Pistons/Lakers Postgames Spaces

gonna be able to become a good team overnight. Uh. There that was that there's just too many problems to fix with this team to you know, have a situation where, you know, just some guys have a good raw ros speech in the locker room, come out and give good effort and fix everything. It was always gonna be a process, but there had to be a clear, intentional um first step, and I thought that tonight very well could have been that. However, Rodge, it feels like something I've said a half dozen times

this year. So where are you at today? Man? At first one? Has your weekend been? I hope you've had a chance to relax a little bit and to give me your thoughts on so far on tonight's game. Yeah, I had a good weekend. Um, enjoying with some family here as well, So I was kind of in and out on this one, but I did catch the main

kind of things. I saw the ugly, obviously starting lineup that stayed this team has lost the benefit of the doubt, right, Like you would agree, like this team has lost the benefit of the doubt with the good game bad games that they've been hasn't they've been having, But I thought tonight it's one of It's probably the best game we've seen from a Big three as a collective. Uh. So we had I think I had the stats up here. We had Anthony Davis with Lebron with thirty three, Russ

with twenty five. I thought the rim pressure was was great from all three of them really attacking the basket. Lebron took I think nine threes, but then that really got to the rim. And that's what we need to see from them. Uh And I'm hoping this is kind of something we can see going forward. But this team was lost in benefit of the doubt to me, like, I need to see this on a consistent basis. And I've seen people like you said, upset with the margin

the margin that we won won by. But we're not a good team right now, at least so far, and people are gonna be mad at the DeAndre Jordan minutes. Dwight Howard was out tonight, I believe with rest, so it really just had him and Lebron and a G at the center. But yes, yes, yeah, I think Uh Mike Mike Trudell on the on the broadcast said he was resting and Vogel was going with more guards tonight going against this Detroit team. But yeah, man, I want

to see this going forward. But we got a lot more Lebron, a d of the center at center lineups, and hopefully this is something we see going forward. But that's where I'm at since this is a good win. Again, the scoring margin isn't great. Detroit kind of made a run late, but we can't really be picky right now with with wins that we're getting. We didn't go to overtime, which is a positive, right like we beat them, we beat them in regulation. Uh, That's where I'm at this

with this. It's a good win. Good hopefully we can build on it. But they've lost the benefit of the doubt to me for for saying that it's something we're gonna build one and you know, as I said at the very beginning, the Lakers have a laundry list of problems, you know, like they're you're never going to be able to get th h T at age twenty one now to be a really consistent offensive player. So he's, you know, gonna be a kind of on again, off again type of guy in our offense, you know, And the same

thing goes with him on the defensive end. He's gonna have nights where he makes a ton of big plays, and then he's gonna have nights where he's getting lost off the ball a very Bradley. His offense very clearly comes and goes. His defense, you know, is very active. It's very active, but it doesn't accomplish a ton that There's nothing we can do to change that. The same

goes for everybody on the roster. Wayne, Malik and Carmelo are kind of offensive engines that will get hot and then also go cold, and they're not gonna give us a ton offensively. That's not going to change. Frank isn't going to change unless he gets fired. As we've seen, he's very very reliant, he's very very set in his ways. You know, that's not something we can change without Frank getting fired. You know, uh, Russ is what Russ is.

But there was one clear thing going on that absolutely was very very easy to change, and that was Lebron in a D's engagement level. And so tonight a lot of those things that I just listed off reared their ugly head, Frank's, Frank's insistent on using DJ, the terrible spacing offensive guards, mellow Monk and uh Ellington all had pretty offensive nights that all led to that close scoring margin.

But the functionality of the team, meaning like the quality of shots they were giving up and the quality of shots they were generating for themselves, was all significantly better because at the very beginning of the game, while Braun and a D made a concerted effort to be engaged physically in the game, instead of taking a boatload of dumb jump shots, they both put their head down and got to the rim a lot. A D, when he screamed instead of popping, would roll hard to the rim.

I talk a lot in the last part with at about out of area defensive place. You know, like a D and Lebron are so incredibly gifted that they'll make a play and you'd be like, oh, man, I can't believe, you know, he blew that play up, or he got this crazy block, or he did this, But usually it's because the offense kind of ran directly into him and his freak talent took over. There was very little extra effort to get out of their area to cover for

their teammates. And you saw that tonight. You saw Lebron actually stepping in and taking charges instead of standing there and watching. There was a play early in the game, a d off ball, there's a guy posting up a mismatch. He went out of his area to come over and he raced the shot. Those are those are additional effort plays. That's covering for the fact that your teammates don't have the amount of talent that you have. And so, and even though all those other flaws that I talked about

have to get fixed, we still need forwards. We need to find a way to be generate easier shots. We need uh Frank to give up on DeAndre Jordan's and use Avery Bradley a lot less. That's all true, but step one was getting Lebron and a D on board and for them to try this hard in a game against the Pistons, for them to come out into this game with that level of urgency on both ends, to me, it was a big step. And it's not about once. Like you said, they don't get the benefit of the doubt.

We don't get to just assume this means problems are fixed. They have to show us over an extended stretch that they are. But this was a good first step in that direction. Yeah, I agree with that, and I've seen people you know, start to do that. You know, they miss k CP, they miss Kyle Kuzma, they miss Danny Green. Those aren't players that aren't on minimum deals though, right like those are players making eight to twelve to fifteen

million dollars a year. When you have a team with three stars and a bunch of just minimum guys on the roster, your three stars pretty much have to show up every single night, or at least two of them have to be at an engagement level to match, and even a team like Detroit that's really bad. We're just not playing at the level right now where those two or three of them can be disengaged. And it's not fair to have Lebron with these kind of Lebron having this load a d I think he's the young one,

he's twenty eight. He's the one that should be he should not be load managing through games, uh, in between games. But it's something that we've just seen. The effort level hasn't been there, and we've seen guys kind of breakdown why that's happening. And the spacing issues, to me, are still gonna be there. Frank Vogel looks like he's gonna go down. He's gonna go down with the ship his way. Like people expected DeAndre Tron and Avery Bradley not to

