What is up, fellow thermonuclear a ffers. I am Dan Pavali coming at
you with another NBA team look ahead. We are we are in the closing
kick of these these look aheads because the season is pretty much here. We're
onto the Lakers, which we strategically did not schedule until basically the season started
since they seem so combustible. I had to bring on Jabari L. Davis.
That's my guy. Love talking to him about the Lakers. NBA at
Large. Follow him on Twitter at Jabari Ali Davis or at Jabari Davis NBA.
Excuse me, j A B A R I d A v I s
NBA. He's with Mad Boost's an NBA finals file for iHeart the podcasts are
fantastic. They have questionable tasting guests at Mad Boosty's because they brought me on
once, but don't hold that against them. Jabari, it's been a minute
since we talked outside of like an official capacity. How how are you doing?
I'm doing well, you know, as we as I kind of alluded
to in the pre show. It's a busy time, but a good time.
You know. Anytime we've got the NBA season rolling back around, busy
is good. So I'm absolutely here for it, and thank you so much
for having me app please, I appreciate you coming on. I will say,
I'm woefully we finally have like a longer off season for the first time
in three years. I feel like it flew by and I'm just woefully underprepared
for the start of this season. I get those I don't know if you're
the same way. It's not the Tuesday night, but that Wednesday night when
there's like eleven games, I start to get overwhelmed and I'm like, how
did I ever decide that I could cover this like type thing? And so
you have to go through those motions too, and that's probably what I'm dreading.
Yeah, it's funny as it sounds like I'm always like, oh man,
you know, like that that last period of the summer, it's the
worst, but it felt like it just it went by like that, and
same here, like I feel I feel as though I'm not prepared, but
you know what, it all works out. Eventually we're just gonna be watching
guys run up and down the court in basketball uniforms. So it's gonna be
fun either way. I mean, I'm the discourse will hopefully at least improve
on Twitter because NBA Twitter and social media in general, like they can't have
an offseason, but like basketball, Twitter can't have an offseason. It just
it gets even now with the preseason takes. But I digress. The Los
Angeles Lakers, We're a team that I was just sort of not waiting on
pins and needles, but they were one of the teams like they could fuck
up the entire offseason because they're just gonna trade Ross or do something else.
They have not And so my question to you is, are you surprised that
Russell Westbrook is still on this team? I am. I'm not gonna lie,
And look, there's gonna be listeners like that are gonna say, like,
why would you be surprised? Of course, they couldn't get rid of
them. But the truth of the matter is, obviously, and I'm sure
it's you know, we're going to discuss it upcoming, they had opportunities,
or at least the reports are that they had opportunities, and simply, let's
just say, are in a holding pattern at this at this stage. But
yes, if you would ask me, you know, hitting it to the
summer, if you had asked me, do you think russ is going to
be here. My answer would have honestly been, though, would you have
done any of the rumored deals that were out there if it involved giving up
the twenty seven and twenty twenty because that's been like the most contastly debated thing
amongst the Lakers in the past like three or four months. It feels like
I have a kind of a split state of mind on that one, like
could because it also feels like a situation where no matter what happens down the
line, everyone's going to say, like, well, of course they should
have done this, or of course they shouldn't have you know what I mean,
Like if they if they made if they made the deal and it didn't
come to fruition, and like you know, say, you'll say they you
know, they still went out in the first round or the sick or you
you only made it to the semifinals or whatever the case may be, they
weren't able to punch it through and get a title. Then people would say,
well, you know, hey, look, you know you sacrifice your
future and you didn't even win. And then if they don't make the deal,
and you know, this year goes at you know, kind of as
a lot of us anticipated going They're gonna say, well, why wouldn't you
make the deal? Who cares about you know, down the line. For
me, I understand their reasoning for not making the deal, but this is
not me, you know, being a homer or like like giving them an
excuse because they painted themselves into this corner. They backed themselves right into this
corner. And now and now this is you know, this is their reality.
You had people, you know, you had Lakers, my fellow Lakers
fans. I love guys, I really do. So when I say this,
I'm saying it like a family member that that that's just giving you a
reel Like Christmas. Y'all are on there crying about like, oh it's the
Lakers, tax this and the other. Okay, well give you a way.
Even if that exists, it's not a new concept. You knew the
job was dangerous when you took it, and and and and and this is
where you're at. I personally think they're going to be able to still make
that deal ahead of the deadline without using both picks. I feel as though
I understand why the Pacers are are holdings are holdings, you know, strong,
because they're like, hey, look, we don't have to. We
like, ultimately, if something else comes to you know, if something else
comes or you guys are in a state of desperation, we might be able
to get it. But ultimate online we might make that deal. Whether it's
this deal or another or any other deal, I still think they'll be able
to get off of you'll get off of it, especially as an expiring contract.
And it's probably not going to take. It's probably not going to take.
You know, you're both picks. But ultimately, but ultimately, look,
it's it's it's almost a no win situation. And if you're robbed.
Prior to the extension, I would have said, I would have said,
like, what are you playing for the future for? But now I realize
why he's why exactly why he's playing for the future. He might be around
apparently. I understand both schools of thought is you shouldn't be like you have
age thirty eight season Lebron James coming up. You have to be about the
now. But if you don't want to mortgage your future to get out of
one mistake, I understand it. I just don't think I think some Lakers
fans have like undersold how much of a lift it still is to take on
Russ's contract. Yes, it's expiring, but you're not acquiring Russ to then
remove him or use him. You're just probably buying him out, waiving him,
telling him to go away. And that's a huge, like chunk of
dead money to then have on your books. And so you are paying it's
not a Lakers tax, it's the size of the Russell Westbrook contract tax.
