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You need Indeed. Hello

1:11

Lakers Nation. Welcome into the Lakers nation.com

1:13

podcast. Happy Friday. Let's talk some Lakers

1:15

basketball. Apparently, Stu the Studio Cat doesn't

1:17

want to talk Lakers basketball right now.

1:20

He just hopped on out of here.

1:22

He'll probably jump back in later, but

1:24

I'm here. I'm ready to roll. My

1:26

name is Trevor Lane. You guys could

1:28

find me over on X at Trevor

1:30

underscore Lane. Let's talk

1:33

some hoops today on this show. I want

1:35

to talk a little bit about the Lakers

1:37

and their roster belt specifically. I want to

1:39

look at it through a different lens. I

1:42

want to look at it through the lens

1:44

of the Minnesota Timberwolves and I've got a

1:46

very specific reason for that. We're going

1:48

to get to that in just a moment. I also

1:50

want to talk about the coaching search and where things

1:53

were out. We got some news yesterday. In fact, a

1:55

few pieces of news that can really matter for the

1:57

Lakers. So I want to get into that. Also need

1:59

to dive. dive into the mailbag, all that

2:01

and more on today's show. Before we

2:03

get to it though, tonight, tonight,

2:06

we're going to have some stuff going on. Well,

2:08

I guess I should say this afternoon, really,

2:10

it is Friday. We're going to have our Fun

2:12

Friday live show coming up. Two

2:14

o'clock Pacific time. We'll be live

2:16

on the Lakers Nation YouTube channel,

2:19

youtube.com/Lakers Nation. Come hang out with

2:21

us. We'll talk some Lakers

2:23

basketball, take your questions, your comments. And

2:25

then tonight the Wolves take on the

2:27

Denver Nuggets. The Wolves are up 2-0

2:30

in that series. That game

2:32

is going to start at 6.30 Pacific

2:34

time. We're going to be live on

2:36

playback for that game. So come hang

2:38

out, playback.tv slash Lakers Nation. We'll also

2:41

simulcast that stream right here on the

2:43

Lakers Nation YouTube channel. Again,

2:45

youtube.com/Lakers Nation. So Friday

2:47

night, you got nothing better to do, but

2:49

just hang out, watch some basketball. Come hang

2:51

with us. We'll talk some hoops. We'll talk

2:53

Lakers, of course, and we'll all watch Nuggets

2:56

and Wolves together and we'll see if

2:58

the Wolves can make it 3-0 going

3:01

back home. I still can't believe Minnesota

3:03

beat Denver twice at home and

3:05

now they get to go back

3:07

home to Minnesota. Wow.

3:11

Incredible stuff. So we'll talk about that.

3:13

Before I dive into all that though,

3:15

the NBA playoffs obviously in full swing. We saw last

3:18

night the Mavs took home court advantage away from

3:20

the Thunder. It's now 1-1. They

3:23

were able to get the wind there last night. The

3:25

Thunder were just not able to

3:27

keep up with the Mavs in this one. Luca

3:29

Kyrie, they did their

3:31

things. PJ Washington was really big for

3:33

Dallas in that one. And so Luca

3:35

kind of limping his way through the game,

3:37

but managed to get through it. Now you've got

3:40

a really interesting series. They're certainly more interesting than

3:42

it was after game one with OKC. Looks

3:44

like maybe they knew some things that they could

3:46

do against against the Mavs. Now Mark Dagnall is

3:48

the coach of the year for a reason. I

3:51

think they're going to come back with some really

3:53

interesting strategies in game three. So I can't wait

3:55

to see that one. And then we saw the

3:57

Cavs, everybody's favorite team right

3:59

now. They beat the

4:01

Celtics in Boston. Let's go. The Cavs

4:04

got the win. I'm not expecting the Cavs to

4:06

win that series. I'm not. But

4:09

stretch that series out as much as you can.

4:12

Make the Celtics have to play extra

4:14

games. They have way too much of

4:16

just an easy path. I mean, the

4:19

Knicks are imploding, not imploding on the

4:21

court, imploding due to injuries. O.G. Ananobi

4:23

is now out. It feels like the

4:25

Celtics, those ghouls in green. They're

4:28

just rolling out the red carpet, just giving them

4:30

a free pass right to the NBA Finals when

4:32

you look at the Eastern Conference or the Leastern

4:34

Conference, as we call it. Good

4:37

to see somebody putting up a fight against

4:40

Boston. The Cavs getting that win. And hey,

4:42

you never say never. Crazy things happen again.

4:45

I would expect the Celtics to win

4:47

that series, but good to see the Cavs get a

4:49

win. Now they go back to Cleveland and see if

4:51

they can actually put a scare into

4:53

Boston there. All right, let's talk about

4:55

these Lakers. Let's get into this. And this is really the

4:57

lens I want to look at this through. Who

5:00

stays and who goes under a 2020

5:04

slash Wolves model.

5:08

So here's the thing. When I look at the Minnesota

5:10

Timberwolves right now, I know some people have compared

5:12

them to the 2009-2010 Lakers. And

5:16

I kind of get it in terms of

5:18

three bags. Nas Reed is kind of in

5:21

that Lamar Odom role. You've got Pow and

5:23

Bynum are kind of being mimicked in some

5:25

ways by Gobert and Karl

5:27

Anthony Towns. Again, very, very different players. But

5:29

the same idea. You've got three bags that

5:31

just kind of rotate through. Then you've got

5:34

some depth on the wing. You've got some guys who are

5:36

long and lanky out there that can do some things for

5:39

you for the Lakers. Obviously,

5:42

you've got MWP, Ron Artest

5:44

at the time. You've got him. He can

5:46

give you some things on the defensive side

5:48

of the ball. Anthony Edwards, obviously doing his

5:50

best Kobe impression. And then you've got a,

5:52

in fact, a little bit ironic.

5:55

You've got a lefty, just steady veteran point

5:57

guard that can defend and hit a big

5:59

three when needed. be in Mike Conley, same

6:01

thing with Derek Fisher. So I get the

6:03

comparisons. It's not a great direct comparison, but

6:05

I understand the thinking. And then you can

6:07

look at the 2020 Lakers and you

6:09

can kind of get the same vibe from this

6:11

Minnesota team. Now I'm not counting the Nuggets out

6:13

in this series. I think the Denver Nuggets, look,

6:15

they're the reigning champs. They could very well go

6:17

into Minnesota and win two games there. And next

6:20

thing you know, it's the best of three series.

6:22

I would not put it past the Denver

6:24

Nuggets, stop them from doing that. Minnesota

6:26

looks really good. And I think

6:28

when we see this team, it goes

6:30

beyond just, it goes

6:33

beyond just their winning games. It's

6:35

how they're winning games that

6:37

you look at and you go, that,

6:40

that's what I want right there. That's

6:42

what we need to do. And the

6:44

ironic thing is, that's

6:47

what the Lakers did do. This

6:49

is the model that the Lakers had just a few

6:51

years ago. In fact, when people say,

6:53

Oh, the wolves, you know, they were, they were built

6:55

to beat the Denver Nuggets. Kind

6:58

of, they were also kind of

7:01

built to deal with the Lakers only

7:03

then they didn't have to deal with the Lakers because the

7:05

Lakers dealt with themselves by blowing up their team to trade

7:07

for Russell Westbrook. But if you look at how the Lakers

7:09

were built when they won a championship in 2020, and even

7:12

the year after that, the idea

7:15

was we're going to be

7:17

bigger, faster, stronger than you. We're

7:19

going to defend like crazy. We're

7:21

going to switch like crazy. We're

7:23

going to be a pain in the butt to score on.

7:25

We're going to rebound. We're going

7:28

to punish you physically. And

7:30

then our offense is going to kind of thrive off of

7:32

that. We may not be the best offensive team in the

7:34

world, but we're going to be able to get it done.