start tonight and they did again. Uh, and I think we were down seven to one or something like that when the game started, uh, and it was really bad. It looked ugly. But he's gonna go down with the ship his way. And maybe that changed when we get healthy. But you're right, Lebron and a D. Being engaged is the first step. Those other guys an't going to change the way that those those guys can Molik Monk to me, is not going to get better defensively. Wayne Ellington probably

isn't gonna be is not gonna be better. Carmelo Anthony is what he is. Lemon and eighties engagement level have to be have to be to a baseline level. Right. It doesn't have to be great. Lebron doesn't have to be a percent defensive Player of the Year. But like you, like you said, defense defending out of his area, Lebron

defending a d defending out of this area. It's just stuff that we need we net Like in that Indiana game, I thought Lebron showed what he can be, and then the next in the next few games are just he just stopped trying again, like it was just his effort. Can't wane that much for this team. Uh, they really need him, And I thought tonight it was great. I thought the engagement was really there from from the opening tips.

So hopefully it's something we can build on. But you're right, I just thought it was an engagement level that we need to see. And they're the leaders of the team. Frank Vogel, people are asking for his head on on a stick. We'll see if that comes to fruition. Uh, this is another game that he survived, he got the win. I don't think they want to make that change right now, and again I've been very clear on my stance on it, but it's starts with them too. At the top. No

scheme matters until your stars are engaged. And I thought we saw that tonight. Even if there's a lot of a lot of stuff, we still have to fix a lot of the lineup that still have to be fixed. That's the top of the that's the top of the key for me, is is Lebron and a D engaged at a level that brings everyone else. You can build on that, right, like like, like you know, turning activity into production on defense is a process, but the first

step is that activity. You've got to get guys actually willing to put in put their bodies on the line to do the job. From there, you can get to the point where guys start to build that on a string type of continuity defensively, right, that's them, Like, there were a lot of place tonight where guys were trying hard but got out of position. But that's to be expected because they haven't really really tried to attempt to make their defensive scheme work, you know, up to this point.

But like at a certain point you had to you had to at least start the process of everybody giving ship so that they can start to build that continuity and understanding, Like hey, like Avery tends the funnel guys, this way a D s now going out of his area to help here. So I it is worth it for me to rotate over to that week side corner, whereas in the past it was already a layup. So I I would just quit on the play myself too, because I don't even my faults. Somebody else quit like

it's all part of building that chain. And then then that's when you're you'll start to see the multiple efforts start to come into play, and that's when you'll start to see that invigorate the offense. Because again, like I said, our role players weren't good tonight. None of our offensive you know, firepower pieces off the bench really got going. Everybody made a handful of plays, but nobody really got going,

you know what I mean. And so from that standpoint, it goes back to something that you and I have said NonStop over the last three years. When the Laker role players are bad, but Lebron and a D are engaged, we win by a little And Lebron and Nadi are engaged and our role players are okay, we win by like fifteen And when Lebron and n D are engaged and our role players play really well. We blow teams out.

So tonight kind of fit back into that mold for me of Lebron and A D leaving a physical imprint on the game, no one else really being able to match them. But it not mattering because Lebron and A

D are that good, you know. And and I think we can move this to us a little bit because um, he's been the most consistently engaged player that we that from the Big three over the course of the last you know, almost a month, And I think I think he deserves to get a lot of credit because you know, that's what kind of made the Lebron and A D

stuff so embarrassing. Is meanwhile, Russ, you know, while he's getting all the blame on Twitter from people outside of the Laker fan base, you haven't watched him night in and night out, and people inside the Laker fan base that including myself, who had just been hard on him, especially at the beginning of the season. I think people like you and I who actually have been watching have taken it a lot easier on Russ says, he's gotten better because we have no we have no we have

no personal against him, you know, what I mean. But like again, Russ. Russ has been good for a couple of weeks now, so it's nice to see Lebron in a d medium at that level, and we're seeing two Russ start to find comfort and where to be aggressive. It's hard for me to watch him with DJ still because you can tell there's just no there's no real opportunity for him to go. But he had a lot

of opportunity tonight with a d Or. He'd go five out and and there'll be nobodies in the paint and he could put his head down and get to the rim. He had some bullyball post up type of touches. It's good to see Russ just starting to look comfortable in the Laker offense. Yeah, he's definitely starting to pick his spots, and anyone who's in the past he's watched US and Washington and Houston has said he kind of picks it up as a season goes along, and hopefully that's something

that's happening here. Is engagement level has been there. Offensively, I think defensively still, he gets lost a lot of times on shooters or when he's the help man. He's really he really likes to go up go help on the boards, and that's something that really hurts the team. But you're right, he has pushed the pace. We've talked about it all year. Though. This team needs to choose an identity, and I think that one has to be

one that fits Russ. The DJ and Avery Bradley lineups are so against what Russ is good at, what what gets Russ comfortable, and I think that's been the biggest frustration. But I don't know if Vogel is going to go away from that. But I thought again tonight his room pressure was great, and it's what we thought the formula would be for this team, right. It's Lebron and Aidy going off and then you have Russ as well doing

his thing, putting up the numbers. And the numbers aren't always great like they you can, you know, argue whether they impact winning or whatever you want to say, but I mean twenty five points, nine rebounds, six assists, three turnovers, only three threes tonight, really getting to the basket, like, that's what that's the formula for this team winning, right, Lebron and a D being themselves and then Russ adding

his production to that. And I think That's how you have to win here when you have a team full of guys on minimum deals, like the three stars have to be themselves, like, especially against good teams Detroit. Maybe you can get away with if one of them are playing well, but you need all three of them, all three of them going. I thought today was a sign of that of what it can look like. I guess when it's going, it's going well. But yeah, Russ starting

to get more comfortable, starting to find his spots. Uh, the ad at the five lineups are obviously where he's most comfortable. Eighties still can't He's not shooting great, but his gravity is still there. I think I saw you treat that as well. Like eighties gravity as a shooter at the five still exists even if he's not shooting. It's something that just opens driving lanes for him. Uh and Lebron. It's something I think we need to lean into. I think, you know, Vogel will eventually lean into that,

hopefully when we get the full team healthy here. But but yeah, I thought, I think Russ is progressing upwards. Um, and he's not hurting the team, right. I I think that hasn't heard the team in a long time exactly. Yeah, And I think there's a line there. I think we've become uh. I think the conversation has come really close to if he's just not hurting the team, then it's great. He needs to be a positive though, right for the

team we get to where it needs to go. He needs to be a positive every single nine and and it's trying to do it. And and to your to your point about like the specific um like offensive approach

to the team and leaning into identities. This is where I really really struggle with the Avery Bradley and DeAndre Jordan's minutes because I, you know, will you and I both, but primarily me because of that clip that was just taken out of our podcast, has gotten a lot of crap for the DeAndre Jordan's and you know, my, my whole approach to DeAndre Jordan's signing wasn't really all that complicated.

