OKC/Lakers Postgame Spaces

Jason here. I'm doing good, man. I'm excited, not excited, but I'm gonna say I'm happy. Relieved. I think relieved is the right word. After Yeah, sitting at the edge of my seat against it. Okay, sheet thunder uh in the middle of December, after what happened the previous two games. I'm relieved that, you know, the scene came back. The Lakers came out and played well today and finished wish the game with with no major drama. Yeah. I don't know about you, but this lead never felt safe to me. Like,

I just never felt comfortable. They were up twenty they were up twenty five, and I was like, and we were even texting like this lead was never safe. It went down to fifteen and you could see kind of the wheels coming off. But Lebron, you know, as he does, came back in and kind of sell things down. But yeah, okay, see we're lucky. Tonight it felt like Shay wasn't really as aggressive as he could have been. This is a bad team, right the preface before we get into all

this stuff. Okay, so he's a bad team. I have no clue how we lost to them twice, one of them at home. I believe in over time or whatever it was. But yeah, it's good to get a win. Uh. They looked they looked serious tonight. Lebron looks serious and and we'll start with him. I want to ask you about him because I feel like it's been trending upward with Lebron, Like, he looks incredible. I can separate Lebron from the team. The team hasn't looked great, but Lebron,

to me, has looked awesome. He has balanced, as ste says to him, the jumper looks on, it looks clean, the forum looks good. He just looks in rhythm, and I thought there was a seriousness to him. Tonight where he set the tone again. I thought he said the tone in Memphis as well, but but tonight it just seemed at a different level. I didn't see him smile once. I twoted that, like he's not always smiling during games, but usually you see him joyful. I didn't see him

joyful at all tonight. No smiling, and there's not much to smile about, I guess, but what you see from him, because I thought Lebron looked looked pretty good tonight, yeah, you know, you know, aside from like his shooting splits and stuff like that and just the efficiency overall, I thought he was all business today is something that this team sorely, sorely needs because you know, the theme of like these past twenty six games or whatever, it's just

been like just like this rag tag no consistent, Like they're consistently inconsistent, and um, you know, like obviously a lot of it has been without Braun. But I thought this game was it was a nice like full forty eight minutes or whatever many minutes um Braun actually played

where like the execution was just kind of clean. Like there's probably a couple of moments in the game like towards the end of the first half, m maybe small pockets in the second half where the team looked like it was kind of going away from itself like that, the paces coming out of the control, they were like chasing guys around and and mind you, they gave up a crap ton of open threes that did not go down today, So I don't think that's gonna be um

for for other teams. But I think, you know, just it seemed like he wanted to make sure that everybody was engaged and nobody was just kind of loafing around with their minutes that were on on the floor, and it seemed like the ball is being moved around with purpose like that. It felt like very purposeful offense for a lot of this game. Um, and I think that's a good thing because that's what you want, man, that's that's that's what good execution looks like. Yeah, definitely, he

just looked determined tonight. There was it was all business, all serious news and again prefacing everything with okay senior right o because he missed a lot of open threes. We also got Avery Bradley turning into Ray Allen, which I don't think it was going to happen every night, but those are shots that he should be taking. I think at puck Up Poop also posted that after tonight Avery Bradley shooting like forty percent from three. I looked

at the numbers. He was shooting like thirty four percent on wide open three, which which isn't great for your starting point or starting shooting guard. But yeah, Lebron just looked awesome tonight, and the line ups were a little bit better for him. Uh THHD starting still kind of makes things ugly, but he saw him getting to the basket, and he saw that dunk in the third quarter or fourth quarter or whatever where I think he dunked on like Trey Man or something like that, and I just

walked away just again all business. It just looked good. I think Lebron being Lebron is Lebron being Lebron, and a d being himself is the biggest key to this season. Everything else doesn't really matter after that, like obviously the team building and the team chemistry and lineups and stuff, but Lebron being Lebron is at the top of that, and he looked like one of the best players in the world the last few games. It looks like he's

getting rested. It looks healthier. It looks healthier, right, because last year we saw him, he saw him play in the playoffs, but that wasn't Lebron, right. That's like, even though a d got hurt and the Lakers probably still could have won that series, Lebron wasn't Lebron. I saw him going, you know, we saw him eating. Eating would switch on him and he wouldn't attack him. Like Lebron looks like he's getting his body right. Are you seeing

that as well? Because I feel like he has a different level of bounds induced to him that I just didn't see last year when he came back from that ankle sprain. Yeah, you know, even aside from the ankle sprain, like having a core injury or just like the groin injury, like it does sap like some of your strength, uh to some degree, just because of the way that your body relies on that part of you know, like the

overall body relies on explosion from that area. So it's like, you know, I even thought last year, um, it's a little bit of his his physical health, and it's a little bit of just the way that the league is calling some of these ways like Ron is not getting calls at the rim like they're some like obvious ones. He's just not getting called now because you know, whatever the new rule changes are. So like it's been good to see a little bit more spring in his step.

Like teams are still doing this thing where they're like they choose they're either gonna put like a big body on him and then you know, does his hip check them and hope that the refs don't make you know, refs don't call anything, or they'll put a really small, shifty, fast guy on him, uh and try to cut off like all of his driving angles and stuff like that.

And so he's done a lot of good stuff, you know, like to counter stuff he he's you know, he's he's gone to the post up um Vogel and or the Lakers have started using him and cuts a little bit more to get him good quality looks from set action and stuff like that. But like his athleticism at least kind of I don't know if we'll see the same super explosive athlete in one on one in one on one action that we um, you know, we saw it

maybe two years ago or three years ago. Um, and that that's normal but it's nice to see that, like like the brain is still working right, like he could tell like alright, alright, this guy's this guy's back foot is you know, like his hips are open in a certain way where I know that if I attack him at this angle, he's not gonna be able to stop me, you know. I mean, like that's that elite, super generational, top of the top style that that he's really good at.

And so it's been nice to see him kind of take use of that, and like he's slowed down, you know, like he's not trying to beat guys to the rim

the way that he used to. He's really methodical, Like a couple of plays that he had earlier, I think in the first half when he was deciding to attack the rim, like he'd wait for like the young guy to like overplay his drive and try to go for like a block or steal, and then he just like stops on a dime and he fishes with an easy layup, and like that kind of stuff is gonna be needed because it helps us keep pace and it helps us

keep going. So it's been good to see him, Like I'm glad that he's he's getting back to a point. I hope he can get even better. Um, but but he does look much better than he did last season. Yeah, he's just he's just moving better. To me. And on the defensive end, a lot of the talk has been,

you know, just Lebron load managing games. And for sure you're not gonna have Lebron be super engage every single nine defensively, but I feel like he does have to kind of be the vocal leader, especially where we're getting a lot of Lebron at center lineups two write like, and I think that's also helping him on the other end as well, where he doesn't have to play next to DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard for so many minutes, right, and he's not playing in such a phone booth with

phone booth basketball. But I thought defensively again tonight, like I thought he was really good on the back line, and I think that's what they need for him. He was. He had some pretty disrespectful like where lou Dort would be like, yeah, I'm gonna shoot, He's like I don't care, like you know, like get a bunch of a bunch of those tonight, and okay, see's a team you can do that with because there's a lot of guys that you really don't mind them shooting, like Josh Giddy and

and and lou Dort as well. But you know, I thought he was good on defense as well, and I think that's a point of contention that's been been for I see a lot of Timeline talking about as well.

But in my opinion, like Lebron has to have a baseline level of agagement defensively just on this team at least until we get healthy, right, Like until at least at least the reason gets back or something, because some of these lineups when you have and where we're we've both been promote promoting the spacing lineups with Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington, even Karmelo Anthony. But when you have that, you have to have at least one guy that can

defend the rim at a serviceful way. And if it's Lebron at the five, he's going to have to be the one that UH is engaged on there because he's the back line help. And I think he's been doing

that better, right. I mean, there are places where he takes off, and that's always gonna happen, but I feel like I do see an engagement level for him, and sometimes it's annoying where Lebron is the most energy, the guy who looks like he's most the most energized player out there, but I thought he's he's building that up. I think his defense also has been has been fined these last few games. Yeah, so I would say, I think everything you said is really on points. Uh, wonderful observation.

