Speaker 1: What is up, fellow sickos. I am Dan's Valley coming
at you with another twenty twenty four twenty twenty five
NBA season look ahead. We're onto the Los Angeles Lakers,
and you all loyal listeners know what that means. I
get to speak with my guy, Jabbari Davis. He is
the brains behind and sometimes co host of Mad Boosties
with Miles and Jack on iHeart. You can find it
on the NBA's official website. They do have a low
bar for guests, because I've I've been on it quite
a few times at this point, Jabbari, how the heck
are you doing?
Speaker 2: First of all, we do not have a low bar.
You know, we get when we get the big names
like you. You know, we actually kind of celebrate about it.
Speaker 1: Who are you more excited about getting Vince Carter or me?
Speaker 2: It's right there, man, right right here. No, honestly, thank
you so the thank you very much for every time
you have blessed us with your presence, and thank you
for continuing to have me. You know, so I can
ramble and whine about my Lakers.
Speaker 1: I will say Mad Boosti's I always forget and I've
been on the show like five times now. Yeah, I
always forget about the lightning round at the end. I
don't know why, and then it comes and I'm like, oh.
Speaker 2: Shit, it's never gonna be that all that challenging, but
I do get it. It It catches some folks off guard,
and to be honest with you, I'm gonna revamp it,
you know, for the next time you're on to make.
Speaker 1: Jack got me this pastime because he was giving me
like New York stuff and I'm like, I'm along Island
New York are like, I'm never in the city. I
hate the city. And he's like, what's the best crowd?
Speaker 2: Oh, you can blame me for that? Those are I
come up with those. The question should have read, and
I'm acknowledging this. It should have read, when you're in
the city, what's the you know, what's the best likes?
But yeah, I'm sure I'll take the blame for that one.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are many people who listening to that.
We're mad at my choice because I think the last
time I had a city slice of pizza was like.
Speaker 2: Pre oh, okay, never mind, well.
Speaker 1: Here talk about the Lakers. Though you're you're Lakers. I'm
assigning them to you, I don't want responsibility.
Speaker 2: I'll take them that statement.
Speaker 1: We have to start with last season. Where where you
are right now we're heading into twenty four to twenty five.
What were some of your biggest takeaways from last year?
And was moving on from I know the answer to
the question, but was moving on from Darvin Ham?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: The right call?
Speaker 2: All right, let's look that. That's a good that's a
great two parts of the start things off. My honest
assessment is, yes, it was the right call. But two
things can be true here. You know, Darvin was far
from perfect, you know, and he certainly showed some you know,
regressions of sorts, you know, when it comes to how
he managed rotations and his ability to get through to
the guys at least it appeared to be. But the
ultimate reality is that you know, that team was going nowhere,
you know, last year, and I honestly believe that every
you know, like I won't say the root cause, but
I think the roster, the roster construction, and obviously the
availability of the like of the you know, supporting players.
I think all of that factors in so ultimately, you know,
we all know the coach is going to be the
first one to go, but it also did appear that
he probably was a little bit over his head.
Speaker 1: What was it specifically, like, was there a biggest factor,
because I saw a lot of complaints and a lot
of them were and I could see it like some
of the rotation questions, being way too married to Torrean Prince,
not giving Max Christie enough run. It's like I understood
a lot of it, but a lot of the way
that Lakers fans and even some of the media members
spoke was just in this like these opaque terms. It's like,
what was like the core issue with Dark You just
think he wasn't ready, like to handle every aspect of
the job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, and I'm sure we're going to
get to this, you know, coming up here shortly when
you know, when you bring up JJ. But the reality
is the Lakers are are an extremely difficult job. But
we know, regardless of who's on the roster, it comes
with a certain level of heightened expectations that honestly a
lot of people aren't, you know, aren't necessarily going to
be ready for And I wouldn't anticipate them being ready
for it. I'm not making excuses for him, but sometimes
the reality is the reality. Uh he again, you know,
like I will go back to the roster construction. I
will go back to you know, the give you know,
the unavailability like of of some key gett you know,
some key players, and acknowledge that that factors in, but
ultimately you get to a place where it's like, okay,
well what are you doing with what you have? And
my chief complaint, you know you already alluded to it.
You know, I think Max curiosy should have gotten some run,
especially if you weren't going to be you know, active
at the deadline and you weren't going to you know,
do anything in order to improve I'm not even talking
about this summer. If you weren't going to do anything
to improve the roster within you, why not try to
maximize what you have on that roster? And I just
don't think he did a good job of that. The
over reliance on Torrian prints is understandable given that he
has a history with him and you know what quite frankly.
Speaker 3: Given again here, but you know, and if we're keeping
it real, outside of a rough start to you know,
a rough stretch to start the season, Torrian was you know,
was a very solid player for them, you know, like
over especially over the second half of the year.
Speaker 2: But I mean you want him, you want him playing
great basketball in fifteen to twenty minutes a night and
not thirty to thirty five minutes a night. And the
Lakers were just at a place where there there simply
wasn't enough trust in you know, in a you know,
a young player in Max Christy and some of the
other young guys on the on the excuse me, on
the roster, and you know again it I don't want
to I don't want to have I don't want to
hammer you know, Darvin Ham, because I do think he
was better in his first year than he was in
his second year. Some of that could be catching lightning
in a bottle, sure, but I you know, I felt
as though, okay, like there's at least something to build upon,
whereas in last year I felt like, oh no, there
has been a regression. Again. It didn't seem like he
was getting through to the guys as effectively. And part
of that could be you know, just general frustration, or
part of it could be like, you know, like they
there needed to be uh, you know, they needed more
from him. Him. But but you know, but ultimately, hey,
I wish him the best of Look, the Lakers. While
again I think it was the right decision, I'm just
not sure it ultimately was the right decision with where they.
Speaker 1: Are putting I will say the whole If you think
the problem with the Lakers last year was coaching, they're
putting that to the test by making virtually no changes
and then just flipping the head coach. Now I want
to I have very specific questions about JJ Reddick, but
I want to know generally, what were your thoughts about
them going to another Like did it shocking that they
went for another first time head coach?
Speaker 2: I should stop being surprised and and and that's not
a cop, but I should stop being surprised. Look, I continue,
you know, like last year, I was saying the Lakers
are not a first year got the job. And the
reason it's not it's not like a Laker pride thing
or with anything like that, is just I know what
comes with that job. I know what comes with that gig,
and generally you don't want that to be your very
first experienced coaching. Darvin Ham and you know, like and
others have had like extensive you know, assistant, you know,
like careers. So at least there was that you're like
a player development, You're like, you know, get uh your
you know, desires or whatnot. But with the with the
JJ thing, look, I wasn't stunned, but you know, because
look there was a three month layout in terms of
a show alongside Lebron. But part of me says, Okay,
either you guys have nailed this, or you guys are
completely clueless. There really is no in between. So obviously,
as a fan, I'm gonna hope that they have nailed this.
But as a person that's responsible for a lot of content,
at the end of the day, it will be entertaining
either way, and it will definitely provide you know, folks
like you and I and and and and and and
you know, you know, plenty of your fellow writers with
all types of stuff to write about this year.
Speaker 1: So do you have any insight into our expectations for
what how the Lakers stylistically might change under JJ Redick
relative to what we've seen over the past two seasons,
or even more than that.
Speaker 2: I think more than anything I liked in his initial
press conference, he mentioned specifically the need to be adaptable
to your roster and in your game planning and how
you know, like and specifically how the game is continuing
to you know, continually evolving. I I don't want to
make this up, you know about again about bassing Darbinham,
because it wasn't just him. I didn't see a lot
of it with Vogel. I didn't see a lot of
it with a couple of you know, Lakers coaches. But
you need to be having a modern NBA offense, You
need to have a modern NBA offensive approach, and I
just did not necessarily see that over the last couple
of years. I think we were you know, yeah, I
say we. I think the Lakers were, you know, far
too over reliant on ISO basketball at times. I think
they were, you know, they did not utilize They didn't
you know, for whatever reason. For the life of me,
I couldn't understand it, but they didn't utilize, you know,
enough a D and Lebron pick and roll like when
they went to it and the like down the stretch
of the season. It actually worked incredibly well. But for
whatever reason, they didn't real they didn't have any.
Speaker 3: It.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I wonder if there's something about that that we're
missing because I feel the same way, and I felt
it about Remember Giannis and Dame and Milwaukee that year
there was a point like Doc Rivers tried to explore more.
But remember the the Kevin Durant era Warriors where it
was like, why aren't we just running Stephen Kevin Durant
pick and rolls all the time because they're unstoppable?
Speaker 2: Well, okay, And so the thing with those like with
with with a scenario like that, it's like, Okay, well,
I guess both of those are perimeter players, so maybe,
but but no, no, no, but but but I still
agree with you. I still agree that you would have
thought you would have seen at least some of it,
at least some of it, you know here and there
when Lebron and Ad it's like, yo, okay, you got
the guy that's gonna have the ball in his hands
the majority of the time, and you have one of
the best rim role you know, the rim runners. You
have one of the best lab threats, if not the
best lob threat that we have seen in quite some time.