Like he's a drop coverage big who is playing in a switching system in Brooklyn, and it was just very clear that he was never going to succeed up there. Meanwhile, the Lakers were coming off of back to back seasons being like the very best, if not second best, behind Utah drop coverage team in the league. That was what we did extremely well. So I'm sitting here thinking, like, hey,

we'll get dj in here. He'll slot right into that Javil McGee, Dwight Anthony Davis role on our defense and it'll be nice is he won't play, But if Lebron or if Anthony Davis has to take a night off, or or Dwight Howard has to take on night off, you can slide DeAndre Jordan in there and he'll be able to run a rudimentary drop drop coverage with our

scheme and it'll work. And all of that went to hell because not only did our guards not do their job in that scheme, Lebron and a D just completely mentally checked out on the season defensively compared to the way they were the previous two years. So all of a sudden, we're when we do run drop coverage, it looks like trash. Even if it's a D or Dwight. We're doing a lot more switching, We're running a jankie zone. And then you're like, why isn't DeAndre Jordan looking good?

And it's like, because it was obvious that when he came in here it would be more of the same with the way that this team was playing. And then all of a sudden, tonight DJ looks like a functional center again because Lebron and they D are engaged, you know what I mean. And look, I still don't like that,

and I'm about to explain why. But the point is is, like none of this was It wasn't fair to judge Malik, to judge Mellow the way we did in the first few games of the season, to judge DJ, to judge any of these guys with the way that Lebron and they D were playing, because at that point they might as well be the Houston Rockets, you know what I mean, in terms of just the what what they're going to look like on the television screenplaying basketball. So it wasn't

really fair. But so to your point about the identity, this is where I would like to see a lot more Malik Monk, a lot more Lebron at the five, a D at the five, a lot more favoring than shooting over guys like Avery Bradley over DeAndre Jordan's you know,

Baysmore's out of the rotation. Now. The reason why it's because I think with Lebron and a D try, you'll actually see functional, workable defense from the league Monk, from Wayne Ellington, from Carmelo Anthony, from these guys, because again, it's just easier for them to do their jobs when Lebron and a D are flying around out of their

area and making plays. And so from there, that's how we turned this from a team that only scores a hundred nine points or whatever it was against the Pistons into a team that could put up thirty while also getting a bunch of stops. It's by leaning into that offensive identity a little more while while still expecting Lebron and a D to engage on the defensive end. I think we need to kind of re evaluate some of that with Lebron and a D checked in. Does that

make sense? Yeah, and for sure doesn't. And I think I was more on the like, I'm fine, like I was wrong about this. I was kind of fine with DeAndre Jordan's starting in place of like just taking that JaVale McGee role, and JaVale McGee's motor is a lot higher and all that stuff of it is true. Jandre Jordan's obviously has highlight clips or low light clips if you want to call it where he just absolutely doesn't

try it, right he I've said it before. He takes the path of least resistance on pretty much any play that he does. And and maybe that's just something that that passes down when Lebron and a D aren't engaged and it just goes on to him. But that's something

that he's done a lot of this season. He takes the path of leasse resistance, right, if he has to go, if he has to go out to a shooter and there's a big standing in the lane, even though a D s in the lane with him, he just he just ties himself to that big man, even though it's his help rotation, right, And that's something that he'll do. But you're right, this team needs Lebron and a D

engaged on defense to go anywhere. We're just playing too many offensive minded guys, too many guys where our coverage doesn't match the personnel. A D at the five again is I've always talked about it. I think it's the right play for this team. I also don't think it's the magic Alick, sir, that you press one button and it solves other issues. You can't play you can't play a D at the five, Lebron at the four, and then have both of them checked out on defense. Right,

it doesn't work like that. Like those two have to be the help man rotation, have to be engaged on a lot of the plays. Lebron has to be the back line guy calling out things that are happening. He has to be that guy, the guy that can help and recover, and he's more than capable of doing that. Maybe again, that's not fair for him to do in year nineteen, but that's just where the roster is. That's how it's constructed. It's it's built around those two guys talents,

and it looks a lot better. DeAndre Jordan does look a lot more serviceable when you're having a D and Lebron engaged in this way. But you're right, DeAndre Jordan should not play, and maybe hopefully that's just a that's just a factor of Dwight not playing tonight and not have any any centers. I just feel like Vogel is going to continue this, uh, this starting lineup until until we get the team kind of fully back healthy here.

Do you see that going forward? Because I don't think vote is changing, Like I just I feel like he's going to continue this. Uh, like next time, would you predict that DeAndre Jordan every Brady don't start because I don't like, I think they're is going to continue to go to this even though the numbers say that it's awful.

I think coming in tonight into tonight, we had a eighty seven point zero offensive rating with our with our starting lineup with those two in with Avery Bradley and DeAndre Jordan on the floor, it's seven offensive rating and that's with Lebron or A D and Russ on the floor. Like, do you see that? Because I feel like we're going to continue to see these lineups. We're going to continue

to see the same starting lineup going forward. I think we'll continue to see DeAndre in the starting lineup until Trevor reas it comes back. I think at that point, even even Frank's flawed reasoning for going that route, will you know, point him in the in the direction of going with the reason. I mean, this is the part where it gets tricky because, like I said, uh, Lebron and a D. If this is the start of them

truly investing in the season, which we don't know. Like I said, there's been a half dozen moments like this where we wonder, hey, is this the turning point? Like I still remember sitting here talking with you about whether or not come back after the Isaiah Stewart fight was gonna be the magical comeback. Um, but I guess what it wasn't. So so that that's that's that's the point.

