Magic/Lakers postgame spaces

this was like probably one of the worst thing. This is the this is the worst team you could see on the schedule after a night like Wednesday for a lot of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is, you know, success against a bad team is not the same as success against a good team. This is one of the biggest things that I talked about with the high school players that I coach. You know, like, I have a young athlete on my team who frequently when we play against bad teams, will make a lot of plays by

gambling and getting out of position. But because he's a better athlete than some of the guys on a bad team, he'll have some success. But then we'll play against a good team and you do that same gamble and the guy just behind the Bactora ble and he leaves you in the dust and he's going all the way to the rim, you know, And I was worried coming into this game. I'm like, Okay, Frank's going with the same strategy, and this is kind of what I was hoping wouldn't happen.

The starters actually did pretty well, you know. The bench player lineups didn't do as well. And I thought a huge part of that was just because it's the Orlando freaking Magic, because that was one of our worst efforts of the season. So that part was frustrating. And then it's about habits, right, like it's it it becomes very sloppy, like we're about to play a team on Sunday that

is a bona fide championship contender. And so what's unfortunate is you that some of the things that you do against the Orlando Magic in a sloppy game like that, like just the sheer number of botched switches and mistrotations, lazy passes, lazy full court passes, lazy cross court passes, all that sort of just unsound owned fundamentally sloppy basketball. That we played tonight in a win. Um, it's going to be the thing that gets us killed by on Sunday.

So that part was really concerning. We're not going to talk too much about this game tonight for that very reason, but we we'll talk about it for a second, of course, but we're gonna talk a little bit about um some Frank rotations and ideologies, and then we're gonna talk a little bit about this trade, this potential John Wall for Russell Westbrook trade marks. Sein reported today. But what's your

what's your quick overhead taking from this game? Where you as irritated by the sloppiness as I was, Well, you know you're texting me and we're texting back about topics of was like your Land of Magic are just terrible, right, They're just a really bad team. And you know you said bad, that's probably putting it nice. Uh. They's just a really struggle of an offense. Though I think they have the worst offense in the league. We gave up

sixty two to them in the first half. Just a lot of weird coverages against Thing and that you know, drop coverage. Even when we went small, I thought they got going with that, leaving shooters wide open. I thought we got lucky on some of those as well. We came back and won this one, Like this is not something. You know, we're not really in position to be picky about wins either, but I just didn't have any feel

about this one. I told you as well, this felt like, you know, it just delayed the inevitable, which is like another kind of fire type of game, another super chaotic game where we lose by thirty or something to a good team. This is just felt like a layover game, like it's just over. Yeah, yeah, you did your job here, you came back on your Orlando Magic are just bad.

They're eighting like thirty eight, which, like I think you have to try to be that bad like, and they have some talent like like I like friends what Wagner Like, I think he's a nice player, but um yeah, they're just a struggle of an offense. They went over the top on Russell Westbrook screens, which you know almost no other team does. Like this is a lot of stuff that you know Orlandos does that's just not replatable to

other squads. So that's the main point. I think in this Orlando game, they did their job Lebron and thought again came through offensively. Super lazy start though, and that's why I wanted to see man. I was hoping to see some emergency after all the articles we got about, like you know, the three straight articles that off, the quotes that came out, YadA YadA, the Frank Voglar, Russell Westborok stub. I was expecting some urgency in that first quarter,

and I just didn't see it. I saw guys going through the motions, and maybe that's just because you're playing the Orlando Magic, Orlando Magic, but we're what like five hundred I think now, or maybe a game under above it. But yeah, I was hoping for some emergency and I didn't see it. But there are some some things we started. Stanley Johnson in the second half, I think that's like, you know, a point in the good process direction. He played fourteen minutes at first half, only six minutes in

the second. I think that was more towards because Carmelo was just on fire. You got an Inferno Carmelo game again. I don't know what to take from that. You got Avery Bradley hitting step back jumpers to start the third quarter. Don't know what to take from that just a game that I'm not really sure much you can take from from this one. Ye. The two things that I broke

down as meaningful takeaways were Stanley Johnson shooting. There was a really interesting point I think it was by a friend, Alex Regula, who was who was tweeting out some details from a player's tribute article that Stanley Johnson when he was a rookie talking about how difficult the n b A is and that kind of he kind of connected that to a recent interview where Stanley Johnson basically was talking about how MASSI U. Jerry looked him in the face and was like you suck man, Like yeah, and

