May 31, 2024 • 51 mins
The Lakers head coaching search continues to make headlines, and J.J. Redick is emerging as a frontrunner. In this episode of the Late Night Lake Show, we break down the latest developments:
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- Why J.J. Redick is being considered despite no coaching experience
- The Lakers' hiring and firing pattern without front office changes
- Potential impact of Redick's relationship with LeBron James
- Win now and build for the future realistic?
- Key qualities needed in assistant coaches
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, what's going on? Y'all? Welcome to a new episode of the
lay Now Late Show podcast powered bynineteen Media Group. It is your host,
Ricky and I got my boy Alex. Y'all know him as Lakers Central.
He's in the building talking with mea little bit on this Friday afternoon
about the Lakers current and updated.Hey, coaching search. Make sure you're
(00:21):
following up wherever you get your hashtag. Good content, Alex, my brother,
how you doing, man? Longtime no talk? Yeah, Man,
I'm good, I'm good, glady. Glad to be back on absolutely
Man last night. Last night thestage was set. Looks like we have
the Dallas Mavericks, Luca Dodgers makinghis first Finals appearance, Kyrie Irving and
(00:45):
the rest of the Dallas Mavericks.Kyrie's making his fourth Finals appearance, which
when I heard that, mill Iwas like, damn. But then you
realize that, you know, hewas also you know, handing hand with
Lebron going out all those trips together, the big, huge piece of that.
So shout out Kyrie. He's takinga long, long journey. It's
feel like these last three years toget to this point, So shout him
(01:07):
out. But they got it.They got to finish the job. They
have to finish the job. Ifthere's one franchise that is behind the Dallas
Mavericks, it is the Los AngelesLakers. It's because of the Chan Celtic.
So it's gonna be represented the Eastand Alex. I don't know about
you, man, but it'd benot good, not good if the Celtics
(01:30):
beat the Lakers to number eighteen.Man, how you feeling? How we
feel about this finals matchup? Howwe feeling about Luca? Man? He
is this his time? Is thishis time to take the throne? His
best in the world. I meanit's it should be a really good series.
I mean, both teams are,Both teams are good, Both teams
are humming right now. I mean, I don't know if Boston has faced
any real competition in the East.I mean New York we beat up.
(01:51):
You know, they didn't get there. I mean like Boston has had a
bit of a cakewalk, and we'veseen Boston get there before him. We
fail, We fail and fail everytime they gets to the finals. So
but they're you know, if I'mDallas, I'm not I'm not looking past
them. I'm not assuming that We'rejust gonna walk in the door and sweep
these dudes or go, you know, win four out of five or whatever.
(02:12):
Like you have to take it seriously. But to your point, I
think all Lakers fans are probably pullingfor Dallas to win this thing for you
know, nobody wants. We don'twant Boston to get a leg up on
us in terms of champ Championship.If you don't feel like hearing that,
I would imagine that all Denver fansare probably rooting for Boston so that they
can then troll us if Boston wins. You know what I'm saying. But
(02:37):
Luca and Kyrie, Boston's gonna havetheir hands full. I mean if they
you know, I know, Luca'sdealing with a spring knee, I believe,
but boys can play. So I'mI'm hoping that that Dallas pulls this
out. Yeah how long you seethe series going? I think for me,
I I appreciate that Dallas wrapped itup, and they did. In
(03:00):
another game, I would feel realnervous about picking against the Celtics. But
with this setup, I probably amgonna have to go Dallas in six.
I'm gonna need maybe one if notto Kyrie lost his fucking mind games for
this to swing in the directions.I think Dallas has the best two players
on the court. It's just theissue is the Celtics have I don't know
(03:23):
the next five right, and they'renot far off. Jason Tatum is whatever
you say about him, you knowhe is a superstar. However you feel
that he's done so far in theplayoffs, he is still one of them
ones in the league. And youknow, Lucas, Luca Lucas at the
top of the total pull right nowin this playoff. So I'm hyped just
(03:46):
for the firepower and the superstar matchups. But I got Lakers and six that
I think the Lakers. I'm fuckingLakers. Oh Forredian slip Man, Freudian
slip is so sad, It's sosad. I have Dallas. It's the
Dallas Lakers, the Los Angeles Mavericks. I got them in six. Moving
forward, man, what about you? Same things. I think it's Dallas
(04:08):
and six. I mean Game onewill say a lot, but I think
it's Dallas and six. We'll see, we'll see. I'm hyped where I'm
hyped. I'm hyped. They gota little bit of time before they kick
off. But yeah, once theNBA Finals kicks off, man, that
is the start of the end ofthe twenty twenty four regulars or NBA season,
(04:29):
and we will be off directly intothe offseason, and the focus will
be who the hell is going tobe coaching the Los Angeles Lakers this time.
I'll come August and when training camprolls around. If you ask a
lot of the Lakers fans today whois going to be the head coach,
they probably tell you JJ Reddick.You ask a lot of national media members,
(04:49):
they're already saying that. The kindof the feeling, the wind in
the year, the full ground conclusionis JJ is going to take over as
the head coach. And the onlything separating that announced me is the NBA
Finals because JJ Reddick has some commentatorresponsibilities that I guess is a really big
deal that you just don't step awayfrom. It's like they're Super Bowl.
(05:10):
So I get it, I getit. I get it. Alex bro
this is this is what this issomething that it sounds like Rob Polinka has
talked to a handful of these headcoaches. This sounds like this week the
Lakers officially brought in James Moorego,the Pelicans assistant and the former head coach
(05:30):
of the Charlotte Hornets for an interview. So I guess that was the first
official official meet the circle of trustinterview process. But if we're hearing all
this, yeah, it's kind ofjust riding on the wall. JJ is
going to be in and he hasn'tdone this formal process yet. What do
we make of this process and theserumors floating around? Hey man, it's
(05:53):
a sham of a process, allright, Like he's still in the contract
to call call the NBA Finals.I don't think the Lakers want to make
an announcement and overshadow the finals inany way with him calling the games.
Like if they make that announcement,he's calling the games, Boston's playing as
Lakers Boston, Like it'll take awayfrom the finals a little bit. So
(06:14):
they don't want to do that.The writing is on the wall. I
think it's like the worst kept secret. They brought in Coach K as a
consultant. You don't bring in CoachK as a consultant if it's Coach K's
boy isn't lined up for the job. You know what I'm saying, so,
I think it was Shams or Woesthat reported that James Barrego had a
great interview in Wow the Lakers frontoffice. But I feel like that's just
(06:36):
for show. It's like I'm operatingunder the assumption that JJ is going to
be the next head coach, andI have been highly critical of hiring a
man that has no experience. Letme say that again, no experience.
I don't care how many years heplayed, the dude has not coached anything
besides like his kid's AAU games orwhatever that like, like, look,
(06:58):
man, as great as Jason Kiddwas as an assistant for US, as
great as he's been as a headcoach for Dallas, when he first went
to Brooklyn straight from playing, hewas do do like it was just terrible,
right, I mean we remember himin Milwaukee with him spilling the drink
on purpose to get the time out. Like he was terrible. Hit me
yep, yeah, Like, andso Steve Nash another one terrible, Like
(07:26):
and these are all time great playersthat could magic Johnson another one was terrible
as a as a coach, wasterrible going straight into the front office,
Like, look, man, Ihope it works out because whoever they hire,
I don't they They could hire adog, and I would be hoping
that the dog can coach. Like, if you're a Lakers player for coach,
(07:46):
I want you to succeed. Butlike the Lakers have this pattern of
hiring people who have never done ajob before Magic never no front office experience,
ROB, no GM experience. Nowyou're bringing in a coach with no
actual coaching experience. I don't carewhat he learned from coach KD. Duke.
(08:07):
I don't care that he played fifteenyears in the league. I don't
care that he has a podcast wherehe drinks wines Lebron. A lot of
guys know basketball, but knowing itand then coaching it and leading a team
like it's different. And to comparehim to pat Riley, like, sure,
I get like the look and allthat kind of stuff, and I
get the broadcast comparisons, but likepat Riley still actually coached before he took
(08:35):
over as the Lakers head coach.And even back then, you take over
a team in like the eighties,it wasn't the same thing as taking over
a team in twenty twenty four.You had one or two coaches on your
staff. Like the stuff that thesecoaches have to prepare for now is night
and day versus when pat Riley tookover as Lakers said coach. So I
(08:56):
hope it works. I'm on recordas saying, if he's gonna be the
guy, he better have the highestpaid coaching staff in the league, like
Sam Cassel, bringing Brego if hedoesn't find another job, bringing Kenny Kenny
Akinson, like, bring in acouple of head coaches to beyond his roster,
bring in some really bright assistant coaches. Rondo is apparently up for,
(09:18):
you know, potentially for the benchto be on the assistant coaching team.
Like, but to me, like, if he's your guy, all right,
I hope it works because the Lakereven beyond this most recent coaching search,
when has it actually actually worked forthe Lakers in the last twenty five
(09:39):
years? Phil Jackson, m Hand Vocal one, And I think that
Vocal honestly, Mat I think Vogalkind of got a raw deal because they
put that roster together with Russ thatdidn't fit Vocal, So I don't think
that was all Vocal's fault. Butlike other than Phil Rudy, Tom Johanovich
won two Championships coaching the team,and he he didn't make it a whole
(10:01):
season, No, he went toan advisory role in fact, a little
too much for the heart. Likeliterally, yeah, it's a hell of
a job. Man. Hey,what's going on y'all? Ricky with Leyton
Lake Show Real Quick, just wantedto send some flowers, send some love
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(11:11):
NBA season is winding down, butyou got w NBA action. I'll be
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Promo code CLNS Peace. It's easilythe most scrutinized job in basketball. It's
one of the most high profile jobsin professional sports. The head coach of
the Los Angeles Lakers. This wouldmake the fifth head coach in ten years
(11:56):
for the franchise. I'm going fromback to Byron's to today. Whoever's going
to be replacing Darvin Ham will begiven, you know, a very very
very microscopic room for growth. Everything'sgoing to be in the not everything is
(12:18):
going to be under the radar man, Everything's going to be insight in the
scope. Whatever the metaphor is,everyone's gonna be looking and you're gonna take
someone from zero experience, place themin there, say good luck, and
when, if and when it doesnot work out, that's what you point
to. He didn't have the experience, he didn't have the luck. It's
(12:39):
funny the Lakers talked about, well, you know, reporters the coast of
the Lakers are talking about that theyare looking for a head coach that is
supportive of the Lebron James Anthony Davisera win right now mentality, but at
the same time they are going tobe the head coach for the post Lebron
(13:00):
James era development Anthony Davis as thefocal point. I have a couple of
thoughts with that one. I don'tnecessarily know how often this two timeline scenario
works out. Go ahead and askthe Golden State Warriors how it feels to
have be light years ahead of thecompetition, thinking that you're going to continue
(13:20):
to draft assets and build them upand develop them and they're just going to
take the reins while you're existing superstarsright out into the sunset. I think
we see that probably the best thingto do is squeeze all the juice out
of the era that you're in rightnow, maximize it, and then when
it's over. You guys all shakehands and you're right on into the sunset
(13:41):
together, and then you go backand you start over. I don't think
the Lakers have received this message yet. They want to compete for a championship.