But if Lebron and a D used this as a turning point and they continue to invest night in the Night Out, the DJ minutes are gonna be okay, They're gonna win those minutes because, like I said, with those two engaged, it's just too much talent on the floor for really any line up to to to to struggle night in and night out. They're going to have some success there. So the hope there is that when a reason gets in, hopefully by that point he'll just have

no choice but to lean heavier into it. But I wanted to you know, you had mentioned, you know, like maybe it's not fair to ask Lebron in year nineteen to do this, And this is something I've been to a little bit about this with Ben the other night.

But this is a huge pet peeve of mine in this season because again, we are not talking about you know Lebron when he was with the Calves, and it's like, hey, dude, you've made the final seven straight seasons or six straight seasons, and you know, and you know in the easter A Conference that when you hit the gas, no one can really mess with you. So you have the ability to

to to coast through here. This isn't We're the defending champs and we just finished seventy one days ago, so like we we probably need to to favor taking work off of these guys. Oh and by the way, we're twenty one and six, so like we we can afford

to No. No, you are a bad team who is below five hundred, who just lost in the first round, who already has eleven losses, which is a lot if you really think about it, a fourth the way through the season, like the playing tournament or getting into a position where you're fighting to the last minute of the regular season to maybe get home court advantage in the first round. That's a real possibility now, even if Lebron in a d dial in. So there's like real urgency here.

So what bothers me is that people can't see that, Like you don't get to say Lebron's in year nineteen, so we gotta take it easy on him, or we can't ask a D to do all this work defending big guys all season because you know his body might wear down. Okay, if you want to take those responsibilities away from them, we're just going to be a bad team. That's the reality of it. This is we have real urgency here. If we don't ask Lebron and a D

to do this stuff. If Lebron and a D aren't willing to buy in on both ends of the floor, this is a five or below basketball team. That's just That's a fact. That's a literal fact. So once they embrace that and understand that they the team needs them to be good, that they were literally losing the first round. If they don't get back to the level, hopefully that urgency kicks in with them and then we'll start to

see a better investment in that. But you know, I thought I saw you know, I thought Lebron rarely shows that contrid and I thought we saw that for the first time after that loss the other night. Um uh, after those bad shots and ot against Sacramento. You could tell when he said, like I have to be better for this team. It seemed like the first time that I could tell this season that it dawned on him that what he was giving wasn't enough, even beyond what

he did in Indiana. Just I think he was aware suddenly that, like I think the urgency finally dawned with him. And that's just my theory and that's why I think maybe this will turn around from here. But like the this team does not have the luxury of trying to cut Lebron in a D slack. They are not talented enough. They are too far they're too far behind the eight ball with their continuity, and they're too far behind the eight ball with their habits to allow Lebron in a

D to coast. We actually need them to hit playoff intensity now until this thing gets right. If they go on a massive win streak and they're in a comfortable spy in the one, two or three seed and they're in an easy part of their schedule, have been fine. You can do things to eat innings and try to take something off their plate. But right now we can't.

We have to ask Lebron in ad to do more. Yeah, And when I say it's unfair to ask Lebron, you know, in your nineteen Like to me, I mean in like in a perfect world, in a perfect like roster construction way, you don't want your guy in your nine, your superstar in your nineteen have to be the guy defensively every night. Like, that's not something you just want to have, right, Even the Clippers with Kawai and Paul George, Kauai doesn't take

the best offensive player every single night. Even Paul George sometimes doesn't take the best offensive player every night, even when both of the guys on the floor, sometimes it's Marcus you know Morris who takes the best defensive. God, that's just the way to load manage during a season. That's what I mean by it's like like in a perfect world, you wouldn't want Lebron to be the guy having to carry your you know, defensive be one of the defensive back lines in the season that he's in.

And he's one. Look, he's probably the best ever in terms of load managing, in terms of knowing how to get his body ready for a playoff run. Right. You don't go to whatever it was, ten or nine finals in a row, uh by nine finals in row without having the experience and knowing what it takes to get there, and and to me, this team just doesn't have that luxury like you said, where he can kind of just coast through, go up and down with this effort on defense,

and just try to walk through these games. Because we're just gonna keep losing, We're gonna be a bad team. We have to start building habits. We have to start building good habits, winning habits. I thought it was funny the quote with Anthony Davis that came out where he said, we just need to win ten games in a row. Right, He's like, just when just win tens again in games

in a row and solve any solve everything. The title team in one ten one ten games in a row once they had another nine game winning streak as well. But my point there, it's very difficult. It's very difficult. That's why I think the Sun's winning fourteen in a row should be a bigger deal deal to me. And people come at me with the teams that they played, I don't care you. People teams lead lose the teams

they're not supposed to lose to all the time. We can attest to that just with the games that we've seen like it's very tough to win that many games in a row. They've won four teen best neither here and there. But yeah, eight is saying we just need to win, Like that's difficult. You need to And again it's gonna be a step by step process. This team has in the quotes have said that it's a long game, it's a process. But I mean, we're like, what done

with the season now? Like it's it's getting late early as they'll say, and you know, and we hear this quarter a lot, right, it's a it's a first quarter league as much as it's a fourth quarter league. Like these are all habits that you have to build, uh, to get to where we want to and to me, Lebron have to be engaged at a baseline level. Doesn't have to be a percent they don't, you know, they can do. I thought the third quarter tonight the ergy was the best I've seen. I think they have like

a sixteen o run or something like that. But but like it doesn't have to be to that level, but it has to be at a baseline level. And I think the players feed off of that as well. I think you go out of how your stars go and and they need to set the tone here and all the Frank Vogel noise all that's fair. The lineups aren't conducive to this roster, that's fair, And those are all criticisms that totally believe in. But for Lebron and eighty not to be bought and that that's the number one