like how that was just kind of like a wake up call for him. And you know, we've seen video footage of him working hard with Phil Handy, and you know, the truth of the matter is is like a lot of every every I think every player that's gifted with a certain amount of athletic ability reaches that point at some point in their career where they're like, hey, I gotta take the skill development a little more seriously. And it seems like Stanley's there. Obviously, It's one game, a

long way to go. But the way he's handling the basketball, the way he's making decisions, the way he's shooting, I think is absolutely a positive we could take. And then the other thing was Mellow you know, like, you know, I thought it was really stupid that they played him

for thirty minutes the other night. That goes without saying, but if there was one positive in that, it was the reason why I should say the motivation for it is like, hey, Melow is one of the best spot of shooters in the league, So we gotta get him back out there. We gotta get him reps because when he does get it going, he can help you win basketball games. Now, that doesn't change you and I, in our opinion, how he should be used. He should be

used in limited quantities. It should be maybe one or two ships a half short. First, make it so that he's playing around defensive pit players that are capable of covering for his defensive shortcomings, like stop putting him at center. Like there's a bunch of that kind of stuff that we could talk about. But I'm happy with the fact that Mellow shooting better. That's definitely a positive step in

that direction. But I wanted to so really quickly because you know, um, I think what happened to Orlando tonight is another interesting example as we as we get to this first idea of of scheming. You know, Orlando, the announcers for the Lakers were really talking trash about how unorganized the Magic offense was. But a huge part of that was the switching, which is the thing that we've been talking so much about. When you switch screens, it

basically renders any defense or any offense defunct. And you'd see it like they would. You know, Jalen Suggs would come up a pin down and then there's somebody already waiting for him because of the switch, And then Jalen Suggs would have to flare out the half court to catch the ball, and he'd kind of turn and take two dribbles. And then here comes Mobamba, but in set of screen, and he come off the screen from Obamba,

but they're Stanley Johnson. He just switched on to him, and you could tell Jalen Suggs is like, what do I do? And so then they kind of like throw it around, and Franz Vogger was like the only one big enough and athletic enough to try to create his own shots, so you'd usually see him and try to put the ball on the floor and make something happen. Now, obviously against a bad team, it's gonna look way more effective than it would against a good team, but that

same concept does translate against good teams. That I that ability to make teams shoot over the top of contests rather than funneling them to the paint. It's a huge difference between those two defensive schemes. And I'm such a huge believer in and I have no idea why Frank

is so hesitant to accept it. Now, they can get sloppy, Like you guys saw tonight, there was there's a big play the first half on the on the three that I think put Orlando up that put them up ten where Stanley Johnson, Austin Reeves and th h t were all in a cluster and they had almost like a flex action with like three offensive players in the same screen,

and they miscommunicated and someone got left wide open. That kind of thing can happen from time to time, but if we practice it, if we lean into it and we use it more often, and we give our guys a chance to perfect it, it can be something that we can depend on in the postseason. So I want to see I just want to see Frank lean into that more, if that makes sense. Yeah, and I thought,

you know, someone brought a good point. I forgot who it was that said that, you know, we run these like drop coverage kind of schemes because it might be what we run in Anthony Davis is back, right, and so we want to kind of keep that structure together. It's why you know you badly starts. Maybe, but I just don't think we're in a position to do that.

And definitely, like, I don't know how high our ceiling is, I guess with this type of team, with these type of defenders, but I know the floor is pretty low, right, especially when we're not running the correct stuff and we don't have the correct lineups and you know, we got the a little rest stuff going back and forth, but you know, these lineups and stuff have to kind of make sense. And I would like to see more switching.