7:36

Because we've got guys, we've got a perimeter star at that

7:39

time, it was LeBron. We've got a guy who can punish

7:41

you in the paint, Anthony Davis, right? We've

7:43

got these guys that can do these things. So when you

7:45

look at the wolves, not

7:47

only is it there's a, there's a let's

7:49

face it, a little bit of a smile comes

7:51

to the Lakers fans faces when they see Denver

7:54

losing. So

7:56

not only is there that factor, but there's

7:58

also that little hint of familiar. Clarity

8:01

when you're watching what the wolves are doing because

8:03

really it is kind of that that Lakers

8:05

model from a few years ago Again, you can

8:07

go all the way back to the 2010 team if you want But

8:11

the team the Lakers had not that long ago

8:15

Where everybody can shoot the three to

8:17

send you're not necessarily snipers You can shoot

8:19

your credible threat out there. A lot

8:21

of guys can shoot can shoot that three I

8:23

know Dwight and in jubail weren't shooting the three

8:25

or anything But you know like Alex Caruso could

8:28

shoot it just well enough to be a credible

8:30

threat KCP could have short of course shoot the

8:32

three Avery Bradley who's remember

8:34

it was part of that team I know we forget

8:36

about him because he didn't play in the playoffs But

8:38

Avery Bradley would occasionally knock when a Danny Green could

8:40

hit at a pretty high clip. It was it was

8:42

very switchable on that team so You

8:45

look back at that Lakers team and there's

8:47

that familiarity. We see a similar basketball

8:52

mentality a similar Goal

8:55

here mission statement if you will

8:58

out of this wolves team and that Lakers team

9:00

and we look at it This LeBron said this

9:02

recently This

9:05

is what LeBron said about the wolves He

9:09

said honestly are obviously Minnesota's advantage

9:12

Which they have in our league in general

9:14

no matter if it's versus Denver versus anybody

9:16

is their length They have that

9:18

at the wing positions. You don't look

9:20

at Mike Connelly as a tall guy But his length he

9:23

has a lot of length out there Anthony Edwards a lot

9:25

of length Jaden McDaniels Carla Anthony towns

9:27

were to go bear. They all have like

9:29

they come off the bench Nikhil Alexander Walker

9:32

Nas read length Kyle

9:34

Anderson. They just continue to barrage you with

9:36

length and Guys that know

9:38

how to play to two things length

9:40

and they got to know how to play so

9:43

that's been their biggest advantage because

9:45

they've Bought

9:47

in to coach Finch's defensive schemes or

9:50

whoever their defensive coordinator is there I don't want to

9:52

speculate whatever the case may be those guys have bought

9:54

in on the defensive end It's not

9:56

only they bought on the defensive end. They've got guys that want

9:59

to defend and make their mark on

10:01

the defensive end. So he's absolutely right. They've

10:03

got guys with the physical attributes

10:05

to defend at a very high level in the

10:07

NBA. And they've got guys that have bought in.

10:09

You think back to that 2020 team, that's

10:12

exactly what the Lakers had. Remember they had

10:14

Dwight Howard, they had Javeel McGee, who both

10:17

had really successful,

10:19

and Dwight Howard insanely successful NBA careers up

10:21

to that point. Dwight Howard was a superstar.

10:24

For a while, he was the best center in the NBA,

10:26

a ball-time defensive player of the year. And you've got those

10:28

guys saying, whatever it takes to win.

10:31

No, I need to sit on the bench this

10:34

game. Cool, no

10:36

problem, coach. Whatever

10:38

we need to do, you need me to go

10:40

in there and play 20 plus minutes a night

10:42

and be physical with Nikola Jokic.

10:45

Cool, I'll do that, coach, no problem. You

10:47

need 10 rebounds tonight, I got you. That

10:50

was the mentality of that team. Everybody

10:53

bought in and they did it from opening

10:56

day, media day, I

10:58

remember, how bought in that team was. That's

11:00

easy. So there's that on the mental side

11:02

of it too. But when we look at

11:04

this Lakers roster right now, yes,

11:06

they made the move to undo the

11:08

Russell Westbrook trade. They went and got

11:10

DeAngelo Russell. They added Jared

11:13

Van Der Bilt, Malik Beasley, obviously has come

11:15

and went since then. The

11:18

Lakers did what they could

11:20

to fix their mistake with

11:22

the Russell Westbrook trade. They blew up a team that they should

11:25

not have blown up. But

11:28

what could they do to really get it back to

11:30

where it was? And so that's what I wanna look

11:32

at right now. Based

11:34

on this Minnesota or this 2020

11:36

Lakers model, without

11:40

getting into who you replace these

11:43

guys with, who

11:45

stays and who goes from this roster?

11:48

If you look at this Wolves model and

11:50

you say, this is what this team needs

11:52

to be, who

11:56

is it that can't be part of this team next

11:58

year? Who can't? If

12:01

you're going to have that model, we're going to

12:03

defend like crazy. We're gonna rebound like crazy. We're

12:05

gonna be more physical We're gonna be more athletic

12:07

than you and we're gonna punish

12:09

you If

12:11

that's the model you want to go back to and I think it makes

12:13

sense You need a few things

12:15

as LeBron said you need length You

12:18

need guys who are gonna buy in defensively, but

12:20

I also say you need some guys who can

12:22

shoot You

12:24

need some guys who can create? You

12:27

have to find some specific archetypes in

12:29

that So

12:32

let's take a look at this Who

12:35

doesn't come back well LeBron obviously

12:38

the Lakers want to bring him back let's start

12:40

there Lakers want to bring him

12:42

back However, the easy thing and I've even

12:44

had fans suggesting this to me. Well Anthony

12:47

Davis needs to go back to play in power forward and

12:51

LeBron needs to go back to play in point guard No,

12:56

no, he does here's the did

12:59

LeBron ever really played play point guard Diddy

13:06

It depends on how you look at it when I

13:08

look at positions I'm

13:11

looking at who guys are defending Not

13:13

what they're doing on offense To

13:16

me did the NBA as it's becoming more

13:18

positionless That's primarily on the offensive

13:20

end because now you've got bigs that can dribble

13:22

and shoot You've got guards who

13:24

can post up you've got right guys can do

13:26

a lot of different things guys are very multifaceted

13:28

And that's as the game is evolving, which is

13:31

fantastic But Braun

13:33

being the quote point guard in 2019 2020 That

13:37

was just that was his role on the offensive

13:39

end was being that primary initiator the primary ball

13:41

handler the perimeter whatever you want Call him and

13:45

that's fine. But is he is he chasing around? Steph

13:47

Curry night in night out. No, it's

13:50

not defending. No, that was KCP's job. That

13:52

was Avery Bradley's job Danny green to some

13:54

degree There was not LeBron's

13:56

job. So people say all the bra needs to

13:58

go back to being point guard. Well No.

14:01

I'd also argue though that the broader this point. He's.

14:04

Probably closer to the Karl Anthony towns roll

14:06

out in. I I mean in terms of

14:08

being a power forward of occasionally have to

14:10

fill in the center spot. That

14:12

he is being more of a perimeter bass player.

14:15

At least offensively. I'm

14:17

I'm not even super comfortable asking the broader

14:19

chase threes around. right? Now. So

14:22

I think one of the things that you have to do if we're

14:24

going to build up his roster. Is.

14:26

You do need to have just like Minnesota

14:28

has. Just like the Lakers Added twenty twenty.

14:30

You need three bags. They can be party

14:32

rotation. And. I actually think Le

14:34

Bron is probably one of them at this point.

14:37

Because. I believe he is. A

14:40

power forward. Primarily. Played

14:42

the bulk of his minutes a power forward This last season.

14:45

I don't think he's really a three. Right

14:47

now. I think he's close. I don't think

14:49

either five either by the is closer to be in a

14:51

five now than he is a three. What

14:54

happens when players get older? You

14:57

move. Down. A position so

14:59

a goat's. Celebrant.

