All right, let's go Bred Rogan Rodney peak not Ay five seventy la sports
Rodney. How you doing today? I'm doing pretty good, Fred, pretty
good, pretty good, pretty pretty good. I had a good night's sleep
last night for first time in a while. All right, what's a good
night's sleep? How many how many hours of good night? I got a
good eight in? I got a good eight? My god, yeah,
I got a good eight. I was in bed at ten, up at
six. I was, uh and wide awake at six, which was good.
It wasn't that groggy feeling when you wake up. You know, no
one answers either. It was just I was tired and and laid it down.
When I say no one answers, no sleep meds or anything like that.
I put on some nice relaxing zen music and fell out naturally, Fred
And got up once in the middle of the night, got up one time,
and then was right back and uh, six o'clock rolled around, and
man, the uh. I actually beat the alarm, you know, I
beat the alarm. And you know, usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
I get up a little earlier because at a session, but I don't usually
set the alarm. But today I did and I, uh, you know,
when you beat the alarm by five minutes, I was pretty proud of
myself. Can I tell you something? Can I tell you something? First
of all, you know, if you know anything about health, you realize
sleep is critical. And if you can get eight hours of sleep, that's
that's what's recommended. Do you know in the last I would say forty five
years, I have not slept eight hours one time when I was at Channel
four. Wow. When I was at Channel four, and I am not
lying to you, I would sleep like four hours and forty five minutes a
night. That's it, that's it. And now now I can get up
to and I feel great today because I slept six hours. If I can
hit six hours, that's like eight hours. But here's the problem. If
you're only sleeping four and a half hours a night, five hours a night,
that's not good for your health. No, it takes its toll on
you, and I mean you will pay the price for it down the road.
And I did everything I could. I just maybe my mind wouldn't stop.
I don't know. I could not sleep, and of course I drank
like a fish. I don't know if that was a problem, but uh,
maybe that'll do it. You know, I thought it would help me.
Okay, well maybe it did, but not for long periods of time.
So if you got eight hours of sleep, that's pretty good. Yeah,
and that's rare. That's rare because usually it's six at most. I'm
yeah, I'm tossing and turning or something distracting me, or I'm up or
whatever. I can't fall back asleep once I get up. I mean,
it's not consistently all the way through, and last night was, but it
is so important. So you've been on you on four and a half hours
sleep on a regular Now that's that's your time. Well, no, I'm
up. Do you get up? Or do you do you slay there?
Try to go back to sleep? I mean that's the question is like what
do you do if you're if you're not sleeping, do you feel like,
okay, it's time to get up or do you feel like I need to
get another two hours in? Man? If I'm up, I can't go
back to sleep. And that's the problem. So now now I'm getting six
hours, and I feel different than I did, And I actually think it
has to do with not doing the eleven o'clock news anymore. I still get
up early, but it's going to bed a little earlier now, giving me
that extra time. Yeah, but that is tough. I mean, I'll
tell you who doesn't sleep, Kevin, Kevin doesn not sleep. How many
hours a night is fix o'clock in the morning, four o'clock in the morning.
Yeah, I mean I try to get at least six and a half
to seven. The key word is try. I say I'm successful. They
are probably about sixty five seventy percent of the time. But what time do
you go to sleep, Kevin? On irregular you're trying to do it.
It can vary anywhere between ten and eleven anywhere within that spectrum wanted general basis,
sometimes it's later. Sometimes if I'm really just dog tired, which will
happen a lot of times during football season because that's just a grind between what
I do here and what I do on weekends, sometimes I might go to
bed a little bit earlier, but generally i'd say it's between ten o'clock and
eleven o'clock, and I'm usually up anywhere between four and five thirty. Yeah.
Seeing my problem, Rodney is that Kevin will attest to this, It'll
be one am and I'll be seven sending Kevin ideas. Absolutely, yeah,
yeah, you know, It'll be eleven thirty at night and I'll be sending
Kevin ideas. That's the problem. I can't. Your mind won't turn off.
My mind won't turn off. If I'm watching the game, I will
sit there and watch stuff and if something. And Kevin told me to stop
texting him because I texted him like six thousand times one day and he goes,
just email me, just put them all in one email and then when
you're gone, just send it to me. Yeah, right, because I
just start writing stuff down the whole time. I can't. I don't know
what it is. All notes, just notes, notes, notes, notes,
this is that you know, nine thirty ten, fifteen, eleven oh
two. Just put the notes in it in one big mass email. That's
what I started doing because he held at me and he said stop doing that.
Every time I looked up and go, I look at the you know,
the timestamp of the of the notes that Kevin sends us notes every day,
and I look at the timestamps. Sometimes those timestamps are like five thirteen
am. Yeah, you know, yeah, I forty Kevin, you do
you said a timer for the night before to send it down at five forty
five and nope, no, he just he's up those alive. Yeah,
you guys track your sleep. I have that on my watch where it tracks
my sleep, so now I know how many hours I sleep. And it's
funny. If it says I slept six hours, Psychologically I tell myself,
man, I'm doing great. But if I slept five hours and forty minutes,
I say, man, I'm screwed all day. And I don't even
know if there's a difference, quite frankly, but when I see it,
that's the first thing I do. I look at that phone, I go
tell me it's six hours. If it's six hours, I feel great.