And then they want value for the players they're sending out. So I understood
the asking price, and I also understood the Lakers saying no. And I'm
also with you that I do think there's a chance they wind up being able
to move Russ without having to give up a ton of assets during the middle
of the season when the light is more so at the end of the tunnel
for some of these teams. And like I said, I don't know if
it'll be the package. I don't. I definitely don't. Again, I
don't fault their logic, but the Lakers fans that were just like, well,
they should do it for one first round pick, and it's like,
you're kind of missing the point a little bit on that to me, especially
since those same into funny thing you kind of alluded to this with NBA Twitter.
Those same folks will then point out all of the difference trades that have
been made in the past that where they say you just wasted a pick,
you threw you tacking a pick on the wasted it. So there is no
winning, you know, with these conversations, because the goal posts will always
be moved. But here, let me just throw this one out there for
you, because I haven't heard people speaking, you know, speaking to it
in the event that, okay, see in the second half of the year
is looking to which realistically I believe that they will be. And then you
know, kind of similar to how they've done you know, like it's kind
of similar to how they've done with h you know these last couple of years
where they selectively you'll put people down, you know what I mean, they
put they they temporarily put people, you'll put players out the past year.
I could see a situation where you get them involved in the conversations and obviously
it would probably have to be it would obviously to it had to be a
multi multi team deal. And you can probably still get that Pacers deal done
because here's one for you. Last thirty games of the year the we Always
Loved You and you Always Loved Us tour when you're all trying to lose with
Russ going back home no case. And I'm not and be clear, I'm
not saying Okcy gives up any of their pre of their top you know,
of their top talent. I'm saying you involved them because it because of that
part of it that makes sense, and because they also haven't They got plenty
of picks, plenty plenty of picks if did want to get involved in that
conversation. I'm here for the narrative of you, of that return story,
and also I'm begging them to please be involved in that in that return story.
I get the issue with them is they just don't have the matching money
to like, you're not giving up Shay in that deal, and so it'd
be tough to get the money if if they were like to pounce on the
buyout. More like if Russ was waived and he just saw it there for
like an end of season tour, that would be kind of sad for him,
I feel like, but like I'd be all for like the thunder if
you're really looking at tank, like why not go that route it's just so
his fall is just like in terms of perception and value has just been so
swift and stark. And that kind of leads me to the next question of
oh, go ahead, if you had something to say on that. It's
just Darvin Ham mentioning us to the bench is a realignment? Do you think
that's the smart move and will it's stick? I think it's the only move
that made sense from the start. And I know that sounds crazy. I
know I realized why Frank Vogel you couldn't get his and his staff. I
don't want to, you know, just make this about Frank Vogel. I
realized why the previous regime couldn't do that, or why it felt as though
they couldn't do that. But it's the only thing that made sense from the
start. Like and the idea that a lineup that has Lebron and Russ in
it at the same time is going to be successful for an extended period of
time, it just doesn't make sense to me. And look, this is
coming from someone and anybody. Look the tapes are there, tapes. I
was wrong last year, and no reason why I was wrong because I wanted
it to be true as opposed to just actually looking at this, looking at
the situation for what it was that you know, that's that's oil and water.
It doesn't make it doesn't make sense. Yes, that you can get
away with it for a couple of minutes here and there, or like say
in a final, you know, in a clothe you in a close situation
where Russ has been playing Will or if he's got you know, he's got
you know, a better matchup. But in terms of like the long term
deal, that never made sense to put them in the same lineup. So
I'm hopeful, but I'm not going to be silly and you know, jump
out the window on these yo like I did last year. I'm hopeful that
that he'll at least be willing to while he's still in the Lakers uniform.
He rush does seem at least open to doing more things than he did last
year. In season's past, I am wondering if the does the hamstring injury
hang this up at all, Like if he's not ready to go or miss
his time. Maybe some people would view that as a blessing in disguise,
but I'm like I'd always assume they're going to start him to begin the season
and then after like a few games, if it wasn't working, that's when
you make the move. And I'm like, does this make it easier to
be like, well, we're just going to integrate you from the bench when
you come back. I'm just we didn't see the sample. They did it
for one preseason game he got injured. Was so I'm just very curious to
see how what happens to start of the season then how the whole Russ off
the bench dynamic actually works. I think that the point you just made is
perfect. I think it does make it easier. I think it makes it
easier transition, It makes it easier your conversation, because the truth of the
matter is if he you know, like, if he misses any you know,
any amount of time, and you know, like and they have all
of the reason, all of the all of the reasons to say like,
hey, look we've got it going. We had already talked about having you
do it. Let's go ahead and start you off that and then honestly,
whether it goes well or it goes poorly, you RUSS is no longer at
a level to where you have to worry about, like, you know what,
I'm saying, you know, you know, to where you have to
worry about like, oh, are we disrespecting because quite frankly, he's been
disrespected, you know, since he put on that Lakers uniform. So it's
so it kind of it kind of did make it easy, you know,
you know, if in fact he you know, he's not able to go
at the beginning of the season. It actually and you know, you know,
you have a question coming up about the guard rotation. The injuries made
you know, the preseason injuries made the guard rotation a little bit you know,
make a little bit more sense for this coaching staff at least coming out
the blocks. That is a good segue into my next question, though,
is independent of russ what did you think about their off season? Were there
any additions that you especially liked, didn't like? And really the real question
here is does Rob Polinka get paid by the guard that he signs? I
mean, it's gotta be. It absolutely has to be. These guards either
have you have dirt on him or he's got dirt on the entire organism.
No I, I kid, I liked some of the guys that they brought
in and and and on paper they make sense. None of them are are
are tremendous impact guys or none of them are guaranteed to be tremendous impact guys.