So you know, I'm I'm probably um, I've actively kind of vocalized that I don't like the idea of Lebron at center only because I think it's taxing on his body and it's it's not something that I like to see in the regular season. It's something I would rather see, like, you know, like if if the opposing team is like trying to throw the kitchen sink at the Lakers, that Vogel goes to that. Um, you know, I think I think this game he Vogol went to it as a

counter strategy. He didn't go to it as part of the set rotation. So I've when I rewatched the game, I'll probably be able to tell what it is. Um. You know, obviously eighties out and we don't we already don't have to a reason. So there's no there's no opportunity for us to like we're really shorthanded in the front court. So Braun was bounting the plays like Melo got a ton of minutes, and he was not you know, he's Fili Mignon like a defensively on a lot of

these plays. So um again, like Mellow is not somebody that we would want to expect to rely on for point of attack defense. You know, like he's supposed to be playing this role where he's facing the floor for everybody else and just grabbing redounds, not not the primary

gown on a premier wing or something like that. So I'm against it, but I'm glad that it worked out well because that first half when they went to it, I was like, holy sh it, like we're gonna be in trouble, Like if this, if if ou goes on a run with this lineup, like things are gonna get bad. But you know, like they did go on a run, but the Lakers held it together. And you know that's that's the part um even to to the very first

first part of this conversation, that that's importantly important. Like Braun was all business. I would say that Avery Bradley probably was all business too as well, Like there was almost no wasted effort from Avery Bradley. He almost took that matchup with s G a like personally like he had disrespected his family or something like that, because yeah,

and he was attacked him. He was doing that stuff that you know, like he was doing two years ago stuff that we had Alex Caruso, and you know, it did visibly frustrate uh Shae Bill just um Alexander for a little bit. And and it you know, it affects the team's rhythm because other ok S players may look at SJ and say, well, if he's not you know, I'm used to seeing him get his shots off and get into a rhythm. Then I can work off of that. So like that was something that was clearly missing from

the Memphis game. Like we were just letting Desmond Beane just just just run down the floor, pick whatever matchup you wanted and attack the rim. Nobody picked him up. And I feel like a guy like Bradley obviously we want other guys to do it. And I know we're

gonna talk about Reeves. Reeves is another guy like pick up your guy at half court, Like if your team isn't getting back in transition, stop the ball, like put pressure on the ball as soon as they get the rebounds so that they can't just force it up the

floor without passing the ball or something like that. And um, I thought, Bronze kind of all around, um Broun's all around effort, plus like every Bradley's like defensive acumen, like like his defensive intensity, that thing that Will keeps talking about. That was huge. And and dude, there was I don't know if you show this spat in the first quarter. Um, there was two specific possessions in a row where I think Avery Bradley had Josh Gatty out of and Russell

Westbrook was staying on the wing. Braun was on the top of the three and Avery Bradley was in the corner. Braun didn't even swing the ball to Russ. He passed it directly to Avery Bradley twice in a row as if my sound just like why is he doing that?

Like give it a Russ. And I realized that, oh, he's probably looking at He's probably looking at Bradley saying, dude, you're faster than this guy, Like you can get to the rim before this guy can get to you, can do anything to you, like get your ship together, like they're leaving you open for a reason. And like I think that like something something click with Avery and he just looked like super focused. So I mean that stuff matters, man, that's energy that that gets transferred to the team. So

it's good to see Braun just kind of being that mode. Yeah, and you know, Avery gets a lot of crap from all of us and it's not his fault that to me, I think like Bogo and Avery is like a match made in heaven, right, Like Bogo just loves these tough, smaller,

little undersized guards that really get into you. He's a guy that really fits what Vogo wants in the scheme right when he fights over and Okay, So he's just a really tough matchup for that with Avery Bradley because they have guards like Shay and that's what that just plays right into what Avery wants to do, right. He loves to get into guys, okay, So he doesn't have the big man or the screen the guys that can screen for Shae in a way that can free him up.

And if it's just Shay and isolation, every Bradley is still an incredible point of attack defender, right, And that's why, Like, to me, when we play Avery Bradley with a D at the five lineup, that's where it's like there's just a stark difference there because I think a D at the five, and we've talked about this a lot a lot, it just it lands to more switching, right, and I think that's against what goes into every Brady everybody is a fight over the top kind of drop coverage guard

that you know attaches to people. But when he's able to just be in isolation against the guard, he's great. You're right. He stripped Shay a bunch of times, and he definitely took the Josh Giddy matchup personal. Like there was a play where there's another player where he caught in the corner and he drove by Josh Giddy and he just got a reverse layup and uh and they

looked at Giddy like, how dare you? You know? Like it was just it was just like it was cool to see him open up and you could see why Vogel starts him right. Avery Bradley is a professional. He's never you know, he's not always going to be the best player, but you know, he plays hard. And I think and just to transition this a little bit, I don't think it's a coincidence that Reeves was the first

sub tonight, right. I think that snow cases from the Memphis game, all those guards, they weren't playing hard, like there was an effort. There was an effort missing there. And and Reeves. Man, they they paid players like fifteen million dollars a year to do what Reeves did tonight, you know, like they pay very have money for two way type of wing type of players. And I two tonight, Reeves is a vet in a rookies body, Like he

just doesn't play like a rookie at all. He has just a rookie body, right, And that's his limitation is his body, and that's that's the That's the case for a lot of players. If Molenk Monk was like six seven, he's not on a minimum deal to me, right, Like it's just there's limitations with everyone's by but Reaves is just a physical limitation. What do you see from him though? Because I feel like he I don't know why he was clicking DMPs. Maybe he just wasn't healthy yet he

did he is moving better. He looks like he's moving better. But uh yeah, we just think of Reeves because I think he's a big part of this rotation and he's definitely a glue, a glue guy for this team. You could tell how lineups just fit together. And when he goes in right, he's like like he plugs things together. Reeves. Yeah, no, I think you hit it on the head. Like he plays, he understands pace, He understands spacing, He understands making the

right play. Like I never see him catch a ball and a catching like if he knows that somebody's closing out on him. And he did this a couple of times this game. Like one of my favorite things, favorite things to to see like young players do um uh when they receive a ball and somebody's trying to close out on him. Is to like attack that close out right.

So like players who understand that that if that if you're get not like a triple threat, but if you attack a close out um correctly and you play the angles, whether you go left, whether you go right, whether you use it like a very subtle pump bake shooting bait to get the guy, just like for a half second

to hesitate. Like those kind of things give you enough avenue to be successful with whatever your next decision is, whether you actually shoot it, whether you you know, attack the rim and they want to make a pass like it causes this chain reaction, and Reeves is so good at that, Like there were so many plays today and I think there's a corner three that he hit where he just does like a subtle pump thing and the oky see guy just goes flying by him like it's

not as if like he had been lighting it up from three, like at that point it was like maybe a second three of the game or something like that, and he just does a subtle pump gets the guy up in the air. Because good players vets whatever. Experienced players understand that the threat of giving up an open three is like panic to a guy who's closing out

on defense. Like if I'm already late to rotate on you and I gotta close out on you and you look like you're about to shoot this ball, I'm gonna jump like I'm gonna jump full speed and it's gonna

end up being a fly by. And the fact that he can make those reads quickly and and you know, take advantage of them, like he had another player I think that in the second half and at the end of the second quarter where like he faked like he was gonna go out, but then he went base sine and he hit like a soft floater off of pass from Braun. Like these are small things that happened in the course of the game that like keeps the flow

of the offense going. And it's crazy, you know again like Lakers draft uh you know, Jesse Bus, Joey Buss, the guys that are scouting these guys out. This is an undrafted kid making this like veteran decisions on this team and as as crazy, you know, like the other side of the equation, people maybe like, oh my god, the Lakers are relying on this undrafted kid to like be good to win a championship. We're not relying on him.

But this kid is fucking great. Like he's doing such a good job just making the right play, knowing, playing within himself, being unselfish, dropping dimes to his teammates and stuff like that, creating advantages that it's hard not to play. And I think the reason is probably because of protective um. He's a young guy that they don't want to, you know, they don't want a bad situation for him. So it's just he's he's good man. He's a good connective tissue player,

you know, like that. That's the only way I can describe what he is. And we've got guys that can do that on this team, and that's what we need. We need effort, we need connectors that that that's what that's what's gonna kind of give us some continuity on the offense and defensive end. Yeah, you talked about how like you know, we're playing you know, we're relying on an undrafted kid. He's earned every minute that he's got.