thing for this team, because everything else doesn't matter. Like we said, you can't even get to scheme without first passing by effort, and I think that's the first kind of ship bridge we have to pass. And hopefully tonight's a way to get past there. Yeah, and you know, this is the last thing I'll say about the Lebron and a d thing, and then we can move back

into a couple more you know, details from tonight. But like you know, I was really really hard on the two of them over the course of the last couple of days. And you know, I've had a lot of people in my mentions, you know, getting on me about being too negative and and you know, obviously I have I have, for whatever reason, a good amount of clinically insane Lebron fans that fall me that make it a little bit toxic. And I mentions from time to from time to time. But the truth of the matter is

is that like like it. It is because of how much I respect those two and what they're capable of, that I am this hard on them, Like it's infuriating for me competitively to watch these guys leave in reserve a good chunk of what they're capable of when the team is is floundering like this, It like irks me to my core as just as as a competitor in my own right, as a fan of the team, as

a fan of them as players. It's it's something that it's like, it's like nails on a chalkboard to me watching them go just kind of go through the motions like this. And you know, if you want to say Lebron's in his nineteenth season, he's thirty seven, it's unfair for us to ask him to do this stuff. Then I don't want to. I don't want to hear his damn name mentioned by that same group of people in

the top list of players in the league. Ever. Again, if that's the kind of standards you're going to hold him too, I'm sorry because as the way the way I look at it, this team is custom built to take workload off of him, you know, arguably too much. This is this team has been custom built for him to be able to focus his talents in a way that doesn't fatigue him yet also allows him to raise

the ceiling significantly. And Anthony Davis, we can go into that, and we were going to talk a little bit more and a little bit about just the way he's kind of rebuilt his body and whether that slowed him down. But the bottom line is Man is, like we have

seen too often what he's capable of. Like just in this crap stretch of games to start this season, how many times at the end of a close game has he hit the Jets on the defensive end, and just it literally looked like Batman was swooping down from the ceiling to a race shots like it literally. Out of respect for what they're capable of, that I hold them to that standard. And I rail on Lebron for two days for being a lazy asshole and leaving his team hung out to dry because I think he can be

the best player in the world. That's the standard I'm holding him too. I was the one advocating that he was the undisputed best player in the world after the after the the bubble. I'm the one who said he deserved to win m v P before he got injured last year. So I'm also the guy singing his praises when he's doing what he's supposed to be doing. But I'm not going to apologize for asking him and holding him to that same standard when he's mailing it in.

And if that means that, I have guys and I mentions ripping me a new one every day, and I have guys telling me that I'm pandering to the anti lebron crowd or whatever the hell it is they're saying, so be it. But because like as a competitor, I'm not capable of sitting there and patting him on the back and babying him right now, not when the team's floundering, not when they're tending eleven, and not when he's one of the main reasons for it because he's coasting every night.

So I and I don't think you should apologize either for being that. That's just you and I being honest fans, and I think that's the way it should be, Yeah, for sure, And and we want the team to do well, like there's there's no world where we want this team not playing well or we want Lauren to be bad defense, like we've we set our expectations, I think to the right point. And this team needs him, needs him to be engaged defensively. It's just what it is. It's not

the team that it was before. You're right, he has more you know, leeway offensively where you know, Russ can take more control Molik Munk a little more offensive minded players, more ball handling that he doesn't have to do where he can kind of put time an effort on the defensive end. But it's clear he hasn't Like we're gonna be real, We're gonna be honest. We watched these games usually we watched them twice for the most part, like they have not brought the defensive effort. And Lebron even

talked about it even after the twenties season. A d brought it up how he wanted Lebron you know, to make all defense and you know, talked about the identity and you know, Avery Bradley was part of it, calling calling it the Avery Bradley Challenge. All that stuff was part of it, right, and we had Lebron engaged from day one. Lebron was engaged in a way that they

haven't seen for a while. You talked to Cleveland Cavalier people and say, he's never engaged from day one defensively, and he was that season and we need that again this year. And like you talked about this, by the way, really quick, their bodies held up. People didn't get hurt like Lebron, A d gave incredible effort and their bodies held up and they got the trophy. Like that is the proven method to winning a championship is dialing it

up from day one. Yeah, and that's how you build habits and and how it's led to you know, the team having I believe the one seed going into the bubble and all that, and we know how everything went from there. But this team needs both of those two to set the tone, you know, and I really believe in that. I believe your stars set the tone for your other players, especially defensively. To me, Like again, like I know you said you hold Lebron to that standard.

I think the standard for Lebron is when you need to win a series, who are you taking? You know, you can call him about Steph Curry, Joanna Kade, like I probably you know, I feel like the answer is still Lebron there, Like, I think that's the standard that most people hold him to. I think the night Tonight stuff is tough for a guy at the age. That's just my opinion there. But to me, a D is the guy. There's no excuses and we'll talk later. Like you said about you know, the shift in his body,

you know, putting on more masks. All that stuff is fair and you know that exists. But eight is the guy that has to be the I'm taking over every single night. This is my team. I'm twenty years years old, in the prime of my prime, you know, like this this is my time to kind of take over. And you know, the numbers are great, the numbers are still there.

He's dominating in the paint. It's still like to me, when you watch the game, there's still need, there's still an impact that I'm not seeing, like in terms of night tonight that I felt I saw more. But that's to me is the guy that that we need to expect more from. And I think it's fair to expect more from. We threw We all threw a D in the top five, you know, top three, top two, even in some circles you know after the playoff runt, if those are the places you have him, it has to

be a night to night thing with him. It can't be the taking off load managing just because Lebron and Russ are so I get to take I get to take places off. No, like a D has to be the guy night tonight that takes over. And I think that's the shift that this team has to go to, no matter who the coaches, no matter what the scheme is, no matter how ugly the offense is, it's it's a D who has to take over to me. Yeah, well, and and quite frankly, like he is the one most capable.