Do I think that a guy like Lonnie Walker can have the sort of
impact as like Malik Monk did. And you know that I was higher on
Monk, you know than a lot of folks at you at the start of
last year. You know, he was up, and he was up and
down, but by and large he was probably their more's consistent player over the
course of over the course of the season. And you know, take you
know, take from that what you will, uh, you know, shout
out to him. I hope he doesn't, you know, positive things up
there a Sacramento this year. But no, I could see Lonnie Walker,
you know, being the type of player that could play very well, especially
off of a D and off of you know, and off of and off
of Lebron I'm forgetting, you know, perhaps the greatest player ever forgetting his
name over the course of a conversation. But no, I could see him
playing well. And that makes a lot of sense. But none of the
is this, none of the moves made a ton of sense unless you were
moving Russ and and and I don't want to make this into Believe me,
I like the NBA Twitter and podcasting alone, We've had enough of like the
like let's just shoot on Russ, you know, conversation, and I know
that's not where you were going with it, but I just want to make
it clear that's not where I'm going with it. But you don't go into
this offseason and make these moves and bring in all of these small guards that
very clearly you're going to be taken away from any impact that he could potentially
have if you planned on bringing him back, unless you were planning on moving
him. So as crazy as it sounds, I still feel like this is
an incomplete offseason until they figure out what they're going to do with that.
And like if you no matter what, they're just gonna roll with this,
you know, up until the trading deadline, then I'm gonna say, well,
this is not going to be a very good team, and it is
not going to be even there's not there's not very much you know, like
you know, to discuss. It's going to be a middling team that on
some nights look on some nights look really good, Like when ADS is super
you engaged and impactful, they're they're there, they have the potential good when
Lebron decides like, hey, you know what if even in year even at
thirty eight or even in year twenty, I'm still that guy. Yeah,
that's going to look good. But outside of that, it's it's it's it's
not going to move the needle. And that's and that has to be frustrated
from Lakers fans. I say it as one yeah, and I agree with
everything you said. Is there one addition, and let's call it the non
Patrick Beverley division that you think is going to be particularly impactful in a good
way, that maybe people aren't given enough shine too. Well, that's actually
where I would that's actually what I why I mentioned Lonnie in particular. And
I and believe me, I get it. I got I understood people being
you know, you know that people being uncertain, like, well, really
you're there with your mL E Okay that you know, that's cool. But
I look at it like this, he's you know, he's a six four
guard that can you know you know that that can you know, get up
and down the court? You know, can you can finish? You know,
you can you finish over the top? Can do a lot of things
a couple of years back. I don't have that. You know, this
is you know, as unprepared, is as as you'll see. So I
don't it's not in front of me, but I feel like he's shot upwards
of thirty five thirty six percent from three when he was playing off of Damar
and you and off of uh, you know, La Market prior to him
being moved a couple of years ago. I think, you know, I
would imagine that if you put him, if you put him in the mix
and he gets comfortable with a D and with Lebron, that that that that
could that could return. He's a guy that, honestly, if if he's
a live body and a guy that you can depend upon and he could spread
the court a little bit, I could see him having, you know,
like having the most impact. I would love to lie to you and say
that it's going to be Thomas Bryant, or it's going to be you know,
you know, it's going to be you know Jones. But neither one
of them have differentiated that. Neither one of them have you know, have
have stood out over the over the quar season. We'll see if we'll see
if they can develop into something develop some time, you know, some sort
of you know, some sort of chemistry alongside Anthony Davis over the course of
the season. But right now, heading me in if I had to guess,
it's probably the only Walker. Yeah, and look, he was on
a heater to close last year too. I just if he hits, like
if the possessions they're gonna give him, like where he's creating for himself or
dribbling, they'll they'll definitely be value in there. I'm just with you that
it's when they made the move, it was to me it was fine.
I thought it was actually a worthwhile gamble, and then the rest of their
off season kind of fell into place and I was like, oh, a
mind is wanted to Skano Anderson still though, I think it wouldn't shock me
if he's a part of like some of their most important lineups, including closing
units. They it would be nice if he could give you some higher volume
on offense. But he does at least get rid of the ball quickly.
He can hit threes if he's wide open enough, and then he just gives
you a lot of malluability on defense. And the Lakers just don't have a
lot of those guys on this roster there is if you want to throw Lebron
and a d aside, they have like Austin Reeves and want Toscano Anderson and
that's pretty much it. Yeah, like the fact that he's like the only
wing, only true wing, you know, and I call him, I'd
call him like a three point five rather than that's like you can't even get
like one true wing. It's just so their commitment to having non wings on
the rosters actually impressive at this point in a league where everyone agrees. I
won't necessarily go as far to say it's a wings league, but you need
wings. You absolutely need interchangeable guys that you know between six six five vision
six nine is you absolutely have to have them. And they're just like,
no, no, no, we're good. We have have six guys that
are six four and under that also are going to be competing for one another
and oh, by the way, play the position. Never mind. Yeah,
I don't want to continue to go down that rabbit hole because it'll sound
like I'm being frustrated with rest when I'm really just frustrated with this organization and
the decision that they've been making as you should be. I will say,
I have another question about a guard surprise surprise, any early impressions after Malik
Monk, after Kendrick Nunn and missus all last year at the ankle and the
stuff, and early impressions about his fit or just how you expect him to
impact this team. So it's crazy that this sounds while no, technically it's
not in an offseason edition, it is because they didn't have them all of
last year. We you know, we got the you know, five days
or seven to ten days or reevaluating three you know, they three months or
they three weeks just to death, you know, when it came to you
know, his actual availability. But he has been he has been nice and
he played. His play in the preseason made me say, okay, at
least that's what you saw. At least that's the reason why you made that
move. And I get that. The truth of the mass is I think
he played. I think he does play well, and he does have impact.
And that is precisely why he'll eventually be in some sort of deal involving
Russ because I think another team is gonna say, look, if you're not
gonna give us Reeves or like maybe one other thing that you got on that
roster, then we're gonna go ahead and take him. So maybe that's what
they had in mind with getting all of these, you know, somewhat netive
guards because they you know, they planned on on dumping your you know,
two or three of them at the same time. Uh, you know.
But you know, I guess time will tell if that's what they wind up
doing that. I hadn't really thought of it that way, So that's a
good point. I do think none will give you, if he's healthy,
some downhill pressure and off ball shooting, probably a little bit more on ball
shooting attempts than you would like at points, but sometimes they'll go in there.