They got to the first round thisseason, lost in five to Denver.
Lebron James is going to be fortyyear years old, you know,
gump it up. So that's areal thing, right, Anthony Davis had
(14:03):
one of, if not the bestseason as a Laker, and he's only
going to be older. Right,we are either another year into towards his
prime or we are another year towardsthe end of his prime. I think
we saw last year, Anthony.That's still prime. Ad Right, the
jumper is what the jumper is now, but offensive defensively, that's still a
(14:24):
monster and somebody to build around.My issue is stop talking out of both
sides of your mouth. Just justpick one. You know, you remember
by the first Spider Man movie withthe Green Goblin, he had Mary Jane
in one hand and he had thebust of the train full of people in
the other, and you say,choose. That's what you fucking gotta do,
rob That's what you gotta do,Genie and team. You have to
(14:45):
choose what we are doing. Andif the goal is, hey, let's
do everything humanly possible to get LebronJames and Anthony Davis one more ring in
this era together, then you gotto ensure that you are bringing in leadership
that is ready for those moments.Who the hell knows if JJ Reddick is
ready for the grind of a sevengame series in the first second Western Conference
(15:11):
Finals NBA Finals. We have zero, zero background in that subject. So
it's hard for me to believe thatJJ Redick is front head and shoulders above
the competition without an out a formalmeeting of the Lakers front office. If
reports are true, and yet you'reconfident that this could be the guy to
(15:33):
support Lebron today and the Lakers ofnext year. So I guess where I
want to take this next day?Is this decision making the rumors of JJ
being out in front After everything thatwe just said, it's kind of hard
for me not to believe that theLakers' front office and staff is not just
(15:54):
listening to the Mind the Game podcastand going you know what, I think
we figured it out. I thinkwe figured out who's gonna be our next
guy for the future ed bonus.He's already Lebron's coworker. We know he'll
sign off on it. Imagine himhating the higher and still wanting to do
the podcast. It'd be crazy,right, That's honestly how I feel like
(16:15):
they're thinking about this situation. AmI crazy? No? I mean not
at all. JJ checks three boxesthat I think are important to the Lakers.
One, he actually does no basketball. Clearly he knows the game.
He knows yes. Two he andLebron get along, so that's a big
(16:36):
thing, right. And Three JJis very good in front of a microphone.
Darvin was terrible in front of themicrophone. He consistently said the wrong
thing to the media and the Lakers. It's insane, man. It's it's
like, of all the jobs inthe NBA, and this might even you
(16:59):
know, even New York. It'slike, if you say the wrong thing
to Lakers media, like you getcrushed. You just you get crushed.
So whoever the Lakers coach is,they've got to have they've got to be
media savvy. And I'm that mightnot matter in Charlotte, or might not
matter at OKAC, but in Lait doesn't even matter for the Clippers,
(17:21):
but for the Lakers, it matters, And so he checks those three boxes.
And I hope it works, Ireally do. I just hope that
two years from now we're not rightback at this thing again. Where two
years I mean, I would imagineLebron's out the door in two years and
Ad is two years older. AndI agree with you, you got to
(17:44):
basically go all out, like youcan't save these draft picks for like five
years down the road, and likeyou can't. There's no two timelines here.
You've got two stars. Ad isstill in this prime. Lebron has
extended his prime longer than any othersuperstar known to man, but he's clarly
older, Like you can clearly seehe is not the same as he was
even five years ago. So like, go for it. Give. One
(18:08):
of my issues with the Lakers hasbeen it feels like I know other people
say this, but like they runthe team like a mom and pop shop.
Like you're the Lakers. You arebasically the number one, fourteen to
five hundred company in the NBA.Right your your front office, your consultants,
everybody should be like you should havethe best front office in the entire
(18:30):
league. Your coaching staff should bethe best from top to bottom because there's
no there's no salary constraints with frontoffices and the coaching staff. Spend whatever
you need to spend to get it, and then on the team level,
go for it. Like you said, like we have what three draft picks
we can trade? Yep, youbetter go about the seventeenth pick, don't.
(18:52):
I don't give a damn. Icould care less about who is available
at seventeen. They need to bea twenty seven year old, a twenty
nine year old is what I needthat seventeen pick to be. These children
coming out of the draft, andthis is all respect to those prospects.
I hope my son one day isjust in the same footsta the same path
(19:15):
as them. But if I'm talkingabout thirty nine year old Lebron James,
and I'm talking about if not alreadythirty, have thirty year old Anthony Davis,
what am I gonna do another JalenHood Shafiino? The fuck am I
gonna do with that? Max LewisI like him a lot. Sure,
let's see what we got next yearfor him, But that's still another year
into the future, which we don'thave unless unless we are folding up the
(19:41):
tent in saying thank you guys foryour service, Lebron. This farewell tour
the year after this one, it'sgoing to be beautiful. We are not
going to be competing for a title. But let's just we'll make sure we
send you out like a rock staras we collect cap, draft capital,
and young assets to build towards thelate later twenty twenties. Bro twenty twenty
(20:06):
five is months away. We're aboutto be in the back half of this
decade here very quickly, right,Lebron's been here for it's going to be
six years, right fork in theroad moment, fellas we're doing it or
not. And I think when wejust kind of take a step back and
do all the inventory in this,we have to just come down to the
(20:29):
conclusion, man, that we supporta franchise that literally operates like this all
the time. They don't change theirstripes, right, But they said Cheeta
never changes the spot. It iswhat it is. They move with the
headlines, They operate with the flowof the ocean. Right. They are
(20:51):
not steadfast in their focus, theirstrategy, their philosophy on how to build
a winning organization. You see italmost every year with either the roster turnover
or the hey coach turnover. Andnow we're sitting here, me and you
were about to talk about Okay,well, Lakers have three draft picks.
They either can package some stuff up. Unfortunately, send my favorite, my
(21:15):
favorite white boy, Austin Reids tosomewhere and go get a superstar. Right,
where where do you land with that? The names that come up,
right, Donovan Mitchell, Trey Young, Jonte Murray. Right, who else
am I missing from this list?Is there anybody else? Those are the
big names. Those are big dogs. I thought it was a fourth one.
(21:36):
Maybe Darius Garland was the other namethat Arris Garland that movie. Well,
donovand Mitchell, Yeah, if theyget I mean by Austin love you.
I'm sure Cleveland would love Austin likeyou. Gotta go for Donovan Mitchell.
Now, Trey Young, he doesnothing off the ball. Obviously,
(21:56):
he doesn't play defense like d'angelo's abetter DEFENSEI player in than him. He's
obviously bigger than Trey Young, andD'Angelo does off ball work. Trey don't
do none of that. So ifyou bring in Trey he's got to have
the ball all the time to actuallybe effective, and unless he's willing to
do some off ball. And Ihave concerns about him going from the number
(22:18):
one option to the number three inLA, Like is he would he be
willing? Maybe? I don't know. He's no longer clutch, he's CIA
I believe. Well, let's talkabout that real quick. We were on
what at least year two now ofthis whole Lebron does not want to be
the focal point of the offense.Somebody else should be taking the ball up,
(22:38):
someone else would be I'll say theyear that we traded for Russ was
the obvious, Like, hey,Lebron does not want to have the ball
in his hands as much. Sois that do you feel like an addition
of a Trey Young or just aball dominant guard that's a high score.
Do you think that's do you thinkthat still would be an issue? Or
the Lakers best when they operate withLebron with the ball to as Lebron says
(23:03):
he doesn't want the ball in hishands, he doesn't want it as much.
That's a damn lie, Like he'sLebron James right, Like, yeah,
sure, maybe through the regular season. When you get to the playoffs,
who's gonna have the ball? TreyYounger Lebron James making decisions for the
team. Like the problem is isthat they do need a dude who can
who can be a lead ball handlerand playoff ball. But like those guys
(23:26):
cost thirty million dollars and the Lakersdon't have thirty million dollars. They're just
not rep Like Donovan Mitchell be obviouslyright, he'd be perfect at that because
he actually does do a ball work. Like, look, man, the
person I'm Donovan Mitchell. We couldget him great, But I think Wendy
was like, Donovan Mitchell has toomuch power in Cleveland, they just fired
(23:47):
their head coach, Like he's nothe ain't leaving right, not this season.
At least they're gonna give him thesuper Duper. So yeah, I
mean Trey switching from Clutch to CIA, I feel like that might have dead
it that right now. You knowde Jontey Murray, all right, he
was really good defensively in San Antonio, not so good defensively in and at
(24:08):
l possibly, but the guy I'mI'm hoping that they they try to get
if he's available, Mickel Bridges.That's why I like, like, I
know we need I know we needa point guard or somebody that can bring
the ball up. But like,get me six six can shoot. I
mean, he just he's good.He can play like. That's who I'm
(24:30):
hoping they go after if he's possiblyavailable. Somebody recently said I don't know
who it was, it was eitherWindy or somebody Joe Bombuha. He mentioned
that, you know, the Grizzliesoffered five draft picks to Brooklyn for him
and they said he turned it down, and he said, now they are
not going to get that five draftpick offer anymore from anybody. So it's
(24:52):
like, could three draft picks gethim? Could? I don't know,
But one thing is for sure.I love the I'm so happy to see
one of the original young core comeback. And he was really good.
I think he's really good for us. But he's not good enough in the
playoffs. He just isn't. Unfortunately, so and right and a back court
(25:12):
of D'Angelo and Austin is just notI mean, they just can't defend anybody
really, So then could Donovan andAustin probably not either, could tray In
Austin probably not either. Like,I don't know, man, Like,
they definitely need a guard that canthat can be a lead ball handler,
(25:33):
playoff ball and play some defense,but is he out there? And I
don't know, I don't know.At the trade deadline, it was the
whole conversation about a Lakers going togo get to John, say Murray,
right, what would be the pricefor him? Are they gonna swing and
add some more firepower? And youknow, I think Rob said something along
(25:57):
lines if you can't buy what's notavailable or something like that. But I
think I sent a tweet out atthat time. I was like, hey,
guys, all this Murray posturing,the Lakers aren't gonna make any trades.
