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delay. Though. Let's talk Sacramento Kings first with Greg whis Singer and then
move on to the Los Angeles Lakers with Jobari Davis. Greg, welcome back
to the Hardwin Knox podcast. Emphasis on back because you were unwise enough to
return since you came on way back when in a pre pandemic world. I
do appreciate you giving me more of your time though. How are you doing
tonight? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me back. Are you already
talking about some Sacramento Kings. Oh always, So, I think the first
question, and I would probably start with, like normally going through the rubrics
of these is like what was your general impression of the off season? But
I think the entire off season was kind of aside from the d Aaron Fox
extension, was probably centered around the decision not to resign Bogdan Bardanovich. What
do you make of that now? Like, I do think it's been it's
definitely been lampooned by the national media. The decision not to imagine it does
feel like a level of mishandling of assets. But at the same time,
like it's a new regime who didn't have the option of trading him before now,
And so I'm just is there, like, is there a middle ground
that we can find on this? Yeah, I mean I've kind of come
to terms with it, right because in the day's leading up to my position
was I would have matched. I think the Kings should have matched, But
that doesn't mean that I don't understand why they didn't. I think that ideally
they could have matched and then tried to trade him later. I don't think
the eighteen million a year was that outrageous, but it would have complicated things,
right, Bogdanovich would have had a no trade clause for the first year,
so any trade they found he would still have to sign off on,
so it's not just the ability to find the best deal. He would then
have a trade kicker, which could impact the cap unless he was kind enough
to waive it. But he doesn't have to and may be a little frustrated
that he didn't get to go play where he wanted, so he may just
say, no, you gotta pay that trade kicker. Anyway. It's how
many people just assume players will waive their trade kickers, and then John Wall
gets moved and he's like, nah, I respect that. Definitely, don't
wait for trade kicker. You negotiate it for a reason. I mean,
if I was a player, I wouldn't like, oh, you mean you
want me to not take the extra couple million that you owe me? Like
yeah, like this based into the seven figures. So that's a hard note
from me. But thanks for writing. But so, I mean, it's
not easy to move him now. It gets easier the longer you have him.
But I do think that if they had matched moving Bogdanovich would have only
been one of several things the Kings were then trying to do. I mean,
the Kings have other contracts that don't make a lot of sense for what
we think Monnier and the Kings are trying to do. Yeah, I mean,
it seems like from his comments in you know what limited press availability he's
had, as well as some of the moves that we've seen them try to
pull off and you know, not able to pull off, it seems like
they're really trying to focus and get younger around Deer and Fox. So that
presumably means that they might be looking to move Buddy Healed this season, they
might be looking to move Harrison Barns this season. And they've also got some
expiring guys or essentially expiring guys like Corey Joseph is a big cap number this
year, he's only like two or three million guaranteed next year, Nem and
you be Elitz is expiring, where Sean Holmes is expiring. So those are
other things that they're trying to move, and adding Bogy to that list just
is one more thing. And it's not like if they matched Bogdanovitch that's their
only move they have to make. Right, it seems I guess where I've
landed where you did. I think I haven't posted it on Twitter that I
would have matched because I feel like you what you could have because what it
does seem like they're doing is that they want to get younger around Fox,
like you said, and so what you could have done, I think Bogie's
contract looks better now than the Buddy Heel contract, and so you could have
moved him where maybe you're taking back another larger salary from a team and that's
just upping the type of assets you're getting back, and it feels like they
would it would have been easier for them to eventually do that than whatever becomes
of this Buddy Heeled situation should they move him. At the same time,
I don't I don't want to use the word like respect or appreciate because that's
like the bare minimum for whatever team should be thinking. But their decision not
to match it at least seems like this front office regime has a longer,
larger game in place, and if you want to get to from scratch mode
as quickly as possible, that might be the way to put it. Not
having him on the roster at all, you don't have to deal with that.
You know, trade restriction for the first year might be the quickest way
to do it. Yeah, And the other piece just kind of comparing contracts,
is that but Doanovitch. I mean, we don't know all the details
of how the Hawks set it up, but we think it's kind of level
eighteen million a year at least how I've seen it reported. I don't know
if anyone's got the final details, but we do know that Buddy Healds contract,
even though it's a bigger number, it decreases every year. So the
longer you have that contract, the easier it's going to get to move.
And you know, in the first year of the extension, which yeah,
it is like twenty four or something like that. So it's a big number,
but it falls pretty quickly, and it's easy to forget that when he's
not being misused by Luke Walton. Buddy Heals still one of the best shooters
in the league, especially at a high volume. So I don't think Buddies
as unmovable as he might seem on the surface. No, And if you're
gonna overpay for anything, you overpay for shooting Like that's just kind of where
I land on it, and so I totally get that few point. Also,
look, Buddy Healed. Bogey is one of the players that Buddy Healed
is allegedly younger then too, so there's that he's on a declinic contract and
younger. So I guess, So where do you land on the buddy situation?
I think I don't like from Afar, like, you know, a
million miles away. I look at this and think, like, he clearly
doesn't want to be there. He actually ended up. I'm sure you saw
that he liked that a tweet that I made in Jess from a brand account
that I run, where it said the King's thought that he was still part
of their core, and that caused like a little bit of an uproar,
which I thought was hysterical. And then I saw like people going through the
motions of trying to justify it, like, oh, maybe he thought those
were happy tears. I don't know that he's like, is it possible that
he's more open minded or will want to stay in Sacramento, won't be as
much of like a I don't even know what the word would be, but
like, won't be as unhappy there if he has a bigger role on the
heels of Bogey's departure or is this just someone who's as loyal as his options
right now and he would just prefer to not be in Sacramento. So the
tricky thing with Buddy Heeled is that he has very little filter. So like,
whatever he's thinking or feeling at the moment is what's going to come out
for the most part, and he just kind of says what's on his mind,
and that's not always going to be something that comes across. Well,
he probably saw the tweet and thought it was funny and maybe agreed with it,
and so we hit like, I don't think he put that much thought
into it. I don't he was trying to send a message or anything like
that. Like, you know, it might have been just something that he
thought was funny. It might have been something like he did just to stir
up a ship storm. Like that's the type of thing I hope players do
that, by the way, I want I want him to search his name
on Twitter with the intent to like something that he knows would cause an uproar.
But but I mean that's just kind of who Buddy Healed is. And
you know, sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad, it's just gonna you know,
a double edged sword. When the season starts, though, I mean,
Buddy, heals the type of guy who's going to show up and play,
and he's gonna play hard, and he's gonna play to the best of
his ability no matter what else is going on, because I mean, the
guy is one of those quintessent child night I just butchered that word, quintessential
Jim Rats, who just loves the game. He loves work now and he
loves playing. He is all about it. So when the game's tip off,
he's gonna be there. He's gonna do his thing, just like he
was before that part. You know, no one's really concerned with Now.
There's times he's gonna be unhappy, you know, if he isn't starting.
I don't know how much that matters so much as closing games. He likes
to close the games. He likes, you know, being the guy taking
the big shot at things like that. It's possible he could end up happy,
but I don't think that really matters. If he ends up happy and
is playing better, that's probably just going to increase his trade value and make
it easier to move. And I still think that's ultimately where it ends up.
And so that would be my two like twofold question would be. One
is how do they like, I don't want to say rebuild, but up
his trade value. Let's say, is it just a matter of hey,
like, maybe we don't have him running a ton of pick and rolls with
the intent to facilitate like Luke Walton was doing, or is there something else
that needs to go into that? And two do you think that they ultimately
move him just season because if you are, this isn't even an age joke.
If you're aiming to get younger around danon Fox like Buddy Healed, is
not like does not fit into that that mold. Yeah, I mean,
I think part of it is that they're looking to move him because he's a
big contract and he doesn't really fit the Fox timeline at this point, which
is what the Kings are trying to build around it. It seems like as
far as we're building is value. Yeah, I mean a big part of
it is just getting Luke Walton to stop trying to make him a creator.
It's interesting because when you break down his stats from last season, there are
two distinct things that happened, both of which kind of tanked what is overall
season numbers looked like. The first was Darren Fox missed seventeen games with injury
early in last season, and it feels like two years ago at this point.
But during those games, those seventeen games, but he healed only shot
like thirty six percent from three. And then the other thing is the bubble.
During the bubble, but he had come down and was symptomatic with COVID
and there he was back in the bubble, but there seemed to be some
lingering effects, whether it was conditioning, shoot him, whatever it might have
been in you know, maybe it was a layoff, maybe it had nothing
to do with COVID. We don't really know, but he played bad in
the bubble if you take out those two times, which I know that's kind
of starting to nitpick a little bit as far as like, okay, if
we take out this section of games and this section of games, but if
you look at everything that was quote unquote normal, he still had a really
good season. So rebuilding his value might just be as simple as he has
a normal off season. He isn't recovering from a really bad infectious respiratory and
has a point guard next to it. It might be that simple, right,
I mean, like, look, he was still he shot Like maybe
it's not astronomical, but he shoots over forty percent on catching shoot threes last
year, and like that's gonna always be the crux of his game. He
was still in I've looked this up before. The seventy eight percent tile of
points per possession coming off screens, Like that's that's still a pretty good season,
even if it's weighted down by like numbers that hurt him at the beginning
of the year. Yeah, I mean, even with those averages, he's
still shot over forty percent from the year on, taking like over nine threes
a game, And the only player in the NBA last season who made more
threes than Buddy Healed was James Harden. I mean that seems good, Like
it's a valuable skill. I think teams are gonna want that. There's a
certain point. Yeah, I wouldn't. I don't know that they if they
moved this contract now, which is the four he's the first year is the
four years and guaranteed for ninety four million, at least has the ability to
go up. I don't know that they get guaranteed numbers lower than that.
Is it? Is it eighty eight? Is that what it was? Yeah,
like eighty six eighty eight is the guaranteed number six million and likely incentives
I have and then the rest is unlikely. It looks like I might I
might have that wrong. But now some of it depends on where he goes,
because if he goes to a playoff team, some of his incentives are
playoff based and things like that, So yeah, that could factor into the
math as well. I would just I guess my point would be, like,
I don't know that they get like like actual value for him, but
this feels like something they should fairly. He feels like a player. If
they moved him now, they should fairly be able to do so without having
to take like to They're definitely not going to give up something to move him,
but they shouldn't have to like move him for like a ton of negative
value unless it's part of like this huge asset play where it's you know,
we're getting first round picks into the future and taking back this bad deal like
this. I feel like if you actively try to move him now, they'll
be teams that were looking to acquire buddy heel to like help push them over
the top, because what he does on offense best is very plug in play,
and he does it at such a high level that it's don't maybe not
worth dollar for dollar, but it's I would think it's worth the higher number
for certain teams that at least view themselves as like legitimate postseason threats. Yeah,
I mean, like, I don't think he's like a positive value to
his contract right now, but I don't think he's a terribly negative value to
his contract either. I would say he's closer to the value of his contract
than Tim Hardaway Junior was for the life of his most of the life of
his, and his is substantially more expensive looking at heals. So that's the
biggest compliment I guess I could give him. Twenty twenty has already reshaped how
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thirty first terms and conditions apply. So the Fox extension five years, no
player options. I think that ends up being huge for the team in general,
just because I look at him as an actual, you know, tent
pole guy to build around, and it seems that even this new regime does
as well by you know, giving him that deal, and just based off
the moves that they're making, so one like, what are you looking for
from him next season? Aside from you know, we hope that he could
stay healthy. Is it's a over my I think someone like me who's not
watching as many King James as he was, like, you know, could
we get him to have more consistency on his off the dribble jumpers and just
catches shoot threes in general, because that makes him more of a great fit,
like alongside like other players that they might want to bring in and easier
to develop other guys. I would think, is it you know, if
he's gonna go get to the free throw line? Is often it seems like
he was last year, Like can he shoot a higher clip from there?
There's is there's something you view as like a swing skill that will determine the
extent of his stardom. So I think the the outside shooting or you know,
the shooting you know, long twos or threes, threes ideally that's been
a big thing with him kind of since he came in the league. He
hasn't really been consistent there. But I also don't know that he necessarily needs
to get that because I mean, you think about it, there's a lot
of really great point guards, star point guards who can't shoot threes and don't
shoot very much, especially when you have his speed, you know, you
can you really push it, and yeah, he can break down a defense
even if he doesn't have the shooting to make people respect it and kind of
play up. If he can start to hit those threes, it's even harder
to stop him, So that'd be huge. But really the biggest thing is
just the level of aggressiveness and his willingness and ability to take over games.
He only played six games in the Bubble, but in those six games we
saw kind of a glimpse of what that could look like. In six games
in the Bubbly Shot, he averaged like twenty six points a game, seven
assists, two and a half rebounds, like and a steeler two. I
mean, he was phenomenal in the bubble. The Kings were trashed, so
no one noticed, but he played really really. I mean, he wasn't
deferring to anyway. He was trying to take over. He was really trying
to do something and it was incredible. I Mean, very few guys put
up like twenty six and seven for the season, and I'm not expecting him
to suddenly be that guy for you know, seventy two games as opposed to
six games, But if he can kind of close that gap between what he
was doing in the bubble and what he did for the rest of the year
last year. It'd be a nice step forward, you know, if he
can be at twenty three twenty four points a game. He was at a
little over twenty last season, so it's not a huge leap, but just
kind of incriminal growth. You mentioned the free throw rate. He gets to
the line at a phenomenal rate. He was like twelfth in league and free
throw temps last year. His percentages aren't great, but even with his offenesse
he gets the line. Even if he raised his percentages, it doesn't change
that much as far as his point totals for the year. So I think
that that's probably a little bit less vinitie than people might think. And he
would look even like from January first on, like his numbers like dovetailed pretty
nicely or almost aligned with what he was doing in the bubble. He did
shoot forty six point four percent on pull up twos from January first onward.
And the thing that I noticed about him is that he doesn't let's just say,
he never develops like the consistent jump shot. He doesn't seem as inclined
to take like those looks as a John Waller Russell Westbrook would where they accounted
for you know, those in between twos off the dribble account for such a
large share of their shot attempt totals that it becomes an actual problem. Fox
seems I don't know if it's just he's aware of his limitations or he's just
not inclined to shoot those. I think that helps him. Should he not
turn into like even let's just say, consistent stand still shooter or someone who's
can be trusted to knocked down those those off the dribble jumpers, It doesn't
seem like that was that he intends them to be like this huge part of
his game anyway. Yeah, I mean, I think he's pretty self aware
of like what he's good at and what he's not. Like he'll talk about
his free throw shooting all the time, you know, so he knows the
areas of his game that he needs to working. But he's also kind of
got that pure point guard mentality where he can score a lot, but he's
very willing to set up other guys like he has doesn't feel like he needs
to always be the guy taking the shot. So yeah, if all the
defense has given him is a twenty foot or he's probably more likely to pass
out of it than anything else. So Luke Walton head coach of the King
still for reasons unbeknownst to me, to be honest with you. But so
the way they played last year, if you look at before January first,
they were twenty fourth per impredictable and average time of possession and they were eleventh
after January one. How much of that is just like those numbers are skewed
because Fox was injured at the beginning of the year. How much of that
is just due to Luke Walton not being in touch with the makeup and how
this roster should play for so long? And is this you know, Kennis
team in your opinion, like actually begin it's rebuild around Fox? Or can
it take like a step forward if Luke Walton's the coach, Like do you
envision him using players properly this year? Does do you feel more confident now
that Alvin Gentry is there? Where is this just a situation where you view
it as the Kings are gonna like almost forever be capped so long as Walton
is running the show from the sidelines. I think it's a bit of both.
