February 6, 2022 • 35 mins
Jason reacts to the Lakers comeback win over the Knicks, Westbrook's benching in overtime, and gives his thoughts on the James Harden/76ers rumors.
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(02:22):
Welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by fan Duel. Here on
the volume, I am Jason timp Happy Saturday, everybody. I
hope you all had a great week. I hope you're
about to have a great weekend. And I am very
excited to talk some basketball. We finally got a Lakers
win to talk about in a good Lakers win. We
had one Lakers win and the previous five tries, and
(02:42):
I think I was more irritated after that one than
it had been after many of these losses. They played
a nearly perfect defensive overtime, at least while the game
was in question, and we're fantastic in that entire second half.
Lots to be frustrated about. We're gonna get to all
of that. These slows starts are a huge problem this team.
Russell Westbrook continues to be almost a completely nonsensical basketball fit.
(03:07):
We're gonna get to all of that. But I wanted
to start positive because this team gave us something to
be positive about tonight. You know what did I say
on Thursday? I said the Lakers need to go all
in on this season. And by all in, all I
meant was cash in your assets, don't hang on to
first round pick, don't hang onto th ht, try to
bring in other good players. Why, I said, because Lebron
(03:29):
and a d are so good, and because they're this good,
you have to bet on that, especially in the league
like this, in this particular season, where there is no
world beating team out there that Lebron and a D
aren't capable of overcoming. But the simple reality is the
formula for success for this team, the same formula for
(03:51):
success that won them a title in and gave them
a lot of success in the face of horrible injury
luck last season was Ron and a D and three
guys who will do the dirty work, three guys that
can play off the ball, three guys that can play defense,
three guys that can attack, close out, knock close out,
knockdown shots and things along those lines. That's exactly what
(04:14):
made the Russell Westbrook fits so nonsensical, and we're gonna
get to that later. But the point is the reason
why they were able to go on a run in
that second half, the reason why when they went on
that run, Russ seems not very much involved, the reason
why he was off the floor entirely when they built
the big lead in the fourth quarter, and the reason
why they had so much success in overtime is that formula.
(04:37):
You have to surround Lebron and Anthony Davis with guys
who are willing to do the dirty work. And all
season long, we've had issues with these slow starts, and
when you have these slow starts, they kind of suck
the life out of the team. And there's a bunch
of different reasons for that, and we can beat around
the bush and ask if it's Frank Vogel, and we
can ask if it's Russell Westbrook. But for whatever reason,
(05:01):
more often than not this season, they've come out to
slow starts. And what you saw in that first quarter
was eleven consecutive fast breakpoints for the New York Knicks.
You saw dribble down the floor, Russell Westbrook, turnover, run out,
wide open three, dribble up the floor, Malik Monk turnover
what run down the floor, wide open three, And as
(05:22):
as you saw in that sequence, it's kind of like
a cascading effect because every time they score in transition
like that, you have to slowly walk the ball back
up the floor and attack against their set defense, and
it just becomes this. You know, it's just it. It's
a domino effect that leads to the other team scoring
forty one points in the quarter. Then you go into
(05:45):
the third quarter after I'm presumably somebody lit a fire
under someone's butt in the halftime at that halftime meeting,
and you only give up thirteen points, which directly leads
to someone like Malik Monk being able to go on
a run. The reason why is, now you are getting stops.
And now that you're getting stops, you are running the
(06:05):
floor and you're getting open looks. And now that you
are getting open looks for a great shooter like Malik Monk,
he can catch literal fire the way that he did
in that third quarter. And when a guy like Malik
Monk gets hot like that, it's contagious. Now you're setting
your defense. Now while you're setting your defense, are getting
more stops. It's a There is a proven formula to
(06:28):
winning basketball games, and this team has the pieces in
order to execute that formula. But more often than not
this year they've deviated from that for various reasons. But
it was really exciting to see in that second half
a good stretch of basketball. They're at the they're at
the start of the third quarter and then at the
start of the fourth quarter where the Lakers erased the
(06:50):
big deficit and then built a big lead. And it
was built on a very clear, basic formula, the same
formula that won them the title. In get guys who
defend next to Lebron and Anthony Davis and It's so
funny because if you guys remember in after Kawhi Leonard
signs with the Clippers, this barrage of signings comes through.
(07:11):
It's Avery Bradley, who everybody in Memphis and Clippers fans
were telling you that he was horrible, and Danny Green,
who was their big money signing, who was okay. You know,
Danny Green was Danny Greeny shot the ball well in
Toronto the previous year. And it's JaVale McGee, and it's
Region Rondo and it's k CP and you've got all
these guys talking trash about Hey, look at all these
(07:31):
bad basketball players that are gonna go play with Lebron
and Anthony Davis. But it worked because those guys played hard.
And the biggest problem this season is similar caliber players,
players who are capable of doing that job, just weren't
willing to do it for whatever reason. And I think
a big part of that is the Russell Westbrook problem.
(07:52):
So you know, Russell Westbrook makes extremely loud mistakes. You know,
he doesn't just miss a jump shot, he'll miss two
ft to the left of his target. He'll hit the
corner of the backboard here, he'll airball it to the short,
two short, and to the left. He'll have a wide
open fast break and dribble the ball off his foot.
You know, he'll have a pass that he throws directly
(08:14):
to the other team or off one of his teammate's
legs or something like that. He makes loud mistakes, but
you know, I've never cared about the loud mistakes as
long as you do the quiet job, your responsibilities that
you're expected to fulfill on a possession by possession basis
for the team. The problem with Russ is he's not
(08:35):
willing to do that job. So you're getting the lack
of responsibility fulfillment and you're getting the catastrophic mistakes. It's
like the opposite of a Marcus Smart, because you guys
know Marcus Smart. That dude takes crazy shots. Sometimes he
has extremely sloppy turnovers. He makes mistakes, but the guy
(08:55):
is an absolute bulldog on the defensive end of the floor.
The dude die wives for every loose ball. The dude
takes the most difficult defensive responsibility. The guy crashes the
offensive glass relentlessly. He does all of those things, so
Celtics fans do not care that he does some stupid
stuff on offense sometimes. In fact, he's celebrated as one
(09:18):
of the heroes of the team. He's the heart and
soul of the team. Too many Celtic fans that because
no one cares about the loud mistakes if you do
your job. And the problem is is in that first half,
in that second half, critically, at the at the end
of the at the end of the game, pivotal possession,
down by three, there's a turnover, or when misses a
(09:40):
long jump shot and Russ jogs back on defense and
leaves a wide open shooter to tie the game. Russ,
I don't care if you miss a laya. I don't
care if you hit the corner of the backboard. Just
do your job. And that is why this fundamentally doesn't
work with him on the floor, and that's why the
team operates. It's at a much higher level when he's
(10:02):
off the floor. You know, when he was playing against
Charlotte the other night, he looked amazing, right, because Russ
is still one of the best helio centric type of
players that we have in the league. If you put
him at the top of the key with shooters and
guys that can attackle those outs and just let him
make all the decisions and drive to the basket NonStop.