They're gonna they're gonna look towards thebuyout. Then they're going to say
in the off season, we're gonnause the draft picks that have become available
(26:18):
once the new season starts, andthen we're gonna go big game hunting again.
That is exactly what turned out tobe true. And now we are
sitting here wondering and actually having theconversation. Well, on one side,
do the Lakers even have enough firepowerto go get a superstar with all the
other teams that potentially could be inthe mix form. Hell, you think
(26:40):
Miami's satisfied with how their seasons havegone and all the rumblings about Jimmy Butler
and he better beginning a Supermax?You think you think the Clippers are just
gonna sit there with their hands onthere, with their hands under their asses
if Paul George decides to go signin Philadelphia. No, They're gonna go
douce something right. And I thinkthe more that I think about these packages
(27:06):
for a Donovan Mitchell, who Ican easily see down in Miami, or
a you know, a Trey Young, which I don't know what I don't
even know where trade's Young's market iswhat Orlando right? They talk about they
need a guard, they got moneyenough for a Max, I'd be I'd
look to be interested to see whatOrlando's got playing for this offseason. Regardless,
I'm I find it a little difficultto think that the Lakers can strong
(27:30):
arm a franchise into trading them theirdisgruntle superstar, especially not with head and
shoulders the best package to offer you, like you know, like I know,
bro, there are franchises in thisleague that either are not too excited
about seeing the Lakers succeed, RobPolinka succeed or Lebron fucking James succeed.
(27:52):
I don't care what anybody says,that shit is real. You think Cleveland's
excited about trading Donovan Mitchell over toLebron if the Akers for the second best
offer? Fucked? No? No, you think Boston's ever going to look
the Lakers way? No? AndI wouldn't want them bitch ass niggas to
either. But regardless, there's clearlyteams. The Chicago Bulls are a great
example. Jerry reyin Storf would ratherdie in purgatory with his franchise than do
(28:17):
any type of transaction that could potentiallyhelp Lebron James displace. The only reason
why he is still an owner inprofessional sports, and that's the legacy of
Michael Jordan's. So it's real.I'm nervous, I don't. I think
the Lakers are going to try toflip some of these smaller pieces like Roy
Gabe and try to get another bettersupporting cast member. I think that's probably
(28:42):
more likely. What do you think? No? I agree that's short of
a superstar strong arming his way tothe Lakers. I think that this is
this is where it goes. AndRuy Ruy is the highest paid non lebron
ad got on the team right now, So his name is going to be
out there just because he's got him. You need him to make the money
(29:02):
work for some of these deals.But like I love Rui, but he's
six' eight, like two twothirty, and that boy don't rebound at
all. You can't have a guyon your team that big, playing like
a guard and not not rebounding,right, especially when DiAngelo is not a
great rebounder. Often isn't like they'vegot so many holes at like they've got
(29:23):
so many holes at the same spotthat like some of these guys have to
go unfortunately, So Rui's probably gone. I think he's probably going. I
hope Vando sticks around. I mean, but like he up his name up
on the block too. Man atthe end, And this is the one
thing I will defend the Lakers onwith Vandal's name now being in rumored on
(29:45):
the trade block. But you gotto be available, you got to be
helpy, right Like if if Vandaplayed last year, great, he missed
a lot of time, a lotof time and one thing we don't have
on our side now is time fora key role player with injury history to
continue to be out. So Iget that, but like also all the
(30:06):
other teams are looking at that too, like what'd you think you're gonna get
from us? Well, I meanthe question is, like we had this
season, right Lebron and a dwere healthy, but like the role players
miss so much time. So I'mno doctor, obviously I'm not, But
like I question sometimes like what's goingon with the Lakers medical staff versus other
(30:26):
teams, like because so many ofthese guys miss so much time and it
might just be freak accidents whatever,But like my question to you is,
do you think we have a secondseason where Lebron and AD are mostly healthy?
Right? Because if you if youhad said coming into this past season,
you get Lebron and AAD for sixtyfive plus games most of us,
(30:48):
Oh, they're probably contending this year, but if everybody else is hurt,
so even next season we could haveall the role players are relatively healthy.
But if one or the one ofLebron or Ad missus twenty five thirty games,
I'm so sick of playing for theplay endog. Like like every year
(31:10):
he come on, man those extragames, Like, So, I don't
know, do you think we getanother healthy season out of those two?
No? No, no, oddsay no, odd says another layer of
treads are gonna come off of Lebron'stires, respectfully, right, And though
he'll still have his flashes of greatnich, you'll also see the wear and
(31:32):
tear of a twenty one year career. Anthony Davis made himself available from multiple
games. There were still times throughoutthis season where you thought, this is
the one, this is this isit. This is the one where he's
not getting back up. So hallelujahthat he did. But let's just play
the law of averages and put ourthinking caps on. It's more likely than
(31:52):
not one of those two players aregoing to be missing time for let's just
say, when we say stretchers,let's just say five more games, right.
I think that is possible. Ithink that is more likely than not
to happen where one of them mightbe nicked up for two games, then
the other one's out for one game, right, or then we got a
role player that's out. But thatgoes back to our previous conversation. Bro,
(32:15):
If you are not confident that yourmain dogs will be healthy enough for
a full season, you gotta getanother dog. You gotta bring in a
third dog to support. This isI call it the Damar de Rosen theory.
If we would have figured out insteadof Russ how to bring in Demarrow
(32:37):
and we see what. Look Damarhas done since he signed with the Bulls.
Granted he's been option A since ZachLevine's been out most of the season,
but that's the fucking point. Yousee what he does when somebody is
out that used to be dependent onday in and day out. Damar was
one of those guys. Could youimagine, because Damar will get you.
You look at a box scoring andsee, oh Damar drop twenty, You're
(32:58):
like, okay, yeah yeah,talk about right, yeah yeah yeah,
cool, Yeah, that's easy.He can do that easy. We get
Ruy drops twenty, We're fucking throwingthe party. Austin drops twenty. We're
like, that's what we're talking about. Fucking d Lo drops twenty. We
are happy about it. DeMar doesthat getting out of the fucking bed.
That's what I feel like the Lakersare missing with this. These are our
(33:22):
top two dogs. Yes, theyare still top ten, top eleven in
the NBA. But if you puton the layer the little ratings of health
scale, right and longevity, it'sa little scary. So why are we
not investing or throwing the chips inthe table to get right right now?
(33:43):
Unless unless you're secretly folding, you'resecretly punting, you're just propping them out
up front right and saying, no, we're behind our superstars. We're gonna
do everything we can to get themthe right support. And then you made
smaller tweaks than you probably need to. That's what I'm worried about in all
this, man, The laguers aresaying one thing, but reality is telling
(34:06):
us we are getting towards the endof our superstars time together, this era
of Laker basketball. Why the hellhave we not either pivoted or leaned in?
So if JJ ends up being theguy, which looks like he's going
to be the guy, the staffthat they give him and the team that
(34:28):
they build for him, that'll tellme everything I need to know, Like,
that'll tell me how serious they are. And this isn't this isn't an
indictment on russ. But had theynot done the Rush trade, and kept
KCP who's in ac that that's stilla I mean, that's at worst a
second round team at worst. Andit's like and or if they did the
(34:50):
instead of doing the rush trade,they got went and got Damar a credible
third option. I can give youtwenty any given night. Like, that's
a good team. And I thinkOL they're chasing. They're chasing the team
that they broke up. They areliterally trying to talk about getting Kuzma back.
They're literally they if the Lakers couldbring Casey p back onto the team
(35:12):
tomorrow, he'd be back in theLaker uniform. They punted it, and
then you fast forward three years laternow they're like, oh, man,
it'd be nice if we could justget some high level role players in the
building. Well, no shit,Sherlock to your ploid. Yeah no,
Look, man, I've heard Kuzma'son the table. Jeremy Grant, who
I really I like Jeremy Grant.He's paid a ton, But like,
(35:36):
they could use another forward, eitherKus or Jeremy that slots in between Lebron
and Ad Like. It's also oneof the reasons I like Micheale because he
can play the guard. Before butin any case, like I want to
see what they're willing to do,and all fairness, I will say with
this past season, had Darvin hadbetter rotations, had Darvin made better uses
of players, play calling his timeouts, Lakers might have won five to ten
(36:00):
more games. They led the entireseries against Denver. They might have actually
won that series if the coaching wasbetter. So it feels like, and
correct me if I'm wrong, butlike it feels like the Lakers are this
close and then they're also like thisfar away, like for sure sliding doors.
(36:21):
I could absolutely see them winning itall. I can see them missing
the playoffs, and that is insane. But what we say about the playoff
matchups right like, even though Iwas the person that say give me Denver
right now, because I don't likeslow rips of band aids. If they're
not gonna win it all, I'dlike to know sooner than later. Ye,
But you got your other Lakers fansthat said, see, this is
why we should have ended up onthe OKC side of the bracket. We
(36:44):
would have ran through these boys andwe at least would have been in the
Western Conference finals trying to figure itout. So to your point, like
that they are an inch and amile away, and we feel that going
into this season, man, wefelt good about the roster, right,
We felt good about the additions thatthe team made. We felt good about
(37:04):
Christian Wood, we felt good aboutGabe Vincent, we felt good about the
addition of a Torrian prince. Andthen literally Cam goes, okay, hey,
who was on teams that I've coachedin the past, Cam Turrian superstars.
Let's go, let's go front andcenter. Gotta put y'all on the
pedestal real quick, let y'all doyour dance. And then you saw Torrian
(37:25):
get back to a normal role.He looked like a great role player.
So it's it. God, man, I never want to have a negative
opinion about a black man, butthat that man right there. I was
fully supportive of them hiring Ham.But that second season, he he regressed.
(37:47):
He was terrible, and you know, here we are looking for another
here we are. Let's let's takea look real quick about the rumored assistant
coaches. Did you see Frankie Smoke'sname pop up? Did you see that
potentially Frank Vogel could be He's andplayed for an exsistent coach role. Hell,
(38:08):
you know what, all this spinin the block out here for it
brings Frankie Smoke's ass back. Henot the leader no more. He just
get to focus on the defense.Was he not good at what? At
that side of the ball? Thenthat's what killed me about am. It
was like, what side of thebasketball were you supposed to be a genius
at? Because I'm not seeing aunembitches so well? At least Frankie Smokes
(38:29):
at the Lakers top of the leagueand defense back. He had Phoenix top
I think Phoenix was top fourteen.I mean they were. They were a
decent defense given the roster that theyhad. Like, no, I would
take frank back. Would he comeback? I don't. I don't know
how it all ended. I don'tknow what happened behind the scenes. But
(38:50):
yes, if give me a crediblehead coach on the bench that can assess
JJ, I'll take him any dayto week. Yep. What else?