15:03

You've got the Bronx, but as will broad

15:05

that perimeter creator that's going to spend all

15:07

game setting everybody up. Probably. Not

15:09

and that's probably something you'd have to go find.

15:11

Or the trade market. The most you think

15:14

that's already on the floor, it's already on the

15:16

team. Anthony Davis. Jack right me. The

15:18

branded A D. They're not going anywhere. Can they

15:20

be part of this kind of system? Yes. Give.

15:22

A broad deepens be at the level you need to.

15:26

Know. Not every night. Nor.

15:29

Should it be expected to be at that level every single

15:31

night? But. If you want to

15:33

be the kind a team that. Just

15:35

gets. Into teams defensively.

15:38

You're. Gonna provide some ways to do it with the brawn

15:40

on the floor. But

15:42

he of these gives you some size and physicality. Of

15:45

course he gives you rebounding you to have to be

15:47

great rebounded. The basketball. Digital

15:50

Russell Know. God.

15:53

if you try to build up this kind of rock kind

15:56

of roster let me put it this way to try to

15:58

build this kind of roster You

16:00

can't have both D-Lo and Austin. You

16:03

can't. Not

16:05

if you're trying to build out a

16:07

roster that is going to be able

16:09

to switch like crazy, going to pester

16:11

teams defensively, that physical style,

16:14

you're going to be more athletic than

16:16

everybody else. That's not D-Lo, that's not Austin. You

16:20

can have one of them in that

16:22

kind of Mike Conley-esque role. Ironic

16:24

because D-Lo, the Lakers could have had Mike

16:26

Conley, could have had Mike Conley

16:28

instead wanted De'Andra Russell. I've seen people get on the

16:30

Lakers for that. I've seen people complain about that. I

16:33

actually thought it was a very sensible decision to make at the time.

16:36

I mean, who would know that Mike Conley would still be this productive

16:38

right now at 36? To

16:42

me, it was a pretty smart gamble

16:44

to take. Now, did it pay off? You could

16:46

argue no, given that Mike Conley, his

16:48

ability to hit big shots, just be a steady

16:50

point guard probably would look really good. But again,

16:53

what are the odds that he was going to be

16:55

able to continue producing like this at his age compared

16:57

to a D'Andra Russell who's in his prime, I get

17:00

why the Lakers said, eh, let's, let's go

17:02

with D-Lo. But nonetheless,

17:06

you can't have both D-Lo and Austin. You

17:08

just can't. And D-Lo's can

17:10

be a restricted free agent, obviously, or a free

17:12

agent. I mean, obviously the Lakers would like to

17:14

not lose him for nothing. But

17:19

I think if you're going to try to build out a Wolf

17:21

style roster, D'Andra Russell is not going to be part of it.

17:24

And it pains me to say that because I liked D'Andra Russell. I

17:26

was really hoping it was going to work with him to stay with

17:28

the Lakers. And, uh, in

17:30

the Lakers, we're going to be able to figure

17:32

out a way to, to put all the pieces

17:34

together. The playoff shortcomings are noteworthy, but

17:37

ultimately, if you're going to try to build

17:40

around that model, you

17:42

can't have a D-Lo and Austin back court. You're

17:45

not good enough defensively. It doesn't work. So

17:49

in this situation, we're looking at who stays, who goes,

17:51

D-Lo goes, because I

17:53

think Austin has a better chance of

17:55

being a pesky

17:58

defender who can set. guys

18:00

up on the offensive end that can occasionally hit

18:02

a big shot for you in that kind of

18:04

Mike Conley ask, maybe we call it a Derek

18:06

Fisher ask role. I think Austin's got a better

18:08

shot of being that not only that,

18:10

but he's got the contractual advantage as well. So Dilo's

18:12

gone in that model.

18:15

And again, I'm not getting into who you're

18:17

replacing him with. Just if that's what you're

18:20

going to try to recreate who

18:22

can be on this team and who can't Dilo can't

18:26

ruin. Is it tricky? This

18:29

is tricky. Right. Ruby can shoot

18:31

the three he's six eight. He's got

18:33

a seven, two wingspan. So he's got the size

18:35

that you want, the length that you want. He

18:37

shot the ball well this season, but

18:41

the defensive side, Michael

18:44

Porter junior ran circles around him because

18:47

he tends to lose focus off

18:49

fall defensively. He struggles there on

18:51

that end of the floor. I will say Ruby

18:54

is not. He's

18:57

not in either column for me.

19:00

He's a guy you could bring back and

19:02

could potentially fit in

19:05

this kind of Wolfsy

19:08

build, but

19:11

you also, if you needed salary in a

19:13

trade, you could put

19:15

him in there because I

19:18

don't know if we're talking about playing defense at the

19:20

level that this type

19:22

of build is going to need to, I

19:26

don't know if Ruby and LeBron on the floor at

19:29

the same time, given the LeBron's not, not, and I

19:31

didn't night out the defensive player he once was, I

19:35

don't know if you're going to be able to get away with that now,

19:37

if you can figure out. So Ruby comes off the bench. Okay.

19:40

Again, this is not Dilo Austin

19:42

backcourt. Uh-uh, not going to work. Not

19:45

going to work. If you're trying to emulate 20,

19:47

20. If you're trying to emulate the

19:49

wolves right now, not going to work. Really?

19:53

If you're bringing them out the bench. Okay.

19:56

You bring in some firepower. Again, you

19:58

need length. He offers that. 6,872

20:01

wingspan. So again, this is not a

20:04

hell no. But

20:06

it's a maybe you use him as

20:09

a trade chip to go and add

20:11

some other pieces. It's not a

20:13

perfect fit in that system. All right. Austin,

20:16

I think Austin can stick around to this and

20:18

people will say, well, Austin gets picked on defensively.

20:21

Look, I understand that. But we

20:23

also saw an Austin Reeves that improved defensively

20:25

as the season went on, been a pretty

20:27

pesky defender. And I think in the right

20:29

system, the right team, he can be the

20:31

kind of guy who is going to step

20:33

up and take charge. He's going to get

20:36

steals when you need him to. He's going

20:38

to hit big shots. He's pretty, he's pretty

20:40

tough to shake his confidence. So I think

20:42

Austin fits in a system like that, even

20:44

though he's not a lockdown defender. Now it

20:46

requires that you're going to have to surround him with

20:48

some defensive guards. So we're going to

20:51

have to look at that too. Gabe Vincent,

20:53

ironically, this is where Gabe actually

20:55

fits very well. If he

20:57

is in your guard rotation, he

21:00

defends at a pretty high level. He's pretty good as an

21:02

off ball chaser. So a lot of

21:04

people look at Gabe and they say, get this guy off the roster. But

21:08

if it's the 2020 model or

21:10

if it's the wolves

21:12

model, Gabe

21:15

actually fits fairly well. Now he's a

21:17

little bit undersized at six three. You

21:19

want a size advantage across position. So

21:21

you want a bigger guy out there, but

21:24

his skillset actually fits fairly well in this.

21:26

Now again, he's kind of in the Rui

21:29

boat where if you needed to use his

21:31

money in a trade, you could, but

21:34

I actually think he fits pretty well in the

21:36

guard rotation, kind of filling that Nikhil Alexander Walker

21:38

role that we're seeing from the wolves right now.

21:42

Jared Vanderbilt. Hell

21:44

yeah. Jared Vanderbilt is an

21:47

easy. Yes. The only problem is

21:49

he can't shoot. Well,

21:52

he can't shoot and can't stay healthy. But

21:55

this, and ironic because he came initially

21:57

from the wolves. Jared

22:00

Vanderbilt is the guy, the

22:03

perfect, aside from the offensive end, defensively,

22:05

this is exactly what you want. Lanky,

22:09

switchable, a terror on

22:11

defense, just disrupts everything

22:14

out there. Jared

22:16

Vanderbilt is the kind of guy where

22:18

if Luca sees him across the floor,

22:20

Luca just rolls his eyes and he's

22:22

like, damn, tonight's going to suck. Right?