I mean, I think the Kings can be better than they were last
season. I think bringing in someone like Gentry can certainly help with the offense.
I think that it was so weird last year because before joining the Kings
with the Lakers, Walton ran a high paced system, and it was so
baffling why a coach who had traditionally played in high pace before the Lakers,
he'd been with the Warriors, who obviously got up and down the floor,
shot a lot of threes. How he went from that to trying to do
a slow it down offense to instill half court sets. It did not play
to the strengths of the team. It didn't work like. It was a
disaster, and the team never really recovered from it. And the way that
they started the season, they definitely picked up the paces time went on.
We're paying close attention to it the whole year and it would be nice and
they're saying all the right things about playing faster again this year. So I
don't really know what happened there. I still think though, even if they
play faster, yeah, it'll help out with some of the issues. But
I don't think Luke Walton is the coach who will take the Kings to the
promised Land, right, I think that, you know, as far as
why he's being kept, I mean, there's gonna be a lot of turnover.
The Kings are have definitely had some of their other business interest hurt financially,
so you know, eating three years of Luke Walton's contract was probably a
tough pill to swallow when they also had to eat Floody Devots contract that had
three years left on it. So I think that I think there's probably some
financial things there, but also just you give Monny McNair time to see,
you know, maybe he can make it work. And if he can't,
you know, maybe it's midway through the season he lets them go, maybe
it's the next offseason, you know. But kind of instead of just throwing
him out at the same time as as Vlady, you know, you let
McNair decide when he's gonna look for a new coach, if he wants to
look for a new coach, right, And so maybe maybe he's about giving
me a shop, but maybe it's more so like give Monnie time to actually
tear down the roster to the studs or at least where the roster reflects what
he wants it to look like before instilling the coach that he wants to have
it because at that point, like, what is if you think that the
Kings are going to at least noticeably alter the makeup of the roster around the
Aaron Fox, what is necessarily the point of getting rid of Luke Walton right
now? Exactly? And also, I mean it was a condensed offseason.
There was so much change happening already. I mean by the time McNair was
hired, I mean, I mean, we were already into the coaching carousel,
Like it just probably wasn't the best time to also replace a head coach.
I mean, just my kind of dream scenario is McNair obviously came from
Houston, Mike D'Antoni spending a year as an assistant. You know, maybe
he kind of tears things down, gets a young, fast team that's exciting,
and then you bring in a guy like Mike D'Antoni to you know,
do his point guard thing with jar and Fox, Like maybe that's a plan
for next off season as opposed to something you try to pull off this season
when you don't really have the footing to make it happen. Yeah, I
mean I think it's always I guess in this case it doesn't hold as much
weight. But if you're going to get rid of a coach, the question
is like, well, you have to have the upgrade. I guess,
just in this case, it's like pretty much anyone they install could maybe technically
be like an upgrade. Like there was Alvin Gentry in front of Luke Walton.
That's just a much better fit as well. Well yeah, I mean,
like so that's the other thing they brought in, uh, you know,
assistance, And they brought in good assistance last year as well, and
some of them just left for various gigs and different job opportunities. But you
know, if they aren't happy with Walton and get rid of them, you
have an experienced person who has been head coach and runs the type of system
you say you want to play, and you can insert him even if he's
a stop gap, even if he's there for half a season or in the
next season whatever that might look like. Gentry's probably an upgrade, even though
he has his own flaws. So how get anyway from Luke Walton? They
get tyres Haliburton in the draft. I think that was like everyone loved that
pick and I was. I thought Phoenix should have taken him. I thought
the Knicks should have taken him. So how do you you know? I'm
not sure how much you covered him beforehand or have looked up or about him
since then, But do you like his fit on the roster more than that?
What type of role do you envision him playing as a rookie? Does
you know Bogey's departure make it more likely he gets heavy minutes? Is he
gonna play with Daron Fox? Is there a chance that he might start?
Or is that just gonna default to the buddy healed? At this point,
I'm just very curious to see how the King's work him in because it's this
I don't want to say it's a weird situation, but I think, well,
the other one is like Halibert probably wanted to be on the Kings,
right like that was just in the argy and want other teams that drafting so
we can go to Sacramental. So also, how does it feel to know
that a player wanted to be in Sacramento from the jump? I mean I
have trouble believing that. It feels like agents spin to me because I mean,
let's be honest, if teams wanted him. They're not going to care
that he's saying, like, I want to go to Sacramento. And that's
unless they're like, well, clearly this kid's got judgment issues like poor decision
making, honest guy from poor that Like, I mean, is it possible
he really wanted to play next to Fox? Sure? Maybe? Yeah.
It feels a little like spin to me, but I'll take it right.
It's nice to hear that a guy is at least smart enough to spin it
in the right way. But I was thrilled when he fell to the Kings.
I mean, everyone thought he was gonna go a lot higher. I
mean, you know, it seemed like a lot of boards had him,
you know, anywhere in like the four to ten range, and you get
him at twelve. That's great. And the Kings didn't overthink it. They
seemed excited about it. You know, he can kind of fill a lot.
Obviously he needs to develop. He's not at the same level as Bogdanovich,
but he can kind of fill that same role, like the kind of
the secondary ball handler, you know, versatile guy. He can score,
he can shoot, he can create, he can do a little bit of
everything. I'm excited. I think he's a really nice fit next to Fox.
That being said, I've seen this before. We're a promising rookie slides
to Sacramento and they grab him and it doesn't work out. So I've orchestrated,
so I'm excited to see how it works out. But I mean,
I think it's going to be a solid pick, and I think that having
him fall to them in the draft may have made it easier for them to
decide not to match on Bogie as well, because if you do match on
Bogie, now not only is but a healed in front of Haliburton, but
Bogie is as well. Do you think that they and I'm just I'm assuming
with the direction of this team, although there has to be a connect as
well between the front office and Luke Walton, But are you assuming that he
gets like meaningful minutes this year and that they'll give him like a fairly long
rope when he's on the court, since it doesn't you know, I don't
think the only team in the West that has steered itself completely outside the playoff
discussions so far as Oklahoma City. I don't know if the Kings intend on
doing that. If you already view them as having done that. But do
you think that with the course that they're on, Halibert ends up playing meaningful
minutes this season. Yeah. I don't think the Kings have fully completed that
shift, but I think that we're going to see moves that continue moving them
in that direction this year. I mean, I mentioned guys just before,
like Beelitza and Holmes and Court Joseph, guys that are, you know,
potentially trade chips because they're essentially expiring. I think that you'll see at least
one or two of them move, you know, at least by the trade
deadline. I think there will be meaningful minutes available for Haliburton. Now,
right off the bat, they might try to slow play it because he didn't
really get a real training camp. He's not getting a real preseason. Yeah,
these rookies, when's the last time His last game is probably in February
or something, and so that's ten months without playing and now of a sudden,
you're in the NBA and training camp was two minutes. Yeah, and
you might may or may not have preseason games because Portland has COVID, you
know, right, right, So we're he's definitely gonna get like baptism by
fire as far as being thrown right into the thick of it. So I
don't know that they're gonna give him heavy minutes like you know, December twenty
three, but I think, you know, within a month or two,
I think he'll be seeing some regular minutes in the rotation. I'd be very
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Marvin Bagley. Last time you're on this podcast, I waxed poetic about how
I felt about Marvin Bagley, and maybe I thought I was being trendy because
he was catching so much ship because his name isn't Luca don Chich. I
proceeded to then rank him as a top seventy five player in the NBA for
this past upcoming season because I was so high on how he shot towards the
end of his rookie year. This season was disastrous. Injuries obviously played a
role, but it seems like perception of him nationally has soured. Are people
like, do you get the sense that the Kings still committed to him?
I'm assuming yes, they picked up his team option, which is more than
they did for Harry Giles. Of course, so twitch the knife Man.
Just I'm sorry that was I thought that move was Blastemouth. I don't know,
I'm assuming. I mean, I'm assuming you did as well. But
it seems like they're still invested in Marvin Bagley. Do you have any sense
of how committed they are to him? Though? You are you still like?
Is there optimism there even after what happened this year? Do you you
know what is best for him moving forward with this team and they actually test
him out at the five more designing Hassan Whiteside like infer that they're probably not
going to do that. I have a very I think he's my toughest read
for this team, just because I don't I don't want to read too much
in last season because of the injuries, but just the way this team is
built, I'm not even sure how they plan to use him at this point.
Yeah, what's funny is I mean, obviously he lost most of a
season to injury. Last year he played I think it ended up like thirteen
sixteen games something like that, But is averages weren't that far off from what
he did as a rookie. I mean, his per thirty six numbers were
similar, His per game numbers were similar. Like, it's not like he
took a huge step back as far as his production when he did play,
like so all those things that people were excited about after his rookie year and
I was, I mean, I didn't think he was Luca, and especially
after last season with the leap that Luca took, that's obviously still very painful.
And you know, I was very much on the draft Luca Bandwagon.
I thought that he was the clear choice at number two, but questionable Dad
though, So if we don't compare him to Luca, though, I think
that there's still a lot to be excited about. I mean, he is
a really good finisher around the rim. You know, he's you know,
got some rebounding abilities, some scoring ability. He has athleticism, at least
he did before all his injuries, So I think people I think just the
fact that he was never on the floor has soured people on him potentially too
much. I'd still really like to see him stay healthy for a full year.
But a lot of his injuries were a little freak injuries. They weren't
like the same thing over and over. I mean, the first injury was
a broken thumb. You know, It's just kind of weird little things that
happened to him. And I think that there's still plenty of reason to think
he could be a productive part of the future. Now, whether or not
he will be, we'll have to just wait and see. But I think
the Kings are still hopeful that he could be part of a young core with
Fox and Halliburton and you know, whoever they draft in the coming year.
I forgot that he had missed time. I think it wasn't really have a
left knee injury his rookie year. I forgot that he missed time then too,
So the health is obviously fair. He does seem like if he can
shoot the white, because he did his shooting percentage, like you know from
the perimeter plunged last year was the one that people looked at and he was
really he shot well towards the end of his rookie year. So if he
can like come close hitting that, and then you look at what he was
able to do running the floor, it's a perfect fit for how the King
should be playing. Do you think we get to see him more at the
five this year or is that do you think that they view him more as
a four? And I think the question has always been like because he has
like he could be he could play either position offensively, I think that's pretty
clear. He does have the floor game to be a four, I think,
But it's always been about like defense is like where is he going to
be? Maybe it's gonna be the lesser of two evils is the best way
to put it, but like where is he going to be best off?
On that end? Of the floor and if they just decided Yeah, like
I look at their roster, feels like they might end up treating him as
a four. But at the same time, like, the only center you
should be married to at this point is Rashaun Holmes, and so maybe there
should be a lot of time there to have Marvin Bagley test out some run
at the five. Yeah, I'd be surprised if we didn't see them try
him some at the five. You know, whether or not he spends the
majority of his minutes there just looking at how the roster's constructed, I don't
know. I mean, I think to your point, I think he'll spend
time at both four and five and they'll kind of figure out what it's working
in. Yeah, I mean, the big issue, like you said,
was defense. You know, if if he's on the floor guarding a legit
center. His rookie year, he didn't have the size, he wasn't bulked
up enough. Came into a sophomore year and didn't look like he put on,
you know, much weight or much muscle mass like we were hoping to
see coming to this season. We don't know yet. We haven't really seen
him yet, so it'll be curious to see what he looks like. You
know, if he's put on some mass, you know, if he's been
able to bulk up a little bit, because that could go a long way.
If he can, you know, physically stand toe to toe with a
legit center, that makes a big difference as far as how you can use
him. Do you think that it's more likely that he can bulk up and
survive defensively as the five, or that he's that it might just be better
off to use him as the four. They're not rely on him to defend,
you know, even positions are meaningless, YadA, YadA, YadA.
Now, but where I'll have to go up against a lot stronger players,
I mean, some of it also depends on how his offensive game develops.
I mean, if he can develop any sort of an exterior shot, you
know, whether that's you know, just being able to hit from the free
throw line, you know, on offense, you know, the elbow,
or if he can hit threes with any consistency. That opens up a lot
of ways you could use him as a four, just from an offensive standpoint,
because the problem is when you're trying to capitalize on Fox's speed and his
ability to break down defenses. The Kings are talking about trying to play a
lot more like five out and open up the paint. But what we've seen
up to this point, Bagley hasn't consistently been able to do anything other than
when he's in the paint and having heavy usage with the ball in his hand.
So that that's where it gets tricky with you. How he develops offensively
dictates a lot of what position he can play as well, because that dictates
who you have to put him on the floor with. Do you think that
he I'm assuming he's going to They're gonna receive a lot of trade calls for
him, is what I would assume. He's in the final year of his
contract. Do you think that they are going to be interested in keeping him
long term when they've already paid Yes, they could move some of these guys,
But now you've paid Fox, eventually that will kick in. You've paid
Buddy Heals, You've paid Harrison Barnes. Does that factor into the equation?
And do you I mean, do you want do you think that he's a
good fit in Sacramento long term? I would say that he's still I don't
know how people feel about us on Whiteside. I've always thought his like defensive
impact is like kind of it's too limited, and so I would still call
Homes their best defensive option at the five now, But I'm also not really
sure how much that's that's saying. But he seems like, you know,
just what he did as a rollman last year, like he can do some
rotations around the rim and he can give you some rim protection. I kind
of really like his fit in Sacramento, but it's just complicated by Okay,
he's heading into a contract year, Like how do you treat this situation with
him? Yeah, I mean the problem. I love Rashaun Holmes, I
love rooting for him, I love having him on the team, But realistically,
he's a little too old for the timeline that they say that they're trying
to build around. And with his contract and his production and the things he
can do, I think that he's one of their best trade chips, and
so if you're looking to build for the future as opposed to right now,
I think that you probably end up moving him this year because he could help
a lot of contenders, and a lot of contenders will be willing to give
you a decent asset in return, and whether that's a younger player with some
potential or a draft pick or whatever, that might look like. It's a
very movable contract. He's not expensive, you know, he's a you know,
like you said, he is an active defender, he's a good role
man, he's an explosive athlete. He does all sorts of fun little things
that I enjoy having on the team. But I'll also understand if they end
up moving him why they did that, just because it makes a lot of
sense. And this is and it's obviously coming from the team perspective. I
won't never players get paid like I want players to get paid. But they'd
be watching like the big man market this year, and maybe you thought,
like if Biggs ended up getting squeezed like I thought I thought they would,
and it seemed like predominantly most people thought they would maybe feel a little bit
better about letting it roll away, right that huge offer isn't coming around.