I think he could wind up having a big impact on the team.
But that meaning said, when you look at this guard rotation, I'm not
including Austin Reeves, and Austin Reeves is now a wing. It's been the
side of that. Austin Reeves is a wing on this team. Who do
you see most likely if they keep the roster like this or until a rush
trade, who's most likely to get squeezed out of that that guard rotation?
Is it? Is it? Dennis shrewder Man I have no freaking clue what
to do. I'm looking at the regard rotation right now. I mean,
what to do with this, because look, you have the one guy in
None that's coming off extended, and to read that, as we just alluded
to, I'm leading cells with you. I hope to see him we're with
this team, or at least being productive enough to be like as a member
of a transaction. Then you have a guy in Shrewder. You know,
he's returning to the mix where you'd imagine he'd he'd at least expect opportunities,
you know, once he's fully healthy. They also go out. You go
out and you make a move for a guy in Beverly that at the very
least signaled that he'd beat your stint. You you know, like, you
know, we already talked about him. You signed Lonnie Walker, and you
clearly plan to give him plenty of work. Oh and by the way,
you also have Russell Westbrook in this. So honestly, I don't know what
the look. I know I'm not really offering you much, but I don't
know how they're going to solve this riddle because it doesn't make any sense.
I'm wondering too, if injuries solved for them just you already have. Shrewder
is expect to miss an indefin amount of time, Russ is dealing with some
hamstring stuff. Is Kendrick non gonna need some maintenance nights off after missing all
of last year? We don't. We don't really know. And Beverly is
like kind adorable, but he's always dealt with stuff too, so maybe that's
what they're Also, it's still a weird thing to bank on. But I'm
wondering if until they actually make a move, that injury is just sort of
solved, not solved, but at least address the I want to say addressed.
I don't want injuries, but I'm just wondering if having to plan around
injuries sort of makes the decision for them. It might. And you know
what, the one thing that I will say, or one of the things
that I will give you know, Darvenham and his you know, origime credit
for is they at least are making it sound like it's gonna be a meritocracy.
So if that's the case, if it's if if it's going to be
like you know, you eat what you hunt, then you know that'll kind
of take gal take care of itself. Yeah huh, well, you know
what, you can kick flip on somewhere else then. No, I feel
that that was very NBA twitter of me, just and yeah, sorry,
sorry, I can't help you. No. I I feel as though the
people that you know, that that that stand out will be rewarded and and
and I know this is the NBA, and you know, so there's always
going to be a balance between that actually you know that coming to fruition and
still dealing with you know, real life human beings and you know, folks
that are and been expecting opportunities. But I'm trying, I was trying to
think of a nicer way to see None of those guys are you have a
big enough name or or incredible enough to where you have to worry about their
feelings so much that you can't just actually coach them. So maybe that's where
you know, maybe that's where it was, and I'm talking about the outside
of us. Yes, that's a great point. Look, thank god I
brought you on this podcast and not think of like the past two things that
you said. Moving on from the guards, because we could turn into the
whole part podcast about guards from what I saw in preseason Anthony Davis looks pretty
good. The injuries that are propping up now, I really do feel like
they're precautionary, like when it happens to the regular thingson We can have a
conversation there are you do you buy into him just having this monster revenge season
after having two years of sort of blah blah returns by his standards anyway,
and what specifically when you look at his game and what you've seen over the
past couple of years, what are you going to be watching most closely look
at Honestly, it's so cliche at this stage. And honestly, Dan,
you know that I don't do the jokes about the health and stuff because I'll
be honest with you, I think that's a very weird energy. You know
that that so many folks, whether it's NBA, Twitter or even folks that
cover the league. You know, like you know I have I have gotten
to But it really has a matter of health. If he's healthy, I
think Anthony Davis can have that bounce back year. And it is you know,
I clearly the motivation is there. Clearly he has plenty of whether it's
you know, bulletin board material or you know, you just play an endless
loop of Charles Barkley calling him you know, street clothes or whatever, whatever
the hell he was calling. However you want to be motivated, that is
there, But it's it's about his health. The last couple you know,
you know, last couple of years, he got hurt in freaky ways.
It wasn't just like it wasn't just a matter of like oh eighties, you
know, fragile. He just you know, it was a non contact people
came up, you know, like people one guy like flew into his knee
and another guy stepped underneath it, and you know, stepped under needs his
lay. It's unfortunate. I've I phrased it this way. Anthony Davis doesn't
have a chronic injury. Getting injured is Anthony Davis is chronic injury because it's
always something different, and that's like that doesn't necessarily speak to his fragility.
It's like bad luck. It could speak to his fragility, but that is
that's what makes it so tough to wrap your head around, because there's not
just this one thing that keeps reoccurring with him. It's it's everything exactly that.
So I rambled on you know, long enough to say I think he
has it in him. I do believe that he has because I've seen him
play and at incredible levels. Do I anticipate his true shooting percentage to be
like fifty nine percent as it was in the bubble. No, but the
shoot the shot looks smoother, you know, this preseason, especially especially compared
to last year. I'm one of those people that normally, like when I
when I see guys saying like, oh, well, you know last year
I was dealing with this or whatever. I'm normally one of those guys that
says, like, yeah, okay, okay, okay, but you were
out there. But I think there may be something too that specifically because of
how comfortable he looked shooting the ball, or he looked shooting the ball in
the you know, in the limited preseason action you know that we did see
from him. So I'm optimistic with him. I think he can return more
than anything if the legs are good and he can be the defensive have the
impact on the defensive end that he has had in the past. I think
we're important to anything. I know that I know that Coach ham and and
you know, like and people have made you made made the point that you
know running the offense through him. I don't care about what the guy scores.