I think Stanley needs to play like thirty minutes a game right now, and that's crazy for a guy on a ten day, but we just need an athletic dude. Nesta lebron I the Dwight can still you know, sit as the backup center, uh, in a lot of nights. But you're right, man, Like I would hope we would go to more switching. And I think it's really clear, right we were down ten. I think I have now down eight a half time. We go in the third quarter, but we start standing again. We go on a nineteen

to two run, I believe. I think I wrote that down correctly. Two run just by going small against a team like Orland. Yeah, right, and because you know Orlando, and like this is I think the my bigger kind of point on this. We need to start coaching night to night. Like I get, we have seasonal goals to kind of you know, pick on, and we can do

that when a d comes back. But we're in a situation where we need to rack up wins and we need to have a belief from the players to the you know, coaches that are walking in unison, that believe in the stuff they're doing. And I feel like, I don't know, I wrote this down for my a few notes. I feel like our energy picked up when we started switching, right, There was like a tangible like energy shift, uh in all the players, And I think that just lends to

the kind of personnel that we have. We have guys that are kind of better that way. You don't want Russell Westbrook chasing all the time over the top of screens. He's just not that type of defender. He's not a good defender in that way. Um, maybe that's that works well when dwy Howard's playing, But yeah, man, I think we need to go more small, especially a team like Orlando that doesn't have a guard that's really gonna punish

you on switches. They hunted Mellow a bit, but we talked about he was inferno and when he's when he's doing that, you can kind of play him in those lineups. But yeah, I don't not much really to take from this woman That Lebron was great. He torched a terrible Orlando defense r So Westbrook was good tonight, Like he had a really good floor game, got to the rim, took some questionable three point shots, which is going to happen, took some one leg fadeaways. Um that's just part of

his you know, shot selection repertoire. But you know, a good floor game, got to the room, was able to They picked on Cole Anthony a lot tonight because the Orlando Magic did not want to switch Cole Anthony onto Lebron or Russ. Uh, so they kind of picked on that to get get to get open actions. But Russell was good tonight. I've got to see it against Miami of course, but like there's not really much take on

this one man. Yeah, agree, So we wanted to, uh, you know, Mark Stein reported today that the there was one team that would for sure be interested in a trade for Russell Westberg gift draft compensation was involved. Now, I tend to think that when push comes to shove and we get closer to the deadline, that there will actually be a couple of options there. They may not all be good options, and we'll talk about that here

in a second. But this John Wall concept, I wanted to shoot this down immediately, and I'm gonna use my I'm gonna be a little self deprecating here and use myself as an example. Have you guys seen some of these videos of John wallplay and pick up lately, and like you know, there's there's athleticism and then there's real athleticism. Like you guys see a video of me at it elic fitness, Like Duncan or running up and down the floor, and I look pretty athletic compared to those guys. I'm

not anywhere remotely close to an NBA level lathlete. You guys have no idea what these guys can do. And when I see these John Wall videos, I look at that guy and I'm like, man, you look like you should be at an l A fitness like. He looks overweight, he looks slow. He still can't shoot. I think he was at like six attempts and thirty two last year in Houston. There's there's just the The idea of swapping Russell Westbrook for John Wall, to me, is like the

equivalent of cutting Russell Westbrook. Like there's just there's no advantage there. John Wall certainly doesn't fit into what we're trying to do. That would be like trading a really really big problem for another really really big problem. I just I just don't get that one. And we can get to in a minute what I would classify as a good Russell Westbrook trade in the platter of crap that we're gonna have to choose from. But I can say one thing for absolute certain, John Wall is not

the move. What was your initial uh takeaway when you when you saw that, I mean, this team could use prime John wall like, like that's a that's a you know, that would be a viable thing. They could also use the prime Russell Westbrook. None of those two are on the table. None of those two are available. Um. I think Houston w also asked for a first round pickback.

I just don't think that's realistic. I've been on the like these last few days have been the closest I've seen like, oh man, maybe you know, like a small short percentage chance that a Russell Westbrook trade could happen, But it looks like I don't know of that. But but yeah, like I still don't see it happening. I think Russell west is gonna be on the team. Look, tonight probably delayed the real type of conversations that you're

gonna have with that. This type of stuff, it's much easier to ignore it after a win, no matter who the win is against. Uh, you know you have all these happy kind of quotes that are gonna come out tonight. Of course after a win. That just makes sense. Every gonna delay, um in an inevitable kind of thing that's going to happen. But yeah, I don't think john Wall. Uh that just to me, Like you said, it's like cutting Russell Westbrook. That's exactly what it is, right, That's

just what it is. John Wall is the guy you don't have to play like. He wasn't here in the beginning. He wasn't part of the story of this team. Right, you want to trade Russell Westbrook for John Wall, maybe you get you know, some type of backup, productive guy. I don't know what John Wall has been doing these last you know, months without playing, But yeah, I just

