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Hardwodox listeners. I am Damned to Valley, coming at you with one of
my favorite writers and Twitter follows Sabrina Merchant. She covers, she writes lots
of words. Let's put it for Spnation, NBA. We're in different women's
sports. I've seen her write some college basketball stuff this week. If you're
not following her on Twitter, remedy that post taste that's at Sabrina JM.
That's at sab r e n A JM. Sabrina, welcome back, and
how are you doing. I'm doing great. I love when people spell my
name because everyone always searches for Sabrina with and I, and that is not
the gastory of finding me. I like the way yours is spelled because I
feel like there's two or three, like other different first names in there too,
So I guess I appreciate it. I was looking because you're still one
of the guests that is nice enough to record on Skype. Everyone thinks I'm
living in like the early twenty and tens. It's just that's been the most
reliable way for me to record and I saw. I feel like I just
spoke with you about the Clippers, and it turns out that that was in
October, so my central time is clearly not not doing too well at the
moment. Yeah, well, for me, it's literally my second most recent
Skype call, so it does feel like it just happened. I do appreciate
you. If you have to hide hide your confusion as to when I'm ever,
I'm asking you if you can hop on Skype. Most people are like,
is it twenty twelve or something, but you just roll with it,
so I appreciate that. Let's do this. So I brought you on to
tall Clippers and Lakers double dose here. I'd like to start with the Clippers,
who are coming off as we record this. They're coming off their win
over Dallas, who was believe I can commit to having watched exactly zero minutes
of that game. But overall this season, have you noticed any distinct changes
in how the Clippers play under ty Lou aside from you know, anything that's
personnel is driven by having Surge shoot jumpers instead of having Tress in those minutes.
Yeah, so I think you hit the nail on the major stylistic change
in that they have more space in the starting lineup because they're starting Surge instead
of Zubach and he just is a better willing three point shooter. I shouldn't
say I'm not even a better three point shooter, but he actually takes threes
and he's feared from that distance. So it opens a lot of space in
the paint for Kawhi, Leonard and Paul George just sort of operate out of
the post and on the elbows a little bit more than they were able to
when Zoobotch was the starter. I think that's the major difference, just the
look of that half court offense. And there has been a significant amount of
ball movement. I think that's been added to the half court offense. But
I'm not sure how much of that, again is because of Tylou versus Dock
or just different personnel. Because they have Nicholas be Two in the starting line
of worth they did before yesterday, who is a more natural pastor I think
than Marcus Morris. So those personnel shifts I think make that, you know,
a more ball movement heavy starting five than it was a year ago.
But it also seems like they have just a little bit more flow beyond the
initial action. Like when you have a guy like Kawhi Leonard or someone like
Paul George who's so capable of getting their shot in isolation and you only have
to like run one down screen and all of a sudden pgs free and he's
got a six book out in front of him, who can just shoot right
over. It's tempting to just do that, And like that was a lot
of what they were doing a year ago, especially when you know they had
a limited amount of time when Kawai and PGI were on the court together because
of injuries and whatnot. I totally understood that, you know, default,
but there has been more commitment to like, okay, if the initial action
fails, like what do we have running on the second side, there's you
know, side pick and roll or like a weak side action running. There's
there's definitely a little bit more happening in the half court than there was a
year ago. But I do think that that's sort of come at the expense
of like they don't really push the ball at all, or like, you
know, their defense has been a little marginalized, so to speak. So
you know, I think that's just a consequence of taylou right, Like we
think of him as an offensive coach. I really think he got the very
most out of those Cleveland teams on the offensive end, and that has brought
itself over the Clippers, where I think they're supremely talented on the offense and
they're getting the most out of their talent. But you see the gaps,
you know, and other parts of the court. So is it and so
you mentioned that they're playing slower, which I think would if you're going to
get out in transition less and I feel like they just don't even They just
don't even try and push the ball in. They literally do not get like
live rebounds, turnovers. They just don't. Is that like the main culprit
behind them being twenty nine and the shaff shots coming at the rim? And
my father question of that would be, doesn't matter when they're still third in
points chord per possession and they just they shoot the hell out of the ball
from three. Yeah, I think they definitely want to get more shots at
the rim. It's just not really in any of their DNA, you know.
I think the only guy in the starting lineup who really put pressure on
the room last year was Zoobach and he's not a starter anymore. So it's
just harder for them to generate shots in that area of the court. Generally,
when they get touches in the paint, it's just so they can kick
it back out for threes, and they're shooting really well on threes, so
obviously there is a method to that madness. But I definitely think they would
like to get more shots in the paint, whether that comes from transition,
which Tyler talks about all the time, is pace pace pace, But it's
just again like those guys on their team aren't really wired to get to the
basket. We think about like Kawhi Leonard any think about him like in the
mid range, you know, And Paul George is just a really sweet shooter,
and Nicholas with him pretty much at this point in his career. All
he does is spot up. Even Marcus Morris is more of a mid range
out guy, and Surge for whatever reason, has lost a lot of his
touch around the rim, so he's significantly more effective when you put him out
as a jump shooter. It's just the personnel doesn't really suggest that they want
to take shots directly at the basket. I'm of the belief that they should
be starting zoobatch and thus generating more looks at the rim that way, but
that does not appear to be a direction that the Clippers are headed towards.
So yeah, I mean, I think they want to get more shots in
pain, even though, like you said, their offense is pretty great regardless,
and I don't think there's a reason to believe that their jump shooters are
not capable of this level of performance, you know, other than but toom
who obviously had just a terrible season in Charlotte last year. Like, everybody's
pretty much right in line with their career recent norms, so it doesn't seem
out of the ordinary rate that they can continue shooting this way. If these
are the shots they're going to generate, it still blows my mind that Patuma
is third on this team in minutes per game. That just might be one
of the most bizarre developments of the season. I guess you do. Look
at the Clippers, though, as you kind of mentioned it, there's like
no one because if you look at their team, they only have two guys
who rank higher than the fifty second percentile and just frequency of their shots coming
at the rim, and it's Zoo and then it's Terrence Mann. But then
you look at everyone else and it's like there's no one who really can Because
you mentioned how Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have historically played. I think Marcus
Morris is capable of He's in the zero with percentile of volume with the rim
right now relative to this position, So he's like the one guy you could
look at and say, well, he should probably be getting there more often,
but they just don't have that type of player on this team, and
even just I think with Zoo, when he's going to put pressure on the
rim, like, it's not going to be with the ball in his hands
or maybe Tres at least provided a little bit of that last year. And
that's also not something that Surgeby is going to give you, at least consistently.
Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it. You know,
Zoo is going to get shots at the room, but that's just because he
happens to be standing there when he's passed the ball, all right, And
I think we kind of thought of Lou Williams as a guy who could put
some pressure on the rim because he does run a lot of pick and roll
and like get actions moving in that direction. But a lot of that was
just because he had Tress as a pick and roll partner, and he was
the guy who was just rolling really hard to the basket every single time you
gave him the ball. And it's funny because I've sort of done like a
little bit of a I'm not going to say a total one eighty on Tress,
but I've shifted like ninety degrees or so because the way he ended last
season, it was overwhelmingly clear that like the Clippers needed something else in that
spot because they didn't trust you Watch enough to play on significant minutes, which
I think is a bigger story in and of itself. But if you're not
going to trust you Watch and you need somebody else to take those center minutes,
and obviously Trees was not the guy to you know, go up against
those big, burly dudes like you know, even Poban in the first round
and then obviously nicoleio Kitch in the second round of the playoffs when they lost.