I know that he might, but I don't care about you, like
know, the offense in that flow. As long as he's an all world
defender, the lookers are actually interesting. If he's not an all World defender,
they're not going to be interesting. So none of this is gonna matter.
And look, the offense is not gonna run through Anthony Davis. We're
in like year twelve of Lebron saying that the offense is gonna be run through
someone else's gonna be run through Lebron. And the part of the value of
idea is that he can score twenty five points a game entirely within the flow
of the offense. The health is I mean your spot on that. That's
what you have to watch for. I'd also be looking for he got his
volume up at the RIM last year, which was good, but I will
be looking at the mid range frequency in volume and how much he's relying on
it. Does he have counters If that SHOT's not falling, the Lakers get
him. If it's not higher volume at the rim, better quality looks at
the rim or they're gonna have enough spacing for him to kind of get to
the basket. And then you already talked about the three ball. Look,
he's got like forty percent or something in the preseason. If that's like a
thing like that, will that is gonna make some people, like so many
people look like idiots because that's something that you've always been waiting on. Again,
I wouldn't predict it, but if that's what happens, if he's shooting
efficiently from the perimeter, it it gives the Lakers this entirely new, dangerous
offensive dimension that they when you look at what they want to accomplish in the
West, if they're not gonna make any other moves, their best bet to
shock and awe is Anthony Davis kind of leveling up his offense. Look,
I'll just be blunt about it. The Lakers need to Anthony Davis to be
incredible this year. I don't know if he if he can, but I'm
hopeful. I've seen him. I've seen him flashes of but I've seen him.
I've seen him you know clearly, you know, clearly be a top
line player. I don't even you know, like when we get into like
the rankings thing. I don't care what you whether you consider him, you
know, top ten, top five team where they need him to be too,
played like a top five guy on a regular basis for them to actually
have any any sort of you know, like any sort of opportunity. And
if he if he's fully healthy and available, we'll see if he's got that.
If he's not healthy, he's not gonna matter. He has already made
some passive aggressive comments about playing the five. Do you this doesn't need to
be like a thing, but do you understan at this point is it that
much of I know he's dealt with a bunch of injuries too, Is it
that much of a difference now sliding from the four to the five in today's
league? Like if you're gonna look at the game, Yeah, But like
anyway, I'm trying. I'm doing my best not to just go into just
NBA, Twitter and areas, but I gotta be honest with you, I'm
so tired of hearing about this. I'm so like part of me's like Lakers.
This man was on record, he was on wax that he did not
play in the five prior to even cut you put it on the propelent goal.
Y'all knew the job. Y'all knew, So why why down the line
now we're into what you're three? Is it whether you're four, we're four
years in or whatever? To get whatever, I've lost track of time.
It all blends in and you're still and you're still talking about this. Now.
What what I actually think took place is they expected one or both those
bigs that they brought in to be more impactful to you know, to look
better next to him and in the preseason, and obviously you're like in in
there, you're in their camp and in their practices. They aren't seeing that,
because that's probably the only reason why all of a sudden that you know
that, you know, that conversation is being floated out there. I think
more than anything, if Ham asks him to play it, he's gonna play
it. He going to Is he going to be happy about it? Probably
not? But you know, ultimately my thought on it is, if the
guy likes playing the four, just playing him at the four, I believe
me, I understanderstand the conversation. They like but they're better at this or
you know, I get it. If the guy likes playing the four,
and you're in and you're in the business with Anthony Davis, just let him
play the figure out. Beyond that, I would be mostly with you,
especially during the it's haveing Anthy Davis close at the five. Anthy Davis has
to play more five in the playoffs. Those are givens. And my whole
thing there though, is the Lakers are not a given when it comes to
the playoffs, and so playing him at the five might be their best route
to actually win enough regular season games to be in that mix. Otherwise I
would totally agree it's you know, yeah, playing at the fore most of
the time of playment at the five when it matters. I just when I
look at this team, it feels like a whole lot of the regular season
games are gonna matter for them. It is and and and ultimately, you
know, maybe it's gonna boil down to when he's you know, when when
he when he gets into the mix again and he starts feeling good about himself.
And know, and when I say good about myself, I'm trying about
physically because obviously, you know, with you know, with professional athletes,
you know their body is there, you know, is truly their motor So
you just we'll see how it goes over those first ten games. I feel
like he's going to probably settle close to the numbers that he put. You
know that he played in twenty twenty. And this is totally just me,
you know, pulling it. So any numbers guys out there, if you
you know, if you correct it after the fact, you can call me
you needed. That's fine, Jobar Davis, NBA. I feel like he
was playing at least half, if not more, of his minutes at the
five. But start pretting at the four. If you have to do it
that way, that's fine. Just you know what I'm saying, Like,
if for his if only for his sensibilities, start him at the four,
shift him to the five, have him about you like, you know,
play it as needed throughout the course of the game, and close with him
at the five. Unless one of those five is having having an incredible game
or the matchup, you know the matchup is beneficial to have him at the
four. Do you have any faith or preference or just when you look at
Damien Jones and Thomas Bryan, if you had to pick which one plays a
bigger positive role, who would it be? I feel like it's gonna be
Thomas Bryant, but honestly with him, with him as well, like I
hope he stays healthy, you know what I'm saying. I hope he's able
to you'll, you'll stay out there on the court. It feels like it's
going to be Thomas Bryant. I'm honestly between the two. I have not
I haven't seen enough to say like, oh yeah, it's definitely him or
it's definitely not going to be that guy. I think I'm more intrigued by
Damien Jones as a player, and the Lakers seem to believe that, and
like you go back and watch like some of the minutes they played with the
Kings last year, like oh my god on offense, But Thomas Bryant's gonna
be the cleaner fit. But the Lakers also seem to think that Damien Jones
can be like a stretch big and like we'll have to see I have not
seen enough or any of that, and so it might just like is one
you and Gabriel the best five on this team is wanted, Sconnay Anderson.
