Suns/Lakers Postgame Spaces

stuff to dive into tonight. Uh. First of all, ROJ, how you doing, man? How's your week on so far? Doing well? Yeah, another frustrating one. I went I went into this kind of expecting a loss, and I guess it doesn't make it any easier. It's still little frustrating. They played hard. I still annoyed a lot of the lineups and stuff like that. But I'm doing all right. Man. How are you? How are you doing this week? I'm

doing good. You know a lot of our guys, like, for instance, I'm sure a lot of people are frustrated that Dwight was not playing, but Delandre was h th HD looked horrible, which is gonna be one of the things that we're going to discuss at length today. But something to keep in mind is these guys have been locked into hotel room for the last what like week at least, I think, I don't know, do you do? You happen to know off the top of your head

which day Dwight and HD went into protocols. I don't, But it's strange to me that, like THHD came back and well, I guess he's the younger guy. That makes some sense because he can come right in. I guess his conditioning can be better. I think it's weird that we didn't get Dwight Howard at all. Like, I think that is a little strange. I feel like that moved more towards something that they intended to do as a game before the game, in terms of just rotate in lineup.

I don't think it was all just him coming back from from just the one game, but yeah, I'm not I don't remember exactly. I think they were outed the full ten days though, right, yeah, I think it was at least a week and a half probably, right, you know, And and I'll give you guys, I know I know these examples don't hit home super well because I'm not

an NBA player, but I was. I was trending really well in terms of the way I was feeling physically, and I was hitting a peak athletically that I hadn't hitting a long time a couple of weeks ago, and they got a bone bruise in my knee and I had to take like a week off. You know, it took like a solid week off, and when I came back, just the sheer amount of conditioning and touch and feel for the game that I had lost in just seven days. It was crazy to me. And it took took me

a solid week or two to get it back. And I remember I tweeted out when it happened. I said, I I feel so bad for these COVID guys because they're not allowed to go to the practice facility. They're not allowed to leave and go to an l A fitness like. Yeah, I suppose they can try to do some sort of cardio in their hotel room to maintain some some semblance of basketball conditioning. But and they might be able to dribble a ball around, but they're not

able to play the game. And so I I feel for them and in the complicated nature of coming in and out of the lineup and having to to step into an NBA game, and not just any NBA game, but an NBA game against arguably a top four or

five team in the league. And so you know, we're gonna talk about THD and is fit and there's a serious conversation to have there, but they're the The important underlying, you know, context here is that th HD has been locked in a hotel room for a week and a half and he stepped into that game, and so it's hard to be super judgmental, especially considering right before he tested positive he was actually playing pretty well in a

lot of different ways. And I I don't think it changes the larger theme of th h T s fit with this team, but it wasn't It's not going to be this bad, you know, Like if they decide to stay committed to th HT, not trade and keep them on board for the long term, it won't be this bad, you know. Like that there's a lot there's a lot of context here, and and the the the n b A is not a normal operating sports league right now.

There are a ton of guys in and out dealing with issues that are going to make the basketball suffer, and especially in a night like tonight where you see a Son's team that's largely been the whole going against this Lakers team that's playing a bunch of guys that aren't normally in their rotation and guys who had to be in and in and out. Like, there's a great

deal of of differing circumstances at play here. Uh, And so I think that needs to be the very first thing that we point out is, yes, we're gonna talk about fit, Yes we're gonna talk about rotation decisions. Yes we're gonna talk about the style that the Lakers are trying to lead into now. But they're a team that's been absolutely decimated by the protocols in the last couple of weeks, and the Suns were not, and that was inevitably going to play a role tonight. Yeah, this definitely

feels like two teams on two totally opposite spectrums. Right. Phoenix is pretty much the face of consistency. They know what they're doing. There, a well oiled machine. I think DeAndre Aden has missed a few games, but other than that, they filled in Jamaal McGee and they just kept on winning. They had like an eighteen game win streak. You can move that on from last year as well. Just the same core all pretty much came back. I believe Landry

Shamman or something was the was the new edition. But yeah, they're a team that's been healthy, and they're probably the worst team to play when you're going through flex right when you're going through change. I think tonight was another starting lineup that we've never seen before. This was the first game for that starting lineup as well, and against Phoenix that's just too tough. Phoenix was like two for

twenty two from three a half time. That was never gonna stick, right, and they were only up to as well during that time, so I knew they'd kind of run away with it. Um And yeah, Phoenix is just really good. They know what they're doing. Uh, Chris Paul, Devon Brooker all come off screens. I'll know what they're doing. DeAndre and I think was like eight for eight in

this game. I totally get the context with you know, the COVID and stuff, but it still doesn't answer a lot of the lineup decisions, right, Like, I think that's where I kind of started with this, and that kind of leans into th h T as well. Again in context like this, you know, a bad game is gonna happen, bad shooting is gonna happen. I still kind of feel like,

and I want to ask you about this. We put him in the worst line up for him, like the verse optimization for him, and we throw him on the other team's best player, which is fine, young guy, and I thought he did a nice job on Devon Brooker. He's gonna hit some threes. You know that's going to happen. But we start him next to russ lebron Uh and DeAndre Jordan, and I think that's just asking, you know, for failure, that's asking him to be a jump shooter.

And again with coming back from COVID all that stuff, I understand. I just think that plays into the worst part of his game, especially when our bench fine I'm sorry, I t Rondo and Russ, which those are really confusing to me, even with the people out, even with the people we don't have available. I just that's where I'm kind of confused with. So I'm gonna start there because I guess we can kind of go into th HD as well. Leaning into that. But do you agree with that?