Why wouldn't you want to utilize that? Again, not to
pick on anybody, but for you know, for my money,
it would have made sense, you know, you know, in
my mind it would have made sense to you know,
to do that. So now moving forward, I and I
and I looked into you know, they get ahead in
the notes, and I know that we're going to talk
about a D as a hub. But I'm interested in
seeing that. I'm interested in seeing what he can do
with the ball in his hands more often. I've seen
it in stretches he's made, you know, he's had you know,
uh games and stretches where it's like, okay, that is
excellent playmaking, you know, working well out of the pinch post,
working out well out of the high post, and working
even working off you know, having some big to big
action out of the post. I love that. I anticipate
seeing more, you know, more of that, But ultimately I
don't know what to expect from JJ, Like this is
all going to be new. It looked I'm I usually
use the turd cautiously optimistic. I'm I'm joly curious, morbidly curious.
Maybe maybe that probably is accurate, morbidly curious where this
is going to go.
Speaker 1: I have a follow up on a D obviously, But
do you think that of the two things that I
would be interested to see if he puts more of
an emphasis on The Lakers have just punted on all
offensive rebounding for like the past three years, and I
think there's this sentiment that you can't be a good
offensive rebounding team and also a good defensive team. My
two pushbacks to that are one, the Lakers ended up
not being that good of a defensive team anyway. Last year.
They were like fifteenth or sixteenth or whatever points let
per possession. And I think four of the top ten
defenses also ended up ranking in the top ten of
offensive rebounding. If it wasn't top ten, it was top
twelve defenses. Is that do they have the personnel to
make that more of a focus, especially just because from
my perspective, and the second point, and I'll say it
now just because it will tie into that, is if
you're not going to have the three point volume, because
they did not. They shot the hell out of the
ball after the All Star break last year, they still
weren't taking enough threes. But if you're not going to
be a three point shooting team or a team that
uses a ton of motion, and you're like how many times,
like you're watching the Lakers way more than I am.
It's like off the ball, there's not a lot happening
a lot of the times. So if you're not going
to utilize those elements, like don't they have the personnel
to be like, hey, get after it on the offensive?
Speaker 2: Glas, you would have thought that, like straight up, you
would have thought and and that's the thing. So I
I do think there will be a shift in the
mindset there if I'm not mistaken. JJ also you know
mentioned that that you know, guys will be crassing the boards.
You know, he will, you know, uh place an emphasis
He and his staff will place an emphasis on that
gang reb like. Look, anybody can gang rebound. Anybody can,
you know, you like And when I say that, I
maybe that's you know, an exaggeration. Most NBA players can
if they want to, if they're put, if they're put
in a position, uh to succeed there, you know there's
going to be some you know, some success. Uh. I
think it really is just a matter of if it has
to be a mindset that's instilled by the coaching staff,
you know, you know, from JJ Reddick to Nate McMillan,
you know, like finding that defensive mindset finding you know,
like you know, finding how you're going to attack. I
I'm I guess I could say I'm most interested in
that heading in like how we're going to it, how
they're going to attack on both sides of the ball,
What the mindsets, you know, what the overall mindset is
going to be. Yes, I would love to see more
you know, week side you know, week side screens and
weak side action. I'd love to see more, you know,
instead of the guy just camping in the corner, you know,
slashing down the baseline, you know, running up, Like, just
do something different that makes you less predictable. Please, if
you're the Lakers, that's all I asked for the first
twenty five games, be less predictable.
Speaker 1: I'm still dying to talk about those ad comments that
JJ made, but I have to start here. So what
do you make of their decisions outside of the coaching change,
outside of drafting Dalton connect and Bronnie James. You have
stayed pat for the most part, and is that I
understand their financial situation is difficult, it's not unnavigable, and
at least they publicly made a big deal about well,
like we're beneath the second apron thanks to Lebron. What
the second apron for just I don't want to like.
For the cap Dorcs might appreciate this, but for anyone
who's not a cap Dors, what the Lakers have essentially
done is one it's meaningless because they could have just
made a train aid over the second apron and aggregated
salary and then just finished beneath the second apron as
part of that trade. But in theory, what they've now
done is they can aggregate players together as long as
they're taking back the same amount or less money in
a trade. I think that that is useful flexibility to have.
They have not used it, and so my question to
you is do we read into it? Is like, are
they actually trying to prioritize the post Lebron? I mean,
look at the commentary around the JJ higher He's going
to be great to develop Austin Reeves, who, by the way,
is closer to thirty than twenty three at this point,
I think. And then Max Christy, who I like Max
Christy at the end of the day, he's still Max
Christi or is it more like okay they were in
on ionis Valenciunis on Klay Thompson on DeMar de Rosen
A little bit like, was it more so about a
lack of opportunities and hit rate that they didn't do anything,
or do you actually think that there is Maybe it's
a dual belief of well, we're trying to plan around
the Lebron era, so we don't want to move these
future picks or an end, or we actually believe in
this team and we think coaching was the only issue,
actually coaching in health.
Speaker 2: Of course, I'm gonna make a very crass reference here
and feel free to cut it. That's what They're completely fine.
But you know, have you seen the movie New Jack City?
I am not okay. Well, there's a there's a person
that is a you know he he has some issues
with substances. And he mentions, is the character's name is Pooky,
and go with you know, judge that as you will.
But he mentions, Man, I want, I want to stop it,
but it keeps on calling me. It's just calling me.
The Los Angeles Lakers can talk a good game, can
talk about how they're gonna develop this and develop that
and build around this. They are still big game hunting.
I do not care how that sounds. I know how
it makes me feel, because it's like, if you screw
this up again, you're gonna put the roster in, you're
gonna you're gonna for one, Barry j j in his
very first year if you if you make the wrong choice,
and two you're going to hamstring yourself to where you
you won't have any flexibility. I think I think that, yes,
it would have been nice to be able to get
in on on Yona's voluncinis. And I still think that's
a possibility quite frankly, because you know, actually, uh, an
expert that we recently had on Boosti's broke down how
Washington is going to be selling and selling at a
very high rate now that may you know, that's gonna
be difficult because all of a sudden, where you might
have been able to get him in the off season,
just outright now, you're going to be competing with other
teams that are looking, you know, look, you know, looking
the boast of their you know, their roster and they're rotation.
But unfortunately, yeah, I think the Lakers are still in
the mind still of the mindset of yeah, we can
tinker around the around the edges, or we can swing
for the fences. I mean, hey, the mystery boxes. I mean,
that's a boat, but but what about in the box?
You know, what about the box? I'm being silly, but
I I you know, but that's where I think it
kind of lies. I think that they were trying to
trying to, you know, swing and hit big over the
offseason and they simply couldn't. And that will continue to
be the mindset heading into this year, all the way
up through all the way up through the deadline. We'll
see it. But well, really, and you know you mentioned,
you know, they were in on the conversations on like
five or six like impressive names. But ultimately, if you
don't get it done, that's all just cute, like you know, like,
don't talk about it, be about it, and if you're
not going to get it done, don't keep selling me
about nonsense about oh well we were right there. That's great.
Speaker 1: I love that. If you're going to talk about it,
be about it. I love that line.
Speaker 2: I do it.
Speaker 1: But so but the way you're framing it, they actually
have cover then, because if you look at what happened
this summer, there was no like big name that shook
loose like there was Paul George, but they never could
have been in on that really, and like lowry marketing,
they never would have had enough to get him, and
so that gives them cover to say, well, like you know,
there wasn't anyone available, but you're going to run into
the same issues every time of if it's a player
that other teams want, you are never going to have
the best package for them. And so what side of
the fence do you fall on? Whereas would you prefer
that they tried to I don't want to say futs
and fiddle on the margins because you can do that
with minimums, Like would you prefer if they had to
move first round equity or make trays and it brought
back multiple role players, maybe some wings that like, Okay,
they're not going to set us up for the future,
but they very clearly augment our team now. Or do
you support the idea of, you know, if a player
wants to go to LA and makes a you know,
a stink about it, where it's if a Trey Young
shakes loose, or if even if a zach Lavine, if
you can wind up getting him for without giving up
a first round pick at that point because of how far,
perception has shifted.
Speaker 2: But like if you're.
Speaker 1: Waiting for something, even Trey Young seems overly ambitious for them,
because I can't unless his stock has fallen that far
around the league. It's the Lakers. I think they're by
the way. I think they can offer real stuff like
two Lakers picks and swaps like looking out into the distance,
plus salary. That's real stuff. But if other teams want
Trey Young, or if other teams if LaMelo ball shakes loose,
You're never gonna have the best trade package. And I'm
asking you this because I honestly don't know where I lie.
Because if you told me that they can get like
the big name, that's the route I'm going because it
makes more sense to maximize what you have going with
a D beyond Lebron. But I just can't envision a
scenario where they are going to be the team that
has the offer that gets that guy.
Speaker 2: Because I'm right there with you, I would rather them
go ahead and and put in work on this roster.