But then you watch like, oh, Mason Plumby getting three years twenty five
million, Tristan Thompson got two years guaranteed at the full mid level, Like,
no, those aren't astronomical costs, but in theory, Rashaun Holmes is
better than both of them, I would say, and he's younger than both
of them. And the other thing would be he's heading into a market where
there's going to be more tap space available. So it's not, oh,
it only takes one team. It might take you know, it's half a
dozen teams that might be willing to pay him sizeably. So you even look
at that and it's like, you know, keeping him get a little risky,
risky or just from the perspective of, oh, these bigs were not
just squeezed dry in this year's more limited market. Well, and I mean
you look at a lot of the big men who who did go at discounts
this year. I mean, I'm not the biggest Hossan Whiteside fan, but
the King's got him on a one year minimum contract, like it's a very
much approven deal. And the guy was, you know, fifteen thirteen and
like three blocks again last year. I mean a lot of those stats are
kind of empty. I'm not again, I'm not excited about what he's gonna
do necessarily, but there's always centers. I mean, there was good centers
out there that didn't end up on any roster right. I mean we talked
about not keeping Harry Giles, but he signed on a minimum deal. I
mean there's always young, big men, you know, big men with potential.
I mean those guys are out there. I mean the center mark at
the past couple of years have been pretty brutal, where randomly a few guys
will get way overpaid, but a lot of guys can be had for cheap.
Yeah that It clearly is the easiest position to approximate if you don't need
something like super specific there. Yeah exactly. I mean the guys get paid
because they differentiate themselves in that way yea, or they're yeah totally, or
they're a plumb lea yeah, or a Zella or something. It seems like
those teams, teams are always playing Zella or plumbly bingo some I think this
is the most interesting thing for me for the Kings from a team dynamic is
how do the wing minutes get dolled out here? Because they don't you know,
if you look at their roster and like it depends on what you're going
to define as a wing, like, they don't really have a true wing.
I consider Barnes like more of a four at this point. If Jabari
Parker is gonna end up playing any small forward for them, that's going to
be a disaster. I like Grin Robinson the third, I'd be interested to
see. I don't know if you guys have heard anything, but I'm assuming
he's just not as healthy as people thought, because there's no way he was
floating around on the market for that long and they got him for basically nothing,
Like he only has one hundred thousand of his contract guaranteed, So like,
if he's healthy, is he going to be playing a heavy role?
Like what is this? How does this wing rotation and shake out for the
Kings when you're looking at like that that three spot. Yeah, that's a
good question, and I don't really know what the answer is going to be.
But yeah, I mean Harrison Barnes is presumably the starting small forward,
but to your point, he plays a lot of four and is probably better
used as a four instead of a three. Yeah. Outside of that,
Yeah, Robert Woodard the second, he is one of their second round picks,
but he was considered by a lot to be a first round talent.
Wouldn't be surprised to see him get some time there. But I think you're
going to see a lot of the Kwan Jeffers. He was really good in
the bubble, really stepped up. He had been a two way player last
year. He's now on a full contract with the team. Younger guy,
just kind of a He can play multiple positions, but I think he's most
natural at small forward. I think you're going to see a lot of minutes
from him there. What did he end up shooting again in the bubble.
I can't even remember what that was if like a zillion years ago, I
should have looked that up before I started. I know he did. He
shot sixty eight point two percent on two pointers last year, so lots of
the Kwan jeffrees though. That's I guess that's something to like super look forward
to. But it's is that fair to say that it's like the biggest question
mark for this team, like looking long term? I guess if you're if
they're planning on tearing it down, like you're just you're more worried about acquiring
talent. But because they do have like that north star of a building block
and fox, I feel like it's also fair to start like wondering, like,
you know, how do you flesh out the rest of the roster,
and you concern yourselves with fit and so it's like kind of shoring up the
ring rotation to the point where you have, like I easily identifiable long term
guys. There is that like the most pressing issue for this team moving forward.
I mean, I think it depends a lot on what they have.
But I mean, so like Woodard, for example, he's six seven,
two thirty five, like he is a rookie, but won the bench press
competition in training camp today. Dude definitely has an NBA body and shot over
forty percent from three in college. Now he can play the three. He
might be more of a four when all is said and done, but I
think he can definitely play the three. And he's, you know, in
college, he was very much like a three in D type of guy.
He So I think that that's the type of wing that the King should be
looking at, and it seems like they are looking at now. I think
a guy like Glenn Robinson there, I think that's more kind of a stop
gap of you know, filling in the minutes type of deal, you know,
But he's similar as well. I mean, he's a guy who can
hit a shot at a decent clip from Deep, and I think a lot
of it is going to be around getting guys who can defend and guys who
can space. I think that that's really what you need to have around Fox,
because you need spacing to give him room to operate on offense, and
you need defense because he hasn't been the greatest defender. He's not gonna shut
down someone else as far as the op poision point guard goes, so I
see some of it. I also think that what the roster looks like going
into Game one is probably gonna be wildly different than what the team looks like
at the end of the trade deadline and even into next season. I think
that the Kings are far from done reshaping what that team is going to look
like around Fox, So there might be a hole there now, but I
don't think that they're overly concerned with filling it in today. I think it's
more one of those things where they're going to try to find pieces that work
and then they'll fill it in when they can. This is, as you
said, the roster could change a bunch, so maybe the answer this question
would change the season progresses. But if you had to pick right now,
what do you think ends up being the starting lineup for the squad, And
do you think that lineup also ends up being their most used its closing unit?
Are we talking like day one starting lineup? It could be like what
do you think ends up being like their preferred starting five or the one that
they lean on most throughout the course of the season. Obviously assuming like no
huge wholesale change. So I think that the most likely, at least from
the jump, would be Fox, Buddy Healed, Harrison, Barnes, Beelitza,
and Holmes. I think that that's going to be day one unless Badley
just comes out on a tear like in camp and you know, the two
preseason games or whatever, like, I mean, he could potentially take over
that four spot or five spot, but I think that more unlikely he'll kind
of come off the bench to start the year. As far as how they
close it, I would suspect that more often than not you'd see a closing
lineup that had Barnes at the four instead. And you know, I don't
really know who would be the three I guess, I mean it depends.
I mean, it could be Jeffreies, it could be you know, if
I assume the Kings are down a lot, you know, they may not
be looking at defensive oriented closing laps. It might be Yeah, so like
if it was a tight game, I mean like would if so, I
would see I think bars at the four probably the best way to go if
it's like a game they're trying to win and crunch who's the best? Like
and I think you could probably just fill out the three with who's playing better?
Like is it Woodard? Was it Jefferies? Is it Glenn Robinson the
third if he's healthy. Who's like the optimal five in that scenario? Is
it be Elitza? Is at Holmes? Please tell me it's not Whiteside.
I mean again, I think it depends who has the ball, right,
I mean, as bad as it sounds, I mean, if you know,
if you're worried about, you know, the other team scoring a bucket
at the end of the game. I mean, Whiteside's a much bigger body
than Holmes. He's just a much larger human and you know, has a
not knack for shot blocks, and he might be better. I don't know.
I don't like saying that doesn't make me happy, but it's possible.
Is there like a completely out there lineup that you're just hoping they test out
at some point for the season for whatever reason, something that wouldn't be on
like someone's radar right now, or maybe even a lineup that Luke Walton would
never even dare to trot out, but he should totally try it. I
mean, I would be really excited to see some time with Fox, Haliburton,
Jeffries Woodard and you know, give me Holmes at center, Like that's
just a I don't know how good that lineup would be, but it'd be
young and interesting and exciting. I mean that's, you know, four really
young guys and then Holmes, who isn't old by any means, but he's
a little older than the rest. But that type of lineup would be the
type of thing I'd like to see, even though it may not be the
best lineup. And I don't know that we'll see that five man combo at
any point. Would they consider or maybe this is like something that they'll definitely
do, like Fox, Haliburton, Healed Barns and you could put in what
ever center you like in etc. If you just give me. I want
to see those four play together so badly. Oh yeah, that that actually
wouldn't surprise me as much as the lineup I just listed, because you know,
Barnes would be a little bit more traditional as far as the four goes,
and you know, whether you put in Holmes or white Side, you
know that gives you a kind of that defense inside. Yeah, I mean,
I could totally see that happening. Just because there's not that clear depth
of small forwards. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw at least a few
minutes of that type of lineup. Who is more likely to these are the
two? Says the question I kind of just for me, who's more likely
to be on this roster at the end of the season between Rashaun Holmes and
Blitza? Rashaun Holmes, Really, I can't imagine a scenario where Belits is
still around, Okay, I mean so, I mean you think about what
Belitza brings to the table. He's a stretch four who shot forty two percent
from three last year. He has shot over forty percent for the past two
years, and he's cheap and he's expiring. Like what playoff team doesn't want
to pick him up at the deadline? Yeah? There was was it?
NBC Sacramento or something had the report where they said that the Kings weren't going
to guarantee his salary for this year is at the start of the off season.
That was I don't know if you saw that, Like that was the
wildest things I read leading into free agency, where it was that guy shot
what from three and if he's not worth like six and change whatever he's being
paid this year. Yeah, I mean his contracts like six million this year,
and he's a bargain for what he does. I mean, he's a
limited player in his own right, Like he's not a great defender by any
means, you know, but he is better than Davis Berton's if that's a
consolation to anybody. But I mean, any contender would love to have that
kind of power forward at that contract with no long term commitment, Like that's
a perfect plug and go piece for any contender. That is a useful player
to have available. Yeah, at seven two seven point two million is salary
for what he does, I'd say that's worth it. Maybe this is maybe
this is the time he finally ends up on the sixers somehow for real.
The other two players I wanted to ask was between Buddy healed and Harrison Barnes.
Who do you think is more likely to finish the year on the roster?
Probably here are some Barnes. Is that because you think Buddy Hills has
more trade value or because he wants out or like is what would be the
reasoning behind that? Yeah, I mean I think that Buddy Hill will He's
going to have him a little bit more trade value. He wants out.
You know, Barnes is not going to disrupt anything. Barnes is an amazing
king. He enters the market at the right time every single time. He
absolutely does. And I mean he he's overpaid, but honestly, like,
you have to pay someone right there's so if you're going to have someone who's
a little too expensive, like and you've got a team full of young guys
kind of finding their way in the league, you can do worse than an
overpaid veteran mentor than Harrison Barnes. Like a guy who's won titles, a
guy who's one Olympic medals, like you can tell everyone what it takes to
be a pros pro like good locker room guy, good community guy. Like
I don't think that he's going to be the first priority to move that's fair.
His contracts declining as well, and I actually, to me, I
don't like it's not even just because it's a shorter deal. I actually,
if I was a team, I guess it depends on your need because they're
two different players. But I like the idea of Harrison Barnes better in part
because that's the cline and contract, and I think he's gonna give you more
options, a boatload of more options, I just to say defensively. And
I think what people kind of remember about him is how he was playing in
Dallas. That's not how he's playing in Sacramento. And so he's been more
plug and play and then opportunistic with his on ball stuff. And if he's
willing to do that for a King's team, that's like not like knows it's
not necessarily going to be contending. Like if he's willing to be plug and
play for a team like that, he should fit right on to a contender,
like you don't have to worry about him griping about his role or something.
And so I feel like he ends up becoming like a more coveted trade
commodity than people would think leading into the trade deadline, which I think is
like March twenty fifth or whatever this year. Yeah, I mean I could
totally see him Teams being interested in him as well. Like you said,
I mean the declining deals that Sacramento is made like a habit of, and
that's Ken Kenton. Hell at their cap grew and he stayed on. He
did not leave with the rest of Vladi's departure. But so he's still in
the front office. And you know, they've done a great job with how
they structured deals with you know, decreasing salaries with non guaranteed final years.
They've been really smart with how they structured deals for several years now. So
even though Barnes is probably overpaid, it's a much easier pill to swallow when
every year that con trek gets better for you, you know, so as
other guys need to get paid, Barnes's numbers going down, And yeah,
he can do a lot for you. He's never gonna be what Dallas wanted
him to be when they signed him, which is, you know, be
the focal point of the offense. That's not where Barnes is going to thrive
for you. Yeah, he's a good team defender. He is willing to
play a role he doesn't need to have all the touches. So I'm a
big fan of Barnes. I like having him around. He's one of those
guys that I think should have a little bit more trade value. I get
why he doesn't, but if he did get dealt I wouldn't be surprised either.
I also think he should either have his own podcast or narrate books on
audio. It's my hot day for Harrison Barnes. So what's a realistic win
total and Western Conference finished for this year? And that's a loaded question because
we don't know what's going to happen, So he could factor you know,
if you're assuming they tear it down or trade certain players, you could factor
into it whatever you think. And you're also free to base it off in
eighty two game season because I'll just plug it into my spreadsheet because that's something
else. I haven't been able to think of win totals in the vein of
a seventy two game season because it just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah,
and I've thought a lot about this in a seventy two games season.
Wouldn't be surprised at all to see the King somewhere around twenty to twenty five
wins. Wow, So that's twenty would be the equivalent of twenty three and
twenty five would be the equivalent of twenty eight. So you're looking at like
a twenty three to twenty even team over of course, for eighty two game
season, which I take that to mean that you think there's gonna be like
some significant roster turnover mid season for this group. I fully do. I
think that they are in the process of tearing it down. I don't think
they're gonna rush it. So I don't know how many guys are going to
be gone, but I think that we're going to see at least a couple
more of the more proven players get shipped out of as the season goes along.
And there's like there's also a chance where they don't not that they don't
need to tear it down, but there because the way the West is set
up right now, like they could just be organically bottom of the barrel.
Because I think the only team you look at and say, right now,
let's say the King's changed nothing, I'd put them in front of the Oklahoma
City Thunder. I don't know who else I would put them in front of.
