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Speaker 1: What is up, fellow sickos. I am Dan's Valley coming

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at you with another twenty twenty four twenty twenty five

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NBA season look ahead. We're onto the Los Angeles Lakers,

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and you all loyal listeners know what that means. I

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get to speak with my guy, Jabbari Davis. He is

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the brains behind and sometimes co host of Mad Boosties

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with Miles and Jack on iHeart. You can find it

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on the NBA's official website. They do have a low

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bar for guests, because I've I've been on it quite

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a few times at this point, Jabbari, how the heck

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are you doing?

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Speaker 2: First of all, we do not have a low bar.

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You know, we get when we get the big names

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like you. You know, we actually kind of celebrate about it.

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Speaker 1: Who are you more excited about getting Vince Carter or me?

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Speaker 2: It's right there, man, right right here. No, honestly, thank

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you so the thank you very much for every time

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you have blessed us with your presence, and thank you

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for continuing to have me. You know, so I can

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ramble and whine about my Lakers.

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Speaker 1: I will say Mad Boosti's I always forget and I've

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been on the show like five times now. Yeah, I

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always forget about the lightning round at the end. I

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don't know why, and then it comes and I'm like, oh.

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Speaker 2: Shit, it's never gonna be that all that challenging, but

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I do get it. It It catches some folks off guard,

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and to be honest with you, I'm gonna revamp it,

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you know, for the next time you're on to make.

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Speaker 1: Jack got me this pastime because he was giving me

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like New York stuff and I'm like, I'm along Island

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New York are like, I'm never in the city. I

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hate the city. And he's like, what's the best crowd?

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Speaker 2: Oh, you can blame me for that? Those are I

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come up with those. The question should have read, and

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I'm acknowledging this. It should have read, when you're in

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the city, what's the you know, what's the best likes?

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But yeah, I'm sure I'll take the blame for that one.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure there are many people who listening to that.

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We're mad at my choice because I think the last

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time I had a city slice of pizza was like.

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Speaker 2: Pre oh, okay, never mind, well.

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Speaker 1: Here talk about the Lakers. Though you're you're Lakers. I'm

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assigning them to you, I don't want responsibility.

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Speaker 2: I'll take them that statement.

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Speaker 1: We have to start with last season. Where where you

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are right now we're heading into twenty four to twenty five.

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What were some of your biggest takeaways from last year?

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And was moving on from I know the answer to

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the question, but was moving on from Darvin Ham?

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Speaker 2: Like?

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Speaker 1: The right call?

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Speaker 2: All right, let's look that. That's a good that's a

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great two parts of the start things off. My honest

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assessment is, yes, it was the right call. But two

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things can be true here. You know, Darvin was far

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from perfect, you know, and he certainly showed some you know,

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regressions of sorts, you know, when it comes to how

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he managed rotations and his ability to get through to

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the guys at least it appeared to be. But the

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ultimate reality is that you know, that team was going nowhere,

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you know, last year, and I honestly believe that every

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you know, like I won't say the root cause, but

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I think the roster, the roster construction, and obviously the

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availability of the like of the you know, supporting players.

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I think all of that factors in so ultimately, you know,

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we all know the coach is going to be the

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first one to go, but it also did appear that

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he probably was a little bit over his head.

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Speaker 1: What was it specifically, like, was there a biggest factor,

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because I saw a lot of complaints and a lot

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of them were and I could see it like some

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of the rotation questions, being way too married to Torrean Prince,

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not giving Max Christie enough run. It's like I understood

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a lot of it, but a lot of the way

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that Lakers fans and even some of the media members

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spoke was just in this like these opaque terms. It's like,

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what was like the core issue with Dark You just

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think he wasn't ready, like to handle every aspect of

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the job.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, and I'm sure we're going to

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get to this, you know, coming up here shortly when

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you know, when you bring up JJ. But the reality

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is the Lakers are are an extremely difficult job. But

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we know, regardless of who's on the roster, it comes

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with a certain level of heightened expectations that honestly a

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lot of people aren't, you know, aren't necessarily going to

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be ready for And I wouldn't anticipate them being ready

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for it. I'm not making excuses for him, but sometimes

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the reality is the reality. Uh he again, you know,

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like I will go back to the roster construction. I

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will go back to you know, the give you know,

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the unavailability like of of some key gett you know,

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some key players, and acknowledge that that factors in, but

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ultimately you get to a place where it's like, okay,

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well what are you doing with what you have? And

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my chief complaint, you know you already alluded to it.

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You know, I think Max curiosy should have gotten some run,

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especially if you weren't going to be you know, active

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at the deadline and you weren't going to you know,

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do anything in order to improve I'm not even talking

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about this summer. If you weren't going to do anything

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to improve the roster within you, why not try to

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maximize what you have on that roster? And I just

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don't think he did a good job of that. The

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over reliance on Torrian prints is understandable given that he

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has a history with him and you know what quite frankly.

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Speaker 3: Given again here, but you know, and if we're keeping

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it real, outside of a rough start to you know,

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a rough stretch to start the season, Torrian was you know,

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was a very solid player for them, you know, like

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over especially over the second half of the year.

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Speaker 2: But I mean you want him, you want him playing

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great basketball in fifteen to twenty minutes a night and

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not thirty to thirty five minutes a night. And the

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Lakers were just at a place where there there simply

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wasn't enough trust in you know, in a you know,

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a young player in Max Christy and some of the

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other young guys on the on the excuse me, on

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the roster, and you know again it I don't want

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to I don't want to have I don't want to

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hammer you know, Darvin Ham, because I do think he

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was better in his first year than he was in

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his second year. Some of that could be catching lightning

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in a bottle, sure, but I you know, I felt

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as though, okay, like there's at least something to build upon,

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whereas in last year I felt like, oh no, there

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has been a regression. Again. It didn't seem like he

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was getting through to the guys as effectively. And part

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of that could be you know, just general frustration, or

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part of it could be like, you know, like they

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there needed to be uh, you know, they needed more

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from him. Him. But but you know, but ultimately, hey,

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I wish him the best of Look, the Lakers. While

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again I think it was the right decision, I'm just

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not sure it ultimately was the right decision with where they.

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Speaker 1: Are putting I will say the whole If you think

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the problem with the Lakers last year was coaching, they're

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putting that to the test by making virtually no changes

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and then just flipping the head coach. Now I want

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to I have very specific questions about JJ Reddick, but

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I want to know generally, what were your thoughts about

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them going to another Like did it shocking that they

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went for another first time head coach?

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Speaker 2: I should stop being surprised and and and that's not

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a cop, but I should stop being surprised. Look, I continue,

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you know, like last year, I was saying the Lakers

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are not a first year got the job. And the

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reason it's not it's not like a Laker pride thing

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or with anything like that, is just I know what

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comes with that job. I know what comes with that gig,

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and generally you don't want that to be your very

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first experienced coaching. Darvin Ham and you know, like and

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others have had like extensive you know, assistant, you know,

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like careers. So at least there was that you're like

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a player development, You're like, you know, get uh your

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you know, desires or whatnot. But with the with the

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JJ thing, look, I wasn't stunned, but you know, because

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look there was a three month layout in terms of

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a show alongside Lebron. But part of me says, Okay,

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either you guys have nailed this, or you guys are

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completely clueless. There really is no in between. So obviously,

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as a fan, I'm gonna hope that they have nailed this.

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But as a person that's responsible for a lot of content,

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at the end of the day, it will be entertaining

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either way, and it will definitely provide you know, folks

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like you and I and and and and and and

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you know, you know, plenty of your fellow writers with

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all types of stuff to write about this year.

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Speaker 1: So do you have any insight into our expectations for

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what how the Lakers stylistically might change under JJ Redick

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relative to what we've seen over the past two seasons,

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or even more than that.

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Speaker 2: I think more than anything I liked in his initial

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press conference, he mentioned specifically the need to be adaptable

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to your roster and in your game planning and how

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you know, like and specifically how the game is continuing

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to you know, continually evolving. I I don't want to

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make this up, you know about again about bassing Darbinham,

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because it wasn't just him. I didn't see a lot

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of it with Vogel. I didn't see a lot of

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it with a couple of you know, Lakers coaches. But

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you need to be having a modern NBA offense, You

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need to have a modern NBA offensive approach, and I

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just did not necessarily see that over the last couple

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of years. I think we were you know, yeah, I

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say we. I think the Lakers were, you know, far

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too over reliant on ISO basketball at times. I think

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they were, you know, they did not utilize They didn't

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you know, for whatever reason. For the life of me,

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I couldn't understand it, but they didn't utilize, you know,

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enough a D and Lebron pick and roll like when

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they went to it and the like down the stretch

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of the season. It actually worked incredibly well. But for

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whatever reason, they didn't real they didn't have any.

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Speaker 3: It.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes I wonder if there's something about that that we're

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missing because I feel the same way, and I felt

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it about Remember Giannis and Dame and Milwaukee that year

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there was a point like Doc Rivers tried to explore more.

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But remember the the Kevin Durant era Warriors where it

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was like, why aren't we just running Stephen Kevin Durant

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pick and rolls all the time because they're unstoppable?

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Speaker 2: Well, okay, And so the thing with those like with

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with with a scenario like that, it's like, Okay, well,

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I guess both of those are perimeter players, so maybe,

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but but no, no, no, but but but I still

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agree with you. I still agree that you would have

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thought you would have seen at least some of it,

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at least some of it, you know here and there

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when Lebron and Ad it's like, yo, okay, you got

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the guy that's gonna have the ball in his hands

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the majority of the time, and you have one of

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the best rim role you know, the rim runners. You

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have one of the best lab threats, if not the

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best lob threat that we have seen in quite some time.

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Why wouldn't you want to utilize that? Again, not to

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pick on anybody, but for you know, for my money,

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it would have made sense, you know, you know, in

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my mind it would have made sense to you know,

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to do that. So now moving forward, I and I

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and I looked into you know, they get ahead in

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the notes, and I know that we're going to talk

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about a D as a hub. But I'm interested in

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seeing that. I'm interested in seeing what he can do

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with the ball in his hands more often. I've seen

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it in stretches he's made, you know, he's had you know,

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uh games and stretches where it's like, okay, that is

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excellent playmaking, you know, working well out of the pinch post,

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working out well out of the high post, and working

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even working off you know, having some big to big

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action out of the post. I love that. I anticipate

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seeing more, you know, more of that, But ultimately I

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don't know what to expect from JJ, Like this is

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all going to be new. It looked I'm I usually

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use the turd cautiously optimistic. I'm I'm joly curious, morbidly curious.

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Maybe maybe that probably is accurate, morbidly curious where this

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is going to go.

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Speaker 1: I have a follow up on a D obviously, But

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do you think that of the two things that I

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would be interested to see if he puts more of

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an emphasis on The Lakers have just punted on all

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offensive rebounding for like the past three years, and I

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think there's this sentiment that you can't be a good

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offensive rebounding team and also a good defensive team. My

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two pushbacks to that are one, the Lakers ended up

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not being that good of a defensive team anyway. Last year.

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They were like fifteenth or sixteenth or whatever points let

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per possession. And I think four of the top ten

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defenses also ended up ranking in the top ten of

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offensive rebounding. If it wasn't top ten, it was top

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twelve defenses. Is that do they have the personnel to

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make that more of a focus, especially just because from

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my perspective, and the second point, and I'll say it

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now just because it will tie into that, is if

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you're not going to have the three point volume, because

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they did not. They shot the hell out of the

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ball after the All Star break last year, they still

258
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weren't taking enough threes. But if you're not going to

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be a three point shooting team or a team that

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uses a ton of motion, and you're like how many times,

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like you're watching the Lakers way more than I am.

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It's like off the ball, there's not a lot happening

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a lot of the times. So if you're not going

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to utilize those elements, like don't they have the personnel

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to be like, hey, get after it on the offensive?

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Speaker 2: Glas, you would have thought that, like straight up, you

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would have thought and and that's the thing. So I

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I do think there will be a shift in the

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mindset there if I'm not mistaken. JJ also you know

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mentioned that that you know, guys will be crassing the boards.

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You know, he will, you know, uh place an emphasis

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He and his staff will place an emphasis on that

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gang reb like. Look, anybody can gang rebound. Anybody can,

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you know, you like And when I say that, I

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maybe that's you know, an exaggeration. Most NBA players can

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if they want to, if they're put, if they're put

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in a position, uh to succeed there, you know there's

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going to be some you know, some success. Uh. I

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think it really is just a matter of if it has

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to be a mindset that's instilled by the coaching staff,

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you know, you know, from JJ Reddick to Nate McMillan,

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you know, like finding that defensive mindset finding you know,

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like you know, finding how you're going to attack. I

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I'm I guess I could say I'm most interested in

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that heading in like how we're going to it, how

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they're going to attack on both sides of the ball,

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What the mindsets, you know, what the overall mindset is

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going to be. Yes, I would love to see more

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you know, week side you know, week side screens and

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weak side action. I'd love to see more, you know,

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instead of the guy just camping in the corner, you know,

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slashing down the baseline, you know, running up, Like, just

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do something different that makes you less predictable. Please, if

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you're the Lakers, that's all I asked for the first

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twenty five games, be less predictable.

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Speaker 1: I'm still dying to talk about those ad comments that

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JJ made, but I have to start here. So what

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do you make of their decisions outside of the coaching change,

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outside of drafting Dalton connect and Bronnie James. You have

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stayed pat for the most part, and is that I

301
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understand their financial situation is difficult, it's not unnavigable, and

302
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at least they publicly made a big deal about well,

303
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like we're beneath the second apron thanks to Lebron. What

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the second apron for just I don't want to like.

305
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For the cap Dorcs might appreciate this, but for anyone

306
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who's not a cap Dors, what the Lakers have essentially

307
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done is one it's meaningless because they could have just

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made a train aid over the second apron and aggregated

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salary and then just finished beneath the second apron as

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part of that trade. But in theory, what they've now

311
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done is they can aggregate players together as long as

312
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they're taking back the same amount or less money in

313
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a trade. I think that that is useful flexibility to have.

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They have not used it, and so my question to

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you is do we read into it? Is like, are

316
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they actually trying to prioritize the post Lebron? I mean,

317
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look at the commentary around the JJ higher He's going

318
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to be great to develop Austin Reeves, who, by the way,

319
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is closer to thirty than twenty three at this point,

320
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I think. And then Max Christy, who I like Max

321
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Christy at the end of the day, he's still Max

322
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Christi or is it more like okay they were in

323
00:14:42,399 --> 00:14:45,919
on ionis Valenciunis on Klay Thompson on DeMar de Rosen

324
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A little bit like, was it more so about a

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lack of opportunities and hit rate that they didn't do anything,

326
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or do you actually think that there is Maybe it's

327
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a dual belief of well, we're trying to plan around

328
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the Lebron era, so we don't want to move these

329
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future picks or an end, or we actually believe in

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this team and we think coaching was the only issue,

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actually coaching in health.

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Speaker 2: Of course, I'm gonna make a very crass reference here

333
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and feel free to cut it. That's what They're completely fine.

334
00:15:13,279 --> 00:15:15,840
But you know, have you seen the movie New Jack City?

335
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I am not okay. Well, there's a there's a person

336
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that is a you know he he has some issues

337
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with substances. And he mentions, is the character's name is Pooky,

338
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and go with you know, judge that as you will.

339
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But he mentions, Man, I want, I want to stop it,

340
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but it keeps on calling me. It's just calling me.

341
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The Los Angeles Lakers can talk a good game, can

342
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talk about how they're gonna develop this and develop that

343
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and build around this. They are still big game hunting.