But there's a certain level of energy that Mantrase brings, whether that's just
that he's you know, ramming his way to the hoop at every possible opportunity,
or just like the general vibe that he brings to the game. The
Clippers really miss that, just in terms of that effort level that you have
on a night's night basis that Mantrase brings. And I'm not sure how much
that will matter during the playoffs when like you you're naturally just like hyped up
to play every single night, But during the regular season you really miss it.
And you've seen it on the Lakers, where like they need that right
like they're going for this championship malaise and Mantras is like, nah, hell
though, Like I'm gonna play exactly this hard every single night no matter what.
So it's it's an interesting like dynamic of what he brings. Like I'm
not sure how much the Clippers miss it like going forward, but you kind
of notice it right now. The actual concern would be, at least when
you look at it on paper, is their defense being twenty second in points
alout possession? Which I never would have guessed this far into the year.
Is there can you identify like a root cause behind what's happening here for them?
So for me, the defense is weird. Those numbers are really really
weird. But when Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are on the court, they're
perfectly fine defense flute, and when Patrick Beverly joins them, they're excellent defensively.
So I happen to think it's a matter of them not having their best
players on the court as much. And you can say, like, oh,
well, that was the case last year too, right, Like PG
missed a bunch of time and Pat bab was in and out of the lineup,
but Paul and Kawhi pretty much always played together last year, so you
were really maximizing their defensive potential together. And then those bench lineups like you
can say whatever you want about like the Reggie Loew Williams, Montrase Harald things,
like they just brought so much energy that it kind of worked defensively at
least during the regular you know. And then this year there's a pretty strict
stagger of Kauai and pg's minutes, and so you're not getting the defensively suffocating
lineups that you were last year as often. And so I think, you
know, when you get down the stretch into games that really matter, they're
going to be playing together a lot more often. So the lineups that have
been good defensively are going to be together more, you know, on the
court more frequently, and you're not going to get these like Luke Kennard,
Lou Williams, Reggie Jackson lineups such a hemorrhage points that's often. So I
do believe that like Tylu tolerates more defensive slippage than Doc Rivers does, Like
I think we're seeing that in Philly where they're still prioritizing defensive lineups that don't
shoot threes. Even though Darryl Morgan is the general manager there Narret, so
there's definitely a difference in philosophy among these two guys. But the personnel is
so good for the Clippers and when they're together that has borne out that I'm
not as concerned as like any second in the league would suggest. Do you
get concerned at all by their crunch time performance in general? It's been Yeah,
such a small sample size, but they take so many threes during the
stretches there, and their offense has not been great, their defense has not
been great. Or is it just you just kind of write that off as
a bunch of noise because of again, if they've been in a bunch of
games that have leaked into those minutes. But it's just I think it's what
is it, nineteen games, but the minutes are clearly under sub one hundred
right now, right I think it's like even sub fifty. But the thing
with the crunch time is, I mean, I hate to say this,
but there's just like a there's like some bad karma hanging over the Clippers,
you know. And I don't want to be the person that brings narrative into
this, but sometimes I think it's relevant. You know, the Clippers had
a really bad go of it in crunch time in the playoffs last year,
and they famously blew a lot of leads and it wasn't pretty. And you
know, you've got from the eternal Luca don chitch clip that's going to be
played on his highlight reel for years and years to come, and and obviously
all of those blown lads to Denver. So to me, it's more of
a mental block than anything, because, yeah, their offense looks a little
bit different, Like I think they get a little stagnant, which tends to
happen during crunch time, especially when you have a guy like Kauai or even
Paul George again, who can get a shot anytime. It's kind of tempting
to just say, like, hey, do your thing, even though we
know we can run better offense. And my guess is that as the season
gets further along, they'll be more let's say creative in their crunch time offense
and actually try to run things instead of just you know, one screen.
Pg's got a good look at a three, let's shoot it. But I
also just think like there is something in their head, you know, like
This is a team that screwed up pretty badly last year and has a history
of some playoff you know, catastrophe. So what I think is they just
need like one or two games where they do really well and the crunch the
clutch and like sort of just get the monkey after their back. Like I
thought the Dallas game was really good yesterday because it wasn't technically crunch time for
the majority of it, because like Dallas only got to within four for like
forty seconds or so, but they actually ran like real offense, you know,
like PG had a big shot down the stretch, you know, the
three pointer that sort of put the game away. They were locked in defensively,
you know. I just think they need like a couple of those games
to just sort of right the ship and turn the direction, because I don't
think there's anything fundamentally different about the way they can play for the first forty
three minutes versus the way they played for the last five, because it's not
like they're in isolation heavy offense, you know, for the first forty three
minutes, Like it's you shouldn't be able to gear in on their guys,
like the way the defenses haven't able to. So I'm of the belief that
it's kind of just a fluke, but like, I'm not one hundred percent
certain that they can work their way out of it just because it's the Clippers,
you know, like there's there's something there. I guess there's also just
a temptation. I think every team has that temptation, and you normally see
it from teams that like aren't very good overall, like that's what they're virtu
But if you have a really good and they have two good stars that can
go one on one, and I think with Kawhi Leonard, you know,
since he's entered that superstar mold, that's sort of always been the temptation.
I mean, Toronto cleared it out for him a bunch during crunch time,
and so I guess that does add an element of predictability, but at the
same time as it is it the necessarily the wrong decision. I feel like
we anytime there's missed crunch time opportunities, there's always a harp like, well,
why wasn't there more ball movement or why did they settle for this shot
or hold the ball for so long or only put it in one guy's hands?
Yeah, and to me, the real problem with their crunch time is
their defense. They've been running the small lineup with Marcus Morris at the five
a lot during the end of games, and that has been just an absolute
tire fire on the defensive end, Like they can't rebound the ball to save
their lives. It really costs them against Brooklyn, you know, DeAndre Jordan
was just bullying them on the glass down the stretch. And I know that
that's a unit that Tyler likes a lot. He talks a lot about practicing
with that lineup and how they have to get good playing small, and it
was just bubbing him out at the beginning of the season that they couldn't go
to it because Marcus wasn't healthy. And you know, just based on Tyler's
history, it seems like if they can get a five out offensive lineup on
the court at the end of games, it's something he's going to want to
do. So that's where I would look for, like potential improvement is if
that lineup can start to hold its own defensively, because I have a hunch
it's going to get used pretty often. That seems like the and I have
this jot it down later, but it seems like that could become like maybe
they're insofar as they have want to go to crunch timeline up in the playoffs,
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an endorsement. Should Quiet Letter be getting more MVP love or just I mean,
like you just look at his numbers and they're I know this season is
weird, but they're just they're absolutely absurved. Fifty six percent on two's that's
the second highest mark of his career. Is hitting thirty ninety percent is three
is also the second mark of his career twenty six and five basically, and
he can still I mean, it's Leonard. You can just clamp down defensively
whenever he wants. Should he be, I think it's it was at least
until Joel Andby's injury. If Eli lebron Yokich in bed conversation where I leaned
that, I thought it was more going to be in bid Yokich, but
he should be in like that Jannie here at least where it's like, hey,
these guys can still wedge their way into this. So at the thought
of the start of the season, at the start of the season, I
thought that Kauai should be in the MVP conversation a little bit more, and
I would stay up until like the last two weeks or so. I was
on that you know, wavelength. But you know, there's got to be
like some measure of team success here. And as the Clippers sort of falter
a little bit. I think Kawhi gets some of the blame for that.