You gonna be the best five on this team that's not Anthony Davis. So
they have questions there too. I mean, but if you're the Pacers,
you'd be looking at that ad quote like, you know, they thought they
were gonna get Mileston or cheaper in the middle of the year. But if
a D's campaigning to play less five in November or something, my lord,
you know, honestly, I hadn't thought about that. But yes, I
like, if you're Kevin Pritchard and and all the folks that wait, is
Kevin Pritchard still there in the front office, like or did I just date
myself? Okay, I was gonna say, really did I Just if you're
Kevin, you're and you're the folks that are making decisions over there, you're
looking at it and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what
a D. You are right, You're exactly right. You make such an
excellent point you are for what are they thinking? You know, we wouldn't
do that. No, but yeah, that's a that's neither here nor there.
I think they find an answer there. It might not be Thomas,
it might not be either one of the guys currently there. What are you
looking to see from Austin Reeves in year two? More than anything, consistency
because last year he you know, he showed flashes, he had you know,
he showed signs. And I recognize people are gonna say, like,
oh, Lakers fans hyping up one of their guys again, you know,
and Yoda and yeah, and I was gonna say, there's something to that,
but like that's actually every fan base, Every fan base loves their you
know, loves their you know, loves their guys. Either loves or hates
you know. It just it just depends on it depends on where you are.
I I think he's shown the signs that he's a quality basketball player,
especially in particular at this level, now that he's had the benefit of navigating
that seat, you know, navigating last season, uh and navigating and the
benefits of a professional NBA off season, I would expect just consistency, you
know, so you know still, you know, still you'll show plenty of
those signs, but you know, just more on a consistent basis, and
to be honest with you, look, I promise you and within the next
two to three months, people are going to say, you guys are over
hyping him. I think they actually have a gym there. I think he's
I think he's a quality I think he's a quality, you know, NBA
starter, not just NBA rotation guy, NBA starter, and can developed and
actually has the you know, has the you know, has the space to
develop in that because you know this is not a right now. Yeah,
I'm very intrigued with him. It's just sort of like this complimentary connector,
especially on offense, and he's probably I mean, he's one of their better
perimeter defenders at this point too. But like just he shot just good enough
on catch and shoot threes last year's like in the thirty seven percent, like
thirty seven plus percent. Excuse me, let's see how reactive defenses closed out
him and harder. But even when defensive we're closing out on him, he
was using screens and space to like pump and go. We busted out a
little bit of a floater. And so no, I don't think this is
a future star, but this is someone who is like when I'm building the
Lakers closing unit and if we're making it a meritocracy, Austin Reeves is probably
in it for me. He absolutely has to be in it. And look,
obviously, you know it's situational like you're with anything like, but in
the NBA it's situational. But I think that he's shown enough and I think
he's just just's he's good enough on this roster to where he should probably be
in that conversation regardless, especially because this has been sort of a pessimistic leaning
podcast, the Lakers have any just strengths that aren't receiving enough attention as we
lead into the regular season. Man, I hate to go back to this,
well, but so many people have been, you know, like,
for whatever their reasons are, have been out on a d that a healthy
AD is one hundred percent a strength and one like couldn't take them from being
a Lime to being like, oh no, they they are a playoff team.
And then like like when we get to the end of it and and
it's all said and done, we look back and people are then saying like,
well, of course they're a playoff team because they had all that time.
No, I think I think specifically again, they the Lakers absolutely need
Anthony Davis to be their best player. And I know how that sounds the
folk. You know, the focal points always going to be Lebron. You
know, it's a Lebron, It's a Lebron centric world or universe, and
in particular, you know, but Anthony Davis has to be their best player,
and now that he's finally healthy, my honest opinion is that like him,
being healthy is their strength and could and could and could bring them back
into a conversation of litimacy. I won't say into your all your outright contention,
but it's a conversation of legitimacy, I will say too. And they
did get out and transition a bunch of last year. But if you have
healthy ad if Ross is involved here having Reeves and then Kendrick Nunn, if
he stays healthy, it seemed could be like a sneaky dominant team in transition.
They have, you know, between a d and Lebron and Russ Bev.
They have some guys even none if they're gonna get a board, like
you can just grab it and go. And I think that might be something
that's underrated about this team. But I don't know if I'm reaching there too
much. It's like with everything like it it's I hate it. But I
was like, just stay healthy. Yes I want that, but just stay
healthy like everybody, everybody, stay good everybody. But yeah, no,
I think that's an excellent point. I would anticipate that, and honestly,
even working JTA into some of those lineups get like like if they get up
and start and start putting pressure on teams, I could absolutely see them like,
look, all right, you didn't ask for like award predictions, but
I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there. I put money on Anthony
Davis went in the Defensive Player of the Year award. That's how much of
an impact I think he's going to have. Do I think that? Now?
Do I think it's a guarantee? Like, I'm not one of those
folks. It's like, hey, I'm a shark, and I know no,
no, no, no, no, Like there are definitely some fields
going in there, but I I legitimately think he's you know, he can
return to form on that end of the court to the point where you know
it can impact them to where he's a part of that conversation. One of
my favorite things to do leading into the season is try and identify if the
roster stays the same or at least to start the year, who will be
the Like the ten man rotation, not a rotations are ten guys, but
the top ten most use players the Lakers one is kind of a trip.
But I'm gonna throw out my locks and then see how you would flush out
the rest if you didn't see if you agree with the locks, I've Beverly
none, Reeves, Lebron, eighty Russ, and then my locks kind of
end there, like are those are those the six locks? I think that's
I think that's realistic. I think that's realistic because like, like, let's
be real. I actually want positive things for Dennis Shrewder. I do.