Who else did we see? Wesaw Scott Brooks? Yeah, and I
don't really I don't really get theScott Brooks love, but you know,
I guess he's a good guy.Who else? Obviously we got Barrego,
(39:13):
who is apparently a big Anthony David. He has the vote of Anthony Davis
from their time together. Uh soI'm here for that. I said this
on a different show. But ifyou're able to get the Charlotte Hornets to
a plus five hundred season, youare an excellent head coach. Because that
franchise, I don't think we'll everhave any sustained productivity. And it has
(39:37):
nothing to do about who was runningthe franchise from the head coaching position.
So hey, if they want tobring him in, who I heard is
an excellent, excellent offensive mine andyou know, I wonder if he was
there for the Boogie a d EraAnd that's why I've heard the same things.
He's good offensively, So like,bring them in, you know what
(40:00):
I'm saying. Mm hmm. Soyeah, see, Davis, according to
those brief things highly of Barrego.So we'll see. And then they also,
you know, going back to thisWokie article that dropped on Thursday,
said the Lakers have been very tightlipped about the search process to date,
with outside noise a word used insidethe team's buildings linking them to former player
(40:22):
and current broadcaster JJ Reddick. SoShamsa is just making this up. Chris
Haynes is just making this up.All of them, all of them.
All these guys that are supposed tobe respected are just you know, just
making tea leaves and then reading themthemselves if you ask the Lakers. But
nonetheless, you got Sam Cassell andJared Dudley as other assistants that they're talking
(40:42):
through. I'm be honest with you, man, I'm kind of straight on
a Dudley reunion. If it's downto just getting former players from the player
development position onto the coaching staff,give me Rajon Rondo immediately, Okay,
get bring in Rondo again, aguy who has the utmost respect of the
locker room from the superstars between Lebronand Anthony Davis. And to be honest,
(41:08):
man, it's just time. It'stime for him to get serious about
this next chapter of his life.He's had some ups and downs, personal
issues that he just keeps bumping into. He needs some focus. Let's just
focus on your role as a Lakersassistant and head coach. Come coach the
Lakers to help them get a championship, and then we can just fully expunge
(41:30):
your career with the Celtics, becausenow you've got a championship ring as a
Laker player and a head coach,and then the world can just know you
as Lakers. Rejon Rondo, whatdo we think about that? Alex?
Are you in? You in?Bring them on the bench, I mean
the bench I'd like to see.I'd love to see Vogel, but I
don't think that happens. But ifyou bring JJ in, gimme Brego,
(41:52):
Gimmy Cassel, gimme Rondo. I'lleven take Dudley. He was respected in
our locker room. And but alsogive me another guy that's been an actual
assistant coach on the team, likeBrago's who's been head coach. Give me
one more assistant coach, and thengive me those players, those former players
well or Cassell checks that box asa as an assistant. Give me that,
(42:15):
give me that kind of coaching staff. I'm all on board. I'm
on board. Another thing, wesee a former assistant, Gregg Saint Jean,
being considered for this coaching staff.He was an assistant for Frankie Smokes
under the Lakers previously. So anothername that has come out, and uh
(42:36):
oh, I just find it weirdthat the whole David Alderman report has like
just disappeared. The excuse me,Denver's assistant coach who's highly regarded as a
next great head coach if you askNikola Jokic and all of Denver's players.
I've seen no updates that we gotthe report at the beginning of the month
(43:00):
that the Lakers got permission from theNuggets while the nugget are still in the
playoffs to conduct a formal interview.But here we are today, Friday,
May thirty, first year of ourLord, twenty twenty four, and we've
only got one head coach through thedoor. Officially, I'm excited for at
least that conversation with him. Man, it seems like he's a very highly
(43:22):
respected and a smart dude that's unlocked. Djok It and how Gordon and Mike
Porter Junior all play around him inthe front court for the for the for
the Denver Nuggets. But is thatwhere do you that he's just no longer
talked about right now? Or Idon't know, maybe the Lakers flying under
the radar. I mean, Idon't think he's got a big He's not
(43:44):
sexy in them, Dame. Youknow what I'm saying, I think it's
kind of and it's bald. Itseems like Denver Loft, and then you
know, we haven't heard much.I'm thinking the same thing on Mike and
Nory for the Wolves. He wasa name that we heard at first,
and now it's like, all right, I mean it's Barrego and and and
(44:04):
JJ and I don't know, Imean maybe they might have went away because
they know, like JJ is basicallythe guy, like, what's the point
interviewing participating in that. Coach Kis the consultant on the job man,
Like you know what I'm saying.So maybe that's how we're getting these reports
(44:29):
right maybe, And I hope it'snot just like Shams and Chris Haynes doing
what we're doing right now and justmaking that one connection to UH coach K
and consulting with the Lakers on theirhead coaching search. But maybe what if
that's the actual source of the league, right, Like coach K. I
remember when, oh boy, Iforget who they hired as the head coach
(44:54):
of the shoot and any event therewas a head coach. I was hired
in the AFC a few years back, and I remember the Dolphins old head
coach who was a black man.He was fired from the Dolphins and he
was interviewing for this new head coachingposition too, and Bill Belichick, who
(45:16):
he used to coach, under textedhim saying, Hey, congratulations Jim on
the hey coaching job. You're gonnado great. And he was like,
the coach was like, what thefuck? Like I didn't even you know,
this is odd because this I stillhad to go finish out the process
(45:36):
and he's congratulating someone else mistakenly tome that I'm sure that happens more than
not. Man, Hell, I'mI'm I'm looking right, I'm dipping my
toes in the job hunt, lookingfor new roles and other companies. And
there's this whole thing called referrals.Right, you get your name on the
referral, you are going to getan interview, right, And you get
(45:59):
an interview, you got an insidetrack because someone's already there. And just
from the nature of it being areferral and somebody that they trust, you
have it better shot than somebody who'sjust coming in with just a resume and
a smile. Yep, we'd bedumb to think this isn't this couldn't possibly
be a similar situation where coach K'sfolks kind of have maybe said something and
(46:21):
now it's starting to permutate through themedia circles. So all hell J coach
JJ when he slides through. ButI love your point about the Lakers better
have the highest paid coaching staff inthe league. If we're going rookie head
coach, zero experience, everybody elseneeds to be silver foxes on that coaching
staff. Everybody needs to have grayin their beards. Everybody needs to have
(46:43):
the crow, the crow lines,the bags under their eyes, no sleep
wrinkles in their fuehead because they eatsleep basketball, haven't seen their wife for
months and it's the off season alreadyfor him. That's the type of dedication
we need in the Lakers bench.We're getting a rookie So I don't know,
man, Is that is that ourofficial picks? Is that our official
(47:04):
prediction that JJ will be the Lakershead coach? And do you think it
probably gets announced soon after the finalswraps up? I think it leaks for
real during the finals. I thinkit's gonna leak, right, official announcement
after the finals. Yes, butwe'll we'll, We'll be we'll be ninety
nine percent sure sometime during the finalsthat he's the guy, especially with the
(47:27):
finals wrap up, like right beforethe draft, Like it's they're so close
that you want your head coach tokind of be involved with the draft process.
We'll know, we'll know already.That's so nasty. Could you imagine
you get hired as head coach andthen a weekly Yeah, it's the NBA
Draft. Don't worry, we goteverything covered already. Or I'm gonna just
sit back and relax and watch watchwith the show with Polinka and company about
(47:50):
to do here, Like it doesn'tmake sense. You're right. It's like
if they wait till after the draft, So you have a week between the
finals and the draft, and thenhe's got to put together a coaching staff
too. During that that like fivedays, seven days. Now, we'll
know. We'll know way way beforethat it's him. I mean, huh,
(48:12):
when's free agency. Let's see,I don't know, it's July something,
right, June thirtieth, So amonth less than a month is free
agency. So you like, yeah, you got to put together an entire
coaching staff and figure out who hewants to No way, no way,
they wait until after the finals toreally know it's him. Clay Thompson is
(48:37):
about to be a free agent too, say Orlando might make a running him.
Good good, good for him that, you know what, that's the
perfect Wow. This is towards theend of his career. Jersey and Klay
Thompson Magic Jersey and he's still I'msure he will still be productive with them.
This is not a shot at ClayThompson. This is just one of
those things that all stars, unlessthey spend their full career all lost.
(48:59):
Steph Curry, y'all lot, KobeBryant, will we get to Damn he
played for who at the end ofhis career? It's an Allen Iverson Memphis
Jersey is what it is. Yes, I forgot why Lord right man?
That shit should have been cold.I think he played like thirteen games and
then it was like, yeah,I'm about of here. That's the end
of that. So all right,Yeah, No, I think Clay ends
(49:20):
up in either Orlando or if PaulGeorge doesn't end up in Philly, they
do something like that, right,So we'll see they do. And I
don't know how I feel like theyjust it's because uh, you know,
Harden out the door and Maxie isstill did he. I don't think he's
on his extension yet, his nextcontract, so just waiting for that to
(49:40):
kick in. You might as wellfold in another super Max Superstar. So
it's gonna be exciting the Lakers.We're operating in a let's just say,
a twenty five day window, folks. We're probably gonna get some in the
next fourteen days, but we're operatingin a twenty five day window between now
the draft reagency. This is stillhey, everyone, make no mistake.
(50:05):
This is part two of the NBAseason, the off season, and like
every avid NBA fans, all thisshit gets you just as exciting at times
because short window. James Harden mightbe in China somewhere talking about he doesn't
want to play for the Clippers.The way that he came out and talked
about how you didn't want to playfor David Morrian calling him a liar in
front of a bunch of people didn'tknow what he was talking. That's that
(50:27):
NBA all season. I can't waitfor brother, so looking forward to it.
Alex, thank you for jumping inand rocking with me man on this
episode. As always, bad wegot to continue to do this more.
Bro. I appreciate it, man, It's always fun. Yes, sir,
well, that'll do it for uson this episode the Late Night Lake
Show podcast. Make sure you aresubscribed wherever you get your hashtag good content
(50:49):
for Alex. It's Ricky Lateonight LakeShow out one son of fucking my words.