I'd rather them go ahead and address the holes. I'd
rather them go ahead and address the redundancy that you
have in your back court when you have in us
and reason the D'Angelo Russell and this is they're you know,
sometimes fans get super sensitive anytime I mention a name
and the like, I didn't make this, so I didn't
make them redundant. I didn't make them. I didn't make
it to where you know, like that that's a rough
back court and against certain matchups in postseason scenarios, the
reality did that. I think, I'm sorry, Like I don't
know how I'll say it, Like I like, I'm not
here to make you feel better about about the squad.
You see it, we all see it. We just hopeful.
But if I were them, I would, honestly, I think
you can get I think a Walker Kessler deal could
be done, and I think he I think that. I
think that does help you. I think a Valentinia's deal
could be could be done.
Speaker 1: Do you want a big?
Speaker 2: I definitely, I definitely want another primary big because this
is the thing, Like it's cute when people want to
be jokey joking about a d and like, oh he
doesn't want to, yeah, he doesn't want to do he
doesn't want to. And the year that he played a
majority of the four and just played five in stretches
and down the stretch of games is the year they
actually won. So I'm of the opinion, why don't you
give him what he's been asking you for. You brought
him in here in order to be a, if not
the driving force, a large part, like a large a
large part of the engine. So why not You'll actually
put him in a position, in his best position to
be successful. If he's more comfortable playing next to a
legitimate five. Don't put Jackson Hayes who weighs less than
my left leg, no, disrespect less than my left leg
at six foot. No. Get somebody that's not lighting the
ass that will actually take the like the pounding throughout
the course of the year against the guys like embat
and against the guys like Joker, so that you can
have a healthy and upright a d when it comes
to the postseason. I'll be honest with you. To me,
it is very obvious that's the way, that's the way
they should have gone, and and and and that's when
they've been most successful. So for them to continue to
fight it and you have you know, Darvinhan came in
and coming in last year saying and I said that
I wouldn't make this about him, but he was just
most recent. You have him coming in last year saying, well,
you know he's gonna play the five and you know,
you know, we like him best there. Okay, that's great.
But if you have a player that like is not
as comfortable there and actively gets beat up there acknowledging
he played his most games of his career last year,
how much you want to be how much are you
willing to bet that that's gonna happen again? If if
he's playing bruising minutes so to me, actually address the stuff.
Stop being silly with this. Oh we might get Trey,
or we might get him mystery bocks. Go out and
actually build this roster around these guys and give yourself
a fighting chance, because otherwise we're wasting time here. And
that's really what we're doing.
Speaker 1: And this is I think there's a number of different
wings that you could go with this one, including a
couple of things you just talked about. But so, what
is the biggest storyline for the Lakers this season? Is
it how jj Redick fairs? Is it whether do they
have the gall to make some I don't want to
call it seismic, but like significant roster upgrades or is
it something else that's happening on the court, Like if
they believe in this product, is will Ken his team
level up internally at all? There? What does Lebron look
like at age forty? How many games do Lebron and
ad play? And they played sixty six games together last
year and the Lakers still just weren't considered a contender.
That's the thing that blows my mind when I see
fans like say, oh, well, Dalton connects an upgrade over
Torrian Princes and one you don't get to just say
that about Torrian Prince was miscast probably relied too much
upon by Darvin Ham. But it wasn't like they don't
have wings. They still don't have wings.
Speaker 2: Still didn't do anything about that.
Speaker 1: What is the biggest storyline for you for this team?
Speaker 2: I think we've kind of gone over it. It is
like it's it's there are several things, and you know,
none of them are sexy. Sorry Lakers fans, But it
is going to be how JJ and his crew handle
this staff. It is going to be how they instance
you know, what type of defensive mindset they instill. Because
at the same time as I'm saying like, yeah, it's
about the you know, the philosophy and getting everybody, every
everybody to buy in. It's very difficult to make chicken
salad out of chicken shit. Okay, I'm sorry. If you
don't have the defensive personnel, it's very difficult to you know,
put a defensive lineup out there. What you can't you know,
you can perfect it and get the most out of
and maximize guys by putting them in better positions. And
you know, like shifting the you know, shifting the philosophy
in terms of crossing the boards, and shifting the philosophy
in terms of like, uh, you know, whether you're gonna
have a D and drop coverage or you know, or
whatever the case may be. Yes, things can be shifted,
but ultimately it's also a matter of the roster. Again,
you can't have three non defenders in your starting five
every single night. You're not going to be successful in
the NBA on a for a you know, in any
real or significant manner if you have that scenario. I think,
and this is the thing, this is a port of contention.
Some people think BAM is the most you know, versutile
defender and you know, big defendant league. Some people, you know,
whoever you think it is. I personally have watched a
D up close. I've seen what he can do. I've
seen what he's been asked to cover for. And I
still say, even right now, I'll take a D as
the anchor of my defense. But you can't expect him.
You can't expect him to you know what I'm saying, Like,
you know, make miracles happen when you have just total
sieves and you have individuals that are being permitted to
not really give much of an effort on that end.
No disrespect to the legends, but we all know who
I'm talking about. Uh, you know, for long stretches of
the regular season. Of course, you can't have that and
expect him to be good. So, really, what are you
gonna do with this roster? How are you how are
you gonna implement your philosophies? And then really truly, how
are you going to place your players that you do
ultimately have. How are you gonna put them in the
best position to win?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so you bring up an interesting point about
about the defense, and they had an offensive uptick after
the All Star break. I think they were third in
points score per possession, but their defense was bottom five
and a half court during that time. You seem to
think that for the like they did some stuff, there
is low hanging fruit where it's like, hey, guys, you
missed a shot, get your asses back on defense. That
was something that killed them towards the latter half of
last year especially. But do you look at this roster
and see a pathway like any even sort of five
man combination where you can say we can lean into
one end of the floor, be it offense or defense
without submarining or product on the other end of the floor.
Submarining might be hyperbolic in that front because they have
some lineups where it's okay, like the offensive and defensive
returns are are you know, balanced, But like, do they
have the personnel to sustain that over the course of
an entire year. Do you think this ends up being
a team that in net when when you're looking at
the final products, are always going to have to sacrifice
at one end of the floor if they want to
maximize what's happening at the other.
Speaker 2: I think because of the way the person the way
the roster is constructed, there's always going to be a
bit of sacrifice. Like if you go offensive. If you
go offense heavy, you know, those are those particular guys
are not defenders, like they just aren't, you know, Delo
who'll give you effort, you know, you know some of
the times on that end, you know you and it's
not just a you know, fake effort like slap the grind,
you know, slap the ground. Like Bobby Hurley, he actually
you know, is trying out there. He's just not a
great defender. Austin is trying out there. He's just not
a great defender. So like some of it is a
matter of like yeah, like again, like you know, you know,
not to make that crass you know reference it's you know,
you're not making chicken sad, you know, like there's those
aren't good parts to make chicken salad out of. I
do think there can be improvements, I think, you know again,
like you know, strategically, uh, you know, you can get
better than what you you know, what you were, especially
in the second half last year when it felt like
they all just said like, hey, screw it. You know,
we're gonna play you. We're just gonna play out the stream.
But the and this is the part that hurts the most.
They absolutely need the versatility and interchangeability that Jared Vanderbilt brings.
They they were counting, Hey, look say you laugh it.
Speaker 1: Up that No, I'm just laughing of the latest update
about we can get into him and gave Vincent too,
because that would be the the rebuke to all of
them setting pouts like well, they're basically getting like two
free agency acquisitions with Vando and gave Vincent back. But
the latest update on van do I think it was
Mike Bresnahan said that he's not sure if he's gonna
be ready for training camp because he's still dealing with
that right leg injury.
Speaker 2: All the more reason why they should have gone out
and done something with this roster in the in the
off season. I'm sorry like that, Like that right there
is where I will pound the you know, the front
office and this organization. Because if you knew that you
would that you missed him all of last year, you
couldn't have felt confident. You couldn't have felt like, oh, yeah,
he'll be back and well and it'll be all good. No,
you had you should have anticipated, Hey, there's at least
a chance, there's at least a chance that this is
an ongoing thing. Or something that will pop you'll rear
its ugly head you know later on down the road.
The situation with with a Christian Wood. I'm not I'm
not faulting the you know, the medical staff. But what
I will say is either either one side of the
house wasn't having your open communication with the other side
of the house, or they really did say like, oh no,
we're fine. And if they really said oh no, we're fine,
well then we got more problems than then we can
even get to in this conversation. I'm sorry like that,
I like you, you can't tell me that you didn't
at least have a thought like, yeah, maybe we should
have a backup to our backup. And the fact that
they didn't is it, you know, honestly is why we're
here now.
Speaker 1: And so when you're looking at Van Doh and even
Gay Vincent specifically, it does feel like they could be
skeleton keys in a sense of if you want way
players Vando like two ways, a stretch like if he's
just if he's shooting and making corner threes, it's you know,
it does open up the floor at least a little bit.
Defenses still won't care, but Gabe Vincent is he like
kind of the bigger skeleton key there if you're looking
for two way lineups on this team, if he's able
to stay healthy, because even he I feel like, I
know he had some moments in Miami, but by and large,
like if you want to call him two way, like
you're really stretching the term of two way on the
offensive end specifically, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not as high on the prospect of Gabe Vincent as
others seem to be. I think he's a solid I
think he's a solid player that you know, obviously can
you know, can contribute, you know, as a rotational guy.