(10:23):
He's gonna do a pretty good job because that's pretty
much the one thing that he's still okay at. And
you know, after the game, Lebron and Anthony Davis run
out on the floor and they talked to Russ about
how how can we take this and recreate it when
we're playing, And there was all this talk about how
maybe we can make this work. But any sort of
(10:45):
critical thinking would tell you, hey, actually the job that
you need from the third guy is a lot different
than the job from the first guy, because you know,
Lebron James takes defensive possessions off too. Lebron had a
couple of really sloppy defensive possessions early in this game,
especially in transition, where he lost shooters or was sloppy
(11:06):
on a switch or didn't run back in transition. But
you know, even though those plays bother me, because you know,
as a basketball fan, I get I'm not I don't
like watching guys be lazy or make a mistake. But
the reason why we put up with it with Lebron
is because we know in pivotal moments he turns it
(11:27):
on in all those areas, and he does so much
offensively for the team that you understand the trade off.
Like with Lebron, You're like, he's just saving his legs,
he's resting while he's on the floor, He's managing his
turbometer whatever it is that you want to call it,
to save his energy for the big moments of the game,
(11:49):
or to do what he's doing on the offensive end
of the floor. With Russet's it's the exact opposite. You know,
he his responsibilities tonight were the lowest that he's had
all season because this is the most healthy the team
has been. You know, the Lakers finally started Malik Monk
and Stanley Johnson alongside the big three, and I was
thrilled about that. That's their best line up. You know,
(12:12):
Stanley Johnson does a lot of dirty work and Malik
Monk brings enough shooting that it offsets some of the
Russell West for problem. That's their best line up and
Russ came out flat with that lineup. Russ came out
flat in in the one position role wise this season
where he's had the least to do in terms of
(12:33):
offensive responsibilities. Literally, if he just embraced those things that
I'm talking about. So many people would let him off
the hook. You don't have to get booed for missing
a shot. They don't boom mark as smart when he
misses a shot. You would not get booed if you
did all of those things that help win basketball games.
You even if you were missing and hitting the corner
(12:55):
of the backboard, and if you couldn't dribble to save
your life, you would be playing and crunched time with
this group. If they could count on you to do
the dirty work, if they could count on you to
keep your man in front, if they could count on
you to box out, and if they could count on
you to sprint back and transition. It's literally that simple.
It's not any more complicated than that. And you know,
(13:16):
we haven't seen any postgame quotes yet. I'm sure we'll
see what comes out. But the last time this happened,
when Russ was mentioned a pivotal moment, we had another
issue where you know, he ran off the floor, Frank
had to say stuff in the postgame presser. You know
at some point that that's the other side of this
that has to be factored in. If you're gonna keep
(13:37):
him around, then when things go south, you have to
deal with all the negative that comes with benching your
forty four million dollar player or whatever it is that
he does. Now, Russ has been playing better of late.
He's been making more of his layups, he's been taking
smarter shots, but they were all within the context of
the Big Three not being there. It was all with
(13:59):
Lebron on out or with Anthony Davis out. The truth
of the matter is is his role when the team
is healthy is different than the role it is when
people are hurt and when the people when the team
is healthy, they need a very specific set of responsibilities
to be filled, and Russ is just another redundancy. He's
just another guy that does the things that Lebron does
(14:22):
at a much lower level than the level that Lebron
does them. And that that's why I advocated for trading
for trading him this season. That's why I advocated for
trading him even if you don't get better players in return,
because at the end of the day, if the team
is better without him and there's attitude at play, then
what are you really trying to prove here by keeping
(14:43):
him around? And so I again the options are limited.
You know, might have to be John Wall, might have
to be you know, some arsenal of contracts from a
team like the New York Knicks or a team like
the Oklahoma City Thunder. But at least guys that come
back might be able to be serviceable in this group.
(15:03):
You know, before we even saw the game tonight, I'm
looking at that starting lineup and I'm like, man, if
you could swap out Russ for Austin Reeves, a guy
that is killer at those fifth man responsibilities, a guy
that literally leaves his heart and soul on the floor
for those key responsibilities for the team, that that guy
(15:26):
slotting into that lineup makes you better. Not because he's
a better player than Russ. He's not a better player
than Russ. They played one on one and probably be embarrassing.
But the point is is the basketball is not fantasy.
Basketball is not NBA two K. You're not building an
overall rating. What you're doing is you're feeling responsibilities on
(15:47):
the floor, and Lebron and Anthony Davis feels so many
responsibilities and do so much to help the team that
it doesn't actually benefit anybody to have a guy out
there who's not interested in doing other things at that point.
It's that diminishing return. At that point, it's a waste.
But Lebron Lebron looks fantastic. This is nineteen consecutive game
(16:10):
with twenty points. Anthony Davis. He's moving around in a
way that I have not seen him move around since
the bubble in Malik Monk. You know, I talked a
lot about the shifting offensive identity in the last podcast.
If you guys remember, I talked about how the Lakers
wanted to go into offense and they were hopeful that
that would open things up for their best, their stars,
(16:33):
and the problem was is health derailed them, Age derailed them.
Frank Vogel's not a great offensive coach, blah blah, blah blah.
But what you saw tonight is something that is exciting
about that potential formula. I wish they would have just
kept the original team and signed Malik Monk, because that's
when you can have that exciting blend of awesome role
players who do the dirty work and these two super
(16:54):
duperstars and this flamethrower score. That's kind of like what
the Buddy Healed thing would have looked like had they
gone for Buddy Healed instead of Russell Westbrook. Malik Monk,
as good of a season as he's having, he's not
as good as Buddy Healed. That's the reason why US
Laker fans were so excited about that potential Buddy Healed
trade is this is what we envisioned. We envisioned like, hey,
(17:18):
they're switching every Lebron A D pick and roll and
when they switched those pick and rolls, it just turns
into an isolation contest. If we can get Buddy Healed
in the screen, they can't switch that. It's probably a
small guy. We're gonna get lots of open stuff. And
what you saw NonStop in that second half is Malik Monk,
Lebron James two man game, Malik Monk Anthony Davis two
(17:42):
man game. And they were getting great stuff every single time.
And I'm glad that even though the Buddy Healed opportunity
was completely botched and completely missed, that at least we
have this Malik Monk fit, which is you know, call
it eight said of what that other fit would have been,
(18:03):
and having that high end shooting is so important when
the paint is packed, you know, when you have when
everyone is you know what you saw tonight a lot
was whenever Stanley Johnson was on the floor in particular,
or Russell Westbrook was on the floor, they were kind
of just ignoring those guys and sitting in the paint.
You even saw it a little bit with Avery Bradley
(18:23):
and with Trevor Reason. And when the paint is packed,
there's actually more room to operate on the perimeter. And
so having a guy like Malik Monk who can succeed
from the perimeter consistently, like you actually are hunting opportunities
from the perimeter. Guys like Anthony Davis and Lebron James,
they kind of used the perimeter as a counter. You know,
I'm resting, so I'm gonna take a jump shot, or
(18:44):
this guy's playing off me, I'm gonna take a jump shot.
Guys like Malik Monk, that's when they're at their best.
That's their comfort zone. That's where he loves to operate.
So it's a great counter to spacing concerns. I think
you can compensate for his defensive shortcomings by putting him
a round all of those other players that play so
hard together that can cover for some of his mistakes.