Right again, when you're on a team full of you know, minimum contract type of player, you can earn those type of minutes. And he's earned every minute that he's got, and he's beat out players, He's beat out vets that have been in the league for a while. It's no coincidence to me that he connects with Lebron James right, and the and the Crusoe calms are a candy, right

like they're they appear very often. I don't think that's a fair like defensive you know, ceiling Caruso's one of the best you know, defensive guards in the league to me, But he's definitely ahead of him offensively, And we've talked about that before, Like he's definitely ahead of him offensively just from like a already skill level. He's the way he's able to attack closeouts, it's just advanced for a person in year one of You're You're one of his career,

it's just it's super advanced. The ball never sticks with him, right, It's like they always talk about you, you make a three second decision, right it's shoot, pass or dribble. He always really makes the right play on that decision. And you see that he when an advantage just created, he keeps that advantage, right, Like when when Russ blows by, When Russ blows by his guy and someone comes and helps on rust, they kick out to the Reeves. Even if Reeves doesn't have the shot, he'll kick it out

to where the defense is still in rotation. And Lebron connects with super high i i Q players and not saying other players aren't high i Q. But there was no coincidence why he connected with Crusoe. It's no coincidence why he connected with Reeves. Reeves is playing too well. Again, I don't think tonight is an aberration, like he's been

playing well before. He I forgot what his injury was, but he got hurt and was out because hamstring injuries him out, Okay, hamsing, Yeah, those are those can be tricky. So I think he was out a cute a few weeks. But yeah, man, he just connects and his ability. You talked about the pump a side step three like his shot looks clean too. I think he's a legit shooter. I don't know he's shooting for three this year. I

think it's around or something. But yeah, just a legit player that we have and hopefully can add to this rotation with a bunch of guys if they're not on tonight. I think he'll play, and I think he can even start on this team. I don't. I think he just connects, which I know we've discussed as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And look, it's clear he has skills that fit around our starts, right, Like that's very easy to see.

Like and again it doesn't I'm not saying like these these decisions are easy, but you can tell the skill sets that fit around three guys who need to attack the rim who aren't jump shooters, like you need jump shooting around them, and preferably two way guys who are jump shooters around them. And if they can attack close out that they can pump they get to the line, if they can get offensive rebounds. You know, he seems to have a knack for offensive rebounding at the free

throw line, which is a really strange skill to to have. Like, that's not just that's just a strange skill, right, that's not something you bring up in person's list of skills. That's something he does. He loves that, he gets tap outs a lot. It's just little stuff that he doesn't. Again, the cruise upcoms are unfair, but it's tough not to go to that, right, it's tough not to compare because that's the last player we've had kind of who did

those little things that stand out. It jumps out on a team with a bunch of players who don't do those little things right. And as much as I pay for White Ellington, he's not a guy that does the little things. He's just not. He's a shooter. That's what he's been paid in to his old career. That's why I hope he keeps shooting. Keeps shooting, Wayne, please fire those up. But but yeah, that's that's my point on Reefs. But go ahead, I kind of know the question and

ask go ahead. Yeah. So so the question, so this was that was that was a very nice announced. You know, you mentioned Caruso. Obviously, the reason why we're making the irony of the situation is they're both white guys. Uh, they both look like that they in appearance looked like they shouldn't belong in the league. Um. You know, that was the usual joke that just some random ball white guy that was on this Lakers scene that the Leakers fans are casting up. Um, and you know, but now

everybody's talking about him being an all defensive player. Anyways. UM, so you said something interesting and one of the things you said, Um, of the many things you said about Reeves,

is that Braun connects with high i Q guys. And that is a very fascinating, very fascinating observation because, um, that it is something that I've at least seen like when I played in high school, like even when I played directly, even if you play a pickup basketball, when you play with like smart guys, guys who know how to space the floor, Guys who kind of recognize what's happening on offensive defense and know who's who's on a

roll and stuff like that. And you play with them, even if it's just pick up at your local gym or something like that, it changes the enjoyment that you have with the game, right, And when you're playing with people like that, UM, you just have fun even if you're not doing anything. You know, like even if you're just making outlet passes or playing some defense and getting a couple of shots up. UM. And that's the part that's so fascinating with with this dynamic that Ostar Reaves

has with I mean it's not only Braun. He has the same dynamic with Russ. He has the same dynamic with with Anthony Davis to some degree to as well. That he just fits right and and it's very clear he has a high i Q as a mature understanding. But right now, Rog, we've been watching another young Laker player. Um. He asked to play that role UM in the starting in the starting uh, well, you know, with the starters and next to our big three, and it has been

very painful to watch. And so I'm gonna say my part because I don't want to put words in your mouth, and uh, you know, I I'm a little more opinionated about this. I think th HC absolutely does not fit with our Big three, at least not right. And it has been really, really difficult, uh to watch him play next to him, even even at the start of this game. I know he had a three, uh you know, and I think Bradley had two threes. He hit won three.

It is really difficult to watch him, um fit with those guys because I always make the joke certain players, young players, you can see when they have the ball in their hands. You can see like when you're watching them, you could tell like their brain is trying to process what's happening around them. And when I watched th HD playing next to the Big three, I feel like that happens too much, like he doesn't know like his his if he had to do it on instinct, he's attacking

the room immediately. But the fact that he's playing next to braun a D and Russ, it almost feels like it puts pressure on him as a player that oh shit, if I don't make this, if I don't make the right decision, like we could waste his possession. Or if I don't make the right decision and it's not a set action, maybe I should have given it to Russ. Maybe I should have given it to Maybe I should give it to he did I make the right play. And a perfect example of this is um Teach comes

down the floor in the first quarter. He tried to throw two entry passes I think to Braun. One may have been Braun, one may have been somebody else I don't remember. Both of them got picked off and he's the one making the entry pass. So like I was, like, I can fire off a tweet right now. I'm not gonna do it, but I'm just watching it. You know. Obviously we won the game. He played better, that's fine.

But my thing is like if a guy struggles to make reads like that, right, like to make an entry pass after Braun is stealed the smaller guy behind him, like, maybe it's just not for him yet. He's not ready to be in that position yet. And know a lot of people are saying, you know, well, we're paying a ten million dollars. He's been with with the Lakers for two years now, Um, we have to develop them. But when you have if you don't look at them in

terms of like Austin Reaves requires development. You just look at it based on what fits what fits with this team. Like it almost if somebody came to me and say, hey, you know what, maybe we should try Austin Reaves and said th ht and play him next to every Bradley, like, I would be like, you know what, why not? You know, we're still shorthanded. Why not see see what that looks like? What? What do you think about that idea that like, maybe it's not it's not development, it's not mine. Let's just

take the development part out of it. Let's take the money part out of it. How much do they make if you just have to take those two guys? Um, what do you think about the idea of Reeves getting more minutes over t T or maybe even being in

the starting spot next time. So I'm gonna say, like, just to give th HD a little credit here, I think he has gone very defensively right, and I think that's why he starts, even though it's a little confusing because sometimes he'll start and it will be Russ still taking the main deep signment or you know, like that doesn't really make sense to me, Like again, rusted a great job on Jayson Tatum the last time they played. But I think the point of tech she's starting is

his defense because it's very clearly offense isn't there. I thought you made it. That's why I wanted to have you on, because it's tough for to have these conversations, you know, over just uh messages. But I thought you made a great point on your space that you did in the afternoon. I don't remember what day it was, but you said that Carusoe knew who he was, right, Like Crusoe had no qualms of who he was going to be in the league, right, Crusoe came in and

exactly the player he is. Austin Reeves knows exactly who he is. Right, Austin Reeves has no like not to put a ceiling on Austin Reeves. You know Austin you know, shoot for the stars kid. But like I'm saying, like Austin knows exactly like his role on this team th H you talked about th H T missed the post up to Lebron right, like he couldn't find t HD

wants to be Lebron in that situation. Right, Like th HD still sees himself as a player who wants to be Russ who swe Lebron, So his mindset is still in there. So that's like to me, his decisions all still go back to that, which is why the fit looks so ugly because he's not His mindset isn't of a three n D player, which is what that's starting lineup is begging for. His mindset is of a I'm a star to right, and he just got paid as one,