If it's five hours and fifty nine minutes, I'm screwed for the entire day.
But sometimes as soon as you see it, he put you in a
mood. I see you're like, you didn't reach the goal you're under the
time that you wanted to sleep. It automatically triggers something in your brain and
your emotions that you're screwed for the rest of the day. Yeah, And
there will be times during the day where I'm doing this or I'm doing the
TV show here, or I'll just start to get tired. But I don't
even know if I am tired. I think my mind is telling me I'm
tired because I didn't sleep six hours today, I'll fly through everything. Nap.
Are you a napper? Can you nap? When I was at NBC?
Truly, when I was at NBC, there were areas. We had
an office that had a couch in it. If you came in at a
certain point in time, I would be sound asleep, and I slept for
fifteen minutes. It was always fifteen minutes. If I got fifteen minutes at
some point in the day, then I was fine. It's all it took.
Fifteen all it took. Or if i'd go home for dinner at six
thirty, I would sit in this chair and close my eyes fifteen minutes and
I was ready to go for the eleven. That's all I needed was fifteen
minutes just to kind of recharge. And I didn't send an alarm or anything.
It would be fifteen minutes every time. Every time fifteen minutes you felt
that, you know, your body clock would tell you it's fifteen minutes.
Time to get up. Yeah, And when I wake up too, you
know you said you go back to sleep. When I wake up, I
am up, shoot out of bed, I'm up, boom done. The
minute I open my eyes, I'm up. I cannot go back to sleep.
It depends from me. It depends like if it's early, if it's
like a I'm trying to get up at six and I get up at four,
you know, like we do at a certain age, have to go
to the bathroom, and I know I've got you know, a couple more
hours. If I can get that in that then it becomes tough. But
if it's early in the night, like if it's two am, I can
get back to sleep. But that last two hours, which is usually the
best part, is like the good sleep when you get that that last you
know, four to six, whatever it may be, or three to five.
That last two hours is great. But if I get up, you
know, around in that time, I can't go back. I can't go
back to sleep good. How many hours? If we ask our listeners,
how many hours an I do use sleep? Okay, percentage wise? How
many do you think would say eight? Eight hours? Percentage wise? I
think that'd be a low percentage. So why so to why okay? So
what do you think the average would be for our listeners six? Yeah,
I think so. I think you're right. What's s six? I mean
a lot of our listeners are on the road, right, truck drivers,
delivery people. There's a few fair amount people in the office. But yeah,
I would say six hours, six hours. Now you're trying to get
eight, but I would say it on average people will get get six.
Yeah. And here's the other thing. So some people go to bed earlier.
Right, if you go to bed at ten eleven? Now I know
that because pardon me? Can you do that? Like? You know?
I know that you're off the eleven? Now you're off the eleven. Can
you can your body clock tail you eight? Be? Yeah, I'm I'm
out by eleven now as opposed to be it out by twelve. No,
I'm definitely out by eleven. I used to I used to fall asleep by
twelve forty. Yeah, so I'm probably a sleep times ten thirty. So
if the Dodgers or Lakers are playing, right, yeah, you watch the
game, think about it for a minute, then I go to sleep,
and it's much healthier. It's a much better way to work. And I
can tell you from doing the news at eleven o'clock at Channel four. That
more people operate like that now than ever before they go to bed before eleven
o'clock at night. Right, I'll bet you if we took the average time
people go to bed, it's between ten and eleven. Yeah, I agree,
I agree at least that's the goal. But I think, yeah,
I think most people try to get to bed by eleven, which is to
your overall point about where the where we are as a as a you know,
entertainment watching the news kind of thing. It used to be definitely after
that, I'm not going to bed before the news is over least I'm up
at least still eleven thirty, you know, whereas now it's not, as
you know, it's instant gratification, so you don't people don't stay up just
to watch the news anymore. So they're out. But when you were working
at Channel four and you did the eleven o'clock, what time would you go
to sleep then? Would it be midnight? Twelve thirty, twelve forty twelve
forty And could your body shut down? Yeah, there's a lot of times
that you know, after doing something like that, the adrenaline's still there and
your body can't shut down for a period of time. It became routine for
me after a while, so I was just kind of an autopilot. And
when I got home after the eleven and I laid down, I could go
to sleep, but I didn't sleep soundly. So then it was like four
hours and forty five minutes. And it's interesting because when I started doing the
eleven o'clock News at Channel four, and that was, you know, forty
four years ago. TV was different, Our worlds were different, and that
was the show of record. If you did what I did for a living,
that's the only show you wanted to be on, was the eleven o'clock
News. If you were there, you had made it. Well, you
know, times changed and people change, technology changed our world. And now
the eleven o'clock News. And by the way, it was the biggest profit
center at the TV station, the biggest profit center. It was like thirty
five percent of your yearly revenue came from that thirty minutes at eleven o'clock.