So I'm like, what do wewressssssss
Hey, what's going on? Y'all? Welcome to a new episode of the
lay Now Late Show podcast powered bynineteen Media Group. It is your host,
Ricky and I got my boy Alex. Y'all know him as Lakers Central.
He's in the building talking with mea little bit on this Friday afternoon
about the Lakers current and updated.Hey, coaching search. Make sure you're
(00:21):
following up wherever you get your hashtag. Good content, Alex, my brother,
how you doing, man? Longtime no talk? Yeah, Man,
I'm good, I'm good, glady. Glad to be back on absolutely
Man last night. Last night thestage was set. Looks like we have
the Dallas Mavericks, Luca Dodgers makinghis first Finals appearance, Kyrie Irving and
(00:45):
the rest of the Dallas Mavericks.Kyrie's making his fourth Finals appearance, which
when I heard that, mill Iwas like, damn. But then you
realize that, you know, hewas also you know, handing hand with
Lebron going out all those trips together, the big, huge piece of that.
So shout out Kyrie. He's takinga long, long journey. It's
feel like these last three years toget to this point, So shout him
(01:07):
out. But they got it.They got to finish the job. They
have to finish the job. Ifthere's one franchise that is behind the Dallas
Mavericks, it is the Los AngelesLakers. It's because of the Chan Celtic.
So it's gonna be represented the Eastand Alex. I don't know about
you, man, but it'd benot good, not good if the Celtics
(01:30):
beat the Lakers to number eighteen.Man, how you feeling? How we
feel about this finals matchup? Howwe feeling about Luca? Man? He
is this his time? Is thishis time to take the throne? His
best in the world. I meanit's it should be a really good series.
I mean, both teams are,Both teams are good, Both teams
are humming right now. I mean, I don't know if Boston has faced
any real competition in the East.I mean New York we beat up.
(01:51):
You know, they didn't get there. I mean like Boston has had a
bit of a cakewalk, and we'veseen Boston get there before him. We
fail, We fail and fail everytime they gets to the finals. So
but they're you know, if I'mDallas, I'm not I'm not looking past
them. I'm not assuming that We'rejust gonna walk in the door and sweep
these dudes or go, you know, win four out of five or whatever.
(02:12):
Like you have to take it seriously. But to your point, I
think all Lakers fans are probably pullingfor Dallas to win this thing for you
know, nobody wants. We don'twant Boston to get a leg up on
us in terms of champ Championship.If you don't feel like hearing that,
I would imagine that all Denver fansare probably rooting for Boston so that they
can then troll us if Boston wins. You know what I'm saying. But
(02:37):
Luca and Kyrie, Boston's gonna havetheir hands full. I mean if they
you know, I know, Luca'sdealing with a spring knee, I believe,
but boys can play. So I'mI'm hoping that that Dallas pulls this
out. Yeah how long you seethe series going? I think for me,
I I appreciate that Dallas wrapped itup, and they did. In
(03:00):
another game, I would feel realnervous about picking against the Celtics. But
with this setup, I probably amgonna have to go Dallas in six.
I'm gonna need maybe one if notto Kyrie lost his fucking mind games for
this to swing in the directions.I think Dallas has the best two players
on the court. It's just theissue is the Celtics have I don't know
(03:23):
the next five right, and they'renot far off. Jason Tatum is whatever
you say about him, you knowhe is a superstar. However you feel
that he's done so far in theplayoffs, he is still one of them
ones in the league. And youknow, Lucas, Luca Lucas at the
top of the total pull right nowin this playoff. So I'm hyped just
(03:46):
for the firepower and the superstar matchups. But I got Lakers and six that
I think the Lakers. I'm fuckingLakers. Oh Forredian slip Man, Freudian
slip is so sad, It's sosad. I have Dallas. It's the
Dallas Lakers, the Los Angeles Mavericks. I got them in six. Moving
forward, man, what about you? Same things. I think it's Dallas
(04:08):
and six. I mean Game onewill say a lot, but I think
it's Dallas and six. We'll see, we'll see. I'm hyped where I'm
hyped. I'm hyped. They gota little bit of time before they kick
off. But yeah, once theNBA Finals kicks off, man, that
is the start of the end ofthe twenty twenty four regulars or NBA season,
(04:29):
and we will be off directly intothe offseason, and the focus will
be who the hell is going tobe coaching the Los Angeles Lakers this time.
I'll come August and when training camprolls around. If you ask a
lot of the Lakers fans today whois going to be the head coach,
they probably tell you JJ Reddick.You ask a lot of national media members,
(04:49):
they're already saying that. The kindof the feeling, the wind in
the year, the full ground conclusionis JJ is going to take over as
the head coach. And the onlything separating that announced me is the NBA
Finals because JJ Reddick has some commentatorresponsibilities that I guess is a really big
deal that you just don't step awayfrom. It's like they're Super Bowl.
(05:10):
So I get it, I getit. I get it. Alex bro
this is this is what this issomething that it sounds like Rob Polinka has
talked to a handful of these headcoaches. This sounds like this week the
Lakers officially brought in James Moorego,the Pelicans assistant and the former head coach
(05:30):
of the Charlotte Hornets for an interview. So I guess that was the first
official official meet the circle of trustinterview process. But if we're hearing all
this, yeah, it's kind ofjust riding on the wall. JJ is
going to be in and he hasn'tdone this formal process yet. What do
we make of this process and theserumors floating around? Hey man, it's
(05:53):
a sham of a process, allright, Like he's still in the contract
to call call the NBA Finals.I don't think the Lakers want to make
an announcement and overshadow the finals inany way with him calling the games.
Like if they make that announcement,he's calling the games, Boston's playing as
Lakers Boston, Like it'll take awayfrom the finals a little bit. So
(06:14):
they don't want to do that.The writing is on the wall. I
think it's like the worst kept secret. They brought in Coach K as a
consultant. You don't bring in CoachK as a consultant if it's Coach K's
boy isn't lined up for the job. You know what I'm saying, so,
I think it was Shams or Woesthat reported that James Barrego had a
great interview in Wow the Lakers frontoffice. But I feel like that's just
(06:36):
for show. It's like I'm operatingunder the assumption that JJ is going to
be the next head coach, andI have been highly critical of hiring a
man that has no experience. Letme say that again, no experience.
I don't care how many years heplayed, the dude has not coached anything
besides like his kid's AAU games orwhatever that like, like, look,
(06:58):
man, as great as Jason Kiddwas as an assistant for US, as
great as he's been as a headcoach for Dallas, when he first went
to Brooklyn straight from playing, hewas do do like it was just terrible,
right, I mean we remember himin Milwaukee with him spilling the drink
on purpose to get the time out. Like he was terrible. Hit me
yep, yeah, Like, andso Steve Nash another one terrible, Like
(07:26):
and these are all time great playersthat could magic Johnson another one was terrible
as a as a coach, wasterrible going straight into the front office,
Like, look, man, Ihope it works out because whoever they hire,
I don't they They could hire adog, and I would be hoping
that the dog can coach. Like, if you're a Lakers player for coach,
(07:46):
I want you to succeed. Butlike the Lakers have this pattern of
hiring people who have never done ajob before Magic never no front office experience,
ROB, no GM experience. Nowyou're bringing in a coach with no
actual coaching experience. I don't carewhat he learned from coach KD. Duke.
(08:07):
I don't care that he played fifteenyears in the league. I don't
care that he has a podcast wherehe drinks wines Lebron. A lot of
guys know basketball, but knowing itand then coaching it and leading a team
like it's different. And to comparehim to pat Riley, like, sure,
I get like the look and allthat kind of stuff, and I
get the broadcast comparisons, but likepat Riley still actually coached before he took
(08:35):
over as the Lakers head coach.And even back then, you take over
a team in like the eighties,it wasn't the same thing as taking over
a team in twenty twenty four.You had one or two coaches on your
staff. Like the stuff that thesecoaches have to prepare for now is night
and day versus when pat Riley tookover as Lakers said coach. So I
(08:56):
hope it works. I'm on recordas saying, if he's gonna be the
guy, he better have the highestpaid coaching staff in the league, like
Sam Cassel, bringing Brego if hedoesn't find another job, bringing Kenny Kenny
Akinson, like, bring in acouple of head coaches to beyond his roster,
bring in some really bright assistant coaches. Rondo is apparently up for,
(09:18):
you know, potentially for the benchto be on the assistant coaching team.
Like, but to me, like, if he's your guy, all right,
I hope it works because the Lakereven beyond this most recent coaching search,
when has it actually actually worked forthe Lakers in the last twenty five
(09:39):
years? Phil Jackson, m Hand Vocal one, And I think that
Vocal honestly, Mat I think Vogalkind of got a raw deal because they
put that roster together with Russ thatdidn't fit Vocal, So I don't think
that was all Vocal's fault. Butlike other than Phil Rudy, Tom Johanovich
won two Championships coaching the team,and he he didn't make it a whole
(10:01):
season, No, he went toan advisory role in fact, a little
too much for the heart. Likeliterally, yeah, it's a hell of
a job. Man. Hey,what's going on y'all? Ricky with Leyton
Lake Show Real Quick, just wantedto send some flowers, send some love
to one of our a one dayones friends of the show prize picks.
They've been rocking with us since thisaccount and this whole operation was in its
(10:24):
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(11:11):
NBA season is winding down, butyou got w NBA action. I'll be
watching Angel rees in Chicago sky thoughthis summer. Can't wait to check them
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Just let y'all know, watch out, watch out fit in any event.
You know how prize fixes make yourbets win you some money. Give
them the shout out and give latenow Lake Show a shout out too.
(11:33):
Promo code CLNS Peace. It's easilythe most scrutinized job in basketball. It's
one of the most high profile jobsin professional sports. The head coach of
the Los Angeles Lakers. This wouldmake the fifth head coach in ten years
(11:56):
for the franchise. I'm going fromback to Byron's to today. Whoever's going
to be replacing Darvin Ham will begiven, you know, a very very
very microscopic room for growth. Everything'sgoing to be in the not everything is
(12:18):
going to be under the radar man, Everything's going to be insight in the
scope. Whatever the metaphor is,everyone's gonna be looking and you're gonna take
someone from zero experience, place themin there, say good luck, and
when, if and when it doesnot work out, that's what you point
to. He didn't have the experience, he didn't have the luck. It's
(12:39):
funny the Lakers talked about, well, you know, reporters the coast of
the Lakers are talking about that theyare looking for a head coach that is
supportive of the Lebron James Anthony Davisera win right now mentality, but at
the same time they are going tobe the head coach for the post Lebron
(13:00):
James era development Anthony Davis as thefocal point. I have a couple of
thoughts with that one. I don'tnecessarily know how often this two timeline scenario
works out. Go ahead and askthe Golden State Warriors how it feels to
have be light years ahead of thecompetition, thinking that you're going to continue
(13:20):
to draft assets and build them upand develop them and they're just going to
take the reins while you're existing superstarsright out into the sunset. I think
we see that probably the best thingto do is squeeze all the juice out
of the era that you're in rightnow, maximize it, and then when
it's over. You guys all shakehands and you're right on into the sunset
(13:41):
together, and then you go backand you start over. I don't think
the Lakers have received this message yet. They want to compete for a championship.