don't see that happening. Uh, they understand. I understand it from Houston's perspective, like, yeah, we'll get a free first round pick for a guy we're telling not even to come to game. I don't know if he's at games or not, for a guy pretty much sitting at home, Like we'll take a first round pick for that. That makes sense, as Houston sends. But yeah for the Lakers that and I just I wouldn't be able to sit with that, I mean, trading what we traded to trade

that for John Wall four months later. It's just I know you said there's no you know, there's no winning and having a prideful kind of feel about this, but just would be a bad look. I don't. I think you gotta at least give this the chance it deserves, you know, even if it hasn't looked pretty so far. When I look at like a potential Russell Westbrook trade and look at it, is like kind of like a similar vibe to some of the moves that the Calves

made in two thousand eighteen. Like you're you're acknowledging that this isn't working. You're giving the other guy an opportunity to go be happy elsewhere, right, Like, let's be, let's face it, like under all this pressure in l A with all of the you know, the the Laker fan base. You know, there's a lot of like stuff about the Laker fan base and then being you know, kind of crazy. They're they're crazy in number, without a doubt, but every

fan base can be crazy. But the Lakers are just an extremely loud fan base because of how many of them there are. And you know, Russ is under a lot of pressure. Every time he has a rough night, every time he has a bad highlight. It becomes a meme that gets shared thousands and thousands of times on the internet, like it's tough here and there's there's a case to be made that you know, he might be happier somewhere else, you know, And that's where you look

at it from his perspective. Our friend Ruge came on the podcast last week with me and reported from his connections and when Russell was in Houston that Russ basically went to upper management and said, like, I care more about having the ball in my hands than winning. Like

that's basically what he said. And I think you can kind of see that a little bit in his demeanor this year, with things like him talking about how he's been utilized in the offense um in press conferences, despite the fact that we all have eyes and we see, we see what Russ has been doing on the floor. I mean, I saw that article that came out yesterday talking about how like the Lakers went small ball to help Lebron and Russ is trying to figure out how

to fit in. I wanted to be like, are you guys, are you guys kidding me? Like Russ is a big athletic point guard who puts his head down and goes to the rim, can't succeed in a small ball, five out attack, like, come on, man, Like, how can you possibly blame that on the situation and not on Russ. They literally did that in Houston for him, the exact same thing they did in Houston for him. The reason why Russ hasn't succeeded in this system is because Russ

has declined as a basketball player. It is nothing other than that. Has nothing to do with touches, has nothing to do with the way he's been utilized. Yeah, you can argue some stuff with spacing, but the Lakers have, you know, leaned into shooting in a lot of ways, and most of their spacing concerns have to do with Russ. And if you want to tell me, how is it that this system that's geared towards Lebron, you know, is hurting these other players? And why is Molik Monk looks

so comfortable in offense? Like, I just don't buy any of that. So Russ isn't working out here. He'll be happier somewhere else. So from that angle, it's it's just about it's about accommodating him, similar to the way in two thousand eighteen the Calves accommodated Dwayne Wade by sending him to Miami where maybe he wasn't gonna win as much, but he could be happier. That's kind of the way that I look at it from that perspective. Now looking at trade return, there are bad contracts in the league,

not many as bad as Russ's. The John wall contract is on the short list. I'd probably put John Wallas contract as the worst in russ Is at second, but there are some others that are nearly as bad. Maybe not in terms in terms of how much they're paying and how bad the player is, but in length. This is where your contracts like Tobias Harris come in. And there are dozens of contracts like this around the league.

But just think about it. What ends up happening with those types of players is franchises are put in a hard spot. Player plays pretty well, he's in a contract year, you have a problem. You can either pay for the guy over, pay for him for him to stay, or you can let him go and you lose him for nothing. This is like the J. R. Smith or the Tristan