(19:06):
But Malik Monk is a very, very exciting player to
have in this mix. He had twenty nine points again tonight,
four of eight from three, eleven from twenty from the
eleven for twenty from the field, he was a plus eight.
He's had several games like this this year where he
got going, and I think you're gonna see more games
like that where he gets going now that the team
is healthy and they can defend better, because the key
(19:28):
to their defense is having Lebron and Anthony Davis healthy
in the front court to clean things up and to
clean up mistakes and to make them feel more comfortable.
You know, there was a lineup that went out in
the middle of the second quarter. It was I want
to say it was Austin Reeves, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Reza
and DeAndre Jordan's And this is exactly why the trade
(19:50):
deadline is so important for the Lakers, because when things
when things go south on uh, you know, with the
injury rees or COVID or whatever it is that happens,
you have to dip deeper into your rotation. Right like Carmelo,
Anthony pulls a hamstring, so now you have to play
Trevor Reisa, Dwight Howard's dealing with whatever it is that
(20:11):
he's dealing with, and and so now you have to
play DeAndre Jordan's. This is why bringing in two or
three or four solid role players is so important in
this next week so that you don't have to dip
into those guys. Because, yes, when the team is fully healthy,
I think they do have enough. You can play with
(20:32):
Lebron and Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook and Malik Monk,
Austin Reef, Stanley Johnson, Trevor Reas, Carmelo, Anthony. That's enough
to run a playoff series, to to be functional in
a playoff series, and at least put the outcome in
Lebron and Anthony Davis hands. But the problem is is
guys get hurt, you know, like Carmelo's hamstring. That that's
(20:53):
that's some other version of that is going to happen
down the line. And what we can't have happen is
have to lean heavily on a very Bradley in a
playoff series. We can't lean heavily on Uh. We can't
have to play DeAndre Jordan's in a pivotal playoff game
because as I always say, when you get to those moments,
in the biggest moments at the end of these playoffs series,
(21:15):
the margins are so small. It's all about, you know,
like you have to beat them by an inch, and
so if you gift them an inch in the second
quarter with a bad lineup, you can get yourself knocked
out of the playoffs. And so that's why they have
to go after that depth. Speaking of those end of
the game situations again, it's like, this is the issue.
(21:37):
This is the issue with Russell Westbrook. You know, he
can even if he has a great game, he's just
as liable to miss two important free throws in jog
back in transition and lose a shooter, which is what
he did tonight. And look at that. The Lakers controlled
that fourth quarter. I think at one point they were
up by as much as eight if I'm remembering correctly,
in that fourth quarter, and it went to ot And
(21:58):
the reason why I went TOTI was a handful of
mistakes at the end of the game. And two of
those mistakes were made by Russell Westbrook. That's how thin
these margins are, guys. And if it's not the New
York Knicks, maybe it's a team like Phoenix, and it's
a pivotal playoff game and they push you to overtime
when you should have won the game. Maybe now you
lose in overtime, and maybe that costs you this series.
(22:21):
This is why I harp on this stuff so often
that you're you're talking about only one team gets to
win the title, guys, only one team gets to hoist
up the trophy that you're and all of these extremely
flaw like Phoenix is flawless outside of the lack of
a superstar. They're not going to make mistakes. They are
not going to throw a line up at you in
(22:41):
a second quarter that's going to be give you a
huge advantage. So I hope, I'm hopeful that the Lakers
will go out of their way to try to remedy
that situation. Here In this next week, we had a
quote from Anthony Davis on Laker fans booing Russell Westbrook quote.
The fans obviously want to see him play better. He's
got to stay out of his own head, continue to
(23:02):
play and do the little things, you know. And it's
funny because I don't think it's Anthony Davis and Lebron's
responsibility to cater to Russ his emotions. This is professional
sports and if you do that kind of thing, it
can cost your team. But the reality is is that's
some hard there's some harsh honesty from Anthony Davis there.
(23:25):
You know it's funny because I played basketball in college,
just like so many of you guys out there did,
and you know I went through slumps. I had stretches
where I wasn't making shots. I stretches where I was
in my head. And you know, every coach I ever
had to always tell me the same thing. You build
your confidence through things you can control. You can't control
(23:47):
making a jump shot you can't control. You know how
many bodies of defense throws at you. You can't control
if you accidentally dribble the ball off your foot, it's
not like you did the purpose you made him stak.
But what you can control is a box out. What
you can control is sitting in a defensive stance and
holding your man in front of you. What you can
(24:07):
control is sprinting back on defense. There were a bunch
of plays tonight where Russ missed around the rim and
took a second to just feel bad about himself. You
can't do that when you take a second to feel
bad about yourself, you compound the mistake. Now you didn't
just miss a layup, you blew a defensive responsibility. There
(24:32):
was a play in the second half where he missed
a left handed layup right at the front of the ring,
and then he took a second, dejected around the rim
and then jogged back. Stanley Johnson was guarding Evan Fournier
and Russell Westbrook ran into Stanley Johnson basically screening for
his own man. Evan Fournia gets into the lane, Russ
(24:54):
turns around and just watches him shoot a floater. I'm like,
you just made three mistakes when you could have been one.
You miss a layup. Dude, you did your job, you
put your head down, you went to the rid. You
tried to make a play. It didn't work out. That happens,
but you powdered, gave up a transition opportunity, then false
(25:19):
hustled your way into the lane, screened your own teammate
and gave up a wide open shot in the lane.
This is where that opportunity is lost. Russell Westbrook had
a quote about spending overtime on the bench quote. The
best part about this game is you win. Guys competed,
We won the game. That's all that matters. It's not
(25:40):
about me. It's not about what I'm doing, And you
know that's the right thing to say. I don't have
any issue per se with with the attitude. Like as
I've said often on the show, the Laker players this season,
in a catastrophe of the season, have said all the
right things. And in addition to that, I don't think
(26:01):
there's chemistry problems with guys disliking each other. We get
reports from like Washington and it's like the guys don't
like Spencer Dinwitty. We get, you know, reports from Boston
that you know, the star players are selfish. We get
reports from Brooklyn that James Harden is unhappy with this situation.
You're not getting any of that stuff with the Lakers.
This is a strictly basketball chemistry problem. The guys like
(26:27):
each other. It's just not working. The problem I have
with it, Russ is you're right, the team one, but
what are you doing as a player to address the situation.
Because the situation here is the team is not achieving
at the level they want and you are a part
(26:48):
of that problem. What are you doing to address it. Guys,
can you imagine if rus came out gang busters tonight
on both ends of the floor, just flying around trying
to make plays with his athleticism. Do you think would
be talking about him right now? Do you think I'd
be talking about him right now? Do you think they'd
be questioning them in the postgame presser about him getting
benched if he just came out and played hard tonight?
(27:11):
He didn't play hard. He also missed a bunch of shots.
He also had four turnovers in the first half. He
also smoked a bunch of layups at the rim. He
also missed two clutch free throws. He also failed to
run back on defense and left open a shooter. But
you also just didn't play hard from the start of
the game. That's one thousand percent in your control. And
you know, sometimes you know, it's not about you and
(27:33):
your individual success statistically with the team, but it is
about you fulfilling your responsibilities. You do need to devote
effort and focus in that area. But yeah, I'm glad
the Lakers gotta win. You know, there is a lot
to build on here. Like I said, Lebron and a
(27:53):
d role players that play hard get yourself a perimeter
score that can score around them. That's what Malik m
has shown he can be. All the fundamental pieces are here.