Think that, yeah, we're still than the five o'clock, six o'clock hour.
Huh oh yeah wow. Yeah. So now if you look at it,
the eleven o'clock news broadcasts across all stations and across the country, there
are blips on the radar screen very few people watch. So in Los Angeles,
for example, maybe three thousand would watch the Channel four news at eleven
out of sixteen million people. Think about that. And right now, the
area where people do watch local news is the afternoon block five and six.
Because our worlds have changed time and I'm sure the demographics too will tell you
something about the eleven o'clock news now too, right that demographic is what do
you think that? I mean, I don't have any idea, but what
the demographic? What is the demographic you think of the the viewership of the
eleven o'clock news. Well, remember this that when the rating system was created
back in fifties, it was twenty five to fifty four adults. So what
does that mean? That means that was the target area to sell in You
wanted to attract an audience critically of twenty five to fifty four year old adults.
Sure, if you could get younger people, fined, but that wasn't
the primary sales area twenty five fifty four adults. And when ratings come out,
they also come with demographics, so you can see who's watching. And
it's imprecise science, but it's the only science, all right. So when
you and why was fifty four the end of it? Why? Because when
they created the rating system, people died at fifty five. That's how many
years ago it was, and they never changed it. So theoretically, if
you are older than fifty four, we like to say in our business,
you have demoed out. We love you, we need you, we want
you to listen to us, we want you to watch the shows on TV.
But we sell it differently for whatever reason in this country. And it's
funny. I talked about this on the air here last night. Older people
do not receive the kind of respect they do in other countries. You hit
a point and they go a year old, Yeah we don't care, Yeah
we don't care. Yeah he's old. But no, in other countries it's
not like that people are respected for their wisdom and their experience. Here you
can be cast aside. So also here now, unlike when they created the
rating system, people at fifty five years old have what we like to call
in sales disposable income. You can afford things, sure not everybody, and
some of us live check to check but there are other people at this time,
in that age bracket sixty that have some money and can go out and
buy things. And that's why people advertise, because they expect you to hear
the spot and go, I need that, but you can also afford it.
That's never been taken into account. So here the demo, and we
just got this yesterday. It was great. Fifty five plus. It's Palm
Springs, it's the Coachella Valley. People come here when they're older to retire
fifty five plus. And I was telling somebody, you know what, you
don't understand because I'm killing it out here. I'm killing it, and they
go, I said, yeah, the audience is fifty five plus. I
got to check on them every day to make sure they'll be there tomorrow.
But yet they are thriving. They are thriving and they still have productive lives.
I see out here, Rodney, and it's funny people seventy years old.
Now in Los Angeles, if you go somebody seventy, they gough,
well, you know, you know how close they are to the end.
Here I see people seventy and they look like they're fifty. Yeah. Second
chapter of their life. Yeah. And enjoying it active, yeah, and
enjoying it. But what we do find is, and we're an exception here
in radio because actually our audience should skew older because you know, it's it's
terrestrial AM radio. And sure we have people over fifty four listening, but
we have younger people too, So that's a bit of an anomaly because that
doesn't usually happen. It's a bit of an anomaly. But on broadcast TV,
the audience is older, and that's why. You know what you see
the spots are for stool softener and blood pressure medication, right, don't you
that's what you say. Yeah, they're all there. Yeah, at that
time of night. Absolutely, you know, side effects may include and then
they go through a litany of things that you think I'll never take that because
it's going to give any Are you having this, Yeah, all of those.
That's why those spots are there, because the audience is older. That's
why. And the point is, and the reason our audience here is mixed
and we have young people listening is because we're on the app and we podcast,
so you can access the content any way you want. And that's how
younger people function. When we were growing up it was you had to make
an appointment right on a TV show eight o'clock Thursday night. You had to
be there or you'd miss it. Yeah, there's no tap in it,
there's no watch nothing. You know. Hey, I want to why I
missed it last night. I'm'n watch it in the morning or I can't see
it last night. So I'm gonna just yeah, I just watched it in
the morning when I wake up. Yeah, there was none of that,
right, But that's how this generation grew up, where you could access whatever
you wanted when you wanted it. So for us, we have people that
listen to the show on the app more and more stream the show wherever you
go, you take it with you. And we also now have the ability
if you missed anything, you can go back and listen to it. It's
available to you when you want it. Because you are in control now,
you make those decisions. And that's why our group of people listening to us,
Yes we have people older than fifty four, but we have people twenty
seven, and we have women listening to us as well, which is not
a huge demo in sports radio. So I mean, that's just how it
is. I don't even know how we got started on this. I'm just
sleep. Did you get a good night's sleep? And I yeah, I
did. I got one last night and it's rare. So I had to
share that I got a good night's sleep. Now what that means for me
the rest of the day, I don't know, fred but I just know
this, I got a good night sleep last night. Hey, don't forget
this Friday. We will be at Crony Sports Bar in Newbury Park. It'll
be a live broadcast noon to three March Madness on. You'll enjoy the great
food and drinks and you'll find out why Crony Sports Bar is the best sports
grill and Ventura County. Details at a five seventy LA sports dot Com with
the real Lakers please stand up. Well, everybody hopes last night they were
the real Lakers, and we'll talk to Dan Waking next. Let's go.
