Timberwolves/Lakers Postgame Spaces

was fortunately able to catch the game and its entirety. Um, I'm a little more optimistic than most, but we'll get into that rog. How you doing, buddy, how's your weekend been. It's good, It's good. I appreciate you know you coming for me and Jason Maple is coming on on Friday. Although it did get cut short. I saw there with some technical difficulties. But yeah, man, two days of partying, dancing, you know, and to music and stuff will get you exhausted.

So I'm back though, ready to talk to some Lakers basketball here. Yeah, you do sound like you're in a truck or some pink so I was gonna let you know, I hear some background noise there. Okay, I'll do I'll do the best I can to keep when I'm not talking for that effect. Um, knew, your buddy, It's good to have you back. So again, I'm I'm a little

more optimistic than most. You know, Minnesota's young and athletic, and they played really good defense tonight, playoff style defense with really a lot of like adjustments that have been made from previous matchups between these two teams. You saw a lot of packing the paint, ignoring Russell Westbrook, putting a lot of pressure on Lebron both on the ball

and off the ball. I thought that was a big part of why his shot attempts were down, um relative to the way he's been shooting the ball throughout the game, making Lebron into a passer, and little stretches of impressive shot making from Minnesota at various points in the game. And you know, to get a bad game out of Russ like a just horrendous, terrific, horrible I saw of a basketball game from Russell westbrooken to get a win with no Anthony Davis, I'm gonna go positive here. How

are you feeling right now? Yeah, I do feel a little bit more positive. I think, you know, we're not in any position to be picky about wins right now. It's a team that's under five, a game under five or something, no position to be picky. Man, A win is a win. We're starting to get guys back at least. I thought the wing rotation is a lot better. I would still like to see Dwight Howard play the backup center role, especially with a guy like nas Ree just killing us. I would like the rotation to be a

little less rigid, but again that's kind of nitpicking. Um. I feel like they're going to the small ball thing and going to try to make it work. I thought Russell was really bad in the first half. There's a lot better than the second half. You have five three point attempts in the first half, it was over five, didn't take one in the second half. Um, I think only two turn I think he had nine turnovers on the game or something, but I think only like two or three were in the second half. So he did

pick his spot a little bit better. And Lebron just continues to be incredible. He didn't score thirty tonight, ending his seventh straight I believe it, seven straight thirty point games. Um. He ended that street tonight, finishing I think with twenty six or something. But he was incredible in the fourth on defense as well. He looked tired to uh just be having to cover all that ground at the five, but had a lot of strip balls away. And then tonight lake Mont Carmelo. We'll get into it, but those

guys kind of saved us. Every Bradley as well, who I think we could talk about who's been kind of consistent, who's been consistent, um, a little bit low key, but has been consistently playing well. So that's kind of what I thought from tonight. Man, two straight wins, uh, two teams that aren't very good right Portland I think is on a slide, even though they have a bunch of players back. And then tonight Minnesota obviously missing call Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell. But now you get a win.

I thought the So ESPN came out with the spread today the Lakers were eight points favorites tonight, I thought that was insanity, even with the people that even with the people that Minnesota was getting back. Um, but yeah, I thought was a good win. Man, we can we can kind of pick pick up on this one, but at least it's something to build off. T straight wins is at least something to kind of get the thing rolling here because we're getting guys bad again. You can't

ever take a game at face value. You know, it's easy to look at it from the surface and be like, oh, Karl Anthony Towns didn't play. You know, D'Angel Russell didn't play. No, that was a big athletic basketball team that has seen the Lakers play a couple of times this year. That has made into adjustments. Like I said, the game resembled the playoff game in a lot of ways. That's what playoff basketball feels like when they take away everything that

you want to do and force you to adapt. And that's important because you know, we look at these games recently, like beating the heck out of Portland's two nights ago or winning that game in Houston, like that game important, that's not real basketball. Did you see some of the defensive breakdowns that Portland was having in that game. That's not what playoff defenses look like. So as much, yeah,

they were awful. So as much as it feels good, as much as it's exciting and fun to watch, and you're watching Lebron dunk on everybody, and yeah, that's fun and that's cool, but that doesn't translate to what they need in order to succeed when they get to the end of the season, when they're playing against playoff quality teams time after time, when they can make adjustments. And what you saw tonight was a playoff type of defensive strategy. And again, I know that seems laughable to say about

that specific team, but watch the games. If you watch the games and you see what they're doing, the type of athletes they have on the floor, the way their help defense was set up, the way they were packing the paint, that's what playoff basketball looks like. And you know what happens in situations like that, You have to adapt, and I thought, you know, some guys didn't do a good job of that, Like Russ really struggled with it tonight.