344
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I do not care how that sounds. I know how

345
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it makes me feel, because it's like, if you screw

346
00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,080
this up again, you're gonna put the roster in, you're

347
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gonna you're gonna for one, Barry j j in his

348
00:16:00,759 --> 00:16:03,879
very first year if you if you make the wrong choice,

349
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and two you're going to hamstring yourself to where you

350
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,320
you won't have any flexibility. I think I think that, yes,

351
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:12,840
it would have been nice to be able to get

352
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in on on Yona's voluncinis. And I still think that's

353
00:16:14,919 --> 00:16:20,399
a possibility quite frankly, because you know, actually, uh, an

354
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,720
expert that we recently had on Boosti's broke down how

355
00:16:23,879 --> 00:16:26,399
Washington is going to be selling and selling at a

356
00:16:26,559 --> 00:16:29,600
very high rate now that may you know, that's gonna

357
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be difficult because all of a sudden, where you might

358
00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:33,960
have been able to get him in the off season,

359
00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,399
just outright now, you're going to be competing with other

360
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,080
teams that are looking, you know, look, you know, looking

361
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,240
the boast of their you know, their roster and they're rotation.

362
00:16:41,639 --> 00:16:43,799
But unfortunately, yeah, I think the Lakers are still in

363
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the mind still of the mindset of yeah, we can

364
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tinker around the around the edges, or we can swing

365
00:16:50,039 --> 00:16:53,200
for the fences. I mean, hey, the mystery boxes. I mean,

366
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,720
that's a boat, but but what about in the box?

367
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,080
You know, what about the box? I'm being silly, but

368
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,279
I I you know, but that's where I think it

369
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:03,679
kind of lies. I think that they were trying to

370
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trying to, you know, swing and hit big over the

371
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:09,720
offseason and they simply couldn't. And that will continue to

372
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be the mindset heading into this year, all the way

373
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up through all the way up through the deadline. We'll

374
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,839
see it. But well, really, and you know you mentioned,

375
00:17:18,039 --> 00:17:20,119
you know, they were in on the conversations on like

376
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,240
five or six like impressive names. But ultimately, if you

377
00:17:23,279 --> 00:17:26,160
don't get it done, that's all just cute, like you know, like,

378
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:27,839
don't talk about it, be about it, and if you're

379
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:29,680
not going to get it done, don't keep selling me

380
00:17:29,759 --> 00:17:33,160
about nonsense about oh well we were right there. That's great.

381
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:35,319
Speaker 1: I love that. If you're going to talk about it,

382
00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:36,559
be about it. I love that line.

383
00:17:36,799 --> 00:17:37,279
Speaker 2: I do it.

384
00:17:37,319 --> 00:17:39,400
Speaker 1: But so but the way you're framing it, they actually

385
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,240
have cover then, because if you look at what happened

386
00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,839
this summer, there was no like big name that shook

387
00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:45,720
loose like there was Paul George, but they never could

388
00:17:45,759 --> 00:17:48,200
have been in on that really, and like lowry marketing,

389
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:50,720
they never would have had enough to get him, and

390
00:17:50,799 --> 00:17:52,680
so that gives them cover to say, well, like you know,

391
00:17:52,799 --> 00:17:54,839
there wasn't anyone available, but you're going to run into

392
00:17:54,839 --> 00:17:57,279
the same issues every time of if it's a player

393
00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,920
that other teams want, you are never going to have

394
00:18:00,079 --> 00:18:02,559
the best package for them. And so what side of

395
00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:05,279
the fence do you fall on? Whereas would you prefer

396
00:18:05,319 --> 00:18:07,319
that they tried to I don't want to say futs

397
00:18:07,319 --> 00:18:09,000
and fiddle on the margins because you can do that

398
00:18:09,039 --> 00:18:11,920
with minimums, Like would you prefer if they had to

399
00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:13,799
move first round equity or make trays and it brought

400
00:18:13,839 --> 00:18:18,359
back multiple role players, maybe some wings that like, Okay,

401
00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:19,920
they're not going to set us up for the future,

402
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,000
but they very clearly augment our team now. Or do

403
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,000
you support the idea of, you know, if a player

404
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,279
wants to go to LA and makes a you know,

405
00:18:27,319 --> 00:18:29,200
a stink about it, where it's if a Trey Young

406
00:18:29,559 --> 00:18:31,799
shakes loose, or if even if a zach Lavine, if

407
00:18:31,799 --> 00:18:34,039
you can wind up getting him for without giving up

408
00:18:34,039 --> 00:18:36,599
a first round pick at that point because of how far,

409
00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:37,720
perception has shifted.

410
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:38,759
Speaker 2: But like if you're.

411
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,240
Speaker 1: Waiting for something, even Trey Young seems overly ambitious for them,

412
00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:44,960
because I can't unless his stock has fallen that far

413
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,720
around the league. It's the Lakers. I think they're by

414
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:49,559
the way. I think they can offer real stuff like

415
00:18:49,599 --> 00:18:52,799
two Lakers picks and swaps like looking out into the distance,

416
00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,200
plus salary. That's real stuff. But if other teams want

417
00:18:56,279 --> 00:18:59,440
Trey Young, or if other teams if LaMelo ball shakes loose,

418
00:18:59,599 --> 00:19:01,720
You're never gonna have the best trade package. And I'm

419
00:19:01,759 --> 00:19:04,440
asking you this because I honestly don't know where I lie.

420
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,079
Because if you told me that they can get like

421
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,720
the big name, that's the route I'm going because it

422
00:19:09,759 --> 00:19:12,559
makes more sense to maximize what you have going with

423
00:19:12,599 --> 00:19:15,599
a D beyond Lebron. But I just can't envision a

424
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,559
scenario where they are going to be the team that

425
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:19,440
has the offer that gets that guy.

426
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,039
Speaker 2: Because I'm right there with you, I would rather them

427
00:19:22,039 --> 00:19:24,160
go ahead and and put in work on this roster.

428
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,400
I'd rather them go ahead and address the holes. I'd

429
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,440
rather them go ahead and address the redundancy that you

430
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,359
have in your back court when you have in us

431
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,960
and reason the D'Angelo Russell and this is they're you know,

432
00:19:34,079 --> 00:19:37,359
sometimes fans get super sensitive anytime I mention a name

433
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,240
and the like, I didn't make this, so I didn't

434
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,079
make them redundant. I didn't make them. I didn't make

435
00:19:44,079 --> 00:19:46,039
it to where you know, like that that's a rough

436
00:19:46,079 --> 00:19:51,079
back court and against certain matchups in postseason scenarios, the

437
00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:55,880
reality did that. I think, I'm sorry, Like I don't

438
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:57,200
know how I'll say it, Like I like, I'm not

439
00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,160
here to make you feel better about about the squad.

440
00:19:59,279 --> 00:20:01,799
You see it, we all see it. We just hopeful.

441
00:20:02,279 --> 00:20:05,200
But if I were them, I would, honestly, I think

442
00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:07,319
you can get I think a Walker Kessler deal could

443
00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:09,200
be done, and I think he I think that. I

444
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,400
think that does help you. I think a Valentinia's deal

445
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:12,440
could be could be done.

446
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:13,480
Speaker 1: Do you want a big?

447
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,799
Speaker 2: I definitely, I definitely want another primary big because this

448
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,400
is the thing, Like it's cute when people want to

449
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,559
be jokey joking about a d and like, oh he

450
00:20:22,599 --> 00:20:24,359
doesn't want to, yeah, he doesn't want to do he

451
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,519
doesn't want to. And the year that he played a

452
00:20:26,599 --> 00:20:29,599
majority of the four and just played five in stretches

453
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,119
and down the stretch of games is the year they

454
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,160
actually won. So I'm of the opinion, why don't you

455
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,000
give him what he's been asking you for. You brought

456
00:20:38,079 --> 00:20:40,000
him in here in order to be a, if not

457
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:45,359
the driving force, a large part, like a large a

458
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:49,079
large part of the engine. So why not You'll actually

459
00:20:49,079 --> 00:20:51,400
put him in a position, in his best position to

460
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,319
be successful. If he's more comfortable playing next to a

461
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:58,440
legitimate five. Don't put Jackson Hayes who weighs less than

462
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,400
my left leg, no, disrespect less than my left leg

463
00:21:02,759 --> 00:21:05,799
at six foot. No. Get somebody that's not lighting the

464
00:21:05,839 --> 00:21:09,079
ass that will actually take the like the pounding throughout

465
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,200
the course of the year against the guys like embat

466
00:21:11,279 --> 00:21:13,640
and against the guys like Joker, so that you can

467
00:21:13,759 --> 00:21:16,759
have a healthy and upright a d when it comes

468
00:21:16,799 --> 00:21:18,640
to the postseason. I'll be honest with you. To me,

469
00:21:18,839 --> 00:21:20,960
it is very obvious that's the way, that's the way

470
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,359
they should have gone, and and and and that's when

471
00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,319
they've been most successful. So for them to continue to

472
00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:28,160
fight it and you have you know, Darvinhan came in

473
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,400
and coming in last year saying and I said that

474
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:32,000
I wouldn't make this about him, but he was just

475
00:21:32,039 --> 00:21:34,359
most recent. You have him coming in last year saying, well,

476
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:36,079
you know he's gonna play the five and you know,

477
00:21:36,319 --> 00:21:38,400
you know, we like him best there. Okay, that's great.

478
00:21:38,599 --> 00:21:40,240
But if you have a player that like is not

479
00:21:40,319 --> 00:21:45,160
as comfortable there and actively gets beat up there acknowledging

480
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,200
he played his most games of his career last year,

481
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,400
how much you want to be how much are you

482
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:51,319
willing to bet that that's gonna happen again? If if

483
00:21:51,319 --> 00:21:56,240
he's playing bruising minutes so to me, actually address the stuff.

484
00:21:56,519 --> 00:21:59,240
Stop being silly with this. Oh we might get Trey,

485
00:21:59,319 --> 00:22:01,440
or we might get him mystery bocks. Go out and

486
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,319
actually build this roster around these guys and give yourself

487
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,599
a fighting chance, because otherwise we're wasting time here. And

488
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:08,640
that's really what we're doing.

489
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:10,559
Speaker 1: And this is I think there's a number of different

490
00:22:10,559 --> 00:22:12,319
wings that you could go with this one, including a

491
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:13,960
couple of things you just talked about. But so, what

492
00:22:14,079 --> 00:22:17,279
is the biggest storyline for the Lakers this season? Is

493
00:22:17,319 --> 00:22:20,079
it how jj Redick fairs? Is it whether do they

494
00:22:20,079 --> 00:22:22,359
have the gall to make some I don't want to

495
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,680
call it seismic, but like significant roster upgrades or is

496
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,480
it something else that's happening on the court, Like if

497
00:22:27,519 --> 00:22:30,200
they believe in this product, is will Ken his team

498
00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:33,440
level up internally at all? There? What does Lebron look

499
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,480
like at age forty? How many games do Lebron and

500
00:22:35,559 --> 00:22:38,480
ad play? And they played sixty six games together last

501
00:22:38,559 --> 00:22:41,519
year and the Lakers still just weren't considered a contender.

502
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:43,559
That's the thing that blows my mind when I see

503
00:22:43,559 --> 00:22:46,079
fans like say, oh, well, Dalton connects an upgrade over

504
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:48,559
Torrian Princes and one you don't get to just say

505
00:22:48,599 --> 00:22:52,680
that about Torrian Prince was miscast probably relied too much

506
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:54,960
upon by Darvin Ham. But it wasn't like they don't

507
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,559
have wings. They still don't have wings.

508
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:57,960
Speaker 2: Still didn't do anything about that.

509
00:22:59,519 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 1: What is the biggest storyline for you for this team?

510
00:23:02,519 --> 00:23:04,599
Speaker 2: I think we've kind of gone over it. It is

511
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,039
like it's it's there are several things, and you know,

512
00:23:08,079 --> 00:23:10,359
none of them are sexy. Sorry Lakers fans, But it

513
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,000
is going to be how JJ and his crew handle

514
00:23:13,079 --> 00:23:15,680
this staff. It is going to be how they instance

515
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,440
you know, what type of defensive mindset they instill. Because

516
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:20,240
at the same time as I'm saying like, yeah, it's

517
00:23:20,279 --> 00:23:23,720
about the you know, the philosophy and getting everybody, every

518
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,839
everybody to buy in. It's very difficult to make chicken

519
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,839
salad out of chicken shit. Okay, I'm sorry. If you

520
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,680
don't have the defensive personnel, it's very difficult to you know,

521
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,279
put a defensive lineup out there. What you can't you know,

522
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,720
you can perfect it and get the most out of

523
00:23:40,839 --> 00:23:43,599
and maximize guys by putting them in better positions. And

524
00:23:43,759 --> 00:23:45,960
you know, like shifting the you know, shifting the philosophy

525
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:48,799
in terms of crossing the boards, and shifting the philosophy

526
00:23:48,799 --> 00:23:50,759
in terms of like, uh, you know, whether you're gonna

527
00:23:50,759 --> 00:23:52,559
have a D and drop coverage or you know, or

528
00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:55,480
whatever the case may be. Yes, things can be shifted,

529
00:23:55,519 --> 00:23:59,839
but ultimately it's also a matter of the roster. Again,

530
00:24:00,319 --> 00:24:04,119
you can't have three non defenders in your starting five

531
00:24:04,519 --> 00:24:08,559
every single night. You're not going to be successful in

532
00:24:08,599 --> 00:24:12,200
the NBA on a for a you know, in any

533
00:24:12,319 --> 00:24:16,559
real or significant manner if you have that scenario. I think,

534
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:18,640
and this is the thing, this is a port of contention.

535
00:24:19,079 --> 00:24:21,839
Some people think BAM is the most you know, versutile

536
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,359
defender and you know, big defendant league. Some people, you know,

537
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,160
whoever you think it is. I personally have watched a

538
00:24:27,279 --> 00:24:30,000
D up close. I've seen what he can do. I've

539
00:24:30,039 --> 00:24:32,920
seen what he's been asked to cover for. And I

540
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,480
still say, even right now, I'll take a D as

541
00:24:36,519 --> 00:24:39,359
the anchor of my defense. But you can't expect him.

542
00:24:39,519 --> 00:24:41,519
You can't expect him to you know what I'm saying, Like,

543
00:24:41,599 --> 00:24:44,720
you know, make miracles happen when you have just total

544
00:24:44,839 --> 00:24:48,480
sieves and you have individuals that are being permitted to

545
00:24:48,599 --> 00:24:50,759
not really give much of an effort on that end.

546
00:24:51,519 --> 00:24:53,880
No disrespect to the legends, but we all know who

547
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,680
I'm talking about. Uh, you know, for long stretches of

548
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:59,200
the regular season. Of course, you can't have that and

549
00:24:59,279 --> 00:25:01,720
expect him to be good. So, really, what are you

550
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,079
gonna do with this roster? How are you how are

551
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:08,160
you gonna implement your philosophies? And then really truly, how

552
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:10,599
are you going to place your players that you do

553
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,319
ultimately have. How are you gonna put them in the

554
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:13,119
best position to win?

555
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so you bring up an interesting point about

556
00:25:15,319 --> 00:25:17,759
about the defense, and they had an offensive uptick after

557
00:25:17,799 --> 00:25:19,240
the All Star break. I think they were third in

558
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,200
points score per possession, but their defense was bottom five

559
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,920
and a half court during that time. You seem to

560
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:26,720
think that for the like they did some stuff, there

561
00:25:26,759 --> 00:25:28,720
is low hanging fruit where it's like, hey, guys, you

562
00:25:28,759 --> 00:25:30,960
missed a shot, get your asses back on defense. That

563
00:25:31,039 --> 00:25:33,039
was something that killed them towards the latter half of

564
00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:36,160
last year especially. But do you look at this roster

565
00:25:36,519 --> 00:25:39,480
and see a pathway like any even sort of five

566
00:25:39,559 --> 00:25:42,839
man combination where you can say we can lean into

567
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:45,680
one end of the floor, be it offense or defense

568
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,920
without submarining or product on the other end of the floor.