Let's go, let's keep it moving on a full eight hours of sleep.
Baby, we talked about it. I got the full eight Freddy, I'm
ready to go right. Keep it on a Tuesday. Come on, all
right? Uh, well, last night did we see the real Lakers?
Well, they were playing at Land. Did we see the real Lakers.
Hey, but find out what the team beat the Clippers at the crypt well
at team right, Yeah, but the Clippers don't have an identity. Oh
that's right. Yeah, it's ty Tyler's fault. They don't have an identity,
rdy, that's the problem. Yeah, yeah, I forgot about that.
Yeah, but apparently the Lakers last night did. And let's bring on
our insider from the La Times, Dan Waking. Dan, thanks for jumping
on. Thank you for having me. I'm very in demand today. And
why is that because you asked a million dollar question last night? Apparently,
So it's funny. Can I toot my harm for two seconds? This is
not the type of thing I normally would do. So yesterday it was an
interesting day. So in the morning I happened to win a Professional Basketball Writers
Association award, which is very nice for the show. Ron James, thank
you guys, yeah for I mean, all it took was Lebron James breaking,
you know, basketball's most hollowood record to put me in a position to
do it. So really I did the light work. That being said,
so, you know, postgame, Austin Reeves gets stunted down. I asked
him a question he says, you know, everybody saw what happened, and
I reminded him that, but no one saw it quite like he did.
And people today have been like, this is your best work ever. It's
just like, well it's important to remember what people care about. Listen,
Yeah I could, I can out a thank really quickly. Yeah, Dan,
was there no no thought otherwise that you you were going to ask him
that question? You had to get that out of him. Well, somebody
had to ask him. I mean I think like that's you know, I
mean, that's kind of the job, you know what I mean, And
and and so you know, look I asked, uh, we asked about
who tried Anthony Davis. Oh, Anthony Edwards, Like we asked Anthony Davis
about that, you know what I mean, Like we like you just that's
kind of what you do. And I mean I think like knowing Austin as
well as I do, like I had a pretty good feeling he would be
good spirited about it. I didn't realize it would be such a funny exchange.
Yeah, well that's part of it, right. You got to know
who you can really ask that question, who you can need ale and who
you can needle a little bit on the way back on it, you know
what I mean. And I think, like, you know, luckily the
Laker locker room. I think like especially like the players that we generally talked
to on the night of the basis are all like smart enough players that like
they understand when they're on like the wrong side of a meme, you know,
Like I mean, look, Austin's been in a bunch of them too,
write like this is sort of old had for him at this point,
Like he hasn't necessarily been dunk doown like you pointed out. But like you
know, there was the players rookie season where he stood next to Lebron and
Lebron's explaining something to him and he looks like Lebron is speaking Portuguese or something
and he makes that like kind of funny face. And then there was you
know, like lash in the playoffs, people are comparing him to like the
weird artsy kid from the wedding crashers and stuff like that at the podium like
like, so, I mean, he this is you know, this is
he's very comfortable. This is a very comfortable place for him, like it
or not, right, right, Dan D'Angelo, Russell d Angelo Russell has
I mean, he has played I think as well as we could expect.
I think, you know, his inconsistency his former time here with the Lakers,
the trade talks. I think he's used that as motivation, but not
just for a period of time, but he's continued it, and he is
an extremely important piece for the Lakers. Of the players out there that are
not named Anthony Davis or Lebron James, where do you rank him in terms
of the importance for Lakers success? I mean, I think he's probably,
you know, on any given night, somewhere between like three and five,
but like more often than not third, I think, just because like what
he so. So what I think is kind of interesting in the Lakers,
right, Rodney, is that, like you know, when we talk about
these types of players, so like I'll just say, like those guys that
I would put in like that top tier of like sort of mattering, right,
are you know, D'Angel Russell, Austin Reeves, Ruyjachimura, Healthy,
Jared Vanderbilt, And then probably say like Spencer Dinwiddie right now, right,
who's become like kind of this like plus minus savant for this team? Right?
So those are those are like the guys that like on a nice night
basis like really really matter, right, So I think the thing that Delo
does that none of those other guys do is that he gets their three point
volume up, you know. And I think, like the assists are great
last night. You know, he got to the line is cutting all that
stuff really matters. But like, you know, the way the Lakers play
just sort of by the product of having Anthony Davis not really be a flour
spacer. I know, he made a three last night, you know,
and Lebron James still like that's not really like he's been terrific this year,
but that's not like that's not the main event with Lebron James. Like they
just need to shoot threes. It's it's a math problem every night. You
know, if the other team shoots twenty more threason than they do, you
know, they're gonna be uphill and you're gonna be relying on things like making
up that difference at the free throw line and at the rim and so nice
to get those listles. Some nice you don't. So I mean, like,
you know, I think like last night, like Danzel West, I
think with six for ten from three right, and the six makes are incredible.