They got to the first round thisseason, lost in five to Denver.
Lebron James is going to be fortyyear years old, you know,
gump it up. So that's areal thing, right, Anthony Davis had
(14:03):
one of, if not the bestseason as a Laker, and he's only
going to be older. Right,we are either another year into towards his
prime or we are another year towardsthe end of his prime. I think
we saw last year, Anthony.That's still prime. Ad Right, the
jumper is what the jumper is now, but offensive defensively, that's still a
(14:24):
monster and somebody to build around.My issue is stop talking out of both
sides of your mouth. Just justpick one. You know, you remember
by the first Spider Man movie withthe Green Goblin, he had Mary Jane
in one hand and he had thebust of the train full of people in
the other, and you say,choose. That's what you fucking gotta do,
rob That's what you gotta do,Genie and team. You have to
(14:45):
choose what we are doing. Andif the goal is, hey, let's
do everything humanly possible to get LebronJames and Anthony Davis one more ring in
this era together, then you gotto ensure that you are bringing in leadership
that is ready for those moments.Who the hell knows if JJ Reddick is
ready for the grind of a sevengame series in the first second Western Conference
(15:11):
Finals NBA Finals. We have zero, zero background in that subject. So
it's hard for me to believe thatJJ Redick is front head and shoulders above
the competition without an out a formalmeeting of the Lakers front office. If
reports are true, and yet you'reconfident that this could be the guy to
(15:33):
support Lebron today and the Lakers ofnext year. So I guess where I
want to take this next day?Is this decision making the rumors of JJ
being out in front After everything thatwe just said, it's kind of hard
for me not to believe that theLakers' front office and staff is not just
(15:54):
listening to the Mind the Game podcastand going you know what, I think
we figured it out. I thinkwe figured out who's gonna be our next
guy for the future ed bonus.He's already Lebron's coworker. We know he'll
sign off on it. Imagine himhating the higher and still wanting to do
the podcast. It'd be crazy,right, That's honestly how I feel like
(16:15):
they're thinking about this situation. AmI crazy? No? I mean not
at all. JJ checks three boxesthat I think are important to the Lakers.
One, he actually does no basketball. Clearly he knows the game.
He knows yes. Two he andLebron get along, so that's a big
(16:36):
thing, right. And Three JJis very good in front of a microphone.
Darvin was terrible in front of themicrophone. He consistently said the wrong
thing to the media and the Lakers. It's insane, man. It's it's
like, of all the jobs inthe NBA, and this might even you
(16:59):
know, even New York. It'slike, if you say the wrong thing
to Lakers media, like you getcrushed. You just you get crushed.
So whoever the Lakers coach is,they've got to have they've got to be
media savvy. And I'm that mightnot matter in Charlotte, or might not
matter at OKAC, but in Lait doesn't even matter for the Clippers,
(17:21):
but for the Lakers, it matters, And so he checks those three boxes.
And I hope it works, Ireally do. I just hope that
two years from now we're not rightback at this thing again. Where two
years I mean, I would imagineLebron's out the door in two years and
Ad is two years older. AndI agree with you, you got to
(17:44):
basically go all out, like youcan't save these draft picks for like five
years down the road, and likeyou can't. There's no two timelines here.
You've got two stars. Ad isstill in this prime. Lebron has
extended his prime longer than any othersuperstar known to man, but he's clarly
older, Like you can clearly seehe is not the same as he was
even five years ago. So like, go for it. Give. One
(18:08):
of my issues with the Lakers hasbeen it feels like I know other people
say this, but like they runthe team like a mom and pop shop.
Like you're the Lakers. You arebasically the number one, fourteen to
five hundred company in the NBA.Right your your front office, your consultants,
everybody should be like you should havethe best front office in the entire
(18:30):
league. Your coaching staff should bethe best from top to bottom because there's
no there's no salary constraints with frontoffices and the coaching staff. Spend whatever
you need to spend to get it, and then on the team level,
go for it. Like you said, like we have what three draft picks
we can trade? Yep, youbetter go about the seventeenth pick, don't.
(18:52):
I don't give a damn. Icould care less about who is available
at seventeen. They need to bea twenty seven year old, a twenty
nine year old is what I needthat seventeen pick to be. These children
coming out of the draft, andthis is all respect to those prospects.
I hope my son one day isjust in the same footsta the same path
(19:15):
as them. But if I'm talkingabout thirty nine year old Lebron James,
and I'm talking about if not alreadythirty, have thirty year old Anthony Davis,
what am I gonna do another JalenHood Shafiino? The fuck am I
gonna do with that? Max LewisI like him a lot. Sure,
let's see what we got next yearfor him, But that's still another year
into the future, which we don'thave unless unless we are folding up the
(19:41):
tent in saying thank you guys foryour service, Lebron. This farewell tour
the year after this one, it'sgoing to be beautiful. We are not
going to be competing for a title. But let's just we'll make sure we
send you out like a rock staras we collect cap, draft capital,
and young assets to build towards thelate later twenty twenties. Bro twenty twenty
(20:06):
five is months away. We're aboutto be in the back half of this
decade here very quickly, right,Lebron's been here for it's going to be
six years, right fork in theroad moment, fellas we're doing it or
not. And I think when wejust kind of take a step back and
do all the inventory in this,we have to just come down to the
(20:29):
conclusion, man, that we supporta franchise that literally operates like this all
the time. They don't change theirstripes, right, But they said Cheeta
never changes the spot. It iswhat it is. They move with the
headlines, They operate with the flowof the ocean. Right. They are
(20:51):
not steadfast in their focus, theirstrategy, their philosophy on how to build
a winning organization. You see italmost every year with either the roster turnover
or the hey coach turnover. Andnow we're sitting here, me and you
were about to talk about Okay,well, Lakers have three draft picks.
They either can package some stuff up. Unfortunately, send my favorite, my
(21:15):
favorite white boy, Austin Reids tosomewhere and go get a superstar. Right,
where where do you land with that? The names that come up,
right, Donovan Mitchell, Trey Young, Jonte Murray. Right, who else
am I missing from this list?Is there anybody else? Those are the
big names. Those are big dogs. I thought it was a fourth one.
(21:36):
Maybe Darius Garland was the other namethat Arris Garland that movie. Well,
donovand Mitchell, Yeah, if theyget I mean by Austin love you.
I'm sure Cleveland would love Austin likeyou. Gotta go for Donovan Mitchell.
Now, Trey Young, he doesnothing off the ball. Obviously,
(21:56):
he doesn't play defense like d'angelo's abetter DEFENSEI player in than him. He's
obviously bigger than Trey Young, andD'Angelo does off ball work. Trey don't
do none of that. So ifyou bring in Trey he's got to have
the ball all the time to actuallybe effective, and unless he's willing to
do some off ball. And Ihave concerns about him going from the number
(22:18):
one option to the number three inLA, Like is he would he be
willing? Maybe? I don't know. He's no longer clutch, he's CIA
I believe. Well, let's talkabout that real quick. We were on
what at least year two now ofthis whole Lebron does not want to be
the focal point of the offense.Somebody else should be taking the ball up,
(22:38):
someone else would be I'll say theyear that we traded for Russ was
the obvious, Like, hey,Lebron does not want to have the ball
in his hands as much. Sois that do you feel like an addition
of a Trey Young or just aball dominant guard that's a high score.
Do you think that's do you thinkthat still would be an issue? Or
the Lakers best when they operate withLebron with the ball to as Lebron says
(23:03):
he doesn't want the ball in hishands, he doesn't want it as much.
That's a damn lie, Like he'sLebron James right, Like, yeah,
sure, maybe through the regular season. When you get to the playoffs,
who's gonna have the ball? TreyYounger Lebron James making decisions for the
team. Like the problem is isthat they do need a dude who can
who can be a lead ball handlerand playoff ball. But like those guys
(23:26):
cost thirty million dollars and the Lakersdon't have thirty million dollars. They're just
not rep Like Donovan Mitchell be obviouslyright, he'd be perfect at that because
he actually does do a ball work. Like, look, man, the
person I'm Donovan Mitchell. We couldget him great, But I think Wendy
was like, Donovan Mitchell has toomuch power in Cleveland, they just fired
(23:47):
their head coach, Like he's nothe ain't leaving right, not this season.
At least they're gonna give him thesuper Duper. So yeah, I
mean Trey switching from Clutch to CIA, I feel like that might have dead
it that right now. You knowde Jontey Murray, all right, he
was really good defensively in San Antonio, not so good defensively in and at
(24:08):
l possibly, but the guy I'mI'm hoping that they they try to get
if he's available, Mickel Bridges.That's why I like, like, I
know we need I know we needa point guard or somebody that can bring
the ball up. But like,get me six six can shoot. I
mean, he just he's good.He can play like. That's who I'm
(24:30):
hoping they go after if he's possiblyavailable. Somebody recently said I don't know
who it was, it was eitherWindy or somebody Joe Bombuha. He mentioned
that, you know, the Grizzliesoffered five draft picks to Brooklyn for him
and they said he turned it down, and he said, now they are
not going to get that five draftpick offer anymore from anybody. So it's
(24:52):
like, could three draft picks gethim? Could? I don't know,
But one thing is for sure.I love the I'm so happy to see
one of the original young core comeback. And he was really good.
I think he's really good for us. But he's not good enough in the
playoffs. He just isn't. Unfortunately, so and right and a back court
(25:12):
of D'Angelo and Austin is just notI mean, they just can't defend anybody
really, So then could Donovan andAustin probably not either, could tray In
Austin probably not either. Like,I don't know, man, Like,
they definitely need a guard that canthat can be a lead ball handler,
(25:33):
playoff ball and play some defense,but is he out there? And I
don't know, I don't know.At the trade deadline, it was the
whole conversation about a Lakers going togo get to John, say Murray,
right, what would be the pricefor him? Are they gonna swing and
add some more firepower? And youknow, I think Rob said something along
(25:57):
lines if you can't buy what's notavailable or something like that. But I
think I sent a tweet out atthat time. I was like, hey,
guys, all this Murray posturing,the Lakers aren't gonna make any trades.