I actually think that Janice has sort of surpassed him on the MVP conversation,
which I mean, Janie is never going to win because they're not going to
give him three in a row without winning a title. Let's just be real,
regardless of how good of a season he's having. But yeah, I
mean Kawhi Leonard, like, individually, these stats are just bonkers, right
like you you ran them down offensively, I feel like he just gets more
and more gifted the longer he stays with the Clippers. Like, his playmaking
is just off the charts impressive right now, The types of reeds he's able
to make in the half court offense or just like I didn't know that he
had that in his bag before he got to Los Angeles. And it's really
important to how the Clippers even function because they don't have a traditional point guard,
right Like, they put the ball in Kawai's hands or Paul's hands and
make them go to work, and it's able to be a really, really
effective offense because of the type of vision that Kawai has in the half court.
So yeah, I mean, he's just he's been outstanding on that end
of the floor. I do think that defensively, you know, he he
doesn't turn on that like Kawhi Leonard Defensive Player of the Year gear very often
anymore. You saw it. Actually, I'm gonna bring up the Styles game
again that you watched there all minutes up. But he was excellent, really,
just truly excellent down the stretch of that game yesterday, during the entire
second half, Like that was legitimately the best defense I've ever seen Kawai play
in the Clippers uniform. So watch. Yeah, the only reason I would
say that maybe he doesn't belong in that conversation to the same extent as like
you know, jannat leron and those other second tier candidates is just because I
don't think that he's been fully engaged on that end of the floor. And
you know, it's it's hard to like say, oh, well, Kawhai
is an excellent defensive player, but the Clippers are twenty second on defense,
right, Like, I know, I give a lot of caveats for that,
but at a certain point he has to take some responsibility for that,
and if the Clippers are going to stay in like that fourth range in the
West, then it's hard for me to push him ahead of those other guys
that you mentioned. Do you know why it seems that Paul George is so
high variants? Is it? Does it have anything to do with him coming
back from the right foot injury he had? He just right now he feels
like the most likely player in the NBA to go eight of eleven from three
but then one of eight the next night, or vice versa. It's interesting.
I hadn't really noticed that until you brought it up. And you're absolutely
right that he's been super hit or miss since that, and maybe that's it,
right, Like he had a foot injury, swollen toe, I want
to say it in a diema, and I have to imagine that that's super
painful when you're wearing basketball shoes and it's probably got to affect your footwork when
you're, you know, going up for jumpshots. The thing with PG,
though, is like he's always gonna be guarded out there, right, even
if he goes one for eight or whatever. So the spacing is obviously very
important to me. I thought, kat, I just keep doing this,
It's it's really important. When he just stops forcing it, and like tries
to get to the hoop. I know he's made a big fuss recently about
how he doesn't get foul calls like other superstars do. It's been like a
throughout my career, I've never been a guy to get into the foul game.
And I don't know if that's true or not, but definitely this year
he hasn't really been getting to the foul line. But I think it's so
important when he actually just tries to get into the paint and you know,
even generate some of those like Kobe assists, where like enough guys collapse on
him that like Zoo can get an offensive rebound or somebody else can clear up
the miss, which again he did yesterday against the Evers. But I'm so
sorry. I necessarily like it given myself new sources of material, but I
don't I don't know if that's like something we can count on going for that.
PGS just gonna be like inconsistent he was. He was so hot to
start the season, like just unbelievably good shooting numbers from Paul George, Like
his true shooting percentage was just off the charts. So it's totally understandable to
expect like some aggression from that. But I would hope that, like as
he gets more and more moved from that injury absence, that his consistency starts
to come up again, because like I mean, eight of eleven, like
we're not going to expect that very often, but he should be making like,
you know, four or threes. It came like, I don't know
why these singular performances keep happening. What have you and you kind of talked
about this already? What have you thought of Serge Ibaka's fit so far?
And again the spread element is there? Is there anything that you view as
does he bring anything else to you? Because in Toronto always kind of felt
like if he wasn't getting his like twelve or something shots a game, I
wasn't sure much he was going to impact. Do you think there's like an
element that they're lacking now because of him? Would you view them as a
decided upgrade for this roster relative to how they played last season? I think
Surge is definitely better than Mantras for what the Clippers are trying to do because
they don't have to put the ball in his hands as much as Mantras had
it, and that benefits like the rest of the guys they have on the
roster, and it also provides them extra level of room protection because their power
forwards are not really you know, going to help in that respect at all,
Like Marcus Morris is not a last line of defense kind of guy.
Nicholas with hum is absolutely not that kind of gry. So you need to
have that from your center position, and it you know, in that respect,
Surge definitely more than what Trees was giving for the Clippers. I also
think it's quite helpful that he can couire friends because there was, you know,
some some tension in the Clipper locker room last year, was there,
and you know, some of it can be traced back to a guy who
was now on the Lakers. But Surge and Chawir buddies from Toronto, and
there is definitely more of a feeling of like good vibes from the Clippers this
year, even when they lose. So I don't think you can understate that,
like it's it's got to help when you're going through this season where you
literally can't do anything but play basketball and hanging with your family, that like
the guys who're playing basketball with are actually good dudes. And you enjoy being
around them, right, So I'm glad that they have that element. But
I also think that surge his I think I mentioned this earlier, like it's
kind of comical how bad is touch around the basket is at this point,
Like I don't know when when it went away, Like I gotta be honest,
I pay less attention to him when he was an Eastern Conference than when
he was in the West. So it's been like since twenty sixteen when I
was watching him on the rug and I thought he was like a really good
finisher, and that is not really the case anymore, which is why I
think the Clippers space him as often as possible. There is like there's like
a little bit of ego involved with Abaca, you know, like you mentioned
if he's not getting his twelve shots, Like twelve shots is all shots,
and there is an argument to be made that he does not deserve that many
shots on an offense that also has all of these other weapons that we've talked
about. But the Clippers make it a point to run like the first play
of the game for him, at the beginning of the game and at the
start of the third quarter, and he's starting the game instead of a beats
the Zoo batch, which again I've mentioned that I think that's a mistake,
but he's still doing it, and I don't think he's the same like switchable
defender that we might have thought Surge was earlier in his career, Like you
put him on an island with the guard. I think he's getting blown by
these days, whereas Zoo has sort of shown more of an ability to be
effective in those situations. So there's like very specific things that evoke it as
well. Right, he's going to give you those jumpers. He is like
a pretty decent passer out of the short role of these days, like that's
a very helpful action for the Clippers to run. And again like good rim
protector. But he kind of gets when he gets outside of himself, like
when he decides like I'm going to post up on this possession. Its just
it's bad and there's not really anything you could do about it. So I
don't think it's an accident that, like he hasn't been closing that many games.