You could tell he just didn't really understand when he would get into the paint what to do because they

were taking away his easy reads. And then you know, as the game progressed, you saw Lebron kind of make adjustments, right because they're at the end of the game, especially in that fourth quarter, he was magnificent defensively, and he saw that even though Lebron wasn't able to score at the rate that he's been scoring in recent weeks, he impacted the game all over the floor as a defensive player. And then, yeah, I don't know if you noticed this too.

We had a lot of hockey assists in that fourth quarter, plays where he would generate an advantage, collapse the defense, kick out to a guy, but because Minnesota was so good in their health rotation, they would take away that first option with the rotation. With the rotation, but there'd be swing swing or cutter here, cutter there, and they get a really good shot. And that, to me is the kind of stuff that does translate to the playoffs.

And in games like that against teams that are really really good in their health defense and against teams that take away what you like to do easily, that's more supreme talent becomes such a factor, and that's why you need guys like Anthony Davis on the floor with you

with Lebron to succeed in that environment. But I could take this another direction, and this is where I get concerned with Russ because one of the things I fear with Russ is against teams that do this to him, completely ignore him off the ball and then pack the paint on him when he has the ball and try

to turn him into a jump shooter. It could look like this a lot in that setting, and that concerns me and I'd like to see you know, he used to watch some Avery Bradley tape and look at the way that Avery Bradley is stayed a threat even when he's not at the three point line. But you know, so I look at it. There's pros and cons, and you look at it and you say, Okay, they solved the puzzle. Lebron played great, but I'm concerned about the

rust thing, and I'm I'm tonight. It was just another example of how that fit gets clunky when you play against teams that take away all of the easy things that you like to do on the basketball court. Yeah, I mean, Russ definitely struggled, and again I thought he played a lot better um in the second half than that first half. Rust to me, though, what he does is he likes to pass to areas right instead of players,

So that's kind of what he does. He'll drive and like look for the corner, look for the wing or look for the top of the key, and when players aren't there, that's when he gets in trouble. Right, he gets in the air and he'll do passively like what

are you looking for? But I think that's where he's going for And he's always going like a step faster than I think what his body and his mind aren't like connected in a way where he's going faster than his mind lots to go, where his mind is going faster than his body wants to go, and he's in transition and players aren't catching up with him. But again,

second half, I thought it was a lot better. Was seeing some stuff kind of progress now where he's become a screener for for Lebron, or he's really the only non shooter because since we've gone small full time, he's pretty much the only non shooter on the floor, And I like that th HD now comes in for him as the first sub where again now th h T

is the only non shooter on the floor. But yeah, man, then I've always said with with Russ and this is something that we've talked about all season and we're probably going to continue to talk about, like this is just what you're gonna get when you up his ships like this, like you have a d now off the floor, which means he's the full second time offensive possession guy who's taking up all these possessions, and your turnovers are going

to go up. Nine turnovers, of course is way too much, but again, you're gonna put the ball in his hands this much like that's what you're gonna get. You're just gonna have him have super high turnover games. I think it's great that they were able to win in a game where he couldn't hit a shot at all, again over five from three but didn't take one in the second half. Those mid range full ups are what they are. Hit a few of them him get a big one, lad to get an an one and uh to me, like,

you can't temper down Russ. You just lower his uses and possessions. And you talked about that's where Anthony Davis comes in. And I think that second unit is super interesting too. We have like Russ Reeves, a Resa Mellow and THHT and I think a d can kind of subb in for Mellow or th HT whoever. And I think that's an interesting second unit. There Reeves and Reeves and a reason. I like that combination. But yeah, man, that's just what you're gonna get with Russ right now.

You're gonna have up and down games. I think he's, you know, starting to find his rhythm a little bit more. He's still getting into the basket a ton, even though even if he's not finishing all that well and he's getting to the line. He hit his free throws tonight. To turnovers were too much, but again only like I think two or three turnovers in the second half really improved his game. Minnesota a team again that packs the paint. They're super athletic. Vanderbilt as well. Um, Vanderbilt is a

guy who defends Lebron really well. I feel like, but yeah, man, Russ is gonna be like this all season. We're just kind to kind of live with that until a d gets back. But I think having all our wings back has really helped, especially helped him as well. But that's

where we gonna see it from now. I think it's been interesting to see the way that Frank has stayed away from Dwight with the second unit, because this is something that I personally have disagreed with leading into this, because Dwight is a quality NBA center, especially as a bench center, and so it doesn't make sense to leave a quality NBA player on the bench when as a team you've kind of struggled with talent throughout the season. But I think there's an interesting strategy that Frank is

going with there. I think he's leaning into this five out concept and trying to make it so that all of his lineups are playing that style and so that they can get good at it. Now, there's a flip side to that, like versatility is part of the game.