Like you said, it's you know, Russ is gonna run hot and cold because he's at a point in his career where his body isn't consistently there behind him. The same goes with Lebron. You know, Um, I think Lebron, like I said, there's a fine line between what you're pointing out, like Lebron be the guy who is the guy in the final that can run you for a playoff series, but at the same time, isn't that shouldn't be expected to do at night in the night out.

But he was so far past that threshold with his own laziness that I think it's still deserved to be called out. Like I don't I don't expect him to go world beater every night. We were just needing more from him than what we were getting. But like you when you're the way I'm looking at it here is because of the phase of the careers that Russell Lebron are in, Anthony Davis is, in theory, the guy that should be having seasons like we always talk about during

the regular season, separate from the top tier guys. Like every season it's like Lebron is doing his thing, Katie is doing his thing, Steps doing his thing. But it's like, oh, look at Yokich. Yokich is unbelievable right now. Oh look at and beat and Beats unbelievable right now. That's what

we should be saying about Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis, He's no, he's not in that like that like fraternity of that top tier, like iron clad resume guys that are gonna be always like if we're always taking Lebron step k D two for a playoff series like and then Joannice kind of just shoehorned his way into that conversation with his last playoff run, and now he's very much on that level with those guys, but everybody else, you have

a ton to prove. Like a D, you were unbelievable in the bubble, don't get me wrong, but you still have more to prove in terms of being in that fraternity joining those four guys, because what you get from those four guys was Lebron came out of the bubble and for twenty seven games to start the season or whatever it was, was an MVP candidate. Lebron didn't let

his foot off the gas. Now, obviously injury derailed that, but the point is is like a D. You know, I saw someone tweet out the other day they said A D got his championship in the bubble and stopped caring about basketball. Now that's low brown analysis and I don't agree with that. But hidden underneath that is a kernel of truth in the sense that after a D won his championship, he won thousand percent stepped way back off of his night to night intensity. That that is

a that is an absolute fact. And last year, before his Achilles tentinosis, it was Lebron that was carrying the team and part of the reason why he was an MVP candidate was because A D was mailing it in most most nights. We talked about how a D already I think he already has more thirty point games and he had all last season or something like that. I can't remember exactly what the status and I'll quote me

on it. But the point is is, like we we have seen him to disconnect himself from that group of players that's right below that top tier, the guys that get all the noise in the regular season. This should be his time to really really shoehorn himself into that conversation. So I agree with you, and he's the one who's most physically capable of it. Now. The interesting thing you brought up, so somebody pointed this out on Twitter today

this morning. Um, A kind of transformed his body really really spent a lot of time in the weight room and is kind of jacked up top like he's his upper body frame is is extremely strong. Um. But at the same time, as we've talked about, he's become almost more of a finesse player than ever And so it's an interesting conundrum. So you know, it's counterintuitive because you might tell yourself. Oh, he's stronger, he should be able

to play more physically imposing around the rim. But I think one of the trade offs there is he hasn't been as quick and his foot speed has always been an advantage for him against other bigs. And so I let's kick it to your rage. What's your what's your take on the whole Anthony Davis being too hot head

due to top heavy thing. Yeah, as I texted you, like this something I kind of wanted to discuss because it is something I've definitely noticed, um And last year I kind of threw it away as a you know, as a you know, short season you had the short offseason. Came in, from his own words, out of shape and try to play through it. Then he got hurt in February and he was pretty much out and played a few games late in the year and in the playoffs.

But again this year, he just doesn't move. He's not as agile, I guess, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, You're Jason. Maybe it's just what I'm seeing, and maybe this is just him being reluctant to roll to the rim. But again I see just more he's

become more of just like a big center, right. I think the whole point of a D is this agile kind of guy who can catch and finish and have a bunch of moves and and to me, like he just looks bigger and this is something he wanted to do to play this as a guy who's going to play the center position more. But he just seems bigger and it seems like something he's adjusting to as well with his body. Like he just seems slow. Like is

it wrong for me to say he's playing slower? Like he just doesn't seem he's yeah, yeah, so he just does. Like it just feels like he's playing a lot more like a lot more slow, like like more grounded basketball. Not and again like he's he's getting lobs and stuff like that. I'm saying he's not, you know, up in the air. But it still seems like he's more of a grounded player than he was at least in that

first year. It just it doesn't seem as fluid, and fluidity is probably the word that I would like that that I fit the most with. This just doesn't look fluid, right, Everything looks rigid, Everything looks tough. And it's another thing like I hate the eye test versus numbers conversations that we have because I think you know both sides, you use both of them, like the whole point of this, it's just information. He used both of them, and to me,

like his numbers are still great. When I watched the games, everything still looks too difficult, and maybe that's him not playing you know, the center lineups, but I think that's an excuse. Like I feel like he's just he's not as agile, not as fluid. Am I wrong? They're like, tell me if I'm wrong there, But just when I'm watching the game, that's what I'm seeing. It's just not as fluid. And I think part of that is the

new boy. I think he's definitely put on mass and it's something he's getting used to and we'll see how it goes looking forward. But that's kind of where I'm where I'm at with is that he just doesn't look as fluid as as I remember him, at least the first year. So I want to preface it by saying that I think he still is capable of playing a lot better than he has then, even with his current

body type. That said, there's a reason why Kevin Durant doesn't spend a ton of time in the weight room, and it's because he understands his advantage is his quickness and mobility at his size right, and whereas like a guy like Lebron, Lebron, it always was advantageous for him to be in the weight room because he never was a side to side type of perimeter player. Lebron has always been a straight line, brute force, low center of gravity. You're not bumping me off my line, I'm bumping you

off my line type of offensive player. So for him, ironically, at times in his career where he's out of the weight room, he's had less success. Famously in two thousand fifteen, he goes on that big Fish diet or whatever before his first season in Cleveland, and he sucks for the first like third of the season, has back issues, seemingly has lost a step, doesn't have as much success getting

to the basket. Then he comes back the second half of the season, looks thicker, takes a couple of weeks off in Miami, looks like he bulkes up a little bit. He comes back and he looks like the old Lebron again. Point being like, it's all about like your play style like a D. You know, it's very funny if you watch any basketball game and you watch there's basically like

two different kind of athletic archetypes. There are guys that are like always down low in a defensive stands and knees are always been They're very like low and athletic type of players. And then they're kind of like upright type of players. And a D is very much an upright type of player. Even when he's in a defensive stance, he's not really sitting down low squatted, you know, coach fundamentally sound defensive stance. He's kind of like an upright

type of dude. So when he puts on that weight, it just it raises his center of gravity, makes it easier for him to get pushed off his spot. And the truth of the matter is is like the only place he really should be looking to add strength is in his lower body and and try to keep his weight down so that he can beat guys with his speed. So that's kind of my two cents on it. That said, like, like a D even with his current frame, even with

his current mobility, is capable of making this work for himself. Um, But yeah, in in in theory like he was. He was never just this brute for straight line, low center of gravity type of big like Janice is. So the upper body strength I think is less relevant for him, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's very similar. Like I think we talked about this earlier, like I see with Russ as well, and I know, like we kind of disagree.