Like the Lakers obviously supported supported that mindset. I guess you know what I mean, Like they paid him ten million dollars a year with very little I mean, he's showing flashes obviously of super star potential, but they've supported into that idea and starting him as another a kid like this is gonna be yours one day, you know, like kind of in that in that kind of manner here, And I think that's why it looks so stark. And this team definitely has goals that don't match th HD's

development line. You know, it's kind of like we're doing two things at once. And I do think there is like I think there's an argument for it, where like the ceiling of this team is higher probably with if th HD hits his ceiling at years old. But he's a twenty one year old gard who still believes that he can be in the Lebron or Russ role, which is makes it so starting and I would love to start Austin. Like I think, you know, that might be the right move here. I think th needs possessions where

he needs better spacing around him. I think it's it's such a disgrace that he plays with the worst spacing lineup, like just just you know what I mean, like just in a in terms of of how like think about it for him where he starts the game where he's the guy that needs to hit outside shots and that's just not his skill levels. So like, I think that's where it is. THHD still has a belief that he's gonna be Lebron or Russ or whatever. And you know

that's fine, you don't. He should have, you know, aspirations as high as he wants to. But when you play a kid like Reeves, it just fits. It's why it jumps off the page. Right, Reeves does all the small things that things players like him need to do stay in this league. Right like players like TCD have the ball in the hands there the shot the shock traders and you see that when he gets the ball right, So he'll like get the ball and he'll like stare and he'll stop as if he's the main guy. Like

he'll just be like, Okay, it's my turn. Now. He does too sometimes he does too much of the let me set up my isolate, let me read set up my isolation, because you know, I'm about to take this guy to the rim or whatever it is. And um no, no, I agree with you. I think that you know, this is that that human element, the human nature part that that I think is a huge thing that like, I think it's a blind spot in Vogel And I'm not gonna get into voga bashing and do that enough myself

on the timeline, but it is. I genuinely think it's a gap. And you know, it may not have it. Maybe Volgo does want to play reads. Maybe there's some um collectual related politics on the back end. Maybe there's some financial politics on the back end, whatever it may be. You know, maybe he got promised a starting spot with this team. Um if he agreed, you know, like and and they want the expecting to get better whatever it is.

But I agree with you, like the development. We don't have time to develop PHT not in the not with the starters UM. And even aside, if we take the development part out, like you're putting him in a position where the very thing he needs the most the ball in his hands and to dribble around a little bit. You're asking him to try and figure that out between three other ball dominant guys UM, regardless of how elite passers you know, like Russ Russe and Braun Uh maybe,

And I think it jacks up his rhythm. I think it jacks up everybody else's rhythm. And that's you know, just something that's been going on UM for a while now, and hopefully it kind of figures itself out. But you know, like, um, I think it was pick up Pete. He's the one who posted that tweet saying that like he's shooting or some extraordinarily bad number like outside of the restricted area. I just tweeted. I said, look, I can't even be mad at Tailor. Yea, these numbers are readily available to

our coaching staff. Like what is their coaching staff doing? Like why would you put him in a position to be a three in D guy when he's not hitting any shots outside of the restricted area, like you're you're literally asking him to fail and then you know you'll get people on the time and I say, oh, guy sucks. You know, like, why don't we give this guy ten million dollars? And why don't we give it to Alex Cruz.

We might as well, you know, who is competing for the market for d H D. We should have just given Like it's unfair to tailor, you know what I mean, because he's being point in a position that's not successful

for him. So, you know, I hope that the situation resolves itself, but it feels like it's going in that direction, especially with like if they if Frank contin Tin used to play Anthony David's at the five um and that makes up his minutes at the four and the five and not play Dwight, that sort of thing, Like they're going to have to figure that part out because no matter what he's doing on the defense too much, all the easy layups because Memphis doesn't get back on defense

and we build a lead and Braun is brilliant yet again, just like the Boston game to start that game, but then everything kinds that falls apart after that. But at the corner he puts Dwight in, and now things kind of now the guy who's cutting is brought the guy who's taking the jumpers m off of Russ's moves and stuff like that, or it's a d or is Dwight for the dump off? So like that's the part that you know, I hope the Lakers, But that's really what

my thoughts in regards him. I'm hoping that he I want him to be successful because I think that's important for him, but it's I don't think it's gonna happen the way that they're currently trying to do. Yeah, it's the idea of fitting like a square peg into a round hole, right, like they're trying to force th HD into a three D role. But also no, no, you're good,

I hear you. Um, yeah, they're trying to fit th HD into like, uh, they're trying to do a square peg into a round hole right with t HD trying to force him into this U three and D roll And that's just not what he wants to be as well. And you can just tell as a player, he's a guy that wants to ball in his hands, and we're trying to develop him into that while also playing him next to Lebron and Russ, which is just a really

frustrating thing to watch. And like you said, it's not something that you know, you can blame Tailing on, like it's not his fault. That's just kind of where we are with the situation right now. And I think he's going to continue to start until Ariza's back, Like he's our he's our wing defender, I guess for right now, and they're just gonna keep going with that until until Ariza or maybe Kendrick Nunn gets back. But he's the

guy that they're gonna throw on wing defenders. They don't want Russ, they don'tant Lebron to be the guy as the main guy on defense against the other big time perimeter players. So yeah, I think it's a it's a tough conversation. I think Reeves has a case though, to be made if he continues to play like this, he continues to shoot like this on a championship team. To me, you have to earn every minute you get, and I feel like there shouldn't be any given minutes other than

the Big three other than the stars. Every other minute should be earned, and we saw that. It's kind of funny because we saw that Taylor last year. If you remember, he beat out West Matthews. West Matthews, you know, a veteran player, a good player, signed probably for less money than he could have gotten other places. And THHD beat him out on the rotation because he was playing that

three and D role. His jumper was going during that time, right, And and we know we had fascinations about, oh man, if Taylor has his jumper, you know, like we have a crazy we have a crazy player here. And the jumper just has not entered this season. And that's you know, that's something that just happens. But yeah, like if Reeves is the better player, then the better players should play on the team that's trying to win. That's just how

how it should be. But you know, it's a it's a thin line to walk here, I guess is it when you play pay a guy ten million dollars a year. You talked about the politics of it, like that's definitely involved, Like that's it's tough to bench a guy making that much money, you know, So it's a tough conversation. Yeah, And um, you know, that's one of the things that like, um, I've been trying to kind of wrap my head around

you know, Vogel. Vogel is a very diplomatic guy. Sure he and I was listening to uh the Liquor Film podcast earlier today, and um, I thought Pete on LA pod he made a really nice point like outside of like the top four guys, nobody is making so much money. Nobody is making so much money that like they can't be benched, you know what I mean, Like, uh, that km Beigemore got benched at some point and he's been

sitting on the bench the entire time. I don't think I agree with him being benched for the way that he has, Like he does bone headed stuff, but not like not to deliberately shorthand or so I was like, Deander was objectively bad and so he got bench, you know what I mean, And he's back in rotation. Man, I don't look bad. I was like, oh my god, we're gonna play. I was hoping we played bass a little bit more, you know, but eating at minutes whatever,

that's fine. Rondo being out the rotation objectively bad. So he's been out the rotation whatever, that's fine. But my thing is like we have a very diplomatic coach who is trying to you know, manage of the not the egos, but just manage everybody's expectations. Um, and you know, whether he's being empowered by our front office to do so, Like it is very clear that there are certain moves that he has to make or just certain certain adjustments he has to make that can allow this team to

be to be successful. And I don't know if he's not being allowed to do it or if he's just apprehensive because he's a very diplomatic guy. Um that that you know, we have to see what happens. But look, man, like I want Taylor to be successful. Like at some point Frank has got to go to Taylor or has to go Like can you imagine what the film sessions

are like? Like I made this joke on answer when I sat there with Jason, like what would you when there's bad games like bad bad games like the Memphis game, and you see like like Taylor's had some place, he's had some possessions where like he just does something, I'll be like, oh, like I had like this lookout my face, like just like I had like some bad milk or

something like that. I would be like, oh God, like I wish you hadn't driven because you just got stripped or you took it, you know, like you're not gonna take it with your left hand, so the team knew you're gonna take it with your right and they stripped it,

or or the challenges shot you fell down. Now I got a five on four going the other way, Like they're just some plays that stuff like that that happens, And I think to myself, it's like, what what are they saying to each other in the film room, Like when this happens? Are they asking Candon when he thought was gonna happen? Or is somebody looking at Frank and saying, dude, this guy is being put in a really tough position to have to score between like three nonshooters, Like what