But if you if he's your answer and he and
you're expecting him to you know, you know, you provide
enough offense consistently, uh to kind of like make it worthwhile,
Like I just gotta be honest with you. I I
don't see it. I won't lie to you. The unfortunate
thing is I think the van I think Vanderbilt is
actually more important to them because here's the thing. If
like so the whole like you know, like you know,
standing in the corner, like if he's not hidden, well,
that also is where I want Reddick and staff to
be more active with this. I don't want a guy
like Jared Vanderbilt to just be saying in a corner.
I want them to utilize his flexibility. I want them
to utilize his athleticism. I want them to move him
around or whomever is in that spot. I want them
to be moved around. So again, let you know, like
you know, less predictability, less settling, and honestly, a more
modern approach is really what I'm looking forward to, so
and excuse me, It's what I'm most hopeful for.
Speaker 1: So we've heard some variation of this on a number
of occasions, and it's not really specific to a d
but Lebron teams about funneling the offense more through somebody else. Now,
over the past three years, that's been Anthony Davis and
JJ Redick has talked about he wants to use Anthony
Davis Moore as an offensive hub, which I take to
me and you mentioned like the pinch post the elbow stuff,
and he was By the way, I do think he
is an underrated pastor, especially when he has space and time.
His assist rate on elbow touches last year was basically
about the same as bam Adebayo on Alphah and Shangoun.
The volume was not nearly the level was for those two,
but he plays a different role in the offense right now.
So my first question to you on this is how
much do we buy this time that it's actually gonna happen,
Because if you go back over the past three seasons
Anthony Davis's front court touches for thirty six minutes, they've
remained basically static. They've gone like up and down a
little bit, And I just feel like, is this sort
of you know, Kyle Taige of the Day More NBA
show like to say, is this the Lucy with the
football meme from Peanuts where it's like they're saying one
thing and then they're just gonna rip it away? When
like this comes to like it's a nice concept, but
in practice it's never gonna happen. So how much do
we buy into it actually happening under JJ Reddick?
Speaker 2: I think it can happen, But much like that's a
good reference, and that's how it feels because I've been
yet like each year I've been told like it's going
to be centered around ad and this is the thing.
I agree with you. We we just haven't seen enough
of it. But it has been good when we've seen it.
I have personally witnessed him get better operating out of
the double team. You know know when when to get
you get rid of it. No, it doesn't hurt when
you have actual teammates that anyway. I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna go there.
Speaker 4: I love how you are this year, man, you know well,
because and usually you know me, I usually come in
you know, far more cautiously or far more optimistic to
you know.
Speaker 2: Now, I'll be straight up and you know what, I
know We're gonna get there eventually. This is a middle
of the pack team that has potential to be halfway decent,
but far from a guarantee. So like, that's the best
I can give you. I know. You know fans want
to hear. No, they're they're a title team. They're a
title team. No, they're not not, as currently constituted, they
are not a title team. I'm not saying that I
have all the answers. I'm not saying that Trey Young
makes him a title team. I'm not saying that, you know,
some combination of either Walker Kessler and another wing. I'm
not saying that may simitle team. But I will say
it'd be would it would give them a hell of
a lot more of a chance. It would It would
put them at least in the in conversations that they
certainly do not deserve to be in at this point.
Speaker 1: So to the ad point is, do you think that
he is So let's say that they are willing to
use him as more of a hub. Do you've he
mimss someone who is capable of doing that, Let's say
during the non Lebron minutes. And last year, by the way,
the Lakers when Ad played without Lebron, they had an
above average offensive rating. Now the issue becomes, does he
need both Austin Reeves and Diezel Russell on the floor
in those minutes to make sure that that's the case
or is a d as the hub where it's right
you pull Diezl Russell off. Maybe this can all still
be tied together.
Speaker 2: I think I think we're going to I think we're
gonna find out. I honestly like, like, I think this
could Okay, I'm trying. I'm trying to be delicate about this.
This could either be eighties best here as a professional
and I don't know, Like, I don't I'm not saying
like you can score the most points you different score.
I mean just best all around your as a professional
or his most frustrating year as a professional. And I
I know that, you know, like I'm presenting a lot
of extreme scenarios. Uh, you're like in this conversation, but
like that's kind of where this team is. There's not
a lot of there's not a lot of middle ground.
I think he will be utilized more. I think that
is a good thing. He'll have more opportunities to you know,
to generate offense, to generate just you know, like you know,
player movement to you know, uh, you know, to make
the game easier for his teammates. That's great, but sometimes
you have to like I don't know, Okay, the hesitation
was because I was gonna say it's it's gonna say
something that's critical. Now I'm just gonna go ahead and
say it, Anthony Davis, this is on you. And what
I mean by that is, you're two damn good to
allow yourself to just be subject completely you know, not
not even subject, but could completely ushered to the corner
for the second half of games. It oftentimes happens in
just the for just the fourth quarter, but there have
been there have been many instances where Anthony the ball's
going through him. He's active, he's aggressive, he's crashing the boards,
he's knocking down you know, he's even knocking down the MIDI.
He's hitting his free throws, he's you know, he's applying
rim presser, he's defending. And then suddenly, sometimes you know,
caused by his teammates, sometimes caused by strategy, sometimes out
of nowhere. Darvin would just ic him out and pull
him out like you know, in the middle of of
a great stretch. A lot of different causes. But Anthony
Marshawn Davis, this is on you. You're too damn good
to allow yourself to be you know, you know, to
be relegated to just a side there or a secondary guy.
So I guess the better answer to your question from
earlier of what I'm gonna be watching, what I'm gonna
be watching is can JJ Reddick tap into that? Can
JJ Reddick and his crew Nate McMillan, I don't care
who does it, whomever, I don't care if it's a
ball boy, can you tap into getting Anthony Davis to
be the mean Anthony Davis for the bulk of the minute.
If you do that, we might have some match. If
you can't, and he continues to just you know, fade away,
fade off into the distance and for the record, an THTHK,
Dave's my favorite player in the NBA right now. So,
like nobody's saying, don't say I'm being a hater. Y'all
need it too, y'all know it. But if you can
do that, you might be cooking with you might be
cooking with gas.
Speaker 1: Do you think if they put the ball in his
hands more that it will end up increasing Like he's
done a good job of cutting out the really long
mid range jumpers the past couple of years, we've seen
that share you have you rewind two years ago, I
think it was like twenty something percent of his shots.
Last year's only thirteen percent, about the same year before.
But if you put the ball in his hands more,
do you think they're at risk of that like him
not getting to the rim as much as a play
finisher or is it that going to be more about
the surroundings where if there's stuff happening away from the
ball that defense have to react to, he can put
the ball in his hands and get to the basket anyway.
Speaker 2: That I think. I think it's closer to that. I
think it's going to be more of that specifically because
I you know, like when you know, when they put
him in positions to be successful. He has shown that
he can do these things. But you just it can't
just be him isoed on the wing and say go
to work, you know what I mean, which which is
what Darvin was, which is what the staff was doing
last year. Like even when they would, you know, you
look to feature him, they were just like, okay, you
got a big man. We're and like, yeah, it would
be great if you were able to just you know,
cross somebody up that's you know that that's not there.
Put him in spots You'll get him some big to
big action. You'll get you know, like you have movement
around him, have some motion off ball, picks around, move
you know, again, a modern offense around what I consider
an incredible weapon. It's going to look better, Like I
genuinely believe it's going to look better.
Speaker 1: Max Christy was talking to I think it was Johann
Buja of the Athletic about what JJ Redick wants him
to do on this team. He mentioned on offense specifically,
it was to bring the motion shooting element. What do
you sort of make of the impact that Max Christy
can have, Like, do you do you think he's ready
good enough for that expanded type of role on the
offensive end? Is he someone that defenses will gravitate towards,
which in turn then opens things up for everybody else.
Speaker 2: I think just with with his activity, uh, you know,
he in his athleticism and his size at his position,
he can cause some problems. I think because you know,
to your point, he's not going to be the focus
of the defense in a lot of in a lot
of scenarios, especially if he's playing off of both a
D and Lebron and he'll know he will be able
to operate. It. It it It could provide another element
that the you know, the offense was lacking last year.
There are no guarantees I you know, I'm always gonna
use the sandwich technique. There are absolutely no guarantees that
that comes to fruition. There are no guarantees that he
you know, with you know, additional, with additional you know, opportunities,
you know, becomes a guy that say, you know, you
can count on thirty seven percent from deep or or
or there's no guarantees of that. I think the pieces
are there. I like Max Christie. I was disappointed in
the staff last year, especially when it was obvious that
they weren't going anywhere, that they didn't work to develop him,
that they didn't work, especially when like and then like
on the flip side, when Gay vincit, all of their
guards were hurt at one point that they didn't do
anything with Jalen Hoods, you know, Sophino, in order to
at least see what they had there in terms of
in terms of a player and when I and I'm
I'm not bringing him up to say that I'm expecting
huge things out of him what I'm but my point is, yo,
at least see what you got Max has shown. I'll
be honest with you, you know, like some some talent
and show him some capability. But you know, we don't know, No,
we we'll we'll see. That's not a cop out, that's
an honest that's an honest answer. We'll see.