They just need a little more depth so that they
don't have to dip in DeAndre door did DeAndre Jordan's
so that they don't have to play Avery Bradley and
and Trevor Reis a big minutes and they and they'll
(28:14):
be cooking with gas because Lebron literally just took two
weeks off with a swollen knee and came out looking fantastic.
And Anthony Davis looks as close to bubble a d
as we've seen. So all of that stuff is there.
They just have to figure out this Russ piece. And again,
if you think that he can figure that stuff out,
(28:36):
then keep him, because Russ figuring things out is a
better option than anything they can get in return. I'm
just saying I don't think he can figure it out.
I've seen too much. I've seen I've seen too many
examples of it this season. We've had too many rock bottoms,
so to speak, for him to not get the message
(28:56):
at this point. But that's all I had for the Lakers,
that it's a really quickly just take about five minutes
to talk about this. James Harden and Ben Simmons switch
a switch because I think it's very interesting. So James
Harden has mentally checked out on the season. I think
we can all agree on that. If you dig into
his scoring rate and his scoring efficiency, it's basically the
(29:17):
worst season of his career outside of his rookie year.
And while he's had some defensive success in recent seasons,
namely like two thousand eighteen two thousand nineteen in Houston,
he's regressed massively on the defensive end of the floor
this year. He's giving up straight line drives, he's just
swiping at guys, he's not hustling for anything. He's mentally
(29:37):
checked out on the team. And then we get a
report today basically confirming that, saying that he's not happy
with the situation because he came here to be part
of a three headed monster and now he's got a
part time co star and a guy who's hurt, and
now he's carrying the load again. So that was a
somewhat predictable outcome on that front. And usually for a
(29:59):
deal like this to make sense, you need two unhappy parties,
and we have the complete disaster of a situation in
Philly with everything going on with Ben Simmons, and I
do not need to get into that, but I actually
love this trade for both teams. You know, there is
a redundancy in the Kyrie James Harden Kevin Durant thing.
(30:20):
Now it worked. I think that formula worked and injuries
derailed it. To be clear, I think if even if
just James Harden had stayed healthy or just Kyrie Irving
had stayed healthy, I think they would have won the
title last year. So I believe in the formula. However,
there are lots of ways to win With Kevin Durant.
(30:41):
He's one of the best basketball players of all time.
And the Ben Simmons angle is actually super interesting to
me because Kevin Durant, even though he's never focused on
the defensive end for an extended stretch of his career.
There's a little bit in two thousand sixteen in the playoffs,
and a little bit when he was with the Warriors
in two thousand seventeen, but a lot of him not
caring too much about that end for the rest of
(31:02):
his career. But when he turns it on, the dude's
got Anthony Davis's physical tools, so of course he's capable
of all of that. Ben Simmons is very much in
the case for being the best defensive player in basketball.
Ben Simmons was second and Defensive Player of the Year
voting last year. Ben Simmons, I've seen the guy give
(31:24):
major problems to Lebron James and completely shut down Damian Lillard.
Completely different archetypes of players. He can guard every position.
He's kind of like, you know, a lot of these
bigger wing defenders are more like Kawhi Leonard, whether they're
strong and they're they're athletic, but they're not really all
that tall. You know. That's a p J. Tucker, that
Jay Crowder type of vibe that you get from those big, stocky,
(31:46):
strong perimeter defenders. Ben Simmons is huge. He does all
of that at like six ten, and his biggest issue
throughout his career has been he can't score the basketball,
so you need to really spread things out for him
so that he can get driving lanes to get into
the lane. So it's imperative that he's around a lot
of shooting well. I can think of no better option
(32:08):
than having Ben Simmons grabbing the ball and running down
the floor with Kyrie Irving running one wing and Kevin
Durant running the other wing. And hopefully if Joe Harris
can get healthy, you've got another great option there if
you have. Ben Simmons is one of the best drive
and kick to open three point shooter type of players
that we have in the league. So that's a great
fit in Brooklyn. Yes, it sucks to lose James Harden.
(32:31):
James Harden if he if he's mentally engaged, absolutely gives
you a good chance to win the title. But he's
mentally checked out, his heart is down in Philly. He
wants to be down there. Send him down there. You
get a player and Ben Simmons coming back that still
gives you a legitimate chance to win the championship. Then
for Philly, you know, as we've seen so many times
in playoff series, just look at last year when when
(32:53):
Anthony Davis went down, how hard it became for Lebron.
When Phoenix really started packing the pain and keying in
on what Lebron was doing, it rendered him nearly ineffective.
Because that's just the way modern basketball is. When you
can really pack the paint and throw multiple bodies at
a guy, especially when guys can't make people pay. That's
very much a threat to Joel embath Joel Embiid. This year,
(33:16):
they're one. They have one of the best records in
the league. They have overachieved. They're a good basketball team.
Tyrese Maxie looks great, but he stifles an awesome defensive player.
You know, Tobias Harris is overpaid, but he's a good wing.
They just don't have that other guy that can help
you make things a lot more difficult for teams the
defensive defensively game plan for you in a series. James
(33:38):
Harden immediately solves that. Now a lot of people have
been pointing out, including myself, that he's having one of
the worst seasons of his career. Now, I do not
think that he's this bad. I think a good chunk
of how bad he has looked is directly tied to
his mental state and the fact that his heart's not
in it, just like when he was Houston last year.
(34:01):
I think that when he gets down to Philly, he
will re engage mentally and you'll immediately see a massive
improvement in the way he's playing. There are a couple
of fit things that gotta work out, right, Like Joel
Embiad is not a great screen and roll big. He's
he likes to do dribble handoffs and things like that,
and he's not with exception of post ups, he doesn't
really like operating around the basket. So you're not gonna
(34:23):
get him to be Clint Capella for you. You're not
gonna get him to be Nick Claxton for you, like
the last two lob throwing bigs that James Harden played with.
So there's gonna be adjustments for them to figure out.
But this legitimately is something that can that could work.
Imagine Seth Curry on the right wing, Imagine Tobias Harris
(34:43):
on the left wing, James Harden dribbling down, going to work.
There's a lot to be excited there. And I just
think it makes sense for both sides, and I think
it's going to happen because both sides have basically already
come to terms with and accepted the fact that this
is probably gonna happen, and there's no point in going
back at this point. There's no point and trying to
finish this season when all of the parties involved already
(35:04):
have kind of mentally come to terms with the fact
that a trade is happening. So I think the trade
will happen pretty quick. I think it's good for both teams.
I think it's good for both players. Ben Simmons needs
to get back out on the basketball court, James Harden
needs to be engaged and actually trying. It will make
sense for both teams. I'm excited. I think it will
happen here in the next couple of days. All right,
that is all I have for tonight. Thank you guys
so much for coming to hang out. This will be
(35:25):
on our podcast feed first thing in the morning, and
we will be back for a show on Monday night.