are we doing here? But we guys stop doing that, And you know, I don't know is the politics? Is it that? Who knows? Whatever it is. But like these lineup combinations have to eventually get figured out. We can't be like in like this weird data collection mode of just seeing which lineups are asked and which ones are good to try and figure out what's going on because it's affecting the guy that did not play today. Anthony Davis. Um,

he has been up and down all season. I know you wanted to talk about him, like he has struggled, like with this, playing the four, sometimes playing the starting the game at five, what the rotation is gonna end up being? And it's junking up a lot of stuff. Um, and he didn't play today. So I'm sure we're gonna see a lot of you know, obviously, I'm sure some folks are joking. Some people are not joking. Um, you know, he's gonna be in the trade machine with that coming around. Yeah,

you know, I don't even get into those. Like I even hate when hey, hey, when people come at me and ask, you know, Russ trades like that's not happening, Like just you know, throw that, throw that away. Russ is on this team and and Russ is gonna be on this team when the playoffs start, you know next year. Who who knows? The NBA is a weird league. Things

changed very rapidly. But Russ is on this team for good before we get into a d because I think that's the last thing I really want to discuss with you, because you know you have strong opinions on that. To me, like, I think I've been advocating for Wayne to start, and I sent you that, you know, in privately, I've sent you that athletic kind of post before the season started, right, we got this, uh, we were sold these bags of you know, this bag of dreams of like this was

this is the starting lineup. And I don't think you know, people joke about shams and he does some weird stuff for sure, to be first, I think it's a weird. Some of the weird stuff that he does weird, but he you know, he reported that the Lakers were gonna start Russ, Wayne, Trevor, Reza, Lebron and A D. That was the five we were going to start, right, and

that was the identity of this team. And to me, like a reason's injury, I get it like he's been out, but I feel like that shouldn't change your whole team's identity. And I think that's what we've done. I think that DeAndre Jordan's you know, him starting as many games. Did you talked about the film room with th h T. I kind of imagine the film room with DeAndre Jordan's like,

what do you like? What do you say? Like, no, I'm no because we both rewatched these games, right, like we watched a lot of these games, like like you see that and there's just what do you do? They just moved the clip forward, you know, fast forward fifteen seconds like um no, I'm serious, like there's nothing you can even Yeah, okay, this is this is me being serious, Like I would love I would love to be Voyer or be a fly on the wall just to see. I don't even need to hear the conversation. Let me

just look at the fate. Like I've been to lagers practice facility before it's I've seen like that little theater room where they sit down somewhere I want to be with the screen behind me, and I wanted them to run the film, and I want to look at the players faces and right into DeAndre Jordan's eyes when he when we see those plays where he's like guarding nobody, Like the guy comes off the screen, he doesn't go

to contest it, but then he doesn't recover back. So then the guy who's you know, like Aby Bradley, He's like, holy sh it, dude, what am I supposed to do. Am I supposed to get the bowman? Or am I just want to see what his face looks like, because he has got to be smiling for all the all the the checks that he must be cashing, just floating around. It's, oh my god, it's got to be insane. But we did it for twenty games. Isn't that crazy? Man? I was I was wrong about DeAndre Jordan, like I wasn't.

I guess watching enough nets games, like I thought he could have been. Uh. And me and Jason have talked about this a fact simile of JaVale McGee, right, And to me, like the drop, the gap between JaVale McGee and Jondre Jordan's shouldn't be this big, but it's this big because the motor gap is this big now, right, like the gap between DeAndre Jordan does the path of least resistance every single time, Like that's just what he does. I don't even know if it's conscious. I don't want

to get into Deondre Jordan more. But this isn't even about DeAndre Jordan. I guess this is just about how long. I guess we're talking about adjustments take to get made right. And to me, like that's why I'm I'm so in for starting Wayne. And I said this with Jason yesterday, like shooters are so expensive in this league, Like it's expensive to get shooting, and I feel like we have

one in Wayne. We're having a Monk as well. But I just I told you yesterday, like I don't think Monk has any chance of starting, like a six one guard that's not defensive, like defensive minded, like there's no chance to hew to me he starts. But Wayne, you know, Wayne's not good defender. He's his motor defensively isn't good as well. I just think like this is the bag we were sold. We have four of those guys. What we had for those guys healthy we'll see with a D.

But that's who i'd like to start. What do you think about Wayne starting? Because I wanted to ask you about that because I think that's the middle line we can kind of go with here, because I think he's enough of a VET where like you can bence th HD for Wayne Ellington and no one bats an eye, right, that's just like, okay, that's something that happened. You start Austin Reeves over t HD and we can talk about how much. We'd like this to be in a perfect vacuum,

in a perfect world. That text, that text are us coming? Like the moment that gets it out, there's a text, go he's right, and Rob pola as as he as he sees that hit the cry on for sure. Yeah. So, like what do you think about Wayne starting? Because I've been a proponent of that, and I just I feel like that would be the perfect again, like I said, like if reefs could start, it would be in a perfect world. Maybe Reefs starts, But we don't live in

a perfect world. We live in a place where all these you talked about the human element, that's just part of it. It's not bad that politics matter, like politics matter and everycentulation sometimes they matter in a good way, you know, like sometimes there are places where politics matter in a good way. But yeah, I just I want to ask you about that before we get into a d What do you think about Wayne starting or my proponent of that? Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's a

good idea. So like if you if you take um like all the guards that we have, and then you just kind of cross even in your mind because you rewatch a lot of games. You can watch a lot of games, Like if you think about how teams try to attack the Lakers, like we get spammed with pick and roll like a lot, Like whether it's a D at the five or somebody else at the five, teams are trying to you know, pick and roll us to death to start games. They're not trying to go to

the interior. They're not trying to kill us in transition, like unless it's off of like a miss or something like that, or turnover, they're not trying to do it. So why not play two guys who can you know, somewhat navigate a pick and roll? Like Ellington isn't the best, like he's not Avery Bradley level, um, as it relates to like shedding screens technique, but um what's it called? Ellington uses screens himself, so he understand ends how to

navigate them because he knows how to use them. Um you know, like like in football, like uh, they always say like wide receivers turn into defensive backs or defensive backs can turn to wide receivers because it's the same core principles, same rounds, same same reads, the way that you read the key being stuff I got, So why not do that like, I wouldn't be against the idea even strictly from a data collection purpose, like let let Ellington play Next Day Bradley. See if it sucks, like

he obviously provides the space thing that we need. And if it sucks, then all right, go back to what it is, like, what do you have to lose In the regular season, we already have enough of a sample size to know that th HD has a lot of struggle with the other guys when it comes to making his reads and just his shooting in general, which hasn't come around this season. So why not just play a guy who does really well shooting. The other part of th HD that people aren't talking about or maybe haven't

talked about enough. I know you guys talked about he is getting hammered on screens, and he is struggling to get around screens. He's almost like two three steps behind the the ball handler when the screen comes and we're supposed to be thinking here like, Okay, you know, he's got long wingspan, stuff I got um you know, Dwight or a d is calling out the coverage or what

he's supposed to do. But he you know, and and it's again I can't be mad at him because he's being put in that position, but he's having trouble getting around them. Like Desmond Bane. There was a three that he hit in the first quarter where there was nothing complex. Desmond Bane was just standing on the wing and he

was waiting for the set to start. As soon as the set starts, he goes and he takes like a dribble handoff into an open three um And Desmond Bane has like the arms of a t rex, Like he's got super small arms. So you would think that even if t HD is coming late, he can get to that shot teaching like he can't get around that screen in time, Like he can't shed the screen quickly enough. So why don't just play a guy who's used to

doing it and and see what happens. And and that's my thing, Like if you've seen people, if you've seen opposing teams use the same exact strategy over and over again. Like the first thing for me I would if I was vocal, was like, all right, people are pick and rolling us to death. Let me just play my best

two shooters that can defend a pick and roll. So if it's if it has to be Bradley has to be one of those guys who's the next guy is the monk uh or is it Russ And is it Russe and Bradley or is it Russe and Monk or you know what does it have to be? Um? And you know, like why not try it? Give it a chance to see what happens. So U I'm with you, Matt,