Speaker 1: Do you have any impressions of what he is? Defensively,
Pete from Laker's Film Laker Film Room did a terrific
video on like Max Christy, He's like, he's sixty six
six nine wingspan. That's fine. But when you go watch
him on defense and people's pointing this out, like he
prefers to use space, Like he's not gonna blanket guy
keep up with them. That way, he's gonna use space
to his advantage. I think that's smart and as useful
as a secondary defender. But like, if the Lakers are
viewing him as like this primary wing checker, which might
be a fair assumption in some of these lineups because
who else is going to take on that role? There
are gonna be guys that are able to exploit that
like that are gonna be more physical with him, and
I'm wondering if he is going to be able to
hold up to that. Do you have just any we again,
we didn't see enough of him last year, but do
you have any just impressions of what he can bring defensively?
Speaker 2: I you know, and and you know, shout out to Pete.
Pete does incredible work. In fact, he's one of my
favorite uh you know, uh basketball Contecret.
Speaker 1: Now he's untethered from the confines of working for the Lakers.
Speaker 2: I love it, and and there you have it.
Speaker 1: I wish nothing but the best. If he wanted to stay,
he would still be there. Let me be clear, I'm
not not shure.
Speaker 2: That I'm with you, I you know, like him. I agree,
I think that, you know, I think Max has shown,
you know, some capabilities. I would venture to say the
the approach probably had more to do with him being
a young player that you know, was gonna get called,
uh for any incidental content, you know, contact whatsoever, because
you know he you know, he did run into that
at least initially when he was trying to you'll get
up and you'll get up on, you know, with people.
I think the more time he has out there, he'll
be able to just kind of like learn people on
an individual basis and kind of like you know, be
able to adjust dependent upon you know, dependent upon who
he's going against. And on the flip side of that,
I think the more time, you know, the more reps
he gets, the more the rest will acknowledge like, oh,
you know, this is just a you know, a young
player attempting to you know, attempting to you know, you know,
make his way on this side of the ball. We
don't necessarily we can give him a little bit more
friendly of a whistle. I you know, look, I could
be one hundred percent wrong. I think Max Christy is
going to have the type of all right here, here,
here here each year I give you one of these.
I think Max Christy could have the type of year
that say Austin had a couple of years back. And
I'm not talking about the same type of player, but
I mean that type of that type of impact or
it's like, hey, we weren't anticipating this, but this is
fan you know, like this very clearly elevated them, you know,
elevated the offense in particular with you know, with with Reeves,
but you know, with Christy, I think on both sides
of the ball, if he's given enough time, there could
be that type of impact. And I'm speaking of like
two years ago for Reefs.
Speaker 1: I will say I do think because a lot of
the comps I saw for him were like very offensive
oriented and when you go back and watch, like there's
a lot more defense there.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I've seen some people throughout like he could be Michael
Bridges type of player. I think that's probably like the
one hundredth percentile outcomes for him. But I do think
that he is a I know, people kind of laughed
at the four year, thirty two million dollars deal and
it's the Lakers are I do find it funny that
he was mentioned as a reason that they like JJ
Reddick as the higher But I really do believe that
there might be like a two way. I don't mean
role player as a denigration, but someone who is in
the closing five of a good team, Like it seems
like he could be that type of player.
Speaker 2: I would agree with that. I think I think that
potential is there, and I hey, look man, when it
comes to people laughing at the contract, the funny thing
is like, that's actually a pretty good contract. If you
think he has any you know, any you know, uh
talent whatsoever. Uh, you're moving forward. Also, Uh, they were
in a position where if they didn't it, at the
very least retained their own guys this this summer, this
summer would have been a travesty, Like just a total travesty.
Speaker 1: I do what the what I get a kick out
of is one they very much seem to prioritize like
talent Horton Tucker and now Max Christie more than someone
who had proven to contribute on a title team like
Alex Caruso. So that's the joke. And the other thing is, again,
Max Christy might be a great player, but this is
why you don't include it. Why is there a player option?
What was Max Christy's leverage to get a player option?
What was Tylon Horton Tucker's leverage aside from being with
Clutch Sports to get a player option?
Speaker 2: Okay, so that that's the quiet part. And again you know,
people think I'm being too harsh on the.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, did re.
Speaker 2: People. A lot of guys have gotten player option to
where it's like, Okay, I mean, like I'll just ask
it exactly if as you ask, what have these guys
done to you to negotiate that? Both?
Speaker 1: No teams more than ever are like they just don't
offer restricted free agents, Like they just don't. Like there
wasn't one restricted free agent offer sheet signed this summer,
and I think last year, maybe I must take it
there was one and it was Utah doing its fuckery
with the Paul Red deal. But like, I just I
think that's why people are I'm sure there are people
that just don't know who Max Christy is and which
is the number is fine, he's making na money and
he's better than ke Nag already. But I think it's
the player option of it all and the fact that
they've made all these other guys except the best one
of them all and Alex Caruso of the priority.
Speaker 2: The Caruso thing is gonna it will get. It continues
to haunt because it was like, look, I try not
to just like shit on guys, you know what I'm saying,
because like at the end of the day, to acknowledge
for the you know, folks that are listening, we recognize
when we're saying that this isn't a good player, we're
not saying that we're better, Like these guys know more
about basketball, but talent. Horton Tucker wasn't a good player,
and I was, and that was evident, Like yes, like
I was intrigued by his land and.
Speaker 1: You know, their umby arms and that dribbles.
Speaker 2: Exactly, but he wasn't. You know, that should not have
been the decision very c and that it's very clear
at this stage. I'm just what I'm okay. So another
thing I'm looking for is for the front office to
show some growth, is for the front office to recognize
like from like their past mistakes and not continue to
make them. I'm less cautiously optimistic about that, but I'm hopeful.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I don't know what this is. Is this
called soundbait when it's a podcast? Is it still clickbait?
I have to ask about Brownie James, is my point?
Speaker 2: So got it?
Speaker 1: Do you have any impressions of him? Do you think
that he'll get any sort of shots. It's all just
gonna be, you know, with the G League team, Like
what is just your u By the way, we've said this,
it's been blabored to death. It was the fifty fifth pick.
Everybody just stf thank you. It was a fifth pick.
Let's just let's move on. And the other thing is
before he had that heart episode, like this was someone
who was considered a real prospect independent of being Lebron
James's son. And so if you want to take a
if you want to take a flyer on him in
the thirties. And by the way, if I was another team,
I just would have done it as the game, like
would the Lakers give us anything to get the run
up pick? But like at the end of the day,
it was number fifty five, Like, let's just let's there's
And I'm saying this now because it's gonna be a
topic of conversation again. Yeah, it's gonna come back around.
Speaker 2: I I just hope he stays healthy. I do anticipate
him playing a lot in the G League because I
think that's like kind of the level where he is
right now. Yeah, he'll get us. You know, he'll get
a shot here and there. They'll find a way to
you know, have a special night for him. Or you know,
maybe he works himself making me. Maybe he outworks you know,
uh wod you? Maybe he outword who.
Speaker 1: Gets more minutes with the big club BRONI.
Speaker 2: Or hood which everyone honestly looks better like you like.
Speaker 1: You would hope that that's the case.
Speaker 2: But no, I think they've already looked. If folks are
worried about, like, oh man, you know it's lebron, they
already did him the solid. They are like like like
even even acknowledging that, yes, I would have done the
same thing, because it's the fifty five fifty fifth pick.
They did him the solid. They got him, you know,
like you know, his his son is on there, your
son is on an NBA team, and gotta and gotta
you know, like, you know, got his deal you'll taken
care of before the guys. I do you think people.
Speaker 1: Could take issue with Oh no, no, yeah, if you
want to make fun of all these other second round
picks got like basically kind of the same deal. He
got a little bit more guaranteed money and lebron took
a pay cut. It evens out, like what I don't
think there it is.
Speaker 2: But but I'm saying that to say I don't have
any expectations for him. I hope that I truly pray
that they do not have expectation for him. And like
basically any contribution whatsoever from Bronnie should be gravy on
top of a great meal, as opposed to like a
side you know what I'm saying, or as opposed to
your ProTem if you're if you're going into this season expecting,
oh no, what we do? Be be for real? I
almost said be something else for real, but be for real. Okay,
it's just it. I'm hopeful. I hope. I just hope
he stays healthy. That's all that. That's about all I
can give.
Speaker 1: So we did an exercise on this podcast leading into
the draft where like I won't pretend to be a
drafts expert. We do crash courses. Grant I before the draft.