I kind of think they almost need the ten attempts more in some ways,
you know, just to like kind of keep defenses honest, like it
really really matters on this team. I mean, I think there are nice
when all of those guys, like, you know, I think that the
connective things that Austin Reeves does is sort of like a figured out player,
you know, really kind of stands alone. I think, you know,
Ruey Hotchimer's ability to hunt a mismatch and catch and shoot, you know,
is like it's been sort of his superpower with the starters and then and then
like I said, like I mentioned, you know, we'll see when if
Jared Vanderbilt gets back kind of the defense of hom f he can provide.
And you know Spencer Dinwidy has done some of that too for them. So
is that why when I say, well the real Lakers please show up,
it's a it's a math problem. You know, sometimes are out shot from
three and and that's the issue. Sure, because you see them play against
atlant you go, Okay, they're going to be fine. You see him
play against Golden State, you go, ooh, I'm not so sure they're
going to get out of the plane. Warriors. Yeah, Fred was that,
Like so I thought the obviously, like you know, I mean I
looked at that Warriors game and I just saw a team that just can't win
without Anthony Davis, right Like, I mean, that's just sort of that's
just sort of a rule for them, right, Like they're plus six in
the first corner when he's playing, they're run off the floor, you know,
functionally when he's at and like, you know, they fought, and
you know, if if if they get that call on Lebron James corner three
instead of him being out of boundary's inbounds when it's a three point game or
a four point game at that time. You know, I understand that if
if Sinans were pots and pan right, like, the world will be a
kitchen. Like I get that part of it. The thing of it that
I I that's just for me is sort of I think to me, like
the more sort of compelling like what are the Lakers kind of questions are sort
of like, you know, just why why have they been so like meandering
against sort of the middle middle of the pack against the league, you know,
like they get up to play the thunder they play hard against the timb
Wolves, they're in these tight games with you know, they played Denver,
like at least they're tough in the last couple of games, like, you
know, Sacramento definitely has their number. But the Clippers, you know,
you know, they've beaten a lot of really good teams this season, so
like, why can't they beat like the pretty good teams? And I just
think it speaks honestly, Fred And I've said this on the show and I'll
say it again. I just don't think they throw their fastball out of that.
I don't think they can. I just I just think that why you
don't think they can because they're because because they're best player is a thirty nine
year old or their second best players a thirty nine year old. Then he
doesn't have like the what would you say, the I'm trying to get the
way that put the Yeah, I mean I was I was gonna say the
like the hood, the blank to the wall sort of like ability to play
like break neck defense every night. It's like very much a pick your spots
thing, and it's very much like you that's just the reality of it.
Right, He's got a bum ankle that he's playing through he's trying to manage
an eighty two game season. He's been incredibly available this year, as has
Anthony Davis. But like that's the the reality. So if you're a Lakers
optimist, what you're holding on to is like you look at where they are
when it was like Hubber meets the road time. I'm just throwing all sorts
of cliches out there today. You know, when in the end season turned
against the thunder you know in Golden State, Uh, a classic game earlier
this year, Like when when like it's just like go full on, go
time they have it now, it's a little concerning then, like that when
they've gone to flip that switch against Denver, when they went to flip it
against Sacramento, they couldn't get over the hump. Like that to me is
like kind of the big question. But but yeah, I mean I think
they're fred to your point. You know, there are nights they don't look
like they're gonna get out of the plane, and I think there are knights
where it looks like they can get back to the conference finals. It's I
think that's just gonna be kind of how it is with them. Yeah,
is that scary. It should be that they can't win without without Anthony Davis,
and when he went out against Golden State, it was all the air
went out of the building. And they have running and they have a hard
time winnyone, Like they don't have Lebron playing like really hard defense, really
hard end defense. Like that's just like and he just I mean, it's
just that's the reality of it. It's not I don't think it's like a
hostile thing. I think it is very much so a picker spots thing.
You know that that makes me think, Dan, if that's the issue,
and maybe they just don't have enough gas every night, how are they gonna
win a seven game series? Uh so, I mean here would be the
again, like the optimist argument for this, right, the playoffs are different.
The game slows down like it is harder. It is like they like
the general kind of way that people describe it. It's like sort of like
one and a half times the mileage. So if you play forty minutes in
the regular season, you play forty minutes the plaoffs, it sort of feels
like you played sixty if that makes sense. Yeah, but you're not traveling
as much. But on the same team, it's more mental and you know,
it wasn't like he was twenty three last year in the playoffs like he
was, you know, thirty eight and even more hurt, and they like
they figured it out right. So I think that would be sort of the
optimistic reed. I'm the Lakers now. The pessimistic creed is is exactly what
you said. I mean, like it only gets harder. You look at
the Western Conference, it's a minefield. You know, how are they going
to stop Luka Danci in the seven game series should they need to? How
would they stop or in a one game playing. The same goes for Phoenix.