Tyler goes with Zoobatch a lot, and he goes with Marcus Morris at
the five a lot, and you know he often says postgame, like,
oh, you know, they're only four minutes left, and I didn't think
it was fair to surge, like get him back up when he's been cold
for the whole fourth quarter. And it's like, well, that's a very
convenient excuse. You could just say I think the other guys are better at
this point in the game, which is what I think is happening every No
matter how many times I watch Zubos, I'm always caught off guard by his
footspeed, Like he just doesn't look like he has that type of juice in
his feet. And the question actually have for you is do you view him
as like the clippers third most important player at this point or if it's not
him, who do you look at it as. So I've been on the
bandwagon that Patrick Beverley is the Clippers third most important player pretty much since the
start of the twenty nineteen twenty season. I think it's harder and harder to
say that Zoo is not their third best player honestly, because he's just damn
good at protecting the rim. He rolls so hard, he sets such good
screens, like just bone crushing screens. It's just a lost start in the
NBA honestly, and I love the way zoo Watch plays, but I do
think that the Clippers can sort of manage without him, not for extended stretches,
but like you can put a back in the game and still get your
room protection, and you can play like Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris the five
and still gets him spacing, And there are ways to kind of fill in
for zoo Watch when he's unavailable, which, let's be clear, never happens
because he has never missed a game due to injury as a Clipper, which
you think about all of the injuries that the Clippers have gone through over the
last two years. He's the one constant, Like I think in his entire
Clipper tenure. He might have like sat out one game against the Warriors in
the playoffs just because he couldn't hang with him, but like that's it.
You know, He's always always available. Which brings us to Patrick Beverley,
who's kind of the opposite side of the coin where the Clippers don't have anybody
to replicate Patrick Beverley, right, like he is their only good defender at
the point of attack. I think he's a little bit better now on guys
who are slightly bigger, you know, maybe off ball, but he's still
the best guy you have on point guards and that's an important trait to have.
In the Western Conference. Let's be cure, there's a lot of a
lot of really dynamic league guards that the Clippers could come up against in the
playoffs. I mean, I think you saw it, like really just displayed
for everyone to see in the playoffs against Dallas when Patrick Peverley missed the final
five games that series and Luca don Chich and Trey Burke was even just lighting
up the Clippers because they had no resistance at the point guard position. And
you know, we talked about how like the Clippers don't really have a playmaker
at that spot, and Patrick Beverley is basically like a three and D wing
who happens to be in a point guard sized body, but at least like
he can bring the valluve against pressure, at least he makes attempts to drive
to the basket like off of clothes outs and can ping the ball around a
little bit on an offense. There's just I don't know that you can really
trust Reggie Jackson to play that role in the playoffs because he's just a turn
style defensively and we've seen that over and over again, even if he is
the one guy on the Clippers who brings like a modicum of pace, you
know, in terms of bringing the ball up the court. I don't think
you can trust Lou Williams from works stend minutes in the playoffs because we have
what like a decade's worth of evidence on your back against that, and he
would struggle to do it accurately. But yes, I mean I do think
like Lou Williams was a little bit it was actually better than people realize in
the playoffs las year, But like who cares when you're losing in the second
round after being up through one and then you know, they brought in Luke
Kennard who they thought was going to be that guy as a playmaker, and
he's not even in the rotation at this point. You know, he's only
available when somebody else is you know, ruled out for injurie like he has
been recently. But Patrick Barley, like he's he's the guy. He's the
one point guard you can count on. And that's why I think he's the
third most important, just because like he leaves a gaping hole on the raster
when he's not there. But I think we're coming to the point where,
like zoo Watch is the third best. And I know that, like Clippers
fans are trying to work out all these trades to get guys to come to
LA. The only way I need these trades work is if you're willing to
move, you watch it. I don't think the Clippers should do that.
Yeah, the salaries of some of the players that the Clippers seem to be
interested in is just like, okay, it's not even just subots. It's
like, are you trading Beverly or Marcus Moore. It's like, if you're
not matching Kyle Lowry salary, you're not even Ricky Rubio I saw. I
think that was from Sports Illustrated. And so do you not I'm jumping around
here for time purposes. So do you not ascribe to what feels like the
prevailing sentiment that they do need another point guard or is it more about,
as you mentioned with Jackson, you on someone who can maybe bring some pace
without being an absolute sieve on the defensive end, or do you think that
they actually need something other than than a point guard leading into not even necessarily
the trade deadline. But if you have any targets that spring to mind,
but just at large, something that could come back to bite them during the
playoffs, yeah, I don't. I don't think they really need the operates
on the offensive end. I don't watch their crunch time offense and think like,
oh, we need another or lead guard to help them sort out,
you know, this stagnation. I don't think that's the case. So to
me, it's not really like, oh, a point guard just fixed all
of the eels of the Clippers save. I just don't see it that way.
I am coming to the point where I'm not sure if Patrick Beverley is
going to be available on the court as long as you need him in the
playoffs, because you know, he missed a lot of games last season.
He missed five games in the playoffs, and he was a shell of himself
in that Denver series. So I'm kind of, you know, reaching like
a maybe a George Hill type situation where you know, you just need a
guy who's going to be there right. And I know he's a little bit
older, he's a little bit Greeky, but so is Pat I really and
you know, George at least didn't missing the playoff games last season. He
kind of fits that defensive ethos that you're looking for and that he can switch,
you know, with that five man lineup that the Clippers like to close
with. He's a good three point shooter, you know, he kind of
just fills in what you're looking for with pat with more reliability. Right,
But I don't I don't look at the trade landscape and see a guy where
he's going to crack the top eight of the Clippers rotation and can be had
for the limited assets the Clippers are willing to part with. Right, So
that's sort of where I like, I don't think they need a playmaker,
Like, I just don't think that's what it is. But I am concerned
about Patrick Beverley being ready to go, which is why I think they should
make meaningful you know, like employs to Oklahoma City. They're like, Hey,
I know we've given you everything we already have, but like we need
this guy. Look, you might you've shorted enough. If you're Oklahoma City,
you've shorted enough of the Clippers huge, and you might as well just
keep shorting it so if you can get you know, I mean, they
do have those Detroit seconds too, which have to be semi attractive. It's
true. I was really excited when the original asking price on PJ. Tucker
was three seconds, and I was like, oh, well the Clippers have
like Detroit seconds, Like those are good seconds. But then apparently that has
since been upgraded to a first round pick because the market is, oh,
it's been upgraded. I did not see that. Yeah, I thought they'd
be lucky to get multiple seconds for him at this point, given the way
he's played and that he's just not with the team. Just god athulize and
he Yeah, something tells me this might be a James Hard situation where he
plays a little bit better on a team that matters. But yeah, the
two names I came up with, and now please brace yourself because they're clearly
doorbusters, and I talk to myself. Out of the first one, Delan
right, I thought could be helpful as some defensive optionality and then he could
put some pressure on the rim. But I don't think he cracks here unless
he's shooting threes like he was for part of the season in Detroit off the
catch, but then he gets injured. And also the money is just he
makes nine million, which isn't a lot. But then it's like, are
you giving up Lou Williams in a trade for de Lawn right? And I
don't. I think Lou Williams would be more valuable in the playoffs because from
scratch scoring is more valuable. So I've settled on Sterling Brown. I thought
maybe if you brought it, I was saying that if they don't think Beverly,
I wasn't even talking about his injury. I thought process was they don't
think he's the guy to go up against some of these like guards. Sterling
Brown is more than capable of doing that, and he comes with the added
benefit of no, you don't want to put the ball in his hands,
even though Houston has because I mean it's freaking Houston right now. Yeah,
but he's really like he's hitting his threes and to get that defensive mind that,
I don't know what it would take. But the Rockets signed him for
nothing. He's not they don't have his bird, right, So if you
can turn that player that you got essentially for free into a second round pick,
I would think that'd be valuable. And it works, you know,
if you can trade FIANDU just to the to the Rockets, like that's how
you and I think he Brown's making a minimum anyways, don't even need technically
send anyone out. But for the Clippers, their hardcap situation is I guess
dire would be the words. It's a dire, Yes, that is correct.