So Grant was asking me for comparisons. If these NBA
players hit like their best case outcomes. Do you know
who I gave for Bronnie James real soundbait right here,
if you had to, it was a guard, an active guard.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, because I was gonna say what, like, let
me see and to be clear, like that would have
been a ridiculous one if I if that had been
an active guard, shake Milton, No, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Oh if everything panned out everything, I don't by the way,
I would bet my life savings against it. That was
my I was like, I kind of see the theory
of what this player could maybe I have, like was
overexposed to him. I'm I would It would be a
really cool story if he turned into a legitimate NBA
Like what if he was just like I'm trying, like
not even an All star, but like just like someone
who's in like the seventh rotation teams.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be amazing, like the Lake. Okay, So
that would be one of those where it's like people
and the Lakers will.
Speaker 1: Let him walk to the bulls or something when he's no.
Speaker 2: No, actually it's even worse. That would one be the
scenario where people are like fucking Lakers always just get luck. Yeah,
you know what, Sometimes we do. Sometimes it is a
matter of just getting lucky. Sometimes it's a matter of
putting putting yourself in the position. But no, that would
be amazing. I'm not gonna hold my breath for that,
especially not in his rookie campaign, but I I will say,
that's a hell of a comp And if he can,
if even if he were the great value Drew, I
mean like if even if he were the you know, uh.
Speaker 1: Straight straight to streaming service, straight to stream, that would
that be the modern you can't stay straight to VHS anymore, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, straight straight to stream. That would be amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so the other player want to ask
you about before we get into the cookie cutter portion
of the podcast, Austin Reeves and I I know I
troll it with his age, he's still young, but he
has talked about in terms where it feels like there
are parts of his game that he can still dramatically improve.
When you look at that, is there like an area
that you could realistically, see, oh, Austin Reeves gets better,
or if we reach the point where it's we know
who Austin Reeves is, the contract contract still looks really good.
He's gonna get incrementally better, and maybe that takes the
form of, hey, he takes more catching shoot threes and
they actually go in.
Speaker 2: I'm I would if I were a betting man, I
would bet on the incremental improvements as opposed to like
another lead. Now, look, hey, I'd love to be wrong.
And if you know, if if if he ends up
taking a leap and he you know, winds up just
blowing us out of the water this year, and folks
want to come back and say this, you go for it.
Enjoy my My honest assessment is that I think we
see what Austin is and it's a it's a very
solid player and a guy that can you know, it
can be a very a very good piece of a
good team. You don't want to be over reliant upon him,
like like, if you're asking Austin to be your second
best player, uh for long periods, you know it might
not be as realistic. But if you can go into
a situation where he's your fourth or fifth best player.
I still think, I still think you got X, so
I'm not anticipating a huge leap, but I do think
you know, Austin will continue to you know, you know,
serve his role.
Speaker 1: I I will say, if you were to ask me
to rank the players who will benefit most from JJ
Reddick being there, I'm mix Christy might be one because
I think he's gonna play so like that just might
f But I look at what Austin Reeves can do
as someone who's like gets downhill, willing to move off
the ball, willing to screen away from the ball, And
I just think about what I've heard JJ Reddick talk about,
like on TV and on his the very few podcasts
of his that I have caught, like his YouTube stuff
or his monologues, and I'm like, that might be if
if you're really gonna argue that Austin Reeves has this
next front tier to conquer, a next gear to hit
to where he iss like you framed it, if you're
asking to be your second best or third best player
on a contender consistently, it might be a stretch right now,
but his pathway to that When I think about what
I believe JJ Reddi's about and what Austin Reeves is
willing to do. I'm like, well, maybe that's kind of it.
But then I'm also kind of like, well, do the
Lakers have still the spacing necessary to capitalize on everything
that Austin Reeves is willing to do? And even like
he's pretty good on the ball too. By the way,
I don't need to dismiss that.
Speaker 2: I yeah, no, okay, honestly, you might be selling me
even more. But given the circumstances, and and ultimately I'm
gonna circle back at the end of the year and
say no, no, I kid, no, no, but no, but
to your point, yes, you know, if if anyone's going
to benefit, I think it's gonna be you know, you know,
you know, like you said, Christy, because he's finally actually
gonna get you'll see some run. I think Reeves will.
And you know what, as funny as it's gonna sound,
especially given some of his comments about this player, you know,
prior to taking the job, I think Anthony Davis liked,
like I said, like this is this to be? Is
either gonna be like I said, either gonna be his
best year, and like we're like, god, dang, you know,
Anthony this is the Anthony Davis that we wanted to see,
or it's gonna be you know, frustrating one where again
that opens up the conversation for a lot of different things. Uh,
at the deadline in any offseason.
Speaker 1: I actually forgot to ask you about Dalton connect Do
you have any early impressions on him? And then is
this someone that you like as a rookie on a
team with I'm assuming immediate expectations. Is he someone that
you envisioned playing this year?
Speaker 2: I do. And the thing of it is I think
they're gonna need him to they they don't have they
don't have a lot of wings, you know what I'm saying, Like,
they don't have a lot of depth there. Uh. What
I'm intrigued by is what he's going to look like defensively?
Can he guard tos? You know, I mean, can he
move his feed well enough to guard you know, like
consistently guard toos? Can he take the physical you know
punishment that's gonna come with running and chasing threes and
you know running, you know he's gonna get run off screens.
It's gonna be you know, you know, teams are gonna
be a play him physically even you know, even when
he's on the defensive end. So I'm intrigued to see
what that looks like. But in terms of, you know, expectator,
overall expectations, I think he's going to be a contributor.
I you know, like, uh, how much he's gonna be
able to contribute early on is probably going to be
dependent upon you know, is he if he's able to
you know, you know, grasp all the different concepts, if
he's able to be an effect at least an effective
you know, defender. But you know, in terms of you know, prospects,
and you know, to the point that you made earlier,
I am far from a draft expert in any way.
I am taken from the experts when I say this.
It seems as though he was one of the more
power products that were out there, at least offensively. So
I am I am happy with I am happy that
we're able to bring give me in again. You know,
to the point that you made earlier about the Summer league.
You know, summer league, take take Summer league action for
what it is. He looked after that first performance. He
looked very comfortable, and that was good to see. It
was good to see him. Even though you know he
didn't necessarily shoot well in his first couple of games,
he actually looked comfortable getting that shot off, and that,
you know, that was a plus for me. We'll see
in terms of how much he's in the rotation, but
I think he generally genuinely will be in the rotation.
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to see what he ends up being
defensively and what types of players he can cover, because
I don't know that I look at him from what
again little I guess I know and have seen of
him as someone who's going to be very good defensively,
but like he's just a little bit longer than you think,
and he has that his standing reach was like eight
foot eight or something, which is like I'm pretty sure,
I guess I should look and see if that's relative
to him being six or five. But I think that's
pretty like a big deal. So i'd be if he
can hold up defensively, like if you can throw him
on twos in certain threes, like that's a really big
deal for this team.
Speaker 2: Huge deal, huge, huge deal because like quite frankly, last year,
the only player that they have they can that was
even doing a half week to deal a decent job
with with regularity was Torrian Prince like Garden twos and threes.
He was the only one no like And this is
the thing, I'm not even trying to knock him, but
like that's all they had.
Speaker 1: Oh oh, I also have to talk about another player
a Maya Kopa here, because I didn't really buy into
I thought the Ruy Hachimor deal last summer was just
kind of like eh and the trade itself. They didn't
give up a ton to get him. He's been really
good and I've been impressed with his ability. I didn't
see him fitting in as an ancillary device on the
offensive end, and he's done such a good job to
me of being like plug and play for them. He's
cut down on like those junkie mid rangers too, and
it feels like he's just making quicker decisions like with
or without the ball would have been, Like, what's impressed
you the most about that kind of he's been with them,
what a year and a half, now, what's your impressions
of that rumor experience?
Speaker 2: When Ruy hasn't gone offensively, he like, honestly, he has
been a positive player for them. I'll actually start with
the negative. You know, with him, he gets lost offensively
in ways where I'm just like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Honestly, he's if he's not first team, he's second team.
All that dude looks way bit like that. He should
be way better defensively.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's got the body, he's got the strength, he
can move his feet, he could, yeah, yeah, but he
just I don't know if it's a you know, gets
lost in the concepts or whatever the case. I don't
want to, you know, uh, make any accusations, But what
I will say is when I'm watching watching him out there,
he gets lost, but circling back to the offensive end, yes,
getting he he he. He was far less reliant on
the random seventeen seconds you know, left on the on
the shot clock, pull up fifteen foot or over you
know out you know, two sets of outstretch scans. He's
not doing that nearly as much, you know, like as before. Uh,
you know, the way you describe it, I think is
actually perfect. He has become you'll win, you know again,
especially if the outside shot is going. But but you know,
he's not afraid of cutting. He's not afraid of crassing
the class he's a you know, he has been a
good plug and play guy for them in whatever role
they've asked him, you'll to fill on the offensive end.
It really is just a matter of, you know, honestly,
can he be with it enough defensively to not negate
anything that he gives you offensively? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean, like he's getting guarded on some of his threes.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I think that might be the biggest complent I could.
But like defenses, they're not like frantically freaking out about him,
like they care if is open for three.
Speaker 2: It matters. It matters when he's on the wing. So
and that in itself is a plus.