They're gonna they're gonna look towards thebuyout. Then they're going to say
in the off season, we're gonnause the draft picks that have become available
(26:18):
once the new season starts, andthen we're gonna go big game hunting again.
That is exactly what turned out tobe true. And now we are
sitting here wondering and actually having theconversation. Well, on one side,
do the Lakers even have enough firepowerto go get a superstar with all the
other teams that potentially could be inthe mix form. Hell, you think
(26:40):
Miami's satisfied with how their seasons havegone and all the rumblings about Jimmy Butler
and he better beginning a Supermax?You think you think the Clippers are just
gonna sit there with their hands onthere, with their hands under their asses
if Paul George decides to go signin Philadelphia. No, They're gonna go
douce something right. And I thinkthe more that I think about these packages
(27:06):
for a Donovan Mitchell, who Ican easily see down in Miami, or
a you know, a Trey Young, which I don't know what I don't
even know where trade's Young's market iswhat Orlando right? They talk about they
need a guard, they got moneyenough for a Max, I'd be I'd
look to be interested to see whatOrlando's got playing for this offseason. Regardless,
I'm I find it a little difficultto think that the Lakers can strong
(27:30):
arm a franchise into trading them theirdisgruntle superstar, especially not with head and
shoulders the best package to offer you, like you know, like I know,
bro, there are franchises in thisleague that either are not too excited
about seeing the Lakers succeed, RobPolinka succeed or Lebron fucking James succeed.
(27:52):
I don't care what anybody says,that shit is real. You think Cleveland's
excited about trading Donovan Mitchell over toLebron if the Akers for the second best
offer? Fucked? No? No, you think Boston's ever going to look
the Lakers way? No? AndI wouldn't want them bitch ass niggas to
either. But regardless, there's clearlyteams. The Chicago Bulls are a great
example. Jerry reyin Storf would ratherdie in purgatory with his franchise than do
(28:17):
any type of transaction that could potentiallyhelp Lebron James displace. The only reason
why he is still an owner inprofessional sports, and that's the legacy of
Michael Jordan's. So it's real.I'm nervous, I don't. I think
the Lakers are going to try toflip some of these smaller pieces like Roy
Gabe and try to get another bettersupporting cast member. I think that's probably
(28:42):
more likely. What do you think? No? I agree that's short of
a superstar strong arming his way tothe Lakers. I think that this is
this is where it goes. AndRuy Ruy is the highest paid non lebron
ad got on the team right now, So his name is going to be
out there just because he's got him. You need him to make the money
(29:02):
work for some of these deals.But like I love Rui, but he's
six' eight, like two twothirty, and that boy don't rebound at
all. You can't have a guyon your team that big, playing like
a guard and not not rebounding,right, especially when DiAngelo is not a
great rebounder. Often isn't like they'vegot so many holes at like they've got
(29:23):
so many holes at the same spotthat like some of these guys have to
go unfortunately, So Rui's probably gone. I think he's probably going. I
hope Vando sticks around. I mean, but like he up his name up
on the block too. Man atthe end, And this is the one
thing I will defend the Lakers onwith Vandal's name now being in rumored on
(29:45):
the trade block. But you gotto be available, you got to be
helpy, right Like if if Vandaplayed last year, great, he missed
a lot of time, a lotof time and one thing we don't have
on our side now is time fora key role player with injury history to
continue to be out. So Iget that, but like also all the
(30:06):
other teams are looking at that too, like what'd you think you're gonna get
from us? Well, I meanthe question is, like we had this
season, right Lebron and a dwere healthy, but like the role players
miss so much time. So I'mno doctor, obviously I'm not, But
like I question sometimes like what's goingon with the Lakers medical staff versus other
(30:26):
teams, like because so many ofthese guys miss so much time and it
might just be freak accidents whatever,But like my question to you is,
do you think we have a secondseason where Lebron and AD are mostly healthy?
Right? Because if you if youhad said coming into this past season,
you get Lebron and AAD for sixtyfive plus games most of us,
(30:48):
Oh, they're probably contending this year, but if everybody else is hurt,
so even next season we could haveall the role players are relatively healthy.
But if one or the one ofLebron or Ad missus twenty five thirty games,
I'm so sick of playing for theplay endog. Like like every year
(31:10):
he come on, man those extragames, Like, So, I don't
know, do you think we getanother healthy season out of those two?
No? No, no, oddsay no, odd says another layer of
treads are gonna come off of Lebron'stires, respectfully, right, And though
he'll still have his flashes of greatnich, you'll also see the wear and
(31:32):
tear of a twenty one year career. Anthony Davis made himself available from multiple
games. There were still times throughoutthis season where you thought, this is
the one, this is this isit. This is the one where he's
not getting back up. So hallelujahthat he did. But let's just play
the law of averages and put ourthinking caps on. It's more likely than
(31:52):
not one of those two players aregoing to be missing time for let's just
say, when we say stretchers,let's just say five more games, right.
I think that is possible. Ithink that is more likely than not
to happen where one of them mightbe nicked up for two games, then
the other one's out for one game, right, or then we got a
role player that's out. But thatgoes back to our previous conversation. Bro,
(32:15):
If you are not confident that yourmain dogs will be healthy enough for
a full season, you gotta getanother dog. You gotta bring in a
third dog to support. This isI call it the Damar de Rosen theory.
If we would have figured out insteadof Russ how to bring in Demarrow
(32:37):
and we see what. Look Damarhas done since he signed with the Bulls.
Granted he's been option A since ZachLevine's been out most of the season,
but that's the fucking point. Yousee what he does when somebody is
out that used to be dependent onday in and day out. Damar was
one of those guys. Could youimagine, because Damar will get you.
You look at a box scoring andsee, oh Damar drop twenty, You're
(32:58):
like, okay, yeah yeah,talk about right, yeah yeah yeah,
cool, Yeah, that's easy.He can do that easy. We get
Ruy drops twenty, We're fucking throwingthe party. Austin drops twenty. We're
like, that's what we're talking about. Fucking d Lo drops twenty. We
are happy about it. DeMar doesthat getting out of the fucking bed.
That's what I feel like the Lakersare missing with this. These are our
(33:22):
top two dogs. Yes, theyare still top ten, top eleven in
the NBA. But if you puton the layer the little ratings of health
scale, right and longevity, it'sa little scary. So why are we
not investing or throwing the chips inthe table to get right right now?
(33:43):
Unless unless you're secretly folding, you'resecretly punting, you're just propping them out
up front right and saying, no, we're behind our superstars. We're gonna
do everything we can to get themthe right support. And then you made
smaller tweaks than you probably need to. That's what I'm worried about in all
this, man, The laguers aresaying one thing, but reality is telling
(34:06):
us we are getting towards the endof our superstars time together, this era
of Laker basketball. Why the hellhave we not either pivoted or leaned in?
So if JJ ends up being theguy, which looks like he's going
to be the guy, the staffthat they give him and the team that
(34:28):
they build for him, that'll tellme everything I need to know, Like,
that'll tell me how serious they are. And this isn't this isn't an
indictment on russ. But had theynot done the Rush trade, and kept
KCP who's in ac that that's stilla I mean, that's at worst a
second round team at worst. Andit's like and or if they did the
(34:50):
instead of doing the rush trade,they got went and got Damar a credible
third option. I can give youtwenty any given night. Like, that's
a good team. And I thinkOL they're chasing. They're chasing the team
that they broke up. They areliterally trying to talk about getting Kuzma back.
They're literally they if the Lakers couldbring Casey p back onto the team
(35:12):
tomorrow, he'd be back in theLaker uniform. They punted it, and
then you fast forward three years laternow they're like, oh, man,
it'd be nice if we could justget some high level role players in the
building. Well, no shit,Sherlock to your ploid. Yeah no,
Look, man, I've heard Kuzma'son the table. Jeremy Grant, who
I really I like Jeremy Grant.He's paid a ton, But like,
(35:36):
they could use another forward, eitherKus or Jeremy that slots in between Lebron
and Ad Like. It's also oneof the reasons I like Micheale because he
can play the guard. Before butin any case, like I want to
see what they're willing to do,and all fairness, I will say with
this past season, had Darvin hadbetter rotations, had Darvin made better uses
of players, play calling his timeouts, Lakers might have won five to ten
(36:00):
more games. They led the entireseries against Denver. They might have actually
won that series if the coaching wasbetter. So it feels like, and
correct me if I'm wrong, butlike it feels like the Lakers are this
close and then they're also like thisfar away, like for sure sliding doors.
(36:21):
I could absolutely see them winning itall. I can see them missing
the playoffs, and that is insane. But what we say about the playoff
matchups right like, even though Iwas the person that say give me Denver
right now, because I don't likeslow rips of band aids. If they're
not gonna win it all, I'dlike to know sooner than later. Ye,
But you got your other Lakers fansthat said, see, this is
why we should have ended up onthe OKC side of the bracket. We
(36:44):
would have ran through these boys andwe at least would have been in the
Western Conference finals trying to figure itout. So to your point, like
that they are an inch and amile away, and we feel that going
into this season, man, wefelt good about the roster, right,
We felt good about the additions thatthe team made. We felt good about
(37:04):
Christian Wood, we felt good aboutGabe Vincent, we felt good about the
addition of a Torrian prince. Andthen literally Cam goes, okay, hey,
who was on teams that I've coachedin the past, Cam Turrian superstars.
Let's go, let's go front andcenter. Gotta put y'all on the
pedestal real quick, let y'all doyour dance. And then you saw Torrian
(37:25):
get back to a normal role.He looked like a great role player.
So it's it. God, man, I never want to have a negative
opinion about a black man, butthat that man right there. I was
fully supportive of them hiring Ham.But that second season, he he regressed.
(37:47):
He was terrible, and you know, here we are looking for another
here we are. Let's let's takea look real quick about the rumored assistant
coaches. Did you see Frankie Smoke'sname pop up? Did you see that
potentially Frank Vogel could be He's andplayed for an exsistent coach role. Hell,
(38:08):
you know what, all this spinin the block out here for it
brings Frankie Smoke's ass back. Henot the leader no more. He just
get to focus on the defense.Was he not good at what? At
that side of the ball? Thenthat's what killed me about am. It
was like, what side of thebasketball were you supposed to be a genius
at? Because I'm not seeing aunembitches so well? At least Frankie Smokes
(38:29):
at the Lakers top of the leagueand defense back. He had Phoenix top
I think Phoenix was top fourteen.I mean they were. They were a
decent defense given the roster that theyhad. Like, no, I would
take frank back. Would he comeback? I don't. I don't know
how it all ended. I don'tknow what happened behind the scenes. But
(38:50):
yes, if give me a crediblehead coach on the bench that can assess
JJ, I'll take him any dayto week. Yep. What else?