I feel like we put him in the worst kind of optimization and he played awful tonight. I'm not hiding away, I'm not shying away from that. I'm just saying, like, I do think that we don't do them any favors as well. Do you kind of do fit in that as well? Yeah, there's no there's no doubt that playing th HD alongside DeAndre Jordan doesn't play into his strengths, but the and and of course it turns him into

a jump shooter in off the dribble situations. But what you saw tonight with Phoenix is is an important detail that translates to the playoffs. And this is something that we have some concern about with RUSS, but it also

applies to th HD as well. When you're playing the very best defenses, especially in high leverage situations at the end of the season, when they don't take possessions off, they are so good at help and recover, and when you overdo the help and recover thing to shade towards Stars, you inevitably, you inevitably have to have some sort of concession on the back end, and in this case, in this case, it's usually going to be the wars shooter

in your lineup. And you saw th HT tonight get a ton of stand still, wide open threes to take. Agree with you, But here's the situation. Th HT, in my opinion, projects to be a really good shooter one day. Why because he checks the boxes that are usually that usually need to be checked for a young player that will one day be a good shooter, Like is he good at the free throw line? How is his touch

around the rim? That kind of stuff typically translates to in the future as he gets really familiar with how his jump shots play into his offense, that touch will translate eventually, but at his age, it's not there yet.

And this is the situa wation. Over the course of the regular season, especially in the in the next couple of weeks, because we do have some inferior opponents on this schedule, t h T is going to have some nights where he looks really good because we're gonna be playing some lesser defenses, some defenses that give him some easier opportunities, and his perimeter shooting is not going to be as much of a factor. But the reality of the situation is is when push comes to shove like,

let's get forward here. Let's let's pretend Anthony Davis comes back and we get the four seed. Let's say the best case scenario, we get the four seed. This is great. A d looks healthy, Lebron looks great. We have the four seed. We end up in a second round series against Golden State or against Phoenix. They're going to ignore th HD and leave him open on the way. That's gonna happen, that is guaranteed happen, and most importantly, on

most offensive possessions, that's gonna be the read. And we have a team with players who like to make the right play, like guys like Lebron, guys like Rondo, guys like Isaiah Thoms. They're gonna make reads out of those plays. Isaiah Thom's probably won't be around at that point, but you get the point. We're gonna be making reads, and the read is gonna be hitting that guy on the week side, and it's usually gonna be th HT if

he's playing. And this is where the timeline gets tricky, because I genuinely believe that th h T, and I know a lot of people disagree with me. I saw a lot of people taking victory lapse on th HT tonight, which is completely unfair given the fact that he's been locked in the hotel room for the last two weeks.

But the reality is is that even though I think he will one day be a good stand still shooter, a guy who will be able to be a functional to guard on a championship level team that will make teams pay for not guarding him and bring everything that we're seeing from him now, elite perimeter defense, using his length to disrupt things off the ball, his ability to get to the basket, his low center of gravity, the way that bumps defenders off of him, all of that

will be there, But that lack of perimeter shooting right now is borderline lethal. He was over eight tonight. It's not it heard a lot of possessions for us, you

know what I mean. Yeah, it's not just that you know he can't shoot that he plays with non shooters, right, he plays next to Like, I'm fine with getting him reps next to Rus, getting him next to Lebron, and he's our defensive stopper right quote in quotation marks like that's who the guy they want, that's his role that they want him to be in the playoffs, right, you know, if you play against the Paul George, you would play

against Kuilon or whatever whoever the other wing is. You could just throw th HD on him for a few minutes. I totally get that. I just don't think all his

minutes should be next to them only right. I think it's just a disservice to him because you could tell he's in zero rhythm just in the game in general, and he gets the ball and he just says like, oh I can finally like do something, you know, And that's why you see the you know, one leg step back, you know, fade away jumpers that get that got blocked tonight, or he's him getting the lane and try to do these super crazy reverse because it's like the only time

he kind of touches the ball there because he's with all these other shock creators. And I thought it was crazy. He played next to russ I T and Lebron, I think, and he was like the other guard and it's like he's never gonna touch the ball, right, He's gonna just be a spacer and that's just not what he is. Right now, I'm fine again him getting minutes next to our starters. I just think you have to kind of

I would like them to stagger a little bit. Like again, I don't think that three guard lineup should ever play. I thought that ROHNDO I t it was ROHNDO, I, t Russ and th HD, Sorry not Lebron. It was a RHNDO, I, t Russ and THHD. Was just just insane to me to play that. And I think he needs some kind of on ball reps here because it just it just looks like a struggle and he's he goes,

he goes up and down. And you were right, he was playing better before he got into COVID protocols that think he was like I think someone told me he was five for nine from three, but I think before that he was like two from three, you know. So it's like a it's a really up and down ceiling thing for him, and I just would like to see him a little bit more spacing lineups. And again, the DeAndre Jordan's stuff is really confusing to me. Even if

do I how or is not in great shape. I thought he could have been on like a minister restriction or something to where it's not just Lebron at center or Trevor Reasett Center. But yeah, on th HD, we just don't put him in great lineups, and we run a lot of Lebron post ups, right, and the whole point of going small with Lebron at the five is

to give him space. We had one place we run a we run a post up for him and it was th HT, Russ and Rondo on the week side, and they played hot Potato and it got to th HD and he I think he like got close to air balling. And to me, that's the stuff that we can clean up. Those stuff that's really confusing to me.

And it's not Taylor's Paul, You're right, a lot of people, you're right taking victory labs going, you know, finding my old th HD tweets as well and dunking on them now for but he's just not put in the position to me, like he's not playing well either. It's just I would like to see us put him in a little bit more position. Let him run a couple of high screening roles, you know, just to get him going.

Let him run some you know, one five just space house screen roles to get him in rhythm, because I don't I think he just looks lost out there. It's lost too strong of a word to use, because that's kind of what I see him on offense at least, kind of confused where to screen or to go. And I think that's all from just starting with three nonspacers and Lebron being the best shooter in that lineup. Well, t th HT represents a redundancy. That's why he looks lost.