22:25

Because Jared Vanderbilt is going to be all

22:27

over you all night. You're

22:30

hanging on to him. He is a 100% keep.

22:34

If this is going to be your bill,

22:36

we're going to surround LeBron and AD with

22:38

guys who can defend like crazy

22:41

and hopefully, hopefully fingers

22:43

crossed that corner three

22:45

eventually becomes a weapon. Jalen Hukshifino.

22:47

I know right now,

22:49

JHS, a lot

22:51

of people look at him and say, you

22:53

blew it. He should be

22:56

Jaime Hockes. He

22:58

should be Brandon Pajemski. Should

23:01

be Cam Whitmore. You wasted

23:03

your 17th pick. We're

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Terms and conditions apply. Need

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to hire? You need

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Indeed. You

24:16

know, if I would have applied myself, I could have gone to

24:18

the NBA. Do you think so? Yeah, I think so.

24:20

But it's just like it's been done. You know, I didn't want

24:22

to be a follower. Hi,

24:25

I'm Jason Concepcion. And I'm Shay Serrano.

24:27

And we are back. We have a new

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24:32

And it's the best. Each week, Shay Serrano

24:34

and I are combing through all the NBA

24:36

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24:39

stories, and then handing out six pop culture

24:41

themed trophies for six basketball related activities. Trophies

24:43

like the Dominic Toretto, I Live My Life,

24:45

A Quarter Mile at a Time trophy, which

24:48

is given to someone who made a short

24:50

term decision with no regard for future consequence.

24:52

Or the Christopher Nolan Tenet trophy, which is

24:54

given to someone who did something that we

24:57

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24:59

the Lauren Hill. You might win some, but you

25:01

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your podcasts with an ad free right now

25:14

by joining Wondery Plus. I

25:18

thought they were going to trade that pick. I didn't

25:20

think they were going to use it. I thought they would trade it. Obviously,

25:22

the right trade didn't come along. I

25:25

did a video before the draft and

25:29

had JHS as a guy that

25:31

I didn't think the Lakers should draft. This

25:35

is not me saying, look at me

25:37

draft expert. I got it right and the

25:39

Lakers got it wrong. No, no, no, no, no, no. No,

25:42

no, no. Look, I am not a draft expert.

25:45

I would not profess to be one. What

25:48

I'm saying is that some of the drawbacks of Jalen Hood

25:50

Shafino were apparent going

25:53

on. But again,

25:55

we're looking at this through the lens of

25:57

you want guys who are big. athletic,

26:01

switchable, tough, physical

26:04

players. Those

26:08

are all things that Jaylen Huchafino is supposed to

26:10

be, and he's still young.

26:14

Now I could see him very easily getting put into a

26:17

trade this summer, wouldn't shock me at all.

26:21

But we've also seen

26:23

in the past where

26:25

guards have struggled in their first year,

26:28

and then they've later on found their

26:30

footing with more of the best examples being

26:32

Chauncey Billups. So

26:35

Jaylen Huchafino, specifically in this type of

26:37

a build, like

26:40

we're essentially describing all the things that

26:42

the Lakers hoped that JHS would be.

26:45

Now obviously he hasn't been good enough at any of them. Right,

26:48

he hasn't been good enough defensively, he hasn't been good enough

26:50

shooting the ball. Hasn't been good enough taking care

26:52

of the ball, good enough passing the ball. If

26:55

you go watch him in the G League, he looks like he's a totally

26:57

different player. It's

26:59

incredible. I really do

27:01

wonder how much of it is a confidence issue. Because

27:05

when he's in the G League, he tears it up. When

27:09

he's with the Lakers, it

27:11

looks like he gets in his head. Maybe

27:13

the lights are a little too bright. And

27:16

that's not to say that he could just be one of

27:19

those 4A guys. Too

27:21

good for the G League, not quite good enough for the pros. Hopefully

27:24

that's not where he lands again. He's

27:27

still very young. What I'm saying is, for all the people that

27:29

are ready to write him off, when

27:31

you're looking at what the Wolves are

27:34

doing defensively, and we're looking at that

27:36

in envy and we're saying that's what we

27:38

want. If

27:41

JHS ever becomes the guy that the Lakers

27:44

hoped he could be on draft night, he

27:46

fits great in that

27:48

type of team. Again,

27:51

wouldn't shock me if he gets moved, but

27:55

if there's some way to

27:57

get there, And

28:00

Summer League is going to be so big for him. If

28:03

there's some way for him just to a race

28:05

last season, start this season fresh.

28:09

And again, he's got an injury to recover from. He

28:12

actually fits pretty well. Actually

28:14

fits pretty well in that kind of

28:16

system. It may be wishful thinking on my part. I know a

28:18

lot of people are very down on JHS. But

28:22

if it's a big if he's at his best,

28:25

he fits very well. All right. Christian

28:28

would he picked up his player option. Sure,

28:34

he can shoot the three a

28:36

little bit, but he's not going to give you the things that you need. Protect

28:40

the rim. What do you need from your bigs? Rebound

28:43

like crazy. Protect the rim. Those

28:46

two things first and foremost, right? Finish

28:49

around the basket. You're going to

28:51

need a few guys who can stretch the floor. He can do that. I

28:54

don't think he checks the box. Am

28:56

I upset? Am I saying he can't

28:58

be on this team whatsoever? No, he could

29:01

be, but I wouldn't count

29:04

him as part of my three big rotation. He'd

29:07

be an extra piece that you can keep

29:09

in Jackson Hayes. Probably

29:11

same thing. In fact, I

29:13

think if Jackson Hayes picks up his player option, you probably

29:15

need to move on from one of them. Whether

29:18

it's Christian Wood or Jackson Hayes, you put them into a trade.

29:21

Jackson Hayes is he's very bouncy,

29:24

but he's not enough of a rim protector. I

29:26

was impressed with what he did the second half of

29:28

the season, and it wouldn't be the worst thing if

29:30

he if he stayed. But

29:34

not quite the rim protector that you need him to

29:36

be. Make some silly mistakes out there. Not quite the

29:38

rebounder that you need to be. Not the physical presence.

29:40

Problem is neither Christian Wood nor

29:42

Jackson Hayes check the boxes that you need. You

29:44

still have to go find someone else. So

29:47

while neither one is

29:50

bad, neither of them fills the role

29:52

that you need either. So

29:55

that's the problem. Again, wouldn't be look for

29:57

the value. It's fine if you have them on the roster.

30:00

But does it turn you into that kind of team that we're talking about?

30:02

No, Cam Reddish. Ironically,

30:05

Cam Reddish defensively does

30:08

the things that you need him to do. The

30:10

problem is he's so bad offensive. Remember LeBron, you

30:12

know, talked about the wolves and

30:14

said, these guys are, uh, what did he say

30:16

here? He said, they

30:19

also know how to play. Well,

30:21

we see Cam Reddish, you know, Cam Reddish is

30:24

long. He's lanky. He buys

30:26

in on the defensive side of the ball. But

30:29

he also makes some silly mistakes. He trips

30:31

over his own two feet on the offensive end. I've

30:35

despite the fact that he actually physically, he

30:38

fits the bill defensively, he fits the bill.

30:41

It's a no for me. Max

30:45

Lewis. He's so

30:47

cheap and I don't know

30:49

what he's going to be. But again, if

30:52

we looked at what the Lakers thought, hope

30:54

someday they'd be getting out of him when

30:56

they drafted him last year actually

30:58

fits a team like this really well. A

31:01

wing can shoot a bit from the

31:03

outside, be versatile. I don't have

31:05

a problem with that. And again, he's so

31:07

cheap. Yeah, you're not planning

31:09

on playing him a bunch, but the

31:12

skillset could fit. Then

31:15

we get to a few guys, the Lakers have cap holes

31:17

on Torian prints. Does

31:20

Torian fit offensively?