You'd like to have an opportunity to change your game plan if something is not working, But then you can look at it from the other side and look at the end of the game, they ended up taking nas Read out, So as much as nos Read was punishing them in those smaller lineups, they went away from him late. It was like it was waiting to see who would blink, and the Timberwolves blinked first, if that makes sense. They came down to our style and played five out at

the end. And you know, early on in the game, you know that tug of war was happening, and Frank did not blink. And I think part of the reason why what I thought was interesting, especially as we got to the fourth quarter. I thought we were a bad

help team to start this game. There were a lot of plays where we could give up dribble penetration or a cunt or something and there would either be no help at all, or if the first helper would come over, we'd do a really poor job of helping the helper and then everyone would be kind of standing around staring at each other. And they really they really turned that up in that fourth quarter to take away all of those easy reads that that Minnesota was attacking early in

the game. And that was where, you know, I saw a lot of people on Twitter because I'm kind of coming around to this five out concept as you know, just from you know, following the show. But like I thought it was I thought it was really interesting to see as that game progressed, people Laker fans getting a little upset that Dwight wasn't out there because they don't

see the overall picture. They just see one thing. They'll see an offensive rebound put back, or they'll see Nasri doing a power dribble into a guard in him bouncing off and laying the ball up and they think, oh, we're getting killed by size, but they don't see all of the other benefits that come from being small. So, for instance, if a team like Minnesota is utterly packing the pain and completely ignoring Russell Westbrook, having Dwhite out

there in that lineup only compounds that problem. So even if you do keep nas Read off the glass, even if you do secure a few more defensive rebounds, you suffer in a lot of the other areas of the game. And so that that's what I thought was really interesting about that idea ideology is when you go small, you understand that you're giving up something to get something. And I'm coming around to that ideology. And I was impressed by Frank tonight because he had an easy trigger he

could pull at any point in that game. He could have gone to Dwight, put him on nas Read and tried to fight him off the glass a little bit more.

But he's stuck with the game plan. And at the end of that game, you had two teams playing five out, nas Read on the bench, and one of the teams playing five out had Lebron freaking James at the top of the key, calling for screens from guards and making reads and and and generating quality shots, while on the other end, you had lesser basketball players trying to do

the same thing. So I think I think it's interesting to see where that that direction, that the direction this takes the team moving forward, and especially with Anthony Davis coming back kind of you know, I've seen a couple of people say this, like, that's why it's so important when Anthony Davis comes back, that we don't just start force feeding him in the post NonStop, because we need to try to maintain this style of play, almost using Anthony Davis as a wing, you know that, and posting

him when it makes sense, but not getting out of this style of basketball, because I am a believer in this style, and I think it could work, especially now that we have some of our wings back, because it's easy to look at the schedule and say, Okay, you played Portland's, Okay, you played Minnesota without their you know, two of their better three players. But the flip side of that is we also got Trevor Rees back and Austin Reaves back, and we're much more functional small ball

basketball team now because we have more wings. So I'm curious to see over the next few weeks if this translates to wins against better teams. That will be a good indicator of whether or not the style will work. Um moving forward with me, he was coming back. Yeah, And I think the Dwight thing is super interesting because obviously they lean fully into the small ball, and you'd rather have it be this way right, rather than be

fully into the small ball. And maybe they don't, or they do go into a few bigs rather than on their way around that. It was when we started the season, when we were starting with two bigs. The Dwight thing to me is only I would like him out there just when it's like Carmelo at the five and we're kind of filling out Carmelo with Stanley Johnson or Carmelo with Trevor Reza. Trevor's only played twelve minutes tonight, Carmelo

getting hit a bunch of huge shots. I still think thirty minutes though it's too much for him, but I just don't think he doesn't have it doesn't have to be as rigid. I think Dwight can still play ten to twelve minutes just to give them a break, because you can tell having Lebron be the guy who has to pick up nas Read full time and then we've gone into the you know how it's easier for him to play more physical rather than being on the perimeter. All that's true, he still look kind of tired to

me at the end there. You could see him kind of hands on his knees. Having to be the guy who rotates every time, also be the physical matchup guy who wins the physical battles right on the boards, have to box out nas Read. All that stuff is tough for him to do, especially when he's playing forty minutes tonight,

forty minutes like he did tonight. And that's where I think just sprinkling in Dwight for a little bit, let him kind of battle, let him kind of battle, uh windows, physical battles against guys Black Nosfreed, who was having a career game. He had like twenty one and seven. I think, I'm not sure if it was the middle of the third or by halftime something like that. He was having a crazy battle. They were winning the points in opinion as well, fifty two to thirty eight or fifty two

to twenty eight at one point. That's the only thing I would like to see Dwight put a little bit. But I understand it, Like, again, this is nitpicking to me. They've gone all into the small ball. I think once the reasons minutes come up a little bit, I think, you know, twelve minutes because he was out for COVID, so maybe that's maybe that's why they're still kind of uh sprinkling his minutes down for now. But I just would like to see Dwight maybe play a little bit.