Speaker 1: I believe, Jabari. If you are ready, it is time
for our cookie cutter portion of the power, right, So
let's start here. Is there anything about this team in general, weakness, strength,
storyline development, whatever that's flying under the radar that you
think deserves more shine.
Speaker 2: I think that when anytime it comes to the Lakers,
everybody's gonna be you know, it's either the sky is
falling or the house is burning, or whatever the case
may be. I think it again. I And and when
I refer to them as a middle of the pack team,
you know, you know, some Lakers fans or some people
you will be bothered by that, but actually it's a compliment.
They're not you know, there's not a bad roster. It's
you know, like, excuse me, it's not a bad team
all things considered, it's just a flawed roster. So again,
once again, this goes to they have there are moves,
and they're they have flexibility that they could actually get
this thing in order in similar ways to in this opinion,
in similar ways to how they did at the deadline
two years ago. I do think that there are there's
enough there and they have enough pieces, whereas they may
not be able to put together the most impressive package
for like say like a Donovan midual or any name
out there, but I do think that they could operate
around the margins and even you know, even uh, you know,
to the you know, to the level of a guy
like you know, like you know, some of the bigs
that I mentioned earlier. I think they can do that.
So to me, it's more of everybody's going to act
like the sky is falling if they, you know, were
to start out five and seven five and seven. But no,
this is a solid team and quite frankly, that actually
puts more pressure on JJ and crew in my estimation,
because you're not going into it completely, you know, you know,
digging out of a hole you just got to make.
You know, you're just gonna have to find a way
to make the most of what you got while they're
figuring out what they're gonna do with the rest of
that roster.
Speaker 1: So you take stock of the roster right now when
we're in mid September, what is its biggest need in
your opinion, that they need to address point.
Speaker 2: Of attack, point of attag defender. It would have been
great if he had Vando in his flexibility. It would
be great if you know, you were to tell me
that gave Vincent is just going to just you know,
return to form and they don't have enough point of
attack defense. In my estimation, I also think that they
should have addressed it, like A said, the lack of
a big you have your you have your guy coming
out actively advocating once again for that, and that should
not be the case because again you should have should
have had some conversation with him over the course of
the summer or leading into the summer, and you probably
should have addressed that but yeah, no, that's that's that's sorry.
Wait what I actually lost my train of thought because
I started I circled back to that. What was the
initial question again.
Speaker 1: What's the biggest roster need to you as as a
mid September before training camp point of.
Speaker 2: A tag defender, you know, which would be great if
it could come from the wing.
Speaker 1: And I just I don't even care. I just need
like another wing body on this between six seven and
six nine would be like not not like can play
the two, three and four. It's just I guess Ruby
Hotchi Moore is the and Lebron are the closest they
come to having a wing archetype on this team. And
I guess Cam Braddish counts.
Speaker 2: But does he really No, he doesn't, No, he doesn't.
Like I'm like, okay again, like look, I tried to
I tried to drink the am you know, kool aid
last year and realized very quickly, Oh no, no, that's
not that's tampico, that's not that's not the real thing.
And I do wish him well because he seems like
he seems like a genuine guy. It seems like a
good guy. I hope that he continues to get opportunities.
I just don't want it to be with my team.
Speaker 1: So at full strength. When looking at the top ten
rotation from the stuff that you have said, it seems
like there might be nine locks. So stop me if
I'm incorrect here. So you have Lebrond Loo, Reeves, Ruey,
A d Gabe, Vincent, Jared Vanderbilt if he's healthy, Max Christy,
and then Dalton connect would bring you to nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think where you have it is probably where
it will eventually be in terms of like Christian Wood
would be the next guy, you know, like when you'll
win when he's back and available obviously if you know
you still got Jackson in the mix, you know. And
and to be clear, like when I you know, my
criticisms of Jackson, when I'm saying he's light and asked
I'm not it look some not everybody's going to be
a big, bruising guy. So there's nothing wrong. There's nothing
wrong with him being a rim runner, nothing wrong with
him being like your third big nothing wrong with that
at all. We just you know, we know what we need, man,
we know we know what we need. I think it's
probably going to look like that, honestly, I think I
think you probably nailed it, you know, and depending.
Speaker 1: Upon it changes to the starting five happening at all
or is it just going to be as of right now?
Ruy ad reeves d Lo and Lebron.
Speaker 2: I think if Christy, if Christy gets in there and
shows that he has continued to improve, I could see
him jumping into that starting five for one to get
another you know, another guy with some lanth, another guy
that can defend, and another guy with some athleticism you know,
like and that that can can simply move. I could
see him replacing one of those guards.
Speaker 1: Would you think d Lo would be the one that
you pull there and have his creation come off the
bench at that point.
Speaker 2: Yes, especially because Delo is a microwave guy. Delo can
get you know, once he gets it going, you know,
you know, he can get it going. And I don't
necessarily you know, think you think that you that to
be in the starting lineup. I recognize that he would
probably prefer it. But yeah, of the two, you know,
Delo would be the guy that I made the six guy.
Speaker 1: Now, while this is to some extent matchup dependent, if
you had to guess what their most used crunch time
unit will be this year. Is it just the starters
or do you think that you'll see different combination emerge
is sort of the go to clutch line up.
Speaker 2: I think it will start off like kind of defaulting
to the starters, but really, like say, for instance, Vanderbilt
is eventually available, I would definitely, you know, like to
your point, it'll be situational if he's got it going, uh,
you know, in on either you know, in either way
or if you're you know, you need some defensive stops.
So you're gonna need some you know, additional length uh
to you know, and and guys that can switch on
along the perimeter as well as recover, you know, recovered
to the weak side. You know you're gonna want him
in there, but ultimately you know he's not available. So
I look at that, you know, I look at the
best five and it's probably the starters that you have
there lined up.
Speaker 1: Is they're a weirdo, wacky wonko funky lineup, you would
like to see them? Try mmmm.
Speaker 2: Sure, give me Austin you actually, you know, give me
what I just you know what I just referred to.
It's not even weirder weirder or or wacko. Give me
substitute D'Angelo for Max Christie. Okay, if you want to
get super funky uh in stretches where you have both
Dilo and Austin off the court, let me see what
Dalton Connect can do alongside Max Christy. It might get
real ugly, but let me see it.
Speaker 1: I want to see Lebron plus the kids, both his
literal kid and then the figurative kids. So Lebron, Bronni
h Dalton Connect, Max Christie, and then I have to
call Austin Reeves a kid because the Lakers, there's really
no other option. You could throw a d in there
if you don't want to have Austin that would make
that would make more sense. But the funky line up
I want to see is Lebron plus plus his children,
both both literal and figurative.
Speaker 2: That is fair. Look, I said all everything I've said.
Over the course of this show. We might see that lineup. Shit,
I don't know. There may be there may be time
when we see that.
Speaker 1: I mean, at some point you have to imagine Lebron
and Bronny will be on the court.
Speaker 2: Toget gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that lineup where Lebron is your day
Facto five is just a non starter. But it would
just be fun like Lebron and then like just all
these kids, including your child.
Speaker 2: Or Jackson Hayes at the five. There you go. If
you want.
Speaker 1: I'd rather, honestly please just put a d in at
the five at that point in Austin.
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean really that is the answer. But no,
if we were going quirky anyhow, yeah, uh, there are
not I'll say this. On top of there not being
a lot or as many storylines to actually discuss with
this team, there aren't as many of the fun quirky
lineups to discuss with this roster because they're built.
Speaker 1: If they want to get weird, like they got to
veer into like some sicko territory to do it, And
I just don't know, like it would be on paper,
whatever lineup they roll out to you'll meet, that criteria
would just be so incoherent. Yeah, you wouldn't expect it
to work and.
Speaker 2: The other team, you might catch the other team off
guard like wait, what right, what is it?
Speaker 1: Who am I at the five? So as we record
this on September the fourteenth, they're over under is at
forty three and a half, Jabari, are you going over
or under on that win total?
Speaker 2: Well, I think I probably already gave up the game
a little bit with that, because I acknowledge I think
they're probably a middle of the pack team, whether you
know if Okay, a lot of this is contingent upon
how many games are Ad and Lebron going to play.
If you tell me that they both play around seventy games,
I think that they'll win probably right around forty four
forty forty five games. So I'm going to be you know,
cautiously optimistic about that and say, like, yeah, I'll take
the over, not way over. I think the I think
this is about a forty four to forty five team,
you know, win team. You know, again, that's not sexy,
but that's about you know, as currently constituted. That's about
where I've got the thing. Oh go ahead, Sorry, No,
I was gonna say, am I crazy on that? Like
from the outside looking in like it like, is this
a thirty five win team? No?
Speaker 1: I mean they are probably If a d or Lebron
one of them misses any extended amount of time, then yes,
that is absolutely in play. But it also you could
say well, everyone has an injury caveat. It's like Lebron's
in his age forty season and Anthony Davis is always
dealing with something. And that's the thing that's really tough
for me to reconcile with them, is that Anthony Davis
Lebron just played in sixty six games together and yet
the Lakers won like forty seven games. Is okay, it's good,
it's not great. You got that type of availability from
your two best players who have not had that type
of availability, one in forever individually and two basically never together.