I felt like Russ was a little bit more finesse in his earlier years and he gets credit for like playing him twice in the playoffs. He wasn't just a guy that was all brute force, but just in my opinion, and but now he's like really bulked up, like he's you know, ripped now, and I feel like he's turned into a brute force type of player, less less reliant on skill. Right, He's more just a I'm gonna force my way to the rim. And that's why I think you see all the when you get the bad Russ,

you see all these misslayups. He gets to the basket and it's all force, and once he gets the rim, the skill level has dropped off. And that's kind I'm not saying that that's a direct comparison with a D but I'm seeing some of that, like adjustment to the uh to the new body kind of has the weight

that he's put on. It's that's a different player. Like if you go look at his games in New Orleans, he's just a like he's a very agile, fluid big that's that's rolling around, scrolling, screening and rolling to the basket, a lot of fluidity, being able to go by guys, you know, off the dribble, and right now it just feels very rigid. And I think the lineups are part of it. Don't get me wrong. The spacing is awful obviously DJ and every Bradley, But to me, that that

does that's not the whole story. So I just wanted to be discussed that because I feel like I feel like he's adjusting to it and hopefully we see see it getting better going forward. But that's what I've seen, at least so far. He's not as quick as I remember him, I guess being, and I maybe that's just something we will have to he'll he'll he'll get adjusted to as we go forward here. Yeah, I agree, And and you know he's going to continue as he stays

healthy and stays on the court. He's going to continue to look better and better. In my opinion, the big thing that was derailing him there, I thought was his shot selection, you know, and this is part of his physical engagement into the game. Like I think A D was hopeful that with all of this talent, he could bs his way, taking you know, roughly two thirds of his shots on uh, you know, off the dribble jump shots or jabs at jump shots, and he thought he

could kind of coast his way through the season. But that's clearlyly it's clearly that that's not the case. He's not shooting those shots well enough, the team's generating enough rim pressure, and so by virtue, like one of the things I thought you saw tonight is A D didn't take any bad jump shots. Like I I'd have to go back and look at the tape, but I don't

think he took a bad shot tonight. And so you have these two threes that he takes that are both wide open in rhythm catch and shoot shots that are spit a space out around these rim attacks, and they go in. And they're not always going to go in, but in general, you're gonna shoot a higher percentage when you build your offense inside out that way. You know, Maple's texted tweeted me after the or yesterday just because

that the stat came out. I can't remember what account it was that tweeted out, but basically eighties, you know, just tweeted out basically just how bad Ap has been on jump shots, and basically for high volume jump shooters, he's lowest in the league and points per shots. So like that's how bad he's been, and he goes, you know, Maple has asked me, do you still want a d taken five threes per game? And I told him yes. The problem wasn't the threes, it was the crazy off

the dribble mid range jump shots. That's where his efficiency is tanking now is he has he not been shooting well on threes yet, but part of that is because he's literally shooting himself out of rhythm every night with

these terrible shots. And if anything, instead of taking twelve jump shots per game and three or four of them being three threes, I'd rather have him take six or seven jump shots a game and have four or five of them be three's, because at that point, chances are those six or seven jump shots are all going to

be pretty high quality. They're all going to be balanced, the vast majority of them where they're gonna be picking pop threes that are in that eighteen to twenty foot range or at the three point light or spotting up and there. He's just gonna get the quality of shots that he needs to get himself out of a slump. Like I always preached on this show, the best way to get out of a shooting slump is to keep shooting,

but to take high quality shots. The worst thing you can do in is shooting slump is keep pounding your head into the wall by taking tougher and tougher shots, because guess what, You're gonna keep missing, and then you're gonna trick yourself in your brain into thinking you don't have it when the reality is that you have bad process. And so that's that's where I'd like to see him kind of like a tweak his offense in that regard.

One of the biggest ways we could tactically do that is in these Russ A D lineups, having him instead of being in a dunker spot or screening and rolling, giving Russ more isolation opportunities where a D is in a five out position Um, they did a lot of that in the second quarter tonight, or excuse me, at the end of the first quarter tonight, and then again in the second quarter, and I thought they were getting really good stuff out of it. And A D actually

made his first three in the five outset. Yeah, to me, he has to be at least a respectable jump here for this team to get to wherever they want to go. Like, there's no way a D can be just a guy at the rim. He has to shoot the number two, make it at least respectable. And I think when when we play a D at the four and again it's the lineup that he likes, it induces him to take bad shots. You talk about the you know jab step, you know, settling mid range jumpers that really just kill

his rhythm. It shots where he doesn't get to the rim. It doesn't it doesn't compromise the defense at all. But I think those picking pop you know russ E D screen roll where he pops like that's in rhythm jumpers. And he's too good like his form and his jumps. We can discuss if it's a mechanical issue or whatever, but his form to me still looks too good to not having at least to not at least have him shooting a somewhat good volume of threes every night. And

they're gonna need it from this team. Even with the starting lineup you take out hopefully Avery Bradley and DeAndre Jordans eventually get out of the starting lineup, you still when you have Russ and Drawn, like teams are gonna pack, the paint eight is gonna get a whole bunch of

wide open jump shots. He has to take them. He has to take them confidently, and we need it to not to win this year, not just to make the playoffs, but to win when the whole goal of this A D has to be a respectable jump shooter, and I think he can't. He's not this bad of a jump shooter like that. I can't believe that. Like, there's just no way a D. I think he was like two for two for twenty or something on his last light

on on his last few jumpers before this night. Uh So I don't think he's number out there, and you're probably close to correct, correct. Yeah. I remember seeing a styles like man and he's like last, like you talked about it, he's like last inefficiency for guys with some minimum amount of attempts. He's not that bad of a jump shooter, just to me, Like, there's just no way out to believe that there's some positive regression coming here, hopefully, But yeah, he needs to be a jump shot. Like.