If any team. Yeah, I mean the only other teams really are
like maybe the Timberwolves, but yep, I'm not confident about that, Like
it just kind of depends how each team's year goes. Yeah, I mean,
I think there's a really good chance they're like the second or third worst
team in the West. Even if they're not that bad, I think the
West is just going to be that tough, and with it being such a
weird season and the King's being geared more towards playing younger players, I think
that there's just a chance that they end up at a really bad record that
may not reflect the talent on the roster. And that's kind of like a
like the great market inefficiency right now that I think, you know, I
think everyone romanticizes the idea of a rebuild, but the Thunder I feel like
timed it right. Like no one else is doing what they're doing, so
they're just bottoming out from the jump. And if you're in a Western conference
where all thirteen other teams are trying to make the playoffs aside from the Thunder
now and you're the Kings, like why not make this the time to kind
of try and tear it down because it's all you're gonna do is, Yes,
the lottery's turbulent, but like if you don't even think you have like
a semi feasible shot at the play in spot, like you're going to have
an easier time of getting the highest lottery odds possible because there are so few
teams right now that are competing for that, and the play and has something
to do with it. I don't even know that I fully grasped like how
to view the way teams operate now in that vein, because there will be
some hashtag Charlotte Hornets that are going to view finishing tenth as like a real
goal because that's considered basically a playoff spot and gives you a semi plausible chance
of getting in, which opens the door for teams that have the stomach for
it to do what the Thunder have done and what it seems like just based
off what this front office did by just letting Bardanovitch walk that they're at least
open to doing. I don't know if they'll necessarily do it full stop,
but they do at least appear open to it. Yeah, I mean,
I don't think that the Kings are going like full thunder or anything. Because
they have Fox, they you know, they've got badly, they've got Halibert,
and they've got pieces that are already there. They don't have to strip
it to the studs to start over. But you can also kind of retool
a little bit on the fly. And because the West is going to be
so tough, you can end up with a really bad record even if you're
not that terrible. And this is a great traffic class to be bad for
it like and with the new lottery odds, you don't need to be the
worst team. You can be bottom four or five and end up with really
great lottery odds. And I think that's kind of the way that they're going
is, you know, we're going to get off our bad long term money.
We're going to pick up another good young player. We're going to have
financial flexibility that you know, once this starts moving in the right direction.
We've got all our draft picks, We've got a lot of you know,
different deals that are movable. They're basically setting themselves up to may a big
swing and try to do a quick turnaround as opposed to just take chasing that
right at tenth seed. You know, playing tournament, which Vladivos absolutely would
have been doing right now. Yeah, if he was still in charge,
I'd be anxious to I'm not anxious, I'd be interested, intrigued, maybe
morbidly so, to see what they ended up doing with their mid level exception,
like who's in Sacramento right now? If if Loddi Devas is in charge,
I mean, let's be fair, there's a chance it was still Hassan
Whiteside just as yeah, definitely would have. He probably wouldn't have. There
would have been no matching Bardanovitch because there would have been a four year,
one hundred million dollars offer on the table for him at the start of free
agency too. Oh no, he loved Bogie. He would have matched that
in a heartbeat, and he would have dealt Buddy for pennies on the dollar.
I know, this, is there anything else that we didn't cover that
you want to talk about? Something about this team that's just undercovered or being
overlooked. And he really spicy Kyle Guy takes. No, I don't have
any spicy Cole Guy. It takes the biggest thing that I noticed about this
offseason was that, you know, well, they went really cheap with their
free agent signings, like you know, cheap deals for Glenn Rampson, the
third Frank Kamenski and uh, you know, Hassan Whiteside. They they did
some longer term and you know a little bit bigger financial commitments to guys like
Woodard and also Jamias Ramsay, I mean, their other second rounder that it
seems like they feel like they've got something there and they're they're willing to They
give them both longer deals than the normal rookie deal, like three or four
year deals. And I think that both of those guys had the potential to
surprise. You know, obviously with later picks, you never know, it's
a total crapshoot, But I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them
turned into you know, at least, you know, regular bench guys on
a team. Well yeah, I mean and Wood's case too, Like what
is the there's no, you're not losing any opportunity by paying him like one
point five or whatever it is this year and then attaching to non guarantee years
to it, Like if that's the opportunity cost to get an extra two guarantee
years of having him under a team control. That seems like a smart move
and speaks to how you said, like it seems like they're getting smarter about
the way they structure deals, Like I mean, even the Corey Joseph disaster
that I thought it was, like, having that partial guarantee attached makes it
a lot more palatable and easier to move. You know, I don't think
if any team is going to acquire him as an asset, but if the
Kings are willing to take back money with an asset attached, like that's one
of the deals that pops up, as you can call it, like honorably
expiring or however you want to frame it. Yeah, I mean the other
piece to just be to watch the Kings of the trade deadline, because if
the right opportunity came along, the Kings have something like forty million dollars in
expiring deals. That's a ton of money. And would you assume that they're
willing to take on money that leaks into the long term if it fits the
overall goal, right, So, I mean, we never know which guys
are going to become available or anything like that, but they've got money for
days that whether it's inserting themselves into a deal to take on someone else's bad
money in exchange for draft picks, or you know, the next disgruntled star
is available and they feel like it's the right fit. Like it wouldn't surprise
me at all of the Kings made a big swing if the right opportunity came
around. Greg, this was great as usual. Thank you so much for
giving me over in or almost over an hour of your time. What are
we at almost an hour of your time? I really appreciate it. If
you guys are not following him on Twitter, he is at GWIS. That's
at j w I s S. He's a managing w SS. What did
I say? You said? Ja? Oh my god, Io g w
I S S. I cannot talk. He's the managing editor at The King's
Herald and he is also a freelance contributor for the Sacramento b He's a fantastic
Twitter follow so again at g w I s S not j G following on
Twitter. Greg, thank you so much. This was great. Thanks Jabari.
Welcome back to the Hardwoo Knox Podcast. As I say, emphasis on
back, because you've decided to return after experiencing what it's like to come on
HWK in the first place. So I really appreciate that. How are you
doing tonight? Not bad at all. And let me just say I appreciate
that you invited me back. I mean you're saying welcome back, thank you,
thank you for the invitation. I feel like I'm wasting your talent bringing
you on just to talk about the Lakers, because you've covered the league nationally
and so i'd like to like it's more intriguing to cover a whole range of
topics. But we are in team look ahead mode and the Lakers just want
a title and that you cover them fantastically. So are you ready to talk
some some Lakers? I'm always ready to talk like you. You know,
I'm a Hollywood homer. Well, so I think the best place to start
here is like, what was your general sentiment of the off season? And
it's not even like a question of was it good or was it bad?
Because it was objectively, I would say a fantastic offseason, even if you're
wondering about the fits of some of the new editions. You don't normally see
a championship team at as much value in a vacuum. I'll call it as
the Lakers did and so were you taken aback at all by how successful it
was. Was there a particular move that surprised you, one that you view
is going to be especially impactful, anything along those lines. Yeah, honestly,
you know, my overall feeling was kind of sort of what you just
alluded to. Like most title teams, especially in their first run, they
don't seem to make as many moves as these Lakers have in pursuit of a
second crack at it. But all in all, on paper, you know,
it looks phenomenal. It looks like a phenomenal offseason. I have to
agree with you again for a group that if we're being honest group, I'm
speaking of the front office that has been much maligned over the last few years
or in years past. You know, kind of you're regardless of whether they
you know, they earned it or not. And so, as you stated
in a vacuum, I love it, but we have to see how these
pieces fit. Like like, you know, there's a reason why they say,
you know, the championships aren't one off, because you know, they're
not one In any offseason, A thousand different things could and likely will take
place between now and in the time we get to the postseason play. But
and you know, but all in all, I think they did a fantastic
job, in fact, better than I could have anticipated. And in terms
of the actual moves, it isn't And believe me, it's not that I'm
trying to deduct the question. But you know, these moves much like the
ones that we saw of last year's it was sort of next man up.
You know, everyone contributed at different times depending upon the matchup or simply how
the flow of the game went. And I could absolutely see these new additions
kind of doing the same now, you know, make no mistake about it.
I think the Schroeder deal and I'm sure we'll get into it more,
you know, but I think that has the potential to be the most you
know, they have the most impact, or be the most impactful overall,
because you know, obviously, not only does it add like another playmaker and
scoring threat that they've obviously you know that they've clearly needed, but in theory,
it should significantly limit the added wear and tear from Lebron uh and you
know, it should just make it easier so that everybody, you know,
so that everything isn't entirely on his shoulders, you know, when you know
when it comes to being able to gener read offense for others. So while
all of the moves excite me, and I think all of them will be
beneficial, especially if you know, if if this staff can find a way
to make all the pieces fit. The Schroeder moves probably the one that I'm
I'm headed into the year thinking like it's going to be the biggest one,
And I think what helps about that is I'm sure people will some will think
that it's Mantras Harold, but I just view and I'm not trying to like,
I'm not trying to insult what Mantras Harold does. I think someone with
his skill set in the league now, it's just easier to approximate what he
does. And so someone like Dennis Shrewder, I think he's there just the
objectively the best player that they acquired this offseason. Like, yeah, I
do, like Harold has a case and we're not dealing with peaque Mark Kasol,
So I don't even think he's really in the conversation there and West Matthews,
like, I don't think he belongs there, even though he he did
a fantastic job guarding Jimmy Butler in the Buck series. Actually don't know why
they didn't play him more in the fourth court. Never mind, they don't
want to get into the Bucks there. But it SE's like Dennis, like
Shrewder. Even if you don't think maybe he's the best player right now,
I would say he has the highest ceiling of anyone they added on this team.
Yeah. And and this isn't to take anything away from Herod, because
I do. I actually am higher on the Herold acquisition than it would seem
that I would be considering how you know, like I've spoken very honestly about
him in particular, you know how he played in the bubble. But yeah,
like you got a twenty six year old guard, you know, you
know kind of you know coming you know, coming into his own uh,
you know, finally tasting you know, you know, tasting what it's like
to play for. And this is I'm not being a homer here, but
you're playing, you know, playing for an organization that's playing for something,
you know what I'm saying, Like those first few years in Atlanta that was
a Hawks. I mean, you know, no disrespect, I'm very excited
for what they've got, you know, going on now, and I mean
I'm anticipating when you're I'm anticipating your positive things from them this year. But
a few years ago they were a complete dumpster fire and everybody knows that.
So he wasn't even happy there like when they were winning, because he was
backing up Jeff Tigue like he didn't want to do that. Yeah, yeah,
you know, young not you know, not quite there yet in terms
of being mature and accepting a role. But no, honestly, on this,
on this particular team, with this group, I do believe that he's
going to happen the most empire and so you know, I had this written
down later on our outline. But let's you're on Dennis Shrewder now, like,
let's talk about him. Do the Lakers half court offense it was shaky
about league average when Lebron was on the court last year, it ranked to
the twenty fifth percentile of efficiency with him off the floor, and it was
even worse, ironically when when Rondo was in the game. You look at
what okay See did and their offense was a dumpster fire when Shrewder played without
Chris Paul. Does that worry you at all? Or is this situation where
it's like, well, you know a lot of those no Lebron minutes in
Los Angeles are gonna come with Anthony Davis and Dennis Shrewder wasn't playing with Anthony
Davis when Chris Paul was off the floor in Okay, see, and and
that's exactly where I was going to take it, like, okay, So
am I concerned? Of course, it's always a concern, Like I'm not
one of those ones that did completely disregards data or anything of that nature,
even even if on the timeline O I'll mess with you about it or or
poke your poke fun attic. I can appreciate, you know, what the
trends say. But like you said, he wasn't playing with any Davis and
and and let's be clear, even though uh you know, I know he
came out and said that, you know, he's he was planning on starting,
and but even whether he starts or comes off the bench or whatever the
case may be, he's still also going to share the court with even Lebron.
So so the shouts of the matter is, I you know, while
it's a concern, it's only because I haven't seen it yet. It's only
because I haven't seen what the you know what what this group will look like
together yet. My yeah, so I agree with you, And my bigger
concern would just be, like he shot a career high percentage from pretty much
every imaginable range, like he separated by short mid range, long mid range,
all mid range threes, like at the rim, basically a career high
from everywhere. And so if he doesn't replicate that his value without Lebron on
the court, Like, that's where it goes down, because I still think
he'll get the dribble penetration, You're still playing with a d and his playmaking,
Like I don't think he's the best passer, but like if the defense
is going to collapse, he can make the right reads. So I consider
would just be more so his like can he replicate that level of scoring threat
he became, because look, if he also regresses, it's not even just
a matter of the no Lebron minutes. I think you want to play him
next to Lebron because you never had the opportunity to play Lebron alongside that level
of playmaker last year where okay, yeah, he spent some time with Rondo,
but like Dennis Shrewder, isn't like defenses are gonna be twelve to fifteen
feet away from him when he's launching a three, like they'll respect him from
there. That opens up lanes for Lebron, and it gives you actually more
of a reason, I think, maybe even to put Lebron off the ball
at points. So if those numbers don't hold, or if he doesn't come
close to replicating those, I think that's probably where the problem is more so
than oh, is Dennis Shrewder just capable of running units on his own?
And and I agree with all of that, And then ultimately is he going
to accept and this is this is a question I'm not I'm not you know,
asking you know, as though he's like some known malcontent simply because you
know, he didn't necessarily love things in in Atlanta, But is he going
to be willing to accept his role? Because like, really that was what
was the key for last year. Like we went into the year, you
know, for everyone including Lakers fans, including myself, was questioning, like,
what's Dwight, what's Dwight going to do on this team? What's you
know, you know, Crusoe's role going to be? How you know,
how much of an impact is you know, can Rondo actually have the fact
that that this staff and their organization was able to get everybody to not just
accept the rule, but to really truly embrace it. Was you know,
I honestly think that that is the reason why they ended up winning last year.
Because if they don't and they're still they're as disjointed as they looked like
they were going to be, I think that, you know, there's a
very good chance that they don't, they don't end up winning. Uh.
If Shrewder and Harold and all of those guys are able to go, they're
able to get them. Then when I say fall in line, I don't
mean just excealed and you know, just be guys on the sideline. I'm
saying accept the exact carved out role that you know that that this coach of
staff ass form. I think once again, yeah, and again, of
course, like a I stated earlier, you can't get ahead of yourself because
you know nothing's going on paper. But once again, I would feel very
confident about this. And look, I would assume who knows what happens in
the playoffs is because Ron was a completely different player, but Shrewder is aside
from the passing, which I Rondo is clearly a better playmaker, but because
Shrewder is more of a scoring thread, he actually might just have more value
as an offensive point guard overall, where Rondo's not that same level of scoring
thread. You're going to get better regular season defense from Dennis Shrewder than you
ever will from from Rondo. At this point, it's like, that's sort
of I think an upgrade aspect of this that really hasn't been explored since it
happened. And you know, that's the thing I didn't I'm trying not to
be disparaging, you know, when it comes to Rondo. I'm very happy
that the six weeks you know, straight six weeks stretch that he had in
the bubble worked out the way it did. The whole playoff ROUNDO thing.
I leaned into it, you saw it. I enjoyed it, and I'm
very happy for him that he went, you know, went to Atlanta and
got paid. Think I think that's the best way to cap that. But
yeah, so for the folks out there that were saying, like, oh,
well, you just got a younger Rondo's like, no, no,
no, you've got a significantly better player. Than what you got out of
you go out of Rondo, and honestly, even and if the shooting carries
over even better than what you saw out of Rondo in the postseason, but
you know, to your point, agreed, you know, not only would
you you know, not only do you hope that it works out in the
postseason, you know, and we'll see what happens, you know, once
you get there, but you do expect him to be an eighty two game
player, which you know, quite frankly, they haven't had that at that
position outside of you know, when they had Lebron there. The treads fit
is the one that I'm more I don't even know if you could say concerned,
but like that's the one I would question more so than the shrewder one.