That's an interesting one, Sterling Brown. I'm gonna I'm gonnait Dlan right
first, because I actually Rember about a little bit over the offseason, like
a sort of sign and trade with Mantras. I just really like his size
at that position, you know, in terms of being again a guy who
can switch on to wings and you're not worried about it. And at that
point, like he wasn't getting any run for Dallas, so it's like,
why not, you know, give him an opportunity to play a little bit
more. I just don't know if he has like the creative juice you know
that the Clippers are looking for to where he's like an upgrade over what they
have at that position. But Stirling Brown is really interesting because if there is
a you know, a defect and the Clipper's roster, I happen to think
it's like like athleticism. And that's a weird thing to say, because like
they have a lot of good athletes, but they don't have anybody with like
who sort of like jumps out at the gym, you know, and like
if they had somebody who was a little bit like bouncy, a little bit
s freer who And that's that's Sterling Brown. That's like a really interesting fit.
That's that's so interesting. I'm just like a little lost in my thoughts
here because I really like that idea. I was trolling because I wrote about
it and people wanted to know why I was wasting space on Sterling Brown,
and I was like, who else do you want the Clippers to trick me
for it? I'm really a dan. That's that's kind of interesting because he
again, I'm not gonna like go too much of what he was doing in
Houston because it's hard to take away too much from what's happening with the Rockets
right now. But he was in a strong defensive ecosystem in Milwaukee oups.
He was not getting a lot of time there, so I'm not sure if
we can take away too much from that. But yeah, the mover was
definitely keeping Pat conn attention, but not Silling Brick. That's like the archetype
you know of the player I think the Clipper should be looking for is just
sort of like a young flyer of a guy. I noticed today that the
Wizards were making some of their young guys available, like Troy Brown or Issac
Bonga, who I think make a lot of sense on the Clippers. Just
again, more wing defenders who have some bounce right, and I think it's
like sort of the archetype you're looking for. But yeah, that's interesting.
I would not have laughed at you when I read that. I appreciate that
Eesa Bonga would be interesting and another former Laker to add into the rodation.
I'm also just laughing because I remember seeing the report that the Wizards were showcasing
Troy Brown Junior, and I was like, so they've showcased him by playing
him a total of thirty nine minutes over the Peace Games. Last thing on
the Clippers for most of the Lakers is do you see, like, is
anyone's mint Like? What do you see a playoff rotation looking like for this
team at full strength? You've seen anyone losing minutes? Is does Luke Kennard
have any wiggle room to work his way back into those plans? I also
have like fear eyes, like if you can get the Knicks involved, Like
maybe is there a way to work out a Luke Canard deal, because then
base your compensation doesn't matter if you can send another player into someone's cap space.
But then it's like, well, if you're giving up Luke Knard and
another player, like who are you trying to get back? And that's scenario.
And so I'm just curious as to looking at how the Clippers have played
now, is there anyone whose role you would see demonstratively changing once they reach
the postseason. It's interesting. I think Terrence Man's minutes might lower a little
bit just because he is a little less consistent, you know, than you
might want in a playoff rotation. I think Tyler's gonna want guys who you
know exactly what to expect out of them on a game in a game up
basis, and Terrence provides that spark, that energy right Like you mentioned,
he's the only guy other than Zubach who actually gets a decent number of shots
at the rim. It's good cutter, you know, but he's not going
to be guarded from the three point line. You know that he gets a
little jump beyond defense. Is not quite as solid as you'd want him to
be, and I almost wonder if they'd be better off just like giving that
at eight and a half man minutes to Luke Kenard because he can provide some
playmaking, give you know, the other guys a little bit of rest on
the offensive end, and then he's, you know, despite like what his
theoretically a down season for him with the Clippers, he's a knock down joe
to really forty plus percent from three point range, So that that might be
it, Like you're going to have your top eight of the starters, plus
Morris, Zoobach and Lou off the bench, and then I think that eight
and a half will just be like a split between Luke and Reggie, depending
on what the situation calls for. Is there anything I did not blow through
with the Clippers that you think needs to be discussed about them? No?
I mean, I think if we've gotten to the Sterling Brown trade package,
then we've hit just about everything, which would mean onto the Lakers, and
the obvious point here is Anthony Davis, who's going to be out at least
another three plus weeks. I think that report said so on a scale of
not at all to oh shit, how concerned should the Lakers be about this?
Right? Cash slash Achilles tendonosis that he's stealing. Well, I think
we're like firmly on a nine out of the ocean ten because the fact that
you know there was a non Laker report, right, I think it was
Chris Haynes who said that he's gonna be out even longer than what the Lakers
originally said. You never want that to happen, even though I know that
the Lakers have more leaks than on their teams around the league, just because
people are more interested in what's going on here. I mean, like,
this is not a team that's going to win a playoffs I'm gonna I'm gonna
step that back for a second. This is not a team that's going to
win two playoffs series without Anthony Davis, right, Like, it's it's not
going to happen. There are too many good teams in the Western Conference.
We've seen them just get there, like the knocked off the floor with Utah
and Phoenix, and I mean, I feel like a lot of other teams
have plowing them out with Anthony Davis sib. But it's been bad. It's
been really bad. And he was like the switchbuster, Like he was the
just that piece that you put into the playoff series and like all of a
sudden, the other team has no answers for you. You know, during
last year's postseason, I think there was a reasonable argument that he was batter
than Lebron James up until the finals. You know, it's certainly more important
to the Lakers up until the finals, when Lebron just had this you know
performance that was like, hey, I'm not going to give up my Finals
MVP, Like it's not happening. Yeah, I am very concerned because,
like I can't help but think about the Kevin Durant situation right where like it
was a calf injury and then he comes back to play and what twelve minutes
later he's torn as achilles and nobody wants that, right, Like you've just
given a five year contract Anthony Davis. He said part of the reason was
because he was scared about his injury history and lo and behold here it is.
I mean I don't think that you can beet like at a point where
you're sacrificing this season because you have a thirty six year old Lebron James who's
didn't come to Los Angeles to sacrifice seasons. He already sacrificed one. So
it's it's just really tricky because I don't think the Lakers are in a position
where they can afford to set him out, but that might be the healthiest
option for him going forward, and it's it's hard to reconcile both of those
competing aims, and it's it just sucks, It really sucks. Yeah,
I get skiveed whenever I just hear the word Achilles. That is my that
is my official take. Like I know we had the whole like, oh
my god, Kevin Durant looks so great now, Like can you imagine like
a guy coming back from an Achilles and looking this good? And then like,
I mean, what was the last time Kevin Durant played? Deal with
hamstring stuff? Now? And also Anthony Davis is coming off the shortest off
season in sports history too. It's it's really scary and it's just a bomber
because you the title words. I think it's really wide open this year and
you're just taking one team out of the picture. If Anthony Davis is on
a eelbow and kind of sticking with him. Was it? Did you look
at his shot problem where you would all concerned or at least on my level,
befuddled, Like I know he was Kevin Durant in the bubble for mid
range. Yeah, but he wasn't really getting the rim as much this year.