569
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,359
Submarining might be hyperbolic in that front because they have

570
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,960
some lineups where it's okay, like the offensive and defensive

571
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,480
returns are are you know, balanced, But like, do they

572
00:25:58,519 --> 00:26:00,839
have the personnel to sustain that over the course of

573
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,559
an entire year. Do you think this ends up being

574
00:26:02,559 --> 00:26:06,200
a team that in net when when you're looking at

575
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,480
the final products, are always going to have to sacrifice

576
00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:10,319
at one end of the floor if they want to

577
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:11,960
maximize what's happening at the other.

578
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,039
Speaker 2: I think because of the way the person the way

579
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:17,039
the roster is constructed, there's always going to be a

580
00:26:17,039 --> 00:26:19,440
bit of sacrifice. Like if you go offensive. If you

581
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,400
go offense heavy, you know, those are those particular guys

582
00:26:22,799 --> 00:26:26,759
are not defenders, like they just aren't, you know, Delo

583
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:29,440
who'll give you effort, you know, you know some of

584
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:31,720
the times on that end, you know you and it's

585
00:26:31,759 --> 00:26:34,599
not just a you know, fake effort like slap the grind,

586
00:26:34,599 --> 00:26:36,480
you know, slap the ground. Like Bobby Hurley, he actually

587
00:26:36,519 --> 00:26:38,200
you know, is trying out there. He's just not a

588
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,400
great defender. Austin is trying out there. He's just not

589
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,160
a great defender. So like some of it is a

590
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,480
matter of like yeah, like again, like you know, you know,

591
00:26:46,519 --> 00:26:48,720
not to make that crass you know reference it's you know,

592
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,640
you're not making chicken sad, you know, like there's those

593
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:55,480
aren't good parts to make chicken salad out of. I

594
00:26:55,559 --> 00:26:58,440
do think there can be improvements, I think, you know again,

595
00:26:58,559 --> 00:27:01,839
like you know, strategically, uh, you know, you can get

596
00:27:01,839 --> 00:27:04,079
better than what you you know, what you were, especially

597
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:05,839
in the second half last year when it felt like

598
00:27:06,039 --> 00:27:07,640
they all just said like, hey, screw it. You know,

599
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,599
we're gonna play you. We're just gonna play out the stream.

600
00:27:10,839 --> 00:27:13,960
But the and this is the part that hurts the most.

601
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:21,079
They absolutely need the versatility and interchangeability that Jared Vanderbilt brings.

602
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,599
They they were counting, Hey, look say you laugh it.

603
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 1: Up that No, I'm just laughing of the latest update

604
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,079
about we can get into him and gave Vincent too,

605
00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:33,359
because that would be the the rebuke to all of

606
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,119
them setting pouts like well, they're basically getting like two

607
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:37,920
free agency acquisitions with Vando and gave Vincent back. But

608
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,000
the latest update on van do I think it was

609
00:27:40,039 --> 00:27:43,039
Mike Bresnahan said that he's not sure if he's gonna

610
00:27:43,039 --> 00:27:44,720
be ready for training camp because he's still dealing with

611
00:27:44,759 --> 00:27:45,759
that right leg injury.

612
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,079
Speaker 2: All the more reason why they should have gone out

613
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,319
and done something with this roster in the in the

614
00:27:50,319 --> 00:27:53,119
off season. I'm sorry like that, Like that right there

615
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,440
is where I will pound the you know, the front

616
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,160
office and this organization. Because if you knew that you

617
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,440
would that you missed him all of last year, you

618
00:28:00,519 --> 00:28:03,920
couldn't have felt confident. You couldn't have felt like, oh, yeah,

619
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,279
he'll be back and well and it'll be all good. No,

620
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,640
you had you should have anticipated, Hey, there's at least

621
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,960
a chance, there's at least a chance that this is

622
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,599
an ongoing thing. Or something that will pop you'll rear

623
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:16,759
its ugly head you know later on down the road.

624
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,519
The situation with with a Christian Wood. I'm not I'm

625
00:28:20,559 --> 00:28:23,160
not faulting the you know, the medical staff. But what

626
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,720
I will say is either either one side of the

627
00:28:26,759 --> 00:28:29,640
house wasn't having your open communication with the other side

628
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,680
of the house, or they really did say like, oh no,

629
00:28:31,759 --> 00:28:34,119
we're fine. And if they really said oh no, we're fine,

630
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,559
well then we got more problems than then we can

631
00:28:36,599 --> 00:28:39,440
even get to in this conversation. I'm sorry like that,

632
00:28:39,759 --> 00:28:42,880
I like you, you can't tell me that you didn't

633
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,279
at least have a thought like, yeah, maybe we should

634
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:47,839
have a backup to our backup. And the fact that

635
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,759
they didn't is it, you know, honestly is why we're

636
00:28:50,799 --> 00:28:51,119
here now.

637
00:28:52,039 --> 00:28:54,279
Speaker 1: And so when you're looking at Van Doh and even

638
00:28:54,279 --> 00:28:57,960
Gay Vincent specifically, it does feel like they could be

639
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,319
skeleton keys in a sense of if you want way

640
00:29:00,359 --> 00:29:03,680
players Vando like two ways, a stretch like if he's

641
00:29:03,759 --> 00:29:07,440
just if he's shooting and making corner threes, it's you know,

642
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:08,960
it does open up the floor at least a little bit.

643
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,640
Defenses still won't care, but Gabe Vincent is he like

644
00:29:11,759 --> 00:29:13,720
kind of the bigger skeleton key there if you're looking

645
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,279
for two way lineups on this team, if he's able

646
00:29:16,279 --> 00:29:19,000
to stay healthy, because even he I feel like, I

647
00:29:19,039 --> 00:29:21,400
know he had some moments in Miami, but by and large,

648
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:22,920
like if you want to call him two way, like

649
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,000
you're really stretching the term of two way on the

650
00:29:26,039 --> 00:29:28,480
offensive end specifically, I'm.

651
00:29:28,279 --> 00:29:31,599
Speaker 2: Not as high on the prospect of Gabe Vincent as

652
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,160
others seem to be. I think he's a solid I

653
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,839
think he's a solid player that you know, obviously can

654
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:39,279
you know, can contribute, you know, as a rotational guy.

655
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:41,920
But if you if he's your answer and he and

656
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,240
you're expecting him to you know, you know, you provide

657
00:29:45,319 --> 00:29:50,160
enough offense consistently, uh to kind of like make it worthwhile,

658
00:29:50,519 --> 00:29:52,160
Like I just gotta be honest with you. I I

659
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,160
don't see it. I won't lie to you. The unfortunate

660
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,079
thing is I think the van I think Vanderbilt is

661
00:29:57,079 --> 00:29:59,960
actually more important to them because here's the thing. If

662
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,400
like so the whole like you know, like you know,

663
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:04,720
standing in the corner, like if he's not hidden, well,

664
00:30:04,839 --> 00:30:07,880
that also is where I want Reddick and staff to

665
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,200
be more active with this. I don't want a guy

666
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,200
like Jared Vanderbilt to just be saying in a corner.

667
00:30:12,359 --> 00:30:14,640
I want them to utilize his flexibility. I want them

668
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,200
to utilize his athleticism. I want them to move him

669
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:19,680
around or whomever is in that spot. I want them

670
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,920
to be moved around. So again, let you know, like

671
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,079
you know, less predictability, less settling, and honestly, a more

672
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,240
modern approach is really what I'm looking forward to, so

673
00:30:31,359 --> 00:30:33,519
and excuse me, It's what I'm most hopeful for.

674
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 1: So we've heard some variation of this on a number

675
00:30:38,319 --> 00:30:40,640
of occasions, and it's not really specific to a d

676
00:30:40,759 --> 00:30:44,799
but Lebron teams about funneling the offense more through somebody else. Now,

677
00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:48,039
over the past three years, that's been Anthony Davis and

678
00:30:48,359 --> 00:30:51,799
JJ Redick has talked about he wants to use Anthony

679
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:53,680
Davis Moore as an offensive hub, which I take to

680
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,720
me and you mentioned like the pinch post the elbow stuff,

681
00:30:56,039 --> 00:30:57,480
and he was By the way, I do think he

682
00:30:57,519 --> 00:30:59,960
is an underrated pastor, especially when he has space and time.

683
00:31:00,279 --> 00:31:02,920
His assist rate on elbow touches last year was basically

684
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,079
about the same as bam Adebayo on Alphah and Shangoun.

685
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,240
The volume was not nearly the level was for those two,

686
00:31:08,319 --> 00:31:10,920
but he plays a different role in the offense right now.

687
00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:14,400
So my first question to you on this is how

688
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,039
much do we buy this time that it's actually gonna happen,

689
00:31:17,079 --> 00:31:19,079
Because if you go back over the past three seasons

690
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,519
Anthony Davis's front court touches for thirty six minutes, they've

691
00:31:22,599 --> 00:31:25,279
remained basically static. They've gone like up and down a

692
00:31:25,279 --> 00:31:29,440
little bit, And I just feel like, is this sort

693
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,279
of you know, Kyle Taige of the Day More NBA

694
00:31:32,319 --> 00:31:34,079
show like to say, is this the Lucy with the

695
00:31:34,079 --> 00:31:37,200
football meme from Peanuts where it's like they're saying one

696
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:38,799
thing and then they're just gonna rip it away? When

697
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,559
like this comes to like it's a nice concept, but

698
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:43,440
in practice it's never gonna happen. So how much do

699
00:31:43,519 --> 00:31:46,440
we buy into it actually happening under JJ Reddick?

700
00:31:47,119 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 2: I think it can happen, But much like that's a

701
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,240
good reference, and that's how it feels because I've been

702
00:31:53,279 --> 00:31:55,359
yet like each year I've been told like it's going

703
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,359
to be centered around ad and this is the thing.

704
00:31:57,599 --> 00:32:01,039
I agree with you. We we just haven't seen enough

705
00:32:01,079 --> 00:32:03,400
of it. But it has been good when we've seen it.

706
00:32:03,839 --> 00:32:07,079
I have personally witnessed him get better operating out of

707
00:32:07,079 --> 00:32:09,160
the double team. You know know when when to get

708
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,640
you get rid of it. No, it doesn't hurt when

709
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,880
you have actual teammates that anyway. I'm not gonna I'm

710
00:32:15,279 --> 00:32:16,559
not gonna go there.

711
00:32:16,599 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 4: I love how you are this year, man, you know well,

712
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,240
because and usually you know me, I usually come in

713
00:32:22,359 --> 00:32:26,200
you know, far more cautiously or far more optimistic to

714
00:32:26,519 --> 00:32:26,759
you know.

715
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,559
Speaker 2: Now, I'll be straight up and you know what, I

716
00:32:30,599 --> 00:32:33,079
know We're gonna get there eventually. This is a middle

717
00:32:33,119 --> 00:32:37,000
of the pack team that has potential to be halfway decent,

718
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,119
but far from a guarantee. So like, that's the best

719
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,759
I can give you. I know. You know fans want

720
00:32:43,759 --> 00:32:45,680
to hear. No, they're they're a title team. They're a

721
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,200
title team. No, they're not not, as currently constituted, they

722
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,279
are not a title team. I'm not saying that I

723
00:32:51,319 --> 00:32:53,319
have all the answers. I'm not saying that Trey Young

724
00:32:53,359 --> 00:32:55,240
makes him a title team. I'm not saying that, you know,

725
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:59,359
some combination of either Walker Kessler and another wing. I'm

726
00:32:59,359 --> 00:33:01,200
not saying that may simitle team. But I will say

727
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:02,880
it'd be would it would give them a hell of

728
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,559
a lot more of a chance. It would It would

729
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,880
put them at least in the in conversations that they

730
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,640
certainly do not deserve to be in at this point.

731
00:33:13,039 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 1: So to the ad point is, do you think that

732
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:17,000
he is So let's say that they are willing to

733
00:33:17,039 --> 00:33:18,640
use him as more of a hub. Do you've he

734
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,200
mimss someone who is capable of doing that, Let's say

735
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,200
during the non Lebron minutes. And last year, by the way,

736
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,359
the Lakers when Ad played without Lebron, they had an

737
00:33:27,359 --> 00:33:31,200
above average offensive rating. Now the issue becomes, does he

738
00:33:31,279 --> 00:33:33,359
need both Austin Reeves and Diezel Russell on the floor

739
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,279
in those minutes to make sure that that's the case

740
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,480
or is a d as the hub where it's right

741
00:33:37,519 --> 00:33:40,559
you pull Diezl Russell off. Maybe this can all still

742
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:41,400
be tied together.

743
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,640
Speaker 2: I think I think we're going to I think we're

744
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:48,119
gonna find out. I honestly like, like, I think this

745
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:53,599
could Okay, I'm trying. I'm trying to be delicate about this.

746
00:33:53,599 --> 00:33:56,279
This could either be eighties best here as a professional

747
00:33:56,519 --> 00:33:58,039
and I don't know, Like, I don't I'm not saying

748
00:33:58,079 --> 00:33:59,839
like you can score the most points you different score.

749
00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:02,359
I mean just best all around your as a professional

750
00:34:02,599 --> 00:34:05,759
or his most frustrating year as a professional. And I

751
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:07,880
I know that, you know, like I'm presenting a lot

752
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,719
of extreme scenarios. Uh, you're like in this conversation, but

753
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,039
like that's kind of where this team is. There's not

754
00:34:14,039 --> 00:34:15,440
a lot of there's not a lot of middle ground.

755
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:18,719
I think he will be utilized more. I think that

756
00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,360
is a good thing. He'll have more opportunities to you know,

757
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,039
to generate offense, to generate just you know, like you know,

758
00:34:24,079 --> 00:34:27,199
player movement to you know, uh, you know, to make

759
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,920
the game easier for his teammates. That's great, but sometimes

760
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,840
you have to like I don't know, Okay, the hesitation

761
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,119
was because I was gonna say it's it's gonna say

762
00:34:37,119 --> 00:34:39,039
something that's critical. Now I'm just gonna go ahead and

763
00:34:39,039 --> 00:34:43,039
say it, Anthony Davis, this is on you. And what

764
00:34:43,079 --> 00:34:45,800
I mean by that is, you're two damn good to

765
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,400
allow yourself to just be subject completely you know, not

766
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,639
not even subject, but could completely ushered to the corner

767
00:34:53,119 --> 00:34:56,880
for the second half of games. It oftentimes happens in

768
00:34:57,079 --> 00:34:59,599
just the for just the fourth quarter, but there have

769
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,320
been there have been many instances where Anthony the ball's

770
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,880
going through him. He's active, he's aggressive, he's crashing the boards,

771
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,199
he's knocking down you know, he's even knocking down the MIDI.

772
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,960
He's hitting his free throws, he's you know, he's applying

773
00:35:12,039 --> 00:35:17,400
rim presser, he's defending. And then suddenly, sometimes you know,

774
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:21,320
caused by his teammates, sometimes caused by strategy, sometimes out

775
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,119
of nowhere. Darvin would just ic him out and pull

776
00:35:24,199 --> 00:35:26,039
him out like you know, in the middle of of

777
00:35:26,039 --> 00:35:29,119
a great stretch. A lot of different causes. But Anthony

778
00:35:29,159 --> 00:35:32,039
Marshawn Davis, this is on you. You're too damn good

779
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,800
to allow yourself to be you know, you know, to

780
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,760
be relegated to just a side there or a secondary guy.