I don't remember how much they played together during that
title season, and that was broken up by the you know,
the coviddemic of course. So I that's what's gonna be
I haven't done my rim predictions yet, but that's what's
gonna be tough, because this is a good team on paper,
but without one of Lebron or a D you're absolutely cooked,
and typically at the stages of their careers. Well for Lebron,
but then also just what we've seen with a D
in the past, you would expect one of them to
miss semi significant time, and.
Speaker 2: On top of that, you don't have the you don't
even have the depth that you did that you might
have had for both of their positions. With Vanderbilt and
christian Wood being out, you don't even you don't even
have the guys that you named last year that hey,
you know what, we don't when you were saying, when
you were saying things like, we won't have to we
won't have to place as much on ads shoulders, we
won't have to you know, burn Lebron, Yeah, you're going
to have to. And yeah, look, I don't want to,
I don't. I don't want to end on a negative note,
but I will I will say this. I expect the
Lakers to be, you know, like honestly active at some
point during the year because they just can't risk burning
those guys out. And I can't. I can't entirely waste
another season of those guys.
Speaker 1: No, you can't. And I think that would be the
argument of waiting out for the bigger fish, because you
want someone who can carry the minutes when one or
both of them are off the court, or when one
or both of them need to miss time or take
nights off. And that would be the theory. But we
can end on a high note or at least a
fun note is there, and I'll boil it down to
one and under the radar not tall, Like I don't
want Trey Young as the answer, I don't want Zach
Lavine as the answer. Is there just an under the
radar trade target. I don't care if it's a pipe dream.
I don't care if it's not ambitious enough that you
would like to see this team monitor actually go after
because their team, I know we haven't started the season yet,
but they're like a couple of teams. We actually just
went through ten of them Grant and I recently, but
they're at least like probably three to five teams where
it's no these fuckers need to make a move, and
the Lakers are one of them. Like, I don't need
to see the game being played to know that this
team needs to make a move.
Speaker 2: Okay, here's one for you. People will say like, oh, man,
you don't want to go Kyle Kuzma would be great
on this team. I know, I saw, I know, I know,
I know, I know. Trust me, believe me, Kyle Kuzma
would be great on this team.
Speaker 1: He would, he would, you would be Honestly, I'm assuming
you won't have like if they had to trade Ruie
back to Washington, that'd be just weird. But if you
were able to keep Ruey as part of that, you're
path to like being so huge. If you're playing Ruey, Kuzma,
a D and Lebron together and then really who else
at that point it doesn't matter. I would I like that.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, so, okay, please go if you want
to get silly with it, you could do it, you know,
make it a larger deal and go after Kuzma and
Valancenis and then we then we're having a different conversation here. Man.
Then then we're having a different Then we're having a
different conversation. So I don't know, Like that's not sexy,
but that's kind of where I would go.
Speaker 1: So I have one that's like, you wouldn't do this
if it's gonna cost you like real pick equity and
you need to get to a point where it's like
it's probably Gabe Vincent plus another contract, and then like
if they're willing to do it for seconds and he's
also injury prone. But talking to you made me like
this one. Do you see where I'm going with this?
Speaker 2: I'm wondering.
Speaker 1: Robert Williams, the third he Jj Reddick. Would you build
these things with him? If he's healthy on this team? Now,
the if of the health is we already got a
D lebron is forty. Do we want to add another
variable in the equation again, if it's costing you Gabe
Vincent a smaller contract and then second rounders, I'm doing
it in a heartbeat because he is he can play
next ad, he's a good passer out of the short role,
and if he's healthy, he doesn't need to be the
pro like him and a D flying around like that
is nasty shit. And I I really I was gonna
give you a wing or maybe like a like an
advantage creator, But after talking to you, I don't want
not that. I don't want you want to sound teuness
on this team, like I need my big to be
more versatile. If I'm the Lakers and I'm investing in that,
I would love to see r W three on a
bunch of teams at this point, But now I'm married
to r W three on the Lakers.
Speaker 2: If it's a deal like you just described, give me
that every day of the week. If you had to
give up real uh, you know, uh, like a real contract.
That sounds so disrespectful. If if you had to give
up a player that's higher in your rotation, I would
fray if you.
Speaker 1: Can't give up a first or Dalton Connect, even though
I think now, if you told me for the next
two years, which is how long he's under contract, Robert
Williams is gonna play in a total of one hundred
and forty regular season games over the next two years,
I would give up Dalton Connect. But because you can't
say that, that's why it's where it's again, I think
it has to be how lower the Blazers will want
to sell because they have a trillion bigs themselves. But
r W three and Anthony Davis could be hallacious defensive
duo for sure.
Speaker 2: I love the thought of that. And and and again
this is all, you know, recognizing he's got some serious,
you know, HealthWays, I'd be more concerned with him than
I am with Ad. And that is saying some shit,
okay like that.
Speaker 1: Just so much younger, isn't he like only twenty six?
How old is Robert Williams?
Speaker 2: You just actually have no idea.
Speaker 1: And he also that's the other thing, but that might
be the best of both worlds is he's never been
someone even when he's healthy, when he's play he's a
ton of minutes. And so like, okay, you don't want
Anthony Davis to play. He is only twenty six, by
the way, that's wild, and he has played, by the
way in the past two seasons. He's playing a forty
one games.
Speaker 2: So yeah, okay, so I get again.
Speaker 1: It's a salary, a smaller contract because you have to
make the money work and seconds I'm still on rolling
the dice because he is the peak of Robert Williams.
And even if you only get him for twenty something
minutes a game, that eats up time to okay, AD's
on the bench, and then you can play those two together.
So A, he is not necessarily a full time He's
maybe a part like A it's a it's a co
opt at the five, like he's splitting his time between
the four and the five at that point.
Speaker 2: It's a legitimate risk, but it's a it's a worthwhile risk,
and it's a type of move that the organization would
have made in the past and found a way to
get it done for you know, uh a package that uh,
you know, other fan bases would end up being pissed
off about. I guess I just don't have as much
as much faith in this one proved me.
Speaker 1: I honestly, I think there's a and Portland valued him
quite a bit in the deal when they said out
drew Holiday for there's just a disconnect between Okay, we
know how good he is, but Yabari. I didn't even
realize this until I went to look up his age.
He's logged more than a thousand minutes in a single
season once, Like, that's not someone they're like, you're as
of right now, maybe mid season if he's playing well,
like you're, you're not getting a first round pick for
him unless you're taking it back like you're a really
bad contract as part of the equation too.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, honestly, that that might be one that they
could that they could get done like with again without
without it being super expensive, to be honest with you,
they could get that one done and still get the
CUS one done and then we.
Speaker 1: Are they have the very fun like weird things. So
like if you can get yeah, for sure, I mean
you could build you could really build out the deal
if they want first round picks, Like it becomes Jeremy
Grant and Robert Williams. The third is something you could
look at doing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I would be here for it. So yeah again, This.
Speaker 1: And Dan for Valley here to advocate for r W
three to l a.
Speaker 2: This right here is why I was. I was frustrated
this summer because I'm like, man, there there are so
many different things it doesn't have. We don't have to
go home with the ten. There are a bunch of
eights over there waiting ready. You could have a great
conversation with those days and still anyway that that's a
crude reference, but I'm just saying it doesn't have to
be the home run. Take some doubles and triples and
even singles.
Speaker 1: Sojabar, you've been incredibly generous with your time as always.
Is there anything else though about this team the Acre season,
any specific players, something that I didn't ask you about
that you would like to discuss before I let you go.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think we you know, we pretty much covered
it all. I will say like I probably came across
as pretty negative you know this episode, but if we're
being real, I was just honest. You know, that's always
gonna be my squad and I'm always gonna be, you know, hopeful,
but you know I'm not gonna lie to you folks.
Speaker 1: Honestly, I don't think you've put anything to outlandish, so
I think great stuff as always. Are you able just
to tell our listeners where they can find you on
the social media machine?
Speaker 2: I'm easy. I don't tweet very much anymore, but I'm
at jabari A Davis again. You know, I truly appreciate
every time that you've blessed us with your presence on
Mad Boosties. You can find me over there, you know,
whether I'm behind the scenes or as Dan mentioned earlier,
sometimes I I will play the six man role. And
I've never been.
Speaker 1: On with you as the co host until this last
Fast Time was the first time that you weren't the producer.
Speaker 2: Of the show. Is that really because I've jumped on
a bunch that I.
Speaker 1: Feel like it should be a stipulation now that next time,
like whenever I'm on it, should you should make it
a tricycle with the three of you hosting, or you
have to boot one of jack Er Miles.
Speaker 2: At that point, I gotta be honest with you. They
might be up for that, and then i'd be and
then i'd be setting myself up for something. But I'm
here for it. I'm hereful, no, honestly, thank you very.
Speaker 1: Much, thank you. I appreciate your time, and this was
a bunch of fun as always, And as you know
by now, I'll be pestering you again down the line.
Speaker 2: Coolfully,