But you're right leaning all the way into the small ball. I think it's great. I think it's helped the offense as well. We have a bunch of shooters out there, we're really only playing like one non shooter at the time. I've talked about Russ is the nonshooter really in the starting lineup, and then you have THHC coming in for him as a non shooter there, and then I think Dwight and kind of come in for maybe tich He or something, just keeping that as one non shooter on

the floor. But yeah, they've leave it to it. I love the randomly they went to both HD at Russ at the same time in the middle of the fourth quarter in the offense completely fell apart almost immediately right right. But I like him not playing with all three right, all three of Lebron. Uh, well it's not Lebron rust uh and t HD on the floor. I think that does help Tylon and Taylan still kind of in his head. I was happy he was able to see a step back jumper go. He get some nice defensive plays as

well in the fourth. I think he'll eventually get his rhythm going. But yeah, man, that's where I'm at with the Dwight thing. I would like him to play at least like maybe if it's not like it doesn't have to play twenty minutes of game, ten minutes a game, just to give a little bit break on the physical battle rare Carmelo or Lebron don't have to be the only one down there. But you know, going to small ball, I think it's great. I think it's something we're gonna

do until a d gets back in February. Yeah. Again, there's a good argument for it. It's the same argument I've been making over the course of the last couple of weeks on here. I just I'm coming around to

see what Frank's ideology is. You can see how if you played five out for forty eight minutes, but then randomly turned eight of those minutes into Dwight Howard springing roll basketball with you know, totally different vibe guy in the dunker spot, that kind of thing that you can see how that could disrupt the rhythm and flow of a five out attack over the course of the game.

So I all I'm saying is because I tend to be with you, especially since I would imagine that you'll replicate some of the defensive schemes that you'll use with a D with Dwight, so you want to continue to practice those, So I get it. But at the same time, I see where Frank is coming from, so that that's kind of my perspective with it. I think th HD s trending in the right direction. I thought you saw a different vibe out of him in terms of his

confidence tonight. You know, we talked a lot about how in recent weeks he hasn't been trying to bully people as often as he used to, and early in the end just just drove I can't remember who was guarding him, and just drove it in cave someone's chest in and it had that little extension right handed layup. He has had quite a few defensive moments in recent games as well. I'm coming around on the th HT thing now that he's back in the lineup and he's not dealing with

the COVID has mentioned. He's getting his rhythm back, he's getting his legs back. The jump shot, I mean, it is what it is at this point. He's going to to to make some eventually. Um, he's not this bad of a shooter, but it could forever be a problem again with these kind of guys, with t h T and Russ, there's a fine line between what will work on the day to day basis of the regular season

and how this could change come playoff time. And I do think it's a legitimate concern and it's something to keep in mind, Like what works against the Houston's and the Portland's of the world doesn't necessarily work against teams that are game planning for you, that have seen you multiple times, that have seen what makes you comfortable. Like you said earlier, Russ likes to pass the spaces. That's exactly what something that's exactly the type of thing that

can be game planned for. There's a reason why Russ likes to pass to the week side corner or the strong side corner when he's driving to the basket. It's because it's the easiest past to make when you have had his team going to the rim, It's very difficult to make passes across your body. So as a defense, if you can game plan for that and you can

pre rotate to the corners, that's gonna take away. He's easy to read and put Russ in a position where he's throwing the ball over the court and turning the ball over. So those are the kinds of things that are just are worth keeping an eye on as far as things that could rear their ugly head at some

point in the future this season. But I wanted to talk about Malik Monk for a second because he has become he started tonight right, I wasn't hallucinating that, so okay, So he uh, in a weird way, he's become our green light guy off the bench as a guy that I mean, Melo kind of has a green light too, but it's more of like in a closeout attacking kind of way, like we give him the green light on

catch and shoot situations. But both Malik Monk is playing with a ton of confidence right now, and even when he's taken some of these tougher step back shots and things along those lines. I just feel like they're going in and so especially getting in with Frank back from COVID and getting him back on the right track defensively, I think he's trending in a way that really makes me excited from and he's another guy who's really thriving

in this five out attack too. By the way. It just consistently driving and kicking and creating an advantage or attacking when he already has an advantage. But I'm really excited about how good the week looks, and I think it is a potential ceiling Razor. Yeah, for sure. Him and Lebron definitely have a chemistry that just pops off the screen right, and that's been pretty much since the season started. I think we really missed him when he was out. I believe in COVID protocols as well. Him

and Reeves together. I like them as well. Just both guys who cut really nicely, and there were kind of two guys that looks like they were born to play next to Lebron James. Just guys you know how to cut, you know how to relocate on threes as well. I feel like when he gets because he when he takes when he like takes his spot up threes, he gets into a dip before he shoot him. Every time he gets into that, I feel like the shots going in. You're right, he has a freedom, he has a green light.