like what do we have to lose? Like do it in the regular season so that we can figure out exactly what's going on with this team as opposed to doing exactly the same thing over and over again and then being upset that we didn't get the result that we wanted. Yeah, and just last thing on ely thing because again and only think is not a championship you know, changing player. I said that last night, Like it's not like I'm standing. You know, people have stand pages. I'm

not standing. It's just you know what I mean, Like if he just fits in again, like doing these spaces after every game, you can sometimes you can lose the bigger picture, right because you know you're so emotional games every game just like okay, what happened tonight? Know what

happened tonight? And then what happened tonight? And then like five games go by, you're like, oh shit, like I missed you know, the whole trend here, And I think it's just it fits into a larger picture to me, So what's the main The main thing about this team

is their stars. Right, it's Lebron, Russ and a D and everything around that are stars together have a one point three net rating for the season, you know, like we're plus That means we're basically playing neutral basketball, which makes sense because we're five hundred, right, but we're five. But you your stars should be like what usually would happened would be like the stars would have like a plus eight, right, and then the rest of the teams like a plus one. Then you have like a good

net rating. But our stars are plus one point three. Like that's an issue. That's a that's a process issue to me, Like every Bradley hitting six threes is you know, it's nice, it's just not something that's gonna happen nightly. And you're also not gonna play okay see nightly. Like that's where I'm thinking. That's why I advocate for Wayne because he just, to me, he's the face of an issue. He's not the it's not Wayne Ellington being the fix of the issue, or just like you said, Austin Reeves

doesn't change you from a championship level team. He just changes your identity. Right, It's like a it's a move to an identity. So that's all I just want to say with Wayne, because that's my point, and I think you kind of agree with that as well. Right, It's not you're saying like Osto Reaves isn't so much better

than th HD. Like it's not like that. It's just like he fits the team, and it's like and putting him in it fits in ideology that this team needs to win, Like it's not about who's better than the other player, right, And we both want th HD to succeed as well. So that's kind of a bigger picture here.

Our stars are plus one point three net ready for the season, and that's awful for your superstars, Like you should be winning those out of much better place, especially with the schedule that we played and a lot of that. DeAndre Jordan too, But yeah, yeah, no, no, I was I was gonna say actually before because I knew that I was gonna gonna talk to you today, I actually looked up so I looked at the four man just plus minuses right for fore man lineups, and I didn't

with excluding DeAndre Jordan's like so no no lineups. So I mean he would have been in the format land up anyways, But I just wanted to see, like, which which fourth player looks really good, uh, next to like our big three, right, regardless of whoever that fifth person is. Uh. And obviously the fifth person makes a huge difference to you know, it's not fair to say that the fifth

person can't jump up in the entire lineup. Um. But it's like I was looking at it and there's like the Big three plus tent Baysmore have played like thirty minutes together or something like that, and it's like, a it's zero, it's a neutral zero. And then it's like every Bradley's the you other guy, it's a neutral zero. Th h, it's like a plus three or it was like or it may have been minus I can't remember

exactly what it was. But it's just like all these different configurations, not including Wayne Ellington, not including like they're all like just neutral there. They're nothing is happening, like that's extraordinary with those lineups. So it's like if we're twenty six games in, thirty games in at this point, why not try something different, um, just to see what what what happens, and you know, maybe maybe that is what's eventually coming you know, um in the next set

of ten games or something like that. Maybe maybe Vogo makes the lineup change, um and goes in that direction. But you know, like that that that's been my thing too. I'm on board with you, Like there's it seems like there's some opportunity there, um and there's just a small adjustments. Don't play this guy, play this guy instead. Don't play these two guys at the start of game, play them as the first shift that comes in, and that that can make all the difference um with those lineups in

those net ratings. Yeah, for sure. And like my final thing, like I was wrong. I thought Wayne Ellington played zero minutes with the Big Three. He played nine total minutes I guess in five games, which you spread that out, it's like a minute a half or something per game, nine possessions with our Big three, you know, And that's

where that's where the it's not matching to me. You know, like if if I was sold that this was our starting line up in the beginning of the year, and now that four of those guys are healthy and those four guys played nine minutes total through you know, however many games it is, it's not really matching to me, Like there's a disconnect there that I'm kind of struggling with.

But I think that's enough about them. Like before we closes out here, I wanted to ask you about a d because I think, you know, we were talking about this as well, and I think it's fascinating because his numbers all match right, like they're all still superstar top whatever level player points of the pain he leaves, dunks, it leads, you know, and all that stuff. When I'm watching in the game, though he it does look like

he's a little slower. It does look like he picks and chooses when he wants to put an imprint on the game. And I'm not saying he was always this aggressive score, because he wasn't like the eight hes a guy that's not an aggressive score. That's just not his mentality. He's a guy that picks his spots. Even when we got Dennis Shrewder, he had quotes like I'm trying to fit around Dennis Shrewder and we're like, you're Anthony freaking Davis.

Everyone sits around and everyone fits around you, you know what I mean. But but I think defensively is where I see it. Um, I see a lack of like a motor drop. That's that really shows in the film when you go from Anthony freaking Davis motor what it was to what I've seen this year and last year. I throw away because whatever last year was, but this year I've kind of seen that. So what do you see from a d I guess big picture obviously didn't

play tonight. The Memphis game to me stood out from him, but like I wanted to you kind of get into it, because I mean you've you've kind of got into this as well. But I think it's it's really key to

talk about. Yeah, you know. So the way that I kind of think of it is, um, you know, this season and this is probably a good way to just kind of zoom out before we jump into more before jumping into more detail, Like this Lakers team, regardless of how average it's been, it's had so many random swings even within games itself, like the goal of twenty and then they'll all of a sudden the opposing team of go on a eighteen four right, that the data behind

everything that you're watching is almost completely unreliable. Like there's so much of the data that we're that we have from the twenty seven games that we played this season is unreliable because you know, there will be one specific lineup that only played in one specific game and never played in any other games that looks extraordinarily good, but there's no sample size of the day, so it looks crazy.

So so my thing is this, like when the my biggest gripe is that you know, the national media is you know, it's it's a lazy business, right, NBA naturally is a very lazy business. That one of the worst things that's happened. And it's not because it's not the fault of the folks that are into analytics. One of the worst things that's happened is people are substituting at analytics too as a substitute to actually like watching the film, And this is not this. This is not the ship

on that community. So I don't want anybody to who

was listening to think that's what I'm doing. But because the data is so unreliable with what's going on, with the Lakers team this season, um with with the swings and stuff I got momentum swings game, the game that if you don't actually watch what Anthony Davis is doing on the floor when he's at the five versus when he's at the four, you won't understand like what I'm what my complaints are right like my The thing that I tried to tell people in the space was this,

Charles Barkley can say whatever he wants, kenneed Perkins can say whatever he wants. They have their allegiances, they're doing their jobs. They get paid handsomely to give opinions, whether they're stupid or not like or or whether they're true or not um to give their opinions. But Anthony Davis as a player is who he is and he has

always been that same exact person his entire career. If you ask Pelican fans that watch the watch him on the Lakers right now, they will tell you the stuff that he does, the selective motor that he has, the times where he kind of picks and chooses when he wants to kind of put his imprint on the game, Like that's something that he did in New Orleans and you won't hear that conversation between the Lakers fan and the Pelicans fan to some degree because you know, we've

been at each other's throats after because yeah, exactly, social media does that. So anyway, this is not a referendum on that. But the thing that I'm trying to bring up is like people are complaining that Anthony Davis isn't doing enough. That's one end of the spectrum. That's not true, right, that's clearly false. And then you have another end of the spectrum that's saying, well, Anthony Davis, he's not impactful when he gets it's not an impactfu. That's also another

extreme that's not true either. Like these are two extremes that the truth is always in the middle. Does a d have a selective motor? Absolutely, he picks and chooses when he wants to be uh involved in the offense.

The thing is is that when we are watching as fans, when we're watching Anthony Davis be selective with his motor, even when he's playing at the five, even when he has a guy like Derek Jones Jr. Defending him uh in Chicago, or when he has you know, like Jaren Jackson Jr. I think he's Jaren Jackson, but Darren Jackson like from Memphis, and he's not punishing that matchup. Over and over again. We're screaming at the TV, what the Anthony Davis doing? But in reality, that's who he is.