Who else did we see? Wesaw Scott Brooks? Yeah, and I
don't really I don't really get theScott Brooks love, but you know,
I guess he's a good guy.Who else? Obviously we got Barrego,
(39:13):
who is apparently a big Anthony David. He has the vote of Anthony Davis
from their time together. Uh soI'm here for that. I said this
on a different show. But ifyou're able to get the Charlotte Hornets to
a plus five hundred season, youare an excellent head coach. Because that
franchise, I don't think we'll everhave any sustained productivity. And it has
(39:37):
nothing to do about who was runningthe franchise from the head coaching position.
So hey, if they want tobring him in, who I heard is
an excellent, excellent offensive mine andyou know, I wonder if he was
there for the Boogie a d EraAnd that's why I've heard the same things.
He's good offensively, So like,bring them in, you know what
(40:00):
I'm saying. Mm hmm. Soyeah, see, Davis, according to
those brief things highly of Barrego.So we'll see. And then they also,
you know, going back to thisWokie article that dropped on Thursday,
said the Lakers have been very tightlipped about the search process to date,
with outside noise a word used insidethe team's buildings linking them to former player
(40:22):
and current broadcaster JJ Reddick. SoShamsa is just making this up. Chris
Haynes is just making this up.All of them, all of them.
All these guys that are supposed tobe respected are just you know, just
making tea leaves and then reading themthemselves if you ask the Lakers. But
nonetheless, you got Sam Cassell andJared Dudley as other assistants that they're talking
(40:42):
through. I'm be honest with you, man, I'm kind of straight on
a Dudley reunion. If it's downto just getting former players from the player
development position onto the coaching staff,give me Rajon Rondo immediately, Okay,
get bring in Rondo again, aguy who has the utmost respect of the
locker room from the superstars between Lebronand Anthony Davis. And to be honest,
(41:08):
man, it's just time. It'stime for him to get serious about
this next chapter of his life.He's had some ups and downs, personal
issues that he just keeps bumping into. He needs some focus. Let's just
focus on your role as a Lakersassistant and head coach. Come coach the
Lakers to help them get a championship, and then we can just fully expunge
(41:30):
your career with the Celtics, becausenow you've got a championship ring as a
Laker player and a head coach,and then the world can just know you
as Lakers. Rejon Rondo, whatdo we think about that? Alex?
Are you in? You in?Bring them on the bench, I mean
the bench I'd like to see.I'd love to see Vogel, but I
don't think that happens. But ifyou bring JJ in, gimme Brego,
(41:52):
Gimmy Cassel, gimme Rondo. I'lleven take Dudley. He was respected in
our locker room. And but alsogive me another guy that's been an actual
assistant coach on the team, likeBrago's who's been head coach. Give me
one more assistant coach, and thengive me those players, those former players
well or Cassell checks that box asa as an assistant. Give me that,
(42:15):
give me that kind of coaching staff. I'm all on board. I'm
on board. Another thing, wesee a former assistant, Gregg Saint Jean,
being considered for this coaching staff.He was an assistant for Frankie Smokes
under the Lakers previously. So anothername that has come out, and uh
(42:36):
oh, I just find it weirdthat the whole David Alderman report has like
just disappeared. The excuse me,Denver's assistant coach who's highly regarded as a
next great head coach if you askNikola Jokic and all of Denver's players.
I've seen no updates that we gotthe report at the beginning of the month
(43:00):
that the Lakers got permission from theNuggets while the nugget are still in the
playoffs to conduct a formal interview.But here we are today, Friday,
May thirty, first year of ourLord, twenty twenty four, and we've
only got one head coach through thedoor. Officially, I'm excited for at
least that conversation with him. Man, it seems like he's a very highly
(43:22):
respected and a smart dude that's unlocked. Djok It and how Gordon and Mike
Porter Junior all play around him inthe front court for the for the for
the Denver Nuggets. But is thatwhere do you that he's just no longer
talked about right now? Or Idon't know, maybe the Lakers flying under
the radar. I mean, Idon't think he's got a big He's not
(43:44):
sexy in them, Dame. Youknow what I'm saying, I think it's
kind of and it's bald. Itseems like Denver Loft, and then you
know, we haven't heard much.I'm thinking the same thing on Mike and
Nory for the Wolves. He wasa name that we heard at first,
and now it's like, all right, I mean it's Barrego and and and
(44:04):
JJ and I don't know, Imean maybe they might have went away because
they know, like JJ is basicallythe guy, like, what's the point
interviewing participating in that. Coach Kis the consultant on the job man,
Like you know what I'm saying.So maybe that's how we're getting these reports
(44:29):
right maybe, And I hope it'snot just like Shams and Chris Haynes doing
what we're doing right now and justmaking that one connection to UH coach K
and consulting with the Lakers on theirhead coaching search. But maybe what if
that's the actual source of the league, right, Like coach K. I
remember when, oh boy, Iforget who they hired as the head coach
(44:54):
of the shoot and any event therewas a head coach. I was hired
in the AFC a few years back, and I remember the Dolphins old head
coach who was a black man.He was fired from the Dolphins and he
was interviewing for this new head coachingposition too, and Bill Belichick, who
(45:16):
he used to coach, under textedhim saying, Hey, congratulations Jim on
the hey coaching job. You're gonnado great. And he was like,
the coach was like, what thefuck? Like I didn't even you know,
this is odd because this I stillhad to go finish out the process
(45:36):
and he's congratulating someone else mistakenly tome that I'm sure that happens more than
not. Man, Hell, I'mI'm I'm looking right, I'm dipping my
toes in the job hunt, lookingfor new roles and other companies. And
there's this whole thing called referrals.Right, you get your name on the
referral, you are going to getan interview, right, And you get
(45:59):
an interview, you got an insidetrack because someone's already there. And just
from the nature of it being areferral and somebody that they trust, you
have it better shot than somebody who'sjust coming in with just a resume and
a smile. Yep, we'd bedumb to think this isn't this couldn't possibly
be a similar situation where coach K'sfolks kind of have maybe said something and
(46:21):
now it's starting to permutate through themedia circles. So all hell J coach
JJ when he slides through. ButI love your point about the Lakers better
have the highest paid coaching staff inthe league. If we're going rookie head
coach, zero experience, everybody elseneeds to be silver foxes on that coaching
staff. Everybody needs to have grayin their beards. Everybody needs to have
(46:43):
the crow, the crow lines,the bags under their eyes, no sleep
wrinkles in their fuehead because they eatsleep basketball, haven't seen their wife for
months and it's the off season alreadyfor him. That's the type of dedication
we need in the Lakers bench.We're getting a rookie So I don't know,
man, Is that is that ourofficial picks? Is that our official
(47:04):
prediction that JJ will be the Lakershead coach? And do you think it
probably gets announced soon after the finalswraps up? I think it leaks for
real during the finals. I thinkit's gonna leak, right, official announcement
after the finals. Yes, butwe'll we'll, We'll be we'll be ninety
nine percent sure sometime during the finalsthat he's the guy, especially with the
(47:27):
finals wrap up, like right beforethe draft, Like it's they're so close
that you want your head coach tokind of be involved with the draft process.
We'll know, we'll know already.That's so nasty. Could you imagine
you get hired as head coach andthen a weekly Yeah, it's the NBA
Draft. Don't worry, we goteverything covered already. Or I'm gonna just
sit back and relax and watch watchwith the show with Polinka and company about
(47:50):
to do here, Like it doesn'tmake sense. You're right. It's like
if they wait till after the draft, So you have a week between the
finals and the draft, and thenhe's got to put together a coaching staff
too. During that that like fivedays, seven days. Now, we'll
know. We'll know way way beforethat it's him. I mean, huh,
(48:12):
when's free agency. Let's see,I don't know, it's July something,
right, June thirtieth, So amonth less than a month is free
agency. So you like, yeah, you got to put together an entire
coaching staff and figure out who hewants to No way, no way,
they wait until after the finals toreally know it's him. Clay Thompson is
(48:37):
about to be a free agent too, say Orlando might make a running him.
Good good, good for him that, you know what, that's the
perfect Wow. This is towards theend of his career. Jersey and Klay
Thompson Magic Jersey and he's still I'msure he will still be productive with them.
This is not a shot at ClayThompson. This is just one of
those things that all stars, unlessthey spend their full career all lost.
(48:59):
Steph Curry, y'all lot, KobeBryant, will we get to Damn he
played for who at the end ofhis career? It's an Allen Iverson Memphis
Jersey is what it is. Yes, I forgot why Lord right man?
That shit should have been cold.I think he played like thirteen games and
then it was like, yeah,I'm about of here. That's the end
of that. So all right,Yeah, No, I think Clay ends
(49:20):
up in either Orlando or if PaulGeorge doesn't end up in Philly, they
do something like that, right,So we'll see they do. And I
don't know how I feel like theyjust it's because uh, you know,
Harden out the door and Maxie isstill did he. I don't think he's
on his extension yet, his nextcontract, so just waiting for that to
(49:40):
kick in. You might as wellfold in another super Max Superstar. So
it's gonna be exciting the Lakers.We're operating in a let's just say,
a twenty five day window, folks. We're probably gonna get some in the
next fourteen days, but we're operatingin a twenty five day window between now
the draft reagency. This is stillhey, everyone, make no mistake.
(50:05):
This is part two of the NBAseason, the off season, and like
every avid NBA fans, all thisshit gets you just as exciting at times
because short window. James Harden mightbe in China somewhere talking about he doesn't
want to play for the Clippers.The way that he came out and talked
about how you didn't want to playfor David Morrian calling him a liar in
front of a bunch of people didn'tknow what he was talking. That's that
(50:27):
NBA all season. I can't waitfor brother, so looking forward to it.
Alex, thank you for jumping inand rocking with me man on this
episode. As always, bad wegot to continue to do this more.
Bro. I appreciate it, man, It's always fun. Yes, sir,
well, that'll do it for uson this episode the Late Night Lake
Show podcast. Make sure you aresubscribed wherever you get your hashtag good content
(50:49):
for Alex. It's Ricky Lateonight LakeShow out one son of fucking my words.
So I'm like, what do wewressssssss
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