He's a guy who knows who he is, right like, he knows exactly what he does. He's there to score. There's no you know, there's no qualms about what he's gonna do on the floor. He's not really looking to create as well. He's just going to the basket. He has all these moves at the rim too, but his jumper is just on. I think he started like six for six tonight or something like that. But he looks good,

looks in the rhythm, looks confident as well. It doesn't look you know, shy ors here at the moment at all. Um even a big time situations has big shots for this team. He's been awesome. Man, he's been starting. I think it's been great. I think putting him in for th h T and the starters has been really nice. Just it just gives the offense a little bit more flow. Has has enough ball handling as well, can attack close out He's just been really good at their stunning run

actions for him as well, comes off screens. He's aggressive off screens, So he's been just good man. I love the chemistry him and Lebron have. I think human reeves like I talked about, are really interesting combination. Even if those two don't start when the team is fully healthy. I think off the bench too, just two guys who know how to play, who cut really nice, to relocate really nicely all over the floor, just can play off each other. But he's been great, man, He's been a savior.

Him and Melow as well. Mellow hit a bunch of big leak as well, hit a big three tonight to get to get us a lead, I believe. But yeah, it was good, and him and Lebron are definitely kind of growing, and we're starting to see a lot more like Malik screening for Lebron as well. Lee goes in the short role and he's able to score off that. Those two really like to play with each other, it

looks like. And he's been good. Yeah. The last guy I wanted to talk about that I had on my list was Stanley Johnson because I think he presents an interesting alternative to Carmelo, and I know they're totally different archetypes, so I get that, but just the type of damage that he can cause with his eyes and athleticism, and we we haven't really had a chance to see him

aside from the Christmas Day game. Get to do it in crunch time, where where I think that kind of thing can be very valuable because of how how physical the refs allowed the games be played at that point. Like that dude just makes plays like they're in that first quarter. There was just he had a big offensive

rebound that led to Lebron's first three. There was a play where Malik Monk got to run out dunk where Stanley John some kind of trapped screen and roll with Anthony Edwards on the opposite wing and just jumped and put some ball pressure as Anthony Edwards was throwing the cross court pass, so it forced Anthony Edwards thrown higher in the air and Nasri fumbled the pass and Lickmunk got a dunk. And then he had another play that led to a Lebron run out where he got to

steal on the other wing. Like he just is so physically gifted and specifically in environments where physicality is allowed, that becomes so much more valuable. And mellow Melos shot the ball well over the last couple of games, but over the course of the last month he hasn't shot

the ball well. And I think it's an interesting thing to and if we talked about it earlier, you did in relation to his minutes and whether or not those two things are directly related, and I'm pretty sure they are, but that it's an interesting idea to consider potentially going with someone like Stanley a little bit more and someone like Carmelo a little bit less, understanding that it does impact your offense slightly, but he does a lot of

impact plays, like Stanley Johnson was over three tonight, so it's not like he was impacting the game offensively, but he directly led to offense for us with plays he was making with the size and athleticism. And to your point, to take a little bit more off on Carmelo's plate, maybe he goes back to shooting the way he did to start the season, and that, you know, carries a

certain amount of value there. But I I'd like to see just a little bit more Stanley and I there was that weird comment from Frank Vogel before last night's or before the Portland's game on Ear's Eve, where he basically was like, all, we're gonna evaluate him for the entirety of the ten days and then we'll make the decision. And you know, Frank is very keep things to the chest. That's very his ideology. He's he's very very professional in

that way, and I respect that. But I'm hoping that they see what I see and what all of you guys see with Stanley because he's like like a drink of water in the middle of the desert. He's something this team has desperately needed um and lacked this entire season, and I'm hoping that he'll stick around and the big role. Yeah, I feel like the Rondo you know, the Rondo trade that I don't think he's officially but that kind of uh stood out to me as they're gonna keep Stanley

Johnson and Darren Collinson. I think this was the last day of his ten day and he was inactive for the last two games, so that can kind of tell you where this is going. But yeah, Stanley Johnson started tonight. I mean players don't usually go from starting to our cut, So like I think he's gonna stay on the team. He's been great, big physical wing, right, big defensive wing. Just feels a need that this that this team desperately needed on the defensive ent as well. And he just

plays super hard falls minutes. And that's a skill to me. I think, you know, playing hard is just seemed like as something that every player can do, and I don't. I don't really believe in that. I think guys who play super hard all the time, that's a skill to me. Stanley Johnson is on this team because of his offensive deficiencies. But I think you're seeing players all around the league that are able to make an impact that are you know, offensive liabilities, even at times like GP two as well

as on the Warriors. You're seeing a lot of teams like that kind of pick up where you have stars who can handle the offensive load and you have guys like Stanley Johnson who can you know, just screen and cut and uh he takes he takes open shots. But I think, which I think is important, he's not a guy that passes up shots. Even if he's not gonna hit at a high percentage, he's at least shootsing up to where he's respected and he can attack closeouts and we saw a little bit of this during his tenure.