31:23

Yes. He can shoot the three. He

31:26

can be versatile there defensively, probably

31:28

not value wise. If

31:30

you're telling me Cam Reddish is gone,

31:33

you're telling me you have to move on from Rui,

31:35

but you get some other pieces that can fill some

31:38

spots. If Torian prints is a 15 minute

31:40

a night off the bench guy and

31:42

he's going to can a couple of threes for you

31:45

and just play average defense. Okay. You

31:47

can do worse than that. I

31:49

won't say he's a definite like D low

31:51

Austin. We know you can't have that back court. If

31:54

you're going to try to emulate that type of build, if we're going to

31:56

try to get back to what the Lakers were, can't have

31:58

that. Torian,

32:01

you could. It's not ideal, but

32:03

you could. Max Christie. My

32:07

God, I mean, aside from Jared Vanderbilt, and

32:09

maybe even more than Jared Vanderbilt, that type of

32:12

team fits Max Christie perfectly. Perfectly.

32:16

Only problem is you kind of need a time machine.

32:20

You need a time machine and you need to go get Max

32:22

Christie three years from now and put him in

32:24

that role. Because that's when

32:26

he'll be developed enough to be like every night,

32:28

night in, night out, ready to go. Right.

32:31

But the skill set is perfect. He can shoot

32:33

the three. He can defend, chases around

32:35

screens. He's tough. He rebounds

32:38

well. All of it. Again, frustrating, frustrating

32:40

that he didn't get more minutes this season. Yes,

32:42

Max Christie is a definite keep restricted

32:44

free agent. You keep him because you

32:46

know he's a perfect fit in

32:49

that type of system. That type

32:51

of team, perfect fit. Again,

32:53

only problem is

32:56

he's still too young. He's not quite

32:58

at the point where he's developed into what you need

33:00

him to be, but I believe he's going to. I

33:03

believe he's going to develop into exactly what you need.

33:05

So again, we take a look at this. Who

33:07

stays, who goes? If you're going to try

33:10

to recreate that 2020 team, and I still

33:12

think, again, this

33:14

is not adding the pieces you need yet. You

33:16

need to go get a real

33:18

creator who can score the basketball. So LeBron doesn't

33:21

have to do that every single night. You need

33:23

to go get another defensive

33:25

guard. You need to go get a

33:27

defensive big who can protect the rim for

33:29

you. Ideally, somebody could shoot the three. That's

33:32

going to be really hard to find. You need to go get some

33:35

wing help, right? By

33:37

no means is this done, but in

33:41

terms of who stays, who goes, the

33:43

clear these guys would

33:45

have to go are D'Angelo

33:49

Russell, Ruiz

33:51

Amabie, Christian

33:54

Wood, Jackson Hayes, at least one of those

33:56

guys probably have to go. Maybe

33:58

both of them. Cam

34:01

Reddish and

34:04

then Torian is a maybe as well. The

34:06

clear keeps in that situation.

34:09

Obviously the brought an ad Austin

34:11

I believe can fit in that type

34:13

of situation. Gabe Vincent

34:17

fits actually pretty well. Jared

34:20

Vanderbilt, Max Christie

34:22

and Jalen hood. Jeffino if you don't mind using him

34:24

in a trade. His

34:27

skill set actually fits well. So

34:30

that's where we're at. When we're looking

34:32

at this Lakers roster, if they do

34:35

say, let's really

34:37

undo the Russell

34:39

Westbrook trade. Let's really go back to that

34:41

model that we had in 2020. And

34:43

again, I don't think you can rely on

34:45

LeBron to be the creator that he was in 2020. I think

34:48

you have to bring in another guy to do some of that.

34:51

But you're going to have to shed some of

34:54

the players that they had from last season because

34:56

they're not going to fit that style. And again,

34:58

we're seeing the wolves do it. And

35:01

I think it's a pretty good indication

35:03

of where the league in general is

35:05

going. And it's tragic that

35:08

the Lakers actually went there. I

35:10

don't want to say first, but they were one of the first to

35:13

go there to build a roster that style. And

35:16

they didn't know what they had. They didn't know

35:18

what they had. They cast to the side and

35:21

now they have to try to get back to where

35:23

they were. But some of the

35:25

guys who are on this team this last

35:27

year, if you do want to get back to that,

35:29

that style, they're not going to be able to

35:32

stick around. You're going to have to make some

35:34

moves. So what type of build the Lakers

35:36

want, we'll do other ones too. We'll look

35:39

through other, we'll look at the Lakers roster

35:41

through other lenses as the offseason continues. But

35:43

I wanted to take a look at it, especially because

35:46

we have wolves nuggets tonight. How can the Lakers

35:48

build their roster back? Who would not be able to

35:50

be on this team if the Lakers were going to

35:52

try to follow that wolves model, which is again, really

35:54

the Lakers model. So hopefully that was

35:57

something you guys enjoyed. All right. Let's get to

35:59

it. little bit of the coaching news and

36:02

then we'll finish up. Oh, see, look at that. Studio

36:05

Stu comes on back. He

36:07

says, all right, all right. We're

36:10

done cutting guys off

36:12

the team. Now I'm

36:14

back. He's back in. Charles

36:17

Lee to the Hornets by the

36:19

podcast listeners. You guys know, Studio

36:21

Stu is the studio cat. Jump

36:24

back up, wanted to be part of the show here. Charles

36:27

Lee, who is an option for the Lakers out

36:29

there in the coaching market. The Hornets announced

36:31

that he was gonna be, come

36:33

their new head coach. And then Mike

36:36

Boudenhoser, the Phoenix Suns yesterday moved on from

36:38

Frank Vogel and almost immediately, I'm talking about

36:40

an hour, it was announced that

36:44

Mike Boudenhoser is like the

36:47

front runner to get their job. In other

36:49

words, like he's getting the job.

36:51

They're just dotting eyes,

36:53

crossing teeth, that type of thing. So

36:57

that could be two coaching candidates for the

36:59

Lakers off the market in one day, in

37:02

Charles Lee and Mike Boudenhoser. This

37:05

is the downside, right? To the Suns

37:07

suddenly jumping on the market and letting go of Frank

37:09

Vogel, is that the Suns were gonna

37:12

target some of the same people the Lakers were. Now,

37:14

how did the Lakers see Mike

37:16

Boudenhoser? Do they see him as

37:18

a, you know, Darvin Ham senior,

37:21

essentially? Do they see him as a

37:23

guy that was gonna have similar schemes? And I guess you

37:25

can have similar concerns with Charles Lee, who's also a Boudenhoser

37:28

guy, but would

37:30

that, how they were really seeing Mike

37:32

Boudenhoser? And if that's the case, if

37:34

they were looking at Coach Budd and saying, he's

37:38

a championship winning coach, but

37:40

we need schematically something more different than

37:43

what Darvin brought. Because

37:45

you know they're gonna try to

37:47

right the ship in terms of

37:50

Ham's communication, rotations, timeout usage. You

37:53

could find a coach who can do

37:55

those things without being so different schematically

37:57

from what Darvin Ham did. But,

38:00

That was concerned that hey we not only want

38:02

to get guys who are are better in terms

38:04

of their in game management better with their communication

38:06

things of that nature but we also want to

38:08

get somebody was going to run different schemes that

38:10

would Durbin does. The. Coach

38:12

Bud probably would have been high up on the Lakers

38:14

list anyway. that again I don't know if true. If.

38:17

It is though than the Lakers probably are

38:19

sweating. Over Coach Bud probably going

38:21

to the Phoenix Suns and Charles Lee going to

38:23

the Hornets. They're probably looking elsewhere. Otherwise,

38:27

If coach Bud was. Up there on

38:29

their list and they were really hoping to get the

38:31

interview. M. This. Is not good News

38:33

Simply was it would translate This is not

38:36

good. So. Now the

38:38

pool of coaching candidates. It's

38:40

getting shallower. The.