781
00:35:38,159 --> 00:35:41,159
So I guess the better answer to your question from

782
00:35:41,159 --> 00:35:43,519
earlier of what I'm gonna be watching, what I'm gonna

783
00:35:43,559 --> 00:35:47,559
be watching is can JJ Reddick tap into that? Can

784
00:35:47,639 --> 00:35:50,679
JJ Reddick and his crew Nate McMillan, I don't care

785
00:35:50,679 --> 00:35:52,880
who does it, whomever, I don't care if it's a

786
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,400
ball boy, can you tap into getting Anthony Davis to

787
00:35:56,519 --> 00:36:00,000
be the mean Anthony Davis for the bulk of the minute.

788
00:36:01,039 --> 00:36:04,199
If you do that, we might have some match. If

789
00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:07,480
you can't, and he continues to just you know, fade away,

790
00:36:08,039 --> 00:36:10,840
fade off into the distance and for the record, an THTHK,

791
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,400
Dave's my favorite player in the NBA right now. So,

792
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,039
like nobody's saying, don't say I'm being a hater. Y'all

793
00:36:15,079 --> 00:36:17,280
need it too, y'all know it. But if you can

794
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,079
do that, you might be cooking with you might be

795
00:36:19,119 --> 00:36:20,079
cooking with gas.

796
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:22,280
Speaker 1: Do you think if they put the ball in his

797
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,800
hands more that it will end up increasing Like he's

798
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:28,639
done a good job of cutting out the really long

799
00:36:28,679 --> 00:36:30,639
mid range jumpers the past couple of years, we've seen

800
00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:33,079
that share you have you rewind two years ago, I

801
00:36:33,079 --> 00:36:35,079
think it was like twenty something percent of his shots.

802
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,920
Last year's only thirteen percent, about the same year before.

803
00:36:38,119 --> 00:36:39,760
But if you put the ball in his hands more,

804
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,400
do you think they're at risk of that like him

805
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,519
not getting to the rim as much as a play

806
00:36:45,519 --> 00:36:48,559
finisher or is it that going to be more about

807
00:36:48,559 --> 00:36:51,000
the surroundings where if there's stuff happening away from the

808
00:36:51,039 --> 00:36:53,119
ball that defense have to react to, he can put

809
00:36:53,159 --> 00:36:55,280
the ball in his hands and get to the basket anyway.

810
00:36:55,519 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 2: That I think. I think it's closer to that. I

811
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,280
think it's going to be more of that specifically because

812
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,679
I you know, like when you know, when they put

813
00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,079
him in positions to be successful. He has shown that

814
00:37:07,119 --> 00:37:11,159
he can do these things. But you just it can't

815
00:37:11,199 --> 00:37:13,960
just be him isoed on the wing and say go

816
00:37:14,039 --> 00:37:15,880
to work, you know what I mean, which which is

817
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:17,960
what Darvin was, which is what the staff was doing

818
00:37:18,079 --> 00:37:20,119
last year. Like even when they would, you know, you

819
00:37:20,199 --> 00:37:21,760
look to feature him, they were just like, okay, you

820
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:23,960
got a big man. We're and like, yeah, it would

821
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:25,480
be great if you were able to just you know,

822
00:37:25,559 --> 00:37:27,960
cross somebody up that's you know that that's not there.

823
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:30,960
Put him in spots You'll get him some big to

824
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,719
big action. You'll get you know, like you have movement

825
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,000
around him, have some motion off ball, picks around, move

826
00:37:37,159 --> 00:37:40,800
you know, again, a modern offense around what I consider

827
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,079
an incredible weapon. It's going to look better, Like I

828
00:37:44,159 --> 00:37:45,920
genuinely believe it's going to look better.

829
00:37:47,039 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 1: Max Christy was talking to I think it was Johann

830
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,880
Buja of the Athletic about what JJ Redick wants him

831
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,119
to do on this team. He mentioned on offense specifically,

832
00:37:56,159 --> 00:37:59,559
it was to bring the motion shooting element. What do

833
00:37:59,639 --> 00:38:02,280
you sort of make of the impact that Max Christy

834
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,800
can have, Like, do you do you think he's ready

835
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,440
good enough for that expanded type of role on the

836
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,079
offensive end? Is he someone that defenses will gravitate towards,

837
00:38:10,119 --> 00:38:12,320
which in turn then opens things up for everybody else.

838
00:38:13,199 --> 00:38:16,159
Speaker 2: I think just with with his activity, uh, you know,

839
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,639
he in his athleticism and his size at his position,

840
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,800
he can cause some problems. I think because you know,

841
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,079
to your point, he's not going to be the focus

842
00:38:25,079 --> 00:38:26,559
of the defense in a lot of in a lot

843
00:38:26,559 --> 00:38:28,559
of scenarios, especially if he's playing off of both a

844
00:38:28,679 --> 00:38:31,119
D and Lebron and he'll know he will be able

845
00:38:31,159 --> 00:38:36,079
to operate. It. It it It could provide another element

846
00:38:36,159 --> 00:38:38,199
that the you know, the offense was lacking last year.

847
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,760
There are no guarantees I you know, I'm always gonna

848
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,639
use the sandwich technique. There are absolutely no guarantees that

849
00:38:45,639 --> 00:38:47,920
that comes to fruition. There are no guarantees that he

850
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,840
you know, with you know, additional, with additional you know, opportunities,

851
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:53,719
you know, becomes a guy that say, you know, you

852
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:56,559
can count on thirty seven percent from deep or or

853
00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:00,159
or there's no guarantees of that. I think the pieces

854
00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:03,199
are there. I like Max Christie. I was disappointed in

855
00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:05,840
the staff last year, especially when it was obvious that

856
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,719
they weren't going anywhere, that they didn't work to develop him,

857
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,239
that they didn't work, especially when like and then like

858
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,280
on the flip side, when Gay vincit, all of their

859
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,199
guards were hurt at one point that they didn't do

860
00:39:15,199 --> 00:39:17,280
anything with Jalen Hoods, you know, Sophino, in order to

861
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,519
at least see what they had there in terms of

862
00:39:19,639 --> 00:39:21,119
in terms of a player and when I and I'm

863
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:22,960
I'm not bringing him up to say that I'm expecting

864
00:39:23,079 --> 00:39:26,320
huge things out of him what I'm but my point is, yo,

865
00:39:27,159 --> 00:39:30,440
at least see what you got Max has shown. I'll

866
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,960
be honest with you, you know, like some some talent

867
00:39:33,039 --> 00:39:37,400
and show him some capability. But you know, we don't know, No,

868
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:40,800
we we'll we'll see. That's not a cop out, that's

869
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:42,760
an honest that's an honest answer. We'll see.

870
00:39:43,199 --> 00:39:46,119
Speaker 1: Do you have any impressions of what he is? Defensively,

871
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:49,519
Pete from Laker's Film Laker Film Room did a terrific

872
00:39:49,599 --> 00:39:52,800
video on like Max Christy, He's like, he's sixty six

873
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,840
six nine wingspan. That's fine. But when you go watch

874
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:57,400
him on defense and people's pointing this out, like he

875
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,920
prefers to use space, Like he's not gonna blanket guy

876
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,039
keep up with them. That way, he's gonna use space

877
00:40:02,079 --> 00:40:05,760
to his advantage. I think that's smart and as useful

878
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:08,039
as a secondary defender. But like, if the Lakers are

879
00:40:08,119 --> 00:40:11,920
viewing him as like this primary wing checker, which might

880
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:13,800
be a fair assumption in some of these lineups because

881
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,679
who else is going to take on that role? There

882
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:18,599
are gonna be guys that are able to exploit that

883
00:40:18,679 --> 00:40:20,239
like that are gonna be more physical with him, and

884
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:21,960
I'm wondering if he is going to be able to

885
00:40:22,519 --> 00:40:24,719
hold up to that. Do you have just any we again,

886
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:26,159
we didn't see enough of him last year, but do

887
00:40:26,199 --> 00:40:29,320
you have any just impressions of what he can bring defensively?

888
00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:31,719
Speaker 2: I you know, and and you know, shout out to Pete.

889
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,039
Pete does incredible work. In fact, he's one of my

890
00:40:34,079 --> 00:40:36,639
favorite uh you know, uh basketball Contecret.

891
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,679
Speaker 1: Now he's untethered from the confines of working for the Lakers.

892
00:40:40,679 --> 00:40:42,519
Speaker 2: I love it, and and there you have it.

893
00:40:42,679 --> 00:40:44,719
Speaker 1: I wish nothing but the best. If he wanted to stay,

894
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:46,360
he would still be there. Let me be clear, I'm

895
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:47,159
not not shure.

896
00:40:47,079 --> 00:40:51,360
Speaker 2: That I'm with you, I you know, like him. I agree,

897
00:40:51,559 --> 00:40:53,440
I think that, you know, I think Max has shown,

898
00:40:53,519 --> 00:40:59,039
you know, some capabilities. I would venture to say the

899
00:40:59,039 --> 00:41:01,639
the approach probably had more to do with him being

900
00:41:01,679 --> 00:41:03,760
a young player that you know, was gonna get called,

901
00:41:04,159 --> 00:41:08,000
uh for any incidental content, you know, contact whatsoever, because

902
00:41:08,079 --> 00:41:09,480
you know he you know, he did run into that

903
00:41:09,519 --> 00:41:11,440
at least initially when he was trying to you'll get

904
00:41:11,519 --> 00:41:13,119
up and you'll get up on, you know, with people.

905
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,719
I think the more time he has out there, he'll

906
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:18,679
be able to just kind of like learn people on

907
00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:20,639
an individual basis and kind of like you know, be

908
00:41:20,679 --> 00:41:23,239
able to adjust dependent upon you know, dependent upon who

909
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:25,760
he's going against. And on the flip side of that,

910
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,079
I think the more time, you know, the more reps

911
00:41:28,079 --> 00:41:30,440
he gets, the more the rest will acknowledge like, oh,

912
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,119
you know, this is just a you know, a young

913
00:41:32,159 --> 00:41:34,599
player attempting to you know, attempting to you know, you know,

914
00:41:34,679 --> 00:41:36,320
make his way on this side of the ball. We

915
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,039
don't necessarily we can give him a little bit more

916
00:41:39,039 --> 00:41:42,440
friendly of a whistle. I you know, look, I could

917
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:45,239
be one hundred percent wrong. I think Max Christy is

918
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,239
going to have the type of all right here, here,

919
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,599
here here each year I give you one of these.

920
00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:52,840
I think Max Christy could have the type of year

921
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,480
that say Austin had a couple of years back. And

922
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:57,559
I'm not talking about the same type of player, but

923
00:41:57,599 --> 00:42:00,119
I mean that type of that type of impact or

924
00:42:00,199 --> 00:42:03,199
it's like, hey, we weren't anticipating this, but this is

925
00:42:03,199 --> 00:42:06,360
fan you know, like this very clearly elevated them, you know,

926
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:11,239
elevated the offense in particular with you know, with with Reeves,

927
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,840
but you know, with Christy, I think on both sides

928
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,480
of the ball, if he's given enough time, there could

929
00:42:16,519 --> 00:42:19,079
be that type of impact. And I'm speaking of like

930
00:42:19,119 --> 00:42:20,400
two years ago for Reefs.

931
00:42:20,639 --> 00:42:23,440
Speaker 1: I will say I do think because a lot of

932
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:26,639
the comps I saw for him were like very offensive

933
00:42:26,679 --> 00:42:28,519
oriented and when you go back and watch, like there's

934
00:42:28,519 --> 00:42:29,519
a lot more defense there.

935
00:42:29,519 --> 00:42:29,760
Speaker 2: I don't.

936
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 1: I've seen some people throughout like he could be Michael

937
00:42:32,039 --> 00:42:34,679
Bridges type of player. I think that's probably like the

938
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:38,400
one hundredth percentile outcomes for him. But I do think

939
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:40,239
that he is a I know, people kind of laughed

940
00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:42,039
at the four year, thirty two million dollars deal and

941
00:42:42,079 --> 00:42:43,840
it's the Lakers are I do find it funny that

942
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,360
he was mentioned as a reason that they like JJ

943
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,679
Reddick as the higher But I really do believe that

944
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:51,960
there might be like a two way. I don't mean

945
00:42:52,039 --> 00:42:54,280
role player as a denigration, but someone who is in

946
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:56,679
the closing five of a good team, Like it seems

947
00:42:56,679 --> 00:42:58,039
like he could be that type of player.

948
00:42:58,599 --> 00:43:00,679
Speaker 2: I would agree with that. I think I think that

949
00:43:00,679 --> 00:43:02,920
potential is there, and I hey, look man, when it

950
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:04,960
comes to people laughing at the contract, the funny thing

951
00:43:05,039 --> 00:43:06,960
is like, that's actually a pretty good contract. If you

952
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:08,880
think he has any you know, any you know, uh

953
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:14,639
talent whatsoever. Uh, you're moving forward. Also, Uh, they were

954
00:43:14,639 --> 00:43:16,719
in a position where if they didn't it, at the

955
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,639
very least retained their own guys this this summer, this

956
00:43:20,679 --> 00:43:24,000
summer would have been a travesty, Like just a total travesty.

957
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:27,679
Speaker 1: I do what the what I get a kick out

958
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,119
of is one they very much seem to prioritize like

959
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,760
talent Horton Tucker and now Max Christie more than someone

960
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,599
who had proven to contribute on a title team like

961
00:43:37,639 --> 00:43:41,679
Alex Caruso. So that's the joke. And the other thing is, again,

962
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:43,760
Max Christy might be a great player, but this is

963
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,599
why you don't include it. Why is there a player option?

964
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:49,039
What was Max Christy's leverage to get a player option?

965
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:51,760
What was Tylon Horton Tucker's leverage aside from being with

966
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:53,800
Clutch Sports to get a player option?

967
00:43:54,679 --> 00:43:57,559
Speaker 2: Okay, so that that's the quiet part. And again you know,

968
00:43:58,039 --> 00:43:59,960
people think I'm being too harsh on the.

969
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:00,880
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, did re.

970
00:44:03,039 --> 00:44:05,360
Speaker 2: People. A lot of guys have gotten player option to

971
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:09,320
where it's like, Okay, I mean, like I'll just ask

972
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,960
it exactly if as you ask, what have these guys

973
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,119
done to you to negotiate that? Both?

974
00:44:15,199 --> 00:44:18,440
Speaker 1: No teams more than ever are like they just don't

975
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:22,079
offer restricted free agents, Like they just don't. Like there

976
00:44:22,159 --> 00:44:24,760
wasn't one restricted free agent offer sheet signed this summer,

977
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:26,760
and I think last year, maybe I must take it

978
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:29,679
there was one and it was Utah doing its fuckery

979
00:44:30,039 --> 00:44:35,320
with the Paul Red deal. But like, I just I

980
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:37,320
think that's why people are I'm sure there are people

981
00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:39,599
that just don't know who Max Christy is and which

982
00:44:39,639 --> 00:44:42,559
is the number is fine, he's making na money and

983
00:44:42,599 --> 00:44:45,760
he's better than ke Nag already. But I think it's

984
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:47,480
the player option of it all and the fact that

985
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,360
they've made all these other guys except the best one

986
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,559
of them all and Alex Caruso of the priority.

987
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:55,840
Speaker 2: The Caruso thing is gonna it will get. It continues

988
00:44:55,880 --> 00:45:00,360
to haunt because it was like, look, I try not

989
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:01,960
to just like shit on guys, you know what I'm saying,

990
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:04,360
because like at the end of the day, to acknowledge

991
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,079
for the you know, folks that are listening, we recognize

992
00:45:07,079 --> 00:45:09,039
when we're saying that this isn't a good player, we're

993
00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:11,199
not saying that we're better, Like these guys know more

994
00:45:11,199 --> 00:45:14,440
about basketball, but talent. Horton Tucker wasn't a good player,

995
00:45:14,559 --> 00:45:16,840
and I was, and that was evident, Like yes, like

996
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:18,719
I was intrigued by his land and.