He has to be coached, regardless of the fact that he's a superstar. He has to be coached to be aggressive, he has to be forced into sets. And so when people go Alvin Gentry unlocked, Anthony Davis, no ship because Alvin Gentry was running the same exact principles that Mike D'Antoni was running. Play fast, go early in the shot clock, Anthony comme and screen the ball handler, and go to the rim every single time. Don't worry about jump shots.

Just go to the rim. And Drew Holiday or a Geon Rondo or who or you know each on More or whoever it is, he's gonna get you the ball. But just keep going to the rim. What about Frank Vogel makes and what you've seen what Frank you know the way Frank Vogel coaches. Again we said earlier, he's a diplomatic coach. What makes anybody think Frank Vogel is

doing that? What makes anybody think that Frank Vogel is going to Lebron and Russ and Adi is saying, Yo, I need you to run ten straight pick and rolls to start this game. This team has no interior defense. Let's pulverize him inside. It just doesn't happen, right, like, And so that that's the point that I'm trying to, like, like, I've been trying to bring like with as it relates to Davis. His nature, right, his nature as a player, his human nature is what needs to be looked at

and it has to be worked around. And the reason why I think this is, like, I don't even think it's a contentious argument. I think it's just something that people are having a hard time understanding because he won a championship and he puts up this super awesome numbers and stuff like that. But just look at the guy he's playing next to Russ. The first thing that we said when he got Russ, when Russ was trained to Lakers, Russ has to reign back his nature. He can't just

play go go go, go, go high motor. I'm gonna attack the it doesn't matter who's with me. Every single time, that same level, that same expectation in a different way, that same microscope that we're using. We have to do that with Anthony Davis or else. What's gonna end up happening is that we're gonna sit here and say, oh, man, he's got like half of the crowd he's gonna say, oh, you know what he's got like he's leading the points

in the pain. And then the other half is gonna be like, well, he's playing soft, and nobody will ever come to an agreement as so what's actually happening. And you know, like like I've said I tweeted about a little bit earlier, like when he plays a five, he's worried about hurting himself. Like if you guys watch him, watch Crusoe even last season or KCP. When you play defense, you get hurt. People elbow you in the face, you

get need as you're going for rebounds. You can potentially turn your ankle if you're trying to block somebody and and they land and you know, like they land before you. These are all basketball things that happen, and it's not intentional. It just happens. And this dude doesn't want to get hurt. And look, Roger, I'll be very honest. I don't want

him to get hurt either. So if he if he's gonna play the five, great, but I'm not gonna get mad at him if he's not blocking every freaking shot every time somebody, you know, the defense gets compromised because I don't need this dude getting hurt, like yesterday he got blocked or Memphis he got blocked. He's grabbing his hand.

That's not the first time he's done that this season, right, and like and so and and and that's my thing, Like we have to understand that if you're expecting him to play a certain way and you want him to do this NonStop, then they're has to be a given take. You can't be like, you know, Anthony Davis, like I need you to block every shot that comes into the paint, and then I also need you to go and drop her shoulder into the other guy every single play. He's

not built like that. He's just not He's not Joel and Bead, He's not Nicola Yoki. Even those guys don't do that every single time. And Bead said that he likes to face up and shoot jumpers, So it's like Yoki shoots jumpers, but We're like, oh no, why don't you just go in there and just you know, you know, like like a mosh bit, like just going and bang heads with everybody. It's like, that's not reasonable to expect

something like that, and he goes against his nature. And and that's why I'm always hard Yeah, my long monologue, that's why I'm always hard on Uh, I'm always always hard on Vogol because I was like, dude, Vogo has to see this. He has to recognize when he's disengaged and work around it. Either get him involved through set actions or or go away from him. Run something with Broad and Russ, run something with your shooters, do something else. And and I think that's gonna be something that he

has to figure out or else. I do think his job would be in jeopardy. Uh, Frank Vogols if if you can't figure that part out. Yeah, like you know, that was that was great. There's a lot of good stuff in there. And I like I always thought I always said this with the A D at the five stuff because that's the point of contention with Laker fans all the time, right, It's like, yeah, just go play the five eighty, Like like how could you not see

that's your best position. You know, you you hear that a lot from people like how could you not see that's your best position? And my always thing is, first of all, when a player tells you something like I believe it. A D has been very clear about not wanting to play the center, and I think the guy that actually goes out there and plays thirty five minutes a night, like we should listen to what he says, you know, like that there's a reason why he doesn't

want to do something. It's not just him being you know, we throw around the words soft way too easily to me, Like I like calling a D soft. To me, it's just really dumb, low hanging fruit analysis. And that's basically what Charles Barkli was getting at, right, Like if you read between the lines, he was basically calling a D soft in a way, you know, like if you just read between those lines, And I think that's always been

the wrong way to look at it. A D doesn't want to be the center, and there's reasons for that. And you saw that in the Memphis game, and you talked about how he tries not to he tries not to get hurt, and I think that's a very clear thing that's been going on. I think that that seems like to be a reason as well. And when he's the five, he has to be the main engaged defensive guy, he's the main rim protector. I think he likes to having another big next to him. As much as we

hate the DeAndre Jordan's stuff. Was also clear that he was big in recruiting DeAndre Jordan, Right, that's no secret like that he came out with that. There's no secret he recruited Andre Drummond right like someone that we've been frustrated with. Dwight Howard obviously is the guy he likes to play next too. And and you're right when we went to when we started Dwight in the second half of that Memphis game, it felt like eighties energy. He picked up a little bit. That is That is specifically

why I posted that clip. A couple nobody actually responded to that tweet, saying that I was waiting to see if anybody would say that, because that was the one thing I noticed when they started Dwight in the second half, all of a sudden, eighties got some pep in his step, right, jumper looks really nice like he's like even the passes he was making the cutters like they look on time, Chris, his head is up. I was like, dude, this is

completely different person. That's probably right now and and and that's my thing, Like I'll let you if it's not.

It's just like you have to find that balance. And Bogol has to figure that out because if you just blanketly do one thing and run that as a set rotation every single game, you are going to get mixed results and you are going to get a disengaged Anthony Davis because he's going to go into self preservation mode and he's gonna be like, dude, I'm not going to risk my health because people already call me street clothes and Charles Barkley's on NBA t you know, NBA on TNT,

on national television basically calling me saft. So why would I why would I just risk hurting myself and not make myself available with the playoffs. And he's right, like I can't get mad at him for something like that, but go ahead, you know, like no, no, no, you're you're good and that's all kind of involved in it, right, And I think you're you're lower on Vogel than I am, like I've been clear that I don't think not that

I'm stand again now that I'm standing Vogel. I just think the solution isn't taking him out right, because I feel like the replacement for Vogel isn't here, Like it just isn't. People have named, you know, Phil Handy as someone they've liked. Phil Handy, you know, he's great. I love Phil Handy. I hope he's here forever. Zero head coaching experience, right, or you know Fisdell, we've seen him in other place. Like those are names to me that just don't get me. Or even the darker names like

Mark Jackson. I've heard people bring up like that, stuff like that exactly. No, it's not that you want those guys. It's just like, look at the landfield. You look at the you know, field of coaches that are available and all that. Do you expect that the Lakers left Frank Googol. Will they go into some super deep, you know, unknown higher like I don't see that happening like that. You know, they hire in house usually like vocals kind of the rare exception to that, but they do kind of higher