You know, like there's a world in which you know, the playing
Stephen Kurky, you have to beat Stephen Curry to go beat Kevin Durant to
even to go to then to then go play Nicola Jokic. That with how
did they stop Anthony Davis in a how they mean? That's gotta be yeah.
I mean that's that's why they're scary too, you know, I mean
I think it definitely cuts both ways. I mean it's why anybody tells you,
like with any real sort of like outside of like when I talk to
people I had this, had a conversation last night with an assistant coach on
the Hawks, and he's asking me, you know, who I thought would
come out of the West, And like, if you say anything other than
Denver, I think you're just kind of guessing at this point, Like you're
really guessing. Like there's a lot of speculation that goes into anyone but Denver,
at least with Denver, you know, like there's like the proof of
concept is so strong. Yeah, as far as Dan that, you know,
going back to D'Angelo and Austin Reeves and Ruie Hotchimura, does it you
know, we we we've talked all season long. Who's gonna be that third
guy, who's gonna does it matter? It's just it's just they need that
guy every night. They need a third guy every night. Yeah, I
mean I think they need more than a third guy. I mean I think
yeah, they yeah, Yeah, I mean I think that's just kind of
how it is. Is like they need, you know, guys to play
well. They need to be a team that at times is where the sum
is greater than the parts. I mean, I I think doesn't matter who
it is. You know, sometimes you got a big three or you got
four, and you know your big three is going to do this, you
know, yeah, I don't think you d is gonna be Delo is gonna
give you twenty five and you can count on that and bank it because he's
the third guy, Whereas now it's like it could be Delo, could be
RUI yeah, yeah, I mean I think I think Rodney there is an
element of like consistency that's important. And I mean, like I think like
I would point again to Lebron and Anthony Davis and then sort of say,
like, Okay, are those guys there every night in these big spots right
like that? That that the way the Lakers need them to be, Like,
you know, I mean I don't think ad was that was there against
the Kings in that way last week. I think you would tell you the
same. Lebron had a awful game last week against Sacramento. I believe if
I I can't keep totally like disappointing Laker losses straight in my mind, but
I mean, oh yeah, in Sacramento, Lebron had a very bad game,
you know, And on those nights, it doesn't matter if Austin Reeves
scores thirteen points in three minutes like he did to start the game right,
Like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you has a good game
or a bad game, and he had a bad game too. I just
think that, like they don't have very wide margins. I think they know
that they need to play. They probably need to play closer to like their
A level basketball than some other teams do, just kind of for a variety
of reasons. But I do think they've got the type of depth and they
do create the types of looks and the types of mismatches that you know,
it definitely doesn't feel like all was lost, especially not at I mean,
they beat the Hawks last night, Like that's awesome, the Hawks around the
second I have a back to back, But there is a stretch here,
guys where they're gonna play some pretty winnable games. They're not gonna be easy,
right, Like even though like Philadelphia doesn't have Joel and bid like Tyrese
Maxie is back and like he's a real all star, right, Like the
Indiana they're gonna play Indiana twice, you know, home and the road,
and like Indiana's got you know, two hundred and fifty thousand reasons to be
met at the Lakers from the tournament, right, and they're gonna come after
them, and they had to Pascal Siakam and and then like that team is
like, you know, dangerous, but the Lakers should Like the Lakers will
be favored against Philadelphia, they would be favored against Indiana. They will not
be favored at Milwaukee. But my my gut would tell me that they'll be
favored in Memphis, in Indiana, in Brooklyn, in Toronto, and in
Washington, DC. Like that's their next seven games, right, So to
me, like, I think we'll answer all of these questions like how serious
are they and if they really ratchet up, you know, their sort of
intensity. I think, you know, the census is that they're gonna get
some bodies back here soon. That's kind of the feeling. I know there's
some reporting today that that might not be the case. That's not what I've
heard. I think they're like game. Vincent feels close, Jared Vanderbilt probably
behind him, came Rettish feels close. You know. I think this is
this is where you kind of you take the governor off the engine and like
this is where you kind of let it rip. That's a golf cart.
That's a golf cart. Go before we let you go real quick here because
we're running short on time. Got to ask Clippers, uh seem to be
struggling. Paul George says, we have no identity. Uh tyrone Lew says,
maybe it's my fault. How could you be so good and then find
yourself in this situation? Because eighty two games is a really long season.
And once you kind of establish I think, like like that you're real in
terms of your contendership and the Clippers I think are very real, then you
just kind of have to wait for the playoffs and it's like, again,
perfect world. You would watch this team every night honing, sharpening its craft.