Thompson contracts when they were in Cleveland. When you when you're trying to contend, you end up having to over pay for guys just to keep the team together and there, and there are a bunch of contracts like that in the league. And so when push comes to shove, there there's gonna be a GM GM out there that's gonna look at their roster and be like, man, like, I don't like these guys. They're tied up for three or four years. Maybe I take on Russ, who I also

don't like. But he can come in here and he can have fun and he can do his thing, and then I have flexibility in the next season. Maybe you could literally, if you had to, you could find some way to to move his contract the following season because now it's an expiring right so because Russ's contract becomes less complicated at that point. So my point is, what is what is j R? Smith? What is that type of deal? What is like Otto Porter Jr. When he

was in Chicago, These kinds of big, bloated deals. What are they? They're overpaid players, but they're useful players. They're overpaid, they might be in a bad situation, but they're still good NBA players, where Russ may not be that anymore so in terms of improving the team, what I would look for is two or three bloated contracts and that million dollar range that can add up to what Russ

is that in their current situation or flawed. But with the Lakers in a winning concept, they might be able to contribute again, at least more so than what Russ is doing. It's gonna be difficult to find. It may come down to the wire. There are going to be people out there looking for something better until that very moment. But that's the kind of trade that I would look at with Russell Westbrook as useful rather than here's John Wall you know what I mean? Does it does that

make sense? Like? I just I think, like I think they're overpaid guys out there that still bring value and that that just maybe you're stuck a bad situation where their their GM doesn't believe in then their coach doesn't believe in them, and with the Lakers that could be reinvigorated a little bit. Yeah, No, I don't think you're

wrong there. That's probably the way to go. I just think that's more like a dream scenario, you know what I mean, Like trading Russ for you know, uh players that contribute, Like I think that would be really tough. I think you're gonna more get into the other Albatroz contracts in the league. And that's why I don't even really like to even get into this because I don't think it's happening. But you know, a Tobias Harris is the one that's been floated around. I just, you know,

I don't see Philly doing that. I don't understand that from them, And you go around the league, it's just tough, especially in the middle of the year, especially with the playing game. Now you have a bunch of teams who think they can, you know, have a shot at making the playoffs that aren't really going to be sellers, right, There's gonna be a lot more, I believe buyers on you know, in this t excuse me, in this like

trade deadline. So you even have like a team like the Pelicans who started awful, who you know, think they have a you know, puncher's chance at the plane. So that's why I just don't see it. I think we're

gonna have to try to fit rust in. And now the only my only caveat to this is like if this road trip goes you know, like really south, like there's a chance that you know, you get into that situation of like cutting bait, but and this Orlando game kind of delayed that, of course, but we're about to get into some really good teams. I think we can kind of come back to this during that time and kind of be like, Okay, is there time to cut Bay,

is the coach, is the coaching staff gone? Like that stuff? Then that you can get into rush trades, but I think for now he's going to be here. Again, your scenario of trading him for other contracts of you know, overpaid players, but they're playable players, right, that's a difference. There's got a lot of guys who are overpaid and also you can't play. And I think that's more of the situation you get to with Russell Westbrook and not a cap guy at all and stuff like that. But

four million dollars, it's a lot to get to. That's a lot of players, or that's one player that if he's going to be if he makes that much and he wants to be moved, then obviously there's an issue on that team. So I just I just don't see it, and hopefully you know Russ and kind of figure his lane out here. I've talked about before We're moving him so much more off the ball. He's getting way less you know, on ball touches. All his stuff is isolation.

We've pretty much tooken away the pick and roll possessions that he has, so everything is a come up the left of the floor. Um, if you have a one on one, the whole other team's clear to the right side. He gets an isolation there. In Orlando, Magic is the team that doesn't have guards that can really you know, physically match up with him. You know, guys like Cole Anthony, etcetera. Just can't stop him from getting to the rim. And I thought that's why he had a know, a good

game tonight. But yeah, we'll see with russ Many. I think this road trip will be very telling though. These next five games, they have five more on the road here against you know, I think they go to they play Brooklyn and then Miami and then uh and then Philly as well. I believe on this trip and I think there's one yeah, So I think, you know, this road trip will tell us a lot in terms of where the teams, where the team goes to goes from

from here. So this Orlando Magic game, like I said, kind of delayed what I think is in an inevitable, very important conversation that this team is about it. But Jason, if they go five, five and oh like six, if they go six and o on this road trip, Uh, then we also have different conversations, right, Like, I think you know that that's probably unlikely, but I'm saying the first.

But but that's the conversation we're gonna have here, Yeah, you know, and like, and this has been my thing from the beginning with with Russ is you know, because I've seen a couple of people talk today about like, hey, like, I think the Lakers are gonna wait to see what this looks like with Anthony Davis before they make a move.