He's trying to find a place to get his skill set to fit in with the group. You know, it's like it's like the concept of diminishing returns. So th HT. If he's playing with the Houston Rockets right now and he's running screen and roll with Christian Wood and three other guards or guys who can shoot, you know, his skill set is infinitely more valuable than it is when

on this team. He's kind of relegated to being a spot up shooter in a lot of situations because you're you're right, like Roger, you hit the nail on the head, like he's he's on the floor with Isaiah Thomas and Lebron James and Russell Westbrook like and Rondo and Rondo like. There were there were several lineups. There were lineups tonight to have Rondo and Isaiah to is there there? There is. His skill set on this team is wasted in a lot of ways. At least I shouldn't even say a

skill set. His ceiling, the areas of his skill set, they will inevitably be what allows him to compete for All Star spots in the future. That skill set is wasted here on this team. All that is really relevant is what he brings defensively, which I think is highly underrated. People massively underrate what THHT can do defensively. It's it's the biggest thing that gets glossed over when we're having

this discussion. But on the offensive end on this team, he's in a spot up role and his value that's where that diminishing return comes in. And this is the huge downside of playing one foot on either side of the line, of having one foot in the moment and

one ft in the future. Is there's this tantalizing potential with th h T. As I keep calling him Mini Kauai and people think I'm crazy, but I really think, I really think he could be an All star level two way guard, a guy who can average an efficient eighteen to twenty points a game and being all defense guy he's drew Holiday in my opinion. In the future,

that's what I think he could be. But on this team, he's gonna look bad because of all of the things you just described garage, the lineups that he's playing with, what his skill set actually brings in terms of the redundancy, and what he's being relegated to do off the ball. And so this is where you ask yourself, like, is it worth holding the asset to keep him on the roster because of that potential that could come a few

years down at the expense of the moment. And that's where you have to weigh those two factors, because I would tell you because I'm I, I think winning an NBA championship is super hard. I think you have to be willing to give up some of that tantalizing future for whatever you can get in the moment. And I know, I know that, I know this is why you and I make a good para rise Like you're so much more reserved and you're so much more conservative with this stuff.

And it's good because I need your perspective to keep me, uh, you know, kind of grounded. But like every time I see a game like tonight. I just think th HD is more valuable elsewhere in the league than he is here, so he has to be cashed in. And I don't think it's any more complicated than that. Well, it's not just I'm reserved, it's just that bridge is four weeks away, you know what I mean, Like you can't even get to that bridge. And you said doing both, having one

foot in potential one foot out. I mean when you pay like not to bring this about contract because you know that's that's other stuff. But you know, they invested him three years thirty million. He makes ten million a year, Like he's not making rookie money anymore, you know what I mean. He's not on like a rookie deal where it's like a save for another team when they get him. He's on like a short team deal or you can kind of you can still outplay his contract obviously, but

he makes you know, he makes good money. Now, he makes ten million dollars a year, Like that's not nothing to me. Like that's where I'm at with the THHD conversation because I can't even have this conversation yet. Everyone's saying, you know, trade him, ship him off. To Indiana. You can't ship him off, like you can't ship him off for four more weeks. You know, how much can change in four weeks, you know what I mean? Like that's

a long time. Who knows, you know, and you knock on wood that they're not you know, they don't go off a cliff here in terms of how many games they lose, But four weeks, I mean, you want to reassess the situation, right, and JHD being wasted on this team is that's a strong kind of way to put it to me because I feel like we can we can replicate some of the stuff that he would do on other teams, you know, like why does he have to be pigeonholed into the like it would be great

in the playoffs, obviously that's gonna be his role, Like it's gonna be thrown for twenty minutes on a wing defender. If you can hit a spot up three is great. If not, he's not gonna be getting you know, a hundred pick and roll possessions a game on this team. It's just never gonna happen. Russell Lebron are gonna play

full time. But I think right now, as shorthanded as we are without the you know, shock creation that a D takes up in terms of like possessions, Like give him some you know, ball screen action, give him some moments where you know he's out there. Maybe he's out there with Isaiah Thomas, and he's out there with Carmelo and Trevor Reza and maybe it's Lebron, And just give him some space to work with a little bit, because he's playing in a phone booth and it's very similar

to us as well. Right, he teams leave him just like they leave us. And you put those two together and it's a very cramped flour already makes what Lebron is doing absolutely even more impressive. We can go to him too. But that's my final thing on th h D is not that I'm just so reserved. It's just that bridge is four weeks away. You can't even walk there for another month, So like, I can't get myself to buy into that yet. At least um, I don't think changes. That's why I've been on this. I don't

think huge reinforcements are coming. Minimum guys. Two way guys. We were wrong yesterday we did our little free agency pod. They cut Johndrey Brown, which I thought was very shocking. Um and Jay Huff still couldn't get a minute tonight when when the when the game mattered. Obviously he came in when it's like two minutes left down twenty, but yeah, that was very confusing as well. But that's my thing on THHD Man. That conversation is so far and I

still think there's stuff we can do. Put him in like screen action with Wayne Ellington, whereas he's the screener like we do with Russ. Like put him in some you know, movement actions where he's not just standing on the other side waiting for the ball and now he's like job stepping waiting and now the defense were covers to where like lebron Chris step of penetration and then he kicks it out his THD holds it a second. And Phoenix is such a good team where they rotate

really quickly. But yeah, that's my thing on Taylor Man. He's not going anywhere for four weeks, so he needs we need to know how to replicate him and put him into lineups that are successful for him because he's the big part of this team and he needs to play like benching him. I don't think is the answer either. So yeah, that's that's my thing on him, and hopefully he shoots better too. I think it's a better shooter

than he shoved. He absolutely and and and again, like when you have the touch that he has, it's just about building a functional spot up three points and getting him to the point where he trusts his muscle memory and he can get it off at game speed. Because that's the biggest adjustment you'll see, especially young players, is you get them, you get them in a gym by themselves, and they'll knock them down all day long. But there's something about the transition between that and game speed that

throws them up. It's it's the biggest thing that I think Kevin Durant has nailed on the head. That nailed on the head with training is he always talks about how he practices at game speed, and that's I don't think enough players do that, um And that's what you'll see because PhD. What I've noticed a lot, especially when he first came back from the thumb injury, is he was leaving a lot of stuff short. And to me, that's like trying to that's trying to slow yourself down.