38:42

Positive though. Is. If the sun's

38:45

pop on the market and they pop up

38:47

like immediately. It's.

38:49

Really? Just the Lakers Left? right? It's it's the

38:51

Lakers in the Wizards, but they're not competing for

38:53

the same coaches. The. Wizards are to the

38:55

same spot of the Lakers they're not trying to win

38:57

right now. They're most likely not going to be interviewing

38:59

the same guys. Or they're They're going to be looking

39:02

for different things when they're interviewing them. So.

39:05

I. Think that means that if the Lakers plan.

39:08

Is to slow play this to take their

39:10

time. Right or wrong. The

39:14

positive is. If.

39:16

Coach Bud was not high up on their list

39:18

anyway, which may be wasn't. Then.

39:21

Now they really don't have to hurry. Because.

39:23

Now there's not even the threat anymore of

39:25

the sons hitting the bark and I've talked

39:27

about this that the songs hitting the market

39:29

could create some competition for the coaches that

39:31

are available now of the sons are on

39:33

the market and and off the market in

39:35

like twenty four hours. Now.

39:38

You're not that worried is what? Who are the other? What are

39:40

the other jobs that might be out there are? there's the wizards.

39:43

And then Portland. Maybe Chauncey Billups could be

39:45

on the hot seat? That's.

39:48

Probably it. If. the clippers hit

39:50

the market wasn't that's great because mean i lose

39:52

also on the market lakers would buy do it

39:54

didn't occur to hire him by the way i

39:56

do believe that probably part of the thought process

39:58

for the lakers right now is slow

40:00

play the coaching hiring thing just to see if

40:03

maybe things don't go well with the extension

40:05

negotiations between Tyloo and the Clippers. I

40:08

think if Tyloo was available, the

40:10

Lakers would be all over it. They'd be ecstatic.

40:13

They'd be doing everything they could to get him to be

40:16

their head coach. That's what I think. But

40:19

the way things are right now, the

40:21

downside to potential candidates

40:24

off the board in one day. The

40:26

upside though is

40:30

now you're not that worried, right?

40:32

Like Jason Kidd got his extension,

40:34

Tyloo extension, Boudinhauser, Charles Lee, all

40:36

these guys are gone, but

40:39

then that would leave and again

40:41

assuming Tyloo gets his extension. That leaves the

40:43

Lakers though to take

40:46

their time and pick among the guys

40:48

who are left. So who's left? Kenny

40:51

Atkinson would be somebody with head coaching experience.

40:53

That's an attractive quality we know for the

40:55

Lakers. JJ Rettick, certainly

40:58

a name that's been out there and can

41:00

debate the pros and cons. I don't, I'm

41:02

worried. I'm worried about

41:04

JJ Rettick higher. Not

41:06

worried that it's going to happen. Like I'm not saying

41:08

that. I'm saying if you were to be hired, I'd

41:10

be a little concerned about that. But

41:14

you've got options.

41:18

Mike and Nori with the Wolves. He's

41:21

out there. David Attelman, right?

41:23

You've got, you've got assistant coach options too.

41:27

But it's not ideal that like your

41:29

primary head coach experience option

41:31

would be Mike Boudinhauser. He's probably the top of

41:33

the list. If you have to have somebody with

41:36

head coaching experience, Mike Boudinhauser is probably it. That

41:38

he'd be gone. That's not ideal. Charles

41:41

Lee not available now. Not ideal. Extensions

41:43

for Tyloo extension for Jason Kidd, not

41:45

ideal. But the

41:48

silver lining. Now

41:51

you can really take your time. Do

41:53

your research. You don't have to

41:55

rush anything because unless something

41:58

surprising happens. It's

42:01

the Lakers and nobody else that's really

42:03

in the same position they're in. So

42:07

that's where things are out on the coaching

42:09

front. All right. Let's wrap things up for

42:11

today's show with the mailbag. Uh,

42:14

legends that was where their Jalen Suggs rumors to

42:16

LA back in the 2023 draft. Not

42:20

as I can recall, I don't know how they would have gotten

42:22

them. I mean, he went way higher than what the Lakers

42:24

had. Um, your

42:27

take on Xavier Tillman, Sean was on the show

42:29

when this question came in, he gives you Oakage

42:31

issues. I,

42:33

again, if we're trying to emulate that wolves

42:35

build, the problem with Tillman is he's

42:38

not much of a rim protector, but

42:40

in terms of just being a physical big

42:44

that it's going to show up

42:46

to work with the lunch pail and the hard hat.

42:48

Yeah. He, he fits.

42:51

He'd be a fit there. Brian

42:54

hearts. And how about Adrian Griffin? Is he a good

42:56

coach for LA? I still,

42:58

I've got concerns over what happened with Milwaukee. Why

43:00

did they move on from him so quick? Why

43:02

did he have issues with Terry Stott's like immediately

43:04

to the point where they had to dismiss Terry

43:06

Stott's. I

43:09

know I'm

43:11

very much a proponent of interview. Everybody, people say,

43:13

Oh, Mark Jackson, people say a van Gundy, say

43:15

JJ bread, I say whoever, yeah,

43:17

interview him. Doesn't hurt. Does

43:19

not hurt you. Adrian

43:21

Griffin, sure. Interview, but

43:25

how serious of a candidate. I think he's a guy that

43:27

would have to like JJ Reddick would have to

43:29

as well. Convince the

43:31

Lakers in the interview process. He'd have

43:34

to be very convincing. Same

43:36

thing for JJ bread. Like he's got to convince the Lakers that

43:38

he can be an NBA head coach legend

43:40

2020. The versatility of our bigs was nice.

43:42

Yeah. That's when I spent a good chunk

43:44

of the show talking about, um, two

43:46

bruisers and a small ball demon, a

43:49

D was quicker than other centers. A

43:51

D was terrible from three, but was still respectable. He was

43:53

like 33% from three that season. He

43:56

hasn't touched that since. That's

43:58

part of the problem. When people say, Oh, just.