And so I'm curious how like you feel about that? And I don't
know, is it just even pointless to ask because Ad played with like alongside
less dynamic bigs last year and Howard and McGee where they're not going to give
you the ability to put like Harold can put the ball on the floor and
just you know, blitz toward the rim. He even has I would say
at this point he has a much better post game than either of those two.
I don't really want the Lakers to work it, but he's gonna be
like more powerful rolling Probably He's definitely not the rebounder they are, But like,
do you need him the rebound if he's gonna be playing alongside Anthony Davis
at the same time unless Davis is shooting like he is in was in the
bubble where he was basically Kevin Duran on long twos and was hitting threes.
Now you you are still like shrinking the floor again. And I guess the
where I would really question is you took what was your best spending tool in
this offseason and you spent it on that type of a player, And so
was it fair to question that fit or you're just not as as concerned about
it. No, I think it is fair to, you know, to
question it. Look, I'm not gonna lie to you about this. I
was absolutely stunned when the news of his accusation, your acquisition, not accusation.
There happening some montres Harold accusations lately, when you just look at how
terrible the Clippers were behind the scenes. That yeah, which is also funny
because it's like, Okay, so all these Clipper fans and even the pundits,
you know, they're dogging out mont you know Montres and saying like he
was the problem. He was a problem. It's like, but wait a
second, he was like your six guy off the bitch what any anyway?
Yeah, that's neither here nor there. You know, Yes, there are
accusations, but no, like when when when the news came out, I
was shocked, you know, not not because I was allowing you know,
the bad stretching the bubble to completely cloud my judgment on you know, on
the guy, you know, because we've seen him be very productive for several
years now, but just basically just because I didn't see it coming, you
know, all of that to say, you know, I am curious how
they're going to utilize him and whether he shares the bulk of his bidets alongside
a d or bark at the five. But the one thing that I keep
on reminding myself when you when it comes to having all of these questions,
is I just have to consider that, you know, how good of a
job this coaching staff did with last year's roster. Now now you could you
know, people can say, you know that that's being pie in the sky.
But they really did a fantastic job of adjusting and you know, playing
to strengths, and they really put guys in positions to be successful. I
don't feel like Tress received quite that consideration last year. Quite frankly, when
he was when he was exposed attempting to defend the bigger body centers. Uh,
even though that roster had Zubats on it, he'ls a back on it.
Uh. You know, basically, basically I have more faith in this
Laker staff than I did. You know, I like say, in docs,
you know staff last year, you know, to the point where yes,
there are legitimate questions, and I think your concern is legit. They've
earned the benefit of the doubt for me at least, and look, you
know, let's I don't mean to oversimplify this, but they did just had
the two living bench scorers in the league last year, and so it's like,
how can you absolutely hate that? And it's again, I don't know
if they're the perfect offensive fit, but last year's team, I don't think,
when you look at the personnel was very comfy like of an offensive fit.
And they're definitely not any worse or more complicated I would say they're at
least a little bit better as a worst case scenario compared to the personnel that
they had last year. Look, we can be straight up about this.
This roster is better, and yes that's on paper, and yes they're still
gonna have to make it, you know, make it fit. But this
roster is better, and it fits, and the pieces fit at least they
appear to fit better. It might get funky with the treads fit, especially
you know, with what you alluded to is if especially if Ad isn't shooting
now I didn't necessarily have to shoot like you know, like vintage KD,
but especially if he like if he drops back down, if you know,
if he if he if he totally regresses, uh, you know, that
might get tricky. But you know, I think there, I honestly think
they're going to be Okay, they're gonna be fine. Like there, we'll
get we'll get to that like a little bit labor like they're obviously gonna be
fine. The actual fits that I love for this roster, at the cheaper
players that they added, Mark Gasol, like he's someone who I think my
extension is gonna help you navigate the let's call him the no Lebron minutes because
of just the passing that he does from everywhere on the court. And yeah,
maybe it's a problem that he still seems like afraid to shoot when he
catches the ball, but because of that facilitation, if you pair him with
a he can he is actually like there he's the big and I guess Anthony
Davis worse with whatever big, but like he can play alongside any of their
bigs, Like if it's Tres if it's Anthony Davis, if you just want
to go small, and it's like for some reason, Mark Gasol and Kuzma,
like you can do that. So he helps those minutes a great deal,
so long as he's healthy, not dealing with a hamstring injury, and
he's just a smart defender, Like, yeah, he can be played off
the floor in certain matchups, but like if you're going up against a Joel
Ebid, if you're going up against a you know, Rudy Gobert, he
can still handle those guys. And now Anthony Davis doesn't have to because I
don't know how much you trust, you know, you're still gonna put those
bodies if it's McGee or Dwight Howard on them. But you'd rather have Mark
gasol on those guys than you would McGee or Howard exactly. And that's the
funny thing. I heard a lot of folks saying, like, hey,
you guys, you know he's thirty six, right, you know that.
It's like no one is expecting him to be twenty fourteen Mark Saul, that's
not the expectation. If anybody's expected that, they're you know, honestly,
they're they're a little bit clueless when it comes to this stuff. Like all
he has to be able to do, all he has to do is just
play smart veteran basketball. Don't get in the way, and don't get in
arguments with the kids, span like, just be a good vet. But
I can't wait to see big big passing, Like like, okay, look,
you know that I've been watching this game for a while. I still
miss the traditional bigs And it's okay. I appreciate where the game is gone,
and I actually like that, you know, I like the adjustments that
have been made. But there's a part of me that will always appreciate big
big action. So I can't wait to see MARKT Saul playing with which whichever
big man they have next one, whether it's him swinging it around, kicking
it out to you know, it's kicking it out to Mark Keith or catching
a d on lob or catching Trais on a on a roll or whatever the
case may be. Like So to to your point, actually kind of like
going back to your question from earlier, I actually don't have any worries about
when Lebron is off the court because I, for whatever reason, I Mark
Gasol wasn't in mind the fact that you had, you know, like that
that that second line up in particular can have multiple guys in in you in
your I was gonna say Trais in struder as well as Gasol that can get
can both absolutely generate offense, not just you know, make a pass here
and there, but actively generate offense. Like it's it's part of why I
have some you know, such confidence in this roster, you know, being
significantly improved. And so this is just I'm just trying to It's not going
to be the same situation, but I was trying to just like find a
comparable level of talent that was coming off the floor in Toronto. So when
he played without and it's a limited sample, but when he played without Siakam
and Lowry. Last year, Toronto's overall offensive branding was in the eighty first
percentile and their half court rating was in the ninety nine percentile. So he's
bringing that like again, as it's not going to be a perfect like context,
Like a lot of those minutes came with you know, Norman Powell,
and I'm sure some of them came with not many of them apparently, as
I'm looking at Kame reflect Fred van Fleets, that's even better for the Lakers
because they're probably gonna have it. They'll have at least just as much talent
around Gasol if he's playing without Lebron, if not more, because you know,
there'll be some minutes where you don't have Lebron or a D on the
court, and Gasol is probably like the player who's likes best suited to help
you navigate those minutes, even more so than Dennis Shrewder. And look,
even he might be close to his suit it because what we didn't really touch
on is, like I don't it won't be the same because Shrewder's not the
same type of free throw generator in the regular season anyway, when you look
at Lou Williams or just you know, shot like shot Taker as low Williams,
like that pick and roll combination. If Shruder's hitting his jumpers, that's
going to be absolutely devastating. Probably, no, it really will. And
honestly, here's the here's the craziest thing about this roster. And I'm not
being I'm not being funny when I said, you know, when I say
this cool's is like absolutely forgotten. And and it's the thing. I don't
know if you were going to come to him later, but the funniest thing
about him is, Look, he was probably you know, he was overrated
and not you know, not to any fault of his own by fans early
on. And I actually believe that he's become a more an underrated player at
this stage because of just how how poorly folks you'll like view him, uh
like and I and and the truth of the matter is you can, and
speaking generally, you can dislike his personality on Twitter or dislike like the silly
stuff and all that stuff. I would encourage you to dislike some of his
personality on Twitter one hundred hundred percent. But let's not throw the baby out
with the bathwater. He can still be a productive player and if he like,
think about it, last year, we went into the year saying Ko's
probably needs to be their third most productive player. He needs you're like on
on on a night end night out basis, they're gonna need They're gonna need
a third Score's gonna need to be coops. Right now, you can probably
name six or seven players that are likely you know, the first you know,
are likely options ahead of him. So if if if Kyle Kuzman has
gone from being your third most expected you know, like you know, like
the player that you expect the third most up to a rotation, a true
rotation guy seven, eight, even ninth guy in a rotation again, you
know, you know, hey, burst my bubble. If if if I'm
going overboard, because I really like I said, like, I look at
this roster and I say like, hey, you know legim Ron, Pulinka,
Klutch, whoever wants to get you know, let you know, you
know, you know the credit for it, they deserve credit. Yeah,
look, I don't think you're going overboard with him at all. I think
there's still there's probably like that disparity in how some Lakers fans view Kuzma and
an example of this would be not to use this own podcast, but like
we recorded a podcast where we were talking about the Kuzma trade rumors, and
like we proposed like he was being given up in the Derrick Rose trade and
like that, I still don't think that would have been a ridiculous trade to
make. And like Lakers fans down voted the podcast like they flooded us with
which kudos to Lakers fans. You have that type of cloud. I'm not
even insulting you, but no, no, like you're there as a subsection
of Lakers fans and I think are probably too high on Kyle Kuzma, and
that's probably adversely impacted how the national perception of him is held right now.
But you're absolutely right that he's improved. He's not better defensively than he now
is offensively, but he's gotten like average defensively, Like when you're looking at
the assignments that they've given him and where you can probably just pinpoint on that
side the floor what he does better, even more so on offense in this
point where it feels like everything he does there is like, yes, he
can make an impact, but there's so many different wildcard spots. But the
fact that his defense has seemed to even out, particularly against wing assignments,
so not even looking at oh, we're hiding him on these bigs, that
winds up being absolutely huge for the Lakers. And this, you know,
this entire roster, I think it's still it's not built. Last year you
I don't think you could pick on any given knight who the third best player
would be. And I think that and it ended up being it worked for
them. I think this roster will be the same, but in a more
pleasant way where it's like, well, the only reason that you can't pick
who will be the third best player is because there's four of them that like
legitimately factor into the discussion where Gasol, Truder, Tress, and then I
do believe Kuzma belongs there. And look, they're gonna be nights where it's
caseyp like that's the type of talent the Lakers have. And in this case,
and I even think it shook out like this last year, and I'm
not even trying to be over complimentary, is that it just ended up being
like a balanced amount of uncertainty where it's like, you know what, we
can't say who was going to be number three to step up, but like
we know, we have enough players to where there will be a viable number
three that emerges. Absolutely and as and look, I was nervous, like
I picked the Lakers to go to the finals last year, But that was
heart. That was my heart speaking, I thought, I deep down I
was worried about the Clickers. I absolutely thought, Okay, this is going
to be the battle that we've all wanted, and it's going to be embarrassing
as all hell. If you if younger brother excuse my language, if if
younger brother beats big your big brother, but it is what it is,
and would you would just have to see what happens, you know, when
you know when things shake out. But the fact that you know the fact
that they like you know, it's like you said, it really was like
a next man though, like if it wasn't KCP, it was Dwight having
a crazy night. If it wasn't Dwight, it was Alex Caruso having you
know, like making an impact on both ends. It would you know,
and with this and with this you know, particular team, it's basically like
that, but just supersized like it truly is. But just going back quickly
to your your question that you asked about Kuzma or or or what you post.
You know, with Kuzma, I do agree with you. He's he's
still better on offense than on defense because of course, like like most young
players, so like you know, most people in general, we like scoring
more than we know, more than we love you know, getting down the
defensive stance. But he is a viable player. He's you know, he's
a guy that you can play on, you know, like at different positions
now because he's he's no longer a turnstyle. So look on on threes,
it's still touching go because there are times where he locks in and it's like,
hey, Kyle Kuzma, where the hell did this? Where did this
come from? But then there's other times like you'll see him, you know,
bite on every single pump, fake, like you know, in a
situation where he's playing up against him, where he's messed up against Michael Porter
Junior, or whatever the case may be. So you know, you know,
like with with most young you know, young ish you know players or
players, gets still continuing to develop on especially on that on that particular end,
it's still a work in progress, but at the very least he's a
willing body out there. Yeah, and so look this will let's just get
to the Kyle Kuzma part of this. I love that we're jumping around my
outline. I love what it never goes No, it feels like it's more
organic. So with Kuzma is what is like what is the role for his
like now for this team? And also do you think that he gets an
extension or do you think they'll kick that can down to restricted free agency?
Because while they are hardcapped, and I think they're like they're super close to
the hardcap, like I think they're inside two hundred thousand dollars or or whatever
it is. I'll double check my spreadsheet in a second. But like,
by having him not having signed an extension where he's a poison pill, it
does keep your trade options open because I'm not saying this is the route that
they should go, but like you do have sizeable salaries now to move even
if you have to match at dollar for dollar, Like you know, Dennis
Shrewder sixteen million KCP like his new deal I think in the first year is
twelve point one. Uh yeah, so tres nine point three once he's eligible
to be moved. So to have Kuzma still is that sweetener after you've you
know, you've traded like all the first round picks. Basically, is there
an element of well that's actually more valuable than signing him to what could be
a discounted extension. Now, I okay, so I'm there with you on
that, like, and and as much as I was just singing, Kuss
praises and I would love to see him have the opportunity to get that second
you know, honestly, you know, go at least compete for a second
title. It's this feels like one of those situations where they did set themselves
up perfectly if if if, in fact, someone does come calling, you
know, for KU's as the sweetener in the deal, like let's like,
let's just just beyond about it. You know, it could go either way.
And and they've also set themselves up to where they can just you know,
just utilize their depth all throughout the season and you know just kind of,
you know, kind of boat race this thing. But you know,
a part of me does feel like ultimately, if your cou while you've a
since you've already won a ring, is and and and that I'm trying to
get my put myself into a twenty five year olds head right now. But
since you've already won a ring, you've already had the you know like you
know, multiple runs with Lebron and you you know, you played alongside a
d it's it's time to get paid now. In a perfect world, Kyle
Kuzma does do the you know, the team friendly you know deal, you
know, in order to stay and continue to compete for titles. I do
not think that's going to take place. I think I think ultimately, if
he's not moved, you like, if he's not moved at some point during
this season, then Kuzma is going to get it paid a somewhere else the
truck. Honestly, the biggest the biggest problem, honestly is the fact that
he's best played at the four. Even though yes, you know, yes,
you know, we just spoke of him being able to you know,
step out on threes and you know, and play at the three, he's
best played at the four, and he's and he's just in a situation where
he's probably the fourth option at that position. So ultimately, while yes,
I think it's great to have like in you know, in your you know,
break glass in case of emergency, you know, Kuzma, I think
he would be better suited, you know, on another team, able to
showcase, enables to you know, really earn you know, that next big
country. Look, if he's shooting, I don't know how valuable he'll be,
because again, his next contract is coming up. But if he's shooting
well from three and defending like he is now, where it's again, I
think a lot of people just viewed him as, Oh, he's only going
to be able to defend the four, and I actually think he's probably better
off defensively now against twos and threes. I don't know if you agree with
that. But if he's doing that, and he's just hitting his catch and
shoot threes at a consistent clip, I'm not saying it needs to be like
absurdly high like it was at one point in the bubble where it's like a
jillion percent. But if it's thirty seven thirty nine percent on catch and shoot
threes, that's a valuable guy. And you know, maybe he's helping your
team so much, or the Lakers are so far out in front of everyone
you don't move him. But it's just perception on him too. I think
it's diverged because in his rookie season he shot the hell out of the ball
in isolation, and like, I don't know that that was ever meant to
be the player he was supposed to be. But when you set that tone
as a rookie like that just lays the groundwork for the expectations to run rampant.