Now they will by virtue of them having to because if I'm a team that's going to trade for Russell Westbrook and get an asset in return, you know, like whether that's the first round pick or if it's the first round pick Anti HD or whatever it is that that that looks like in order to take on Russell Westbrook, chances are like that's way down on my list and I'm gonna be looking for something else, and it's gonna be like a you know, midnight type of deal right

when the deadline hits, Like, that's the kind of deal that this will be. Like Russ isn't gonna be moved tomorrow, It's gonna be He's gonna be moved at the deadline. So you're gonna get to see what he looks like

with this anyway. But I am of the opinion that like, if you've been watching this team this year, and if you've been watching the way Russell Westbrook plays, and you've been watching what he brings to the table as a basketball player at this point in his career, and you think Anthony Davis coming back is going to be what puts him back on track, I don't. I don't know what to tell you, guys, Because yes, the lineups with Lebron, Russ and a D without a center have done okay

this year. Um I say okay because typically a line up with Lebron and a D should utterly destroy teams. Um sample samples just too low, samples too low, And we played bad teams and so then I so as just you know, our job, BRAJ, you know, looking at this as analyst is like, hey, like, what what's what's he gonna do when that happens because you've been talking a lot about how they've been pulling Russ out of the offense a little bit right and kind of relegating

him to support roles. So that's only gonna be further

exacerbated by the Anthony Davis thing. So now now we're talking about like guys, like a lot of those bots switches tonight were Russ, you know, like too two days after one day after he told WoDES like, you know, willing to do whatever it takes to win, Like I see him a lot not standing in a defensive stance and watching switches and things along those lines, and and all the stuff that you see, the inability to finish around the rim, the inability to get a step on

perimeter defenders, the way that these bigger forwards can shut him down when they switch, Like when these teams have figured out that they just put bigger defenders on him. All that's just going to be exacerbated against the good teams, teams like Miami and phil Like, Like, if I had to ask you what kind of game you expected Russ to have on Sunday against the Heat, what would you say? Yeah, No,

I mean it's more likely that he'd probably struggled. But you know, that's why I think that's why I think we've seen the move that we have and you're totally right, when Anthony Davis comes back is going to exacerbate, you know, the issues of Russ being more off ball. But I think that's where this team probably is at best, and you have to find a thin a gray area. Of course, you can't just you know, relegate Russ to a full off ball because he's not a shooter, so he's not

a thread there. But I think you're kind of seeing what it will look like. Even when Orlando started, you know a little bit making the run tonight, it's just you know, Lebron at the top of the key and he's running off and so it's it's it's interesting to kind of think about. But I don't know, like we'll we'll see. I think you have to see all three together at least a little bit a little bit of a large example. I'd like to see what we can do to kind of make those three kind of work together.

But but you're right, many it's been a struggle. So this is the last thing I'll say about it, because you know, part of the issue here is the egos involved, right, So the E bench Russ at the end of the game and he allegedly and there's been some conflicting reporting on this because Russ of course is upset that this is what was reported. But he tried to leave the floor and apparently DeAndre Jordan ran over there and tried to like herd him back to the bench or something like.

Rust didn't take well to being benched. So this is the other part of it, because I've heard people say this like, oh, it'll be easier to move him in the summer. It'll be easier to move him in the summer. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely think it'll be easier to move him in the summer. Why the go is at that point teams are just more willing to make trades. That's just the fact in the NBA. And then also he's an expiring contract at that point, so

now it's your training for cap space effectively, right. But the thing here is the attitude, right, because I think this year, when push comes to shove, when we're in our biggest moments, like we're in a first round playoff series against one of these top teams in the West, and Anthony Davis is healthy and Lebron James is healthy. Our best lineup will not include Russ in my opinion, because of his skill set, in his diminished athleticism, it will not include Russ. So Frank is going to have

a really difficult decision. Am I gonna bench Russ and deal with whatever comes with that, with the attitude or whatever, or am I going to play him and actively handicapped the team. That's a tough decision to make. And so one of the advantages of trading him at this deadline is you get rid of any sort of angst or attitude or blowback from benching a super alleged superstar who makes forty four million, you know what I'm saying. So

like that, that's kind of the thing. It's clearly Frank thinks his best chance to win is with somebody like in Austin Reeves in that role, right, somebody who's going to completely and thoroughly embrace the defensive responsibilities and on the offensive end just spot up an attack closeouts. That's what Frank actually wants out of that role, and he's clearly been frustrated with the way Russ has played. So my thing is like that's not going to change in

a playoff series. So if you don't think Russ can fit that role in a playoff series, almost just purely based on the attitude, almost just purely based on the ego, in any ramifications from benching him, you have to consider moving him now, just just because of that. I think it's too risky to keep him around and have that that potentially be a wild card in the playoff series.