997
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:22,159
Speaker 1: You know, their umby arms and that dribbles.

998
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:26,239
Speaker 2: Exactly, but he wasn't. You know, that should not have

999
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,679
been the decision very c and that it's very clear

1000
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:33,559
at this stage. I'm just what I'm okay. So another

1001
00:45:33,559 --> 00:45:35,960
thing I'm looking for is for the front office to

1002
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,159
show some growth, is for the front office to recognize

1003
00:45:39,159 --> 00:45:42,400
like from like their past mistakes and not continue to

1004
00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:47,280
make them. I'm less cautiously optimistic about that, but I'm hopeful.

1005
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:50,320
Speaker 1: Uh So, I don't know what this is. Is this

1006
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:53,320
called soundbait when it's a podcast? Is it still clickbait?

1007
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:55,519
I have to ask about Brownie James, is my point?

1008
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:56,400
Speaker 2: So got it?

1009
00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:58,119
Speaker 1: Do you have any impressions of him? Do you think

1010
00:45:58,119 --> 00:46:00,480
that he'll get any sort of shots. It's all just

1011
00:46:00,519 --> 00:46:02,880
gonna be, you know, with the G League team, Like

1012
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:06,039
what is just your u By the way, we've said this,

1013
00:46:06,079 --> 00:46:08,800
it's been blabored to death. It was the fifty fifth pick.

1014
00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:11,559
Everybody just stf thank you. It was a fifth pick.

1015
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,039
Let's just let's move on. And the other thing is

1016
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,159
before he had that heart episode, like this was someone

1017
00:46:18,199 --> 00:46:21,159
who was considered a real prospect independent of being Lebron

1018
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:22,960
James's son. And so if you want to take a

1019
00:46:23,159 --> 00:46:24,480
if you want to take a flyer on him in

1020
00:46:24,519 --> 00:46:26,960
the thirties. And by the way, if I was another team,

1021
00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:28,960
I just would have done it as the game, like

1022
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:30,840
would the Lakers give us anything to get the run

1023
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:33,559
up pick? But like at the end of the day,

1024
00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:36,719
it was number fifty five, Like, let's just let's there's

1025
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:38,639
And I'm saying this now because it's gonna be a

1026
00:46:38,639 --> 00:46:41,960
topic of conversation again. Yeah, it's gonna come back around.

1027
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:45,679
Speaker 2: I I just hope he stays healthy. I do anticipate

1028
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:47,360
him playing a lot in the G League because I

1029
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:49,360
think that's like kind of the level where he is

1030
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,800
right now. Yeah, he'll get us. You know, he'll get

1031
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,119
a shot here and there. They'll find a way to

1032
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,679
you know, have a special night for him. Or you know,

1033
00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:00,000
maybe he works himself making me. Maybe he outworks you know,

1034
00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:03,480
uh wod you? Maybe he outword who.

1035
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:05,440
Speaker 1: Gets more minutes with the big club BRONI.

1036
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:09,400
Speaker 2: Or hood which everyone honestly looks better like you like.

1037
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 1: You would hope that that's the case.

1038
00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:15,480
Speaker 2: But no, I think they've already looked. If folks are

1039
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:18,280
worried about, like, oh man, you know it's lebron, they

1040
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,679
already did him the solid. They are like like like

1041
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,760
even even acknowledging that, yes, I would have done the

1042
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:27,320
same thing, because it's the fifty five fifty fifth pick.

1043
00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:29,360
They did him the solid. They got him, you know,

1044
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:30,880
like you know, his his son is on there, your

1045
00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,639
son is on an NBA team, and gotta and gotta

1046
00:47:33,679 --> 00:47:35,320
you know, like, you know, got his deal you'll taken

1047
00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:37,679
care of before the guys. I do you think people.

1048
00:47:37,519 --> 00:47:39,239
Speaker 1: Could take issue with Oh no, no, yeah, if you

1049
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,159
want to make fun of all these other second round

1050
00:47:41,199 --> 00:47:43,119
picks got like basically kind of the same deal. He

1051
00:47:43,159 --> 00:47:45,159
got a little bit more guaranteed money and lebron took

1052
00:47:45,159 --> 00:47:47,440
a pay cut. It evens out, like what I don't

1053
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:48,800
think there it is.

1054
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 2: But but I'm saying that to say I don't have

1055
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:55,280
any expectations for him. I hope that I truly pray

1056
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:57,719
that they do not have expectation for him. And like

1057
00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:02,719
basically any contribution whatsoever from Bronnie should be gravy on

1058
00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:06,360
top of a great meal, as opposed to like a

1059
00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:08,280
side you know what I'm saying, or as opposed to

1060
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:11,559
your ProTem if you're if you're going into this season expecting,

1061
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:15,199
oh no, what we do? Be be for real? I

1062
00:48:15,199 --> 00:48:18,360
almost said be something else for real, but be for real. Okay,

1063
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:22,480
it's just it. I'm hopeful. I hope. I just hope

1064
00:48:22,519 --> 00:48:24,440
he stays healthy. That's all that. That's about all I

1065
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:24,719
can give.

1066
00:48:25,079 --> 00:48:27,480
Speaker 1: So we did an exercise on this podcast leading into

1067
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:30,039
the draft where like I won't pretend to be a

1068
00:48:30,079 --> 00:48:33,239
drafts expert. We do crash courses. Grant I before the draft.

1069
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:36,039
So Grant was asking me for comparisons. If these NBA

1070
00:48:36,119 --> 00:48:38,920
players hit like their best case outcomes. Do you know

1071
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:42,199
who I gave for Bronnie James real soundbait right here,

1072
00:48:42,199 --> 00:48:46,800
if you had to, it was a guard, an active guard.

1073
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:49,800
Speaker 2: Oh okay, because I was gonna say what, like, let

1074
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:53,000
me see and to be clear, like that would have

1075
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:54,519
been a ridiculous one if I if that had been

1076
00:48:54,519 --> 00:48:59,920
an active guard, shake Milton, No, I don't know.

1077
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:08,280
Speaker 1: Oh if everything panned out everything, I don't by the way,

1078
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:11,440
I would bet my life savings against it. That was

1079
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:13,960
my I was like, I kind of see the theory

1080
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:15,840
of what this player could maybe I have, like was

1081
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:18,599
overexposed to him. I'm I would It would be a

1082
00:49:18,639 --> 00:49:21,920
really cool story if he turned into a legitimate NBA

1083
00:49:22,079 --> 00:49:24,480
Like what if he was just like I'm trying, like

1084
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,639
not even an All star, but like just like someone

1085
00:49:27,679 --> 00:49:30,559
who's in like the seventh rotation teams.

1086
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:33,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be amazing, like the Lake. Okay, So

1087
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:35,960
that would be one of those where it's like people

1088
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:37,480
and the Lakers will.

1089
00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:40,840
Speaker 1: Let him walk to the bulls or something when he's no.

1090
00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,280
Speaker 2: No, actually it's even worse. That would one be the

1091
00:49:43,639 --> 00:49:47,559
scenario where people are like fucking Lakers always just get luck. Yeah,

1092
00:49:47,599 --> 00:49:50,119
you know what, Sometimes we do. Sometimes it is a

1093
00:49:50,159 --> 00:49:52,639
matter of just getting lucky. Sometimes it's a matter of

1094
00:49:52,719 --> 00:49:55,000
putting putting yourself in the position. But no, that would

1095
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:57,239
be amazing. I'm not gonna hold my breath for that,

1096
00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:00,599
especially not in his rookie campaign, but I I will say,

1097
00:50:01,039 --> 00:50:02,559
that's a hell of a comp And if he can,

1098
00:50:02,679 --> 00:50:06,199
if even if he were the great value Drew, I

1099
00:50:06,199 --> 00:50:08,679
mean like if even if he were the you know, uh.

1100
00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,079
Speaker 1: Straight straight to streaming service, straight to stream, that would

1101
00:50:13,079 --> 00:50:15,719
that be the modern you can't stay straight to VHS anymore, right.

1102
00:50:15,679 --> 00:50:19,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, straight straight to stream. That would be amazing.

1103
00:50:20,519 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so the other player want to ask

1104
00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:24,599
you about before we get into the cookie cutter portion

1105
00:50:24,679 --> 00:50:27,280
of the podcast, Austin Reeves and I I know I

1106
00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:29,760
troll it with his age, he's still young, but he

1107
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,440
has talked about in terms where it feels like there

1108
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:35,800
are parts of his game that he can still dramatically improve.

1109
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:38,320
When you look at that, is there like an area

1110
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:41,760
that you could realistically, see, oh, Austin Reeves gets better,

1111
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:43,159
or if we reach the point where it's we know

1112
00:50:43,199 --> 00:50:46,360
who Austin Reeves is, the contract contract still looks really good.

1113
00:50:46,639 --> 00:50:48,880
He's gonna get incrementally better, and maybe that takes the

1114
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:51,320
form of, hey, he takes more catching shoot threes and

1115
00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:52,119
they actually go in.

1116
00:50:52,679 --> 00:50:55,679
Speaker 2: I'm I would if I were a betting man, I

1117
00:50:55,679 --> 00:50:58,760
would bet on the incremental improvements as opposed to like

1118
00:50:59,199 --> 00:51:02,480
another lead. Now, look, hey, I'd love to be wrong.

1119
00:51:02,599 --> 00:51:04,800
And if you know, if if if he ends up

1120
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:06,800
taking a leap and he you know, winds up just

1121
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:09,119
blowing us out of the water this year, and folks

1122
00:51:09,199 --> 00:51:11,119
want to come back and say this, you go for it.

1123
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:17,039
Enjoy my My honest assessment is that I think we

1124
00:51:17,159 --> 00:51:19,159
see what Austin is and it's a it's a very

1125
00:51:19,159 --> 00:51:21,400
solid player and a guy that can you know, it

1126
00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:24,320
can be a very a very good piece of a

1127
00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:27,880
good team. You don't want to be over reliant upon him,

1128
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:29,840
like like, if you're asking Austin to be your second

1129
00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:33,840
best player, uh for long periods, you know it might

1130
00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:35,719
not be as realistic. But if you can go into

1131
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:38,559
a situation where he's your fourth or fifth best player.

1132
00:51:38,559 --> 00:51:40,360
I still think, I still think you got X, so

1133
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,480
I'm not anticipating a huge leap, but I do think

1134
00:51:44,599 --> 00:51:46,400
you know, Austin will continue to you know, you know,

1135
00:51:46,519 --> 00:51:47,159
serve his role.

1136
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: I I will say, if you were to ask me

1137
00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:53,519
to rank the players who will benefit most from JJ

1138
00:51:53,599 --> 00:51:57,000
Reddick being there, I'm mix Christy might be one because

1139
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:58,880
I think he's gonna play so like that just might

1140
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,800
f But I look at what Austin Reeves can do

1141
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:05,519
as someone who's like gets downhill, willing to move off

1142
00:52:05,559 --> 00:52:08,199
the ball, willing to screen away from the ball, And

1143
00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:10,679
I just think about what I've heard JJ Reddick talk about,

1144
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:13,920
like on TV and on his the very few podcasts

1145
00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:16,320
of his that I have caught, like his YouTube stuff

1146
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:19,119
or his monologues, and I'm like, that might be if

1147
00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:21,840
if you're really gonna argue that Austin Reeves has this

1148
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:25,039
next front tier to conquer, a next gear to hit

1149
00:52:25,079 --> 00:52:27,840
to where he iss like you framed it, if you're

1150
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:30,000
asking to be your second best or third best player

1151
00:52:30,039 --> 00:52:32,960
on a contender consistently, it might be a stretch right now,

1152
00:52:33,239 --> 00:52:35,159
but his pathway to that When I think about what

1153
00:52:35,199 --> 00:52:37,519
I believe JJ Reddi's about and what Austin Reeves is

1154
00:52:37,519 --> 00:52:39,800
willing to do. I'm like, well, maybe that's kind of it.

1155
00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:41,880
But then I'm also kind of like, well, do the

1156
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:45,519
Lakers have still the spacing necessary to capitalize on everything

1157
00:52:45,559 --> 00:52:47,719
that Austin Reeves is willing to do? And even like

1158
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:49,440
he's pretty good on the ball too. By the way,

1159
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:51,239
I don't need to dismiss that.

1160
00:52:52,119 --> 00:52:55,440
Speaker 2: I yeah, no, okay, honestly, you might be selling me

1161
00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:59,199
even more. But given the circumstances, and and ultimately I'm

1162
00:52:59,239 --> 00:53:00,840
gonna circle back at the end of the year and

1163
00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:06,199
say no, no, I kid, no, no, but no, but

1164
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:10,159
to your point, yes, you know, if if anyone's going

1165
00:53:10,159 --> 00:53:12,559
to benefit, I think it's gonna be you know, you know,

1166
00:53:12,760 --> 00:53:15,079
you know, like you said, Christy, because he's finally actually

1167
00:53:15,079 --> 00:53:18,239
gonna get you'll see some run. I think Reeves will.

1168
00:53:18,599 --> 00:53:21,079
And you know what, as funny as it's gonna sound,

1169
00:53:21,159 --> 00:53:25,000
especially given some of his comments about this player, you know,

1170
00:53:25,039 --> 00:53:27,679
prior to taking the job, I think Anthony Davis liked,

1171
00:53:27,679 --> 00:53:29,519
like I said, like this is this to be? Is

1172
00:53:29,519 --> 00:53:31,280
either gonna be like I said, either gonna be his

1173
00:53:31,639 --> 00:53:33,519
best year, and like we're like, god, dang, you know,

1174
00:53:33,639 --> 00:53:36,679
Anthony this is the Anthony Davis that we wanted to see,

1175
00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:39,679
or it's gonna be you know, frustrating one where again

1176
00:53:39,719 --> 00:53:42,639
that opens up the conversation for a lot of different things. Uh,

1177
00:53:42,679 --> 00:53:44,679
at the deadline in any offseason.

1178
00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:47,039
Speaker 1: I actually forgot to ask you about Dalton connect Do

1179
00:53:47,079 --> 00:53:50,000
you have any early impressions on him? And then is

1180
00:53:50,079 --> 00:53:51,719
this someone that you like as a rookie on a

1181
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:54,280
team with I'm assuming immediate expectations. Is he someone that

1182
00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:56,199
you envisioned playing this year?

1183
00:53:57,119 --> 00:53:59,039
Speaker 2: I do. And the thing of it is I think

1184
00:53:59,079 --> 00:54:02,400
they're gonna need him to they they don't have they

1185
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:04,519
don't have a lot of wings, you know what I'm saying, Like,

1186
00:54:04,559 --> 00:54:07,199
they don't have a lot of depth there. Uh. What

1187
00:54:07,239 --> 00:54:10,079
I'm intrigued by is what he's going to look like defensively?

1188
00:54:10,159 --> 00:54:11,840
Can he guard tos? You know, I mean, can he

1189
00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:13,480
move his feed well enough to guard you know, like

1190
00:54:13,639 --> 00:54:16,880
consistently guard toos? Can he take the physical you know

1191
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:19,679
punishment that's gonna come with running and chasing threes and

1192
00:54:19,719 --> 00:54:21,920
you know running, you know he's gonna get run off screens.

1193
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:23,800
It's gonna be you know, you know, teams are gonna

1194
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:26,119
be a play him physically even you know, even when

1195
00:54:26,119 --> 00:54:28,280
he's on the defensive end. So I'm intrigued to see

1196
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:31,679
what that looks like. But in terms of, you know, expectator,

1197
00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:34,400
overall expectations, I think he's going to be a contributor.