I think that's a little bit of what has happened here too, which
is also a part of when like it's you know, it's part of that
old conversation where they say, like is that productivity on a bad team or
is that you know, what is that? You know what I'm saying,
like because somebody asked the score to points like it was that why he was
comfortable And I'm not I'm not in any way trying to take anything away from
him because like, like like a lot of other people, I saw that
rookie year and said, well, hey, maybe we do have something here
that you know, I wasn't going And you know, nearly as far as
others when they were saying like hey, they ended up with a lot of
you because like no, let's pump the brakes. They just get they got
they got a great value pick and it's what it was at twenty seven and
and and there's nothing and there's absolutely nothing, you know, nothing wrong with
that. But ultimately, I think he's somewhere between, you know, that
first and second year, you know, because the second year was a down
year. Yeah, I don't think he's as bad as he was in his
sophomore year. I don't think, you know, at least shooting wise,
we should expect necessarily what we saw as a rookie. But if he can,
like you know, kind of you know, kind of what you know,
where this conversation has been going, if he can continue to develop defensively,
and I won't live you I don't like I don't love him on twos.
I do I do, you know, like him on on a lot
of bigger threes. And I do agree with you that defensively, his best
matchup is the three, not the four, you know. But if if
he can just continue to you know, to develop on that side, or
just continue to put put forth a consistent effort on that side, like you
said, that's a valuable piece. And ultimately, what this circle's back to
is the Lakers have put themselves in a position to where they have the option
to whether, like think about what we're saying like it, you know,
essentially, if they can get you know, turning him into a three and
D guy, they'll have the option as to whether you know, whether to
move them or not. What did you think about the you know, KCP
deal. I thought there was a lot of jokes made about, oh,
like clutch strikes again there, but it's only like to guarantee. It was
three years in about thirty nine million, but in the final year, I
think under four point five million is guaranteed. It's like you can kind of
look at it as you know, it was really like a two year,
thirty million dollars deal essentially if the Lakers want it to be that, and
I don't. The thing with KCP is like, yeah, there's the level
of like, let's call it misadventure with him on offense, where is he
gonna take like an ill advised like pull up transition jumper. But he was
so valuable to them, especially on defense for a team that just wasn't flushed
with guys because you don't necessarily you don't want Lebron to do this, like
they just weren't built to have all these players be thrown at bigger wings defensively,
and you look at just the assignments he was taking on in the playoffs,
just the sheer breath of his positional range on defense where he's guarding,
Yeah, you know what, he faced Jamal Murray and Damian Lillard, but
he was also guarding Jay Crowder. He spent possessions on Nicole Yokich, like
he spent possessions on James Harden too. You could move him around so much,
and so just looking at that, and then just statistically, he's always
shot good enough on catch and shoot threes where it's like, why not have
him here? And it's so short term at this point where you could get
out of that third year for you know, a song like I didn't understand
the criticism, and I'm just wondering if the perception outside of LA is off
with him because it feels like he's no. I don't think he's now this
third teams, this team's third best player anymore. But if you asked me
to look at last season in some in review, KCP is their third most
valuable player. To me, without question, I was That's exactly where I
was gonna go. I was like, look, people, can say what
they want. They can you know, they can make fun of the you
know, the the ankle monitor, they can make fun of the you know
sometimes wayward shots or what did you say? I like it? Wayward shots.
Now we're going with that because say there are some where you're like,
what are you two? Okay? All right, that's fine. You know,
we can laugh at all those things, you know, as much as
we want. But KCP was was in all likelihood the third most consistent Laker
last year. Like while yes, you know, like there were plenty of
games where a bunch of different people stepped up in terms of across the board,
and especially in the postseason and definitely in the finals, he was there.
You know, he was that guy. So like I had no problem
with it. You're only paying a guy at thirteen million the first year,
and to go like, if I'm not gonna saying what it goes up to
a total of what, like, you know, fourteen or fifteen. You're
like, he's like, it's barely even, Like it's not. It's twelve
point one the first year, thirteen and change the second, and then he
slated for fourteen in the third. But only what is he at? I
don't even know what the I don't know what the guaranteed number is in the
four point nine is guaranteed in the in the final year of his deal.
Yeah, folks are saying, folks, you know, we're all syn you
know, cynical jerks, and we all like to get our jokes off.
And that's really what that is. Because k KCP was a valuable, a
valuable member of last year's championship team. And look, the Lakers can afford
to pay a player who's not Like, no, do I think if they
end up let's say they end up waiving him. I don't know if they
will, but like, do I think that KCP is worth between twelve and
fourteen million a year, So let's say you finish this out the contract.
I actually, that's probably closer to fairer value than not that I'm thinking about
it, Like I would put him after the last year above the mL so
about ten million a year. If it's an overpay, then it's not by
all that much. And he's shown that he fits, so I just didn't.
I don't know if it's just because it's the Lakers or because KCP has
been like kind of a low key meme since he was in Detroit. But
I didn't understand it seemed like, I don't want to say majority, but
there was more of a negative reaction to his deal than I thought there would
be. All of the above. It there's a Lakers tax. There just
is. And and that's okay, Like see this thing like I'm not one
of those fans. It's like, so that's gonna tell you, like,
oh man, woe is me because nobody likes my team. I don't care,
man, Like trust you, team just won the championship. I have
lived a charmed life. I'm forty one years old. I'm aging myself here.
I'm forty one years old and so and I grew up in Los Angeles.
You can you can do the math on how many on how many rings
I've been able to experience and how many playoff runs, you know what I'm
saying. Like it so I'm not I don't care if people if people don't
like my team. The reality is this, KCP is a valuable player,
and I'm very happy that they resigned him. I was actually worried that he
was going to you know that that some I was worried that some you know,
some silly GM was going to do I actually give him, you know,
like a foolish deal, and I'm glad they didn't. Well, yeah,
I don't know if, like I mean, he signed so early that
maybe it wasn't a concern, but like, what if the Hawks just decided
that they didn't have a chance at Bodanovitch and they decided to give money to
KCP, like he would have fit there, and they had more tap space
than anyone in the league, So like that was kind of a real risk.
The other big it's well addition that they made on the perimeter since KCP
was resigning Wesley Matthews, I think that's just a great objective fit. Looking
at it in terms of replacing Danny Green, he gives you more defensive optionality
because he can cover some of those bigger wings where I think you want Danny
Green predominantly on ones in twos and some threes, where Wesley Matthews it's like
you can get one through three out of him and then some you know,
small ball fours like he can defend those types of guys. But Lakers fans,
or at least some of them, and I'm not even talking about the
ones that you know, gave him death threats after the finals game, which
was just ridiculous obviously, but he shoots under twenty nine percent from three in
the finals, and it did seem like Lakers fans turned on him. I
will say that I think they're gonna be moments where the Lakers miss Danny Green
relative to what Wesley Matthews is doing, because you know, you mentioned wayward
decision making with KCP, like Wesley Matthews will try and put the ball on
the floor and do things that Wesley Matthews he was posted Achilles injuries shouldn't be
trying to do. And Danny Green very much so played within the confines of
his game on offense, like it was I'm gonna shoot, catch and shoot
threes. I'll run around a little bit or I'll cut, but like,
I'm not gonna try and do more unless I, you know, really have
to. Wesley Matthews is gonna give you moments where you're gonna wonder like,
oh, why did we get rid of of Danny Green? And that's the
funny thing because a lot of yeah, I did see that. I saw
a lot of folks Yola immediately either saying like if Danny Green's like, come
on, guys, like relax, and the guy just contributed to your team
winning a title. Yet I recognize he miss set opportunity for the game winner,
but they still won. It doesn't matter. It's also not a coincidence.
So now he's won three titles, one with the Spurs, one with
the Raptors, one of the Lakers. He's missed a ton of big shots.
I said this on Twitter. It's not a coincidence that he's been in
a position to miss so many big shots. He's on so many good teams
for a reason, because he helps those teams exactly. It would be like
getting upset with Robert sorry for those threes that he missed in the last run.
You know, you know with with the Lakers, you know where they
had the opportunity and it and it just didn't fall down. Look you got
you got the winds. The winds. No, honestly, for for that
subset of of of fans of any fan base really, but you know,
of in particular of the Lakers fans, there's never going to be any satisfying
them. I have been told, like, you know, so keep in
mind, I grew you know, you know, came up you know in
the eighties, you know, came of age and in the mid nineties at
the same exact time when Kobe being Bryant you know, you know went there.
So it was like for obvious reasons, you know, I was a
I was a Kobe guy. I have been told by some of the crazies
on Twitter. You you know, you always just respect Kobe. You were
the worst, you said the other like and it's like, guys, I'm
actually a homer, Like this is this is friendly fire here. But it
doesn't matter. Like there's just no satisfying certain folks. You know, there
are certain people that are always going to like, you know, go,
you know, react negatively or or crazy or whatever the case may be.
All of that, all of that said, I agree with you if Wes
has, you know, situations where he's trying to, you know, do
too much, I have a feeling he will be he'll he'll be reined in
pretty quickly. But Lakers fans, you should be ready for it because if
you'll get those of you that didn't watch a ton of Milwaukee basketball, i'd
say once or twice a game, they're you know, like there are things
that West does where you're just like, what what the hell is this?
What are we doing here? Yeah? You take the good with the bad,
but you know, you just hope that the bad isn't you know,
isn't a last This does bring me to another question I have. How does
the wing rotation for this team like shake out? Because there's and it depends
on who you consider wings, Like Lebron is basically your point guard at this
point, So there's West and there's KCP, And it does get a little
murky after that, Like is Kuzma couldn't get just the majority of his time
at the you know, the three and some of the two spots, Like
where is Markith Morris factoring into this? I don't think you want him playing
the three? Could we see? Is this the year that als Caruso?
Like does he play up a little bit just because he has the size like
to get away not just at the two, but like against some threes?
And so how does this wing rotation for the Lakers shake out this season?
I think you'll see exactly that, like and and to your point, yeah,
Keith, you don't want him at the three. I think you'll see
him at more four and five, depending upon you know, depending upon who's
on the floor with h I could see you know, KCP being you know,
getting the bulk of the minutes West also getting the bulk at the minutes
Caruso because they're going to need to carve out minutes for him as well.
You know. Actually there were there were periods where there weren't stretches, but
there were situations where some of them came off of switch. Some of them
came off of you know, like you go straight out of a time out
where they put Caruso on threes. So you're right, you know, he
you know, he does possess the you know, the strength and the size,
uh you know, and in some of the bulk that he needs,
you know, depending upon the matchup. Yeah, I honestly think it's going
to be kind you know, kind of like what we saw last year where
it you know, it's they the coaching staff really did a good job of
playing playing the situation like you know, yes, they had a certain rotation,
but if it's you know, like if it didn't work, or if
the matchup call for something else, or do there was just a situation where
it was it was time to try somebody else out, they'll it was it
really everyone on everyone on that roster embrace that next man up your mentality,
and I think these guys will honestly do the same. So who's the who's
the most like, who's the most interesting non marquee player on this team?
I guess I should phrase it, I'm guessing I'm assuming that it will be
Caruso. And I'm just wondering now for our listeners, like, can you
just like maybe outline his value, like what he does for this team and
maybe if his game is, like is his role going to be amplified this
year? What is it that he can bring to the table for the Lakers
this season more so than last year? And I look, if it's not
him, if you're gonna go with Dylan Horton Tucker, I'm absolutely here for
that. Well, okay, so if you're asking me who I'm int who
I'm interested in watching, like in particular early in the season, Kylant Horton
Tucker, is that is that guy? But honestly, no, no,
no, no, I mean, look, he's the mystery box. Like,
yes, you saw a little bit, you saw little bit of him
last year. In fact, Frank Vogel, he messed around and put him
out there against the rock against the Rockets in actual meaningful basketball and I and
I loved it. But you know, looking, is it really meaningful if
it's a James Harden team in the second round? Damn, excuse my language.
Yeah, you have a point there, You have a point there.
Well, I look at it like this. You know, he's the mystery
box. He's the guy that everybody's raving about. Uh. You know,
I don't know if you paid attention to him. He's significantly you know,
changed his body from even you know, like the start of his rookie year.
Uh. You know, he's one of those guys that came back from
you know, came back from the quarantine, like down thirty pounds and ready
to go. So it was nice to see him rewarded with you know,
even the minimal amount of time that you know that you received. But you
know, I'm very intrigued to see, you know, what he can develop
into, you know, with with another year, you know, with the
under the tutelage of you know, you know, the Phield Handies of the
World and Mike pen Birthdays of the World and Miles Simons, all all the
guys that you know, the player development guys. You know that the Lakers
have. I I'm very into you know, but you know, really Caruso,
what you asked me to break down what he can do. I mean,
anybody that's Watson play. As long as you were able to watch and
appreciate a guy that just goes out there and gives it hiss all, you're
gonna like Alice Caruso like you don't have to like us, like silly Lakers
fans. And I say us, you know when we're literally just trolling you,
just trying to you know, trying to make you mad on the timeline.
But if you watch his game, he does all the stuff that you
know, all the stuff that you want. And and let's be real,
Okay, I'll go here. If Alex Caruso was named uh you know Andre,
you know Andre Carter. I honestly think a lot of the vitriol and
a lot of the pushback that you know that we see, you know,
you know from folks, it wouldn't be there because he does all the different
things that you want out of that scrappy, you know, tough nose,
you know, setting your first or second guard off the bench. Uh,
you know where he's willing to get into passing. Lani's willing to stick his
nose in there against against bigger guys. He's you know, he accepts,
you know, whatever ever role, you know, whatever role and whatever minutes
or whatever, you'll u a place in the rotation he's given. I genuinely
believe that if, if, if folks could you know, would get past
you know, you know, the distaste of us, you know, gloating
about him, they would actually love, would actually love what el was still
brings to the table. Yeah, I mean, look, the shot needs
to be more you'll be more consistent. I would love that. But then
again, it's you know that that feels like I'm nitpicking because he brings everything
else consistently. Yeah, and look, the motor is just there and he's
gonna play like he's just solid Defensively, it just feels like you're not looking
at him where it's like, oh he was just beaten away from the ball,
or he's overmatched when he's on the ball, like he has that type
of value. I find myself wondering if he can be a little bit more
plug and play for them offensively, because like maybe that would lead to more
minutes he shot under thirty five percent on catching shoot threes. He's not a
guy who's gonna hit a ton of his shots pulling up off the dribble.