He attacks clothes outs, he can find guys. He has a little bit of a passing skill as well. He has enough ball handling to where like in that starting lineup, you can rotate the ball to him and he can attack off the bounce or even take that spot up three. But he's been good man, he's been a breath of fresh shair, like you talked about, guy who just plays hard and he just looks huge on the floor. Him Lebron stands stand next to each other and they almost

look like like size. And having those two guys where you can switch actions, he's pretty much the power forward in the starting lineup. We're playing him as pretty much the backup five next to Melow. Those two kind of switch off, switch off and on and again. I would like Dwight to kind of fill in a little bit on those lineus. But he's been good man. He's been a really nice fit on this team, and I think

he's going to stay for a while. Now. Um I might ask you, do you think Darren Colinson stage after after these ten days, do you think he's gonna stay on the roster. I doubt it, just simply because of what we know about the Lakers and the way they manage their money. But now that Rondo's gone, I'd certainly like for them to keep him at least until they need someone else. But you know, us Laker fans, we think about this in a in a way that doesn't

factor in what the ownership group is thinking. I think if I think if this was you know, Steve Ballmer, I think he'd be keeping Callison in a heartbeat. But it's it's the Lakers, and it's Junie Buss and I my guess is that he'll end up being like at the end of the the contract. What do you think? Yeah, it's interesting. I'm really not sure, because I do think DeAndre Jordan is probably gone sooner than later, just the

way it's kind of matched up here. He's not getting any minutes, and we haven't We've gone to no bigs, and I think the next big is Dwight Howard, so I think he's gone. I would like to see Darren Colinson kind of get more than ten days. I think when you're off for three years, like ten days to kind of get your rhythm, to get back to you know basketball shape, a regular shape brother alone basketball NBA shape.

I think that takes time, like we talked about, and I think he has enough basketball like you to where he's made somewhat of impact. His jumper hasn't been there. Just a smart, uh, grown up basketball player. I like like the term we hear from Wayne Allington as well. I think that kind of fits up Darren Coulson just in control point guard. But you know, his time might be up. I just would like to see it a little bit longer, at least until Kendrick Nunne at least

gets back. And we really had no news on Kendrick Gunne, so I would like to have at least one more just you know, solid backup point guard where he can just go on the floor and kind of control things. But yeah, his time might be up. But yeah, Stanley Johnson I think isn't going anywhere. I don't think Avery Bradley is going anywhere either. I think the Lakers have until like until a couple more days to decide whether his contract is guaranteed for a full year. I think

that is already done again. He's starting as well, So yeah, I think the Spectrum said he's should from three since December two or something. Um, and he's missed a few games within that. But yeah, he's been solid, plays his role, plays hard, hits his open threes. I don't know what more you can ask. Has been a good cutter as well on this team, so I think he gets guaranteed as well. Um, but yeah, I think Stanley Johnson and Enable badly as well. Stay on the team. Jarren Coulston,

We'll see you for sure. So the I shared a tweet in the in the space, you guys should be able to look at it if I did it right, But who knows. Spaces can be a little jankie sometimes. But Frank Vogel, this is from Lakers Nation. Frank Vogel says he had to resist the urge to go big when they were getting killed on the glass. He feels the Timberwolves are a great perimeter crashing team, so going with a bigger lineup would it have changed much? Um?

Super interesting because that's exactly what we were talking about at the beginning of the pod, and this idea that these teams come into these battles with differing styles and it's kind of about who blinks first. And this is really interesting when it when it comes playoff time, because you gotta keep in mind when you have two teams coming to play each other, especially when they play each other multiple times, each of them have a point of advantage.

This is something you and I talked a lot about in the season, like, when you're looking at a team and playing them seven times, what are the clear and distinct advantages you have? And obviously Lebron and Anthony Davis present two massive advantages that the Lakers have going into

playoff series. Is and that's what we always used to derive confidence in the team and their ability to beat somebody four times out of seven is there's no adjustment for the fact that Lebron is probably a hell of a lot better than your small forward or your power forward, and Anthony Davis is a hell of a lot better than your big man. And and so what's interesting is

you get into these situations. You know, this happened a lot at the beginning of the year, especially when we go big, and it's like, Okay, we have our advantage, right, We're huge all over the place. But they have their advantage. They're smaller and they're quicker. But each team is giving up something, and both coaching stabs are looking at the game and they're like, man, this is frustrating. We keep giving up this, or this is frustrating, we keep giving

up that. But at the same time, they have to stink advantages from those same lineups, and it's all about who blinks first, because whoever blinks first the other team is going to be the team that controls the style of the game. And you saw that tonight. The Lakers stayed small when Minnesota played big for much of the night, and then Minnesota blinked and they went small, and then

we got to play our style. And even though we're not perfect at this style yet and we're probably far from what we're going to be at the end of the season, it's cool to see that Frank is committed to it enough to look at all the bad things that come with that style but appreciate the good things that come with the style and stick with it so that we can use that to our advantage in specific matchups. And so I thought I thought that quote was interesting.