But for whatever reason he had like like, it's not it's not because the
Lakers did it to him, because he's had you know, these last like
four stops. It just simply has not worked. It simply has not lasted
nor Yeah, no, no, I'm I'm just agreeing with you. Oh
no, okay, I thought you had. I thought you had a nugget
for me. I was like, oh, like maybe there's something about him
that I don't know. No, like you, for whatever the reason,
it hasn't worked out. So there's certainly no guarantee that you know, there
there can't be any guarantee that he's a lock. You know. You know
we've talked about Damien Jones. I like his lively you know he goes he's
a lively body, winging Gabriel that you mentioned a moment ago, a lively
body. But like, there's no way that we can can honestly sit here
and say not if we can generally sit here and say like, yeah,
guarantee those guys are going to be in the active rotation with regularity because they
haven't been at any point of the in their careers. God, they have
to add Lonnie Walker the fourth to my list just because you spent the entire
mini mle on him. Oh what forgive me? For whatever reason I assumed
that you mentioned him? No, yeah, yeah, there should be seven
locks and and you know what, Okay, again not diss in your arrust,
but for this team, in terms of impact, I would put him
above Rus. I would put him as as the number six guy, like
you know, like as a lock you know you're for this team. I
will say they JTA would be a lock for this rotation. If I was
Darvinham to get to eight and then nine is very much like Damien Jones or
Thomas Bryant, and then I guess you have some room to play around like
Dennis Dennis Shrewder's in there, like you know, do they believe in Troy
Brown Junior. I know a lot of people seem to like him. It's
just it's funny. There is a Lakers effect or like Troy Brown Junior was
viewed as oh, he'll plug this three and D winghole, and it was
like, no, you haven't watched a lot of Troy Brown Junior, have
you? And not not that you don't even need to watch a lot of
Troy Brown Junior to understand that that's not who Troy Brown. Yeah, that's
not who he is. Like, but then again, like I all right,
yeah, I will go ahead and see it. Rob Blink is either
an absolute genius yeah, you know, honestly, the thing with Rob is
like I wonder, like like and I get it, you know we we
we speak of the NBA being positionless, and while yes, there's absolutely certain
you know something too that with how a lot of teams are playing at this
stage, you still you know, you still can't make you know, a
six two guy be a three and D one like that. I'll be honest
with you, like, unless unless he's Tony Allen like that just doesn't know
that that's just not going to happen. So like I don't know what you
know, I don't know what to think about it, Like how they put
this together? What do you think should be their go to closing unit?
And this team more than most might play the matchups more, But you're Darvin
Ham, what are what's the what's the closing lineup crutch that you're leaning on.
It kind of goes back to what we've already discussed it. For me,
it's Ad Brunn and Reeves and and then and then the conversation starts.
It's similar to you know it and here's a nod to you know, to
the Vogel regime. Similar to how they did things in twenty twenty. It
would you know, they had their set guys and in the last two it
was it was it really was, you know, depending upon the matchup,
depending upon who was bringing it that night, depending upon you you know,
you know who had things going. And honestly, with this, with you
know, with this roster, that's what this absolutely feels like it's set up
to be. I don't think that. I don't you know, I don't
think any of the other guys and and potentially even Reeves, I don't think
any of them are are are guaranteed to be you know, to be closers,
especially at this stage. I mean obviously in the in the early going,
you know, this is where you're finding that out, but even across
the board that you're down the stretch with, you know, with this roster,
unless someone just stands out completely, I really do think it's going to
be a matter of who's got to go in that night, who has the
better matchup and you know, and who fits better with with A D and
Lebron on on that particular game, for that particular game. I echo what
you said there. I am most intrigued by the three you mentioned, Reeves,
Lebron, A D and then probably Jta and Beverly or maybe none instead
of Beverly. That might be the setup that a most that if I had
a guest, would be their most effective one. That being said, is
there a weirdo, bonkers off the beaten path lineup you want to see Darvin
Ham try this season? I want to see a D, Broun, j
T A, Reeves and Walk. I want them to get up in people's
I wanted them to get up in people's asses and go like, let's have
fun with it. At least at least be interesting, yo, if you
need to go back to old school, you know, you know, ninety
for for you to press your that's what I want to see. But honestly,
other than that, there's really not a lot of like mixes that are
interesting. Like I hate to say this, and you know, I hate
to say this about about the Lakers, but right now, on paper,
they're not interesting. They're not. I'm kind of with you. I mean,
they still have Lebron and a D, but it's just like they're tough
to fit. They're interesting. It's and I've said this too many times on
the podcast, but like they're morbidly interesting because it's like, could things go
wrong? Is there a chance they go right? That's why you're almost tuning
in. It's not really because they have this higher upside that you're banking on
to manifest that right there is what I You said it perfectly. Look,
there's a reason why you do this thing and why I'm usually behind the scenes
when it comes to podcasting. You put it perfectly, they're interesting, but
just for the wrong reasons there and this is on a team with a D
and Lebron. So there you go. There, you you put it the
most eloquently into safety, so you win that one out. Mine would be,
if you're gonna sign all these guards, you need to play Anthony Davis
with forces like give me none shrewder Beverly, then we'll have a D.
And then I don't want Russ in this. I'll count Austin Reeves if we
don't throw him in here, or look, put your money where your mouth
is and just go your four point guards plus a D and see what happens,
to see how bad it is. And maybe it's sort of Darvin Ham
needs to throw that out as sort of the hey, look at what this
fucking guy in the front office gave me. Go ahead and make a move
there, like you play a D with your four smalls because you don't have
wings to play him with. You know, he shout out to Darvin,
he's got it. He's got a guarantee contract, so he could go that
round if you want to do. But then again, that guy just gave
him that deal in his first opportunity, so maybe, you know, maybe
not, But honestly, to that point, I could see I could absolutely
see you put in a D with three or four guards like I could I
could absolutely and just having fun with it, because like again, especially if
in particular, you know, say it's a game like the other night where
and obviously at the time, you know, when this gets released, it'll
it'll be in in the you know, further in the distance. But say
it's a game like you're the one that they played that final preseason game against
Sacramento and the game just simply gets away from you. Why not? Yah?