He can definitely, we know, get above the rim and look to your
own point. I don't even know if you have to say, like let's
change his name if he's not on the Lakers, Like, if this is
something like you're you're probably not getting so much vitral for him. And yeah,
there are social media managers who have taken it wild, but it's because
he's on the Lakers and he draws the reaction, so it's like it's not
really his fault there. But I'm just I'm wondering if you think that he
has the ability to be And maybe I'm just off base by saying this.
You watch more Lakers than I do, can he be more plug and play
for them on offense? I honestly, i'd have to see it, and
and I don't want to I'm not trying to be disparaging. I'd have to
see it with consistency. It's kind of like like he's the guy out of
nowhere in the half course said he'd know he drops a dime, and it's
like oh man, what the where did that come from? And then you're
waiting to see more and you're waiting to see it more and you don't see
it, so like, you know, and some of that can be that,
you know, he's still a guy that's developing as a player, and
he's still you'll still you're still obviously you know, learning how to play alongside
Anthony Davis and Lebron James and simply understand what his role would be. So
maybe we'll see more of it this year, but honestly, I can't bank
on it until I see it, and and there's no and there's no shame
in just being what he was last year. Like to be clear, not
to just jump back to tylent hornon Tucker there, but I would imagine that
he's probably not gonna get maybe look, actually, so maybe he gets more
minutes this season because this will tie into a question I'm eventually gonna ask you.
But you know, we don't know how many players they're like we'll have
to sit out because of COVID, or how many players will get scheduled rest
on non national TV nights let's just just call them. So maybe that will
be an opportunity for him and get minutes in the regular season. I just
don't know what to expect from him. I actually haven't seen enough of him
at the NBA, but every time I watch him, I'm like, he
kind of feels like a version of Julius Randall who won't suck something offul on
defense. Is that like app or just not? Is it completely wild?
It's not? Well, I mean, I mean he's smaller like, and
that's a thing like I always have to remind myself. He looks super long
because his arms are like, you know, damn, they're down there was
you know, down to his knees. But he's only like six four,
so he has to like he's he's he's a tweeter, like I don't know
why. I'm like, you know, I'm sure he's a tweeter that I
don't know yet. I don't know if he's gonna if he's gonna, you
know, be maximized at the two, or if they're you know, they're
gonna play him up because he's still even though he got in the shape he
still has he still has a very sturdy body. You know. I'm interested
to seeing if they play him some three minutes. But the as a team,
as an organization. They they're at least making the making all the sounds
as though they expect big things from him, participate him being a part of
the rotation. Yeah, Frank Vogel said he was gonna be a part of
it, I think, or at LEAs said, I'm like, he's been
fantastic. He's gonna help us immediately, and I'm coaching the harder than everyone
where they really can't afford and well this is this is an aside, but
I would like to see him and mcail bridges just you know, put their
arms together, just to see who has i mean seven foot one wings man,
I think is what uh Horton Tucker has it at six four. That's
just that's gonna bend your brain, I don't. I think what they can't
afford to have is like if he's not if he's going to play like the
two or the three, there needs to be some re semblance of a spot
up jumper there because with the way that their front court is set up,
and then even with you know, some of their wings where it's you know,
if you want to consider Alex Caruso there, just their perimeter players,
even Lebron Kuzma. Where you can't guarantee those guys are going to be above
average from three, you can't afford to nestlely necessarily throw in another like perimeter
player who's going to shoot a suboptimal clip from deep that's an excellent point and
that and you know that right there is probably you're going to be the determining
factor and how much of you know, a part of the rotation he is,
because I honestly believe you know, Caruso is going to be a part
of it. And you can't have both of them out there if neither one
of them can shoot, if neither one of them are at least a threat,
if neither one of them at least can can get somebody to shade towards
them, you know what I'm saying, So like yeah, no, like
I you know, like I said, mystery Box, I can't wait to
see I'm I'm very excited about him, but I it would be disingenuous.
It would be disingenuous for me to like try to say like, oh,
yeah, he's this because I have no idea. And this sort of ties
into that, like what should we expect from the Lakers players management? This
year, like they finished the season fewer than two months ago. There was
the report that came out of the enemy is gonna find teams if they're sitting
guys. It's really only now for national TV knights. And I know that
the Lakers have a bunch of national TV games, but I think only like
a third of their games less than that on national TVs. Like, I
feel like they will have an opportunity if they want to. I'm certainly assuming
they're gonna rest Lebron. Are they going to give rest Knights to Anthony Davis?
And how like should we expect it to be stark like where they're just
giving you know, even a guy like Wesley Matthews who's had an achilles injuries
and his thirties, Like, should we expect that type of approach from the
Lakers where they're not they're not punting on the regular season, but they're like,
you know, as long as we have a top four seed, like
we're fine. Is that like sort of the lays far approach approach that we
should expect from LA Or do you think that they'll be a little bit more
committed to the regular season because you have guys like, you know, Montros
Harrod wants to play all eighty two games. I absolutely think see what you're
saying makes total sense, And that's actually the approach I anticipated last year.
And part of me wants to say that I expect Lebron the load manage a
bit, you know, but the truth of the matter is he if he
didn't do it following the catastrophic growing injury, it's probably not going to happen
this year unless it actually needs. Now the types of minutes, however,
you know, those should be different. I think, you know, like
you guys like Lebron and a d I think where their rest is going to
come in is going to be in the form of taking a back seat whenever
he can, especially Lebron taking a back seat whenever he can, and allowing
others to kind of do more of the heavy lifting throughout stretches, especially in
particular of the regular season, before ramping it up as he customarily does right
around the you know, the like well, this year would be around game
fifty, you know, like so that he you know, so there's a
he's ready to go. I don't anticipate guys sitting at you know, sitting
in a ton of games and you know, look, I was, I
was, I was, I had a flipped last year. This year watched
He'll ride out the gates. They'll probably they'll probably be citing, but no,
But honestly, I don't think so, because specifically, particularly because of
the depth that they have, as well as because a guy like Trez,
like you said, wants to play all Lady two, a guy like you
know, a guy like Shrewder for obvious reasons, wants you know, you
know, wants to get in there and go to work. A guy like
Kal Kuzma, for obvious reasons, needs to get in there and show and
continue to showcase what he can do. So because of their death and because
because of the like you know, very specific guys that have you know,
a lot of different reasons you know, to be motivated, I honestly don't
think that they're going to have to sit out a ton of games. I
think, you know, I think you're going to see a lot of games
where it looks like Lebron is coasting and then you know, he'll he'll pick
and choose when he wants to turn it on. But if he doesn't have
to, you'll see a lot of Lebron, you know in a d on,
the on the bitch and the fourth quarter, you know, with their
hoodie on. I think it's gonna happen with Lebron this year for some reason,
because I really do think. Look, he's about to turn thirty six,
and I think that we could that kind of like went by us because
the off season was so short and last season ended so late that you're used
to having more time before you know, his next birthday rolls around. But
he's about to turn thirty six. And the other thing with that is like
the Jordan conversation, like we know he cares about it, like I feel
like he vaclates on whether he admits it. You now have four rings,
you're probably favored to win a fifth this year, and if you get a
fifth, that's where the conversation, it's not even starts to turn. I
think that's where Lebron starts to get get to consensus, because what does the
argument then become against him because he has one fewer ring than Jordan, and
you're gonna look at his record in the NBA finals and then at that point
it's almost at five hundred, and how are you going to penalize him for
being to eleven NBA Finals at that point and just the stakes there to the
bigger picture, and just knowing how recently he finished last season and how it
was kind of stop and start for him. We know no one takes care
of their body better than him. I just expect that to happen with him,
and then maybe it happens less with Anthony Davis, because I could see
him if it does happen with Lebron like sensing the opportunity to maybe really enter
the MVP discussion this season. Hey, honestly from your lips, honestly,
from your lips to the basketball God's ears, because I'm serious, that's what
I would love to see it. I would love to see him that,
like really scale back and then, like I said right around Game fifty,
just ramp it up and you get it. You'll get his body to where
he needs to be, you know, head into the postseason. I just
I don't believe it. I just don't believe in And I agree for all
of the reasons that you just mentioned. It makes sense. It would,
it would totally make sense. But I thought last year it would have made
sense, especially when they when they got out to that twenty four and three
start and it was like, Okay, well you don't have to push them,
push the pedal to the middle quite as much. But he still didn't.
But no, yeah, you to your point about Anthony Davis. It's
funny, I you know, that was my bold prediction. I don't even
remember what show it was on, but that was my bold prediction, was
that Lebron would take a back seat, not because he was load managing,
but simply because he didn't, you know, he wouldn't need to and that
would you know, that that would kind of like open up that opportunity,
you know, you know, to your point, so that Anthony Davis could
you know, actually enter the MVP conversation. Now, Lebron's teams, I
would say, are maybe not so much in Miami, but definitely since leaving
Miami and even his first go around in Cleveland, they're generally fairly aggressive.
It seems like at the trade deadline or leading up to it, because it
always seems like they have one glaring hole. And I think that you could
argue on this roster like they would like to have more wing depth or like
functional ball handling from the wings that that they do have not even just bodies.
But because you're looking at like sort of they're hardcap situation, do you
expect them to be less aggressive at the trade deadline or do you still think
that this is a team that uh will be And it's tough to say without
watching the games, like because maybe they're so far out in front of everyone
you can't even sense a weakness. But what do you kind of expect from
them looking at mid season transactions where oh, well, they maybe just monitor
the buy out market to see what happens. Or are they going to be
actually active like looking for a trade or are they more likely to do like
really even nothing like not even some like granular nuts and bolt stuff. I
think you hit it on the head. I think it's by our market guys,
unless they're they're in a position where they need to make a move,
and and and since, like you said, we have to watch the games,
but you know, just looking at it, I don't see a situation
where they would need to I don't. I don't necessarily expect them to be
you know, you know, to be extremely aggressive. But then again,
I didn't expect them to be this aggressive this offseason, right, I did
not expect them to be this aggressive. So I guess you just never know.
Like the one thing that Polinka had and this you front office has shown
me is that like expect to unexpected and and and honestly you'll save your questions
and just kind of watch. So, uh, you know, my gut
tells me it's a it's a buyout situation where you know, like like I
said, like in case you do you in case down the line, you
do need to you know, use Kuzman a deal. You know, you
can explore that you depend upon how things go. But you know, I
really have no I really have no way of knowing because like you said,
we haven't seen the games. We don't know how the pieces are going to
fit. We don't know, you know, like if if if after you
know, twenty five games, it's just like, oh no, this is
a very Glarian weakness or a very you know, a spot that they're going
to need to solidify. So we're gonna kind of have to wait and see.
But going in, I think it's going to be more of the buyout
situation. Would you like to hear my hot perhaps unhinged take on that give
it to me, give it to me. I would not be surprised if
Montrez Harroll finishes the year on a different team. I think just looking at
his like what they can do with him for salary matching purposes, and again
the hard tap within this matters like that seems the one if they want to
take a bigger swing, Like you look at Shrewder salary, I don't think
they're gonna move KCP and you know he's represented by by By Clauch and just
signed that launchter Beeally, Also, they just don't have the wing banwidth to
be like, hey, let's just trade you know, our best wing basically
like outside of Lebron, of course, it seems like I feel like they
would make some sort of a middling like mid tier move. And knowing that
you have Gasol and that you probably didn't know that you were going to have
him before you signed Tress, that gives them some leeway to make a move
with Tress, I think, because he's not going to be someone unless you
disagree, and this would be my next question. He's not going to be
closing most games for them, and so that's the area that I look at
and I'm like, that's the player. I'm just looking at a salary I'm
looking at what they kind of need. I'm looking at teams that just might
be interested in him because he's not too old. Can maybe get you both
to four in the five spots. Yes, he could be a free agent
if he has the player option, but also like maybe he won't be in
We just saw his market with Squeeze this year. So if he, if
he commands more money, how much, how expensive will actually be. I'm
just looking at him, and it would not just like I sort of and
a lot of people did this, but like you saw the end of the
Clippers season, You're like, it wouldn't surprise me if he left the Clippers.
I'm in that sort of situation boat right now where it wouldn't shock me
if he ended the season on a team other than the Lakers. So here's
the thing. First of all, half the rosters is represented by Clutch as
he is resented by Correct. Okay, no, no, no, literally,
I'm not joking when I say half. I think I think it's half.
So we like, really, they need to you know, they need
to get the wish app or the wish logo off and just go ahead and
just you know, drop that Clutch logo, right you know, right,
they just an emoji of Rich Paul's face. Yeah, like just ay,
I would be here for it because it would it would make so many people
upset. I caught myself at that time, so many people upset. No.
Uh so you know when you prior to you you opposing this, I
would not have seen it. But I can see it, Like I feel
like I can hear Jimmy now and yes, this is a white man can't
jump. I feel like you have opened my eyes and like, oh,
you know what they did kind of they did kind of set themselves up that
way. And you're right, it isn't And I guess it's more of a
testament to the deal to the depth that they were able to compile they don't
have to keep him, and specifically to you know, to your point about
him not closing. You know how in the notes you asked me, you
know, you know what the most common closing lineups would be. I wrote
three different ones and he wasn't in any of them. Oh wow, you
wrote three different ones and he wasn't in any of them. That's actually surprising.
Yeah. And and and it's not a knock, it's not a slight
and of course there will be games that he's on the court and he does
close. But for whatever the reason, he didn't show up in he didn't
show up in in my rotation when it would specifically when it came to closing,
you know, closing things out. Now am I anticipating to taking place?
