. That's an example of what I'm talking about. That's, to me is a credit to how good stuff is that he got that close despite the fact that he didn't have that really elite secondary creator. Again, just instammation. Let's cool it, Let's cool the jets on the Lucas slander. He's at a phase in his career right now that so many young

players go through. We want them to vault into that top tier, we want them to play like those best guys, But the reality is that he's not going to have the same outcomes as those best guys until he has the same tools at his disposal that those best guys have. So moving on to the uh our Laker deep dive. So you know, I was watching the film again this morning and you could really really see things pick up after that first time out. Frank takes the time out

because uh. In the first few possessions of the game, Jayson Tatum, on a broken play with an offensive rebound, gets a wide open three on the left wing, super super easy look. He swishes it. To me, that's always a dead ringer for getting a star off to a really hot start, feeding his confidence and helping him have a big night if his first couple looks are really really good. Second one, same thing, late contest. I think it was from Russ late contest on the right wing,

but it's mostly open, pretty comfortable shot. Tatum actually missed it long but it happened to Bank. In next shot, left corner, there is a defender on him, but the defender is not really pressing up. Easy, little through the legs, step back and that's a short range three in the corner. It's only nails it. And then lastly he's going against Russ on the left wing, there's again soft defense. There's he's there, but he's not really really uh, you know,

bothering Tatum nails it. Frankester called time out. There down fourteen eight. Almost immediately coming out of that time out, the ball pressure picks way up. Russ is up in Jayson Tatums airspace, and he immediately has a turnover. He immediately has a near turnover, and then has another turnover on the following possession with Avery Bradley applying ball pressure. Point being the Lakers switched from passive defense to start the game to what I would call active defense, aggressive defense,

ball pressure defense. The key here, the reason why this is so important, and the reason why the thing that may Lakers so good, and the reason why I think this is such an important thing to watch with the Lakers is when you are playing active defense, when you are applying ball pressure, you make the offensive players decision

for them. Yes, there are a handful of guys in the league, like a Steph Curry, like a Kevin Durant that can continue to generate jump shots against high level ball pressure, But those guys are unicorns against the vast majority of players in the league. When you apply good ball pressure, they have to drive to the basket. It takes the pull up jump shot out of the equation. Now, you might think dribl penetration compromises the defense, and it does. In a perfect world, you'd love to take away the

jump shot and take away the driving lane. There are a handful of defenders in the world that can do that against the best players in the world. But for the most part, dribble penetration is part of what offenses are trying to do on every possession. So defenses are built withstand that to some extent. That's why we have help defense principles. That's why we have rotation patterns. That's why we talk so much about, you know, tagging rollers and helping off the weak side corner instead of the

strong side corner. And that guy, if he gives up a trap at the top of the key, he's got to rotate back around to the weak side to help. Those kinds of concepts are all about. Defense is absorbing dribble penetration. Now, if I know dribble penetration, it's coming from the same spot every single time. If I know dribble penetration is being fed to the baseline instead of to the middle. If I if I know, going into a possession, we're applying ball pressure. This guy's get probably

gonna get beat off the dribble into some capacity. We are now anticipating it. We are now already in our help helps side principles and prepared to absorb that drible penetration from there. If we rotate around, we can probably force them into a contested three, which is and it's probably going to be from a lesser player instead of

Jayson Tatum taking that. You pressure the ball and he drives to the basket and does a kick out, and you rotate around, you might be able to get a lesser shooter, someone like Al Horford to take the shot, someone like a Dennis Shrewder to take a shot, someone like Marcus Smart to take a shot. That's why I'm such a believer in that kind of uh, in that kind of defense. It is the best way to control

the outcome. You know, especially when you get to the highest levels of basketball, games are are dominated by the best players on the floor, so it's so important to try to control their rhythm. You know. The Lakers were so good at this. This is why James Harden struggled so much with their double teams. This is why Dame Lillard struggled as that series progressed. This is why Yo Gets struggled as that series progressed. This is why Lebron had so much success on Jamal Murray as that series

progress and then into the finals as well. Jimmy Butler had those two huge games, but outside of those two huge games, he really struggled. You know, Kendrick Nunn was taken completely out of that series. You know, Bam obviously had an injury. There was a lot of other actors, but the stars that the Lakers went against in that series all played below their capabilities for the most part.

And the reason why was from the opening tip in those games, they were made to feel uncomfortable, They were rushed in their decision making, and they were forced to do something they don't want to do. A guy like Jayson Tatum, what does he want to do? He wants to bring the ball up the floor slowly. He wants to survey, he wants to get comfortable with his handle. He wants to get you off balance with rhythm dribbles, and he wants to take a pull up jump shot.

That's what he wants to do. That's what saves his legs, that's what that's his bread and butter. That's where he feels most comfortable. Very similar to what we were dealing with with Paul George the other night. If you pressure him full court or not full courtport of the minute he crosses half court, you are now making him make a decision before he wants to. He doesn't want to beat ball, pressure at forty feet and drive into the teeth of the defense where help is waiting, where he

has to consistently make read. He doesn't want to do that. He knows that. He knows that doesn't feed his personal you know, uh, statistical output. He know that does. He knows that doesn't help him build a rhythm so that he can make shots as the game progresses. If you force him to do that, you're gonna from the opening tip make him play the game away he doesn't want to play, Which gives you the best possible you know,

the best. It gives you the best possibility of making sure the opposing star plays beneath their capability rather than two or above their capability. And so I thought that was a big part of why the Lakers look so good last night. I think there's a big part of why Dennis Shrewder had such a rough night. You know, I was critical of Frank after the game for chasing Dennis Shrewder over the top of ball screens. You know.

One of the big reasons why the Lakers have had so much or so much trouble getting Lebron and Russ going to the basket isn't yeah, packing the paint off the ball, but also just going underneath all these ball screens you go up all When you go underneath ball screens, it turns, you know, basket attacking guards into guys that typically have to take jump shots. And as you've seen throughout most of the season, you know, Lebron and Russ

have struggled shooting off the dribble. Both of them are shooting, you know, as as good as you can expect and catch and shoot situations. Lebron is actually doing amazing and catch and shoot situations, but off the dribble, both of them are struggling to shoot this year. So you go underneath screens, you make them, You make them, you know, uh, take those low percentage shots. That's kind of what I would hope that we would do. A guy like Shredder.

But what Frank was doing is playing directly into this concept that I'm talking about. By chasing Dennis Shredder over the top of screens, you did something different than most teams are doing, and you forced him to make decisions before he wanted to do them, and you didn't allow him to get comfortable with his dribble from the perimeter so that he could build a rhythm. That to me was part of the reason why Dennis had a bad

offensive night, and I was wrong about that. And so credit to Frank for kind of diving into that philosophy that I believe. So uchin active defense, you're taking control of the result. Passive defense, you're putting the result in the hand of a really, really good basketball player that on a lot of nights is gonna get hot and beat you. And then once they really get that rhythm going,

you're screwed. Because if they have the rhythm going, they're gonna start to make the really tough ones when they're contested. That's why that's so important. Anyway, that's all I have for today. That's only twenty minutes, nice and easy. Um, this is gonna go uh live tonight at midnight, So It'll be available for you guys tomorrow morning on your drives to work. We will be back with our postgame

show tomorrow night against Memphis. As always, we sincerely appreciate you guys to support and we will see you tomorrow night.