And it wasn't because he was taking more threes. Like Frank Vogel ass,
he was actually taking fewer of his shots from three point range? And
so is that mid rangel? Was that the byproduct of him trying to diversify's
offense? Was it? I was he fatigued out of shape? Was he
that injured before he was actually injured? I just it was it's been such
a start drop off when you look at the rim to just the number of
shots he was taking from mid range. So I will say that I'm a
little bum that he's not taking more threes, just because you know, he's
been given the green light, and I think that would do wonders for the
Lakers offense if Anthony Davis was a credible three point shooter, you know,
not just in percentage, but also in volume. So yeah, that is
a little bump, that's a bomber that he's not taking more threes. But
as far as the mid range, like Anthony Davis, it's funny because he's
only had one like deep playoff run, but he sort of came into this
season with a thing like, oh, I get it now, Like I
know what I have to do in the playoffs, so I'm just gonna chill
for most of the regular season and like I'm gonna give it a good effort
on defense because I know that's what the team means. But on offense,
like I don't want to bang around against big guys, Like I don't want
to play center. I don't want to get in the post. I don't
want to like, you know, bruise up against these bigger guys, Like
I'm just gonna hang out in mid range. You know, it takes some
takes, some jumpers and have a good time with it. And that's sort
of how I saw the Anthony Davis regular season going. Like I don't think
it's anything to be worried about. It's just it's a lot of effort to
play the way he did during the playoffs, right, And it's a lot
of effort to play the way Anthony Davis does when he's full involved. So
if he wants to just save it all for the defensive end and then just
like be like a you know, a mid range assassin who's not really making
a shot sun Office, so be it. I do think his importance of
the defense has been underscored since he's out. And I know they've been missing
Bassol for a little bit and they were missing Shrewder at one point, but
the on off numbers with him are all have always been weird. And I
say always, this is only a second season in LA, they have always
been weird. I agree, and it's I mean, if you look at
the lineups he uplifts like to defensive mediocrity, you understand why. And they're
nineteenth and defense since he's left, and I think so that's at least underscored
his value. And also they can't I won't say they can't, but like
Frank Vogel refuses to play Mantras Harrold as much without him, and so it's
part of his values rooted there, because like, doesn't it sort of feel
like, now you know, you mentioned how you sort of did a one
eighty on Trez last year, doesn't it sort of feel like he's doesn't fit
well with the Lakers anymore? Either you know, I was totally on that
train of what his tries doing on this team for I would say, the
first thirty six games of the season, and then they came back from the
break and against Indiana, he's the reason they win that game in the fourth
quarter, that Lebron James Mantras Harold high pick and roll and Harold just you
know, unguardable rolling to the basket or even like leave Lebron to cover Harold
right Like, it's it's really hard to depend that play. And then against
the Warriors last night, just again, the Warriors are like like an excuse
for a good NBA team at this point at all the the spectacle in State,
but like the Lakers went twenty seven out of twenty seven at the room
last night, Like Mantres was dunking everything in sight he got like he James
wisn't picked up a tech like trying to guard him. I mean, it's
he has been so important just to bring like an extra level of force for
the Lakers. And you think about what the Lakers' identity was last year,
right like they were a big, like strong team that was just going to
punk you you know, like just be like bigger, faster, stronger than
you. And yeah, maybe Tries isn't bigger, but he's definitely faster and
stronger, and he kind of resembles that Dwight Howard bullyball identity, even though
he's like six inches shorter than Dwight was. So I actually am starting to
see the fit with Tries, and it took some time because you know,
they were playing him as the defensive five, even in those Anthony Davis line
ups at the started in season, and that makes no sense. Like,
let's be clear, I get that you use the regular season to experiment,
Frank that was stupid. That was just a bad idea. And now they're,
you know, using they're leveraging his speed a little bit more, right,
They're bringing him up to the level of the screen and like making him
rotate a little bit more instead of just hanging back in the drop because Tris
can't do that. Like, let's all right, I like a lot of
things Tres does. That's not one of his friends. So you're starting to
see him optimize a little bit more. Like I know you mentioned the like
Tres's minutes have gone down then without Anthony Davis. I think that's peaked back
up after the All Star break. Now that you know, Vobo and the
coaching staff have had some time to figure out how to use tries in these
situations, you know, And I really do believe, Like I know,
it's only two games. I'm like, again, I made some cracks.
Buckle and State in Indiana is like a fine team. They're they're okay,
you know, They're not like a great team. So I shouldn't be putting
too much stock into what Tres did in like two games after the All Star
break. But I have a lot of faith in what Volbo and the coaching
staff can do with the benefit of time, and I think there has been
some sort of corner that they've turned and how to maximize trees, especially in
these non Anthony Davis, non Marcus Fall situations. Maybe I'm just scarred from
the end of his season with the clip. It's quite possible. It's really
it left a really bad impression, like a really bad impression. And someone
who watches these two teams a lot, like I spent like thirty games trying
to get over it with restless, and well, I would be curious.
I guess I would have to see it work in the postseason against like certain
matchups, whereas you mentioned, just sort of no one on the Warriors is
like playing treads really off the floor in the front court and even with the
pacers, like that's not I mean, it's a bonus is really good,
but you can go to s a bonus or turner at the five, and
that's not like super mismatchy. So if this, I guess, if this
stands, I would have to rethink some some tread stuff. Let's be clear.
I'm not saying that it's going to hang in the playoffs quite yet,
and I was pretty clear about that from the moment they signed him. But
the regular season matters, like it you have to build habits and they have
to like get a good record, I think, because like they're going to
be fans in the playoffs, and like you don't want to just be traveling
the Utah all the time, Like there's altitude problems there too. So I
think that there's like a ten fifteen minute role for him in the playoffs.
I do believe that's going to exist, and like those minutes matter, Like
you know, all of the non Labron minutes have just been a disaster for
the Lakers. Like the entire season. So I'm not saying quite yet that
he's postseason ready, but I'm much closer to that than I was. You
know, like a couple of years ago. Where do you you Lebron sort
of in the MVP race if you were to build your own quick ladder,
and do you think that? I think obviously Joel Embi's absence is going to
help anyone who's in the MVP race at this point. But does AD's absence
actually make his case stronger? Well, it didn't help when they lost the
first four games, thought and multily that. But you know, Lebron's got
the narrative. Like I know, I brought this up with the Clippers earlier.
It's it's in Lebron's favor. You know, he did not win MVP
last year when I thought he should have. You know, get at me,
all of you Jana's people, with his statistical profile and whatever like.
It was built up against playing the Knicks and the Hornets every single game.
But that is a level that is spicy. So yeah, I think Lebron
was denied a right ful MVP last year, and I do think that he
is aware of what that would mean for his place in history. Right,
Like, if you get to number five in terms of individual MVPs, now
you're on a level with Michael and like Bill Russell, it's very goodlimited company.
And let's be clear, like that matters to him. I don't know
if you're watching the Lakers Warriors game last night, but here's two rebounds shy
of a triple double and the fourth quarter, writer's about eight minutes left.