Thank you so much. Have a good rest your weekend.
I'll see you guys on Monday. The volume
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(02:22):
Welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by fan Duel. Here on
the volume, I am Jason timp Happy Saturday, everybody. I
hope you all had a great week. I hope you're
about to have a great weekend. And I am very
excited to talk some basketball. We finally got a Lakers
win to talk about in a good Lakers win. We
had one Lakers win and the previous five tries, and
(02:42):
I think I was more irritated after that one than
it had been after many of these losses. They played
a nearly perfect defensive overtime, at least while the game
was in question, and we're fantastic in that entire second half.
Lots to be frustrated about. We're gonna get to all
of that. These slows starts are a huge problem this team.
Russell Westbrook continues to be almost a completely nonsensical basketball fit.
(03:07):
We're gonna get to all of that. But I wanted
to start positive because this team gave us something to
be positive about tonight. You know what did I say
on Thursday? I said the Lakers need to go all
in on this season. And by all in, all I
meant was cash in your assets, don't hang on to
first round pick, don't hang onto th ht, try to
bring in other good players. Why, I said, because Lebron
(03:29):
and a d are so good, and because they're this good,
you have to bet on that, especially in the league
like this, in this particular season, where there is no
world beating team out there that Lebron and a D
aren't capable of overcoming. But the simple reality is the
formula for success for this team, the same formula for
(03:51):
success that won them a title in and gave them
a lot of success in the face of horrible injury
luck last season was Ron and a D and three
guys who will do the dirty work, three guys that
can play off the ball, three guys that can play defense,
three guys that can attack, close out, knock close out,
knockdown shots and things along those lines. That's exactly what
(04:14):
made the Russell Westbrook fits so nonsensical, and we're gonna
get to that later. But the point is the reason
why they were able to go on a run in
that second half, the reason why when they went on
that run, Russ seems not very much involved, the reason
why he was off the floor entirely when they built
the big lead in the fourth quarter, and the reason
why they had so much success in overtime is that formula.
(04:37):
You have to surround Lebron and Anthony Davis with guys
who are willing to do the dirty work. And all
season long, we've had issues with these slow starts, and
when you have these slow starts, they kind of suck
the life out of the team. And there's a bunch
of different reasons for that, and we can beat around
the bush and ask if it's Frank Vogel, and we
can ask if it's Russell Westbrook. But for whatever reason,
(05:01):
more often than not this season, they've come out to
slow starts. And what you saw in that first quarter
was eleven consecutive fast breakpoints for the New York Knicks.
You saw dribble down the floor, Russell Westbrook, turnover, run out,
wide open three, dribble up the floor, Malik Monk turnover
what run down the floor, wide open three, And as
(05:22):
as you saw in that sequence, it's kind of like
a cascading effect because every time they score in transition
like that, you have to slowly walk the ball back
up the floor and attack against their set defense, and
it just becomes this. You know, it's just it. It's
a domino effect that leads to the other team scoring
forty one points in the quarter. Then you go into
(05:45):
the third quarter after I'm presumably somebody lit a fire
under someone's butt in the halftime at that halftime meeting,
and you only give up thirteen points, which directly leads
to someone like Malik Monk being able to go on
a run. The reason why is, now you are getting stops.
And now that you're getting stops, you are running the
(06:05):
floor and you're getting open looks. And now that you
are getting open looks for a great shooter like Malik Monk,
he can catch literal fire the way that he did
in that third quarter. And when a guy like Malik
Monk gets hot like that, it's contagious. Now you're setting
your defense. Now while you're setting your defense, are getting
more stops. It's a There is a proven formula to
(06:28):
winning basketball games, and this team has the pieces in
order to execute that formula. But more often than not
this year they've deviated from that for various reasons. But
it was really exciting to see in that second half
a good stretch of basketball. They're at the they're at
the start of the third quarter and then at the
start of the fourth quarter where the Lakers erased the
(06:50):
big deficit and then built a big lead. And it
was built on a very clear, basic formula, the same
formula that won them the title. In get guys who
defend next to Lebron and Anthony Davis and It's so
funny because if you guys remember in after Kawhi Leonard
signs with the Clippers, this barrage of signings comes through.
(07:11):
It's Avery Bradley, who everybody in Memphis and Clippers fans
were telling you that he was horrible, and Danny Green,
who was their big money signing, who was okay. You know,
Danny Green was Danny Greeny shot the ball well in
Toronto the previous year. And it's JaVale McGee, and it's
Region Rondo and it's k CP and you've got all
these guys talking trash about Hey, look at all these
(07:31):
bad basketball players that are gonna go play with Lebron
and Anthony Davis. But it worked because those guys played hard.
And the biggest problem this season is similar caliber players,
players who are capable of doing that job, just weren't
willing to do it for whatever reason. And I think
a big part of that is the Russell Westbrook problem.
(07:52):
So you know, Russell Westbrook makes extremely loud mistakes. You know,
he doesn't just miss a jump shot, he'll miss two
ft to the left of his target. He'll hit the
corner of the backboard here, he'll airball it to the short,
two short, and to the left. He'll have a wide
open fast break and dribble the ball off his foot.
You know, he'll have a pass that he throws directly
(08:14):
to the other team or off one of his teammate's
legs or something like that. He makes loud mistakes, but
you know, I've never cared about the loud mistakes as
long as you do the quiet job, your responsibilities that
you're expected to fulfill on a possession by possession basis
for the team. The problem with Russ is he's not
(08:35):
willing to do that job. So you're getting the lack
of responsibility fulfillment and you're getting the catastrophic mistakes. It's
like the opposite of a Marcus Smart, because you guys
know Marcus Smart. That dude takes crazy shots. Sometimes he
has extremely sloppy turnovers. He makes mistakes, but the guy
(08:55):
is an absolute bulldog on the defensive end of the floor.
The dude die wives for every loose ball. The dude
takes the most difficult defensive responsibility. The guy crashes the
offensive glass relentlessly. He does all of those things, so
Celtics fans do not care that he does some stupid
stuff on offense sometimes. In fact, he's celebrated as one
(09:18):
of the heroes of the team. He's the heart and
soul of the team. Too many Celtic fans that because
no one cares about the loud mistakes if you do
your job. And the problem is is in that first half,
in that second half, critically, at the at the end
of the at the end of the game, pivotal possession,
down by three, there's a turnover, or when misses a
(09:40):
long jump shot and Russ jogs back on defense and
leaves a wide open shooter to tie the game. Russ,
I don't care if you miss a laya. I don't
care if you hit the corner of the backboard. Just
do your job. And that is why this fundamentally doesn't
work with him on the floor, and that's why the
team operates. It's at a much higher level when he's
(10:02):
off the floor. You know, when he was playing against
Charlotte the other night, he looked amazing, right, because Russ
is still one of the best helio centric type of
players that we have in the league. If you put
him at the top of the key with shooters and
guys that can attackle those outs and just let him
make all the decisions and drive to the basket NonStop.