While you're shooting instead of just going with the same speed that you were in practice, because you were already practicing at a game speed. But I digress. The I agree with you about waiting until January in the sense that, yes, you have to read the cards at that point. The point is like, to me, all signs are pointing in that direction. For in my opinion, like there, he looked so good in that first couple of games back that I think I think we all, like I said, tantalized,

that we were tantalized by that, that potential future. But what you're so, you're talking about like getting th HD in in these situations where he has an advantage, And I totally get that. In a perfect world, right, Like in a perfect world where we could afford to throw a bunch of possessions in th hd S direction to try to get him development opportunities, I'd agree with you. But this is this goes back to the concept of diminishing returns. Like it's one thing when Russ is running action,

Lebron's running action. Russ is running action, Lebron's running action. Okay, let's hit th HT curling out of the week side corner. Once and then go back to Lebron and Russ. That's one thing, But you can't just throw a bunch of possessions at th HT where he has action run for him without taking a way from your primary initiators. And and that's where we get into the diminishing returns concept.

The idea of what th HD can be keeps us from acknowledging the reality of what this situation is, which is that he's a very young player who's very volatile offensively. Even when you do run stuff for him, there are nights where it looks great and knights where it doesn't. And so within the confines of this season, his value to this team and their ultimate goal is lower than

what his value is elsewhere in the league. And strictly analytical thinkers would tell you your best chance to win a championship as the trader that that that, and so obviously you have to factor in some some other aspects to that, like, yes, Lebron is getting older, who's going to be the perimeter initiator when he's gone, Like all

of that stuff still as a factor here. I'm not trying to diminish that by any stretch of the imagination, but foundationally, right now, he is less valuable to us than he is elsewhere, which is is the ideal time to trade a player. And so when we get to that point, when we get to January, if he still if he still looks like he does now, which is lost. I love that word you used. Loss is the right word in the sense that his skill set, particularly on

the offensive end, doesn't appear to fit with our system. Now, you made some good points about this system and the fact that the system is not is not really utilized properly for him, but it's utilized for who We do have guys that are ready right now, our system is set up for like right now, we're leaning heavily into small ball, and it's a tunnel Lebron, it's a ton of rus and we're seeing a little bit of Isai Toomas to Rondo around that our system is set up

for those guys we can't afford to set things up for th ht you know what I mean. And so from that standpoint, like it's it's a little bit unrealistic, like it made it made more sense last year when Lebron and a d both were hurt to be like, Okay, let's let's get th ht a ton of reps, you

know what I mean. But I just I struggle with it within the confines of this season, and I think it will be end up being the And again, if if we have a month and he just got out of a hotel room for a week and a half, so if over the course of the next month, if he seems to kind of start knocking down more of those spot up opportunities, succeed in his limited sets that are run his direction, and do a better job of attacking closeouts while also bringing everything that he does defensively.

Now we're talking about something different. Now, we're talking about a player that's every bit as good as we could hope for Jeremy Grant to be anyway, And at that point, you're right now we're getting Jeremy Grant now and potentially an All Star guard in the future. Like that, then I'm all in on that, and I get it. All I'm saying is like, if it more or less looks like this in January, I think you have to trade him at that point. Yeah, Now that that's totally fair.

And I met more with the like Anthony Davis is out right, so we need like offensive options in our second unit, and I honestly rather see a T h D kind of run some kind of actions than just and when Isaiah Thomas is on obviously, and we both think he's not really long for this team, especially with Kendrick Nunn coming back. But just instead of you know, the rondo th H rondo Isaiah Thomas lineups, just throw th HD maybe in there, give him a few possessions to take the load off of Lebron or Russ. I

just think there's stuff we can do. And I'm just looking at, you know, his game before he went out with COVID, so he missed three games. He missed the Dallas, Minnesota and Chicago game, but he was seven for fourteen, four for seven both of those against the Magic and the Thunder. So he was kind of building building up. And again he's not the player he was tonight, and he's not the first three games he came back averaging

twenty or something. He's somewhere in between there. And I just think there's things we can kind of open and open up for him. You're right, we're going small. I thought tonight we played with some pace in the first quarter. Phoenix again wasn't shooting well, but we ran the round the ball down the floor for him and that stuff that I think he can also get into. Get the ball,

push the push the ball in transition. I think his one basket tonight, yeah, he was one for nine was on a layoup right where he liked Yeah, yeah, you vadded Devin Booker and you talk about the one star play he makes every game. That was kind of it, right, It was just like super be able to move in transition in air and finish around Devin Booker. But yeah, the stuff we can do, and I understand we don't have time to develop him, it's not really what I'm kind of I guess asking for. I just feel like

there's ways to get him involved. Like we run actions specifically for Wayne Allington, right, we run specific ones for him to come off pin downs. We run like picking rolls where he's the he comes off trible handoffs, and I think there's stuff with T h T. You can tell he's not a spot up guy. I just think him seeing like a layup going early would be so big for him because you can tell he just thinks

about it all games. He's just trying to get his first basket and it's like third quarter and you see him start to create. But yeah, I guess that's enough on tailing. He had a rough night and I don't think he's as bad as he was tonight. And his defense is you know, it's good, it's important for this team. I think it's underrated. Like you talked to, they need his defense and that's the reason he starts. But he