Blakers are just obliterating the Warriors. There's no reason for Lebron to be on
the court anymore. Steve Kerr calls time out and you're thinking, Okay,
well Lebron's gonna sit right because this is a natural stopping No, he comes
back in, gets his second rebound. Okay, he gets a second rebound,
deliberately fouls on the ensuing plate like the cheapest day value you've ever seen,
so he can get out. And you look at the bench and like
after he gets the rebound, both Lionel Hollins and Jason Kuld have tapped Frank
like, yo, now we can get him out. He cares. That's
when he says he doesn't care. You can't believe him. He's in the
numbers matter to him. Okay, he wants this fifth MVP and they have
a an acceptable schedule for the next couple of weeks. So I think if
Lebron can go on, you know, a run while Joel is out and
they can get back to like a two seed in the West, you know,
which is no small feet because Meanings is just playing wonderfully. I think
it's there for the taking. You know, I thought Embiid had sort of
gotten head and shoulders above anybody. But if I record wise, they can
be better than the Sixers. Like, I don't think Joel's case is stronger
than his. And that's not because I don't think that he's had a better
season, because let's face it, I do think he has, but then
the storyline matters, and coming off the season that he just did being thirty
six years old, like I know, that's not a criteria, Like it's
not the best thirty six year old season. It's the best player in the
league. But there's just a lot working for him. You know, all
of these factors sort of meshed together for Lebron, like, you know,
being able to carry the team after the shortest off season without Anthony Davis,
you know, in the tougher Western Conference. I think it's all going to
add up if he goes on a nice stretch over the next two weeks.
Yeah, I think the ambid injury ends up being big for him because at
some point I think it's important to look at the quality of minutes. But
when when the quality of minutes is so high across the board lebron As I
think tenth in total minutes playing in the season right now, and so you
don't even need the lean on the And I think a lot of people,
not you, but a lot of people are like, you know, he's
thirty six, and it's like, well, you can't really factor that in,
like that's not part of but it's he doesn't he does what doesn't need
I think you do well, you do, but well, actually I would
argue you don't, like doesn't have enough of a case where you I mean,
you laid it out for me where it's like he's coming off the short
the short offseason. He's carrying the Lakers without Anthony Davis. There's a chance
they finished what second, third, first in the Western I mean, if
they finish top two in the West under all those circumstances, you can say,
well, look at Lebron doing this at age thirty six, But like,
is it nicolea Yokichs fault that Lebron is ten years older than him or
whatever it is. You're right, you don't need the age, but I
think it helps. Oh, I think it it helps. I just don't
think it should, is my point. Yeah, I just I find myself
just well, it's buy it every time I think about it, which is
why I can't help but bring it up. Yes, I mean, I'm
I'm just i'mfounded by watching Lebron. Now. I mean, can you think,
like, I don't like five six years ago, could you imagine a
world in which Lebron takes step back three pointers and you don't think it's a
terrible shot, Like, oh, that's where we're at right now. And
it's funny because when he got to the Lakers, I had to sort of,
you know, wrap my head around the fact, like, yeah,
you know, the Lakers got Lebron James, but this is going to be
a more limited version of Lebron, Like, right, he's not going to
be the guy who was before. And it's no, like that's not the
case. He's just he's just a cyborg and this is what he does and
has been doing for so many years. It's it's astounding. I won't even
read quick pay attention to anyone just saying like this is the year he drops
off, like he's earned premo benefit of the doubt Lebron. Lebron will exit
his prime when Lebron wants to exit his prime. That's that's what I've decided.
What have you thought about the this has been It feels like it's been
a bizarrely controversial topic among Lakers fans. What have you made of the Mark
Desol experience so far? So I'm glad you wrap this up because I have
a lot of strong Marcosol feelings. They as strong as your Yanna's attended Coupo
winning MVP last year feelings. You know you would be the judge of that.
Dan, I thought when the Lakers signed Mark that they were aware of
how he played in the bubble. You know, with Toronto it was it's
not great, let's be clear, and we're sort of hoping that he would
return to how he had played for the majority of the regular season with the
Raptors because the Bubble was sort of an anomaloust experience, right, Like I
think they applied that same logic to Treads when they signed him. And I
think the logic of signing Mark makes a lot of sense because Javail and Dwight
were not playing down the stretch in the postseason. They weren't even starting games
in the postseason, let's be clear, Like they were increasingly not a part
of the rotation. So they were trying to find a center who could hang
in those situations. And once you lost White, you needed a guy who
could go up against Joel, who could go up against Nicole Yokich. And
I think Gasol has acquitted himself fairly well in those situations. Now, if
you want him to like bel and like blocking shots at the rim, like,
then why did you sign Marcusol? Like It's just like they're, you
know, looking for someone who appears to be more like Javail and Dwight,
and he s he's not that guy. He like a lot of the SF
he does is very nuanced, and the defensive rating when he's on the court
is really good. And I think we saw during you know, stretches of
the season, when you put him out on the perimeter and let him orchestrate
the offense from the top of the key, like he's really good at finding
cutters and making the motion work, and for whatever reason, the Lakers didn't
do a lot of at the start of the season. They were still playing
Anthony Davis out on the perimeter and like putting Gasol on the dunker spot,
and it's like Cassol doesn't dunk like for him or whatever, exactly right.
So it's kind of the trust situation where I think he was just being misutilized
at the start of the season and at the time. And then of course
there's the fact that he say what you will about Javail and Dwight Howard,
like they are confident in their offense. They are very confident in their offense.
I don't know if you've read like Zach loose ten things this week,
but like the White Howard dribbling adventures, and to Vail McGee's like some of
the shots that he takes in Cleveland, like those guys will let it fly.
Mark is not that guy. Mark is a lot more demure in the
half court offensive setting. Right, he gets an open three, he still
thinks about the next pass, and it's just an adjustment for him to play
the way the Lakers want him to where they just want him to be a
little bit more free, you know, a little bit less, a little
bit more decisive, a little less let's do everything for the team. And
I thought he was getting closer to that point before, you know, he
had to take this health and safety absence. So, yes, the Lakers'
offense looks very different without that vertical spacing, and I would argue that is
just complicated by the fact that they're actual you know, three point spacing has
just been shitty for the last few weeks, so that makes Mark look even
worse because you know, the way the Lakers compensated for their bad shooting last
year was because they had the vertical spacing and they had neither of a little
while there. So it was just like a confluence of factors that made the
Lakers look really bad. And they're looking for skatebook and it's like, oh,
well, let's put it on Marcasol And I don't think that's fair.
I think he's done exactly what the Lakers asked of him. I think he
was getting even better before he had to set out. And the fact that
they think they needed another center to augment this rotation, like is stupid if
Damien Jones can play meaningful minutes for you on a ten day, Like,
why are we wasting real resources to acquire a center? Thank you? I
don't understand. I don't understand the discourse. It doesn't make any sense to
me. Like, if you want to convert Damien Jones to the rest of
the season contract, by all means, do that, Like I think he
fills Quinn Cook's roster spot just as well as Quinn Cook did. Like that's
great, but no, do not put like actual assets into acquiring a center.
That is a bad idea. And I don't think that if they got
a center off the buyout market that he would even play minutes for them in
the postseason, whereas Mark realistically could. So just let him, you know,
grow with a team. If we're going to give everybody else time to
get better, gotta give the same way way to Marcusol. Yeah, and
then the only reasonable way you should give up I mean, first all the
Lakers don't really have it. But the only way you should actually give anything
up for a big as if you actually think that Anthony Davis for some reason
isn't going to be in the playoffs or something. Ready for that, and
even then it's just iffy because Anthony Davis is still gonna be on your team
for the next half decade and it feels like they have other needs. Do
you have time for a couple more questions? Trilet you go. This is
and you kind of touched upon this with the gasol stuff. The Lakers' offense.