The solution isn't a D stop taking jumpers. It's like you said, taking better shots. I think off the catch off of screen roll where screening screen roll where he pops out, like that's that's good jump shots for him. And you're never gonna go away from those midrange jab step jump shots like that stuff he likes to do, and those aren't ever going way. But I think if you can start inside out, it's something that's positive for

this team and they're gonna need it going forward. I'm glad you pointed that out because that's the important detail there. You have to try to find a way to continue to trend a D in the correct direction as a jump shooter, because without him uh in that it doesn't

have to be the bubble. For the record, he doesn't need to be making all those isolation midrange jump shots what he did in the bubble those I think he was right around thirty eight percent on you know, three attempts from three every game, and it's something along those lines. Don't quote me on it, but the point is is that that in order for this team to reach its offensive ceiling in the playoffs, which they absolutely have to reach because of their lack of defensive personnel, you you

need a D to be a stretch big. And obviously a D having success as a stretch big with everything else he does offensively and defensively, that is where he's in that tier two star, fringe, tier one star type of of category, which is where this team is going to be if he's not. If he's not, if we go, hey, we can't continue to cultivate a D as a jump shooter. Now we're talking about the fifteenth best player in the league.

Now we're talking about a rich Man's Clint Capella, and and now we're completely redefining what this team's you know, championship aspirations are. So that all has to be uh dealt with. But at the end of the day, like you said, like a lot of this is just uh, you know, uh continuing to take positive steps in the right direction. I really really liked the process tonight. I liked the process of a d putting his head down

getting to the rim early. I liked him making out of area defensive plays, which was something he wasn't doing in previous weeks. Again, you look at the scoring margin, it looks scary, looks like, oh, they barely beat the Pistons again. But the truth of the matter was, is your big three, we're all good on both ends of the floor, and all of the role players had bad nights.

And I don't care you know what time of the season it is is or how you know whether or not there in the middle of a ten game win streak or sitting at ten and eleven. You know, that's part of the NBA experience is your role players run hot and they run cold. And tonight the Lakers got to win when all of their role players ran cold because Lebron and a D and Russell Westbrook all played well. And so under these circumstances, we've got to take these wins where we can get him. And I'm not even

just talking about wins in the standings. I'm talking about little, you know, many wins, little checkpoints in the process of getting this team back on the right track. And as crazy as it sounds, I thought tonight was a very

clear positive step in that direction. Yep. And the final things that I had in my notes here monk Ellington and Carmelo, I believe we're three for sixteen from the field, so getting a win with like you said, your role players not playing well, not hitting shots, and with a d it's never like I talked about, it's never about

the numbers. He's gonna put those up. He's good enough to where he can put up a big time numbers game and you watch the game and still feel like you want more and and some of that is he's just so tantalized, tantalizing you know as a as a talent that you want that. But the numbers I look for him are stocked. So steals, blocks, two steals, three blocks, and offensive rebounds is something I look like as well. And tonight zero offensive rebounds, but he did have ten boards.

Go back and rewatch and see what happened there. But you know, three blocks, two steals is what I want to look for from him. I think that's pretty much the biggest show of what he is. He's too good, too talented to not have those kind of numbers and those kind of impacts and steals. Blocks aren't always the greatest uh translation for good defense, but I think for him when he's putting those up, it means he's he's really engaged, So that's what I want to see from him.

But another you're right, good night from the Big three. I probably probably the best game from the Big Three, just as like as them playing together, like the numbers that they put up, and hopefully it's something we can build. But like we started the show, they've lost the benefit of the doubt for that. They absolutely have, just we'll

have to see going forward. They play another bad team, the Kings, who after meeting us in triple over time, I believe did they lose to uh leave they lost to the the Grizzlies without Yeah, I think they were down like twenty a halftime. So that we played them on Tuesday, I think I saw the quotes on the timeline that A D and A D was saying, it's they can get some revenge on Tuesday. But we have

to see it. This is a step, hopefully in the right direction, even if it's just a small half a step, it's a step, and that's that's what we need to see on the road down Tuesday. Is a really good test. It's a team that specifically attacks the weakness that the Lakers have, which is their point of attack, defense and

their ability to contest shots on the perimeter. I'm not sure if you saw that stat that was floating around, but I can't remember the exact number, but basically like something like thirty eight of the forty three jump shots that the teams to the other night were uncontested. So like that and that to me is just you know, the effort and focus. But anyway that going up to the Sacramento a team that specifically is kind of uh,

you know, geared towards some of our weaknesses. Obviously a little bit of a revenge match for what happened the other night. It's also on the road, and as we saw all season, Lakers just can't put multiple good games together. This is a good chance to go up to Sacramento, whoop their ass, come home and say we have now

put a couple of good games together. You know, and if you get and if you get Lebron and Adi engaged, and if you get anything out of melow, Ellington and Monk and get these guys going a little bit, you're gonna get a lot more offensive firepower than you shot tonight because they were generating rim pressure. Um so, but anyway, that's all we got for tonight. Guys. Uh, this is gonna air on dash rightI out tomorrow morning at seven am.

This will be Pacific Standard time. This will be on our podcast feed, stated Lakers here in about twenty minutes as usual. We sincerely appreciate your support. It's been a crazy week, a lot of a lot of drama, but I'm happy that we were able to have a little bit more relaxed to discussion tonight and looking forward to Tuesday hopefully being another good step in the right direction for this team. I appreciate it. Thanks everyone,