But I mean, to me, like they've kind of come out of
the off star break mostly like a team that's just kind of bored. I
do think that the Westbrook injury has hurt them. You know, they've missed
his playmaking, and they've been a little banged up, and they've missed Paul
George sometimes they miss kwhile Leonards some games. You know. But I think,
to me, I kind of still believe in like the overall sort of
packaging on this team, and you know, if it looks like they're headed
for a four or five matchup of New Orleans. Tough series, not an
impossible one, even though I know they just lost the Delicans, Like I
mean, I think that's you know, they're they're they're built for to win
a handful of these. All right, Dan, appreciate the time as always,
thanks for jumping on, and we'll talk to you soon. Guys,
always appreciate you look forward to it, all right. Good stuff and wiki
good stuff always and congratulations again. Yeah, all right, next to our
Dodger fans, we'll open the phone lines, not yet, we'll set it
all up for you when we come back at one o'clock. Uh. And
also at one o'clock we're going to talk about the changing marketplace and Scott Boris
buckle up, buck up, it's time for traffic on AM five seventy LA
Sports. Uh huh. Today afternoon Delight is real Woman at Party next Door.
This is the first single off the upcoming that album, ent titled Party
next Door four, which will be released on April twenty sixth. In a
statement to Bill Pord, Canadian artist said, it's the hardest I've ever worked
on an album. It's the proudest I felt. I'm excited to grind even
more for the next one. I'm in love with how hard you should work
for it again. Today's Afternoon Delight is Real Woman by Party next Door.
Hey, Rodney, It's time for Opening Day Dodger Baseball. Dodgers take on
the San Diego Padres from South Korea tomorrow morning at three. Listen live order
the replay at noon on A and five seventy LA Sports and in HD on
the iHeartRadio app. It's brought you in part by LA Care for all of
LA. All right, and now from the Court to the court Room with
Jacob m RONDI. Alright, righty, now our weekly chat with our good
friend Jacob EMROWDI proud partner of L A f C and the Lakers and Jacob,
how are you I'm doing? Did you just call me Jacob and Rob
d No, No, I called you Jacob and a mommy. Oh man,
I knew there was something you'll try to let that kind of slide by
a little bit. Well, No, that was your old commercial. That
was your old commercial, Jacob. So I just went with that. I
figured, I figured, I waved. How are you guys? We're doing?
Where are you? Where? Am I. I actually am in a
conference room sitting with a client of ours, and as soon as you called,
I've stepped up so that I can have a conversation with you and our
birthday boy, mister Rodney, right on, right on, Thank you,
Jacob, thank you, well, good look at you put us at that
in priority. I hope the client is okay with that, Jacob. I
don't want to put you out. Actually, actually, you know what it's
it flowed. It was a very good flow because just finished speaking to him.
You know, we have a client of ours who was involved in an
accident on August second, and then the next day was involved in a second
accident, back to back, and then two weeks later was involved in a
third accident. And it's always so so so complicated trying to you know,
separate all those accidents and whether he was injured from all three of them,
and which body part was injured. So, you know, usually when you
look at these things, people think getting into an accident multiple accidents is actually
a you know, is a good thing for them. They believe that,
oh, well, I have three cases. But unfortunately sometimes you have to
take a lot more time to be able to explain to them that having multiple
accidents number one is not good for anybody because you're injuring yourself. But number
two, it complicates the matter, and as attorneys we have to be able
to navigate through all of the different you know, body parts and injuries and
be able to tell their story to the insurance company. Jacob, do you
need us speak with the client? Yes? Or no? I think we're
good for right now. I think he's good for right and definitely not you
Frid some advice, you know that. I'll be happy to step in if
you need me. My mother wanted me to be an attorney. Oh you
are you are an attorney. You're just an attorney, you know, you
know on radio rather than you know, in the courtroom. All right,
let me ask you this since we're on this, we'll just do this right
now, because I've been wondering, if you're in an accident case, how
long should it take to get this thing resolved? Jacob. Yeah, that's
a great question, and I think, you know, many people misunderstand the
concept of how long it should take. You know, many people watch TV.
They're watching Law and Order. It's a one hour show, you know,
in the fifteenth minute, something occurs and in the seventeenth minute, they're
in a courtroom and they think this is exactly how the legal process works.
But the reality is, you know, when someone's involved in an accident,
it's important to make sure that if your case is one where your injuries have
resolved quickly and you don't need to see any more doctors, then that case
is going to resolve quickly. But it's always interesting when our clients want their
case to be settled in three months, but we're the sixth month and they
still say, my body hurts and I still need to see more doctors.