needs to start hitting some outside jobs for sure. Yeah, so let's let's talk about the small ball thing, because this is something we started a little bit last night as we were talking about the couple of free agent signings that they made with the hardship exceptions. You know, when you first of all, there are a couple of things that I keep an eye on when we go

small that are important. For instance, rebounding. We we rebounded really well tonight relative to what our UH lineups that we were playing were, Like, I think we gave up single digit offensive rebounds. I'll pull up the numbers here in a second, but we we we competed on the glass, which is something that we've been begging for this team to do all season and is absolutely imperative with the

small ball lineups. Yeah, we we were out really been rebounded fifty three to forty seven, which is totally manageable when you're going against Jamail McGee and DeAndre Aden, and we only gave up eight offensive rebounds, which is a manageable number under the circumstances. But what you have to do in those situations when you are playing small in my opinion, is you have to win all of the speed in finesse areas of the game. So for instance,

we did not shoot the ball well tonight. Commelo Anthony and Wayne Ellington both won for four, so we were two for eight. As a team. We were only seven for thirty five from three. When we go small and we're playing driving kick basketball, we have to knock down shots. That's that's an important part of this kind of system working. Secondly, getting out in transition. We only had fifteen fast breakpoints tonight, so we gave up twenty to Phoenix. They actually had

twenty two points off of our turnovers. So basically, when we turn the ball over, they ran it right down our throat. For a layout, when you play small ball, you understand that you're giving up at things in certain areas of the game. You understand you're probably going to be outrebounded to some extent. You need to try to minimize that as much as possible, and you understand you're gonna give up specific mismatches some places on the floor,

particularly to pose players. You know, there were a lot of plays tonight where you know, in transition JaVale McGee or DeAndre would catch, it would be like Wayne Ellington underneath him and they would just shoot that little flot You expect that to a certain extent that comes with

playing small ball. You have to understand that with that, you have to also take from the other team with your overall foot speed, with your additional shooting, with your additional skill on the floor, because typically if you're trading at seven foot or for some six five guy, the six five guys usually more skilled, he's faster, he's going to bring all those things to the game. So there there there's a foundation here that's starting to build. We

we had a huge leap today in our rebounding. That's great. I thought Trevor Rizo was awesome in particular defensive rebound and that's the thing that that we were expecting with him coming back into the group. But we have to put it all together in order for this to function. In order for this to function, we have to shoot the ball well. We have to knock down the three

point opportunities that come our way. We have to push the ball in transition and get easy shots with our foot speed because our total lineup foot speed should in theory be better than the other team because we're playing small, and we have to do the rebounding stuff that i was talking about. If all of that comes together, this can work. And you know the most important part about that is Anthony Davis is so versatile that you can more or less play the same style of basketball just

by plugging him back in. I mean, technically he's a center, so you're gonna it's like bringing a center back into the game. But he can guard guards and wings and defense, and offensively, he can spot up and he can play on the he can attack close outs. He can do

all that stuff. So you can build a small ball identity during this time where you polish up all those things I'm talking about, defensive, rebounding, pushing the ball in transition, you know, uh, driving kick basketball, generating super high quality threes, attacking clothes out. Well, you can do all of that and then just basically plug Anthony Davison as a fifth guard who happens to have all the physical capabilities of

a center. And this could be a really dangerous playoff team, more in line with what we saw with the Clippers and Nets last year, as opposed to the brute force, physicality type of team that we were in previous year. So there is there is some silver lining stuff here, and and and this this is the last thing I'll say about it, because there was a lot of negativity surrounding the Lakers today on Twitter and in the podcast where I tweeted about how Zach Low and Kevin Pelton

were extremely critical in the Lakers. Guys, this is this is this is really important to remember here. And I know it's hard to see the forest for the trees under the circumstances. We just got our butts kicked by the Sun's right after we lost a tough one on the road in Chicago, right after we got our butts kicked in Minnesota when a d sprained his knee and all these players are out with COVID. I get that it's really hard to see the forest for the trees.

But this team was trending in the right direction. Clear lead. They had won seven of ten going into the Minnesota game, going into the a d injury. They were coming back on Minnesota that I thought they were gonna win that game. They had. They had taken massive leaps in terms of their lineup structure. DeAndre Jordan's was a distant memory. We weren't seeing any Rondo. It was a lot of shooting. We were running the floor and transition really well. Lebron

was playing m v P level basketball. Really Anthony Davis was the only guy who wasn't quite hitting all hitting on all cylinders the way that we needed him to. This team was trending in the right direction and got derailed by by a nasty knee injury and COVID, And so COVID's gonna go away in terms of players missing time. Our players will come back and Anthony Davis is coming back. So this is this is not over. The tonight's game

was almost unwinnable. So it is what it is. But reason there's a long term vision here and it's one that is attainable, and that is continue these habits that we built over the last month. In a small ball excuse me, in a small ball concept, let Anthony Davis get healthy, let him figure out whatever the hell was ailing his body. Hopefully he can fix his jump shot this time too, and then he can come back and his team can go on and run. This team, in

my opinion, still has a championship ceiling. I know it's hard to see that, but I very much believe that that ceiling is still there. Yeah. And and to your point on the small ball, uh, for tonight, I mean DeAndre Jordan was a minus twenty six in fifteen minutes, which seems almost impossible, right, And and Rondo as well minus twenty six. That means when we went small, it was a pretty close game. And you talked about the

three point shooting as well. I believe that Carmelo Isaiah Thomas in th HT where like two for nineteen combined or something like that from three. You're just not gonna win that way against against against Phoenix. I'm kind of like, I get the optimism with it. And you know, there's Tim Leger I think did a video as well where he said, even when the team's healthy, they're not a

good defensive team. Right, but we haven't seen because we also haven't seen the team fully healthy, and they were up taking, you know, defensively, I think they were top ten the last like ten games or something. On defense, they moved into the top ten as well, And that's what makes it so frustrating. I think the reason coming back the day after a D goes down is what's really tough. I try to keep optimistic, but I mean, like, you know, a D coming back in February, what's the