44:00

move Anthony Davis to the four. Part of the

44:02

problem is he's not

44:04

shooting the three with either the volume or

44:06

the consistency that he used to. He's not

44:09

hitting those shots at any kind

44:11

of consistent rate. So that's

44:14

the issue. Moving to

44:16

the four, you put a traditional five

44:18

out there, you really

44:20

need a five who can shoot the three and there's

44:22

just not that many of them. It's

44:24

not that many. I mean, there's Brooke Lopez, few others,

44:27

but there's not that many of them. The

44:29

fine. So that's a challenge, but the versatility of

44:31

their bigs was indeed nice that year. And that's something that

44:33

I would like to see the Lakers recreate. Again,

44:36

LeBron has to chew up a lot of the power forward minutes because

44:38

that's where he's going to play a lot. But

44:41

at the very least you need one more big

44:44

with LeBron with AD and then let you try

44:46

to keep one of Christian Wood or Jackson Hayes

44:48

to be your fourth big in theory or your

44:50

break glass in case of emergency guy, knowing that

44:52

if you hang on to really, he can play

44:54

some minutes at the four as well, but you

44:56

need a true rotation

44:59

level big that

45:01

you can put out there. What

45:03

about Phil Handy? The Lakers just

45:05

let him go. So I don't know what that situation

45:07

looks like. He did just let him

45:10

go from his assistant coaching contract. But I

45:13

mean, really good player development guy. If

45:15

he's open to sticking around, yeah,

45:18

you give him an interview again, interview him. He's

45:21

the guy who's been connected to head coaching jobs

45:23

for a while, like rumored to

45:25

be involved in. And he was the guy that the

45:27

players were rumored to hope was going to replace

45:30

Darvin Ham mid season. So I

45:32

think you, you do give him an

45:34

interview and you see what's there. If he's interested, maybe

45:36

he's ready to move on. He's been in LA for

45:38

awhile. Kaleidoscope said,

45:41

welcome to life as LeBron fan, LMAO

45:44

damned if he does damned if he doesn't. Yeah. I mean, it's

45:50

the gymnastics folks, the

45:53

mental gymnastics that

45:56

LeBron haters will go through in a

45:59

way. order to somehow do something

46:02

to discredit LeBron. It's

46:05

unbelievable. It's unbelievable

46:08

seeing that the hoops people will jump through

46:10

to try

46:12

to find some way to discredit

46:15

LeBron. It's

46:18

crazy. And look, to

46:20

me, I understand it more when we're looking

46:22

at it as a team level. I

46:24

get it when Celtics fans want to say like,

46:27

Oh, Lakers don't get the claim. They're, they're titles

46:30

when the team was in Minnesota. Thanks for like those

46:32

ones don't count because they weren't there. Like again,

46:36

it's the same kind of stuff. Yeah, but I connect

46:38

with it more because I'll

46:40

be one of the ones saying, okay, well

46:43

then the Celtics titles from when

46:45

you had your mailman was on an NBA team and

46:47

stuff like that, because

46:50

these are guys who are, you're playing up against guys

46:53

that are, you know, they're, they're the butcher on the

46:55

weekend. They're the mailman. They're doing other stuff. Cause

46:57

that's where the league was at that point. And

46:59

that's when the Celtics are, and I'm exaggerating to

47:01

some degree, but I'll

47:04

try to make that argument too. So

47:08

I understand it in that sense, but

47:13

I think when we do this at the player level, the

47:15

unfortunate part of it is

47:19

it causes so many people to miss incredible

47:21

talents, right?

47:24

Like we let, we spend

47:26

so much time, so

47:30

much time trying to tear down certain

47:32

players that

47:34

like 10 years after they're gone, those same people

47:36

suddenly go, Oh yeah, he was really good. Or

47:40

at least are a little bit more appreciative of

47:42

that player. But

47:44

right now people get stuck in the weeds. They get stuck

47:47

in the, in the thick of it. And

47:49

they get so mired in. No,

47:51

I'm a Jordan fan. So I'm going

47:53

to just trash LeBron or

47:55

vice versa. Right. We

47:58

see this quite a bit. And

48:01

I think the unfortunate part of it again be a fan however you

48:03

want to be if you want to be a player first

48:05

Fan be a player first fan. That's how you enjoy the game. Enjoy the

48:07

game But I

48:09

think we devolve too often at least in ways

48:12

it with the discourse I see we devolve into

48:14

in order to make

48:16

my guys seem better. I need

48:18

to tear down the other guy over

48:20

there Rather

48:23

than just be appreciative of some of

48:25

the incredible talent that we get to watch and So

48:28

that's where LeBron gets, you know if

48:34

Abrilie this is this is the best way to sum it up

48:37

three seconds on the clock LeBron

48:41

with the ball in his hands There's

48:45

two things that can happen I

48:48

and both of them are dependent upon What

48:52

happens on the play? LeBron

48:54

takes the shot. He makes

48:56

it easy hero He misses it.

48:58

He's a ball hog who should have never taken that

49:01

shot right LeBron

49:03

passes His teammate makes

49:05

the shot LeBron

49:08

read the play perfectly. LeBron made the

49:10

right decision his teammate misses the shot

49:15

And Kobe would never

49:17

jordan would never LeBron

49:20

doesn't have that killer instinct all that

49:22

stuff What changed

49:24

what really changed? Whether

49:27

or not the shot went in that's all

49:29

that changed And

49:32

yet if you are anti LeBron in

49:34

either situation You're

49:37

gonna find a way To try

49:39

to discredit him. So he's like, oh see he passed

49:42

that ball to a wide open dance proof That's

49:46

proof. The LeBron is not the goat or

49:48

see LeBron took that shot. Mr. Jordan would have hit that shot

49:51

every time right

49:55

That's what we see so

49:57

for LeBron no matter what decision

50:00

he makes, he's

50:02

going to get criticized for it if

50:05

the ball doesn't go in the basket. And

50:07

sometimes you can't make it go in. Jordan

50:11

missed shots. We

50:13

don't remember him as much because nostalgia is a hell of

50:15

a drug, but Jordan missed shots. It

50:18

happened. But

50:20

right now we get stuck in it and

50:23

he does get criticized no matter

50:25

what he does. I don't think he cares that much about it, but

50:28

he does get criticized no matter what he does. What

50:31

about Jalen Smith with Anthony Davis? Maybe. I

50:33

mean like is an off-the-bench big? I

50:36

wouldn't hate that. I don't think he's like the

50:38

top your list, but Ali,

50:41

if LeBron, if

50:44

would you consider trading AD? So

50:46

if LeBron left, is

50:48

that what you're saying? Would you consider trading AD? Yes. Yeah,

50:52

absolutely. If LeBron left

50:56

and you didn't feel like you had another

50:58

star coming in, I think

51:00

you have to consider it because then

51:02

you're asking the question, how

51:04

long until we get that other star to play with AD?

51:06

Do we really have a team that can get where we

51:09

want to go in the West? Because

51:11

if that answer is no, and I think it probably is,

51:14

right? Let's say LeBron is off this team.

51:18

Maybe you keep D-Lo at that point or

51:20

you flip him for somebody else or whatever,

51:24

but what do you have then? D-Lo

51:27

like Rui starting at the four, I guess,

51:29

with AD. Like that still could be a

51:31

decent team, but in the West right now,

51:34

is that enough? No. Could

51:38

you hold out for a season and hope that

51:41

mid-season you could find a trade for a star? Sure

51:43

you could, but

51:45

Anthony Davis in that scenario would also be a ticking

51:47

clock, and he just played 76 games,

51:51

just played 76 games, so his value

51:53

is probably not

51:55

going to go up from here because

51:57

players, the deeper into their 30s they get, the

52:00

more their value is going to drop. Now,

52:02

could Anthony Davis turn in a great MVP

52:04

caliber season next year? Absolutely. Sure, that's in

52:06

the realm of possibility. It

52:08

may be his value goes up, but in general,

52:10

the farther into 30 guys get

52:12

the less value they have. So

52:16

you could make the argument that if LeBron were to

52:18

sign with another team, blowing

52:21

up and trading Anthony Davis now would

52:24

get you the best return possible, the most

52:26

assets back, and you would be resetting

52:28

your franchise at that point. I'm

52:32

not saying that's the path you want to go down. I'm not saying that

52:36

with any kind of excitement. I've

52:38

seen people say, oh, just rebuild this thing. Rebuilding

52:41

is hell. Like,

52:44

hey, it's great if you get

52:46

Wembley, but think about all the

52:48

teams that didn't get Wembley. Think

52:51

about Detroit, spot

52:53

they've been in. Think about how hard

52:56

it is. We all think, oh, rebuild and you

52:58

get the guy and then you just off you

53:00

go. Look

53:02

what happened with Philly. Look how

53:04

many top picks they got. Markel

53:07

Folsom didn't work. Jalil

53:09

Ocafork didn't work. Ben

53:12

Simmons didn't work. They

53:16

got Joel Embiid. Thank

53:18

goodness they got Embiid. And

53:21

that got them back, kind

53:24

of. They're very dependent

53:26

on him. He's dealt with injuries. He's

53:28

the MVP last season. Not now, now it's

53:31

Jokic. But look

53:35

at all the shots they had. Look at

53:37

all the top picks that they had. Trust

53:39

the process. And

53:44

it largely didn't work. Those

53:47

guys, even the top picks that they had didn't

53:50

really pan out. It's

53:52

an inexact science. For

53:56

all the teams that are OKC, where

53:58

now you're going, oh man. Look at

54:00

them now. They got SGA. He's an

54:02

MVP candidate. They've got Chet. They've got

54:04

Jaylen Williams. They've got the mountain of

54:07

draft picks, all that kind of stuff.