1198
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:37,039
I you know, like, uh, how much he's gonna be

1199
00:54:37,079 --> 00:54:38,760
able to contribute early on is probably going to be

1200
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:41,920
dependent upon you know, is he if he's able to

1201
00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:43,800
you know, you know, grasp all the different concepts, if

1202
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:46,440
he's able to be an effect at least an effective

1203
00:54:46,519 --> 00:54:51,400
you know, defender. But you know, in terms of you know, prospects,

1204
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:53,400
and you know, to the point that you made earlier,

1205
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:55,519
I am far from a draft expert in any way.

1206
00:54:55,599 --> 00:54:57,559
I am taken from the experts when I say this.

1207
00:54:58,039 --> 00:54:59,719
It seems as though he was one of the more

1208
00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:03,159
power products that were out there, at least offensively. So

1209
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:05,519
I am I am happy with I am happy that

1210
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:08,119
we're able to bring give me in again. You know,

1211
00:55:08,119 --> 00:55:10,239
to the point that you made earlier about the Summer league.

1212
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:12,559
You know, summer league, take take Summer league action for

1213
00:55:12,599 --> 00:55:16,360
what it is. He looked after that first performance. He

1214
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:18,760
looked very comfortable, and that was good to see. It

1215
00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:20,920
was good to see him. Even though you know he

1216
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:23,159
didn't necessarily shoot well in his first couple of games,

1217
00:55:23,199 --> 00:55:25,920
he actually looked comfortable getting that shot off, and that,

1218
00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:28,400
you know, that was a plus for me. We'll see

1219
00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:31,119
in terms of how much he's in the rotation, but

1220
00:55:31,159 --> 00:55:33,519
I think he generally genuinely will be in the rotation.

1221
00:55:34,039 --> 00:55:36,599
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to see what he ends up being

1222
00:55:36,599 --> 00:55:39,320
defensively and what types of players he can cover, because

1223
00:55:39,320 --> 00:55:41,159
I don't know that I look at him from what

1224
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:44,079
again little I guess I know and have seen of

1225
00:55:44,159 --> 00:55:47,599
him as someone who's going to be very good defensively,

1226
00:55:48,039 --> 00:55:51,000
but like he's just a little bit longer than you think,

1227
00:55:51,039 --> 00:55:52,920
and he has that his standing reach was like eight

1228
00:55:52,960 --> 00:55:55,800
foot eight or something, which is like I'm pretty sure,

1229
00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:57,320
I guess I should look and see if that's relative

1230
00:55:57,320 --> 00:55:58,760
to him being six or five. But I think that's

1231
00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:01,880
pretty like a big deal. So i'd be if he

1232
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:04,159
can hold up defensively, like if you can throw him

1233
00:56:04,159 --> 00:56:06,440
on twos in certain threes, like that's a really big

1234
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:07,480
deal for this team.

1235
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:10,559
Speaker 2: Huge deal, huge, huge deal because like quite frankly, last year,

1236
00:56:10,599 --> 00:56:13,400
the only player that they have they can that was

1237
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:15,360
even doing a half week to deal a decent job

1238
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:19,079
with with regularity was Torrian Prince like Garden twos and threes.

1239
00:56:19,159 --> 00:56:20,480
He was the only one no like And this is

1240
00:56:20,480 --> 00:56:22,239
the thing, I'm not even trying to knock him, but

1241
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:23,480
like that's all they had.

1242
00:56:25,159 --> 00:56:27,039
Speaker 1: Oh oh, I also have to talk about another player

1243
00:56:27,039 --> 00:56:29,440
a Maya Kopa here, because I didn't really buy into

1244
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:31,679
I thought the Ruy Hachimor deal last summer was just

1245
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:34,320
kind of like eh and the trade itself. They didn't

1246
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:36,400
give up a ton to get him. He's been really

1247
00:56:36,519 --> 00:56:39,760
good and I've been impressed with his ability. I didn't

1248
00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:43,239
see him fitting in as an ancillary device on the

1249
00:56:43,239 --> 00:56:45,760
offensive end, and he's done such a good job to

1250
00:56:45,840 --> 00:56:48,400
me of being like plug and play for them. He's

1251
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:51,400
cut down on like those junkie mid rangers too, and

1252
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:53,800
it feels like he's just making quicker decisions like with

1253
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:57,079
or without the ball would have been, Like, what's impressed

1254
00:56:57,119 --> 00:56:58,760
you the most about that kind of he's been with them,

1255
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:00,679
what a year and a half, now, what's your impressions

1256
00:57:00,719 --> 00:57:02,480
of that rumor experience?

1257
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:05,960
Speaker 2: When Ruy hasn't gone offensively, he like, honestly, he has

1258
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:10,280
been a positive player for them. I'll actually start with

1259
00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:13,000
the negative. You know, with him, he gets lost offensively

1260
00:57:13,039 --> 00:57:15,159
in ways where I'm just like, what are you doing?

1261
00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:18,159
Speaker 1: Honestly, he's if he's not first team, he's second team.

1262
00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:22,119
All that dude looks way bit like that. He should

1263
00:57:22,119 --> 00:57:23,239
be way better defensively.

1264
00:57:23,639 --> 00:57:26,119
Speaker 2: Yes, he's got the body, he's got the strength, he

1265
00:57:26,159 --> 00:57:28,639
can move his feet, he could, yeah, yeah, but he

1266
00:57:28,840 --> 00:57:31,880
just I don't know if it's a you know, gets

1267
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:34,239
lost in the concepts or whatever the case. I don't

1268
00:57:34,239 --> 00:57:36,719
want to, you know, uh, make any accusations, But what

1269
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:39,159
I will say is when I'm watching watching him out there,

1270
00:57:39,159 --> 00:57:43,559
he gets lost, but circling back to the offensive end, yes,

1271
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:47,519
getting he he he. He was far less reliant on

1272
00:57:47,599 --> 00:57:51,079
the random seventeen seconds you know, left on the on

1273
00:57:51,119 --> 00:57:54,079
the shot clock, pull up fifteen foot or over you

1274
00:57:54,119 --> 00:57:56,480
know out you know, two sets of outstretch scans. He's

1275
00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:59,800
not doing that nearly as much, you know, like as before. Uh,

1276
00:58:00,039 --> 00:58:01,760
you know, the way you describe it, I think is

1277
00:58:01,760 --> 00:58:04,440
actually perfect. He has become you'll win, you know again,

1278
00:58:04,639 --> 00:58:07,639
especially if the outside shot is going. But but you know,

1279
00:58:07,679 --> 00:58:09,760
he's not afraid of cutting. He's not afraid of crassing

1280
00:58:09,800 --> 00:58:11,880
the class he's a you know, he has been a

1281
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:14,719
good plug and play guy for them in whatever role

1282
00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:17,199
they've asked him, you'll to fill on the offensive end.

1283
00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:20,119
It really is just a matter of, you know, honestly,

1284
00:58:20,599 --> 00:58:25,039
can he be with it enough defensively to not negate

1285
00:58:25,119 --> 00:58:27,079
anything that he gives you offensively? Yeah?

1286
00:58:27,079 --> 00:58:29,119
Speaker 1: I mean, like he's getting guarded on some of his threes.

1287
00:58:29,159 --> 00:58:29,280
Speaker 2: Now.

1288
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:30,920
Speaker 1: I think that might be the biggest complent I could.

1289
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:34,519
But like defenses, they're not like frantically freaking out about him,

1290
00:58:34,519 --> 00:58:36,760
like they care if is open for three.

1291
00:58:37,239 --> 00:58:39,199
Speaker 2: It matters. It matters when he's on the wing. So

1292
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:41,920
and that in itself is a plus.

1293
00:58:42,239 --> 00:58:44,840
Speaker 1: I believe, Jabari. If you are ready, it is time

1294
00:58:44,880 --> 00:58:49,039
for our cookie cutter portion of the power, right, So

1295
00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:55,280
let's start here. Is there anything about this team in general, weakness, strength,

1296
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:58,280
storyline development, whatever that's flying under the radar that you

1297
00:58:58,280 --> 00:58:59,599
think deserves more shine.

1298
00:59:02,440 --> 00:59:04,159
Speaker 2: I think that when anytime it comes to the Lakers,

1299
00:59:04,159 --> 00:59:06,159
everybody's gonna be you know, it's either the sky is

1300
00:59:06,199 --> 00:59:08,320
falling or the house is burning, or whatever the case

1301
00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:11,559
may be. I think it again. I And and when

1302
00:59:11,559 --> 00:59:14,280
I refer to them as a middle of the pack team,

1303
00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:16,199
you know, you know, some Lakers fans or some people

1304
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:18,639
you will be bothered by that, but actually it's a compliment.

1305
00:59:18,960 --> 00:59:21,360
They're not you know, there's not a bad roster. It's

1306
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:23,920
you know, like, excuse me, it's not a bad team

1307
00:59:24,079 --> 00:59:27,559
all things considered, it's just a flawed roster. So again,

1308
00:59:28,039 --> 00:59:31,800
once again, this goes to they have there are moves,

1309
00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:36,119
and they're they have flexibility that they could actually get

1310
00:59:36,119 --> 00:59:39,719
this thing in order in similar ways to in this opinion,

1311
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:42,079
in similar ways to how they did at the deadline

1312
00:59:42,119 --> 00:59:45,079
two years ago. I do think that there are there's

1313
00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:48,920
enough there and they have enough pieces, whereas they may

1314
00:59:48,920 --> 00:59:51,360
not be able to put together the most impressive package

1315
00:59:51,400 --> 00:59:53,840
for like say like a Donovan midual or any name

1316
00:59:53,880 --> 00:59:56,239
out there, but I do think that they could operate

1317
00:59:56,360 --> 00:59:59,920
around the margins and even you know, even uh, you know,

1318
01:00:01,159 --> 01:00:02,599
to the you know, to the level of a guy

1319
01:00:02,639 --> 01:00:03,920
like you know, like you know, some of the bigs

1320
01:00:03,960 --> 01:00:06,280
that I mentioned earlier. I think they can do that.

1321
01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:12,000
So to me, it's more of everybody's going to act

1322
01:00:12,079 --> 01:00:14,119
like the sky is falling if they, you know, were

1323
01:00:14,159 --> 01:00:17,360
to start out five and seven five and seven. But no,

1324
01:00:17,559 --> 01:00:20,280
this is a solid team and quite frankly, that actually

1325
01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:23,239
puts more pressure on JJ and crew in my estimation,

1326
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:26,119
because you're not going into it completely, you know, you know,

1327
01:00:26,119 --> 01:00:27,920
digging out of a hole you just got to make.

1328
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:29,159
You know, you're just gonna have to find a way

1329
01:00:29,159 --> 01:00:30,960
to make the most of what you got while they're

1330
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:32,880
figuring out what they're gonna do with the rest of

1331
01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:33,320
that roster.

1332
01:00:34,119 --> 01:00:36,800
Speaker 1: So you take stock of the roster right now when

1333
01:00:36,840 --> 01:00:40,159
we're in mid September, what is its biggest need in

1334
01:00:40,199 --> 01:00:43,159
your opinion, that they need to address point.

1335
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:45,800
Speaker 2: Of attack, point of attag defender. It would have been

1336
01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:48,599
great if he had Vando in his flexibility. It would

1337
01:00:48,599 --> 01:00:50,119
be great if you know, you were to tell me

1338
01:00:50,159 --> 01:00:52,440
that gave Vincent is just going to just you know,

1339
01:00:52,519 --> 01:00:56,119
return to form and they don't have enough point of

1340
01:00:56,159 --> 01:00:58,920
attack defense. In my estimation, I also think that they

1341
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:01,079
should have addressed it, like A said, the lack of

1342
01:01:01,119 --> 01:01:04,119
a big you have your you have your guy coming

1343
01:01:04,159 --> 01:01:07,880
out actively advocating once again for that, and that should

1344
01:01:07,880 --> 01:01:09,840
not be the case because again you should have should

1345
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:11,559
have had some conversation with him over the course of

1346
01:01:11,559 --> 01:01:14,679
the summer or leading into the summer, and you probably

1347
01:01:14,719 --> 01:01:19,559
should have addressed that but yeah, no, that's that's that's sorry.

1348
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:22,760
Wait what I actually lost my train of thought because

1349
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:25,639
I started I circled back to that. What was the

1350
01:01:25,679 --> 01:01:26,840
initial question again.

1351
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:28,920
Speaker 1: What's the biggest roster need to you as as a

1352
01:01:28,920 --> 01:01:31,159
mid September before training camp point of.

1353
01:01:31,079 --> 01:01:33,480
Speaker 2: A tag defender, you know, which would be great if

1354
01:01:33,480 --> 01:01:34,719
it could come from the wing.

1355
01:01:34,920 --> 01:01:38,320
Speaker 1: And I just I don't even care. I just need

1356
01:01:38,360 --> 01:01:41,800
like another wing body on this between six seven and

1357
01:01:41,880 --> 01:01:44,920
six nine would be like not not like can play

1358
01:01:44,960 --> 01:01:47,400
the two, three and four. It's just I guess Ruby

1359
01:01:47,440 --> 01:01:49,599
Hotchi Moore is the and Lebron are the closest they

1360
01:01:49,599 --> 01:01:51,519
come to having a wing archetype on this team. And

1361
01:01:51,559 --> 01:01:53,079
I guess Cam Braddish counts.

1362
01:01:53,119 --> 01:01:54,880
Speaker 2: But does he really No, he doesn't, No, he doesn't.

1363
01:01:55,079 --> 01:01:58,960
Like I'm like, okay again, like look, I tried to

1364
01:01:59,079 --> 01:02:01,119
I tried to drink the am you know, kool aid

1365
01:02:01,239 --> 01:02:04,519
last year and realized very quickly, Oh no, no, that's

1366
01:02:04,559 --> 01:02:08,639
not that's tampico, that's not that's not the real thing.

1367
01:02:09,920 --> 01:02:11,480
And I do wish him well because he seems like

1368
01:02:11,599 --> 01:02:13,159
he seems like a genuine guy. It seems like a

1369
01:02:13,159 --> 01:02:16,800
good guy. I hope that he continues to get opportunities.

1370
01:02:16,960 --> 01:02:19,960
I just don't want it to be with my team.

1371
01:02:19,880 --> 01:02:22,199
Speaker 1: So at full strength. When looking at the top ten

1372
01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:24,400
rotation from the stuff that you have said, it seems

1373
01:02:24,440 --> 01:02:27,000
like there might be nine locks. So stop me if

1374
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:30,800
I'm incorrect here. So you have Lebrond Loo, Reeves, Ruey,

1375
01:02:31,320 --> 01:02:35,440
A d Gabe, Vincent, Jared Vanderbilt if he's healthy, Max Christy,

1376
01:02:35,639 --> 01:02:38,119
and then Dalton connect would bring you to nine.

1377
01:02:38,679 --> 01:02:42,719
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think where you have it is probably where

1378
01:02:42,920 --> 01:02:46,320
it will eventually be in terms of like Christian Wood

1379
01:02:46,360 --> 01:02:48,400
would be the next guy, you know, like when you'll

1380
01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:51,079
win when he's back and available obviously if you know

1381
01:02:51,400 --> 01:02:54,000
you still got Jackson in the mix, you know. And

1382
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:55,519
and to be clear, like when I you know, my

1383
01:02:55,599 --> 01:02:57,960
criticisms of Jackson, when I'm saying he's light and asked

1384
01:02:58,079 --> 01:03:01,039
I'm not it look some not everybody's going to be

1385
01:03:01,119 --> 01:03:03,679
a big, bruising guy. So there's nothing wrong. There's nothing

1386
01:03:03,719 --> 01:03:05,719
wrong with him being a rim runner, nothing wrong with

1387
01:03:05,760 --> 01:03:08,679
him being like your third big nothing wrong with that

1388
01:03:08,760 --> 01:03:11,920
at all. We just you know, we know what we need, man,

1389
01:03:12,039 --> 01:03:14,000
we know we know what we need. I think it's

1390
01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:16,280
probably going to look like that, honestly, I think I

1391
01:03:16,280 --> 01:03:20,480
think you probably nailed it, you know, and depending.