team gonna look like. Hopefully Kendrick Nunn comes back as well. And I think Phoenix, you know, in Golden State and Utah are kind of far ahead in terms of where they're at just where the season is. I think we're gonna be catching up to that and try to make a late push. You're right, there's still a chance that there's still, you know, a season to be played. Lebron has been great. He looked great again tonight. He was thirteen for nineteen tonight. I mean that's just insane to me. Uh,

two for five from three as well. He was a plus zero on the night on a game where we lost by lost by eighteen and Lebron was a pleasant zero, which just kind of shows you, um, what happened tonight. And I want to ask you this because again, we saw a lot of Lebron at the five tonight and it is taxing on him, right, Like we can talk about how much easier the offensive load is, but that's still like tonight, Phoenix is a tough one to kind

of judge it on because they're all ball screen. So you kind of have to either make a choice, right, you either tag in on eight and or you leave mckel bridges or Cam Johnson or whoever on the perimeter because you couldn't switch, Uh, you can't really switch that pick and roll of jefferent Book and Chris Paul get

to the mid range. But what do you think about, like on Lebron in terms of his his load tonight, Like how he how tired he was, I guess trying to play that way against the Suns because we play a lot of him at center. DeAndre Jordan played fifteen minutes means which means the rest and Lebron played thirty four minutes and a lot of that I think was at center. I think like twenty minutes of it was at center. Um, he did look he looked fine though

physically at least even after the ankle injury. It kind of frustrating Reggie Miller kept bringing up his ankle, and I thought Lebron looked fine, Like I thought he was okay after even after he went down. What do you

think about like the tax on him? I guess because I think this is the I know Dwight Howard was out for colored protocols, but I feel like, I mean, I've heard Vogo kind of say they were going to center list lineups anyway, obviously that was before a d went down, but it still feels like they're going to try this like one's real center and put Trevor Reas at center, which again puts a lot of tax on Lebron. So what do you see from him? I guess at

the center lineup tonight. So I'm not overly concerned about it in in the long term because because first of all, you know, offensively, the work is easier because he's operating in space now. Teams like Phoenix are so good at packing the paint that it does look hard. Um, you know,

I think we saw that tonight. I think you saw both Lebron and Russell Westbrook miss a couple of primarily Russ, but Lebron had a handful of himself where they missed right at the rim because there was you know, really good contests and and really good help offered by Phoenix

at the at the rim. And so a game like tonight can look particularly physically exhausting for Lebron because he's doing everything he's doing defensively and on offense, he's kind of operating in a lot of traffic just because Phoenix is so good at what they do. But the truth of the matter is is the vast majority of the teams that we play over the course of the regular season are gonna be less disciplined defensively, and Lebron is gonna be operating in a ton of space offensively, and

it's gonna be fine. I think. I think a big way to try to alleviate some of his defensive workload two is to do more switching. Don't have him play the Draymond role, have him be more of just like, yes, he can do it to help in specific mismatch situations in the post, but have the team switch more and be more willing to give up to give up the occasional basket around the rim because of a mismatch and understand that over the course of the game, the fatigued.

Advantages of of doing more switching will pay off in better offense like that, like that, I'm a big believer in that. But the truth of the matter is, Roj and you and I both know this, Like, this team is not going anywhere that without Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis

will come back. When Anthony Davis comes back and they're in a postseason series, let's say they let's say they get the sixth seed and we're on the road in Utah to start the playoffs, the truth of the matter is, is is Lebron and a d or playing forty minutes of game in that series? So so, yes, Lebron is at center is going to be something that might be able to eat some innings in the regular season, particularly

against bad teams. Yes, it will look particularly exhausting against the handful of truly elite defenses that we play, But the truth of the matter is he's not going to have to do that when push comes to shove. When push comes to shove, it'll be short bursts of that. Now, you're right, Over the course of the next month, it's gonna be a lot to ask of him, But we're not gonna be playing Phoenix every time, and and I think I thought Chicago it was a great example of this.

Like Chicago, that game, Lebron looked very lively on both ends, and I thought a big part of it was just he thrived. He'd like thrives in the energy of operating in space offensively. And we talked about last night, like he's he's going for more blocked shots than he has in years, just like elevating and trying to block shot. He's invigorated by by the opportunity he's having offensively to play in space. So I'm not overly concerned about it. Yes,

the game like today is gonna beat him up. He's gonna wake up tomorrow be sore as all hell, as ankle is gonna hurt. But the truth of the truth of the matter is that he's not playing Phoenix every night, and by the time he does have to play Phoenix every night, if we do get to that point in the playoffs, it's gonna be Anthony Davis alongside him, and and it's gonna be a little bit more manageable of

of a physical experience, if that makes sense. Yeah, And then they play San Antonio next on Thursday, and then obviously the nets who are you know, ravaged by COVID on Christmas? There's some chance to get some wins here. But I just think it's a fascinating thing to kind of look at. And obviously I don't mean for the playoffs. I mean in these next for two six weeks, because I think both of us believe it's gonna be on the longer end of that. Um some other like good stuff.

I guess I saw tonight like Russell Westbrook had some bad turnovers, right, like he had some awful kind of drive, but I thought, you know, the tempo and the pace is kind of what we're going for. Like even in that starting lineup, even with DeAndre Jordan playing, russ was still kind of pushing the ball, and I think that's something he needs to do. He was ten for twenty tonight. Again five turnovers, but you know, tender rebounds, priv's his

three steals. I thought he played, you know, he pushed the pace, and I think that's what he needs to do on this team, and hopefully that kind of picks up. Hopefully he kind of pick up some for Lebron here as as we go forward. But did you have anything else? I guess for tonight against the Suns. Yeah, I mean I I get really frustrated with raised on Rondo. Man.