It means that what we're seeing is what Frank is seeing, and I think I think it's an interesting thing to watch moving forward. Yeah, and just adding on to that, Kyle Doon, who also um covers the Lakers. Uh. He had a quote today from Frank as well on the small bond and staying staying small, not playing Dwight Howard. Uh. He said, the Lakers want to adapt to competing on the boards in their small units. If we're gonna explore this style player, we're gonna have to learn how to

deal with this. So again, what you talked about as well staying small, you gotta learn how to rebound. I guess without bigs on the floor wanting the guards to come crash. I thought a lot of times as well tonight our guards kind of stayed out on the perimeter, leaving you know, lebron Or or Carmelo or whatever to battle naz Reid whoever was going down, who was crashing to get offensive rebounds. He talked about in Minnesota's the athletic you know rebounding team Patrick Beverley as well as

a guy who crashed his offensive rebounds. Vanderbil I talked about he's an athletic big wing. Uh and the nozz Red as well as the center for them did a really nice job crashing down. So I'm with Frank there again, I don't think it has to be so rigid, but

I understand what he's going for. He's trying to If they're gonna lean into small ball, they're gonna lean into it all the way, right, And I think that's the correct identity of this team, even though I think we can kind of fill out a little bit more with a couple of bigs with just one big plane. But I understand what he's going for, and it makes sense, especially with a d out for so long, we have to kind of stick to the style of play and we have to see if it works against the better team.

But I think getting our wings back is great. Having a Resa Reeves all in the rotation now, I think in the reason only twelve minutes tonight, but I think that will pick up with his conditioning kind of coming back from from the COVID protocols. But having our wings back, it just looks so much better. Man, We're not just playing these super small guards. Having a wing rotation has been nice. Karl Mello played thirty minutes tonight, but you got to play next to other wings as Stanley Johnson

as well. It feels like we added three players to the team. Honestly with with Stanley and the Resa coming back, and then Reeves as well, who we missed. Like, that's three full rotation players that we've kind of added, and it just looks a lot better. The rotation looks a lot more clean. Minnesota had a couple of big runs tonight, you expect that with how how we played, and Lebron again just played great in that fourth quarter defense as well. But yeah, man's it looks like we're kind of hopefully

going in a better direction here. I think we have four more home games to kind of pick up some steam in the standings. Well, you know, it's kind of like we're in the old new season right Like we were starting the season with Kent Baysmore and DeAndre Jordan in the starting lineup. Those guys are both still on the roster, but completely out of the rotation now and and and we've added Stanley Johnson and Austin Reeves has come out of nowhere to be a bona fide rotation piece.

You know, Avery Bradley was added literally on the last day of training camp. So in a lot of ways, the team is completely different than what we expected. And now we're playing a completely different style than we expected. So a lot, a lot of the stuff that happened early in the season now is utterly and completely irrelevant.

And then I like that Frank used the word explore because that's kind of what it is when you don't have a training camp to implement a system and now on the fly, in the middle of a pretty crazy NBA schedule, like they just played their fourth game in six nights, in the middle of this wild schedule, we're trying to learn to play a new a new style of basketball. And so there's going like you said, there's gonna be runs, there's gonna be stretches where it looks bad.

But the exciting part about that is that means that there's a lot more room for improvement. When you look at teams like Phoenix and teams like Utah who have been playing the same style for a while, what you see right now is what you get. There's not an extra gear that they can get to in the playoffs, because what you're seeing right now is the peak. It's the peak iteration of what they do on a basketball court. What you're seeing from the Lakers right now is explore it.

It's exploration. They're learning how to play a new style with new players, And the exciting part is they're gonna be playing, even when Anthony Davis comes back, a completely different style of basketball than they did in previous years.

So even the Lakers in the playoffs that went to primarily Anthony Davis at center, that style of basketball with Lebron and Nady at the four and five is gonna look very different than what we're gonna see this year with Lebron and Navy at the four and five when we head into the postseason. So the exciting part there

is there's just a ton of room for improvement. As long as health remains solid, as as long as you know, you don't see any unforeseen circumstances, and as long as the team kind of stays bought in, there's a very good chance that they're gonna be a heck of a lot better come April or May than they are now, which is not something that can be said about their

competitors in the West. And so that that that to me is something to get really excited about and and it's cool to see them really really buy into that identity shift so much so that in a game like tonight, when it started to go south. They just stuck with it, Yeah, for sure, And to be fair like Phoenix, like I understand, they're probably not going to peak a lot higher than they are, but it's they're still at a very high level that we have to at least still get to write.