Allah Andre Drummond against the Suns, that makes sense. Well, I mean, like just I'm not saying I disagree, but like you know, Russ shouldn't be happy he got bench, like that's should have happened, Like Russ should be the one he should be want to be on the floor, even if and look against Orlando. You know, I don't think that was the reason. I don't think Russ was like or wherever we played and forgot we played where

we got bench, but I believe it was Indiana. But yeah, like benching Russ, I don't think it was our issue. Our issue was defensively in that game, and Carmelo continued to get picked on defensively even when Russ took out. But understanding your point, Ron, like I can say lebron a D and three, you know, play three and D guys is probably a winning formula. No matter where you kind of go with that, that's been a winning, proven,

winning formula. We have Russ in the rotation now, like he's going to play he got bench, you know against Indiana. I think that's gonna be very rare. I feel like that was more of a like Vogel trying to Senda like you need to play defense to be on the floor. I don't care that he was about to get fired. Yeah, maybe that too, And maybe this is just the Maybe this Orlando game is just delaying that. Who knows. But look, Russ is going to be on the floor, and these

things we have to kind of work on. I think he can still push in transition. He's not going to play the full role player role. That's not gonna happen with Russell Westbrook at all. But can he take some ball handling duties out when eighties on the floor? Can we give him a Russell Westbrook has complained about and you know it's not it's obviously he has issues that are bigger than just lineups. But he's complained about like

his offensive roles switching from line up to line up. Right, He's kind of complained about that in terms of, like, one time I'm playing with Dwight Howard, so like this, I have to run this way. Next time I'm playing with the Brown and center. Next time I'm saying with Stanley at center. My my offensive duties kind of shift in those places. Right, he's in the dunker spot, he's in the weak side, he's at the top, and I think we're moving more and more to where he's off

the ball. But when he when A comes back, I think it's gonna be Russ and a D running those you know, back those second unit options, and we have to try to find stuff that works there. I just don't see a trade coming, man, I just really don't. And the only way is if you want to cut that bait. But I think that's an awful place just from like asset management. I hate using the word asset, but it's just you. I just can't go that route yet, you know what I mean. Like, we've we've seen fifteen

games of a D, Brown and Russ playing together. Uh, we've seen fifteen into that. The rest are kind of sprinkled in with He's with a d or he's with Lebron becau Russe has missed what I think one game or has he not misced the game yet so or maybe he hasn't missed one. So that's I think what what we have to see first, and I think the team is gonna want to see that as well. We saw Kendrick Nunn as well tweet about, um, he's trying

to get back and you know these aren't saviors. I think Trevor Reason come back, coming back has opened a lot of eyes as well. Uh, Trevor Reason is seen as like this wing savior and you know he looks like he's forty six and said thirty six sometimes. But it's gonna be interesting. I just don't see a rest

deal on the horizon here. So I'm trying to I think the team as well, Vogel as well, trying to find things that we're trying to have Russ buying to a defensive like a defensive role in the next forty games. And that's gonna be this team's uh issue here. You have to kind of fit him into our defensive lineups and our defensive schemes and everything we're doing. And Vogel has some faults in that as well. There's been low consistency.

There's lineups that make no sense. Austin Reeves didn't play in the third quarter and was again Carmelo was on fire, so I guess that makes sense. But I think Reeves needs to start up putting all these lands like there's stuff all around and Russ hasn't been great, but you know, that's just where we are. I don't see him going anywhere, and that's the that's the pivot to me where the team has to go. Team. Yeah, no, I hear you, man,

And if you're not willing to go there, I'll go there. Alright, guys, So we're gonna call it short tonight. We appreciate you guys hanging out. This is gonna be on our podcast feed here in about a half hour. As always, we appreciate you guys support. Ross is going out of town, so for the next two games. I will try to find replacement, probably be someone like venet Um. So we'll be back for the my Heat game on Sunday, which I believe starts at three at three o'clock Pacific time,

so early one. Alright, cool, sounds good, So we'll see. We'll see you guys on Sunday night, right after the final buzzer against Miami. Thanks everyone,