You know, one of the things that kills me with Rondo is like, you know, it kind of goes back to the foundational concept of switching, Like, Okay, you gotta switch on Isaiah Thomas on the perimeter, and you're gonna try to score on him. Make him score on you, like, make him make a move and shoot over the top of you, move your feet, make him earn it. Rejon Rondo just so much pointless gambling off the ball that like half the time it's like he's he's not even

making guys score over him. Half the time. It's like it's a gamble here, it's a it's an over help there, it's a it's it's reach around steal here, and guys are just getting right past him and getting him getting into the lane, and our defense is compromised, Like it's it's a concept of positional defense, like there's there's there's

disruptive defense, and there's positional defense. Like if you're a disruptive defender, is so athletically gifted that he can afford to gamble without giving away position and over the course of the game, it's a huge net positive. But when a positional defense is like, I just I know that I can't necessarily disrupt this guy, but I'm just going to try as best as I can to anticipate where he's going. Move my feet, wall up, put my hands up, don't foul. Make the dude score over the top of me.

The best guy we have on the roster with this right now is Austin Reeves. But it's like what Austin Reeves does a really good job is like, hey, if you can make a shot over the top of me, good for you. But like, I'm not gonna reach, I'm not gonna gambled, I'm not gonna get myself out of position. You're gonna earn this basket. And he did. He did such a good job of that. And Rondo is like the antithesis of that. And I'm not Rondo is not at fault for us losing tonight, So I'm not blaming

him by any stretch of the imagination. But as I was watching that game, like it's just is one of those things that's like a personal basketball pet peeve of mine. He just he he is such such a free lay and Russ does this a lot too, by the way, But but it's just it's such an he's such a freelancer that like, like there's the occasional sequence like yeah, game two against Denver, dude, he I think it was

game three, actually game three against Denver. He goes crazy and gets like four consecutive steals and goes the other way for layups and dunks with Lebron and it's like, man, like Jon Rondo, this is incredible. Look at his defense, but it's like, in reality, those players were gambles. They just happened to pay off, you know what I mean, like and and everything. This is why Rondo is so hot and cold, and this is why there are so many good Rondo games that are juxtaposed with bad Rondo games,

because he has that same philosophy offensively. Offensively it's high risk, high reward passes and and it just I know he reins it in to a greater extent when he gets to the postseason. Not that he's gonna be, you know, playing that role this season, but like just it's like nails on a basketball chalkboard to me as a as a basketball fan, and I just had to I had to get that off my chest. I'm glad you brought Rono because something I was thinking about. That's one of

the reasons I hate the Rondo Westbrook lineups. Both of them are like one rotation guys on defense, do you know what I mean? Like once they rotate once, they're not like flying back to rotate again. So once they like touch the paint, they're both just stand there, you know what I mean. There's a lot of like pointing, and you know Rondo does a lot of pointing as well on defense. But like Phoenix is a team that moves the ball really well. They moved from corner to corner,

wing to wing. After like the second past, Rondo and Russ aren't moving and then you play DeAndre Jordan's with that as well. We just have a lot of like one rotation, one effort type guys on defense, and it's why also I don't think those guys can play, and so why guys like Austin Reeves, who I hope we get back you know pretty soon here kind of jumps off the page as well because he's a multi effort guy, right, He's a multi rotator. Like on defense, he'll rotate to

the corner. If the ball swings to the wing, he wrote, to the wing, even if it's not his guy, right, the shot clock is going down to just fly and rotate even if like someone else is right there. That's just stuff that we need. And I saw a little bit of that from Jamario Jones. We saw him tonight as well. He got a couple of offensive rebounds. I thought his energy was nice. Maybe he's a guy we can throw into that. But yeah, it's like, I'm glad you brought up Rondo there because I feel like that's

another reason why I hate the Rohndo Westbrook lineups. They both rotate once or twice maximum. If the ball swings three times, they're not routing to that third. Like if their their job is to close up to the wind, they'll close up to the wing. And then if the ball swings one one more, they won't close out or they just stand there and wait for the ball. Right. And I've talked about how Russ isn't a box out rebounder, so he's a stare, anticipate, and then jump type of rebounder.

And we give up a lot of offensive rebounds that way as well. That's why I don't like those lineups, and I hope tonight was the last of the russ I t Rondo combination as well. I think we've seen enough of that. But yeah, hopefully we can kind of get a few more players, get Austin Reaves back for the Thursday game, and hopefully picked that one up because

we need to pick up some wins here. We have a little bit more of a home schedule coming up, especially Santonio coming next, and then obviously then that's on Christmas. The San Antonio and Brooklyn games are almost must wins now under the circumstances, just in terms of trying to float in the standings. Um, what you brought up, this will be the last thing we hit on and we'll get out of here. Uh. Talking about those extra efforts and rotations. I thought there was a really interesting quote.

I'm not sure if you saw it, but it was from David Fizdale from before the game, talking about trying to teach guys not that are not used to being devoted to the dirty work, to embrace the dirty work. Did you happen to see that quote? Yeah, yeah, about

box outs and all that like you're talking about. So I thought it was really interesting because this is something that you and I have been hitting on all this idea that it all comes down to basketball character, and it's something that it's something that I think some of the guys have done a better job of embracing than others. Like I've actually been really impressed with Carmelo Anthony over the course of the season, just getting a lot better at that stuff than he used to be. He still

has a long way to go. But the truth of the matter is, and basically what David Fizzel said is like a lot of these guys were stars in previous situations, and they were in situations where they were able to devote the lion's share of their energy towards the you know, offensive roles that they had, and they were typically surrounded by players that did that work for them. Isaiah Thomas is an example of that, Carmelo Anthony is an example of that. Even Region Rondo is an example of that