(10:23):
He's gonna do a pretty good job because that's pretty
much the one thing that he's still okay at. And
you know, after the game, Lebron and Anthony Davis run
out on the floor and they talked to Russ about
how how can we take this and recreate it when
we're playing, And there was all this talk about how
maybe we can make this work. But any sort of
(10:45):
critical thinking would tell you, hey, actually the job that
you need from the third guy is a lot different
than the job from the first guy, because you know,
Lebron James takes defensive possessions off too. Lebron had a
couple of really sloppy defensive possessions early in this game,
especially in transition, where he lost shooters or was sloppy
(11:06):
on a switch or didn't run back in transition. But
you know, even though those plays bother me, because you know,
as a basketball fan, I get I'm not I don't
like watching guys be lazy or make a mistake. But
the reason why we put up with it with Lebron
is because we know in pivotal moments he turns it
(11:27):
on in all those areas, and he does so much
offensively for the team that you understand the trade off.
Like with Lebron, You're like, he's just saving his legs,
he's resting while he's on the floor, He's managing his
turbometer whatever it is that you want to call it,
to save his energy for the big moments of the game,
(11:49):
or to do what he's doing on the offensive end
of the floor. With Russet's it's the exact opposite. You know,
he his responsibilities tonight were the lowest that he's had
all season because this is the most healthy the team
has been. You know, the Lakers finally started Malik Monk
and Stanley Johnson alongside the big three, and I was
thrilled about that. That's their best line up. You know,
(12:12):
Stanley Johnson does a lot of dirty work and Malik
Monk brings enough shooting that it offsets some of the
Russell West for problem. That's their best line up and
Russ came out flat with that lineup. Russ came out
flat in in the one position role wise this season
where he's had the least to do in terms of
(12:33):
offensive responsibilities. Literally, if he just embraced those things that
I'm talking about. So many people would let him off
the hook. You don't have to get booed for missing
a shot. They don't boom mark as smart when he
misses a shot. You would not get booed if you
did all of those things that help win basketball games.
You even if you were missing and hitting the corner
(12:55):
of the backboard, and if you couldn't dribble to save
your life, you would be playing and crunched time with
this group. If they could count on you to do
the dirty work, if they could count on you to
keep your man in front, if they could count on
you to box out, and if they could count on
you to sprint back and transition. It's literally that simple.
It's not any more complicated than that. And you know,
(13:16):
we haven't seen any postgame quotes yet. I'm sure we'll
see what comes out. But the last time this happened,
when Russ was mentioned a pivotal moment, we had another
issue where you know, he ran off the floor, Frank
had to say stuff in the postgame presser. You know
at some point that that's the other side of this
that has to be factored in. If you're gonna keep
(13:37):
him around, then when things go south, you have to
deal with all the negative that comes with benching your
forty four million dollar player or whatever it is that
he does. Now, Russ has been playing better of late.
He's been making more of his layups, he's been taking
smarter shots, but they were all within the context of
the Big Three not being there. It was all with
(13:59):
Lebron on out or with Anthony Davis out. The truth
of the matter is is his role when the team
is healthy is different than the role it is when
people are hurt and when the people when the team
is healthy, they need a very specific set of responsibilities
to be filled, and Russ is just another redundancy. He's
just another guy that does the things that Lebron does
(14:22):
at a much lower level than the level that Lebron
does them. And that that's why I advocated for trading
for trading him this season. That's why I advocated for
trading him even if you don't get better players in return,
because at the end of the day, if the team
is better without him and there's attitude at play, then
what are you really trying to prove here by keeping
(14:43):
him around? And so I again the options are limited.
You know, might have to be John Wall, might have
to be you know, some arsenal of contracts from a
team like the New York Knicks or a team like
the Oklahoma City Thunder. But at least guys that come
back might be able to be serviceable in this group.
(15:03):
You know, before we even saw the game tonight, I'm
looking at that starting lineup and I'm like, man, if
you could swap out Russ for Austin Reeves, a guy
that is killer at those fifth man responsibilities, a guy
that literally leaves his heart and soul on the floor
for those key responsibilities for the team, that that guy
(15:26):
slotting into that lineup makes you better. Not because he's
a better player than Russ. He's not a better player
than Russ. They played one on one and probably be embarrassing.
But the point is is the basketball is not fantasy.
Basketball is not NBA two K. You're not building an
overall rating. What you're doing is you're feeling responsibilities on
(15:47):
the floor, and Lebron and Anthony Davis feels so many
responsibilities and do so much to help the team that
it doesn't actually benefit anybody to have a guy out
there who's not interested in doing other things at that point.
It's that diminishing return. At that point, it's a waste.
But Lebron Lebron looks fantastic. This is nineteen consecutive game
(16:10):
with twenty points. Anthony Davis. He's moving around in a
way that I have not seen him move around since
the bubble in Malik Monk. You know, I talked a
lot about the shifting offensive identity in the last podcast.
If you guys remember, I talked about how the Lakers
wanted to go into offense and they were hopeful that
that would open things up for their best, their stars,
(16:33):
and the problem was is health derailed them, Age derailed them.
Frank Vogel's not a great offensive coach, blah blah, blah blah.
But what you saw tonight is something that is exciting
about that potential formula. I wish they would have just
kept the original team and signed Malik Monk, because that's
when you can have that exciting blend of awesome role
players who do the dirty work and these two super
(16:54):
duperstars and this flamethrower score. That's kind of like what
the Buddy Healed thing would have looked like had they
gone for Buddy Healed instead of Russell Westbrook. Malik Monk,
as good of a season as he's having, he's not
as good as Buddy Healed. That's the reason why US
Laker fans were so excited about that potential Buddy Healed
trade is this is what we envisioned. We envisioned like, hey,
(17:18):
they're switching every Lebron A D pick and roll and
when they switched those pick and rolls, it just turns
into an isolation contest. If we can get Buddy Healed
in the screen, they can't switch that. It's probably a
small guy. We're gonna get lots of open stuff. And
what you saw NonStop in that second half is Malik Monk,
Lebron James two man game, Malik Monk Anthony Davis two
(17:42):
man game. And they were getting great stuff every single time.
And I'm glad that even though the Buddy Healed opportunity
was completely botched and completely missed, that at least we
have this Malik Monk fit, which is you know, call
it eight said of what that other fit would have been,
(18:03):
and having that high end shooting is so important when
the paint is packed, you know, when you have when
everyone is you know what you saw tonight a lot
was whenever Stanley Johnson was on the floor in particular,
or Russell Westbrook was on the floor, they were kind
of just ignoring those guys and sitting in the paint.
You even saw it a little bit with Avery Bradley
(18:23):
and with Trevor Reason. And when the paint is packed,
there's actually more room to operate on the perimeter. And
so having a guy like Malik Monk who can succeed
from the perimeter consistently, like you actually are hunting opportunities
from the perimeter. Guys like Anthony Davis and Lebron James,
they kind of used the perimeter as a counter. You know,
I'm resting, so I'm gonna take a jump shot, or
(18:44):
this guy's playing off me, I'm gonna take a jump shot.
Guys like Malik Monk, that's when they're at their best.
That's their comfort zone. That's where he loves to operate.
So it's a great counter to spacing concerns. I think
you can compensate for his defensive shortcomings by putting him
a round all of those other players that play so
hard together that can cover for some of his mistakes.