54:09

For all the OKCs, for

54:11

the OKC of the

54:13

horizon, say singular, there's

54:15

a lot of teams that tried to rebuild and it

54:17

didn't work because they didn't get the guy. They

54:20

didn't get the superstar. The

54:23

Spurs, I don't know what they've done. I don't

54:26

know what kind of deal with the devil they made, but

54:30

somehow they got David

54:32

Robinson. They got Tim Duncan. Now they got Wim B.

54:37

But there's a lot of teams that don't get Wim B. A

54:39

lot of teams that don't get Luca, that

54:41

don't exit the draft with that guy and they can wind

54:43

up stuck for a long time. So all

54:46

I'm going to say is just those of you who

54:49

are saying, hey, tear it down, rebuild, all that kind of stuff,

54:52

be careful what you wish for. I sure

54:54

hope if they do that and when they eventually get to

54:56

the point where they need to rebuild, that they find that

54:58

guy and they find him quickly because

55:01

it's a long path waiting

55:04

to find that guy otherwise. Is

55:07

Mike DeAntonio a wild take? Yes.

55:10

Yeah. Yes. Let's

55:13

be honest. Yes. Mike DeAntonio is

55:15

a wild take for the Lakers. They've

55:17

done that. I don't think they're going back down

55:19

that path. Buck, three team trade.

55:22

Okay. Lakers get Marie,

55:25

Jante Marie, Sexton

55:27

and Kessler. Okay.

55:30

You have to give up something good to get

55:32

those things. Hawks

55:34

get, okay, Reeves, Gabe, picks.

55:38

You've got three first round picks. Jazz

55:42

get Rui, JHS and picks.

55:46

Sexton is your sixth man. Max and Vando started

55:48

the two and the three. Cam, Wood and Kessler

55:50

fill out the nine-man rotation. I

55:53

like Walker Kessler. I like his ability to protect the rim.

55:56

So you're getting DeGente, Murray, Colin

55:58

Sexton, Walker Kessler. for

56:00

Reeves, Gabe, Rui,

56:03

JHS, and Pics. I

56:10

don't think you're giving up enough. I

56:13

don't think the other teams are saying yes on that.

56:17

Specifically, are the Jazz saying

56:19

yes to Rui, remember

56:23

the Lakers have three firsts they can trade. So

56:25

let's say you trade all three firsts. Are

56:27

the Jazz saying yes to Rui,

56:30

JHS? Because

56:33

do they value JHS as a first? Probably

56:35

not. And one first,

56:39

assuming that it's Reeves,

56:41

Gabe, and two picks to

56:44

get Murray, if that's the price for Atlanta. Maybe

56:46

it's one pick. Maybe it's

56:48

Reeves, Gabe, and one pick for Murray.

56:52

Okay. Then

56:55

Rui, JHS, plus two picks to

56:58

get Sexton and Kessler. Okay.

57:03

Depending on protections on those picks, maybe it's

57:05

not out of the realm of

57:07

possibility. I

57:09

think both those teams would probably want more. Like

57:11

does Gabe Vincent have positive value to Atlanta? Probably

57:13

not. So

57:15

they probably ding you for taking on the extra year

57:18

of Gabe's contract. Do

57:20

the Jazz want Rui? They

57:22

want JHS. You could get it. It's

57:26

not impossible. I think they're gonna do,

57:28

I think they're gonna want multiple picks for Walker Kessler

57:30

alone. Do the Jazz value

57:32

Rui or not? I

57:35

know they're gonna value Sexton. So again, I

57:37

would say it's unlikely, but maybe it's not

57:39

as unreasonable

57:42

as when I first looked at it. But,

57:45

and this is without looking at any of the cat math or

57:48

anything on this, but the

57:51

other question is, do

57:54

the Lakers win with that team? You

57:58

lose Austin, you lose Rui. You

58:01

lose Gabe. You replace him

58:03

now. Walker Kessler playing with AD. Great.

58:06

I'm worried about the floor spacing though, of course. Colin

58:10

Sexton off the bench, great. He's

58:13

got Max and Vando starting. So

58:17

Kessler coming in as you're off the bench big. I

58:19

think he's probably at a higher

58:21

standing in the NBA than being a reserve

58:23

big. That

58:29

would be a good team. That'd

58:31

be a good team defensively. It'd be

58:33

really good. Kessler

58:35

gives you the rim protection. The

58:37

more I look at, and I'm a big fan of Colin Sexton,

58:40

the more I look at it, the more I'm like it. I'm

58:42

concerned about the shooting and the starting unit. You're putting

58:44

a lot of pressure on Max Christie to be able

58:47

to shoot the ball really well because Vando's not going

58:49

to. Dejante Murray's not always a

58:51

great shooter. Sexton could certainly shoot the ball.

58:54

And then you're asking AD to be able to

58:56

hit the three a little bit, especially if you're

58:58

going to play him at all with Walker Kessler.

59:00

But that could be a pretty damn good team. Jarrell

59:04

said Palenco doesn't value young talent. We could

59:06

have had Desmond Bain, Jayden

59:08

McDaniels still can't believe we

59:10

let go of Caruso and Zubat. Yeah,

59:15

Dez was all but openly campaigning to become

59:17

a Laker with that 28th pick that the

59:19

Lakers wound up ultimately trading in

59:22

order to get then a shooter. And

59:24

Jayden McDaniels was actually the pick. Have they done either

59:26

of those things? Taking Desmond Bain

59:28

or taking Jayden McDaniels? In fact, I think I'd

59:30

rather have Jayden McDaniels right now than

59:32

Dez. It's close though. But

59:37

have they done either of those things? It would have served them

59:39

much better than getting Dennis Schruder. Now at the time though, you're

59:41

talking about a guy that you're getting late in the first round.

59:44

Hindsight's 2020. Late in the first

59:46

round and the expiring contract of

59:48

Danny Green, who at that point was on

59:51

the downward side of his career. And

59:54

you're getting Dennis Schruder, who was just the runner up

59:56

for sixth man. So

59:58

I think context matters. there, right?

1:00:01

Context definitely matters. But

1:00:05

looking back, yeah, the Lakers would

1:00:07

have been much better off taking

1:00:09

either Des Bain or Jim McDaniels,

1:00:11

saying no to Dennis Shruder, and they'd

1:00:13

be in much better situations today and

1:00:16

not letting go of Caruso or Zubat.

1:00:18

Yeah. And I know Ibiza, you

1:00:21

kind of, you need it. You weren't going to be able to

1:00:23

pay them because you thought you were going to try to get

1:00:25

LeBron coming in and all that, but still value wise, that was

1:00:27

awful for the Lakers. All

1:00:30

right, everybody on that

1:00:32

positive note. Thank you

1:00:34

guys for joining the show. You guys know I

1:00:36

love getting into roster build stuff, roster building theories.

1:00:38

So I hope you guys

1:00:40

enjoyed looking at the Lakers roster through the

1:00:42

lens of the wolves and kind of

1:00:44

what we think NBA teams may need

1:00:46

to look at going forward. There's much

1:00:49

more nuance to this, much more in depth.

1:00:51

When we look at the salaries behind building

1:00:53

out players, the different salivary

1:00:55

tier, the apron tiers, where they'd be

1:00:57

sitting, there's much, much more to it.

1:01:00

But just looking at it from a very

1:01:02

simple level, who

1:01:04

could actually be on a

1:01:07

wolves style team right now from this roster? And

1:01:09

if you're going to try to emulate that, who

1:01:11

would have to go? I thought

1:01:13

it was an interesting exercise. Let me know what you guys

1:01:15

think in the comments down below. Don't

1:01:17

forget, do subscribe to the Lakers Nation YouTube channel

1:01:19

and hopefully I'll see you guys live. Two

1:01:22

o'clock Pacific time, we'll go live, kick

1:01:24

off the weekend. And then of course

1:01:26

tonight, come join us Lakers. Well,

1:01:29

they're not playing, but the wolves,

1:01:31

the Nuggets, they're playing Lakers fans. Come

1:01:33

join us. We're going to hang out.

1:01:35

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