And then again now now exactly, I was gonna say, you want
ad playing garbage time minutes? What the hill? No, you're right,
that's fine that I'm just saying, maybe give Lebron and Reeves like a rest
night on the same night and roll out Anthony Dave was a four point guard,
so that you can kind of as just a fuck you to the front
office to show them like, this is what you've saddled us with here.
So you before I ask you about there, I hope we're not at their
place, before I ask you about their over under really quickly. Do you
expect Russell Westbrook to finish the season on this team? No, I don't.
I think I think they dump thement the deadline. I I would hit
again if you had asked me to start in a summer, I would have
said, yeah, he's absolutely gonna you know, he's absolutely gonna be moved,
and you know we're not going to be having this conversation, and yet
here we are. That being said, I still don't expect them to be
there. They're over under has rerecord this, and I doubt it'll move much.
I mean it'll go up Monday, but I don't think it's gonna move
much lead up to the regular season. Forty four point five. Would you
take the over the under on that? And where do you sort of see
them stacking up in the larger context of the West. What I thought we
were friendly. I thought we were being cool. I thought it was you
know, it's a Sunday morning. Here we are. Yeah, if no
one, if anyone who's not watching on YouTube, Jabari's currently removing a knife
from his back that I strategically I can't reach it my arms. I got.
Yeah. I think bottom in there a thirty five to forty win team
top in they're probably forty five to fifty and I and there's gonna be that
That statement right there just pissed everybody off, because there's gonna be people saying,
oh, you're you're you're too hard on them, and then there's gonna
be Bible saying like forty five to fifty how to healthy that taking place?
I think kind of as we've had this conversation, I told you have ads
if a d is special and they can just have relative team health, because
no team is going to be healthy, you know, like over the course
of the eighty two game season, but just relative health to where they can
stagger some of the you know you folks in and out of the line.
I know, I could see them topping off. You'll like, you're somewhere
in that range. If they're in there. They're obviously in the playoff conversation.
But yeah, look if they if they run into a bus all again,
if they you know, if all of the pieces just simply do not
fit and they start to you know, weather the storm of repeated injuries and
multiple injuries at that, Yeah, it's gonna be another disgusting year in in
Los Angeles for the you know, for the Lakers and for Lakers. I
viewed the forty four point five line as a kid too. You're telling me
that the over under the number of games that eighty and Lebron combined to play
in is one hundred and twenty five, which is a little bit less fewer
than sixty five per So I took the under just because I don't think Lebron
Like, give Lebron a fucking break already. That's like, are this team
even set up to play him fewer than thirty seven minutes per game? At
least he was at thirty seven plus minutes per game last year. Please tell
me that will not be the case this season. And that's the thing.
He wants to play those minutes. But sometimes it's kind of like when you
look Ellie, no, I'm I'll make the reference when you have when you
have a kid that's like, yeah, that kid really loves chocolate cake,
and that kid just wants to eat chome cake non stop. It just eat
chocolate cake and eat chok cake. I'm talking about myself right here, and
just do and just do it non stop. Sometimes for the benefit of that
kid, you have to say, you know what, no, let's not
have chocolate cake. And with Lebron right now, they need that. They
need to say, hey, listen at thirty eight. It can't play thirty
eight on a nightly basis. You have to be somewhere in that thirty thirty
five range. That's not crazy. If you look, if you have Lebron
James on your team and he's playing incredible basketball or you'll you'll still at the
level that he played last year or anywhere near it. If you get thirty
five minutes of that, you should be able to be You should be able
to be competitive. If you can't in thirty three to thirty five, then
that thirty eight is not gonna help, and you're just gonna be adding wear
and tearing yourself. It's not that. So that's a fantastic way of putting
in because I was gonna rebuttal saying, well, can they win with Lebron
playing fewer than thirty eight? And look, if you can't win with Lebron
playing thirty three minutes per game, this ain't your ear and it's time to
maybe look in the mirror and figure out what to do exactly. Is there
any want anything else about this team? I didn't. We didn't discuss that
you think needs to be touched upon, uh more than anything. Shout out
Rob for failing upwards. That's us a shout out I was. That was
literally what I was about to say as I look, if he if he
wrote a book, or if he writes a book, I need that.
I absolutely need that. No, look, more than anything, I think
this Lakers team is going to be better than you know, obviously, I
think they're gonna better than last year. I'm hopeful that they if they do
make that ultimate move, they make it sooner than later and don't play this
out. You know, you know, don't play this out, you know,
all the way up to the trade deadline, because honestly, if you
do that, you're punning on the season. Even if you do bring those
guys in, I'm not saying it would be impossible to win. You're like
to turn it around and win. I'm just saying it's not as likely.
But more than anything, I do think that I like the direction that Ham
appears to be going in terms of holding everybody accountable and and and making it
an actual team. We'll just see if it works. Jabari, this was
fantastic as always. I love these yearly camp fires that you're so gracious to
come on and have with me. In case anyone skip the intro where you're
able to tell our listeners where they can find you and all the great work
that you do. Again, Dan, thanks so much. I appreciate you
having me, especially on the heels of that terrible performance last year, specifically
because I every single thing that I said was the opposite me. I'm easy,
Jabari Davis NBA. Uh. If you like comedy, you know,
comedy basketball podcast Miles and Jack got Mad Boosey's we don't take ourselves seriously.
We kind of like purposely are looking to be, you know, make ourselves
look like idiots because you know, hey, why not? And an NBA
finals file for anybody that likes, you know, general conversations. Finals between
two guys that you know really love the game. And those two guys are
myself, oh yeah and Robert Ory in case you'd vissit that. Yeah,
so Jabari does the heavy lifting on that podcast, is what he's saying.
Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm I was who I almost said a tournament
I don't you shouldn't say on the pocket I'm the big stick on that pocket.
To BORI, thank you so much as usual for coming on. I
look forward to uh spamming your d ms in the future. Likewise, thank
you so much.