So what I always explain to people is that every case is different. What
occurred to your cousin or your neighbor, and you know how their case went
and how much they got or how much they didn't get, does not apply
to your case. We look at every single case based on the merits of
that person's injuries. We always encourage our clients not to settle their case immediately
if they're still injured, and if they have the opportunity to continue to work
on their health. You know, at the end of the day, they
I always tell my staff, we are attorneys that tell a story. We
tell the story of a client that the insurance companies trying not to want to
hear. The insurance company's job is to look at every one of these clients
as a number and as a name on a file. But our job is
to bring these clients and their injuries to life, and every one of those
cases has its own, you know, life cycle. We have cases that
are settled in maybe four months, and we have cases that we're now five
years in and we're still battling. And I always tell our clients, do
not rush. This is not a rush against the time, because how am
I supposed to prove that you're going to be suffering from this shoulder injury two
years down the line. If after two months you want your case to be
settled, and when you explain that, they understand that this is really not
a rush, you know, to settle your case. It's really more of
a rush for you to get better. And the client that we have that
actually care about their health, which is a type of clients we try to
you know, we try to represent, then it's easier to tell their story
and they don't care whether the case settles in three months, five months,
or five years, as long as their story is told. And how difficult
is that, Jacob, for someone to be patient, I mean, even
with your expertise and people that look, I just this is going on too
long. I need my money. I need to get this done with.
How difficult is that for your your clients and you to convey that to your
clients. Extremely difficult. And I think you just hit it, you know,
on the head. I think if an individual's focus is I need to
get my money, and then it makes our job much much more difficult because
in order to get just this you have to allow, you know, this
story to play itself out. If somebody looks, you know, to have
a case and have a quick cat payout, they're the ones that the insurance
company loves because the insurance company takes advantage of them, dangles a couple of
you know, a couple of thousand bucks or a couple of hundred bucks in
front of and if they're in it for the money, they're settling it immediately.
When I use the word money, is that you know, when you're
injured in any kind of an accident, you have the right to payment suffering
money. So we understand that if you file a civil action, which we
do you're going to get paid, you know, a financial you know,
what you would call a retribution or a financial payout based on your injuries.
But I think communication around me is the most important part. And you know,
there's only so many hours in a day. But when you sit with
your client and you explain to them if they're in financial need, then of
course they're going to push to get their case settled as quickly as possible,
because don't forget, many people who are injured, they can't work, they
lose their car, they don't have the money. You know, if they
can't work, they can't pay their bills. Sometimes unfortunately they can't allow their
case to sit around. And if those are the people, then it's their
case. They tell us what to do and we will do the best for
them. But usually you have to allow your you know, your attorney to
protect you and allow your case to you know, play itself out. All
right, Jacob, before we let you go a Laker thing because you are
a proud partner of the Lakers. We're chopping this up with Dan wiki earlier.
You know, the Lakers are so up and down and and Dan believes
here's the issue. If you cut to the chase. They just don't have
enough gas in the tank to do it every single night. So that led
me to ask him, do they have enough gas in the tank to do
it in a seven game series in the playoffs? What do you think I
think they do. I think, you know, still, you know,
having Lebron James on your team. I don't think anybody wants to go up
against the Lakers while they got Lebron on the team. I think another thing
we have to take into consideration is they've been playing some really good teams back
to back to back, and overall, I think they've played well. I
think the record shows that they can play and match up against anybody in the
league. I think what's going to be important is are we going to get
some of those guys that are right now injured back for the playoffs so they
could be deeper. Is Vando going to be back? You know? Is
Gabe Vincent going to ever play again? Right? These are the things.
I mean, we just lost Christian Wood and it appears he's going to be
gone for a long time. But I think, you know, the likes
of somebody like Van Dooh is really important because you don't have too many six
for ten. You know, basketball players that can guard the best player on
the other team, or can play defense, or even can bring the ball
up. So I think it's going to be all about, you know,
attrition. I think it's going to be how healthy they'll be. And I
still don't think anybody would like to play it, you know, against the
Lakers in a seven game series, and even that game that they lost,
you know, to the Warriors. I think, you know, losing Anthony
Davis is a big, big loss in a game like that, and I
know we ended up losing that game, but you know, the health of
Anthony Davis, health of Lebron James, and you know, they're hitting these
three pointers. Early in the season, they were taking really really crappy three
pointers. Now they're taking good three pointers. You got d Loo, you
know, just tie the record and he'll know break it hopefully Friday night.
I mean, there's some guys that are you know, that are doing things
for us that we've not had in the past three or four years. So
you know, I'm optimistic about what they can do as long as they just
you know, hopefully get into the top eight. Hopefully they don't have to
be a nine or a ten, and I think right now there I think
one and a half or two and a half games out of the eighth place,
so it's still still pretty close and hopefully you know they can make that
run at the end. All right, well, Jacob, thanks for jumping
on walking out on your client again. If you need us, we are
available, and no, I will be taking you guys up on that,
you know, on that favor, I will definitely do it. I think
sometimes maybe talking to you will probably make them feel better than talking to me.
All right, Jacob, have a good week. Thanks you guys,
take care, bye bye. All right, later this hour, this upcoming
hour, we'll open the phone lines and we'll explain what we're going to do
as we get a little closer. When we come back, Blake Snell has
signed a deal with the Giants, not the deal he wanted. Why we'll
get into it.