They're playing at a really high level. They execute really nice the Utah as well. They have some flaws that really show out in the postseason. But I think there's still a really good team there. But when teams go small, obviously then they should. Yeah, and that's the hope at least when a d comes back, he comes back to a team that's kind of in rhythm, that's going in an upward direction. Right. Hopefully, hopefully we can kind of move out of five hundred, out of the six h

the seven spot, which I think is a plan. Maybe the four seed might be a little bit too high, but I think there's still a chance they can get there,

and that's the hope. I wonder if Adie comes back, Lebron is still the center, I guess in a lot of line up because I think that's something they've talked about, which is something interesting and I think Vogel said the other day as well, that you know, even when Adie comes back, him and Lebron are going to be their primary centers and we'll see if they'll go pick out another big But that's what it seems like, kids looking like.

That's what the roster's kind of geared towards. I think the Stanley Johnson signing is a representation of things something they obviously thought they needed on the team. And now we have a full We have a full rotation of wings now right we have the Johnson Orresa Reeves. I think that's a really good wing rotation to have, uh and with Carmelo who can sprinkle in as well come playoff time. But that's the hope man. Hopefully when Adi gets back, this team is on a upward trajectory and

Kendrick Nunna if we can come back soon. Again, just no news on Kendrick nunn which is which is interesting. Hopefully he's able to come back pretty soon because I think we need his play, especially at the guard spot, and we need a guard kind of score off screen of roles and stuff like that. But it's been nice, man, Malik Monk has been saving us. Carmelo has hit some big shots, every Badley has been consistent. We're getting stuff

out of a roll guys Russ and Lebron. If they can continue to kind of build chemistry, we can go into the playoffs with some positive energy with a d coming back as well. Yeah, Kendrick nun is going to be a breath of fresh air to try to take the ball out of Russ his hands a little bit more.

That's definitely something that excites me. You know, we talk a lot about Lebron's versatility on both ends of the floor and his ability to play multiple positions, but we don't give enough credit to Anthony Davis for being able to do the same thing defensively, Like how many centers could you be? Like, Hey, we want to make our power forward play all of our you know, back line drop coverage, you know, communication type roles on the defense, and we want you to go guard that, to guard

over there, like Anthony Davis can do that. That's that's what makes him so devastating and in a weird way, Like I said this to you, I think two games ago, but the Lakers have kind of tripped and fallen into modern basketball in a lot of ways by virtue of it was like Frank Vogel got dragged kicking and screaming by positive COVID tests and pulled, you know, MCLs into playing a style of basketball that he never in a million years would have And it's kind of cool to

see that materialized. But Anthony Davis is going to be an easy plug and play into that, and I think it's it's gonna work really well. But that's that's all I had for tonight, Rogers or anything else you had on your list that you wanted to touch. Well, just last thing on the thing you said where you said

we kind of fell backwards into it. And I keep bringing up the media the day thing, But I wonder, like the reason the injury is such an inflection point on the season, right because that that's the injury that everyone's brought up has switched the identity of this team from small ball eighty at the five to a redon Reason's injury to now then we went to DeAndre Jordan's starting for twenty games. Like that's a really interesting kind

of look back on the season. And we obviously can't go back in time and switch to games and find out, but I would just love to know how this team starts. Maybe Westbrook gets talk to a better start if if we go straight to you know, instead of a reason, instead of going to DeAndre Jordan's, maybe you just fill in you know, baysmore for a reason and try to have a fast simile of him in that starting lineup. I think it's interesting. But we're here now, which I

think is important. There's enough games to kind of build a rhythm for this team to build an identity. And again, I think getting to where Phoenix is is going to take a lot of work, is gonna take a lot of games, is gonna take all the team being healthy as well. But yeah, that's the that's the hope here and I'm trying to find out. So Westbrook, Lebron and a D have only played fifteen games together this season, which is kind of really interesting when you think about

just how the other teams have continuity. You talked about Utah, they pretty much have the same lineup bringing in Rudy Gay from last season, and the Phoenix as well has had the same starting line up from last year. So we're already kind of behind in there and our stars kind of only fifteen games played by a Stars, so we're gonna have to pick it up. Yeah, man, that's the hope. Hopefully Kendry No can come back and we

have our full team. We're getting close though everyone else's back, A D and none are the only ones left, and hopefully we can kind of build and when some wins here going into the All Star break. All right, everybody, that's all we have for tonight. This is gonna air on DASH Radio tomorrow morning at seven and Pacific Standard time. It will be on our podcast feed probably in about an hour and a half, but we appreciate you guys.

Support is always. Happy New Year from Roger and Night and we will see you for the game on Tuesday. Thanks everyone, Happy