1392
01:03:20,199 --> 01:03:22,960
Speaker 1: Upon it changes to the starting five happening at all

1393
01:03:23,039 --> 01:03:24,800
or is it just going to be as of right now?

1394
01:03:24,880 --> 01:03:27,239
Ruy ad reeves d Lo and Lebron.

1395
01:03:27,639 --> 01:03:29,800
Speaker 2: I think if Christy, if Christy gets in there and

1396
01:03:29,880 --> 01:03:32,840
shows that he has continued to improve, I could see

1397
01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:35,159
him jumping into that starting five for one to get

1398
01:03:35,199 --> 01:03:37,519
another you know, another guy with some lanth, another guy

1399
01:03:37,519 --> 01:03:40,000
that can defend, and another guy with some athleticism you know,

1400
01:03:40,039 --> 01:03:42,360
like and that that can can simply move. I could

1401
01:03:42,360 --> 01:03:44,599
see him replacing one of those guards.

1402
01:03:44,840 --> 01:03:46,239
Speaker 1: Would you think d Lo would be the one that

1403
01:03:46,280 --> 01:03:48,400
you pull there and have his creation come off the

1404
01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:50,239
bench at that point.

1405
01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:54,159
Speaker 2: Yes, especially because Delo is a microwave guy. Delo can

1406
01:03:54,199 --> 01:03:55,679
get you know, once he gets it going, you know,

1407
01:03:55,840 --> 01:03:57,599
you know, he can get it going. And I don't

1408
01:03:57,599 --> 01:04:00,400
necessarily you know, think you think that you that to

1409
01:04:00,440 --> 01:04:02,480
be in the starting lineup. I recognize that he would

1410
01:04:02,480 --> 01:04:05,639
probably prefer it. But yeah, of the two, you know,

1411
01:04:05,719 --> 01:04:08,280
Delo would be the guy that I made the six guy.

1412
01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:11,960
Speaker 1: Now, while this is to some extent matchup dependent, if

1413
01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:15,519
you had to guess what their most used crunch time

1414
01:04:15,599 --> 01:04:18,400
unit will be this year. Is it just the starters

1415
01:04:18,559 --> 01:04:22,079
or do you think that you'll see different combination emerge

1416
01:04:22,159 --> 01:04:25,039
is sort of the go to clutch line up.

1417
01:04:25,639 --> 01:04:27,960
Speaker 2: I think it will start off like kind of defaulting

1418
01:04:27,960 --> 01:04:30,840
to the starters, but really, like say, for instance, Vanderbilt

1419
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:34,039
is eventually available, I would definitely, you know, like to

1420
01:04:34,119 --> 01:04:37,400
your point, it'll be situational if he's got it going, uh,

1421
01:04:37,519 --> 01:04:39,800
you know, in on either you know, in either way

1422
01:04:40,079 --> 01:04:42,199
or if you're you know, you need some defensive stops.

1423
01:04:42,199 --> 01:04:44,639
So you're gonna need some you know, additional length uh

1424
01:04:44,679 --> 01:04:46,280
to you know, and and guys that can switch on

1425
01:04:46,599 --> 01:04:50,079
along the perimeter as well as recover, you know, recovered

1426
01:04:50,639 --> 01:04:53,440
to the weak side. You know you're gonna want him

1427
01:04:53,440 --> 01:04:56,960
in there, but ultimately you know he's not available. So

1428
01:04:57,400 --> 01:04:58,800
I look at that, you know, I look at the

1429
01:04:58,800 --> 01:05:00,719
best five and it's probably the starters that you have

1430
01:05:00,760 --> 01:05:01,400
there lined up.

1431
01:05:03,039 --> 01:05:06,920
Speaker 1: Is they're a weirdo, wacky wonko funky lineup, you would

1432
01:05:06,960 --> 01:05:09,679
like to see them? Try mmmm.

1433
01:05:11,280 --> 01:05:16,960
Speaker 2: Sure, give me Austin you actually, you know, give me

1434
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:18,480
what I just you know what I just referred to.

1435
01:05:18,519 --> 01:05:21,760
It's not even weirder weirder or or wacko. Give me

1436
01:05:22,199 --> 01:05:26,480
substitute D'Angelo for Max Christie. Okay, if you want to

1437
01:05:26,480 --> 01:05:29,679
get super funky uh in stretches where you have both

1438
01:05:29,719 --> 01:05:31,960
Dilo and Austin off the court, let me see what

1439
01:05:32,039 --> 01:05:34,800
Dalton Connect can do alongside Max Christy. It might get

1440
01:05:34,920 --> 01:05:36,920
real ugly, but let me see it.

1441
01:05:37,880 --> 01:05:41,039
Speaker 1: I want to see Lebron plus the kids, both his

1442
01:05:41,159 --> 01:05:45,280
literal kid and then the figurative kids. So Lebron, Bronni

1443
01:05:46,159 --> 01:05:49,159
h Dalton Connect, Max Christie, and then I have to

1444
01:05:49,199 --> 01:05:51,800
call Austin Reeves a kid because the Lakers, there's really

1445
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:54,119
no other option. You could throw a d in there

1446
01:05:54,119 --> 01:05:55,679
if you don't want to have Austin that would make

1447
01:05:55,880 --> 01:05:58,119
that would make more sense. But the funky line up

1448
01:05:58,119 --> 01:06:00,920
I want to see is Lebron plus plus his children,

1449
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:02,519
both both literal and figurative.

1450
01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:07,519
Speaker 2: That is fair. Look, I said all everything I've said.

1451
01:06:07,519 --> 01:06:10,519
Over the course of this show. We might see that lineup. Shit,

1452
01:06:10,639 --> 01:06:13,840
I don't know. There may be there may be time

1453
01:06:13,880 --> 01:06:14,679
when we see that.

1454
01:06:15,199 --> 01:06:16,920
Speaker 1: I mean, at some point you have to imagine Lebron

1455
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:18,079
and Bronny will be on the court.

1456
01:06:18,119 --> 01:06:18,960
Speaker 2: Toget gonna happen.

1457
01:06:19,079 --> 01:06:21,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that lineup where Lebron is your day

1458
01:06:21,840 --> 01:06:23,960
Facto five is just a non starter. But it would

1459
01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:25,960
just be fun like Lebron and then like just all

1460
01:06:25,960 --> 01:06:28,079
these kids, including your child.

1461
01:06:28,360 --> 01:06:31,280
Speaker 2: Or Jackson Hayes at the five. There you go. If

1462
01:06:31,559 --> 01:06:32,199
you want.

1463
01:06:32,800 --> 01:06:34,960
Speaker 1: I'd rather, honestly please just put a d in at

1464
01:06:34,960 --> 01:06:36,159
the five at that point in Austin.

1465
01:06:36,760 --> 01:06:39,159
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean really that is the answer. But no,

1466
01:06:39,679 --> 01:06:44,320
if we were going quirky anyhow, yeah, uh, there are

1467
01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:47,000
not I'll say this. On top of there not being

1468
01:06:47,039 --> 01:06:50,159
a lot or as many storylines to actually discuss with

1469
01:06:50,159 --> 01:06:52,280
this team, there aren't as many of the fun quirky

1470
01:06:52,320 --> 01:06:55,320
lineups to discuss with this roster because they're built.

1471
01:06:55,400 --> 01:06:57,079
Speaker 1: If they want to get weird, like they got to

1472
01:06:57,239 --> 01:07:00,239
veer into like some sicko territory to do it, And

1473
01:07:00,320 --> 01:07:03,159
I just don't know, like it would be on paper,

1474
01:07:03,280 --> 01:07:06,119
whatever lineup they roll out to you'll meet, that criteria

1475
01:07:06,159 --> 01:07:09,639
would just be so incoherent. Yeah, you wouldn't expect it

1476
01:07:09,679 --> 01:07:11,679
to work and.

1477
01:07:11,679 --> 01:07:13,480
Speaker 2: The other team, you might catch the other team off

1478
01:07:13,519 --> 01:07:16,440
guard like wait, what right, what is it?

1479
01:07:17,599 --> 01:07:23,599
Speaker 1: Who am I at the five? So as we record

1480
01:07:23,639 --> 01:07:26,800
this on September the fourteenth, they're over under is at

1481
01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:29,400
forty three and a half, Jabari, are you going over

1482
01:07:29,679 --> 01:07:31,199
or under on that win total?

1483
01:07:31,639 --> 01:07:33,440
Speaker 2: Well, I think I probably already gave up the game

1484
01:07:33,480 --> 01:07:35,519
a little bit with that, because I acknowledge I think

1485
01:07:35,559 --> 01:07:38,360
they're probably a middle of the pack team, whether you

1486
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:42,960
know if Okay, a lot of this is contingent upon

1487
01:07:43,119 --> 01:07:45,199
how many games are Ad and Lebron going to play.

1488
01:07:45,199 --> 01:07:47,960
If you tell me that they both play around seventy games,

1489
01:07:48,079 --> 01:07:50,840
I think that they'll win probably right around forty four

1490
01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:55,119
forty forty five games. So I'm going to be you know,

1491
01:07:55,159 --> 01:07:57,719
cautiously optimistic about that and say, like, yeah, I'll take

1492
01:07:57,760 --> 01:08:00,239
the over, not way over. I think the I think

1493
01:08:00,239 --> 01:08:01,960
this is about a forty four to forty five team,

1494
01:08:02,039 --> 01:08:04,880
you know, win team. You know, again, that's not sexy,

1495
01:08:04,960 --> 01:08:08,440
but that's about you know, as currently constituted. That's about

1496
01:08:08,440 --> 01:08:11,679
where I've got the thing. Oh go ahead, Sorry, No,

1497
01:08:11,719 --> 01:08:13,119
I was gonna say, am I crazy on that? Like

1498
01:08:13,119 --> 01:08:15,639
from the outside looking in like it like, is this

1499
01:08:15,719 --> 01:08:17,640
a thirty five win team? No?

1500
01:08:17,720 --> 01:08:20,640
Speaker 1: I mean they are probably If a d or Lebron

1501
01:08:20,760 --> 01:08:23,439
one of them misses any extended amount of time, then yes,

1502
01:08:23,520 --> 01:08:26,479
that is absolutely in play. But it also you could

1503
01:08:26,479 --> 01:08:29,159
say well, everyone has an injury caveat. It's like Lebron's

1504
01:08:29,159 --> 01:08:31,520
in his age forty season and Anthony Davis is always

1505
01:08:31,520 --> 01:08:33,840
dealing with something. And that's the thing that's really tough

1506
01:08:33,840 --> 01:08:38,119
for me to reconcile with them, is that Anthony Davis

1507
01:08:38,159 --> 01:08:41,399
Lebron just played in sixty six games together and yet

1508
01:08:41,399 --> 01:08:43,760
the Lakers won like forty seven games. Is okay, it's good,

1509
01:08:43,800 --> 01:08:46,760
it's not great. You got that type of availability from

1510
01:08:46,760 --> 01:08:48,880
your two best players who have not had that type

1511
01:08:48,920 --> 01:08:53,640
of availability, one in forever individually and two basically never together.

1512
01:08:53,680 --> 01:08:55,640
I don't remember how much they played together during that

1513
01:08:55,960 --> 01:08:58,720
title season, and that was broken up by the you know,

1514
01:08:58,760 --> 01:09:02,960
the coviddemic of course. So I that's what's gonna be

1515
01:09:02,960 --> 01:09:05,279
I haven't done my rim predictions yet, but that's what's

1516
01:09:05,279 --> 01:09:07,680
gonna be tough, because this is a good team on paper,

1517
01:09:07,720 --> 01:09:11,920
but without one of Lebron or a D you're absolutely cooked,

1518
01:09:12,279 --> 01:09:15,520
and typically at the stages of their careers. Well for Lebron,

1519
01:09:15,640 --> 01:09:17,600
but then also just what we've seen with a D

1520
01:09:17,760 --> 01:09:20,119
in the past, you would expect one of them to

1521
01:09:20,199 --> 01:09:22,359
miss semi significant time, and.

1522
01:09:22,319 --> 01:09:24,680
Speaker 2: On top of that, you don't have the you don't

1523
01:09:24,720 --> 01:09:26,840
even have the depth that you did that you might

1524
01:09:26,880 --> 01:09:29,680
have had for both of their positions. With Vanderbilt and

1525
01:09:29,800 --> 01:09:32,840
christian Wood being out, you don't even you don't even

1526
01:09:32,840 --> 01:09:35,479
have the guys that you named last year that hey,

1527
01:09:35,560 --> 01:09:37,760
you know what, we don't when you were saying, when

1528
01:09:37,800 --> 01:09:39,640
you were saying things like, we won't have to we

1529
01:09:39,680 --> 01:09:42,119
won't have to place as much on ads shoulders, we

1530
01:09:42,159 --> 01:09:45,720
won't have to you know, burn Lebron, Yeah, you're going

1531
01:09:45,760 --> 01:09:48,279
to have to. And yeah, look, I don't want to,

1532
01:09:48,319 --> 01:09:50,079
I don't. I don't want to end on a negative note,

1533
01:09:50,119 --> 01:09:51,960
but I will I will say this. I expect the

1534
01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:54,680
Lakers to be, you know, like honestly active at some

1535
01:09:54,720 --> 01:09:58,279
point during the year because they just can't risk burning

1536
01:09:58,319 --> 01:10:01,640
those guys out. And I can't. I can't entirely waste

1537
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:03,239
another season of those guys.

1538
01:10:03,520 --> 01:10:05,319
Speaker 1: No, you can't. And I think that would be the

1539
01:10:05,439 --> 01:10:08,079
argument of waiting out for the bigger fish, because you

1540
01:10:08,119 --> 01:10:10,840
want someone who can carry the minutes when one or

1541
01:10:10,880 --> 01:10:13,359
both of them are off the court, or when one

1542
01:10:13,479 --> 01:10:15,079
or both of them need to miss time or take

1543
01:10:15,199 --> 01:10:17,800
nights off. And that would be the theory. But we

1544
01:10:17,840 --> 01:10:19,520
can end on a high note or at least a

1545
01:10:19,520 --> 01:10:21,840
fun note is there, and I'll boil it down to

1546
01:10:21,880 --> 01:10:24,520
one and under the radar not tall, Like I don't

1547
01:10:24,520 --> 01:10:26,720
want Trey Young as the answer, I don't want Zach

1548
01:10:26,800 --> 01:10:29,359
Lavine as the answer. Is there just an under the

1549
01:10:29,479 --> 01:10:32,960
radar trade target. I don't care if it's a pipe dream.

1550
01:10:33,119 --> 01:10:36,039
I don't care if it's not ambitious enough that you

1551
01:10:36,079 --> 01:10:38,880
would like to see this team monitor actually go after

1552
01:10:39,000 --> 01:10:41,560
because their team, I know we haven't started the season yet,

1553
01:10:41,600 --> 01:10:43,720
but they're like a couple of teams. We actually just

1554
01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:46,079
went through ten of them Grant and I recently, but

1555
01:10:46,119 --> 01:10:48,359
they're at least like probably three to five teams where

1556
01:10:48,359 --> 01:10:50,640
it's no these fuckers need to make a move, and

1557
01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:52,159
the Lakers are one of them. Like, I don't need

1558
01:10:52,199 --> 01:10:53,920
to see the game being played to know that this

1559
01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:55,199
team needs to make a move.