to a certain extent. Russell Westbrook is definitely an example of that. All of these guys are are coming from situations where where they were not asked to do those things, and now they're feeling in roles that were previously occupied by players that had that at the top of their list of priorities, you know, namely guys like k C P and Alex Caruso. Kuzuma a little bit more towards the end, although he had his own priorities as we

all know. But the truth of the matter is is a lot of these guys have have been dealing with a little bit of wake up call on that front, and I think it was something that we, you know, even underestimated how long that would take. Because I think I think they're clearly trending in the right direction, at least the guys that are going to be on the roster in the long run. I think those guys are trending in the in the right direction. But that's a great example of why this team is going to be

a little bit easier to evaluate towards the end. If Anthony Davis comes back in let's say middle February, and he's healthy and usually typically post officer break, I think there's like about thirty games typically, So so let's say they go in a thirty game run, you know, and all these guys are you know, foundationally different players at that point, you know, like Carmelo Anthony going from being a star to being a role player on a Portland's

team that didn't defend anyway. You know, like this team and like as wild as it is, I think I think they were a tenth and defense coming into ten game. Like that's crazy, Like that's that's that's in sane under

the circumstances. So they are in a in a in a culture where they're being asked to do these things for real, under a coach that demands that of them, And there's a there is an opportunity here that come early April, there's some continuity and some health and some habits that are formed that could make this team very dangerous. The word that our guy Crantes has been using is frisky, and that's kind of the way I look at it.

Like if you combine frisky with a legitimate playoff run from Lebron who clears it seems to be trending in that direction, and Anthony Davis potentially getting back to his bubble form, this suddenly becomes a team that could be very difficult to beat four times out of seven. And I know I've been trying to bring the optimism over the last couple of days but I genuinely believe that.

I'm not I'm not pulling that out of the there, no for sure on your point on the light and we have a lot of players that were stars before. That's I think Trevor rea'sa you know, fits so well because he's been a role player pretty much his old career. He's been a super role player and he just knows what to do. I agree with all that in a sense and not I'm not trying to be negative here.

I just think this is a time where they can't fracture, right like, because this can I know you hit the optimist kind of point there, but I mean this can go bad. Like there's a there's a universe. There's a world where this goes bad, you know what I mean, there's a world where the Yeah, there's a world where losses pile up and four or six weeks is not nothing.

You know, that's not just a sim sim those games like that's a there's a lot of games back, but I think that's twenty three games if I check there, and that's a lot of games to try to make up. Like even going five hundred in that time would keep us at five hundred, right, because we are five hundred right now. I think we're like six. Uh. I don't know our exact record, but I believe tonight I made

us five hundred again. So we go five hundred in this stretch, we'll still be five hundred at that time. And obviously the West isn't as great as it was the last few years, but I still think there's going to be a lot to kind of push and you never want to be in the play in. Obviously the Warriors can kind of tell you that about last year. So I agree there's optimists and hopefully when a d

comes back, he can fit right back in. I just think like this next few games and this next like week or so is very important because they need to pick up wins. You can't just fall on the face of year. They keep screaming process because they need wins right now, like they they've they've thrown all their banked wins away, like losing Okay, see earlier in the year, flowing twenty point leads eurn the year. That costs you this time with any kind of margin for error. I guess,

like that's my thing here. There's no margin for error here, Like we can't just drop four or five games, uh, and drop back. So that's kind of I agree with you.

That's still you know, positives. Lebron looking like Lebron, I think is the top of the key on all this, Like Lebron looking like himself uh and m VP candidate, all that stuff is important and hopefully a D can kind of come back on his time, come back healthy, come back rejuvenated right with a sense of urgency and energy and know more of this like lethargic kind of play that he's been at. And he still had the numbers.

Obviously numbers are great. It's just on the floor doesn't look as a D as a D standards right for other players maybe, But but yeah, I just think like this is an important time here where it could fracture or they can kind of come together and get a few wins here, and I think it's important. Yeah. I think it's going to be about winning the games that

they're supposed to win most of them. Like you can you can go into the locker room tonight if you're the Lakers, and you can look each other in the face and be like, hey, like we competed. Those are the things. Those are the phoenix suns. That's what we're trying to get, and we know we can't get there until we're all healthy anyway. Hey, but we competed, you know, and you can even kind of do the same thing with Chicago because as decimated as they were, they weren't

nearly as decimated as we were. And uh and even then, like you put it, could have very easily won that game if Tomato Rosen doesn't make every mid range jump shott he takes at the end of the game. So like there's some silver LIFs Thursday. If you lose the San Antonio You're right, that could be a fracture moment. So it's like, I hope it'll be really interesting to

see in San Antonio. Like you said, it's been playing well lately, so so that's that game where it's like, that'll be an interesting read on the Walker room and them them coming out and beating San Antonio would tell us a lot about where this team is in their in their headspace. Um, but did you have anything else you want to hear on tonight? I think that was I think that was it. Yeah, Jamara, I think I got I went to Jamario Jones already. Hopefully he played

the next game. Man, I think we need some just play hard rebounders. I thought he looked good in his minutes late, but it's tough for him to come in down down twenty and Jay Huff survived right, survived the cuts, so hopefully he can kind of show what he has. But yeah, if we would get a win, man, Santonio just blew out the Clippers. I think who got Paul George back on the road. They blew them out by twenty the other games, so they'll be they'll be ready. Man,

They're good. Deante Murray I think is legit, so they have to be ready to kind of play for that one. Yeah, it's it's a winnable game, but it's a challenge. It'll be a Sean al right, guys, thank you so much for coming to hang out. This is gonna be on Dash Radio tomorrow morning at seven am Pacific Standard time and will be on our podcast feed here in about a half hour. As always, real appreciate your support. I'll have some something coming out tomorrow and then we'll have

our typical post games show on Thursday. And enjoy the rest of your night and we'll see you guys in a couple of days, happy holidays, Thanks everyone,