No, but you met, you make a strong case. And and
honestly it does make sense in particular, not just because they were able to
you know, to bring the soul in, but they were also able to
retain Mark Keith. So they they've got some flexibility and different bodies and different
looks that they could show it that they can throw it folks, and you
know, hey, and in particular, like if Kuzman ends up staying,
like say Kuzma is not a part of that deal, then all of a
sudden that opens up minutes at that position for him as well. So no,
like I didn't necessarily anticipate talking about a trist trade, but here we
are. Well, look, it was the Gasol signing is the one that
kind of led me to it, because it's like they don't Harold. Yes,
maybe he'll spend some minutes beside Anthony Davis, but like there's not like
he doesn't need to be log anytime as your day facto four. Like,
however you want to consider maybe Davis is considered the four in that situation,
but you have like that's covered between Kuzmi, you could throw a Lebron in
there. You have Mark Kif and Anthony Davis, of course, and then
at the five it's like, all right, well you need a good backup
five and he was it, and maybe you want to try some Markiff like
at the five when any Davis isn't on the court, but you're not gonna
be closing that way anyway, But now you have Gasol, And so it's
like I would assume, and like, let's just lead that into the question
of what closing lineup she wrote down. But I would assume they're still gonna
want to close. It's matchup based. But in a lot of them,
I think Davis is still at the five. So if you're not going to
have Gasol or Mantras Harold on the court, one of them at least becomes
expendable, and the Saul is making the minimum, so you're just not like
you're not moving him. And so that's what like led me to that I
don't I wouldn't predict it, like maybe come back to me in a month
or something. I think he's gonna be I think he's gonna be good for
this team. And people remember how he was playing in the bubble. He
just wasn't healthy and he had been dealing. He was grieving the loss of
was it his grandmother? I think it was. I don't want to miss
the truth. I think who passed away. I think you're right. But
also that entire team didn't want to be there. That's actually what I was
alluding to, Like, it's funny that they want to point the finger at
him, which yes, he was bad, but also misused and also going
through all of the different things that you just laid out, But nobody on
that team wanted to be there, and that was very clear. Yeah,
and look, I mean there was also just the dynamics in that locker room.
I feel like maybe we should have seen this coming, knowing how lob
City ended, where Doc Rivers like couldn't really get that under wraps. And
then also you had Lou Williams, Tres and Beverly these you know, we
want to play eighty three of eighty two games every year to Paul George and
Kway Leonard, who are just very much not only are they superstars, but
like Kway has been on a load management even before he was injured, because
the Spurs like just operated with, oh, we're not going to play him
thirty eight minutes of game. That's just not going to happen outside the postseason.
So maybe we should have predicted, like the drama in LA more than
more than we did. But for the Lakers specifically, what again, we
know it'll change on matchups. What do you think will be their most common
clothing lineup or what are your what are the three that you wrote down for
them? Okay, so I basically just talked myself through it in my answer,
But basically it was I look at it as Eighty at the five,
Lebron at the four, probably West at the three, KCP at the two,
and Shrewder and Schroeder at the one, or Caruso at the one or
instead of instead of West, you know, and KCP. Basically, it
just depends on the matchup. But that first lineup is kind of what I
see it as. I know they love Caruso, especially down the stretch,
and he absolutely locks in defensively, So you know that if shrewders not if
shooters not getting it done, or like if for whatever reason, Caruso's a
better a better matchup, I can see him being there. But like say,
for instance, you needed a bigger body out there, perhaps you could
look something like Gasol at the five eighty, at the four, grown at
the three. That's a very big front court. Obviously KCP and either Caruso
or Shrewder. But like that, it's like, you see where I'm going
with this. I honestly believe that those are going to be those, you
know, the main guys, especially down the stretch of games. And you,
I mean you just sit on the head. Is like, so,
if there's gonna be dual bigs at the end of games, it's more likely
to be a Gasol and a D than it is to be a D and
Tress Well because if yeah, because in particular, if you need that bigger
body out there, I don't necessarily know why you would put a D.
Like say, say, for instance, you've got a situation where you need
a stop against your kids down the stretch. Do I think that a D
can guard him? Yes? Would I feel better if you know you're putting
your marcusol on him with a D shading Yes, do I want tres On
on your kids down the stretch? I think we know the answer to that.
Thank you, Doc. The one thing that I think can get interesting
that you I think you alluded to indirectly, is you didn't have Kuzma and
any of those lineups and with him sort of looking at his future and it's
not just a matter of getting paid, but the role he's playing on the
team. Him if he's just not even factoring in to their regular closing rotation,
I wonder if that just becomes a thing where maybe they're more likely to
move him because he doesn't Yeah, he just want a championship, but it
seems like he likes being there. But look, he's in the prime of
his career. You want to be on the floor that matters most. And
he's another one that you look at after I would say he's more likely to
close games than Harold, But after Harold, it's like you look at their
main players in their rotation and he's probably the next most likely to consistently get
the shaft man. Honestly, and I again, he's the forgotten man.
And I mean no disrespect because I didn't even realize that I had forgotten him.
Of course, there could be situations where who's does blows out, especially
in games where you know where he's got it going or and in particular you
know, you know he's doing well on the defensive end. I could absolutely
see it taking place. But yeah, like you know, I mean no
disrespect, it's nor any shade you know by leaving him out. Is there
like a quirkier lineup that you would like to see this team tried out,
not in crunch time necessarily, but just at any point over the season that
you're hoping they try out. I honestly I haven't. I haven't given it
enough thought yet. Like now I'm in that mode where it's like, okay,
let's let's get to the preseason. What we we're starting on Friday,
Let's get to the preseason and see what the pieces kind of you know,
kind of look like. But I don't know, a quirky lineup. Maybe,
uh, you in the event, like say you have a situation where
you know, for whatever the reason is, you've got a D and Lebron
not on the court, all right, or or or say they're not available,
maybe Gasolo the five with uh, Gasolo, the five key fitt the
four that that that's an interesting you know, that's an interesting alignment. You
can even throw coups at the three at that's in that situation because you're gonna
have that is and and those are the games like and I'm sure I'm sure,
I don't know if you watched any of the games where they were either
Lebron or a DC you know ended up sitting last year. Those were the
games where Cools with the Best basically said like, Okay, this is my
time to shine and he and he stepped up to the plate. So in
the in those situations are where you honestly a guy like who's is gonna have
to just steal his opportunities? Just really is you kind of stole my vibes
on that one because I wanted to see, like I was looking at look,
there'll be a few minutes where Lebron and a D are sitting together,
like let's go Gasol in the middle and then just downsize like across the board
where it's I want KCP, West Caruso and Shrewder just as the four behind
him, and like let's just get weird and see if you can you know,
push the pace a little bit, like Marcusol is not gonna run,
but he could toss outlet passes if he needs to. It's funny that I
feel like you can't really get too quirky with this team because so few minutes
are gonna be played without both Lebron and a D. Like you almost picked
it, Like for the closing line. For me was like, maybe you
don't include Dennis Shrewder in there, and it's Lebron, A D West,
Matthews, KCP and then go with Kuzmo or Caruso, Like if we're looking
at a serious line that you could go more off beat, but like that
just didn't seem weird enough, so like give me Gassol with I'll call them
four smalls, Like I don't even want Kuzma on the floor there, then
let's just go Caruso, Dennis, Dennis Shrewder, West and KCPA and Marcusol
in some like second unit heavy type lineups KCP at the four. I'm here
for a D. Honestly, KCPO feel like Luke's Luke's coaching them begin because
that used to take place, So what would be You could factor anything you
want into this rest nights, will they make moves? What's the realistic win
total for this team during the regular season, And you could base it off
of eighty two because I know it's hard to think of it in seventy two
games, but I will convert it to eighty two if you do come up
with a seventy two game one. And then also, what's the realistic finish
for them in the Western Conference standings? Because I think they're deep, because
I think I don't think they're going to skip a beat. I've got them.
I'm I bet the over on this one. Let's say, let's just
say if I were on bet bet online, uh dot ag, I would
bet the over. I've got them somewhere between fifty two and fifty five wins.
So you know, what is that fifty two and twenty pace over the
course of an eighty two game season. Yes, yes, I think I
think legitimately that that's that that's where they're going to fall, uh, you
know, barring anything crazy, and you know, probably the top seed.
So I have them in like the forty eight twenty nine range, which is
fifty five to fifty seven, and I just I'm questioning. I feel like
one of the Clippers and Lakers are not going to care enough about the regular
season to go full bar after the one seed. And I just think it's
the Lakers because they don't have as much to prove anymore as the Clippers do.
And maybe they both just end up like sort of punting at the same
time. Like we talk about their depth, I kind of feel like they're
they're so built for the regular season now with Shrewder and Harold, and that's
where this team is better. I don't know if adding them necessarily makes the
Lakers a lot better for the playoffs. I also don't know that they needed
to get a lot better for the playoffs because one of the maybe it's not
an understated storyline, but one of the biggest pluses for the Lakers this summer
is that the teams that were nearest to them, none of them got significantly
better. Most of them, you could argue, got worse relative to the
postseason, like Denver. Regular season fine, but not having Jeremy Grant or
Tory Craig defensively, unless they make a move mid season, they're gonna be
worse in the playoffs. The Jazz are probably lateral. They'll have Bayan Magdanovitch
back, but they don't match up like particularly well defensively against the Lakers.
I don't think the Clippers. I think losing Ja Michael Green ends up being
a big hit for them. They're still probably they're a threat, but are
they better and last year I'm not. I'm not going to say that by
any stretch. I'm Portland got a lot better, but they weren't close enough
for the Lakers too for me to worry about. So in Dallas too,
Like, I think they got a little bit better, but you can't trust
k KCP wow KP's health and you know, if he's matched up against Anthony
Davis, like that's a matchup he's gonna lose any look, and so like
that really helps the Lakers too. So they might be more built for the
regular season than I'm giving them credit for, which is why I don't think
that you're too high on them. I'm just anticipating them not caring as much
about picking up regular season wins. Yeah, I mean, like, like
do I think they should care? No, because this team showed that they
does. It really doesn't matter. Just get to the the in the line
in a healthy state or you know, relatively healthy state, and I'll take
my chances with them. But kind of to your point, did you know
that you're just making that's the roster? Is why I'm so confident. It's
not because I'm just like, oh yeah, just beat everybody. I don't
see any holes. So unless they run in, unless they were unless the
pieces simply don't fit, or they forget how to play basketball for whatever,
for whatever reason, I see them as that you you know, that dominant
of the team. Do you think they're the one seed? Then I would
argue fifty nine win pace would probably put them there. Is that what you
would then be predicting one or two? Yeah? Yeah, I I do.
I think that's totally fair. I mentioned I was gonna ask you this
at the top of the pod. What do you make of like the contracts
that Lebron and a D side this summer? To wrap this up, I
think the Lebron extension surprised a few people, even though when you look at
the timing now with BRONI potentially coming into the NBA and then the over thirty
eight rule, like it kind of makes sense. Were you a little bit
surprised that maybe ad went for five years and what's the importance though, of
having these two now under contract beyond next season? So Lebron's, Yes,
it was a surprise. I didn't I didn't anticipate it, especially because he
jumped the line like the word was out about a D and then all of
a sudden it was like, oh, yeah, by the way, Lebron,
Oh that's why five he's trying to take the headlines back. Yeah,
that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. No, So Lebron's is
huge for the present and near future obviously, uh, you know, but
like on the flip side, you know, a D you know, and
specifically getting that sort of a commitment that you just you know that you know
that you just mentioned, you know, that could lead to you know,
that could lead to moving pieces you know, like around him, uh you
know, you know, to you know, to get a future running mate.
So like they both obviously they both take care of the current and the
near future. But for a D being you know, you know, basically
saying like yeah, I will give the rest of my you know, the
bulk or whatever of my conceivable crime, you know, to you it's it
means like, oh, I'm dedicated to this franchise and and honestly, I
you know, while as you mentioned, they may be close to being hard
capped, part of me feels like, you know, this is a this
is a front office, and this is a group that has shown that they're
savvy enough to you know, to make whatever deals and make whatever moves they
need in order to in order to in order to alleviate that you know,
they alleviate that situation. And if ultimately you know, okay, y'all kind
of to you know, you know, to the point that you blew my
mind with earlier, if ultimately they they determine midway through the year that let's
go ahead and package up some of these guys and and and and swing for
the fences and just and just go ahead and make this really ugly. Maybe
sacrifice some of the death. Maybe sacrifice some of the death, but be
you know, you know, you be the type of top heavy team that
you know, honestly, like, you know, let's just see how how
how special and how fun that can be. You know, I'm at the
point now where nothing would shock me. Again. They don't have to do
anything like as is. I think I think they're solid, but it is
nice. It's a nice place to be for that organization or for the fans
of that organization to have the options that they do have. Yeah, and
it's it's big in the short term because it's big for the long term where
they don't have to operate an AD had signed a one plus one or something,
they don't have to kind of like be like, well, do we
need to plan to like try and actually hat and wehear Lebron let's say they
thought he was gonna opt out next summer, Like, do we have to
plan, like we need to try and keep our books flexible because we want
to try and add another star or even just you know, maybe AD signs
of two plus one, Like that's still just so short and it's like,
well, then how long do we plan out for now? It's like,
well, AD is under contract, whether we don't know what's going to happen
before the next player option, but four years and we know that we have
Lebron like beyond next season now too. Like it allows you to think if
you include this year and next year, like that's two years ahead at least,
and that's more than a lot of other teams can plan for because that's
look that's basically the length of title windows right now when you look at what's
happened to some of these teams where it feels like these title windows are open
for you know, two years maybe for some of these really good teams,
like since like you know, the Warriors being the exception there and like even
them, like their dynasty just came crumbling. So to have that type of
stability, it allows you to, I think, make bigger swings in the
short term because you know what you have in place in the long term,
and that's right now, you know both of your stars beyond next season and
Anthony Davis as your north star for almost a half decade. Yeah, it's
not it's let's just say it's not a bad thing to have two and dependent
upon wherever you look at them, two to top five or top teen.
However, I think they're the top both top five, two of the top
five players in the league, Like, you know, to start off with
those are those are good bones to start, you know, to start the
structure. Uh, do you have anything else that you wanted to talk about
that maybe we didn't cover something that's undercovered or misinterpreted about this team. An
He's strong, I don't Quinn Cook or Coast attend the Coupo takes that you
need to get off your chest. Not really the only thing. The last
thing that I will mention about that is the first thought that I had,
and I mentioned it on the timeline. The first thought that I had when
we when both both of them reuptu and extended in that way, was what
is this? What? What? What is the CBA going to look play?
What? What? What are they anticipating? Is it possible that they
are you know, they're in tune enough. Is it possible that they're anticipating
maybe the elimination of the Supermax or the you know, the limiting of the
Supermax, or you know, renegotiations all together down the back. If if
I were them, it's not a bad it's not a beat, you know,
like even though yes, you still want to keep that, you know,
continue to play together and you're in a perfect situation, it's not the
worst of ideas to go ahead and in and make sure the make sure,
you know, just in case are the last you know, you know,
one of the last of you know, the big deals like that. Jabari,
thank you so much for giving me over seventy minutes of your time on
this podcast. This was a great conversation as per usual. If you guys
are not following him on Twitter, remedy that post taste at Jabari Davis NBA.
That's at jab a Rii Davis NBA. He is the co host of
the Dunks and Discourse podcast. Follow that on Twitter as well at Dunks Discourse.
That's spelled exactly as it sounds. I think, as you can know
by now, that I will be bothering you again in the future, but
at the moment, thank you so much for your time. This was a
lot of fun. Absolutely never bother I'm not joking when I say it.
I love Dowey, I love Potting, and you're great to do it with
your greater would you do so? Thanks for having me, Sugar, Ray,
Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvelous, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns legends
Who's four way ival redefine one of the greatest errors in boxing history, relive
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