1560
01:10:55,880 --> 01:11:00,199
Speaker 2: Okay, here's one for you. People will say like, oh, man,

1561
01:11:00,279 --> 01:11:04,479
you don't want to go Kyle Kuzma would be great

1562
01:11:04,520 --> 01:11:07,920
on this team. I know, I saw, I know, I know,

1563
01:11:08,319 --> 01:11:13,720
I know, I know. Trust me, believe me, Kyle Kuzma

1564
01:11:13,760 --> 01:11:14,960
would be great on this team.

1565
01:11:15,520 --> 01:11:20,239
Speaker 1: He would, he would, you would be Honestly, I'm assuming

1566
01:11:20,279 --> 01:11:22,239
you won't have like if they had to trade Ruie

1567
01:11:22,319 --> 01:11:24,479
back to Washington, that'd be just weird. But if you

1568
01:11:24,479 --> 01:11:26,560
were able to keep Ruey as part of that, you're

1569
01:11:26,680 --> 01:11:30,399
path to like being so huge. If you're playing Ruey, Kuzma,

1570
01:11:30,439 --> 01:11:32,720
a D and Lebron together and then really who else

1571
01:11:32,800 --> 01:11:36,920
at that point it doesn't matter. I would I like that.

1572
01:11:37,560 --> 01:11:42,640
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, so, okay, please go if you want

1573
01:11:42,640 --> 01:11:45,039
to get silly with it, you could do it, you know,

1574
01:11:45,079 --> 01:11:48,880
make it a larger deal and go after Kuzma and

1575
01:11:48,960 --> 01:11:53,760
Valancenis and then we then we're having a different conversation here. Man.

1576
01:11:54,279 --> 01:11:57,920
Then then we're having a different Then we're having a

1577
01:11:57,920 --> 01:12:01,840
different conversation. So I don't know, Like that's not sexy,

1578
01:12:01,880 --> 01:12:03,199
but that's kind of where I would go.

1579
01:12:03,840 --> 01:12:06,840
Speaker 1: So I have one that's like, you wouldn't do this

1580
01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:09,840
if it's gonna cost you like real pick equity and

1581
01:12:09,880 --> 01:12:11,560
you need to get to a point where it's like

1582
01:12:11,960 --> 01:12:16,319
it's probably Gabe Vincent plus another contract, and then like

1583
01:12:16,560 --> 01:12:19,119
if they're willing to do it for seconds and he's

1584
01:12:19,159 --> 01:12:21,640
also injury prone. But talking to you made me like

1585
01:12:21,720 --> 01:12:23,119
this one. Do you see where I'm going with this?

1586
01:12:23,439 --> 01:12:24,439
Speaker 2: I'm wondering.

1587
01:12:25,600 --> 01:12:30,000
Speaker 1: Robert Williams, the third he Jj Reddick. Would you build

1588
01:12:30,039 --> 01:12:32,960
these things with him? If he's healthy on this team? Now,

1589
01:12:33,520 --> 01:12:35,800
the if of the health is we already got a

1590
01:12:35,880 --> 01:12:38,119
D lebron is forty. Do we want to add another

1591
01:12:38,239 --> 01:12:41,359
variable in the equation again, if it's costing you Gabe

1592
01:12:41,439 --> 01:12:46,640
Vincent a smaller contract and then second rounders, I'm doing

1593
01:12:46,680 --> 01:12:49,359
it in a heartbeat because he is he can play

1594
01:12:49,399 --> 01:12:51,479
next ad, he's a good passer out of the short role,

1595
01:12:51,479 --> 01:12:53,520
and if he's healthy, he doesn't need to be the

1596
01:12:53,560 --> 01:12:55,760
pro like him and a D flying around like that

1597
01:12:55,920 --> 01:12:59,199
is nasty shit. And I I really I was gonna

1598
01:12:59,199 --> 01:13:01,359
give you a wing or maybe like a like an

1599
01:13:01,399 --> 01:13:04,920
advantage creator, But after talking to you, I don't want

1600
01:13:05,000 --> 01:13:06,640
not that. I don't want you want to sound teuness

1601
01:13:06,640 --> 01:13:08,239
on this team, like I need my big to be

1602
01:13:08,279 --> 01:13:10,640
more versatile. If I'm the Lakers and I'm investing in that,

1603
01:13:11,119 --> 01:13:13,039
I would love to see r W three on a

1604
01:13:13,039 --> 01:13:15,319
bunch of teams at this point, But now I'm married

1605
01:13:15,359 --> 01:13:17,199
to r W three on the Lakers.

1606
01:13:17,840 --> 01:13:20,399
Speaker 2: If it's a deal like you just described, give me

1607
01:13:20,439 --> 01:13:23,279
that every day of the week. If you had to

1608
01:13:23,319 --> 01:13:27,399
give up real uh, you know, uh, like a real contract.

1609
01:13:28,279 --> 01:13:30,800
That sounds so disrespectful. If if you had to give

1610
01:13:30,880 --> 01:13:34,199
up a player that's higher in your rotation, I would

1611
01:13:34,239 --> 01:13:35,000
fray if you.

1612
01:13:35,000 --> 01:13:37,399
Speaker 1: Can't give up a first or Dalton Connect, even though

1613
01:13:37,439 --> 01:13:39,319
I think now, if you told me for the next

1614
01:13:39,319 --> 01:13:41,279
two years, which is how long he's under contract, Robert

1615
01:13:41,279 --> 01:13:43,479
Williams is gonna play in a total of one hundred

1616
01:13:43,520 --> 01:13:45,600
and forty regular season games over the next two years,

1617
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:48,239
I would give up Dalton Connect. But because you can't

1618
01:13:48,239 --> 01:13:50,880
say that, that's why it's where it's again, I think

1619
01:13:50,880 --> 01:13:53,119
it has to be how lower the Blazers will want

1620
01:13:53,159 --> 01:13:56,760
to sell because they have a trillion bigs themselves. But

1621
01:13:57,399 --> 01:14:01,520
r W three and Anthony Davis could be hallacious defensive

1622
01:14:01,600 --> 01:14:02,399
duo for sure.

1623
01:14:02,840 --> 01:14:05,800
Speaker 2: I love the thought of that. And and and again

1624
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:10,319
this is all, you know, recognizing he's got some serious,

1625
01:14:10,680 --> 01:14:13,960
you know, HealthWays, I'd be more concerned with him than

1626
01:14:13,960 --> 01:14:15,560
I am with Ad. And that is saying some shit,

1627
01:14:15,720 --> 01:14:16,760
okay like that.

1628
01:14:17,720 --> 01:14:19,880
Speaker 1: Just so much younger, isn't he like only twenty six?

1629
01:14:19,960 --> 01:14:21,079
How old is Robert Williams?

1630
01:14:21,159 --> 01:14:22,239
Speaker 2: You just actually have no idea.

1631
01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:24,800
Speaker 1: And he also that's the other thing, but that might

1632
01:14:24,840 --> 01:14:27,439
be the best of both worlds is he's never been

1633
01:14:27,439 --> 01:14:29,920
someone even when he's healthy, when he's play he's a

1634
01:14:29,920 --> 01:14:32,199
ton of minutes. And so like, okay, you don't want

1635
01:14:32,239 --> 01:14:34,279
Anthony Davis to play. He is only twenty six, by

1636
01:14:34,279 --> 01:14:36,720
the way, that's wild, and he has played, by the

1637
01:14:36,720 --> 01:14:39,319
way in the past two seasons. He's playing a forty

1638
01:14:39,359 --> 01:14:39,920
one games.

1639
01:14:40,279 --> 01:14:43,000
Speaker 2: So yeah, okay, so I get again.

1640
01:14:42,840 --> 01:14:45,600
Speaker 1: It's a salary, a smaller contract because you have to

1641
01:14:45,600 --> 01:14:48,720
make the money work and seconds I'm still on rolling

1642
01:14:48,800 --> 01:14:51,880
the dice because he is the peak of Robert Williams.

1643
01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:54,520
And even if you only get him for twenty something

1644
01:14:54,560 --> 01:14:57,479
minutes a game, that eats up time to okay, AD's

1645
01:14:57,479 --> 01:14:59,560
on the bench, and then you can play those two together.

1646
01:14:59,600 --> 01:15:02,000
So A, he is not necessarily a full time He's

1647
01:15:02,000 --> 01:15:04,560
maybe a part like A it's a it's a co

1648
01:15:04,600 --> 01:15:06,560
opt at the five, like he's splitting his time between

1649
01:15:06,560 --> 01:15:08,039
the four and the five at that point.

1650
01:15:08,199 --> 01:15:11,399
Speaker 2: It's a legitimate risk, but it's a it's a worthwhile risk,

1651
01:15:11,520 --> 01:15:14,800
and it's a type of move that the organization would

1652
01:15:14,800 --> 01:15:16,439
have made in the past and found a way to

1653
01:15:16,479 --> 01:15:19,880
get it done for you know, uh a package that uh,

1654
01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:21,920
you know, other fan bases would end up being pissed

1655
01:15:21,960 --> 01:15:24,600
off about. I guess I just don't have as much

1656
01:15:24,760 --> 01:15:26,680
as much faith in this one proved me.

1657
01:15:27,600 --> 01:15:30,800
Speaker 1: I honestly, I think there's a and Portland valued him

1658
01:15:30,880 --> 01:15:32,840
quite a bit in the deal when they said out

1659
01:15:32,880 --> 01:15:35,640
drew Holiday for there's just a disconnect between Okay, we

1660
01:15:35,680 --> 01:15:38,159
know how good he is, but Yabari. I didn't even

1661
01:15:38,199 --> 01:15:39,800
realize this until I went to look up his age.

1662
01:15:39,840 --> 01:15:42,520
He's logged more than a thousand minutes in a single

1663
01:15:42,560 --> 01:15:47,600
season once, Like, that's not someone they're like, you're as

1664
01:15:47,640 --> 01:15:49,800
of right now, maybe mid season if he's playing well,

1665
01:15:49,800 --> 01:15:51,760
like you're, you're not getting a first round pick for

1666
01:15:51,840 --> 01:15:53,520
him unless you're taking it back like you're a really

1667
01:15:53,600 --> 01:15:55,560
bad contract as part of the equation too.

1668
01:15:55,640 --> 01:15:58,359
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, honestly, that that might be one that they

1669
01:15:58,359 --> 01:16:01,560
could that they could get done like with again without

1670
01:16:01,960 --> 01:16:04,600
without it being super expensive, to be honest with you,

1671
01:16:04,840 --> 01:16:06,439
they could get that one done and still get the

1672
01:16:06,439 --> 01:16:07,560
CUS one done and then we.

1673
01:16:07,520 --> 01:16:10,479
Speaker 1: Are they have the very fun like weird things. So

1674
01:16:10,560 --> 01:16:12,560
like if you can get yeah, for sure, I mean

1675
01:16:12,880 --> 01:16:14,800
you could build you could really build out the deal

1676
01:16:14,840 --> 01:16:16,840
if they want first round picks, Like it becomes Jeremy

1677
01:16:16,840 --> 01:16:18,840
Grant and Robert Williams. The third is something you could

1678
01:16:18,840 --> 01:16:19,359
look at doing.

1679
01:16:19,920 --> 01:16:23,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I would be here for it. So yeah again, This.

1680
01:16:25,239 --> 01:16:28,079
Speaker 1: And Dan for Valley here to advocate for r W

1681
01:16:28,279 --> 01:16:29,479
three to l a.

1682
01:16:29,960 --> 01:16:32,600
Speaker 2: This right here is why I was. I was frustrated

1683
01:16:32,640 --> 01:16:34,680
this summer because I'm like, man, there there are so

1684
01:16:34,800 --> 01:16:37,680
many different things it doesn't have. We don't have to

1685
01:16:37,760 --> 01:16:40,359
go home with the ten. There are a bunch of

1686
01:16:40,399 --> 01:16:43,840
eights over there waiting ready. You could have a great

1687
01:16:43,840 --> 01:16:47,640
conversation with those days and still anyway that that's a

1688
01:16:47,720 --> 01:16:50,399
crude reference, but I'm just saying it doesn't have to

1689
01:16:50,399 --> 01:16:53,399
be the home run. Take some doubles and triples and

1690
01:16:53,399 --> 01:16:54,279
even singles.

1691
01:16:54,680 --> 01:16:57,239
Speaker 1: Sojabar, you've been incredibly generous with your time as always.

1692
01:16:57,319 --> 01:17:00,800
Is there anything else though about this team the Acre season,

1693
01:17:00,840 --> 01:17:03,760
any specific players, something that I didn't ask you about

1694
01:17:03,800 --> 01:17:05,560
that you would like to discuss before I let you go.

1695
01:17:07,800 --> 01:17:10,119
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think we you know, we pretty much covered

1696
01:17:10,159 --> 01:17:14,600
it all. I will say like I probably came across

1697
01:17:14,600 --> 01:17:18,760
as pretty negative you know this episode, but if we're

1698
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:22,159
being real, I was just honest. You know, that's always

1699
01:17:22,199 --> 01:17:24,640
gonna be my squad and I'm always gonna be, you know, hopeful,

1700
01:17:25,000 --> 01:17:27,720
but you know I'm not gonna lie to you folks.

1701
01:17:28,640 --> 01:17:31,079
Speaker 1: Honestly, I don't think you've put anything to outlandish, so

1702
01:17:31,960 --> 01:17:34,640
I think great stuff as always. Are you able just

1703
01:17:34,640 --> 01:17:37,000
to tell our listeners where they can find you on

1704
01:17:37,079 --> 01:17:38,720
the social media machine?

1705
01:17:38,920 --> 01:17:41,319
Speaker 2: I'm easy. I don't tweet very much anymore, but I'm

1706
01:17:41,319 --> 01:17:45,640
at jabari A Davis again. You know, I truly appreciate

1707
01:17:45,680 --> 01:17:48,079
every time that you've blessed us with your presence on

1708
01:17:48,159 --> 01:17:50,640
Mad Boosties. You can find me over there, you know,

1709
01:17:50,680 --> 01:17:53,439
whether I'm behind the scenes or as Dan mentioned earlier,

1710
01:17:53,760 --> 01:17:56,760
sometimes I I will play the six man role. And

1711
01:17:57,760 --> 01:17:58,520
I've never been.

1712
01:17:58,399 --> 01:18:00,000
Speaker 1: On with you as the co host until this last

1713
01:18:00,000 --> 01:18:02,640
Fast Time was the first time that you weren't the producer.

1714
01:18:02,279 --> 01:18:05,039
Speaker 2: Of the show. Is that really because I've jumped on

1715
01:18:05,119 --> 01:18:06,239
a bunch that I.

1716
01:18:06,159 --> 01:18:08,479
Speaker 1: Feel like it should be a stipulation now that next time,

1717
01:18:08,520 --> 01:18:10,560
like whenever I'm on it, should you should make it

1718
01:18:10,600 --> 01:18:12,640
a tricycle with the three of you hosting, or you

1719
01:18:12,720 --> 01:18:14,720
have to boot one of jack Er Miles.

1720
01:18:14,720 --> 01:18:16,479
Speaker 2: At that point, I gotta be honest with you. They

1721
01:18:16,560 --> 01:18:18,199
might be up for that, and then i'd be and

1722
01:18:18,199 --> 01:18:21,439
then i'd be setting myself up for something. But I'm

1723
01:18:21,439 --> 01:18:23,960
here for it. I'm hereful, no, honestly, thank you very.

1724
01:18:23,840 --> 01:18:27,439
Speaker 1: Much, thank you. I appreciate your time, and this was

1725
01:18:27,479 --> 01:18:28,880
a bunch of fun as always, And as you know

1726
01:18:28,960 --> 01:18:31,520
by now, I'll be pestering you again down the line.

1727
01:18:31,640 --> 01:18:32,079
Speaker 2: Coolfully,