And how that's not even the point of this. I think there are things that we don't do for a D. Like it's very clear, like we watched these games, the starting lineups, they have very little belief in their actions that they want run right. It's very little belief that anything they're doing is opening anything up right. So their first play of every game, every game is the first

play without usually fail. It's a fifteen second cross screen to get a D a post up on the other side or the other team usually switches it, so a D really doesn't get any advantage against any player. It's a post up for a D. Usually free the line extended. If we're lucky, it's a little closer to freak the line right like, but it's usually like it's free the line extended. It's a DY with the back to his baskets, three people in the paint already with one ready to

double right, and usually the post entry passer. Sometimes it's Lebron, sometimes it's th Ht, sometimes it's Avery Bradley, you know, like it's players that teams really don't care. So a D catches the ball in the post. Three guys come at him, and people are like, why didn't he power to the rim. It's like, what you know, he's not getting calls either. Yeah, that's a that's yeah, that's a

separate part of it. But yeah, and we run post ups and are really our only counter out of post ups, right is the pin screen on the other side, But it's like Avery Bradley setting a pin screen for ht who's open anyway, Like there's no, there's not even need for that. So like that's the stuff I see you where we don't put him in positions as well, But some of the stuff I think it's okay to also

hold eighty accountable. Like to me, some of the stuff he does where he like some of the screens he sets are very lighthearted and again maybe that's part of him not wanting to get hurt, But do you see that as well, Like I see a lot of lighthearted screens where it's like a let me just get a little bit of contact and then roll. Like where if him, if he's setting that screen and he rolls, that's a problem,

that's something you have to deal with. But eight is setting a half hardest screen and rolling for the big kind of guard him and guard Russ at the same time, because Russ isn't a mid range score. Like those are things I'm seeing. And it's why I think both of us promote spacing so much now because you need it. You have three guys in the pain eighties jumpers not in this has not entered this season, yet it's getting better. His midrange jumper, I think is better than people think

it is. But you know, we have three guys in the main And that's why I'm such a promoent from Wayne Ellenton starting because I just think it opens up everything for everyone else. Like if everybody is having a good game, that's fine, Like that's not inductive to the process that we need, Like we need Russ having how many times does Russ start a game? Well, season, people have been saying like that that Boston game, like, oh,

rustock over the third, Rust just help power thirds. But it's like the reason why Russ got off against Boston in the third quarter. And you know you had that three play sequence where it's a layoup layup dunk on Josh Richardson or whatever. A d is connecting on the

screen and then he's slipping quickly. So Robert Williams can't just you know, Rob Willigue, he can he can't just like stand in between both of them, and Russ immediately attacks the rim and he sees that rob makes the choice of of closing out on a D backing up to him and ruscats layups. You know what I mean? But where is the commitment? Where is the execution? Where is the conviction in that plate that I'm going to roll to the rim or or I'm gonna pop out

to the free throw line? That that is like, Uh, you know, Russ had six turnovers that last game. Um, And so I went, I like every game I do this. Apparently Russ doesn't exercise to as well. Um. And you know I did that right up a long time ago about Russ and how he looks turnovers, Like I watched those turnovers from the Memphis game. Four of those turnovers are strictly out of pick and roll, like Russ trying

like two of them are him. He makes a bounced pass the a D because a D like he doesn't know whether he wants a rim run or pop and Russ makes it pass thinking that e D is going to rim run. AD doesn't do anything. He just stands in one spot and it really goes to nobody. And then there's another one where Russ gets all the way to the paint eight is coming baseline off the rim run and there's like that week side tagger or whatever.

But ad he never seals him. He never gives Russ a good angle to to drop it to him, because if he does, it's a dune. And so then we turn around and we go, dude, Russ, you're an idiot, Like what are you doing? But it's just like it's a dance, right, Like you have to do it together. It has the execution has to be great, and that I think that is fair if if people look at a d like you know, like how you're described right now, like is he doing it with conviction? Is he doing

it with effort? Right? You could? I think it's very valid to criticize him about stuff like that. My I've actually been a proponent of Like, dude, if you don't want to go to the rim because you're not getting calls and you know, like you just don't feel like colliding all day today, just demonstrably go to the free throw line and Russell give you the ball for a jumper, Like, just just make a choice. Don't waffle around in between two areas because you're just making it more difficult for

everybody else. And that's aside from the floor balance and the lack of shooting and all that sort of stuff. Like he has to play with conviction, and I think that's kind of like what you're trying to get at, like as it comes to like his his consistent effort. Yeah, conviction is a good way to put it. It's just but it's a passiveness that I don't like, you know what I mean, Like it's like a like against Memphis.

And again, look, Steven Adams is you know, he's a good he's a good I guess he's a good defender. But Stephen House was giving me a D like six ft of space, right, and usually you do that too, guys.

You don't fear that jumper. But usually you can't do that to guys like a D because they can make up that space with enough momentum right where they get to the basket, they can your step gets fouled or whatever, and a D is just looking for the trible handoff, like there is no there is zero level of aggression. Like I have Steven Adams on me. This guy should be in no way be able to guard me at all.

But it was It was none of that. It was like here, let me just run this, you know, fake play this trible handoff of the Rust that creates very little advantage because teams aren't scared of Russ coming off a screen roll with me because they're just they'll trap us and have me open for a jumper. But it's that kind of like you said, conviction. I think that's the way right way to put it. And blaming all our problems on a D obviously is unfair. Like that's

just not right. He is putting up crazy numbers, and I always hate the you know, the numbers aren't real crowd like numbers. Yeah, numbers are numbers, right, But I'm not gonna make fun of right, Like you know, Russ putting up ten and ten is Rust putting up ten and ten Like that's those you know what I mean? Like the numbers are what they are. It's just there's there's some lack of there's some passive that passive us there that I think, you know, can be brought up.

But I think blaming everything on him isn't right. But I think there are stuff we can help hold our hold our superstar accountable for. Like I think that that's also fair. Is he putting Is he being put in the perfect situations? No, I'm obviously not that spacing obviously is not conductive, but him, it's not conductive to russ either. It's not even conductive to Lebron. He's just drilling jumpers,

you know, like it's our imagin imaginive. Braun doesn't come out shooting jumpers the way he was against Boston, or or scoring the way that he did against Memphis, Like those first quarters, we would have been down double digits for sure, Like uh with with without his scoring and stuff like that. And I think that's the part, like folks don't realize that we're not that we're staying afloat, but like Braun has been so good that we haven't realized how the other guys have not been good in

those first quarters. And that's a good side, you know, that's something that we can carry on as the season goes on. That he looks so good and jumpers looks so good. But now we need all the other guys to kind of fall into place. And I'm hoping that that that starts happening, um, you know, with him back, Yeah, for sure. And to me, like the ceiling of this team was Lebron and A D kind of being themselves and Russ picking his spots and that, to me, that's

not really how the season has played out. So like we've been carried by Russ for a lot of this season. Like that's why it's hard for me to kind of criticize, you know, the turnovers and all that. But yeah, the A D discussion is fascinating because the numbers are what they are. You know, it's tough to argue with those, but we watch all these games and we understand there's places where he picks his spots and he's always going

to do that. But it's just a tough kind of conundrum there because you don't want him for right he has some knee soreness, and I think there were some quotes today like he's they want to make sure that's before moving forward, and that's definitely the right decision, but it just sucks that you know he's getting hurt. Now there should be a time the team kind of revs up, But we're over an hour here, so bad. I kind

of taken more of your time than I promised. But any final thoughts here, either this game or a big picture or anything. Yeah. So, because I know you don't want to do this, I'm gonna say this. I don't think Uh, I'm not gonna say that this is a hopefully a turning point, because that's crazy. I'm not gonna say this is a turning point. But um, I think the one thing that we can kind of take away, um from from this game, granted it was okay see,

uh so I'm not gonna take it too crazy. There is a version of this team that executes well, like I'm not gonna be expact Gaby Radley to be uh a t t to be great shooters and stuff. I got all of the fun. But that you can tell that, you know, with Reeves, with Ellington, with monk Um, with spacing stuff like that, there's an there's a well oiled executing machine that that's that's somewhere in this team. And and the other thing is, um Braun has looked great.

Nothing else like Braun has looked really good. Um Boston, Memphis and now okay see and uh it is great to see that even at his year nineteen, at his age, he can basically have his fingerprints, um on the personality of every single person on this roster, just by the way he starts the game off and conducts himself on the court. So that's great to see that he still has that kind of impact and that everybody kind of falls in and um, you know, just I'm hoping we

can string together some wins and stuff. I got looking forward to it. Um. And you know, as I always, I appreciate subbing in for you guys whenever you guys need to. I hope everybody enjoyed. And just remember the basketball guys are always watching so so so we gotta we gotta be nice to our own players, uh, so that we can collect this good karma on our way to the championship. Yeah, hopefully the basketball guy is shining

some positive light. You know that's going forward. Uh N. I appreciate you, appreciate everyone who came and listen on a Friday night the Lakers finally got a good win. I'm not going to use that tea where that Venete used, um, but yeah, thank you everyone again for listening. This will this will be up on the podcast feed uh in about an hour or so, I'll get this up. This one won't be on dash Radio because we'll have another

show on Sunday. But again thanks everyone, Thank you again Rene for subbing in, and everyone have a great night and I'm happy Holidays. H