You know, last year, everyone you know got themselves all worked or
a lot of people got themselves worked up about well, the offense is bad
without Lebron. The half court offense is mediocre in general. It falls off
a cliff when he's not on the floor, and it's the same story this
year. There are things that I think you can bank on, like KCP
is going to start shooting better from three again. I would assume Wesley Matthews
won't shoot sub thirty percent like he has been basically for most of the year.
But is it something to actually be concerned about when I think part of
the thought process was and well I clearly missed with the gasol stuff. I
thought maybe he was going to play a bigger part in those no Lebron minutes
and he really just hasn't. But the part of the reason I know he
wasn't available for a good amount of time, but Dennis Shrewder was supposed to
like help with that. And the Lakers' offense is still when you look at
the numbers, it's still sub average when he's on the floor without Lebron.
Is that something that they actually should be concerned about, or is this again
a repeat of last year where it's, well, they're just gonna get into
the postseason and it's nothing's gonna matter. They're gonna shoot a million percent from
three for some reason, and Lebron's gonna play forty plus minutes a game when
he didn't even have to last year because that's how good they were. And
so I'm just curious just to where you land on that. So, assuming
Anthony Davis is healthy and you know, at like ninety percent of the level
that he was last postseason, which I realized is a strong assumption because he
was damn good last year, then I don't think there's any reason for concerning
I mean, this has been a trend for Lebron James teams since the beginning
of time, I believe, you know, like seven CE right, Like
that's when James teams have been bad. You know, when he's off the
court, whether like Kyrie Irving is there, Dwyne Wade is there, or
Anthony Davis is there, they're just not good in the regular season without him.
And I have just grown less concerned with that because he plays more minutes
during the postseason and everybody's energy level just gets amped up at that time of
the year, so it's not a huge concern. I do think that part
of the impetus of bringing Shrewder in was to address those minutes. I have
to imagine that Polinka and Vogel are a little bit disappointed with that in that
respect, because you know, you don't sacrifice the first round pick and a
really good player in Danny Green to get a guy who's just going to be
like German Rondo, right, Like, that's not what they were hoping for.
But he doesn't really shoot off the dribble, which is something that Rondo
will probably does he make them like I don't that. I did say that
the Shrewder three point shooting experience has not been my favorite thing to watch.
But anyway, the important thing about Shrewder is that he met He plays really
well next to Lebron James, and he was doing really well with Lebron James
and Anthony Davis when that was an option earlier in the season. So yeah,
you know, you're not fixing the fourteen minutes or so that Lebron James
isn't playing the right of season. I think tries is more important for that.
And again, I you know, I wanted into trestle a lot earlier.
I think that's going to get better as the season goes on. But
going forward, you know, like when we think about Dennis Shrewder potentially staying
with the Lakers beyond this season, the fact that he fits with the stars
I think is far more important than the fact that he's not able to prop
up the non star lineups, because, like like you said during the postseason,
like it's just not as important. And I guess lastly, what do
you think actually is this team's biggest need, if you know, leading into
the trade deadline, or even if it's just longer term with them something that's
sort of the same question with the Clippers that I mean, they're the Lakers
are just as limited. Basically, I think they have a little bit more
room beneath the hardcap, but they're not blessed with a ton of much.
Yeah, and they're not blessed with a ton of assets. And what are
you what are you giving up town Horton Tucker with to one bring back salary
into someone who's actually worth it. But do you see, like, what
is the need that you would if you were them, that you would focus
on at the trade deadline? Yeah, I think they could use just another
wing, which, like, I mean, what team in the league could
not use another wing? Right? But yeah, like I mean the Clippers,
I think it was more like a one two that they were looking for,
right, Whereas I think the Clippers could the Lakers could use more of
a three four. Kyle Kuzm I think has been great. I know he
was on the Allan wouldn't end up talking about him, But just just a
wonderful season for Kyle. The advanced numbers absolutely hate whom I don't understand what
the deal is. That part of it is just like some of those lineups
that he's in with. Yeah, with a lot of those bench lineups are
just are just bad. But yeah, I think Kusmos some really good You
can you can really trust him actually to be a good wing defender in the
playoffs. Anthony Davis I think is the best wing defender that the Lakers have.
And then obviously there's Lebron James. So you know, there's options to
work with if the Lakers don't find anybody on the buyout market. But I
think that would be the number one concern because, like I always think about
the Clippers matchup, and you can't if you're going to go small, which
I think you're gonna have to if they're going to start surge, Like,
you just can't put Marcusol in those groups. It's really hard for him to
guard Ibacca. Then you're gonna put Davis at the fives. You can't have
him guard one of the two wings because and you lose all your room protections.
So then you put what Lebron on Kawhi, and then who's guarding Paul
George? Like it's it's a problem. They need somebody else there. I
think they thought West Matthews was going to be that guy. It's been pretty
bad, yeah, Wolf. Indeed, the West Matthews experience has been less
than ideal. I would say for the lakerself, more rocky than most other
West Matthews is experience. You know, I actually had not realized that this
was the first time in his career that he had not been starting regularly.
That was something that had not occurred to me. Nothing about West Matthews to
me screams starting lineup. But apparently that's a thing and he's not accustomed to
this limited role and it's been hard for him. But I don't think that
means that he should be starting gast. Let's face it, KCYP has been
really good, Dennis I should take that back for a second. KCP has
proven that he could be really good and Dennis Ruder has been good, so
you know, they're not going to make an adjustment for West Matthews. But
yeah, if there was an option for like a wing guy, I don't
know, maybe, like you know, I don't even know who's bailable because
kind of that with the Kings. I have two names that will, once
again, like with the Clippers, they're just gonna blow you away because there's
such doorbus. Right, I'm I'm so excited, Dan, let's do this.
The first one is Garrett Temple. Okay, I love Garrett Temple.
Yeah, and he's guarded some bigger guys this year and he definitely I agree
with you on the three four stuff and I think he's overstretched, if that's
how you view him, but he's he's two three, yeah, yeah,
and he gives them some extra ball handling, like with someone who can initiate
a little bit. I don't think he'd be the answer in No Lebron minutes,
but I don't think he would write and the other one is. And
a lot of this is because the postseason will be taking place. If they
have to go back inside the bubble, maybe I'll think differently about this.
But Daniel House was the name that's brington mine for me. I mean,
you could argue Daniel House and won the Lakers the second round here his last
year. Yeah, he was their most valuable player in the second round.
Guy. Yeah. Again, I'm in a cop to the fact that I
haven't really watched much of the Rockets, so I can't comment too much on
how he's been bad. He's been full stop. He's been bad. He's
not shooting well. But he when you I think he covers. You know,
he could basically defend two through five for you and imagining him, and
you know, I'm assuming they'll close with Davis at the five in the postseason,
which they don't really do in the regular season, you just see more
wings around him, right, Yeah, and so that was that was my
that was my that was my thought there. But I don't know that they're
going to be able to do anything huge. I've already kept you longer than
I said I would, so thank you so much for coming on, Sabrina.
This was a joy. Yea, this is so much fun. Dan,
Well rest as short. I'll be pestering you again in the future,
as I'm sure you know by now. Follow Sabrina on Twitter if you guys
have not already at Sabrina JM. That's at sab r e n a j
M. She has a fantastic job covering the NBA at Large and other stuff
for sp Nation. So again, Sabrina, thank you again so much for
coming on. Yeah, happy to do it. Nobody builds five G like
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