(19:06):
But Malik Monk is a very, very exciting player to
have in this mix. He had twenty nine points again tonight,
four of eight from three, eleven from twenty from the
eleven for twenty from the field, he was a plus eight.
He's had several games like this this year where he
got going, and I think you're gonna see more games
like that where he gets going now that the team
is healthy and they can defend better, because the key
(19:28):
to their defense is having Lebron and Anthony Davis healthy
in the front court to clean things up and to
clean up mistakes and to make them feel more comfortable.
You know, there was a lineup that went out in
the middle of the second quarter. It was I want
to say it was Austin Reeves, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Reza
and DeAndre Jordan's And this is exactly why the trade
(19:50):
deadline is so important for the Lakers, because when things
when things go south on uh, you know, with the
injury rees or COVID or whatever it is that happens,
you have to dip deeper into your rotation. Right like Carmelo,
Anthony pulls a hamstring, so now you have to play
Trevor Reisa, Dwight Howard's dealing with whatever it is that
(20:11):
he's dealing with, and and so now you have to
play DeAndre Jordan's. This is why bringing in two or
three or four solid role players is so important in
this next week so that you don't have to dip
into those guys. Because, yes, when the team is fully healthy,
I think they do have enough. You can play with
(20:32):
Lebron and Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook and Malik Monk,
Austin Reef, Stanley Johnson, Trevor Reas, Carmelo, Anthony. That's enough
to run a playoff series, to to be functional in
a playoff series, and at least put the outcome in
Lebron and Anthony Davis hands. But the problem is is
guys get hurt, you know, like Carmelo's hamstring. That that's
(20:53):
that's some other version of that is going to happen
down the line. And what we can't have happen is
have to lean heavily on a very Bradley in a
playoff series. We can't lean heavily on Uh. We can't
have to play DeAndre Jordan's in a pivotal playoff game
because as I always say, when you get to those moments,
in the biggest moments at the end of these playoffs series,
(21:15):
the margins are so small. It's all about, you know,
like you have to beat them by an inch, and
so if you gift them an inch in the second
quarter with a bad lineup, you can get yourself knocked
out of the playoffs. And so that's why they have
to go after that depth. Speaking of those end of
the game situations again, it's like, this is the issue.
(21:37):
This is the issue with Russell Westbrook. You know, he
can even if he has a great game, he's just
as liable to miss two important free throws in jog
back in transition and lose a shooter, which is what
he did tonight. And look at that. The Lakers controlled
that fourth quarter. I think at one point they were
up by as much as eight if I'm remembering correctly,
in that fourth quarter, and it went to ot And
(21:58):
the reason why I went TOTI was a handful of
mistakes at the end of the game. And two of
those mistakes were made by Russell Westbrook. That's how thin
these margins are, guys. And if it's not the New
York Knicks, maybe it's a team like Phoenix, and it's
a pivotal playoff game and they push you to overtime
when you should have won the game. Maybe now you
lose in overtime, and maybe that costs you this series.
(22:21):
This is why I harp on this stuff so often
that you're you're talking about only one team gets to
win the title, guys, only one team gets to hoist
up the trophy that you're and all of these extremely
flaw like Phoenix is flawless outside of the lack of
a superstar. They're not going to make mistakes. They are
not going to throw a line up at you in
(22:41):
a second quarter that's going to be give you a
huge advantage. So I hope, I'm hopeful that the Lakers
will go out of their way to try to remedy
that situation. Here In this next week, we had a
quote from Anthony Davis on Laker fans booing Russell Westbrook quote.
The fans obviously want to see him play better. He's
got to stay out of his own head, continue to
(23:02):
play and do the little things, you know. And it's
funny because I don't think it's Anthony Davis and Lebron's
responsibility to cater to Russ his emotions. This is professional
sports and if you do that kind of thing, it
can cost your team. But the reality is is that's
some hard there's some harsh honesty from Anthony Davis there.
(23:25):
You know it's funny because I played basketball in college,
just like so many of you guys out there did,
and you know I went through slumps. I had stretches
where I wasn't making shots. I stretches where I was
in my head. And you know, every coach I ever
had to always tell me the same thing. You build
your confidence through things you can control. You can't control
(23:47):
making a jump shot you can't control. You know how
many bodies of defense throws at you. You can't control
if you accidentally dribble the ball off your foot, it's
not like you did the purpose you made him stak.
But what you can control is a box out. What
you can control is sitting in a defensive stance and
holding your man in front of you. What you can
(24:07):
control is sprinting back on defense. There were a bunch
of plays tonight where Russ missed around the rim and
took a second to just feel bad about himself. You
can't do that when you take a second to feel
bad about yourself, you compound the mistake. Now you didn't
just miss a layup, you blew a defensive responsibility. There
(24:32):
was a play in the second half where he missed
a left handed layup right at the front of the ring,
and then he took a second, dejected around the rim
and then jogged back. Stanley Johnson was guarding Evan Fournier
and Russell Westbrook ran into Stanley Johnson basically screening for
his own man. Evan Fournia gets into the lane, Russ
(24:54):
turns around and just watches him shoot a floater. I'm like,
you just made three mistakes when you could have been one.
You miss a layup. Dude, you did your job, you
put your head down, you went to the rid. You
tried to make a play. It didn't work out. That happens,
but you powdered, gave up a transition opportunity, then false
(25:19):
hustled your way into the lane, screened your own teammate
and gave up a wide open shot in the lane.
This is where that opportunity is lost. Russell Westbrook had
a quote about spending overtime on the bench quote. The
best part about this game is you win. Guys competed,
We won the game. That's all that matters. It's not
(25:40):
about me. It's not about what I'm doing, And you
know that's the right thing to say. I don't have
any issue per se with with the attitude. Like as
I've said often on the show, the Laker players this season,
in a catastrophe of the season, have said all the
right things. And in addition to that, I don't think
(26:01):
there's chemistry problems with guys disliking each other. We get
reports from like Washington and it's like the guys don't
like Spencer Dinwitty. We get, you know, reports from Boston
that you know, the star players are selfish. We get
reports from Brooklyn that James Harden is unhappy with this situation.
You're not getting any of that stuff with the Lakers.
This is a strictly basketball chemistry problem. The guys like
(26:27):
each other. It's just not working. The problem I have
with it, Russ is you're right, the team one, but
what are you doing as a player to address the situation.
Because the situation here is the team is not achieving
at the level they want and you are a part
(26:48):
of that problem. What are you doing to address it. Guys,
can you imagine if rus came out gang busters tonight
on both ends of the floor, just flying around trying
to make plays with his athleticism. Do you think would
be talking about him right now? Do you think I'd
be talking about him right now? Do you think they'd
be questioning them in the postgame presser about him getting
benched if he just came out and played hard tonight?
(27:11):
He didn't play hard. He also missed a bunch of shots.
He also had four turnovers in the first half. He
also smoked a bunch of layups at the rim. He
also missed two clutch free throws. He also failed to
run back on defense and left open a shooter. But
you also just didn't play hard from the start of
the game. That's one thousand percent in your control. And
you know, sometimes you know, it's not about you and
(27:33):
your individual success statistically with the team, but it is
about you fulfilling your responsibilities. You do need to devote
effort and focus in that area. But yeah, I'm glad
the Lakers gotta win. You know, there is a lot
to build on here. Like I said, Lebron and a
(27:53):
d role players that play hard get yourself a perimeter
score that can score around them. That's what Malik m
has shown he can be. All the fundamental pieces are here.
They just need a little more depth so that they
don't have to dip in DeAndre door did DeAndre Jordan's
so that they don't have to play Avery Bradley and
and Trevor Reis a big minutes and they and they'll
(28:14):
be cooking with gas because Lebron literally just took two
weeks off with a swollen knee and came out looking fantastic.
And Anthony Davis looks as close to bubble a d
as we've seen. So all of that stuff is there.
They just have to figure out this Russ piece. And again,
if you think that he can figure that stuff out,
(28:36):
then keep him, because Russ figuring things out is a
better option than anything they can get in return. I'm
just saying I don't think he can figure it out.
I've seen too much. I've seen I've seen too many
examples of it this season. We've had too many rock bottoms,
so to speak, for him to not get the message
(28:56):
at this point. But that's all I had for the Lakers,
that it's a really quickly just take about five minutes
to talk about this. James Harden and Ben Simmons switch
a switch because I think it's very interesting. So James
Harden has mentally checked out on the season. I think
we can all agree on that. If you dig into
his scoring rate and his scoring efficiency, it's basically the
(29:17):
worst season of his career outside of his rookie year.
And while he's had some defensive success in recent seasons,
namely like two thousand eighteen two thousand nineteen in Houston,
he's regressed massively on the defensive end of the floor
this year. He's giving up straight line drives, he's just
swiping at guys, he's not hustling for anything. He's mentally
(29:37):
checked out on the team. And then we get a
report today basically confirming that, saying that he's not happy
with the situation because he came here to be part
of a three headed monster and now he's got a
part time co star and a guy who's hurt, and
now he's carrying the load again. So that was a
somewhat predictable outcome on that front. And usually for a
(29:59):
deal like this to make sense, you need two unhappy parties,
and we have the complete disaster of a situation in
Philly with everything going on with Ben Simmons, and I
do not need to get into that, but I actually
love this trade for both teams. You know, there is
a redundancy in the Kyrie James Harden Kevin Durant thing.
(30:20):
Now it worked. I think that formula worked and injuries
derailed it. To be clear, I think if even if
just James Harden had stayed healthy or just Kyrie Irving
had stayed healthy, I think they would have won the
title last year. So I believe in the formula. However,
there are lots of ways to win With Kevin Durant.
(30:41):
He's one of the best basketball players of all time.
And the Ben Simmons angle is actually super interesting to
me because Kevin Durant, even though he's never focused on
the defensive end for an extended stretch of his career.
There's a little bit in two thousand sixteen in the playoffs,
and a little bit when he was with the Warriors
in two thousand seventeen, but a lot of him not
caring too much about that end for the rest of
(31:02):
his career. But when he turns it on, the dude's
got Anthony Davis's physical tools, so of course he's capable
of all of that. Ben Simmons is very much in
the case for being the best defensive player in basketball.
Ben Simmons was second and Defensive Player of the Year
voting last year. Ben Simmons, I've seen the guy give
(31:24):
major problems to Lebron James and completely shut down Damian Lillard.
Completely different archetypes of players. He can guard every position.
He's kind of like, you know, a lot of these
bigger wing defenders are more like Kawhi Leonard, whether they're
strong and they're they're athletic, but they're not really all
that tall. You know. That's a p J. Tucker, that
Jay Crowder type of vibe that you get from those big, stocky,
(31:46):
strong perimeter defenders. Ben Simmons is huge. He does all
of that at like six ten, and his biggest issue
throughout his career has been he can't score the basketball,
so you need to really spread things out for him
so that he can get driving lanes to get into
the lane. So it's imperative that he's around a lot
of shooting well. I can think of no better option
(32:08):
than having Ben Simmons grabbing the ball and running down
the floor with Kyrie Irving running one wing and Kevin
Durant running the other wing. And hopefully if Joe Harris
can get healthy, you've got another great option there if
you have. Ben Simmons is one of the best drive
and kick to open three point shooter type of players
that we have in the league. So that's a great
fit in Brooklyn. Yes, it sucks to lose James Harden.
(32:31):
James Harden if he if he's mentally engaged, absolutely gives
you a good chance to win the title. But he's
mentally checked out, his heart is down in Philly. He
wants to be down there. Send him down there. You
get a player and Ben Simmons coming back that still
gives you a legitimate chance to win the championship. Then
for Philly, you know, as we've seen so many times
in playoff series, just look at last year when when
(32:53):
Anthony Davis went down, how hard it became for Lebron.
When Phoenix really started packing the pain and keying in
on what Lebron was doing, it rendered him nearly ineffective.
Because that's just the way modern basketball is. When you
can really pack the paint and throw multiple bodies at
a guy, especially when guys can't make people pay. That's
very much a threat to Joel embath Joel Embiid. This year,
(33:16):
they're one. They have one of the best records in
the league. They have overachieved. They're a good basketball team.
Tyrese Maxie looks great, but he stifles an awesome defensive player.
You know, Tobias Harris is overpaid, but he's a good wing.
They just don't have that other guy that can help
you make things a lot more difficult for teams the
defensive defensively game plan for you in a series. James
(33:38):
Harden immediately solves that. Now a lot of people have
been pointing out, including myself, that he's having one of
the worst seasons of his career. Now, I do not
think that he's this bad. I think a good chunk
of how bad he has looked is directly tied to
his mental state and the fact that his heart's not
in it, just like when he was Houston last year.
(34:01):
I think that when he gets down to Philly, he
will re engage mentally and you'll immediately see a massive
improvement in the way he's playing. There are a couple
of fit things that gotta work out, right, Like Joel
Embiad is not a great screen and roll big. He's
he likes to do dribble handoffs and things like that,
and he's not with exception of post ups, he doesn't
really like operating around the basket. So you're not gonna
(34:23):
get him to be Clint Capella for you. You're not
gonna get him to be Nick Claxton for you, like
the last two lob throwing bigs that James Harden played with.
So there's gonna be adjustments for them to figure out.
But this legitimately is something that can that could work.
Imagine Seth Curry on the right wing, Imagine Tobias Harris
(34:43):
on the left wing, James Harden dribbling down, going to work.
There's a lot to be excited there. And I just
think it makes sense for both sides, and I think
it's going to happen because both sides have basically already
come to terms with and accepted the fact that this
is probably gonna happen, and there's no point in going
back at this point. There's no point and trying to
finish this season when all of the parties involved already
(35:04):
have kind of mentally come to terms with the fact
that a trade is happening. So I think the trade
will happen pretty quick. I think it's good for both teams.
I think it's good for both players. Ben Simmons needs
to get back out on the basketball court, James Harden
needs to be engaged and actually trying. It will make
sense for both teams. I'm excited. I think it will
happen here in the next couple of days. All right,
that is all I have for tonight. Thank you guys
so much for coming to hang out. This will be
(35:25):
on our podcast feed first thing in the morning, and
we will be back for a show on Monday night.
Thank you so much. Have a good rest your weekend.
I'll see you guys on Monday. The volume
Host
Jason Timpf
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